My thoughts are, that if a politician such as Reagan is going to use something like Born In the U.S.A. as a campaign song they should at least put some research into it beforehand so they have a handle on the actual meaning of it. The other would be that politicians actually get permission from the performers themselves before using their songs in their respective campaigns. Such as this example: Mellencamp Asks McCain To Stop Using Tunes

I don't know who the people are, I just know that some have questioned whether he was lip synching or not. I never got the impression that the poster here thought that, they were merely asking since they had seen it mentioned elsewhere (just as I have). Since you named Seger I figured you were just naming someone with similar a "heartland" sound such as Dylan, Springsteen or Mellencamp. As for "caliber", even Seger isn't selling as many records as Petty these days so, in the sense of sales, they're not on an even keel there.

I got the impression that poster was just seeking the opinion of others, not accusing Petty of lip-synching theirselves. Like I said, I've seen the question posed on a number of other music boards/lists today so it's not like they're the only ones that have wondered about it. I wouldn't put lip-synching past most any performer, Seger or Petty included, it all depends on the circumstances. In regards to "caliber", I wasn't referring to artists that sound similar to Petty or mine simillar musical turf, I meant performers of his popularity.

I was also too young to have attended any of the big fests back in the 60s and 70s but I have a number of older siblings who attended the Atlanta Pop Festival and saw the Allmans at Maggie Valley in NC way back when. I also have a friend (who has since passed away) that attended Woodstock. Myself, I've attended several festivals including: the Old Time Fiddler's Convention in Union Grove, NC, MerleFest (Doc Watson's annual festival held every year in North Wilkesboro, NC in memory of his late son Merle Watson), Woodstock '94 and the Austin City Limits Music Festival (the first two). In the case of Woodstock '94, an older brother swore he would go to Woodstock if ever they held another festival there. Well, when it finally became a reality he suddenly forgot he ever said that but I made good on it, even though I ended up going all by myself. The site of Woodstock '94 is where they planned to have the original Woodstock. In the weeks leading up to Woodstock '94 some other organizers planned to hold their own anniversary concert at the site of the original Woodstock but it was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. I understand some artists showed up anyway (such as Soul Asylum, Victoria Williams and Joe Walsh). In fact, one attendee said Joe Walsh could be found sitting on the hood of his car jammin' away using nothing but a Pignose amp. I enjoyed Woodstock '94 and have no regrets about attending but it was definitely a very commercial event (one which Neil Young was very outspoken about at the time) with MTV constantly circling, along with a lot of corporate vendors such as Pepsi. Before the third Woodstock got underway five years later I had a bad feeling about it right from the start. Unfortunately my feelings turned out to be correct as lot of people had the wrong idea about such fests and went apeshit instead, starting fires and whatnot turning the whole thing into an ugly fucking mess.

Probably my least favorite Thin Lizzy song, not to mention one that Classic Rock radio played into the fuckin' ground eons ago. Like Stairway and Freebird and many others, I could go for years without ever having to hear it again. No fault of Thin Lizzy's own but that of radio programmers who are under the misguided notion that we want to hear the same exact shit over and over again.

Good advice but like myself (and others) have said, it all depends on the artist and the setting. John Prine has cut out alcohol sales at his shows and only allows audience members to get up and down between songs. All to help from disrupting his performances. Jerry Jeff Walker politely asks his audience not to holler out for requests during his concerts. If someone does it is not unusual for him to storm off stage. Singer-songwriter Todd Snider has had uncooperative audience members physically removed from his concerts if they don't know how to keep their traps shut. Then again, I'm referring here to mostly acoustic shows, not rock ones where the vibe may be entirely different and singing along may be encouraged.

The link to the original Aerosmith thread is just a few posts back, here it is again: http://forums.ledzeppelin.com//index.php?s...ic=2095&hl=

This person asking the question didn't think he was lip-synching, at least that's the impression I got. I've seen several posts on other boards today asking the same question. They were merely coming here to ask other people's thoughts, not to accuse Petty of lip-synching. Lots of artists have done it over the years (including artists of Petty's caliber), you'd probably be surprised. I'm not a sports fan or a Tom Petty fan so I made no effort whatsover to tune in the Super Bore or the halftime show. I did watch a few minutes of the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet but that was about it. Mainly I watched The Back of My Eyelids.

You've actually mentioned them twice (three times if you count the PM you just sent me). If ever you make a mistake you can use the edit feature to correct your post. To answer your question, I like them but don't own any of their records, nor have I ever seen them in concert. Their song, If You Wanna Get To Heaven is used to great effect during the opening sequence to the cult classic documentary Dancin' Outlaw though. A definite must if you have never seen it. A few clips from the film are up on YouTube but I was unable to find the opening sequence to the movie where he's clogging to the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

I first heard of Gillian through a song she had on a compliation record for LEAK magazine. Then, an older brother saw her do the opening honors for Guy Clark at a show in Texas. Not long afterwards I caught her and David Rawlings on the Americana stage at MerleFest. Soon thereafter I started picking up her records and have seen her in concert at least once (ACL Fest) since then. Time (the Revelator) is not only my favorite Gillian album but one of my very favorites released so far in the 00s. I wasn't able to make it but not long ago she and David passed through here touring as The Dave Rawlings Machine where he takes the limelight and they do a wide variety of covers from everyone to Neil Young and Ryan Adams. Check out their MySpace here: The Dave Rawlings Machine

I don't know if they would qualify as the best band that never really made it but I think North Carolina's Nantucket are at least worthy of mentioning. They started in the late 60s as Nantucket Sleighride, a name inspired by the Mountain song/album of the same name but soon shortened it to Nantucket. They played the bars in my area (eastern NC) very frequently when I was growing up but I never saw them in concert until they were second on a bill that included Cheap Trick and AC/DC (who headlined). Nantucket were riding high on the success of their Epic debut at the time and had just returned to NC following a successful run out west. It seems that just as quickly as they rose to doing gigs with the likes of Cheap Trick, AC/DC, Kiss and others, they began to sink. Towards the end, two members ("Pee Wee" Watson and Kenny Soule) formed a power trio named PKM (which also included guitarist Micheal Gardner) who would also be worthy of "bands that never really made it". Kenny also played drums with Dag and still plays with blues guitarist Walter Trout on occasion. I believe he and a couple of other members of Nantucket were also part of the original lineup of Cry of Love. These days Nantucket still does the occasional reunion show but their glory days have long since passed. Guitarist Tommy Redd recently contributed some side splitting commentary from Nantucket's days touring with AC/DC to a book called Let There Be Rock: The Story of AC/DC. You can read more about them at this unofficial website: Nantucket's Official Unofficial Website

I remember The Cars but would by no means refer to them as a band "that never really made it" since they pretty much helped to usher in the New Wave era when the commercial airwaves still weren't quite ready for the full on assault of punk rock.

Not sure if you've ever seen it but the Before The Music Dies documentary is well worth seeing. Doyle Bramhall II is one of several artists featured but his story is particularly unique as he is continually denied being signed to a number of labels despite his inherent talent. A guitarist such as Doyle would have sparked a bidding war not so long ago but these days there is absolutely no interest in him on a corporate level. Before the Music Dies Website After Arc Angels split Double Trouble went on to back others (including Kenny Wayne Shepherd) but also helped formed the band Storyville who are very worthy of seeking out: Storyville on MySpace

Since it's such a huge primetime audience I'm sure he was expected to stick to his hit songs. Otherwise you run the risk of a large amount of them tuning out the broadcast.

People passing gas in public that thinks it's "cute", particularly in confined spaces. Let me load up on some pork n' beans and corner your ass. When you tell the cashier your order is "to go" but they're so pre-programmed (brainwashed) they still ask, "is that for here or to go"? A real popular one: cellphones. I realize they're a necessary evil these days but there's a time and a place for everything. If another jerk picks up their cellphone to take a call when I'm trying to check out, it's getting shoved up their ass. Some board pet peeves: People that quote an entire post, especially when it's an article and they don't have anything really pertinent to say other than something like, "thanks for posting that". Damn, the entire article was just one post before your response, was there any real reason to quote the entire fucking thing? I really do appreciate the props but there's no need to quote the whole thing. People that reply in a thread that clearly haven't read anything in the thread up to that point. It's somewhat understandable if the thread is several pages long but even then they could at least show some consideration by scanning the thread before responding. People that post links to YouTube in "What Are You Listening To?" threads. What the fuck? People that cite sales figures as to why I should like a certain artist. I don't care if so and so has sold 18 million records. So has Celine Dion, that doesn't mean I have to like her.

I'm guessing they might be offended by Pigpen grabbing her breast. Thing is, Janis herself doesn't seem the least bit offended by it.

Like has been said, it all depends on the artist and the nature of the show. I've attended a number of acoustic house concerts where it's fully expected for the audience to be quiet, especially since the performances are unamplified. Still, it doesn't have to feel like church. That all just depends on the vibe that's in the room. I remember a friend telling me about attending a Jimmy Buffett show back in the 70s where he admonished the crowd for singing because it kept him from hearing the band. Odd now that his shows are virtually singalongs with crowds of 20,000 strong...

Funny how someone that supposedly knows so much about Janis doesn't even recognise Pigpen and also doesn't know of his relationship with Janis.

I've heard of him but can't say I'm familiar with his music.

If you think Sweet Home Alabama was "racist" or that there was actual feud between Skynyrd and Neil, well, you may have a little reading up to do... Ronnie Van Zant sporting his Neil Young Tonight's the Night t-shirt Neil vs. Lynyrd Skynyrd "I wrote this song to tell of the misunderstood friendship between Ronnie VanZant and Neil Young, who were widely believed to be bitter adversaries, but were in truth very good friends and mutual admirers... I also used it as a personal way of writing for the first time about my hometown's musical and cultural legacy. (Muscle Shoals AL. was the town where many of the finest R&B and Soul records ever made were created, with whites and blacks working together during the height of the civil rights movement in the 60's)." -Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers on "Ronnie and Neil" from Southern Rock Opera. Church blew up in Birmingham Four little black girls killed for no Goddamn good reason All this hate and violence can't come to no good end A stain on the good name. A whole lot of good people dragged threw the blood and glass Blood stains on their good names and all of us take the blame Meanwhile in North Alabama, Wilson Pickett comes to town To record that sweet soul music, to get that Muscle Shoals sound Meanwhile in North Alabama, Aretha Franklin comes to town To record that sweet soul music, to get that Muscle Shoals sound And out in California, a rock star from Canada writes a couple of great songs about the Bad shit that went down "Southern Man" and "Alabama" certainly told some truth But there were a lot of good folks down here and Neil Young wasn't around Meanwhile in North Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd came to town To record with Jimmy Johnson at Muscle Shoals Sound And they met some real good people, not racist pieces of shit And they wrote a song about it and that song became a hit Ronnie and Neil Ronnie and Neil Rock stars today ain't half as real Speaking their minds on how they feel Let them guitars blast for Ronnie and Neil Now Ronnie and Neil became good friends their feud was just in song Skynyrd was a bunch of Neil Young fans and Neil he loved that song So He wrote "Powderfinger" for Skynyrd to record But Ronnie ended up singing "Sweet Home Alabama" to the lord And Neil helped carry Ronnie in his casket to the ground And to my way of thinking, us southern men need both of them around Ronnie and Neil Ronnie and Neil Rock stars today ain't half as real Speaking their minds on how they feel Let them guitars blast for Ronnie and Neil

I can't say I have anything against crowd participation, that's a huge part of the communal spirit of live shows, at least to me. Now, if your neighbor is hollering the wrong lyrics in your ear, spilling beer, bumping into people, chit-chattin', cellphonin', etc., that's something else altogether. Pearl Jam fan or not, listen to Better Man from their new Live at the Gorge box. The way the audience knows all the words and sings along sends chills, at least to me.

Hope to swing all of these in one night: Needham's Neighbor Friday, February 8th Sadlack's Heroes Raleigh, NC Jason Ringenberg (of Jason and the Scorchers) w/ $2 Pistols Berkeley Cafe Raleigh, NC The T's w/ Lonely H Slim's Downtown Distillery Raleigh, NC

Chris and Marc Smith of Patty Hurst Shifter Friday, February 1 Slim's Downtwn Distillery Raleigh, NC The Annuals Friday, February 1 Pour House Music Hall Raleigh, NC Joe Swank & the Zen Pirates Saturday, February 2 Sadlack's Heroes Raleigh, NC