I just got my copy of Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page in the mail today. Ordered it from Amazon for $40. It's just jam packed full of awesome photos.

Indeed, but I think it's beyond a doubt that this lawsuit has similarly boosted the profile, and probably sales, of Spirit's material. Who'd even heard of Spirit before this lawsuit? The cynic in me thinks that's probably what's underlying this whole lawsuit in the first place. Whether Spirit wins or loses the case, they still win in the end.

I can remember when Still of the Night came out, everyone I knew was all excited thinking it was some new Led Zeppelin song. Nobody I new back then were big Whitesnake fans to begin with, but after Still of the Night, Whitesnake officially became a joke to everyone I knew.

Yeah I remember reading something about that, though I don't recall the details. It's been a while since I flipped through this one, but I seem to remember it being less absurd than Hammer of the Gods.

I found a good writeup of the Vinyl show on Salon, which includes this spot-on quote: But the American Century executive team is in for a rude awakening once they arrive home. Richie gets into his car only to be told by his driver that they’re going to “33rd & 7th,” which is, of course, the address of Madison Square Garden. There’s a problem with the Led Zeppelin deal, and Richie has to go fix it. When he arrives, Zeppelin’s legendarily abrasive manager, Peter Grant, is arguing with someone else, so Richie takes this opportunity to plead his case to Robert Plant directly. They got Plant’s clothes right, but not much else, to be honest. But the worst part of the scene is the dozens of groupies hanging around, who then follow the band like rats scrambling after the Pied Piper as the band walks onto the stage. There are easily 30 women gyrating on the side of the stage. The Led Zep soundalike band isn’t very good, either. http://www.salon.com/2016/02/15/behind_the_music_on_vinyl_martin_scorseses_premiere_gets_the_new_york_dolls_right_and_led_zeppelin_so_wrong/

You are right about Zeppelin never appearing in any of the previews. Still, since the whole American Century thing was fictitious anyhow, they could've used any popular band to accomplish the same thing. Hell, with Jagger being a co-creator, they could've used the Stones. Whatever the reason is, it seems they just wanted to wedge Zeppelin in there somehow. I do feel like we probably have seen the last of Zeppelin, since it seems like that plot device has run it's course. Like I said, I thought the Peter Grant performance was pretty spot-on, just the physical qualities of the actor were all wrong. I mean, in the scene at the American Century office, Grant is literally the smallest guy in the room. Which made it odd when one of the executives commented about how intimidating he is. But yeah, Plant was pretty bad. You'd think the actor could have a least watched a few minutes of Plant speaking to see how he actually talks and acts. Instead he came across like a character you'd see in Spinal Tap.

I can understand that the show seems to want to use real bands instead of fictional bands in order to create a feeling of authenticity, but you're right, why not go with a band that they could actually use their music? The only thing I can think of is that they wanted to use Zeppelin to help generate some interest in the show, given Zeppelin's popularity. But that's the only guess I've got. Their Peter Grant definitely could have used some lift shoes and a fat suit, but Plant was just horrible. He looked the part well enough, but I just don't see Plant bitching at some record label guy about f-ing them out of money. Page maybe I could see, but it seems like Plant would've more likely gone off on a tangent about Celtic mythology or Indian tea or something then wandered off.

I don't have pictures, but the books I've enjoyed are: Get the Led Out by Denny Somach - has a nice Zeppelin timeline and lots of interesting interviews. Led Zeppelin Revealed by Jason Draper - mostly good for it's pictures. Led Zeppelin: Shadows Taller Than Our Souls by Charles Cross - lots of good pictures and memorabilia reproductions. Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused by Chris Welch - an analysis of individual songs. Some interesting information. Led Zeppelin: The Illustrated Biography by Gareth Thomas - mostly just good for it's pictures. Led Zeppelin: When Giants Walked The Earth by Mick Wall - biography, probably more accurate than Hammer of the Gods. LZ-'75 - by Stephen Davis - an in depth chronicle of the 1975 tour. Good read. What You Want Is In The Limo by Michael Walker - how the 1973 tours of Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper and The Who created the modern music business.

Last night I watched some of the premier of the new HBO drama Vinyl, which is sort of like Mad Men only about the 70's music business, created by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger. Much to my surprise, Led Zeppelin features quite heavily in the premier. The fictional record label at the center of the show, American Century, attempts to poach Zeppelin away from Atlantic in order to secure a buyout by Polygram. First, in a scene where the heads of American Century meet with some people from Polygram, the cover of Led Zeppelin I is shown on the screen, along with some Hindenburg footage and some very similar but not quite Led Zeppelin music. Then later a scene is shown backstage at a Led Zeppelin concert where the head of American Century talks to Robert Plant, and later a scene is featured where Peter Grant shows up at the American Century offices. I only watched a little over half the premier, so I don't know if there were any other apperances, though I doubt it. The good: during the backstage scene, there's a moment where American Century executive Ritchie Finestra spots Peter Grant scolding some guys from the venue about bootleg posters which was almost word-for-word identical to the scene from The Song Remains The Same, which I found amusing. The actor who plays Grant is an almost exact soundalike. The costumes on Plant, Bonham, and the brief glimpse we see of Page are pretty close to their 1973 outfits, which is a nice touch. The bad: naturally the show has to use Zeppelin soundalike music rather than actual Zeppelin music, which is kind of a drag. While the actor who plays Grant is a soundalike, he's also probably at least a foot too short and 200 lbs too light. This guy is kind of a little pipsqueak. Plant is the only Zeppelin member to have dialogue, and I can't honestly see Plant ever having the conversation he has in the show. The actor looks enough like Plant, but just doesn't really sound or talk or act like him. It's as if the actor had no idea who Plant was and just played him as the generic British rock star. In any event, it was interesting to see Zeppelin play such a prominent role in this show. http://www.vulture.com/2016/02/vinyl-recap-season-1-episode-1.html

1. Houses of the Holy 2. Led Zeppelin II 3. Led Zeppelin IV 4. Physical Graffiti 5. Led Zeppelin I 6. Led Zeppelin III 7. Presence 8. In Through the Out Door I don't include Coda as it's not a "real" album. As far as those non-album releases go: 1. How The West Was Won 2. BBC Sessions 3. The Song Remains The Same 4. Coda 5. Celebration Day

I love looking at these old articles, I'll have to find the time to actually read them all. If I had a scanner I could add quite a chunk of material, a few years ago I bought an entire box of newspaper and magazine clippings from someone who had planned on writing a Robert Plant biography but never finished it. Come to think of it, I haven't even managed to find the time to read through all those articles either.

Right now I'm listening to Whole Lotta Love from the Belgium show in May 1972.