MAGE MUSIC

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

On this day 30 August

British cowboy playin' rock blues. Yup. Works for me.

1969 30 August On This Day Led Zeppelin at Flushing Meadow NY
♪ Worried Blues (Buddy Guy) Soundcloud

1966 The Yardbirds - San Jose, CA
1969 Led Zeppelin - Flushing Meadows, NY

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Flushing Meadow NY

I put this Japanese promo poster for Coverdale-Page here because I've been listening to Coverdale-Page a lot lately.

1993 Japanese Coverdale-Page promo

♪

♪ Worried Blues (Buddy Guy, Folk Festival of the Blues, 1994) YouTube
♪ Jennings Farm Blues/Rough Mix (Led Zeppelin, Remaster) YouTube
♪ Travelling Riverside Blues (Led Zeppelin) YouTube
♪ Absolution Blues (Coverdale-Page) YouTube

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

On this day 29 August

You still got it, man!

~ Dave Bartholomew to Fats Domino

1971 29 August Led Zeppelin - New Orleans, LA at New Orleans Municipal Auditorium
♪ Come Back Baby (Snooks Eaglin) Soundcloud

1969 Led Zeppelin - Flushing Meadows, NY at Singer Bowl Music Festival (day 1)
1970 Led Zeppelin - Winnipeg, Canada at Winnipeg Stadium
1971 Led Zeppelin - New Orleans, LA at New Orleans Municipal Auditorium

1970:

A Youthbeat reader poll was used to help decide which acts to invite to the first (and only) Man-Pop (Manitoba Music Museum) Festival. Led Zeppelin had twice as many votes as the second place band, Three Dog Night, and more than three times as many votes as the Rolling Stones.

"If 1967 was San Francisco's fabled Summer of Love, Manitoba's own version of hippie peace, love and music took place in 1970.

"Manitoba's Summer of Love concluded on Aug. 29 with ManPop 70, a provincially funded rock festival headlined by Led Zeppelin and Iron Butterfly. This time, the rain returned with a vengeance. What began as an outdoor concert for some 14,000 at the football stadium finished up more than 15 hours later inside the old Arena. It was one of the most memorable shows ever to grace a Winnipeg venue, with Zeppelin taking the makeshift stage well past midnight."
~ Winnipeg Free Press, John Einarson 2013

The Man-Pop Festival started at one outdoor location and because of rain, ended up in an indoor arena. Not all of Led Zeppelin's equipment made it to the second location, which wasn't set up for music. As Plant later said, "...the building we were in wasn't too hot on the old acoustics was it?" Led Zeppelin came onstage around midnight and said goodnight three hours later, "...leaving the audience both exhausted and satisfied" according to the Winnipeg press.

1970 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Man-Pop Festival, Winnipeg

♪

♪ Ain't Got No Home (Clarence Frogman Henry 1956)

♪ Medly (Dave Bartholomew & Fats Domino)

♪ I'm Proud of What I Am (Frankie Ford)

♪ A Right Place At The Wrong Time (Dr. John & Johnny Winter 1983)

♪ Tipitina (Professor Longhair & The Metres)

♪ Documentary recording (Jelly Roll Morton The Mardi Gras Indians 1938)

♪ Bird On A Wire (The Neville Brothers)

♪ Don't You Just Know It (Hughey Piano Smith)

♪ Come Back Baby (Snooks Eaglin 1994)

Monday, August 28, 2023

On this day 28 August

Where's Jimmy?

1964 28 August On This Day Jimmy Page Session Man (Brenda Lee, PJ Proby, Lulu)
♪ Is It True (Brenda Lee, feat. Jimmy Page guitar 1964) Soundcloud

1966 The Yardbirds - San Diego, CA at San Diego Convention Hall
1970 Led Zeppelin - Detroit, MI at Olympia Stadium
1971 Led Zeppelin - St. Louis, MO at St. Louis Arena (no info available)
1985 Jimmy Page, Jason Bonham, Chris Squire & Mick Thompson jam with Opus at Ibiza Sun Power Festival
1998 Page & Plant - Reading, Berkshire, England at Reading Festival

1970

When Jimmy Page & John Paul Jones broke out their acoustical instruments the audience was unhappy. The PA system couldn't pick up the subtle sounds and nobody beyond the first rows could hear a thing. JP eventually "bounced a mike over to show his displeasure", according to one reviewer.

The recording is poor, with a lot of cutting out. Only the first third of the show got recorded.

1985:

There seems to be some confusion about what Jimmy Page was doing on this day in the 1980s. JP's website reports his having performed at the 1985 Sun Power Festival in Ibiza with Chris Squire, Jason Bonham and Mick Thompson, however Jason Bonham has said that it was 1986 when he was with Jimmy Page in Ibiza. On the other hand, the band, Virginia Wolf (Jason Bonham, drums) apparently recorded their eponymous first album in Ibiza the summer of 1985.

Note the sign behind Jimmy Page and Jason Bonham in the photo below. Opus is an Austrian band that was formed in 1973 and is still active today. The are best known for their single, Live is Life, released in 1984. The song was a European hit in the summer of 1985 and the band's fan page mentions performing in Ibiza around then. The Opus news clipping does confirm the Jimmy Page connection, the location (Ibiza) and puts it in late August. Perhaps someone can check through the page the clipping was from [PDF] and let us know if there is anything more specific about this show there.

1985 Jimmy Page, Jason Bonham, Ibiza

1985 Jimmy Page, Ibiza

1985 Opus news clipping

1998, Page & Plant, Reading Festival

♪

♪ Is It True (Brenda Lee, feat. Jimmy Page guitar 1964)

♪ Sweet and Tender Romance (PJ Proby, feat. Jimmy Page guitar 1964)

♪ Can't Hear You No More (Lulu, feat. Jimmy Page guitar 1964)

♪ Led Zeppelin (Detroit MI at Olympia Stadium, 28 August 1970)

♪ Page & Plant (Reading Festival, 28 August 1998)

Sunday, August 27, 2023

On this day 27 August

1966 The Yardbirds - Santa Barbara,CA at Earl Warren Showgrounds & Ventura High School Auditorium
1967 The Yardbirds - Warwick, RI at Rock Point Amusement Park
1969 Led Zeppelin - Hampton Beach, NH at Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom (2 shows scheduled)
1971 Led Zeppelin - San Antonio, TX at San Antonio Municipal Auditorium

♪

Whoops - technical difficulties. No playlist today. Sorry!

Mage Music: In is Own World jimmypagemusic.blogspot.com

In His Own World (imagery by Lif Strand/Mage Music)

Saturday, August 26, 2023

On this day 26 August

Musical mischief

1994 26 August On This Day Final recording session for Unledded Project for MTV

1966 The Yardbirds - San Leandro, CA at Rollarena
1967 The Yardbirds - Huntsville, Ontario, Canada at Hidden Valley Ski Resort
1970 Led Zeppelin - Cleveland, OH at Cleveland Public Auditorium
1971 Led Zeppelin - Houston, TX at Sam Houston Coliseum
1994 Page & Plant - Unledded - London, England at London Studios, Studio 2
1998 Page & Plant - Dublin, Ireland at The Point Theatre

1994:

And then it was done. The practicing, the recording and filming outdoors in Wales and Morocco, and indoors with orchestras in front of an audience at the London Television Centre, was completed for the MTV Unledded telecast. The notion of "unplugged" had been given up in favor of "Unledded" and all that the name implied.

And it was good.

1994 Jimmy Page, London, Final recording session for Unledded Project

1994 Jimmy Page, London, Final recording session for Unledded Project,
Ovation double neck guitar

1994 Jimmy Page, London, Final recording session for Unledded Project
Hand crafted tripleneck made by Andy Manson for Jimmy Page:
bottom neck standard six-string guitar,
middle neck twelve-string guitar,
top neck eight-string mandolin

♪

♪ I can't seem to come up with any shows to share with you for 26 August. Sorry!

Friday, August 25, 2023

On this day 25 August

was going to let my ghostwriter take over today so I could take a break, but oops - I don't have a ghostwriter. So I'm taking a break anyway. Today we have just a few photos and a playlist with a few songs related to nothing in particular, because why not.

1970 25 August On This Day Led Zeppelin, Nashville, TN at Nashville Municipal Auditorium
♪ Noshville Katz - parody of Nashville Cats (Lovin' Cohens) YouTube

1966 The Yardbirds - San Francisco, CA at Carousel Ballroom
1967 The Yardbirds - New York, NY at Village Theater
1970 Led Zeppelin - Nashville, TN at Nashville Municipal Auditorium
1994 Page & Plant Unledded Project - London, England at London Studios (recording and filming without orchestras in front of a select audience)

1970:
Terry Manning (then recording engineer, along with Andy Johns) delivered the Led Zeppelin III masters to Peter Grant while the band was in Nashville. The first pressings of the album included the phrases "So mote be it" and "Do what thou wilt" inscribed on the lacquer by Manning.

1967 The Yardbirds - New York, NY at Village Theater

1970 Nashville show promo

1994 Unledded - Robert Plant, Jimmy Page

♪

♪ Who's To Blame (Jimmy Page with Steve Winwood) YouTube

♪ Everything I Do Is Wrong (Jimmy Page, Albert Lee, John Paul Jones) YouTube

♪ Gonna Shoot You Right Down (Jimmy Rogers, Page, Plant, Clapton) YouTube

♪ Chuckles (Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck) YouTube

Thursday, August 24, 2023

On this day 24 August

Whole lotta international love

2008 24 August Jimmy Page with Leona Lewis - Beijing, China Summer Olympics closing ceremony

1967 The Yardbirds - Nantasket Beach Hull, MA at The Surf Club
1969 Led Zeppelin - Jacksonville, FL at Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
1971 Led Zeppelin - Dallas, TX at Dallas Memorial Coliseum
1994 Page & Plant – London, England at London Television Centre for band rehearsals with cameras in studio
2008 Jimmy Page with Leona Lewis - Beijing, China Summer Olympics closing ceremony

Whole lotta history
Led Zeppelin began using Whole Lotta Love in their setlists before the official release of the song on their second album, Led Zeppelin II in October 1969. It was performed by Led Zeppelin 199 times, plus once more at the O2 in 2007 for an even 200. It's no surprise: The magick had been brewing in Jimmy Page's head before the members of Led Zeppelin stepped on the stage together for the first time.

I came up with the guitar riff for “Whole Lotta Love” in the summer of ’68, on my houseboat along the Thames in Pangbourne, England. I suppose my early love for big intros by rockabilly guitarists was an inspiration, but as soon as I developed the riff, I knew it was strong enough to drive the entire song, not just open it. When I played the riff for the band in my living room several weeks later during rehearsals for our first album, the excitement was immediate and collective. We felt the riff was addictive, like a forbidden thing.
~ Jimmy Page, interview by Mark Myers for The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2014

Like Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love was the subject of a lawsuit for music theft from Willie Dixon. The claim lies in the lyrics, though, not the guitar riffs. The lawsuit was settled out of court in 1985.

“Page’s riff was Page’s riff. It was there before anything else. I just thought, ‘well, what am I going to sing?’ That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for. At the time, there was a lot of conversation about what to do. It was decided that it was so far away in time and influence that… well, you only get caught when you’re successful. That’s the game.”
~ Robert Plant, as quoted by Charles M. Young, "Robert Plant's manic persona". Musician (Amordian Press) 1990

At the 2008 Olympic performance, lyrics were changed from "every inch of my love" to "every bit of my love," which makes sense for a female singer and a mixed audience venue, even if the new words don't quite measure up to the power of the song.