Yeah, I've got to imagine there is plenty of film footage somewhere, just for the fact that there are plenty of still photos of the band in Japan 1971 where you see Jimmy with a camera, probably an 8mm, maybe a 16mm. Most likely this footage is deep in a vault. However, to Mr. E's point about 1971 being the year they released their most popular album, therefore there should be plenty of footage...it doesn't exactly work that way. For one thing, Led Zep IV wasn't released until November of 1971, so most of the sales momentum and cultural impact was during 1972. For most of 1971 the band was still touring Led Zeppelin III, which was released late in 1970. It just so happens that the band was in such a creative and performing peak, that they felt no problem in performing the new songs they worked up for Led Zep IV months before the album would be released. That is what makes the 1971 tours so unique: it is the first and only time you hear "Stairway" played without the crowd going bonkers at the beginning.

Sorry Wolfman...my bad

"TAMPA — Billy Mays, the TV pitchman whose trademark voice helped sell everything from cleaning supplies to baking soda" Sad for someone to die so young, but I've gotta take exception to the reporter's opening line in that article. If anything, his voice stopped me from buying ANYTHING he pitched...it was that annoying. I don't know anyone who liked his commercials...with the possible exception of the ESPN one where he spoofs himself...and I don't know anyone who bought anything he pitched. Whatever, R.I.P. Billy.

Well, I was in Amoeba Records(the Hollywood branch) this past Sunday and I bought the new Cartoone cd with 8 bonus tracks there...they had it for $12 new.

The best Zeppelin concert? Well, of the ones I saw, these would be my top 5, and bear in mind that the difference between #5 and #1 is very slight...it was hard choosing the top 5. 1. June 25, 1972 @ LA Forum...My first Zeppelin concert...like a jumbo 747 crashing in my head...the bloody sounds those guys made...that cool drone that went on and on and on, changing colours and tones for a good 10 or 15 minutes before Immigrant Song stampeded the crowd...Percy's voice in full cry before the cracking of the 72 Japanese tour...four, count 'em 4!!!, encores...or were there 5, lol?...the crazy ass medley...Louie Louie!!!!...I could go on and on...my first Zep show and it was so perfect, I knew immediately I had to see them again in Long Beach two days later and begged and begged and begged...fortunately it worked. June 27 '72 @ Long Beach Arena was also great, but not as long, so the 72 LA Forum show gets the nod. 2. June 3, 1973 @ LA Forum...another Forum spectacular! Great versions of two of my fave live Zep songs, SIBLY and Thank You, which automatically moves it up the list above the May 31 and June 2 shows...not to mention that Jimmy was playing with a sprained finger which he kept dunking in ice water throughout the show...the cloud of pot and hash smoke which hung in the air...how great ALL the Houses of the Holy songs sounded live, especially NQ with the epic fog rolling over the stage from the dry-ice machine...the 73 shows were the last ones where the band was really tight and Page could solo fast and furiously on end...the 73 tour was also the last time Dazed and Confused didn't become a drag. 3. June 23, 1977 @ LA Forum...another great Forum show, another June show(are you sensing a trend, hahaha?)...it's the famous Badgeholders show..the Keith 'Looney' Moon show...but more importantly, it is the return after 5 long years of the "acoustic set"!...which does bring a warm vibe to the proceedings as Plant says...they finally ditched D & C although that means we get the noise solo(instead of say, In the Light, The Rover, Wanton Song, For Your Life, Royal Orleans, Tea for One, or any number of other songs they could have played during the 30-45 minutes that slowed the momentum of the show during the drum solo/guitar solo bit)...still what we do get is choice: Ten Years Gone!!!, Achilles!!, Nobody's Fault! and epic NQ's and Kashmir's...Percy's voice is back from the cracked and hoarse 73 and 75 days; not quite his Viking warrior days of 69-72 but still powerful. 4. March 12, 1975 @ Long Beach Arena...I was going back and forth over which show to rank #3, this one or the 6.23.77 Forum gig...it was so close as both shows have so much to recommend but in the end the acoustic sets of the 77 tour(and TYG and Presence material) gave the 6.23.77 show the slightest of edges...the thing about this 1975 show was how HEAVY the band sounded, even more than usual with the lack of an acoustic set...Bonzo's Vistalites really boomed out...perhaps because for the first time ever, Zeppelin used a drum riser for the 75 tour...unlike the earlier shows of the tour, those of us at the West Coast shows had had a chance to hear the Physical Grafitti songs before the concert, so many of us had already formed favourites and were hoping to hear them...amongst my friends and other people I asked those songs were usually Kashmir, Ten Year's Gone, The Rover, In My Time of Dying, Trampled Underfoot, Wanton Song, Houses of the Holy and Custard Pie...playing wise, Long Beach was better than the LA Forum gigs in 75...the band was more solid, consistent and less sluggish...just compare the D & C of this show with the terrible 3.27.75 one...in fact, I think that if Mike Millard hadn't had car trouble and been able to get to this show on time and, therefore, people could hear this entire concert in the spectacular sound that he recorded the last 3 songs, then 3.12.75 Long Beach would be ranked right up there with the "Listen to this Eddie" and "Badgeholder's" shows in Zeppelin collector's minds...maybe even above them...anyway, I loved how funky and hard they were for this tour...Kashmir, NQ and Trampled back-to-back-to-back was almost too much!...and oh my god the funky Crunge/James Brown/Theramin battles between Whole Lotta Love and Black Dog were OUTTASIGHT!!!...oh and one last but not least memory about this show: my first Zeppelin concert with my girlfriend and we made out during Rain Song!...hmmm, more I think about it, maybe this should be #3 after all, haha! 5. Number 5 is hard to call; it would be between either the May 31 or June 2, 1973 shows or the June 21, 1977...or even June 27, 1972...you know, I think I am going to declare a tie and say it is between the May 31 and June 2, 1973 shows...May 31 because it was Bonzo's birthday and June 2 because it was my only time seeing them outdoors, in the sunlight at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco and the atmosphere was just incredible with all the SF hippies and flower power girls and the doves...plus, there is just something magical about road-tripping to a concert; it lends an air of adventure to the whole endeavor...plus, as I said before 1973 was the last year where the band was consistently on fire, especially Jimmy...his sound was so unbelievable then! My apologies to the shows that didn't make the top 5: March 24, 25, 27 1975 and June 25, 26, 27 1977 all LA Forum...not that you didn't have moments("It'll Be Me" encore of 6.26.77! "NQ" of 3.27.75!!) but the other shows were just a tad more consistently spectacular...the creme de al creme! Other memories shared by all, or at least most, of the shows: ganja smoke filling the Forum(or whatever venue)...firecrackers, those DAMN FIRECRACKERS!...hippies bringing tambourines and whatnot to shows to play...camping out for tickets for days...the SHEER UNBELIEVABLE THRILL that surged through your entire being when at last the seemingly impossible was at hand and you handed over your $6, $8, or $10 and you held in your hand a Led Zeppelin concert ticket...it was like finding the golden ticket in a Wonka bar and if you had one, other kids at your school would look at you with envy. As for Led Zeppelin concerts I was sadly too young, or geographically-challenged to see, these are my Top 10 that I would want to see if I had a time-machine: 1. January 5, 1969 @ the Whisky A Go-Go, LA...oh hell, any 1968-69 show where they still played those great "As Long As I Have You/Fresh Garbage" medleys and "For Your Love" and "Dazed" was fast and furious and Jimmy still did the bow segment in "HMMT". 2. January 9, 1970 @ Royal Albert Hall 3. June 28, 1970 @ Bath Festival 4. Sept. 4, 1970 @ LA Forum 5. Sept. 19, 1970 evening show @ Madison Square Garden 6. August 21 or 22, 1971 @ LA Forum 7. Sept. 13 or 14, 1971 @ Berkeley Community Center 8. September 29, 1971 @ Osaka, Japan...but any of the 1971 Japanese shows will do. 9. March 24, 1973 @ Offenburg, Germany...but again, any other 1973 Euro shows will do, esp. Vienna...but it is this Offenburg, Germany show where Jimmy is so face-meltingly hot...so en fuego! 10. August 4, 1979 @ Knebworth...not what you might have expected, but I think I would want to go to this just for the spectacle of it all...and it's a lot better performance than the 11th...plus, I might bump into Knebby, hehe.

Have you priced official vinyl releases lately? I just saw Joy Division's "Still" priced at $50 at Amoeba. Everything on vinyl has gone up in price as vinyl has come back in vogue, especially among the kids as they have finally realized how crappy music sounds on mp3's and ipods. That's why bootleg cds are cheaper than bootleg vinyl...I won't say which store, but I recently saw the EVSD's 2cd "Casino Royale" priced at $15 and EVSD's 4cd set "Boston Cream Pie" at $25, which are pretty good deals IMO. Naturally, when I went back later that same day to see if they were still there, somebody had already bought them. I have scads of bootleg vinyl: TMoQ, Rubber Dubber, Box Top records, all sorts of different labels, coloured vinyl, etc. I just prefer having tangible physical evidence of the music as opposed to some downloaded digital 1' and 0's. I like looking at the pictures and the packaging; my favourites are the ones where, in hopes of throwing people of the trail, they would use fake names and fake song titles on the label. My vinyl copies of Osaka 1972 and Copenhagen 1979 for instance. And there are some shows that, to this day, still sound better to me on vinyl than any cd version I have heard; "For Badgeholder's Only" June 23 1977 and "Going to California" Sept. 14, 1971 for example. As the 80's passed into the 90's, I started buying more of my boots on cd than vinyl...but every now and then, if I see something that I don't have that looks pretty cool and is priced no more than $30 to $50 for a double set, I will pick up a vinyl boot to add to my collection. Most of my vinyl boots are Zeppelin, Dylan, Springsteen and the Stones.

You know EzyEric, unlike LTTE, I have yet to hear a cd version of For Badgeholders Only that sounds as good as my original vinyl copy.

XZed, your friend is an idiot! There is no 17 minute studio version of Stairway. Now, he might be referring to the last night of the 1980 European tour(Zeppelin's last ever gig) where Jimmy played an interminable solo during Stairway...this might be the 17 minute version he has heard about. But it was played live, with no intention of it ever being released for an album or radio. So, if you bet him on this, you still win.

You just KNEW Steve A. Jones would track that photo down, didn't you! Mind you, it still doesn't solve the mystery of WHERE the photo was taken. Count me as another one who thinks it is NOT Seattle...and not just because Plant's blouse doesn't match. But, also, if you look at the photo you will discern a noticable lack of video cameras, either on stage or in front, which were all too prevalent at the Seattle show, as the images were being shown on the jumbotron screen. And to the poster who thinks Jimmy wore red shoes...NO, NADA, he always wore his usual black and white loafers. It's the color tinting of the photo that makes you think the shoes are red.

Love the Blues Brothers reference eternal light! Okay, yes "It Might Get Loud" is definitely being released in LA and New York August 14. My head was still swimming from being in the same room as Jimmy Page and watching the movie that you'll forgive me if I couldn't remember dates and stuff afterwards...in my fog I just knew it was either Aug. 14 or 19. So mark your calendar for August 14...well, those of you who live, or can get to L.A. and/or New York City. Yes, there will be bonus songs performances added for the dvd, but you will still want to see this in a theatre on a big screen. Imagine Jimmy 50 feet tall! Oh, that is Jimmy playing the guitar over the opening credit sequence. Oh, and I know someone who works at Amoeba and she texted me when Jimmy showed up. He often shops there when he's in town...Bodhi Tree is another haunt of his...and I was able to get there before he had left and discreetly shadowed him at a respectable distance. Anyway, the two main things I took away from the whole experience is 1) The movie kicks major butt! 2) Jimmy is looking GREAT these days...very healthy and love the natural hair colour; silver fox, indeed! Unlike Mick Jagger and Ron Wood, who have resorted to using hair pieces.

Hey everybody, it's been months since I last posted but just wanted to share a little Jimmy sighting with you. No, I did not see him at the Dead Weather show at the Roxy last Thursday night...but I was one of the LA Zeppelin board members who made it into the LA Film Festival screening of "It Might Get Loud" last Friday night. Can't really add much to others posts about the event...you've seen the youtube clips. I didn't speak to him or anything like that...just sat a few rows behind and to the left of him. Had no idea that the director of the documentary, Davis Guggenheim was married to Elizabeth Shue! Enjoyed the heck out of the film...I know some people have been criticizing the Edge's and/or Jack White's participation but I have no problem with either of them being in the film along with Jimmy. As for a general theatre release date I think I heard August 14 or 19 as the date it is coming out. The part where Jack White builds a guitar out of a piece of scrap wood reminds me of a quote from Jimmy in an old Creem interview where he said a guitar is just a piece of wood with strings. Jimmy looked pretty dapper, he's holding up pretty good for a man in his 60's and considering the amount of alcohol and drugs he's ingested over the years. Good to hear that he's off the booze and drugs...he's lost a lot of that bloat he had; even his fingers look thinner. And I think the natural silver grey hair look suits him fine. Dvd release will of course have bonus songs added...but I still advise you to see it in its theatre release, just for the expereince of hearing it in a loud theatre sound system. But that's not all...Jimmy was also at Amoeba records while in town...he was buying 45's for his jukebox but the best part is that some goofball Amoeba employee asked Jimmy "so like, when are you gonna get the band back together?" Needless to say his Amoeba bosses were not pleased; apparently Amoeba would prefer it if their employees did not bother celebrity shoppers with impertinant questions and this guy is now in deep shit. Okay, so I see from Ross' diary and other posts that Jimmy is back in London, which is too bad because tomorrow...Saturday June 27...there is quite a potential for a Jimmy appearance. You see, at the Hollywood Bowl Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood are playing...meanwhile in some sort of cosmic hoax, across town at the Wiltern is this triple bill of the Yardbirds, Spencer Davis Group and the Zombies. Of course, I have no idea how many, if any, original Yardbirds(and Zombies for that matter) are in this lineup...but what are the odds that two of the bands that Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood got their start in are playing the same night in the same town? Weird.

Too funny, I just picked up a vinyl edition of this album a few months ago at Rockaway Records in Silver Lake...it was among the many items they put out for sale that they bought from that world's largest Led Zeppelin collection. Atlantic SD 8219...Led Zep I was 8216. Paid $10 for the album. I was wondering if there was ever a cd release of this album, and now today, my first time checking in with the Zeppelin board in months, I saw this post and couldn't believe my luck. So now I'll be looking for the cd at Amoeba's next time I visit. Any chance of a Cartoone reunion tour?

So I'm walking up Vine St. this morning and I notice a crowd gathering around the entrance to the Capitol Records building along with the tell-tale sign of a guarded and boarded-up patch of sidewalk...somebody is obviously getting a Star today on the Walk-of-Fame. I ask and find out it is no less than George Harrison! Hey, and he's getting one before Paul McCartney...who'd a thunk it? For some strange reason, the star isn't being placed next to John Lennon's; George's is near the Capitol entrance, while John's is up Vine St. near the intersection with Yucca St. I have no idea who will show up in person for the ceremony, set to begin at 11:30am PST. His wife and son obviously...rumours are spreading that Martin Scorsese will attend as he's doing a film on George.

By the time Hendrix played(Monday morning) there were only about 30,000 people left from the half-million on Sat-Sun. If it wasn't for the movie that came out, most people wouldn't have known about Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" performance.

The audio is from Mike Millard's tape of the June 21, 1977 LA Forum concert. The video is part 1977 Birmingham, Alabama and part 1977 Madison Square Garden, NY footage.

All the "Time" albums are good...there is a box set that collects all 5 of the Columbia "Time" albums in one handy set...it's called "Dave Brubeck: For All Time". It contains remastered editions of "Time Out"; "Time Further Out"; "Countdown: Time in Outer Space"; "Time Changes"; and "Time In". Track listings are as follows: Disc 1: Time Out Blue Rondo A La Turk Strange Meadowlark Take Five Three To Get Ready Kathy's Waltz Everybody's Jumpin' Pick Up Sticks Disc 2: Time Further Out It's A Raggy Waltz Bluette Charles Mathew Halleujah Far More Blue Far More Drums Maori Blues Unsquare Dance Bru's Boogie Woogie Blue Shadows In The Street Slow And Easy It's A Raggy Waltz (Live At Carnegie Hall) Disc 3: Countdown:Time In Outer Space Countdown Eleven Four Why Phillis Waltz Someday My Prince Will Come Castilian Blues Castilian Drums Fast Life Waltz Limp Three's A Crowd Dance Duet Back To Earth Fatha Disc 4: Time Changes Iberia Unisphere Shim Wha World's Fair Cable Car Theme From Elementals Elementals Disc 5: Time In Lost Waltz Softly, William, Softley Time In Forty Days Travellin' Blues He Done Her Wrong Lonesome Cassandra Rude Old Man Who Said That? Watusi Drums I am also partial to Brubeck's "Jazz Goes to College"; "Jazz at Oberlin"; "Jazz: Red, Hot and Cool"; "Dave Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall"; and "Bravo! Brubeck" which features one of the sweetest Paul Desmond sax solos you will ever hear on the song "La Paloma Azul"(The Blue Dove).

Natch! Yes...and the Telephone, too!

I ran away from home so I could go to all three Forum shows. Very heavy shows...much heavier and mysterious vibe than 1973 shows. I recall famous LA radio dj JJ Jackson and Linda Lovelace introducing the band at the last show...I think JJ Jackson introduced them at first gig too, but can't remember the third person who intro'd the band. Things that stuck out from these shows: As usual with a Zeppelin show they were LOUD AS HELL! Bonzo's drums and Jonesy's bass punched a wall in my chest and made a cozy little home for themselves inside me gut while Jimmy's guitar strafed my brain. Physical Graffiti songs sounded GREAT and I wished they had played more from the album. Jimmy's bow section from D & C was getting more and more choreographed with the smoke and lights...compared to the 1972 shows it is light years beyond. Jimmy looked more like a rock star at the 1975 LA Forum shows than he did at the Forum in 1973. He wore the black dragon suit; white pants with a flowery shirt/blouse with a tassle or scarf tied around his waist; and the "TSRTS" outfit (at the 1973 Forum shows he apparently hadn't had that outfit yet as he didn't wear it at all). Not sure which night he wore what, but I am pretty certain the black dragon outfit was worn at the last Forum show. I thought Jones looked cool as fuck with his "card shark/croupier" outift of black vest over black shirt and black pants. And his hair looked stylish short like that. I loved that they did "Woodstock" during D & C, as I thought this suited the dark mood of the song better than "San Francisco". These would be the last D & C's ever performed in America, too. No Quarter was great as usual, one of Zep's perennial great concert songs. I loved how funky the band got during Trampled and mixing in almost complete versions of The Crunge into Whole Lotta Love, along with all sorts of James Brown grooves. The Song Remains the Same/Rain Song...just as in 1973 an awesome 1-2 combo. For me these songs should always be played together in concert. Another highlight...snogging with my girl during the show, hehe. I also went to the second Long Beach Arena show on the 1975 tour, on March 12. In my mind that show was a winner, too...maybe even better than the Forum shows as far as performance goes. As for atmosphere, that's another matter as Long Beach Arena just couldn't compete with the aura of the Forum. Sadly, I still don't have anything from the LA Forum shows...I've got the "Taking No Prisoners Tonight" from the 3.12.75 Long Beach show but that's it. Getting the 75 Forum shows is next on my "to do" list.

Not surprised by this at all...if you've spent any time in the political threads at the Ramble On section you'll see that there are plenty of conservative/ Republican fans of Led Zeppelin. As Michael Jordan once said, "Republicans buy shoes too."

Just one of many mistakes in this book...get it for the pictures if you must(but even some of them are mis-dated) and the Burroughs-Page article...but as an authoritative source, you'll have to look elsewhere. Thanks SteveAJones for the e-mail from the reporter...it does give one pause and suggests this gig MIGHT well have happened. I mean, could so many people mis-remember a show like that?

I was being sarcastic.

The best Dark Star I saw the Grateful Dead do was my first one, Sept. 10, 1972 at the Hollywood Palladium...30 to 40 minutes of bliss.

Oh yeah, now I remember, haha. Wasn't it one of his house-sitters at the time that stole all those soundboards and tapes from Jimmy in the early 80's?