Dolphins Dancing Days

If you are heading to next Sunday’s Miami Dolphins Buffalo Bills game, there’s an extra treat for you. Besides being one of the fiercest rivalries in the NFL, this Sunday, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience will be playing at the pre-game.

The Experience will be playing the Land Shark Tailgate Stage on the AT&T Grand Plaza at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium. The pre-game tailgate concert will begin at noon.

Glenn Hughes on BCC

Classic Rock magazine interviewed Glenn Hughes on the occasion Hughes receiving a Classic Rock Award (A gong) for for his work with the charity Childline:

Whenever they call on me I’ll be there, no problem at all. I urge all my musician mates to do the same.

Childline is a counselling service for children and young people who both Hughes and his wife are involved with - and good on both of them.

While they had him, the subject of Black Country Communion came up. Hughes suggested Led Zeppelin fans might just enjoy the show:

Two UK shows are booked for late December and we commence work on the second album on January 10 at the same studio in LA that the Hughes/Thrall album was made...

They’ll feature most of the first album and we might throw in a Led Zeppelin cover and some other things.

According to his Facebook page, Hughes had been very busy writing songs for BCC2, as he's currently calling it. A few weeks ago he noted he played what he had for Kevin Shirley, and it was well received. But he apparently wasn't done there, offering today:

My every wakin' moment is spent workin' on new BCC songs here in Brazil... I have no choice... the tap has been turned on... I am grateful... GH

It sounds like it will be a good 2011 for Black Country Communion.

Unpacking Jimmy Page

Rick Barret of Zeppelin Collectibles.com received his copy of the Genesis Publication book, Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page on Dec 10 - the third anniversary of Led Zeppelin's celebrated 02 arena concert.

Rick took a video of himself opening the book, and flipping through it the first time. Nice treat for fans who didn't get a book. And another reason to kick yourself for not buying one.

Robert Plants Adds Toronto Show

Robert Plant and the Band of Joy have added a second Toronto Show.

The Band of Joy are set to bring their North-Eastern American tour to Toronto's Sony Centre on Saturday January 22nd. The second show will be the following night, January 23rd, at the same venue.

The Sony Centre is formally the O'Keefe Centre where Led Zeppelin played in November 1969. Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience also stopped there in October.

Tickets for the 2nd Robert Plant and the Band of Joy Toronto Show go on sale the Saturday, December 11th.

Band of Joy Makes Spin Magazines Top 40

Spin Magazine just released it’s top 40 albums of 2010 and Robert Plant’s Band of Joy came in at 35 with a bullet. Along with modern acts such as Eminem (38), The Black Keys (30), Gorillaz (23), Drake (16), M.I.A. (8) and Kanye West (1) plus Canadians Arcade Fire (3) and Neil Young (28) and a bunch of acts this geezer has simply never heard of, Plant’s album is an out of place honour.

“Old, weird Americana, steeped in the black hours before Sunday morning comes down,” says the review at Spin. “The restless Plant seems more at home than ever.”

And the Nominees Are

The Grammy Awards tonight announced their 2011 nominees during a televised concert. Led Zeppelin members record three nominations this year, two to Robert Plant, and one to John Paul Jones’ band Them Crooked Vultures.

Robert Plant:
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
(For a solo vocal performance. Singles or Tracks only)
Silver Rider
from: Band Of Joy

Best Americana Album
(Vocal or Instrumental)
Band Of Joy

John Paul Jones:

Best Hard Rock Performance
(For solo, duo, group or collaborative performances, with vocals.
Singles or Tracks only.)
New Fang
Them Crooked Vultures
from: Them Crooked Vultures

Plant won five Grammy’s in 2009, including album and record of the year, for his collaboration with Alison Krauss, Raising Sand.

Previously, he won a Grammy in 1998, with Jimmy Page, for the song Most High, from the Walking Into Clarksdale CD

As near as I can determine, this is John Paul Jones first Grammy nomination, although he has previously conducted a 20 piece orchestra that performed with the Foo Fighters in 2008.

The 53rd annual Grammy Awards will take place on February 13th.

Jason Bonham Does Hollywood

Some gigs are more important than others. Hometowns, for example. Or  New York. For James Dylan, singing with Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience, it was Philadelphia:

Philly was very special for me because Averelle and our son and three daughters were there.

For anybody associated with Led Zeppelin, add Los Angeles to the list.

A week ago now, Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience stepped on the stage at Pantages Theatre in Hollywood with Paul Stanley and Steve Lukather in the audience and Jason's sister, Zoe Bonham, waiting in the wings, the Experience broke into Rock and Roll/Celebration Day. Andrew Bansal from Metal Assault was on hand to bear witness to the night:

No concert involving Led Zeppelin is complete without "Stairway To Heaven". This was no different, and they did complete justice to the most beautiful song ever written.

Overall, Jason was absolutely flawless on drums and I could feel a lot of emotion in his performance... The same can also be said about vocalist James Dylan whose voice was truly magical throughout the entire two and a half hours that he was on stage. Guitarist Tony Catania was absolutely brilliant and possessed a natural likeness to Jimmy Page in terms of appearance and stage presence, without even seeming to make an effort to do so. Multi instrumentalist Stephen LeBlanc and bassist Michael Devin also did their parts excellently well.

John Bonham is no more, but now I know for sure that he continues to live on in his son's body and enthralls crowds across the world.

A deeply emotional, mesmerizing and entertaining performance.

Zoe Bonham, John's other child and Jason's younger sister, joined the band onstage to play organ on When the Levee Breaks. Levee was one of the show's highlights already, Jason letting a video clip of dad lay down the groove for the for the song.  Nice to have both of his children playing along with him.

John Bonham must have been watching on with a tear in his eye.