On this day 21 July

Jimmy Page, a man of many talents and interests

1961 21 July On This Day Jimmy Page accompanies Royston Ellis

• 1961 Jimmy Page guitar fusion with poet Royston Ellis at The Mermaid Festival
• 1966 The Yardbirds - Worthing, England at Worthing Assembly Rooms 
• 1967 The Yardbirds - Santa Rosa, CA at Santa Rosa Fairgrounds 
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - New York NY at Central Park Schaefer Music Festival
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Providence, RI at Providence Civic Center
• 2011 Jimmy Page presents MOJO Maverick Award to Donovan

1961:

Royston Ellis was born in England in 1941 and now lives in Sri Lanka.  He is a novelist, travel writer and beat poet. As a young man seeking a name for himself he performed his poetry on stage and TV to backing by a number of Liverpool musicians, including Jimmy Page and by John Lennon's skiffle band (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Stuart Sutcliff - no drummer at that point).  Ellis has published over 60 books; in 2013 he published a retrospective book of poetry, Gone Man Squared, with a forward by Jimmy Page. 

1969:
The Schaefer Music Festival was a recurring music festival held in summer between 1968 and 1976 at the Wollman Skating Rink in New York City's Central Park. The series was sponsored by F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company, brewer of Schaefer Beer.  It began as a one day event but quickly expanded to an annual summer-long exposition.  B.B. King and Led Zeppelin performed two shows on July 21, 1969.

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Schaeffer Music Festival, Central Park NY

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Schaeffer Music Festival, Central Park NY (N Fields photo)

2011:
MOJO awards are voted for by readers of the monthly MOJO Magazine and MOJO's website as well as by music critics.  The awards celebrate the musical achievements of the last 12 months as well as career-long accomplishments.  Donovan was presented with the 2011 MOJO Maverick Award from Jimmy Page.

In 2004 Jimmy Page received the MOJO Maestro Award and in 2010 he was inducted into the MOJO Hall of Fame.

2011 Roy Harper, Jimmy Page and Donovan at MOJO Honors, London (Ross Halfin photo)

♪ Led Zeppelin (New York NY at Central Park Schaefer Music Festival, 21 July 1969) 
♪ Led Zeppelin (Providence RI at Providence Civic Center, 21 July 1973) 

On This Day 30 May

Page & Plant & Presley & Ellis and Jones & Bonham too!

1998 30 May On This Day Page & Plant - Tupelo, MS at Tupelo Coliseum

1998 30 May On This Day Page & Plant - tour book

• 1968 The Yardbirds - Riverside, CA at The Purple Haze
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Fillmore East (2 sets)
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Landover MD at Capital Centre
• 1998 30 May On This Day Page & Plant - Tupelo, MS at Tupelo Coliseum

1969 Jimmy Page backstage, Fillmore East

1977:
From Dave Lewis' The Concert File (p291):

Peter grant recalled: "I was invited to dinner at the Russian Embassy and all the guests came to the gig. I think it was Landover... they all want to sit on the side of the stage. Jonesy then plays variations from Rachmaninov during No Quarter and the Russian guests are just blown away.

1977 Jimmy Page at Landover  Photo credit: L Hensley

1977 John Bonham at Landover - just because it's a great shot  Photo credit: L Hensley

1998:
Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo MS, where the Elvis Presley Birthplace & Museum is now located.  . Jimmy Page and Robert Plant visited the museum after their Tupelo show.

Elvis Presley as a young boy in Tupelo

2015 Jimmy Page and Royston Ellis

♪

♪ Tupelo (John Lee Hooker, 1960) SoundCloud
♪ I Can't Quit You (Led Zeppelin, Fillmore East 1969) YouTube
♪ Home movie (Vince Cavo and friends document their road trip from Utica, NY to Landover, with brief cuts from the 30 May 1977 concert)
♪ Full set (Led Zeppelin, Landover 30 May 1977) YouTube playlist

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

On This Day 18 February

The traveler takes another trip

1975 18 February On This Day Jimmy Page in Dominica

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Barnsley, England/ at Barnsley Civic Hall

1975:

The nineteenth century French nickname for absinthe, a botanically derived spirit based on wormwood, anise, and fennel, was “green fairy”. It was bitter, so traditionally, a sugar cube was placed on top of a specially designed slotted spoon, the spoon place across the top of a glass of absinthe, and iced water was dripped over the sugar cube to dissolve it. 

Absinthe has been said to have psychedelic effects - hence the phrase "dancing with the green fairy" - and was thus popular with bohemians and other creative types such as Ernest Hemingway, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, Mata Hari, and Marilyn Manson (who has his own label, Mansinthe).

On this day Jimmy Page met up with poet Royston Ellis in Dominica. Their friendship began back in 1961 when Jimmy Page provided guitar backing for Ellis at a poetry reading.  Ellis has published over 60 books, including the 2013 retrospective book of poetry, Gone Man Squared, with a forward written by Jimmy Page. 

2011 Royston Ellis and Jimmy Page, London

♪

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube

On This day 21 July

1961 21 July On This Day Jimmy Page accompanies Royston Ellis

• 1961 Jimmy Page guitar fusion with poet Royston Ellis at The Mermaid Festival
• 1966 The Yardbirds - Worthing, England at Worthing Assembly Rooms 
• 1967 The Yardbirds - Santa Rosa, CA at Santa Rosa Fairgrounds 
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - New York NY at Central Park Schaefer Music Festival
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Providence, RI at Providence Civic Center
• 2011 Jimmy Page presents MOJO Maverick Award to Donovan

1961:

Royston Ellis was born in England in 1941 and now lives in Sri Lanka.  He is a novelist, travel writer and beat poet. As a young man seeking a name for himself he performed his poetry on stage and TV to backing by a number of Liverpool musicians, including Jimmy Page and by John Lennon's skiffle band (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Stuart Sutcliff - no drummer at that point).  Ellis has published over 60 books; in 2013 he published a retrospective book of poetry, Gone Man Squared, with a forward by Jimmy Page. 

1969:
The Schaefer Music Festival was a recurring music festival held in summer between 1968 and 1976 at the Wollman Skating Rink in New York City's Central Park. The series was sponsored by F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company, brewer of Schaefer Beer.  It began as a one day event but quickly expanded to an annual summer-long exposition.  B.B. King and Led Zeppelin performed two shows on July 21, 1969.

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Schaeffer Music Festival, Central Park NY

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Schaeffer Music Festival, Central Park NY (N Fields photo)

2011:
MOJO awards are voted for by readers of the monthly MOJO Magazine and MOJO's website as well as by music critics.  The awards celebrate the musical achievements of the last 12 months as well as career-long accomplishments.  Donovan was presented with the 2011 MOJO Maverick Award from Jimmy Page.

In 2004 Jimmy Page received the MOJO Maestro Award and in 2010 he was inducted into the MOJO Hall of Fame.

2011 Roy Harper, Jimmy Page and Donovan at MOJO Honors, London (Ross Halfin photo)

♪  You Shook Me (Led Zeppelin, Central Park/Schaefer Music Festival 1969) YouTube
♪  Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin, Central Park/Schaefer Music Festival 1969) YouTube
♪  Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin, Providence 1973) YouTube
♪  The Rain Song (Led Zeppelin, Providence 1973) YouTube

Jimmy Page writes forward to Royston Ellis book

Gone Man Squared is a collection of beat poetry by Royston Ellis, who, in the early 1960s, recited his poetry to music.  Jimmy Page was one of those musicians, and Mr. Page wrote the forward to the 2013 Kick Books publication.

2011 09 March Royston Ellis & Jimmy Page, in front of Ellis' portrait by photographer Ida Kar
at a private viewing of an Ida Kar exhibit, National Portrait Gallery, London

Memories & Remembrances by Jimmy Page
(Forward to Gone Man Squared)

I can hardly believe the passage of time since I first worked with Royston Ellis more than 50 years ago.

As a young man I was deeply influenced by both the Delta Blues from America and the written word.
Royston had a particularly powerful impact on me when I first read Gone Man Squared. It was nothing like I had ever read before and it conjured the essence and energy of its time. He had the same spirit and openness that the Beat Poets in America had.

When I was offered the chance to back Royston I jumped at the opportunity, particularly when we appeared at the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1961. It was truly remarkable how we were breaking new ground with each reading.

We knew that American Jazz musicians had been backing poets during their readings. Jack Kerouac was using piano to accompany his readings, Lawrence Ferlinghetti teamed with Stan Getz to bring poetry and jazz together.

Playing this type of fusion made me listen very carefully to everything that Royston was saying, it was critical to what I played as I listened with my mind and ears as to what was being read and said, adding a musical interpretation.

It has been a joy for me to sit here and look back at my memories and those wonderful remembrances I have of those early gigs.

Royston, thank you so much for the opportunity then and for the friendship that has followed all these years.
- Jimmy Page