Zeppelin for Zeppelin Fans

When I was in high school, my brother-in-law gave me Led Zeppelin III for my birthday. I can remember playing Immigrant Song over and over again without paying much attention to the rest of the album. The other songs on the album didn't particularly interest me because they were too mellow. I was more into Zeppelin I, II and IV. Now, my tastes have changed (after having heard Immigrant Song just shy of 3,000 times) and III is now my favorite Zeppelin album. Maybe I'm just mellowing as I age.


"That's the Way"


Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp (live 1975)


Since I've Been Loving You (live 1973)


Friends

There's not a bad song on this album.

My Name is Mud and Ice Ice Baby

Before our recent could spell, we had lots of rain and lots of mud. Alena stared at this particularly attractive bit of mud for at least one minute (in her white pants and new pink coat) before she was persuaded not to jump in. She probably still regrets the lost opportunity.



Shortly after leaving this frozen pond, Eli informed me that it was his first time walking on "wild ice" (as opposed to domesticated ice one finds in an ice rink).



Luke had so much fun on the ice that he managed to keep his coat on for a full ten minutes, even though it was only 32 degrees at the time. Typically, the temperature must drop below 15 degrees to inspire even five minutes of such behavior.

Sammy kept slipping on the ice in his rubber boots (hence, the look on his face) and retreated to a safer shore locale on several occasions.

Where can I get a saddle for my cat?

New Jersey has an interesting regulation in its code. N.J.A.C. 19:2-4.2 provides in part (a) that "[n]o animal shall be led, ridden, or driven on the hoof upon the Expressway at any time, unless acting under contract or permit." OK. I follow the logic here. The powers that be in New Jersey do not want people riding horses willy nilly on the Atlantic City Expressway. Lancaster is not in New Jersey after all.

But then! Part (b) says "[t]his restriction does not apply to dogs, cats or other domesticated household pets if kept on a leash." I guess that means you can ride your great dane down the AC expressway, provided you hold the leash. Maybe the leash could act as your pet's reins. This sounds like fun. Does anyone have a large domesticated animal I could borrow for a quick jaunt down to AC? My cat's too small.

For those who don't think abortion is an important issue when voting for a president

I realize that the website providing this information has a right-leaning bias (to put it mildly), but the information provided in this article appears to be correct.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=356962

Guitarist rankings

I created my own guitarist ranking system. I chose 30 guitarists that are often listed on guitarist rankings (Rolling Stone, etc.). I tried to be as objective as I could, but no rankings are actually objective. Many of the guitarists on this list are what I would consider mediocre or even poor guitarists (i.e. Keith Richards, James Hetfield, Prince and Kurt Cobain), but I still put them on the list because some people think they are good, and they were/are popular.

My methodology included five categories: virtuosity, precision, pioneering, quality, and popularity. I rated each guitarist in each category from one to ten (ten being the best). I gave some categories more weight than others (100% for virtuosity and quality; 90% for precision; 60% for pioneering, and 30% for popularity). Then, I added the totals. Here's what I came up with in descending order of "greatness."

1) David Gilmour
2) Steve Vai
3) Eric Clapton
4) Stevie Ray Vaughn
5) Jimi Hendrix
6) Eddie VanHalen
7) Robert Fripp
8) Joe Satriani
9) John McLaughlin
10) Chuck Berry
11) Brian May
12) Jimmy Page
13) Duane Allman
14) Carlos Santana
15) Jeff Beck
16) Alex Lifeson
17) Eric Johnson
18) Adrian Belew
19) Frank Zappa
20) BB King
21) Billy Corgan
22) Pete Townsend
23) Kurt Cobain
24) Slash
25) Joe Perry
26) James Hetfield
27) Bo Didley
28) Robert Johnson
29) Keith Richards
30) Prince

I was surprised by some of the rankings. My system was more objective than I anticipated because a few of my favorite guitarists were not in the top ten (i.e. Jimmy Page, Brian May and Frank Zappa). At least Keith Richards and Prince received their proper spot in this order.

For the 7 or 8 other Smashing Pumpkins and King Crimson Fans in the World

While listening to "Mayonaise" by the Smashing Pumpkins, I noticed that the song contains a guitar riff that is almost identical to a bass riff in "Red" by King Crimson. I did a quick google search and could not find anything noting the obvious similarity. Maybe this is because I am the only fan of both the Smashing Pumpkins and King Crimson. Or...maybe this is because the names of the songs are so dissimilar. Perhaps someone would have noted the similarity earlier if the Smashing Pumpkins had named their song "Ketchup" or if King Crimson had named their song "Lemon Chiffon." Just a thought.

Mayonaise (listen to the riff at 1:02 and 1:15)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-swlx9z2O0

Red (studio version is not online--live version below, listen at 1:09 and 1:19, but hard to hear in live version)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=313252524631448666&ei=buBCSY-dDYL8rAKama3uDA&q=king+crimson+red&hl=en&emb=1

Top 10 one hit wonders of my lifetime

I heard a song on the radio the other day that I hadn't heard in quite some time: Silent Lucidity by Queensryche. I've always liked that song. In my opinion, it's probably the only hair band song ever made that is worth 3-4 minutes of attention. It is also one of the few songs by a one hit wonder worthy of any attention. So...here's my top ten list of songs by one hit wonders--that have come out in my lifetime--that will usually keep me from changing the station on my car radio.

1) Silent Lucidity by Queensryche;
2) In the Meantime by Spacehog;
3) Space Lord by Monster Magnet;
4) No Rain by Blind Melon;
5) Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed (he has lots of other songs but none of note);
6) Song 2 by Blur;
7) Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger;
8) She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby;
9) Our House by Madness; and
10) Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners.