On This Day 01 June

The last Yardbird show in LA but not the last time Jimmy Page played music in L.A., that's for sure.

1968 The Yardbirds - Los Angeles, CA at Shrine Auditorium

1968 The Yardbirds

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Canterbury, Kent, England at University of Kent
• 1968 The Yardbirds - Los Angeles, CA at Shrine Auditorium
• 1998 Page & Plant - Birmingham, AL at Civic Center

♪  New York City Blues (The Yardbirds,  Los Angeles 1968) YouTube

I've posted this earlier than I usually do because I'll be away from the internet most of June 1.  Now, it might appear that Jimmy Page wasn't doing all that much on this day over the years but that wouldn't be true. There's more to a rock star's life than standing on a stage and weaving musical magic. 

In early June of various years there was down time for Jimmy Page of course, but often the time was spent preparing stage sets for various tours, attending promo events, rehearsing, or traveling to shows. Plus the business of being in the music business had to be dealt with. So yeah, it's not all fun and games in front of an audience.  Speaking of which:  I've gathered a number of photos of Jimmy Page: The Sporting Life.  I'll share those in the next post.  

Oh, and meanwhile, here are links to Sporting Life, an album by Diamanda Galas and John Paul Jones  

♪  The Sporting Life (Track 7 from the album of the same name)   YouTube  [Warning - language]

♫  Sporting Life (Diamanda Galas & John Paul Jones, 1994)) Amazon

On This Day 31 May

John Bonham was born on this day in 1948.

1969 31 May On This Day Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Fillmore East

Led Zeppelin played the LA Forum on John Bonham's 25th birthday. When George Harrison and wife Patti dropped by to help celebrate at the hotel afterwards, Bonham threw both of them, fully clothed, into the swimming pool. (as reported by Newswire, June 1973)

• 1948 John “Bonzo” Bonham born
• 1968 The Yardbirds - Los Angeles, CA at Shrine Auditorium
• 1969 31 May On This Day Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Fillmore East
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Greensboro, NC at Greensboro Coliseum

John "Bonzo" Bonham, arguably the world's best rock drummer, was a core part of Led Zeppelin's success.

Around the same time in 1968 that Jimmy Page asked Bonham to join the new band that would become Led Zeppelin, "John had also been receiving other tempting offers from esteemed artists such as Joe Cocker and Chris Farlowe who were in positions to offer John more financially lucrative prospects. Plant and Grant bombarded Bonham with telegrams of persuasion (eight from Plant and fourty from Grant) sent to John at his favourite local pub: 'Three Men in a Boat' in Walsall. Bonham finally decided to accept Grant's offer, joining the band in early September 1968. Bonham said: "I decided I liked their music better than Cocker's or Farlowe's." Quote from http://www.johnbonham.co.uk/

1967 A young John Bonham and Robert Plant with Band of Joy

Bonzo at tea time

1971 Bonham & Page in Japan

1973 31 May John Bonham takes a bow on his birthday at LA Forum

1974 14 Feb Bonham presenting Keith Moon with a fake award
on stage during a concert featuring Roy Harper and Friends
at the Rainbow Theatre, London

1975 Bonham Earls Court

The essential John Bonham

John Bonham portrait by Jan Perssons

♪  Happy Birthday Bonzo (Led Zeppelin, LA Forum 1973) YouTube
♪  Bonzo's Montreux (Led Zeppelin, CODA, recorded 1976 released 1982) YouTube

♫  John Bonham Traps Magazine article by Chris Welch PDF 25 page download

Jimmy Page writes forward to Royston Ellis book

Gone Man Squared is a collection of beat poetry by Royston Ellis, who, in the early 1960s, recited his poetry to music.  Jimmy Page was one of those musicians, and Mr. Page wrote the forward to the 2013 Kick Books publication.

2011 09 March Royston Ellis & Jimmy Page, in front of Ellis' portrait by photographer Ida Kar
at a private viewing of an Ida Kar exhibit, National Portrait Gallery, London

Memories & Remembrances by Jimmy Page
(Forward to Gone Man Squared)

I can hardly believe the passage of time since I first worked with Royston Ellis more than 50 years ago.

As a young man I was deeply influenced by both the Delta Blues from America and the written word.
Royston had a particularly powerful impact on me when I first read Gone Man Squared. It was nothing like I had ever read before and it conjured the essence and energy of its time. He had the same spirit and openness that the Beat Poets in America had.

When I was offered the chance to back Royston I jumped at the opportunity, particularly when we appeared at the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1961. It was truly remarkable how we were breaking new ground with each reading.

We knew that American Jazz musicians had been backing poets during their readings. Jack Kerouac was using piano to accompany his readings, Lawrence Ferlinghetti teamed with Stan Getz to bring poetry and jazz together.

Playing this type of fusion made me listen very carefully to everything that Royston was saying, it was critical to what I played as I listened with my mind and ears as to what was being read and said, adding a musical interpretation.

It has been a joy for me to sit here and look back at my memories and those wonderful remembrances I have of those early gigs.

Royston, thank you so much for the opportunity then and for the friendship that has followed all these years.
- Jimmy Page

On This Day 30 May

Page & Plant & Presley.

1998 30 May On This Day Page & Plant - Tupelo, MS at Tupelo Coliseum

1998 30 May On This Day Page & Plant - tour book

Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo MS.  Page & Plant visited The Elvis Presley Birthplace & Museum after their Tupelo show.

Elvis Presley as a young boy in Tupelo

• 1968 The Yardbirds - Riverside, CA at The Purple Haze
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Fillmore East
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Landover MD at Capital Centre
• 1998 30 May On This Day Page & Plant - Tupelo, MS at Tupelo Coliseum

1977 Jimmy Page at Landover  Photo credit: L Hensley

1977 John Bonham at Landover - just because it's a great shot  Photo credit: L Hensley

♪  Tupelo (John Lee Hooker, 1960)  SoundCloud

♪  I Can't Quit You (Led Zeppelin, Fillmore East 1969)  YouTube

♪  Home movie (Vince Cavo and friends document their road trip from Utica, NY to Landover, with brief cuts from the concert May 30, 1977)

On This Day 29 May

Jimmy jams, plus two versions of On This Day iincluding a Jimmy Page selfie.  

1970 29 May On This Day more Led Zeppelin III recorded at Olympic Studios Two
(one of two versions posted on Jimmy Page's website)

1970 29 May On This Day more Led Zeppelin III recorded at Olympic Studios Two 
(one of two versions posted on Jimmy Page's website)

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England at Cambridge City Football Club Stadium
• 1968 The Yardbirds - Concord, CA at Concord Coliseum
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Boston, MA at Boston Tea Party
• 1970 29 May On This Day more Led Zeppelin III recorded at Olympic Studios Two (one of two versions posted on Jimmy Page's website)
• 1991 Jimmy Page - Reno, NV at Crystal Bay Club - jam with local band Solid Ground
• 1998 Page & Plant - Atlanta, GA at Lakewood Amphitheater

1968 The Yardbirds in London. Possibly Chris Dreja's mini

1991 Jimmy Page - Reno, NV at Crystal Bay Club - jam with local band Solid Ground

Jimmy Page probably played just 14 performances from 1989 to 1992.  The jam at the Crystal Bay Club in Nevada with local band, Solid Ground, is one of them.  The club is not far from Incline Village where Jimmy & David Coverdale were writing material for a new album.  An 80 minute audio bootleg recording is titled Up In Smoke.

Setlist:

01 Spider In Your Web

02 Steamroller

03 Johnny B. Good

04 Hound Dog/Blues Suede Shoes

05 Smokin' Again

06 Slow Down

07 Old Time Rock And Roll

08 Kansas City

09 Louie Louie/Wild Thing/Hang On Sloopy

♪  Hey Hey What Can I Do (Led Zeppelin 1971) SoundCloud

♪ ♫  Jimmy Page with Solid Ground + text 1991 webpage

On This Day 28 May

Jimmy Page:  Always has meant business.  Always has known what he wanted to do and did it.

1986  28 May On This Day The Firm - Seattle,WA at Seattle Center Coliseum

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Boston,MA at Boston Tea Party
• 1972 Led Zeppelin - Brussels,Belgium at Vorst Nationaal
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - San Diego,CA at San Diego Sports Arena
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Landover,MD at Capital Centre
• 1986  28 May On This Day The Firm - Seattle,WA at Seattle Center Coliseum

1971 John Paul Jones at Association of Professional Recording Studios exhibition, London

Jimmy Page & Tony Franklin exit The Firm jet

The Firm promo photo

♪  Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin, Brussels 1972) YouTube

♫  Guitar International Jimmy Page Interview: The Firm

On This Day 27 May

Official live performances!  Official videos!  Yay!  This was great stuff and a hint of more to come.

2003 27 May On This Day How The West Was Won released

How the West Was Won is a triple live album released by Atlantic Records on CD in 2003.  Tracks of original performances are from the L.A. Forum on 25 June 1972 and Long Beach Arena on 27 June 1972.

The Led Zeppelin DVD is a double DVD set released in the United Kingdom on 26 May 2003, and the United States on 27 May 2003. It was the first official archival video release to contain footage of the band playing live, from 1969 to 1979. The DVD includes performances from the Royal Albert Hall in 1970, Madison Square Garden in 1973, Earls Court in 1975, and Knebworth in 1979, plus other footage. 

Led Zeppelin DVD (2003) cover

• 1967 The Yardbirds-Ramsgate, England at Supreme Ballroom
• 1969 Led Zeppelin-Boston MA US at  Boston Tea Party
• 1972 Led Zeppelin-Amsterdam, The Netherlands at Oude Rai
• 1995 Page & Plant - Unledded Tour - George, Washington at The Gorge Ampitheatre
• 1998 Page & Plant - Charleston, SC at North Charleston Coliseum
• 2003 27 May On This Day How The West Was Won released
• 2003 26 & 27 Led Zeppelin DVD released in UK and US
• 2003 Led Zeppelin DVD premiere at Loews Theater NYC

1969 Led Zeppelin-Boston MA US/ Boston Tea Party

1972 Led Zeppelin-Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Oude Rai

2003 Led Zeppelin DVD premiere at Loews Theater NYC

 The Led Zeppelin DVD cover image is of West and East Mitten Buttes, photographed from the visitor centre at the Navajo Tribal Park located at Monument Valley, Arizona.  Below is an actual photo.

Photo of "the thumbs" at Monument Valley in AZ

2014 Paris, Next Musique remasters interview (photo Richard Dumas)

♪  Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin Amsterdam CCTV Footage Noir 1972) YouTube
♪ Travelling Riverside Blues (Led Zeppelin promo video produced in 1990 and as seen on the official Led Zeppelin DVD 2003) YouTube

♫  How The West Was Won CD track listings Wikipedia
♫ Led Zeppelin DVD track listings Wikipedia