John Paul Jones Composing Opera

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Hot off an on-stage part in the Royal Opera's,  Anna Nicole: The Party Always Ends, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones is set to compose an opera himself.

Jones has been involved in work to compose an opera based on the Isabel Allende short story, The Judge’s Wife.

The Judge's Wife will feature a libretto by Amanda Holden. Jones' friend Gerald Thomas will direct the opera, which is set for a fall 2013 production.  Stuart Stratford will conduct.

Thomas' current play, Throats, features a piano composition by Jones. Throats is playing at the Pleasence Theatre, London until March 27th. Anna Nicole, The Party Never Ends has two more performances, Tuesday March 1 and Friday March 4th at the Royal Opera House.

In December, Jones and Thomas met at the Hoxton Hotel in London to discuss the opera project. They recorded the meeting, and released a YouTube video of it.

Black Country Communion 2 Complete

Mastered and ready for June release, Black Country Communion’s 2nd album, BCC2, is longer, harder and darker, according to singer and bassist Glenn Hughes.

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“BCC 2 70 mins. Long. A Rock ‘n Roll Rollercoaster… organic… darker than “1”… my darkest lyrics since Addiction,” said Hughes via Facebook. (Addiction was Hughes 5th solo album. Released in 1996 it is the album that is regarded as his heaviest, both musically and lyrically. Many of the songs focus on Hughes drug addiction that he experienced through the 1980’s).

On Thursday, Hughes mentioned he had a mastered CD in hand. This comes after commenting that “BCC has given me a new belief in Rock ‘n Roll…” And yesterday (Friday Feb 25), Hughes comments that:

Joe Rocks [sic] harder than ever… and I get to sing some desperate blues… this album has woken the Rock

Hughes is not the only one excited about BCC 2. Kevin Shirley is reported to have said it’s the “best album of his career.” The Caveman, Kevin Shirley, has himself said on Facebook, “…it’s sounding awesome. Anyone ready for some big Bonham drums.”

Desperate blues, Joe Bonamassa rocking hard and big Bonham drums. Sounds like BCC2 is an album to look forward too.

Leaving behind recording, Black Country Communion announced their first two North American shows this week. BCC will perform two shows in California before beginning their European tour in June, appearing in San Diego June 9th and Anaheim June 10th. More shows will be announced.

Led Zeppelin On Your iPhone

This Day in Music has released their first band specific iPhone app, This Day in Led Zep. It is chock-a-block full of information, supplanted by some ill advised music clips.

The fundamental purpose of the This Day in Led Zeppelin app is the daily diary portion, Zeppelin On This Day. It has three or four items every day, chronicling, according to the writers of the app, “every gig the band ever played, including set lists, recordings, gigs, TV performances.”

The items in the diary are fairly comprehensive, covering individual members before Led Zeppelin, and after as well as, of course, during the Led Zeppelin years. For example, here’s today (note: this post was actually written on Feb 8):

1968
The Band of Joy, featuring John Bonham and Robert Plant, made their first London appearance, supporting Edwin Starr at the Marquee Club in London, England.

1969
Led Zeppelin played the second of two nights at Kinetic Playground, Chicago during the bands first North American tour.

1975
Led Zeppelin appeared at the Spectrum Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to 20,000 fans during a North American tour…

2009
‘Raising Sand’ won Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Grammy Awards for all five categories in which it was nominated…

If the daily Zeppelin diary was all this app did, it would still be good. But there’s more. Trivia covering subjects from Them Crooked Vultures live debut (Aug 9, 2009) to Andy Johns’ and Sandy Denny’s relationship with Led Zeppelin.

The Zeppelin Quiz offers ten question quizzes of Zeppelin trivia (I regularly get 8 or 9 out of ten, being unable to answer British specific questions like who’s version of Whole Lotta Love starts Top of the Pops).

There is also direct links to the Led Zeppelin online store, each members personal webpage and some non-Zeppelin ringtones and wallpaper.

My favourite part of the app is the Song Notes, offering songs listed by albums with notes on every Led Zeppelin song. Each note covers any stories around the song, recording notes on the song and covers of the song among others. If you have that song on you iPhone, it links directly to it, or offers you an option to buy an mp3 through iTunes.

The This Day in Led Zeppelin app is not without it’s flaws. I could live without the music clips, all non Led Zeppelin. When you get a correct answer on the quiz a guitar riff that sounds more like one of Bill and Ted’s more excellent moments than anything Jimmy Page ever played. The ringtones sound like a bad 80’s imitator of Led Zeppelin, although the riffs themselves are Led Zeppelinesque enough. However, if you can’t use Led Zeppelin music in a Led Zeppelin app, it’s probably best to use nothing at all.

My other complaint is the Daily Zeppelin Diary’s lack of connectiveness with the rest of the phone. You should be able to cross the apps information with the calendar or have a daily pop up giving the day’s events without having to specifically open the app.

That aside, the This Day in Led Zeppelin app is a solid addition to my iPhone that I find I have been checking daily. It’s available for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch and can be downloaded via iTunes

Live Black Country Communion Download

UK radio station Planter Rock has made available a download of Black Country Communion performing Black Country/One Last Soul to VIP members. The track was recorded at the album release party for specially selected guests at John Henry's in London last September. It is produced by Kevin Shirley, and available only through Planet Rock.

To download, go to Planet Rock's VIP section and register. Registration is free and once your have conformed your registration, you can download the tracks.

Mr. Porter Man of Note: Robert Plant

Mr. Porter is an online fine men’s wear store. Working with leading designers such as Chloé, Marc Jacobs and Stella McCartney. The web based retailer offer customers access to clothing lines from over 300 designers.

Mr. Porter has an advertising campaign called Men of Note. The most recent Man of Note: Robert Plant.

Featuring a rather elegant black and white picture of a casual Plant in a jacket (over an unbuttoned short and black t-shirt), the advertisement gives five songs Plant is listening to these days:

Five tracks the rock legend is giving a ‘Whole Lotta Love’ to…

As the lead singer of legendary rock band Led Zeppelin for 12 years, and an award-winning solo artist for nearly three decades, you might say that Mr Plant, knows the odd thing about good music. Here he explains why the tracks below are on his playlist right now

• Early Spring Till: Nathaniel Rateliff


• Lines in the Sand: MONA


• The Rumble: Link Wray and His Ray Men


• Ticket Taker: The Low Anthem


• Home in Your Heart: Solomon Burke

Robert Plant on PBS

PBS, the American public broadcasting channel, will be featuring Robert Plant and the Band of Joy in an upcoming show.

Live from the Artists Den features concerts in unusual and intimate settings. The third season will kick off with Elvis Costello at the New York Public Library.

Robert Plant and the Band of Joy were filmed at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville on Feb 9th. It was the last show of the winter leg of the Band of Joy's North American tour. The tour continues in April.

Past artists featured on Live at the Artists Den include The Black Crowes and Band of Joy singer Patty Griffin. Also appearing on season three is A Fine Frenzy, the former band of Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience utility player Stephen LeBlanc.

No date yet has been announced for the Robert Plant performance. Robert Plant and the Band of Joy will be on Artists Den April 22nd.

Robert Plant visits BBC’s Chris Evans Breakfast Show

Robert Plant spent an hour sitting in with Chris Evans on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC radio this morning. Plant is in London between legs of his American tour, a tour schedule that is, apparently, dictated by the Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.

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You have to “plan your career, set our priorities right,” Plant quipped.

Led Zeppelin was, Plant also offered, a lot like The Wolves: really good some nights, really bad others.

In good spirits, Plant even pontificated on that question he hates answering. The Led Zeppelin reunion:

All those big guys saw it as being the next big roll out. Led Zeppelin was worth far more than that… it was great to do it once properly.

And then, unprompted, he went further:

What happens in the future really is based on kinship, camaraderie. Whether or not there’s life in the old beast.

If you’re a betting man? Evans asked. “I don’t bet,” Plant answered.

Evans also asked who was better, Jimmy Page or David Gilmour?

…listen to Pagey, Jimbob, he’s wild, he’s brilliant.

It was, no contest, Plant said. He also suggested he talked to Jimmy Page yesterday, and would see him again Wednesday.

He has been accused recently of not getting along with the other members of Led Zeppelin, so it’s good to hear he’s on terms with Jimmy Page, even if they won’t be working together soon.

About the Band of Joy, Plant said he was pleased for Patty Griffin winning a Grammy. But:

you gotta be sharp with this lot, because they do sound-checks, which I never knew about. Then they go and eat broccoli.

And while it occurred to Plant a person had to look after themselves, he still likes a drink, which is OK because, “a lot of musicians are drinking again.”

For an early morning radio show Plant sounded in good form, and offered quips about many people. Paul McCartney, for instance, was the first person to hug him after his Grammy winning night for Raising Sand. And who gave him the shortest hug? Alison Krauss.




Listen to the show here