Rock God and Country Elite?

"Raising Sand," a duet album by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, is a collection of mostly sad songs.

The album is really a three-way collaboration by an improbable alliance: Mr. Plant, forever known as the lead singer of Led Zeppelin; Ms. Krauss, whose clear voice and deft fiddle style hail from Appalachia; and the producer and guitarist T Bone Burnett, the Texan who is best known for concocting haunted, pensively anachronistic Americana. The album is due October 23rd.

I've heard about this collaboration for awhile, but I still find it hard to wrap my head around it. Such an odd combination, but it's done regularly in the music business and now I can't wait to hear it. Living in Appalachia most of my life I know that Alison Krauss is one flatout singing goddess and one of the most respected talents around. A real singer's singer and as I said in the title, she's country elite. What do you think?

Gone, Gone, Gone mp3

By: Jon Pareles | Photo: Christopher Berkey for The New York Times

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W E B T R A I L

* See The Night Sky @ SkyTonight.com. Have you seen the moon lately? Wow!

* Dec 5, Tuesday in Celestial Timings: The still nearly full Lunar Standstill Moon is crossing the center point of the Galactic Edge as it moves into Cancer. This is what is referred to as the ?out of bounds? Moon and it is transmitting energies from beyond our galactic realm. This suggests we are receiving a whole new download of inter-galactic information and vibrational frequency that is beyond the bounds of our ordinary reality. Greater ease in assimilating these energies occurs when we consciously engage our thoughts and actions releasing attachment to results and limiting beliefs about who we are. See more on the Galactic Edge and the Lunar Standstill at Shamanic Astrology.

* A Stunning New Look At Déjà Vu at Science Daily describes an ongoing thesis that involves in part a study on a blind person. Fascinating read.

* I keep reading glowing reviews about The Fountain. Angela-Eloise has discovered the same thing. Sounds pretty good.

* More on Firefox Tweaks here. See Screenshot Firefox Extensions

* Whole Lotta CDs - Robert Plant's new 9-cd package. If you liked "Kashmir", and I happen to think it's his strong suit, this is for you.

* Today in Peace & Justice History, December 5:
1000 antiwar protestors try to close NYC induction center; 585 arrested including Allen Ginsberg and Dr. Benjamin Spock. (1967)

* Greatest Hits - Satirical Living Will

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2 Of My Favorites

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has returned to his home in the United States after receiving brain surgery in a hospital in New Zealand. His wife Patti Hansen accompanied him on the journey.

Richards was hoping to be "getting back on the road with the Rolling Stones next month", his spokesman added.

Poor guy. I wonder if his life-threatening surgery may make him think about putting up his rock and roll shoes after this current tour is over?

link

Robert Plant recently returned to Wales' Rockfield Studios -- where he recorded his first solo album -- to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the launch of his post-Zep career.

Plant, 57, recalled how he arrived at Rockfield 25 years ago this week, in the wake of Zeppelin's split following the death of the band's drummer John Bonham.

He said, "As far as expectation went, I mean at the age of 32 when your career is finished, anything that came after that was a bonus really."

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Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.
--"When The Levee Breaks", Led Zeppelin

I can't get that song off my mind, and I'm probably not the only one. Jimmy Page's sinister slide combined with the thrashing thud of Bonham's drums in tangent as Robert Plant begins to howl, well, it takes on an eerie edge after Hurricane Katrina.

:: skippy is challenging everyone to pledge to the Red Cross by matching his donation of 100.01, blog about it and pass on the message. We had already pledged 100.00, so I'm off by .01...not sure what that penny is about, although it's true to form for wild and wacky blogfriend skippy. [via]

:: Our daughter just left for the annual Ozzfest in Charlotte on Friday night. She told her teachers she'd be out for two days and they were accommodating. Then again, she's now going to the very progressive Balfour School. No homework. Zero. Zilch. Nada. If a fight breaks out, they let them get it out of their system right on the spot. Swearing is permitted as long as it's not personally directed at anyone. In some ways, it's similar to the Montesorri school she attended as a much younger student. Later she wanted to try the public school system, and now she's back to a more alternative way of teaching and learning and we all couldn't be more pleased.

Say "NO" to drugs. That will bring the prices down.

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The Rolling Stones are to embark on a mammoth world tour, kicking off with 35 dates in the US and Canada in August. [more »]

"If the draft is re-instated we may be subject to induction. We pledge that we will not serve in the U.S. armed forces as long as U.S. troops are occupying or waging war in Iraq." If you're at risk of being drafted, feel free to Take The Pledge.

There's an underground movement to make smoking sexy again... Coherent Light is an adult site that caters to fans of dominant babes who light up and don't give a flying fuck. In fact, they wanna blow smoke in your face and maybe snuff a Kool 100 out on your ass. Well, I'm all for smoker's rights. (via: wfmu blog - NSFW [more»])

Anti-war hoopster, Steve Nash, from Canada, wins NBA's MVP.

Robert Plant making late night rounds on tv this week. Listen to 3 of his new songs from the Mighty Rearranger cd.

Send a message to key Senators urging them to "Vote No" on the nuclear option. Write your own letter or use the letter online and just add your name and hit "send". Quick & easy to do.

Project Save CBGB. The New York club currently faces a rent dispute and lease expiration on August 31, 2005.

Today's Quote
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.
-- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

**Update--May 11, 2005
WAYNESVILLE - Pastor Chan Chandler submitted his resignation to the members of East Waynesville Baptist Church on Tuesday, a move some said was the only way to resolve current tensions at the church. link
There were taped recordings of his sermons telling parishoners that voted for Kerry that they could either repent at the altar and ask for forgiveness, or leave the church. His decision to leave the church may just be the beginning of his problems after the IRS steps in.

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* Jim Capaldi, founder member of psychedelic rock group Traffic, has died, it was announced earlier today. The award-winning songwriter and performer had been suffering from cancer of the stomach. He was 60. Traffic was extremely popular in my household growing up. I probably still have some of their vinyl at my Mother's house. Link

* New details have emerged about Robert Plant's upcoming solo album. The 12-track CD will be titled Mighty Rearranger, not Another Tribe as originally reported, and will be released in the United Kingdom on April 25. The disc's first single, "Shine It All Around," will be available a week earlier in the U.K. No word yet on when the album -- which Plant recorded with his backing band, the Strange Sensation -- will come out in the United States. Billboard.com


* Ashley Judd is blogging her trip to Africa as YouthAIDS Global Ambassador. She brought much needed mosquito nets, medicine, and more. She talks about her visit to the slums and the brothels and the effect it had on her emotionally.

Have envelope; Will push.

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Media|Films
Tideland, the movie, has begun filming and is directed by Terry Gilliam. (Monty Python member, and he directed 12 Monkeys, and Fisher King, --2 of my all time favorites). It's taken from the macabre gothic novel by Mitch Cullin about an abandoned young girl’s life and fantasies in rural Texas. Currently filming in Regina, Saskatchewan, it teams Gilliam again with Jeff Bridges and is scheduled for a 2006 release. On my "Must See" list along with Johnny Depp's The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, scheduled for 2005.

Media|Music
Mick Jagger is set to produce a remake of the 1939 film The Women. The singer, who recently recorded and co-produced tracks for an updated version of Alfie, also will supervise the soundtrack of The Women.

Robert Plant has signed on to be the keynote speaker at the 2005 South by Southwest Music and Media Conference on March 17 in Austin, Texas.

Media|Literature
On October 25, 1984, friends broke into Richard Brautigan's house in Bolinas, California to find his body next to a bottle of alcohol and a .44 caliber gun. It was assumed that he had committed suicide. Not reading
his Trout Fishing In America back in the day was almost enough to get you kicked out of the hippie club.

News|Local
Freecycling, giving items away for free, and WNC Barter Exchange in the Asheville and Western North Carolina area are good ideas, but haven't taken off as well as they should as yet.

There are so many stories from people who've moved to Asheville that there is now a website called, Asheville Calling.

US finishes a strong second in Iraq War.

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Mass March On Washington, DC today at 11:00.
135 cities bringing buses to DC. Joint action in San Francisco. Bring the troops home now - End the occupation of Iraq - Money for jobs, education & healthcare - Not war. When I first demonstrated against Vietnam in 1969, it was mostly a sea of us hippies and radicals. I was maced and spit on. A year or two later, people started listening and I found some of my professors and other square johns were also attending the rallys. Fast forward a few years and a few incidents later, and everyone was pissed about Vietnam. And the war was finally over. I see the same thing, same progression, happening here. First I was an idiot to question going to war in Iraq, much less protesting it. Now, more people feel the same way. Soon, I hope, it'll be over. Ok. Somebody help me off the back of this flatbed truck. Soapboxes are for wusses.

In honor of the Nov. 4 release of Robert Plant's Sixty Six to Timbuktu two-CD solo compilation, VH1 Classic will air a Plant special Nov 1 and 4.

Chip Music - post-karaoke, rock-and-roll Game Boy, bastard blues. [Ollapodrida via Wired]

Targeting Diebold With Electronic Civil Disobedience
[Why-War provides all updated links]
Students from three more American Universities have joined the civil disobedience: MIT, USC, and Purdue. Unfortunately, as we reported yesterday, Swarthmore College is now actively engaging in the suppression of this information by summarily disconnecting any Swarthmore student who provides a link to this page [why-war.com].

Former President Bill Clinton announced Thursday that his foundation and four pharmaceutical companies have reached an agreement to reduce the cost of HIV/AIDS drugs by at least 45 percent in about a dozen Caribbean nations and four African countries. I like that he's still globally involved in humanitarian deeds.

saturday morning me//
hazelnut coffee#2/cig#1/guilt trip #7387105494304/
long maroon dress/black shawl/leg warmers/ballet flats/
hair: styles d' egg-beater/fragrance: eau de dog slobber/
lis'ning: all my trials-by joan baez/
so how about you?/

What is this fresh hell?

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Enjoy your day. Damnit.

::ArtCar Fest The West Coast's Largest Gathering of Art Cars! Thursday, September 25 -- Sunday, September 28, 2003. Most of you understand my fondness for Art vehicles that begin with my old 1962 VW van in 1970. It was navy and I painted the moon and stars on one side; and a huge sun on the two side doors. It sounds so trite now, but no one had ever seen anything like it in Smalltown, USA, where I grew up. And very few had seen anyone like me when I stepped out of it with my enormous Robert Plant-like long, curly, bushy hair, and jewelry and leather dripping off me in my embroidered jeans or gypsy skirts. Everyone stopped and stared everywhere I went. In college, Suzy Creamcheese had a VW bug that was painted like a fish with fins attached. We both happened to be Art Majors, so it seems like a painted vehicle certainly reflects your lifestyle, too.

::Comments are back hopefully to stay. We've been without them for what, 10 days?

::Once upon a time I had Earthlink and it was still on my hard drive. Yesterday I removed it. It also removed my IE FAVORITES I've had saved for 3 years and 10 months. Close to 500 files. Gone, and already deleted from the recycle bin. Now I have to rebuild it. Yahoo has many of them and so does Opera where I'd exported from IE, but it's still a huge do-over. Don't you hate it when you do something stupid like that?

Fun Links du Jour
Can you stare down Sally?
And Another site where you choose a picture to write your own caption.
[both via: presurfer]

Quote For Wednesday
Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds. ~Bob Marley

If you can't laugh at yourself, allow me.

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::Good morning to you...I had an enjoyable breakfast with a friend. High School starts next Monday around here. Some schools have already gone back. Still seems a little too early to me. I am so over this rain lately.

::Election of Gay Bishop promps walkout. How very sad. Inclusion, not exclusion.

::I saw Roseanne's new show last night. What a lovable trainwreck, but something about her always has me rooting for her. That new boyfriend of hers certainly landed himself a big one. I wonder what he used for bait? Minnows? Donuts?

::The summer edition of the New World Disorder magazine is now online.

::Former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant currently is compiling a solo collection that will tentatively be titled Sixty Six to Timbuktu. The two-disc set reportedly will feature rare pre-Zeppelin solo material from 1966-67, a variety of collaborations and highlights from the singer's post-Zep releases.

::AOL's First Listen program will debut a remixed version of the Rolling Stones' classic "Sympathy for the Devil."

::Quote For Today
Life finds its purpose and fulfillment in the expansion of happiness. ~Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Someday we'll look back on all this and plow into a parked car.

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Good Morning... or is it?

I pulled my old desk fan out of storage and placed it on my desk yesterday. That's a good sign. No. Not hot flashes, the coming Spring.

Music News
The Donnas were added to the lineup of 2003's Lollapalooza. The band joins Jane's Addiction, Incubus, Queens Of The Stone Age, Audioslave, Jurassic 5, and others. Jane's Addiction frontman and Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell said in a statement: "I bought a pair of silk pajamas for the road because we're going to have a Lollapajama party with the Donnas." Or they could braid each other's hair. [via: mi2n.]

A three-CD collection of Led Zeppelin concert recordings titled How the West Was Won is tentatively scheduled for a May 27 release. A companion two-DVD set also is expected around that date. In other news, drummer Michael Lee -- who previously has played with Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Jimmy Page -- has been tapped to play on Thin Lizzy's upcoming spring tour. There's a band I've not thought about in some time. I really liked them in the mid-seventies. [via: blabbermouth]

Ozzy and Sharon hosting a party at their home March 19 to raise money for Elton John's AIDS Foundation and Sharon's Colon Cancer foundation. Season No. 3 is slated to premiere June 10. But, does anyone care anymore?

Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd is 56 today.

Cool photo of German conservative opposition leader Angela Merkel emerging from the buttocks of Uncle Sam. Budding US papier mache makers, take your cue and go!

My archives and my permalink's sure are giving me a hard time. Truthfully, it's because I'm a dumbass and don't know what I'm doing. This looks like a job for Bailey's on the rocks. Then I'll revisit that coding hell. I remember a simpler time when Blogger did all the work for me. Now, I had to go and get my own website and it's turning into a DIY nightmare. But it's worth it. It's so worth it when you finally make it work. If that ever happens, I'll let you know.

I was proud that students of Asheville High and TC Roberson High {here in NC} walked out yesterday in protest of possible war with Iraq. They're getting a first hand look at what collective voices going against the administration will do. They're also getting various suspensions for it, though. The students interviewed said it was worth it.

Quote For Today
Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work.
~Gustave Flaubert

How many roads must a man walk down before he admits he is lost?

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Welcome
Hell, yes! I see you got here allright. Have you updated my url yet? Go ahead. I'll wait for you. I have new templates I may use later for this place, but I like the flexibility of this site for now. It was a challenge to duplicate this site to Blogger's specs. I'm satisfied with the comments box I made. OK. Obligatory welcome post out of the way. Let's shoot some shit....

How're You Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm?
"Resident Bush is a romantic at heart and a devoted family man," explains the heavily shellacked automaton with the frozen smile, his wifey, Laura Bush. In a recent Good Housekeeping interview, we don't hear about the Cuervo body shots or what a 'bush' man really means. Instead, she spins a tale of slack-jawed bewilderment, tales of sitting in rockers on the front porch of the ranch house and staring blankly out into the south 40, er 40,000. "My George is a 'windshield cowboy' now, meaning he drives a pickup truck, you know. I sometimes miss our good old days here in Texas when the chi-dren ["l" omission intentional] were small and George would give me an occasional ass-grab after coming home late from sharing an 8-ball at a frat party. Now, where are my manners? Can I get you a glass of sweet tea? Cooking sherry?"

Just Blog It
»Bea's started a Blogrolling Ring. And already has 70+ bloggers signed up in only a week's time. Ever thought about fund-raising, Bea? After you check out her mighty fine blog, you can find the url for the Blogroller Ring on the left side of her main blog page.
»Crystal, aka "Crinkle", a fellow southerner and a rock star, has a terminally ill father who is undergoing a biopsy today. If you offer up prayers, please send one on his behalf.
»Trinity, a Florida blogger pal, has recently started a site called BlogEye, where she's offering web design and free hosting for bloggers. She's a very talented designer and quite knowledgeable, too. The hosting sounds somewhat like Blogger, except without the banner ads.

Thank You
I really enjoy the blogging folks I communicate with online. I brag on you all the time. Even though I'm a wise-ass crone, I enjoy the fine ones that are my age, but most people I talk to online are my son's age.... or younger. I get a huge kick out of that. Huge. To the younger bloggers, I thank you. You fucking rock. I appreciate your acceptance, and I respect your wisdom, intellect and humor as much as anyone's.

January 9
Jimmy Page, [Led Zeppelin], has a birthday today. He's 59. And Robert Plant was nominated for two grammys on Jan 7. On the other end of the musical spectrum, Joan Baez is 62 today.

Quote For Today
Life is not holding a good hand; Life is playing a poor hand well.
~Danish proverb

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Robert Plant Has A New Release


I happened to see him on Dave Letterman last night; he's currently touring with his Dreamland" album/cd. I'd love to see him sing again. I saw him with Led Zeppelin in the 70's a couple of times. He new music sounds great and and he is looking mighty fine, as always. The cut of "Hey Joe" is so much his own, that you may not recognize it at first. His music always manages to stay so fresh and innovative that he never disappoints me; he just gets better and better.

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Hubby's memory is getting bad---had to re-tell the story of my VW van to him again today. I saw it on a car lot for $200, I believe. This was 1969. It was a 1963 model, with a 1967 motor in it, so my sweet Father bought it for me. The dealer had painted it a navy blue, so that was pretty cool. As an Art major at ETSU, I just had to tweak it somewhat. Where both doors opened, I pained a huge sun with the rays going out all over the place; and the other side had a moon and stars. In Smalltown, USA, it got noticed a lot back then. And so did I, with my Robert Plant hair, and long, flowing, gypsy skirts. Twelve-string by my side. It was actually safe to hitchhike back then. [that's another post] Freaks were roadside all over the place, and I picked up anyone who looked fun. There was a trust factor---if you were under 30. I took the van to the dorm with me. Arfus Apple and Suzi Creamcheese had a VW bug plastered with paintings of fish and were also Art majors. As rivers rush to the sea, we combined our love of music, art, and getting high. All of us former outcasts from high school were kindrid spirits in college. Daphne Wigall was my roomie. I remember Colleen, Denise Stovall, Kathy Motley, and Elizabeth. It was probably the most beautiful time of my life.

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