Okay, that scenario is entirely plausible because it puts Eddie on the Sunset Strip sometime between '75-'77 while Led Zeppelin was in town, as opposed to Bonzo going out of his way to see him perform. The Rainbow was an old haunt of course, just down the road from their hotel. I'll look into trying to confirm if the Deep Purple and Zeppelin tours overlapped in LA, which would put Blackmore and Bonzo together during this time. For what it's worth, Jimmy spent some time with Eddie in October 1991 while working on Coverdale/Page in Vancouver. Eddie also introduced Jimmy the night Jimmy was inducted into the Hollywood Rock Walk on Dec 7th '93. There's no bad blood between Jimmy and Eddie, although he did call Ross about 20 times when he was in LA with Jimmy in January 2004! Jimmy finally called Eddie back but it was the day he was returning to England so I don't think they ever did get together that time around.

Led Zeppelin in Las Vegas '69? Never happened.

Update: Led Zeppelin vs. Harold Ballard Led Zeppelin was scheduled to perform in Toronto on April 1st & 3rd 1977. Both dates were postponed in a March 3rd 1977 press release on account of Robert Plant's tonsilitis and the death of Karac Plant in July 1977 ruled out any rescheduling. The Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club was scheduled for a home game on Sat, Apr 3rd 1977 so the Led Zeppelin road crew would have had to dismantle and reassemble the stage in between performances if in fact Maple Leaf Gardens was the host venue.

In January 1976 Page, Plant, & Bonham were staying at the Park Lane Hotel in New York City. They were in town to conduct press interviews. One night, Bonzo attended Deep Purple's concert at Radio City Music Hall. At the end of the show he ran onstage and addressed the crowd, shouting "we've got a new album coming out soon!" I'm not aware of anyone in Led Zeppelin having watched Eddie Van Halen perform in the '70s, either as Mammoth or Van Halen. From '74-'76 they were primarily a Pasadena & Southern CA-based band. I can't see why they would have been bothered to go in '76 as they were relatively unheard of prior to cutting demos for Gene Simmons and in '77 Zep spent most of their off time in LA at their old haunts on the Sunset Strip or over in Laurel Canyon.

In My Time of Dying" is a blues song that has been covered by many rock musicians since the early 1960s. The original recording was a traditional gospel song recorded by Blind Willie Johnson, titled "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed"; his sides were recorded over the period 1927-1930. Interesting to note in the May 2008 issue of Uncut Jimmy is specifically asked about the cough at the end of the track. He doesn't claim it is a tip of the hat to Johnson, who had died from pneumonia after going to sleep in a wet night shirt having fought a fire which consumed his home. Perhaps because it is Jimmy whom coughs?

Unfortunately, google and the internet in general is not very helpful for researching the pre-Zeppelin recording and performance history of Plant and Bonham. Only persistent, painstaking research of newspaper archives and collaboration with others ever seems to bring these details to light.

Through Led Zeppelin of course!

In May 1968, Robert Plant disbanded The Band of Joy so John Bonham teamed up with bassist Dave Pegg to back Tim Rose on a full UK Tour for 40 pounds a week wages. I show the following dates, cities and venues confirmed but undoubtedly there are others: June 28 1966 Hastings, England (Venue unconfirmed) July 14 1968 (Sun) London, England Blaises July 16 1968 (Tue) London, England Marquee July 30 1968 (Tue) Wood Green, London, England Fishmongers Arms 287 High Road July 31 1968 (Wed) Hampstead, London, England Country Club 210-A Haverstock Hill On Robert Plant's advice, Page, Peter Grant, and bassist Chris Dreja met with John at the Country Club in Hampstead and watched him perform. John went on to tour briefly with Chris Farlowe before joining Robert in The New Yardbirds.

I merely agreed The May Queen and Swan Song preceeded Crowley. I wholeheartedly agree Jimmy was influenced to actually use Swan Song, among many other symbols and words, as a result of having absorbed Crowley's writings.

Agreed.

Well, you'd have to have one custom-made. Several of the tribute bands have done so.

Jimmy's still got them all. Any suits of his in the Hall of Fame were only lent to them.

I've found this much on Ballard so far: ------------ A member of the Leafs organization from 1940, he became part-owner of the Leafs in 1961 and was majority owner from February 1972 until his death. He expanded the number of concerts, entertainment acts, and conventions booked in the building. Ballard booked The Beatles on each of their three North American tours from 1964-1966. On the second tour, in 1965, Ballard sold tickets for two shows, even though the agreement had been for only one. On the hot summer day of the concert, Ballard ordered the building's heat turned up, and the water fountains around the arena mysteriously stopped functioning. He also delayed both of the concerts for over an hour. The only available refreshments were large soft drinks from the concession stands which were sold for triple their original price. ------------ Clearly, Peter Grant would never stand for such tactics, but I think to solve this mystery we have to start with Led Zeppelin's September 4th 1971 concert itself. Perhaps there were difficulities encountered with that event. The search for answers continues...

Stella Stevens is specifically mentioned in the song 'I Cried' on the Manic Nirvana album. "I walked with Stella Stevens..." In the interview he related his thoughts on infatuation, imagination and love. She was a popular American movie star in his youth.

I think this is originally from Steve Sauer: On this day in 1975, Led Zeppelin performed a one off comeback concert just to see what it felt like Hey, wait a minute, that's also what they're doing today in 2007 isn't it. Well the circumstances in 1975 were completely different. Robert Plant had been told in Aug. that he may never walk again, after he and his family had been in a life threatening accident. But by this point he was moving with the aid of crutches The recuperating singer sat on a stool for a 45 min. set during which he belted out some Elvis Presley covers like " Jailhouse Rock " and " Blue Suede Shoes "Norman Hale who had played piano for the Tornados in 61 and 62, sat in with Led Zeppelin. A friend of the band, he had been rehearsing with the rhythm section since the beginning of December A last minute announcement that Led Zeppelin would appear at Behan's West Park night clubbrought 350 fans there. This unique experience in Led Zeppelin's history was the groups first concert in half a year Jimmy Page showed off a brand new guitar for the first time at this gig. He sported a Lake Placid blue model Fender 60's Stratocaster Because Plant is a natural dancer and showman, he said the toughest thing for him onstage was confining himself to the stool so he wouldn't put pressure on his healing ankle. " Every time I went to hit a high note", he explained," I stood up,not putting any weight on my foot, but just sort of standing" The previous month, in a Munich recording studio,Plant fell over in a wheelchair trying to dance while singing a song with the group Plant said he was impressed with the atmosphere at Behan's pub. " It was like a dance hallthat was like some place 10 years gone by, in the best old English tradition," he said." Guy's with dickey bows and evening jackets ready to bang your head against the wall if you stepped out of line, and chairs and tables lined up in escalation. Chicks wearing suspenders and stockings....and a lot of rock and roll "

Yes, but unfortunately in doing so I believe he had to take some liberties with history.

Just to compliment (or contrast!) with what I've posted above, here is Stephen Davis' take on the formation of the band from 'Hammer of the Gods' (note: the mispelling of Obstweedle remains uncorrected. Note also so far as I know neither Robert nor Jimmy have ever claimed to have spoken on the telephone prior to meeting. Entirely plausible, but Robert always took the telegrams as someone's idea of a joke and when they met at the door of the venue they mistook Robert for a roadie): After the Yardbirds broke up in July of 1968, Jimmy Page retreated to his boathouse in Pangbourne-upon-Thames and weighed his options. With Peter Grant owning the rights to the Yardbirds' name, Jimmy could go on playing hard rock under that banner indefinitely. A Scandinavian tour was already set up for the fall; Japan, Australia and America were available after that. But now Jimmy preferred the softer, folkish music of Pentangle, the Incredible String Band and Joni Mitchell. There must, he thought, be a middle ground between light and heavy music. At home by the Thames, Jimmy almost never touched his electric guitar, preferring to strum and pick his acoustic. But he and Peter Grant knew that they had to follow their gut instinct for how to get the real money: by playing "heavy music" in America. The biggest-selling band there was Iron Butterfly, whose album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida featured repetitious, droning blues scales and would survive on the charts for years. The other big band of the day was Vanilla Fudge, who played it somewhat lighter, alternating what was called "white blues" white softer, less bombastic passages. One musician who had been asking Page about his plans was John Paul Jones, the session bassist and arranger who had played with Jimmy at dozens of recording sessions since 1965. Even before the demise of the Yardbirds, Page recalled, "I was working at the sessions for Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man, and John Paul Jones was looking after the musical arrangements. During a break, he asked me if I could use a bass player in the new group I was forming. He had a proper music training, and he had quite brilliant ideas. I jumped at the chance of getting him." Coming up with a singer proved to be more difficult. Since Page's new band was to be patterned after the Jeff Beck Group, it needed a singer with the romantic persona of a Rod Stewart, someone with the nerve to get on a stage and hold his own opposite an electric guitar. But all the good singers -- Steve Marriott, Steve Winwood, Joe Cocker, Chris Farlowe -- were busy. Terry Reid, only eighteen, had been snatched by producer Mickie Most at the last minute. But Reid told Jimmy and Peter about a little-known singer with a band called Hobbstweedle up in Birmingham, a great tall blond geezer who looked like a fairy prince and possessed a caterwauling voice. They called him the Wild Man of Blues from the Black Country. His name was Robert Plant Peter Grant's office contacted Robert at home, and Jimmy got on the phone with him. They made plans for Jimmy and Peter to see Robert at a Hobbstweedle gig that weekend. Jimmy, Peter Grant and Yardbirds bassist Chris Dreja turned up at the Hobbstweedle gig at a dismal teachers college in Birmingham. They were let in the back door by a "big, rug-headed kern" who they assumed was the bouncer. But when they saw him onstage in his Moorish caftan and beads, doing "Somebody to Love" in a bluesy, sirenlike soprano, they gave one another the look. "It unnerved me just to listen," Page said later. "It still does, like a primeval wail." After finishing his set of Moby Grape and Buffalo Springfield songs, Robert approached Jimmy to find out what he thought of the show. But Jimmy and the others were low-key and vague. Jimmy said only, "I'll call you within a week." But on the way back to London, Jimmy was intrigued. That voice... it had it, that distinctive, highly charged, sexual quality that Jimmy needed. Jimmy called Robert back and invited him down to Pangbourne. In the boathouse on the Thames, Jimmy played Robert some of his favorite records: soft things, like Joan Baez doing "Babe. I'm Gonna Leave You" and Robin Williamson's Incredible String Band, and rock & roll tunes, like Chuck Berry's "No Money Down." He played Little Walter's harmonica blues and explained to Robert his idea for a new kind of "heavy music" with slower and lighter touches, music with dynamics, light and shade -- chiaroscuro. They talked about a band in which the singer and the guitarist would be equally important. Jimmy played Robert "You Shook Me," from an old Muddy Waters EP, with Earl Hooker playing the melody on electric guitar behind Muddy's voice. Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart had already done it with the same song on Beck's new album, Truth, but that didn't matter. It was the sound Jimmy wanted. After a few days of discussions, Robert was almost beside himself. Here was this attractive, mysterious, soft-spoken rock star offering the prospect of stardom and immense riches in America. For the first time, Robert had found somebody who might know what to do with his boundless reservoir of energy. Robert was so excited that when he left Pangbourne, he hitchhiked up to Oxford to find his friend John Bonham. A few years earlier, Plant and Bonham had played together in a blues band called the Crawling King Snakes. Bonham, the group's drummer, was a big, long-haired fellow whom everyone called Bonzo, after the dog in a British comic strip. Bonzo's idol was Keith Moon, the Who's drummer, and Bonzo used to line the inside of his bass drum with aluminum foil to make the thing rattle off like cannon fire. He and Robert became fast friends and wound up playing together in another group, the Band of Joy. On this night, as Plant met up with him to persuade him to join Page's new group, Bonham was playing with folk-rocker Tim Rose. It had been three months since Bonzo had last heard from Robert, and the drummer listened to his friend's breathless spiel about Jimmy and Pangbourne and the new band. "Mate, you've got to join the Yardbirds," urged Robert. But Bonzo was unimpressed. To him, the Yardbirds was a name from the past with no future. The first time Page saw Bonzo, the drummer was playing a country club in north London with Rose. At the time, Page was still considering making his new band sound something like Pentangle, the acoustic group that featured guitarist Bert Jansch. But when he heard Bonzo's merciless attack, he knew what his new band would sound like. An intensive campaign to snare John Bonham ensued. Robert sent eight telegrams to Bonzo's pub, the Three Men in a Boat, in Walsall. These were followed by forty telegrams from Peter Grant. Still, Bonzo wouldn't join. The success of the Tim Rose gigs had brought in other offers. Joe Cocker wanted him, and Chris Farlowe offered him a job. It was a hard decision. Farlowe was well established and had a new album produced by Mick Jagger. Everybody in London was sure that Cocker, the blues belter from Sheffield, was going to be very big. But, as Bonzo later recalled, "I decided I liked their music better than Cocker's or Farlowe's." So Bonzo finally accepted the drummer's chair with the New Yardbirds. The lineup was complete.

There's no contradiction, but perhaps it is unclear so here it is again: Robert was known to Terry from the touring circuit. While on tour he recommended Robert to Jimmy. When their paths crossed again in London Robert was broke and currently not in any group at the time. At this point he mentioned to Robert the opportunity with Jimmy. Even so, shortly after Robert formed Obstweedle. You will recall he was singing in Obstweedle when Jimmy, Chris Dreja and Peter Grant went to meet him and see him perform at West Midlands College of Higher Education on Gorway Road in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire on Sat, July 20, 1968. I should also add Peter Grant recalled Reid also encountered Jimmy on Oxford Street (in July 1968) and once again mentioned Robert Plant to Jimmy. Peter's office was at 154 Oxford Street so it makes sense Jimmy, or both, would have been on foot in the vicinity.

Robert Plant and The Band of Joy were actually on the bill below Terry Reid in Buxton. Terry watched their set; he is lucky Terry made a call to Jimmy afterward (Spring '68). Robert disbanded the final lineup of The Band of Joy in May 1968. He actually formed Obstweedle himself after his club gigs with Alexis Korner were completed. You may be thinking of Robert's first ever public singing gig at the ice rink in Swanlicote in 1962. He filled in for a school chum who had become ill the day of the gig.

It is true Jimmy was well aware of Terry Reid and undoubtedly keen to arrange an audition, but I don't think Reid was interested. For starters, it was Reid himself who phoned Jimmy recommending Robert after seeing Plant perform in Buxton with his Band of Joy. Weeks later, a penniless Plant, having sung a few gigs with Alexis Korner, now singing with Obstweedle and in town trying to collect money from his manager, encountered Reid on Oxford Street in London and accompanied him to Cambridge. It was during this time Reid informed Robert personally of the opportunity to work with Page. In my opinon, the contents of page 47 as related by Goldberg are mere hearsay and hyperbole. Robert and John Bonham were both brought in on salary. If the first tour is defined as Scandanavia, they were already in the studio recording the first album within two weeks of returning, debunking this claim of "serious talk". The first tour of America was a resounding success. Furthermore, Jimmy had to realize cutting the singer may well cost him the drummer as well. I believe the affinity established between Jimmy and Robert in Pangbourne (August 1968) and the alchemical dynamics evident at 39 Gerrard Street in London (band rehearsal on August 12th 1968) ensured the collective leap of faith was going to be respected and upheld well past the contracturally-obligated Scandanavian tour in September '68. I do appreciate you have identified at least one source for your original inquiry. Again, I believe Goldberg's views and what he may or may not claim to have heard don't necessarily reflect Jimmy's views of Robert's status. Jimmy has said no one in the band could be assured future success in the early days. He had the vision but it was a leap of faith for all parties concerned.

^^ The thread title is confusing. Final U.K. date in '75 was this jam, not Earls Court in May. Final UK performance between 1968-1980 is August 11th 1979, as Knebby noted.

They had stopped in to relax on December 3rd 1975 and made a promise to return, which they did on December 10th. Norman Hale was the resident pianist so it was Zeppelin who joined him and not the other way around, and they performed for about 45 minutes.

Rodney's still around. Last I heard he was on the graveyard shift one night a week. They will never force him out completely; the guy's an institution. If you get the chance buy or rent 'The Mayor of the Sunset Strip', an excellent film which chronicles his life. Tales from the '70s Sunset Strip figure prominently of course. Led Zeppelin do not appear but they are mentioned. Kim Fowley says Rodney was getting more girls than Robert Plant! Don't speak of The Pretty Things; that's sure to take us well into the Off Topic Zone. Edit: If your referring to Rodney's English Disco it closed years ago. It's a Kung Fu school now and it's featured in the film...then and now.

In 1971, Jimmy Page bought Boleskine House, Crowley's former hunting lodge and Scottish retreat. Jimmy Page's daughter was named Scarlet Lilith Eleida Page, born March 1971. The Scarlet Woman was, "a technical term complementary to that of the Beast for the office held by any directly inspired female medium of the gods." [from the editor's notes, _The Confessions_.] Furthermore, Crowley used one of the names "Lilith" for his first child. Vinyl etching on _Led Zeppelin III_ (1970) - side a - "Do What Thou Wilt", side b - "So Mote Be It" Crowley wrote a poem entitled "The May Queen". this was referred to in the track _Stairway To Heaven_ off of _Led Zeppelin IV_ . In a W. Someret Maugham's novel, _The Magician_, the character, Oliver Haddo was based on Aleister Crowley. The opening scene takes place in the "Chien Noir" [French for Black Dog]. The Black Dog in this novel is a take-off on the real "Chat Blanc" [White Cat], a small restaurant in Montparnasse [France]. track _Black Dog_ was supposedly inspired by a real, old Black Labrador who wandered on the scene. On the IV album, inner gatefold cover, put Barrington Colby work _View in Half or Varying Light_ up to a mirror and view the "Black Dog". In 1973, Jimmy Page outbid Kenneth Anger for an Aleister Crowley book, _The Scented Garden of Abdullah the Satirist of Shiraz a.k.a. Bagh-i-Muattar_ (1914). Page suggested "Swang Song" as the title of Led Zeppelin's record company. Aleister Crowley sometimes called himself Paramahansa (the divine Swan). Aleister wrote "and the wild swan sings ever; and my heart sings ever." [The Electric Silence] The Swan is the spirit of ecstasy and symbolizes the eternal self. In 1976, Jimmy Page opened a bookshop and named it The Equinox. The bookstore sold Crowley paraphernalia and had the Stele of Revealing in tapestry form in the window. Led Zeppelin's album, _Presence_ (1976), featured a strange object of the cover— an obelisk that many wondered what it was, and what it was supposed to symbolize. In the 'of the Furnishings of the Temple' section in _Magick and Theory and Practice_, an obelisk is mentioned. When speaking about what should be on the altar, Aleister states, "on each side of it should be a pillar or obelisk, with countercharges in black and white." [p.345] The Old Absinthe Bar in New Orleans (located at 400 Bourbon Street) was rumored to have been the set-up or at least the inspiration for the cover scenes of _In Through the Out Door_. Led Zeppelin was known to be fond of New Orleans' French Quarter. Crowley also held a certain fondness for the Old Absinthe House as he recalls, "I took a room convieniently close to the Old Absinthe House, where one could get real absinthe prepared in fountains whose marble was worn by 90 years' continual dripping." The Old Absinthe House inspired Aleister Crowley's essay "The Green Goddess". Today, if you go to the Old Absinthe Bar there is a picture on the wall of Jimmy and his ex-wife, supposedly accompanied by a story of how they met there. Jimmy Page's solo album was titled Outrider. There is a mention in Crowley's Diary of a Drug Fiend, "Oh Thou Outrider of the Sun, that spurrest the bloody flanks of the wind! I adore Thee, Evoe! I adore Thee, IAO!" [p.27 Diary of a Drug Fiend]. [iAO stands for Isis, Apophis, and Osiris... Egyptian gods]. My thanks to Theolyn Brock.

Obviously, he really did hurt his finger but when it came time to reschedule the show December 10th presented itself. Not to give you any nightmares, but Page's fantasy sequence for 'The Song Remains The Same' was filmed under the light of a full moon on December 10-11 1973. The MTV World premier telecast of Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded aired October 12th (Crowley's birthday). Etc. etc.