"....(One of) two sports utility vehicles (SUV) believed to be transporting Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, two of Led Zeppelin's founder members, depart federal court in Los Angeles."

Thanks for the kind words, Steve. It was..... really strange for all of us Led Heads to have The Man here in town, flying in and getting cheerleaders to greet the band and all that. Jeez, we couldn't believe he was here AT ALL. I believe that - somewhere - I have the ticket. I'll keep up the hunt. I do know of one person with an audience recording - or he USED to have the audience recording. I've contacted him, and I'll post an update as events warrant. And a thanks to you for being a great resource over the years, especially since the official site came on line. Love to see yer posts here and on RO. I've enjoyed the videos of you guys here and elsewhere. NICE STUFF!! BTW, Boiler Up:

The Firm Purdue University - Elliott Hall of Music West Lafayette, Indiana April 29, 1986 Hey. That's the Hall of Music. And I was at that show, seventh row center (more or less). GREAT SHOW. FANTASTIC SHOW. Ideal venue for The Firm. Acoustically warm and an enormous stage (90 ft proscenium) for prowling rock stars. Very intimate, even with 6,000 seats. The place was designed by the same folks that designed Radio City Music Hall. Very similar in many ways. I was living in sin (and I mean SIN) with my (now) wife. She wasn't interested in Zeppelin/Jimmy, but she humored me on my various excursions to concerts, ha! She was on the Dean's List, I went to class.....sometimes. BIG night for the local Jimmy Page-Led Zeppelin Appreciation Society. We had dinner and drinks (LOTS of drinks, boy could we sink 'em back then) and off to the show. My recollection (somewhat unreliable, I will easily admit) was that it did eventually sell out, or very nearly so. Selling out ANY show at Purdue is unusual, even today. They flew a private jet into the Purdue Airport (less than five minz from the venue by car) where they were met by the varsity cheerleaders, which got a sincere "THANKS FOR THE GREAT WELCOME" from Paul during the show. WOOT! Chris Slade did a KILLER drum solo and stood up at the end with a Purdue football jersey on. Yay! Tony Franklin obviously was the young, hip, unknown dude - who happened to drive the older gents in the band all night. Paul Rodgers was.....well, Paul Rodgers. What an amazing, effortless voice. And Jimmy was AMAZING. I dunno if he would say that it was a "magic" night for him, but it was for us. He worked the stage so fucking hard. Thrilling to see/hear him in that venue. There is a bootleg of that show, BTW. I know someone that did have a copy, don't know if they still do. I'll look into that. I "knew people" and we were offstage when the band finished the last encore. To me they acted like real friends, they were having a lot of fun. They teased each other, made fun of each other, laughed about mistakes, etc. VERY British. We didn't get close to them at all, just distant observers. Jimmy was clearly inebriated, and was chain smoking Marlboro Reds. Never without one it seemed. He kept the company of a ... girl, his "date" we decided, but also his coach and nurse. She toweled him down and allowed him hits off an oxygen (??) tank-like thing. That was surreal. He was drinking...something I didn't recognize (Absinthe, we speculated later) and brother, he could put it away. Holy cow. His girl would tell him how great he was, how fantastic he sounded, etc. "Thanks luv, thanks. Yer sweet". He didn't seem to know where he was when off stage, but on stage he was clearly focused and knew EXACTLY what he was doing. His playing was otherworldly, that's what I kept thinking, that's what comes to mind now. He had TONE, and his sound just cut right thru everything without overpowering the band. I've seen him play several times since, but never in the same kind of environment (the Hall of Music is NOT and arena, Jimmy should play more of these places., If he ever plays anywhere ever again, dammit). Anyway, killer show. I have long meant to post something about it, but never had. Steve's picture pushed me over the edge. I dropped my caffeine-free soda (my Absinthe days are long done) when I saw it with the clippings from the Exponent, as I sat in my chair at the mixing board, here.....at the Hall of Music, Purdue University. Cheers

Percy with....his.....bike. In Boulder, CO. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmehal/3018889143/ The photog says that he "took this picture of Robert Plant just after meeting him in Boulder CO on 7/21/08, the morning of his concert at Red Rocks with Alison Krauss (Raising Sand Tour). "My Wife and I drove up to Boulder from Denver to go sightseeing (we were in from Georgia for the concert). My Wife stopped and asked him if he knew a good place to get breakfast...she had no clue who he was."

Interesting story here: http://www.bloggernews.net/120117 Dunno about the "unrelated" part, however. "I owned LEDZEPPELIN.com for about 5-6 years. Led Zeppelin then and now is my band. "Ultimately I gave up (the domain name) without a fight, but I’m sure the bands lawyers billed them for the 1 inch thick book of a lawsuit I was served with. "Sorry dudes. My bad. "In this case the lawyers saw an opportunity to build a case against me, a fan that would have been happy with a stupid guitar pick from Jimmy. Instead I sat in silence for a year while they built a huge case as to why they should own the domain. When served, I freaked and called them yelling to take it, I never wanted that. One of few regrets. But I have a nice 1 inch thick book about me and the band and why I’m an idiot." :D

http://wonkette.com/406714/in-olden-times-...uts#more-406714 Very funny, I thought. Cheers