On This Day 30 June

 "Please give us a chance..." 

 

1990 30 June On This Day Jimmy Page with Robert Plant at Silver Clef Awards concert at Knebworth

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Shrewsbury, Shrops, England at Shrewsbury Music Hall
• 1979 Led  Zeppelin visit Knebworth House 
• 1980 Led Zeppelin - Frankfurt, Germany at Festhalle Frankfurt
• 1990 Page & Plant - Knebworth for Nordoff  Robbins Silver Clef Winners Charity Concert 
• 2000 Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes - Holmdel, NJ at PNC Bank Arts Center

1979:

"Led Zeppelin, arguably the world's most popular hard rock band, came down before the (1979) festival to meet us and look around Knebworth House. Guitarist Jimmy Page was a fan of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, who lived in the House in the early 1800's. They shared an interest in the occult, and Jimmy wanted to see all our Bulwer Lytton memorabilia. He used to have a resident medium living at Knebworth and we have his crystal ball and books on magic and witchcraft. It is his ghost that roams the passages at night!

"Drummer John Bonham was more interested in the gardens and singer Robert Plant nearly took a swim in our pool but decided his hairdresser wouldn't be happy about it if he did."
--Chryssie Lytton Cobbold, Knebworth Rock Festivals

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. He wrote a number of bestselling novels that were very popular in his day. If you've come across any of the following phrases, you've read some of his words: "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", "dweller on the threshold", and yes, "It was a dark and stormy night".

Zanoni is a story of love and occult aspiration.
A Strange Story, with its supernatural theme, was an influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula 

1980:
The Frankfurt audience was so loud that Jimmy Page had to stop playing White Summer when he couldn't hear himself and had to ask the audience to please give them a chance. Those were the days before in-ear monitors.

Phil Carson, then senior vice president at Atlantic Records, joined Led Zeppelin for an encore version of Money.  Carson started out his musical career with Dusty Springfield.

1980 John Paul Jones & Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Frankfurt (Photo Hans P Kirsch)

1980 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Frankfurt

1990:

The Knebworth Festival is held on the grounds of the Knebworth House in England. The Nordoff Robbins Silver Clef Award Winners Concert was held there in 1990. The awards recognize outstanding talent across the music industry. Nordoff Robbins is a music therapy charity dedicated to transforming the lives of vulnerable children and adults.  

Robert Plant, who was awarded a Silver Clef that year (Jimmy Page received it in 2014), did a set for that show and Jimmy Page joined him on stage for three songs. As one person said who was there, when Jimmy walked on the stage the volume of the audience went up 1000%. The concert is available on DVD Live at Knebworth.

 

1990 Jimmy Page with Robert Plant at Knebworth

1990 Robert Plant, Jimmy Page at Knebworth

Knebworth House

♪  White Summer/Black Mountain Side (Led Zeppelin, Frankfurt Germany 1980) YouTube

♪  Money (Led Zeppelin with Phil Carson, Frankfurt Germany 1980) YouTube

♪  Wearing and Tearing (Page with Plant, Knebworth 1990) YouTube

♪  Rock and Roll (Page with Plant, Knebworth 1990) YouTube

♪  Full show (Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes, Holmdel NJ 2000) YouTube

On This Day 26 June

Will somebody please explain the firecrackers to me?  What's with that?

1998 & 2000 On This Day Jimmy Page at Auburn Hills MI

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Paris, France at Le Weekend Club
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Portsmouth, London  at Portsmouth Guildhall
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
• 1980 Led Zeppelin - Vienna, Austria at Weiner Stadthalle
• 1998 On This Day Page & Plant - Auburn Hills, MI at The Palace at Auburn Hills
• 2000 On This Day Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes - Auburn Hills, MI at The Palace at Auburn Hills

1977 26 June Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin LA Forum

1977 26 June Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin LA Forum (Redfern)

1980:
It's hard for me to fathom why people kept throwing firecrackers at the band. Jimmy Page was hit in the face with with one in the middle of White Summer.  The band walked off the stage and there was a long wait for anything else to happen. An announcer came on stage and said the following (translated from German):

 "We have a group here that is giving their best but they can't be disturbed by idiots who throw something onto the stage! Jimmy Page has been injured by a firecracker that landed on his eyes! I can only ask for one thing: if someone is standing next to you who does this kind of nonsense, give him a smart rap over the knuckles! I can't set up concerts in vienna - and i'm setting up concerts since 15 years - if I can't guarantee for the safety of my acts (or performers). And now I must request your patience in order for us to clear this situation. We can't just forget what just happened, that's why we want the person who threw this to come up here on stage, or to be brought here by his neighbors. We want to meet him, we want to talk to him. And if he himself doesn't have the guts to come up here - because we can't continue with the concert until we talked to him - his neighbors should get him on the stage. Then the concert will continue. We'll have to talk to this man. I want him here because this idiot is messing up the show for everyone." 

What's amazing to me is that the band did come out and finish the show.  It boggles my mind to think about being on stage,giving yourself to the music while being a moving target for the weirdos.

1980 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Vienna Austria

1980 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Vienna Austria

♪  8mm concert footage (Led Zeppelin, LA Forum 26 June 1977) YouTube
♪  Full concert/That's All Right Mama (Led Zeppelin, LA Forum 26 June 1977) YouTube
♪  White Summer (Led Zeppelin, Vienna 1980) YouTube

On This Day 22 May

Awards, accolades and just plain fine music on this day.

2006 22 May On This Day Led Zeppelin receive Polar Music Prize

 

2006 22 May On This Day Led Zeppelin receive Polar Music Prize

The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by Stig ”Stikkan” Anderson, publisher, lyricist and manager of ABBA.  The prize was named for Anderson´s record label, Polar Music. The Polar Music Prize is one of the most prestigious and unique music prizes in the world, awarded to individuals, groups and institutions in recognition of exceptional achievements.

Led Zeppelin recorded In Through The Out Door at Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden November - December 1978.

• 1967 Yardbirds - London, England at BBC Radio
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - San Antonio, Texas at HemisFair Convention Center Arena
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Fort Worth TX US at Tarrant County Convention Center
• 1985 The Firm – London at Wembley Arena
• 1986 The Firm - Inglewood, California at The Forum
• 1995 Page & Plant (Unledded North American Tour), Landover MD at Air Arena 
• 1998 Page & Plant (North American Tour) - Miami, FL at Miami Arena
• 2006 22 May On This Day Led Zeppelin receive Polar Music Prize
• 2014 Jimmy Page attends the Ivor Novello Awards at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London, England.

♪ 1977 White Summer/Black Mountain Side (Led Zeppelin - Fort Worth 1977) YouTube

1973 Led Zeppelin - San Antonio Photo: Carl Dunn

1973 Led Zeppelin - San Antonio Photo: Carl Dunn

1985 Jimmy Page with The Firm at Wembley 

The Times review of The Firm – 22 May 1985 London at Wembley Arena

2014 Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck at Beck's Ivor Novello Award  Photo: Dave J Hogan

It's Your Magick Too

"A rock concert is in fact a rite involving the evocation and transmutation of energy."
~ William Burroughs, Crawdaddy Magazine, June 1975. Rock Magic: Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, And a search for the elusive Stairway to Heaven 


Mage Music 43

This week's Mage Music came about because of a birthday playlist request.  You may have noticed I stopped doing playlists in these posts.  I realized how much time choosing the right music takes and, as important as this blog is to me, I nevertheless decided I needed to use that time for other things.  That makes this playlist a little more special.

I wanted to pick songs that have Magick for me personally (even though the list is meant for someone else), not just songs that are well performed.  The songs are not necessarily beautiful, the playlist doesn't even flow well from one song to the next.  I picked the songs because it seems to me in each one Jimmy Page was pushing, exploring, reaching for something deeper and more meaningful than ordinary music conveys.  I chose these particular songs, too, because the more closely I listen, the more they prompt me to join in that reaching.

This made me think about Mr. Burroughs' comment about what a rock concert is about, and what music brings to us, the audience - or, more specifically, about the Magick from the audience point of view whether or not the audience is at a live concert.

But I'm not going to talk about any of that this week.

You'll have to forgive me - or be PO'd if you prefer - for my not going further with these ideas right now.  I'm taking a little time off for other work.   Perhaps some of you have thoughts on this - I welcome them.  Right now, though, I'm leaving you with the birthday playlist and getting back to my other work.  Enjoy!





PLAYLIST

Note:  I recommend not looking at the visuals, and not paying attention to lyrics.  These songs are about the vision of Jimmy Page as expressed through the music produced by his own guitar.

White Summer Black Mountain Side	1969 (live)  Led Zeppelin June 27, 1969 London's Playhouse Theatre First released on LZ 4-disc boxed set 11/08/90
Lucifer Rising Outtake 2	1972 (studio) Jimmy Page, Album: Lucifer Rising
Guitar Solo	1977 (live)  Led Zeppelin  May 30, 1977 Landover MD (from bootleg Double Shot - sorry, the end of the song is cut off for some reason)
Cadillac	1986 (studio)  The Firm, Album: Mean Business
Emerald Eyes	1988 (studio)  Jimmy Page, Album:  Outrider
Saccharin	1993 (studio)  Jimmy Page, David Coverdale.  Unreleased.
Domino	1999 (live)  Jimmy Page, NetAid Benefit Concert.  Unreleased.
Nobody's Fault But Mine	2007 (live)  Led Zeppelin + Jason Bonham, Celebration Day O2 Concert
Ramble On	2008 (live) Foo Fighters, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones.  Wembley Stadium.
Summer's Day	2011 Happy birthday, Sue Clement.  Hope your day is special.

Do What Thou Wilt

The choice is always yours

Mage Music 28


The Universe is bigger than the gods that humans cast in human form with human characteristics that are larger than life.  The reality is that the Universe is infinite.  For humans in physical form, that should mean that the Universe is profoundly and fundamentally unknowable, since physicality is a subset of the infinite and subsets don't encompass the whole - that's just the way it is.  But the human condition is more than physicality and if everything is a holograph of the Universe (a basis for Magick), then subsets are in a sense the whole and then humans can know something of the infinite.

The Universe is always offering
The Universe has no constraints (infinite, remember?) and does not hide anything.  Like a lighthouse's beams that shine out in the gloom, the Universe sends a message of What Is for any being capable of receiving it. Anyone capable of choice could receive the message - it is transmitted in an infinite number of forms - but not everyone makes the choice to do so.  Having the choice is part of the gift of being human in the first place.

Choice is a part of being alive.   No one is forced to heed the warning beam of a lighthouse.  Eyes can be shut, ears can be covered.  Refusing to choose is a choice, too.

Choice is so fundamental to being human that all our mythology and learning sagas are about it (the Garden of Eden being one of the more familiar examples) and most of our best music embodies it, because the choice offered by the Universe is always basically the same:  To remain the same or to open to enlightenment, to allow self to receive the message of What Is.

Magick in music
Some artists have chosen to be messengers.  Receive, transmit:  That's what an artist who is a messenger does.  The message is a truth that the artist chooses - be it a statement about the human condition (most common) or about the infinite.  In choosing to convey the What Is message an artist's job isn't to tell the Universe what to transmit, it isn't even to provide meaning to the message - it is simply to translate the message as captured into whatever medium the messenger speaks with:  Words, paint, stone, music.

Magick is what happens when the artist has got it right.  Whether or not you hear the Magick in music is not simply about whether the artist has got it right, though - it's about your choice to open or not to the message of What Is.

Do with that what you will.

♪

YouTube Playlist - Do What Thou Wilt 

♫

Individual songs

1967 Jimmy Page/Yardbirds, White Summer (studio) Little Games

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, White Summer/Black Mountain Side (studio) Album: Coda

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, White Summer/Black Mountain Side (live) Fillmore West San Francisco January 10, 1969

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, White Summer/Black Mountain Side (live) L'Olympia Paris, 10/10/69

1970 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, White Summer/Black Mountain Side (live) Royal Albert Hall

1970 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, White Summer/Black Mountain Side (live) Julie Felix show April 26

1977 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, White Summer/Black Mountain Side (live) Cleveland, Ohio - April 27, 1977

1979 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, White Summer/Black Mountain Side (live) Knebworth

1993 Page & Coverdale, White Summer/Black Mountain Side (live) Osaka Coverdale/Page Dec 20 1993