Zeppelin Mysteries Hosted by Steve A. Jones

[swandown]

Do you know if the band The Message had any demos at the Swan Song offices?

I know that The Message (featuring Richie Sambora and Alec John Such) recorded a 6-song demo for Swan Song. They also recorded an album around 1983 which was not released until 1995. However, that album may have technically been recorded after they left the label. A couple previously-unreleased demos were included on a recent compilation CD called Lessons, but I don't know if they're from the 6-track Swan Song demo.

[SteveAJones]

"Leader of the Midlands Flower People" - It Was a Publicity Stunt!

Robert Plant outside Magistrates Court in Wednesbury, England on August 10th 1967

"One day we were trying to figure out how to get him some publicity, and I had just bought a bunch of velvet material for curtains. He had a court date coming up in a couple of days' time, and I thought 'Why don't we just dress him up in an outrageous costume, and we'll get all his friends to hold banners and circle the court on the day?'. So we made this velvet King John outfit, and the magistrate refused to hear the case, and it made the national news".

"We helped him get his first publicity, and the rest is history".

Interview with Tony Noons, Robert Plant's booking agent in the '60s

Originally published in Houston Press, July 17th 2003

Note: Robert's reckless driving charge was reportedly dropped on account of insufficient evidence

[SteveAJones]

Jimmy Page Performs at New York Stock Exchange

May 11, 2005

Jimmy Page joined Warner Music Group executives on the bell podium to celebrate the company's initial public offering on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "WMG". It provided an opportunity to showcase the new Gibson Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul guitar.

Gibson Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul to Be Displayed at the NYSE

Press release

Source: Gibson Guitar

Warner Music Group Chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and New York Stock Exchange CEO John Thain visited with legendary musician Jimmy Page recently and were presented an official Gibson Custom Jimmy Page signature model guitar which will be displayed at the New York Stock Exchange.

For more information on the Gibson Custom Jimmy Page Signature model guitar go to www.gibson.com.

Guitarist Jimmy Page (center) presents an autographed Gibson Custom Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul

to Warner Music Group Chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman (left) and New York Stock Exchange CEO John Thain.

Fortune Magazine May 30, 2005

Edited September 17, 2009 by SteveAJones

[jsj]

"Leader of the Midlands Flower People" - It Was a Publicity Stunt!

Robert Plant outside Magistrates Court in Wednesbury, England on August 10th 1967

"One day we were trying to figure out how to get him some publicity, and I had just bought a bunch of velvet material for curtains. He had a court date coming up in a couple of days' time, and I thought 'Why don't we just dress him up in an outrageous costume, and we'll get all his friends to hold banners and circle the court on the day?'. So we made this velvet King John outfit, and the magistrate refused to hear the case, and it made the national news".

"We helped him get his first publicity, and the rest is history".

Interview with Tony Noons, Robert Plant's booking agent in the '60s

Originally published in Houston Press, July 17th 2003

Note: Robert's reckless driving charge was reportedly dropped on account of insufficient evidence

thanks steve. i've seen this pic many times and always wondered what it was all about

[SteveAJones]

Time The Wheel Rolls On -

Led Zeppelin

Civic Auditorium Honolulu, Hawaii

September 17, 1971

This from JWB, who attended Led Zeppelin's September 17, 1971 concert:

Civic Auditorium Demolition (1974)

"I been this way 38 years to the day" - JWB

[rayban123]

I trade stocks for a living and have cnbc tv on in my office 12 hrs a day. I'm also in a live stock chat room with about 700 other day traders.

I remember that morning he was at the exchange and playing the intro to "whole lotta love". Bob Pisani, the cnbc NYSE floor reporter reported that many floor traders knew the day before that Page was coming the next morning and brought in their old Zeppelin albums hoping for to have Page sign them. Even the guys in the chat rooms I hang out with couldn't believe Page was there. It brought back great memories for those who saw Zeppelin live in the 70s.

Jimmy Page Performs at New York Stock Exchange

May 11, 2005

Jimmy Page joined Warner Music Group executives on the bell podium to celebrate the company's initial public offering on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "WMG". It provided an opportunity to showcase the new Gibson Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul guitar.

Gibson Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul to Be Displayed at the NYSE

Press release

Source: Gibson Guitar

Warner Music Group Chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and New York Stock Exchange CEO John Thain visited with legendary musician Jimmy Page recently and were presented an official Gibson Custom Jimmy Page signature model guitar which will be displayed at the New York Stock Exchange.

For more information on the Gibson Custom Jimmy Page Signature model guitar go to www.gibson.com.

Guitarist Jimmy Page (center) presents an autographed Gibson Custom Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul

to Warner Music Group Chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman (left) and New York Stock Exchange CEO John Thain.

Fortune Magazine May 30, 2005

[SteveAJones]

I trade stocks for a living and have cnbc tv on in my office 12 hrs a day. I'm also in a live stock chat room with about 700 other day traders.

I remember that morning he was at the exchange and playing the intro to "whole lotta love". Bob Pisani, the cnbc NYSE floor reporter reported that many floor traders knew the day before that Page was coming the next morning and brought in their old Zeppelin albums hoping for to have Page sign them. Even the guys in the chat rooms I hang out with couldn't believe Page was there. It brought back great memories for those who saw Zeppelin live in the 70s.

The Associated Press issued the following report:

LED ZEPPELIN guitarist Jimmy Page, jamming in the midst of the suit-and-tie executives of Warner Music Group Corp., helped ring the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday (May 11) as the music publisher celebrated its initial public stock offering.

But Warner Music's stock, trading under the symbol WMG on the New York Stock Exchange, hit an early sour note, falling 85 cents to $16.15 in early trading. The company reduced its offering price from an expected $22 to $24 per share to $17 late Tuesday after it became clear the market felt the higher price was not justified.

The recording company sold 32.6 million shares to the public, bringing in $554.2 million, though the company plans to set aside just $7 million for general corporate purposes. The rest will go to paying down debts related to an investor group's purchase of the company from Time Warner Inc. last year, according to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The private investors, led by Edgar Bronfman Jr., purchased the music publisher last year for $2.6 billion. The label's artists include GREEN DAY and MADONNA.

Page played "Whole Lotta Love" for the traders and guests assembled at the stock exchange.

------------------

Associated Press - updated 6:35 p.m. ET May 11, 2005

NEW YORK - Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page entertained the New York Stock Exchange with the band’s “Whole Lotta Love” at the opening bell Wednesday, but little of that love extended to Warner Music Group Corp.’s stock, which fell in its first day of trading.

Shares of Warner Music, trading under the symbol WMG, fell 60 cents to $16.40 after its initial public offering priced at $17 per share late Tuesday. The company, heavily criticized in the media and by its biggest musical act for its initial public offering plans, had to reduce its offering price from $22 to $24 after a negative reception from investors.

WMG’s IPO plans came under intense scrutiny. The Wall Street Journal this week criticized its share price as overvalued and The New York Times last month wrote a long examination of the company that questioned whether it would be able to regain its former luster.

Edited September 18, 2009 by SteveAJones

[SteveAJones]

Has Wall Street Changed Its Tune?

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and JEFF LEEDS

New York Times

Published: June 19, 2005

WHEN the Warner Music Group went public last month, Edgar Bronfman Jr., its flamboyant chief executive, took a victory lap at the New York Stock Exchange. After the Led Zeppelin guitar god Jimmy Page serenaded traders with "Whole Lotta Love," the band's 1969 hit, Mr. Bronfman wandered the floor with a bevy of investors in tow.

Also basking in the glow of the offering that day were the big Wall Street firms that made it happen: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank. Conspicuously absent from that group, though, was Merrill Lynch, which had been listed in Warner Music's original prospectus as one its main underwriters.

And therein lies a tale - one that may bring tears of joy to Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, who had mounted a high-profile campaign against conflict-ridden, stock-touting Wall Street research analysts.

Merrill decided it had to drop out of the Warner offering after its top media research analyst, Jessica Reif Cohen, told her firm's senior bankers that they were overpricing the shares, according to several executives involved in the initial public offering. And her opinion cost Merrill not just a prestigious client, but also millions of dollars in fees.

Ms. Reif Cohen, it turns out, was right. In fact, the I.P.O. was such a dud that Warner Music had to lower the planned offering price to $17 a share, down from a range of $22 to $24. The price has generally been flat ever since; on Friday, the shares closed at $16.82.

Merrill's decision to abandon the Warner offering may be the most striking example of changes that have occurred since Wall Street's landmark $1.4 billion settlement with Mr. Spitzer nearly two years ago. The settlement was in response to his accusations that research analysts knowingly lured investors to buy shares in troubled companies.

Clearly, someone in Ms. Reif Cohen's position would have thought long and hard before pooh-poohing such a deal in the 1990's. Back then, an analyst with a negative view of a company's stock offering would probably have kept quiet - bonuses depended on such deals - or have been muzzled by investment bankers, who were worried about their own, even bigger bonuses.

"Integrity has reared its head," said John C. Coffee Jr., a professor of securities law at Columbia University. "This whole story couldn't have happened three years ago. That analyst would have been threatened in so many ways. Now the bankers can't say anything."

And Ms. Reif Cohen's behavior may not be an aberration. Throughout Wall Street, research analysts at major investment banks are increasingly showing a new sense of independence, often putting them in direct conflict with the more lucrative investment banking business, experts say. In other words, the days when a chief executive like Citigroup's Sanford I. Weill could pick up the phone to lobby Jack Grubman, the firm's telecommunications analyst, to change his rating on AT&T may be over.

SEVERAL recent academic studies confirm that point. In perhaps the most exhaustive study on the subject, professors at the John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis concluded that since the settlement, research analysts were doing far less hyping of companies that do business with their firm's investment banking counterparts. Before the settlement, research analysts at investment banks had a "buy" or "strong buy" rating on 77 percent of the companies they covered, according to the study; today the figure is just 53.4 percent.

Ms. Reif Cohen's involvement in Warner Music's public offering shows that research analysts still play a surprisingly big role in investment banking - but perhaps not the one that their firms prefer.

During a series of interviews, more than a half-dozen executives involved in Warner's I.P.O. - including bankers, lawyers, private equity managers and company employees - reconstructed what happened behind the scenes of the offering. None would speak on the record, mostly because of worries that they would upset business relationships or perhaps generate shareholder lawsuits.

In late February, Warner Music, the nation's third-largest record company, behind the Universal Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, made the call to sell shares publicly. The company, which Time Warner sold in 2004 to Mr. Bronfman and a group of private equity firms led by Thomas H. Lee Partners, was looking to cash in after significantly overhauling its business.

So Mr. Bronfman and Michael D. Fleisher, Warner Music's chief financial officer, along with the company's private equity investors, invited about a half-dozen investment banks to underwrite the stock offering and help them sell it.

In early March, Warner's board chose Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to lead the offering and to coordinate the process with the other banks. One of those other banks was Merrill Lynch, which jumped at the opportunity.

Each underwriter stood to share in a $26.3 million pool and solidify a relationship that could lead to other offerings or advisory work for the company down the road.

Merrill was chosen because of its brokerage business, but another draw for Warner Music was Ms. Reif Cohen and her influence in the media industry. "I know it's 2005, but you still don't do a media I.P.O. without trying to include Jessica," said one executive who helped select the banks.

Indeed, Ms. Reif Cohen is one of the most prominent research analysts in the industry. She got her start in 1984 and made her name in the early 1990's covering the News Corporation and Time Warner. In December, the Hollywood Reporter ranked her as one of the 100 most powerful women in show business, ahead of the Olsen twins and Pat Mitchell, the president and chief executive of the Public Broadcasting Service. And her annual conference is a must-attend for the media-circuit set.

"You don't get this kind of support unless you're very good at what you do, and you're straight with people," said Anthony Valencia, a media analyst at TCWGroup, an investment management company with more than $100 billion under management. "Jessica is one of the, if not the most well-connected analyst in the media space and as a result, people listen to what she says."

Ms. Reif Cohen, through a Merrill Lynch spokeswoman, declined to comment for this article.

While Merrill's investment bankers pulled all-nighters to figure out a strategy to sell Warner to the public, Ms. Reif Cohen got into the act in her own way. As part of the I.P.O. process after the Wall Street settlement, research analysts are asked to make separate, independent recommendations to the bankers about how they assess the client's business prospects. The conversations take place in conference calls that are monitored by the bank's compliance lawyers - "chaperones," in industry parlance - to avoid running afoul of the settlement's rules.

In March, about two months before the offering, Ms. Reif Cohen and research analysts for all the other investment banks were summoned to Warner Music's headquarters at Rockefeller Center for a presentation by Mr. Bronfman and Mr. Fleisher. After taking in a series of PowerPoint slides that went through the company's prospects, the expanding digital music market and comparisons to EMI, the only other publicly traded independent music company, Ms. Reif Cohen returned to her office and spent the next two weeks conducting her own analysis.

In early April, she told Merrill's research recommendation committee that she believed Warner Music's shares were worth less than $17 a share, according to two executives involved in the process. She was particularly negative about the amount of debt that Warner had taken on to pay back its private equity investors quickly.

Her glum assessment of the company created an enormous problem for Merrill Lynch's bankers, who had already told Warner Music that their own analysis pegged the price at $30 a share. At the time, Warner Music and Thomas H. Lee Partners were similarly bullish and were pushing for a valuation that would have allowed the company to price its shares at more than $25.

The situation became worse for Merrill because other banks and their analysts appeared to agree with a price of at least $25. "The episode was a nightmare," a Merrill Lynch banker said. "What were we supposed to do? We couldn't sell the deal to investors if Jessica was going to be telling everyone that our client was worthless."

In pre-settlement days, the firm's bankers might have gone back to Ms. Reif Cohen and tried to pressure her. Now, however, all they could do was hope that she might change her mind on her own.

Upon hearing that she was down on the I.P.O., Warner Music called her and went through its entire presentation again. She wasn't buying it.

Why were Warner Music and the other investment banks so worried about the possibility that Merrill would drop out? Because Merrill had already been listed as an underwriter and they were nervous that investors would notice Merrill's absence and raise questions about the deal.

With the exception of one research analyst at an independent firm - Richard Greenfield of Fulcrum Global Partners - no one seemed to note Merrill's mysterious disappearance publicly. Mr. Greenfield mentioned it only in passing in a research note.

STILL, some in-the-know investors whispered about what had happened at Merrill. As Goldman and Morgan tried to gauge demand in the days before the offering, it became clear to them that investors were skittish about Warner's price, reflecting doubts about the industry's prospects for taming digital piracy - not to mention disapproval of the amounts pocketed by the private equity investors.

It didn't help that other I.P.O.'s were floundering at the time. And, yes, Merrill's mysterious disappearance weighed on some. "We had heard about what happened with Jessica," one hedge fund manager said. "It didn't inspire confidence."

After a series of emergency conference calls among the banks, private equity firms and Warner's managers, the company lowered the amount of money that it would try to raise and reduced the price of the offering. In the end, the I.P.O. raised $554.2 million, with net proceeds of an estimated $517 million, which was allocated to paying debt. While the investors sought a price that would have valued Warner at more than $3.4 billion, not counting debt, the pared offering ultimately valued it at just more than $2.5 billion.

No matter what happens to Warner Music, Ms. Reif Cohen's role in the I.P.O. may suggest a turning point for Wall Street. After all, it was only five years ago, after Merrill Lynch's investment bankers were hired to advise AOL Time Warner, that Ms. Reif Cohen teamed up with Henry Blodget to issue research on that company after its merger. (Mr. Blodget, of course, was later accused of pushing the stocks of Merrill's investment banking clients.)

So what was the title of their report? "You've Got Upside."

Edited September 18, 2009 by SteveAJones

[dazedjeffy]

Here is a one-minute clip of Jimmy Page playing "Whole Lotta Love" at the New York Stock Exchange opening bell on May 11, 2005. Page was there in support of Warner Music Group. The clip is from CNN and was transmitted to affiliate stations via their Pathfire system. The lineage is CNN Pathfire>DVC Pro video tape>Discreet Edit 6.0 NLE>encoded to MPEG-2. The audio was captured off the DVC tape at 44khz. NLE would not upsample to 48khz, so the audio from the MPEG-2 was converted in TMPGEnc and then remuxed with the original video (avoiding any video recompression). Also included is a FLAC file derived from the original 44khz WAV file, so fans of uncompressed audio will have a clean copy.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/y0n1ainnoyt/jp20050512.rar

[rayban123]

Unfortunately, WMG (Warner Music Group) and VG (Vonage) probably had one of the worst timed IPO's in a long long long time.

March 2006 WMG stock starts trading, where Joe Public can buy it around $20s and goes to $30's in a few very short weeks. Then it starts to tank, and tank and tank all the way to down to its eventual bottom of $1.50s March 2009. Today WMG trades in the low $5 range.

VG (Vonage)did a mass mailing in the beginning of 2006 to their existing customer base telling them they will go public and they could buy shares in the company's product they use. Retail customers buy like no tomorrow. The day it opens, Wall Street pro's short the snot out of it and it tanks horribly on its first two days drops like a led balloon losing 33% in just two days! Vonage starts calling their retail clients, who now have just lost 33% in two days! Retail clients start saying "no way! I just lost 32% in two days and you want me to give you the thousands of dollars I told you I would give you?" It got ugly! VG never looked back and just kept tanking and tanking and taking till March 2009 where it bottom around $0.25s. Today VG trades in the mid $1.50s range.

As bad as all this might sound, at least with WMG and VG are still around. I have seen company's issue an IPO and within a few months go bk.

Sorry if I got off topic a bit. Just thought some mind find this story interesting.

Edited September 18, 2009 by rayban123

[whyalla]

Unfortunately, WMG (Warner Music Group) and VG (Vonage) probably had one of the worst timed IPO's in a long long long time.

March 2006 WMG stock starts trading, where Joe Public can buy it around $20s and goes to $30's in a few very short weeks. Then it starts to tank, and tank and tank all the way to down to its eventual bottom of $1.50s March 2009. Today WMG trades in the low $5 range.

VG (Vonage)did a mass mailing in the beginning of 2006 to their existing customer base telling them they will go public and they could buy shares in the company's product they use. Retail customers buy like no tomorrow. The day it opens, Wall Street pro's short the snot out of it and it tanks horribly on its first two days drops like a led balloon losing 33% in just two days! Vonage starts calling their retail clients, who now have just lost 33% in two days! Retail clients start saying "no way! I just lost 32% in two days and you want me to give you the thousands of dollars I told you I would give you?" It got ugly! VG never looked back and just kept tanking and tanking and taking till March 2009 where it bottom around $0.25s. Today VG trades in the mid $1.50s range.

As bad as all this might sound, at least with WMG and VG are still around. I have seen company's issue an IPO and within a few months go bk.

Sorry if I got off topic a bit. Just thought some mind find this story interesting.

A bit off topic but very interesting (to me anyway). I take it you trade? If so we have so much in common

[SteveAJones]

Jimmy Page: The Ft. Lauderdale Years

This from the New Times (Broward & Palm Beach, FL) Dec 28th 2000

Bandwidth

Jimmy Page gets all artsy

By Jeff Stratton

Master Jeffrey Holmes has more fun than the rest of us on a regular basis, and the week before last was no different. First on Saturday, December 9, Holmes turned his Sailboat Bend apartment building into Gallery Noir, showcasing a collection of edgy art from various area quirksters, including Holmes' scary collection of voodoo artifacts, many of them collected during frequent trips to New Orleans.The high point of that rain-drenched gathering was Holmes' midnight torching of a life-size self-portrait in which he is all naked and crucified. "I just dragged it out back, doused it with lamp oil, took a swig of 151, and blew a big fireball and set the thing ablaze," he explains. Among those entertained was Jimena Page, wife of ex-Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, who's been sighted around Fort Lauderdale all winter long. Seems he's holed up in some swank maxi-villa in Las Olas Isles, nursing a back injury incurred while trying to keep up with The Black Crowes. On the afternoon of Friday, December 15, Holmes' cozy apartment was visited by Mr. Zoso himself.

"I had a very special guest!" says Holmes excitedly. "Mrs. Page loved the place so much she had to bring her husband back to check it out."

Holmes describes the guitarist as "a very nice English gentleman," before adding, "a little worn. But just a really nice guy."

The two returned to snag a print of a piece that wasn't for sale: a black-and-white line drawing of a witch.

This from the New Times (Broward & Palm Beach, FL) May 17th 2001

Best New Local Celebrity

Jimmy Page

First the former Led Zeppelin guitarist moves to your Las Olas neighborhood. Then the rock god starts showing up at parties, and his wife tries to buy art from your friends. Before long you go to your favorite local bar, and he's there, too, praising your favorite local band. Sheesh. This guy won't leave you alone. You need to chill out, so you go to yoga, but after class, you learn that your yoga instructor is Jimmy's yoga instructor! Maybe Jimmy Page doesn't want to be the best new local celebrity. Maybe he wants to be you.

This from the New Times (Broward & Palm Beach, FL) May 16th 2002

Best Artist to Skip Town

Master Jeffrey Holmes

In a town where crossing a busy street is more dangerous than the art scene, the loss of Master Jeffrey Holmes is significant. Last October, when Holmes finally made good on his threats to abandon Fort Lauderdale for New Orleans, the small outcast community he helped unite lost its strongest tether. Holmes's fascination with macabre and eerie images (tombstones, bloody roses, black cats, skeletons) manifested itself in some of the most intriguing and challenging art the town had to offer. His Sailboat Bend apartment/gallery, L'Art Noir, was even patronized by Jimmy Page during his convalescence here. But at least the Master went out with a bang at his going-away bash. Anytime a guy creates a life-size, nude self-portrait, sets it on fire, then skips town for good, we're the poorer for it.

This from the New Times (Broward & Palm Beach, FL) Jan 15th 2004

Flying North

Like so many before it, Hashbrown leaves the sunshine for a New York state of mind

By Jeff Stratton

Published on January 15, 2004

Duncan Cameron isn't going to lie to you. This is all about success. It's about fame, money, fortune, exposure, selling a superior product, and being recognized for those achievements. The Hashbrown guitarist just wants to acknowledge the crowds that have made the hard-funk band one of South Florida's favorites. "All the people who patted us on the back and told us we were doing a great job," he calls them.

"Well, if we can return that favor by making it happen MTV-style, that would be the greatest thank you."

A more deserving bunch of musicians would be difficult to locate. Perhaps the hardest-working band of the last half-decade in these parts, Hashbrown built its name by performing nearly nonstop. Week after week, month after month, Hashbrown always seemed to have a show somewhere between West Palm and Miami Beach. But over the past two years, the band slowly but masterfully cultivated an East Coast following that has led it to ditch us for the big time. New York City?Get a rope!

"It's actually Jersey City," Cameron says. "It was gonna be Brooklyn, but it turns out we can get a better deal in Jersey City -- I guess it's the name."

There, the four-bedroom stately Hashbrown manor -- equipped with, one would hope, a rumpus room -- will house Cameron, bassist/singer Clarence "Jay" Spencer, and drummer Rick Kanner. That's it. "My girlfriend is not prepared to be poor in New York," laughs Cameron, "and Jay and Rick really don't have steady girlfriends."

Also left behind is DJ Boogie Waters, dropped from the lineup a year ago after a nasty case of creative differences took hold. Cameron explains that the concept of a DJ in the band never worked as envisioned.

"Instead of other guys playing keyboards and percussion and horns and all that, we thought we could have one guy who'd have access to all those instruments on records. But it never really turned out that way. Some guys want to call themselves turntablists, but there's only a handful of people are really utilizing it to its full potential. Most guys are like [imitates cutting] wacka-wacka and just letting it go, which is what was happening with Boogie. Also, it's kind of passé at this point. A turntablist in a band is more of a mid- to late-'90s phenomenon.

"And then there were other issues. There are no superstars in Hashbrown. We all get paid the same amount at the end of the gig, and Boogie was looking for more money. Then we had this big gig last March opening up for Fishbone down on Billboard Live, and he just never showed up."

The band earned and received an extraordinary amount of local press, especially in this outlet. In the interest of full disclosure, Hashbrown was the first live band I saw after moving to Fort Lauderdale in February 2000 -- before this column had been granted a name. Suffice it to say these guys became my favorites. I'm sad to see them go, but it's impossible to argue with the logistics of their decision.

"It's about routing," Cameron says. "In five hours, we can hit so many major cities from there, and five hours from here will get you to... Tampa. Or Orlando. That's about it."

[Cue sentimental violin music]

Some of the memories we'll cherish: how 'bout the time Bandwidth joined Cameron in charging some Poorhouse employees with less-than-PC comments about racially mixed Sunday-night crowds downtown (January 24/February 7, 2002)? The columns that resulted in Hashbrown's getting banned from the room for almost six months? That was cool -- not.

"People ask me if I regret doing that, and I don't," Cameron says. "I don't. Because I think people needed to know that; maybe they didn't realize how their actions were being perceived. But since then, at least everybody does a better job of hiding how they feel."

Among the memories sure to age better: that night in May 2001 when Jimmy Page stopped in at the Poorhouse. During the band's final late-night set, Cameron noticed the pasty Led Zeppelin guitarist standing at the back bar.

"I looked over, and he's waving at me, mouthing that he wants to talk to me," Cameron recalls. "It was cool. He was really digging it. That's probably the most flattering thing ever, just to know that one of my biggest idols liked what I was doing."

And Hashbrown got to open for some pretty big names during its SoFla tenure, including three times with Fishbone ("Always cool," Duncan relates), several shows with Rick James ("He's a weirdo. When we played with him at Sunfest, he looked like he had a prosthetic stomach, but really, he'd just gained so much weight."), and G Love ("Really cool guy. He told us to keep doing it and try not to get too jaded.")

Amen to that. And Godspeed. Carry that 'Brown sound around and around.

Edited September 20, 2009 by SteveAJones

[SteveAJones]

Plant Attended Frank Zappa Gig on 4/19/88

"I attended a Frank Zappa concert at Wembley Arena in April 1988. Robert Plant was sitting at the mixing desk, very close to us. He listened to Frank playing Stairway to Heaven and Robert's comments were that he thought Frank's version was better than his and that he wished he had done it that way. You should give it a listen."

-Georgina Streeter from Weymouth

Note: This public appearance was two night's after Plant was joined by Page at his Hammersmith Odeon gig.

[Sems Fir]

Plant Attended Frank Zappa Gig on 4/19/88

"I attended a Frank Zappa concert at Wembley Arena in April 1988. Robert Plant was sitting at the mixing desk, very close to us. He listened to Frank playing Stairway to Heaven and Robert's comments were that he thought Frank's version was better than his and that he wished he had done it that way. You should give it a listen."

-Georgina Streeter from Weymouth

Note: This public appearance was two night's after Plant was joined by Page at his Hammersmith Odeon gig.

Hey Steve!

If possible can you post the part of the interview where Plant talks about the tadpole in a jar reference?

Robert

www.behindthetoys.com

[SteveAJones]

Hey Steve!

If possible can you post the part of the interview where Plant talks about the tadpole in a jar reference?

Robert

www.behindthetoys.com

Robert, I would love to as soon as I find it. I seem to recall the interviewer was an American journalist. Anyway,

just to paraphrase what Robert said - he was walking one day and passed by a stone lion in front of a library or something within the paws of which someone had placed a goldfish in a bowl for sakekeeping. It stuck in his mind and eventually found it's way into lyrics. Others insist it is an English colloquial figure of speech/sexual metaphor, in which case he may have been putting the American journalist on. I do hope to find this sooner rather than later.

[zepcowboy]

I've really enjoyed reading this thread over the past ten months or so; I followed a link from another Zeppelin site and decided to start at the beginning. After quite a while, I've made it through all 143 pages. I was probably most interested in the detailed information about the cancellation of the last leg of the Page/Crowes US tour. Thanks to Mr. Jones and his many collaborators for an incredibly informative thread!

[SteveAJones]

I've really enjoyed reading this thread over the past ten months or so; I followed a link from another Zeppelin site and decided to start at the beginning. After quite a while, I've made it through all 143 pages. I was probably most interested in the detailed information about the cancellation of the last leg of the Page/Crowes US tour. Thanks to Mr. Jones and his many collaborators for an incredibly informative thread!

My most recent posts concerning Jimmy in Ft. Lauderdale confirm he must have arrived there sometime between

the end of November/early to mid December 2000. He was backstage at The Who's Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert in London on Nov 27th 2000 and he and Jimena visited Master Jeffrey Holmes' Sailboat bend apartment/gallery on Dec 15th 2000. He had cancelled a meeting to resolve 'Live Yardbirds! Featuring Jimmy Page' royalties and ownership around this same time. Anyway, while in Ft. Lauderdale he continued to receive physical therapy for his back injury through spring 2001.

[dazedjeffy]

Steve,

Page 116 of the 2005 Edition of Led Zeppelin: The Concert File says that on August 5, 1970 @ the Whisky A Go Go that "John Bonham allegedly attended the performance of Irish rock band Skid Row featuring Gary Moore at this LA Venue. They jammed on a version of 'Whole Lotta Love' and 'Got My Mojo Working'. The performance surfaced on a bootleg CD in 1999 titled 'Whole Lotta Love'."

On the website http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Whisky-A-Go-Go%20History.htm it says that on August 5-9, 1970 the bands Rhinoceros and If performed and that on October 28-November 1, 1970, Skid Row and Pollution performed. The webmaster of this site assured me that through their records, Skid Row only performed one set of dates at the Whisky from 1966 through 1975, however their list only included advertised performers, not last minute changes or local bands.

On the website http://home.c2i.net/gaz/tour/1970.htm it says that Skid Row was in a UK Universities tour in early August 1970 and http://www.marmalade-skies.co.uk/aug1970.htm says roughly the same thing. It also says that Skid Row was at Fillmore West in SF in November 1970.

Now, if Zeppelin's 1970 US Tour ended on September 19th and by December 1970, the band started recording the untitled 4th album at Headley Grange, what was John Bonham doing in LA in November 1970? Wouldn't he have been at Old Hyde? Jethro Tull was playing the LA Forum on October 18, 1970 (Bore 'Em At The Forum??????) Perhaps he was there at the time. That's a stretch but the only thing the chickenonaunicycle.com webmaster could think of.

Do you have any press pinpointing John Bonham in LA in October/November 1970 or August 5, 1970 as The Concert File and http://gary-moore.cool.ne.jp/english/discography/data/01b_skidrow.html say?

[SteveAJones]

Steve,

Page 116 of the 2005 Edition of Led Zeppelin: The Concert File says that on August 5, 1970 @ the Whisky A Go Go that "John Bonham allegedly attended the performance of Irish rock band Skid Row featuring Gary Moore at this LA Venue. They jammed on a version of 'Whole Lotta Love' and 'Got My Mojo Working'. The performance surfaced on a bootleg CD in 1999 titled 'Whole Lotta Love'."

On the website http://www.chickenon...o%20History.htm it says that on August 5-9, 1970 the bands Rhinoceros and If performed and that on October 28-November 1, 1970, Skid Row and Pollution performed. The webmaster of this site assured me that through their records, Skid Row only performed one set of dates at the Whisky from 1966 through 1975, however their list only included advertised performers, not last minute changes or local bands.

On the website http://home.c2i.net/gaz/tour/1970.htm it says that Skid Row was in a UK Universities tour in early August 1970 and http://www.marmalade....uk/aug1970.htm says roughly the same thing. It also says that Skid Row was at Fillmore West in SF in November 1970.

Now, if Zeppelin's 1970 US Tour ended on September 19th and by December 1970, the band started recording the untitled 4th album at Headley Grange, what was John Bonham doing in LA in November 1970? Wouldn't he have been at Old Hyde? Jethro Tull was playing the LA Forum on October 18, 1970 (Bore 'Em At The Forum??????) Perhaps he was there at the time. That's a stretch but the only thing the chickenonaunicycle.com webmaster could think of.

Do you have any press pinpointing John Bonham in LA in October/November 1970 or August 5, 1970 as The Concert File and http://gary-moore.co...1b_skidrow.html say?

Insofar as August 5th 1970, we may have to ask Dave Lewis what his source was for Bonham being in Los Angeles. August 5th 1970 was to be the start of a summer-long North American Led Zeppelin tour, but that date and all which followed thru August 13th 1970 were cancelled to allow JPJ to stay beside his dying father.

On October 16th 1970 Page, Grant, Plant and Jones attended an awards ceremony at the Savoy in London to honor sales of 'Led Zeppelin II' (and a US single ?). This is the only public appearance I show for Led Zeppelin between the end of tour and the start of the fourth album. It's quite likely Bonzo didn't want to leave home for

it. I can't imagine him going all the way to Los Angeles without the band.

I'm going from memory at the moment but as I recall he was still living in West Hagley at the time (didn't purchase the Old Hyde in Cutnall Green until 1972). I could be mistaken. I do know that during this time (Autmn 1970) John would go to Bev Bevan's home for dinner on Sunday's and Bev would open his shop, Heavy Head Records on Sparkhill, just for John.

I show fourth album recording sessions starting in December 1970 actually began at Island Studios but they failed to achieve results. While there Jimmy visited the upstairs studio as Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre was performing the second take of 'Aqualung'. Jimmy visited Headley Grange that same month and was convinced it fit the bill for a proper recording environment. He booked the Rolling Stones' mobile recording studio and hired engineer Andy Johns.

Residents objected to the Boston College Eagle Rock Festival set for August 13th, so Mayor White revoked the license two days prior to event. I think but I'm not sure everyone was in Boston at the time it was cancelled, and JPJ had of course rejoined the band for their next gig at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, CT the next night.

Edited September 25, 2009 by SteveAJones

[SteveAJones]

Led Zeppelin Central Park '69 Film Discovered

This from Terry Stephenson:

Exclusive from led-zeppelin.org's Adam Vickery and courtesy of film archivist Bill Shelley:

With the recent announcement and unearthing of a rare Led Zeppelin film I inquired to Mr. Bill Shelley about his find. When asked details of his Central Park footage he responded with the following statement.

"Yes, my company Shelley Archives Inc does have film materials of Led Zeppelin in Central Park 1969. We own approximately 40 minutes of color 16mm film (negative and positive) that have to be match edited and sound sync'd. The sound is on 16mm full coat mag track.

For the moment there are possible plans for restoration through several record companies I'm involved with. As you may know, copyrights, publishing rights and image licensing from the artists have to be cleared in order to do anything with this film footage and this amounts often to a legal and long standing nightmare. My company is currently being licensed by Eagle Rock Entertainment for DVD releases of concert materials in the vault."

Best Wishes,

Bill Shelley

Shelley Archives Inc

[Deborah J]

Led Zeppelin Central Park '69 Film Discovered

This from Terry Stephenson:

Exclusive from led-zeppelin.org's Adam Vickery and courtesy of film archivist Bill Shelley:

With the recent announcement and unearthing of a rare Led Zeppelin film I inquired to Mr. Bill Shelley about his find. When asked details of his Central Park footage he responded with the following statement.

"Yes, my company Shelley Archives Inc does have film materials of Led Zeppelin in Central Park 1969. We own approximately 40 minutes of color 16mm film (negative and positive) that have to be match edited and sound sync'd. The sound is on 16mm full coat mag track.

For the moment there are possible plans for restoration through several record companies I'm involved with. As you may know, copyrights, publishing rights and image licensing from the artists have to be cleared in order to do anything with this film footage and this amounts often to a legal and long standing nightmare. My company is currently being licensed by Eagle Rock Entertainment for DVD releases of concert materials in the vault."

Best Wishes,

Bill Shelley

Shelley Archives Inc

Steve, do you think this will eventually go into production for purchase, Sounds like it could be a while?

[SteveAJones]

Steve, do you think this will eventually go into production for purchase, Sounds like it could be a while?

IMHO, if history is an indicator then an authorized release doesn't look good. If I'm not mistaken Wolfgang's Vault has some Led Zeppelin film footage yet to be released on account of the same legal issues Eagle Rock will be faced with. Such films could possibly be released if Led Zeppelin should decide to produce a follow-up to their 'Led Zeppelin' dvd and incorporate them into that. Of course, the quality of the footage is the primary factor.

[jsj]

i'll offer an entry from uncut magazine january 2008, that i've just found. in a feature titled "worst gigs ever seen"

LED ZEPPELIN MEMORIAL HALL, KANSAS CITY, 1969".

"i saw led zeppelin pretty early on. they did a quick stopover in kasas city and played on a local band's equipment (blues garden). during the set change, a guy came on stage, stripped to the waist, wearing a cape and a zorro hat. he opened his cape and began shouting gibberish into a mic, it was john bonham. apparently, the band killed some time in the afternoon at a nearby Shakey's pizzeria, chugging beer and in bonhams case, whisky. he was blackout drunk.

their first song was 'whole lotta love'. page did the opening riff and bonham just sat there. it became evident that there was a roadie behind him holding him upright. he would sporadically snap out of his coma and pound out some licks completely unrelated to the song, then slump over. at one point, JPJ hit him in the head with his bass. nothing. page killed time with his violin bow guitar schtik. when they'd met their contractual obligation bonham promptly vomited on the drums and passed out"

gary durrett. glendale, california

is this likely?

Edited September 28, 2009 by jsj

[SteveAJones]

i'll offer an entry from uncut magazine january 2008, that i've just found. in a feature titled "worst gigs ever seen"

LED ZEPPELIN MEMORIAL HALL, KANSAS CITY, 1969".

"i saw led zeppelin pretty early on. they did a quick stopover in kasas city and played on a local band's equipment (blues garden). during the set change, a guy came on stage, stripped to the waist, wearing a cape and a zorro hat. he opened his cape and began shouting gibberish into a mic, it was john bonham. apparently, the band killed some time in the afternoon at a nearby Shakey's pizzeria, chugging beer and in bonhams case, whisky. he was blackout drunk.

their first song was 'whole lotta love'. page did the opening riff and bonham just sat there. it became evident that there was a roadie behind him holding him upright. he would sporadically snap out of his coma and pound out some licks completely unrelated to the song, then slump over. at one point, JPJ hit him in the head with his bass. nothing. page killed time with his violin bow guitar schtik. when they'd met their contractual obligation bonham promptly vomited on the drums and passed out"

gary durrett. glendale, california

is this likely?

Hi JSJ,

Great find and it's essentially true. Led Zeppelin gave two public performances at the Memorial Hall in Kansas City on November 5th 1969. They had played in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada the night before and they did use unfamiliar gear for the Memorial Hall show according to a Kansas City Star review published the next day. Supporting acts were Morning Star, Bartok's Mountain, Spokesmen, Blues Garden and Bill Zickos. Bonham had gotten so drunk he nearly missed the second show, and Robert mentioned this tour escapade from the stage at Winterland in San Francisco the next night.

Following their Memorial Hall performances, Page, Plant, Bonham, Jones & Cole went to drink at the bar in the Muehlbach hotel where in the early morning hours Bonham was arrested in the lobby for public drunkeness.

Edited September 28, 2009 by SteveAJones

[jsj]

Hi JSJ,

Great find and it's essentially true. Led Zeppelin gave two public performances at the Memorial Hall in Kansas City on November 5th 1969. They had played in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada the night before and they did use unfamiliar gear for the Memorial Hall show according to a Kansas City Star review published the next day. Supporting acts were Morning Star, Bartok's Mountain, Spokesmen, Blues Garden and Bill Zickos. Bonham had gotten so drunk he nearly missed the second show, and Robert mentioned this tour escapade from the stage at Winterland in San Francisco the next night.

Following their Memorial Hall performances, Page, Plant, Bonham, Jones & Cole went to drink at the bar in the Muehlbach hotel where in the early morning hours Bonham was arrested in the lobby for public drunkeness.