Drummers and Musicians Aid fsid Cot Death Charity:

Former Priory of Brion drummer Andy Edwards has been in touch to inform us that his wife Dani is raising money for the cot death charity fsid.  Dani is arranging for an array of drummers and musicians to sign a snare drum which will be subsequently auctioned for the fsid charity. Robert Plant has already added his name personally to the drum – all the details of how you can donate to this very worthy cause can be found at

http://drummers4fsid.org/

Robert Plant Presents Sensational Space Shifters at Womad:

Robert Plant Presents The Sensational Space Shifters at the Womad Festival Charlton Park, Malmesbury Wiltshire this weekend – the band appear on the open air stage on Sunday evening. If you are attending we would welcome any feedback reports/photos to use on the TBL site as soon after the event as you can.

The Sensational Space Shifters then play the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival Clarksdale, MS on August 11th and the  Birmingham Alabama Theatre Birmingham, Alabama on August 12.

The recent London Forum show can be downloaded via http://www.livedownloads.com/  though there  no word  as yet if the Womad show will be on offer.

Talking of downloads…

Pete Townshend, Elton John + Robert Plant Among Those Calling for Action Against Google Over Illegal Music Distribution:

It was reported this week via http://ultimateclassicrock.com/  that a number of top musicians across several different genres have banded together to ask British Prime Minister David Cameron to take action against Google over the ability for music fans to illegally copy and distribute music through the search engine.

The artists, which include such topline names as Pete Townshend, Elton John, Robert Plant and Brian May have drafted and signed an open letter published in the Daily Telegraph urging Cameron to move on the matter.

In the letter, it highlights the role that search engines can play in giving people access to illegal copies. They state, “[Search engines must] play their part in protecting consumers and creators from illegal sites.” They also ask that broadband companies and online advertisers take more drastic measures concerning the illegal downloading matter as well.

The artists also request that Cameron speed up the process on the proposed 2010 Digital Economy Act, which will send warning letters to those downloading pirated material and threatens the possibility of having their Internet access cut off should further infractions take place. At present, the act is not set to go into effect until 2014.

The BPI, the music industry body, had previously accused Google of making it easy for users to find links for file sharing websites where they can pirate music freely.

For their part, Google has denied supporting piracy and added that they remove millions of links a month from their listings after requests from music publishers.

The full text of the letter reads as follows:

Sir,

As the world’s focus turns to Britain, there is an opportunity to stimulate growth in sectors where Britain has a competitive edge. Our creative industries represent one such sector, which creates jobs at twice the speed of the rest of the economy.

Britain’s share of the global music market is higher than ever with British artists, led by Adele, breaking through to global stardom. As a digitally advanced nation whose language is spoken around the world, Britain is well-positioned to increase its exports in the digital age. Competition in the creative sector is in talent and innovation, not labour costs or raw materials.

We can only realise this potential if we have a strong domestic copyright framework, so that British creative industries can earn a fair return on their huge investments creating original content. Illegal activity online must be pushed to the margins. This will benefit consumers, giving confidence they are buying safely online from legal websites.

The simplest way to ensure this would be to implement the long-overdue measures in the Digital Economy Act 2010; and to ensure broadband providers, search engines and online advertisers play their part in protecting consumers and creators from illegal sites.

We are proud of our cultural heritage and believe that we, and our sector, can play a much bigger role in supporting British growth. To continue to create world beating creative content, we need a little bit of help from our friends.

Simon Cowell
Roger Daltrey
Professor Green
Sir Elton John
Lord Lloyd-Webber
Dr Brian May
Robert Plant
Roger Taylor
Tinie Tempah
Pete Townshend

John Paul Jones with Rokia Traora:

As previously mentioned, John Paul Jones turned up at the Barbican last month as a guest alongside Malian singer, guitarist and composer Rokia Traoré. She blends Afrobeat with intricate folk melodies, and at the South Bank venue Rokia showcased the work she did while at the music institute she funded in Bamako, reinterpreting traditional songs with British, European and African artists. The evening started began with Traoré and singers joined by traditional kora, ngoni and bolon, and later by double bass and guitar. Then, on her vintage Gretsch guitar, she reworked the bluesy Kèlè Mandi in a duet with John Paul Jones on mandolin. He stayed on to join the full band on her rousing treatment of Bob Marley’s Zimbabwe, and a finale in which she paid tribute to African singers from Miriam Makeba to Tabu Ley Rochereau. Here’s a clip from the show …
Rokia Traore with John Paul Jones at The Barican 22.06.2012

Deborah Bonham Band at the Great British Beer Festival:

Deborah Bonham and her band will be performing at the Great British Beer Festival event at Olympia London on Friday August 10th – 7pm and 9pm as part of the Planet Rock Radio line up. Admission is £8. There’s a chance to win tickets for the event via http://www.planetrock.com/win/win-tickets-to-the-great-british-beer-festival/

Dave Lewis Diary Update:

Many thanks for the inspiring comments re health issues noted in last week’s DL Diary.  After the delights of last weekend’s wonderfully sunny Bedford River Festival, it’s been full on here this week with the Rod Stewart/Faces feature. Initial collation of the next TBL magazine is also underway and once again there is some great stuff lined up -including Mike Tremaglio’s USA 72 tour log and an extensive illustrated feature by Nick Anderson on the Led Zeppelin UK Singles saga – the definitive word on this area of collecting with many rarely seen images and previously undocumented information. More on all this soon.

There’s been some excellent feedback concerning my new Led Zeppelin From a Whisper to a Scream book – here’s one of many positive comments received:

I just wanted to pass on my opinion/review to you guys on an AMAZING Led Zeppelin book…  I didn’t think I’d find myself reading yet another Led Zep biography, but “From A Whisper To A Scream”  grabbed my attention right away.  The first two pages set the tone by covering LZ’s career in short-paragraph form year-by-year summer which is really cool to quickly scan over.  The book goes on to cover each album in similar fashion with many insight and details to individual songs that I didn’t know.  Basically it’s the complete guide to the music of Led Zeppelin.  And best of all the author Dave Lewis leaves out any of the hype, rumors and crap that we’ve come to expect for LZ biographies.  From the moment I picked it up I couldn’t put it down (honestly).  This book is EXTREEMLY well written and organized, right to the point, truly worth your time and the price is right too. I highly recommend it, and I wouldn’t state that lightly. Terry Stephenson

Don’t miss out – this one is right up there with 50 Shades of Grey!

You can order now via this link:

http://www.tightbutloose.co.uk/?page_id=14483

 And finally:

….with the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games upon us  – it’s an appropriate moment to look back to the Beijing closing ceremony and view Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis appearing at the Birds Nest Stadium performing their version of Whole Lotta Love.

Four years on – it’s all about to happen in London.  Here’s to a great two weeks of sporting Olympic legacy….

DL/GF

July 26th, 2012.

Beijing 2008 – London 2012 Olympic Games official Handover ceremony