Just off the Pirate Trail above Trump’s Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Source: Rob Gonsalves

Does anybody have Zooey Deschanel’s email addy?

Just throwing it out there.

Had a side convo last night in the jacuzzi with a couple Zep fans, discussing this. We ended up going off on a tangent and rattling off what we thought were the best band names of all time.

There are, of course, tons. There are great straightforward names pulled from familiar terms in English, like The Cure, Rush, Cream, Suicidal Tendencies, Heart, R.E.M., Dire Straits, The Pretenders, KISS, The Rolling Stones, Blind Faith, Yes, Rainbow, The Misfits, Journey. There are also more creative names, composed by using English words in unconventional contexts and combinations. Killer names like Soundgarden, Foghat, Aerosmith, Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge, Deep Purple, and maybe even Cheap Trick. Then you’ve got names that fall into a more personal category, with a hidden meaning that intially excludes outsiders from completely understanding the name. Seemingly nonsensical names like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Limp Bizkit, Jimmmy Eat World, Smashing Pumpkins, Blue Oyster Cult, Stone Temple Pilots, System of a Down, and perhaps even The Who. There are overlaps in all these categories.

After hashing this out for a while, I realized that, for me anyway, the most thought-provoking names contain one or both of the following two factors:

— striking use of metaphor (example: Pearl Jam)
— an oxymoron or paradox (example: Quiet Riot)

Any name that plays with these factors makes you think twice or three times. It makes you talk about it in the jacuzzi, perhaps even provoking debates over subjective interpretation. In any case, it beckons a blog entry.

That stated, off the top of my head, here are what I would consider my Top 5 Most Thought-provoking Band Names Ever:

5. Tool
4. The Grateful Dead
3. Black Sabbath
2. Led Zeppelin
1. The Doors

What are yours?

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Procrastination has always been one of my biggest problems. But I’ll worry about that later.

I was just reading something and saw a particular sentence: “Led by Shen Mingxin, head of the village…”.

The word “Led” jumped out at me, likely because of the capital L called for as the first word in the sentence. It’s not often that I’ve seen the word “led” starting a sentence off. It tickled my wordplay nerve.

Led Zeppelin

We all know about the band’s spelling twist on the word “Lead Zeppelin” and the whole Keith Moon suggestion. The band’s manager changed the name to prevent inevitable mispronunciations of “Leed Zeppelin”.

It never occured to me that the band’s name doesn’t necessarily have any unconventional spelling at all. “Led”, an adjective, as in the state resulting from the past-tense form of the verb “lead”. A Led Zeppelin, or a Guided Blimp. Given the related historical events of the Hindenberg, I suppose the name could be regarded as “an aircraft accompanied to its demise”, etc.

I know the word “Led” has some mystical undertones that Page probably had a ball with. What I think is supercool is to take it a tier deeper into the Hindenberg context, playing with the implications that the balloon’s “leader” — whether human or otherwise — didn’t necessarily intend for it to land safely. And we’re not necessarily talking about the Hindenberg in a literal sense. The Hindenberg is just a visual metaphor for for the more figurative idea of disaster. Throw “Led” into the equation, and you start tapping into the realm of metaphysical intention, inevitability, and fate.

Guided Disaster, if you will. Orchestrated Tragedy? Submissive Catastrophe? Induced Fiasco? I’ll even go so far as to say that “Led Zeppelin” is another way of saying “Shit Happens.” God, I love words. Maybe you’ve noticed.

I can’t be the first person who’s noticed this. While a couple of mystical hippie pals claim to have known this to be obvious all along, I’ve got other Zep friends who tell me I need to get a life. They’re probably all right.

In any case, one of the best band names ever conceived. What’s amusing is that most of the people who’d agree don’t even realize why.

“And you know sometimes words have two meanings.”
— Robert Plant

I’m a big sandwich fan, taking down two or three each week. Chips with any sandwich is mandatory, and we all need to wash it down with something.

I just ducked into Whole Foods for some supplies, and headed over to the sandwich counter where they have a “make your own sandwich” thing going at lunch. Pick a bread, a meat, a cheese, a spread, and load up on the veggies available. The boys hook you up custom style.

I just had the most amazing sandwich experience I can remember having in a long time. So good it should be illegal. Highly recommended:

BREAD
— Sourdough

MEAT
— Roast Beef

CHEESE
— Swiss

SPREAD
— None

VEGGIES
— Lettuce
— Tomato
— Roasted Red Pepper
— Avocado
— Red Onion
— Pepperoncinis

CHIPS (here’s the twist)
— Crispy Organic Apple Chips

BEVERAGE
— Evolution Pomegranate Lemonade Quenching Antioxidant

RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!!

You may have seen this one come through your Inbox recently, called “Fantastic Machine”. It humorously claims:

This machine was built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa. 97% of the machine’s components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft, Iowa. Yes, farm equipment! It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video. It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.

Obviously CG, but no less cool. Check out the complete piece courtesy of animusic.com:

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