So now we find ourselves in ’08.

10 years since Page & Plant Walking Into Everywhere … 20 years since Plant Now and Zen. Both of which seem like they happened only yesterday …

After the mayhem and aftermath of the O2, Christmas and the New Year went by in something of a blur. Still way behind in responding to e-mails and the like – I will endeavor to catch up with it all this month.

There’s also been the new Tight But Loose magazine to sign off which we’re pretty pleased with here. There’s certainly a lot in there to soak up and hopefully it will be the perfect excuse to re-enter Planet Zeppelin and blow those January blues away. TBL 19 will be hitting the streets over the next two weeks.

Aside from all the rumours of will they or won’t they, of which there has been plenty, 2008 looks like being a full one again in the Zep related scheme of things – Robert on tour with Alison in the spring and some notable fan events on the agenda including the planned Knebworth House Memorabilia Exhibition and later in the year Zeppelin XL –  the 40th Anniversary London Convention. More on these projects as they unfold.

Plus we have another trio of magazines to produce in the chronicling of this ever-expanding world of Led Zep. Stay tuned to the TBL site in the next few weeks for a full run down of these.

Plenty to fuel the enthusiasm then – all I need now is some renewed energy to get over some very long working days over the past few weeks. Inspiration has been at hand via soaking up yet more O2 feedback (Mojo / Uncut / Q reviews etc – Paul Rees in the latter was very perceptive), and some welcome post Christmas listening notably the very fine Lulu compilation ‘The Atco Sessions’, a two CD set focussing on her early 70’s period as part of the Atlantic Records family that was Jerry, Nesuhi and Ahmet. There’s just no getting away from that legacy right now.       

Finally birthday wishes are due to JPJ (Jan 3) and Jimmy (Jan 9), the latter who reaches the estimable age of 64. As Paul Rees put it in his aforementioned review “It’s quite shocking to find men of advancing years wielding such power”.

I’ll drink a toast to that notion…