#rodney thompson

[jnjo]

Rodney Thompson

[miamaimania]

Rodney Thompson's mesmerizing portrait ➤ a glimpse into the soul

[coolseabird]

Darth Nihilus, Lord of Hunger

Victim of the Mandalorian Wars, the man who became Nihilus lost everything: his possessions, his loved ones, and the will to live. While illness cannibalizes his body, a vast emptiness devours his humanity. Then, when all seems lost, he discovers that his emptiness hungered. The first time, he fed it unconsciously. Draining another being’s life is frightening, nauseating, but for a euphoric moment, the memories, the illness, and the hunger disappeared.

But it proves insatiable. The more he indulges it, the shorter the satisfaction lasts and the more severe the hunger becomes. He begins feeding relentlessly, still always craving. Existence again becomes unbearable, but then hope materializes. A blind Sith Lord appears. She has felt his existence like a gaping wound through the Force. The Force, she explains, fuels his hunger, and she will show him how to devour worlds. The Sith and the Force are meaningless to him, but the hunger must be appeased.

Darth Traya indeed teaches the newly christened Darth Nihilus to harness his life-draining gift to radical heights—so effectively, in fact, that Nihilus saps Traya's powers in a calculated double-cross. However, as Nihilus greedily consumes entire planets' life energy, the dark side macerates him even faster. But no matter. Nothing matters except his hunger. Before it devours him totally, Nihilus uses his power to displace his persona into his robes and armor. As his useless body disintegrates, he becomes living primitive intention; at last, the whole of the galaxy becomes food—for Nihilus has become the hunger.

Ousting Traya with Darth Sion's help, Nihilus binges on the Force, nearly extinguishing the Jedi forever at Katarr. However, Traya reciprocates his betrayal by luring him into a confrontation with the Jedi Exile and Nihilus's own former apprentice. When Nihilus tries feeding on this Jedi, his hunger is mysteriously repelled, as if confronted by his exact polar opposite. Psychically starved by the effort, the Dark Lord falls to the Jedi, and Nihilus the man dissolves into oblivion.

[mask131]

Read-list for an "old school D&D" fantasy (plus bonus)

This is a remake of an earlier post of mine, that I decided to update (some additional books were suggested to me, others I found out about later).

This is a reading-list of various literary works that heavily inspired or were heavily used in the creation of the first editons of Dungeons and Dragons - and thus, reading them will allow you to plunge back into what the original D&D was meant to look what/what it tried to emulate.

J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit". No surprise here, Tolkien's works were the start of modern fantasy and thus the main source of old-school D&D. In fact, D&D was originally created to be just a Lord of the Rings role-playing game - or to be precise a LotR wargame. This was the original intention. Which is why, quite famously, the very first version of D&D included elements such as the hobbits, the mithril and the balrogs. And when the Tolkien Estate pointed out the consequences of what was plagiarism, D&D changed these concepts to... "halflings", "mithral" and "balors". The only Tolkien-element D&D could preserve vaguely unchanged were the orcs, because the Tolkien Estate could not prove Tolkien had invented the term "orc". But even beyond that, D&D's dwarfs and elves and ents (sorry, treants) and wights and rangers all were heavily inspired by Tolkien - the gods of the orcs even use symbols such as an "eye of fire" and a "white hand"...

Poul Anderson's "Three Hearts and Three Lions". Poul Anderson was quite influential on early 20th century fantasy, and this specific book influenced D&D in three ways. On one side, it was one of the two sources for the "Order versus Chaos" conflict of D&D (the other being Moorcock). On the other the D&D trolls were inspired by the Three Hearts and Three Lion trolls. And finally the Paladin class was inspired by Anderson's Holger Carlsen character (the same way the Ranger was Tolkien's Aragorn). [This book also seems to have had some influence over the Fey of D&D?]

Michael Moorcock's "The Elric Saga". With Anderson's work, it was the other main source of the Order vs Chaos, Lawful vs Chaotic division of the D&D game. It also served as the main inspiration behind the D&D Drows, due to the Elric Saga shaping the original image of "Dark Elves" in fantasy, through its Melnibonéan Empire. D&D also originally collected references to the Elric world - creating many variation of Elric's evil magical sword Stormbringer through a variety of cursed soul-drinking weapons.

Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Barbarian". The source of heroic-fantasy the same way Lord of the Rings influenced epic fantasy, the world of Conan was also a huge source of inspiration for D&D - the most obvious reference being the Barbarian class, shaped for those who wanted to play Conan.

Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser". Originally intended as a parody of the Conan-style heroic fantasy, but promptly becoming a serious and admired work that created its own sub-genre of fantasy (the "sword and sorcery" genre), they also were inspirational for the first editions of D&D. Sometimes it is indirect - the "Thief" or "Rogue" classes were inspired by Leiber's Gray Mouser character - other times it is MUCH more direct. For example, among the numerous pantheons you could choose to use in early D&D, one was the various gods of Newhon and the city of Lankhmar, the universe of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. And the fantasy trope of "Thieves' Guild" made famous partially by D&D was originally an invention of Leiber.

Jack Vance's The Dying Earth. This emblematic series of the "science-fantasy" genre offered to D&D its magic system, which is generally known as "vancian magic". It was Jack Vance who had the idea that a wizard had to learn/store spells in their mind, with a limited number of spells they could carry in their brain, and that once cast the spell had to be re-learned or restored. Several spells and items of early D&D were also directly taken from the Dying Earth books - the "prismatic spray" or the "ioun stones".

H.P. Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythos". No need to explain how Lovecraft's brand of eldritch horror and alien-fantasy shaped the creatures and deities of early D&D, to the point that early on the deities and monsters of the Cthulhu Mythos were part of the pantheons you could chose to use - listed alongside the Newhon gods of Leiber, or the gods of the Conan universe.

While not fantasy works, the most famous creations of Edgard Rice Burroughs - Tarzan on one hand, and John Carter of Mars on the other, were claImed by Gygax to have been very influential to his creation of D&D.

Another author Gygax mentionned as being a huge influence for D&D was Fletcher Pratt - through his Harold Shea fantasy series, about a main character being carried away in various magical and fantastical worlds very different from each other, in which he has to adapt himself to new settings and learn new rules to avoid dangers and threats... Sounds familiar? The idea of world-travelling might also have been inspired by the science-fiction series by P.J. Farmers' World of Tiers: the rules of travel in D&D between the various planes of reality seem to have been inspired by Farmers' own rules for dimension-travel.

One of the lesser known influences of D&D is the fantasy series "Kothar" by Gardner Fox: Gygax explicitely said that the idea of the "Lich" as a D&D monster came from Fox's Kothar series.

Not a book, but movies: the Sinbad movies of the mid 20th century were influential on early D&D. Various monsters and creatures referenced pictures such as "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" or "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad".

"The House on the Borderlands" by William Hope Hodgson was explicitely referenced by Gygax's 1979 module "The Keep on the Borderlands", and it might have heavily influenced the original depiction of the D&D orcs as pig-men...

The Shannara series by Terry Brooks has also been pointed out as an influence on D&D - while not on the very first edition, elements of the Shannara world seem to have influenced later ones...

Mind you, this is but a fragment of a much longer list known as the "Appendix N" composed by Gygax, and that lists all the books and pieces of work he took inspiration from when designing D&D. Beyond the most famous works evoked above he also listed:

Poul Anderson's "The High Crusade" and "The Broken Sword"

John Bellairs' "The Face in the Frost"

Leigh Brackett's works

Fredric Browns' works

I evoked before Burrough's Mars series, but Gygax also listed his "Venus series" and his "Pellucidar series".

Lin Carter's "World End" series

L. Sprague de Camp's "Lest Darkness Fall" and "The Fallible Fiend" and "The Carnelian Cube"

August Derleth's continuation of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Lord Dunsany's writings, of course.

Gardner Fox's "Kyrik" series

Sterling Lanier's "Hiero's Journey"

A. Merritt's "Creep, Shadow, Creep", "Moon Pool" and "Dwellers in the Mirage"

Michael Moorcock's "Hawkmoon" series (which is technically part of the wider universe of which the Elric Saga is the central piece)

Andre Norton's works

Fletcher Pratt's "Blue Star"

Fred Saberhagen's "Changeling Earth"

Margaret St. Clair "The Shadow People" and "Sign of the Labrys"

Stanley Weinbaum's works

Manley Wade Wellman's works

Jack Williamson's works

Roger Zelazny's "Amber" series, and "Jack of Shadows".

In 2007, Gygax even updated his Appendix N with a handful of new titles reflecting elements added to later editions of D&D:

Sterling Lanier's "The Unforsaken hiero"

Piers Anthony's "Split Infinity" series

And of course, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series

And since this post is all about updates, I will also include a list of works that were used as inspiration for current day/modern D&D - especially the fifth edition. Like that, you'll have the evolution of "old school D&D versus new school D&D". This list is taken from fragments here and there of interviews given by Mike Mearls, the Appendix E "Inspirational Reads" of the fifth edition, and Rodney Thompson's interviews.

Appendix E replaces several elements Gygax talked about in interviews or in his Appendix N: Leiber's work, Burroughs's Mars series, Howard's Conan, etc...

Appendix E adds among other things China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station", and Elizabeth Bear's "Range of Ghosts".

Mike Mearls said that what inspired him in his design work of modern D&D was Ursula LeGuin's "Earthsea" series, Patrick Rothfuss "The Name of the Wind", Saladin Ahmed "Throne of the Crescent Moon" and Octavia E. Butler's "The Parable of the Sower".

But Mearls also repeated several of the picks already used by Gygax. He invoked again The Elric Saga, and Roger Zelazny's Amber series, and Tolkien's Legendarium of course...

Rodney Thompson rather insisted on returning to the Anderson roots of the D&D fantasy: mostly "Three Heart and Three Lions", but also "The Broken Sword".

[myvinylplaylist]

Santana: Smooth Single (1999)

Arista Records

[duranduratulsa]

Now showing on my 80's Fest Movie 🎥 marathon...A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)on glorious vintage Media Home Entertainment VHS 📼! #movie #movies #horror #anightmareonelmstreet #anightmareonelmstreet3 #anightmareonelmstreet3dreamwarriors #wescraven #RIPWesCraven #freddy #freddykrueger #robertenglund #HeatherLangenkamp #JohnSaxon #RIPJohnSaxon #PatriciaArquette #JenniferRubin #penelopesudrow #rodneyeastman #bradleygregg #kensagoes #iraheiden #craigwasson #priscillapointer #laurencefishburne #brookebundy #ZsaZsaGabor #DickCavett #nancythompson #vintage #vhs #mediahomeentertainment #80s #80sfest #durandurantulsas5thannual80sfest

[thebowerypresents]

Tyler Childers – Radio City Music Hall – August 3, 2003

With his highly anticipated sixth studio album, Rustin’ in the Rain, dropping next month, Tyler Childers launched a brand-new American tour on Wednesday at Radio City Music Hall, and the Appalachian singer-songwriter and his supremely talented band were back again at the plush venue on Thursday night.

(Tyler Childers plays Thompson’s Point in Portland, Maine, with Margo Price on Sunday.)

Photos courtesy of Grayson Wise | @grayokay

[greensparty]

Movie Reviews: Lynch/Oz and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

This week I got to review 2 films, one narrative and one documentary:

Lynch/Oz

Alexandre O. Philippe has very quietly become one of the great pop culture documentarians of our time. The People Vs. George Lucas looked at the love/hate relationship between Lucas and his fans, Doc of the Dead looked at zombies in pop culture, 78/52 examined the shower scene in Psycho (read my review here), and Leap of Faith was William Friedkin talking about making The Exorcist (read my review here). But more than any subject Philippe is examining, his films are really a thesis about what it is to be a film geek who is fanatical about a film, filmmaker or genre. Now he is after an iconic filmmaker David Lynch and his connection to an iconic film The Wizard of Oz with the new doc Lynch/Oz, opening this week.

movie poster

The overall doc is examining the influence that Oz had on Lynch and his work. Structurally it is set up into chapters, where each one has a different commentator (John Waters, Rodney Ascher,  Karyn Kusama and more) examining their perspective on that influence, intercutting with clips from Oz and Lynch’s films as well as other films. 

This reminded me a ton of Rodney Ascher’s brilliant doc Room 237, where he examines theories and interpretations of The Shining each with a different commentator you don’t see only hear and they are connecting dots that may or may not be there, but you’re intrigued nonetheless. So it made perfect sense that Ascher was a commentator. Going into this, the immediate film I thought of was Lynch’s Wild at Heart, which is literally and visually referencing Oz. But after watching this doc, I feel like Oz’s DNA is all over so much of Lynch’s work in more ways than I saw upon first viewing. This is definitely a treat for fans of Lynch, but at times it might get a little academic for non-fans. But for someone like me who has inhaled so much of Lynch’s work, it’s worth checking out!

For info on Lynch/Oz: https://exhibitapictures.com/films/lynchoz/

4 out of 5 stars

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

After countless iterations of Spider-Man movies (i.e. Sam Raimi’s trilogy, Marc Webb’s reboot, and Jon Watt’s reboot that plays into the MCU), 2018′s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was an animated story of Miles Morales and how he becomes Spider-Man in his universe and how he connects with other Spider People in parallel universes to defeat Kingpin. It was a breath of fresh air: the same Spider-Man story we’ve seen countless times already was now new again in a fresh, charming, and fun ride. Best of all, because it was about parallel universes, it didn’t disrupt the existing live-action Spider-Man movies of the last few years, so there was no confusion for fans. Into the Spider-Verse won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature and I named it my #7 Movie of 2018. Now the sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse opens today.

movie poster

Before I get into this movie, let me say I always try to avoid spoilers in movie reviews. That is going to be a challenge here. It’s not just about avoiding giving away the ending, there’s so much in the beginning and middle as well that are surprises and I don’t want to give too much away to ruin the fun. Here it goes: In this universe, Miles is a teen getting used to being Spider-Man. As he goes into other universes he meets with other Spider-People too. There is a master plan and when any Spider-Person does something that veers from that plan it could unravel the fabric of history. Other films like Back to the Future and that episode of Star Trek where they go back in time, have addressed this very same concept, but this one is packing it with more action and colorful visuals.

With my movie reviews, I usually attend press screenings (sometimes screeners), and for this particular one I got to bring my son, who is 7 and loved the last Spider-Verse movie. It was such a treat to be able to bring him and enjoy this movie with him! I did not feel like this was nearly as impressive a Into the Spider-Verse, but it definitely sustained the originality of the last one and more than anything there’s a sense of fun amidst the complex storylines and theories. For a big Summer franchise sequel, you could do a lot worse. Now (semi-spoiler ahead), this does suffer a little from middle-movie syndrome, where there’s no really beginning and no real ending unless you’re watching the trilogy as a whole. It’s hard for me to get critical without giving much away, but I kind of wanted some closure the way the other Spider-Man movies are stand-alone movies. Having said all this, this is one of the best super hero movies I’m likely to see this year!

For info on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: https://www.acrossthespiderverse.movie/

4 out of 5 stars

[mitjalovse]

Carlos Santana is much more interesting than many give him credit for and to be quite honest with you all – he did receive a lot of laurels for his opus back then. What changed? Well, Supernatural happened. Mind you, the disc might feel like an intentional blockbuster with a hindsight, though I assume no one dared to dream the LP would be that successful. Moreover, while we do remember the singles, we forget the platter also contains what Santana was doing in the past with the added production flourishes of the late 90's. The latter sort of give the album a certain big budget remake sheen of his previous triumphs and this quality does suffocate some great stuff the group does there. However, Supernatural probably cemented their legacy from then on.

[spilladabalia]

The Relatives - Summer Holocaust

[sophie-becketts]

LUKE THOMPSON interviewed by CLAUDIA JESSIE Grumpy Magazine a film by Rodney Rico [x]

"Bridgerton is this huge phenomenon, so I guess the biggest challenge is negotiating that level of exposure, not pushing it away, and seizing all the opportunities that it offers because it's a lucky thing. But it's also trying to balance that and not letting it eat up the thing that I really want to do, which is for no one to really know who I am so I can carry on acting. I want to protect it because the only way it works is if it stays mine."

[waymond-wang]

I thought I was the only one. You're like me.

SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (2018) dir. Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, & Rodney Rothman SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (2023) dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, & Kemp Powers

[zal-cryptid]

Do you have a list of Toyfolk inhabitants?

The Misfits:

Charles "Charlie" Scopp

Dolores "Dolly" Conley

Eleanor

Gabriel "Gabe" Bianco

Jennifer "Jen " Spagnoletti

Maria Martinez

Melissa "Mel" Ray

Pauline "Paul" Carson

Tabitha "Tammy" Yokoi

André?

Others

Apalala

Brendan

Carol

Flo

Morgan

Cadencia Martinez?

Floretta

Phineas Barnum

Romeo "Candlewick"

Hans

Dorothy "Dollie"

"Moonracer"

Anabel

Ayane Takahashi

Eli "Spots" Banas

Hanuman

Hensley

Molly

Octavia

Silus Zelinski

Suzanne "Zanny" 🏥

"Steadfast Tin Soldier"

"Paper Ballerina Doll"

"Babs"

Fan Characters (this list is incomplete)

Alfons

Alma Irons

Amy "Amy Sh-" Shipperton

Artie

Aster

Barnaby Alberto Alexander

Beatrice "Beau" Pierceson

Bene MaCrane

Bill Stanton

Billie "B.B." Oats

Bobbi

Buster Sweetwater

Butch Franklin

Camille "the Professor" Basset

Carlos

Catherine Hammond

Charlie

Conrad Fothergill

Danzel "Dizzy"

Darcy

Davina & Bronnie

Emit

Eddy/Emi

Elizabeth "Liz" 🏥

Emma

Ezekiel "Zeke" Bridgman

Dr. Ernst 🏥

Fanny 🏥

Freddy "Eddy"

Ganda Green

Georgina George

Gretchen

Gwendoline "Gwen"

Heather Rigger

Horace Parker

Iris Nagi

Isabel "Izzy"

Jane Doe

Janice Ridgewalker

Jason Robbs

Jayden Storm

Jennifer

Jester

Jiro Kanedo

Julia, Thomas, James, and Andrea

Kelly

Kelsey Warren

Dr. Lacey Weaver 🏥

Lux Newton

Levy Atan

Lysandra Atwood-Terpsichore

Madeline

Madilyn "Maddie" Hoek

Mal

Marigold Hartford

Margaret "Margie" Bleeker

Margie

Markley Burke

Mars

Marvin

Mary Annette

Maximilian

Melody

Mike

Milo Otis

Min Hu

Monika

Naomi

Nessa

Nonna Macaw

Odelia Pines

Paul Higgins

Peter Rangers

Petra

Pierce Spotson

Dr. Quentin "Q.T." Darling 🏥

Rachel Thompson

Ralph Patrickson

Richard Tarkin

Rocky

Rodney

Roza Egorova

Ryder Cochran

Sam Greenway

Sandy

Scharlachrot

Sheila

Stanley "Stella" Olson

Sylvik

Taylor Seekins

Terra

Thomas Bower

Tracy Corbett

Walter

[caelwynn]

Caelwynn's Mod List for Stardew 1.6 - Expansions/NPCS

Stardew Valley Expanded — expands upon the original world of Stardew by adding dialogue and gift taste changes to original NPCs, adding six new marriage candidates, nine additional NPCs, and an entire new area to explore.

Ridgeside Village — another expansion, this time bringing an entirely new village with several maps to life, connected to the valley by a cable car north of the bus stop. Ridgeside has fourteen new marriage candidates available from the get-go, plus an additional thirty-two NPCs.

East Scarp — adds a hamlet to the east of Pelican Town. It is a far more modular expansion; while more than a dozen NPCs come with East Scarp, at thirty more are available through various add-on mods. The East Scarp page on Nexus lists characters available on Nexus, while more can be found in an alpha or beta stage on the East Scarp Discord.

Always Raining in the Valley — adds Sterling, Mia, and Henry to East Scarp

Never Ending Adventure/Circle of Thorns (Mateo/Hector) — Adds Mateo and Hector to East Scarp. Further characters are available on the East Scarp Discord.

Mr. Ginger — expands upon the story of Jas's cat, Mr. Ginger, who's introduced in The Ranch Expansion (Marnie & Jas).

Juliet & Jessie — adds a pair of new clerks to Joja-mart. Both Juliet and Jessie have connections with East Scarp.

Alecto — gives the wizard's ex-wife a story of her own.

The Last Smoluanu - A Dwarf Expansion — adds additional heart events and dialogue for the dwarf, including allowing you to invite him onto the farm as a roommate.

Jasper — adds Jasper as a marriagable NPC.

Creative Differences (Rodney O'Brien) — adds Rodney O'Brien as an NPC living in East Scarp.

Jorts and Jean the Helper Cats — adds two cat NPCs and their attempts to unionize the workers at Joja-mart.

Lavril — adds Lavril, originally of King's Raid, as an NPC in East Scarp.

Lurking in the Dark (Sen) — adds Sen, a Shadow Folk NPC, to East Scarp.

Nora the Herpetologist — adds Nora as an NPC living in East Scarp.

Distant Lands - Witch Swamp Overhaul — expands upon the goblin guarding the witch's hut, as well as that entire area.

Immersive Family — adds 35 new events plus additional dialogue about the farmer's children. It includes content for SVE, RSV, ES, and other mods.

Unique Children Talk — adds dialogue for the farmer's children.

Immersive Unique Children Talk — adds dialogue to Unique Children Talk for the farmer's children with references to the farmer's spouse, vanilla NPCs, and modded NPCs.

Stardew Kids Expansion — adds five new child NPCs, each of which are relations to vanilla NPCs.

Jade — adds another marriage candidate, this time an entomologist.

Ridgeside Dialogue Expansion — adds additional lines of dialogue and mail to Ridgeside Village.

A Pelican Town — adds Kenzie and Thompson to Pelican Town. Thompson is marriageable, while Kenzie is not.

Lucikiel - SVE Compatibility — adds a demon, Lucikiel (originally from King's Raid) to the game and makes him compatible with SVE. He can be married.

Visit Mount Vapius — adds a new map/village with new NPCS, seeds, foragables, recipes, and more!

Pride in the Valley — adds a Pride Festival plus additional dialogue, events, mail, and quests.

Coal Point Farm — adds a farm north of the farmer's with three new NPCs, some new fish, and new locations.

Adventurer's Guild Expanded for 1.6 — adds two new romancable NPCs plus a couple of others, several new quest lines, and expands on the backstory of Marlon.

A New Dream — adds Barron, John, Phoebe, and two pet NPCs to East Scarp. Both Barron and John can be romanced.

Ayeisha the Postal Worker — adds an NPC who delivers mail around the valley.

Elian — adds a different demon to the Crimson Badlands (and thus requires SVE). Also can be romanced.

Passerby Cemetery — adds a whole new area to the mountains, plus five NPCs, new animals, new crops, new recipes, and more.

Tristan — adds a new NPC to East Scarp, but requires Mr. Ginger, Ranch Expansion Pack, in addition to East Scarp.

The Masterpost for all of the mods is located here.

[brokehorrorfan]

Lionsgate and Bloody Disgusting are teaming up to release Wolf Creek, Hannibal Rising, I Spit on Your Grave, You're Next, Sinister, Texas Chainsaw, and Leatherface on Steelbook Blu-ray + Digital exclusively at Walmart.

Featuring artwork by Bond, all seven titles will be released on August 20 for $24.99 each. Existing special features are included.

Be sure to check your local Walmart now for a Bloody Disgusting shelf in the electronics section, where you'll find an exclusive edition of Broke Horror Fan's Terrifier 2 VHS.

2005's Wolf Creek is written and directed by Greg McLean. John Jarratt, Nathan Phillips, Cassandra Magrath, and Kestie Morassi star.

2007's Hannibal Rising is directed by Peter Webber and written by Thomas Harris, based on his own novel. Gaspard Ulliel, Gong Li, Rhys Ifans, and Dominic West star.

2010's I Spit on Your Grave is directed by Steven R. Monroe and written by Stuart Morse. Sarah Butler, Jeff Branson, Daniel Franzese, Rodney Eastman, Chad Lindberg, Tracey Walter, and Andrew Howard star.

2011's You're Next is directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett. Sharni Vinson, A.J. Bowen, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, Joe Swanberg, Barbara Crampton, and Rob Moran star.

2012's Sinister is directed by Scott Derrickson from a script he co-wrote with C. Robert Cargill. Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Fred Thompson, James Ransone, Clare Foley, and Michael Hall D'Addario star.

2013's Texas Chainsaw is directed by John Luessenhop and written by Adam Marcus, Debra Sullivan, and Kirsten Elms. Alexandra Daddario, Dan Yeager, Tremaine Neverson, Tania Raymonde, Thom Barry, Paul Rae, and Bill Moseley star.

2017's Leatherface is directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo and written by Seth M. Sherwood. Stephen Dorff, Vanessa Grasse, Sam Strike, and Lili Taylor star.

[singemall-stayallnight]

Documentary With Led Zeppelin Stories

Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, and Jimmy Page at the Chateau Marmont, 1969. | © Jay Thompson

Similar accounts of Led Zeppelin’s abusive behavior are given by Sharon Osbourne, in a 2012 documentary titled Sunset Strip, which is currently free on the Tubi app, and by others in the book Led Zeppelin by Bob Spitz.

In Sunset Strip, Sharon talked about how the members of Led Zeppelin would abuse and were pushy with the starstruck girls around them. Led Zeppelin is discussed by several other people in the film as well. The portion on the band starts at around 52:12. Everything that was said about Led Zeppelin in the documentary is transcribed below:

"I stayed with Led Zeppelin there (Hyatt House) a lot, and they had the entire sixth floor. They always rented out the entire sixth floor and, you know, took over." Grins

-Pamela Des Barres

"Everyone knew in Hollywood that Zeppelin were in town, and those guys were so fuckin' wild. They'd abuse the chicks. They liked to push it to see how far they can go. Burning 'em, cuttin' their hair off, handcuffin' 'em. I mean, you know, leaving them handcuffed for a couple of days in the room."

-Sharon Osbourne

"They'd ride motorcycles up and down the hallway at the Continental Hyatt House, and throw these wild, wild parties. You know, up all night, and throwing TV's out the window. All that stuff was true."

-Rodney Bingenheimer

Then, there's an old video shown, presumably from the 70s, in which three unidentified women are talking about LZ.

The clip begins by one woman saying, "Led Zeppelin did lots of stuff. Richard Cole, he took this leather strap and he started beating me, and I didn't even know him. They threw Cynthia in the swimming pool and ruined all her velvet clothes. They were really weird."

"Hostile," one of the other women chimes in.

Cuts back to Sharon

"They were probably the worst, but they were many that abused loads of people on the Strip. But that would never, ever, ever have been tolerated anywhere else but America. In America, they were like, 'Oh, do you wanna hit me some more? Do you wanna burn me? Do you wanna fuck me with a fucking, you know, rod of iron? We'll do it.' And that's, that's how it was."

-Sharon Osbourne

Rodney Bingenheimer, Jimmy Page, and Lori Mattix in Los Angeles, 1972. | Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Sharon's recollections corroborate a pattern of behavior described in the book Led Zeppelin by Bob Spitz: p. 190

"Once, during Led Zeppelin's stay at the Chateau Marmont, Peter Grant wandered into one of the empty bungalows they'd rented and found a naked young woman tied to the bed by her wrists and ankles. 'I said, 'Hello, what are you doing here?' She said, 'I don't know, but guys keep coming in and fucking me.' I said, 'Oh okay, well, have a nice day.'

No one gave a thought to whether these girls were well below the age of consent. Some were eighteen, some were sixteen, some were fourteen, occasionally younger--mostly no one bothered to ask."

p. 503

"LA meant it was party time. Swan Song and Atlantic rented a fabulous house in one of the canyons and packed it with a guest list of relatively high-profile friends, everyone from Roger McGuinn, Keith Moon, and Rod Stewart to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It was a glittery champagne-and-cocaine affair that soon devolved into debauchery. The company pulled out all the stops, somehow sensing this might be a send-off, the last time Led Zeppelin performed in LA.

'I brought along a friend unlike Lori, a thirty-five-year-old, successful woman who knew how to take care of herself,' says Betty Iannaci. Later, Peter Grant invited Iannaci's guest to his room. 'He had come into a large quantity of cocaine and was feeling very generous.' Eventually Betty's friend wound up naked and handcuffed to the pipe under Grant's bathroom sink so that, for an entire weekend, she was at the disposal of anyone who came in. Jimmy came across her almost by accident and, in an uncustomary show of gallantry, found a key to unlock the cuffs and helped her to escape."

Led Zeppelin & Manager Peter Grant. | Source: Pinterest

When I first watched the Sunset Strip documentary, I thought if those girls were restrained and abandoned alone in a hotel room, they were sitting ducks. Any number of terrible things could've been done to them. Zep regularly threw parties at the hotels they stayed in. People would roam from floor to floor and wander into different rooms. Those girls could've been raped.

Then, I read Spitz's book and found out that is what happened. Women and girls were handcuffed or tied up, ditched, and gang raped, sometimes over the course of days. They couldn't consent. They were literally trapped. A man walks into the room and gets to do whatever he wants to whichever girl is there. And she has no choice in the matter.

The men who violated the women & girls who were physically restrained and left alone in unlocked hotel rooms are the ones solely responsible for choosing to rape. But the fact that the Zeppelin band members were restraining women & girls, then leaving them for days at a time is abusive.

Ann Wilson wrote in her review of Spitz's book that Led Zeppelin's story was one of, "rape and pillage," (among other things) and it really was. There were occurrences of statutory rape and two instances of attempted forcible rape by John Bonham.* Let's not forget the multiple incidents of violence committed by Bonham against numerous people, including women, such as the female journalist he punched in the face for smiling at him.

The degeneracy, including rape, is brought up in another review of the book:

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/bob-spitz-new-book-led-zeppelin-the-biography.1117692/

"I thought the book was fairly well written. I’ve only read one or two other books on Zep, so a lot of the info was new to me. The best parts of the book were the chapters covering the formation of the band, which really painted a detailed picture of the late 60’s music scene. The parts of the book covering the recording sessions were also very well done. Once the 70s and the drugs kick in, the depravity and excesses were all consuming. Very difficult to come to grips with these parts as a fan. I know the text is unrelenting in its depiction of this period, but I dont think there is any other way to tell it. Unfortunately, the serial stories of drugs and rape weren’t punctuated with a few arrests and prosecutions.

Grant was a small time gangster right from the beginning, so it doesn’t surprise me how he ended up. Page hooked their destiny to a star that was inevitably going to burn out… and in a big way. Grant used force and intimidation to get his way and ended up alienating the press and US promoters.

After Bozo died from his disease, Plant was the only one to carve out a semblance of a solo career. JPJ dropped off of the map and Jimmy adopted a very low profile. I strongly suspect his musical skills were damaged by the 70s lifestyle. It is obvious after reading this book why the band would rather not discuss their history, which is extremely unfortunate. It would be nice if they could educate a new generation about one of the best bands ever. Of course, their feeble archive program doesn’t help."

-johnnyb1964, Jun 28, 2023

Led Zeppelin at the Continental Hyatt House Hotel, AKA the Riot House, on the Sunset Strip, 1973. | © James Fortune | Courtesy: modernrocksgallery.com

Sharon's statement that Led Zeppelin were, "probably the worst" reminds me of the bolded line in this comment:

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/i-just-read-richard-coles-book-and-i-may-never-listen-to-zeppelin-again.225428/page-2

"It's interesting to contrast this thread with the controversy about Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod), the New York Met's star relief pitcher, who was arrested for attacking his girlfriend's father and was charged with third-degree assault.

None of the sports fans I've spoken with have said, 'It doesn't matter if K-Rod punches a 53-year-old man, I enjoy watching him play, he's one of the best in the business, and his private behavior doesn't matter.' Rather, most of them are not only disgusted by his behavior, but they want him off the team.

The members of LZ weren't punching middle-aged men, but their behavior was no less reprehensible. Yes, rock and roll is (or at least used to be) about rebellion and sex and freedom, but it doesn't have to involve doing degrading things to other people. There's a difference between rowdy and mean, between hooking up with groupies and treating women like utter garbage, between being reckless and intentionally destroying other people's expensive things. All those stories about LZ's behavior aren't legendary because they're typical -- it's because they were at the extreme end of rock star behavior. They're lucky that they're not in jail, or that they weren't shot by someone whom they pissed off.

Now, despite my little rant, I'm able to enjoy my Zeppelin CDs without thinking about any of this. But I understand Zack's feelings.

My question for everyone is, is there a degree of behavior that WOULD cause you to feel like Zack? (Other than, say, the artist brickwalling his or her CDs?;)) Someone mentioned Gary Glitter…has anyone stopped listening to him? What if your favorite artist drove drunk into a schoolbus, killing a dozen 6-year-olds? Or killed his wife?"

-Matty, Aug 20, 2010

Robert Plant with friends at the Riot House. | Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Pixels

They were other bands behaving badly at the time, but Zep's bad behavior still stands out. I'm unaware of Bonham ever expressing guilt or apologizing for any of his atrocious actions, but as I said in a previous post, I believe the other three former members of LZ see various things differently now and have changed for the better. They certainly have much to feel contrite about, though.

More than one person on here has said they want to maintain a balanced view of Led Zeppelin and not overlook the wrong they've done. Well, here ya go. These are additional glimpses into the foul side of Led Zeppelin's history.

*Ellen Sander went into detail about the attempted gang rape she experienced at the hands of John Bonham and another man. That all four members of the band attacked her is a persistent rumor surrounding Zeppelin, but Bonham was the only LZ band member involved in the attack.

Trips is mostly inspirational — and, as in her chapter on the Plaster Casters of Chicago, iconic groupies known for making casts of various rock legends’ penises — also massively entertaining. But the book doesn’t shy away from the dark side of rock life. One chapter chronicling a 1969 U.S. Led Zeppelin tour starts as a triumphant road movie and ends as a horror film. Sander writes that, when she went to say goodbye to the group and their entourage on the last night of the tour, she ended up in physical peril.

'Two members of the group attacked me, shrieking and grabbing at my clothes, totally over the edge,' she writes. (Sander now specifies that the aggressors were John Bonham and a member of the band’s entourage.) ' I fought them off until [manager] Peter Grant rescued me but not before they managed to tear my dress down the back.'

Reached through a representative, Led Zeppelin declined to comment on the incident. Though in Mick Wall’s 2008 Zeppelin bio When Giants Walked the Earth, when asked about Sander’s account by the author, Page replied, 'That’s not a false picture.'

Sander recently took some time to reflect on that traumatic night, which she calls 'the nadir of that whole arc of experience with Sixties rock & roll.'

So, regarding the Zeppelin incident, I only want to discuss it insofar as you’re comfortable with it.

I’m totally comfortable with any aspect of it, so just go ahead. It was a long time ago. I believe I have healed from that, many times over.

The account in the book is fairly brief. Could you set that scene for me and recall what you remember happening?

You know, we’d been on the road together. I’d been at recording sessions in New York and they had a date at the Fillmore. I had a certain timespan on the tour and I wasn’t going to see them again. I saw the show at the Fillmore. It was splendid, and I went backstage to say goodbye and got attacked.

It was [a member of the band’s entourage] and Bonzo and I don’t know who else. I know it wasn’t Jimmy [Page] or John [Paul Jones] because they were in the corner just flapping their heads. It was only an instant. It couldn’t have been more than 20 seconds, or something like that. Then Peter Grant just sprang up from his seat and just picked them up by the cuff and pulled them off me. They came at me from the front, I crossed my arms over myself, and I turned my back, and I had on this dress, that was tied in the back. The top of it was tied in the back, and they just ripped that down, but I still kept the dress up because I had my arms crossed over my front. And there I stood with the back of my dress torn and Peter said, “Why don’t you take my car home?” So we went downstairs in the back, and he put me in his limousine, and I went home, shaking. I don’t know if I was frightened or if I was angry or both, but I was just shaking. I was terrified.

I just never thought that would happen. I knew about the behavior with the groupies ’cause they would talk about it all the time, and I’d see a little bit of it. What I saw, I wrote about. I was kind of like, 'That’s just with them, but I’m different. I’m a reporter. I’ll do my story for Life magazine. I won’t be vulnerable to that.' And I was.

So just to clarify, this was basically in front of a room full of people?

It was backstage, so it wasn’t all that full. It was the band, the road crew and Peter Grant, maybe a couple other people, but those weren’t very big rooms upstairs backstage at the Fillmore East. I just came in to say goodbye. I wasn’t coming in to hang out. I just wanted to say, “Goodbye. It’s been exhausting but wonderful working with you and best of luck, you’re great, thanks, goodbye.” And I was going to go home and start writing — well, I had a bunch of notes. And that was that.

Would you say that it was John Bonham who was the primary aggressor?

No, it was [the member of their entourage]. And then Bonham was right on it, but it was [the other man] who, I think, started it and then as soon as he encouraged it, then Bonham.

I don’t know where [Robert] Plant was, but I saw Jimmy Page and I saw John Paul Jones. And Jimmy Page was just, like, holding his forehead going, “No.” And John Paul Jones just kind of turned his face to the wall, like he always did. He was always apart from them. He was never into their orgies.

And you said the person who broke it up was …?

Peter Grant. And he was a big guy. Really, he could pick up 220-something guys and just lift them up and put them down. So you know, as it turned out, I was never in any real danger, but I didn’t know that.

So the entire Zeppelin road piece was written after that incident? I think you wrote that you took a year off.

Yes. I decided not to write a piece that would promote them. And plus I was having trouble having any emotional distance from it, which I hope is understandable.

Of course.

My editor was very understanding. I just backed off, and I got busy with a lot of other stuff. And then a year later I was looking at it, looking at my notes and going, “You know what? I’m putting this in the book.”

In terms of getting to that point, was it really just a process of time? Or was there some therapy, or other methods?

Yeah, it was time. You know, it’s been, what, 50 years? It was time and also that I knew that it was an anomalous event. Everybody else I ever worked with treated me very well or better.

Overall, your piece is surprisingly sympathetic to the band, in light of what happened.

Well, I mean it didn’t seem like bitterness to the point of focusing the truth elsewhere. I mean, I loved the story more than I loved them. I just took it from the notes, the way it was. Before that happened, I was very sympathetic. Empathetic maybe.

And their music, I still respect and love. The virtuosity of Jimmy Page still amazes me.

Thinking about what’s happened in so many other industries with the MeToo movement, if something like the Zeppelin attack happened today and it came to light, there would be a huge uproar about it. Do you ever wish that that cultural shift had happened earlier?

I don’t think anybody who ever heard from me or read that story, I don’t remember anybody not being upset and outraged about it. And as I say, it was anomalous. … But men with power always took sexual advantage, and all of a sudden, it’s being called into question, and it’s about time.

I mean, my 50-year-old editor at Saturday Review — my agent put it this way — chased me around the desk. And when I told her about it, I was really upset; she laughed. And I felt very betrayed that she laughed. But then, I felt like, OK, nothing bad happened, it’s just something I have to put up with — I want the gig. And he never did it again, and we never talked about it.