Friday, February 19, 2016

On This Day 19 February

They drink absinthe in New Orleans, don't they?
1985 19 February On This Day Jimmy Page meets up with Mason Ruffner in New Orleans
AUDIO: Gypsy Blood (Soundcloud)
  • 1972 Led Zeppelin - Adelaide, Australia at Memorial Drive Park
  • 1993 Jimmy Page - New Orleans, Louisiana at Muddy Waters Club
  • 1996 Page & Plant - Osaka, Japan at Castle Hall


1972:
Led Zeppelin appeared at the Memorial Drive, Adelaide in Australia. This show was rescheduled from the day before, because the stage had buckled after heavy rains and some equipment got damp.
"From the start, all eyes were on brilliant lead guitarist, Jimmy Page. At one stage, using a bow, he smashed out a string of piercing notes only to end with a delicate run of sitar-sounding music. Thundering applause followed all his work."
Led Zeppelin Is Shattering Rock Experience, by Richard Mitchell. The Advertiser, 21 February 1972, p. 24.
1972 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin Adelaide

1993 Jimmy Page jamming with Mason Ruffner, New Orleans

2004 Jimmy Page in Nepal (Ross Halfin photo)
2016:
I was listening to a few songs by a new band, Inglorious (band is endorsed by Brian May) and when I heard the opening of one of Inglorious' songs, High Flying Gypsy, I was hearing Kashmir.

I admit I didn't listen to the whole of Inglorious' song because I didn't have the time to do so, but those first few bars?  And I wondered, how come it's OK to sound like Led Zeppelin but Led Zeppelin can't sound like anyone else (I know, I know, deep pockets)

By the way, I'm not saying it's plagiarism. I'm just pointing out an interesting thing.



♪  Stairway to Heaven(Led Zeppelin, Adelaide Australia 1972) YouTube 
♪  Acoustic set (Led Zeppelin, Adelaide Australia 1972) YouTube

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




Thursday, February 18, 2016

On This Day 18 February

The traveler takes another trip

1975 18 February On This Day Jimmy Page in Dominica

  • 1967 The Yardbirds - Barnsley, England/ at Barnsley Civic Hall

1975:
The nineteenth century French nickname for absinthe, a botanically derived spirit based on wormwood, anise, and fennel, was “green fairy”. It was bitter, so traditionally, a sugar cube was placed on top of a specially designed slotted spoon, the spoon place across the top of a glass of absinthe, and iced water was dripped over the sugar cube to dissolve it. 

Absinthe has been said to have psychedelic effects - hence the phrase "dancing with the green fairy" - and was thus popular with bohemians and other creative types such as Ernest Hemingway, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, Mata Hari, and Marilyn Manson (who has his own label, Mansinthe).

On this day Jimmy Page met up with poet Royston Ellis in Dominica. Their friendship began back in 1961 when Jimmy Page provided guitar backing for Ellis at a poetry reading.  Ellis has published over 60 books, including the 2013 retrospective book of poetry, Gone Man Squared, with a forward written by Jimmy Page. 

2011 Royston Ellis and Jimmy Page, London




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





Tuesday, February 16, 2016

On This Day 17 February

Travelin' man.

2004 17 February On This Day Jimmy Page visited Kathmandu

  • 1970 Led Zeppelin - Edinburgh, Scotland at Usher Hall 
  • 1996 Page & Plant - Nagoya, Japan at Century Hall 

1970:
Rescheduled from the 07 February date, since Robert Plant had recovered from his head-on auto collision, when he had gotten cut up and suffered broken teeth.



1996:
Listen to the crowd when Jimmy Page takes off with his riffs (link below). The medley includes one of my favorite of Jimmy Page's work: Ramble On. There is a magic to that music that just grabs me every time.

2004:
Jimmy Page was traveling with Ross Halfin, who wasn't seeming to have nearly as good a time as Mr. Page was. 

2004 Kathmandu (Jimmy Page photo)

2004 Kathmandu (Jimmy Page photo)

2004 Kathmandu (Jimmy Page photo)

2004 Kathmandu (Jimmy Page photo)

2004 Kathmandu (Jimmy Page photo)

2004 Kathmandu (Jimmy Page photo)



On This Day 16 February

Get a haircut!
1972 16 February On This Day Led Zeppelin in Perth Australia
Read review

  • 1968 The Yardbirds - London, England at Goldsmith College
  • [1969 Led Zeppelin - Baltimore, MD at Baltimore Civic Center]
  • 1972 Led Zeppelin - Perth, Australia at Subiaco Oval
  • 1975 Led Zeppelin - St. Louis at St. Louis Arena

1969:
I have put the 1969 concert in brackets (above) because some sources say that Led Zeppelin played in Baltimore that night and others (including Dave Lewis) say no. Ads for the show puts Led Zeppelin there as support for Vanilla Fudge. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was billed as an added attraction.  The Gun, was awarded equal billing with Led Zeppelin (both referred to as the "hottest groups from England"). Two local bands were also scheduled. Quite a night if everyone showed up to perform.

One report's details make it sound quite credible that Led Zeppelin was there:
"My band "Lemon Lime" was the 4th band on the bill. After the death of Martin Luther King the summer before, Dick Klotzman put on a series of 5-band concerts at the Civic Center. Of note was that Zep played well past their allotted time and Fudge was miffed at getting 20 minutes to play before the curfew."


1972:
Long hair. The odd thing about the prejudice against it is that for most of humankind's history, everybody wore their hair long - male or female  Led Zeppelin was supposed to play in Singapore on Valentine's Day but they were refused entry because of local laws about long hair on men.  

Part way through the Australasian Tour tour Jimmy Page shaved off his nearly two-year-old beard. He had it in Melbourne on 20 February, but it is gone two days later. That was that for facial hair for Jimmy Page.

Meanwhile, long hair was associated with the evil of drugs, and so Led Zeppelin's welcome to Australia included a drug raid the morning after the Subiaco Oval show, where there had been rioting outside by fans who couldn't get tickets.
8 am Drug Raid on Top Pop Group
The Daily News
Thursday, February 17, 1972
Four drug special police today raided the visiting English pop group Led Zeppelin. The raid was carried out at a Scarborough hotel where the group was staying. Police woke the musicians and searched their baggage and belongings. No drugs were found. The raid followed last night's riot at Subiaco Oval. The group's lead guitarist, Jimmy Page, said he and the rest of the group were furious. They thought the raid was retribution for the concert trouble. He said the group had not seen the riot, but had only read a report in this mornings newspaper. Page criticised the police for leaving the group unprotected and allowing the stage to be mobbed at the end of the concert. "I'd like to now if today's raid was some sort of a rebuff for last night", he said. "We had nothing to do with any of what happened and then this morning, at some unearthly hour we were pulled out of bed and treated in a totally derogatory manner". He said the group had not got to bed until early this morning and then were dragged out of bed by police about 8:30 am.
Western Australia's Premiere John "Honest John" Tonkin was reported as saying that some aspects of the raid puzzled him and that he would investigate further.  "I am wondering that as they had not been able to find any drugs, what information they had acted on," Mr. Tonkin said about the police.


1972 Led Zeppelin, Perth Australia
1975:
Robert Plant's voice is a little froggy still from his bout with the flue but it sounds good. They all sound good!

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, St. Louis

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, St. Louis



♪  Full set (Led Zeppelin, St. Louis 1975) YouTube

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

Monday, February 15, 2016

On This Day 15 February

Thee Mage Musician
1969 15 February On This Day Led Zeppelin at Thee Image, Miami FL (day 2) 
  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Miami, FL at Thee Image Club
  • 1984 Jimmy Page - New York City at Glyn Johns’ 42nd Birthday 
  • 1996 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Osaka, Japan at Castle Hall
1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Thee Image, Miami FL

1969 Led Zeppelin at Thee Image, Miami FL

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Thee Image, Miami FL
1984:
Glyn Johns is an English musician, recording engineer and record producer, and is the author of Sound Man: A Life Recording Hits with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles , Eric Clapton, The Faces . . . On this day Jimmy Page celebrated Johns' 42nd birthday jamming with Eric Clapton, Charlie Watts, John Entwistle, and Louis Bertignac.
"I’d known Jimmy [Page] forever. We came from the same town, Epsom, Surrey, and we’d even had a little band together for about five minutes. I’d got him a few sessions in the past, and when eventually he decided to put Led Zeppelin together he asked if I was interested. The sessions were actually booked under the name of The Yardbirds and I had no idea what it would sound like, but when they started playing I was completely blown away. I don’t think I’ve come down yet from the buzz I got from being in the room, it was utterly inspiring and incredibly simple to record. They were well rehearsed and masters at what they did, which is why it took only nine days, including mixing.
~ Glyn Johns, Uncut interview


♪  You Shook Me (Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin I 1969) YouTube
♪  Ten Years Gone (Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti 1975) YouTube
♪  Ten Years Gone (Page & Plant, Osaka 15 February 1996) YouTube

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

Sunday, February 14, 2016

On This Day 14 February

Ladies and gentlemen: The Intergalactic Elephant Band
1974 04 February On This Day Jimmy Page at Roy Harper's Valentine concert

2015 14 February On This Day preview of Sound Tracks

  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Miami, FL at Thee Image Club
  • 1974 Jimmy Page with Roy Harper - London at Rainbow Theatre 
  • 1975 Led Zeppelin - Uniondale, NY at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (day 2)


1974
Jimmy Page, John Bonham and Robert Plant attended Roy Harper's Valentine Concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London. Jimmy Page joined Harper, Ronnie Lane, Keith Moon and Max Middleton for a few numbers, John Bonham made an appearance onstage to strum an acoustic guitar and Robert Plant took the mic at the end to announce "Ladies and gentlemen: Roy Harper!".  Harper named the one-time lineup The Intergalactic Elephant Band.
1974 Roy Harper's Valentine concert (Colin Curwood photo)

1974 Jimmy Page with "Harpic Award"

2014 Mark Oliver Everett (Eels) and Jimmy Page
2015:
Sound Tracks, previewed on Jimmy Page's website on this day, is a four-disc box set that brings together his scores for the movies Lucifer Rising and Death Wish II plus bonus discs with previously unreleased tracks. The 36 page booklet includes awesome original artwork.

Image from Sound Tracks booklet

“The archive material and work included here serve as an illustration of the ongoing process at the time of these two projects,” Page said in a press release.  Sound Tracks is available on Jimmy Page's website.


♪  Male Chauvinist Pig Blues (The Intergalactic Elephant Band, Roy Harper's Valentine's Day Concert, London 1974) YouTube
♪  Too Many Movies (The Intergalactic Elephant Band, Roy Harper's Valentine's Day Concert, London 1974) YouTube
♪  Home (The Intergalactic Elephant Band, Roy Harper's Valentine's Day Concert, London 1974) YouTube
♪ Sound Tracks preview excerpts (SoundCloud)

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




Saturday, February 13, 2016

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