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."

John Paul Jones, Man About Town

John Paul Jones has been the man about town this week, spotted playing bass, mandolin and harmonizing with Seasick Steve to promote the new Seasick Steve album, Hubcap Music, which will be released next Tuesday.

Jones joined Seasick Steve on an appearance on Later with Jools Holland on Tuesday night - the show was rebroadcast in a larger "extended version," on Friday night. On Wednesday, Jones joined SS onstage for the full show at the Roundhouse in London with Robert Plant in the audience. According to #incrediblesteve, "John Paul Jones played 7 different instruments during the show."

On Friday night, Steve took his hubcap guitars to Scotland, where Jones and drummer Dan Magnusson again took the stage with him in Edinburgh and again in Manchester Saturday night.

Here's John Paul Jones with Seasick Steve playing Over You from Live with Jools Holland

John Paul Jones on Jools Holland

John Paul Jones performed today on Jools Holland show with Seasick Steve. Led Zeppelin News Page on Facebook has some pictures.





The show will air later tonight on BBC Two.

John Paul Jones to Join Seasick Steve on Later... with Jools Holland

Next Tuesday, April 30th, John Paul Jones will join Seasick Steve on Later... with Jools Holland to play songs from the upcoming Seasick Steve album, Hubcap Music.

Meanwhile, Patty Griffin has released a video of her first song from her upcoming album, American Kid.

The song, Ohio, is an historical piece about slaves escaping via the underground railroad. Robert Plant sings a harmony vocal throughout the haunting, evocative song.

Griffin first premiered the song at a Sensational Space Shifters show in London last July.

Update: The latest podcast is now available. Listen or download through iTunes.

On the Occasion of John Paul Jones Birthday

Happy Birthday to the quiet man with the bass that roars and rock'n'roll's premier mandolinist, John Paul Jones, who is 67 today:

John Paul Jones on BBC

Any New Years plans John Paul Jones?

Why yes, now that you mention it:

Fiona Talkington celebrated the New Year with special guest... John Paul Jones, who plays live and chooses a selection of music

This show will air on BBC Radio 3, January 1, 2013 at 11:00PM BBC time (6:00 PM Ramble On Radio (EST) time)

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.

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.

John Paul Jones at Hardly Strictly

John Paul Jones joined Robyn Hitchcock on stage at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Fransisco's Golden Gate Park to play the song Glass Hotel yesterday.

"Just imagine your listening to this out doors, on a sunny day in the park," Hitchcock told the crowd.

Watch at 1:45 to 1:55, where Hitchcock says something to Jones which makes Jones laugh and stop playing for a second.




The free festival takes place every year and features a number of acts. Hitchcock performed on the Porch Stage, which Jones also played on with Seasick Steve later in the day.



Last year Robert Plant and the Band of Joy opened the Banjo Stage on the Friday night of the festival. Plant also joined Patty Griffin during her set on the Saturday portion.

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Update: Robert Plant also made an appearance at Hardly Strictly this year, joining both Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin during their sets. He sang a song he wrote with Patty during her set:



With Buddy Miller he joined Griffin and Emmylou Harris for Somewhere Trouble Don't Go, which Plant played harp on:

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.

Rock and Roll

John Paul Jones stepped on stage at the Sunflower Jam at the Royal Albert Hall in London this weekend. Joining Jones et. al., was the guy who gave Robert Plant his first hit in the classical charts, Alfie Boe. This time, Alfie got to play rock star, and seemed to love it.

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.

"Daunting is What I Do"

There is a short John Paul Jones interview in the October 2012 edition of Uncut, which hit the newstands today.

In the interview, Jones describes playing with Led Zeppelin, especially in the early days, and compares it to playing with the "Norwegian noisemakers," Supersilent.

There was great unplanned improv sequences in Led Zep songs...  Quite often I found myself onstage with absolutely no idea of what I was going to do, and that's the fun of it...

When asked to play with Supersilent for the first time in 2010, he asked what they did:

Well, we don't talk about it, we don't rehearse, we just play.

"I thought it sounded intriguing," Jones says.

When playing with Supersilent, Jones plays a 12 string bass through a programming system called Kyma. Of Supersilent, Jones says:

It can be extraordinarily delicate and beautiful, or it can sound like the end of the world.

Of Jones, Supersilent's Helge Sten says:

(he has a) really big palette of things - he's playing bass but what you hear sounds completely different.

Jones also talks about the opera he is working on, August Strindberg's play, The Ghost Sonata, due for completion in 2015. "It's more than slightly daunting," he says. "But daunting is what I do."

Jones will be performing with Supersilent in Birmingham on November 14, Glasgow on November 15, Manchester on November 16, Bristol November 17 and London on November 18.

Tight But Loose #32

Dave Lewis' tri-annual Led Zeppelin fanzine, Tight But Loose is always excellent but issue #32, which landed on my door step last week, sets a new standard. How good is it? Lewis has an interesting and informative interview with John Paul Jones and it's not the high point of the magazine.

A "TBL investigates" feature looks into where that famous first Led Zeppelin rehearsal took place. The feature is six pages long examines the evidence where that rehearsal took place. In the process they cover in detail the demise of The Yardbirds and the forming of Led Zeppelin. It is an article that Zeppelin fans will find exceptional and that, somehow, could only have come from Tight But Loose.

It also features and excellent and informative interview with Warren Grant, an interview, post Sensational Space Shifters show, with Justin Adams and a review of Lucifer Rising.

Tight But Loose issue #32 is as good as it gets and you will spend a few hours soaking in every word, it is that good.

A subscription to Tight But Loose can be ordered from TightButLoose.co.uk, as well issue #32 can be ordered as a stand alone edition. While your at Tight But Loose, order one (or three) of Dave's books, and tell him they came highly recommended from Ramble On Radio.

O2 Reunion Show DVD Coming at "Tectonic Plate Speed."

In his latest edition of the ubiquitous Led Zeppelin fanzine, Tight But Loose, Dave Lewis interviews John Paul Jones. He asks the most important question on the Led Zeppelin fans minds (besides when are you playing together again?, which, kudos to him, Lewis manages to avoid asking). When asked what is happening on the release of a DVD  (and BlueRay obviously) of the O2 reunion show, Jones said:

...things move at a tectonic plate speed in the Zeppelin camp.

As a follow up, Lewis asks, "So you can see it happening?"

I could have... I'm not sure... I think it will but obviously it's not just down to me, there are two others to consider. Let's hope it does.

This answer tells us a couple of things. The DVD is being held up by a member of Zeppelin, or his camp, not called John Paul Jones. And by "two others," we can presume Jones doesn't mean Jason Bonham.

As for a post O2 reunion tour, and the three instrumentalists in the band playing together, Jones had this to say:

I did rehearsals with Jimmy and Jason and I think we all thought it could be a goer. In the end we couldn't really find a singer we could all agree on and it fizzled out...

As for Them Crooked Vultures, Jones saw himself playing with Josh Homme and Dave Grohl again, but not in the near future:

...it's probably way ahead but yes I could see it coming together again.

It's an excellent overall interview with the Zeppelin bassist that covers everything from his equipment to his opera.

If you don't subscribe to Tight But Loose, I can't recommend it enough. However, if you would rather check it out first, issue 32 is available as a one off purchase from Tight But Loose:

http://www.tightbutloose.co.uk/tblweb09/?page_id=14475

I'll have a full review of the entire edition in the next few days, but at halfway through, it is excellent. Click on the link and buy now.

Ramble On Radio Episode #14

Jimmy Page is releasing Lucifer Rising and Other Sound Tracks, Robert Plant's Sensational Space Shifter's is coming together, John Paul Jones plays avant-garde and I discuss it all in this St. Patrick's Podcast.

Also, I review Glenn Hughes book "Glenn Hughes: An Autobiography From Deep Purple to Black Country Communion."

Get Episode #14 here, or subscribe via iTunes, and never miss another episode.

John Paul Jones Meet and Greet

Nothing happening this weekend? Hanging around old London town without much in the way of entertainment to amuse yourself? Here's something.

On Sunday, John Paul Jones will make an appearance at the Manson Guitars stand at the London Bass Guitar show. He will be there to promote his John Paul Jones signature bass, which will be available for purchase at the show, and will be doing a meet and greet with fans between 12:00 and 1:00

The London Bass Guitar Show is at the Olympia Conference Centre in the Earls Court area of London.

Ramble On Radio Episode 12

Ramble On Radio celebrates it's dirty dozen edition by kicking Robert Plant out of the dining room for non-conformance to the dress code.

I discuss John Paul Jones upcoming busy schedule, Jimmy Page's sitaristic version of White Summer and Ringo Starr vs. John Bonham.

As well, Frank Reddon's Sonic Boom: vol. 1 Break and Enter is now available on e-book (as is JJ Jackson remembers Led Zeppelin: The Music and the Guys Who Made It, also by Enzepplopedia Press), and Logan Plant is modeling for Mr. Porter.

Get the podcast here, or subscribe through iTunes.

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Links

Phil Brown Interview