Preston is arguably best known for his photography of Led Zeppelin throughout the 1970's, when he enjoyed unparalleled access to the band, both on and off stage.

For Led Zeppelin: The Exhibition, Preston will be exhibiting a selection of rare Led Zeppelin photos that have never been shown in public, along with his classic photos of the band.

All of these beautiful limited-edition and hand-signed pieces are available for purchase at our galleries or on-line at http://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/.

Opening Saturday, December 5, 2009

Morrison Hotel Gallery
Flower Hill Promenade
2670 Via de la Valle (2nd level)
Del Mar, CA

Inspired by the Vultures' generosity, for your reading pleasure we're posting our review for Them Crooked Vultures now before it hits stands in our next issue. In his three-and-a-half star Rolling Stone review of TCV, Rob Sheffield writes, "The album sticks to the sort of low-end guitar boogie that Homme and Grohl were blasting in their Camaros when they bummed their first cigarettes." With Jones in tow, the supergroup sticks to their Zep roots, as the track "Elephants" "basically crunches every riff on Led Zeppelin II into seven dizzy minutes."

"Sometimes the music sounds exactly like Zeppelin, as on 'Reptiles,' a sly update of 'South Bound Suarez,'" Sheffield writes. "Other times it sounds like Queens of the Stone Age with a hot new bassist. But it's not desperately ambitious - the album sounds like the good-natured quickie it probably was."

As an added incentive to preorder Them Crooked Vultures on iTunes, the album will include live renditions of "No One Loves Me & Neither Do I" and "Gunman." Until next week when you can enjoy TCV on your iPod or home stereo, hit up the full stream at the band's official site now.

The band, which features Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, will kick off the jaunt on November 17 in Los Angeles.

Among the dates announced are shows in Oakland, Seattle, and Portland.

The band have also announced a handful of U.K. and European shows.

The band are currently touring in support of their forthcoming self-titled debut album due out November 17.

Tour dates:

The star studded event took place last night (Nov 2) at London's Park Lane hotel and saw Iggy Pop picking up awards alongside Wood, John Bonham and Cream's Ginger Baker.

Wood was awarded for his contribution to The Rolling Stones as well as The Jeff Beck Group and The Faces.

John Bonham was posthumously awarded the Tommy Vance Inspiration Award with his wife and daughter collecting the award.

Wood was handed his accolade by The Who's Pete Townshend. Guitarists Slash and Brian May also attended the awards.

Elsewhere, Iron Maiden were declared Band Of The Year with AC/DC picking up Album of the Year for 'Black Ice'.

The Spirit of Prog Award was handed to Dream Theater, with Mike Portnoy paying tribute to Radiohead and The Mars Volta in his speech.

The bassist, now playing in Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme, said that despite he and guitarist Jimmy Page auditioning potential frontmen, they couldn't agree on a new band member.

"Jimmy and I rehearsed a bit with [drummer] Jason Bonham and we couldn't really agree on singers and that fell by the wayside," he told BBC 6 Music. "Then this [Them Crooked Vultures] came along and, to be honest, I'm really happy."

Jones was keen to heap praise on Foo Fighters drummer Grohl, saying it was a pleasure to play with him in the new outfit. "I immediately recognised that this was a drummer that was a) really good, b) groovy and c) listened. All those nice things that bass players like in drummers," he explained.

Them Crooked Vultures release their self-titled debut album on November 17. Listen to the album's first single, "New Fang", by clicking on the video here.

The four girls, who made it through to the boot camp stage of this year's series of the hit television show, were among the music acts at a charity bash hosted by ELO star Bev Bevan at Birmingham's Jam House.

Bev and his band, Bev Bevan's Move, took to the stage along with soul singer Ruby Turner and Belle Sorelle for the fundraising gig for Birmingham's Children's Hospital in the Jewellery Quarter last night.

And the surprise of the evening was a special appearance by 61-year-old Led Zeppelin star Plant.

The musician, who lives near Kidderminster, wowed the crowd with an impromptu performance and also delighted the girl band as he posed for a picture with the foursome. The girls, Gemma Parr, aged 24, and sister Patsy, 17, along with best friends Hannah Smith, 24 and Bella Bennewith, 17, were invited to take part in the charity concert after Bevan heard them perform live on a radio show. "We were so thrilled to be asked to take part and share the stage with some really big names," said Gemma.

The foursome performed two cover versions, Skunk Anansie's Weak and the Kings of Leon's hit Use Somebody, before returning to the stage for the finale with Bev and his band. "It was a great night – to perform alongside Bev was fantastic and be on the same bill as Robert Plant too was a fantastic experience," said Gemma. "We told Robert we'd take on board any advice he could offer us. He's such a rock legend."

Plant, a Wolverhampton Wanderers fanatic, opened his set last night by proclaiming: "We're in the Premiership now!" and joked with the audience: "Seeing how old you are I'm surprised you're out so late."

Last night's concert was a fundraiser for BBC WM Kidney Kids Appeal to buy a new renal unit for Birmingham Children's Hospital. So far more than £1million of the £1.5m target has been raised.

Bandmates Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) will put the self-produced and self-titled release out on DGC/Interscope Records.

It is rumored that the first single from "Them Crooked Vultures" will be "New Fang," a song slated to hit radio on Monday (Oct. 26). The band's rep would not confirm or deny that report, however.

Them Crooked Vultures emerged as one of the year's most anticipated acts after a debut gig at Chicago's Metro in August. Though details on any recorded output have been scant until now, the band has been releasing small snippets of its studio sessions.

Earlier this month, Them Crooked Vultures played a small series of gigs in the U.S., including the opening night of Austin City Limits. NME has reported that the band will do a short in the U.K. Dec. 10-17, and January tour dates in Australia and New Zealand will be announced in the coming weeks.

Here is the tracklist for "Them Crooked Vultures":

"No One Loves Me & Neither Do I"
"Mind Eraser, No Chaser"
"New Fang"
"Dead End Friends"
"Elephants"
"Scumbag Blues"
"Bandoliers"
"Reptiles"
"Interlude with Ludes"
"Warsaw or the first Breath You Take After You Give Up"
"Caligulove"
"Gunman"
"Spinning in Daffodils"

The sister of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, Deborah will perform at her second concert in the country on November 20.

Born in Worcestershire, the younger sister of the late John and Michael Bonham, Deborah was only five years old when John joined Led Zeppelin, and this powerful introduction gave her the desire to write and perform.

Whilst living at the family's Old Hyde farm, Deborah and John's son, Jason, started playing and recording their own songs. At the age of 17, at Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant's house, she recorded her first demos.

With some encouragement and advice from Robert, she sent out the songs anonymously and soon landed her first record deal with the major label Carerre Records, for whom she recorded the critically acclaimed album For You and the Moon.

The album reached the top 5 in the NME chart, was Simon Bates' Record of the Week on Radio 1 and was voted Record of the Year in Germany.

Deborah spent 1996 getting her new band together, writing new material and playing shows including headlining the Belfast Festival and a sell out show at the Bottom Line, Shepherd's Bush to excellent reviews. The beginning of 1997 saw two extremely successful trips to the US.

Firstly, she performed live on LA's Rockline radio to three million listeners throughout North America and Canada.

This was followed by a special appearance with Jason Bonham and his band in Los Angeles.

The success of the first trip led to another visit to the US with her band to open for Jason Bonham Band's shows in Los Angeles, Houston, New York and Chicago. Subsequently, two more tours across the US were secured.

Deborah has toured and performed with Van Halen, Alannah Myles, Uli Jon Roth, Paul Weller, Donovan, Jools Holland, Foreigner and Paul Rodgers. She has also played festivals including Glastonbury and Donnington, and twice at Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival.

Tickets for the dinner concert are priced at BD30 and are inclusive of a three-course meal. More details will be announced closer to the date. Go to www.deborahbonham.com or contact the restaurant on 17713093 for more information.

The Rolling Stones, with less good grace, sneer through hangovers and lack of sleep for an early-morning photo shoot in the fog of Primrose Hill. On the opposite wall, David Bowie perfects his "alien spaceman" look with a gold jumpsuit and Led Zeppelin members sport the impassive stares of rock gods.

Around them at the National Portrait Gallery, some 150 other images capture the essence of "swinging London," when the U.K. capital became the center of the pop world. The show is accurately called "Beatles to Bowie," yet bears a misleading subtitle "The 60s Exposed."

Anyone expecting surprising revelations, with telephoto paparazzi shots through bedroom windows, will be disappointed. Singer Marianne Faithfull, wearing white socks, looks impossibly innocent as she reclines in the Salisbury pub on St. Martin's Lane. Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix look boyish and angelic: The only hint of drug culture is in the dazzling psychedelic colors and swirling kaleidoscope images.

There are references to "icons" and "iconic" in the exhibition notes. If this means the stars were worshiped in their time, that's certainly true. Some of the pictures, of the Beatles in particular, are still endlessly recycled on bedroom walls, screen savers, T-shirts and computer games.

Even the most casual fan will recognize some images, such as Bruce Fleming's Hendrix studio pose that ended up on the cover of the "Are You Experienced?" album.

It's more interesting to see the images that didn't make it. Fiona Adams photographed the Beatles in 1963, dancing on a wall off Euston Road in London like dervishes. The exhibition adds her Rolleiflex contact sheet, showing how that perfect shot beat out four others in mid-jump.

While a few photos on display look little better than Box- Brownie snaps -- a moody Eden Kane (remember him?) leaning on a Ford Zodiac car in 1962 -- there are many masterpieces. Tony Frank's landscape of the Welsh town of Pontypridd, with a black- clad Tom Jones surveying the sweep of river and railway line, is breathtaking and far from the normal rock portrait.

It's often hard, of course, to take a bad picture of a famous person: Capture them doing something unposed, such as putting on a pair of shoes (Bob Dylan), falling asleep (the Springfields) or lighting a surreptitious cigarette (Paul McCartney) and you probably have a memorable image.

For my money, the best pictures are those the stars probably would prefer to forget: Bowie's advertising shot for the Stylophone (a hideously bad toy piano) or a young Rod Stewart in a stay-pressed mod suit that looks like it's made out of cardboard. Then you come around a corner and face the Colin Jones picture of the Who's Pete Townshend in a union-jack coat and pinhead stare. They don't make them like that any more.

"Beatles to Bowie: The 60s Exposed" is at the National Portrait Gallery through Jan. 24, 2010. The show is sponsored by BNY Mellon. For more information, see http://www.npg.org.uk.

It all began on the fortieth birthday of the coolest guy in rock, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, which in unsurprising and amusing Grohl fashion, was held at a Medieval Times. There, Grohl conveniently sat the legendary Led Zeppelin bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones next to Queens of the Stone Age founder Josh Homme, two musicians that had never met, but by the end of the night had agreed to Grohl's proposition that they join him for a little musical side-project. It was there, among the jousting knights in shining armor, that Them Crooked Vultures was born - Homme on lead vocals and guitar, Jones doing his thing on the bass and keyboard, and Grohl taking a step out of the spotlight to go back to his first love, the drums.

I recognized that this was a concert experience that I shouldn't pass up.. The band had yet to release their album or even a single. Their sound was still a mystery and their entire set would be unknown to the entire audience. It seemed like we would be experiencing a concert much like before the digital age of MP3 downloading and MySpace band profiles afforded one the ability to memorize every lyric before ever attending a concert. There would be no crowd sing-a-longs here, but after experiencing it, I assure you, it wasn't necessary.

We arrived at the venue two hours before the doors opened. Eager to secure our spot next to the stage we hopped into the already forming line, geeking out a bit with those in line next to us as the anticipation built. When the doors finally opened, the venue was flooded with the sold-out crowd of three-thousand. I was surprised by the small size of the venue's interior, but pleased with the intimate atmosphere it provided and more pleased with securing that coveted spot immediately front and center.

When the band finally took stage amidst the roar of the crowd, they ripped their way through a head-banging song fit for a single titled "Elephants," followed by Homme introducing the band one by one with much applause and cheers, before pointing towards the man holding the bass guitar. "And this is..." he began, but before he could finish, the crowd was deafening. Despite how low profile he has been since Led Zeppelin's demise, John Paul Jones needed no introduction.

The trio (along with a fourth concert-only guitarist) continued to jam through their set and despite the fact that the crowd did not know these songs, it did not stop the crowd from head-banging, dancing, clapping, or throwing their hands in the air. The music is hard to define, but it is certainly loud, big, and both back to the basics yet deceptively intricate. It is adventurous hard rock, blending riffs very reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age with the bluesy thunderous rock of Led Zeppelin.

I've never been shy to admit my man crush on Dave Grohl and it was great to see him smile throughout the entirety of the show as he absolutely smashed on the drums brilliantly as if he were Animal from The Muppets. I'm still wondering how he did not manage to break his drumset or his nose. I appreciated how he took his role as the drummer with modesty, using his microphone only for backup vocals, never once uttering a word into it, despite knowing that if he said absolutely anything, the crowd would have got berserk. He was having plenty of fun though and winked and smiled his way through the show, at one point even giving my friend standing next to me a thumbs up, and another time jokingly shaking his head and giving a thumbs down when Homme was talking about how much fun they had playing together.

Still, it wasn't Dave that had most of my attention. It was John Paul Jones that left me in awe from the moment he took the stage. He thumped and slid on an array of bass guitars, then busted out a keytar (which had Homme drop his guitar and dance around stage in goofy-fasion as he sang), and then finally what I was anticipating most, in the midst of a song, the lights dimmed, and like rays from heaven, a single spotlight focused on Jones as he set down his bass to perform a beautiful, classically inspired keyboard solo that gave me chills and left the crowd mesmerized. Words cannot explain.

These guys were there to rock out, to have a good time, and to put on one hell of a show - and they succeeded on all fronts. Despite Homme not being the most charismatic frontman and his disinterest in crowd interaction, and despite the audience being unfamiliar with the music, in my eyes (as well as those I discussed it with after), none of that was needed. It was ninety minutes straight of mind-blowing hard old-school jamming that ended with an epic five-minute odyssey of astonishing fingerwork on the strings accompanied by insanely wild percussion. Them Crooked Vultures may not be break into mainstream radio, but you can tell that this unlikely combination of musicians don't mind. They're having too damn good of a time.

It includes over 80 pages of exclusive material from Frank Reddon's interviews with the late J.J. Jackson, close friend and professional associate of Led Zeppelin's musicians. As a deejay at Boston's WBCN, J.J. Jackson was instrumental to Zeppelin's early success.

Of the six interviews in this new E-Book, five have never been published in their entirety anywhere before!

In this e-book, he analyzes the music of the official debut Led Zeppelin album PLUS he compares live concert recordings to the four gigs he himself attended at The Boston Tea Party (Jan 23-26, 1969) for an unprecedented eyewitness account of the early Led Zeppelin improvising on stage.

Renowned Led Zeppelin author and expert Dave Lewis gives a forward.

Release date is October 15, 2009.

For a sample excerpt of this E-Book, go here.

The interviews of Jimmy Page & Robert Plant were many: Jimmy at Abbey Road Studios in London and again at host Redbeard's Dallas radio station, then in L.A. during the Coverdale / Page project. Robert was in rehearsal in Dallas, then in London at Bill Curbishley's office . Redbeard interviewed each separately about Led Zeppelin II, each several times, from 1985 through 1993.

Then he interviewed them together on the 1995 "No Quarter" tour backstage in Dallas.

At the site you can preview this LZ II show or listen to the earlier interviews with Page and Plant about Led Zeppelin I.

For over 20 years "In the Studio" has been dedicated to telling the stories behind rock and roll's greatest albums.

By the time we made our way inside, the auditorium was packed to the gills. Not since the debut of Oysterhead have this many garden-variety rock fans come together with such high hopes. Them Crooked Vultures have not even so much as released a single--the only thing people have to go on are some YouTube clips that'll make you seasick--so the only way to truly hear the band is to see them live. And as they took the stage at what Homme proclaimed as their 10th show, the place went nuts.

So what did they sound like? Not a whole lot different from what you'd expect: fuckin' balls-out rockin', brah. More like a cross between Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvana and Led Zeppelin than Eagles of Death Metal, Foo Fighters and Donovan, if that's what you're wondering. Since Homme is steering the ship as lead singer and guitarist, it basically sounds like he's found his dream rhythm section to comprise the new incarnation of QOTSA. (QOTSA rhythm-guitarist Alain Johannes was also on hand to fill out the sound.) Homme is one of hard rock's last innovators, and he's got enough smart-alecky swagger and good ideas to get away with not being named Robert, Jimmy or Kurt in his present company. The songs we heard typified what Homme is good at: writing music that's smart, yet will sound great blaring out the windows of a mud-covered pickup truck.

And of course TCV were more than a little Zeppelin-y, which, even without JPJ, is par for the course considering that Led Zeppelin made the stoner-rock template of pentatonic riffs, fat drums, odd meters and sex-laden rock 'n' roll attitude with which this band molested and mutilated our ear drums over the course of their 90-minute set. Just when something would start to sound predictable, the band would throw in a rhythmic curve ball or left-field melodic flourish to keep us on our toes. While the majority of the show consisted of riff-heavy, groove-suffused hard rock, there were plenty of proggy, climb-mountain-see-aging-wizard moments of jamminess that made us think that Homme's urge to whip out a bow--and Grohl's to deep-six his sticks in favor of bare hands--must have been killing them.

As made evident by the house lights-cuing ovation he received during the mid-show band introductions, the biggest star of the night was John Paul Jones. Jones, however, did not spend the show displaying the giddy, "Hey, I'm onstage and back in the game" blush that would overtake most aged rockers in his position. Instead, he looked serious and played with a determination to let people know they weren't just there to see some fossilized veteran, but to hear something fantastic. Throughout the night--whether on bass, piano, synths, keytar or other instruments we weren't even able to identify--Jones displayed his ever-vital prowess--so much so that we were willing to forgive the use of a 12-string bass with a light-up fret-board--and that's saying something.

Dave Grohl was all smiles. Forget the fact that he can still headline Wembley Stadium and sell millions in his own band. Despite having turned us off by comfortably slipping into torch-rock territory on the last few Foo Fighters records, Grohl is still "our hero" when it comes to poundin' the skins. Throughout the night he grinned away while doing his best Animal impression--never losing a beat or letting the intensity drop. The argument over whether or not he is this generation's John Bonham is now officially over.

What was most striking was the band's chemistry. At no point in the show did they ever lose the full undivided attention of the audience--quite a feat in a town full of musicians and with a set of songs that were brand new. There is no doubt that they exceeded expectations. All in all, it was easily the best 10th show by a band we've ever seen.

He adapted well during the ballad 'All This Time,' complimenting her tender voice as she played the part of crooner. During 'Hold What Ya Got,' they broke it down bluegrass style, with Watkins and Jones culminating in a quick fiddle/mandolin duel, while the barn-stomper 'Long Hot Summer Days' showcased Jones in more of a country light. While this was clearly quite a departure from the hard rock leanings of Them Crooked Vultures, Watkins and Jones make quite a team. She was clearly enamored with his willingness to join her, approaching him afterward with an ear-to-ear grin.

It had been a busy week for Jones already with Them Crooked Vultures, as he taped an episode with the band for the upcoming season of Austin City Limits as well as played Stubbs on Thursday night to kickoff the weekend. The band is on tour through Oct. 15.

Quality, quantity, high spirits and jacked-up amperage made for a late-night carnival at Bare Pool Lounge at The Mirage late last night, a showcase that spilled into the morning with an after-party at Jet. The all-star rock 'n' roll exercise hosted by the former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses summoned the old (dueling iconic guitarists Rick Nielsen and Joe Perry), bold (Courtney Love, tossing aside typical stage protocol to read lyrics to the gender-unspecific "20th Century Boy") and beautiful (the wholly captivating Nicole Scherzinger, the leather-and-lace encased frontwoman for Pussycat Dolls).

The show was part of The Mirage's lengthy 20th anniversary celebration, a point in time that will be marked officially on Nov. 22 and will be trumpeted in earnest on that weekend. I am led to believe there will be cake and punch.

As for the latest SlashFest, it hardly mattered that over the past few weeks, the event's lineup experienced more drops than Terrell Owens during last Sunday's Bills-Saints game (Rob Zombie, Jason Bonham, Tommy Lee and announced emcee Kiefer Sutherland were among the fall-out boys). The show drew ample star power anyway, and of course the requisite oddities, such as an onstage visit from Slash's wife, Perla. The stormy spouse and Slash's apparent voice of reason strode onstage in a beaded black corset adorned with long tassels over each side of her chest, snug black shorts and lace stockings. All dolled up, in other words. She then quoted a dead woman, Anna Nicole Smith, by asking, "How do you like my BAH-dee?"

We like it just enough! But not so much to offend Slash, the evening's BFF.

Following are more "hooky" riffs from a crisp and loud evening in VegasVille:

*The vocalist for much of the evening was Las Vegas native Franky Perez, whose look has matured to the point where he looks like the father of the guy who released the promising "Poor Man's Son" in 2003. The last time I'd seen Perez perform was that year when he opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd at The Orleans Arena. He roared through "Whipping Post" that night, and again last night, along with AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" and Black Sabbath's "War Pigs." Dressed entirely in black, shedding the shades and jacket in favor of a tank top late in the show, Perez obviously relished performing with the high-level stars like Perry, Nielsen, Slash, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan, who swapped spots on the stage over the two-hour show. At one point, he asked if anyone was from Las Vegas (a few among the crowd of about 650 cheered) and then he gave a call-out to his alma mater, Bonanza High School. Not your typical rock-show moment, eh? In the late stages, Perez also wore what appeared to be an old red-and-blue Las Vegas Stars hat from about 20 years ago.

It was fun watching Perez work it out onstage again. There was a time when he was at least as promising an artist as The Killers. It'll be interesting to see if he can, as we say, parlay this fortuitous gig into something he can sustain.

*The Joe Perry Project opened the show and performed a song Aerosmith ignored during its visit to the MGM Grand Garden Arena a couple of months ago, a reggae version of "Dream On." Perry said that version of the song was requested by an individual who booked the band to perform during a cruise, and Perry's response was something like, "Forget you, cruise boy," but it was a pretty cool rendition.

*Jot down Scherzinger's name on that list of performers you don't want to follow. She's an exotically beautiful, easy-on-the-eyes, hard-on-the-ears performer able to share the stage with anyone (just in the past month, she's appeared with both Gossy-Goss and Slash). By the time she finished with a full-force take on "Whole Lotta Love," Love walked to the mic and said, "I just got my a** handed to me. I've gotta follow that?" Give Love credit for conveying that revelation, at least. She's no dummy.

*Anyone clamoring for a meltdown by Love came away disappointed. She sipped from a glass filled with orange fluid and produced a lyric sheet to make it through "20th Century Boy," a move I'd seen only once before, when Pink unfolded sheets of lyrics for "Rock and Roll" during the opening-night party at Empire Ballroom four years ago. But Love still has that haggard-sexy act pretty much perfected. She might not look or sound great each time out, but no one looks or sounds quite like her. At least, no one famous.

*Notable jams: Nielsen, who should be our next mayor, played on the full-group effort of Cheap Trick's "Surrender." Perry returned for "Toys in the Attic." Sen Dog of Cypress Hill joined Perez on a blistering "Walk This Way." McKagan and Sorum (who seemed to be in full, stroppy revelry by the time he hit the stage late in the show) joined Slash in a mini-Guns 'N Roses reunion for "It's So Easy" (which I've always felt would make a great ballad) and an everyone-in-the-pool "Paradise City" to finish the show.

*Captured in the audience: Famed Vegas real estate magnates Jim and Glynda Rhodes, the embattled but unfailingly spirited couple who have had a rough year, laden with a bankruptcy filing and a scuffle with Nevada Cancer Institute over donations promised but not delivered. But the two looked fine last night, tanned and trimmed and chatty. They've been to Wimbledon and the Australian Open this year, and rock fan Glynda has seen Kid Rock four times in 12 months. Also spotted, Jeff Beacher (who is bringing a version of "Madhouse" to The Mirage in January) and prominent Las Vegas attorney John Momot, who defended Sandra Murphy in the Ted Binion murder trial, among many notorious Vegas cases.

The night ended with Momot, actually, as we happened to be walking out of the hotel together. I loudly asked, "What have you been up to, John?" and he said, "I cannot hear you!" Understood. I'll catch him later, post-ringing.

You know. Some lightweights.(TOTALLY kidding.)

OK, I know I'm behind, but when I heard about this set, I didn't realize JPJ was a part of it- si went simply for the Grohl/Homme factor.

But as TCV rocked it, I kept thinking, "Man, their bass player is REALLY AMAZING!"

Yes, Lindsay. Maybe because he was in (sic)LED ZEPPLIN?

They're touring after ACL, if they're near you, RUN. It's really fun to watch musicians at the top of their game just playing, and obviously enjoying themselves.

I've read some reviews saying they could gel more, but from what I saw, they're close to hard-set, with just enough jiggle for a super-funky groove and tempo changes that I found it difficult to predict- something I appreciate after all these years of tuning into a bassline first. (It's how I'm wired.)

View pics from the evening here.

"We'd like to play Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' right now," Homme said at the beginning of the set, "but we're not going to."

After running through a few tunes, including 'Mind Eraser,' Homme thought he'd let the crowd in on what exactly the band had in store. "I'm gonna tell you what these songs are called so you know what's going on for once," he joked. Before fans hopes got too high, he announced sarcastically, "This song is called 'I Love You Austin.'"

"This next song is real good, I promise," Homme said. "If not, you can blame Dave." We're not sure who's responsible for the dirty grit rock, like that found on the Vultures' tune 'Scumbag Blues,' but thank you.

View pics from the evening here.

Cool breezes won out against the blazing sun on Friday, which was the perfect complement to the afternoon's more tranquil music, like fiddler Sara Watkins, late of Nickel Creek, who played an early afternoon set as long on charm and good manners as it was on winsome, airy country. She sounded positively bereft singing "I didn't lie, but I withheld the truth," on the quietly aching "Same Mistakes." This wasn't music for singing along - it was music for sighing along.

If Watkins was reserved and traditional, the Avett Brothers were a thrilling study in contrasts, pitting spare and simple instrumentation - acoustic guitar, banjo - against brothers Scott and Seth's hoarse, violent hollering. Their aggression wasn't just vocal: the band pogo'd like young punks during "Paranoia in Bb Major" while "Salina" built to a panicky conclusion. If Scott is the sturdy frontman, Seth is the jack-of-all-trades. He moved effortlessly from guitar to piano to drums, and attacked his vocals on "Distraction #74"? with an actor's intensity, miming out the lyrics with his hands.

Oregon's Blitzen Trapper mostly tended toward the traditional. Their oaky folk songs were as loaded with literary allusions as they were musical accoutrements: harmonica, tambourine and melodica filled in the spaces between Eric Early's clean strumming and hoarse, wheezing vocals. At the other end of the park, the Walkmen were aiming for expansion. The group significantly toned down their typically echo-drenched assault, opting instead for tiny pinpricks of sound, leaving big empty spaces for Hamilton Leithauser's barreling baritone. They brought out a small horn section for "Canadian Girl," turning a tiny rock song into full-blown mariachi.

Friday was rife with other stylistic pleasures: The Knux - who have gradually emerged as one of the more thrilling live hip-hop acts around - turned out an electric early afternoon performance, Krispy Kreme repeatedly ordering the crowd to "get crazy." If the Knux were wild and ragged, Phoenix took the opposite tack. Their songs were built from clean lines and precise rhythms - every piece exactly in place - but that didn't stop them from delivering one of the afternoon's more propulsive sets. Opening with the tidy thrum of "Lisztomania," the group delivered an envigorating set of dance music for people with good manners.

Raphael Saadiq delivered a new spin on the classic sound of R&B. He turned out tight, punchy guitar chords and slick, slippery vocals while his band - in three-piece suits - punctuated every phrase with a bright blast of brass. Later in the evening, John Legend delivered a more polished version of the same. His songs are more mannered and polite than Saadiq's, and he delivers them with the suave assurance of an experienced Casanova. By the time he got to "Green Light," he'd stripped down to a black tank top and leapt off the stage to sing directly into the front row.

But the afternoon belonged to Them Crooked Vultures, who took the stage as the sun was beginning to set in early evening. For anyone who hasn't seen one of their handful of live shows, they're still essentially the stuff of legend: Dave Grohl on drums, Josh Homme on guitar and vocals and John Paul Jones on bass. What's most surprising about the live experience is just how nasty the songs are. Far from boilerplate modern rock, the music instead coils and snaps like a rattlesnake, a mile-high stack of filthy riffs powered by Grohl's whipcrack percussion.

"We'd like to play Michael Jackson's ‘Thriller' right now," Homme announced early in the set, "but we're not going to." Instead, they played "Mind Eraser," a hard-charging thunderclap of a song constructed from a squall of guitar. "Scumbag Blues" opened with a whine and then plummeted suddenly into a fit of grinding riffs, Homme adopting an eerie, unsettling falsetto.

The Vultures' set didn't end so much as unravel, petering out in a weird, wonky and slightly aimless jazz odyssey that found Jones working a single walking bassline while Homme noodled over top. That kind of heady jamming is clearly not their strong suit, but it conveys the group's single guiding ethos: In this operation, we do what we want.

View pics from the evening here.

Antiquiet: We've got some basic questions here, since not too many people know what the hell's going on...

Josh Homme: I have extremely complex and secretive answers.

Antiquiet: I heard this came together at a renaissance-themed birthday party?

Josh Homme: Yeah, well Dave, he mentioned this idea, and we're always looking for a chance to do stuff together, Dave and I. So he said, "you know what, maybe I should ask John Paul Jones!" And I was like, "that'd be awesome. And I'll ask... The President. And we can put it all together."

And then all of a sudden he starts sending me emails, of correspondence between him and Jones, and I was like... 'uhhhh... well shit. What do I do?'

I hadn't played guitar for five months, and I was gonna maybe take a break for a second, for my first time in a long time. But then [Dave] has his birthday party at Medieval Times, and of course he sat us right next to each other. That was the blind date. But he sat in the next row behind us, like looking over (laughing)...

But you know, I think it's fairly common to meet someone from Zeppelin at Medieval Times.

Antiquiet: What's going on with the album?

Josh Homme: Well, we just finished figuring out what songs we're going to put on it, which took a little bit of time. We couldn't decide what [we wanted] to do. Do you make a triple album? An EP? How many songs is too much?

I tend to think that even if you've got a bunch of good songs, maybe you should err on the side of brevity, and keep it tight. But we really enjoy lots of songs, so we couldn't decide.

Antiquiet: And they're long songs...

Josh Homme: Some are, yeah. We call them battleships when they're big. There's about four battleships. And like, do you put 'em all on? I dunno, it's a tough call.

Antiquiet: Any name for it yet?

Josh Homme: It's a self-titled.

Antiquiet: How about a release?

Josh Homme: We've been doing a lot of stuff real kind of secretive, and we actually made a pact to not know when it's coming out, the band guys. I'm betting... Well it's going to be before the end of the year... We kind of have a little running bet on what the date is. And I intend to win that bet, because I'm going to cheat.

Antiquiet: In terms of songwriting, and getting down and playing together, how quick did that come to be?

Josh Homme: Well it actually happened pretty fast after that meeting. Both John and I told equally dry and sort of scathing jokes to each other at Medieval Times, and so it sort of stamped the 'let's do this.'

What's funny is once you agree to do it, I realized this after the first time we played, once you agree to jam together, it has to work. Or it's like saying... 'Why couldn't it work between the three of you? Why wouldn't you be able to do something that would be... that you would at least want to listen to?' So it's no pressure...

Antiquiet: What was the first song you guys wrote?

Josh Homme: Well, there was one called Reptiles... [But] we didn't end up doing it until almost the very end, I had to sort of convince those guys that it was the right sort of angular thing to do. Because it's a little bit hard to understand at first, I think, the way I delivered it. 'Hey, check this out!' (spastic convulsions) 'Watch this broken robot clean your house!'

And then there was a song called Spinning In Daffodils that was the first thing we really recorded.

Antiquiet: Any idea as far as an agreement on a label, or how that's all going to work out distribution wise?

Josh Homme: Yeah... It's going to come out on Interscope in the states, and Sony/BMG internationally.

Antiquiet: How do you feel about that? You've been pretty outspoken in the past about not feeling so hot about Interscope anymore...

Josh Homme: Well, you know... If it was up to me, I'd just get a real big hot air balloon, and put 'em all in the basket of that, and just (miming) pull the cord and let it drop over places, you know?

But, you know, it's not up to me always.

Antiquiet: Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel was asked about [Them Crooked Vultures]. He said that what's most interesting to him is that he's watching Dave in a band where he's not in charge, and he's not calling all the shots. (over laughter) Any reaction to that comment?

Josh Homme: Well he's giving all the shots. All the B12s, and all the flu shots...

Well, I think by nature of it, this is three people interested in hearing what the other person's opinion is. So there's no need to run anything. If we're not careful, it just runs itself. And you just gotta play catch-up anyhow.

Then, be on the lookout this weekend at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Robert Plant flew in just to watch the festival this year and will be roaming around Golden Gate Park with the rest of us.

It's hard to exactly explain what the conglomeration between those three men and bonus guitarist Alain Johannes sounds like, other than using excessive comparisons to freight trains and the like. One massive parallel we did hear throughout the band's nearly two-hour set was somewhat of a demonic Cream, with Grohl playing drums like Ginger Baker on biker speed. He simply has not hit this hard since the days of his former band' s In Utero and maybe his one-off metal project Probot. Even his work on QOTSA's landmark Songs For The Deaf paled in contrast to his work behind the kit last night. Grohl was little more than a mass of hair and arms in the back of the Homme and Jones-induced sprawl.

Which brings us to Jones who is honestly the backbone of this project for all intents and purposes to Them Crooked Vultures. The man pulled out a keytar, a slide bass, and even played keys on a handful of tracks, with one bass lighting up with blue LED lights. People will prattle on about Jimmy Page being some sort of evil guitar god who sold his soul to craft "Stairway To Heaven", but anyone watching TCV last night would realize that he had a touch of old Pitch himself all along.

All in all the sound of TCV is tight as hell, with the only complaint being that we wish we could have heard more interplay between Grohl and Jones, who together comprise one of rock's best rhythm sections. After all they played behind Page and Plant and Cobain respectively. Homme stayed sturdy the entire night, turning his hip-swiveling red-haired sex menace on full blast.

This evening the band helps close out the daily festivities playing before the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Kings Of Leon over at Zilker Park, so we see ourselves now having to make some serious ass Sophie's Choice-style decisions. We are actually quite interested now to see what a largely outsider festival crowd will think of TCV's extended punishingly intricate jams. Projects like this don't last long and go poof just as soon as they bloom. Let's hope these guys stick around for a touring cycle or two.

View pics from the evening here.

Courtesy of Craig Hlavaty

Courtesy of Craig Hlavaty

He leads, sings, plays guitar and song-writes for his full-time band, Foo Fighters, which is nearing the 15 year mark. He's guest drummed on full-albums by bands he likes (Queens of the Stone Age, Killing Joke) and played fantasty heavy metal camp on the Dave + a-whole lot-of-extreme- music-dudes album Probot. Now he's playing in a Cream-esque "supergroup" called Them Crooked Vultures with Queens guitarist Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.

Jones is an interesting case - he's the one member of Led Zeppelin who didn't make questionable career moves post-Zep by, for examples, dying tragically (John Bonham), playing in the Firm (Jimmy Page) or naming an album "Now & Zen" (Robert Plant).

Jones became a producer, making records with interesting bands (Butthole Surfers, Diamanda Galas) and generally keeping a comparatively lowish profile.

So seeing these three guys play together, two of them doing things in public they don't do much anymore (Grohl drumming, Jones playing bass) was thrilling apart from the music they made. It also lent a buit of weight to the taping itself, the first time an unsigned band has recorded an Austin City Limits set, which they did Wednesday night. It was certainly the first time a band was playing its ninth-ever gig for the program.

Oh, the songs? Well, they sounded like the sum of their parts - essentially Queens of the Stone Age style riffs blended with a large helping of everything loud Led Zeppelin did well - blues here, art-rock there, rolling thunder everywhere.

Notably, they don't sound like more than the sum of their parts - Featuring Queens bassist Alain Johannes on second guitar, TCV still feels very much like a project band, or at least a band who are still feeling out their strengths and weaknesses of their songs. The hour-long set's opener, "Elephants," I believe, rolodexed the band's skill set -Grohl's Bonhamy stomp mixed with punk speed, Jone's hard-swinging, yet almost casual bass and Homme's ovoid riffs and the bits of prog rock Zep loved the most (i.e. songs with lots of parts and movements).

"Mind Eraser, No Chaser" overcame its terrible title with lots of wah-wah. Jones hit the synths and Grohl found a nasty double-bass drum run for "Caligulove." "Scumbag Blues" was all swing and drive, while "Daffodils" seemed to cut the "Immigrant Song" riff, only to loop into the sort of queasy ovoid shape Homme is so good at. ("Nobody Loves Me and Neither Do I" similarly repeated a dirty Zep-style buzz while Jones played a massive, lap-slide-looking thing that produced some vibrant drone.) And I may be the only person for whom "New Fang" recalled Aerosmith's Ragdoll," but, well here we are.

The closer, "Warsaw," started with a chunky, brick-laying riff and ended with the sort of faux-jazzy, goofing-solos coda you just don't see anymore. No wonder the word Homme kept using the word "classic" to describe the set. We're not likely to see TCV songs replace Led Zeppelin on classic rock radio any time soon, but those two crazy kids and the guy who looked like a kind uncle sure seemed to have fun trying.

"It's a little experimental. Maybe, you might find something to get stuck into. Let's see what happens. It's at least out on the edge."

And then Juldeh Camara started plucking away on his kologo (two-stringed Ghanian fiddle). Almost unrecognizeable to the Western ear until Robert Plant came in with "Hey hey mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove..."

Camara switched over to ritti (one-stringed African fiddle) and Plant introduced Funny In My Mind (I Believe I'm Fixin' To Die) "Here is a song from 19 and 32. Its a little changed for 2000 and whatever it is."

A little humble, yet ever-sarcastic, Plant introduced Whole Lotta Love as "...a little chestnut, speaking about variety shows."

Plant and Camara were joined on stage this evening by guitarist Justin Adams, who released a new CD "Tell No Lies" on June 16, 2009 with Camara and is in the middle of a small UK Tour, Billy Fuller on bass, Clive Deamer on drums and three bendir players.

Plant and company took the stage as part of the O2 Rockwell concert to benefit the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy charity.

@rsctim tweeted "just saw Robert Plant play Led Zep songs at the o2. Amazing." Indeed.

Courtesy of Paul Hide

Courtesy of Paul Hide

Black Dog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-WgGSei7ZI&feature=player_embedded

Funny In My Mind (I Believe I'm Fixin' To Die)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-JzGnoRnf8&feature=player_embedded

Whole Lotta Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muInfOWuuJ4&feature=player_embedded

Among the assortment of rare collectibles, vintage photographs, concert footage, CDs and books is a hard-cover program from the group's 2007 reunion concert at London's O2 Arena, autographed by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones.

To bid on these items visit MountSinaiAuction.com.

For more information, send an e-mail to Sam Rapallo at webmaster@ledzeppelin.com.

To view the items, go to this location. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=126686]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#090909d D95AF2CD-ECF6-44E7-8545-154916964BC6 Wed, 9 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0500 Led Zep's Jimmy Page and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour were just two of the music legends who turned up to Spandau Ballet frontman Gary Kemp's book launch in London earlier this week.


Jimmy Page, who shares a guitar tech with Gary Kemp, helped his peer celebrate the publication of the autobiography "I Know This Much: From Soho To Spandau" (Fourth Estate).

The party at London's private member's bar the Groucho was also attended by friends David Gilmour and Chas Smash as well as Spandau bandmates Martin Kemp and John Keeble.

Spandau Ballet are set to play their first shows together in 20 years, with reunion concert dates starting in the UK in October.
http://www.uncut.co.uk/news/jimmy_page/news/13601]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#090909c 69538158-A143-4192-8E2E-725C2ABC9337 Wed, 9 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0500 London, September 9 (ANI): Rock legend Jimmy Page has left many fans disappointed after snubbing plans to pen an autobiography.

The Led Zeppelin star recently made the revelation at friend Gary Kemp's book launch.

"I've had so many offers over the years but I'm not interested," the Daily Express quoted him as saying.

"I wouldn't know how to go about it," the 65-year-old guitarist added.

Page further tagged most books on the Seventies rock group as "a load of old rubbish". (ANI)

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/jimmy-page-snubs-autobiog=raphy-plans_100244945.html]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#090909b 0D769231-6B63-4DBC-B064-E5EB947975D2 Wed, 9 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0500 Them Crooked Vultures — the new supergroup consisting of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Queens Of The Stone Age singer/guitarist Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones - will tour Australia in January. The dates are as follows:

Jan. 19 - Perth, Australia - Challenge Stadium
Jan. 22 - Melbourne, Australia - Festival Hall
Jan. 25 - Brisbane, Australia - Riverstage
Jan. 26 - Sydney, Australia - Hordern Pavilion

Them Crooked Vultures have announced the dates and venues for their first North American tour, which will begin on October 1 at the kick-off party for the Austin City Limits festival in Austin, Texas. The trio will tape a performance for the "Austin City Limits" TV program one day earlier on September 30, with an airdate to be determined. Tickets for the tour go on sale this Saturday (September 5) at 10:00 a.m. local time. Them Crooked Vultures have played only one show in the U.S. so far, on August 9 at a Lollapalooza afterparty in Chicago.

The band has just finished a short run of European festival dates.

Although a debut album has been completed, reports of an October 27 release are said by the group's publicist to be just rumors, according to The Pulse of Radio.

Several short clips of both live and studio performances by the trio have already surfaced on YouTube.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=126683]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#090909a 0174DA77-7CF1-4BDB-8F64-C7A70DEDC94C Wed, 9 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0500 Them Crooked Vultures have posted a snippet of one of their songs online in a video – watch it by clicking below.

The track is expected to feature on their debut album 'Never Deserved The Future', which is due in late October.

The band - featuring Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones - posted 'Scumbag Blues' online yesterday (September 1). It follows the announcement of the supergroup's first UK tour, set for December.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YalghA3dGvI

NME.COM]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#090209a A5A3B85F-E07C-47D7-8FC9-1BED299CD883 Wed, 2 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0500 Volume 3 of The Crooked Times has now been released. It gives the long-awaited news of the US and UK tour in Fall 2009, with dates and locations.

As an added bonus, it also gives a link to a little instrumental video snippet of Scumbag Blues as well as a link to their online Store with the ever-changing t-shirt.

CONSORT by going to www.themcrookedvultures.com.]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#090109b 01E05ECE-07E8-466D-85BC-78D07142C1D5 Tue, 1 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0500 FOLLOW WHAT'S HEARD

Descending on Austin for Festival & TV appearances

The tour kicks off with an October 2 performance at the Austin City Limits music festival, to be preceded by a September 30 Austin City Limits TV taping to air at a later date TBD, as well as an appearance at the October 1 Austin City Limits festival pre-party.

North America Fall Tour 2009

Thu, 1st October / Austin TX / Stubb's
Fri, 2nd October / Austin TX / Austin City Limits
Mon, 5th October / Nashville TN / War Memorial
Tue, 6th October / Columbus OH / LC Pavilion
Thu, 8th October / Detroit MI / The Fillmore
Fri, 9th October / Toronto ONT / Sound Academy
Sun, 11th October / Boston MA / House of Blues
Mon, 12th October / Philadelphia PA / Electric Factory
Wed, 14th October / Washington DC / 930 Club

Europe Winter 2009

Thu, 10th December / Plymouth / Plymouth Pavilions
Fri, 11th December / Portsmouth / Portsmouth Guildhall
Sun, 13th December / Blackpool / Empress Ballroom
Mon, 14th December / Birmingham / O2 Academy Birmingham
Tue, 15th December / Edinburgh / Edinburgh Corn Exchange
Thu, 17th December / London / Hammersmith Apollo

Presale Information will be sent via newsletter. Sign-up for it at www.themcrookedvultures.com]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#090109a 767EB3F2-749D-4C19-8BDD-BE6813BAE99F Tue, 1 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0500 Robert Plant, the rock star who fronted the legendary Led Zeppelin, has revealed that Wolverhampton Wanderers' decision to make him an honorary vice-president has left him feeling a little strange.

Plant, 60, has been watching Wolves for 55 years, and received his honour on the pitch during half-time in Saturday's game against West Ham United at Molineux from chairman Steve Morgan.

"First of all, I'm flattered, but I'm embarrassed to be honest," the singer told The Express & Star.

"There are so many other people who are so important and relevant to the club, especially the people I sit next to at Molineux in the Steve Bull Stand.

"They've seen so many more games than me and they're able to keep a closer eye on what's going on."

Plant is a West Midlander through and through, having been born in West Bromwich and now living near Kidderminster in Worcestershire. He was linked with a director's position twice before.

In the 70's he ruled out a move into the boardroom because he felt that the atmosphere was a little stuffy for him. He was also linked with launching a takeover for the club in 1982, along with former ELO drummer Bev Bevan.

A home and away season ticket holder, Plant has reportedly ruled out changing his seat at Molineux and sitting in the director's box.

http://goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/08/17/1445515/led-zeppelins-robert-plant-flattered-to-be-wolverhampton]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#081709a 12662442-3C71-45F6-AAA9-A906A11D3435 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0500




Tickets to an Aug. 19 performance by Them Crooked Vultures in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, are going on sale one day in advance.

Found online at the Web site for the Melkweg concert venue is a poster sporting the coded band name "8436 2766533 88588737" (the numbers you would press on the phone to spell out the band's name) and the band's scourge doctor logo.

(Update: The band's official confirmation of this concert came minutes after the initial posting of this concert on LedZeppelinNews.com. The official Twitter page of Them Crooked Vultures linked to a page containing the poster.)

Tickets are to be sold exclusively at the Melkweg box office beginning at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 18. To prevent scalping, there is a limit of one ticket per customer, and a photo ID is necessary for the purchase. The ticket and wristband issued at the point of sale must be brought back to the venue the following day for entry to the concert. Tickets are nontransferable.

The concert is scheduled to take place on Wednesday at 9 p.m. Doors to the show open at 7 p.m. Cameras and recording devices are prohibited.

For fans who did not attend the debut performance in Chicago, there is little to go on as to what the new music sounds like. The band is acting as its own gatekeeper, releasing elusive tidbits one at a time through online networking sites.

Not only that, but the poster for the Amsterdam show explicitly prohibits recording devices and cameras inside the venue. Likewise, security inside the Metro in Chicago on Aug. 10 kept many fans from taking pictures or video during the debut performance, and the few quality videos taken at that show have been removed from YouTube, apparently following a request from singer Josh Homme.



http://lemonsqueezings.blogspot.com/2009/08/them-crooked-vultures-destination.html]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#081609a EB1F595E-3B46-47B4-B93E-EAF2DA9588E2 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0500 Woodstock, the famous 1969 music festival devoted to peace and love, occurred this month exactly 40 years ago. The concert took place August 15 through August 18, revolutionizing the music scene forever.

The Desert Sun, a publication in California, recently published a short snippet of famous bands that never made it out to the original Woodstock. The list is quite remarkable and makes you wonder what the festival would have been like if these giants of rock made an appearance.

Outside of Led Zeppelin, the four other bands mentioned were: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors and Bob Dylan. One could definitely make the argument that these five Woodstock no-shows are the five greatest bands in history - an argument I would listen to.

But what if Led Zeppelin and these other musicians graced that stage in New York? It would have been pretty close to the end of The Beatles, while Led Zeppelin, The Stones and the others would have been in their prime. Dylan was probably the voice of that entire decade.

Rumor has it that the members of Led Zeppelin (especially Jimmy Page) did not want to be part of an event in which many other artists were featured. It is reasonable, especially when you consider the fact that Led Zeppelin usually toured as the big-name artists throughout its history. Plus, nobody knew how big the festival would actually become.

However, the festival itself was a rousing success, spawning two more similar events in the 90s and claiming its spot in music lore. Popular bands that actually did play at the event include: Richie Havens, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Santana, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Creedence Clearwater Revival, among others.

Hopefully, the future holds a similar Woodstock-type event. Peace and music is what this world is all about, and here's to wishing for its return.

http://www.examiner.com/x-18211-Led-Zeppelin-Examiner~y2009m8d11-What-if-Led-Zeppelin-played-Woodstock]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#081409a 34C3F002-8047-4D35-9DE8-EF5D7B25C79B Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0500 Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.

According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.

As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the "tracks" in the finished recording.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jBD78k8tewQ7FPeiKtJbK8QPmtzAD9A23LL00]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#081309a 330CFA9C-A430-464F-8891-AC81E4B3D857 Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0500 One of the hottest rumors at this year's Pukkelpop Festival in Kiewet, Belgium is that Them Crooked Vultures will make an appearance at the Marquee on Thursday, August 20, 2009.

On Pukkelpop's website, at the 20:55 time slot, it lists Surprise Act as performing. Several entries in the Comments section mention that it might be Them Crooked Vultures.

Nothing has been confirmed on the official Them Crooked Vultures website and other possible rumored dates are starting to float around on the internet.



http://www.pukkelpop.be/en/bands/surprise-act]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#081209a 798E6CEA-66D8-4B11-ACFE-01336944A2A2 Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0500 14 seconds of aural pleasure of a song entitled Nobody Loves Me and Neither Do I was posted to the official YouTube channel of Them Crooked Vultures today.

It featured the mysterious and unnamed part-vulture, part-man in black-and-white in front of a crimson background while vultures fly above.

It ends with a quick plug for their website.

This song was the last song played at their premiere performance at Chicago's Metro on August 9, 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQEOEnQlXjg]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#081109a C494DA23-BAA5-4099-B891-74CC95048265 Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0500 John Paul Jones, a.k.a. Them Crooked Vultures took the stage at midnight last night at the Metro in Chicago to a packed crowd of more than 1100. This was their debut performance.

Their set lasted approximated 80 minutes and contained the following new tunes:

Elephants
New Fang
Scumbag Blues
Dead End Friends
Bandoliers
Mind Eraser (No Chaser)
Gunman
Daffodils
Interlude w/ Ludes
Caligulove
Warsaw
Nobody Loves Me

John Paul Jones employed a 8-string Manson bass mandolin and 4-string Manson bass guitar (used heavily at the 2007 O2 Reunion concert), a Korg Oasys keyboard and a Keytar.

Joining Homme, Grohl and Jones was fellow Queens of the Stone Age collaborator, Alain Johannes, who played guitar on some of the songs. All four members shared the vocalist role, with Homme taking primary duties

Additional information can be found at the following websites:

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2009/08/concert-review-them-crooked-vultures-at-metro.html
http://zepcowboy.blogspot.com/2009/08/them-crooked-vultures-august-9-2009.html
http://blogs.suntimes.com/derogatis/2009/08/them_crooked_vultures_at_metro.html

Amazing photos can be found at the following website:

http://pitchfork.com/features/photos/galleries/729-them-crooked-vultures/

No word yet on any future tour dates or release date for any upcoming CD.]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#081009a 3F301175-8A60-47C9-8A31-E93D512A82B7 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0500 Scarlet Page and Tom Brown tied the knot yesterday at 30 St Mary Axe, a.k.a. Ther Gherkin, in London.

They have one daughter, Martha Alice, who was born on October 8, 2007.

Her father, Jimmy Page, was in attendance.



http://www.rosshalfin.com/diary/august-2009/diary-august-2009.php]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#080909a 4000DBD9-6413-4CFC-A550-747DAFA32EC2 Sun, 9 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0500
The all-star band, which has apparently been in the works for four years, is set to play a post-Lollapalooza gig at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday at the Metro.

Rolling Stone is reporting that Them Crooked Vultures will release an album called "Never Deserved the Future" on Oct. 23, but other details about the group remain slim. The band's MySpace, Twitter and Facebook pages directs visitors back to the main site, which in turn directs visitors to its MySpace, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Even the credibility of a promo clip that popped up on YouTube was questioned (and removed from the site). Either way, the members of Chickenfoot must be shaking in their boots.

Additional rumored have Them Crooked Vultures to be the surprise act at the Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium on August 20 and the Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands on August 22, but no official confirmation for either have been made.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/them-crooked-vultures-807/]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#080809a 652A723C-13B2-4580-BAD7-1A6F0887FCF5 Sat, 8 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0500
It's official: Them Crooked Vultures will be debuting this weekend!

The supergroup including John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme has been scheduled to perform Sunday night after the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago has concluded.

The aftershow concert is scheduled for a midnight start time, and tickets are to go on sale Thursday morning exclusively online.

The concert will be a midnight show taking place after a full day's lineup closing the Lollapalooza festival this Sunday, Aug. 9. Doors are open at 10 p.m.

The appearance was officially confirmed when an e-mail from themcrookedvultures.com, the band's official site, linked to the official ticketing page. An image in that e-mail also contained the same three symbols -- the Foo Fighters symbol, the John Paul Jones symbol and the Queens of the Stone Age symbol -- that bloggers had earlier noticed were together on by an unnamed act.

Also this morning, the listing of aftershows at the Lollapalooza festival's official Web site and the venue site also began listing ticketing information for an unnamed act but identified only by those same three symbols.


Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times, in an online blog, mentioned a rumor this morning that John Paul Jones and his new supergroup would be playing Sunday night at Lollapalooza.

Soon afterward, Brent DiCrescenzo wrote in another blog about the rumor and pointed to a page on Etix.com with tickets to be sold exclusively online beginning this Thursday at 10 a.m. Central.

Word of the symbols on that ticketing page also appeared this morning on the Chicagoist blog and TankBoy's blog. Visitors to the venue's official site also spent some time guessing what the symbols meant.

Jones's management has not confirmed to LedZeppelinNews.com any aspect of the collaborative project the musician alluded to in an iw this April with Women's Wear Daily. Speculation began in June that Josh Homme and Dave Grohl were involved.

Over the past few days, the group's name has been floating around the Internet as Them Crooked Vultures. It is this name that both bloggers use in their postings today.



DeRogatis points out the festival's management has not confirmed the booking. If it happens, he says the Grohl-Homme-Jones appearance would "provide the much-needed icing on the cake largely missing from this year's festival lineup by closing things out with a special intimate after-show Sunday night at Metro."


DiCrescenzo calls this event "one of the biggest 'secret' shows to grace our Chicago stages in a while."

http://lemonsqueezings.blogspot.com/]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#080409a 9F42DB1F-FFC0-4F97-9544-918F4095CE0D Tue, 4 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0500
Deborah will play the International Stage at 20th anniversary Great British Blues Festival with her band - and she can hardly wait.

"I'm really excited about it," said the singer/songwriter, who lives in West Sussex.

"I've not done the festival before, but this year they invited me and I'm thrilled. It's going to be excellent."

The Bonham family tree is firmly rooted in musical tradition.

Deborah was just six when brother John joined Led Zeppelin, but this powerful introduction to blues rock sparked in her an overwhelming desire to write and perform.

"I first saw Led Zeppelin play at Birmingham Town Hall with an audience of about 2,500 and I remember thinking: 'Oh wow, that's what I want to do.'

"Their music was very much rooted in the blues, but they took it to another level. I'm sure that's where my love of that style of music comes from, though."

It wasn't until after John's untimely death in 1980 that Deborah decided to take the plunge and enter the world of music.

"The reason being there was no way on this planet he would have wanted me to do it," said Deborah.

"I studied very hard at school so I think he just wanted me to go and be a blinkin' doctor or something. It took me a long time to work out why he wasn't keen on me doing it, but now I've been in the business myself I know exactly what he was talking about.

"You've got to remember I was still at school when John died and he was just trying to protect me. It was the '70s and they were very heady days. Everything was very hedonistic and John saw things he probably didn't want his little sister to see. He saw people like Janis Joplin die of heroin. He used to say: 'No, you've got to stop at school'."

But Deborah couldn't fight what was natural to her and it was John's bandmate Robert Plant who gave her a helping hand into the industry.

"I'd always sort of been writing songs and playing around, but a year or so after John died I phoned Robert Plant - he'd got a little studio in the next village - and I said: 'Can I come and have a little go and see what it sounds like?'

"So I went round and Jason (John's son - now a rock drummer who has gained success with various bands including Foreigner and Bonham) played the drums. He was so young, I remember him sitting in the corner eating Jelly Tots, but he was a great drummer even then.

"I did a few demos and Robert said: 'You've got to get out and pay your dues on the stage'. Twenty-five years later we're still doing that. But it was the best advice I could've been given though because that's what our band is all about, the live show. It's where we're most comfortable. It's raw and powerful and it's what we do best."

Deborah has opened shows in the Los Angeles 'House of Blues' with guests Slash and Terry Reid, as well as done two tours of her own.

Back in the UK and Europe, she has toured and performed with Van Halen, Paul Weller, Humble Pie, Donovan, Lonnie Donnegan, Foreigner and Paul Rodgers. She’s also played festivals from Glastonbury to Donnington and twice at Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival.

Her new album Duchess is her third and, impressively, her band is the same group of musicians she's been with since she started out.

"It's like going on tour with family," said Deborah.

"It makes it great because we all know each other so well and we know how to be around each other. It's all very natural and we love each other very much. There's a real good vibe. I know it's rare in the music industry and people are always asking 'How have you stayed together so long?' I always say: 'Because we're nice to each other, that's why, and we actually treat each other with a bit of respect'."

Deborah believes her brother would be eventually have come around to the idea of her career as a musician.

"I think he'd be very proud of what I've achieved musically. I know he would have got up and played with us, because it's the style of music that John would have loved."

See the Deborah Bonham Band at the Great British R&B Festival, Colne, on Saturday, August 29, at 3.30pm on the International Stage.

http://www.chorleycitizen.co.uk/leisure/music/4523689.Interview__Deborah_Bonham/]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#073109b AE2D8965-4D42-4963-B373-C1972EE92479 Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0500 Antiquiet, Jesse Hughes of Eagles of Death Metal let it slip in an obscure interview with Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada's Power 97 radio station last week that Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme's new project with John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) and Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) is going by the name Them Crooked Vultures.

The trio is said to be currently holed up in a Los Angeles recording studio working on an album that's been the biggest secret in rock for what seems like years now.

www.ThemCrookedVultures.com is online but just has an email signup form.


http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/BlabberMouth.Net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=124540]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#073109a 6B6B9712-93DE-4EAE-ABBC-AB55475746CB Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0500
The 66-year-old former Cream bassist made headlines across the world in May after describing the band who reunited for a one-off concert in 2007 as "crap".

Speaking to the press at an awards ceremony, Bruce described Led Zeppelin reunion gig at the 02 Arena as "lame" and chided them: "You're crap and you'll never be anything else. Cream is 10 times the band Led Zeppelin is."

Bruce, who lives near the Suffolk-Essex border, said he could not believe the furore his comments caused.

"It was just a bit of fun and it was blown out of all proportion," he said.

"Some Led Zeppelin fans were really angry at me and I had a few death threats - they're not likely to find me out here though!

"People like me tend to forget that with YouTube and Twitter, you can't say anything without it getting around the world.

"We always used to have a pop at other bands in the old days and that was all it was. It was like I had spoken out against the Queen or something. You obviously can't say anything against Led Zeppelin."

Bruce said Cream - made up by guitar legend Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker - were originally lined up to play the Ahmet Ertegun memorial concert that ended up as Led Zeppelin's comeback but had pulled out when the event became too commercial.

]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#072809b 63E4BCB6-4B02-42D6-A95B-466202438051 Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0500
Although it's unclear whether Plant or the other driver, drug counselor Richard Grant, was at fault, the latter told the Telegraph, "I was unconscious for a little while and then I saw him standing there. I was pretty groggy when I saw him, but later on the officers told me who it was. I went to hospital for five hours and luckily there were no broken bones, but I was badly bruised on the arm and had whiplash."

According to a police spokesman said: "At approximately 7.45pm on July 2, police were called to a minor road traffic collision in Harrow Road, W10. There were no arrests and reports of very minor injuries." Meanwhile, Plant's spokesman declined to comment.

Grant's profession as a drug counselor seems ironic considering Plant was a notorious fan of illicit substances during Zeppelin's 1970s heyday and once supposedly hired a "coke lady" to get cocaine for the band. Of course, these days Plant has calmed considerably, dismissing recent lucrative opportunities to reunite with his former bandmates and even turning down offers to alternate with Abba as a replacement for Michael Jackson's 50-gig stint at London's O2 arena.

It seems that Plant is instead content continuing his collaboration with bluegrass favorite Alison Krauss. In fact, Krauss says that she and Plant have already started plotting the follow up to their Grammy winning album 'Raising Sand', telling the paper in a different report, "It'll be different, as if we hadn't made the first. I love being in the world of the unknown."

http://www.spinner.com/2009/07/28/robert-plant-walks-away-from-london-crash/]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#072809a A6DCB9A9-5D38-4A73-9369-F82F63BFC4A7 Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0500
The Rockwell concert - a night of 'unique collaborations'- will raise money for Nordoff-Robbins and will also see appearances from a host of musicians including Tom jones, David Gray, Supergrass, Razorlight and Joss Stone

A ticket pre-sale begins at 8am on August 3, all proceeds go to the Nordoff-Robbins Trust.

You can get more information about the charity concert here: O2Rockwell.com and for more on the charity, go here: www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk

http://www.uncut.co.uk/news/robert_plant/news/13406]]> http://www.led-zeppelin.org/news/index.php?m=2009news#072609a B1BCC90E-731B-44C0-A942-6E3C2FA424BC Sun, 26 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0500 It Might Get Loud is set to be shown in theaters in New York City and the Los Angeles area on August 14, 2009. Subsequent dates in the US for showings have just been announced.

No word on any dates of showings outside of the US have been announced.

AMC Empire - New York, NY 8/14/09
Arclight Hollywood - Hollywood, CA 8/14/09
Laemmle's Playhouse - Pasadena, CA 8/14/09
Sunshine Cinema - New York, NY 8/14/09
The Landmark - Los Angeles, CA 8/14/09
Town Center 5 - Encino, CA 8/14/09
University Town - Irvine, CA 8/14/09

Aquarius Twin - Palo Alto, CA 8/28/09
Camera 12 - San Jose, CA 8/28/09
Century Centre - Chicago, IL 8/28/09
Century Five - Pleasant Hill, CA 8/28/09
Cinearts 6 - Evanston, IL 8/28/09
Embarcadero Center - San Francisco, CA 8/28/09
Embassy Cinema - Waltham, MA 8/28/09
Harvard Exit T - San Diego, CA 8/28/09
Kendall Square - Cambridge, MA 8/28/09
Renaissance - Highland Park, IL 8/28/09
Sequoia Twin - Mill Valley, CA 8/28/09
Shattuck 8 - Berkeley, CA 8/28/09

Angelika Theatre - Houston, TX 9/4/09
Angelika(Plano) - Plano, TX 9/4/09
Bethesda - Bethesda, MD 9/4/09
E-Street Cinema - Washington, DC 9/4/09
Lagoon Theatre - Minneapolis, MN 9/4/09
Ritz East - Philadelphia, PA 9/4/09
Shirlington 7 T - Arlington, VA 9/4/09
The Magnolia - Dallas, TX 9/4/09
UA Stonestown T - San Francisco, CA 9/4/09

Arbor Cinemas - Austin, TX 9/11/09
Century 14 - Albuquerque, NM 9/11/09
Century Downtown - Ventura, CA 9/11/09
Dobie Four - Austin, TX 9/11/09
Fox Tower 10 - win - Seattle, WA 8/28/09
Hillcrest Cinema - Portland, OR 9/11/09
Harbor East - Baltimore, MD 9/11/09
Luxury Shea 14 - Scottsdale, AZ 9/11/09
Mayan Three - Denver, CO 9/11/09
Osio - Monterrey, CA 9/11/09
Palm Theatre 2 - San Luis Obispo, CA 9/11/09
Palme D'or - Palm Desert, CA 9/11/09
Promenade Stadium - Rolling Hills Estates, CA 9/11/09
Rialto - Santa Rosa, CA 9/11/09

Shadowood Square - Boca Raton, FL 9/11/09
South Beach 18 - Miami Beach, FL 9/11/09
Stadium 9 - Palm Springs, CA 9/11/09
Tower Angelika - Sacramento, CA 9/11/09
UA Devargas Center - Santa Fe, NM 9/11/09
UA Tara Cinema - Atlanta, GA 9/11/09

Bijou Twin - Eugene, OR 9/18/09
Century 16 - Boulder, CO 9/18/09
Main Art Theater - Royal Oak, MI 9/18/09
Modern Art - Ft Worth, TX 9/18/09
Nickelodeon Four - Santa Cruz, CA 9/18/09
Oriental 3 - Milwaukee, WI 9/18/09
Tivoli Theatre - St Louis, MO 9/18/09
Village Square - Las Vegas, NV 9/18/09

AMC Quail Spring - Oklahoma City, OK 9/25/09
AMC Studio 30 - Olathe, KS 9/25/09
Broadway Centre - Salt Lake City, UT 9/25/09
Canal Place Cinema - New Orleans, LA 9/25/09
Cinemark Palace - Kansas City, MO 9/25/09
City Center Cinema - Vancouver, WA 9/25/09
Darkside Cinema - Corvallis, OR 9/25/09
Fiesta 16 - San Antonio, TX 9/25/09
Fleur 4 Theatre - Des Moines, IA 9/25/09
Flicks Four - Boise, ID 9/25/09
Gainesville 14 - Gainesville, FL 9/25/09
Gateway Theatre - Columbus, OH 9/25/09
Green Hills Com - Nashville, TN 9/25/09
Hollywood 20 - Sarasota FL, 9/25/09
Jupiter Mall 18 - Jupiter, FL 9/25/09
Kahala Mall 8 - Honolulu, HI 9/25/09
Keystone Art - Indianapolis, IN 9/25/09
Loft Cinema 2 - Tucson, AZ 9/25/09
Miracle Five - Tallahassee, FL 9/25/09
Nickelodeon 5 North - Falmouth, MA 9/25/09
Ridgeway Quarter - Memphis, TN 9/25/09
Riverside - Reno, NV 9/25/09
The Westhampton - Richmond, VA 9/25/09

AMC Indian River - Vero Beach, FL 10/2/09
AMC Oakview 24 - Omaha, NE 10/2/09
AMC Southroads - Tulsa, OK 10/2/09
Beach Blvd Cinema - Jacksonville, FL 10/2/09
Fiesta Square - Fayetteville, AR 10/2/09

Fireweed Seven - Anchorage, AK 10/2/09
Manor Twin - Charlotte, NC 10/2/09
Pilot Butte 6 P - Bend, OR 10/2/09
Regal Downtown - Knoxville, TN 10/2/09
River Park Square - Spokane, WA 10/2/09
Trussville Cinema - Trussville, AL 10/2/09
Mindframe - Dubuque, IA 10/9/09

Browning Cinema - Notre Dame, IN 10/15/09
Cinema - Athens, GA 10/16/09
Ragtag Cinema - Columbia, MO 10/16/09
Wilma Four - Missoula, MT 10/16/09