...The Quick And Easy Way...

...leads to the Dark Side of The Force. I wanted to make a quick post so I'm just gonna go on about whatever comes up in shuffle mode on my IPOD. It's a popular blog gimmick and I love it so here it goes!

1. Aerosmith "Rag Doll" (live)

My Ipod has been Aerosmith crazy lately, almost like it could sense a tremor in The Force. How has this year gone for the Beantown boys? Guitarist Brad Whitford got hurt, then I think drummer Joey Kramer got hurt, then I think bassist Tom Hamilton had an operation, then Steven Tyler fell off a stage-and all that before the recent drama. Tyler's revolving door answers to if he's in or out of Aerosmith gives me a headache. I'm so glad I got to see them live a few years ago, even with them playing a truncated set and Hamilton being absent (I believe he was battling Cancer at the time) they were great. "Seasons Of Wither" was awesome in that show.

2. White Stripes "Conquest"

One of my favorite White Stripes songs, unique with that Spanish sound added to the heavy drums / guitar combo that is their trademark. Jack White's vocal has a playful absurd tone to it which is very funny. I often skipped to this song on the CD during my commute to work a few years back, it got me pumped up like I was bull fighting or something.

3. Arcade Fire "Intervention"

Not since the glory days of Rick Wakeman can I recall this much church organ in a song. Off the excellent Neon Bible album, I like the downtrodden mood and cynicism balanced with longing for a way out in this track.

4. Led Zeppelin "Stairway To Heaven"

And she's buy-yuy-ying a sta-hair-way...to he-avennn. Well, I'm going to have some time to do some typing now won't I? For the first five years or so of my buying and listening to rock music, I did not hear this song. Heard it about it, yes, but actually heard it, no. Once I did hear it, I thought "Is that it?". Years later in college I had a tv production class where the assignment was to create a production about a poem. I asked if song lyrics counted (because I don't know poetry from jack) and was told yes, so my production was me reading the lyrics to this song while we did slow camera movements on pics taken from a Best Photos From Life Magazine issue. After reading the lyrics over and over from this assignment I came to appreciate the song more. While they didn't invent the soft to loud song pace, their influence is unmistakable on other rock bands that copy this structure. The best rip off? Whitesnake's "Sailing Ships" from the Slip Of The Tongue disc. Guitarist Steve Vai tears it up while Coverdale wails, blasphemous as it is I like "Sailing Ships" better than "Stairway".

5. Courtney Jaye "I Need Love"

This is off one of the Paste Magazine samplers, this is my first listen of it. Hmmm...pleasant Country rock with a sort of George Harrison slide guitar lick and clip cloppy percussion. A sort of updated 70's feel. Stuff like this is what I like about Paste samplers, it gives me exposure to new music that fits my style. Twangy female vocal is good. Nice song, it's growing on me.

6. Jake Shimabukuro "3rd Stream"

Another Paste Magazine track, very intricate acoustic guitar here. Sort of Hawaiian mixed with some Spanish guitar it sounds like. I like acoustic guitar solos where it's very complex with all these neato nimble finger moves you can hear. This is even better than the last song, good stuff. Makes me want to go to Starbucks and order a Mocha Latte. I think the free Itunes download I got from Starbucks for Roberto Y Gabriela is in the same vein. Impressive...most impressive. (An update, now that I've looked this up on You Tube dude is playing a ukelale. Wow)

7. The Beatles "Here Comes The Sun"

In my book, George Harrison is the best Beatle. For me, that is. Lennon's avant garde touches could get a little too "out there" for me, while McCartney's melodicism could get a bit wimpy. Harrison had a direct approach that balanced melody and guitars in a way that appealed to me...that is except for hippy trippy stuff like "Within You Without You" of course. When Harrison died, this song was featured in just about every televised tribute to the man and with good reason, its a great song. So breezy and hopeful without being slight. Awesome.

8. Boston "What's Your Name"

I have a ton of Boston on my Ipod, which would mean something except they only have like five albums. This came from the Walk On Cd aka the one where they started using synthesizers. Seemed totally wrong for Boston, who proudly advertised on their record jackets that they didn't use synthesizers, would turn around and use them. It's not like it saved them time in recording, the gap between Walk On in 1994 and the prior album Third Stage in 1986 was eight freakin' years. Oh, back to the song. I love the guitar solo part of "What's Your Name", where the multitracked guitars solo in unison while another guitar in the background makes this descending sound like a spaceship landing.

9. Tommy TuTone "867-5309 Jenny"

A classic of arena sized power pop, it instantly takes me back to 1982. All those news stories of people dialing this phone number, a number that belonged to real people, was funny or what we in '82 liked to call "gnarly". Too bad Tommy TuTone couldn't come up with another humdinger of a pop hit like "Jenny". This song still fires me up and has me dreaming of the numerous county fairs this song must be played at annually. I want me some corn dogs!

10. Mary J Blige "Real Love"

Mary Mary, why you buggin? Sorry, couldn't resist that. You know, as big a hit as this song was in the early 90's it was some tv commercial a year back that got me into this song. Was it a phone commercial? Probably. I like the occasional R&B song and Blige has come up with a winner on occasion, she had some song that sampled part of a soap opera theme (Young and the Restless?) for an aptly titled tune "No More Drama" that I liked too. Didn't care as much for her duet with U2 on "One" though, a little over the top on that one. Anyway, I like the groove here with the slow heavy bass and antsy piano figure on top while Mary soulfully wails away.

All right, that was painless - for me that is. Not as painful as being cut off at the legs with a light saber or anything. And now Lord Vader...rise!

Focus On...Over The Hills And Far Away

How can you decide to post about the career of Robert Plant and not mention Led Zeppelin in some detail at some point? How I ask you? Well, I guess if I was a bigger fan I would own all his solo albums and could do a post about that. But I'm not enough of a fan to have all those albums, so I'll have to post about Led Zeppelin. This poses a second question: what can I say about Led Zeppelin that hasn't already been said before? Their music has been studied, dissected and analyzed for decades. So the only thing I have left for me to say about Led Zeppelin is the effect their music has had on my life. Since I live Led Zeppelin but can't say I'm their #1 fan, this comes out like cliff notes - a smattering of incidents and memories here and there. As Steve Martin used to say, "And awwayyy we go!"

• Early in life, Led Zeppelin rarely came up at all. When they came up, it was by reputation of being a Satanic rock band (it was the '70's, lots of bands were considered Satanic back then.)


• The first Led Zeppelin song I have a distinct memory of hearing was "Kashmir" from the scene in 1982's movie Fast Times At Ridgemont High. I was such a newbie to Led Zep I didn't know when Damone says to play side 2 of Led Zeppelin IV that "Kashmir" isn't on there. But I didn't care, the image of cruising to that heavy groove with Jennifer Jason Leigh was a great cinematic moment.


• In High School I learned Led Zep and Black Sabbath were the measuring stick for all other Hard Rock bands that followed. I notice Sabbath seems to have more influence on people with them writing "OZZY" on their knuckles but more bands sound like Zep.


• In High School I mention to a group of friends I've never heard "Stairway to Heaven", only heard of it. I'm told the song has been played to death and is overrated.


• After moving to Sacramento, I listen to more radio which includes a lot of Led Zep. "Over The Hills And Far Away" comes up often and becomes my favorite Led Zep song at the time.


• I watch Atlantic Record's 40th Anniversary show which includes a performance by Led Zeppelin. At the time I was blown away by the performance and even transfer "Whole Lotta Love" to a cassette tape from the VHS tape. Earlier this week I found this performance on You Tube and found the performance lacking, but back then I was mesmerized.


• Several bands copy or are inspired by the Led Zeppelin sound, causing Robert Plant to slam all of them. Around this time I listen to both Plant's solo album (the previous post) and Jimmy Page's Outrider.


• My College fuels a taste for more Zep, first by seeing a tribute band play in one of the school cafeterias and then later in the year catching Dread Zeppelin outside of the Student Union lawn. Dread Zeppelin, a reggae band playing Led Zep covers fronted by an Elvis impersonator, is really entertaining and makes me a fan of "Heartbreaker" after hearing it combined with "Heartbreak Hotel".


• I buy my first Led Zep CD with Led Zeppelin II because it has "Whole Lotta Love" and "Heartbreaker" from my local Rainbow Records store. I eventually buy the first four Led Zeppelin albums which includes "Stairway to Heaven". Finally got to hear it.


• For a course in video production we are required to create a program based on a poem. I ask if song lyrics count and am told yes so I read "Stairway to Heaven" while displaying photographic images from a Life Magazine issue on the best photos of all time. Got a good grade on that one!


• While dating my girlfriend who would later be my wife, I note that she likes Zeppelin and buy her the box set Remasters as a gift.


• John Paul Jones arranges the strings for R.E.M.'s Automatic For The People disc and does a really good job!


• While playing Led Zeppelin at me and my wife's first and only apartment together, some new neighbors move in. The girl remarks that her boyfriend thought it was cool we were playing Led Zeppelin. This turns out to be the only cool thing to ever happen with these people. Their drug parties and boyfriend's physical abuse come through loud and clear in the paper thin walls of the apartment. We call the Police on them a few times which fails to help at all except make enemies out of them. As a result the couple and their friends take to throwing eggs and/or peeing on our door. At least we suspect it was them. My wife puts shaving cream on their parked car while we move out (we weren't moving because of them though they were annoying).


• In the mid 90's while listening to the box set, I get hooked on "Since I've Been Loving You" 'cause it's an awesome song.


• The movie Dazed and Confused is really good and so I go binge on that song for awhile too.


• Sheryl Crow covers "D'yer M'ker" which she reveals means "Did you make her?" which in turn means "Did you sleep with that girl?" I had no idea. Stone Temple Pilots cover "Dancing Days" about the same time, I like their version better than the original even though it's practically the same arrangement. Go figure.


• Somewhere around this time I realize the song title is not "Misty Mountain Top" but "Misty Mountain Hop". D'oh!


• Jimmy Page pairs up with Whitesnake singer David Coverdale to form Coverdale / Page. The combination of Zep and the 'Snake is pretty potent stuff, but Plant quickly pulls Page back to his side leaving Coverdale rejected.


• Robert Plant and Jimmy Page re team sans John Paul Jones but their artsy groove fails to catch my ear, though I buy the CD for cheap a decade later anyway. Turns out it was a pretty good CD.


• On the radio I hear a live version of Coverdale / Page's "Shake My Tree" from Plant and Page, the version kicks ass.


• My wife includes "Nobody's Fault But Mine" on a mix tape and it becomes my new favorite Led Zeppelin song. The groove and expert timing on the drums is astounding. I become a big fan of John Bonham.


• Around this time I realize my favorite Led Zeppelin album is Houses of the Holy and play "The Ocean" a lot.


• I forget exactly how, but I get hooked on "Hey Hey What Can I Do?" in the late 90's.


• Jimmy Page begins attaching himself to anything and everything remotely Zeppelin like a drowning man clinging to a life preserver, worst of which is a ridiculous version of "Kashmir" he makes with Puff Daddy/Diddy/Don't he/Whatever where the lyrics are changed to something like "Come to Me" for the Godzilla soundtrack.


• A good thing comes out of Page's renewed obsession with his old band, he teams up with the Black Crowes for a live album and tour performing Led Zeppelin songs. They sound great! I listen to a lot of their take on "What is and What Should Never Be" at this time.


• One of my favorite films, Almost Famous, is revealed to draw some inspiration from Cameron Crowe's experiences with Led Zeppelin. As well as The Eagles and of course, Heart.


• I borrow the Led Zeppelin DVD from a friend and enjoy watching footage of live Led Zep from the 70's.


• "The Immigrant Song" begins to appear in movies, first in Jack Black's comedy School of Rock and then later in a Shrek movie. I now associate the song with birds attacking after the Shrek movie.


• Led Zeppelin reunites for a one off performance. I patiently wait to see if it comes out on DVD. Rumors of a tour are squashed by Robert Plant's refusal to get involved due to his artistic integrity, which I respect.

That brings us to the present. I bought the Led Zeppelin CD Mothership last Christmas and enjoyed it a lot, what can I say, their music is timeless. I can't say I play Led Zeppelin regularly, but this is a good reminder to play them a little more than I do right now.

Midnight Madness - Lethal Weapon 2 Edition

Riggs and Murtaugh go after the bad guys in Lethal Weapon 2

The first two Lethal Weapon movies are among my favorites of all time, the mix of action and humor enhanced by Richard Donner's splashy direction are film making benchmarks to me. Lethal Weapon 2 had more jokes so I tended to like it a little more than the first film. The combo of Mel Gibson's tortured yet amused killing machine cop and Danny Glover's retiring old school family man cop had great chemistry, enough to carry them through two more sequels. I'll have to expand on this more some other time, but for now I just want to give a shout out to the Lethal Weapon movies, back when L.A. cops were considered cool, Mel Gibson was fun instead of demeaning and action was done with actual stunt people instead of CGI. Am I getting too old for this sh*t? Nope, just wanted to throw in a movie quote.

I've got two weeks to catch up on for media news, so here it goes -

Phish Food - The 90's jam band Phish are reuniting for live dates. I'm too lazy to come up with a good joke so here's the words "granola", "hacky sack", "porta potties", "hemp" - use as needed to have a laugh.

Get the Led Out - Robert Plant confirmed he's not involved with any Led Zep reunion, which is probably the right thing for Plant to do for himself but bums out millions of people. We should try to convince Plant to do it as part of an economic rebuilding plan for America and Europe. Because if they reunited they could charge just about any price they wanted to, why not pay off some national debt with it? C'mon Robert, the world needs you!

Apple of my Itunes - Catastrophe was averted a week ago when ITunes successfully beat back a rate hike from the record companies this week. If the hike had gone through, ITunes was threatening closure from loss of profitability. Sure ITunes has lower bit rates and lousy DRM in their downloads compared to say Amazon, but it's still hecka convenient. And I'm still lazy!

Living in the Future - Bruce Springsteen is set to play the halftime show to this season's Super Bowl. Please-no wardrobe malfunctions or phallic guitar stances, Boss. That would be scary.

The Magic is Back - There's talk of a Lethal Weapon 5 going around which would be great, except it sounds like the whole thing is going to be recast. That means no Mel Gibson, who has been away for awhile following his bad press and could probably use a comeback vehicle. Bring Gibson back I say, all he has to do is be nice to people of other races, sexes and sexual orientation. On second thought, maybe they should recast. Mel Gibson, dude, what happened to you?

Dr Bombay, come right away - Both Janet Jackson and Meat Loaf recently spent time in the hospital for undisclosed illnesses. Hopefully both performers will recover soon.

Ain't It Fun - The latest word all over the media is that Axl N' Rose's, er, Guns N' Roses long gestating album Chinese Democracy is set for a November release. And once it hits shelves, if it sells well I'm betting on a flurry of lawsuits over writing and performance credits because so many people have come and gone from these sessions over the years.

Romeo's Delight - After a very public divorce from Valerie Bertinelli, guitar virtuoso Eddie Van Halen is engaged to be married a second time. I wonder if EVH plays at his own weddings? It's not like he can find someone else that's better, plus I bet he gets really good rates on the wedding band.

Tempus Fugit - Yes is continuing with tour plans sans Jon Anderson, who bassist Chris Squire claims now supports the newly configured band. Hopefully if Anderson doesn't return to Yes, he'll be able to form another band out of ex-Yes members. It's happened before, why not again? Anderson, Bruford, Moraz and Rabin??

"I'm a smart person, what the hell was I thinking?" - is the sound byte in the making from the early word on Spears upcoming MTV special. Britney Spears continues on her carefully paced comeback trail with the release of the new single "Womanizer" complete with "Toxic" style video. Later there will be the aforementioned special coming where she allegedly explains some of her recent behavior. Personally, I've never been that into Spears music beyond "Toxic" (a good pop song, regardless of who sings it in my opinion) and have found her meltdown mildly entertaining but it's probably best for her own health to get sane again. But what you say about her company is what you say about society, I think Spear's recent career has said a lot about the pressure on young performers, the invasiveness on celebrities lives by media and the public's need for provocative dancing girls. If I was still in college, she would be a thesis paper onto herself.

Lethal Weapon 2 Trailer

Midnight Madness - Flight of the Conchords Edition

They act a little naive but very talented, The Flight of the Conchords make with the funny in their "Kiwi" act.

One of my favorite TV shows right now is Flight of the Conchords, while I was off work I watched the first season on DVD and got a kick out of their "Kiwi" humor. Gave me a lot of laughs. And now..

Perfect Crime - Blogger Kevin Cogill was arrested this week for leaking Guns N Roses songs from the long awaited Chinese Democracy album. Is he the new Shaun Fanning? My guess is no.

Promise of a New Day - A fourth judge, Kara Dioguardi, is being added to American Idol this season. If she's coherent and able to form complete sentences, Paula Abdul might be in trouble.

Whole Lotta Bleeding Love - Jimmy Page teamed up with "Bleeding Love" songbird Leona Lewis for an OK version of the Led Zep classic "Whole Lotta Love" at the Olympics finale. What I couldn't figure out is why they stuck Lewis on this hydraulic perch with a long dress. She looked like a bird hanging above Page's head.

Houses of the Holy? - In other possible Led Zep news, Jason Bonham is leaving Foreigner to work with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones on some new music. No news on Robert Plant being involved yet. If Plant opts out, is it too late for Coverdale / Page part 2?

The Truth is out there - in someone's pants apparently, David Duchovney is being treated for sex addiction. You know, playing a sex fiend on tv (he stars in the cable series Californication) probably doesn't help with that.

Rock & Roll Train finally pulls in - The new AC/DC song is brings back the thunder.

Return to Starbase - The Star Trek Experience in Vegas is closing down on September 1st. I never got around to going, bummer.

Who's Bad? - Michael Jackson turns 50 years old. Another milestone to reflect on how far the Gloved one has fallen.

My Apocalypse- Metallica's second new song is old school thrash, really good stuff.

The Cosmos Rocks? - Queen with Paul Rodgers has set 10/28 as their release date for the new album The Cosmos Rocks. Really? Is that really the album title? Because...it kinda sucks. I mean, the album could have been called Whopper Jr. and it still would have been better. Oh well, I guess everyone's a critic.

Out of Touch - Just for fun, I thought I would look at Billboard's Top 5 singles to see what they look and sound like.

5. Jesse McCartney - Leavin': This experiment may be rougher than I thought. Okay, first song down and it looks like this McCartney kid is about 13 years old and spends the whole video having sex on a bare mattress or back seat of a car. When he's not having sex, we get shot after shot of him over emoting his vocal runs. I have no idea what he's singing most of the time and no one leaves for anywhere in the video. So the point of this is a pretty boy that likes to have sex almost as much as he likes to look at himself. But I'm sure there's lots of tween girls enjoying this to put it in the Top 5.

4. Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl: I commented on this song a little while ago so I have nothing new to add here.

3. Kardinall Offishal feat. Akon - Dangerous: Sounds like a club jam, the beat is catchy and I think it's Akon singing the chorus (I have a hard time recognizing him when he's not dropping people on their head). Akon's voice has some of that electronic distortion on it to modernize the track. The rapper, I assume Offishal, has a bit of a Jamaician sound to his speech which makes it catchy. The video sells an upbeat urban image of hot girls and flashy images. As far as rap goes, I find this song tolerable (I'm not a big rap fan).

2. Chris Brown - Forever: Has elements of the McCartney song and the "Dangerous" song. The main point here is to show off Brown's dancing skills and position him as a guy ladies can count on. The song itself is inoffensive and has more of that electronic distortion on the vocal. For the most part, the song itself is forgettable.

1. Rihanna - Disturbia: Straight up Pop from someone on a major career roll, Rihanna's song is actually pretty good. She's found strong material and has a distinct tone to her voice. The video cleverly employs that stop and start insect speed motion that is usually reserved for horror movies. I don't like it as much as "Umbrella", but this is as pleasant as Pop music gets for old folks.

Thank you Bunny! - The Bunny has taken good care of me while I recuperate.

To close this bad boy out here's a Flight of the Conchords bustin a funny rap "The Hiphopopotamus vs the Rhymenoceros".

Flight of the Conchords "The Hiphopopotamus vs The Rhymenoceros"