King Arthur Movie Tristan

Keef.

It's hard to imagine that Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards lived to 65, and it would be easy to fire off a cockroach and Keith Richards joke and call it a birthday greeting. But I'll leave that to others.

It would be easy too, and entirely consistent with the tone of this blog, to comment on Keith Richards the guitar player. Maybe note that he is very underrated, talk about his use of open tunings, his sense of timing. But that's not what I'm going to do.

All fun aside, when your feting Keith you have to discuss the body of work from 1971 to 1974 at the least, from Sticky Fingers to It's Only Rock and Roll. Perhaps you could extend it backwards to 1969's Let it Bleed or 1967's Their Satanic Majesties Request or generously extend it forward to 1978's Some Girls.

But I will stick with 1971 to 1974, when Keith Richards was the driving creative force behind some of the greatest Rock and Roll ever produced, at any time, by anybody. It's for Gimme Shelter, Ain't Too Proud to Beg, It's Only Rock and Roll, Angie, Wild Horses, Brown Sugar and Can't You Hear Me Knocking to name a few. Great Rock and Roll that bears the creative imprint of Keith Richards more than any other person.

At Home in Hespeler wishes an unqualified happy 65th birthday to Keith Richards. However you got here, enjoy the day and thanks for the music.

What were you doing 365 days ago - to the minute. It's not often you can answer that question with any accuracy, but today is one of those days. It was exactly one-year ago today, at exactly 9:00 PM (4:00 PM shitty snowy Toronto time), that Led Zeppelin walked on the stage at London's 02 arena.

Led Zeppelin's legendary stage shows and relatively short career run meant that for many people, this was the concert they waited a lifetime for. I was one of those people. Their last American date was on my 14th birthday, their last Toronto date six years earlier. Seeing Led Zeppelin had always been a pipe dream.

I came close once. I arrived in London on Aug 4, 1979, the day of the legendary 1st Knebworth concert for a family vacation when I was 16. My aunt had arranged a ticket with a neighbour who was my age, but a delay in our flight meant I was too late. It would be my last chance to see Led Zeppelin for 28 years.

I wouldn't see London again for 28 years either, and it seems a fitting close that I should return to the city where it almost happened, and in the same year the Sex Pistols would reunite, to finally make it happen.

London was abuzz with the Sex Pistols in 1979, with Led Zeppelin in 2007. Taxi's adorned ads for the new CD compilation, Mothership. In stores, people were talking about the concert, asking us about it. The news covered the ticket line up the day before the show. It was an occasion as much as a concert.

It was a concert first, however. That was what it was all about, the show, the music. And on that front, more than any others, there would be no disappointment. The show! We sat patiently through an array of artists playing one, maybe two songs: Chris Squire and Alan White from Yes, Keith Emerson from ELP and Simon Kirke from Bad Company playing ELP's Fanfare for the Common Man opened the show. Magic, that was. Paul Rodgers was worthy of mention too. Strangely, they stopped the show for a twenty minute setup before Foreigner came on and Foreigner played one song, I Wanna Know What Love Is. "They tore down one drum kit, set up a second," I have joked to more than one person, "and the drummer pulls out his brushes!" One lousy ballad from the band that gave us Feels Like the First Time and Double Vision. You'd be disappointed if you weren't waiting for them to get off stage so Led Zeppelin could get on.

Zeppelin promised a 9:00 start (4:00 SSTT), and they came on exactly at 9:00 (4:00 SSTT). After a short video about the 1975 Tampa show, they hit with Good Times Bad Times, lights flashing to the intro, Jason Bonham paradiddling to his old man's beat, Led Zeppelin were back.




The first chills up the spine, the I can't believe it moment, came surprisingly during the next song, Ramble On. Never a favourite, at this moment, this exact point in time, it was perfect. The concert is, like many concerts, a blur of moments: more chills during In My Time of Dying, watching Jimmy Page strutting, yes strutting at 63 years old, playing that old slide blues guitar; Watching Jimmy strap on the double neck and knowing what was next - Stairway to Heaven; The legendary surrealness of No Quarter, blue lights coming through the stage fog; The never before played For Your Life from my favourite Zeppelin album, the vastly underrated Presence; Kashmir, lush, expansive mesmerizing. It was the true gem, true musical highlight of any show
I have seen; The young couple screwing (yes, you read that right) to Since I've Been Loving You in the seat in front of me redefining the slow minor key blues masterpiece; Whole Lotta Love, especially the moment when it seemed they were going to go old school, go into Elvis' Boogie Mama, and beyond like in their prime; Rock and Roll, ending with deceased John's most famous piece, his son Jason supplicating himself in a "I'm not worthy" manner before the boys at the end of it all.

From start to finish, magical. Jason Bonham indeed was worthy, whether the rest of us were so is an open question.

The trip to London was marred by a bad cold that kept me from being my best. The beer I couldn't quite digest, and in fact had to go to the flat warm stuff to survive. The food gave me trouble, and I stayed in a couple of nights, much to my travel partners disappointment, to try and keep myself going. But on this night I couldn't rest. Back at the hotel the bar was full of fellow travellers, revelling in post-Zeppelin ardour. The bar closed down, so we kept the night porter busy chasing beer for us to drink in the lounge. Sleep would be difficult coming, the night too perfect to let end.

People have asked since, was it worth it? What if they tour, was it still worth it? Yes and yes, is the answer. Every minute, every penny. And since the likelihood that Led Zeppelin will ever tour now seem as remote as ever, it was worth it more so now than then.

Worth every minute, worth every penny.


Crossposted to Ramble On

original review here.

C.F. Turner

When people think of Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) they think of Randy Bachman. But there where two surnames in the title and the second one was no less important to their success.

C.F. Turner was a guitar player turned bassist who backed as heavy a rhythm section as there was. More importantly, Turner was the de-facto lead vocalist who contributed lead vocals to classics such as Let it Ride, Roll on Down the Highway and Four Wheel Drive, not to mention lesser known but not lesser songs Not Fragile and Gimme Your Money Please.

To Fred Turner, the other big guy in the band, who surrounded himself with guys named Bachman, kicked it into Overdrive and took care of rock and roll business. For the last five years of the seventies he owned a piece of the world, and one summer night in 1975 he and his pals rocked the CNE where a young future blogger, at his first concert, became a life long rock and roll fan. Happy 65th Birthday.

Alex Lifeson.

My Rush fandom has suffered from diminishing returns since A Farewell to Kings back in 1977. While I still enjoy the early to late 70's Rush, and have a lot of time for later songs like Spirit of Radio, Limelight, Tom Sawyer and Freewill, none of those is why I salute Mr. Lifeson here today.

Alex Lifeson is one of a group of guitarists who shaped Rock and Roll in the latter 70's with their versatility. Along with the likes of Jimmy Page, Steve Howe, Rik Emmet and Steve Morse classical, jazz and country guitar playing was added to the rock guitarists repertoire. It was that influence that I sought in my own playing that made me take up classical guitar, a pursuit I would come back to 20 years later and still do daily.

So happy birthday for all the songs mentioned above, certainly. Happy birthday for the albums 2112 and A Farewell to Kings, absolutely. But most of all, happy 55th birthday Alex Lifeson for the small instrumental intro to the song A Farewell to Kings. A piece that I just had to learn and which, along with others, began me on a long, albeit crooked path, which I follow still.

Jeff Beck

It is normal procedure here at At Home in Hespeler to celebrate milestone birthdays. There are, however, exceptions and if you happened to play guitar for The Yardbirds between 1963 and 1967, there's a good chance I will honour you whichever birthday. So happy 64th birthday Jeff Beck.

Here's a Yardbirds scene with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck on guitar: Beck is the one with the, ahem, guitar problems:



And if you really want to know why the fuss about Jeff Beck, here's an example of him at his soulful best:

Yes bassist Chris Squire.

The Led Zeppelin concert in December began with a series of singers/performers from Atlantic Records playing a song, maybe two. To kick it off they enrolled Alan White (Drums/Yes), Simon Kirke (timpani/Bad Company), Kieth Emerson (keyboards/ELP) and Chris Squire performing Emerson Lake & Palmer's Fanfare for the Common Man (Written by Aaron Copeland). It was unexpected, magical and the absolute highlight of an otherwise disappointing opening portion of the show.

For that magical moment, if not for Roundabout, happy 60th birthday Chris Squire.

Update: I have been receiving media releases all morning about the upcoming Led Zeppelin concert at Bonnaro. A more than cursory look at the Bonnaroo line-up, however, will tell you that Lez Zeppelin, the all girl tribute band, and not Led Zeppelin will be playing in Tennessee this June. My apologies for reporting this erroneous story.

Led Zeppelin will do at least one more concert together, as the Bonnaroo Arts and Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee has announced that Led Zeppelin will be performing there this June.

The festival also features Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, which allows Plant to throw in a Led Zeppelin performance while keeping up his tour commitments with Krauss.

The question is, can a tour really be that far behind? Will the band again put all that work into one performance, and not keep the train rolling? A tour seems, in my opinion, more likely today than it did yesterday.

Tickets for Bonnaroo go on sale Saturday Dec 16th.

via Ramble On.

It’s been a busy few days in London, and I apologize I haven’t gotten around to a review earlier. Better late than never &tc. I suppose.Lets start with getting the negatives out of the way.

1) Organizationally, this was a disaster. Three-hour line-ups to get your tickets, followed by one-hour line-ups for tee shirts. Want a coffee while you’re in line, even that line-up was an hour long. The Starbucks people at the 02 didn’t expect to be busy when 20,000 people would be lining up for tickets?

2) One entrance, one exit from the building, even if that meant walking cattle like for 10 minutes around the building on the inside. And the “after party” line up stretched in front of the one exit in the place.

3) I got on the internet the first night, within hours of the first e-mails going out. Our seats in the nosebleeds where bloody partially obscured by hanging monitors, such that I assume John Paul Jones was in attendance, and Robert Plant looked more like Ichabod Crane then the Viking others are describing him as. Our side stage tickets also didn’t allow us to view, what others have told us, was an incredible backdrop show going on behind the band. It should also be noted that “fans” got to stand on the floor, or sit in the 400 “nosebleed” section. The best seats in the house went to VIPs: so much for that big load of crap coming out of Harvey Goldsmith’s office that this was for the real fans only. Real fans were shunted into lineups or aside while the VIPs got a huge number of great seats.

Now for the good: Led Zeppelin. The band was great. Musically they were very tight, Jones and Bonham connecting very well throughout the show. There was the odd false start to songs, and once during Dazed and Confused when the rhythm section seemed to not be connecting, but such points are nit picking, were short lived and understandable for any band that hasn’t played together for a while. They were otherwise very tight and very good.

Song wise, there was discussion that some songs were being re-arranged to suit Robert Plant’s vocals. If that was true, it was only noticeable on The Song Remains the Same, which sounded rather flat and uninteresting. A song that is usually bright and lively it was the opposite, very probably a victim of re-keying. Otherwise the songs themselves were very good and the set list strong.

Ah, the set list. One worry I had going into this show was that Jimmy Pages joke about Dazed and Confused, No Quarter and Moby Dick would take up over an hour of the show. It’s not 1977, I am not on acid and a 20-minute drum/violin bow on a guitar/organ solo is not cool. But Zeppelin understood this, and the solos were minimized. Yes, Page pulled out the bow, but a 19 minute Dazed and Confused not just makes sense, but was great, and the same applies to a shortened No Quarter was also a highlight. Moby Dick wasn’t offered, and in fact, wasn’t even joked about.

Complaints? One, well two: it really wasn’t long enough. By the time it was over it just felt like they were hitting a groove. I know the old show biz adage about leave them wanting more, but it felt like half a show somehow. It was a touch over two hours long, so it’s not really a complaint, but it really seemed as if it was a short show. Most bands after that long I think, “Finally.” Zeppelin, it’s “what? That’s it?” The second complaint? After bitching in the last chapter about solos, I shall now be entirely inconsistent. Page never played White Summer (nor did he pull out his blue and white Danelanctro guitar). I have always liked that piece, and it’s short enough and such a solid lead in to Kashmir that I wished he had. That is, however, mere quibbles.

A special note about Jason Bonham, who was incredible. Word is he had to be practically dragged on stage, ½ before show time telling the boys, between pukes, he couldn’t do it. He did it in spades however. He was brilliant, I think the best drummer I have ever seen. If not that, I have never seen a drummer dominate a show musically like he did. Some people after the show even saying he was better than his father, and he was good enough that I can believe it. This is a guy who is clearly wasting his talents playing with Foreigner. I noticed about five songs in, between songs Jimmy Page walked over to the drum riser and smiled at Bonham, who gave the thumbs up back. And at shows end during the final bow, Bonham got down in front of the other three and did a “I’m not worthy” bow: he was worthy.

In final, I haven’t seen a review that gave this show any less than a five out of five, one giving it a six. I will not disagree with either, going unqualified with a 5 out of 5. Here in England there are even some calling it the greatest concert ever. I have been trying to decide if I have seen better, and can’t think of any. Even if there was a better one in my past, the fact I can’t immediately decide so means this was plenty good.

No, I won’t equivocate: this was a great concert by a great band that was in great form. I simply can’t imagine how good these guys would be after a few shows to get the groove going. If they do tour, and it would be a crime if they don’t, I want to see them again mid tour. They would be an unimaginable force of music.

It's been a slow blogging period the past while, mostly because my internet connection is, on an inconsistent basis, sh*t. But only on my computer, and sometimes if move it to another room it works fine (sometimes not), and not just in Windows but on Linux as well and...

Trying to piece together a post, using web links and other overly complex technology is frustrating at best, throw this Fu*&ing thing through the window kind of fun at worst. In short, not something I'm really up to after a day at work or when I should be cooking/spending time with the family.

Meanwhile, I am off to London (England) on Thursday to see the Led Zeppelin reunion at the 02 arena next Monday. I may post occasional pictures of the day from my trip, and possibly a review. If you want more information, I have been running a small Led Zeppelin based blog for the past month and a bit, Ramble On, which has lots of Zeppelin news and which I will be updating from England up until the concert.

Separated at birth:

Darcy Tucker

and Bruce Springsteen

When I saw this mornings Toronto Sun cover I wondered, why is that old picture of Springsteen on the front page of the paper? Turns out he has a bum knee and won't against Atlanta. Or is it Tucker has the bum knee?

Either way, Springsteen is not playing Atlanta tonight.

I had tickets to see Springsteen on his way through town this past Monday, and much enjoyed my sixth Bruce and the E Street Band concert. While I spent the past few weeks catching up on Springsteen, listening to recordings of earlier shows on this tour, listening to some of the best live shows from previous tours, remembering how good Darkness on the Edge of Town, Born to Run or even The Rising is, much of my listening has been his new CD Magic.

This is for two reasons. 1) It is featured fairly prominently in the current live show and I didn't want to be sitting going "I don't know this song" when he played something from it. 2) It's a good CD.

I liked his last CD too, The Rising, but it was too long. Springsteen's best work, Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Born in the USA are 8 - 10 songs long and come in at about 45 minutes. The risings 15 songs come in at well over an hour, and could stand to be tightened up. Make it a 9 song 45 minute CD and it possibly ranks up there with Springsteen best stuff.

At ten songs and 47 minutes, Magic is a little tighter. It's also loaded up with fairly good songs. From the opening Radio Nowhere, which has been playing on the Radio Everywhere it seems, a good solid rocker that I liked on first listen and still do. You must, however, excuse the lift from Jenny Jenny (867-5309). the opening guitar line and verse chords are almost identical, although Springsteen rocks the line up while Tommy Tu-tone chose to go poppy.

Another lift is the lovely Girls in their Summer Clothes, which is melodically a slower version of the Who's The Kids Are Alright. None the less it's a nice song, that's romantic and hummable. Livin' in the Future, despite it's political overtones, is one of those great Springsteen numbers that lifts a Motown feel, reminiscent of 10th avenue freeze out.

Springsteen, unlike most of his peers, has lost very little of what made him great. He still writes great, fun songs, and still gives an energetic performance. His voice still growls and he seems not to have really settled down. His legendary work ethic has kept his skills up, and Magic is a CD that belongs in the Springsteen library: unlike a lot of acts of his vintage that are still putting out music, Springsteen seems to still have something to say, and still has an interesting voice to tell it with.

Never mind the politics that Greg Quill of the Toronto Star thinks the Springsteen concert was about. Yes, he ranted about "what's happening in America now – rendition, illegal wiretapping, the abuse of civil rights." Yes, he commented that title song of his new CD, Magic, is "... not about magic, it's about tricks." But what Quill didn't tell you is that all this politics took maybe, MAYBE, two minutes out of a two and a half hour concert. Nor do they mention a lusty round of boos that went through he crowd while Bruce was pontificating, southern preacher style, on the evils of what is occurring in his home country: whether those boos were agreement, or dissension I can't say.

But one thing I can speak about to the Star. When we sat during the new songs, it was not "a form of worship or meditation" it was in anticipation of a song we wanted to hear. And that was the night's problem. Far too many lulls, far too much time sitting out the bathroom break songs, not nearly enough Rosalita/Thunder Road/anything from the River &tc.

None of the above which is intended to suggest it wasn't a good show: Springsteen on a bad night is still better than most, and it wasn't a bad night. What Bruce Springsteen does well is give a high energy rock and roll show with the religious ferver of a southern Baptist tent revival. Rock and Roll is Springsteen religion, and he delivered his sermon as well last night as at any other time (OK, it's not 1978, this I understand). What the above suggests that this early into the Magic tour there is still some issues with pacing in this show. Nothing the injection of Ramrod, Hungry Heart, Jungleland and Rosalita wont fix (if your asking Bruce, at the expense of Lost in the Flood, Gypsy Rider and Town Called Heartbreak.

There were also highlights a plenty, beginning with the opener, the new single Radio Nowhere, which works very well live, and ending with the closing number American Land, with the entire band, save drummer Max Weinberg at front of stage, two accordions, two acoustic guitars, violin, tin whistle and mandolin playing a lively Celtic piece that, while unfamiliar, worked very well. In between there was Reason To Believe, Candy's Room, She's The One, Living In The Future and a rollicking version of Darlington County that featured Soozie Tyrell and Clarence Clemons back and forthing on sax and violin on a rocking solo segment. I have never heard a violin played like that, and it was great.

It's early yet in the tour, and I'm willing to bet that if Springsteen comes around next year, it will be an incredible show. But this one was still a very good, and nobody went home unhappy, just wishing for a little more familiarity and high tempo, a little less politics.

They are calling it a one night only event, and with Zeppelin's history that seems likely. However, if they are ever going to throw a tour together, this seems like the time. And remember, a few weeks ago everybody was denying the one off event.

Besides, I don't think the $45.00 I have saved in my Zeppelin fund is enough to get me to Londen for the weekend of November 24th, so they have to do more shows.

When they were piecing together The Band, they had to convince Garth Hudson's parents to let him join a rock and roll band. He gave the other members lessons to give an air of respectability to the enterprise and gain his parents OK.

When you think of The Band, it's hard not to think of wild looking Garth Hudson, a whisp of hair falling over his face, long mountain-man beard. The organ in Chest Fever, the Jews harp in Cripple Creek, as much a part of the band's sound as Levon Helm's scratchy vocals or Robbie Robertsons understated guitar playing.

Garth Hudson, from nearby Stratford Ontario, a significant force in what is arguably one of the greatest rock bands of all time, and possibly the greatest Canadian band, turns an unbelievable 70 today.

Happy Birthday Garth Hudson.

Congratulations to Queen guitarist Brian May, who on Wednesday received his Ph.D. in Astrophysics.

The guitarist began his thesis in 1970, but back-burnered the project when he got busy being a rich/famous/brilliant guitarist.

For great reading, by the way, visit Brian May's website, and specifically his blog, or soapbox, as they call it.

Interesting there is a couple of posts re: Toronto in his July posts, including one entitled RIP Ed Mirvish.

This time it's an absolutely for maybe, positively possibly ambiguously certainly could happen event.

World Entertainment News Network is reporting that Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John-Paul Jones, along with John Bonham's son, Jason Bonham on drums, will play a London show in tribute to late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. Beyond that, it seems a possibility is being raised, "if all goes well and they don't have a fall out" to tour. Next year sometimes seems to be the time - the world, presumably, would be the place.

Unlike other Zep rumours, this one has a whiff of truth due to the Ahmet Ertegun connection. Many a reunion has started off as a one off performance, the current Police tour being a notable that comes to mind.

Time to start saving some pennies.

Happy 65th birthday to Paul McCartney, for:

The Long and Winding Road'
Band on the Run
Live and Let Die (the best ever Bond theme, the only one that has been covered and made a re-hit, the only one still played on the radio with any regularity).
Lady Madonna
Venus and Mars Rock Show ("It Looks a lot like the one used by Jimmy Page")
Hey Jude
I Saw Her Standing There
Blackbird
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-da
Sgt. Pepper
Elanor Rigby
Paperback Writer
Lady Madonna
When I'm 64
Eight Days A Week
That cool "bye, bye" at the end of Helen Wheels
&tc.

For all that, and the obvious ones I'm forgetting, happy 65th birthday, even if the new CD, Memory Almost Full, is nowhere near as good as too happy to please reviewers say it is.

Some time ago, New Zealand was looking at impose content requirements on its broadcasters:

...whether or not New Zealand should impose local content requirements on its broadcasters. Advocates were pushing for a legislated requirement that radio and television stations play a certain amount of content created by New Zealand artists and producers. Such measures, it was argued, would help preserve the cultural specificity of the land of the long white cloud.

Economist Martin Richardson looked at other countries who had done so, very specifically Canada. He examined the CRTC's 35% rule, which states that "all radio stations must ensure that 35% of their popular musical selections are Canadian each week."

Many people, of course, point to Celine Dion, Shania Twian or Nickelback as success stories from the 35% content rule, Richardson sees them as the failure of the rule:

“If you listen to people like Celine Dion, Shania Twain, or Avril Lavigne, they are Canadian, they get played – or, at least, used to get played – preferentially on Canadian radio stations, but they sound generically international,” Richardson says. “There is nothing distinctively Canadian about them at all, as opposed to some of their predecessors. Why? Once you have a cultural quota in place, you are forcing consumers to listen to more local content. Let’s assume that consumers have a preference for more international-type content. The obvious incentive is for local artists to start producing international music. The whole point of this is to preserve the local content, but actually by putting a restriction in place, you give local providers a very strong incentive to actually change their style and sound much more international."

What you get, in other words, is Canadians that don't sound Canadian. You gain the performer, but lose the uniquely Canadian voice. This article is a good read if you are interested in Canadian cultural issues.

Oh, and New Zealand? "Eventually the country’s broadcasters agreed to voluntary local content targets."