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When Giants Walked the Earth


aen27

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"When Giants Walked the Earth reveals for the first time the true extent of band leader Jimmy Page's longstanding interest in the occult....."

promo lines like this worry me. used to sell many a book, the promises of personal dirt or witchcraft costs writers a ton of credibility before page 1 (except with the crowleyites, and they are usually disappointed with the lack of real scholarship this kind of advert promises).

i would love to buy and read a william shirer/robert massie kind of researched book on my favorite band. i hope for this but i'll buy it without holding my breath...

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I can not wait for this!!!!! Since Mick Wall has known Jimmy for so long, this might be the next best thing to his autobiography. I hope Jimmy could bring them back for good!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Giants-Walked...9670&sr=1-5

Thanks for the reminder! I read about this some time ago but had forgotten about it. Fall is just around the corner! :D

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"When Giants Walked the Earth reveals for the first time the true extent of band leader Jimmy Page's longstanding interest in the occult....."

promo lines like this worry me. used to sell many a book, the promises of personal dirt or witchcraft costs writers a ton of credibility before page 1 (except with the crowleyites, and they are usually disappointed with the lack of real scholarship this kind of advert promises).

i would love to buy and read a william shirer/robert massie kind of researched book on my favorite band. i hope for this but i'll buy it without holding my breath...

I imagine that is something that the publishers came up with in order to promote the book. Unfortunately, the scandalous and salacious seems to be what sells books (it worked for Cole and Stephen Davis). As for as the "true extent of Jimmy Page's longstanding interest in the occult...", I don't know what Mick Wall has to offer readers beyond what Jimmy has discussed in recent (and past) interviews.

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"When Giants Walked the Earth reveals for the first time the true extent of band leader Jimmy Page's longstanding interest in the occult....."

Why do these sensationalist writers think we need to know this? Whatever Jimmy chooses to believe in or not believe in is nobody's business but his.

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Why do these sensationalist writers think we need to know this? Whatever Jimmy chooses to believe in or not believe in is nobody's business but his.

i would love to read a well-researched and well-written book that also covers jimmy's personal interests, but when the tome is being touted this way, it usually is a book such as cole's or davis's, i'm sorry to say.

here's hoping that i'm wrong....

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Even though it's unofficial, I'm sure I will still buy it when it comes out. I hope there's at least a few good photos in there. I said the same thing when that Robert Plant book came out at the beginning of the year and it was an absolute piece of crap. I hope this one is a little bit better (shouldn't be too hard).

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7134245.jpg

C'mon people ! You wouldn't trust this credible guy to give you "the true story" on Jimmy's fascination with the occult ? :D

Watch those bookshelves for Bong-Man's coming release...."Back-masking Forever !". I'll be posting an excerpt on this board shortly.

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speaking of zep books, if you have a barnes and noble near you, there are two zep books on the discount table: 'dazed and confused' by chris welch (i picked up a 2nd mint copy for $8.99) and neal preston's 'a photographic collection' which i picked up a thumbed thru copy for $9.99. the welch book is 'the story behind every song' book, which isn't the greatest or most accurate, but it is well published and bound. excellent photo's, too. the neal preston book is excellent. look for them!

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from mick wall's 'star blog'

i sifted the last two month's but really put a good read on the archive to get a feel for this zep book. i'm definitely going to get it now. his blog is tight, hard, and honest. check it out after you read this.

here's the link:

www.mickwall.com

15 May, 2008

Spent the last two days diligently (brain-achingly) going through all my remaining material on the Zep book, sifting through what's left to find out what I've still got and try and figure out what goes where and when (which chapter etc) - and how many chapters that actually leaves me to write. About four, by the looks of it, followed by intro, epilogue and some other odds and sods. This is good on the one hand because it puts the whole thing much more within reach, kind of like drawing the finishing line for me. This is also not good because it makes me realise just HOW MUCH there is still to do.

26 May, 2008

Finished the latest chapter of the Zep book on Saturday night and decided to make a late orbital re-entry to the homestead. Why not, it's the Bank Holiday and everybody else is kicking back, right, so...

28 May, 2008

Meanwhile, was fliicking through Youtube looking at old Zep clips - hello BP and the Starship, circa '73, JPJ with what looks like a bunch of flowers up his sleeve, Robert reading a book (upside down) - and found one of me talking to Mike Tramp, then of White Lion, and Phil Soussan, then of Ozzy's band, while standing on Mullholland Drive dressed as Rob Halford - except I've got REALLY LONG HAIR. And I'm skinny. And talk with a fake American accent (sort of). Showed it to wife and she nearly shit she laughed so much. "You look so gay!" she screamed.

Ah, posterity, who knew you'd turn out to such a whore...

09 June, 2008

I hadn't realised until just now that it had been a whole week since I'd last blogged. But that tells you about the week I've had. Been sending chapters of the Zep book off to the publishers. Not because it's finished, just that it's so far behind schedule that they're resigned to taking it off me piece by piece, in the hope that by the time they've read what I've done I'll have finished the rest. It may even work out that way, too. The problem is this has meant actually reading the chapters back, one by one. Very weird, very time-consuming, very scary, very exciting (sometimes) and just very... you know. Especially the early ones, as they were done over six months ago. Yet are somehow meant to seamlessly relate to everything else written more recently. Which they do, mostly. Or do better now I've had a week of bashing them around.

The question is: is it any good? The answer no longer lies with me. It's all now in the lap of the editor, a fine chap named Ian. I just hope he's more God than Hammer, when it comes to Passing Judgement. I don't want to end up in the Dead Sea. Not after all this time and effort. And love and hate. And fucking of the head and heart. You know what I mean

17 June, 2008

These late nights have meant I'm listening to a lot of music again. I mean, there's always music on somewhere round here usually but it's only when I'm on my own sweating at the desk that it starts to really seep into what's left of my so-called soul. Between 11.00pm and 1.00am most nights that means Late Junction on Radio 3. I wish more stations would do shows like this - weird, slow, slower, slower still, late-nite shadows full of stuff you've never heard before but just sounds right at that time of night. Years ago Radio 1 did a chill-out zone at about 4.00am every Saturday night/Sunday morning, fronted by Weird Annie Nightingale, which was also good but who the fuck needs it at that time? 11.00pm to 1.00am, puuurrrfect....

Early evening is more about my own CD collection. On my desk right now that means the first Crosby Stills & Nash album - gotta love 'Guinnevere', man, like 'Jar Of Flies'-era Alice In Chains but better sung, and played, and written and... dug. Looking down to my right I also see Miles Davis' 'Sketches Of Spain' (so far out he really didn't come back), Zeppelin's 'Presence' (the best worst album they ever did, stunning in a gun in the mouth sort of way), the first Spirit album, Joni's 'Blue' and the Flying Burrito Bros 'Gilded Palace Of Sin' and... lots of other shit. The main thing is mood music right now. I need the mood - and the vibe and the luck and the right kind of air in the room - to be with me as I rush to finish the Mighty Zep on time.

Jimmy Page whiplashed the band through 'Prescence' in three weeks, once they'd written the songs. That's what I hang on to as I try and finish this bastard before my birthday, which is this coming Monday. I won't make that deadline but I'm gonna try and make this all end later that week. And all without the benefit of drugs or any other vital stimulus besides coffee, juice, red wine, noisy kids and the occasional grope from the wife. Get me, the old fuck with the future all up his arse. He thinks...

23 June, 2008

In case you've missed the international TV news bulletins, it is my 50th birthday today. Naturally, the phone, email and front door have not stopped going all day as gifts, cards and messages of goodwill arrive from all over the world.

Axl Rose: Happy Birthday old friend. Love ya!

Jimmy Page: GOOD LUCK WITH THE BOOK!

Ozzy and Sharon: Happy Fucking Birthday You Old Cunt!

The Queen: My husband and I congratulate you on reaching this great age...

And check out this one from Jon Bon Jovi: "I never usually acknowledge anyone from my big haired past but hey, like, you know, country music is great, isn't it?"

Yes, it is Jon. Not that you'd know.

Just sitting here now waiting for my very good friend Ross to call. He won't forget me, I'm sure...

posted by Mick Wall # Monday, June 30, 2008

27 June, 2008

Found myself, for various reasons, going through a pile of old mags and papers from the late 60s, early-70s this morning. It might be nostalgia, though I doubt it, but what a better world it was back then for the music press. These days the only mags that do really well are the ones devoted to banging on about how great the bands from those days were. At the time, though, most critics worth a damn spent most of their time telling us what a load of rusty tin pots these so-called wondrous idols really were. Zeppelin? Not even as good as Cream or the Who, apparently. The Who? Nowhere near as good as the Stones and Hendrix, it says here. Jagger and Jimi? Not fit to wipe Lennon and McCartney's loveable backsides, obviously. While everyone knew that neither of those two came close to matching Bob Dylan for lyrics that, like, really meant something, man.

Now whether you agree with any of this or not it's still more refreshing to read stuff like this than the arse-licking gobshite you get now. Hence the dreadful fawning over the Zeppelin O2 show last year from people that wouldn't have been seen dead listening to Houses Of The Holy when it first came out (and have probably still not heard of it now) or the disgusting drooling over the very nice but not that good Paul Weller album currently by people that, again, would be extremely hard pushed to name even one of his previous solo albums, let alone which of them was actually worth more than a desultory ten-pint fuck.

posted by Mick Wall # Saturday, July 12, 2008

11 July, 2008

Well, it's done. The book, I mean, of course. The final couple of chapters got sent off in the early hours of this morning and I sat here at my desk having a small-ish glass of Bush Mills whiskey to... I was going to say celebrate but it didn't feel like a celebration, more a collapse over the finish line. I don't feel happy it's over because it isn't yet. Ian, the editor has to do his thing, as do the lawyers. A process I truly hate, being unable to take criticism of my work on any level. I mean, I take it obviously, because I have to, and sometimes because it actually makes sense, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't shoot dead the ones daring to do the criticising.

Other things have to happen too, formalities, but they all take days and weeks. By the time all the various boxes have finally been ticked I will be too far past it in my mind to celebrate or be happy. There will just come a moment when I'm not working on the damn thing anymore. And then there will be a kind of blank acknowledgement in my mind as I'm walking to the toilet or sitting on the bed staring at my feet. In fact, the only fun you ever get from these things is holding the finished article in your hands, months later, smelling the cover, but still too worried to actually crack it open and read a page or two in case you notice an error, which of course you nearly always do immediately. Or I do.

I do get to sit here though and write the words: it's done. I suspect this will come as almost as much of a relief to the readers of this blog as it does to me. But look at it like this, if you grew sick of reading about me working on the book all this time, imagine how I felt having to keep on about it, through the hotel days, the cottage, the screaming, smiling, lovely, maddening kids and totally understanding, loving, screaming mad without whom wife. Not just here but every time I spoke to anyone. I was chatting on the phone to Status Quo's manager Simon Porter the other day and he reminded me that the last time we saw each other was when the band played in Oxford last November and we went out to dinner, and that I had been talking about how the book was going.

"It seems like a lifetime ago," I said.

"It bloody well is a lifetime ago!" he said. "What's taken so long?"

I'm still asking myself the same thing...

posted by Mick Wall # Tuesday, July 15, 2008

12 July, 2008

Been clearing out my office, filing away the endless boxes and bags of Zeppelin 'stuff'. I still need to hang onto some of it as there are still many things to do before shutting down completely, but getting it onto shelves or 'filed' in the garage is good for the broken-down head. Dreading the editing which begins next week, though. Still, not as much as I was dreading starting the book, or freaking out in the middle of it, those long dark potholes back in the winter at the cottage when I would wake up - literally - screaming some nights.

No time for breathers or any of that stuff either. Got another book to write now. Which sounds so ludicrous but is true. Nothing of the same magnitude as Zep, thank god. More a mad quicky based on journalism, memories, jokes, stuff from the dumb-dumb past. Don't really want to say more here right now as I can't bear to get into the detail. It has to be finished in three weeks. Yes, that sound you hear in the way-off isn't another police siren it's me shrieking with, um, laughter. But what can I do, these bad men, they came to my house, dangled a cheque under my nose, and, forgive me father, but I signed my name in blood - again - dirty rotten junkie writer scum that I am.

posted by Mick Wall # Friday, July 18, 2008

17 July, 2008

Have to be brief as the computer I use for going online is rebelling and shutting down on me for no reason (none I can make out anyway), leaving me about 15 mins to check and respond to emails. Good in one way cos I have no time for email right now but bad in another because it's one more sodding thing to try and sort out before I die.

Speaking of which... found a whole new way to OD yesterday when I went for lunch with Simon Porter. Ate calamari for starter, swordfish for main course, no desert but had too many coffees. Fine, to a point. But when I got home found wife had decided to treat us to (huge) tuna steaks for dinner. Feeling too guilty for being out enjoying myself to say no, I sat and ate the lot. (My excuse, anyway.) Then couldn't sleep all night cos I felt like I was having a bloated-gut-induced heart-attack, a feeling which has persisted right up to this very second. What a way to go, to Die Of Fish Overindulgence. How very 00s, sort of.

Meanwhile... got the Zep book edits back today but haven't had the nerve to actually cast an eye over them yet. Actually, I lie, I have given them a glance and without going into the actualite, as they say, they don't look quite as bad as I expected. That is to say, they are not reams and reams of pages long (always a bad sign). Maybe if my gut is feeling less consciousness-expanded tomorrow I might allow myself to read them, maybe even respond. Though that may require some form of fish-assisted reward system as motivation. Should I live that long, obviously.

posted by Mick Wall # Sunday, July 20, 2008

18 July, 2008

Unsteady vibes on the home-front as it looks like I won't be joining the family in Dorset for the first week of our holiday. When we booked it last year the idea was to have four weeks down there, lazing around forgetting about everything, enjoying our just deserts, the Zep book being long since finished, life being good and - um - normal again. Then towards the end of the year we decided that four weeks might be pushing it work-wise and that we would bring one of those weeks forward to Easter, which we did, and had a nice time, even though I did end up bringing the computer with me, the Zep book being nowhere near finished yet at that time.

Now it looks like I'll be sending the family on without me for the first week, and that I'll be lucky to get two weeks down there, maybe even just one. The Zep book is finished - just - but this new thing I'm doing won't be and we're so skint we neeeeeeeeed the bread. Badly. So... my understanding wife who totally 'gets' it may be reaching the far end of what's left of her tether. This doesn't mean I get hell necessarily, just that life becomes hell, or certain aspects of it anyway, all of which is almost certainly my fault. Naturally.

I must admit I am sick of it all too. But this is the gig, man. And wife has known it all the time we've been together, stretching back to when I did the official Iron Maiden biography back in 1997. We weren't married or living together then and there came a point when I just couldn't see anybody for a few weeks, working round the clock as I was on the poxy poxy poxy book. God, that nearly finished her off. She just didn't get it at all, took it all personally. Course, it was different as the years went by and the occasional royalty cheque would come in. Then it was a great idea. Well, it's a similar story now, and she's been there with me plenty of times to know the deal by now. There just has never been such a long period of this stuff before, for either of us, and like I say, that getting older by the minute tether is now stretched mighty thin.

Star Blog

23 July, 2008

Have been working all day on the edits of the Zep book. This is where a highly skilled and intelligent editor goes through the whole thing, every last hiccup and fart, and tells you where you've gone wrong. Well, not just that but those are the parts you inevitably get stuck on for the rest of your life. In the best of worlds, this is an invaluable process, as it forces you to seriously question every aspect of what you've done and what you originally tried to do. A Very Good Thing. It also forces you to answer some fairly inane questions sometimes, like whether Terry Reid really was in the frame to become the singer before Robert Plant. Do bears wank in the woods? Well, do they? Are you sure? How sure? Lawyer sure?

I have been exceptionally lucky in that my editor Ian is a top man - official - but that doesn't make the job any easier. Especially when you're going in with an attitude half-formed by decades of working with crap editors and half-formed by your own un-erasable underdog view of things, born of years of being kicked in the goolies for reasons you have often been too thick to figure out, or worse, have known exactly why.

So anyway... a long day. Phones off, door closed, wife and kids banned from house, not even any music on, just me and it and the meaning of everything and nothing if only I can find a better way to put it, cheers. But good, now it's almost over. I'm still only halfway through but it's a long book and there's a lot of stuff to do and think about and try and not get in a huff over. Inwardly, I'm thrilled someone so professional is doing his stuff. Outwardly, I'm sweating like a rubber plant in a greenhouse in July (in Cairo on a particularly hot day). And more to look forward to tomorrow. Great joy indeed...

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speaking of zep books, if you have a barnes and noble near you, there are two zep books on the discount table: 'dazed and confused' by chris welch (i picked up a 2nd mint copy for $8.99) and neal preston's 'a photographic collection' which i picked up a thumbed thru copy for $9.99...!

Got them both- and for the price, Dazed & Confused is a good summer read at the beach. Neal Preston's Portraits book is on my Zeppelin shrine in my music room; mint first edition copy 1983. If only I could take pictures like him... one of my favorite Zeppelin books ever. Sorry, but I always thought Neal captured rock stars' personalities on film much better than Ross. Here's Neal's site: prestonpictures.com

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speaking of zep books, if you have a barnes and noble near you, there are two zep books on the discount table: 'dazed and confused' by chris welch (i picked up a 2nd mint copy for $8.99) and neal preston's 'a photographic collection' which i picked up a thumbed thru copy for $9.99. the welch book is 'the story behind every song' book, which isn't the greatest or most accurate, but it is well published and bound. excellent photo's, too. the neal preston book is excellent. look for them!

though the Neal Preston book is apparently out of stock again, through Barnes and Noble at least, thanks for the heads up because there's a Dazed and Confused available at the B&N down the street.

really appreciate it.

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Even though it's unofficial, I'm sure I will still buy it when it comes out. I hope there's at least a few good photos in there. I said the same thing when that Robert Plant book came out at the beginning of the year and it was an absolute piece of crap. I hope this one is a little bit better (shouldn't be too hard).

I purchased that new Robert Plant bio too. I agree with you. I was really disappointed in it. There are more interesting and no doubt more accurate things posted about him here than there were in the book. I bought the last Jimmy Page bio that came out last year and I didn't really care for that one either. I gave the Page bio to my son and donated the Plant bio to our local library.

I will buy "When Giants Walked the Earth" too. I like Mick Wall's writing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I would greatly prefer something along the lines of the Beatles Anthology.

Mainly, made up of quotes and interviews and rare pictures and such. Not just another story-telling style bio...

Speaking of bios, I wonder if a Led Zeppelin Movie Biopic could be entertaining?

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Check out Mick Wall's latest blog entry (August 17th)....VERY interesting. Apparently, writing this book has cost him his friendships with Jimmy and Robert.

Read it....he thinks that Robert will be ok after he reads it. Wonder what pissed Jimmy off?

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I would greatly prefer something along the lines of the Beatles Anthology.

Mainly, made up of quotes and interviews and rare pictures and such. Not just another story-telling style bio...

Speaking of bios, I wonder if a Led Zeppelin Movie Biopic could be entertaining?

you would be interested in Keith Shadwick's book then. great book and great read with great photos. one of the best, if not the best Zeppelin books without all the garbage!

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you would be interested in Keith Shadwick's book then. great book and great read with great photos. one of the best, if not the best Zeppelin books without all the garbage!

Great book - one of my faves. The photos are fantastic!

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Read it....he thinks that Robert will be ok after he reads it. Wonder what pissed Jimmy off?

here's the quote (to save the jump):

Star Blog

17 August, 2008

Reading back yesterday's blog entry a strange delrium seemed to have overtaken me. Well, not to worry, it's all gone now. Back to reality today, working my way through the copy editor's report on the Zeppelin book. Unlike the Editor's reactions, which are to do with substance, like is the damn thing any bloody good, copy editors are essentially more concerned with style. This ranges from the correct use of commas, to pointing out annoying things like repetition, and questioning what an author clearly waffling actually bloody well means. All good stuff. Except for when the copy editor oversteps the mark and tries to talk an author down from his/her lofty perch on the literary mountain and suggests serious cuts to their work. Such has been the case today. The only way to combat such outrages is not to yell FUCK OFF as is the obvious inclination but to try and argue one's corner, with tact, taste and general good humour. None of which I'm any sodding good at of course.

So... a long day. Still going on, in fact, as I run from it for a moment to write this. Not that the copy editor is evil or stupid or even particularly wrong. But as my wife pointed out, the copy editor has spent a few intense weeks on this, I have spent over two cunt-filled years. The copy editor might have lost a bit of sleep. I appear to have lost the 20-year friendship of Jimmy Page (how dare I try and write a better book than the bog-awful Hammer Of The Gods), Robert Plant (he'll change his mind when he sees it) and related friends like - apparently - Cookie, who ceased all communications the moment I fessed up and told her what I was doing. (Please come back Cookie, I miss you...)

link

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here's the quote (to save the jump):

Star Blog

17 August, 2008

Reading back yesterday's blog entry a strange delrium seemed to have overtaken me. Well, not to worry, it's all gone now. Back to reality today, working my way through the copy editor's report on the Zeppelin book. Unlike the Editor's reactions, which are to do with substance, like is the damn thing any bloody good, copy editors are essentially more concerned with style. This ranges from the correct use of commas, to pointing out annoying things like repetition, and questioning what an author clearly waffling actually bloody well means. All good stuff. Except for when the copy editor oversteps the mark and tries to talk an author down from his/her lofty perch on the literary mountain and suggests serious cuts to their work. Such has been the case today. The only way to combat such outrages is not to yell FUCK OFF as is the obvious inclination but to try and argue one's corner, with tact, taste and general good humour. None of which I'm any sodding good at of course.

So... a long day. Still going on, in fact, as I run from it for a moment to write this. Not that the copy editor is evil or stupid or even particularly wrong. But as my wife pointed out, the copy editor has spent a few intense weeks on this, I have spent over two cunt-filled years. The copy editor might have lost a bit of sleep. I appear to have lost the 20-year friendship of Jimmy Page (how dare I try and write a better book than the bog-awful Hammer Of The Gods), Robert Plant (he'll change his mind when he sees it) and related friends like - apparently - Cookie, who ceased all communications the moment I fessed up and told her what I was doing. (Please come back Cookie, I miss you...)

link

That's weird, Jimmy is on record (somewhere I can't find) as not being a HOTG fan . . . :unsure:

For the record, Mick Wall wrote the sleeve-notes to HTWWW, and is also the guy seen interviewing Jimmy and Robert on the Unledded DVD.

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here's the quote (to save the jump)

So... a long day. Still going on, in fact, as I run from it for a moment to write this. Not that the copy editor is evil or stupid or even particularly wrong. But as my wife pointed out, the copy editor has spent a few intense weeks on this, I have spent over two cunt-filled years. The copy editor might have lost a bit of sleep. I appear to have lost the 20-year friendship of Jimmy Page (how dare I try and write a better book than the bog-awful Hammer Of The Gods), Robert Plant (he'll change his mind when he sees it) and related friends like - apparently - Cookie, who ceased all communications the moment I fessed up and told her what I was doing. (Please come back Cookie, I miss you...)

link

I've been reading Mick's blog for a couple years, I'm surprised by this. He is a well known rock writer and certainly not considered to be a hack. I've read a couple of his books and thought they were well researched and written, I expect the same would be true of the Zep bio.

Through the years of reading his blog I recall him mentioning "Cookie" on occasion. He would include some of the content of her e-mails to him in his blog. He seemed to value her advice/friendship. Of course I have no way of knowing how close they may have been. It seems to me that he mentioned her last name "Vance", widow of Tommy Vance, I think? Does she work with or for Bill Curbishly? I'm sure there are others on this forum who would know better than me and would correct me if I'm wrong about this.

Mick did take a swipe at RP for not showing up at some award show which honored Zep. It wasn't the Grammy Life Time Achievement because JPJ was absent as well. JP showed up alone. I thought it was a cheap shot, especially since he did not snipe about JPJ's absence. IMO it was motivated by his frequent correspondence with Ross Halfin, who, as many of us know, can't say one nice thing about RP.

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