Remembering Bonzo

Twenty-seven years ago today, the members of Led Zeppelin were staying at Jimmy Page's house after an upbeat rehearsal in the area the previous day. They had been in good spirits and, in between bouts of laughter, even began working up a live rendition of "Carouselambra" -- the longest track from their most recent album and perhaps the most intricately complicated song the group had ever considered. It had been two months since they had last played a concert, and they were preparing to take on the rest of the world. Advertising for their North American tour campaign was already underway with a slogan, "Led Zeppelin: The Eighties, Part One." Tentative plans for the following year included return trips to distant places like Japan and new destinations in South America.

That all changed when one of them didn't wake up. It was jarring when John "Bonzo" Bonham, a fun-loving 32-year-old family man, was found dead. He had been drinking large quantities of vodka all day and, in his sleep, choked on his vomit.

He was loved dearly by his friends, family and neighbors. Robert Plant said in 2003, "Well, it's tough because he and I came from the same area. I still live there. [His wife] Pat still lives there. [His son] Jason still lives there. Everybody's around, and it's a bit like waiting for Ulysses to come home."

On the 25th anniversary of Bonham's death, Pat wrote a message for her dear husband in a guest book at his grave. According to an article by Mike Nolan of the Worcester News, her note reads: "I miss you more each day my love will never die. Your loving wife Pat."

It's a great tribute to him that one of his children, Jason Bonham, will fill in for him on drums at the upcoming Led Zeppelin reunion concert. Jason learned from the best.

Fats Domino tribute released with two Robert Plant tracks

On a new two-CD collection produced both as a tribute to 79-year-old singer/songwriter Fats Domino and also to benefit the music culture in New Orleans, Robert Plant lends his vocals to two cover songs.

Domino, a New Orleans native who lost his home to Hurricane Katrina two years ago, has been recording since the late 1940s. He earned his first pop hit in the United States and England in 1955 with "Ain't That a Shame." John Lennon's cover version of the song, originally released 20 years later, now exists as the appropriate choice to open the tribute album released tomorrow in the United States.

As for Plant's involvement in the project, New York Times reporter Nate Chinen tells the story in an article published on Saturday: Plant had first agreed to contribute only one song for the compilation, a version of Domino's 1961 single "It Keeps Rainin'." However, one was not enough; he chose to record another, engaging in an impromptu recording session with a large vocal ensemble dropping in from another continent.

In April recording sessions attended in person by Domino, Plant committed both songs to tape during a three-day visit to New Orleans. For "It Keeps Rainin'," he was assisted by the Cajun sounds of the accordion-wielding Lil' Band O' Gold, a swamp-pop group from the southern Louisiana town of Lafayette. Plant and the band laid down their rendition on Thursday, April 19, according to Scott Jordan in a blurb for Lafayette's Independent Weekly and Keith Spera in a blog entry for The Times-Picayune.

Spera adds that following the recording session, Plant stopped by three New Orleans concert venues to take in some live performances. One of the acts he watched was Lil' Band O' Gold member Steve Riley's other band, the Mamou Playboys, performing at the Mid-City Lanes Rock 'n Bowl. Plant also listened to local mainstays The Trio at the Maple Leaf.

At Tipitina's, the top-billed act was not an area group but the 26-member Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa. During their stay, they were ushered into a recording studio with Plant to record an impromptu cover of "Valley of Tears." In the original version, released 1957, Fats Domino was assisted by a pop choir and saxophone solo. However, the only musical accompaniment in the new recording of that song comes from some light percussion. Plant provides two verses of restrained vocals in this track, which stretches just barely over two minutes in length.

While it might be construed as an atypical combination of forces to outsiders, at least one person familiar with the New Orleans music scene was quoted in the New York Times piece as declaring Plant's recording session with the Soweto Gospel Choir was commonplace. “So you have the Led Zeppelin guy with a South African gospel choir doing a Fats Domino song,” said Bill Taylor, executive director of the Tipitina's Foundation and executive producer of the double album. “It’s an example of what happens here musically every day.”

Plant and Domino met again in the afternoon on Saturday, April 21, before the British singer joined the Lil' Band of Gold onstage for a half hour at Tipitina's. They were reported to have played both "It Keeps Rainin'" and "Valley of Tears," in addition to a few Elvis Presley songs, the blues song "Hoochie Coochie Man" made famous by Muddy Waters, and snippets of Led Zeppelin songs.

Led Zeppelin fans may best know Domino as the author of the song "Blueberry Hill," famous for a performance as an encore at a single Zep show 37 years ago this month. An unsanctioned recording of the concert by an audience member was released in the 1970s without authorization of the band, making it one of the very earliest bootlegs of a rock concert ever produced.

The double album, Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino, is to be released Sept. 25 by Vanguard Records. It is not the first musical release for which proceeds benefit the Tipitina's Foundation. It is preceded by Domino's independently released 2006 album, Alive and Kickin'.

Thumb-twiddling Led Zeppelin fans do the limbo and wait for possible notification

There's a lottery going on. More than a million entered. Upwards of 18,000 will win.

This makes for the odds of winning a little better than in most lotteries.

But it's a little unnerving to consider that winners will simply be notified somehow of their win, rather than being provided a method that would allow them to verify independently that they have won. Because in this lottery, it's not like you can check your numbers against some published winning numbers. It's not a raffle.

I'm speaking, of course, about the drawing for tickets at the upcoming Led Zeppelin reunion concert. Registration closed at noon today in London time, and an announcement now places the number of successful registrants in the past week at over 1 million.

Of these registrants, 982,000 will not hear anything official about the show at all. The others, that vast minority, will hear from a third-party vendor by e-mail between today and the end of the month.

For one thing, it would be nice to know exactly what to be watching for. Will I be able to recognize it if I see it? From what e-mail address will this be sent? What will the subject line say?

Like many Internet users, I have a spam filter in my e-mail account that sends anything suspicious to a folder where I can retrieve it. I check this folder quite often, usually sentencing all of its contents to Internet oblivion.

It is quite a scary thought to realize that I might accidentally blow my one and only chance ever to see Led Zeppelin in concert during my lifetime by glossing over it when I delete bulk collections of offers for Rolex watches and cheap medication.

Also, I'd really like to know the name of the third-party vendor that will be contacting fans. What is the process I will be instructed to complete? Will I be told to visit a certain Web site to purchase my tickets, and if so, what is it?

The reason this is important is fraud. My e-mail address is out there already, and plenty of people would correctly assume I've registered my name and e-mail address in this lottery. So, if I receive an offer telling me to go to some Web site and enter my credit card information to buy the tickets, how would I be assured that the e-mail I'm receiving is legitimate? Might it really be somebody who's just trying to rip me off?

Not only is it time for more than a million Led Zeppelin fans to twiddle their thumbs. It's also time for the organizers to get serious about this reunion. Give us a hint as to what to expect so that we can be assured we've been notified of our win.

In the event that further instructions aren't publicized ahead of time, I beseech you fans to let me know -- by e-mail at ledzeppelinhistory-owner [at] yahoogroups [dot] com -- what kinds of instructions you're receiving over the remaining 11 days of this month. Please describe your notification e-mails in great detail or, if you don't mind, forward the actual correspondence. Anything received here, unless marked confidential, will be shared with the rest of the world.

Uncle Earl, John Paul Jones protegees, enthusiastic in Virginia

Uncle Earl put on a great performance Sunday at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va., a place they proclaimed as one of their favorite venues in the country. It's a place they attested they wouldn't miss their show, no matter how much trouble they had getting there, as they hilariously described for the audience between songs.

The all-female string band's set list was comprised of songs from the members' side projects and their two collaborative albums, the second of which was produced by John Paul Jones and also includes the Led Zeppelin musician on mandola, bass, piano, Papoose, wobbleboard, and a fair amount of background hollering.

What's really wonderful about this band is their versatility. Each g'Earl is proficient at her instruments -- Rayna Gellert on fiddle, Abigail Washburn on banjo, Kristin Andreassen on guitar, fiddle, harmonica, banjo and ukulele, and KC Groves on mandolin, guitar and mandola -- and each can sing. They trade off lead vocals from song to song, and their other individual talents, including Kristin's dancing and Abigail's keen sense of fashion, are all highlighted eventually. Onstage, they obviously displayed the same "enthusiasm, willingness and fine musicianship" to which Jones alludes in the liner notes to their March release, Waterloo, Tennessee.

At the Birchmere, Uncle Earl was joined onstage by the six-member King Wilkie, which Kristin proclaimed to be the object of her affection. Both groups are signed to Rounder Records. Several members made cameo appearances throughout Uncle Earl's set, and touring addition Laura Cortese played upright bass throughout it all.

One unexpected treat was a cover of the Police's "Canary in a Coalmine" in a nifty arrangement that could have been made by Rolf Harris. Another standout number can be found on Kristin's solo effort, Kiss Me Hello: "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes." It's a children's song she cowrote and for which she won a songwriting contest earlier in the year. Immediately at the chorus, many audience members let out a noise that signalled either they had just recognized the song ("ahhhhh") or they thought its lyrics and harmonies were absolutely charming and angelic ("awwwww"). The song also benefited from Kristin's playful pattycake with Rayna, four-part harmony from the g'Earls, and a toy piano solo from King Wilkie's Reid Burgess. Uncle Earl's set concluded with an ensemble jam on the g'Earls' arrangement of the traditional "Black-eyed Susie."

After the show, I asked the gorgeous Rayna whether her group has taken a cue from Jones and enlisted Andy Manson in England to make them any acoustic stringed instruments. Rolling her eyes, she said, "I wish!" His equipment is a little pricey for the group, she suggested. One of Jones's instruments, a mandocello, is so large that she calls it the "water buffalo," she said, and it makes her jealous.

Then she really made me jealous. Kristin and Rayna said they have one more show in the United States this road trip and that Uncle Earl will be touring England this November. Their tour dates will end in time for the Led Zeppelin reunion concert in London on the 26th. Any plans to attend? First, Kristin stroked her chin and teased, "We'll see." Separately, Rayna's answer, however, was more direct. Maybe she doesn't have a water buffalo she can call her own, but she confirmed that indeed all of her band would be special guests of John Paul Jones at the Led Zeppelin show. Now who's jealous?

November reunion, outlasting previous ones six times over, needs to be preserved

It appears some real advance planning has accompanied the announcement of this upcoming concert performance by the surviving members of Led Zeppelin, scheduled to take place two months into the future.

When I speak of advance planning, certainly I am not referring to the lack of foresight that meant the announcement of a ticket registration process was uprooted by excessive demand within minutes. (After all, who could have predicted so many people would want to go to a little Led Zeppelin show in 2007? What does the proverb say absence does? Hmmmm.)

The advance planning that is becoming clearer has to do with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham. For one thing, they told event promoter Harvey Goldsmith they were going to play for two hours, instead of the 30 minutes he asked for. There is no doubt in my mind that, unlike before the previous handful of reunion shows, they have been extensively talking over set list ideas and rehearsing material. By all accounts, this won't be another trouncing through 20 minutes' worth of songs with minimal prep time; instead, this is going to be something to do justice to the group.

A revelation in the Exeter Express & Echo lets slip that Led Zeppelin has had a "secret rehearsal venue in London." The article also quotes Hugh Manson, longtime manufacturer of electric basses for John Paul Jones and who is building new gear customized for the November reunion. "It is going to be absolutely fantastic," said Manson. "Rehearsals have been hard work but great fun. I have just finished making one new guitar for the concert and am now working on another, which will be a spare. It is a four-string bass which is extra long - at least that is the best way to describe it."

Manson -- who was my interview subject in the April 28, 2003, edition of "On This Day In Led Zeppelin History" -- proceeds to hint that some songs have already been determined, with rehearsals having dictated new keys and, therefore, new instruments. He tells the Express & Echo, "Some of the songs will be in a lower key than usual and, while you can tune a guitar to accommodate almost any note, the best way is to make an instrument to do the job - and that's what this is. In fact, all the basses used by the band in the concert will be ours."

Some fans have interpreted this quote to mean that Jones will not be the only member on bass. Specifically, they think Jimmy Page might play bass for a song like "When the Levee Breaks," allowing Jones to play the lead on his lap steel guitar as he has done in solo outings and other live ventures throughout this decade.

One as-yet unconfirmed rumor suggests that Page has been readying himself since April to play a live version of "Dazed and Confused," complete with a violin bow solo. He sped through a violin bow solo during a live performance of the song on Feb. 9, 2002 – one of only two times he attempted "Dazed" in the past 10 years. The alleged reading of the song this November might be more like the old days when Page thoughtfully prepared for his moment in the spotlight, center-stage.

In fact, prior to Led Zeppelin's shows at Knebworth in 1979 where Page played a violin bow solo to introduce "Achilles Last Stand," the guitarist jotted down stage notes on how he wanted the laser lights and smoke behind him to function during that moment. Those visual and musical cues for effects to be triggered by crew and by fiberoptic cable attached to his violin bow demonstrate how interested and involved Page has been in defining his own image.

Certainly, he has been the primary gatekeeper when it comes to controlling the group's image, given his direct involvement in the behind-the-scenes work of preserving Led Zeppelin. He has coordinated posthumous releases from 1982's Coda on through this November's reissue of The Song Remains the Same, with remastered CDs and box sets as well as live discs and BBC performances. During the band's existence, he labored at length to have great input in the Led Zeppelin film and several studio albums.

This leads me to another point: the documentation of this seemingly well-planned reunion concert. As of now, no plans have been announced to film this sole representation of live Led Zeppelin in the 21st century. If it comes off as well as is hoped, and indeed especially if this one-off show is all that is being considered, then it would be a horrible shame if the unique spectacle can be viewed only by the 18,000 ticketholders and special guests and is not captured on video.

Think of the possibilities: It could result in a massive television extravaganza. Proceeds from sales of a commercial release could be earmarked to benefit the Ahmet Ertegün Education Fund, the charity sowing the benefits of the concert ticket themselves. All this is achievable just by allowing the event to be shared with the millions of fans all around the world.

This is the subject of an online petition now circulating. If you feel the same way, you are urged to sign the letter. The wonderful and historically unique occasion of Led Zeppelin's November 2007 reunion must somehow make it to the masses, and fans must not sit back quietly while such an oversight takes place. Led Zeppelin is a band for the ages, and this should be a reunion for the ages -- not just for two hours on Nov. 26.

That all being said, it is possible that recording the show could be accomplished even as an afterthought. Those who learn from history know that this is how the last three nights of Led Zeppelin's North American tour of 1973 was filmed and came to be included in both The Song Remains the Same and the 2003 DVD. It's also how the last two nights of a 1999 mini-tour of Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes ended up being recorded and subsequently released via computer downloads and on a live album.

The latter circumstance is detailed on the Web site of Kevin Shirley's Cameman Productions; Shirley was the sound engineer for Led Zeppelin's DVD, and he produced, engineered and mixed Live at the Greek for Page and the Black Crowes. Page, who said their performance at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles was "one of those nights where everything just gelled beautifully -- one of those magical nights, so it was just tremendous," was reminded backstage after the show that Shirley had recorded it. "Yeah, that's right, we did record it," Page is quoted as saying. "Thank goodness."

Some history is meant to be repeated.

Why only 18,000 tickets to rock's biggest reunion ever?

As soon as the era of Led Zeppelin concluded in 1980 due to circumstances beyond any earthling's control, persistent outside speculation began that the group's three survivors would carry on together in one form or another. This assumption has not become reality, except with the understanding that today, as they prepare to unleash a set lasting two hours, the three carry on as friends.

The fact is that since their breakup, the amount of time they have carried on together publicly in a musical fashion has amounted to approximately an hour: 20 minutes in 1985, another 20 in 1988, and 15 minutes in 1995. Not even a full hour of new moments in Led Zeppelin concert history has existed in the presence of public audiences.

We have learned many stated reasons for the scarcity of collaborations involving all three: It wouldn't be the same. The expectations would be too great. The associated travel would be too much. They have their own careers now. There was some rift among the three. They've already accomplished everything possible. There's something despicable about enormous shows.

The live tribute to Ahmet Ertegün announced yesterday does not negate or dismiss those reasons. In fact, a single concert date in England means no real need for travel. It's been a long time since they rock 'n' rolled – such a long time, in fact, that they have already adequately established themselves as career musicians outside of the context of their collective group. Wounds have healed, and they have nothing to prove. Although John Bonham will never be back, they have obtained the first in the direct familial line of succession to the drum stool throne. And, like it or not, the show they're playing is not going to be in front of an enormous crowd.

Perhaps the limited seating capacity of the venue chosen is the one attribute to this upcoming reunion that most upsets fans who have been persistent in their hopes that someday they would be able to see the Zeppelin once again take flight. A reunion is taking place, and the total number of randomly selected attendees from all over the world will be no more than 18,000 in a world inhabited by 6.6 billion people, of whom an estimated 20 million found themselves vying for the opportunity to register for tickets at a Web site that crashed within minutes of the official announcement. Eighteen thousand seems like a drop in the bucket, particularly when one considers that we're talking about the same band that broke its own records for highest paying concert attendance for a single act.

However, it's an appropriate number when you recall Robert Plant's disdain for "enormous shows," a term he used in an interview for the BBC yesterday. He resists playing them because, he says, "Once you get that big and you start playing those kind of shows, you lose the reins of what you're trying to do." Keep in mind that this is a guy who has played in the middle of the Sahara desert, with street musicians in Marrakech, and at a zoo a short commute from his home town – not exactly Rock in Rio. Robert prefers smaller, more intimate audiences, and he's going to get his wish as the first staged Led Zeppelin reunion concert in a dozen years takes place on Nov. 26.

If you've registered for the concert lottery, don't worry: You have as fair a chance in attending as anybody else does. You could jeopardize that chance by registering more than once. If you successfully register, you will receive a confirmation by e-mail although not immediately. Please be satisfied if the Web site itself displays a confirmation. It will instruct you to be patient. Only the luckiest fans, randomly selected, will be contacted by a third-party vendor by Oct. 1 to give them a 72-hour window to pony up the money for one or two tickets, after which the opportunity is gone. These are the terms for rock's biggest reunion ever, and true fans will respect and abide by them just as they respect the musicians and their reasons for finally making a dream come true.

Official: Led Zeppelin to reunite, Nov. 26 concert confirmed

The three surviving members of Led Zeppelin will reunite this November for a single show in London, according to an official announcement made today.

As promoter Harvey Goldsmith stated at a London press conference in their absence, the group's performance Nov. 26 at the city's O2 arena will be at a concert that will also include Pete Townshend of the Who and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones.

There was no mention of whether Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones would consider playing another gig together after the tribute concert to Ahmet Ertegün, the Atlantic Records cofounder and close personal friend to Led Zeppelin.

"During the Zeppelin years, Ahmet Ertegün was a major foundation of solidarity and accord," Plant said in a press release. "For us, he was Atlantic Records and remained a close friend and conspirator. this performance stands aloneas our tribute to the work and the life of our long standing friend."

The reunited Led Zeppelin will also include drummer Jason Bonham sitting in to fill the seat left by his father, John Bonham, whose death on Sept. 25, 1980, caused the band to announce its retirement later that year.

The younger Bonham has been drumming in recent months for classic rock group Foreigner, which has also been booked to perform at the Nov. 26 concert.

Concert proceeds are to benefit the Ahmet Ertegün Education Fund, set up to "provide students with annual scholarships to universities in the UK, USA and Turkey," according to an official press release. "In addition, a music scholarship open to all will beestablished at Ravensbourne College in the UK."

Tickets to the event, priced at 125 British pounds ($254), are available exclusively from a random drawing at http://www.ahmettribute.com/.

Aside from three one-off performances in 1985, 1988 and 1995, and two jams at family members' weddings, Led Zeppelin has not reunited for a tour.

While the Led Zeppelin members are rumored to have been rehearsing together over the past month, the concert in November would be their first public appearance together since May 22, 2006, when they were awarded the Polar Music Prize at a ceremony in Stockholm.

The most recent performance by all three former members coincided with their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, on Jan. 12, 1995. At the time, Page and Plant were toward the start of a mini-reunion of their own that, by the end of 1998, had resulted in two full-length albums as well as a home video and television special heralding their work together.

Led Zeppelin's much-anticipated performance is set to take place during a rare month of new releases from the band showcasing live and studio material recorded mostly during the band's 1970s heyday. A plethora of new releases are to hit stores on two consecutive Mondays, with the performance taking place on the Monday of the following week.

Rhino Records, in conjunction with Atlantic, will release a new greatest-hits collection called Mothership with a U.K. release date of Nov. 12, followed one week later with Atlantic's upgraded reissue of the soundtrack to Zep's 1976 film, The Song Remains the Same, as well as Warner's reissue of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray with additional footage.

Ertegün's surviving wife, Mica Ertegün, stated in a press release that her late husband "would be very proud that Led Zeppelin have chosen to reunite and headline a benefit concert in his name featuring so many of his friends. I would like to thank all of the artists for their generous contribution to help make Ahmet’s vision a reality."

Singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini will also appear at the concert on Nov. 26, and Wyman will perform with the Rhythm Kings.

Initial reports from the press conference:

• New Musical Express
• Rolling Stone
• Billboard
• Uncut