Led Zeppelin, page 72
with the rarely awarded rating: Kathleen Carroll, “Film-wise, It’s Dead Zeppelin,” New York Daily News, October 21, 1976.
“Led Zeppelin’s rapaciousness”: Dave Marsh, “They Probably Think This Film Is about Them,” Rolling Stone, December 2, 1976.
“by junior college students”: Robert Duncan, “The Song Remains the Same” (review), Circus.
“It’s not a great film”: JP, quoted in Nick Kent, “Jimmy Page: Shy Rock Star Almost Unburdens Himself,” Creem, April 1977.
“I just don’t trust”: Kent, “Jimmy Page.”
Lori Mattix worked: “I was met in the lobby by Lori Mattix, who said, ‘You’re here with Led Zeppelin? I’ll send some of my girlfriends up to your room.’ ” Aubrey Powell, interview with the author, May 15, 2019.
“Some drug dealer came in” : Aubrey Powell interview.
“He was being shaken down”: Jeff Hoffman, interview with the author, July 30, 2019.
“It was all power”: Aubrey Powell interview.
“No one was mixing”: “I was appalled.” Unity MacLean, interview with the author, October 16, 2019.
“at war with everybody”: Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 364.
“This is one dumb movie”: Nick Kent, “The Song Remains the Same” (review), NME, November 13, 1976.
called the movie “depressing”: Jonh Ingham, “The Song Remains the Same” (review), Sounds, November 13, 1976.
Only Melody Maker kowtowed: “The Song Remains the Same is a classy, and surely enormously successful, film.” Chris Charlesworth, “The Song Remains the Same” (review), MM, October 30, 1976. “Robert called to thank me for my loyalty.” Chris Charlesworth interview.
“It’s a horrible medium”: JP, quoted in Ingham, “Jimmy Page: Technological Gypsy,” Sounds, March 13, 1976.
“incredible uphill struggle”: JP, quoted in Dave Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 3, p. 21.
“He wasn’t that eager”: Benji Le Fevre, interview with the author, May 19, 2019.
They set up equipment: “They flew my engineer friend Donnie over from America to monitor everything, and in three months they rehearsed twice.” Benji Le Fevre interview.
“We’d all get fucked up”: Benji Le Fevre, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 350.
“Charlotte Martin regularly called”: Unity MacLean interview.
“separate lives conducted under”: Carole Brown Woods, interview with the author, November 8, 2019.
“completely out of it”: Phil Carson, interview with the author, July 2, 2019.
“He’d just disappeared”: Carole Brown Woods interview.
“Call Peter and discuss what”: JP, quoted in Welch, Peter Grant, p. 153.
“signed as a musical adventure”: Alan Callan, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 329.
“The first task was”: “There was a stamina aspect involved apart from anything else.” JP, quoted in Salewicz, “Gig Interview.”
Jonesy grudgingly singing: “They got me to sing on ‘Battle of Evermore.’ I’ll never know how I agreed to that!” JPJ, quoted in Dave Lewis, “The John Paul Jones Interview,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 120.
“It was marvelous”: RP, quoted in Nigel Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” Uncut, May 2005, p. 60.
“To a large degree”: RP, quoted in Thor Christensen, “A Decade Later, Plant Refuses to Relive His Past,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 22, 1990.
“it just sounded loud”: “I must say I didn’t like punk at first.” JPJ, quoted in Lewis, “John Paul Jones Interview,” pp. 120–21.
“Everybody was winding”: Glen Matlock, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 356.
“What are those old hippies”: Glen Matlock, quoted in Bonham, John Bonham, p. 162.
“I was aware there was”: JP, quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 355.
“out of his head”: Brian James, quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 355.
“Where’s the fucking band”: JB, quoted by Glen Matlock in Bonham, John Bonham, p. 162.
“Fuck off!”: “Jeers of ‘Fuck off!’ greeted him.” Dave Lewis, “The 1977 US Tour—the Beginning of the End,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 45.
“Piss off you old hippie!”: Glen Matlock, quoted in Bonham, John Bonham, p. 163.
“mainlining Geritol”: RP, quoted in CBS Sunday Morning, December 16, 2012.
“fawned at my feet”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 60.
“Listen you little fucker”: Rat Scabies, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 350.
“After two years off”: RP, quoted in Robert Hilburn, “Led Zeppelin Lands Safely in Dallas,” Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1977.
“The last day of rehearsal”: JP, quoted in Wesley Strick, “The Tour in Progress: Jimmy Page Files His Report,” Circus, June 9, 1977.
“I was in the hills”: RP, quoted in Hilburn, “Led Zeppelin Lands Safely in Dallas.”
“After the postponement”: “It was a bit unnerving.” JP, quoted in Strick, “Tour in Progress.”
“There were bodyguards”: Jaan Uhelszki, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 353.
“I couldn’t really figure out”: Dave Northover, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 351.
“Peter liked to think”: Phil Carson interview.
“But mostly he wasn’t funny”: Benji Le Fevre interview.
“Everyone was excited”: Janine Safer Whitney, interview with the author, April 2, 2019.
Barbara Cope was a well-known: “Her job was to cover herself in butter and we’d all lick her.” Joe Wright, interview with the author, November 28, 2018. “She’d give guys hand jobs or blow jobs with butter.” Michael Des Barres, interview with the author, February 20, 2019. Also: Carmine Appice, interview with the author, April 9, 2019.
“I was petrified”: RP, blind-quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 369.
“I was so nervous”: RP, quoted in Hilburn, “Led Zeppelin Lands Safely in Dallas.”
“swirling . . . strutting”: Uncredited review, Buddy, May 1977.
“psycho strut”: “It’s so embarrassing, because I’ve been jumping across the stage.” JP, quoted in Strick, “Tour in Progress.”
“I could feel tenseness”: RP, quoted in Hilburn, “Led Zeppelin Lands Safely in Dallas.”
“amazingly professional”: Pete Oppel, “Zeppelin Rises to a Night of Firsts,” Dallas Morning News, April 3, 1977.
“The mood was ugly”: Jack Calmes, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 351.
“We’ve got a new”: RP, quoted in Strick, “Tour in Progress.”
“He definitely wasn’t”: “The cause may have been aggravated by too much booze or coke.” Janine Safer Whitney, email to the author, August 27, 2020.
“I really did steal”: JP, quoted by Jaan Uhelszki in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 367.
The damage added $5,100: Cole, Stairway to Heaven, p. 335.
“turned it into their own”: John Petkovic, “Cleveland Swingos Hotel: Where Rockers Raged and Legends Were Made in the 1970s,” Plain Dealer, October 15, 2000.
“I was staying in”: Danny Marcus, interview with the author, January 16, 2019.
“They smashed light fixtures”: Jim Swingos, quoted in Petkovic, “Cleveland Swingos Hotel.”
“It goes as far”: RP, quoted in Jaan Uhelszki, “Led Zeppelin: Sodom and Gomorrah in a Suitcase,” Creem, July 1977.
“boatloads of it”: Janine Safer Whitney interview.
“legions of rowdy gatecrashers”: Cliff Radel, “Zeppelin Justifies 29-Hour Wait,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 22, 1977.
“I went to his door”: Janine Safer Whitney interview.
He begged her: “I was not going to let him lie down.” Janine Safer Whitney, interview with the author, August 28, 2020.
In Paris, during: “I picked up the phone and called a dealer I knew in Paris. Within an hour, he had delivered an ounce of smack to Bonzo’s door. We both snorted some of it.” Cole, Stairway to Heaven, p. 326.
“Zeppelin’s Sheer Power”: Chicago Tribune, April 7, 1977; MM, May 14, 1977; Indianapolis News, April 18, 1977; Journal News (Fairfield, Ohio), April 21, 1977; Cincinnati Enquirer, April 20, 1977; Cleveland Press, April 28, 1977.
“I don’t think any”: Benji Le Fevre interview.
“The tightness and precision”: “Page simply wasn’t interested.” Charlie McCollum, “Led Zeppelin’s Terrible Fall,” Washington Star, May 26, 1977.
“I wonder if Page”: Robert Hilburn, “Zeppelin Vies for Rock Legacy,” Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1977.
“There were evenings”: Hilburn, “Zeppelin Vies for Rock Legacy,” Author interview with Benji Lefevre, May 19, 2019.
“Their 1977 tour is tedious”: Gerry Baker, “14,000 Aboard Zeppelin Flight,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 23, 1977.
“It was the worst concert”: Aubrey Powell interview.
“polished but uninspired”: Larry Rohter, “Led Zeppelin” (review), Washington Post, May 26, 1977.
“Rarely has a major”: McCollum, “Led Zeppelin’s Terrible Fall.”
“a very wasted-looking Page”: “Page simply wasn’t interested. . . . This lack of musical integrity simply can’t be tricked away.” McCollum, “Led Zeppelin’s Terrible Fall.”
“ought to be ashamed”: Bobby Nowell, “Zeppelin: No Progress, No Rock ’n Roll,” North Carolina Anvil, June 9, 1977.
“he’d have the chord shape”: “You could see Robert cringing.” Benji Le Fevre, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 355.
“I didn’t realize”: “The audience never knew anything was awry.” Phil Carson interview. “He was nodding off a lot during the acoustic set.” Janine Safer Whitney, interview with the author, August 20, 2020.
“the clumsiest and most simpleminded”: Rohter, “Led Zeppelin.”
“He can barely keep”: McCollum, “Led Zeppelin’s Terrible Fall.”
“Everybody was nervous”: Sam Aizer, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 354.
“Jonesy especially stayed away”: Michael Des Barres interview.
“Robert and Jonesy enjoyed”: Benji Le Fevre interview.
“Johnny had stolen money”: “I knew Johnny had done it.” Aubrey Powell interview.
“We were flying”: Peter Grant, quoted in Dave Lewis, “1977 US Tour,” p. 49.
“By the time the band”: Aubrey Powell interview.
“There was also a massive”: Janine Safer Whitney, email to the author, August 30, 2020.
“canvas roof over the stage”: “Everyone was worried it was going to rip.” Benji Le Fevre interview.
“I quickly actioned Robert”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “1977 US Tour,” p. 49.
“Everybody into the dressing room!”: Richard Cole, quoted in Aubrey Powell interview.
“The crowd had followed us”: Aubrey Powell interview.
“Led Zeppelin will not perform”: William Poe (mayor of Tampa, Florida), Official Edict, June 6, 1977.
“At least we got”: “He told us there was a million dollars in cash in there.” Peter Grant, quoted in Aubrey Powell interview.
Chapter Twenty: A Transition Period
“Keith was the last guy”: Janine Safer Whitney, interview with the author, April 15, 2020.
“I went to visit him”: Aubrey Powell, interview with the author, May 15, 2019.
“I see a lot of craziness”: RP, quoted in Jaan Uhelszki, “Led Zeppelin: Sodom and Gomorrah in a Suitcase,” Creem, July 1977.
“Before each of the shows”: Janine Safer Whitney, interview with the author, April 2, 2019.
“spellbinding”: Carl Arrington, “Lotta Love in the Garden,” New York Post, June 8, 1977.
“good-natured and almost puckish”: John Rockwell, “Led Zeppelin Puts Best Sound Forward,” New York Times, June 8, 1977.
“some of the finest concerts”: Dave Lewis, “The 1977 US Tour—the Beginning of the End,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 51.
“They were a mystery”: “I never imbued them with the characteristics of a human being.” Janine Safer Whitney, interview with the author, April 2, 2019.
“I felt so conflicted”: “Lori was well beyond her years. She sure wasn’t a child.” Elizabeth Iannaci, interview with the author, January 17, 2019.
Bonzo was so wasted: “He bit my finger so hard it bled.” Elizabeth Iannaci interview.
On an Air India flight: “I had gone to pick them up at Kennedy, and Richard was arrested when they landed.” Janine Safer Whitney, interview with the author, August 28, 2020.
“Peter had lost it”: Phil Carson, interview with the author, July 2, 2019.
“a rock legend”: George Estrada, “Zeppelin Soars to New Heights,” Oakland Tribune, July 25, 1977.
“he was so loaded”: Peter Barsotti, quoted in Bill Graham and Robert Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents (New York: Doubleday, 1990), p. 401.
“Jeez, it’s a long way”: Jim Downey, quoted in Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents, p. 402.
“Bindon had been spoiling”: Janine Safer Whitney interview, April 2, 2019.
“Bill Graham used to have”: Phil Carson interview.
“I thought it looked cool”: Warren Grant, quoted in Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 191.
“I’m taking them”: Warren Grant, quoted by Jim Matzorkis in Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents, p. 403.
“I had been standing”: Janine Safer Whitney interview, August 28, 2020.
“What I should have done”: “Then it hit me for the first time. This was drug money.” Bill Graham, in Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents, p. 400.
“frequently did not make”: “On a brief acoustic set, Page was especially disappointing.” Phil Elwood, “Led Zeppelin Comes Back—with a Big but Boring Sound,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 24, 1977. “Page’s guitar work, seeming at times redundant and mindless . . .” Estrada, “Zeppelin Soars to New Heights.”
“You don’t talk”: “Bonham came up the little stair where I was standing and he kicked me right in the crotch—a good, unobstructed shot.” Jim Matzorkis, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 372.
“vicious fucking wild animals”: Bill Graham, quoted in Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents, p. 407.
“he picked me up”: Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents, p. 405.
“We all attended”: Janine Safer Whitney interviews, April 2, 2019, and August 28, 2020.
“Please understand”: Steve Weiss, quoted in Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents, p. 408.
“There was a very nasty”: JP, quoted in Nick Kent, “Bring It On Home,” Q Special Edition: Led Zeppelin, March 2003, p. 139.
“It was an absolute”: RP, quoted in Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents, p. 414.
Monday morning, a trio: Text message to the author from Michael Zagaris, December 1, 2020.
“charismatic, well-connected”: Shelley Kaye, interview with the author, July 30, 2019.
“My instructions were”: Jeff Hoffman, interview with the author, July 30, 2019.
“a mild stomach bug”: “A Swan Song spokesperson said that Plant’s son had become ill with a mild stomach bug.” “Plant’s Tragedy,” NME, August 6, 1977.
the boy had contracted: “Karac had pneumonia going on and got another virus on top of it.” Benji Le Fevre, interview with the author, May 19, 2019.
“We got back”: Jerry Greenberg, interview with the author, January 10, 2019. Also: Phil Carson interview.
“If you ever want”: RP, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 376.
“Robert and I sat across”: Janine Safer Whitney interview, August 28, 2020.
Colonel Tom Parker sent: “Elvis sent a wreath for the funeral. Colonel Parker rang and wanted to know where to send it.” Cynthia Sach, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 378.
“trying to sort out”: Peter Grant, quoted in Dave Lewis, “The Peter Grant Interview,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 98.
“I hope you’re happy”: “Those were his exact words.” Peter Grant, quoted in Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents, p. 413.
“The 1977 tour ended”: RP, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 376.
“Robert phoned me”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant Interview,” p. 98.
“You’d better get on”: Steve Weiss, quoted in Benji Le Fevre interview.
“He was the only guy”: RP, quoted in Hoskyns, Led Zeppelin IV, p. 159.
“After Karac died”: “I didn’t realize they were actually shooting up.” Sally Williams, interview with the author, July 9, 2019.
“I had just got a farm”: JPJ, quoted in Dave Lewis, “The John Paul Jones Interview,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 120.
“It means about two weeks”: JP, quoted in Cole, Stairway to Heaven, p. 358.
“far more seductive”: Richards, Life, p. 284.
“Peter was in bad shape”: “There is a twenty-five-year gap where I couldn’t get sales figures.” Bill Curbishley, interview with the author, May 16, 2018. Also: Bill Curbishley, email to the author, September 7, 2020.
“Peter was nonfunctioning”: “He was just doing a ton of drugs.” Shelley Kaye, interview with the author, July 15, 2019.
“Alan, we just can’t”: Steve Weiss quoted by Alan Callan in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 342.
“He was upstairs”: Maggie Bell, interview with the author, May 8, 2019.
“Jake Riviera, Dave’s manager”: “He couldn’t get to Peter, so he gave me a hard time.” Unity MacLean, interview with the author, October 16, 2019.
“Get It, Dave’s album”: Janine Safer Whitney interview, April 2, 2019.
“That’s true”: Michael Des Barres, interview with the author, February 20, 2019.
