Web gem: Viking kittens perform 'Immigrant Song'

These comments originally appeared in an edition of the newsletter "On This Day In Led Zeppelin History."

Several people yesterday sent me to this very cute Web page. Cat lovers, beware! It's "rather good," if you asked me!

Thanks to the G-Man and 'The Naked Brunch'

Hello and thank you go out to the G-Man, who had me on his weekly radio program, "The Naked Brunch," as part of his celebration of Zeptember. His show can be heard weekly on WPSC-FM 88.7 in Wayne, N.J. Try to find it if you happen to be near William Paterson University on Sunday mornings.

Will release of DVD set spawn a Led Zeppelin reunion?

These comments originally appeared in an edition of the newsletter "On This Day In Led Zeppelin History."

Soon, we'll see a new Led Zeppelin DVD set. This much is true for sure. But will the surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunite? Think of the rumors that persisted while the band was around: They're going to break up! The rumors were wrong every time. And think of all the rumors that the surviving members of Led Zeppelin would reunite. The rumors were likewise wrong every time. History shows the odds are against a reunion.

Where were you on 9/11?

These comments originally appeared in an edition of the newsletter "On This Day In Led Zeppelin History."

Lemon Squeezings posed the question to John Paul Jones last year: Where were you when you learned of the terrorist attacks on America on Sept. 11, 2001?

"We'd just returned. We were out shopping. We'd just heard it when we came back actually. We'd heard it on the car radio. It kind of sounded at times like Orson Welles, how he did War of the Worlds. You just can't believe it."

Led Zeppelin reunion rumors refuel as Robert Plant approaches Rockline interview

This news originally appeared in an edition of the newsletter "On This Day In Led Zeppelin History."

The Led Zeppelin reunion rumors are fast and furious again. But could the rumors be true for once? Here's my perspective.

On this day in 1998, the Reading Festival was held in England, with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant playing a triumphal set. Little did anybody know that soon the Page/Plant tour would be through.

Led Zeppelin classics such as "How Many More Times" and "Black Dog" were joined in Page and Plant's set list with scarce cuts from their new album, such as "Burning up" and "Heart in Your Hand."

Page and Plant's fans had come from various corners of the world to see the duo headlining its last European date for two months. Nobody knew time was running out on the reunion.

After this date, Page and Plant returned to North America to begin the second leg of their Walking Into Everywhere tour, followed quickly by a third leg of touring in Europe by the end of the year. With the prospect of further tour dates extending into 1999, hitting Japan and South America, Plant withdrew from the Japanese tour just days in advance.

So far, Page and Plant have not toured together since December 1998. For more than a year, Plant did not make any public comment to explain why he be'd broken things off with Page. The year of waiting to hear from Plant was an eternity in fans' eyes and also in the eyes of Page, who contacted Plant often to pitch various project ideas. Plant just wouldn't commit to anything and never explained why.

Page took his desperation to the press in March 2000. He told Canada's Jam Music:

"I have been trying to motivate something, even just (Page and Plant) together, for like the last 15 months. If I can't manage to pull that off ...

"I have employed every scenario that I thought somebody could respond to, like writing new material, to having a vehicle to just go and play, which was Net Aid, to doing this, doing that, proposing this, proposing that. It just wasn't to be, for Robert. He just couldn't see a way to do anything. I don't see how it is going to come together."

When Plant finally broke his silence, beginning in April 2000, to comment for the first time on his departure from Page, he revealed that he'd been tired of touring for the last 30 years. However, comments made in 2002 provided even further insight.

An interview published at Playboy.com in July 2002 quoted Plant as saying, "If you ever have the inclination to chuck a TV set out the window, it would be because you'd been to Japan for any period of time and have to deal with the psyche of playing our kind of music in that environment."

That's why his tour with Page ended prematurely. "I just couldn't hack it, really," Plant explained. "So I said, 'Look, it's a long time to be away. Spring's coming. There's some beautiful stuff going on.'" Plant took the opportunity to go out on his own and rediscover his own tastes in music, while setting himself in the proper direction for his vocal abilities.

Have Plant's views on reuniting with Page and perhaps Jones changed at all in the past two years? Although Plant's latest trend in interviews is mentioning he hopes to reconcile with Jones at least personally, it's doubtful that a Led Zeppelin reunion is in the works, as reports have once again been stating in print and on the radio for the last few days in August 2002.

Even looking just at Plant's quotes, it's doubtful. A report by Gary Graff at Launch.com quotes Plant as telling WCSX-FM that he might consider reuniting with Page for a lunch. The likelihood of a concert tour between them doesn't sound very promising to me.

Plant will be answering questions from fans by phone and e-mail tonight on the radio program Rockline; see their Web site for information on how you can contribute your question to the program. Don't worry; I think at least one person will ask the inevitable "Will Led Zeppelin get back together?" question, so try to think of something original!

Carmen Electra drums to 'When the Levee Breaks'

These comments originally appeared in an edition of the newsletter "On This Day In Led Zeppelin History."

Carmen Electra's a regular Bonzo on the drums, ain't she? Did anybody else see her playing "When the Levee Breaks" on "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn"?

'First Performance' lithograph update

This update about the limited edition lithograph of the First Performance of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham comes from a satisfied customer in Wisconsin who writes:

Steve,

Thank you for letting us know about Jorgen Angel's lithograph of the First Performance. I received my print late last week, and it has already become one of my prized possessions -- along with all of my Chicago Bears memorabilia, which is not an easy feat to accomplish.

When you mentioned the lithograph on July 7, I almost didn't bother to check out the information on it because I assumed that the cost would be several hundred dollars. But now that I have the print, I think I probably would have been willing to pay considerably more than the $85 I spent (including shipping).

And I also wondered what kind of "customer service" I would receive, given the fact that my money had to travel to Copenhagen, and then the print had to travel from there to the US. I think the entire turnaround time was just over two weeks, with Jorgen emailing me a couple of times along the way, giving me updates about my check being received and the mailing of the print. He even asked that I let him know when I received it. What an all-around good guy. I highly, highly recommend this to everyone in LZHistory Land.

Erika
Delavan, Wis.

Remember: Only 750 of these limited, numbered items exist. You can order yours today at http://www.angel.dk/. Please tell Jorgen that Steve "The Lemon" sent you!