"it might get loud" movie review

yesterday i went to an afternoon show of "it might get loud," a documentary on the work of three disparate rock guitarists, jimmy page, the edge, and jack white. initially, what drew me to the film was jimmy page's involvement - i would've been just as happy to watch a documentary on jimmy page alone! but within the first two minutes of "it might get loud," jack white hammer together some wood and wire, tossed in a coke bottle, then plug that mess into an amp - and play it (loud!) - i was seriously hooked.

the short version of this review: "it might get loud" is a must watch film for anyone with any connection to music. if you're a fan of page, the edge, or jack white and you skip this film, the regrets would be immeasurable. to put my fascination in context, i can't remember the last time i watched the credits of any film. not only did i sit thr0ugh the credits (the hook: the trio performed an acoustic "the weight") - but i could've stayed and watched another hour of them! it was that riveting to watch these guys on stage together.

the filmmaker, davis guggenheim ("an inconvenient truth"), brought together 3 of rock's electric guitar virtuosos - each from an ostensibly different generation (of time and music). guggenheim then interwove their back stories as he brought them together on stage for what amounted to a masters seminar on the electric guitar, history lesson, and jam session. how they began to slowly share stories and techniques until they picked up their guitars and started to play for (and then with) each other is the heart of the film.

watching jimmy page discuss the evolution of the double neck guitar and discuss it's importance to "stairway to heaven" - then watching the vintage footage of page play it on stage with led zeppelin was riveting. but the most astonishing - if not rewarding - part of the documentary was watching the three play "in my time of dying" late in the session. they were transformed into garden variety (albeit legendary) guitar geeks jamming together to learn a new riff - beautiful stuff.

as i mentioned, i was drawn to this film by page (and, coincidentally, it was robert plant's birthday the day before) - and loved the never before scenes of his private life. page was like a little kid taking the audience into his listening room, pulling out old album and once they spun on the turntable, played air guitar along with the riffs! he was transformed into every other teenager who listens to albums in his room (or today, i guess plays "guitar hero").

but aside from page, the film introduced me to jack white. i had never heard of him (or his music). from what i saw of him, that will definitely change. "it might get loud" also brought me back to the days i was into u2. the edge, going back to his early influences (the punk movement of the 70's - again, coincidentally, it was joe strummer's birthday when i caught the film), brought a new appreciation of the development of his sound (heavily influenced by tech and gadgetry).

the funniest part of the entire film was the counter intuitive close: how 3 electric guitarists found themselves learning the music and lyrics to "the weight" - and then played it acoustically to end the documentary was ironic (to put it mildly). coming off the monster jam they had just performed of "in my time of dying" it was actually a letdown! but that minor cavil aside, it was a terrific film!

watch it LOUD!

happy birthday robert plant - led zeppelin's frontman turns 61 today!

robert plant (now "sir" robert plant) was born 61 years ago today, august 20, 1948. the legendary vocalist was the flamboyant frontman of led zeppelin in the 60's and 70's. then, in the 90's, he reunited with jimmy page for a pair of "plant/page" of albums and small (relative to zeppelin) tours.

the remaining band members performed a one time concert (and included jason bonham, the son of their late drummer, john) in december 2008. that immediately led to speculation of a more substantial led zeppelin reunion effort (tour and new tunes), fueled by the comments of jason bonham last summer that he was in the studio working with jimmy page and john paul jones!

robert plant single-handedly brought any thoughts of the reunion tour to a crashing halt - at least for the foreseeable future. he had been in the middle of a wildly successful tour with allison kraus, as they promoted their soon-to-be grammy award winning album. whether plant has second thoughts and revisits the zeppelin reunion project remains to be seen.

the remaining band members even auditioned potential replacements for plant before abandoning (shelving) the project in hopes that plant would reconsider once his schedule commitments permitted. be that as it may,

happy birthday robert plant!

led zeppelin's self-titled debut album released 40 years ago today

40 years ago today, january 12, 1969, led zeppelin release its first album, and the rest is rock history. they had actually toured as the "new yardbirds," prior to getting into the studio to record the album.

here's a pretty decent history of the genesis of this classic. this wasn't anywhere near my favorite zep album - that would be a toss-up between physical graffitti and zozo (VI). still, i did listen to "communications breakdown" incessantly, my favorite track on the album. "dazed and confused" was great too, but much greater live than the studio version.

to celebrate, q 104.3 fm is having a special one hour "get the led out" program devoted covering 40 years of led zeppelin! check it out.

too bad robert plant shot down plans for a zep reunion this year. but, if rumors of the remaining band members (plus bonham's son, jason) recording new material together are on the level, we may see a zep "light" release soon.

last, but not least, can't get over how the cover art mirrors the giants implosion, yesterday ;)

led zeppelin IV released 38 years ago, november 8: included "stairway to heaven"

hard to believe it was 38 years ago today, november 8, 1971, that led zeppelin released its 4th album (also referred to as zoso). among the classics on that fantastic album was "stairway to heaven" today, it is still the 3rd largest selling album in history!

even more recently, drove up to danvers yesterday. it was a traffic filled, almost 5 hour drive. to cap off that wonderful travel, i was stuck in a smoking room - ugh. nothing like sleeping it what could double as an ashtray to get you in the proper mood for an ultra! seriously, it only reinforced my disgust for smoking and all things smoking-related.

about to head downstairs to the lobby for a special early morning breakfast. hope to see a bunch of fellow stone cat participants there: emmy, nick, barbara, hiro, and yuki to name a quick few. the races begin at 6:15 - more later....