Dan Baird and Homemade Sin at the Berkeley Cafe in Raleigh this Thursday. Really looking forward to this one as Homemade Sin includes three original members of the Georgia Satellites as well as Jason and the Scorchers lead guitarist Warner Hodges. The opening band isn't too shabby either, Terry Anderson and the Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team.

So, which was it, "phoned in" or "among the top 5 gigs" you've ever witnessed?

Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 performing in Tel Aviv.

Aretha Franklin covers the Beatles.

Obviously he can't prove it as it's in the rumor stage but here's the poster.

Not that those people are actually capable of that but I'm sure there's lots of outstanding musicians out there that excel at their craft yet aren't exactly English majors.

They may crossover into the Top 40 charts but I can't say I've ever thought of them as a "Top 40" or "Pop" band. I think of them more as a rock n' roll band with enough appeal to reach an audience outside of Modern Rock radio. Plus, there was what Grohl had to say at the Grammys earlier this year. That alone helps to set them apart from what generally appeases the masses. http://youtu.be/yuAo7aFiQEI

For anyone that may be interested, here's a link to all of this year's offerings.

That would be very refreshing to see (and hear).

I'm not particularly a fan of the Foo Fighters but it's pretty obvious that Grohl has a tremendous amount of respect for Page and Zeppelin. It seems to run both ways as Page and Jones have also shared a stage with them. At any rate, I can't say that I've ever thought of them as a bunch of "hacks", "low-rent" or otherwise.

^7.53/10 Hard to go wrong with Zappa. http://youtu.be/gK8GeZEVHsA

Beautiful...

I really enjoyed listening to Mike Mills spin some vinyl (as well as CDs and mp3's) on Dave FM in Atlanta yesterday. There were also a few surprises such as a phone call from R.E.M.'s manager Bertis Downes and an appearance from Johnny Hibbert of Hib-tone Records, the label that issued R.E.M.'s very first single, "Radio Free Europe" b/w "Sitting Still". For anyone that may have missed it, you can still listen thanks to the podcast that's been uploaded to the Dave FM site here. There's also a Photo Gallery and a copy of Mike's Playlist.

I think I got my latest subscription to Rolling Stone for free when I ordered a ticket through Ticketmaster otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't go out of my way to subscribe to it. Since I enjoy keeping up with and reading about music, I couldn't turn it down. And yes, their primary focus has always been music but they've also always delved into other areas including politics and pop culture, that goes all the way back to their very first issues that were printed on newsprint. As for them being the "gatekeepers of rock n' roll", I don't necessarily agree with that even though Jann Wenner obviously plays a very substantial role as to who is and who isn't inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. If someone sees Rolling Stone magazine itself as "gatekeepers" then it is more likely that they've cast those aspersions onto the magazine themselves. Personally, I'm fully capable of making up my own mind about what I do and don't like, I don't need Rolling Stone (or any other magazine, blog, website, etc.) to make up my mind for me. Since I'm someone that likes to keep up with music, I do pay attention to a great deal of their articles, just as I do with some of the other magazines you mentioned but I don't consider just one of them to be the be all and end all when it comes to music journalism. Mojo has some great writing but more often than not, they're a very backward looking magazine as the majority of their feature articles are about past events or artists. That may make for some great reading but it does very little to inform me about what's going on in the music world at present.

From the All Things Music Plus page on Facebook: ON THIS DATE (33 YEARS AGO) March 23, 1979 – Van Halen Van Halen II is released. # ALL THINGS MUSIC PLUS+ 4.5/5 # Allmusic 4/5 # Rolling Stone (see original review below) Van Halen II is the second album by Van Halen, released on this date in 1979. While it's tough to follow up a classic, Van Halen II comes close to matching the brilliance of the band's debut. Once again, the record begins with a fat bass line from Michael Anthony, and his piercing background vocals are featured on "You're No Good," an explosive cover of the Linda Ronstadt tune. While the group's early material was slightly too heavy for Top 40 airplay, here they take a commercial stab with the brilliant "Dance the Night Away" and "Beautiful Girls." "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" features the trademark wails of David Lee Roth, and Eddie Van Halen's magical soloing. Alex Van Halen's playing takes a slightly complex turn on "Outta Love Again" with some funky drum fills. Eddie shows his versatility with the gorgeous, flamenco-styled solo "Spanish Fly." The band kicks it full throttle once again on "D.O.A.," which accelerates to a mighty finish. "Women in Love" features lessons from Mr. Roth on dealing with female fickleness. Van Halen II would go on to be a huge success, reaching the U.S. Top 10. This remastered album leaves the band sounding better than ever. COVER The black-and-yellow guitar on the back of the album is buried with Dimebag Darrell. Eddie Van Halen placed it in his casket at his funeral because Dimebag had said it was his favorite. However, Eddie himself stated in interviews that the guitar itself was not actually used on the Van Halen II album, as it had only been completed just in time for the photo shoots for the album. David Lee Roth is shown in a cast in the inner liner notes, as he allegedly broke his right foot making the leap and accidentally landing on the bottom of the microphone stand also seen in the picture on the back cover art. ORIGINAL ROLLING STONE REVIEW Rock archaeologists have recently unearthed conclusive evidence (some liner notes contained in the ancient Dead Weight Scrolls) that the subspecies of heavy metal known as thud rock was born way back in the paleolithic mists when a certain strain of Heidelberg man (Mondo erectus) began banging on a garbage can with the skull bone of a chimpanzee. Predictably, these findings received scant attention in the world's music press -- until the discovery off the coast of Sumatra last month, of a No. 5-gauge trash barrel whose artfully dented surface had markings that could only have been made by a slope-headed Stone Age percussionist. And now a research team of MIT-trained musicologists has deduced that this early primate was pounding out the same hectic boogie tempo found throughout Van Halen II. Both anthropologists and musicians were stunned by the news, and Dr. Kenneth Clark and Leonard Bernstein are reportedly collaborating on a book about the breakthrough (with Robert Stigwood holding the rights). Phew. Talk about history repeating itself! Van Halen is the latest rock act to fall out of a family tree of deadbeats whose ancestry includes slave drummers on Roman galleys, Ginger Baker's Air Force and the street crews of the New York City Department of Sanitation. But this blockbusting four-man band is not without some outside influences. Scattered throughout Van Halen's second album are various Vanilla Fudge bumps and grinds, an Aerosmith-derived pseudobravado, a bit of Bad Company basement funk and even a few Humble Pie miniraveups. And check out these timelessly ponderable lyrics lifted form "Beautiful Girls": "I got a drink in my hand!/I got my toes in the sand!.../All I need is a beautiful girl!" Mighty lead singer David Lee Roth hammers the maxim home with a flurry of blind yowls, ain't-we-got-fun guffaws and clever asides like "Awww!" "Come this way!" "Sit down right here!" "Ooooooh-la-la!" and "I think I got it now!" From "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" to "D.O.A.," the material on Van Halen II comes up consistently ruminative and semirollicking, fleshed out as it is by the stilted instrumental blarings of lead guitarist Edward Van Halen, bassist Michael Anthony and drummer Alex Van Halen. Thanks to the behind-the-scenes assistance of "guitar technician" Robin (Rudy) Leiren and "drum kit set up" craftsman Gregg Emerson, the players are free to re-create every familiar squawking fuzz-tone riff, leaden bass run, cowbell clunk and rumbling drum eruption known to their genre. And yet the LP retains a numbing live feel, with Roth's repertoire of deft "Uh-huhs" and train-whistle exhortations ("Whoa-whoa whooooo!") occasionally segueing into impromptu snickers that are shared by the entire group. Even as I write, Van Halen is scaling the topmost reaches of the nation's record charts and conquering arena-sized crowds from coast to coast. Like the Stone Age, these flawless thud rockers will probably be around for a long time -- and they deserve any notice they get. Dig it or not, I've had this amazing thirty-one-minute artifact on my turntable for hours, and after almost one careful listening. I'm utterly convinced that the members of Van Halen must have been up half the night creating it. What an effort. ~ Timothy White, Rolling Stone (July 12, 1979) TRACKS: All songs written by Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth, except where noted. 1. "You're No Good" (Clint Ballard, Jr.) 3:16 2. "Dance the Night Away" 3:06 3. "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" 2:52 4. "Bottoms Up!" 3:05 5. "Outta Love Again" 2:51 6. "Light Up the Sky" 3:13 7. "Spanish Fly" (Instrumental) 1:00 8. "D.O.A." 4:09 9. "Women in Love..." 4:08 10. "Beautiful Girls" 3:56

So, what was your "sigh" alluding to in an earlier post? Not a fan of Plant's next musical direction (without even hearing it yet)?

I don't buy into the whole "music is dead" nonsense. Everywhere I turn I see signs of life but maybe that's because I live in a region that's very supportive of live music. One band in particular that's caught my ear in recent years is Last Year's Men but they're only the tip of the iceberg. This was filmed at the Churchkey Records day party at Tir na nOg in Raleigh during the first Hopscotch Music Festival in 2010.

When asked about why they're not in the Hall of Fame in interviews, the members of Rush don't seem to care. Meanwhile, it's an obvious bone of contention with Simmons. If you haven't read the article I posted a link to above, you might want to read it just to see how ignorant the guy is. Not just about who and who isn't in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame but how completely out of touch he is with music in general. After reading that it's no wonder they aren't in. As for Rolling Stone magazine, I consider myself to be a pretty passionate music fan and I read it. Yeah, there's lots of articles in it that I may skip over but there's usually one or two that I find very worth my while even if it's not about an artist I particularly care for. The recent issue with Whitney Houston on the cover is a prime example. I was never a fan of her music but I found the article about her in that issue to be very compelling reading.

Dancing Outlaw is most definitely real. If you've got a few extra minutes to spare, I highly recommend reading this interview with the filmmaker that was published in The Austin Chronicle a number of years ago.

Rush was also influenced by the sound of U2 for a time but I don't think that ever defined them anymore than them being influenced by the Police did. Big Star and the Replacements are a couple of other bands that have been extremely influential on lots of other artists but I doubt they'll ever be inducted into the Rock n' Roll of Fame. That doesn't lessen their impact any.

Alice Cooper from the Easy Action era appearing in the movie Diary of A Mad Housewife performing Steppenwolf's "Ride With Me" which turns into "Lay Down and Die Goodbye" by the end of the clip.

Agreed, I just didn't expect to see The Band mentioned. I figured groups like the MC5 and the Animals would have made up much of his list.

I can think of lots of artists I never saw that I would have liked to have seen but one that stands out for sure is The Replacements. I've since seen Westerberg and Stinson perform separately which is obviously not quite the same but I'm glad I've been able to see them perform, especially Westerberg since that seems to be such a rare thing for him these days.