SteveAJones
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Isn't that Phil Jones? Of Phil Jones and the Unknown Blues Band.
Well, if anyone can substantiate who it is I'd be grateful. This shot has always seemed too deliberate for it to have been a random encounter, but I don't know for certain.
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Going To See The King
On May 11, 1974, Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham) attended Elvis Presley's evening concert at the Los Angeles Forum. During the concert, Elvis stopped a song and jokingly said: 'Wait a minute... If we can start together fellas, because we've got Led Zeppelin out there... let's try to look like we know what we're doing, whether we do or not'.
Their mutual promoter at the time, Jerry Weintraub, took Jimmy Page and Robert Plant up to Presley's hotel suite. For the first few minutes, Elvis ignored them.
Jimmy Page—who had first picked up a guitar after hearing 'Baby Let's Play House' on overseas radio—began to fidget. What was going on? Did he really want to meet them? Should they say something? Elvis finally turned to them. 'Is it true', he said, 'these stories about you boys on the road?' Plant answered, 'Of course not. We're family men. I get the most pleasure out of walking the hotel corridors, singing your songs'. Plant offered his best Elvis impersonation. 'Treat me like a fool, treat me mean and cruuuuel, but looooove me...'. For a moment Elvis Presley eyed them both very carefully. Then he burst out laughing. Then his bodyguards burst out laughing. For two hours he entertained them in his suite. He had never heard their records, he said, except for when his stepbrother played him 'Stairway to Heaven'. 'I liked it', said Presley. Later, walking down the hallway from the hotel room, Page and Plant congratulated themselves on a two-hour meeting with the King. 'Hey', came a voice from behind them. Presley had poked his head out the door. 'Treat me like fooool...'.
Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, May 11th 1974
The group's bassist, John Paul Jones did not attend the concert and had never to this point met Elvis. Richard Cole, the band's manager, organised another meeting via Jerry Schilling.
Elvis said it would be okay for them to come by the house.
Jerry Schilling was there on the night of the planned meeting and was 'a little surprised to see that Elvis was in pajamas and robe - he and Sheila Ryan (appears on front cover, Oct '73 issue of Playboy magazine) were getting ready to go upstairs. Jerry reminded Elvis that Richard and John were coming and Elvis remained downstairs to wait for them.
The following excerpt is from the book, Me And A Guy Named Elvis.
From the moment Richard stepped into the house, he was loud and profane, packing an amazing number of f-words into everything he said. 'You know', Elvis said to him. 'I'd appreciate it if you'd watch your language in front of my lady'. Things got very quiet. Everybody sat down and it stayed quiet. Then Elvis decided to break the ice, and asked if he could see the fancy watch that Richard was wearing. Richard handed the watch over, and when Elvis put it on, Richard quickly said that if Elvis wanted the watch, he could keep it.
'Does it have any special meaning to you?' Elvis asked.
'Well, a bit. Atlantic Records gave them to the group', said Richard.
'OK, thanks', said Elvis.
I don't know if Richard expected to lose his watch that easily, but about twenty minutes later Elvis went upstairs and came back down with another watch, a real piece of jewelry, covered in diamonds - a wristwatch you could trade in for a car. Maybe a couple of cars. 'Here', he said to Richard. 'Take this one'. A very stunned Richard accepted. From then on the night was nothing but fun, with a lot of laughs and a lot of quoting Monty Python routines (Elvis was the first Monty Python fanatic I ever knew). Elvis and Richard obviously shared a sense of humor. And I could tell Elvis also liked the much quieter John. At one point, Elvis excused himself, went back upstairs, and retuned with an equally impressive watch for the bassist. Before the evening was over, Elvis said he wanted to make another exchange. He was out of watches, but had another bit of fashion in mind. So he stood, eyed John, and said, 'Let's swap pants', while simultaneously, in expert Python fashion, letting his pajama bottoms drop beneath his robe. The loud Richard was shocked into silence, while quiet Sheila and John burst out laughing. Nobody accepted Elvis' offer, but it was a great note to end the night on.
The concert they attended was released some time ago on the Elvis Live In L.A. Book & CD Set:
Live in L.A. features more than 200 photos of Elvis at his various Los Angeles shows. The main focus is on the evening concert at Inglewood Forum May 11, 1974. The CD is an informal 'soundboard' recording of that particular show with a few songs from other shows.
Includes about 20 photos of Elvis live in the 50s in L.A.
Track List: 1. Also Sprach Zarathustra ; 2. See See Rider ; 3. I Got A Woman / Amen ; 4. Love Me ; 5. Trying To Get To You ; 6. All Shook Up ; 7. Teddy Bear / Don't Be Cruel ; 8. Love Me Tender ; 9. Steamroller Blues ; 10. Hound Dog ; 11. Fever ; 12. Polk Salad Annie ; 13. Why Me Lord ; 14. Suspicious Minds ; 15. Introductions ; 16. I Can't Stop Loving You ; 17. Help Me ; 18. An American Trilogy ; 19. Let Me Be There ; 20. Funny How Time Slips Away ; 21. Big Boss Man ; 22. Can't Help Falling In Love ; Bonus Song: 23. You Can Have Her Tracks 1–20 recorded May 11th, 1974, evening show at Forum Of Inglewood, Los Angles, CA.
Tracks 21+22 recorded May 10th at Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA.
Track 23 recorded May 11th, 1974, afternoon show at Forum Of Inglewood, Los Angles, CA.
This is a soundboard recording, except track 23, which is an audience recording.
Joe Esposito (Presley's life-long friend and tour manager) wearing an orange 1975 Led Zeppelin Tour T-Shirt outside of Room 105 at the Holiday Inn hotel in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 6:30pm on Sept 7, 1976.
Joe Esposito (Presley's life-long friend and tour manager) wearing an orange 1975 Led Zeppelin Tour T-Shirt outside of Room 105 at the Holiday Inn hotel in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 6:30pm on Sept 7, 1976.
Joe Esposito (Presley's life-long friend and tour manager) wearing an orange 1975 Led Zeppelin Tour T-Shirt outside of Room 105 at the Holiday Inn hotel in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 6:30pm on Sept 7, 1976.
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It's generally accepted he left Neil Christian and The Crusaders circa September 1960. I suppose there was the
gigs he did with Royston Ellis and what not which would have kept him focused on music until Autumn '62, but
it's equally plausible he enrolled straight away, dropped out and reenrolled a second time. A separate thread may be best as this thread occasionally touches upon many unrelated topics relatively quickly.
What kind of music were you playing with (early English rock band) Neil Christian And The Crusaders?
JP: This was before the Stones happened, so we were doing Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, and Bo Diddley things mainly. At the time, public taste was more engineered towards Top 10 records, so it was a bit of a struggle. But there’d always be a small section of the audience into what we were doing.
Wasn’t there a break in your music career at this point?
JP: Yes, I stopped playing and went to art college for about two years, while concentrating more on blues playing on my own. And then from art college to the (early British rock mecca) Marquee Club in London. I used to go up and jam on a Thursday night with the interlude band. One night somebody said, “Would you like to play on a record?” and I said, “Yeah, why not.” It did quite well, and that was it after that. I can’t remember the title of it now. From that point I started getting all this studio work. There was a crossroads: is it an art career or is it going to be music? Well anyway, I had to stop going to the art college because I was really getting into music. Big Jim Sullivan—who was really brilliant—and I were the only guitarists doing those sessions. Then a point came where Stax Records (Memphis-based rhythm and blues label) started influencing music to have more brass and orchestral stuff. The guitar started to take a back trend with just the occasional riff. I didn’t realize how rusty I was going to get until a rock and roll session turned up from France, and I could hardly play. I thought it was time to get out, and I did.
You just stopped playing?
JP: For a while I just worked on my stuff alone, and then I went to a Yardbirds concert at Oxford, and they were all walking around in their penguin suits. (Lead singer) Keith Relf got really drunk and was saying “Fuck you” right in the mike and falling into the drums. I thought it was a great anarchistic night, and I went back into the dressing room and said, “What a brilliant show!” There was this great argument going on; (bass player) Paul Samwell-Smith saying, “Well, I’m leaving the group, and if I was you, Keith, I’d do the very same thing.” So he left the group, and Keith didn’t. But they were stuck, you see, because they had commitments and dates, so I said, “I’ll play the bass if you like.”
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I thought Page's first choice was Steve Marriott. As I recall Page and Grant got a reply from Marriott's management suggesting it would be better for Jimmy to have all his fingers undamaged with another singer than be a crippled guitarist pursuing Marriott.
Did Beck play bass on “Over Under Sideways Down”?
JP: No. In fact for that LP they just got him in to do the solos because they’d had a lot of trouble with him. But then when I joined the band, he supposedly wasn’t going to walk off anymore. Well, he did a couple of times. It’s strange; if he’d had a bad day, he’d take it out on the audience. I don’t know whether he’s the same now; his playing sounds far more consistent on records. You see on the “Beck’s Bolero” (Truth) thing I was working with that, the track was done and then the producer just disappeared.
He was never seen again; he simply didn’t come back. (Simon) Napier-Bell just sort of left me and Jeff to it. Jeff was playing, and I was in the box (recording booth). And even though it says he wrote it, I wrote it. I’m playing the electric 12-string on it. Beck’s doing the slide bits, and I’m basically playing around the chords. The idea was built around (classical composer) Maurice Ravel’s’ “Bolero.” It’s got a lot of drama to it; it came off right. It was a good lineup too, with (the Who’s drummer) Keith Moon and everything.
Wasn’t that band going to be Led Zeppelin?
JP: It was, yeah. Not Led Zeppelin as a name; the name came afterwards. But it was said afterwards that that’s what it could have been called. Because Moonie wanted to get out of the Who, and so did (Who bass player) John Entwistle, but when it came down to getting hold of a singer, it was either going to be (guitarist/organist/singer with English pop group Traffic) Steve Winwood or (guitarist/vocalist with Small Faces) Steve Marriott. Finally it came down to Marriott. He was contacted, and the reply came back from his manager’s office: “How would you like to have a group with no fingers, boys?” Or words to that effect. So the group was dropped because of Marriott’s other commitment, to the Small Faces. But I think it would have been the first of all those bands sort of like the Cream and everything. Instead it didn’t happen—apart from the “Bolero.” That’s the closest it got. John Paul (Jones) is on that too; so is Nicky Hopkins (studio keyboard player with various British rock groups).
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Just wondering, is that the drummer of the Electric Prunes?..or just a random topless guy..
Which Electric Prunes drummer, Michael Wesley
or Preston Ritter?
Better photos are difficult to find. What made you think so? I always caption this one
"Crikey! I've walked into the wrong bar, haven't I"
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I love Gong Li
She would just adore me, at least that's what I tell myself.
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Jeez...why can't one of our four or five members who are a phone call away from the Master, or the Golden one, simply call them and ask??
This has already been answered in the thread. In short, apparently none of them remember.
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(What is the potential for the discovery of film from Led Zeppelin at Newport Jazz Festival Newport, Rhode Island on July 6, 1969?)
Digging Deep in the Vault
Published: August 31 2009 By Bill Milkowski
There is a whole complex myriad of procedures and problem-solving to undertake before sound files of classic rock, blues, folk and jazz performances ultimately get posted to the Wolfgang's Vault website. And whether the archival tapes come from the Fillmore West in San Francisco, the Ashgrove nightclub in Los Angeles or the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, the process remains the same.First, the tapes are retrieved from storage at Iron Mountain (in either the limestone caves in upstate New York or another holding facility in New Jersey) and brought to the Manhattan headquarters of Wolfgang's Vault, where digital conversion and mastering takes place. In the case of the recent acquisition of the entire Newport Jazz Festival audio and video archives (spanning from 1954 to 1976), that means nearly 5,000 pieces shipped by truck on shrink-wrapped carts from New Jersey across the Hudson River to their new home at 7th Avenue and 29th Street. "They shrink wrap all the tapes to protect them for jostling on the trip and, more importantly, from humidity, which is the big enemy of magnetic tape," says Peter Lockhart, who is overseeing the Newport Jazz Festival project at Wolfgang's Vault.
The tapes are then placed on several shelves in a humidity-controlled room on the fifth floor where the temperature remains a constant 68 degrees. Generally, with archival projects like this one, tapes often have to be baked in expensive ovens at 125 degrees for 12 hours to preserve them. As Lockhart explains, "With older tapes, particularly those from the '70s and the '80s, the glue that binds the backing to the magnetic tape breaks down, which can cause the tape to stick to the heads on the machines so that they won't play. But because so many of these older Newport tapes from the '50s and '60s are acetate, we didn't have to bake them."
The next task is assessing the treasure trove of tapes to see what is actually there and what obstacles might be encountered during the digital transfer process. The sizes of the tapes range from 1/4" mono or stereo recordings to 1/2" 3-track and 4-track to 1" 8-track, all of varying speeds. "We have so many different formats, each with a different set of parameters from an archival standpoint and a transferring standpoint," says Lockhart. The digital conversion process is being done on Macintosh computers using Logic Pro and the analog recordings are being captured in 24 bit at 192K (a significant improvement in the quality of the digital conversion process from the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio archives, which was done two years ago at 24 bit at 96K). "The whole idea of it is to make as accurate a transfer as possible, to take those gorgeous analog recordings and transfer them to digital without losing the color and dynamics of the original," says Lockhart.
Up on the ninth floor, a busy crew of eight audio engineers begin meticulously converting the reel-to-reel analog tapes to digital. At this point, very little may be known about what is actually on each tape. Some years of the Newport Jazz Festival have more detailed information on the tape boxes than others. Generally, the main artist is listed on the outside of the box. Occasionally, sidemen may be listed along with the headliner, and there may even be some incidental information about song titles. Each individual tape is its own unique mystery, presenting something of a puzzle to solve. With keen ears and a certain amount of sleuthing (including trips to the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center to look up old issues of Down Beat on the microfilm machines to read reviews of the Newport Jazz Festivals from yesteryear), the song titles and personnel are determined. At that point, the music is ready for mastering, one of the final steps in the process. Each individual artist is given a designated spot on the Wolfgang's Vault website, and those performances at the Newport Jazz Festival are then duly annotated on the site by Bill Milkowski, a veteran jazz journalist and longtime contributor to Jazz Times magazine as well as the author of "Rockers, Jazzbos & Visionaries" (Billboard Books) and "JACO: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius" (Backbeat Books).
"We're going to transfer everything," say Lockhart of the recent treasure trove of tapes to arrive at Wolfgang's Vault. "Everything is going to get preserved and digitized. And as the process goes on, we're learning more and more about exactly what we have in the archives. And some very interesting things are coming to light."
Along with recordings from the Newport Jazz Festival, the archives also includes tapes from other George Wein's enterprises such as the Longhorn Jazz Festival (a short-lived festival held in Austin during the mid '60s), the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (specifically from 1978), the Paris Jazz Festival (from 1960) and the Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice, France (from the early '60s).
Stay tuned. The first bits of music from the Newport Jazz Festival will be up this fall (beginning with 1955, George Wein's second annual clambake in Rhode Island).
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I still think he enrolled in autumn 1962 and quit at the end of 1963 (or close). I think we need to dedicate a thread to this question, so that we can weigh all the different arguments. I'll make one soon and try to argue my case.
It's generally accepted he left Neil Christian and The Crusaders circa September 1960. I suppose there was the
gigs he did with Royston Ellis and what not which would have kept him focused on music until Autumn '62, but
it's equally plausible he enrolled straight away, dropped out and reenrolled a second time. A separate thread may be best as this thread occasionally touches upon many unrelated topics relatively quickly.
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I remember that day, Steve. Luckily you brought your camcorder! I am excited about the crooked vultures w/JPJ coming to Detroit in October. Tix on sale 9/3. ( I wonder who currently owns that RP autographed edition Cadillac...???? whoops..another Zep mystery!)
Hello, my friend. Yeah, we met that day. You walked over, I did a double take as you looked like Mitch Albom
I can't remember what was done with that Cadillac. Perhaps the hood was removed and displayed in the GM Headquarters building somewhere or the car was archived. I may contact their public relations department to find out. There are also some Cadillac forums I can search. I have searched in vain for the promotional poster produced for that event showing Robert wearing a Love t-shirt and standing in front of a vintage Cadillac. (On my video you can see Robert himself admiring it in the lobby and filming it with his camcorder. He also plants a kiss on this beautiful female fan who waited in line to see him. She looks like she is going to faint). I did see one of the posters on ebay a few months later but it had pinholes and creases so I passed thinking more would turn up. None have.
I don't think I'm going to make it to the Fillmore gig as I don't get back to the states much anymore.
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..If I follow a pattern, Page always calls her after the shows, ie. when he went to Texas (He states, I will call you tomorrow, etc. (I will post that entry more consistently)...I do agree with you that it is a available date, but she does state on his day off they listened to the Test Press (this has to be August 11)
other date being Palamino Brother Show date with Page...(BTW, I should look into that concert date...)
Anyhow, she has accounted for most of her time with Page...and this date does not appear in her view in any way...I am sure the very least she would have received a phone call, although I think, Page would have offered a ticket, as he always does to the ladies...
The inaccuracy that I find is she writes next day...the event sometime is of day before...
You know, it's a shame she didn't keep copies of her phone bills as they probably are not archived.
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..July 31, 1969 was the only date within the time frame when Page was in transitional relationship between Catherine James and P. Debarres...(He left the first, hasn't met the latter). I have written to James as well, and she so far has not confirmed anything (to save her time, I told her to write back ONLY if she knows any thing about Vegas...she was with Page, as you know...)
Miss P., well her account is most knowledgeable...(FYI - James/Debarres were both present in the Venue on July 31, 1969 - James being employee at The Ex...)
so far, I have not proved as to where the Band is arriving from...IMO they are arriving, P.M., from somewhere...
I would think the Police Dept. Archives would be very helpful, in addition to search we already have in progress...
Not to whip a dead horse, but I'm thinking 7/31 or 8/11. I just don't trust Pam's recollections when it comes to specific dates. Her books are entertaining but have inaccuracies more casual fans don't notice nor care about.
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The Las Cruces, New Mexico and Tucson papers had a weekly syndicated feature called the "Las Vegas Scene" which listed where all the "stars" were playing in Las Vegas. It lists a LOT of venues (Caesar's Palace, Dunes, Flamingo, Sands, Sahara, International, Thunderbird, Stardust, and many, many others). It also lists a lot of artists, but mainly typical Las Vegas "show" types. I have checked 1969 and have not seen any reference to the Zep gig. I'll keep digging.
It's a good lead but as Chain said, Tell apparently booked concerts on the fly with little to no advance promotion.
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...yes, likewise, UNLV is very cooperative so far, I will see to it if Las Vegas Court House might have any legally binding contracts available to public of major venues...
A search of police arrest records or desk sergeant logbooks could provide interesting..."31 Jul 69...two patrols dispatched to Ice Palace to direct traffic following rock music concert..." I'm either getting rather imaginitive or overly desperate to solve this mystery.
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Steve, that last yard is usually the toughest!
See, that's just fascinating. I can see gross inaccuracy or embellishment 40 years after the fact..."yeah, man we opened for Zep in Vegas"..."hey man, so did we..." but waaay back in 1970? Hey, the guy was booking big acts.
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...this was my purpose/alternative to contact UNLV Special Collections/Historic Documents.....If they possibly have any venue records.......
..I have looked into the Doors, they opened Nov. 1, 1969 at Ice Palace...
It is mentioned by one of the groups members in the fanviews that "we opened for Alice Cooper" the same night we did for Doors...I looked into this, Alice Cooper does not appear to be in Convention Centre/Vega same night as Doors...(sorry, I don't have the date now)...
Grateful Dead played the Ice Palace circa Mar '69. No question it was a well-known venue for rock music. Just need to confirm when/if Led Zeppelin performed there.
Hey, I just realized your a female.
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..I am also reviewing some attendees recollections posted herein..will update likewise...
For now...I suppose if Iron's concerts can be looked into that would be helpful I suppose...I have sent email so far...
I have the Las Vegas orginal email/contact Staff for reference....
Something tells me this will come down to discovery of a a long-lost photograph or some legal documentation
(a contract, tax, city, county, police or union records, etc) as opposed to wholly unsubstantiated recollections.
We'll see.
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...then I realised you are a colonial...
Am I? If you label me you negate me.
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I coincidentally asked a friend if he knew anything, and it turns out he was the bass player/vocalist for Wolfticket which opened the show. He thinks the information on the ledzeppelin.com site is accurate.
"Wolfticket" also opened the show? I'm going to take that with a huge grain of salt for the moment. At least Michael Chain's recollections are quite detailed and vivid, if not entirely accurate.
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The date is only a few weeks before the 1st LZ gig isn't it.
Do you think the gig may have been booked as BOJ but played by Obstweedle or is my lack of knowledge showing?
First New Yardbirds (Page, Jones, Plant, Bonham) gig was 9/7/68. It is just days before Jimmy went too see Bonham perform and only several days before their first formal rehearsal.
I do think it may have been booked as BOJ but played by Obs' tweedle. Jimmy himself said when they went to see Plant perform for first time he was "in a band called Obs' Tweedle or Hobbstweedle or something" and we know that was several days before this date. Perhaps the promoter/venue felt BOJ would pull a bigger crowd
than a new unknown band, which is the same discrimination Led Zeppelin encountered shortly afterward.
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Archived News - Pacific Stars and Stripes - June 27, 1970, Tokyo, Japan/Bridgeport, Connecticut, June 28, 1970
...actress Patty Duke borrowed a wedding ring to marry local concert promoter Michael Tell....This is the first marriage for who has brought top rock groups such as the Iron and Led Zeppelin to concert at The Ice Rink..
http://www.newspaper...hResultsV3.aspx
..so far...I am looking into this newspaper......
Ho Lee Shit! We are on the brink of a confirmation once again. Just got to get the ball across the goal line now.
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FWIW, the tour ended 5/29/86 in Seattle. I show there was a dispute with the producer over content and cover art for the 'Five From The Firm' video in June '86 which resulted in a three-month delay. It was finally released in
Sept '86...Jimmy issued a press release in Nov '86 announcing he was leaving The Firm to begin a solo album.
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Steve, can you post the article (or pm me if you want me to translate it first)?
Unfortunately, that magazine has since been placed in long term storage and it will be several months before I'll
have an opportunity to retrieve it. I can tell you the article is titled "Jimmy Page, Une Historie Ferme" and written by Ronald McGregor.
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Some more Firm merchandise from the 85 & 86 US tours:
I should've known you would be the one having most, if not all of the tour merchandise I'm still looking for.
Edit: I've got a baseball hat ('85) and a bandana ('86) too but one item I don't have/haven't seen posted is a scarf sold on '84 European tour. It has The Firm logo centered btw all four bandmember's names.
The Yardbirds
in Pre / Post-Zeppelin Forum
Posted
You always come through, glicine! Wow, isn't that something. The Yardbirds certainly did perform in Sydney on Jan 21 & 22 1967 and they had some time off that week. I don't think Jimmy's ever mentioned this, if he recalls.
You know me, I will look into this further. Thanks so much for assisting with putting these photographs into their proper historical context.