MAGE MUSIC

Friday, October 9, 2015

On This Day 9 October

He really is a musical genius, you know.

1999 09 October On This Day Jimmy Page at NetAid

1966 The Yardbirds-Southampton, England at Southampton Gaumont Theatre
1972 Led Zeppelin - Osaka, Japan at Osaka Festival Hall
1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Boise, ID at BSU Pavilion
1999 Jimmy Page - East Rutherford, NJ at Giants Stadium - Net Aid

1999:
NetAid is an anti-poverty nonprofit organization to raise awareness of and money for anti-poverty projects. It was created in 1999 as a joint venture between the United Nations Development Programme and Cisco Systems and is now a part of Mercy Corps.

NetAid was launched with concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, Giants Stadium in New Jersey and the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The concerts were broadcast live on MTV, VH-1, the BBC and other broadcasters to 60 countries, as well as radio broadcasts that would reach 120 countries, making the concerts the widest heard live musical performances in history. The shows were meant to promote NetAid's website, where donations could be accepted. The website got 2.4 million hits, and the $830,000 for NetAid was the largest amount raised online to date.

Jimmy Page soloed, with Michael Lee, Chris and Rich Robinson (from The Black Crowes), and Guy Pratt as his backup band. He also joined Puff Daddy for the song Come With Me.

The Giants Stadium NetAid show generally got poor reviews - except for Jimmy Page.

"Thank God, then, for Jimmy Page. After reuniting Led Zeppelin to mixed results at Live Aid, Page made up for it here as he ripped into an instrumental of Dazed and Confused that showed no signs of age. Page evoked the golden age of the Guitar Hero and stadium rock -- complete with the scent of many a burning joint. And it only got better when Black Crowes Chris and Rich Robinson came out for a rejuvenated In My Time of Dying and brutal Whole Lotta Love.
~Marian Montgomery NetAid concert review

Jimmy Page debuted Domino (later to become Embryo No. 2 in It Might Get Loud) at NetAid. Domino was never officially released and this was its only live performance. I wonder if we'll get to hear it on Jimmy Page's next album.

NetAid Setlist
1. Come With Me (with Puff Daddy)
2. Dazed And Confused
3. Domino
4. In My Time Of Dying (with The Black Crowes)
5. Whole Lotta Love (with The Black Crowes)

1999 Jimmy Page NetAid (David Atlas photo)

2012 Jimmy Page at Celebration Day movie premiere in NYC

2014 Jimmy Page in Tokyo for an author book signing (stamping, in this case) Ross Halfin photo

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♪ Stand By Me (Led Zeppelin Osaka 1972) YouTube
♪ Full set (Page & Plant, Boise 1995) YouTube
♪ Come With Me (Jimmy Page, Puff Daddy, NetAid 1999) YouTube
♪ Domino (Jimmy Page, Net Aid at East Rutherford 1999) Youtube

♪ Whole Lotta Love (Jimmy Page et al, NetAid 1999) YouTube

♪ Embryo No. 2 (It Might Get Loud, 2009) YouTube

Thursday, October 8, 2015

On This Day 8 October

A model in so many ways

1999 08 October On This Day Jimmy Page – NetAid sound check at Giants Stadium, NJ

1966 The Yardbirds - Cardiff, Wales at Capitol Theater
1988 Jimmy Page Outrider Tour - San Diego, CA at SDSU Open Air Amphitheatre
1999 Jimmy Page – NetAid sound check at Giants Stadium, NJ
2012 Jimmy Page photo shoot with Ross Halfin, also attending Joe Walsh show at the Iridium Club in NYC

1999:

Jimmy Page worked with Chris Robinson (vocals), Rich Robinson (guitar), Guy Pratt (bass) and Michael Lee (drums) for the NetAid concert. (More on NetAid tomorrow).

Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson were the founding members of The Black Crowes, an American band formed 10 years before NetAid, but with five albums already released. The Black Crowes joined up shortly after the NetAid concert for a tour and put out Live at the Greek. The band has broken up three times over the years, the most recent (and possibly final) time in January of 2015.

Guy Pratt is an English session bassist, who has worked with Pink Floyd, Gary Moore, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Robbie Robertson and others, and who had already worked with Jimmy Page in 1991 for the Coverdale-Page album and tour.

Michael Lee (1969 – 2008) was an English drummer, who, like John Bonham, used large drum sizes, from which he, like Bonzo, got big sound. Lee was Robert Plant's drummer for the 1993 Fate of Nations album and tour and stayed on for the Unledded and Walking Into Clarksdale Page & Plant collaborations and tours.

2012:

Jimmy Page and Ross Halfin had flown to New York on 05 October 2012 for promotion of the Celebration Day concert movie. On this day Ross did a photo shoot with Jimmy Page at the Armani Store in New York City and later on the building's roof - the only place they could be outdoors where people would not mob them.

Later that Monday evening the two went to see Joe Walsh at the Iridium Club where from 1996-2009 Les Paul was a regular performer. The club now puts on Les Paul Mondays, reserved for guest guitarists to honor Les and perform on the same stage. A portion of the clubs sales go to The Les Paul Foundation.

2012 Jimmy Page at Armani Store in NYC (Ross Halfin photo)

2012 Jimmy Page in NYC (Ross Halfin photo)

2012 Joe Walsh & Jimmy Page after Walsh's show at Iridium Club (Ross Halfin photo)

♪

No playlist today, sorry!

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

On This Day 7 October

Man of many surprises and talents

1966 07 October On This Day Jimmy Page sessions for Cliff Richard

2013 07 October On This Day, Led Snooppelin (2008 Led Zeppelin / Snoop Dog mashup)

1966 Release of Time Drags By, by Cliff Richard, feat. Jimmy Page on harmonica
1966 The Yardbirds-Bristol, England at Colston Hall
1967 The Yardbirds-Holyoke, MA at Amusement Park Ballroom
1981 Jimmy Page overdubbs orchestra track for Death Wish II at Edmonton Odeon studio
1988 Jimmy Page Outrider Tour - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Mountain View, CA at Shoreline Amphitheatre
2008 Mashup of Snoop Dog's Drop It Like It's Hot & Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love
2014 Jimmy Page and Paul Smith launch a limited edition line of scarves at Paul Smith’s Tokyo store

1966:

Cliff Richard, born Harry Webb, is a British pop singer, musician, actor and philanthropist. He is the third-top-selling singles artist in UK Chart history after the Beatles and Elvis Presley. His backing band, The Shadows, grew from 1950s UK skiffle groups. They started out as The Drifters with Harry Webb on vocals and guitar and using the stage name, Cliff Richard. Cliff Richard and the Shadows dominated British pop music in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and Jimmy Page would have been quite aware of them. The Shadows split in 1968 but reformed with new members a few years later and continued to to perform and tour through a final tour in 2010.

In 1980, Richard changed his to his stage name legally and also that year he received the O.B.E. from the Queen for services to music and charity. In 1995, Richard was appointed a Knight Bachelor, the first rock star to be awarded that honor.

Jimmy Page wasn't needed for his guitar or bass talents on the Cliff Richard songs, but he was called on for his skills with harmonica. The video below for Time Drags By is from the movie referred to in the On This Day post - you don't need me to tell you that the actor pretending to play harmonica isn't Jimmy Page. Don't confuse La La La Song (a.k.a. La La La La) with Led Zeppelin's La La, either. They don't sound at all alike. But interesting about the name.

Check out the harmonica on the Coverdale/Page track below, at approximately 1:46-2:36. That's Jimmy Page you hear.

1988 Jimmy Page Outrider promo photo

2014:
Jimmy Page was promoting the remasters releases, and one of the events was the launch of a line of Led Zeppelin scarves at Paul Smith's Tokyo store.

2014 07 October Jimmy Page and Paul Smith at the Paul Smith Store in Tokyo (Ross Halfin photo)

2014 07 October Paul Smith and Jimmy Page at the Paul Smith Store in Tokyo (Ross Halfin photo)

♪

♪ Time Drags By (Cliff Richard and the Shadows, feat. Jimmy Page harmonica 1966) YouTube
♪ La La La Song (Cliff Richard and the Shadows, feat. Jimmy Page harmonica 1966) YouTube
♪ Pride and Joy (Coverdale/Page 1993) YouTube
♪ Since I've Been Loving You (Page & Plant Mountain View 1995) YouTube
♪ Led Snooppelin (Led Zeppelin / Snoop Dog mashup 2008) YouTube
♪ La La Intro/Outro Rough Mix (Led Zeppelin II remaster 1969/2014) YouTube

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

On This Day 6 October

He's the only one

1976 (more likely 1972) 06 October On This Day, Jimmy Page visits Hong Kong

1966 The Yardbirds - Birmingham, England at Odeon Theatre
1972 Led Zeppelin visit Hong Kong (almost certainly incorrectly posted as 1976)

1972/1976:

Although the jimmypage.com website has posted that he visited Hong Kong ini 1976, it more certainly was during the Japan '72 tour. Jimmy Page said in the Led Zeppelin 1972 section (p. 203) of his photo autobiography Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page, "I had this suit made in one of those 24-hour tailors on a visit to to Hong Kong", so we know he was in that city in 1972.

Click on photo to read caption in Jimmy Page's autobiography

Jimmy Page also refers on his webpage to the ocean liner, Queen Elizabeth, which had been sold to a Hong Kong businessmen who had renamed the ship the Seawise University and who had begun to convert the ship into a floating university. In 1972 the Seawise University caught fire in the Hong Kong harbor and was capsized by the water used to fight the flames. Before 1976 the vessel had been declared a shipping hazard. It had already been dismantled for scrap and the remains of the hull were underwater by 1976, so Jimmy Page wouldn't have been able to take that photo of it shown on his webpage in that year.

October 1988 Guitar World Magazine

1988:
Jimmy Page was about one third of his way through the Outrider tour, so this seems to be a good time to post this Guitar World cover with his photo with the harp-guitar.

Today:
I haven't promoted my book, Mage Music: The Blog for a while, so I'm doing that today. I haven't been writing about Magick here since I started the daily On This Day posts, but that's what I focused on when I started out. For those who prefer lengthy reading in book form rather than on blogs, Mage Music: The Blog
is a compilation of selected posts from this blog of May 7, 2012 through November 22, 2014.

Book description from the Amazon page: "The blog was begun with the intention of discussing and analyzing the music of the extraordinary guitarist, Jimmy Page. It evolved into a broader look at the creative nature of Magick and the connection of Magick with music and other forms of art. This book is the text of that blog. Mage Music: the Blog is not a grimoire. You will find no spells or instructions for making magical objects or invoking entities because the focus is the ur-Magick: the source of the energy and the fundamentals common to all specific practices of Magick. You will, however, find out how to connect with your own Magick, and to appreciate the Magick of the Mage Musician, Jimmy Page."

Mage Music: the Blog is also available for Kindle.

Mage Music: The Blog

♪

♫ 8mm Hong Kong video (Jimmy Page 1972) YouTube
♪ The Only One (Jimmy Page, Outrider 1988) YouTube
♪ Outrider

Monday, October 5, 2015

On This Day 5 October

An eye for art of all kinds

1970 05 October On This Day Jimmy Page visited and photographed Rock (Roch) Castle in Wales

1969 Led Zeppelin -Amsterdam, Netherland at Concertgebouw
1970 Led Zeppelin III Released
1970 Jimmy Page visits and photographs Roch Castle in Wales
1972 Led Zeppelin - Nagoya, Japan at Kokaido
1976 BBC2/Old Grey Whistle Test airs Black Dog clip from The Song Remains The Same movie.

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Amsterdam

1970:
The level of work over the first two years of Led Zeppelin's existence was incredible, yet when it was time for a vacation another album was born. Led Zeppelin III, released on this day in 1970, was composed at Bron-Yr-Aur in Wales, a stone cottage with no electricity or running water, and recorded at Headley Grange, a mansion with few amenities. The band could have afforded anyplace, but they wanted something different. And they got it.

Although Led Zeppelin III was hardly a collection of acoustic songs, the album was a departure from Led Zeppelin's signature rock and blues sound. Even so, over a million pre-orders for the album were placed.

"After the intense touring that had been taking place through the first two albums, working almost 24 hours a day, basically, we managed to stop and have a proper break, a couple of months as opposed to a couple of weeks. We decided to go off and rent a cottage to provide a contrast to motel rooms. Obviously, it had quite an effect on the material that was written... It was the tranquility of the place that set the tone of the album."
~ Jimmy Page, interview by Dave Schulps for Trowser Press, 1977

Reviews at the time were not so glowing, but some of Led Zeppelin's most-played and most-loved songs today are from that album.

1970 Rock (Roch) Castle through the lens of Jimmy Page

And as for out of the way places....Rock (Roch) Castle was begun in the 12th century as one of the outer defenses of the boundary between the English and Welsh halves of Pembrokeshire. Over time it has been used as a prison and a governor's house.

The castle's builder, the knight Adam de Rupe, feared the prophecy that he would be killed by a viper's bite, or so it is said, and he sought to live somewhere isolated. The castle, on top of a rock formation, apparently seemed like a safe enough place from the adder (viper), the UK's only venomous snake. Although adders are not considered aggressive, it seems that de Rupe prophecy came true. A viper got into the castle and bit him.

Rock Castle was purchased in 2008 by the Griffiths-Roch Foundation who restored it for the Retreats Group, which specializes in high-end luxury corporate escapes for relaxation or business, and for weddings, events and vacations.

In 1970 Jimmy Page visited the castle, which was for sale, and took exterior and interior photos. We don't know why he didn't buy it, for the photos do make the place seem like something that would have well suited his aesthetic senses. Instead he purchased Boleskine house the following year.

1970 Rock (Roch) Castle through the lens of Jimmy Page

1970 Jimmy Page at Bron-Yr-Aur

♪

♪ Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin 1970) Soundcloud
♪ Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions 1971) YouTube

♪ Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin, L.A. Forum 1971) YouTube
♪ Immigrant Song (Karen O/Trent Reznor cover) YouTube
♪ Immigrant Song (Foo Fighters and friends at Dave Grohl's birthday party 2015) YouTube

Sunday, October 4, 2015

On This Day 4 October

Something to Crowe about

1999 04 October On This Day Jimmy Page tour rehearsals with The Black Crowes

1968 Led Zeppelin - Newcastle, UK at Mayfair Ballroom
1969 Led Zeppelin - Rotterdam, Netherlands at Circus Theatre
1972 Led Zeppelin - Osaka, Japan at Festival Hall
1999 Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes rehearsal

1999:

Jimmy Page seemed to be more light-hearted with the Black Crowes than he had been for a long time. He had jammed with the band in 1995 and they'd been his backing band for the July 1999 SCREAM benefit.

"The Crowes are really known for jamming and ad-libbing. And that's what I've been doing ever since I've been playing," Jimmy Page said in a July 2000 interview with Guitar World.

Not the perfect band, perhaps - certainly nothing of the caliber of Led Zeppelin - but with The Black Crowes sometimes Jimmy let himself loose like he hadn't really done since Outrider.

Watching the rehearsal is really cool. The sound from the video below is unbalanced but you can hear the master's guitar loud and clear. Oh, for a mic that picked up what Jimmy was saying, but even so, I just love that rehearsal video.