Bonham’s the auctioneers are staging their latest  Entertainment Memorabilia sale  in Knightsbridge on December 15th and have a variety of Led Zeppelin related items on offer.  The lead item is a rare  acetate of  Memory Lane- an original composition recorded by The Band Of Joy. This was one of  four songs recorded at IBC Studios in Portland Place in London in early 1968 .The session  included  covers of Billy Roberts’ ‘Hey Joe’, Buffalo Springfield’s ‘For What It’s Worth’ and two original compositions, ‘Adriatic Sea View’ and ‘Memory Lane’. These were intended as demos to try and engender some industry interest. ‘Memory Lane’, the first song by Plant and Bonham, was planned as a single and the vendor acquired the recording as he was commissioned to produce sleeve artwork for the release by Mike Dolan (Plant’s then manager) with whom he shared a flat at the time. The single never saw the light of day and this acetate was largely forgotten about until recently when it was discovered in the vendor’s loft, amongst other records. The one-sided acetate has a reserve price of  £3000 – £3,500.

Other Zep related items for auction items include a red leather biker jacket once owned by John Bonham and worn at the second Knebworth show, complete with an August 11th  Artist Guess pass (£3500 -£4,000).

A rare Led Zeppelin 1980 tour jacket, in black wool with Harvey Goldsmith logo to front and back embroidered Led Zeppelin Over Europe Tour ’80 and with Swan Song logo (£500-£700).

A platinum disc for the album ‘Physical Graffiti’, Presented to Peter Grant in recognition of  the sale in the United Kingdom of more than £1,000,000 worth of  the Swan Song Album ‘Physical Graffitit’Graffiti’ (£1,200-£1,500).

Also in the sale is a Peter Grant presentation edtion  copy of the book  ‘Led Zeppelin Live Dreams’ featuring photographs by Laurence Ratner, complete with the inscription reading ”Edition Number: 15 – This Number Certifies That This Book Is From The Collector Edition-Limited To 2000 Copies. This book was printed especially for you Peter Grant”. This is also signed and inscribed by the photographer ”With the greatest appreciation Best wishes Laurence Ratner’ ‘(£400-£500).

A set of Various Led Zeppelin programmes, comprising: Bath Festival Of Blues & Progressive Music, two for Knebworth 1979 (different styles), together with a poster; two for Earls Court 1975; and Japan, 1972; two ticket stubs for Knebworth/Earls Court.(£300-£500)

Visit  the www.bonhams.com website for full details and further Zep items.

An Epiphone Casino VS guitar autographed by Jimmy Page, Slash, Roger Daltrey,  Paul McCartney, Liam Gallagher, Paul Weller, Mick Jones, Gary Moore, David Gilmour and Brian May is to be auctioned in aid of to the campaign PUP AID, fronted by TV Vet Marc Abraham, c/o www.ThePet.net , which is a nationwide anti-puppy-farming initiative promoting responsible dog-breeding and rescue pet adoption. Proceeds from the sale of this guitar will go to The Dogs Trust, Kennel Club Charitable Trust and Oldies Club.

The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards Nominees have been announced with Robert and The Band Of Joy featuring in two categories;   Best Americana Album (Band Of Joy) and Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance ( Silver Rider).

Them Crooked Vultures also feature in the nominations for Best Hard Rock Performance (New Fang).

The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held in Los Angeles on February 13 2011

In yet another accolade, Robert Plant has been named Artist Of The Year by Q magazine. The new issue features an interview with Robert.

For more details visit  http://covers.q4music.com/Item.aspx?pageNo=6168&year=2011

Photo copyright Ross Halfin

The ”Jimmy Page By Jimmy Page” book is near to shipping – copies of the Deluxe edition are beginning to arrive with the Collector edition to follow.  We welcome feedback from recipicents of the book.

If you have pre ordered a book e-mail  davelewis.tbl1@ntlworld.com and let us know your thoughts when your copy arrives.

Black Country Communion are set to return to the studio at the beginning of January to record a follow up to their first album according to producer, Kevin Shirley in a recent interview. “We’re going to start January the 10th. The band will do a couple of dates in London in December, and then we’re going to record a new album. That was always the plan. My thinking was that, because everybody’s got their own things going on and they’re not sitting around waiting to be busy, they’re going to need a 90-minute set if they can be a stadium band by next summer, and the only way to have that much material is to have two albums in the can. I mean, these are amazing musicians, so I don’t want them to have to go out there and fill out their set with cover tunes and stuff like that. They deserve to be their own band and play their own songs.”

Black Country Communion first proper dates are Wolverhampton on the 29^th December and London’s Sheppard Bush Empire on the 30^th.