Wednesday, May 31, 2006

lz picks up Polar Music Prize

Umm, yeah, but that was so last week....

You may have noticed my ongoing posting-malaise. You know it is really bad when it takes me about a week to post any kind of Pagey~related news.

Oh well, better late than never, here's some now:

Led Zeppelin picks up the Polar Music Prize

[May 22, 2006] The surviving members of Led Zeppelin received the prestigious Polar Music Prize from Sweden’s king today in the city where they recorded their final studio album 27 years ago.

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones crossed the stage of the Stockholm Concert Hall – also the venue for the annual Nobel Prizes – to accept the award they shared with Russian conductor Valery Gergiev. John Bonham, the group’s drummer, who died in 1980, was represented by his daughter, Zoe.

In a short acceptance speech, Plant recalled that Led Zeppelin recorded their last studio album, In Through the Out Door, in a Stockholm studio in 1979.

“It’s a long time ago. Music has been a fantastic passport to us all,” he said.

The award, which is typically split between pop artists and classical musicians, was founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, manager of Swedish pop group ABBA, through a donation to The Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Each prize winner collects 1 million kronor (around €100,000).

The name of the prize comes from Andersson’s record label, Polar Records.

John Lord, a former member of Deep Purple, read the academy’s citation, calling Led Zeppelin “one of the great pioneers of rock.”

Bonham, Page, Jones and Plant formed Led Zeppelin in 1968. The group disbanded in 1980 after Bonham died, but their music remains hugely popular worldwide.

Before King Carl XVI Gustaf handed over the award diplomas, Swedish band Soundtrack of Our Lives performed Zeppelin hits such as Kashmir and Whole Lotta Love.

To honour Gergiev, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra played classic music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Mikhail Glinka and Sergeij Prokofiev.

The Russian is artistic and general director of St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, and will be principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra starting in January 2007.

Gergiev said he was “honoured to be on the same stage as my friends Led Zeppelin” and thanked his mother “who made it possible for me to become a musician.”

John Paul Jones and Robert Plant look on
as KingCarl XVI Gustaf greets Jimmy Page



A profile of the honorees sitting in the audience

More images can be found on this page of the Polar Music Prize Site


Note to everyone and anyone who may have noticed an might actually care (lol!):

I dunno what is wrong with me but I just can't get it together right now and so, I guess this is my official admission that I have not abandoned my blog but the posting may be very intermittent for the time being. I don't know how long this is going to last.

Not long hopefully, but think I've got an extreme case of blogger~burnout and I can't seem to get out from under it right now. I'm starting to read blogs more consistently now but mainly I check C&L, OneGoodMove, dKos, FDL, Greenwald and Hullabullo the most. And sometimes, after I've done that I find that I can't summon the energy to read anything else, and when there is something I think I might want to write about, it is because of something I've already read at one of those fine establishments and they've already said everything better than I ever could.

I could do what I've done so often in the past (and will no doubt begin doing again once I get over this burnout period) and just link them with little or no commentary but for some reason, right now I feel very self-conscious doing that. I don't know why.

I know that there are those who would criticize the kind of blog that is long on links and short on commentary but I've done that in the past with no regrets because my biggest goal with my own blog was to be one more opportunity for someone to find something that I believe is very much worth reading about, on the off chance that they didn't already find it somewhere else. I've never claimed to be any great writer or great thinker. Just an information junkie in love with the www and a desire to share what I'm passionate, excited or outraged about. But for whatever reason, the past few months I find I cannot seem to summon up the energy needed to even do that. I keep holding out hope that this will change....

I'm actually having that problem in all aspects of my life right now, both online and off.

Somewhere out there is a sweet friend (at least I'm praying he still is) waiting for a long overdue astrology report with impressions, and I keep starting on it every day and then 200 interruptions later, I set it down for another day. (Dear Friend, if you are reading this, please know I'm gonna get to it as soon as I can, I swear)

It is happening alot at Online groups where I'm supposed to be participating (horrors!) as well. It is happening at home as I listlessly try to pick through responsibilities that have been neglected or gotten half done as I lose my train of thought and pick up something else to do. I've let so many things get to the point of being overwhelming that I just often don't know where to begin. Suffice to say, I don't feel like I've got the right to expend too much energy online while that is going on. So, long story still longer than I meant it to be: things are a mess and I'm trying to work on it, get it under control and get back to things that always gave me the most joy. And... try to recover some of the joy that seems to have gone missing when I do get the chance to indulge in those said things.

Awww, I really think it is the insomnia that is causing the problem. But insomnia is also how I finally managed to post this. I'll stop ramblin now....
Posted by etherealfire :: 1:24 AM :: 2 Comments:

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