MAGE MUSIC

Saturday, January 20, 2024

On this day 20 January

UNDER CONSTRUCTION - some links might not work

What a voice.

1964 20 January On This Day Rocks The House by Etta James
Audio: Baby What You Want Me To Do SoundCloud

1969 Led Zeppelin - Wheaton, MD at Wheaton Youth Center (unconfirmed rumor)
1975 Led Zeppelin - Chicago, IL at Chicago Stadium
1996 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - San Paulo, Brazil at Pacaembu Stadium

2012:
Before there was Janis, there was Etta.

The legendary Etta James was a musician Jimmy Page could admire for many reasons. A hell-raiser who wasn't afraid to sing about sex in a period when the Beatles were still just wanting to hold hands, Ms. James wasn't afraid to tackle music and life in its fullest.

"The bad girls ... had the look that I liked," she wrote in her 1995 autobiography, Rage to Survive. ''I wanted to be rare, I wanted to be noticed, I wanted to be exotic as a Cotton Club chorus girl, and I wanted to be obvious as the most flamboyant hooker on the street. I just wanted to be."

She is remembered as a blues singer, but Etta James wasn't afraid to work in many musical genres, from gospel to R&B, and from jazz to ballads. She might have been a "bad girl", but her At Last has been used by many a bride walking down the aisle.

Brian Ray (a session musician and Paul McCartney's bass player) recalls Etta James at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1975.

"When I get there the band they got together was Rick Wakeman [Yes] on keyboards, John Paul Jones [Led Zeppelin] on bass, David “Fathead” Newman and “Pony” Poindexter on horns. I go to rehearsal and I’m just a kid, I didn’t know what I needed to do. I knew the material so I’m teaching them what I know and it’s coming together well, and in walks Jimmy Page and Robert Plant [Led Zeppelin]. They listened to a few songs and then Jimmy Page says “I feel like I’ve known you before, man. Like maybe in another life,” so I’m having an Aleister Crowley discussion with Jimmy Page, and they took me out to dinner in a chalet up in the Alps near Montreux."
~ Brian Ray, interview 2009

In 1984, coming back from hard times due to heroin abuse, Ms. James sang the national anthem at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, boosting her return to music. She was inducted into the Rock Hall in 1993, was awarded Grammys in 2003 and 2004. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Etta James died on this day in 2012.

1975 Led Zeppelin at Chicago Stadium

1996 Page & Plant, São Paulo Brazil

♪

♪ Baby What You Want Me To Do (Etta James, Rocks the House 1964) YouTube
♪ I'd Rather Be Blind (Etta James feat. John Paul Jones bass, Montreux 1975) DailyMotion
♪ When the Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin Chicago 1975) YouTube
♪ Full set (Page & Plant, Hollywood Rock São Paulo, 1996)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KQmwmpC8_4&list=PLf62FjbXtD1LDupHDsQYI3arCDZ2klemr&index=2&pp=gAQBiAQB8AUB

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

Friday, January 19, 2024

On this day 19 January

2001 19 January On This Day Jimmy Page attends Iron Maiden show in Rio

1969 Led Zeppelin - Detroit, Michigan at Grande Ballroom (day 3 of 3)

1969:
Apropos of nothing, here are some excerpts from a June 1969 Guitar Player article on Jimmy Page I came across on Beat Patrol blog.

“Led Zeppelin’s music never duplicates itself,” [Jimmy Page] insists. “We might use the same pattern, but it’s always changing. By now a tune may be entirely different from when we first started. The only thing which will remain the same is the first couple of verses. Although we’ve got cues when we cut in, the idea is to get as much spontaneity as possible. But to get yourself out of trouble, you’ve got certain keys you can use to come in. Otherwise it can be chaotic. Usually we just start the song off and then go in different tangents, change it four or five times, and then come back to the original song.”

Jimmy wouldn’t call what they do during rehearsal a practice. “We jam,” he says. “Once we’ve got a number, everything is happy, but getting there is another thing. That is why it is so easy using an old blues number. You know it, and then you go on from there. I think most groups must have the same trouble.

“How original our work is depends upon how you want to classify it. You might say it’s 80% original if you want to exclude the words. In fact, it would be 90% original, because our numbers would be ten or fifteen minutes whereas the original number would only be three minutes long. So basically we are making it up all the time.”

Sounds like something Jimmy Page could say today.

2001 Jimmy Page and Iron Maiden auctioning autographed guitar

2001 Jimmy Page & guitarist/photographer Jimmy Appudurai-chua

♪

Sorry, no music today

Thursday, January 18, 2024

On this day 18 January

The famous Led Zeptlin!

Posted 2024

1969 18 January On This Day Led Zeppelin at Grande Ballroom, Detroit

1969 Led Zeppelin - Detroit, Michigan at Grande Ballroom
1973 Led Zeppelin - Bradford, England at Bradford St. George's Hall
1975 Led Zeppelin - Bloomington, Minnesota at Metropolitan Sports Center

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Detroit

1975:
"Page has developed into an energetic, exciting performer, prancing about and exchanging knowing smiles with Plant while he tosses out a succession of stupendous solos, each more incredible than the one before."
~Free Press, 23 January 1975

1975 Led Zeppelin at Bloomington, Minnesota

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Bloomington, Minnesota

The January 18, 1975 issue of New Musical Express (UK) featured this photo of the winner of a Gretsch guitar by Jimmy Page at the Swan Song Records office. I don’t know what the rules were for the NME “Spot the guitar” contest, or the winner's name or anything else. Anybody have more info?

♪

♪ Led Zeppelin (Bradford England at Bradford St. George's Hall, 18 January 1973)
♪ Led Zeppelin (Bloomington, Minnesota at Metropolitan Sports Center, 18 January 1975)

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

On this day 17 January

UNDER CONSTRUCTION - errors may exist

I'd scream for Jimmy Page any time!

1967 17 January On This Day The Yardbirds in Singapore (published 2021)

1967 17 January On This Day The Yardbirds in Singapore (published 2016)

1967 Yardbirds - Singapore City, Singapore at National Theatre
1969 Led Zeppelin - Detroit, Michigan at Grande Ballroom
1975 Led Zeppelin rehearsal Bloomington (Minneapolis) Minnesota

1967:

The Raffles Hotel, declared a National Monument by the Singapore government, was named for the founder of Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles. Built in 1887, by 1904 it was reported to be "the most magnificent establishment of its kind East of Suez". Its reputation continues today as a five-star destination hotel.

Raffles Hotel, Singapore

1975:
Led Zeppelin's 18 month sabbatical was over, and on this day in 1975 they were in Minneapolis rehearsing for the next night's gig. They looked to be having a good time. Neal Preston was there taking photos - some of Led Zeppelin's most iconic images were from that rehearsal.

1975 Led Zeppelin rehearsal for Minneapolis show (Neal Preston photo)

)

1975 Led Zeppelin rehearsal for Minneapolis show (Neal Preston photo)

♪

♪ Led Zeppelin rehearsal (Bloomington/Minneapolis Minnesota at Mets Sport Center, 17 January 1975)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOFu2esIskE&list=PLf62FjbXtD1JI5oPg0Xe4aZnxtokP5Xl-&index=111&pp=gAQBiAQB8AUB

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

On this day 16 January

Shocked to the point of apoplexy by Led Zeppelin! Oh no!

1970 Led Zeppelin - Sheffield, England at Sheffield City Hall, Oval Hall
1973 Led Zeppelin - Aberystwyth, Wales at King's Hall

1973 article on Led Zeppelin schedule

1973 Led Zeppelin at Kings Hall in Aberystwyth

2004 16 January Jimmy Page & Joe Perry (Ross Halfin photo)

2004 16 January Jimmy Page & Joe Perry relaxing after photo shoot (Ross Halfin photo)

2004 16 January Jimmy Page, James Brown, Joe Perry, Slash, backstage at House of Blues (Ross Halfin Photo)

2020

On this day in 2020 Jimmy Page announced he would be producing a standard production model Sundragon Amplifier.

"Based on the overwhelming response to the limited edition @sundragonamps amplifier, we produced a standard production model Sundragon amplifier.

"The Sundragon Standard is a follow-up to the immediately sold-out limited edition

amplifier introduced and delivered in 2019. The Standard is a faithful recreation of the amp that I used on Led Zeppelin I and other notable recordings such as Joe Cocker’s With a Little Help from My Friends.

"My original amp started out life as a Supro Coronado. After falling out of the back of the band’s van during an early pre-Zeppelin tour, the amp was restored and modified in significant ways. I realised that the sonic palette of his amp had changed to something new and unique.

"After being shrouded in mystery for more than 50 years, I decided to share this extraordinary amplifier with the world."

In 2023 after his Rumble performance in November, Page announced the release of the Superdragon amp.

“The Super Dragon is a faithful recreation of my “Number 1” amp. After recording the first Led Zeppelin record and creating sounds that define rock guitar I needed an amp capable of reproducing this broad palette of sounds including the light and the shade in the studio and a live setting. Not only was the volume and tone important but it needed to have enough power to hear the subtlety of various aspects of my guitar playing. I experimented with different amps until hearing about a fellow in the USA named Tony Frank who was modifying Marshall amps. I sent Frank my favorite Marshall, a 1968 Super Bass and the result was exactly what I was looking for. Frank’s modification enhanced the amp’s power and expanded the dynamic range. This amp became the main amp for live shows as well as the principal amp I would rely on in the studio for all Led Zeppelin records from Zeppelin II onwards”.