TBL 35 – COMING SOON:

The forthcoming new issue of the TBL magazine –issue 35 is in progress now for publication next month. The cover is a classic shot from the June 2nd 1973 Kezar Stadium gig taken by Dan Cuny.

 This issue kick starts the TBL 2013 subscription offer.

There are some new subscribing initiatives underway with this issue .

Every subscriber will receive a free 10×8 individually numbered print of a unique Led Zeppelin image. 

A new feature of the TBL magazine – each issue will be individually signed and numbered creating a collectable issue every time.

So why subscribe?

Subscribing will ensure you never miss an issue – sold out issues are frequently offered on eBay – this way your collection will always be up to date.

Subscribing also offers a saving against buying individual issues.

There’s that old fashioned thrill of actually waiting for something…and knowing when that package lands on your doorstep – the waiting will be worthwhile.

If you saw a 2012 subscriber your subscription ended with issue 34 –now is the time to re subscribe.

If you are new to TBL –issue 35 is a great starting place to get on board.

In a world of here today, gone tomorrow instantly digested internet driven info, Tight But Loose is a lasting collectable to be consumed at your leisure, building a tangible snapshot of the world of Led Zeppelin. Websites are for browsing –Tight But Loose is for reading… time and time again…

Subscriptions to the TBL magazine are the lifeblood of the TBL operation –which includes the production of this website. It’s vital that I receive the on going support of past subscribers and newcomers to maintain the TBL offer. If you keep buying them – I’ll keep writing them…

I remain absolutely committed to producing a quality Led Zeppelin magazine –in summary, Tight But Loose is not just a magazine…it’s more a lasting collectable.

And once again I feel that the forthcoming TBL 35 more than justifies the price of entry…here is what I have lined up for this forthcoming issue:  

Led Zeppelin 1973: On fire in Europe and bigger than ever in America:

Mike Tremaglio tracks gig by gig, the highly acclaimed European tour and the first leg of the massively successful US tour of spring 1973. This is the moment Led Zeppelin ceased to be a mere rock band and ascended into a global phenomenon. The set lists, the reviews, the ads, the whole story.

Plus Kezar Stadium ’73 – I Was There:

Four Bay Area rock fans offer first hand accounts in words and pictures of that memorable open air show at Kezar Stadium, San Francisco in June 1973.

Aubrey Powell – Creating the Art Of Led Zeppelin: The TBL Interview.

In an exclusive TBL interview, Aubrey Powell aka Po of the Hipgnosis design team explains how, along with partner Storm Thorgerson, he created the art of Led Zeppelin with memorable album sleeve designs for Houses Of The Holy, Presence, The Song Remains The Same and In Though The Out Door.

Led Zeppelin –The Dick Barnatt 1968 Photo Shoot: TBL Investigates

The photo of the young Led Zeppelin  sat atop a Jaguar car has been a lasting image –TBL investigates when, where and why this took place and goes back to the location with Dick Barnatt,  the original press photographer responsible for the session.

That ‘On The Wane’ Comment – Chris Charlesworth replies:

Former Melody Maker journalist Chris Charlesworth reflects back to that famous ‘on the wane’ comment used in the Zep UK tour adverts and the Montreux concerts he attended in 1972.

Neal Preston – Digital Graffiti:

The renowned  US Zep tour photographer on the making of his new digital book Sound And Fury

Robert Plant –Space Shifting Down Under:

Robert Plant presents Sensational Space Shifters – report and photos from his first visit down under since 1996.

Let Me Take You to the Movies…

Part 2 of Alec Plowman’s overview of Zep’s visual history that led to the celluloid success of Celebration Day.

Plus: Led Zep Re-issue latest/Jimmy Page & John Paul Jones at the ECHO Awards/Deborah Bonham Stables MK gig review/Jason Bonham with Heart

Nick Anderson Collectors column/Jeff Strawman Instrument Watch/Studio Magik Sessions box set reviewed/Kneworth revised book project preview, latest news and more.

So there it is…this is the beginning of another exciting year ahead for the magazine and TBL in general. Other plans ahead include the publication of the revised edition of the Led Zeppelin Then As It Was –At Knewbworth book and a new TBL T shirt design offer. More on all this soon.

To subscribe to the 2013 TBL magazines – covering issues 35 , 36 and 37,  here’s the ordering link:

http://www.tightbutloose.co.uk/?page_id=18106

You can also order TBL 35 as a single issue at this link:

http://www.tightbutloose.co.uk/?page_id=20595

Many thanks in advance for all your support.

DL

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Seasick with JPJ:

Seasick Steve’s new album Hubcap Music with contributions from John Paul Jones  is out now – here’s an excellent feature via the Scottish Herald: 

Two musicians, one singing and playing an acoustic guitar, the other singing harmonies and playing a mandolin.

Two musicians, one singing and playing an acoustic guitar, the other singing harmonies and playing a mandolin.

“It was me and John, just sitting on a couch, and there’s just one microphone, slung from the roof.” The speaker is the charismatic bluesman Seasick Steve. The song is Over You. And John? That’ll be the multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones, formerly one-quarter of Led Zeppelin, and now a highly esteemed producer and collaborator.

Over You is one of the 11 tracks on Steve’s forthcoming studio album, his sixth. It was recorded at his home, The Dog House, and at Nashville’s Sputnik Sound. It’s entitled Hubcap Music, and he is talking – in that inimitable, timeless drawl of his – about how it came together.

“It don’t take very long – just a few weeks. I don’t wholly like making records,” he admits, then concedes: “It’s OK. We just open a couple of bottles of wine and start banging away. We turn the tape machine on. It’s pretty much like the basic thing: if we get through the song and it sounds good, that’s it. I’m looking forward to playing the album [live]. When I make it, I don’t think too much about what I’m doing, but one thing I usually like is, if the song feels good, like maybe I can go play it, that usually gives it its stamp of approval.”

Most of the time, he adds, the songs were done in one take. “All them country people, man, they make records, they’ll do 30 takes of a song and have someone put it together, like a jigsaw on a computer.”

Several of the songs on the album – Keep On Keepin’ On, Down On The Farm – sound perfect for playing outdoors on a sunny day in front of thousands of fans, I tell him. “I like playing live. My goal when I’m recording – which is almost impossible for me but I try – is to try to do what we do live, on the record. For the most part, I want to be able to go out and sound the same. For me, the recording thing – I guess you need to make records, so people can hear it and hopefully like what you did, and we go banging away on stage and get a full circle deal going, you know?”

Now in his seventies, Steven Gene Wold is back on the road next month with a handful of dates, including Edinburgh. In late June, he returns to Glastonbury. July is festival time for him: Rotterdam’s North Sea Jazz, Larmer Tree near Salisbury, co-headlining Canterbury’s Lounge on the Farm, then Kendal Calling. However, there’s no T in the Park, of which more later.

He delights in talking about the musicians on Hubcap Music. John Paul Jones’s input can be heard all over the album. He plays bass, mandolin, lap-steel ukulele, fretless gourd banjo and, on the closing track, Coast Is Clear, some Hammond organ, which will remind older listeners of his distinctive keyboard work with Led Zeppelin.

“He’s a master,” acknowledges Steve. “He’s such an amazing musician – He knows so much about the old kind of music, too. That Hammond thing – I wasn’t even going to do that song [Coast Is Clear, written for his Norwegian wife, Elisabeth]. I made it on my three-string guitar [the Three-String Trance Wonder]. I don’t usually make pretty songs on it. It was like, ‘Where did this come from?’ I said to John: ‘Hey man, I’ve just had this weird feeling, like some Whiter Shade Of Pale or Like A Rolling Stone kind of organ on it,’ and he instantly did it. I thought: ‘Well, we have to do that song, then.'”

Talk of the Three-String Trance Wonder reminds you that Steve has a thing for unconventional guitars. He laughs. “On two of the new tracks, Down On The Farm and Freedom Road, I play – it’s just these two old metal hubcaps, with a garden hoe in the middle, and it’s got a barbecue spatula that holds the strings on one end and three engine bolts to hold the strings up. You have to play it with a slide. It’s got a beer can nailed on one end and some old Christmas [decoration] beads.” It may be hard to picture – but there is footage on the BBC website of him playing it.

“It just keeps you on the edge of the seat of your pants, you know? A lot of these [guitars] I play, they’re really bad – they don’t work very good, and I never know what’s going to happen. I really don’t know why I do it – I think it’s about getting too comfortable, or complacent. When I play these things, like the three-stringed guitar, they’re not really that fun to play, but they keep me crazy.”

Luther Dickinson, of the North Mississippi Allstars, and formerly with the Black Crowes, provides a killer slide-guitar solo on Home. “Me and Luther are like soul brothers. He came over from Mississippi and did a little slide guitar, and we did a couple of shows together.” The solo is great. He laughs: “I wish I could do that.”

He enthuses, too, about Elizabeth Cook, the Florida-born country music singer who provides stirring vocals on another track, Purple Shadows. “You know where I met her? It was up in Scotland. We were playing in Perth, at the Southern Fried festival a few years ago, and she was on before us. We became friends, and in the meantime she has become well known. I believe that’s my favourite song on the record.”

Which brings us the last guest on the album: Jack White. The industrious White – he of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, and a Grammy-nominated, Nashville-recorded debut solo album, Blunderbuss – contributes solo guitar on another of Steve’s new songs, The Way I Do.

“He’s one of my favourite people in the world,” he says. “When he came and
played – he’s very serious about stuff like that. I never would have imagined something like that on there. It sounds like it comes from another planet. Now, I can’t even imagine the song without it. For me, he’s one of the greatest players and innovators out there. I just don’t know anyone I like better.”

Steve played T in the Park in 2008 and 2009, but is itching to return. “I’ve asked to play there almost every year but they just turn us down. That’s one of my favourite festivals. We asked this year again, too. Usually I don’t ask, you know, because I have so many offers. We ask every year, and every year they’ve got some reason. When we have played there, everyone’s been so crazy and so nice. I honestly don’t know why we don’t get to play there. They’re very nice about it. This year they said, ‘Well, you don’t have your record out yet,’ or something.

“I love going up to Scotland. We haven’t been on tour for a while, so festivals are one of the only ways we can go up there until we do tour. I guess maybe some day [T in the Park] will ask us.”

Once the festivals are out of the way in the autumn, he’d like to do a “proper tour, getting up there to Aberdeen, Perth, Glasgow and Inverness or wherever – When we play up there, everyone is just so amazingly nice to us.”

Steve and his wife live in Norway. “It’s beautiful, but I’m not there very often. I’m pretty much travelling all of the time.” He says the forthcoming tour – possibly towards the end of the year – may also include dates across Europe. “The record tells us what to do. If it does good, then people ask you to go everywhere. It’s kind of like getting on a hamster run. Just when you’re getting ready to jump off, it’s time to start all again.”

“I ain’t getting no younger,” he adds. “Hopefully in a year or so I can jump off and just stay at home. I’d really like to get another dog, but it’s not fair to get another dog and just leave. I really miss my dog.”

Hubcap Music is released on Monday by Fiction Records. Seasick Steve plays The Picture House, Edinburgh on
Friday.

Russell Leadbetter

http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/music/seasick-steve-on-why-jack-white-floats-his-boat.20875495

Seasick Steve with John Paul Jones on Later with Jools Holland:

Here’s a clip of Seasick with JPJ on this weeks edition of Later With Jools Holland…the full length version of the show airs on Friday:

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Patty Griffin UK Tour Dates:

Patty Griffin will be touring the UK in July – here are the confirmed dates:

The Sage Gateshead, July 19
Royal Northern Collage of Music  Manchester, July 20,

Perth Concert Hall – Perth, Scotland, July 21st
The Stables Theatre – Milton Keynes, July 23rd
The Glee Club – Birmingham, July 24
Union Chapel –London , July 25
Cambridge Folk Festival, Cambridge, July 26

Further details at:
http://www.pattygriffin.com/

Patty’s new album American Kid is released on May 7th.

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BONZO BIRTHDAY BASH NY/NJ

East Coast Invasion

The ultimate celebration for the ultimate drummer:

John Henry Bonham of Led Zeppelin

 Brian Thomas Tichy and his partner Joe Sutton have decided to bring their Bonzo Bash/ John Bonham celebration to New York and New Jersey for 3 shows commemorating the life of rock’s ultimate drummer! The shows have been booked on May 30th, May 31st and June 1st to pay tribute to John Henry Bonham on and around what would have been his 65th birthday.

Since the first epic/never done before Bonzo Bash (The Groove Remains The Same) on Zeptember 25th, 2010, which brought 18 of the world’s best drummers together on one drum kit in West Hollywood, Tichy and Sutton have done a total of 5 Bonzo Bashes with each one gaining more momentum and much deserved attention.  With a list that is far too long to include here, it should be noted that 50 drummers and 30 guests have performed over 100 songs through the course of these marathon shows! The last Bonzo Bash, on Jan 24th 2013, the most talked about show at the NAMM music convention, sold out and a second night could have been added! 30 drummers played with a total of 52 performers over the course of 5 hours!

Tichy said:  “I had this idea back in 2010 when one day it occurred to me that John Bonham and Led Zeppelin were the only band I had never stopped listening to for over 30 years. The idea literally came to me in that instant. I was going to go for a backyard party or a kegger in a rehearsal room, but then figured if all these drummers actually get together and make it a “thing,” it should be made available for people to see so I talked to promoter Joe Sutton, a Zep Head himself, who happened to have the exact night on hold at Key Club and that was that!

The concept is simple: each drummer chooses his or her favorite Led Zeppelin song and plays it on an amber acrylic drum kit with house band “The Moby Dicks.” This coming together of the world’s best drummers also brings with it an undeniable, communal spirit that is very hard to find at any other type of rock show. We all have a great time as it’s all about celebrating the amazing drumming of John Bonham and his timeless impact. The energy is thick, the egoless vibes prevail and we all walk away with great memories! I’ve never seen so many smiling faces at a rock show!

People constantly ask for us to take this juggernaut on the road but in theory, it’s not unlike a river crossing of wildebeests during migration season! But, by going to a city like New York with my home state New Jersey next door and inviting the best drummers in the area, it became apparent that we may be able to pull this off after all!

So, grab a couple tickets and get dazzled by a great house band and one of the most unique shows you’ll ever see featuring some of the world’s best drummers around!

SPECTACLES:

Thursday, May 30th, The Gramercy, NYC                Tickets: http://www.thegramercytheatre.com/

Friday, May 31st, Revolution,  Amityville, Long Island, NY     http://revolutionli.com/revo/ 

Saturday,  June 1st, Bergan PAC, Englewood, NJ   TIckets:    http://www.bergenpac.org/

DRUMMERS:   

(appearance info. goes by  “NYC, LI and/or NJ”)

Carmine Appice  (Drum Legend/ Co-hosting ONLY)  NYC/ LI/ NJ

Michael Cartellone (Lynyrd Skynyrd/ Damn Yankees)  NYC/ LI/ NJ

Liberty Devitto       (Billy Joel)                                    LI/ NJ

Joe Franco      (Good Rats/ Twisted Sister/ Widowmaker)  NYC/ LI/ NJ

Jerry Gaskill         (King’s X)                                     NYC/ LI/ NJ

Jojo Mayer            (Nerve)                                            NYC/ LI/ NJ

Johnny Kelly        (Danzig/ Type O Negative)            NYC/ LI/ NJ

Jonathan Mover   (Aretha Franklin/ Joe Satriani)          NYC/ LI/ NJ

A.J. Pero                   (Twisted Sister)                          NYC/ LI/ NJ

Mike Portnoy   (Adrenaline Mob/ Winery Dogs/ Dream Theater)   NJ

Thommy Price         (Joan Jett/ Billy Idol)                     NYC

Van Romaine         (Steve Morse)                                   LI/ NJ

Bobby Rondinelli    (Rainbow/ Black Sabbath)             NYC/ LI/ NJ

Matt Starr           (Ace Frehley/ Burning Rain)                 NYC/ LI/ NJ

Chad Szeliga     (Black Label Society/ Breaking Benjamin)  NJ

Brian Tichy        (Whitesnake/ Foreigner/ S.U.N.)        NYC/ LI/ NJ

Steven Wolf      (Alicia Keys/ Pink/ Britney Spears)        NYC/ LI/ NJ

SPECIAL GUESTS: 

Russell Allen     (Adrenaline Mob/ Tred)  NYC/LI/NJ

Randy Jackson   (Zebra)       NYC

Sass Jordan     (S.U.N.)       NYC/LI/NJ

Mike Orlando      (Adrenaline Mob/ Tred)   NYC/LI/NJ

Eddie Trunk   (That Metal Show)     Hosting NJ

***Many more drummers and special guests to be announced!***

 THE MOBY DICKS:

Rob Clores       (Black Crowes/ Enrique Iglesias)  Keys (East Coast Moby Dick/Special Guest)

John “JD” DeServio   (Black Label Society/ C.O.P.)   Bass  (East Coast Moby Dick/Special Guest) Chas West             (Bonham/ Lynch Mob)        Vocals         (Moby Dick)

Brent Woods   (Vince Neil/ Sebastian Bach/ Brentwood Forest) Guitar  (Moby Dick)

A Tichy/Sutton Production

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DL Diary Update:

It’s been full on here with work on TBL 35 ongoing. Elsewhere it was good to see many old faces at my good friend Jerry Bloom’s brothers Tony’s funeral on Tuesday….Janet’s mum is making steady progress back home….on the player the excellent Heavy Nuggets CD that came with this month’s issue of Mojo, Miles Davis brilliant Kind Of Blue Sessions Record Store Day release on LP (thank you Dec), more Led Zep 1973 including Kezar 73, Bonzo’s Birthday Party and Three Days After… how good were they consistently gig to gig back then -they just did it in their sleep…read the story of how they made 1973 their own in TBL 35…just heard the news of the passing of Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman  at the age of 49. I am not a fan of thrash but that’s a sad loss to that genre of music for sure.

May is upon us of course which means the run in for the Premier league and Spurs have a tough battle to squeeze into that fourth Champions League qualifying space. Here’s hoping Southampton on Saturday goes the Spurs way…this next week sees the birthdays of my good friends Tom Locke (Sun) and Terry Boud (Weds). I’ll be hoping to hook up with them to toast their respective coming of ages…and while we are on birthdays, Happy Birthday to TBL web founder Mr Dave Linwood for Friday – have a good one mate – and to long time TBL   supporter Mike Bulow hitting the big 50  -have a great party tomorrow night!

There’s also a beer festival and live music event at one of our locals the White Horse over the bank holiday weekend and we could well be paying that a visit in the next day or so..…before all that there’s more text to sort so back to it…here’s some previews of the work in progress TBL 35…

Until next time…

Have a great bank holiday weekend

Keep listening, keep reading…

Dave Lewis/Gary Foy

May 2nd, 2013.

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