Zeppelin's Tribal Council

All three surviving members of Led Zeppelin were in London this week. While Jimmy Page still lives in London, John Paul Jones was in town to do a few performances with Seasick Steve - on the Jools Holland show and at the Roundhouse. Robert Plant has also made his way into London from his current residence in Austin, Texas, and it appears he will be spending the month.

Plant has a couple of appearances of his own lined up - again on Live with Jools Holland and at Rough Trade East record store - to help promote Patty Griffin's new album, American Kid. Plant was also in the audience at the Seasick Steve/John Paul Jones Roundhouse show on Wednesday.

But the big news may have been the reported, but unconfirmed, meeting of the three Zeppeliners to discuss the upcoming boxset reissues of the Led Zeppelin catalogue. It is no secret that Page has been working on a remaster of the 9 studio albums, including Coda, and that he has been "rooting around in the Led Zeppelin archives," for previously unreleased material.

However, considering Robert Plant's suggestions that he has "nothing on for 2014," offering a hint of a suggestion of a possibility that he may be open to doing some work with his old band mates, discussion about any possibly Led Zeppelin reunion seems likely to have been brought up. Whether any such discussion lasted any more than 30-seconds, or whether any kind of decision was made, will be unknown for a while. But it will be worth keeping ear open for any hints that start coming from the three gentlemen.

That they seem to have met, however, is good news and that progress seems to have been made on the reissues is as well. Hopefully the reissues are coming soon, in real time, not "Led Zeppelin time."

"Jimmy is Digging Through the Archives"

In a Q&A with Jimmy Page's manager at Reddit yesterday, Peter Mensch answers a variety of questions posted by fans while driving to Bethlehem, PA to see the band Dawes.

Mensch tells one fan who asks about the upcoming remasters, "Jimmy is digging through the archives for material that's never been released to the public before." While that may excite Zeppelin fans, there's bad news in that statement too: "No progress (on the solo album Page has said he's committed to doing) yet. Currently focused on rooting around in the Led Zeppelin archives."

Mensch also states that "some" of the Led Zeppelin remasters - talked about here as reissued box sets - will be released this year. It is hoped Coda will be included in the reissues.

Finally, on the question of will Led Zeppelin do any more shows, Mensch is not the optimistic one:

Honestly, my gut tells me they won't.

If I Was Jimmy Page...

"I'd wear those dragon pants everywhere..."

Drive-By Truckers guitarist and singer Patterson Hood has been doing a solo show for a few months now, and featured in the set, his song, Jimmy Page. This video is from a performance in Sacramento, California last week.



Hood is doing shows in support of his new album Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance.

The Always Stylish Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page s set to appear in an ad campaign for designer John Varvatos' 2013 Spring/Summer Collection. The campaign will also feature guitarist Gary Clark Jr.

The first ad, directed by noted photographer and film director Danny Clinch, features Clark playing and singing When My Train Pulls in London's Rivoli Ballroom, while Page, stylish in a suit and tie, is driven to the club, and seen entering it.

Happy 69th Birthday Jimmy Page

I had discussion this past year with some guys forming a Led Zep tribute band. While it never panned out, I spent a number of weeks digging into the guitar playing of eight Led Zeppelin songs, and casually learning/relearning about six more. Even for an old Led Zeppelin fan like me, who has played guitar for 40-years and learnt the instrument on the stylings of Jimmy Page, it was eye-opening.

On the Song Remains the Same, an incredible piece of musical composition, he plays this one lick. It's just a note really, except he bends the note 2 1/2 tones, from a B to an E, then brings it back down in staccato shots half a tone at a time: E! D#! D! C#! C! and back to B. It's simple in essence, I could teach it to a beginner, although it takes some physical strength to bend a note 2 1/2 tones on a 12-string. But it's also brilliant, pure musicianship required to make it sound like anything at all.

The catalogue, especially after the third album, is full of examples. There was virtually no wasted notes: if Jimmy Page played it, there was a reason for it.

On his 69th birthday it's worth pointing out that after a lifetime of playing, in my late-40's I'm still discovering the mysteries of what Jimmy Page did in his 20's and early 30's. I'm still finding magic in the notes he created.

Happy 69th Birthday Jimmy Page. For all of it, and for all that is still to come.

Kirsty Lang in Conversation with Jimmy Page

As shown on BBC TV on Christmas Day



Did he just say Earth Wind and Fire sucks?

Led Zeppelin on David Letterman

Lots of complaints today about Letterman and his interview style. Maybe I'm used to it - I used to watch Letterman quite a lot back in his NBC days - but it seemed to me he did a reasonable job. His job is to get the guests, and the guys can be reticent, to talk. He does that, not by having all the answer at his fingertips, but by asking open ended questions.

For Plant, Page and Jones, the three looked relaxed, had some fun and seemed to enjoy themselves.  Watch the very beginning when Plant starts to laugh as he and Jimmy take the seats farther away, leaving Jones in the seat next to Letterman. An interesting comment, Letterman, on talking about the Kennedy Center Honors Gala, pointed out that Jimmy said to him during the show, "musicians like playing Led Zeppelin music."

Ramble On Radio's good friend Steve, The Lemon, Sauer was at the taping of the show. His report on it was posted on FBO.

Here's the Led Zeppelin portion of last nights David Letterman Show.

Review Week - Day 5: Brad Tolinski's Light and Shade: Conversations With Jimmy Page

Brad Tolinski, as Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World Magazine, has had the opportunity to interview Jimmy Page a number of times. He has edited those conversations to create a Jimmy Page career timeline, and rolled them out as a biography of Page.

Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page is a fairly comprehensive Jimmy Page biography told mostly in Page's own words. Each chapter presents Page in interview form talking about a point in his career: studio, Yardbirds, forming Zeppelin &tc. Each chapter is introduced by Tolinski, and supplemented with an interview with a relevant figure from the era. i.e. Jeff Beck on the early days; John Paul Jones on forming Zeppelin; Paul Rogers on The Firm.

Tolinski manages to tie all the interviews together without bogging the book down in technical details, as often happens when two guitar players get together. Although Tolinski's interviews are originally intended for an audience of fellow guitar players, they will be easily readable to the average fan. What emerges from all the conversation is a fairly clear picture of Page the artist and player, much less so Page the man.

Having read a number of the interviews before, one fear I had when I first heard about Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page was that it would just be a rehash of the old interviews. However, Tolinski manages to re-edit the interviews to make them seem new and fresh. As well, the supplemental interviews, or "musical interludes," provide enough fresh material to keep things interesting.

Brad Tolinski's Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page is a fairly quick easy read, broken into enough sections that it can be put down and picked up at leisure. Every Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin fan will enjoy it, and it would make a perfect Christmas gift for the Led-Head in your house.

Buy on Hardcover

or Kindle

Jimmy Page on Jools Holland

Jimmy Page made an appearance on Britain's the Jools Holland show on Tuesday. Unlike New York, when the band rudely dismissed the question, what about disappointed fans if you don't do any more shows, Jimmy answered the same question when put to him by the former member of Squeeze:

JH: 20-million people applied for tickets to that show, and you could only fit 20,000... are they to be disappointed, or is there likely to be another Led Zeppelin concert?

JP: Well look, we're almost five years after the O2 concert and, I must say, I thought there might be some other sort of get together for some reason or another. But as the years ticked by, you know, one year; two years; three years; four years; now almost five years, it doesn't look very likely does it.

So as is suspected by just about everybody, Page was not the reason there was no more Led Zeppelin shows.

Here's the edited interview. The complete interview airs tonight on BBC television.



Celebration Day the new Led Zeppelin concert film from the 1997 O2 arena show is available in stores Tuesday.

Rediscovering Zep

Below is a piece I wrote for my general interest blog At Home in Hespeler. I thought it apropos here.

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In the winter of 1976-77 I was a minor Led Zeppelin fan: I obviously knew side 1 of Led Zeppelin 4 and had recently taken to stealing my brothers Led Zeppelin III, which was at the time my favourite album. But BTO’s Not Fragile and Kiss Alive had been my “favourite album” before that, so that didn’t mean much. No, I liked Led Zeppelin, but I liked a lot of bands.

Then one snowy night a friend and I crossed town, from the northeast end of Brampton (Bramalea) to Shoppers World shopping mall in the southeast to watch the weekly showing of The Song Remains the Same.

It starts innocently enough, a gangster shoot-up, manager Peter Grant’s “fantasy sequence,” then a young man on a bicycle delivering something to each member of Led Zeppelin at their home (remarkable considering those homes ranged from Wales to Scotland). “Tour dates” John Paul Jones announces happily to his wife upon reading his. The smile changes to shock as he reads on, “it starts tomorrow.” Airport, jet, tarmac and limo ride with police escort past a traffic jam then through a tunnel the streets of Manhattan.

Yardbirds bassist Chris Dreja, talking of seeing Led Zeppelin for the first time in 1969 said, “Jesus Christ, there were four guys. it sounded like a war.” If Led Zeppelin live is like a war, The Song Remains the Same up to this point is the long march into battle. The final scene before the “four guys” unleash themselves on New York City is from the stage. Looking out on a dark stadium, the occasional lighter flickers and lights from the doorways out are the only glow in the darkness, like the night fires of the invading army from the vantage point of the villagers.

The attack starts as every self respecting attack should, with the drummer. Specifically John Bonham, who shouts in the darkness, “alright lets go,” before launching into his drum intro to Rock and Roll. Two-minutes into the song Jimmy Page steps in front of the camera and plays lick that starts his blistering solo, fingers flailing across the fretboard seemingly out of control. It was the moment, the very second where I got it, I got Led Zeppelin. No longer a mere fan, no longer just another band I like, I became a Led Zeppelin fanatic.

I learnt what most Zeppelin fanatics learn at some time, to experience Led Zeppelin live is to truly appreciate how good they are. Whether actually being at a a concert (preferred), on a movie screen, at home or even just an audio bootleg of an otherwise unreleased concert, Led Zeppelin’s live experience is almost always better than they were on record.

Their latest live release, Celebration Day, chronicles their Dec 2007 union concert at the O2 arena in London. Put out as a limited theatrical release, it opened Wednesday the 17th of this month at a variety of theaters. The second and last showing was last Thursday, and it was this one my university aged daughter expressed an interest in going to.

She was obviously raised with Led Zeppelin in the background, but like the rest of the family treated my level of enjoyment of the band with amusement. They’re OK, but that’s all, was her general attitude. For her, Queen or The Who, whom she knows from CSI. Lately, the boyfriend is a Stones fan, and 70’s Stones has also been found to be too her taste. But on Led Zeppelin she was acting the role of rebellious daughter, allowing that they were OK but refusing to be a ‘fan.’

Leaving the theatre Thursday she expressed the opinion that she liked it, it was, she thought, really good. A pretty good self taught pianist, she was pleasantly surprised by the amount keyboard playing in the band, surprised that John Paul Jones supplies the dual role of bassist and keyboardist so well. We discussed how Zeppelin often treated songwriting more like classical composers do, adding in breaks, preludes, interludes and codas, moving the songs through a variety of tempos, volumes and, most importantly, feels.

It wasn’t until she came home Friday for her usual weekend of quiet study away from the residence parties: where she could get her mother to do her laundry her father to bake her banana bread for her, that the depth of her appreciation became clear. “While I’m home, I want to go over some of Zeppelin’s older live stuff, to see what they were like when they were younger.”

“Oh, no!” cried out the wife. “Not another one,” while I ran to open the special occasion Champagne I had been saving. She got it, she really got it, as Goldie Hawn might have said in my shoes. The hook was in, and a few hours closeted away with The Song Remains the Same (complete with fairytale fantasy sequences that she will love despite their obvious cheesiness), and their 2002 DVD release will no doubt set the hook. The first Knebworth show and Seattle ’77 sit in my basement, virtually pro-shot bootlegs that will mesmerize and amaze.

The path is now clear, from the videos to the three live albums, then sometime with the turntable listening to the originals as they were meant to be heard, finally, onward to the 100‘s of bootlegs. Oh the joy of buying her first turntable for her, hitting the record shows with her and having someone in the house to eagerly anticipate the re-release of all those albums in 2013, as Jimmy Page promised this week. Oh the joy.

Now, about the boy and his rap music…

Celebration Night

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It was Celebration Night around the world, and certainly in my little part of it where no less than 5 theatres within' a 25 minute drive were showing Celebration Day. I must say, minus a few quibbles, it was as good, better, than I hoped for: a magical recreation of a magical night.

The movie is the concert, full bore. A few edits to keep the pacing going, a few small parts of the show where cut for brevity. But ultimately, it was the show. They didn't mess too much with the music, although they tried to fix the little mess in "Dazed and Confused when the rhythm section seemed to not be connecting." But otherwise it was the show, just the show, and nothing but the show. On that note, here's what I said about the show at the time:

...I won’t equivocate: this was a great concert by a great band that was in great form. I simply can’t imagine how good these guys would be after a few shows to get the groove going. If they do tour, and it would be a crime if they don’t, I want to see them again mid tour. They would be an unimaginable force of music.

Too bad about that last bit.

Now the quibbles. First, I would have set the stage, given the movie some context. An intro in which the camera is outside the O2 before the show, so everybody understands it was London. Further I would have replaced the old Tampa TV news clip that started the show with one from the O2 show. My feeling watching it was, if I didn't know better, I'd think I was seeing Led Zeppelin in Tampa in the 70's.

Others have commented on the 35mm footage used in the movie, and it was too much. It's a cool effect used half a dozen times through the movie: they used it 3 or 4 times a song. Way too much. And the film was edited to MTV standards, which means it was far to jumpy.

But again, these are mere quibbles, disagreement over choices, not commentary on the performance itself. The truth on the performance itself is, it holds up extremely well, and Celebration Day is a must see movie for music fans, and a must see more than once for Led Zeppelin fans.

Jimmy Page Says The TIme For a Reunion Has Passed

In the last podcast I was fairly clear on how I felt the guys in Led Zeppelin had been doing a poor job of communicating what seemed obvious to most observers, no reunion is coming:

[caption id="attachment_2053" align="alignright" width="179" caption="Photo: Nech Tytla"][/caption]

For the life of me, at this stage I don't know why they just don't say..."at this time we have no plans. we see no foreseen circumstances in the upcoming future... so the short answer is no! However, we don't rule out the possibility of something somewhere down the road. Of something coming up somewhere down the road that we feel is big enough, important enough to do.

The answer to "will there be a reunion?" has been no for some time time, no. And while I understand they don't want to shut the door 100%, they don't have to. Just be honest, and say, no reunion that we can foresee, but never say never.

With those words ringing in Jimmy Page's ear, he talked recently to Rollin Stone, and on teh issue of a reunion, he said:

I think if there had been any more concerts to be done, we'd already be talking about them. So I don't see it.

See Jimmy, that's all you had to say.

Ramble On Radio Episode #22

Led Zeppelin held a press conference and I have all the details, plus: Black Country Communion at war; Jimmy Page out and about; Did Robert Plant do a movie soundtrack? John Paul Jones jams with Alfie Boe and more, on the only Led Zeppelin podcast on this, or any, known internets.

Listen here

or

Subscribe on iTunes

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Links

Shawn Sarazin's Mystery of the Quotient

Dony Wynn's blog post on Modern Drummer

Buy Carol Miller's Autobiography on Amazon.com



Pre-order the Celebration Day LP:



Jason Bonham's son, J-Swagg's Facebook page.

Led Zeppelin to Receive Kennedy Center Honors

The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Honors are among the most prestigious arts award in America. Kennedy Honor recipients are recognized for heir lifetime contribution to American culture through art.

The 2012 recipients include Led Zeppelin, being honored as a band as well as each living original member: Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Robert Plant.

The honorees will be presented with their Kennedy Center Honors Medallion on Saturday December 1st.

The next night, Dec 2nd, the annual honors gala at the Kennedy Center Opera House. The honorees will be presented to the President and Mrs. Obama at the White House prior to the gala. The gala will be broadcast as a 2-hour primetime special on CBS on Dec 26th at 9:00PM.

Honorees don't normally perform at the gala and there is no expectation that Led Zeppelin will reunite for the occasion (this is not aisle 6 of Swapper Jack's).

From the Kennedy Center webpage:

Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant transformed the sound of rock and roll with their lyricism and innovative song structures, infusing blues into the sound of rock and roll and laying the foundation for countless rock bands."

The annual Honors Gala has become the highlight of the Washington cultural year, and its broadcast on CBS is a high point of the television season. On Sunday, December 2, in a star-studded celebration on the Kennedy Center Opera House stage, produced by George Stevens Jr. and Michael Stevens, the 2012 Honorees will be saluted by great performers from New York, Hollywood, and the arts capitals of the world. Seated with the President of the United States and Mrs. Obama, the Honorees will accept the thanks of their peers and fans through performances and heartfelt tributes.

The President and Mrs. Obama will receive the Honorees and members of the Artists Committee who nominate them, along with the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees at the White House prior to the gala performance. The 2012 Kennedy Center Honors Gala concludes with a supper dance in the Grand Foyer.

The Kennedy Center Honors medallions will be presented on Saturday, December 1, the night before the gala, at a State Department dinner hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The Honors Gala will be recorded for broadcast on the CBS Network for the 35th consecutive year as a two-hour primetime special on Wednesday, December 26 at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT)...

The Honors recipients recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts-whether in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures, or television-are selected by the Center's Board of Trustees. The primary criterion in the selection process is excellence. The Honors are not designated by art form or category of artistic achievement; the selection process, over the years, has produced balance among the various arts and artistic disciplines.

Past Honors recipients, as well as members of the Kennedy Center's national artists committee, made recommendations of possible 2012 Honorees. Artists making recommendations included: Alan Alda, Joshua Bell, Stephen Colbert, Renée Fleming, Kris Kristofferson, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Mark Morris, Lionel Richie, Frederica von Stade. Previous Kennedy Center Honorees, including Edward Albee, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Kirk Douglas, Angela Lansbury, Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand, and Oprah Winfrey, also made nominations.

Other 2012 honorees are blues guitarist Buddy Guy, actor Dustin Hoffman, television host David Letterman and ballerina Natalia Makarova.

Led Zeppelin live at Cineplex Odeon

It appears Led Zeppelin is lining up with Cineplex Odeon theatres for Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day. Here's the synopsis from Cineplex's website:

On December 10, 2007, Led Zeppelin took the stage at London’s O2 Arena to headline a tribute concert for dear friend and Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. What followed was a two--- hour---plus tour de force of the band’s signature blues---infused rock ’n’ roll that instantly became part of the legend of Led Zeppelin. Founding members John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were joined by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham, to perform 16 songs from their celebrated catalogue including landmark tracks “Whole Lotta Love,” “Rock And Roll,” “Kashmir,” and “Stairway To Heaven.” Although 20 million people applied for tickets, the band’s first headline show in 27 years was seen only by the 18,000 ticket holders who were fortunate enough to have secured seats through the worldwide lottery. Now, for the first time, fans in over 40 territories worldwide will be able to get a front row seat to experience this historic event in glorious high definition and incredible surround sound. Experience it on the big screen for a strictly limited period only.

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This will likely be officially announced tomorrow with the announcement of the DVD.

Two days are being listed in Canada, Wednesday October 17th and Thursday October 25th. Check your local theatre for ticket information or go to http://www.cineplex.com/Movies/MovieDetails/Led-Zeppelin-Celebration-Day.aspx?date=2012-10-17 and search your location.

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Update, this theatrical release is confirmed with my local theatre. Link added.

And another: It hadn't occurred to me, but is the picture at  top, which was at the Cineplex Odeon website, the DVD cover?

O2 DVD Announcement Coming

The countdown is on. With a '5' in the traditional Houses of the Holy font appearing on their Facebook page Saturday, Led Zeppelin announced something was up. Sunday was 'four', Led Zeppelin 4 style, and yesterday a 'III', ala the third album. So what of today? You guessed it, brown bomber style:



What can it all mean? Jeff Strawman has a good accounting of the possible theories, only one of which makes any sense whatsoever: the O2 DVD/Bluray will see commercial release.

There is no surprise here as it was talked about heavily last year, and then died suddenly on the vine. Rumours of it being issued this year  began a few months ago, and last week was seemingly confirmed by a Belgium radio station. That post was taken down after a day, suggesting not necessarily inaccuracy, but that the original post was premature. And so it seems it is.

Early this morning, the Sun newspaper in the UK reported that the O2 DVD/Bluray is being released on November 22nd.

As well, over the last 2 days, video has been appearing on the Facebook page and the band's official YouTube page. Here's today's:



As for the countdown, know that five years ago on day zero, September 13, the band announced the reunion show. Seriously, it's a CD/DVD/Bluray and nothing else.

Gentleman (and ladies), start your Christmas list.

Jimmy Page Donates Guitar

A video was posted on YouTube yesterday of Jimmy Page playing a Yamaha FG-403MS Acoustic guitar that he signs and donates to Care 4 Kids. Page, who is in Pattaya, Thailand, plays snippets of Kashmir, before signing the guitar and authenticating the instrument for viewers.  The guitar is being auctioned off at a Jesters Care for Kids auction. The current bid is ฿220000.00 (220000 Thai baht = 7,006.36 US dollars).

Also up for auction is a signed Death Wish II album, and a signed Ross Halfin photo of Jimmy.

Light and Shade: Conversations With Jimmy Page

Last October I mentioned a new book by Guitar World's Brad Tolinski called Light and Shade. At the time there was some confusion over release date. No more. A release date of October 23rd has been set.

Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Pageis pieced together from a number of interviews Page has done with Tolinski, creating, "the closest thing Led Zeppelin fans will ever get to a published autobiography" according to the early press release.

The book can be pre-ordered for $16.07 through Amazon ($18.03 Kindle Edition?).

Zacron 1943-2012

"I remembered  those old gardening catalogues. You'd turn it to roses and find out what kind of manure to use." Jimmy Page would later say of the cover for Led Zeppelin III.  "There are some silly bits..."

Although Page had the original idea, he turned the project over to his old friend Richard Drew, aka Zacron. After 4-months work Zacron came back with the now iconic cover, which Page has called "very teeny-boperish." Teeny and/or boperish or not, I can attest that I spent hours playing with that cover, examining the objects in the wheel.

Classic Rock Magazine today is reporting that Zacron died in January from bowel cancer. The news only comes to light now because the artist had been estranged from his family, and they are only learning the news themselves now. It must be a very difficult time for them, and RambleOnRadio's condolences go out to the family.

This Beautiful Guitar Can Be Your For Just £25,000 (or more)

The charity Jimmy Page's founded, the ABC trust, is auctioning off a guitar at this years Back2Black festival in London.

The guitar, a Led Zeppelin 40th Anniversary Custom Martin D-20 Marquis Acoustic Guitar, is one of only three. It will be signed and personally addressed to the winning bidder by Jimmy Page and the winner will also get pictures of Jimmy with the guitar.

Here's more information on the guitar and the Back2Black festival:

Led Zeppelin 40th Anniversary Custom Martin D-28 Marquis Acoustic Guitar
With only 3 in the World, The ABC Trust is proud to present this incredibly unique limited edition Martin D-28 Marquis to the public. This guitar was developed in honour of the recent 40th Anniversary of Led Zeppelin.

Custom made by the C. F. Martin Guitar Company Custom Shop, this guitar has been inlayed with Led Zeppelin symbols by Tracey Cox one of their most talented artists and commissioned by JR Warner and overseen by Dick Boak, Paul Hammond and Christopher Thomas ensuring that the finest aspects of the Martin tradition have been honoured and protected.

Back to Black Music Festival makes it's Maiden Voyage across the Atlantic!

The year of 2012 is not just about the Olympics. It is also when Back2Black, the biggest black music festival in Latin America, will cross the Atlantic sea and arrive for the first time in London. The event is part of a cultural agenda to run parallel with the games and is supporting ABC Trust as it's charity partner.

Three days of live music with an eclectic line up of over 20 Brazilian, African & international artists including B2B Ambassador Gilberto Gil, Macy Gray, Roots Manuva, Amadou & Mariam, Criolo, Luiz Melodia and many more. Taking place over 3 stages in a stunning riverside venue in central London, transformed for the occasion by Brazilian visual artist, Miguel Rio Branco, plus talks, debates, workshops and a food & craft market.

If you are interested in bidding on the guitar, dig deep into your pockets (no, deeper) as bidding begins at £25,000. Contact nathalie.pownall@abctrust.org.uk for further information by Friday 29 June, 12pm