RIP John Bonham - 46 Years Gone Today

Hard to believe. Granted, I was four when he died, so it's not like this has resonated with me since the day of his death. But Zeppelin is a huge piece of my musical psychology, and I have remembered this date since first reading it in a book Freshman year in high school (circa 1991). 

From the criminally underrated Coda, released well after Bonham's death. 

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Watch:

I just got wind that Alex Winter and Tom Stern's Freaked is included with Prime until about the end of the month, so if you've not seen it, now's the time. 

Hell, over six-and-a-half years since I was introduced to Freaked with a debut screening for the restoration at Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre, with Paul Leary doing live guitar scoring no less and most of the cast present for a post-film Q&A. I wrote about that HERE; just rewatched this for the first time since and I still just have to marvel at the sheer audacity of the 90s - NO ONE would give a film like this the kind of money for practical FX on display in Freaked in 2026. This is one special film, and it 100% holds up as one of the greatest practical FX flicks of all time.

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Playlist:

Steve Moore - Bliss OST

Joseph Loduca - Evil Dead II OST

Dreamkid - Daggers

Steve Moore - Christmas Bloody Christmas OST

Ennio Morricone - The Thing OST

Fear - Live... For the Record

Count Gorgann - Corpse Eater: Satanic Misery Live for the Dead

Godflesh - Purge

Steve Moore - VFW OST

The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicenter

Final Light - Eponymous

Ramones - Road to Ruin

Ramones - End of the Century

Chat Pile - Who Loves the Sun

Godflesh - Post Self

Type O Negative - World Coming Down

Flying Lotus - 1983

Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness

M83 - I Wrote you A Letter

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Card:

One from the Thoth deck:

Renewal. I'm definitely feeling like I need it. I'm feeling burn out on music, movies, writing. Everything. I have a feeling a lot of it is from rounding the final corners on my reread of Stephen King's The Dark Tower. I'm dragging my feet because this final book is breaking my heart and yet, I don't want it to end. Maybe if I can knock that out this weekend (like 60 pages left), I'll get my renewal.

Also, I can't pass up the correlation between mentioning The Egyptian Theatre above and then pulling this card a few moments later. 

September 25, 1980

John Bonham died 45 years ago today.

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John Bonham

44 years ago today. Damn. Maybe When the Levee Breaks is old hat to some, but I'll never get tired of this song, and what's more, this song IS the drums. Not just how they're played, but how they're recorded. 

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2018: September 26th

I messed this up and should have posted this yesterday, as September 25, 1980 is the day John Bonham passed away. 38 years... wow.

A week or two ago, the new Grady Hendrix book came out. Author of My Best Friend's Exorcism, Paperbacks from Hell, and Horrorstör, this guy has become a recent favorite of mine. Looking forward to this new one. Why?

Right up my alley. That said, I still have a lot of books to tackle before the year is over. My list of "To-Read" goes a little something like this:

Neil Gaimen - The Graveyard Book
Robert Payne Cabeen - Cold Cuts
Dead Reckoning - Dino Parenti
David Lynch - Room to Dream
Gemma Files - Experimental Film

That's not all of them, but it's the ones I really want to read before the end of the year.

Playlist from 9/25:
Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST
Boy Harsher - Country Girl EP
Mad Love - White With Foam
Briqueville - II
Godflesh - Post Self

Card of the day:

As often as it appears in my daily pulls, I'm going to have to dig deeper on this card. I'm not getting a 'journey' vibe, literally or figuratively for today, so let's look at the Grimoire:

"Everything within. No external or obscured (The Moon) influences. Trust you gut. Materiality can point to eccentricity or folly."

Hmm. The materiality bit rings a bit true to some of my deep-rooted neuroses about money; I tend to buy to much stuff. Or this may be a resolution to a certain fatigue that has haunted me of late, making it more difficult than usual to walk down to my local coffeehouse and write (I drove yesterday, but only just convinced myself to go).