An interim post ....

Do you recognize anyone is this group? I only recognize one individually -- a guy named Robert Plant. Put together, this crew is a band called the Sensational Space Shifters, which will be in town Thursday evening .... and, I plan on attending the performance. By the way, I found this photograph drifting along lost and lonely on the internet and brought it home with me ....

Rock, folk, blues, jazz, bluegrass & hmmmm ….

Ever hear of a rock band called the Sensational Space Shifters?

Me, neither .... until I opened the Sunday edition of a Saint Paul newspaper.

Ever hear of Robert Plant? Ever hear of Led Zeppelin?

Me, too .... in fact, (once upon a time) I saw both perform on stage -- together, which makes sense because Plant was the front man for the band. That was more than a few years ago.

If I kept up with the "music scene" to the degree I once did, I probably would have been aware that Plant is on tour once again at age sixty-nine and has been for a few years with his own group, namely the Sensational Space Shifters. He and they (no doubt an ungrammatical way of putting it) will be in the Twin Cities Thursday evening. I just used the magic of the internet to purchase a ticket .... one ticket, mind you, since me, myself and I will be alone at the event.

The appearance reminded me of how much there is to do in the Twin Cities for someone with an unlimited supply of time and of money and of energy. This is not New York City or Los Angeles or even Chicago (thankfully), but it is an area where someone could theoretically do something different, go somewhere different every single day in a lifetime.

To clarify things a bit, when I refer to the "Twin Cities," I am writing about a seven-county metropolitan area which includes Minneapolis and Saint Paul and too many suburbs and adjoining communities to count. According to the most recent census figures, nearly four million people reside in this zone, making it the fourteenth largest in the United States.

The world-renowned Guthrie Theatre and the Walker Art Center are here, along with a couple of professional orchestras, a professional ballet company, a professional opera group and countless museums. Professional sports teams -- the Minnesota Vikings (football), the Minnesota Twins (baseball), the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Lynx (basketball), the Minnesota Wild (hockey) and the Minnesota United FC (soccer) all are here. The Super Bowl was played here earlier this month.

Many major concerts take place here .... there is an international airport and a few "smaller" ones here .... the University of Minnesota is here and so many private colleges that I am not sure anyone knows the exact number .... I could go on, but since my mind is beginning to boggle trying to think of everything there is to do here, I will stop now.

I might add that I do not like going places by myself, that I am a master at entertaining myself, that I am a self-described bookworm and that I hibernate during winter months as much as possible .... so, consequently, the "delicacies on the menu of activities" available in the Twin Cities largely are not tasted by me: I am very selective about the fun and games in which I participate.

Here are two renditions of the same song -- "What Is and What Should Never Be" -- one with Plant and Led Zeppelin from way back when and the other recorded in London with Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters last October. The song is one of my three or four Led Zeppelin favorites .... pick your preferred version of it ....

Incidentally .... according to legend and lore and "named sources," Plant wrote the piece in 1969 following an affair with his then-wife's younger sister .... hence, the title of the song .... one more time, hmmmm ....