Lemon Squeezings: Led Zeppelin News

Isn't it interesting that nearly all of the Led Zeppelin news coverage anywhere on Thursday was centered on Robert Plant's declaration that there was "zero" chance of another Led Zeppelin reunion? In case you missed it, that's what he told the BBC in the very last second of a six-minute chat aired on BBC radio Wednesday morning and was available online for listening all over the world.

It's what he said in the very last second, the "zero" chance comment, that stole the headlines. Because there's always been an interest in a Led Zeppelin reunion, no matter when the last one was, or how discouragingly bad the last one was, or how astonishingly good the last one was. But Robert's closed the door.

Jimmy admitted, in his separate interview, also broadcast April 23, that he's more surprised than anyone there's not been a reunion. Furthermore, he's not the one to ask about a Led Zeppelin reunion. He's only the guitar player. He's not the singer. You should ask the singer. And so they did, and the singer said no. It was an outright no. And as Brian Gardiner astutely observed on his site, this is exactly what he could have said a long time ago and saved us all some agony.

I'm feeling really badly for Jimmy now. I think he put a whole lotta stock in the inevitability that Robert would change his mind once again. It's possible Jimmy didn't want to get any kind of a studio or live project going again unless Robert was going to be the frontman. Luckily, John Paul Jones doesn't feel that way, and we've gotten Them Crooked Vultures, Seasick Steve, Minibus Pimps, I won't repeat myself...

What was really cool is the fact that neither of the two Led Zeppelin bonus tracks premiered by the BBC at the same time was anything ardent fans have ever heard before. (Correct me if I'm wrong!) Jimmy truly dug into boxes of tapes, and took two years doing it, to arrive at the best stuff there is. And so far, this is stuff that never leaked to the masses.

We've now heard a minute's worth of the Led Zeppelin III outtake "Key to the Highway" (none of the "Trouble in Mind" portion expected later) and learned it was recorded 30 minutes after "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper." It features Robert Plant singing through the same reverberating filter also heard on another studio outtake already distributed and well known among bootleg collectors. But it's a totally different melody, and the chord progression features a nice two-five turnaround seldom heard in the blues.

Representing Led Zeppelin II's bonus disc is a rough mix of "Whole Lotta Love" with an alternate vocal. This is nothing that came out with the multitracks when they leaked online in February 2012. Hmm, just over two years ago, which we can now surmise is when Jimmy started working on this remasters-plus-bonus project taking advantage of technological advancements of the past two decades since the first remastered Led Zeppelin CDs ...

And this is all in addition to the sweet first track of the live CD accompanying the Led Zeppelin remaster, which we can stream on Spotify now whenever we want.

Also, it was fun hearing Robert admit he was imitating the stylings of Steve Marriott on "Whole Lotta Love." Isn't it funny how Jimmy wanted Steve Marriott as the singer and instead got a Steve Marriott imitator? Not that Robert was a Steve Marriott imitator all the time. He says he was this for one three-minute song, then onto something else entirely different for another. Great point!

It sure would be nice hearing from John Paul Jones on these matters. I wonder why not.

Anyway, now that Robert closed the door to any future Led Zeppelin reunions, what impact will that make on whether Jimmy picks up a guitar again, in his 70s, and goes out there with somebody else?

The first minute of audio from a previously unreleased Led Zeppelin concert in Paris 1969 is contained in a trailer posted online today for the upcoming expanded re-releases of the group's self-titled first album.

This official trailer also showcases a plethora of memorabilia from Zep's first year flashing by the screen, including photos from the era, ads, promo items and white labels from original, rare vinyl. Tickets and posters shown from 1969 appearances include US clubs such as the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles and the Boston Tea Party, as well as UK destinations the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Bath Festival. Another feature of the trailer is pieces of handwritten studio notes from the album's recording process.

As previously announced, Led Zeppelin's first album package comes out June 2 (June 3 in the US) with several different editions available. Packages developed for the second and third albums will be released are the same day, so similar trailers for those packages can now be expected.

One of the first people publicizing the link for the trailer soon after it was posted was John Davis, who was involved in the remastering project for these releases. On Twitter, Davis (@daftfader) wrote: "official trailer for Led Zep remastering project I just finished!" Also nearly as fast in sharing the link was the official Facebook page for John Paul Jones.

In case you somehow missed these two big news items today:

Happy 70th birthday to Jimmy Page!
Robert Plant has just announced plans to tour Europe and Japan this June, July and August. Fourteen live shows are on the books with his band the Sensational Space Shifters. Check out his website for all the details.

Here's another item that will be of interest to collectors of Led Zeppelin concert posters. We've probably all seen these UK posters from the Bath Festival 1969 and 1970.

The Bath Festival in 1969 featured Led Zeppelin fourth on the bill.

Although Led Zeppelin headlined the Bath Festival 1970, all band names were printed in the same size, much to the chagrin of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant.

Henrietta Bannister, daughter of Bath Festival promoter Freddy Bannister, emailed me today about two forgotten posters her family had just discovered. Reprints are now available for sale through her company, Rock Music Memorabilia.

Bath Pavilion 1968

One is the poster for Led Zeppelin's show at the Bath Pavilion half a year before the first Bath Festival. The date was Dec. 16, 1968, within two weeks before the group left for their first tour of America. An earlier version of the poster advertised the Jeff Beck Group as the headliner, but Beck was becoming unreliable at that time and canceling shows. This was one of those instances. As the Rock Music Memorabilia website explains: "At short notice we received a phone call from Peter Grant's office saying Jeff Beck was unable to appear, but if we wished we could have the New Yardbirds, now known as Led Zeppelin." Henrietta Bannister's email to me expands on this: "Led Zeppelin replaced Jeff Beck because of illness. In fact, my father was quite annoyed because in 1968 Jeff Beck was a much bigger attraction than Led Zeppelin." The concert poster reprint being sold today lists Led Zeppelin in Beck's place and contains a disclaimer about the previously advertised headliner. This poster should also be of interest to fans of Muddy Waters and The Who as their own Bath Pavilion dates are also listed.

Alternate Bath Festival 1969

The other newly discovered Led Zeppelin artifact is an alternate Bath Festival 1969 poster. As the original poster features a faceless and bare-chested woman, some store owners complaining that it was obscene refused to advertise the show with it. They were given this alternate poster design instead, which features the side of the woman's face in a lot more detail.

For a limited time only, a set of these four posters is available from Rock Music Memorabilia at a special discount of over 30 percent off. For more specific information, visit www.rockmusicmemorabilia.com. In the spirit of full disclosure, I've been offered one of these sets for mentioning this here.

"It's good news for the New Year," says a message posted Jan. 1, 2014, on Jimmy Page's website. "The first of the Led Zeppelin releases - comprising of Led Zeppelin I, Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin III and their companion discs - will be released this year."

(Editor's note: So the title of Led Zeppelin's first album is Led Zeppelin I, Jimmy? What's the title of the one after Led Zeppelin III?)

In the New Year's message, Page also:

announces some solo material -- "I've also been working on some of my own material from the archives that will be unleashed in 2014."
sends fans his well wishes -- "Hello there and Happy New Year to you all. I hope you are enjoying the holidays. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the support you've given the website." [www.JimmyPage.com]
references a blues song when he closed with the words, "Let The Good Times Roll!"
and signs the message with his name and autograph.

Coincidentally (or perhaps not), New Year's Day 2010 was when UK's The Independent caught Page admitting that he was already "a year behind" on a project with "lots of new music to present."

Page followed up in July 2011 by launching his website and using it twice in its first nine months to sell vinyl pressings of his past solo work. The first, Death Wish II, was a re-released soundtrack album Page had originally released on the Swan Song label in 1982. The second, Lucifer Rising and Other Soundtracks, contained instrumental solo material Page had recorded in the 1970s but had not released.

Walking into Clarksdale, the 1998 album he recorded with Robert Plant, marks the last time Page recorded a full album and released it within months. That disc will enjoy its 16th anniversary in April.

A literal interpretation of Page's remark today about future Led Zeppelin box sets holds that fans can expect one release this year, namely, what is presumably a 6-CD box set focusing on the first three Led Zeppelin albums, recorded in 1968, 1969 and 1970. The set would include the three albums in their original running order with as many as three additional discs of bonus material.

This year will then usher in the fourth intentional wave of rebranding and repackaging Led Zeppelin's studio material. Between 1990 and 1993 came the original self-titled 4-CD box set along with the Remasters, Box Set 2 and Complete Studio Recordings sets. A pair of single-CD sets, Early Days and Latter Days, followed between 1999 and 2000, later to be combined and sold as one. Mothership followed in 2007, offering a remastered look at an updated 2-CD summation of the group's studio tracks.

The popular music streaming service Spotify has won exclusive rights to provide listeners, now including mobile listeners, with Led Zeppelin's complete discography.

Four consecutive release days this week, from Wednesday (Dec. 11) to Saturday (Dec. 14), focus on Zeppelin's eight original studio albums, released 1969 to 1979.

Today, Dec. 12, marks the arrival of Led Zeppelin III and its untitled follow-up some insist on calling things like Zoso, Runes or Led Zeppelin IV.

Wednesday's releases were the self-titled debut album Led Zeppelin and its sequel, Led Zeppelin II. The balance of the discography follows Friday (Dec. 13) and Saturday (Dec. 14).

Friday will be the bigger deposit of material of those two days, for one of the two albums it includes was originally released as a double-LP set. Kids, ask your parents if you don't know what those words mean.

Houses of the Holy (1973) and the extra-long Physical Graffiti (1975) are released on Friday. The remaining two albums on Saturday will be Presence (1976) and In Through the Out Door (1979).

The most special day will be the last. On Sunday (Dec. 15), you get a lot of other stuff, including all of the live audio the band has officially released to date.

On Sunday, you get all the studio "hits" in a tidy package with the 2007 studio collection Mothership, which upon its release was meant to supersede all the previous (redundant, obsolete) collections.

On Sunday, you get the outtakes album Coda spanning moments in the studio from 1970 to 1978, with a few post-Zeppelin overdubs added in before its 1982 release. (One must remain hopeful Coda will include the eight original tracks plus an assortment of rare gems like "Baby Come on Home" and "Moby Dick/Bonzo's Montreux" that were included with the Coda editions shipped with Complete Studio Recordings. However, subsequent precedent reversed the trend as the iTunes Remastered release of Coda this year did not include those tracks. We find out on Sunday.)

On Sunday, you get all the live and studio material on BBC Sessions, recorded parts in 1969 and 1971. This will include the rarities "Travelling Riverside Blues" and "The Girl I Love (She Got Long Black Wavy Hair)."

On Sunday, you get the 1972 live performances heard on How the West Was Won.

On Sunday, you get the 1973 live performances from the soundtrack to The Song Remains the Same.

On Sunday, you get the 2007 live performance with Jason Bonham from Celebration Day, including the newly Grammy-nominated track "Kashmir."

Join me in spinning some tunes! Er, rather, streaming!

Individual box sets of newly remastered Led Zeppelin's audio catalog, along with bonus materials, are to be released at different points throughout 2014, Jimmy Page said today when asked in London.

"Each of the albums has been remastered, but it also has a companion disc with it," the guitarist told broadcaster Nicky Horne for Team Rock Radio. "Each disc will give a really intimate picture of the group."

They were in London, where Page was taking part in the Classic Rock Awards because not only was he presenting an award, but also Led Zeppelin was receiving one.

Film/DVD of the Year went to Led Zeppelin's DVD "Celebration Day," the playback of the band's triumphant 2007 reunion show, also in London.

Horne began his four-minute Q&A session with Page by asking him for some recollections about that concert. Before long, Horne switched gears and asked for some follow-up on the Led Zeppelin remasters.

They made news when Page's answers began to provide more specifics about the nature of the releases. For one, he said the work is already complete on the sonic aspects of the box sets. He explained that each album's companion disc would contain goodies such as alternate mixes and alternate takes.

As an example, he said Led Zeppelin III would appear in remastered form, as part of an individual box set, and on its companion disc we will find an alternate version of their blues number "Since I've Been Loving You."

"There's an incredible version of that," he said. "It's very raw in its approach. It's quite dramatic. It's cool."

Page did not divulge any other previously unreleased material that could be expected, so as to maintain the element of surprise.

When asked when the box sets would be released, Page could not point to any precise date. He stressed that they would be released not all at once but separately over time.

Acknowledging last year's remarks that these releases were to have started happening in 2013, and that the current year is almost over, Page said, "I'd rather hoped it would come out this side of the new year, but it will come out in the new year."

Then he trailed off and said something about it possibly not even being ready for this time next year. I chose to ignore that part, and you can too. The audio is available courtesy of Team Rock Radio's Soundcloud page.

On a side note, I'm sorry for the sporadic nature of this so-called "News" site; this is only the second news alert I've written this year. I am pleased to report that while I'm not doing as much writing, I am doing a lot of playing. Musically, that is.

Twice last year and once this year, I toured with the band Get the Led Out, filling in for one of their members. This enabled me to travel a bit -- Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin -- helping to replicate Led Zeppelin's studio recordings in a live atmosphere, much to the appreciation of eight separate crowds. One of the outdoor shows in Ohio this past summer may have had the largest audience I've ever seen.

Led Zeppelin's three surviving original members gathered for a question-and-answer session in New York today, promoting their concert film "Celebration Day."

The film, which captures their 2007 reunion concert as Led Zeppelin, is set to be released in theaters for a limited time next week before Blu-Ray, DVD and CD editions are released in stores in November.

During the press conference, Jimmy Page said part of the reason they decided to go forward with their reunion concert at London's O2 arena was because they hoped to overshadow previous reunion concerts that hadn't gone as well as planned.

"We just really wanted to get it right and go out there to play to people who maybe never heard us, who had heard about this reputation and what we were about, and basically go out there, stand up and be counted for what we were," said Page.

John Paul Jones spoke about the chemistry the band felt instantly upon rehearsing again for the first time in all those years. "The feeling was there," he said. "It clicks again. You don't have to work at it."

Referencing a Funkadelic song, Jones added, "Once the fingers got going again, the brains followed, as did our asses."

Robert Plant praised the efforts of drummer Jason Bonham, who filled in for his late father on drums. "I think we were really propelled by Jason and his enthusiasm," Plant commented.

Plant dismissed the possibility of Led Zeppelin playing live again in the future, even though he heralded their collective performance in 2007. "I think that night back then, we were just hanging on for dear life, watching each other," he said.

"We were so happy that we were actually getting it right and really enjoying it and taking it beyond what we thought we were about that night. There were moments in it where we just took off and pushed off into some place. The responsibility of doing that four nights a week, for the rest of time, is a different thing."

Jones expressed similar comments about the feeling onstage. "There was an immediate feeling of relief, of course, that we actually got through it and did well," he said.

Page argued the possibility of any further Led Zeppelin reunion has decreased because so many years have passed since their gig. "At this time four years ago, we'd have been rehearsing to get to the O2," Page said.

"In December, it'll be five years since the O2, and so that's a number of years have passed in between, so it seems unlikely if there wasn't a whisper or a hint that we would do -- get together to do something or other, even two years ago or whatever, seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it?"

Carol Miller, host of the syndicated radio show "Carol Miller's Get the Led Out," and producer Denny Somach, were among those who attended today's press conference. Photos provided by Denny Somach.

By Steve Sauer

Unconfirmed rumors have it that a new legitimate, official release from Led Zeppelin is in the works. It would be the long-awaited video of Led Zeppelin's reunion concert, staged on Dec. 10, 2007, at the O₂ arena in London.

At that concert, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and Jason Bonham performed a two-hour stage show of Led Zeppelin material. There has been no official announcement of a DVD release, but rumors suggest such a release is forthcoming, with a possible shelf date much later this year.

Meanwhile, a new interview with producer Kevin Shirley about his past work on Led Zeppelin projects contains an overall discouraging view on the prospect of any future live releases of performances from the original Led Zeppelin era.

LedZeppelinNews.com contributor Wyatt Brake picks up the story with his own observations, originally posted to the discussion groups Royal Orleans and For Badgeholders Only:

There are several discouraging aspects to this interview.

The Zeppelin camp (at least as of 2002-2003) thought they had tons of live recordings to sift through in preparation for public release, and they (mistakenly) believed that these recordings were being adequately stored over the past 20+ years.

Kevin Shirley, who is now the Zepsters' go-to guy when it comes to this stuff ('03 DVD/HTWWW/Unledded/TSRTS) has declared to the members that 'there really isn't that much there' because the performances are unworthy of release. That's obviously a judgment call from a guy they now trust, and the judgment seems unlikely to be reversed because there's little desire - apparently even on Page's part - to delve in and determine if they agree with that determination. A convincing argument could be made that even without that declaration on Caveman's part that Page (the meticulous guy who gave us the original splice-a-thon of 1976 on TSRTS) would have come to the same conclusion, but now we might never know.

The confirmation of something we've long suspected - that Page's role as a producer and even as an "in the cutting room" overseer is over and done. From another KS interview that came out in 2007/2008 in the wake of the remastered TSRTS, we know that Plant was actually the one to 'take the lead on that release and that he was the guy sitting next to Caveman taking an interest in what was being done.

Hopes for an Earl's Court retrospective combining elements of all five (or at least the last three) nights, or a How The (Far) East Was Won, or a more complete Knebworth... all those things seem much less likely to come out in light of what Shirley had to say in this interview. Maybe we'll get an upgraded version of the 2003 LZDVD on Blu-ray, but aside from that, it doesn't leave me optimistic about more archive releases - especially about a release of Japan '71 or Bath '70.

By Brian Gardiner and Steve Sauer

Grammy-nominated recording engineer Dave Rideau sat recently with producer Kevin "The Caveman" Shirley at his aptly named studio, The Cave, located in Malibu, California.

In the interview for Solid State Logic, Shirley opens up about his career and his recording methods, including working on Led Zeppelin's digital-era releases and discs from current supergroup Black Country Communion.

The resulting 39-minute interview has been published in three parts on YouTube.

Note: This is the first article from Brian Gardiner to appear on this site. This guest columnist, who's been authoring his own Ramble On blog, will be posting here from time to time.

Enjoying their critically acclaimed tour, Robert Plant and the Band of Joy are predominantly playing music from their self-titled album. Each of those songs is a cover version, an interpretation of someone else's music.

The question Plant fans always have in the back of their mind is what's next for Robert Plant. In an interview airing recently on The Pulse of Radio, Plant hints that new, original music is coming from the Band of Joy:

"We're talking, we have to write songs now. It's all very well celebrating other people's songwriting ... But we've got to head that way soon."

Photo courtesy of Wyatt Brake

Getting excited about what Robert Plant is going to do down the road is a fool's bet, in this case possibly more so than usual. In a Rolling Stone interview released just two weeks ago, Plant says he's done with songwriting:

"I've kind of given up writing. All my writing is sort of meandering. The last time I picked up a pen was when Tony Blair became a Roman Catholic."

In the same article, Plant talks about the abandoned recording sessions with Alison Krauss in 2009, for what would have been a possible followup album to their Grammy-winning Raising Sand. "The sound just wasn't there," Plant notes, explaining why the sessions didn't result in another album.

Led Zeppelin fans who were anticipating a reunion in 2008 will recall Plant at times suggested a reunion could happen, and certainly Jimmy Page and Jason Bonham anticipated that it could.

Which is to say that pinpointing what's next for Robert Plant can be a moving target -- even, I have grown to suspect, for Robert Plant. Is the Band of Joy going to write new material, or is Robert Plant finished writing? Nobody knows, but time will tell.

The story about Steven Tyler supposedly having turned down an offer to record with Jimmy Page in 2008 has gotten a lot of traction on the Internet over the past few days, with a majority of the stories missing the point that their would-be collaboration was never intended to become Led Zeppelin.

But in the meantime, a new interview has surfaced in which Ronnie Wood says he'd once been asked about possibly joining Led Zeppelin. And he said no.

This interview is part of the episode of Carol Miller's "Get the Led Out" airing on U.S. radio stations this week. The episode also includes new reflections on Led Zeppelin from Wood's Rolling Stones bandmate, Keith Richards.

Miller, the New York-based DJ who hosts the 60-minute weekly and one-minute daily installments of "Get the Led Out" for a national audience, writes on her blog at LedZepOnline.com:

This week on "Get the Led Out" we're playing interview clips with two members of the Rolling Stones.

First, Keith Richards has been doing press for his autobiography, "Life," which is a national bestseller. He took some time out to give us his opinion of Led Zeppelin, and it turns out he didn't think much of the band. He's hot on Jimmy, but Led Zeppelin never "took off" musically as a band, in his opinion.

We also caught up with Ronnie Wood, whose autobiography "Ronnie" came out in 2007. He remembers being asked to join Jimmy Page's New Yardbirds, which was to become Led Zeppelin. At the time, Ronnie was playing bass for the Jeff Beck Group, also under Peter Grant's management. Ronnie reveals what he thought when he first saw John Bonham!

Their interviews are included on Miller's blog page at LedZepOnline.com and also air on this week's 60-minute episode of "Get the Led Out." Check with your favorite local classic rock station for air times or to request the show.

Disclosure: Steve Sauer is a consultant to Carol Miller's Get the Led Out and editor of LedZepOnline.com.

When Swan Song Records manufactured the initial run of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti around the beginning of 1975, it seems that at least one radio station may have gotten the royal treatment.

And then it was promptly forgotten about by everyone concerned.

That is, until earlier this year, according to record industry veteran Jeff Gold, who says he was going through the massive vinyl collection that belonged to Ken Barnes when one of the Led Zeppelin LPs popped out at him.

"I've known Ken since the mid '70s, and his knowledge of records is truly unsurpassed," says Gold. "I don't know anyone who knows half of what Ken knows about records, and I've met a lot of collectors in the 39 years I've been in the game."

This is believed to be a unique pressing of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti dedicated to a now-defunct Chicago radio station, WMET 95 1/2 FM.

Twitter user @LedZeppelinNews went on a tirade this morning after waking up to find an unfounded rumor continuing to spread into a second day. (Yes, I just referred to myself in the third person.)

Here is that tweetirade in full:

The increasingly popular rumor that Robert Plant is leaning toward a Led Zeppelin reunion is unfounded. First, the interview was on July 29.

Second, the out-of-context line people think means he'll be talking w/ other Zep members about reuniting actually means THEY AREN'T TALKING!

The Led Zeppelin members haven't been talking, much less playing. Why so hopeful based on a loose interpretation of a 2-month-old remark?

Hasn't Robert Plant given enough interviews over the last few months to give anyone a good idea of his thoughts on reuniting Led Zeppelin?

Now going into The Daily Show mode. Adding to the list of extreme voices today: the sites Antimusic and @Guitarless. Let's restore sanity!

The big offenders here: @Contactmusic (http://bit.ly/9C8vsx), @SPINmagazine (http://bit.ly/btpkV0) and @gibsonguitar (http://bit.ly/bfIJNX).

Seriously, read @The_AV_Club interview of Robert Plant from July 29, published Sept. 30: http://onion.com/cowjDv & prepare to be enlightened

But if you get a hold of the interview tape from @The_AV_Club and play Robert Plant's voice backward, he does say Led Zeppelin will reunite.

[I was wrong when I said the AV Club's interview was published Sept. 30. It was actually published Sept. 28. It only seemed like it was published Sept. 30 because it took two days for idiotic Web editors to start misreporting anything about it.]

Coincidentally, the second anniversary of a statement from Robert Plant passed on Wednesday. It is the statement posted on his official website in 2008 that said, in part, "Robert Plant will not be touring or recording with Led Zeppelin. Anyone buying tickets online to any such event will be buying bogus tickets."

Mention of this appeared in the top right-hand corner of LedZeppelinNews.com for the entire day Thursday while the rumor was starting to pick up steam. It said, "On this day in 2008, a month rampant with Zep reunion speculation ended, Robert Plant having just stated they weren't getting back together."

And yes, I fully admit that a rumor I inspired less than a year ago went viral and created a widely held belief that Jimmy Page was joining a supergroup with Eric Clapton and Aerosmith. It got me a lot of hits on my website for a few days (not that my bank account noticed), but as soon as the truth of the matter was clarified to me and I realized how erroneous it all was, I retracted the inaccuracies of my original story because I felt remorse passing off inaccurate information.

Will Spin, Contactmusic, Gibson, Antimusic, Guitarless and everybody else feel any remorse and make a retraction in this case? Or, on the other hand, do they prefer passing off popular rumors that distort the truth? Let's see.

Update, 7:30 p.m.: I've authenticated the comment below from Gerry Hayes at Guitarless, who says a correction is on the way and encourages me to "continue to harangue lazy, non-fact-checkers like me."

Update, Oct. 6, 11:35 a.m.: Robert Plant has now quashed the rumor too.

One of these guys is not like the others. Robert Plant, second
from right, suggests his entertainment goals differ from those of
Jason Bonham, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page.

The reason Robert Plant says he will probably not be seen working with Led Zeppelin again, as he did for one night only in 2007, has in part to do with things he feels he does not have in common with the other musicians.

In a new interview published by the U.K.'s Telegraph on what happened to be the singer's 62nd birthday, Plant discusses several aspects of his career from the original Band of Joy to his modern-day incarnation. That band has a pair of London dates on Sept. 1 and 2, but of course the article diverts several times into a discussion with Plant about Led Zeppelin.

Of that group's classic and historic run from 1968 to 1980, Plant tells reporter Neil McCormick, "We were never a middle of the road band; we were really quite fearsome."

In his article, McCormick overviews some of the highlights, twists and turns Plant has embarked upon since 1980, including "the vintage R'n'B of The Honeydrippers," "a wild concoction of hybridised world music with his band Strange Sensation," and his ventures into Americana, first with Alison Krauss on their "extraordinary, ethereal album" Raising Sand, and now with the wide range of genres one can expect at a Band of Joy concert, including "hints of wild psych rock to keep old fans entranced."

McCormick was one of the few journalists who spoke to Page in 2009. When they met at the London headquarters of Gibson guitars late last year, their conversation was about the instrument, of course because it is the subject of the movie It Might Get Loud, whose U.K. premiere Page was promoting at the time. Their conversation delved into Page's own beginnings with guitar and his eventual innovations, plus his current musical leanings and even his goals. As to the question of a possible Led Zeppelin reunion, Page gave McCormick direct orders: "You'd better ask Robert Plant what the future of Led Zeppelin is."

He even brings that up in his article, that he was under the advisement of Page to ask. The reunion concert happened once; would Plant agree to another?

Jason Bonham didn't keep it a secret in 2008 when he thought he might be working in an official capacity with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. The drummer said he'd been to England for rehearsals, and Jones soon remarked that once singer auditions concluded, the announcement of an album and tour would be likely.

In a far-reaching interview for MusicRadar, Bonham goes further than ever before in explaining why their collaboration in 2008 never did come to fruition before he and Jones went on to separate projects last year.

"It got as close as you could get. It got real close," he tells Joe Bosso in a piece published online yesterday. "You know, we did a year of writing and putting stuff together. I loved working with Jimmy and John Paul. It was so much fun. That band ... I think we felt more like a band than Black Country Communion."

It is in an unpublished portion of the interview that Bonham more fully discusses that group, whose debut album was recorded in less than two weeks and will be released this September. The crux of Bonham's interview, as published online yesterday, focuses on his imminent touring project, called Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience, which is a multimedia tour featuring the music of Led Zeppelin and plenty of personal photographs and home movies that help Bonham to tell the story of growing up as the son of Led Zeppelin's drummer. Bonham says he will not announce the lineup of his band before the first show of the tour, so as not to invite any prejudices regarding the musicians he has already picked.

As to why last year passed without him touring with Page and Jones, he says, "I think ... basically, they [Page and Jones] agreed to disagree. After a while, it was just time to move on."

When Bosso asks whether singer Myles Kennedy was a definite enlistment for their group, Bonham says, "Nope. There was somebody else. [pauses] Somebody else was involved -- and that's all I'll say to that. But as I said, I've always love the time we had together. I can't even explain it, it was just great!"

Lemon Squeezings spoke with Bosso today about the interview, and he declined to speculate on who the other singer might have been. At least one account has confirmed that Aerosmith's Steven Tyler sat in one weekend in 2008 but that Page thought his audition was "shambolic." Another possibility is that Page was hoping to hold out for Plant to join up.

Bosso did comment to Lemon Squeezings, however, on Bonham's statement regarding the rehearsals with Page and Jones feeling "more like a band than Black Country Communion." Bosso says he didn't interpret this as a dig on the so-called supergroup, which also involves singer and bassist Glenn Hughes, guitarist and singer Joe Bonamassa, and keyboardist Derek Sherinian.

"We did another part of the interview that will run on MusicRadar later," says Bosso, "during which he said that the group (BCC) recorded their record 'very quickly; the whole thing took 10 days from start to finish.'

"He said that the speed in which they worked was surprising, that he might have liked to have done some drum parts over again, but everybody else seemed very happy so there was no reason to. My take, and you can quote me, is that he sounded very proud and pleased with BCC and is definitely looking forward to going on tour with the band and making another record with them. He does see them as a band with a future. From the impression I got, he's looking for them to gel as a group on the road. Because the record was done quickly, this is in stark contrast to the year he spent working with Page and Jones, hence his remark. I don't think his comment was a slight against BCC at all."

Some "world citizens" with an ambitious stated goal, "to save our planet," are organizing a two-day concert to be held this September in Toronto. And they want Led Zeppelin to reunite for the event.

In fact, the organizers of the "Imagine Concert for World Change" want Led Zeppelin to reunite so badly that they have already obtained a double-neck guitar for Jimmy Page to play and even had a representative of the Mohawk Traditional Council bless it.

According to the description of a video posted to YouTube on Monday:

This sacred guitar will give birth to 3 other sacred instruments, each representing the four directions of the medicine wheel. Attached to the instrument is a medicine bag and an eagle's feather[.]

After rubbing the medicine bag which contains white magickal medicine, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham will be given special powers to unite humanity for healing Mother Earth.

During his spiritual invocation, the tribal cleric chanted and shook the medicine bag in front of the guitar. In the company of a prayer circle, he then intoned, "We ask that the energy flow through this instrument to bring back to our Mother Earth the true spirit of the great law of peace."

Chris Dreja, the original Yardbirds rhythm guitarist turned bassist turned rock photographer, has spoken out recently about his involvement in the transition from the Yardbirds to Led Zeppelin. When his bandmate in the Yardbirds, guitarist Jimmy Page, was auditioning prospects for the new rock group that turned out to be Led Zeppelin, Dreja was literally along for the ride.

He accompanied Page and their manager, Peter Grant, to the auditions of singer Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham over the summer of 1968. In a new interview to be broadcast this week on Carol Miller's "Get the Led Out," Dreja reveals that only one of those two musicians was a certainty upon the audition. (Disclosure: I work as a consultant to the show and its website.)

"John Bonham was an absolute must-have. A little iffy about Robert," says Dreja, who shared the ride with Page and Grant on the way back from both auditions. Listen to a minute's worth of the interview here.

Shown at right is the 1968 photo Dreja took of the newly formed Led Zeppelin lineup that appears on the back cover of the band's first album.

Dreja continues to tour with a modern-day version of the Yardbirds. Shown at left is a publicity shot taken of the 2005 lineup, featuring Dreja at right and founding drummer Jim McCarty at second from left. Dreja's interview for "Get the Led Out" was conducted earlier this month at the conclusion of the band's American tour.

The 60-minute "Get the Led Out" episode with Dreja's interview airs at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight on New York's Q 104.3 FM and streams online at www.q1043.com at that time. The show also airs at various dates and times this week in more than 70 other markets. Click here to find a station near you broadcasting "Get the Led Out."

What a weekend for Led Zeppelin! The band topped a BBC poll for "I'm in a Rock N Roll Band!" over the also short-listed Beatles and Queen. And John Bonham earned the nod for best drummer as well, during the week he would have turned 62 years old.

Here in the United States, I didn't know much about this until I received the following from Simon, a reader in England who was one of the first guys to fill me in on Led Zeppelin's reunion gig in December 2007. Simon says (he always does that):

The BBC has been running a series of programmes on TV & Radio these past 6 weeks to find the best Guitarist, best Drummer, best Singer, best Bassist and best Band. You might be interested in the results from the national poll:

Best Band - Led Zeppelin (runners up - The Beatles & Queen)

Best Guitarist - Jimi Hendrix (runners up - Jimmy Page & Slash)

Best Singer - Freddie Mercury (runners up - Robert Plant & Kurt Cobain)

Best Drummer - John "Bonzo" Bonham (runners up - Keith Moon and Dave Grohl)

Best Bassist - Flea (runners up - no details, but John Paul Jones was in the top 10!)

Jethro Tull is back in the United States again today for another tour. Singer/floutist Ian Anderson and guitarist Martin Barre have made a habit of touring the United States for many years, going back to the days when they shared bills with Led Zeppelin in 1969.

Today, Anderson remembers getting on well with most of the members of Led Zeppelin but admits the relationship between him and Robert Plant might not have gotten off to a good start. And although offstage antics distanced the two bands, he still has a big respect for Plant's vocal abilities and looks.

The band replacing U2 at the Glastonbury Festival next month is going to be Gorillaz, the festival announced today. U2 canceled the Glastonbury date as well as North American tour dates due to the physical condition of singer Bono's back.

So much for reported rumblings that U2's replacement might be a reunited Led Zeppelin.

That's one less possible topic of conversation tomorrow morning when Jason Bonham and Robert Plant appear together on "The Paul & Young Ron Show" for whatever reason. Since their booking, originally slated for yesterday morning, was accompanied by a press release that got a fair amount of traction on the Web, they must have some kind of an announcement.

Yesterday, a publicist for Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience confirmed Plant and Bonham's joint radio appearance as well as the timing of it -- now scheduled to take place at 8:20 a.m. on Thursday, May 27 -- but said she would be finding out what it was all about while the chat takes place live.

"The Paul & Young Ron Show" airs live weekdays between 6 and about 10 a.m. on several terrestrial radio stations in Florida. Big 105.9's Web site streams the show live.

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