Dear Friends,
Travel day. Wedding day. Get shit done day.
Not in that particular order, of course. The trip is at the end of the day. The wedding is at high noon. Getting shit done will be all around everything I do today.
Luckily, I don’t have to take much with me. I have all the clothes I need there. I should probably take a pair of dress pants for Doug’s funeral. A tie, too, and maybe a nice belt would be a good idea. Shoes would probably be appropriate, too, as all I have there are some vans and some hiking boots.
But other than that, I can travel light.
The wedding is my dear friend, Rob, and his lovely bride, Sara. I am so happy for them both. They love each other and that’s what it is all about. I’m glad that I am able to attend and celebrate with them. It will be nice to see some friends there, too.
Other than running a few errands and visiting Granny, I just need to pack and write and relax. Not a ton of shit to get done, really, because I did a lot of it yesterday. After work I got an adjustment (a really good one, too…my back feels nice) and then hit Costco to make sure the adult kids and the granddaughter wouldn’t starve in my absence.
Then I did laundry and wrote about a record. I also watched a new TV show called Doctor Odyssey. It was pretty hilarious, but I don’t think it was supposed to be funny. It’s trying to be a combination of The Love Boat and Grey’s Anatomy. I actually don’t hate that combo.
Hulu took me right into the new Kaitlin Olson show, High Potential. I like that one so far, too. I don’t want to get hooked on any more shows, though. There are a bunch I want to watch or try.
*****
My students were acting up yesterday. I think they are going to miss me next week. I will miss them, too.
*****
Over the last week or so, I’ve been listening to Houses of the Holy a lot. I put it on my list back in January, but over the first few months of this project, I thought maybe this wasn’t really a record that I love. I thought I just wanted to love it.
The thing about Led Zeppelin and me is that for years, I didn’t know a lot of people who I thought liked them as much as I liked them. I started listening to my dad’s Zeppelin records in high school because I saw so many kids at my school with their shirts on or written on their notebooks. They must be cool, I thought, and I was right.
Obviously, I had heard a lot of their music growing up. They were (and are) about as popular as any other band in the 1970s and they were amazing. Houses of the Holy is a perfect example of this greatness. It’s one that I fully embraced in my teenage years but have largely ignored in my adult life.
The thing is, I decided to listen to it again and whammo! I enjoyed every minute of it.
“The Song Remains The Same,” which is also the name of their super weird film that I’m not a huge fan of, is such a killer jam. The opening riff just moves and even though it goes a little hippy-dippy at parts, it is also quite bad ass. Jimmy Page just goes for it and the rest of the band follows along accordingly.
It’s really a great big barrel of riffage that will totally keep your attention. I played it several mornings this past week for my students and they seemed to delight in me singing along or playing air guitar or drums. I just couldn’t help myself.
“The Rain Song” is a favorite of mine. It’s beautiful. It’s lush. It’s sung in a way that could make a deaf person a fan of Robert Plant. That might be uncool to say, but I don’t mean any disrespect to the deaf. All I mean is that after Page shows off on track one, it was Plant’s time shine here.
Page also makes the song pretty darn great, too. The arrangement is phenomenal. I have to believe John Paul Jones was super instrumental with this. There is a very cinematic feeling to much of the middle part of the song, as well. It’s epic in scale.
“Over the Hills and Far Away” is another one that just kind of jumps out of the stereo and takes you to (and I’m borrowing from one of the other great records/albums) a misty mountain. I don’t know how you can’t just rock out when the song kicks in after the lengthy opening. Jones’ bass line is right there, nice and prominent in the mix, and keeps things feeling very peppy. I love it.
“The Crunge” finishes up side one. It’s kind of a big, silly song, but Jones, again, is just killing it. I don’t care that the whole thing comes off as if the band is kind of fucking off, having fun. It’s a groove. There is no reason to take this seriously, though. It’s just a fun song that sounds great.
Side two kicks off with the tremendous rock and roll song, “Dancing Days.” Here is another song where Page shines, but John Bonham also makes his presence known. I haven’t mentioned Bonham yet and that’s my bad. The guy was so solid and played with such confidence and power.
“D’yer Mak’er” starts off with a tremendous Bonham roll. Throughout the song, he punctuates the sort of reggae-sounding song with this super solid backbeat. It’s a little slide-y and kind of off, but the reggae guitar work makes it all come together. I remember this one being on the radio a lot growing up. Hell, it’s probably playing on the radio somewhere right now.
I happen to like it when Zeppelin gets a little spooky. “No Quarter” is one of those songs. There is a lot of style and a lot of substance on this one. It’s a rocker, too. Don’t let it fool you. This is a heavy motherfucker.
This album helps me realize how much of an influence Led Zeppelin had on Jane’s Addiction. I don’t think you have the latter without the former. Zeppelin provided a nice blueprint for how to create big, anthemic rock. Jane’s just made it more alternative.
“The Ocean” is another big, giant riff that just goes on and on. It allows your brain to expand on whatever vibe you have going on and just float along to the music. It’s the perfect driving song and the perfect floating on a lazy river song. It just simply is.
Houses of the Holy is a great goddamn record. I won’t ignore for too long this time around.
*****
See you tomorrow.
Bizarro world AI.
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