What I find funny is how people bash Plant for doing a lot of cover material over the course of his last few albums yet Led Zeppelin did the very same thing. Like Zeppelin, Plant has mined some of the finest vintage material out there (though it's relatively obscure to a lot of folks) but has managed to make it his very own with the very ample assistance of the Band of Joy (as well as those who played on Raising Sand and Dreamland). What he and his bandmates have conjured up is a very potent mix that embraces the music of the past with some of the Middle Eastern textures that have defined Zeppelin and Plant's best works, in the meantime coming up with something that is very original.

Megafaun w/ Bowerbirds at the Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, NC tomorrow night. This is a new venue located way out in the country that has only hosted a few live events so far including Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Gillian Welch and the Love Language. I'm not exactly looking forward to the drive but I'm most definitely looking forward to the music and to checking out the venue.

That's a matter of opinion. I'm not of a Page versus Plant mentality but I would love to see him do something, anything, new. The more time passes, the more I believe that may never happen. Hopefully, he'll surprise us all. Inevitability, folks like yourself who bare a grudge against Plant will compare whatever Page does to Plant's solo work and to what Zeppelin did as a band but to me, that's not the point in music. I would like to listen to it and form my thoughts on it based on it's own terms.

"Cheesy"? In what way? If anything, it was a return to the roots of Zeppelin with the use of the Middle Eastern instrumentation. As for it being acoustic, yes, a great deal of it was but at least 1/3 of Zeppelin's back catalog is acoustic based. There were also plenty of electric moments during the Page and Plant concerts. I also wouldn't call it a "reunion" because it wasn't. Even though it was a lot of songs that Zep did, at least they rearranged them to make the tunes not only exciting for them to play but for their audience to listen to. Thank goodness it wasn't simply a retread of what Zeppelin had done in the past. By your own admission, you know full well what you'd be getting into if you went to one of his concerts today so why go only to walk out? As for his current band being "disgraceful", The Band of Joy is a virtual who's who of some of the very best musicians out there that are also well known performers in their own right. Robert Plant isn't ripping off anyone. It sounds more like he's not meeting your expectations of what you think he should be doing. He's doing nothing any different than what Led Zeppelin ever did and that is challenging his audience. Sounds like you have a lot of growing up to do. He's made it abundantly clear that Zeppelin is a part of his past. Rather than whining about it, the best thing you can do at this point is accept his current musical direction. It doesn't mean you have to like it but longing for him to revisit his past isn't going to change anything.

He's played with Fred Durst, Puff Daddy and many others, why not Gene Simmons?

Rolling Stones Plan London Jam Session

You're right, thanks for providing the correct one.

The White Album had "the Beatles" embossed on the cover whereas Led Zeppelin IV had nothing written on the cover or spine letting anyone know that it was a Led Zeppelin record. As for it being a "marketing ploy", yes, I'm sure that played a role but it was also Zeppelin's way of sending a "fuck you" to the industry in general. In regards to the 80s, some of my very favorite music was made in that decade. If all you listened to was MTV, then maybe I could understand your frustration but there was much more to the music world back then than MTV. Funny, the people that miss MTV list that as it's "golden age" but they're also the same people that knock the 80s music-wise. Never have understood that. Sounds like an attempt to have your cake and eat it too.

It has everything to do with the 40th anniversary of the release of the fourth album. I can't seem to find it now but there was one post that said to look forward to lots of posts surrounding the original release of the album that would include old advertisements and other memorabilia.

Stipe & Mills do an interview on Norwegian television.

I bought this back when it first came out (which has been quite some time ago) so I'm not sure if it's even still available on newsstands anywhere. Though it could probably be ordered directly from Mojo.

To give R.E.M.'s Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage: 1982–2011 a spin (including the three previously unreleased songs) courtesy of NPR's First Listen series, click on the album cover below:

Hit a couple vinyl/CD shows in Raleigh and Carrboro today. Still no sign of a copy of a first pressing of R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe" 45 but I did finally track down something I've been looking for for a long time, David Lindley's Mr. Dave (his solo debut) on CD. Aside from the double sets (the Meters, the Neville Brothers, Bob Marley & the Wailers), I found most of the rest of these for around $2-3 a piece. The Cars' double CD collection was $5.

Even though I've been a fan of Willie Nelson since the 70s, I never did see him in concert until the 00s. It was a good concert but he never seemed to be able to finish an entire song so it came across as one long medley. Unfortunately that gave his concert the air of someone performing at Branson that is well beyond their prime. Still, I finally I got to see Willie Nelson in concert and for that I am grateful but I wish I had seen him back in the 70s or 80s instead before he started up with the Vegas/Branson routine. I also saw Chuck Berry a few years ago when he played a free concert as part of Raleigh Wide Open. I had been warned beforehand by friends that had seen him before that I needed to be on time because Chuck plays 30 minutes and that's it. There's NO encore. I arrived in plenty of time and he was great, even if it was a trainwreck at times (one song faded into the next, probably not hard to do since they all sound so similar). At the end, he invited any girls that wanted to, to get up on stage with him. About mid-way through that, he slowly slithered off of the stage (while still playing guitar). Once he reached the backstage area, which everyone could see since it was held out on the street, he took off his guitar, gave me a tip of his captain's hat (I was standing right on the rail) and went into the Marriott where he was staying, which was directly behind the stage. That was it but I'm very glad I got to see Chuck Berry, a living legend if ever there was one. Local News & Observer music writer David Menconi also got this great story about Chuck's search for barbecue which is well worth reading.

From the All Things Music page on Facebook: ON THIS DATE (41 YEARS AGO) November 5, 1970 - Led Zeppelin: “Immigrant Song” b/w "Hey Hey What Can I Do" (Atlantic 45-2777) 45 single is released. "Immigrant Song" is a song by Led Zeppelin, released as a single from their third album, Led Zeppelin III, on this date in 1970. "Immigrant Song" was written during Led Zeppelin's tour of Iceland, Bath and Germany in mid-1970. The opening date of this tour took place in Reykjavík, Iceland, which inspired Plant to write the song. As he explained: “We weren't being pompous ... We did come from the land of the ice and snow. We were guests of the Icelandic government on a cultural mission. We were invited to play a concert in Reykjavik and the day before we arrived all the civil servants went on strike and the gig was going to be cancelled. The university prepared a concert hall for us and it was phenomenal. The response from the kids was remarkable and we had a great time. 'Immigrant Song' was about that trip and it was the opening track on the album that was intended to be incredibly different.“ Just six days after Led Zeppelin's appearance in Reykjavik, the band performed the song for the first time on stage during the Bath Festival.

Below is a clip of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit from Letterman last night. They also did a couple of songs ("Alabama Pines" and "Go It Alone") that are available as bonus performances which you can watch here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXiyWiUgp9M