The gotickets thing is bullshit. I accidently signed up for it when I was led to believe a Led Zeppelin '08 tour had been announced recently through an unofficial Plant website. Don't believe a thing unless it comes from an official source, not a scummy ass ticket broker. As for Zeppelin actually playing Bonnaroo, anything can happen but the 02 gig hasn't even happened yet. Until then, I'd say things like this are merely rumor and speculation and should be treated as such. In regards to bands like Zep and Metallica fitting in on the bill, all it takes is one look at how diverse the Bonnaroo rosters have become in recent years to see that neither would be out of place there. In the early years it was almost exclusively artists of the "jamband" variety but they have diversified more and more in recent years to include performers from several different genres of music.

What makes you think that would work any more now than it did in the past when Plant didn't want to work with Page?

Why shouldn't the very same thing go for John Bonham? They're not "Led Zeppelin" without him either.

As a longtime fan, I don't feel that Robert Plant owes me a thing, or Jimmy Page for that matter. This concert is being done in memory of Ahmet, not to satisfy the selfishness of fans that are unable to see beyond that.

Exactly.

I understand there are no plans to televise it but events are televised all the time and still repackaged for eons to come.

I think it's safe to say the impact happened a very long time ago (and will be felt for a very long time to come) and has nothing whatsoever to do with any sort of "comeback". Hell, they haven't even played the concert yet.

Aside from a song or two I was fairly unfamiliar with them at the time. In fact, I thought they were a punk rock group. The way the audience was spitting on them (a compliment in other countries) did little to make me think differently. Towards the end of the show Angus came through the audience playing guitar on the shoulders of one of their crew members. As he came by everyone punched him in the shoulder, another thing that still made me think they were "punk rock". I did became a fan that night though and feel very privileged to have seen Bon Scott before he died. AC/DC and several other bands are immortalized in this song by the Drive-By Truckers. Not sure if they're your cup of tea or not but they're definitely worth checking out the next time they come through. This is from their album Southern Rock Opera, loosely based on the tragic tale of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd: LET THERE BE ROCK (Hood / DBT) Dropped acid, Blue Oyster Cult concert, fourteen years old, And I thought them lasers were a spider chasing me. On my way home, got pulled over in Rogersville Alabama, with a half-ounce of weed and a case of Sterling Big Mouth. My buddy Gene was driving, he just barely turned sixteen. And I'd like to say, "I'm sorry", but we lived to tell about it And we lived to do a whole lot more crazy, stupid, shit. And I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw Molly Hatchet With .38 Special and the Johnny Van Zant Band. One night when I was seventeen, I drank a fifth of vodka, on an empty stomach, then drove over to a friend's house. And I backed my car between his parent's Cadillac's without a scratch. Then crawled to the back door and slithered threw the key hole, and sneaked up the stairs And puked in the toilet. I passed out and nearly drowned but his sister, DeeDee, pulled me out. And I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw Molly Hatchet And the band that I was in played "The Boy's are Back in Town". Skynyrd was set to play Huntsville, Alabama, in the spring of '77, I had a ticket but it got cancelled. So, the show, it was rescheduled for the "Street Survivors Tour". And the rest, as they say, is history. So I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads in '82 Right before that plane crash. And I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw AC/DC With Bon Scott singing, "Let There Be Rock Tour". With Bon Scott singing, LET THERE BE ROCK!

That would probably be Ray. I think he may have also done a short stint in the White Oak River Boys. I caught a Boogie Chillins show at The Dive in Peletier this past year with Slammin' Dixie opening but only saw part of their set. I've recommended several Triangle area bands to The Dive and while they've been kind enough to book them, they never really drew a crowd but that's another thread entirely. Scroll down to the Trip to Bizarro World entry from Terry Anderson's blog for a tale from The Dive: http://whassupta.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html Nantucket are all pretty much from the area and were based out of Jacksonville in their heyday. I saw them many, many times back in the 80s and have caught the occasional reunion gig over the years. The most recent being a show at the now closed Club Tropics in Swansboro, the bar that used to be a Pak-A-Sak. During the show lead singer Larry Uzzell related a story about how their first ever gig was at Swansboro High School way back when they were still known as Nantucket Sleighride. Yep, I believe that was the name of the venue where I saw Nantucket. I think it's now the Crown Coliseum. I remember a lot of good shows coming there over the years but the Cheap Trick - Nantucket - AC/DC bill is the only one I ever made it to. Nantucket has an unofficial site here if you care to check it out: http://www.2112online.com/nantucket

I'm not sure how much truth there was to it but I recall reading something about the owner of the boat saying shots had been fired at them. Apparently they weren't breaking any laws but it's obvious that nearby residents weren't happy with them being anchored there. I only browsed through it to read Tommy's comments but believe you me, they were priceless. Especially the story he tells of Nantucket's tour bus breaking down while on tour with AC/DC. When they took it in to be repaired the mechanics began taking it apart and discovered bag after bag of weed stashed away inside the structure of the bus. The previous owners? A North Carolina gospel group.

I don't think it's any "weirder" to ask King his faves of the year (or past years) than any of us who offer up our own opinions here on a daily basis.

Blind Melon sees new life Band reunites with new singer, album planned NOW I SEE: BLIND MELON BY JEFF HAHNE Many bands never recover from the loss of a band member. Blind Melon expected the same thing after singer Shannon Hoon died of a drug overdose. Now, 12 years later, the band has reunited, gotten a new singer and recorded a new album to be released early next year. So, what changed? I recently asked that question and more to guitarist Rogers Stevens during a phone call from his New York home: To read the interview go here.

http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrob...id=oid%3A229776 STRAIGHT OUTTA L.A.: Silversun Pickups It sounds like a component of Link Wray's guitar, a product any rockabilly god would be proud to endorse. But Silversun Pickups has nothing to do with fuzz tones or billy of any sort. The name adopted by the L.A. quartet comes from a local liquor store, and the sound comes from a melting pot of styles and eras. Some hear echoes of grunge in the music, perhaps from the frayed-around-the-edges feel and as a result of the from-a--whisper-to a-scream tactics that pop up frequently. But there's more garage than grunge, courtesy of the hard-rocking rhythm section and singer/guitarist Brian Aubert's raspy vocals. The rough edges come and go. And for one brief moment in most of the songs, you hear a glimmer of shimmery pop. Just as you're thinking, "Ah God, no -- not another fluttery troupe of pop tarts," they come out flailing like hardcore rockers, with whipsaw guitar and feral howls any bluesman would be proud to claim. But even though there's all that in the music, it sounds like none of it. One minute it's as sweet and delicate as cotton candy. Then they toss in a box of boulders, whip it up with a chain saw, chop it up into splinters and chew on it until there's nothing left but a bloody pulp. "Lazy Eye" is the vehicle that got the band to Billboard's Top 100. Punky, garage/grunge-flavored, it got the band comparisons to My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth, with some critics hearing elements of The Smashing Pumpkins as well. But the Billboard appearance won't be a one-way ride. This band isn't some scruffy little conclave of van-riding hopefuls searching for an elusive musical dream. They've found it, in a big way. Signed to Indie label Dangerbird in '05, the band went from being unknowns to headlining tours around the world in less than two years in the company of OK Go, Snow Patrol and Wolfmother. When they sent in a demo applying for a spot at CMJ Music Marathon in New York, the Pickups were just a bunch of friends from L.A. who knew each other from various local bands and started playing together for laughs. Lead singer Brian Auger's roommate Nikki Monninger wanted to learn how to play bass, and Aubert's former girlfriend wanted to make noise on drums. During one practice session, Monninger turned on a tape recorder and sent the result to CMJ along with an unusual bio. "It was about her cat named Cauliflower," recalls current drummer Christopher Guanlao in an e-mail interview from a tour stop in Belgium. "How he would cuddle with her at night and how he would bring back presents like a dead mouse or lizard. I think she put somewhere on the cat bio that Silversun Pickups was a band, and the rest is history." After playing the CMJ show in New York, offers started coming in and Aubert, whose fledgling outfit was so loose he had to run over and kick the kick drum to get the drummer to change beats, realized he had to get a real band together. Keeping bassist Monninger, recruiting Guanlao on drums and friend Joe Lester on keys, the Pickups started to become a unit, practicing their craft onstage. The first release, '05s Pikul, was a live EP. But the band now feels that effort was not a true representation of what they sound like in person, capturing that sound on their latest, '06s Carnavas. "The funny thing is there was really nothing about Carnavas that was live," Guanlao says. "We built that record one sound at a time, but in the end, it has a little bit of a live vibe to it." Still, he says, nothing they've captured on tape yet beats the band live. "We push the sound a little more, stay more ahead of the beat, keep the urgency and be a little more unpredictable than the album." That unpredictability has critics scrambling to come up with a label for the band's sound. Space-rock, post-grunge and punk have all been tried on for size, but none seem to fit. Guanlao says they found inspiration growing up with all those genres and still love that music today. "We didn't set out to make that kind of record, but if people equate it or that time period, it's fine with us," the drummer says diplomatically. But by now, things have reached the point where the band is being recognized for things other than their sound. The band is in talks with Gibson about a trademark line of Silversun guitar pickups. "I think the release date for the Silversun pickups (hand-wound by a member of the band) will be out in Guitar Centers and Sam Ash's around the world in August 2078," Guanlao says. Despite all the attention, success has not inflated the band members egos -- yet. They're still a bit overwhelmed when required to do an encore. "In L.A., we were always a support act," Guanlao explains. "So to headline a show is great, but we're not used to it. So when we do headlining gigs, and the crowd is enjoying it and they want an encore, it's a tiny bit surprising rather than something expected." They'd better get used to it. Although Guanlao says he longs for the day when all kids around the world are putting Silversun pickups into their guitars for $129.98 plus tax, he's discovering a down side to all the attention. When asked about his hopes for the future, Guanlao had only one wish. "Time off," he says. "I have a new apartment that I've had for four months that I've actually only been in for a total of three weeks." The Silversun Pickups will play Amos' Southend on December 4 for the Not So Acoustic Christmas with Flyleaf and Madina Lake. Tickets are $20 in advance and $23 on the day of the show. Doors open at 7 p.m.

http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/...id=oid%3A342419 WAITING ON THE MUSE: For Nanci Griffith, who performed at Jannus Landing this Friday, inspiration could come at any time. BY PETER B. GALLAGHER Friday night, when Nanci Griffith summons her pale skies, chunks of moon and mountains of sorrow to the stage at Jannus Landing and breathes her special whiskey bent into the hidden angels, endless highways and echoing memories that haunt her music, something about downtown St. Petersburg may well end up immortalized in future song. Jeff the downtown fiddler; that cranky guy who sells smoothies; suave Emmanuel at the Garden; Shanna, the world's most beautiful homeless girl -- somebody somehow may call down Griffith's muse. "I never know when it's gonna hit me. ... but I am always ready. It might happen Friday. It could happen anytime," admits the prolific Texas singer/songwriter. "It's called inspiration. That's the only thing that works for me. I don't ever just sit down to just write a song. I have to be inspired first. Then the melody and lyrics will flow." Her natural ability to generate poignant images -- the wings of a blackbird, a field of summer, drive-in movies, a clock with no hands, the Mekong Delta -- into songs that actually played on the radio has driven Nanci Griffith's life since childhood. Twenty-six albums since her discovery at age 14 (around a campfire in her hometown of Austin, Texas), Griffith has a catalog of more than 200 recorded original songs, seven Grammy nominations (one win: 1994, Best Contemporary Folk Album) and has penned Billboard hit songs for a dozen artists, including Willie Nelson and Emmy Lou Harris ("Gulf Coast Highway"), Kathy Mattea ("Love At The Five and Dime") and Suzy Bogguss ("Outbound Plane"). "Soon as I was old enough, I hit the road and drove myself all across America to play my songs wherever they would let me," she says forcefully, proud of her status as a true American musical road warrior. "Back then [in the early 1980s] it wasn't fashionable to be on an indie label. It wasn't fashionable to sing the kinds of songs I was singing. I had to bring my music directly to the people. I drove, with my guitar, all over this land. I didn't go back home for years." Out on the road, she met up with others like herself -- new-generation country troubadours Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, Robert Earl Keen, John Prine and the like -- and rolled into Nashville with Rolling Stone describing her unique musical form as "folkabilly." Two decades later, she remains a bright star on the Music City's eclectic independent acoustic scene. Admirers among her fellow artists are legion, including Bob Dylan, who was so impressed by Griffith's wonderful finger-picking arrangement of his "Boots of Spanish Leather," he invited her to perform the classic at his Madison Square Garden tribute concert in 1992. (You can find Nancy's version on YouTube.) "I'm looking forward to St. Pete and getting warm. I'll have my band with me," Griffith promises, referring to the Blue Moon Orchestra she has had since 1986: guitarist Tom Miles, bassist Alana Rocklin and percussionist Pat McInerney. Local fans will remember McInerney as the drummer in the popular Tom Gribbin and the Saltwater Cowboys country-rock band of the early '80s. Gribbin, the show's promoter, is a longtime friend of Griffith, who has not appeared in Florida since 2001. Griffith's lilting voice and acoustic guitar work set the tone for a ride through her disappearing dream world, her lyrical portraits teetering on the edge of leaves turning, lovers breaking up, last train rides and women climbing into Ford Econolines to get the hell out of town in the middle of the night. Her performances are sprinkled with strong political symbols against war. A longtime advocate of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Griffith is an active supporter of their Justice Project and the Journey of Hope -- both initiatives to end the death penalty. This summer, Griffith plans a return to the Belfast Songwriter's festival in Ireland, where she has toured often and is very well known for her performances on Chieftain albums. "The songwriter is very respected in Europe, especially Ireland. It's that same way in Austin and Nashville," she says. "It's important who wrote the song just as who performs it. That makes it a lot of fun for me."

Very cool, thanks for posting.

BY LOUIS BLACK Johnny Cash's career was in major trouble by the mid-1960s. He hadn't had a crossover hit on the Top 20 of the pop charts since "Ring of Fire" in 1963, although he had had a number of songs that went as high as No. 2 on the country charts. Scoring on the country charts, however, meant selling so many fewer copies than needed for the pop charts that you might not even register on them. But this doesn't even hint as to how severely his career had bottomed out. You can read the remainder of the article here: http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Is...id=oid%3A566273

http://southernshelter.com/2007/12/patters...ngsteen-40.html "Underneath The Covers 2" was a benefit for AIDS Athens, with several Athens bands covering their heroes' stuff. Patterson Hood did selections from Bruce Springsteen's Darkness On The Edge Of Town (don't worry, Clarence Clemons wasn't represented). In addition to usual cohorts John Neff, Brad Morgan and David Barbe, Patterson enlisted Jay Gonzalez (Nutria) for the crucial keyboard parts. Track 1 - Badlands Track 2 - Something In The Night Track 3 - Candy's Room Track 4 - Racing In The Street Track 5 - Adam Raised A Cain Track 6 - Darkness On The Edge Of Town

Do you have an "after" shot?

http://www.improveverywhere.com/2006/04/23/best-buy

I like Vs. from beginning to end and enjoy it on some levels better than the first record. I also like the rest of their entire catalog (studio releases). Yep, there's some tunes I like less than others but I don't discount the entire albums because of that.

Found these onsale while I was out Christmas shopping today, both at a very reasonable price (Buffett-$6.99, Zep-$11.34).

I saw it this afternoon at Best Buy of all place so my guess is, it isn't all that hard to find. You can always special order or purchase online if nothing else.

Yes, it is. Probably my favorite live DVD release of the year. Actually, one of the things I like about it is that it's not just a live performance disc but it also includes glimpes behind the scenes. Danny Clinch did an outstanding job on the cinematography on this one and Pearl Jam rise to the occasion both onstage and off.

Yep, that was a possibility but lack of funds was one of several things keeping us from doing that. The other would the "mitigating" factors I've refered to, mainly that the property was owned by my brothers and myself. They love Swansboro and the property but most of them wanted out. The other factors were the storms and the proximity to the highway. As much as it hurt to part with it we were left with very little recourse. I hope they do too, she has many wonderful stories to tell. Another great local treasure is Tommy Redd of Nantucket. Although he lives in Raleigh these days every once in a while one of his bands (Boogie Chillins, Soul Daddies) or even Nantucket will play the area. All of my older family members and friends saw Nantucket many, many times at local clubs growing up but I never saw them until the late 70s when they played Fayetteville on a bill with Cheap Trick and AC/DC (Nantucket was second on the bill as Cheap Trick was relatively unknown at the time). That was when they were at the top of their game and riding high on the success of their Epic Records debut. Unfortunately that fame would be short-lived and they'd soon find themselves dropped from the label. In the years since I've had an opportunity or two to speak with Tommy about his adventures with Nantucket and the many bands they shared bills with over the years. Some of his tales have finally been published in a book about AC/DC called Let There Be Rock: The Story of AC/DC. I first heard about it via The Mullet Wrapper (Tideland News) but have seen it several times since. It also made me wonder about the folks that built the small cabin and pier on the island just across from Dudley's as the people that built it are very seldom there (at least when I was still living on the Intracoastal). Also, for quite some time there was a houseboat down by the Emerald Isle bridge that was always a little controversial since they were actually living there. It appears they've moved on as I haven't noticed the boat during my last few trips down to the coast.