On this day 13 February

UNDER CONSTRUCTION FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG. I'm working on another (time consuming) project that takes precedence. Note that info on this page has not been fully updated yet and links may not work properly. Thank you for your patience.

Another day, another award, more glorious music

1972 13 February On This Day Led Zeppelin tourist stopover in Bombay
Jimmy Page's VIDEO (YouTube) 

• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Uniondale, NY at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
• 1992 Jimmy Page with Harry Connick Jr. for encore at James L. Knight Center, Miami
• 1996 Page & Plant Unledded Tour – Tokyo at Nippon Budokan
• 2005 Led Zeppelin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

1975:
An exciting show with some surprises:  an epic, 42 minute length Dazed and Confused, and a bit of theremin between Whole Lotta Love and Black Dog. Ron Wood joined Led Zeppelin for an encore of Communication Breakdown and Robert Plant sang a few lines from Roll Over Beethoven while the guitars got sorted out.

1975 Jimmy Page, Ron Wood, Peter Grant, Uniondale NY
(I always first think Ron is in handcuffs when I see this photo)

1992:
It's uncertain whether Jimmy Page, who was reportedly living on Florida's exclusive Jupiter Island at this time, attended  Harry Connick Jr's gig at the James L. Knight Center in Miami on 13 or 14 February - but it was definitely one of those two days.

"I'd been listening to his music, and I was keen to see what his concert would be like," says Page, 48, who was in Miami working on a new album. "We met before the concert, and Harry said, 'You should come up and play,' and I laughed. But I was sitting in the audience, and he suddenly said, 'We've got a really good friend here.... C'mon, Jimmy, come up and play with us.' I went up, and he put a guitar in my hands and said, 'Go ahead, it's your band.' So I did an improvised blues in B flat. I was so nervous! And he went over to the brass section and started singing these licks and cued them in." Would Page consider an encore? "Oh, yes, but I'll bring my own guitar the next time."
~ Jimmy Page interview

2002:
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement is a Special Merit Award, presented by vote of The Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Zoe Bonham and Jason Bonham accepted the award for Led Zeppelin.

2005 John Paul Jones & Jimmy Page at Grammy Awards

2005 John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Zoe Bonham and Jason Bonham
accept Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award from Neil Portnow,
president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

♪

♪  Led Zeppelin (Uniondale NY at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 13 February 1975) 
♪  Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin, with Ron Wood 1975) 

♪  Page & Plant Unledded Tour (Tokyo at Nippon Budokan, 13 February 1996)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1FyxCUM7Ls&list=PLf62FjbXtD1LDupHDsQYI3arCDZ2klemr&index=22&pp=gAQBiAQB8AUB
♪  Rain Song (Page & Plant, 13 February 1996, Japan) YouTube
(Just a cute brief clip of a funny moment)

On this day 03 September

 Sometimes touring is hard, hard, harder than it needs to be.

1998 03 September On This Day Page & Plant arrive in Vancouver

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Salem, OR at Salem Armory Auditorium
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - San Diego, CA at San Diego Sports Arena
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Madison Square Garden
• 1998 Page & Plant arrive in Vancouver, British Columbia

1970

According to Dave Lewis the crowd in San Diego was rowdy. Then Jimmy Page had a problem with his guitar in the acoustic set and Bron Yr Aur was abandoned. Robert Plant got creative with Whole Lotta Love lyrics. 

After all that, a music critic from San Diego Union panned the show, ending with..."if this music is part of the new life style, it somehow makes the wrong side of 40 seem like the right side."  [D. Dierks/Music Critic/SD Union/9-4-70]

I always wonder if the music critics of then ever ate their words.

1970 Led Zeppelin San Diego bootleg insert

1971:
"I'm Scott Muni, from WNEW-FM. They take a poll over in England every year. For the second time, the greatest rock and roll band in the land, LED ZEPPELIN!"!

"...the stage collapsed. Plant and Page made their way to the top of the stacks of amps, then crawled down and off stage. The house lights came up and the P.A. announcer asked for calm and for everyone to return to their seats."
~ A.J. Crandall report on his experience of the 1971 show

1971 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin MSG

1971 Led Zeppelin MSG

♪

♪  Led Zeppelin (San Diego at San Diego Sports Arena, 03 September 1970) 

♪  Led Zeppelin (New York at Madison Square Garden, 03 September 1971) 

On this day 25 July

 "He was such a stylist.  I don't think anybody ever managed to play the same way as Scotty."

~ Jimmy Page, at Gibson guitar party for Scotty Moore, 1999

1999 25 July On This Day Jimmy Page presents Gibson Signature guitar to Scotty Moore
♪  Mystery Train (Jimmy Page) Soundcloud

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Bath, England at Bath Pavilion
• 1967 The Yardbirds - San Francisco, CA at Fillmore Auditorium
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - West Allis/Milwaukee WI at Midwest Rock Festival 
• 1995 Page & Plant  Unledded Tour - London at Wembley Arena 

Winfield Scott "Scotty" Moore III (1931-) is an American guitarist and recording engineer who backed Elvis Presley between 1954 and the beginning of the Hollywood years. Many of his performances are considered precedent-setting.  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Scotty Moore used a thumbpick (a flat pick with a loop to slip your thumb into) to create his own unique finger-picking style. He also used an EchoSonic guitar amplifier with built-in tape echo.  He started out with a Gibson ES-295. Gibson created a Scotty Moore Signature guitar that was presented to Moore at a private party at North London's Air Studios.  (At about 3:19 on the video hear Jeff Beck tell Jimmy Page to shut up!)

Associated Independent Recording (AIR) was founded in 1965 by Beatles producer Sir George Martin and his partner John Burgess.  The  studio has operated in three locations: Oxford Street, London (1970-1991), Montserrat Island, West Indies (mid 1970s-1989) and AIR Lyndhurst Hall, London (1991-present).  

1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - London at Wembley Arena

♪  White Summer/Black Mountain Side (Led Zeppelin, Midwest Rock Festival Milwaukee 1969) YouTube
♪  Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin, Midwest Rock Festival Milwaukee 1969) YouTube

♪  Orchestra soundcheck (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube
♪  Wanton Song (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube
♪  The Song Remains the Same  (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube
♪  Full show  (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube

On This Day 14 March

Break and make

1969 14 March On This Day Led Zeppelin ham it up on Swedish TV
VIDEO

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Stockholm at Sveriges Radio TV Studios & at Stockholm Konserthuset; Uppsala, Sweden at Uppsala University
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - Henley, England at Trentham Gardens Ballroom
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Nuremberg, Germany at Nuremberg Messehalle
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - San Diego, CA at San Diego Sports Arena
• 1985 The Firm - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
• 1986 The Firm - Tampa, FL at USF Sun Dome
• 1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Houston, TX at The Summit 

1969:
A marathon of three performances in one day. The first was at the Swedish TV studio, to be filmed miming Communication Breakdown, and this was the first of a number of TV and radio appearances over the next few weeks. The boys appeared to have a good time hamming it up for the camera.

Jimmy Page broke a string at the second gig at the Stockholm Konserthuset, and while it was being replaced the others performed I Got To Move, attributed by Robert Plant to Otis Rush. They sound pretty nice as a trio, though it lacks a certain something. Oh yeah. Guitar.

The second and third gigs' billings were shared with Country Joe and the Fish. Led Zeppelin hit the stage at 11 PM. They were probably tired puppies by the time they were done.

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Stockholm Konserthuset 

1973 Led Zeppelin, Nuremberg

1985 Jimmy Page / The Firm Inglewood, CA at The Forum

1986:
"...if it's a good band, I think very musician is bound to be a strong person in their own right. But it's the way they come together on stage..."
~ Jimmy Page, WYNF Tampa radio interview

I'm not sure why Jimmy Page picked Spirit of Love as his favorite from Mean Business.  He sounded tired and bored and almost seemed to pick the song at random. It does have a great guitar solo in it, though.

1986 Jimmy Page with staff of WYNF Tampa Radio

♪

♪  Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin, Sveriges Radio TV Studios, Sweden 1969) YouTube
♪  I Gotta Move (Led Zeppelin, Stockholm Konserthuset 1969) YouTube
♪  The Rain Song (Led Zeppelin, Nuremberg 1973) YouTube
♪  Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin, San Diego 1975) YouTube
♪  No Quarter (Led Zeppelin, San Diego 1975) YouTube
♪  Make or Break (The Firm, Inglewood 1985) YouTube
♪  Spirit of Love (The Firm, Mean Business 1986) YouTube
♫  WYNF Tampa radio spot recordings & interview 1986

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

On This Day 12 March

1963 12 March On This  Day Micky Finn's This Sporting Life/Night Comes Down
feat. Jimmy Page guitar

• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Dusseldorf ,Germany at Dusseldorf Rheinhalle
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Long Beach, CA at Long Beach Arena
• 1985 The Firm - Tempe, AZ at Arizona State University Activities Center

1963:

The British guitarist Micky Waller (1947-2013) went under the stage name of Mickey Finn so as to not be confused with the drummer of the same name (percussionist later for T Rex). Jimmy Page was a session guitarist for Finn for a while, and years later Waller himself became a session man in France.

1970:
"We're Gonna Groove was the usual set opener the first half of 1970 but Communication Breakdown is the opener here. It sounds like Page wanted to loosen his fingers and somehow wandered into the Communication Breakdown riff and the band just followed along. It rocks!"
~ Argenteum Astrum 

1970 12 March Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Dusseldorf

1970 12 March Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Dusseldorf

♪

♪  Night Comes Down (Mickey Finn, feat Jimmy Page 1963) YouTube
♪  Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin, Dusseldorf 1970) YouTube
♪  Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin, Dusseldorf 1970) YouTube
♪  Full Set (Led Zeppelin, Long Beach 12 March 1975) YouTube

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

On This Day 13 February

Another day, another award and glorious music

1972 13 February On This Day Led Zeppelin tourist stopover in Bombay
Jimmy Page's VIDEO (YouTube) 

• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Uniondale, NY at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
• 1992 Jimmy Page with Harry Connick Jr. for encore at James L. Knight Center, Miami
• 1996 Page & Plant Unledded Tour – Tokyo a Nippon Budokan
• 2005 Led Zeppelin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

1975:
An exciting show with some surprises:  an epic, 42 minute length Dazed and Confused, and a bit of theremin between Whole Lotta Love and Black Dog. Ron Wood joined Led Zeppelin for an encore of Communication Breakdown and Robert Plant sang a few lines from Roll Over Beethoven while the guitars got sorted out.

1975 Jimmy Page, Ron Wood, Peter Grant, Uniondale NY
(I always first think Ron is in handcuffs when I see this photo)

1992:
It's uncertain whether Jimmy Page, who was reportedly living on Florida's exclusive Jupiter Island at this time, attended  Harry Connick Jr's gig at the James L. Knight Center in Miami on 13 or 14 February - but it was definitely one of those two days.

"I'd been listening to his music, and I was keen to see what his concert would be like," says Page, 48, who was in Miami working on a new album. "We met before the concert, and Harry said, 'You should come up and play,' and I laughed. But I was sitting in the audience, and he suddenly said, 'We've got a really good friend here.... C'mon, Jimmy, come up and play with us.' I went up, and he put a guitar in my hands and said, 'Go ahead, it's your band.' So I did an improvised blues in B flat. I was so nervous! And he went over to the brass section and started singing these licks and cued them in." Would Page consider an encore? "Oh, yes, but I'll bring my own guitar the next time."
~ Jimmy Page interview

2002:
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement is a Special Merit Award, presented by vote of The Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Zoe Bonham and Jason Bonham accepted the award for Led Zeppelin.

2005 John Paul Jones & Jimmy Page at Grammy Awards

2005 John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Zoe Bonham and Jason Bonham
accept Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award from Neil Portnow,
president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

♪

♪  Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin, Uniondale 13 February 1975) YouTube
♪  Whole Lotta Love/Black Dog ( (Led Zeppelin, Uniondale 13 February 1975) YouTube
♪  Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin, with Ron Wood 1975) YouTube
♪  Rain Song (Page & Plant, 13 February 1996, Japan) YouTube
(Just a cute brief clip of a funny moment)

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

On This Day 26 November

Here in the US it's a day of thanksgiving.  I thank you, Jimmy Page, for the music you have given the world.

1965 & 2013 26 November On This Day Jimmy Page watched Bob Dylan at the Albert Hall,
with poet Scarlett Sabet in 2013 (posted on this day in  2014, 2015)

2009 26 November On This Day Jimmy Page attended Task Brazil fundraiser in Rio
(posted on this day in 2011, 2012, 2013)

• 1966 The Yardbirds -Washington DC, at Washington Coliseum
• 1967 The Yardbirds - Studio Session at Olympic Studios
• 1988 Jimmy Page Outrider Tour - Manchester, England at Manchester Apollo
• 1998 Page & Plant - Bordeaux, France at La Patinoire Meriadeck 

2009 Task Brazil fundraiser

2009 Task Brazil fundraiser

2009 Task Brazil fundraiser.  The kids are obviously in awe of Jimmy Page

♪

I am also thankful for you, my readers

♪

♪  She Just Satisfies (Jimmy Page, 1965) YouTube
♪  Baby Who's Driving Your Car (Jimmy Page, 1970) YouTube
♪  Heartbreaker solo (Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, Earls Court 1975) YouTube
♪  Communication Breakdown (Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, Dortmund 1980) YouTube
♪  Absolution Blues (Jimmy Page, David Coverdale, 1993) YouTube
♪  Ramble On (Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Wembley 2008) YouTube

On This Day 03 September

Sometimes it really is as hard, hard, hard as it seems...

1998 03 September On This Day Page & Plant arrive in Vancouver

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Salem, OR at Salem Armory Auditorium
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - San Diego, CA at San Diego Sports Arena
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Madison Square Garden
• 1998 Page & Plant arrive in Vancouver, British Columbia

1970 Led Zeppelin San Diego bootleg insert

1971:
"I'm Scott Muni, from WNEW-FM. They take a poll over in England every year. For the second time, the greatest rock and roll band in the land, LED ZEPPELIN!"

"...the stage collapsed. Plant and Page made their way to the top of the stacks of amps, then crawled down and off stage. The house lights came up and the P.A. announcer asked for calm and for everyone to return to their seats."
~ A.J. Crandall report on his experience of the 1971 show

1971 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin MSG

1971 Led Zeppelin MSG

♪

♪  Bring It On Home (Led Zeppelin, San Diego 1970) YouTube

♪  Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin, San Diego 1970) YouTube
♪   Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin, MSG 1971) YouTube
 ♪  Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin, MSG 1971) YouTube

On This Day 25 July

"He was such a stylist.  I don't think anybody ever managed to play the same way as Scotty."

~ Jimmy Page, at Gibson guitar party for Scotty Moore, 1999

1999 25 July On This Day Jimmy Page presents Gibson Signature guitar to Scotty Moore
♪  Mystery Train (Jimmy Page) Soundcloud

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Bath, England at Bath Pavilion
• 1967 The Yardbirds - San Francisco, CA at Fillmore Auditorium
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - West Allis/Milwaukee WI at Midwest Rock Festival 
• 1995 Page & Plant  Unledded Tour - London at Wembley Arena 

Winfield Scott "Scotty" Moore III (1931-) is an American guitarist and recording engineer who backed Elvis Presley between 1954 and the beginning of the Hollywood years. Many of his performances are considered precedent-setting.  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Scotty Moore used a thumbpick (a flat pick with a loop to slip your thumb into) to create his own unique finger-picking style. He also used an EchoSonic guitar amplifier with built-in tape echo.  He started out with a Gibson ES-295. Gibson created a Scotty Moore Signature guitar that was presented to Moore at a private party at North London's Air Studios.  (At about 3:19 on the video hear Jeff Beck tell Jimmy Page to shut up!)

Associated Independent Recording (AIR) was founded in 1965 by Beatles producer Sir George Martin and his partner John Burgess.  The  studio has operated in three locations: Oxford Street, London (1970-1991), Montserrat Island, West Indies (mid 1970s-1989) and AIR Lyndhurst Hall, London (1991-present).  

1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - London at Wembley Arena

♪  White Summer/Black Mountain Side (Led Zeppelin, Midwest Rock Festival Milwaukee 1969) YouTube
♪  Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin, Midwest Rock Festival Milwaukee 1969) YouTube

♪  Orchestra soundcheck (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube
♪  Wanton Song (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube
♪  The Song Remains the Same  (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube
♪  Full show  (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube

On This Day 14 April

Led Zeppelin appeared on BBC Radio's Top Gear 14 April 1969

Led Zeppelin at BBC Radio's Top Gear 14 April 1969

• 1967 Yardbirds - Vesterhavshallen Fredericia Denmark
• 1967 Yardbirds - Teatersalen, Ringkjobing Denmark 
• 1968 Yardbirds - Sun Island Park, NY USA 
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - BBC Radio
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Civic Center, Ottawa ON

1969

This was probably the first Led Zeppelin version of Dazed & Confused recorded for BBC radio, and certainly the first audition panel for Led Zeppelin. 

The setlist is:

• I Can't Quit You Baby
• Communication Breakdown
• Dazed & Confused

The trial broadcast was then sent to the production panel.  Audition report.

These studio sessions and a live concert recorded for the BBC resulted in the multi-disc album, the BBC Sessions released November 1997, which was compiled and mastered by Jimmy Page.  The first disc contains material from four different 1969 BBC sessions; the second contains most of the April 1971 concert from the Paris Theatre in London; the third disc was only included in a limited run of album releases and features interviews from 1969, 1976/1977, and 1990.

Session one

John Peel's Top Gear

Venue: Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, London

Recording date: Monday 3 March 1969

Original broadcast: Sunday 23 March 1969 (in a show with sessions from Free, the Moody Blues and Deep Purple)

Tracks: Disc 1; 1, 2 and 4. Also included a version of "Communication Breakdown".

Producer: Bernie Andrews

Engineer: Pete Ritzema

Tape operator: Bob Conduct

Session two

Alexis Korner's Rhythm and Blues, (BBC World Service)

Venue: Maida Vale Studio 4, Delaware Road, London

Recording date: Wednesday 19 March 1969

Original broadcast: Monday 14 April 1969

Tracks: "I Can't Quit You Baby", "You Shook Me" and "Sunshine Woman". The session was wiped or lost by the BBC, although recordings survive on bootlegs. The show was re-run later in 1969, adding the recording of "What Is And What Should Never Be" from the June 16 session.

Producer: Jeff Griffin

Session three

Chris Grant's Tasty Pop Sundae (although originally commissioned for Dave Symond's Symonds On Sunday show)

Venue: Aeolian Hall studio 2, Bond Street, London

Recording Date: Monday 16 June 1969

Original Broadcast: Sunday 22 June 1969

Tracks: Disc 1; 3,5 and 10. The session also included a prototype version of "What Is and What Should Never Be".

Producer: Paul Williams

Session four

John Peel's Top Gear (Double recording session)

Venue: Maida Vale studio 4, Delaware Road, London

Recording date: Tuesday 24 June 1969

Original broadcast: Sunday 29 June 1969

Tracks: Disc 1; 6-9. (track 8; Travelling Riverside Blues, is the same version that appears on the reissued/remaster of Coda as a bonus track)

Producer: John Walters

Engineer: Tony Wilson

Session five

One Night Stand

Venue: Playhouse Theatre

Recording date: Friday 27 June 1969

Original broadcast: Sunday 10 August 1969

Tracks: Disc 1; 11-14. Also included a version of "Dazed and Confused", plus "White Summer"/"Black Mountain Side" (which was released on the 1990 Led Zeppelin boxed set.)

Session six

In Concert (Emcee John Peel)

Venue: Paris Theatre, Lower Regent Street, London

Recording date: Thursday 1 April 1971

Original broadcast: Sunday 4 April 1971

Tracks: Disc 2; all tracks. Also included a version of "Communication Breakdown" and "What Is and What Should Never Be". The "Whole Lotta Love" medley has had "For What It's Worth", "Trucking Little Mama" and "Honey Bee" edited out, shortening the medley by about 7 minutes.

Producer: Jeff Griffin

Engineer: Tony Wilson

 ♪ BBC Sessions - YouTube

The Garden Tapes BBC Sessions Analysis by Eddie Edwards

Going Over to the Lite Side

Click to enlarge or scroll down for even bigger image

Not a Communication Breakdown, hopefully, or even that I'm Dazed and Confused (or at least more than usual). That's The Way it is right now, is all. If you don't like it, I guess That's Nobody's Fault But Mine. 

You know, maybe one of these days I'll do a blog post that's entirely song titles - but not this time.


Mage Music 66

(Best viewed if you click on the image below to enlarge it a bit).

Click to enlarge

No guarantees I'll do this comic strip thing again, but you never know.

♫

BONUS full-size image "Ritual Object" (1000 x 441)

♫

The Magick Equation

"...light and shade and a certain dramatic tension..."                                                             ~ Jimmy Page, Chris Welch interview

Mage Music 29

This is a briefer post than usual because I've gotten caught up in a deadline for another project that is demanding extra time.  However, the point of this post - that the balance between equal things does not mean sameness - is one worth giving some serious thought to.  The concept applies to much more than music or Magick.

D+W+R(n)=M
I'm no mathematician  but the above equation looks right to me for a start in describing Magick.  The beauty of an equation is that it clearly describes a relationship of one thing to another.  The use of the equal sign (=) indicates that the things on either side of that sign are equivalent.  This does not mean the things on either side of the = sign are the same - what would be the use of an equation like a=a?   So this is an initial thought on what an equation for Magick might look like, though it's probably not complete - I don't know how to include the requirement for the purity and clarity required of the components on the left side of the equation.  Still, it looks like a decent start - fairly clear, simple even - but that doesn't make the process easy.

Translation
In plain English: Desire plus Will, plus Ritual (in some amount) equates to Magick. The (n) is the level of action of ritual.  Performing no ritual action at all could still result in Magick, but unless the desire and will part are very strong, the Magick will likely be puny.  A very powerful Mage could pull it off, of course.

For most of those who practice Magick,some ritual is necessary.  Very powerful and well performed ritual (the n would be a high number) can make up for low d or w. 

Why the equation?

I've been spending time lately thinking about the balance required in life, in plain good music, and in Mage Music.  When Jimmy Page talks about light and shade, he's also talking about balance between them.  The best contrast adds up to a balance - for example, if there's a lot of light, then a small but powerful contrasting dark will balance it, or vice versa.  Equivalent in impact, but not the same.  It is the amount of contrast between the dark and light that creates the tension:  More contrast, more tension, as long as there is balance.

Evenness is blah.  I'm not sure how to include that in my equation - maybe someone else can help out here. I just know that introducing strong contrast makes balance harder to achieve, and it's risky business.  And I know that when the contrast teeters on the edge, when the tension is highest, sometimes Magick slips through.

YouTube Playlist - Communication Breakdown