Getting the Milwaukee Led Out

I spent the weekend a few weeks ago in Milwaukee, catching up with some Led Zeppelin pals, namely, Steve, the Lemon, Sauer, proprietor of Lemon Squeezings, and Paul Hammond Get The Led Out's guitarist extraordinaire and supplier of fine acoustic guitars to Jimmy Page (well, one guitar - one day I'll get that story on here).

[caption id="attachment_1959" align="alignnone" width="452" caption="Paul Hammond (left) and Jimmy Marchiano"][/caption]

I last saw Get the Led Out at Irving Plaza in New York with Steve Sauer, this time I was seeing them with Steve Sauer on keyboards. It was fun all round.

Before the show Paul took me to see his guitar rig, picking out guitars and mandolins and noodling on them while he talked. He is an impressive player, with a very light  touch and flawless technique. Onstage, that light touch translates into a player who never misses a note. His attention to detail was apparent in everything he showed me backstage, his amp set-up, his pedal set-up and the why's and wherefores of the myriad guitars he uses through the night.

[caption id="attachment_2027" align="alignnone" width="491" caption="Fools in the Rain: Steve 'The Lemon' Sauer and Jimmy Marchiano"][/caption]

On this night I had a good opportunity to watch the other half of Get The Led Out's guitar heroes, Jimmy Marchiano. Post-show it was mentioned to me that while Paul is an excellent technician, Jimmy is a brilliant pure rock and roll guitarist. If you don't take "technician" to mean "unmusical," that's not far from accurate and between the two they deliver a powerful dual guitar attack. Marchiano was particularly impressive on In My Time of Dying, giving a stunningly soulful slide guitar performance while Hammond took a break.

How good are these guys? I went with a pal of mine who had never seen them before. When we arrived I bought a t-shirt, and He was eyeing me suspiciously. You could almost hear him asking, "a t-shirt for a tribute band?" At the intermission I got up to go to the bathroom, and he says, "I'm going out to buy a t-shirt." Half a show and he was sold. The bottom line is, Get the Led Out is that good, full stop. Combining a note-for-note authenticity of the original recorded material and that magic live Zeppelin energy, they are absolutely as good as it gets.



Get The Led Out perform mostly in the North East (they are based in Philadelphia), and if they are coming to a town near you, be sure to see them.

Podcast #3

The 3rd Ramble On Podcast is complete and uploaded. This week, I have an interview/chat with Steve, The Lemon, Sauer. Steve offers some of his recent experiences, and we talk about Death Wish II, Robert Plant in Texas and a possible Jeff Beck/Robert Plant collaboration.

The podcast can be found at my PodBean site, or subscribed to on iTunes.

If you're interested in providing an intro and outro bumper ("hi this is XX and you are listening to the Ramble On Podcast."), contact me and I'll set up a time to be on Skype or iChat or FaceTime. You don't have to be Steve Sauer, I'm looking for anybody to do this.

Two Led Zeppelin Blogger’s are Walking Through Times Square...

Lemon Squeezing’s Steve, The Lemon, Sauer and I were walking through Times Square on Friday. We were heading towards downtown, going to Irving Plaza to see Get the Led Out, when we ran into Elmo. Little more will be said, except to note that one of us took an ass kicking, and Elmo is one smug red furry monster...

We took in a few Zep related sites, most notably 96-98 St. Mark’s Place, where we did pictures and had an organic, all natural iced tea at Physical GraffiTea.





When we got to Irving Plaza, Nech Tytla, the guru of FBO, was standing out front. His expected attendance was iffy due to some personal stuff, but he managed to get away for a few hours and we were glad to see him.



Backstage, I met Paul Hammond, who let me noodle on his Jimmy Page Signature Model Les Paul, a sweet guitar. When Jimmy Marchiano came in Paul introduced me. I had met Jimmy outside earlier in the afternoon, and we discussed Gold Top Les Paul’s as he and I both own one. “Yea, I know him,” Jimmy says. “He owns a ’79 Gold Top.” With a quick handshake and a smile, I knew I just met someone I liked.

We enjoyed the show from right up front (review to follow) and partied with what Steve described as a MILF. Myself, I later told my wife I met a Rachel: from Long Island, her light brown hair framed a pretty, roundish face. Definitely a Rachel, although until Friday it never occurred to me the Friends character was meant to be a type. Somedays I have so much to learn.

After, the first question Jimmy asked me was, "how did the Gold Top sound?"

“Pretty good,” I answered, but I really meant, 'F*#%ing amazing.'

The band played a solid set list, the only song missing that I was expecting was The Song Remains The Same, but I’ll take the addition of Night Flight to the set list as a trade off any time.



Highlights where watching Paul Hammond and his B-Bender on All My Love, due to which I missed most of the song, The Wanton Song, which is always a great live rocker, and the acoustic set. Kudo’s to singer Paul Sinclair’s girlfriend, Diana DeSantis, who nailed the Sandy Denny part in Battle of Evermore.

Any night in New York is a good night, but a hot New York night after getting an ass kicking from a guy in a puppet suit, Getting the Led Out and discussing the merits of JimmyPage.com over beers with a couple of guys who have met Jimmy Page, and have friends who are intimates. It simply doesn’t get better.