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revidThat region of my brain that controls/stores that thing called fandom has been on serious overload this week. Most of you can figure out at least part of the reason: That 60s throwback garage band called the Foxboro Hot Tubs has been rocking my world right there with the rest of you. But this week I'm been struck by the collision of my obsession with all things Green Day and the re-appearance of the group that would have been my first fandom, had that word existed back in the medieval ages before the internet. There is simply no way to over-estimate the importance of this group to me and the entire generation who came of age in the 70s.
Led Zeppelin
LED -- FUCKING -- ZEPPELIN!!!!!
The 3 surviving members of Led Zeppelin played their first full concert together on 10 December at the O2 Arena in London, UK. It was a benefit for the Ahmet Ertegun foundation, in honor of the late president of Atlantic records who signed Led Zeppelin to the label. (Think Rob Cavallo, if that helps.) The group disbanded in 1980 after their drummer John Bonham died at age 32 in the usual ignominious rock star fashion by asphyxiating on his own vomit after consuming at least 30 shots of alcohol. Completing a very satisfying symmetry, however, the drummer for this show was 41 year old Jason Bonham, his son.
Something like 1,000,000 people attempted to get the 18,000 tickets available. People paid huge sums on ebay and flew to the UK from all over the world. And because Led Zep was a band of the 70s, a huge portion of the old fans now have the disposable income to do stuff like that. The thought sure crossed my mind.
I've thought about the Zep alot more in the past three years, compared to the previous 20, simply because so many of my Green Day emotions mirror the things I felt all those years ago. Yet, probably in more instances than not the experiences are completely different. Leaving aside the fact that I was an awkward teenager then, compared to a reasonably successful grown woman now, which obviously colors perceptions immensely, the single biggest thing that makes it a whole new ball game is...you guessed it...the internet. Back then, I would scour magazine racks wherever I was to find a single magazine item, or a picture. If Billie Joe Armstrong attends a charity dinner for Bono, we know about it and have pictures within 24 hours. I might hear that Jimmy Page was in LA (where I lived) 6 months after the fact.
Things like album release dates were much harder to come by. God bless my dear deceased mom, she stopped by The Wherehouse (Record Store -- remember those?) every week for a month on her way home from work looking for the release of Physical Graffiti for me.
I had one friend who was into Led Zeppelin -- my entire "fandom" -- who was the girl I grew up with next door from age 2 -13. (Sad aside: I want so badly to share all this new Led Zeppelin music and buzz with her, but I can't. She died 2 years ago from the complications of lupus. She was 11 days younger than I.) When we heard Led Zeppelin was coming to LA we moved heaven and earth to go to it. They were playing three shows at the Inglewood Forum and of course, all three sold out instantly. I found an ad in the ticket scalper section of the LA Times (that's what you did before ebay) and took a chance. I got 2 Loge tickets -- they were in the highest of the 3 price tiers. Face Value: $9.50. I paid $20 each. For reference, when I got my first job the following year it was at minimum wage, $2.20 an hour. We cajoled Sharon's mother into dropping us off and picking us up. Back in those days, parents never went to concerts. Today every concert you go to features hordes of parents (who happen to be my age ---how the fuck did that happen?) with their tween kids, chaperoning and (sometime) actually enjoying the show. :-) (While we were in line at the FOB show, I joked that I was the oldest member of their fan club. Sadly, this is not funny.)
So for my very first concert ever, I saw Led Zeppelin, on the last date of their American Tour, at the Inglewood Forum in Los Angeles on March 27, 1975, two or three weeks after the release of their 6th album (a double album!) Physical Graffiti. Zep never had an opening act back in the 70s, so there was none of the interminable wait for the folks you paid to see. They played for almost 4 hours that night. These were the days of long jams and guitar solos and most famously, the 20 minute drum solo during "Moby Dick." The air was a lot thicker with, uh, smoke too. And people shared. ;-)
So now we get to the other thing that has caused my fandom neurons to fire on all cylinders. Two related things actually. As most of you reading this know, I am a complete whore for downloading bootleg recordings of Green Day, and I have some bootlegs of some other bands as well. THE bittorrent source for bootleg music recordings is a tracker called Dime a Dozen (I have no idea why.) They always have amazing high quality stuff. So I've been logging on every day to check and see if anyone uploaded a recording from the Led Zeppelin reunion. Well, yesterday, I did my Led Zeppelin search and had a musi-gasm right then and there. Someone uploaded an audio bootleg of Led Zeppelin at the Inglewood Forum on 27 March 1975. MY SHOW! MINE! MY VERY FIRST CONCERT EVER! OMFG! The only other time I've ever been that excited is when I found a video bootleg of my (also first) Green Day concert in Fresno, CA. I couldn't download that puppy fast enough.
Tonight I logged on to Dime, and lo and behold, some wondrous soul has recorded and uploaded the reunion show of the decade around 1730 California time. I was the 450th leecher 20 minutes later, now 7 hours later, over 5000 people have hopped on the torrent.
Today was a wild trip down memory lane. First I listened to the recording from 1975. Then I listened to the recording form 2 days ago. And you know what? There's no way you would guess they were 32 years apart. No way. And it made me all nostalgic for that feeling that you get when you think a rock band is speaking to you. Except it's more of a deja vu now, because I get that these days with Green Day. I love FHTs, but I know when the next Green Day CD comes around, I'm going to have that same feeling that I had waiting for Physical Graffiti to be released. At the risk of sinking into hyperbole, I just know it's going to life-altering...the same way PG was for me. Since I discovered Green Day after the release of American Idiot, I haven't had the pleasure and anticipation of what is to come with their next release. But oh so different from 1975, I have all of you to share it with. And that brings me untold joy. Just like Led Zeppelin and Green Day do.
And a "special" brownie to any of you that made it through that.
Hope you're having a lovely Wine Tuesday!
Led Zeppelin
LED -- FUCKING -- ZEPPELIN!!!!!
The 3 surviving members of Led Zeppelin played their first full concert together on 10 December at the O2 Arena in London, UK. It was a benefit for the Ahmet Ertegun foundation, in honor of the late president of Atlantic records who signed Led Zeppelin to the label. (Think Rob Cavallo, if that helps.) The group disbanded in 1980 after their drummer John Bonham died at age 32 in the usual ignominious rock star fashion by asphyxiating on his own vomit after consuming at least 30 shots of alcohol. Completing a very satisfying symmetry, however, the drummer for this show was 41 year old Jason Bonham, his son.
Something like 1,000,000 people attempted to get the 18,000 tickets available. People paid huge sums on ebay and flew to the UK from all over the world. And because Led Zep was a band of the 70s, a huge portion of the old fans now have the disposable income to do stuff like that. The thought sure crossed my mind.
I've thought about the Zep alot more in the past three years, compared to the previous 20, simply because so many of my Green Day emotions mirror the things I felt all those years ago. Yet, probably in more instances than not the experiences are completely different. Leaving aside the fact that I was an awkward teenager then, compared to a reasonably successful grown woman now, which obviously colors perceptions immensely, the single biggest thing that makes it a whole new ball game is...you guessed it...the internet. Back then, I would scour magazine racks wherever I was to find a single magazine item, or a picture. If Billie Joe Armstrong attends a charity dinner for Bono, we know about it and have pictures within 24 hours. I might hear that Jimmy Page was in LA (where I lived) 6 months after the fact.
Things like album release dates were much harder to come by. God bless my dear deceased mom, she stopped by The Wherehouse (Record Store -- remember those?) every week for a month on her way home from work looking for the release of Physical Graffiti for me.
I had one friend who was into Led Zeppelin -- my entire "fandom" -- who was the girl I grew up with next door from age 2 -13. (Sad aside: I want so badly to share all this new Led Zeppelin music and buzz with her, but I can't. She died 2 years ago from the complications of lupus. She was 11 days younger than I.) When we heard Led Zeppelin was coming to LA we moved heaven and earth to go to it. They were playing three shows at the Inglewood Forum and of course, all three sold out instantly. I found an ad in the ticket scalper section of the LA Times (that's what you did before ebay) and took a chance. I got 2 Loge tickets -- they were in the highest of the 3 price tiers. Face Value: $9.50. I paid $20 each. For reference, when I got my first job the following year it was at minimum wage, $2.20 an hour. We cajoled Sharon's mother into dropping us off and picking us up. Back in those days, parents never went to concerts. Today every concert you go to features hordes of parents (who happen to be my age ---how the fuck did that happen?) with their tween kids, chaperoning and (sometime) actually enjoying the show. :-) (While we were in line at the FOB show, I joked that I was the oldest member of their fan club. Sadly, this is not funny.)
So for my very first concert ever, I saw Led Zeppelin, on the last date of their American Tour, at the Inglewood Forum in Los Angeles on March 27, 1975, two or three weeks after the release of their 6th album (a double album!) Physical Graffiti. Zep never had an opening act back in the 70s, so there was none of the interminable wait for the folks you paid to see. They played for almost 4 hours that night. These were the days of long jams and guitar solos and most famously, the 20 minute drum solo during "Moby Dick." The air was a lot thicker with, uh, smoke too. And people shared. ;-)
So now we get to the other thing that has caused my fandom neurons to fire on all cylinders. Two related things actually. As most of you reading this know, I am a complete whore for downloading bootleg recordings of Green Day, and I have some bootlegs of some other bands as well. THE bittorrent source for bootleg music recordings is a tracker called Dime a Dozen (I have no idea why.) They always have amazing high quality stuff. So I've been logging on every day to check and see if anyone uploaded a recording from the Led Zeppelin reunion. Well, yesterday, I did my Led Zeppelin search and had a musi-gasm right then and there. Someone uploaded an audio bootleg of Led Zeppelin at the Inglewood Forum on 27 March 1975. MY SHOW! MINE! MY VERY FIRST CONCERT EVER! OMFG! The only other time I've ever been that excited is when I found a video bootleg of my (also first) Green Day concert in Fresno, CA. I couldn't download that puppy fast enough.
Tonight I logged on to Dime, and lo and behold, some wondrous soul has recorded and uploaded the reunion show of the decade around 1730 California time. I was the 450th leecher 20 minutes later, now 7 hours later, over 5000 people have hopped on the torrent.
Today was a wild trip down memory lane. First I listened to the recording from 1975. Then I listened to the recording form 2 days ago. And you know what? There's no way you would guess they were 32 years apart. No way. And it made me all nostalgic for that feeling that you get when you think a rock band is speaking to you. Except it's more of a deja vu now, because I get that these days with Green Day. I love FHTs, but I know when the next Green Day CD comes around, I'm going to have that same feeling that I had waiting for Physical Graffiti to be released. At the risk of sinking into hyperbole, I just know it's going to life-altering...the same way PG was for me. Since I discovered Green Day after the release of American Idiot, I haven't had the pleasure and anticipation of what is to come with their next release. But oh so different from 1975, I have all of you to share it with. And that brings me untold joy. Just like Led Zeppelin and Green Day do.
And a "special" brownie to any of you that made it through that.
Hope you're having a lovely Wine Tuesday!
