On this day 10 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.

Memphis yes or Memphis no?

1969 10 February On This Day Led Zeppelin Memphis (maybe)

• 1968 The Yardbirds - London, England at Barlong Hall
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Memphis, TN at Memphis State University
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Landover, MD at Capital Centre
• 2002 Jimmy Page receives an award from Traffic Musique (French TV) 

1969: 

There seems to be some disagreement as to whether Led Zeppelin did actually do a show at Memphis State University on this day. David Stanley, Elvis Presley's step-brother, reported on having attended the concert, as did several others. However, the key to the city was definitely something that happened in 1970 (referenced in various newspapers), when Led Zeppelin performed on 17 April. At the 1970 show Robert Plant stated: "We've waited for a long time to come to Memphis, in fact ever since we were born I think!" which makes it sound a lot like the band hadn't been there the year before.

Dave Lewis reported that Jimmy Page attempted to get some time for the band in the Sun Studio (shown in the On This Day photo) but that the studio was already booked.

1970:
On 31 January 1970 Robert Plant was in a car accident, a head-on collision while he was driving his Jaguar. He suffered from broken teeth and various severe cuts that no doubt needed stitches.The 07 and 17 February shows in Scotland were cancelled.

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin Landover MD

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin Landover MD

2002 Jimmy Page, Paris (Ross Halfin photo)

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♪  Heartbreaker/Audience footage (Led Zeppelin, Landover 1975) 

♪  Led Zeppelin (Landover MD at  Capital Centre, 10 February 1975)

Dreamtime

click to enlarge

I have dreamed of that song. In those dreams ... I had dominion over the nature of all that was real. 
~ Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Mage Music 65

This is the Mage's true art: Like a novelist or a movie producer who creates such fine work that the audience is totally comfortable and willing to suspend disbelief  and dive into a secondary and parallel reality of a fictional world, the Mage creates a work so perfectly free of stray and undermining thoughts that he can suspend his own disbelief and enter into a new state of reality. This is the path to the manifestation of Magick.

The disciplined mind of the Mage - the mind with powerful desire and will that stays On Purpose through ritual - doesn't actually repress or block thoughts that would undermine the Magick. Those thoughts just do not even occur, because they have no place in the mental setting the Mage creates. And yet, we all know what it is like to have unwanted thoughts slip in when we least want them.  They're bad enough for us, but for a Mage those unwanted stray thoughts can ruin an otherwise perfectly good Magickal ritual.

Not thinking of pink elephants.  Easier said than done? Not really. We all dream, don’t we.


I had a dream. Crazy dream. Anything I wanted to know, any place I needed to go...
~ Lyrics from The Song Remains the Same

Dreams are the alternate reality of the sleeping mind, and they are also the imaginings of the waking mind in the form of daydreams. A lucid dream is dreaming with awareness. While traditionally lucid dreaming refers to dreams that occur while asleep, dreaming while awake – if a person is aware of and directing the dream – could be considered lucid dreaming, too.

Dreams are experienced as reality while they’re happening.  A Mage must experience the desired changes he wishes to manifest as reality before they can happen.  A Mage does this using a process very similar to dreaming.  He becomes so fully invested in a secondary and parallel reality that it exists for him in personal experience which then allows him to shift from what has been to what will be.  

A Mage's desire and will, focused through ritual, channel the energy of the Universe to manifest a new reality.  A lucid dreamer uses desire and will to create a new dream reality without the expectation of carry-over to the waking state. 

Understanding lucid dreaming gives the non-Mage a taste of what Magick feels like when it is being worked because lucid dreaming is of the same coin as Magick, only with different expectations and outcomes.  

Add a little music into lucid daydreams and the state is as close to what a Mage does to change reality as makes no difference. Try it, you might like it.

♪

Playlist

These two pieces just popped out at me today.  They aren't particularly dreamy - in fact, they're hard-edged and a little scary... but dreams can go that way, too.

Baby Who’s Driving Your Car   Jimmy Page & John Williams, 1970
Guitar solo   Jimmy Page, Landover May 30 1977

♫

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.