Repost: DVDs, Premieres, and Joneses part II

[AylaKat@xxxxxxx]

I wake up somewhat to the sound of the radio.  It doesn't hit me yet just quite 
what I 
was hearing, because I'm dazed and confused after a mere 3-4 hours of sleep.  
The night before, Cindy, her husband Dave, and two friends we met at Zepfest 
Toronto 
were gallavanting around New York City, hitting Virgin Megastore ten minutes to 
midnight, 
gazing at the giant billboard they have up on 7th street, between 40 something 
and 40 something. 

We ran around the store for a bit, waiting for THE MOMENT... when the CD and 
DVD would 
be wheeled out on a little white cart, and the scramble for copies would begin. 
 It's 
funny really, we were the only ones that really ran for copies, all of us in 
contest to 
be the first ones to purchase both.  Cindy was officially first to pay at 11:59 
and about 
30 seconds, if you must know.  I was second, and the Canada boys were last.  It 
didn't matter 
though, because we HAD them... we owned our copies and it felt GOOD.  We posed 
for pictures, 
tore open the wrappers, and gazed at those discs.  But Cindy and I had made a 
promise... we 
can't watch that DVD, at least, not until we see it on the big screen!  But we 
could, on the 
other hand, dip into those CDs...

So after that we walked back to the hotel, where we met one of the true 
badgeholders of For 
Badgeholders Only, Jeremy Mixer.  The rest of the night was spent listening to 
the first CD, 
feeling every note... singing along when we had the guts and those who played 
anything played 
along using only the air as instruments.  At the first few bits of every song, 
one of us uttered 
an "Ohhh..." or "Yess!" in some sort of orgasmic glory.  It was sound yet it 
was shining, 
glimmering treasure ringing in our ears.  

After the Canada boys left, we sat around talking and such... blah blah.  Then 
comes Tuesday 
morning.

We have a Zep day, visiting Physical Graffiti and eating at Yaffa, searching 
the little shops 
at St. Mark's Place finding all kinds of Zep goodies, before it's time for us 
to rush back to 
the hotel and doll ourselves up for THE NIGHT...

Of course, Cindy and Jeremy had to pick up their tickets first (I got mine 
elsewhere) and lo and 
behold... inside Cindy's envelope was a little blue slip inviting her to a 
party... the same 
blue slip Mixer had in his and that I see Nech mentioned.

We rush back to the hotel to shower and change... Cindy and I making ourselves 
look like classy 
ladies in our dresses.  Yes, of all the women there, I must say, we were the 
shining examples 
of female specimens, dressed like ladies without dressing to little like we saw 
on some rather 
scantily clad girls.  We arrive at about 4:50 or 5, and there's the red carpet 
rolled out, and 
and a people waiting behind fences to find available tickets from scalpers, and 
a barrier of 
photographers lining the eventual pathway of the boys into the theater.  We 
waited for them the 
clear the theater out, until their secret service let us in.  We were first.

We got into the theater and sat down, legs shaking in anticipation.  The screen 
was large, and 
tonight we were small, for the images of those boys would be enormous, and even 
they, dwarfed 
by the sound.

Eventually, the lights focused on a man with a shoulder length curly poof of 
hair behind a 
microphone on a podium, and we clapped.  He was the head of Atlantic, and he 
spoke his thanks 
for a moment before introducing... Page, Plant, and Jones!

Now, there were three theaters showing this movie... the other two with mostly 
contest winners, 
and the third, the one we were in, with mostly invited guests.  This is where 
we all sat... 
Cindy, her husband, Jeremy, me, Nech, his wife, and I'm pretty sure Tangerine 
Man.  This was 
the theater that they would be watching it in, so this was the theater they 
made their last 
speeches in.  The boys were funny and heartwarming... Plant dedicated it to 
Bonzo and that 
was met with much rowdy applause in agreement.  Jones mentioned how he would 
"finally see Led 
Zeppelin perform..." it was met with laughter and applause, and for me, 
agreement.  Finally, 
the boys, together, could be larger than life... larger than my TV screen.

The movie started as the DVD starts... and the anticipation was over, because 
when the sound 
started, so did the ride!  Notable bits include the way they showed so much 
Bonzo.  I love 
looking at him play.  Watching his arms move was breathtaking, especially on In 
My Time of 
Dying, and of course, his Moby Dick bit!  It was a shame they didn't have the 
whole solo on 
the big screen, I would have loved to watch all of it and more, but I'll do 
that on my own.  
As for the rest of it?  There were times where I just had to close my eyes and 
FEEL it instead 
of watching it... I mean, it just sunk into me and twisted my muscles around 
and shot chills 
up my spine, every bit of it... The 1972 Immigrant Song images were dead on 
gorgeous, my 
congrats for a primo editing job there.  That just stuck out as an amazing and 
exciting thing 
to watch... because it never, much like the song, slowed down to let you 
breathe.  If you 
closed your eyes, you missed a Jimmy dance, or a Jonesy dip, or a Bob shuffle 
or a Bonzo 
drum smack.  What a feeling.

And yes, there were those audience moments... normally, when an audience member 
interacts with 
the movie in a regular movie, that guy gets hit with random pieces of candy or 
my fist.  
But in that theater, audience interaction made it feel like it was alive... 
when the man in 
the back left yelled out "HOLY SHIT!" at the top of his lungs during IMTOD, the 
audience 
exploded with laughter, because guaranteed, everyone thought the same exact 
thing at the same 
exact time.  When Stairway came on, two people near the front put up their 
lighters and were 
met with tons of laughter.  I had thought of bringing a lighter with me but I 
forgot... I could 
only imagine the reaction the boys would have gotten if the place exploded into 
a sea of lighters. 
 But it was a movie theater, not a real concert, so I'm sure most people were 
unprepared.  
Still, it was beautiful, until the guy had to put it out because he burned his 
fingers.

The Ocean.... gosh, The Ocean had me feeling so good, and Bonzo introduced it 
and I know me and 
others said it along with him... and every note of it, every bit of it just... 
gosh, I'm not even 
sure what to say at this point, because the memories of those feelings I had 
during The Ocean and 
IMTOD just... just... gosh.  All else has escaped.

There were a few "OMFG THAT WAS AWESOMEs" after the show, before we hurried 
along to that after 
party.  Just to note on the atmosphere of the club... when we walked in there, 
it was dark, and 
the designs on the wall were creepy, and the music sounded straight out of 
hell, and I was very 
creeped out.  The feeling left after I heard Jones arrived and saw the top of 
his head in the 
crowd.  And soon after was when it happened.

Cindy was talking to Jones.  I watched her.  She turned around, I saw her face. 
 
She walked toward me.  Her arm was out.  Five fingers grabbed my wrist.  I 
tugged back.  
She pulled.  I walked, helpless.  There he was.  Shaking my hand.  Smiling of 
the tattoo 
of his symbol on my arm.  Jeremy next to me telling him how I was on Rockline 
that time, 
and how I was the one who told him his voice was pretty.  Sometime after that, 
a comment 
Cindy's husband gave me ringed in my head... "Underneath, they're all flesh and 
blood."  
John Paul Jones was one of the nicest people I had ever met... he chatted with 
me, let me 
talk to him about my ideas about his website, thanked me for my input... let me 
make a dumb 
joke about how he should call Jimmy on Rockline for a goof... and then it was 
over.  

JOY?  YES.  JOY.

All in all, it was a great evening.  The highlight was certainly meeting Jones, 
and the images... 
just gorgeous.  I was lucky to be there, someone was smiling down on me, 
because things worked 
out too perfectly.  Somehow, my manager knew to give me Tuesday off, without 
question.  
Somehow I found the perfect dress and shoes.  Somehow, those tickets got into 
my hand.  
Somehow, I saw it.

As a final note:  It was great meeting Nech and his wife and Tango-Man, and Mix 
Master J!  
Everyone was cool people, and although the likelyhood of something like THAT 
happening ever 
again is slim, I hope one day we all get the chance to get together again.  
Zepfest perhaps?  

And on the DVD itself, not just the movie... I looked through and saw that all 
the menus have 
little gorgeous clips here and there... so no matter what, even if you're just 
surfing, you 
get an awesome treat!  This DVD is amazing, more than I hoped to ever have, and 
if you don't 
like it, phooey to you, and go find another favorite band! 

Now I only wish I could have given them all a big THANK YOU in person to them 
for the amazing time.
..

Kat Dalton