Great story Rover! I never saw Janis live either. She died about a year before I started attending concerts. You're welcome! No problem, lzfan715. Thank you for the Newsweek scans! The pic I posted might have come from that issue of Newsweek. I don't know, though.

Lovely pair of shoes.

Here's a little more information that may bring it a bit more alive: I don't remember that there was any snow on the ground or from the sky that night (I don't ever remember seeing a Zep concert in the snow). I cannot say whether there was snow elsewhere, though. At night, the city would have been lit up. Fans, who had just left the Garden, would still be in the streets below (perhaps visible in the lights). Warhol, Page, and Burroughs. Legends.

I gave you a pic w/ One Penn Plaza. To show you how close they are, here is a view of MSG looking down from Two Penn Plaza.

It's all part of the same complex. I am not sure if they were/are affiliated as far as management. The Penn Plazas (1 and 2) are above Penn Station. They're all connected so you can go from one to the other without having to travel outside the complex. I can't picture them walking it so I imagine that the Zep guys' limos left the underground area of the Garden and then went into the underground area of Penn Plaza where they would have taken an elevator up to the club. Edited to add: Steve here is a photo of 1 Penn Plaza with MSG in the front. http://wirednewyork.com/images/penn.jpg

Janis at the Fillmore East, 1968.

That's a very nice piece of information, Steve! I am sure that there were some very interesting conversations in the Club that night. I know Penn Plaza very well. Yes, right next to MSG and Penn Station with the LIRR (which transported hordes of fans to the Zep concerts) right below.

Thank you. I know very well about rust on the memory; I suffer from it myself at times. However, as long ago as it was and as addled as my brain is, I will never forgot those last three nights in the Forum in late March '75 - the last time I saw Zep perform live. Thanks again for sharing the entire article. I put a link to your post here:

Hi Steve, I think (I may be wrong, though): The interview appeared in the June '75 issue of Crawdaddy (after the group's '75 U.S. tour). fwiw, I was at the last LZ concerts on their U.S. tour that year and those were the LA Forum concerts at the end of March '75. I always thought that Crawdaddy was a U.S. publication.

I adore Santana and have been a fan of Carlos and the many incarnations of his band since the late 60's. I have been attending Santana concerts for over 30 years (in both Latin America, the U.S., and Europe) and my husband and I will see him again this spring. My oldest daughter is a "second generation" Santana fan. Other than hearing his music while she was growing up, she discovered him on her own. I will always have a deep love for the late 60's - early 70's Santana music and I admit that part of it is sentimental. At this stage in my life, it is so evocative of those times. I do love Caravanserai too, though.

Not here. But I remember it well. Robert had only lovely things to say about Janis. He was very discreet in his responses to Charlie Rose but you could tell from his facial expressions and the way in which he spoke about Janis, that it was a positive encounter. When I first saw Zep, they still had a hippyish vibe about them that I liked. I know that you remember those days too, Rover. Here is a link to that interview: http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2005/05/1...an-robert-plant I have a file of this interview too, Rover. If you want it, PM me.

Yes, I did. :) I never heard anything negative about Pigpen either. He did his share of drugs and suffered from alcoholism. Like Janis, he died young (only a year or two after her death). In one of the Dead bios, there was a discussion about the difficulties he had with acid. I don't remember the name of the book or the details. Pigpen did look rather like a "scary biker dude" and I think that the Hell's Angels made him an official member but I don't ever remember reading or hearing that he was involved with them. Maybe you're thinking of the Peanuts character. I heard he was a real ass to Peppermint Patty on more than one occasion.

I wouldn't classify myself as a "die-hard" Janis fan but, as a woman (and not a wanton one), I never found that photo (and others like it) offensive. That is just what things were like back then. ftr, I never found the antics that the Zep guys engaged in back in the day offensive either.

You're welcome, Sunray. That vid makes me smile too! I don't know if you've seen it, but there is a thread for George here: http://forums.ledzeppelin.com//index.php?showtopic=750

From the Wall Street Journal: Ringo Stars in His Own Life Story on CD By JIM FUSILLI January 29, 2008; Page D6 It feels unseemly to criticize Ringo Starr, whose new album, "Liverpool 8" (Capitol), was released earlier this month. An amiable presence, he readily shows his vulnerability, a rare trait in an artist who's been a celebrity for almost 45 years. As recently as 2006, during the recording of the "Love" remix album, he spoke of how he occasionally felt underappreciated by his Beatles colleagues. He recorded the Lennon-McCartney song "Love Me Do," conceding he still was hurt that he hadn't played drums on the version included on the band's debut album. Though Mr. Starr is 67 years old, his face bears the sad-eyed expression of his experiences as a sickly child who was separated from family and friends during repeated hospital visits. But his fellow musicians love him, guitarist and producer Dave Stewart told me recently. "With some people, when they walk into the room the temperature rises. That's Ringo," he said. "He keeps everybody's vibe up." As a drummer, Mr. Starr has an unmistakable sound, making a little go a long way. "Starr possessed no more than a rudimentary technique on the drums," writes Jonathan Gould in his recent biography "Can't Buy Me Love -- The Beatles, Britain and America." "What distinguished him from Pete [best, his predecessor in the band] was the authority and feeling with which he applied his rudimentary skills. Ringo's playing was much punchier and more syncopated . . . [and he] had learned to distribute the weight of his playing among the cymbals, bass and snare." That's about right, but it omits how savvy and adaptable Mr. Starr was as a Beatle, serving three songwriters and producer George Martin with equal verve. He has a distinctive sound born not of bombast, but of the slightly behind-the-beat groove he sets. "What he does is what he feels" is how Mr. Stewart put it. It's pointless to compare him to Keith Moon and rock's other wild percussionists since that's not his game. The legendary New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer is a pretty good analogy. On "Liverpool 8," Mr. Starr and his competent band, the Roundheads, give us plenty of Ringo the vulnerable, sentimental personality at the expense of Mr. Starr the drummer. Some of the album's best moments come when his kit, rather than his persona, is at a song's core, but the percussion is mostly buried under an overly bright, whirring wall of sound. "Liverpool 8" does its best to touch on every aspect of Mr. Starr's career, quoting directly or alluding, in either music or lyric, to some part of his past, particularly with the Beatles. It's not a new strategy for Mr. Starr: The title track of his '05 release, "Choose Love," sounds like it was cobbled together from "Taxman" outtakes, and it mentions the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows," "The Long and Winding Road" and "What Goes On" in the lyrics. On the new disc, "Gone on the Days" has a faux, George Harrison-like Indian raga intro, a Lennon-like "oh no, oh no!" and the phrase "it don't come easy," the name of Mr. Starr's 1971 hit. "For Love" recalls Mr. Lennon's solo pop efforts, and Beatles-like vocal harmonies leap from the mix in several songs. Co-written by Mr. Starr and Mr. Stewart, the title track is an overview of the drummer's life. "Went to Hamburg with the red lights on/With George and Paul and my friend John," he sings. "In the USA when we played Shea/We were number one and it was fun." Ringo Starr's latest album, 'Liverpool 8,' emphasizes his vulnerable persona over his talent as a drummer. If all this co-opting sounds unbecoming, Mr. Starr pulls it off, as far as it can be pulled off, with characteristic charm, drawing from a well of goodwill that he sees, perhaps rightly, as bottomless. But it doesn't seem the way for a talented musician to burnish his legacy. Mr. Stewart told me that Mr. Starr wanted a distinctive sound on the new disc; he was brought in to work on "Liverpool 8" after Mark Hudson, its original co-producer and longtime Starr associate, withdrew late in the game. Best known for his work with the Eurhythmics, Mr. Stewart is a Starr fan -- an interview he did with the drummer for an HBO special is now in post-production -- and a presence in his own right. Perhaps if he had been in on "Liverpool 8" from the beginning, it would have had a different concept -- maybe something like the Paul McCartney-Elvis Costello collaboration, "Flowers in the Dirt," issued in 1989, in which Mr. Costello nudged Mr. McCartney outside his comfort zone. Of Mr. Starr, Mr. Stewart told me: "He's great to play with. People don't realize what an amazing contributor he was to the Beatles. He's a serious player." Yes, but if you come to "Liverpool 8" expecting to hear why Mr. Starr is a special drummer, you'll be disappointed. He has his moments. "Give It a Try" skirts close to Jimmy Buffett's brand of good-time pop, but Mr. Starr comes up with a clever pattern that fights off Mr. Hudson's additional percussion. He sets a groove on the high-hat and snare in "Think About You," which also features that instantly recognizable Starr sound on the splash cymbals. If you drill your way through the roar, Mr. Starr makes interesting choices in "Now That She's Gone Away," a song built on a variation of the Bo Diddley beat, which can take on an almost military rigidity in the wrong hands. But Mr. Starr's playing is relaxed, his toms have a warm, mellow tone, and his fills, which he's played sparingly and tastefully throughout his career, gives the song unexpected depth. Liverpool 8 was the postal code of Mr. Starr's old neighborhood. When I heard rumors of the title of his new album, I thought he had started a jazz octet akin to one of the swinging bands Charlie Watts leads now and then. Wouldn't you love to hear Mr. Starr take on that challenge? But "Liverpool 8," it turns out, is more of the same: nothing new or special delivered as only our beloved Mr. Starr can. Mr. Fusilli is the Journal's rock and pop music critic. URL for this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120156329047523621.html Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Don't forget the Winter brothers and SRV.

I remember seeing photos of George Harrison w/ the Zep guys. It was a very long time ago, long before the internet, and I can't remember which Zep members were in the photos. My brain is somewhat addled and I can't remember if the photos were in a magazine or where I saw them. The photos were taken in 1973 when both George and LZ were in LA.. There was a party for John Bonham's birthday and George attended (with Patti Boyd?) the party and I think he also went to one of the LZ concerts (?). There might be someone on this board who also remembers the photos and who might even have a copy of the magazine where the photos ran. Sorry that I can't remember much more about it. You can watch Robert and George playing on stage in the YouTube vid I've pasted below. This little clip of the Heartbeat finale is one of my favorite vids of George. On preview: I notice that I have the date wrong on my photobucket title.

Thanks for the info. We love Chrome Dreams II. Nice to know that there is possibly something else to look forward to from Mr. Demme.

A question related to my post here: http://forums.ledzeppelin.com//index.php?showtopic=3699 When William S. Burroughs was alive, did he and Jimmy Page ever meet one another again after the '75 concert and interview? I often wondered about this because it seems, from what I read in Burroughs' Crawdaddy piece, that the two had some common interests.

Thanks for posting! My husband and I have been fans of Neil Young since the late sixties. I am behind the curve when it comes to DVD releases; is "CSNY Déjà Vu" available for purchase now?

Beautiful photos! Several of them are new to me. Thanks, LZ715!

BP Fallon and Jimmy, Starship 1973 (not my scan or clip - this might have come from Otto or Ev).

Yes, the picture of the alchemist reading a book of magick, (it looks like an old woodcut) - does appear on the paper sleeve inside of the album cover of LZ IV (it appears on the side of the sleeve that has the lyrics to STH, on the other side of the sleeve are the band's symbols). It's a small picture in the lower left corner of the sleeve.

Ally, I absolutely do know what you mean when you say "heavy" because, back then, the word meant something other than a sound or a type of music...it meant something deep and profound and even more than that. Something like what the Beatles meant when they sang, "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". I can't argue with any of that Rock Action.

:'( R.I.P. Ronnie.