Forty years ago, concert film were big. No really, they played on big screens and carried cultural import. In 1970, the documentary Woodstock won an academy award. When Talking Heads released Stop Making Sense in 1984, people were apparently dancing in the aisles of the theater.

Then, shortly thereafter, there were no aisles left to dance in. VHS made the concert film less of a public event and more of an at-home-with-a-bag-of-Cheetos experience. By the time Radiohead made its stuffy tour film, Meeting People is Easy, in the late ’90s, the wonder and mystique were pretty much extinguished. Then YouTube came along and the screen got smaller still. These days, the large-scale concert film genre is basically a graveyard—home to the dead (Michael Jackson, This Is It) and the undead (The Rolling Stones, Shine a Light), with the JoBros the only remaining trace of once abundant youthful vigor.

Perhaps those eerie vibes are what has drawn D.C. expats Dead Meadow to the scene. Or maybe the trio, who play bluesy psych-rock, had been spending a lot of time with Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains The Same. Whatever the rationale, in March the band will release Three Kings, a film that’s one part concert footage, one part stoner-ghosts walking around in robes, and one part bassist Steve Kille firing an Uzi at a light bulb. At least, that’s what this preview suggests.

A video for the song “That Old Temple,” excerpted from the film, is up after the jump
Read More “Dead Meadow Makes Concert Film. Wait, People Still Watch Concert Films?” »

Today, as John Paul Jones announces that Led Zeppelin will no longer seek a touring replacement for an intransigent Robert Plant, D.C. fans can take solace in the imminent arrival of Lez Zeppelin.

The all-female five-piece—after Bonnaroo, no longer a parlor trick but still an oddity—sacrifices little in its sonic parrotry: enlisting Eddie Kramer to produce its self-titled debut; treating the Zep canon essentially as sheet music, “as if it were, I don’t know, a symphony by Beethoven,” guitarist Steph Paynes told the A.V. Club. The group’s performances are noteworthy for the virtuosity involved; for the appropriation of cock-rock swagger; for the fact that they’re, you know, all women; and because unlike Plant, lead singer Sarah McClellan never cracks on those high notes.

(She also refuses to bait the audience with annoying lines like, “Remember laughter?” Possibly because Lez refuses to play Stairway-to-You-Know-What.)

Video & deets below the jump.

Read More “Tomorrow Night: Lez Zeppelin @ the State Theatre” »

Fascinated with DC rock music history, filmmaker Jeff Krulik, best known for producing  ”Heavy Metal Parking Lot,” with John Heyn, will be working on a documentary in progress Saturday afternoon at the Wheaton Community Center entitled “Led Zeppelin Was Here.”   Krulik (conflict of interest note-I first met when we we were young lads in Bowie, MD)  after finding out that  the then-Wheaton Youth Center featured local, national, and international rock bands at teen dances from December 1963 until the early 1970s, became especially interested in the story that Led Zeppelin performed there.  Krulik’s research suggests that on January 20, 1969, the day of Richard Nixon’s inauguration,  Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, et.al., made their first area appearance, at this Montgomery County location.  Krulik is inviting anyone who was there for that show to come and reminisce and show any photos or other memorabilia they may have that relates to that event.  He’d also like to hear from anyone who saw other gigs there by the likes of local acts Lawrence & the Arabians, JD and The Jesters, and The Renegades, or out-of-towners such as the Stooges, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper and others.  To bring back some of the center’s charm, and entertain both those who were there years ago and those who were not, the Beatnik Flies and Ottley! will also perform.

Saturday March 7 from 12 noon to 6 p.m. (live music at around 3) for free at the Wheaton Community Center, 11711 Georgia Avenue, Wheaton, MD

 

Recently there’s been some speculation that since Robert Plant is unwilling to give up on his intended two-year his sabbatical, the remaining members of Led Zeppelin will simply reunite and tour with a different singer. But who? Chris Cornell? Eddie Vedder? I’m sure Scott Weiland would gladly commit to singing “Big Empty” 15 times per night on an eternal Stone Temple Pilots reunion tour in exchange for just one chance to do “Immigrant Song” with Jimmy Page. Whatever. Personally, I think the choice is obvious: