There's a similarly packaged box set of singles but it's also quite pricey:

Including Some Girls? I do love Keith's solo records but wouldn't put any of them above that album. Oh and on the Keith tip be sure to check out these reggae albums he's contributed to if you haven't already: Not sure if this one has ever made it's way to compact disc from vinyl but it's definitely worth the hunt. More of a drums and chant type of Rasta vibe but also very much worth tracking down

Not sure if it was sold out or not but the bonus disc of Rush's triple live album Different Stages is a show from the Hammersmith Oden in 1979. Yes, that's been 30 years ago now but they still play shows around the world (including the UK) so my guess is, they're far more well known in England than you're aware of. In regards to pitting one artist against another, I still don't see Pink Floyd vs. Rush as any sort of "mismatch". Of course anyone that's a fan of Floyd is going to be pulling for them, no matter their popularity or what they have in common with Rush from a musical standpoint. When it comes to such polls I guess I go more by what the artists share musically than their overall popularity.

Mixing Up the Medicine

I guess I first heard of him via R.E.M. when Peter Buck would make fairly frequent guest appearances on his records back in the 80s. With most of the touring version of R.E.M. and the Minus Five as his backing band, the Venus 3 (Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin) I decided to check him out a couple of years ago and loved it. As the show went on I noticed more and more songs I was familiar with from the days of 120 Minutes and PostModern MTV. I still haven't picked up any of his older stuff but I can definitely call myself a Robyn Hitchcock fan these days.

Aside from the college stations and ones that carry NPR I gave up on local radio several years ago and signed up for satellite. Prior to that there was at least one AOR (Album Oriented Rock) station that did the Beatles A To Z weekends. While that was great and I'm a huge Beatles fan, it led to me getting a bit burnt out on the Beatles at one time. By the way, Breakfast With Beatles still lives on.

The Olympic Ass Kickin' Team's new album who's artwork very closely resembles the cover of this record by the Black Angels:

Excellent show by these guys earlier this evening at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill. Hitchcock even broke out a couple of songs he's never done before live, including I'm A Reptile.

News on Skynyrd's upcoming UK concert tour and their new record, God & Guns. Info on the Mississippi Kid Festival that's being held in support of Skynyrd bassist Ean Evans who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

Can't say I support bootleggers at all but I guess like a lot of us they got tired of waiting for the remasters and did something to meet the very obvious demand. More info on those recordings here..

For those interested, here's a link to the Rolling Stone piece on Kristofferson: The Last Outlaw Poet

I get where you're coming from on the superiority angle but I still don't look at music as some sort of competition. With all due respect I believe you severely underestimate the influence Rush have had on an international level. As meaningless as polls like this are I still don't see it as a mismatch to put Rush up against Pink Floyd, I'm basing that not on one's influence vs. the other's but on the type of music they play. Whoever wins it still won't mean anything.

I must say I only agree with only a handful of these but feel, Kiss, Pat Benatar, Cheap Trick and Rush definitely should be inducted. Same for Yes, Deep Purple, Warren Zevon, the Replacements, Alice Cooper and dozens of others that have been passed over. Benatar was much more influential on rock n' roll than Madonna was or ever will be. For that matter, Joan Jett and the Runaways are right up there too. More girls picked up guitars because of them than because of McDonna. Top 10 Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame Snubs

U2 just confirmed a Raleigh date for October at Carter-Finley Stadium. Due to the economy they've said they'll make ticket prices "reasonable". If I'm not mistaken I believe I've read they'll start at $30 (before inconvenience charges). If that turns out to be true I may have to pop my live U2 cherry even it means sitting in the nosebleed section.

How about a ban on farting in public places?

Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 w/ Erie Choir Wednesday, April 8th Cat's Cradle Raleigh, NC

I held out for years on buying any Beatles on CD in hopes of their catalog eventually being remastered. Years ago I saw a limited edition box set on sale at a Turtles outside of Athens, GA but it was far more than I could afford at the time. A few years after that the Turtles chain went out of business and started marking everything down. Fortunately one of their local stores had a copy of the same box so I didn't wait too long before snatching it up. Still, I'd like to buy the new remasters at some point but I'm sure they'll be pricey as well. The limited edition box:

I'm not questioning your fandom, I just don't think of any artist as being "superior" to another, mainly since I've never thought of music as some kind of competition. I've also never understood the belief that just because someone belongs to a board devoted to a particular artist that it's a given that that artist is their favorite. Yeah, I'm a Zeppelin fan but they're not my favorite. I also belong to a number of other boards/e-mail lists devoted to other artists but none of them are my favorite either. I'm just a music fan in general. As for Rush vs. Pink Floyd I still don't think of that as some sort of "mismatch". Again, it's the needless act of pitting one artist against another regardless of what they may have in common stylistically. In regards to their influence, they've been highly influential. Perhaps not on the same level as some other artists but that wasn't my point. I believe the approach and scope of their music is in line with that of Pink Floyd and similar artists. As far as Rush's popularity, they are known on an international level, not just in North America. A number of their concert films have been shot in other countries including Germany and Brazil. Again, none of that even has anything to do with my original point which is that Floyd and Rush come from a similar place in regards to their approach to music.

The Beatles' Remastered Albums Due September 9, 2009

Never cared that much for their latter day ballads such as Amazing or when they started working with outside writers so they could attempt to construct a hit. Songs like You See Me Crying show they can do ballads effectively, this just didn't come across with the MTV-friendly stuff. Even their latter day more rock oriented material was pretty weak and seemed designed for their newfound MTV audience.

Doc McGee was all over the headlines here back when he got busted as I believe some of his drug smuggling operations took place on the NC coast.

You said when you Googled it you found "limited info", when I Googled "Led Zeppelin's Jukebox" the very first result linked to a website that revealed it's a compilation album of songs that inspired Led Zeppelin. The majority of the other hits I got revealed the exact same information.