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Led Zeppelin Photo Mysteries


SteveAJones

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48 minutes ago, badgeholder said:

Looks like a double exposure to me, probably unintentional, he re-wound film he had already shot. 

Good catch. It is likely a double exposure or superimposed shot of Rufus Jones playing with Duke Ellingtons band on their UK tour of 1967. Dukes band wore light/ white jackets which the sleeves are partly visible on the trombone players. Speedy also played a dark pearl Premier kit on that tour so that has to be it. 

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3 hours ago, porgie66 said:

Thats not correct about Speedy. He played with Basie, Duke Ellington and James Brown in the 60's. I have a few records with him playing. I think he was active even in the 80's. 

Rufus "Speedy" Jones
Born May 27, 1936
Died April 25, 1990 (aged 53)
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s) Drummer
Instruments Drums
Years active 1950s–1990
Associated acts Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Maynard Ferguson, Lionel Hampton, Henry "Red" Allen, James Brown

I suppose they could've used some stock session photos to create a hip montage . Were these pics used as promo?? That would make sense then. 

Sorry. It was late at night and apparently I clicked on a link for Rufus Jones the writer, not Rufus "Speedy" Jones the drummer.

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23 minutes ago, porgie66 said:

Good catch. It is likely a double exposure or superimposed shot of Rufus Jones playing with Duke Ellingtons band on their UK tour of 1967. Dukes band wore light/ white jackets which the sleeves are partly visible on the trombone players. Speedy also played a dark pearl Premier kit on that tour so that has to be it. 

Tour dates and photos here: http://archive.nationaljazzarchive.co.uk/archive/programmes/duke-ellington-orchestra-british-tour-1967

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5 hours ago, Shari Adams Cygan said:

This photo has been making the rounds as being Jimmy and his dad.

Can anyone confirm or deny?

image.jpg

That man does not resemble Jimmy's father in the slightest. Apparently that is perhaps James Dean as a child:

http://dingeengoete.blogspot.jp/2013/09/this-day-in-history-sep-30-1955-james.html

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On 2/2/2016 at 4:34 PM, dazedjeffy said:

The first photo is from December 4, 1966. Upon taking possession of the Tele from Beck, Page put the original white colored pickguard back on. The Tele looks worn.

The next photo is from February 2, 1967. Page put eight reflective circle on the front of the Tele. Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett was seen in the recording session for the movie "Let's All Make Love" in January 1967 with a Telecaster with reflective circles on the front. I've always said that Page did this as a nod to Barrett, however, I have never found a link between the two, such as a live date where both bands played or a Pink Floyd date around the London area when Page was NOT on tour.

The third photo is from April 13, 1967. This is the last dated photo I have of the Telecaster with the circles on it.

The fourth photo is from July 22, 1967. This is the first dated photo I have of the Telecaster having been stripped down and had the Dragon painted on it.

So, the transformation happened between April and July 1967.

 

Photo five is an older, yet undated photo of the interior of the Hunt Armory. See the history on the structure at http://pittsburghpa.gov/district8/armory-history. Better photos of the space at http://rs.locationshub.com/location_detail.aspx?id=045-10000637&user=45&photopage=1 It is *plausible* in photo 5 (with the American flag) might show the same ceiling layout/infrastructure. On that last link, there is a picture of a classroom, with low, false ceiling tiles. I doubt The Yardbirds played in there.

jp19661204_01.jpg

jp19670202_01.jpg

jp19670413_10.jpg

jp19670722_01.jpg

armory-history.png

Syd Barrett's guitar was actually a 1962 Esquire. Fender recently posted a  brief history of the guitar.

Psych Out: Syd Barrett’s ‘62 Esquire and the Dawn of Pink Floyd

The original Pink Floyd frontman’s “Mirrored Telecaster” was neither mirrored or a Telecaster.

16261-syd-barrett-and-his-esquire-Hero.jpg

 

Photo: Andrew Whittuck / Getty Images

By Alex Baker

The original lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett burst onto the London rock scene in the mid 1960s as a mysterious, charismatic and eccentric figure.

Widely celebrated as a visionary and influential songwriter who laid the groundwork for the psychedelic rock sound, as a guitarist, Barrett remains somewhat underappreciated. While he was never a virtuoso in the mold of Jeff Beck or Eric Clapton, he was a versatile and innovative player who accomplished pioneering work using dissonance, distortion and feedback.

The electric guitar Barrett was most closely associated with was known as the “Mirror Disc Telecaster,” which is a misnomer, because for starters, it wasn’t a Telecaster. It was in fact a 1962 Esquire, and while the metal discs attached to it were reflective, they weren’t mirrors.

Barrett acquired the Esquire, which was originally white, in late 1965. Sometime in 1966 he had it shrink-wrapped in silver plastic film. The discs he attached to it were thin, polished silver metal plates that were in vogue in hippy London at the time; adorning everything from doors and walls, to jeans, dresses and floppy hats.

The Esquire’s cosmetic modifications made the it an important element of Pink Floyd’s otherworldly stage show, the discs reflecting the bubbling, psychedelic lights and projections back at the audience.

Apart from the visual enhancements, the only other mod to Barrett’s Esquire was a raised pickup, which fattened up the guitar’s tone. An early pioneer of creativity over technique, Barrett’s guitar work on Pink Floyd’s early singles and debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, was fairly basic, something the simplicity of the Esquire lent itself to nicely.

While some regard it as a poor man’s Tele, the Esquire actually has its own unique wiring. The lack of a neck pickup reduces magnetic pull on the strings. This gives the Esquire better harmonic overtones and helps create a more percussive attack, elements that can be heard in Barrett’s guitar work with Pink Floyd, which swings between between jangly and melodic to edgy, aggressive and near proto-punk.

Towards the end of 1967, Barrett acquired a white Telecaster (probably from the early ‘60s). Although he kept hold of his Esquire through the end of the sessions for the Floyd’s second album, A Saucerful of Secrets, he stopped using it live and typically played the white Tele at gigs.

Although, by that time, spurred on by rampant LSD use and the pressures of coping with pop stardom, Barrett’s psychological troubles had accelerated and his appearances with the band were becoming increasingly infrequent.

Somewhere in the middle of 1968, Barrett traded his beloved ’62 Esquire for a black Telecaster Custom. This would prove the last electric guitar he would ever own. He used it during his remaining time with Pink Floyd, on his two solo albums–1969’s The Madcap Laughs and 1970’s Barrett–and up until he withdrew from music and moved back to his mother’s house in Cambridge in the late 1970s.

So what became of the silver, reflective Esquire? Like Barrett himself, the guitar basically went missing. After it was traded in for the black Telecaster, it was basically lost to history, becoming yet another element of the mystery of how such a charismatic and visionary talent as Syd Barrett could’ve gone off the rails just at a time when he was poised to conquer the world.

 

 

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3 hours ago, sam_webmaster said:

Pontiac '77. Here's some of the contact sheet...

1977-pontiac-b1.jpg

 

So it seems it was tomfoolery prior to the encore after all. I was going to mention they reportedly traveled from the airport by chartered bus, having declined the venue (or promoter's) offer to transport them directly to the site by helicopter. They arrived at 9:10 pm for a 9:30 start (90 minutes late). The point being they had no time for any pre-show hi-jinks onstage such as this in Pontiac.

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I'm sure some of you all have seen this photo before (it's in the Crazy and Funny photos thread, as well as the Band Photos thread), but I haven't seen any real discussions about the story behind it (unless I missed it). When/where was this taken? Who is the woman with them?

zeppelinfunny.jpg

Also found a second, larger image from the same time:

1194137904_f.jpg

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14 hours ago, ZepHead315 said:

I'm sure some of you all have seen this photo before (it's in the Crazy and Funny photos thread, as well as the Band Photos thread), but I haven't seen any real discussions about the story behind it (unless I missed it). When/where was this taken? Who is the woman with them?

zeppelinfunny.jpg

Also found a second, larger image from the same time:

1194137904_f.jpg

I have the original magazine  somewhere.... They're taken in Hamburg. Not sure who the woman is.

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