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JohnBindon

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  1. These pics are fantastic ! So glad you rediscovered em. Love Jimmy shirt from March 25th. Led Zeppelin sent a memo out through Atlantic Records that they didn't want to overcharge concert goers/fans. They were insistent on keeping the ticket prices low - it was a classy move. On March 25th - Robert sang "Spanish Harlem" in place of "San Francisco" in Dazed and Confused. It's killer.
  2. There's some funny things said between Plant and Bonzo - over the years. Someone mentioned John Bonham yelling: 'I'd like to make this point here: That I think football's a load of bollocks !' A championship football match had just been won the day before the 24th or 25th, 1975, Earl's Court show and there were football/Zeppelin fans off to the side of the stage waving football team flags and other flags. It was distracting Bonzo the entire show. He was pissed about it. I read on a forum - a comment from someone who was at that Earl's Court show and remembers the flags being waved the whole show. John walks out onto the stage in a powder blue robe smoking a cigarette --- right before Whole Lotta Love. The band had been off stage right before the encores and yells the [football's a load of bollocks] comment. Plant realizes that Bonzo may have pissed off most of the arena w his statement about football --- even though rousing cheers went up after Bonzo knocked football. Plant was eating grapes from backstage and followed up on the mic with: 'I think soccer's a wonderful sport - the best sport and that's got nothing to do with Bonzo's sentiments. I prefer grapes anyways." Plant attempting damage control - just in case. Bonzo appears back up behind his drum outfit and yells something really loud -- right before Jimmy starts the WLL riff. I've tried for years to figure out what Bonzo yelled and can't - for the life of me - figure it out.
  3. Also on Jimmy's black dragon suit - somewhere in another post - in this very forum - some of the LZ road crew and it might have been some ShowCo guys mentioned how Jimmy's black dragon suit stunk to high heaven, bc it was not washed at all. Jimmy was concerned of a dry cleaner destroying it or possibly damaging it or maybe even someone stealing it. They mentioned how it was hung up in the back of a tour bus for a few drives and the people sitting closest to it - could smell the stench. Not insulting anyone - just sharing
  4. Someone had mentioned that Jimmy's black dragon suit - pants and jacket were made of different material - that is correct. Jimmy clarified that the pants were black velvet and the jacket was made of black silk crepe. As for the first person who posted the LA Forum pics - March 27, 1975 - the first night Jimmy wore the dragon pants - Jimmy resolved that the question about why he didn't have the matching jacket - that last night of the US Tour in LA. The jacket had not been made yet. Jimmy has clarified that the dragon suit has held up quite well over the years. He only wore the black dragon about 7 or 8 times on stage - in his whole LZ career. It may seem like more times bc it's so iconic, but he didn't wear it much. I'm pretty sure he wore the white silk dragon poppy suit a bit more.
  5. Also - Jeff Ocheltree mentions that John Bonham's green sparkle Ludwig was a 1971 - that's not correct. John obtained the green sparkle in 1970 and most likely used it for the recording of Led Zeppelin III. The issue I have w Jeff Ocheltree is when does his video on Bonzo's drum - he continually speaks in absolutes and acts like he's full-blown historian on John's drums, drum heads, etc... First off - John did not 'always use a 38" symphonic gong...' as Jeff O claims in his video. Recently, as a matter of fact - Bonzo's small originally used gong which appears in many pics in 1969 and at most famously at Royal Albert Hall - Jan 9th, 1970 - is a small gong and it recently sold at auction https://bravewords.com/news/late-led-zeppelin-drummer-john-bonham-s-symphonic-gong-goes-to-auction-used-on-stage-at-royal-albert-hall -- for 52,750 British pounds (or $72,130 US Dollars). John always used Emperor coated heads on all his wooden drums --- not true - there are pics which have been which show that Bonzo had a clear tom on his rack tom - even now and then. It could be bc he had broken the Emperor coated head and used what he had. One never knows but there are pics in which you see very clear mic reflections on the tom heads - w details, which would make it a clear tom head. Jeff O also states Bonzo always used coated Emperor heads on his batter side bass drum - not true - there are lots of pics which reflect Bonzo had a clear head on his batter side of the bass drum. Jeff O also states Bonzo always used felt strips on both his batter and reso side of bass drum - not true - John used the Richie ring technique on the front and some times batter heads of his bass drum. You can see the darker outline - which is evident from the outside of the drum - all the way around - to about 2 1/2 to 3 inches into the drum head. --- The Richie ring is a cut out of the outside of a bass drum head and glue into a full bass drum head. There are similar heads manufactured over the last several decades - just like this and there may have been some back when John did it to his own heads. All that being said - Jeff Ocheltree seems to get injected into a lot of discussions surrounding John Bonham and what he used as a drummer. Jeff is not the be all and end all historian of note on John Bonham - his equipment and drums. Now, he was interviewed way back in the late 70s or early 80s - as someone mentioned somewhere, but he doesn't mention much about being in the studio w Led Zeppelin for Presence or In Through the Out Door sessions. Mick Hinton was Bonzo's drum tech/roadie/helper/buddy from at least 1971 -- someone could confirm - if it was sooner than 1971 or what month in 1971 Mick first started helping Bonzo out. Mick Bonham, John's younger brother - mentions Mick Hinton being John's helper at a show in Nov 1971, so that's my reference point for him starting w Bonzo. You can Mick off to the side of John's drums at Knebworth for sure. Has anyone yet found any pics of Jeff Ocheltree in the studio - on stage - or backstage or in LZ's airplane ? For Chr*st's sake - there's a disagreement on even when Ocheltree alleged met Bonzo. However, I do find it interesting that many of the people around LZ don't seem to recognize his name, face or remember anything about him. I did think I read somewhere that Peter Grant once said to Ocheltree - "What the hell are we even paying for you to do ?" Someone mentioned above - no one tuned Bonzo's snare drum - but Bonzo - that's been confirmed many times over. Also, make no mistake - Bonzo was in charge of his sound - no matter who helped him out. Bonzo was a foundational, cornerstone musician in Rock and Roll and music history - for that matter. Jimmy Page recently stated in an interview again - that 'John knew how to tune his drums properly - unlike many drummers back then and even now.' -- Jimmy also added that Bonzo retuned his drums - in the studio - for each song.' ----- That's no surprise either, but you can clearly hear it on their albums and each song for sure. * We all know Jeff Ocheltree has made some serious money off of continually using Bonzo's name - mentioning Bonzo and acting like he's the historian extraordinaire of Bonzo's drum history. ---- BY THE WAY - Ocheltree has never mentioned Bonzo using a Slingerland drum outfit on Led Zeppelin's first two tours in 1968 and most likely used it on Led Zeppelin's first album.
  6. The Zodiac signs to the left of Jimmy's crotch on the dragon suit are his Astrological birth sign at the top (Sun sign), which is Capricorn /-/ then his Ascending sign (Rising sign), which is Scorpio /-/ then his Moon sign, which is Cancer.
  7. I knew about that limited dragon suit use ! Thanks for doing a pictorial history of it on stage ! Jimmy's waist was a 28" - he said it himself in an interview when a writer asked "Do you still have your dragon suits?" Another historical Led Zeppelin note - right here - John Bonham on a few occasions joined John Paul Jones on co-lead vocal parts for the "town crier" singing part on Battle of Evermore. If you look closely at the acoustic set pic above from 5/28/1977 - Maryland - you can the microphone up by Bonzo's face. He sang on "Battle of Evermore" - that night for sure - you can look it up here on Youtube and listen to it. Maybe he was feeling it that night and wanted to sing considering it was 3 days before his birthday ?! Bonzo stops for the most part on singing once it's time for the tambourine playing. He does come back in at 3:35 mark and you hear him again at the 3:46 to 3:51 mark helping Plant out - during the mandolin and singing break before the outro kicks in too. Actually click on the link below to hear it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP6xPAl4Jww
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