This via John Paul Jones’ official website:

Auction To Benefit The “Beca Angel” Program Of The Palapa Society Of Todos Santos, A.C.

During the Todos Santos Music Festival of 2016 in January, many of the musicians that played in the festival participated in the “Paint a Saint” project to raise funds for the Palapa Society “Beca” scholarship program. Each musician was given a carved wooden saint statue to paint/decorate. This special auction of the painted saint by John Paul Jones will be available through an online auction. All proceeds to benefit the “Beca Angel” educational scholarships program for students in the Todos Santos/ Pescadaro area of Baja California Sur, Mexico.

John Paul’s painted saint was inspired during the Music Festival in January when he played live onstage with the popular La Santa Cecilia, the Mexican-American band based in Los Angeles, California.

Here is your chance to own this exclusive Saint. All proceeds to benefit the “Beca Angel” educational scholarships program for students in the Todos Santos/ Pescadaro area of Baja California Sur, Mexico.

This Painted Saint is 29″h x 8″w x 8″d.

The name La Santa Cecilia is based upon the patron saint of musicians, Saint Cecilia. The auction will start on April 15 and ends on May 6, 2016.

To place your bid visit: http://palapasociety.org/auctions

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Record Store Day – Jimmy Page – She Just Satisfies – on sale Saturday April 16:

Universal have lined up an archive Jimmy Page release for Record Store Day which takes place this Saturday. here’s the info…

Originally released in February 1965, ‘She Just Satisfies’ came towards the end of Page’s prolific career as a session musician. He’d already picked up some co-writing credits with then-girlfriend Jacke DeShannon and owing in no small part to her encouragement Page cut this track. Barring the drums, Jimmy played all the instruments and for the first and only time also provided lead vocals, making ‘She Just Satisfies’ a fascinating artefact from one of the greatest guitarists and songwriters of all time. With originals regularly commanding prices in excess of £500, this reissue for record Store Day comes backed with original B-side ‘Keep Moving’ and with reproduction original Fontana label and sleeve.

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Led Zeppelin News Update:

In conjunction with the Led Zep news site, each week I will be re producing highlights from their weekly email update news summary. This goes out every Sunday. Sign up details are below. Many thanks to James Cook.

Led Zeppelin

A still from the newly released video of Led Zeppelin’s press conference in Vancouver on March 21, 1970 (YouTube/LZvids)

• Newsreel footage of a Led Zeppelin press conference in Vancouver on March 21, 1970 has been released for the first time. You can watch it here.

Robert Plant

A photograph posted to Robert Plant’s Instagram (Instagram/robertplantofficial)

• Another new European tour date has been added to Robert Plant’s website. He’ll perform at Festival Noches del Botánico in Spain on July 14.

• Robert Plant spent some of this week on holiday in Ibiza. There have been several sightings of him there.

• Robert Plant posted a photograph of himself on Instagram, which you can see in full here.

Upcoming events:

April 16 – A vinyl reissue of Jimmy Page’s 1965 solo single “She Just Satisfies” will be released for Record Store Day in the UK.
June 19 – Robert Plant will perform at the Royal Festival Hall in London with Guy Garvey, Nick Mulvey, Nadine Shah and Josephine Oniyama.
July 1 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform at the Rock Werchter music festival in Belgium.
July 2 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform at the Beauregard Music Festival in France.
July 4 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform at Le festival des Nuits d’Istres in France.
July 7 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform at the NOS Alive Music Festival in Portugal.
July 14 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform at Festival Noches del Botánico in Spain.
July 20 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform at the Street Music Art Festival in Italy.
July 22 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform in Italy.
July 24 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform in Italy.
July 27 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform in the Czech Republic.
July 28 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform in Austria.
July 30 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform in Croatia.
August 2 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform in Germany.
August 4/5/6/7 – Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters will perform at the Wilderness Festival in the UK.

The Led Zeppelin News email goes out every weekend. To receive it each week sign up here: https://t.co/yp9fGJMSGH

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Led Zeppelin Stairway To Heaven – Spirit Taurus Court Case:

This has of course been a big media story and will continue to be – and there’s already been massive media coverage across TV, radio and print.

Left – the headline in The Metro – below one of many news stories – this one via The Guardian

Led Zeppelin’s lead singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page must face a US jury trial over whether they stole opening chords for their 1971 classic Stairway to Heaven.

A trial is scheduled for 10 May.

The lawsuit was brought by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the late Randy Wolfe, also known as Randy California, who was Spirit’s guitarist and the composer of Taurus.

Skidmore said Page may have been inspired to write Stairway to Heaven for Led Zeppelin after hearing Spirit perform Taurus while the bands toured together in 1968 and 1969, but that Wolfe never got credit.

The defendants said Wolfe was a songwriter-for-hire who had no copyright claim, and that the chord progressions were so clichéd that they did not deserve copyright protection.

But the judge said a jury could find “substantial” similarity between the first two minutes of Stairway to Heaven and Taurus, which he called “arguably the most recognizable and important segments” of the songs.

“While it is true that a descending chromatic four-chord progression is a common convention that abounds in the music industry, the similarities here transcend this core structure,” Klausner wrote. “What remains is a subjective assessment of the ‘concept and feel’ of two works … a task no more suitable for a judge than for a jury.”

Klausner dismissed claims against Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and Warner Music Group

He also said the trustee could get only 50% of any damages awarded, citing a 1967 contract that Wolfe signed.

“This case, from our perspective, has always been about giving credit where credit was due, and now we get to right that wrong,” said Francis Malofiy, a lawyer for Skidmore.

See link at:http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/12/stairway-to-heavens-opening-chords-may-have-been-stolen-judge-says

Here’s a perceptive overview by The Guardian’s Michael Hann: I am right with Michael here as I am sure you are….

Life as a Zeppelin fan would be much easier if they had come up with every idea themselves. But they always turned their borrowings into something greater than the source

And so the latest Led Zeppelin plagiarism case goes to court. This time it’s Spirit, whose claim that Stairway to Heaven’s acoustic opening takes directly from their song Taurus is to be heard before a jury next month.

It’s not the first time m’learned friends have become involved in the allocation of songwriting credits or royalties for Zeppelin songs – Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, Dazed and Confused, Whole Lotta Love, The Lemon Song and Bring It on Home have all had their credits changed on latter-day Zeppelin releases and reissues. The most egregious of those cases was Dazed and Confused, a song by Jake Holmes that Jimmy Page heard when Holmes opened for the Yardbirds in 1967. It became a staple of the Yardbirds’ set, then when Page formed Zeppelin, he changed the lyrics, took sole songwriting credit, and stuck it on the band’s debut album.

There are plenty more Zeppelin songs where the songwriting credits have never been changed or a financial settlement made, despite their evident debt to other songs – especially old blues numbers, whose authorship might be uncertain, and there was no one to challenge the band’s claim to them. And there are other examples from Zeppelin’s contemporaries: how did Bert Jansch feel when he compared his Blackwaterside to their Black Mountain Side? What did Moby Grape think of the similarities between Zeppelin’s Since I’ve Been Loving You and their own song Never?

I’m not going to stick up for Zeppelin over Dazed and Confused (though the the case of Anne Bredon’s Babe I’m Gonna Leave You is a little less clear cut, given that Zeppelin almost certainly took it from Joan Baez’s version, itself wrongly given a trad. arr. credit, just as Zeppelin’s was). But I am going to stick up for them over the suggestion that their career has been based on fraud and theft.

The lazy assertion would be the old line that talent borrows, but genius steals. Let’s be honest: theft is theft. It’s appropriate that instance of plagiarism are dealt with. But Zeppelin’s sins don’t diminish their greatness. Rock’n’roll was built on a limited number of chords, and a limited number of ways of deploying them. The same words, often barely rearranged, crop up in any number of different songs. Zeppelin’s borrowings were more craven than most, certainly, but if you take time to compare the original recordings and the Zeppelin songs, it doesn’t take very long to realise they are completely different beasts.

Whole Lotta Love may have borrowed from both Willie Dixon and the Small Faces, but the song wasn’t the same as either of its pieces of source material: what Zeppelin took, they transformed. They were derivative only in the sense that they took from existing forms; what they did with those forms created rock’n’roll of a new form, one as at home with folk or blues or proto-metal.

If you listen to Taurus and Stairway to Heaven side by side, you’ll hear that Randy California’s acoustic guitar figure is undeniably similar to the opening section of Stairway. But then take a moment to consider. Is that pattern really the memorable thing about the song? What about the epic solo, or John Bonham’s thunderous entrance, or the staccato riff at the end? Of course that little section is not central to people’s love of Stairway, it’s just one small part of it. But the danger of the accumulation of accusations against Zeppelin is that they become the details people notice in the portrait, preventing them from stepping back and seeing the big picture. And when you look at the big picture, Led Zeppelin were a great, great band.

It would be much more convenient if Robert Plant had never pinched old blues lyrics, or Jimmy Page had never been cavalier about where the inspiration for some of his riffs came from. Really, it would. What they did in the late 60s and early 70s leaves an unpleasant taste. And, in an age where cultural appropriation has, quite justifiably, become something to discuss seriously, it would have been great if their borrowings from the blues had been acknowledged in financial form without those they took from having to go to the courts. But it can’t come as any great surprise to learn that rock stars are not always the most punctilious of people, especially rock stars with a manager as devoted to shoring up their bottom end as Peter Grant was.

But make no mistake: Moby Grape’s failure to become stars wasn’t because Zeppelin stole their thunder. Spirit’s Taurus isn’t less well known than Stairway to Heaven because it was overshadowed. More people know Zeppelin’s version of Dazed and Confused that Jake Holmes’s because it’s more dramatic and exciting.

Whatever happens in the court case next month, Led Zeppelin will not be diminished. The records will still sing to people, whatever a jury decides.

See link at : http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/apr/12/led-zeppelin-other-peoples-records-transformed-borrowed?CMP=twt_gu

Below – The Guardian leader Comment Wednesday April 13 2016: More wise words and clarity…let reason prevail…  

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Robert Plant Wishes Bob Harris a Happy 70th Birthday:

On the occasion of his 70th birthday, Robert rang Bob for a chat on his radio show…

See link at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03qb8cc

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 Drive In Saturday:

HiFi Lounge/TBL Remembering David Bowie Day – Hi Fi Lounge, Dunton, Bedfordshire – Saturday April 9,2016:

It was another excellent open day at the HiFi Lounge last Saturday – with the focus on this occasion being the music of David Bowie.

Once again the HiFi Lounge top two Paul and Wendy Clark were very cordial hosts and laid on a very fine buffet.

There was a good turn out throughout the day. The stall selling 180 grmm vinyl did some brisk business and requests in the morning included the Hunky Dory album. Again it was a real thrill to hear all this amazing music on such amazing equipment.

Other highlights – the playback of the Young Americans outtakes bootleg album I took along – this really sounded incredible with the monitor mixes making it sound like you were right there in the studio.

The playing of the entire Blackstar album at 1pm was greeted with reverent silence. A compelling and emotional playback.

The Bowie quiz also went down well with the lyric round causing some brain teasing – below being just one of the lyrical challenges…

‘’And try to get it on like once before,

When people stared in Jagger’s eyes and scored’’

It was Paul and Andrew Humbley who rose to that challenge the best – winning the quiz  and scoring an impressive 44 out of 48 points total. Pic here of me handing over Paul and Andrew’s prize.

Another highlight was the viewing of the remastered clip of the legendary lost and found live performance of The Jean Genie on Top of The Pops in January 1973. Watching it on the big screen was a jaw dropping experience.

There was plenty of interest in the HiFi Lounge’s vast array of super high quality kit -. headphones for £3,00 sir?  No problem!

During the day, one of Paul’s customers presented him with a very nice framed photo collage of the various David Bowie front cover features that followed his sad passing.

We ran a survey for attendees to fill in and list their favourite top five Bowie tracks and albums. Scoring five points for a number one choice, four for a number two placing etc- the results came out as follows:

David Bowie Favourite Tracks:

1: Life On Mars?

2: Heroes

3: Rebel Rebel

4: China Girl

5: Space Oddity

David Bowie Favourite Albums:

1: Hunky Dory

2: Ziggy Stardust

3: Station To Station

4: Scary Monsters

5: Aladdin Sane

All in all a great day remembering a great artist. Many thanks again to Paul and Wendy for opening the doors of the always enjoyable HiFi Lounge.

One suggestion for next year is to stage a Beatles day to celebrate what will be the 50th anniversary of the release of the Sgt Pepper album. Get those Sgt Pepper unfirms ordered Paul! Pic here with Richard Grubb, Paul and Wendy, Tom and Phil.

Dave Lewis

April 11, 2016.

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 DL Diary Blog Update:

A tale of a Record Collector bag…

On Good Friday, I attended the excellent Reading Record Fair. One of the stalls had a mass of very good condition vinyl albums at a bargain £4 each.I picked up five LPs –  the stall also had some very interesting singles all for £1 each.

My haul from that stall  – a total of five albums and 12 singles included ELP Brain Salad Surgery and Works Vol 1, The Rolling Stones Made In The Shade, The Best of David Crosby & Graham Nash compilation, and a Lovin Spoonful Greatest Hits on the original Karma Sutra label. All lovely stuff.

The singles included a rare pic sleeve French pressing of Friends by Arrival (this Terry Reid composition is one of my fave singles of all time),  A six track Byrds EP, a Jimmy Smith plays the Blues EP on Verve, a pic sleeve Dutch pressing on Stateside of Joe Cocker’s She Came In Though The Bathroom Window, Who Do You Love by Juicy Lucy pic sleeve. In my book seven inch gold to be sure…

My good friend Nick who had a stall there, gave me a lift from Bedford- he was staying over to attend the Southampton Fair. I therefore got the train back to Bedford around 4.30 pm travelling from Reading to Paddington then St Pancras to Bedford. I had made a fair few other purchases and had a total of three large record bags. It had been a long day and I did fall asleep on the train going into Paddington.

Don’t ask me how (and no beer had been consumed!) but when I got on the tube to go to St Pancras, much to my utter dismay, I realised somehow I had mislaid one of my bags – the one with the five LPs and rare singles in.

Curses!

I don’t really know why I did not retrace my steps – but as I was unsure what had happened, I decided the bag and goodies were likely not recoverable. The albums I was not overly worried about as I could pick those up again but the singles …well the likes of Friends by Arrival in a pic sleeve ? That was not going to turn up too often.

So I was more than a little mortified to say the least that I’d been so careless.

Back home, the good lady Janet did suggest I ring Paddington station lost property  which I did – alas, nothing had materialised. I also rang Great Western Railways who operate the Reading to Paddington line.

One thing I was able to describe to them was that this lot of records was in a fairly distinctive white bag with Record Collector magazine logo on. After a few days I rang again and I duly reported  them lost and was given a reference number – they said they would be in touch if they heard anything. I was not at all that hopeful.

Incredibly, the following Thursday, I had a call from the lost property section of Bristol Temple Meads station.

”We have a bag here with some golden oldies in” said the kindly railway man…”

”Does the bag say Record Collector on the outside?” I nervously asked

”Yes it does…”

What a result!

The ”golden oldies” were indeed my lost bag of goodies… you could not make it up!

The very helful lost property man informed me the bag had been found under a seat on a Reading train and all lost property gets returned to the Bristol Temple Meads Bristol station. I now realise in falling asleep on the train, one of the bags had fallen under the seat.

Whoever found it (and it waslikely to have been a train cleaner) was obviously not a great ELP fan!

In all seriousness – my faith in human nature immediately increased 100%.

I had been very lucky indeed.

Good karma had prevailed and the very good news was that the bag and records were in Bristol so I now needed a method of retrieving them. As luck would have it, the good lady Janet was spending a weekend in Bristol with her cousins the weekend of April 9 so would have been able to collect them. As it was I did not need to give her that hassle, I knew TBL contributor Richard Grubb worked for Network Rail around that area – and he was able to stop off and pick them up – and as more luck would have it -he was coming to Bedford for the David Bowie HiFi Lounge event.

So last Friday there was a grand handing over of the elusive Record Collector bag. Thank you Mr Grubb!

I am now the proud owner of a further five 5 LPs  and 12 singles that I thought were lost forever.

The morale of the story: Do not fall asleep on a train when there is valuable bags of records in your possession – it can cause acute stress!

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Friday vinyl treats at the Vinyl Barn last week – I picked up one or two singles this morning in view of my latest quest which is collecting 1960s/70s singles with great sounding B sides – inspired by Andrew Ure’s recent Record Collector feature. These little gems from Amen Corner, The Dave Clark Five, Cupid’s Inspiration, The Equals, The Gun and Simon Dupree being prime examples…

This year we have decided to opt out of queuing outside Rough Trade West this Saturday for Record Store Day. Aside from the Jimmy Page single there was not a lot of attractions on the list. However, we may zip over to David’s record store in nearby Letchworth to see what they have left in the morning. I have too much going on really at the moment for a day in London -especially with Janet’s Mum being not too good.

It’s been a week of TBL 41 text and design with various pages shaping up – latest input has been via contributor Scott Heck – he sent over an analyses of the Fort Worth March 3 1975 soundboard for his From The Underground column. It’s piecing together pretty well and I hope to announce full details of this issue at the end of the month or early in May.

I think this issue TBL 41 is going to be something special if you have yet to re subscribe I’d advise you to do so at your earliest. I will be reminding you all in the coming weeks..more news on this issue soon..

Adam has gone back to UNI now so it’s fairly quiet. We did have a last bonding watching Tottenham Hotspur stage an  impressive 3-0 win over Man Utd – it would be nice to think that the next time he is back Tottenham have been crowned Premier League champions -but it will need the continually amazing Leicester City to start dropping points which seems unlikely.

On the player, Presence a much needed inspiration, plenty of Bowie in the light of the HIFI Lounge event, plus The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers album

I’m looking forward to BBC4’s new series The Peoples History Of Pop. In the first episode The Birth of The Fan, Twiggy celebrates the 60s, meeting skiffle musicians, fans of the Shadows, Liverpudlians who frequented the Cavern Club at the height of Merseybeat, Beatles devotees, Ready Steady Go! dancers, mods, lovers of ska, bluebeat and Millie Small, and fans of the Rolling Stones.

Dave Lewis – April 13, 2016.

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YouTube clips:

Beethoven meets Led Zep..you gotta love it!

Jimmy Page – She Just Satisfies:

Until next time…

Have a great weekend,

Dave Lewis/Gary Foy – April 13, 2016.

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