Following his appearance at the John Cage Musicircus event the day before, John Paul Jones was in attendance yesterday (Sunday March 4) on the Manson stand at the London Bass Guitar Show staged at at Oympia Conference Centre.
Accompanied by his guitar tech and guitar maker Hugh Manson, John spent over an hour meeting and greeting fans, signing autographs and posing for photos. There was plenty of interest in the Manson JPJ E signature bass that was on sale – John told me it’s his number one bass. ‘’It’s easy to …

John Paul Jones will be making an appearance at this year’s London Bass Guitar Show 2012 at the Olympia Conference Centre this Sunday March 4th.
John will be appearing on Manson Guitars stand (number D5) at approximately midday for just one hour on the Sunday. John will be available to meet and greet fans and talk about his 5 star rated John Paul Jones signature bass, which will be available for purchase at the show,
For further details see
http://londonbassguitarshow.com/latest-news/108-john-paul-jones-to-appear-on-manson-guitars-stand-at-london-bass-guitar-show.html
http://www.facebook.com/#!/JohnPaulJonesOfficial
To buy tickets for the show, follow the link below.
http://www.londonbassguitarshow.com/get-tickets.html
 
 

At a press conference in London today, it was announced that Oxford University has been given one its biggest ever donation after £26million was handed over to create scholarships for humanities students. The donation, made by Mica Ertegun, widow of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, is understood to be one of the largest in Oxford’s 900-year history.
It will be used to set up the Mica and Ahmet Ertegun Graduate Scholarship Programme in the Humanities.
Ahmet Ertegun died in 2006 and the next year Led Zeppelin reformed to play the now famous …

The  TBL archive celebration of the release of Physical Graffiti continues with two reviews of the album from the time of its original release 37 years ago. Firstly the view from America’s Creem magazine – followed by words of wisdom from the UK’s Zig Zag mag.
Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti (Swan Song)
Jaan Uhelszki, Creem, 1975
ROCK’S BIGGEST bruisers, Led Zeppelin, have got another album. In rock chronology this is an Event, since the defending champions of the world’s biggest rock ‘n’ roll draw have released only six albums in the past seven years. …

Robert Plant and his new band the Sensational Space Shifters will make their live debut as headliners of this year’s Womad, as the festival celebrates its 30th anniversary. The group comprising the former Led Zeppelin frontman, members of his former backing band Strange Sensation and regular collaborator Justin Adams say they draw inspiration “from the roots music of Mississippi, Appalachia, Gambia, Bristol and the foothills of Wolverhampton”.
The first Womad – an acronymn for World of Music, Arts and Dance – was conceived by Genesis singer Peter Gabriel, and took place …

37 years ago today February 24th 1975 Led Zeppelin’s sixth album Physical Graffiti was unleashed on an eagerly awaiting Zep public. This 15 track double album stands for many as their premier recorded statement. Over three decades on, it remains the perfect one stop summary of every ingredient that makes Led Zeppelin THE outstanding rock band of yesterday… of today and tomorrow…
I vividly remember the pure excitement of investing in the new Led Zeppelin album that day 37 years ago. Feasting my eyes on that incredible sleeve, and the first …

Last weekend BBC4 ran a series of jazz documentaries and there was some class footage to be seen –notably a brilliant documentary on the famous Ronnie Scott’s club, a compilation of Frank Sinatra live and rare film of Sonny Rollins.
Watching all this reminded me of how the improvisational qualities of jazz often seeped into Led Zeppelin’s performances. John Paul Jones was often the main instigator (he once told me his favourite album of all time is Miles Davis Sketches Of Spain) and John Bonham was also hugely influenced early in his …

John Paul Jones joined the Floating Palace last night in the company of Robyn Hitchock, KT Tunstall,Eliza Carthy, Krystle Warren and more – Gary Foy files this exclusive on the spot report for TBL:
Warwick Arts Centre is shrouded in show and a cold biting air this evening but inside the futuristic University campus that  in previous years I have visited to be entertained by the likes of Robert Plant (twice), Twinarian and Justin Adams, a warm glow radiates from within the Butterworth Hall thanks to Robyn Hitchcock and his Floating Palace.
The Floating Palace is …

Jimmy Page on stage at the Royal Albert Hall ten years ago today -photo by Freda Hyatt
The snow arrived at the weekend and coupled with some intense listening to the Zep BBC sessions  –it revived memories for me of this period in  February 1979.
Back in the early weeks of that year, I vividly remember trudging through the snow carrying a box of freshly photocopied TBL issue number one from town.
The first ads for the Tight But Loose magazine had appeared in Autumn 1978 off the back of the four part feature in Sounds that I …

40 years ago this month Led Zeppelin were about to undertake a six date tour of Australia and New Zealand – riding off the back of the late 71 Japan and UK dates, they just kept on getting better. There’s plenty of remaining evidence of this amongst the various CD titles that capture those shows. There’s also a fair bit of cine film footage notably the composite sequence that accompanies Immigrant Song on the official DVD.
In amongst wading through every Zep studio album (I’m up to Zep IV so far) …