Friday, May 1, 2009

Robert Plant's Desert Vision Gives Led Zeppelin Kashmir

While several rock and roll musicians experimented with Indian mysticism and Eastern religion in the 1960's, perhaps most notably the Beatles, the music that resulted from these dabblings usually tended toward the psychedelic, or sitar-oriented spectrum of things. It was unusual to see bands importing Indian influences that were not mellow or which did not conform to the stereotypical sound that had become associated with the phenomenon.

Led Zeppelin were far from a typical band, and when Robert Plant had to drive through the Sahara Desert in 1973, he was inspired to compose lyrics about what he felt was an endless journey beneath a wide open, star-filled sky. The band had a broader understanding of music from the Middle Eastern quarter of the world, and they wanted to involve elements from several different cultures while recording the track - not just from India.

For Led Zeppelin Kashmir was the first time they had ever used studio musicians while recording a song. While John Paul Jones was comfortable laying down the basic synth tracks, he wanted to give the song a more full feeling that would accurately convey the grandeur of what was shaping up to be another epic performance. An orchestra was used to record string and brass parts. The song ended up being eight and a half minutes long, but by now the band no longer feared being ignored by radio, as album-oriented rock stations routinely played their longer cuts. Other bands had followed suit, and two of the longest tracks in classic rock, 'Stairway to Heaven' and 'Freebird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd routinely dueled for supremacy on the airwaves.

Kashmir set a new standard for what hard rock bands could accomplish musically. The song is a sweeping, lush production, and the high strings contrast against the driving 3 / 4 time of John Bonham's just-behind the beat drumming. Jimmy Page claims that the musical backbone of the song came from a guitar-cycle he had been recording at home over a period of years, and that input from Bonham in terms of the track's timing and drum pattern were the missing piece that completed it.

There is no doubt that for Led Zeppelin Kashmir was a tour de force, and one that lead previously disparaging rock critics to take notice of a band that was able to marshal up such an impressive effort. The group was maturing, and they still had several albums of self-expression left inside of them.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Aerosmith Settles with Disgruntled Fans Over Canceled Maui Shows


There is a saying that rather boldly proclaims: “You don’t mess with Texas.” Recent developments from the legal world suggest that the same may hold true for the state of Hawaii. At least if you ask Boston-based rockers Aerosmith and their legal team.

It all started last fall when Aerosmith canceled a concert that had been scheduled for the end of September on the island of Maui. The veteran rockers were accused of ditching their fans in Maui in favor of the opportunity to perform a show in the Chicago area where they would collect a bigger paycheck. The group was also invited to perform a private show for automobile giant Toyota around the same time, which was also thought to be quite lucrative.

Many fans who had tickets for the Maui show were determined to take action and make the group pay for ditching the show on the Pacific island and opting to grab for a different variety of green in the windy city. That, in so many words, was the way the story was presented by the legal team that was enlisted to level a class-action lawsuit against Hawaii Aerosmith at the time.

Many fans were alleged to have been greatly inconvenienced due to extraordinary travel expenses associated with attending the show on Maui, and has also suffered monetary losses due to hotel and rental car reservations that had to be canceled and were not refundable.

Whether Aerosmith and their legal team recently decided on a settlement due to the goodness of their hearts or due to the concern over losing a few millions bucks is something that some fans may argue about for a while, but the settlement that was reached just days ago appears to be a clear win for the fans, and surely must be cause for smiles on the faces of Aerosmith fans in that region of the world.

Aerosmith has agreed to perform on Maui sometime this fall, after the group finishes up with their North American tour. Attorney Brandee Faria, whom we also heard from back when the lawsuit was first filed, has announced that the settlement provides original ticket holders with a free ticket to the show as well as all out-of-pocket expenses, regardless of the amount.

Whether or not Aerosmith’s decision to play nice had anything to do with a recent case in South Korea where pop artist Rain was forces to shell out a cool $8.1 million after the 27-year-old entertainer and his former management were found guilty of fraud after the abrupt cancellation of a show that was scheduled back in 2007 at Hawaii’s Aloha Stadium.

The Aerosmith case was set go to trial in May, and apparently the group decided that a few hours on stage in Hawaii would be less painful than finding themselves on the losing end of a lawsuit that was said to have resulted in losses somewhere between $500,000 and $3 million for fans who had made plans to attend the show.

I can only imagine how uncomfortable those first few moments will be for frontman Steve Tyler when he walks on stage for a show that the group is essentially being forced to put on. How do you greet a crowd under those circumstances?

However the show ends up being received, the “Bad Boys From Boston” might do well to remember that “you don’t mess with Hawaii,” no matter how rich and famous you may be – a lesson that Rain will probably not forget, although I expect he might be a rare sight anywhere near Hawaii for the rest of his days!

Rush 35th Anniversary

Although the program’s host sounds as if he might be just as comfortable behind the wheel of an 15th century pirate ship in the Mediterranean as he does behind the microphone for his actual job, Redbeard from “In The Studio” certainly seems to have made the right career choice. With the unmistakable sound of a classic radio announcer, he certainly contributes positively to the professional production value of the programs available for listeners on the “In The Studio” website.

This time, Redbeard welcomes two-thirds of Canadian rock trio Rush for an interview in honor of the group’s 35th image anniversary. A few interesting tidbits from both frontman Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson are revealed which I was not previously aware.

Among the most interesting tidbits for this long-time fan included word that the group first started out calling themselves The Projection.

Looking back to their teen years when they first joined up to form a band, both Lee and Lifeson do not spare the self-deprecating comments, with Lee admitting that they probably considered themselves more cool than “the next guy,” and probably weren’t, while Lifeson talks about how badly they performed the dozen or so songs that they had learned to play.

As every serious Rush fan surely knows, the real breakthrough for the group resulted when they were joined by drummer and lyricist Neil Peart after original drummer John Rutsey had to leave the group due to health reasons. With only about a week before their first major U.S. performance, one can only imagine the pressure that Peart and his new band mates felt as they rehearsed to open for Uriah Heap and Manfred Mann in Pittsburgh.

Despite many years and a number of albums that were all but ignored by most U.S. radio markets and critics alike, at the same time they also cultured an extraordinarily devoted base of fans, who appreciated the way the group has always approached the way they create their music: More for their own satisfaction and less for the purposes of commercial success.

After thirty-five years, the group finally seems to be attracting the kind of attention that their fans feel they have been deserving of for far too long. With a feature story in Rolling Stone magazine and an appearance on the hit Comedy Central show The Colbert Report over the course of the last year or so, it appears that Rush has finally arrived. Many of us already knew, however, that they had really arrived more than three decades ago

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Deff Leppard to take time off


Having rocked their way through four summer tours over the last four years, it sounds as if British rockers Def Leppard may be ready to take a little time off and concentrate on other activities for a while.

Frontman Joe Elliott sums up the situation by saying, “This will be our fifth year in a row where we’ve toured the summer in the states, and I seriously do think that it’s time for us to not do it next year, because I’m a firm believer in you don’t want to do it too much — people start taking you for granted.”

The group has toured in recent years with a diverse group of acts including, Journey, Foreigner and Bryan Adams, which likely created a nostalgic blend for middle-aged concert goers who can remember cruising in their cars a couple of decades ago with the sounds of these bands blaring from their stereos.Def Leppard

As for the group’s decision to team up with Poison for this year’s tour after a public spat between the two groups a while back, it was kind of a surprise to hear that they would be sharing a stage this summer. According to Elliott, however, the whole incident was a misunderstanding that was sparked by something that was taken out of context by a foreign journalist, and Poison’s Bret Michaels, who was in the center of the controversy, understands that.

Def Leppard’s decision to take a break from touring may not be all bad for dedicated fans. Elliott says he may use the time off to write some music and begin making preparations for a new album. This is probably due to his desire to keep moving the group forward and making new music.

“I can’t live my life with my past being my future, just going out there and consistently playing some kind of nostalgia show," he said. "I have to be able to walk on stage and say, ‘This is a song from my new album,’ or I can’t do it."

Joe Lynn Turner Versus David Coverdale

Referring to Joe Lynn Turner as a “daft bugger” and “total prick,” David Coverdale is clearly not happy about allegations coming from the former Rainbow frontman accusing Coverdale of lip-synching during live performances.

According to Coverdale, the lip-synching rumors started on the internet last year in Spain when Whitesnake was touring with Alice Cooper and have refused to die off. “I do not, have not and will not use tapes of my voice to mime in concert. My band and I perform and sing live in concert. Yeah… we’re that f—ing good!,” Coverdale said recently.

In order to disprove the rumors, a journalist was invited to join the group’s sound man at his station in front of the stage during a show in Germany.

The comments from the German journalist seemed to throw water on the allegations of lip-synching and quoted sound man Bradley Johnson regarding Coverdale’s unusual technique, which involves holding his microphone further away from his mouth than most other singers.

Coverdale’s technique results in a particularly challenging situation according to Johnson, who says that, “I work extremely hard to accommodate David’s mic technique. I endeavour to make every syllable and nuance of his vocal heard no matter how far the microphone strays from the sweet spot.”

Summing it all up, Johnson had the following comment: “Getting a vocal mic audible over a juggernaut guitar rig when it is three feet from a singers mouth is no small task. Some nights I win, some nights I do not. As far as running tracks live… ludicrous.”

Below is video reported to be from a Whitesnake show in Barcelona last summer that has some nice close-up footage of Coverdale. Lip-synching? Seems unlikely, but viewers can judge for themselves.

Ron Wood Still Rock!!!

At least that’s what a recent sightings of the couple seem to indicate. Ron Wood, 61-year-old guitar man for the Rolling Stones, and his youthful partner were spied recently enjoying a nice spring day in London.

Wood, who left his wife, former model Jo, after some 23 years of marriage appears to have settled into a comfortable Ron Wood And Ekaterina Ivanova relationship with 20-year-old Ekaterina Ivanova after some nine or so months since the two began seeing each other.

Ivanova’s grandmother had not responded very positively when she first learned of her granddaughter’s relationship with the Rolling Stones icon, but it seems she has softened her position since that time, and now says that she would not be upset if the couple decided to wed.

“If he wants to marry Ekaterina, I would be happy for them,” says grandmother Lyudmila, who currently lives in Kazakhstan.

It’s not hard to understand a 61-year-old man’s attraction to a 20-year-old woman, but the reverse may be a bit harder to believe, and cases like this tend to bring up well-worn clichés like “gold digger” and the like.

Has true love blossomed between Wood and Ivanova? I don’t think anyone could claim that it was an impossibility, and the passing of time should certainly be a good indicator. The answers to the questions about true love in these cases are found only in the hearts and minds of the presumed lovebirds themselves.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Led Zeppelin


The New Yardbirds (1968)

The beginning of Led Zeppelin can be traced back to the English blues-influenced rock band The Yardbirds.[12] Jimmy Page joined The Yardbirds in 1966 to play bass guitar after the original bassist, Paul Samwell-Smith, left the group. Shortly after, Page switched from bass to lead guitar, creating a dual-lead guitar line up with Jeff Beck. Following the departure of Beck from the group in October 1966, The Yardbirds, tired from constant touring and recording, were beginning to wind down. Page wanted to form a supergroup with himself and Beck on guitars, and The Who's rhythm section—drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle. Vocalists Donovan, Steve Winwood and Steve Marriott were also considered for the project.[22] The group never formed, although Page, Beck and Moon did record a song together in 1966, "Beck's Bolero", which is featured on Beck's 1968 album, Truth. The recording session also included bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones, who told Page that he would be interested in collaborating with him on future projects.[23]

The Yardbirds played their final gig in July 1968. However, they were still committed to performing several concerts in Scandinavia, so drummer Jim McCarty and vocalist Keith Relf authorised Page and bassist Chris Dreja to use the Yardbirds name to fulfil the band's obligations. Page and Dreja began putting a new line-up together. Page's first choice for lead singer, Terry Reid, declined the offer, but suggested Robert Plant, a West Bromwich singer.[12][24] Plant eventually accepted the position, recommending a drummer, John Bonham from nearby Redditch.[25][12] When Dreja dropped out of the project to become a photographer (he would later take the photograph that appeared on the back of Led Zeppelin's debut album), John Paul Jones, at the suggestion of his wife, contacted Page about the vacant position.[26] Being familiar with Jones' credentials, Page agreed to bring in Jones as the final piece.

The group came together for the first time in a room below a record store on Gerrard Street in London.[27][28] Page suggested that they try playing "Train Kept A-Rollin'", a rockabilly song popularised by Johnny Burnette that had been given new life by the Yardbirds. "As soon as I heard John Bonham play," recalled Jones, "I knew this was going to be great... We locked together as a team immediately."[29] Shortly afterwards, the group played together on the final day of sessions for the P. J. Proby album, Three Week Hero. The album's song "Jim's Blues" was the first studio track to feature all four members of the future Led Zeppelin.[30] Proby recalled, "Come the last day we found we had some studio time, so I just asked the band to play while I just came up with the words. ... They weren't Led Zeppelin at the time, they were the New Yardbirds and they were going to be my band."[31]

The band completed the Scandinavian tour as The New Yardbirds, playing together for the first time in front of a live audience at Gladsaxe Teen Clubs in Gladsaxe, Denmark on 7 September 1968.[32][33] However, it was clear to the band that performing under the old Yardbirds tag was akin to working under false pretences, and upon returning from Scandinavia they decided to change their name.[34] One account of the band's naming, which has become almost legendary, has it that Keith Moon and John Entwistle, drummer and bassist for The Who, respectively, suggested that a possible supergroup containing themselves, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck would go over like a lead zeppelin, a term Entwistle used to describe a bad gig.[35] The group deliberately dropped the 'a' in Lead at the suggestion of their manager, Peter Grant, to prevent "thick Americans"[23] from pronouncing it "leed".[36]

Grant also secured for the new band an advance deal of $200,000 from Atlantic Records in November 1968, then the biggest deal of its kind for a new band.[31] Atlantic was a label known for a catalogue of blues, soul and jazz artists, but in the late 1960s it began to take an interest in progressive British rock acts, and signed Led Zeppelin without having ever seen them, largely on the recommendation of singer Dusty Springfield.[28][37] Under the terms of the contract secured by Grant, the band alone would decide when they would release albums and tour, and had final say over the contents and design of each album. They also would decide how to promote each release and which (if any) tracks to release as singles,[29] and formed their own company, Superhype, to handle all publishing rights.[38]

[edit] Early days (1968–1969)

With their first album not yet released, the band made their live debut under the name "Led Zeppelin" at the University of Surrey, Guildford on 25 October 1968.[39] This was followed by a US concert debut on 26 December 1968 (when promoter Barry Fey added them to a bill in Denver, Colorado[40]) before moving on to the west coast for dates in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities.[41] Led Zeppelin's eponymous debut album was released on 12 January 1969, during their first US tour. The album's blend of blues, folk and eastern influences with distorted amplification made it one of the pivotal records in the creation of heavy metal music.[42] However, Plant has commented that it is unfair for people to typecast the band as heavy metal, since about a third of their music was acoustic.[43] On their first album Plant receives no credit for his contributions to the song writing as a result of his previous association with CBS Records.[44]
Live in Montreux, 1970

In an interview for the Led Zeppelin Profiled radio promo CD (1990) Page said that the album took about 36 hours of studio time to create (including mixing), and stated that he knows this because of the amount charged on the studio bill.[45][28] Peter Grant claimed the album cost £1,750 to produce (including artwork).[23] By 1975, the album had grossed $7,000,000.[46] Led Zeppelin's album cover met an interesting protest when, at a 28 February 1970 gig in Copenhagen, the band were billed as "The Nobs" as the result of a threat of legal action from aristocrat Eva von Zeppelin (a relative of the creator of the Zeppelin aircraft), who, upon seeing the logo of the Hindenburg crashing in flames, threatened to have the show pulled off the air.[47]

In their first year, Led Zeppelin managed to complete four US and four UK concert tours, and also released their second album, entitled Led Zeppelin II.[31] Recorded almost entirely on the road at various North American recording studios, the second album was an even greater success than the first and reached the number one chart position in the US and the UK.[48] Here the band further developed ideas established on their debut album, creating a work which became even more widely acclaimed and arguably more influential.[49] It has been suggested that Led Zeppelin II largely wrote the blueprint for 1970s hard rock.[49]

Following the album's release, Led Zeppelin completed several more tours of the United States. They played often, initially in clubs and ballrooms, then in larger auditoriums and eventually stadiums as their popularity grew.[12] Led Zeppelin concerts could last more than three hours, with expanded, improvised live versions of their song repertoire. Many of these shows have been preserved as Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings. It was also during this period of intensive concert touring that the band developed a reputation for off-stage excess.[10] One alleged example of such extravagance was the shark episode, or red snapper incident, which is said to have taken place at the Edgewater Inn in Seattle, Washington, on 28 July 1969.[23][10]

[edit] "The biggest band in the world" (1970–1977)

Led Zeppelin's popularity in the early years was dwarfed by their triumphant mid-seventies successes and it is this period that continues to define the band.[23][10] The band's image also changed as members began to wear elaborate, flamboyant clothing. Led Zeppelin began travelling in a private jet airliner (nicknamed The Starship),[10][50] rented out entire sections of hotels (most notably the Continental Hyatt House in Los Angeles, known colloquially as the "Riot House"), and became the subject of many of rock's most famous stories of debauchery. One escapade involved John Bonham riding a motorcycle through a rented floor of the Riot House,[10] while another involved the destruction of a room in the Tokyo Hilton, leading to the band being banned from that establishment for life.[28][51] However, although Led Zeppelin developed a reputation for trashing their hotel suites and throwing television sets out of the windows, some suggest that these tales have been somewhat exaggerated. Music journalist Chris Welch argues that "[Led Zeppelin's] travels spawned many stories, but it was a myth that [they] were constantly engaged in acts of wanton destruction and lewd behaviour.[28]

For the composition of their third album, Led Zeppelin III, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant retired to Bron-Yr-Aur, a remote cottage in Wales, in 1970. The result was a more acoustic sound (and a song, "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp", misspelt as "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on the album cover), which was strongly influenced by folk and Celtic music, and revealed the band's versatility.[38]

The album's rich acoustic sound initially received mixed reactions, with many critics and fans surprised at the turn taken away from the primarily electric compositions of the first two albums. Over time, however, its reputation has improved and Led Zeppelin III is now generally praised.[52][53] It has a unique album cover featuring a wheel which, when rotated, displays various images through cut outs in the main jacket sleeve. The album's opening track, "Immigrant Song", was released in November 1970 by Atlantic Records as a single against the band's wishes.[54] It included their only non-album b-side, "Hey Hey What Can I Do". Even though the band saw their albums as indivisible, whole listening experiences—and their manager, Peter Grant, maintained an aggressive pro-album stance—some singles were released without their consent. The group also increasingly resisted television appearances, enforcing their preference that their fans hear and see them in live concerts.[28][55]
The four symbols on the label and inside sleeve of Led Zeppelin IV, representing (from left to right) Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and Robert Plant.

Led Zeppelin's fourth album was released on 8 November 1971. There was no indication of a title or a band name on the original cover, but on the LP label four symbols were printed—. The band were motivated to undertake this decision because of their disdain for the music press, which tended to label them as hyped and overrated. In response, they released the album with no indication of who they were in order to prove that the music could sell itself.[24] The album is variously referred to as Four Symbols and The Fourth Album (both titles were used in the Atlantic Records catalogue), and also IV, Untitled, Zoso, Runes, Sticks, Man With Sticks, and Four. It is still officially untitled and most commonly referred to as Led Zeppelin IV. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2005, Plant said that it is simply called The Fourth Album.[56]

further refined the band's unique formula of combining earthy, acoustic elements with heavy metal and blues emphases. The album included examples of hard rock, such as "Black Dog" and an acoustic track, "Going to California" (a tribute to Joni Mitchell). "Rock and Roll" is a tribute to the early rock music of the 1950s. Until mid-2007, the song was used prominently in Cadillac automobile commercials—one of the few instances of Led Zeppelin's surviving members licensing songs.[57]

The album is one of the best-selling albums in history and its massive popularity cemented Led Zeppelin's superstardom in the 1970s. To date it has sold 23 million copies in the United States.[58] The track "Stairway to Heaven" (sample (info)), although never released as a single, is sometimes quoted as being the most requested[59] and most played[60] album-oriented rock FM radio song. In 2005, the magazine Guitar World held a poll of readers in which "Stairway to Heaven" was voted as having the greatest guitar solo of all time.[61]

Led Zeppelin's next album, Houses of the Holy, was released in 1973. It featured further experimentation, with longer tracks and expanded use of synthesisers and mellotron orchestration. The song "Houses of the Holy" does not appear on its namesake album, even though it was recorded at the same time as other songs on the album; it eventually made its way onto the 1975 album Physical Graffiti.[23] The orange album cover of Houses of the Holy depicts images of nude children[62] climbing up the Giant's Causeway (in County Antrim, Northern Ireland). Although the children are not depicted from the front, this was controversial at the time of the album's release, and in some areas, such as the "Bible Belt" and Spain, the record was banned.[63][64]

The album topped the charts, and Led Zeppelin's subsequent concert tour of the United States in 1973 broke records for attendance, as they consistently filled large auditoriums and stadiums. At Tampa Stadium, Florida, they played to 56,800 fans (breaking the record set by The Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965), and grossed $309,000.[23] Three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York were filmed for a motion picture, but the theatrical release of this project (The Song Remains the Same) would be delayed until 1976. During the final night's performance, $203,000 of the band's money from gate receipts went missing from a safety deposit box at the Drake Hotel.[28] It was never recovered.[65]
Led Zeppelin live at Chicago Stadium, January 1975.

In 1974, Led Zeppelin took a break from touring and launched their own record label, Swan Song, named after one of only five Led Zeppelin songs which the band never released commercially (Page later re-worked the song with his band, The Firm, and it appears as "Midnight Moonlight" on their first album). The record label's logo, based on a drawing called Evening: Fall of Day (1869) by William Rimmer, features a picture of Apollo.[66] The logo can be found on much Led Zeppelin memorabilia, especially t-shirts. In addition to using Swan Song as a vehicle to promote their own albums, the band expanded the label's roster, signing artists such as Bad Company, Pretty Things, Maggie Bell, Detective, Dave Edmunds, Midnight Flyer, Sad Café and Wildlife.[12] The label was successful while Led Zeppelin existed, but folded less than three years after they disbanded.[23]

24 February 1975 saw the release of Led Zeppelin's first double album, Physical Graffiti, which was their first release on the Swan Song Records label. It consisted of fifteen songs, eight of which were recorded at Headley Grange in 1974, and the remainder being tracks previously recorded but not released on earlier albums. A review in Rolling Stone magazine referred to Physical Graffiti as Led Zeppelin's "bid for artistic respectability," adding that the only competition the band had for the title of 'World's Best Rock Band' were The Rolling Stones and The Who.[67] The album was a massive fiscal and critical success. Shortly after the release of Physical Graffiti, all previous Led Zeppelin albums simultaneously re-entered the top-200 album chart,[23] and the band embarked on another U.S. tour, again playing to record-breaking crowds. In May 1975, Led Zeppelin played five highly successful, sold-out nights at the Earls Court Arena in London, footage of which was released in 2003, on the Led Zeppelin DVD.

Following these triumphant Earls Court appearances Led Zeppelin took a holiday and planned a series of outdoor summer concerts in America, scheduled to open with two dates in San Francisco.[55] These plans were thwarted in August 1975 when Robert Plant and his wife Maureen were involved in a serious car crash while on holiday in Rhodes, Greece. Robert suffered a broken ankle and Maureen was badly injured; a blood transfusion saved her life.[23] Unable to tour, Plant headed to the channel island of Jersey to spend August and September recuperating, with Bonham and Page in tow. The band then reconvened in Malibu, California. It was during this forced hiatus that much of the material for their next album, Presence, was written.

By this time, Led Zeppelin were the world's number one rock attraction,[55] having outsold most bands of the time, including the Rolling Stones.[23] Presence, released in March 1976, marked a change in the Led Zeppelin sound towards more straightforward, guitar-based jams, departing from the acoustic ballads and intricate arrangements featured on their previous albums. Though it was a platinum seller, Presence received mixed responses from critics and fans and some speculated the band's legendary excesses may have caught up with them.[68][12] The recording of Presence coincided with the beginning of Page's heroin use, which may have interfered with Led Zeppelin's later live shows and studio recordings, although Page has denied this.[69] Despite the original criticisms, Jimmy Page has called Presence his favourite album, and its opening track "Achilles Last Stand" (sample (info)) his favourite Led Zeppelin song. In an interview with a Swedish TV program, Plant stated that Presence is the album that sounds the most "Led Zeppelin" of all their LPs.[70]

Plant's injuries prevented Led Zeppelin from touring in 1976. Instead, the band finally completed the concert film The Song Remains The Same, and the soundtrack album of the film. The recording had taken place during three nights of concerts at Madison Square Garden in July 1973, during the band's concert tour of the United States. The film premiered in New York on 20 October 1976, but was given a lukewarm reception by critics and fans.[12] The film was particularly unsuccessful in the UK, where, after being unwilling to tour since 1975 due to a taxation exile, Led Zeppelin were facing an uphill battle to recapture the public spotlight at home.[71]
Plant (left) and Page (right) on stage during the 1977 North American tour

In 1977, Led Zeppelin embarked on another major concert tour of North America. Here the band set another attendance record, with 76,229 people attending their Pontiac Silverdome concert on 30 April.[72] It was, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest attendance to date for a single act show.[55] However, though it was financially profitable, the tour was beset with off-stage problems. On 3 June a concert at Tampa Stadium was cut short because of a severe thunderstorm, despite tickets printed with "Rain or Shine". A riot broke out amongst the audience, resulting in several arrests and injuries.[73]

After a 23 July show[74] at the "Day on the Green" festival at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California, John Bonham and members of the band's support staff (including manager Peter Grant and security coordinator John Bindon) were arrested after a member of promoter Bill Graham's staff was badly beaten during the performance. A member of the staff had allegedly slapped Grant's son when he was taking down a dressing room sign. This was seen by John Bonham, who came over and kicked the man. Then, when Grant heard about this, he went into the trailer, along with Bindon and assaulted the man while tour manager Richard Cole stood outside and guarded the trailer.[23][75] The following day's second Oakland concert[76] would prove to be the band's final live appearance in the United States. Two days later, as the band checked in at a French Quarter hotel for their 30 July performance at the Louisiana Superdome, news came that Plant's five year old son, Karac, had died from a stomach virus. The rest of the tour was immediately cancelled, prompting widespread speculation about the band's future.[12][28]

[edit] Bonham's death and breakup (1978–1980)

November 1978 saw the group recording again, this time at Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. The resultant album was In Through the Out Door, which exhibited a degree of sonic experimentation that again drew mixed reactions from critics. Nevertheless, the band still commanded legions of loyal fans, and the album easily reached #1 in the UK and the U.S. in just its second week on the Billboard album chart. As a result of this album's release, Led Zeppelin's entire catalogue made the Billboard Top 200 between the weeks of 27 October and 3 November 1979.[55]

In August 1979, after two warm-up shows in Copenhagen, Denmark, Led Zeppelin headlined two concerts at the Knebworth Music Festival, where crowds of close to 120,000 witnessed the return of the band. However, Plant was not eager to tour full-time again, and even considered leaving Led Zeppelin. He was persuaded to stay by Peter Grant. A brief, low-key European tour was undertaken in June and July 1980, featuring a stripped-down set without the usual lengthy jams and solos. At one show on 27 June, in Nuremberg, Germany, the concert came to an abrupt end in the middle of the third song when John Bonham collapsed on stage and was rushed to a hospital.[77] Press speculation arose that Bonham's problem was caused by an excess of alcohol and drugs, but the band claimed that he had simply overeaten, and they completed the European tour on 7 July, at Berlin.[78][23]

On 24 September 1980, Bonham was picked up by Led Zeppelin assistant Rex King to attend rehearsals at Bray Studios for the upcoming tour of the United States, the band's first since 1977, scheduled to commence on 17 October.[28] During the journey Bonham had asked to stop for breakfast, where he downed four quadruple vodkas (450 ml), with a ham roll. After taking a bite of the ham roll he said to his assistant, "Breakfast". He continued to drink heavily when he arrived at the studio. A halt was called to the rehearsals late in the evening and the band retired to Page's house — The Old Mill House in Clewer, Windsor. After midnight, Bonham had fallen asleep and was taken to bed and placed on his side. At 1:45 pm the next day Benji LeFevre (who had replaced Richard Cole as Led Zeppelin's tour manager) and John Paul Jones found him dead.[28] Bonham was 32 years old.[79] The cause of death was asphyxiation from vomit, and a verdict of accidental death was returned at an inquest held on 27 October.[28] An autopsy found no other drugs in Bonham's body. Bonham was cremated on 10 October 1980, at Rushock parish church in Droitwich, Worcestershire, England.

Despite rumours that Cozy Powell, Carmine Appice, Barriemore Barlow, Simon Kirke or Bev Bevan would join the group as his replacement, the remaining members decided to disband after Bonham's death. They issued a press statement on 4 December 1980 confirming that the band would not continue without Bonham. "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend, and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were."[28]

[edit] Post-Led Zeppelin (1981–2007)

In 1982, the surviving members of the group released a collection of out-takes from various sessions during Led Zeppelin's career, entitled Coda. It included two tracks taken from the band's performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970, one each from the Led Zeppelin III and Houses of the Holy sessions, and three from the In Through the Out Door sessions. It also featured a 1976 John Bonham drum instrumental with electronic effects added by Jimmy Page, called "Bonzo's Montreux".

On 13 July 1985, Page, Plant and Jones reunited for the Live Aid concert at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, playing a short set featuring drummers Tony Thompson and Phil Collins and bassist Paul Martinez. Collins had contributed to Plant's first two solo albums while Martinez was a member of Plant's current solo band. However, the performance was marred by the lack of rehearsal with the two drummers, Page's struggles with an out-of-tune Les Paul and poorly-functioning monitors, and by Plant's hoarse voice.[80][81] Page himself has described the performance as "pretty shambolic",[82] while Plant was even less charitable, characterising it as an "atrocity".[80] When Live Aid footage was released on a four-DVD set in late 2004 to raise money for Sudan, the group unanimously agreed not to allow footage from their performance to be used, asserting that it was not up to their standard.[83] However, to demonstrate their ongoing support for the campaign Page and Plant pledged proceeds from their forthcoming Page and Plant DVD release and John Paul Jones pledged the proceeds of his then-current US tour with Mutual Admiration Society to the project.

The three members reunited again in May 1988, for the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert, with Bonham's son, Jason Bonham, on drums. However, the reunion was again compromised by a disjointed performance, particularly by Plant and Page (the two having argued immediately prior to coming on stage about whether to play "Stairway to Heaven"), and by the complete loss of Jones' keyboards on the live television feed.[84][81] Page later described the performance as "one big disappointment", and Plant said unambiguously that "the gig was foul".[84]

The first Led Zeppelin box set of the nineties, featuring tracks remastered under the personal supervision of Jimmy Page, introduced the band's music to many new fans, thus stimulating something of a renaissance for Led Zeppelin. This set also included four previously unreleased tracks, including the Robert Johnson tribute "Travelling Riverside Blues", which was released as a single in the US. The song was a huge hit, with the video in heavy rotation on MTV. 1992 saw the release of the "Immigrant Song" b/w "Hey Hey What Can I Do" (the original b-side) as a CD single in the United States. The second box set was released in 1993; the two box sets together containing all known studio recordings, as well as some rare live tracks.

In 1994, Page and Plant reunited in the form of a 90 minute "UnLedded" MTV project. They later released an album called No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded, which featured some reworked Led Zeppelin songs, and embarked on a world tour the following year. This is said to be the beginning of the inner rift between the band members, as Jones was not even told of the reunion.[26][85] When asked where Jones was, Plant had replied that he was out "parking the car".[86]

On 12 January 1995, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the United States Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Aerosmith's vocalist, Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry. Jason and Zoe Bonham also attended, representing their late father. At the induction ceremony, the band's inner rift became apparent when Jones joked upon accepting his award, "Thank you, my friends, for finally remembering my phone number", causing consternation and awkward looks from Page and Plant.[87] Afterwards, they played a brief set with Tyler and Perry (featuring Jason Bonham on drums), and with Neil Young and Michael Lee replacing Bonham.

On 29 August 1997, Atlantic released a single edit of "Whole Lotta Love" in the U.S. and the UK, making it the only Led Zeppelin UK CD single. Additional tracks on this CD-single are "Baby Come On Home" and "Travelling Riverside Blues". It is the only single the band ever released in the UK. It peaked at #21.[88] 11 November 1997 saw the release of Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions, the first Led Zeppelin album in fifteen years. The two-disc set included almost all of the band's recordings for the BBC. Page and Plant released another album called Walking into Clarksdale in 1998, featuring all new material. However, the album wasn't as successful as No Quarter, and the band slowly dissolved.

On 29 November 1999 the RIAA announced that the band were only the third act in music history to achieve four or more Diamond albums.[89] In 2002, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones reconciled after years of strife that kept the band apart. This was followed by rumours of reunion, quickly quashed by individual members' representatives. 2003 saw the release of a triple live album, How the West Was Won, and a video collection, Led Zeppelin DVD, both featuring material from the band's heyday. By the end of the year, the DVD had sold more than 520,000 copies.

Led Zeppelin were ranked #14 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time",[90] and the following year the band received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In November 2005, it was announced that Led Zeppelin and Russian conductor Valery Gergiev were the winners of the 2006 Polar Music Prize. The King of Sweden presented the prize to Plant, Page, and Jones, along with John Bonham's daughter, in Stockholm in May 2006.[91] In November 2006, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. The television broadcasting of the event consisted of an introduction to the band by various famous admirers, a presentation of an award to Jimmy Page and then a short speech by the guitarist. After this, rock group Wolfmother played a tribute to Led Zeppelin, performing the song "Communication Breakdown".[92][93]

On 27 July 2007, Atlantic/Rhino, & Warner Home Video announced three new Led Zeppelin titles to be released in November, 2007. Released first was Mothership on 13 November, a 24-track best-of spanning the band's career, followed by a reissue of the soundtrack to The Song Remains the Same on 20 November which includes previously unreleased material, and a new DVD.[94] On 15 October 2007, it was reported that Led Zeppelin were expected to announce a new series of agreements that make the band's songs available as legal digital downloads, first as ringtones through Verizon Wireless then as digital downloads of the band's eight studio albums and other recordings on 13 November.[95] The offerings will be available through both Verizon Wireless and iTunes. On 3 November 2007, a UK newspaper the Daily Mirror announced that it had world exclusive rights to stream six previously unreleased tracks via its website. On 8 November 2007, XM Satellite Radio launched XM LED, the network's first artist-exclusive channel dedicated to Led Zeppelin. On 13 November 2007, Led Zeppelin's complete works were published on iTunes.

[edit] 2007 reunion
The surviving members of Led Zeppelin and Jason Bonham at The O2 in London in 2007
Main article: Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert

On 10 December 2007 the surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunited for a one-off benefit concert held in memory of music executive Ahmet Ertegün, with Jason Bonham taking up his late father's place on drums. It was announced on 12 September 2007 by promoter Harvey Goldsmith in a press conference. The concert was to help raise money for the Ahmet Ertegün Education Fund, which pays for university scholarships in the UK, US and Turkey. Music critics praised the band's performance. Hamish MacBain of NME proclaimed, "What they have done here tonight is proof they can still perform to the level that originally earned them their legendary reputation...We can only hope this isn't the last we see of them."[96] Page suggested the band may start work on new material,[97] and stated that a world tour may be in the works.[98] Meanwhile, Plant made his position regarding a reunion tour known to the Sunday Times, stating: "The whole idea of being on a cavalcade of merciless repetition is not what it's all about." However, he also made it known that he could be in favour of more one-off shows in the near future: "It wouldn't be such a bad idea to play together from time to time."

[edit] Reunion tour reports (2008)

Following the reunion concert and the press coverage it generated, speculation on the future of the band and the possibility of a tour with Jason Bonham on drums increased to a level not seen in several years. In an interview promoting the release of the Mothership compilation in Tokyo early in 2008, Jimmy Page revealed that he was prepared to embark upon a world tour with Led Zeppelin, but due to Robert Plant's tour commitments with Alison Krauss, such plans will not be announced until at least September.[99] Showing enthusiasm for continued performing, in late spring Page and Jones joined Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins onstage at Wembley Stadium to perform Led Zeppelin tracks "Rock and Roll" (Hawkins on vocals and Grohl on drums), followed by "Ramble On" (Grohl on vocals and Hawkins on drums).[100]

Plant however continued to remain focused on his recent work and tour with Krauss. Their duet album Raising Sand became certified platinum in March,[101] and their recordings received awards including a Grammy for the song "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)"[102] and Album of the Year from the Americana Music Association.[103] Along with concentrating on the duo's American tour, Plant remained evasive on the subject of a Led Zeppelin reunion tour, and expressed displeasure at the process leading up to the 2007 reunion show during an interview with GQ Magazine, saying "The endless paperwork was like nothing I've experienced before. I've kept every one of the emails that were exchanged before the concert and I'm thinking of compiling them for a book, which I feel sure would be hailed as a sort of literary version of Spinal Tap."[104]

After the BBC reported in late August that Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Jason Bonham had been recording material which could become a new Led Zeppelin project,[105] the rumours of a reunion began to accumulate through the remaining summer.[106][107][108] On 29 September Plant released a statement in which he called reports of a Led Zeppelin reunion "frustrating and ridiculous". He said he would not be recording or touring with the band, before adding, "I wish Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham nothing but success with any future projects."[109][110]

Following Plant's statement, authoritative but divergent views of the possibility of a Led Zeppelin reunion tour the next year were offered by John Paul Jones and promoter Harvey Goldsmith. In late October, Jones confirmed to BBC Radio Devon in Exeter that he, Page, and Bonham were seeking a replacement for Plant. The bassist remarked: "We are trying out a couple of singers. We want to do it. It's sounding great and we want to get on and get out there."[111] The next day, Goldsmith commented on the prospect of a Led Zeppelin reunion, casting doubt on the possibility or wisdom of such a venture. In an interview with BBC News, Goldsmith stated "I think that there is an opportunity for them to go out and present themselves. I don't think a long rambling tour is the answer as Led Zeppelin." The Ertegün Concert promoter felt the result of the ongoing plans of Jones, Page, and Bonham would not be "called Led Zeppelin".[112] A spokesman for guitarist Jimmy Page later confirmed this, telling RollingStone.com that a new band featuring Page, bassist John Paul Jones and drummer Jason Bonham would not go by the name Led Zeppelin due to the absence of singer Robert Plant.[113]

On January 7, 2009, MusicRadar reported that Jimmy Page's manager Robert Mensch said that the band had "tried out a few singers, but no one worked out, that was it. The whole thing is completely over now. There are absolutely no plans for them to continue."[114][115] In a radio interview, Plant cited a fear of disappointment as a major factor for not continuing a reunited Zeppelin. "The disappointment that could be there once you commit to that and the comparisons to something that was basically fired by youth and a different kind of exhuberance to now, it's very hard to go back and meet that head on and do it justice."[116]

[edit] Songs in other media

While members of Led Zeppelin have seldom allowed their works to be licensed for films or commercials, in recent years, their position has softened. The songs of Led Zeppelin can be heard in movies such as Shrek the Third, One Day in September, School of Rock ("Immigrant Song" in all three), Dogtown and Z-Boys ("Achilles Last Stand", "Nobody's Fault but Mine", and "Hots On for Nowhere"), Almost Famous ("That's the Way", "The Rain Song", "Misty Mountain Hop", "Bron-Yr-Aur", and "Tangerine"), Fast Times at Ridgemont High ("Kashmir"), and Small Soldiers ("Communication Breakdown"). The television series One Tree Hill featured the song "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You". The band has denied frequent requests by developers of popular music video games to use their songs. As with other forms of media, the band seeks to protect the integrity of their work. Specifically, "the band isn't comfortable with the prospect of granting outsiders access to its master tapes, a necessary step in creating the games."[117]

Also noteworthy is Cadillac's use of "Rock and Roll" in their US TV advertising campaign. Recently, Led Zeppelin have agreed to allow Apple to sell their music in Apple's iTunes Store, with the greatest hits collection Mothership as the marquee offering.[118]

In April 2007, Hard Rock Park (now Freestyle Music Park) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, announced it had secured an agreement with the band to create "Led Zeppelin - The Ride", a roller coaster built by Bolliger & Mabillard, synchronised to the music of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love". The coaster stands 155 feet (47 m) tall, features six inversions, and spirals over a lagoon. The ride officially opened with the park on May 9, 2008.[119] The ride is currently "Standing but not operating" (SBNO) due to Hard Rock Park filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In January 2009, the park filed for Chapter 7. In February 2009, the park was sold to new owners FPI MB Entertainment hoping to reopen by Memorial Day 2009.[120]

[edit] Allegations of plagiarism

The credits for Led Zeppelin II were the subject of some debate after the album's release. The prelude to "Bring It On Home" is a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Bring It On Home" and drew comparisons with Willie Dixon's "Bring It On Back". "Whole Lotta Love" (sample (info)) contains lyrics that are derivative of Dixon's "You Need Love/Woman You Need Love", though the riff from the song was an original Jimmy Page composition. In the 1970s, Arc Music, the publishing arm of Chess Records, brought a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement over "Bring It On Home"; the case was settled out of court.[19] Dixon himself did not benefit until he sued Arc Music to recover his royalties and copyrights. Sixteen years later, Dixon filed suit against Led Zeppelin over "Whole Lotta Love" and an out-of-court settlement was reached. Later pressings of Led Zeppelin II credit Dixon. Similarly, the "Lemon Song", from the same album, included an adaptation of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor". The band and Chester Burnett reached an out-of-court settlement to give co-credit to the author of the original song.

Dave Headlam, in an article entitled "Does the song remain the same? Questions of authenticity and identification in the music of Led Zeppelin", suggests that "...in the course of studies on the music of Led Zeppelin, it has become apparent that many songs are compilations of pre-existent material from multiple sources, both acknowledged and unacknowledged." He contends that "...songs like 'Whole Lotta Love' and 'Dazed and Confused' are on the one hand not "authored" by Led Zeppelin, but [rather are] traditional lyrics..." [121] However, noted blues author and producer Robert Palmer states "It is the custom, in blues music, for a singer to borrow verses from contemporary sources, both oral and recorded, add his own tune and/or arrangement, and call the song his own".[122][123] Folklorist Carl Lindahl, refers to these recycling of lyrics in songs as "floating lyrics". He defines it within the folk-music tradition as "lines that have circulated so long in folk communities that tradition-steeped singers call them instantly to mind and rearrange them constantly, and often unconsciously, to suit their personal and community aesthetics".[124]

In an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in 1993, Page commented on the band's use of classic blues songs:

[A]s far as my end of it goes, I always tried to bring something fresh to anything that I used. I always made sure to come up with some variation. In fact, I think in most cases, you would never know what the original source could be. Maybe not in every case -- but in most cases. So most of the comparisons rest on the lyrics. And Robert was supposed to change the lyrics, and he didn't always do that -- which is what brought on most of the grief. They couldn't get us on the guitar parts of the music, but they nailed us on the lyrics. We did, however, take some liberties, I must say [laughs]. But never mind; we did try to do the right thing.[125]

In another interview, Page responded to the suggestion that Led Zeppelin used a lot of traditional and blues lyrics and tunes and called them their own:

The thing is they were traditional lyrics and they went back far before a lot of people that one related them to. The riffs we did were totally different, also, from the ones that had come before, apart from something like "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You," which were attributed to Willie Dixon. The thing with "Bring It On Home," Christ, there's only a tiny bit taken from Sonny Boy Williamson's version and we threw that in as a tribute to him. People say, "Oh, 'Bring It On Home' is stolen." Well, there's only a little bit in the song that relates to anything that had gone before it, just the end.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

GIBSON Guitars



History Of Gibson Guitars

Gibson was a musician and a woodcrafter ( luthier ) who enjoyed Building musical instruments such as archtop guitars , mandolins , and harps . The earliest electric gibson guitar ever recorded or seen had a perfectly solid wooden rectangular one piece body .

In 1896 gibson opened a little store and kept on experimenting and creating innovating new ways on how to build stringed instruments .

In 1902 gibson was bought out by investors who called their business Mandolin Guitar Manufacturing Company

From 1902 to 1944 some of the finest gibson guitars were produced and now are considered vintage guitars and highly collectible . Some of these guitars include the


  • Gibson L-5 archtop introduced in 1922
  • Gibson f-5 mandolin - 1923
  • Super jumbo flat top guitars - 1934
  • Gibson Es-150 with Charlie Christian Pickups - 1936-37
  • The First Single Gibson archtops -1939
  • J-45 Flat top introduced in 1942

In 1944 the company was purchased by CMI which stands for chicago musical instrument company . In 1944 to 1968-69 more fabulous gibson guitars were produced that are now household names such as


  • The single cut gibson es-175 guitar - 1949
  • Les Paul solid body p-90 pickups - 1952
  • Eb-1 Violin - 1953
  • Lespaul Customs With PAF humbuckers - 1955
  • Single cut thinline es-225t - 1955
  • The ever famous gibson Byrdland - 1955
  • Double Cutaway semi hollow es-335 - 1958
  • Gibson flying v explorers - 1958
  • First EDS 1275 Gibson doublenecks - 1958
  • Gibson Hummingbird -1959
  • Gibson Barney Kessel - 1960
  • Sg Lespaul - 1961
  • Gibson Thunderbird Bass - 1963

Note : In 1957 CMI then purchased Epiphone guitar company transferring production from Philadelphia to the Gibson plant in Kalamazoo until 1969 when epiphone guitars were built in Japan .

In 1968 Gibson started making reissues of the lespaul customs and standards .

In late 1969 The company was purchased by a company called Norlin . During 1969 to 1984 more outstanding Gibson guitars were made such as :

  • Gibson L series were introduced in 1972
  • Nashville Tennesse Guitar - 1974
  • Gibson BB KING - 1980
  • Chet Atkins -1982

In 1984 production at kalamazoo Ended.

In 1985 Gibson sold to a group called Henry Juskewiscz . In 1985 to this present day Gibson is always strong , introducing more models such as Chet atkins country gentlemen and many more .

When you buy a vintage gibson guitar you are not only buying a fine guitar but the history that goes with it as well .

Theres no other manufacturer that has produced a greater variety of professional and prestigious quality guitar models than Gibson . Every guitar model that gibson ever built has its own history and story , there are no two alike even if they share the same name .

Robert Nesta Marley aka Bob Marley

Bob Marley was born Robert Nesta Marley on Feb. 6, 1945 in Saint Ann, Jamaica. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a white Englishman and his mother, Cedelia Booker, was a black Jamaican. Bob Marley died of cancer in Miami, FL on May 11, 1981. Marley had 12 children, four by his wife Rita, and was a devout Rastafarian.

Bob Marley's Early Life:

Bob Marley's father died when he was 10 years old, and his mother moved with him to Kingston's Trenchtown neighborhood after his death. As a young teen, he befriended Bunny Wailer, and they learned to play music together. At 14, Marley dropped out of school to learn the welding trade, and spent his spare time jamming with Bunny Wailer and ska musician Joe Higgs.

Bob Marley's Early Recordings and the Beginnings of the Wailers:

Bob Marley recorded his first two singles in 1962, but neither garnered much interest at the time. In 1963, he began a ska band with Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh that was originally called "The Teenagers". Later it became "The Wailing Rudeboys", then "The Wailing Wailers", and finally just "The Wailers". Their early Studio One hits, which were recorded in the popular rocksteady style, included "Simmer Down" (1964) and "Soul Rebel" (1965), both penned by Marley.

Bob Marley Converts To Rastafarianism:

Marley married Rita Anderson in 1966, and spent a few months living in Delaware with his mother. When Marley returned to Jamaica, he began practicing the Rastafarian faith, and began growing his signature dreadlocks.

Worldwide Success:

The Wailers' 1974 album Burnin' contained "I Shot The Sheriff" and "Get Up, Stand Up", both of which gathered cult followings in both the US and Europe. The same year, however, the Wailers broke up to pursue solo careers. At this point, Marley had made the full transition from ska and rocksteady to reggae.

Bob Marley & the Wailers:

Bob Marley continued to tour and record as "Bob Marley & the Wailers", though he was the only original Wailer in the group. In 1975, "No Woman, No Cry" became Bob Marley's true breakthrough hit song, and his subsequent album Rastaman Vibration became a Billboard Top 10 Album.

Bob Marley's Political and Religious Activism:

Bob Marley spent much of the late 1970s trying to promote peace and cultural understanding within Jamaica, despite being shot (along with his wife and manager, who also survived) before a peace concert. He also acted as a willing cultural ambassador for the Jamaican people and the Rastafarian religion. He holds nearly godlike status among many Jamaicans and Rastafarians worldwide.

Bob Marley's Death:

In 1977, Bob Marley found a wound on his foot, which he believed to be a soccer injury, but was later discovered to be malignant melanoma. Doctors recommended an amputation of his toe, but he refused for religious reasons. The cancer eventually spread. When he finally decided to get medical help (in 1980), the cancer had become terminal. He wanted to die in Jamaica, but could not withstand the flight home, and died in Miami.

Learn more about Bob Marley's death.

Bob Marley's Legacy:

Bob Marley is revered the world over, both as a musical deity and as a spiritual leader. His wife Rita carries on his work as she sees fit, and his sons Damian "Jr. Gong", Julian, Ziggy, Stephen, Ky-Mani, as well as his daughters, Cedelia and Sharon, carry on his musical legacy (the other siblings do not play music professionally).

Honors and Awards Bestowed Upon Bob Marley:

Among the awards and honors that have been given to Bob Marley are a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. His songs and albums have also won numerous honors, such as Time Magazine's Album of the Century (for Exodus) and BBC's Song of the Millenium for "One Love".

CARLOS SANTANA

Santana is the primary exponent of Latin-tinged rock, particularly due to its combination of Latin percussion (congas, timbales, etc.) with bandleader Carlos Santana's distinctive, high-pitched lead guitar playing.

The group was the last major act to emerge from the psychedelic San Francisco music scene of the 1960s and it enjoyed massive success at the end of the decade and into the early '70s. The musical direction then changed to a more contemplative and jazzy style as the band's early personnel gradually departed, leaving the name in the hands of Carlos Santana, who guided the group to consistent commercial success over the next quarter-century.

By the mid-'90s, Santana seemed spent as a commercial force on records, though the group continued to attract audiences for its concerts worldwide. But the band made a surprising and monumental comeback in 1999 with Supernatural, an album featuring many guest stars that became Santana's best-selling release and won a raft of Grammy Awards.

Mexican-native Carlos Santana (born July 20, 1947, in Autlan de Navarro, Mexico) moved to San Francisco in the early '60s, by which time he was already playing the guitar professionally. In 1966, he formed the Santana Blues Band with keyboard player and singer Gregg Rolie (born June 17, 1947, in Seattle, WA) and other musicians, the personnel changing frequently.

The group was given its name due to a musicians union requirement that a single person be named a band's leader and it did not at first indicate that Carlos was in charge. Bass player David Brown (born February 15, 1947, in New York, NY) joined early on, as did Carlos' high school friend, conga player Mike Carabello (born November 18, 1947, in San Francisco), though he did not stay long at first. By mid-1967, the band's lineup consisted of Carlos, Rolie, Brown, drummer Bob "Doc" Livingston, and percussionist Marcus Malone.

The name was shortened simply to Santana and the group came to the attention of promoter Bill Graham, who gave it its debut at his Fillmore West theater on June 16, 1968. Santana was signed to Columbia Records, which sent producer David Rubinson to tape the band at a four-night stand at the Fillmore West December 19-22, 1968.

The results were not released until almost 30 years later, when Columbia/Legacy issued Live at the Fillmore 1968 in 1997. Livingston and Malone left the lineup in 1969 and were replaced by Carabello and drummer Michael Shrieve (born July 6, 1949, in San Francisco), with a second percussionist, Jose "Chepito" Areas (born July 25, 1946, in Leon, Nicaragua) making Santana a sextet.

The band recorded its self-titled debut album and began to tour nationally, making an important stop at the Woodstock festival on August 15, 1969. Santana was released the same month. It peaked in the Top Five, going on to remain in the charts over two years, sell over two million copies, and spawn the Top 40 single "Jingo" and the Top Ten single "Evil Ways."

Santana's performance of "Soul Sacrifice" was a highlight of the documentary film Woodstock and its double-platinum soundtrack album, which appeared in 1970. The band's second album, Abraxas, was released in September 1970 and was even more successful than its first.

It hit number one, remaining in the charts more than a-year-and-a-half and eventually selling over four million copies while spawning the Top Five hit "Black Magic Woman" and the Top Ten hit "Oye Como Va." By the end of the year, the group had added a seventh member, teenage guitarist Neal Schon (born February 27, 1954).

Santana's third album, Santana III, was performed by the seven band members, though several guest musicians were also mentioned in the credits, notably percussionist Coke Escovedo, who played on all the tracks.

Released in September 1971, the album was another massive hit, reaching number one and eventually selling over two million copies while spawning the Top Ten hit "Everybody's Everything" and the Top 20 hit "No One to Depend On."

But it marked the end of the Woodstock-era edition of Santana, which broke up at the end of the tour promoting it, with Carlos retaining rights to the band name. Following a tour with Buddy Miles that resulted in a live duo album (Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!), Carlos reorganized Santana and recorded the fourth Santana band album, Caravanserai, on which each track featured individual musician credits.

From the previous lineup, Rolie, Shrieve, Areas, and Schon appeared, alongside pianist Tom Coster, percussionist James Mingo Lewis, percussionist Armando Peraza, guitarist/bassist Douglas Rauch, and percussionist Rico Reyes, among others. (Rolie and Schon left to form Journey.) The album was released in September 1972; it peaked in the Top Five and was eventually certified platinum.

It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance with Vocal Coloring. Carlos, who had become a disciple of the guru Sri Chinmoy and adopted the name Devadip (meaning "the eye, the lamp, and the light of God"), next made a duo album with John McLaughlin, guitarist with the Mahavishnu Orchestra (Love Devotion Surrender). Meanwhile, the lineup of Santana continued to fluctuate.

On Welcome, the band's fifth album, released in November 1973, it consisted of Carlos, Shrieve, Areas, Coster, Peraza, Rauch, keyboard player Richard Kermode, and singer Leon Thomas. The album went gold and peaked in the Top 20. In May 1974, Lotus, a live album featuring the same lineup, was released only in Japan. (It was issued in the U.S. in 1991.) Carlos continued to alternate side projects with Santana band albums, next recording a duo LP with John Coltrane's widow Alice Coltrane (Illuminations).

Columbia decided to cash in on the band's diminishing popularity by releasing Santana's Greatest Hits in July 1974. The compilation peaked in the Top 20 and eventually went double platinum. The sixth new Santana album, Borboletta, followed in October. The band personnel for the LP featured Carlos, Shrieve, Areas, Coster, Peraza, a returning David Brown, saxophonist Jules Broussard, and singer Leon Patillo, plus guest stars Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, and Stanley Clarke. Borboletta peaked in the Top 20 and eventually went gold.

Carlos steered Santana back to a more commercial sound in the mid-'70s in an attempt to stop the eroding sales of the band's albums. He enlisted Santana's original producer, David Rubinson, to handle the next LP. The band was streamlined to a sextet consisting of himself, Coster, Peraza, Brown, drummer Ndugu Leon Chancler (Shrieve having departed to work with Stomu Yamashta), and singer Greg Walker.

The result was Amigos, released in March 1976, which returned Santana to the Top Ten and went gold. The band was back only nine months later with another Rubinson production, Festival, for which Santana consisted of Carlos, Coster, returning members Jose "Chepito" Areas and Leon Patillo, drummer Gaylord Birch, percussionist Raul Rekow, and bass player Pablo Telez. This album peaked in the Top 40 and went gold.

Never having issued a live album in the U.S., Santana made up for the lapse with Moonflower, released in October 1977, for which the band consisted of Carlos, Coster, Areas, Rekow, Telez, returning member Greg Walker, percussionist Pete Escovedo, drummer Graham Lear, and bass player David Margen. The album peaked in the Top Ten and eventually went platinum, its sales stimulated by the single release of a revival of the Zombies' "She's Not There" that peaked in the Top 20, Santana's first hit single in nearly six years.

Turning to producers Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, Santana returned to the studio for Inner Secrets, released in October 1978. The revamped lineup this time was Carlos, Rekow, Walker, Lear, Margen, returning members Coke Escovedo and Armando Peraza, keyboard player Chris Rhyne, and guitarist/keyboard player Chris Solberg.

The album was quickly certified gold, and a revival of the Classics IV hit "Stormy" made the Top 40, but Inner Secrets peaked disappointingly below the Top 20. Once again adopting his guru name of Devadip, Carlos issued his first real solo album (Oneness/Silver Dreams - Golden Reality) in February 1979.

Marathon, the tenth Santana band studio album, followed in September, produced by Keith Olsen, the band here being Carlos, Rekow, Lear, Margen, Peraza, Solberg, singer Alex Ligertwood, and keyboard player Alan Pasqua. The album equaled the success of Inner Secrets, peaking outside the Top 20 but going gold, with "You Know That I Love You" becoming a Top 40 single.

Again, Carlos followed in the winter with another solo effort (the Swing of Delight). Santana (Carlos, Rekow, Lear, Margen, Peraza, Ligertwood, keyboard player Richard Baker, and percussionist Orestes Vilato) spent some extra time on its next release, not issuing Zebop! until March 1981, and the extra effort paid off.

Paced by the Top 20 single "Winning," the album reached the Top Ten and went gold. The band lavished similar attention on Shango, which was released in August 1982. The same lineup as that on Zebop! was joined by original member Gregg Rolie, who also co-produced the album. A music video helped Santana enjoy its first Top Ten single in more than a decade with "Hold On," but that did not translate into increased sales for the album, which peaked in the Top 20 but became the band's first LP not to at least go gold.

Carlos followed with another solo album (Havana Moon), but did not release a new Santana band album until February 1985 with Beyond Appearances, produced by Val Garay. By now the lineup consisted of Carlos, Rekow, Peraza, Ligertwood, Vilato, returning member Greg Walker, bass player Alphonso Johnson, keyboard player David Sancious, drummer Chester C. Thompson, and keyboard player Chester D. Thompson. "Say It Again," the album's single, reached the Top 40, but that was better than the LP did.

Santana staged a 20-year anniversary reunion concert in August 1986 featuring many past bandmembers. The February 1987 album Freedom marked the formal inclusion of Buddy Miles as a member of Santana, alongside Carlos, Rekow, Peraza, Vilato, Johnson, Chester D. Thompson, and returning members Tom Coster and Graham Lear.

The album barely made the Top 100. Carlos followed in the fall with another solo album (Blues for Salvador), winning his first Grammy Award in the process (Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the title track). In 1988, he added Wayne Shorter to the band for a tour, then put together a reunion edition of Santana that featured Areas, Rolie, and Shrieve beside Johnson, Peraza, and Thompson.

In October, Columbia celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the band's signing to the label with the retrospective Viva Santana! The next new Santana album was Spirits Dancing in the Flesh, released in June 1990, for which the band was Carlos, Peraza, Thompson, returning member Alex Ligertwood, drummer Walfredo Reyes, and bass player Benny Rietveld.

A modest seller that made only the lower reaches of the Top 100, it marked the end of the band's 22-year tenure at Columbia Records. In 1991, Santana signed to Polydor Records, which, in April 1992, released the band's 16th studio album, Milagro. The lineup was Carlos, Thompson, Ligertwood, Reyes, Rietvald, and percussionist Karl Perazzo. Polydor was not able to reverse the band's commercial decline, as the album became Santana's first new studio release not to reach the Top 100.

The group followed in November 1993 with Sacred Fire - Live in South America, which featured Carlos, Thompson, Ligertwood, Reyes, Perazzo, singer Vorriece Cooper, bass player Myron Dove, and guitarist Jorge Santana, Carlos' brother.

The album barely made the charts. In 1994, Carlos, Jorge, and their nephew Carlos Hernandez, released Santana Brothers, another marginal chart entry. The same year, Areas, Carabello, Rolie, and Shrieve formed a band called Abraxas and released the album Abraxas Pool, which did not chart.

Santana left Polydor and signed briefly to EMI before moving to Arista Records, run by Clive Davis, who had been president of Columbia during the band's heyday. Carlos and Davis put together Supernatural, which was stuffed with appearances by high-profile guest stars including Eagle-Eye Cherry, Wyclef Jean, Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Rob Thomas of matchbox 20, Everlast, and Dave Matthews.

Arista released the album in June 1999, followed by the single "Smooth" featuring Rob Thomas. Album and single hit number one and in 2000, a second single, "Maria Maria," also topped the charts. Supernatural's sales exploded, taking it past ten million copies and the album garnered 11 Grammy nominations.

Santana won eight Grammys, for Record of the Year ("Smooth"), Album of the Year, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Maria Maria"), Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals ("Smooth"), Best Pop Instrumental Performance ("El Farol"), Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Put Your Lights On"), Best Rock Instrumental Performance ("The Calling"), and Best Rock Album, and "Smooth" won the Grammy for Song of the Year for authors Rob Thomas and Itaal Shur. The follow-up, Shaman, appeared in 2002.

Three years later All That I Am arrived with Steven Tyler, Michelle Branch, Big Boi, Joss Stone, Bo Bice, and many more making guest appearances. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

PRS journey to fame

By: Paul Reed Smith and Tim Wheeler of Guitar Player

The road from my workshop in a historic, haunted Annapolis garret to a state-of-the-art factory was a tough one. Fact is, I always loved working with my hands. Why else would a high school kid sign up for three or four shop classes at a time? My first guitar was built as a challenge to my college music professor for some credits. I got an “A” and decided to pursue my dream of making guitars for a living.

There were a lot of late night brainstorms. I was lucky if I finished a guitar a month. Once a guitar was completed, I’d play it at a gig — field testing in the purest sense. Every design change taught me something new. The next change was built on what I had learned or on feedback from other players test driving the equipment. Over ten years we went through three headstocks, several renditions of body shapes, many tremolo designs, and many experiments with woods and construction methods to get the right mix.

I remember hanging out at the local concert arenas for six or seven hours before a show to make friends with the roadies. With a backstage pass in hand, I’d peddle my guitars to the stars. One night in ten I’d make a sale. Carlos Santana, Al Di Meola, Howard Leese, and other well known players agreed to check one out. I made deals. If someone gave me an order, made a deposit, and then didn’t love the finished guitar, I’d give them their deposit back even if I couldn’t make my rent the next day.

After getting a small following and orders for more than 50 guitars, we built two prototypes. I popped them in the back seat of my truck and cranked it up, calling on guitar dealers up and down the East Coast. After many days and many miles I came back with enough orders to start a company. With the support of my wife, skilled assistants, engineers, lawyers, top salesmen, artists, machinists, and friends who emptied their bank accounts to help me get started, we developed a strong team.

We’ve come a long way, with steady growth in factory capacity, employees, distribution, and the number of prominent artists using our instruments. We’re not stopping here. Every inch of your PRS guitar is based on decades of testing, rethinking, and reinventing. We continue to push the curve beyond what others would consider perfection. With experts to make sure the technology is unsurpassed, and dedicated craftspeople who guarantee a finished product you can’t keep your hands off of, we make no compromises. That’s the story of the beginning of the journey. Not so short, but very sweet. The moral? Believe in your dreams.

- Paul Reed Smith, 1992


The Journey Continues
by Tom Wheeler

If becoming the gold standard of quality in the guitar business was a remarkable achievement for PRS, equally impressive has been its maintaining that standard as the company has grown into a major industry presence. While PRS’s continuing success in this regard demands a constant re-evaluation of materials, tools, and procedures, the bottom-line goal hasn’t changed since the days when Paul Smith hand-crafted his first instruments in an upstairs loft: Build extraordinary guitars, guitars with magic.

National Sales and Marketing Manager Larry Urie: “With every increase in factory size or production output, we build in even tighter quality control to make sure our standards remain extremely high. If anything, the quality control at PRS is tighter than it’s ever been.”

Some companies see a public relations benefit to invoking the romance of historic guitars from the ’50s and ’60s, but Paul Smith knows that for the people who actually designed and built those classic instruments (people like his mentor, Ted McCarty), PR and romance were the furthest things from their minds. Their goal was to manufacture great instruments, period. Build a guitar whose tone inspires you to be a better player, whose durability will get you through a thousand gigs, whose elegance makes it an artwork in its own right. Build a guitar that players can’t put down, and the romance and the PR and all the rest will follow.

Paul Smith: “We don’t do something just because that’s the traditional way. If the best possible guitar results from using a robot for one procedure and a lot of hand-sanding or hand-inlaying for another, then that’s how we do it. Our tradition is a byproduct of our quality, so excellence is always the goal. We never lose sight of that.”

Larry Urie adds: “The automation and the individual craftsmanship go together at PRS. Using automation in one area where it produces superior results allows us to do even more handwork and detail work in those areas where there’s no substitute for the individual craftsman’s eye and skill. People who tour the factory come away amazed at how much handwork they see, and even with the machinery, it’s all dominated by the human element. It’s all about the commitment and the judgment of a highly skilled individual.”

In other words, even in the age of CNC machinery, the essence of the PRS magic still comes down to a pair of hands.

Aside from his family, friends, and business, one of the most important things in Paul Smith’s life is his music — his songwriting, guitar playing, recording, and performing. I mention it because Paul’s enthusiasm for killer tone and for exhilarating music inspires a kind of top-down passion for craftsmanship that as far as I can tell reaches to every workbench in the factory. He estimates that 80% of PRS workers are musicians; many of them gig regularly in bands. PRS President Jack Higginbotham: “These builders have a special kind of pride, an individual ownership of the instruments they’re making. Every one of them treats each guitar as their own, because it is their own. It’s a very personal thing for these builders.”

This passion for quality affects not only the work habits of individuals but also the structure of the whole company. Paul Smith: “We’re not organized like other companies. Every PRS craftsperson is a self-contained quality control ‘department.’ They have a lot of authority over their work, and if a guitar falls short in any way, they don’t pass it on to the next stage, and they make that decision themselves. They hand guitars back and forth all the time, and they inspect everything over and over. It’s like an old European guild or a shop. There’s a constant ‘is this good enough?’ conversation out there on the factory floor. So the quality control begins at the workbench. It’s not something we overlay or tack on. It’s an integral, organic part of the process, beginning with design and materials selection and going through every single step in construction and testing.”

International Sales and Marketing Manager Peter Wolf: “Another way the passion for quality drives everything here is that although we do make our Private Stock guitars, we do not have a custom shop the way other companies do. That’s because the whole PRS factory is basically one big custom shop.”

I’ve had many conversations with Paul Smith over the past 15 years or so, most of them beginning with his asking “Guess what?” and continuing with an enthusiastic explanation of a new discovery about tone. The latest improvement to PRS guitars could be something as minor as the tonal effects of substituting a small part made of a different material. Yes, Paul Smith can hear things most of us can’t hear, or can barely hear, but what’s more remarkable is that the mechanical and engineering savvy of Paul and his brilliant collaborators enables them to convert those observations into improvements in PRS guitars — improvements you can hear and feel.

My son Joe is a black belt in karate. I always assumed the black belt was the end of the road, but he explained to me that it’s just the beginning of a new road. I sense a similar philosophy from the people who build PRS guitars. While players and magazine writers have been waxing eloquent for years about these workers’ mastery of their craft, the builders see themselves as travelers only midway on a journey of discovery. “We’re not there yet,” Paul explains. “It’s a continuing thing. We’re never finished. It’s the quest, the challenge — that’s what brings us to the factory every day.”

Back when he started crafting instruments one at a time, Paul Smith was steeped in the traditions of the great electric guitars of the ’50s and ’60s. Today he finds himself absorbed with the traditions of another revered company — his own. While he fondly recalls the early days of PRS, nostalgia is not a top priority. The best way he can honor the traditions of his own past is to look forward. At PRS, yesterday always takes a back seat to tomorrow. Paul Smith: “I am lucky to have an extremely talented team — not just craftspeople and artists but marketers, salespeople, programmers, administrators, and others — and everyone who works here feels the same way: We want players to know that no matter how great that old PRS guitar is, we’re pushing for the new one to be even better.”

Casiopea: Japan's Fussion Band

Casiopea (カシオペア Kashiopea) was a Japanese jazz fusion band that was formed in 1976 by guitarist Issei Noro, bassist Tetsuo Sakurai and keyboardist Hidehiko Koike. In 1977, keyboardist Minoru Mukaiya and drummer Takashi Sasaki joined the group, leaving Hidehiko out of Casiopea. The group debuted with the self-title album Casiopea in 1979, featuring Randy Brecker and Michael Brecker as guest musicians. In 1980, Takashi was replaced by Akira Jimbo. Casiopea has released over 30 albums to date in both Japan and the United States.

Some of Casiopea's most famous tracks include Asayake, Galactic Funk and Eyes of The Mind. Galactic Funk first featured in their 1981 album "Crosspoint" which had around 10 different versions recorded both live and in studio.

Casiopea has been countlessly regarded as "similar" to the British band Level 42. Also, Casiopea has played live with various artists such as Level 42, The Square (now known as [[T-Square (band}|T-Square) and Sync DNA (A Drumming Duo of Casiopea's Akira Jimbo, and T-Square's Hiroyuki Noritake).

The album Eyes of the Mind was released in the United States in 1981. They then released the album Mint Jams in 1982, followed by Four by Four the same year, which was a collaborative album with Lee Ritenour, Harvey Mason, Nathan East and Don Grusin (all except Don GrusinFourplay). Their first overseas concert was held in the United Kingdom in 1983. The group has toured Europe, South America, Australia, and Southeast Asia. later became founding members of

In 1989, Akira Jimbo and Tetsuo Sakurai left the band following several years of musical differences. They later formed their own duo-band, Jimsaku. For their replacement, Casiopea chose Yoshihiro Naruse (bass) and Masaaki Hiyama (drums).

In 1993, the group once again changed its members. Noriaki Kumagai came to replace Masaaki. Then in 1997, Akira returned to Casiopea, this time as a part-time member, recording more albums and again contributing some of the compositions.

In 2006, Issei Noro, the group's leader, decided to freeze all activities of the band until further notice.

It's been announced that a limited-edition box set with almost all of Casiopea's Albums called "Legend of Casiopea" will be Released on May 27th, 2009, Commemorating Casiopea's 30th Anniversary.

[edit] Members

Guitar

Issei Noro (1976-2006)


Keyboards

Hidehiko Koike (1976-1977, Guest Musician, 1999)

Minoru Mukaiya (1977-2006)


Bass

Tetsuo Sakurai (1976-1989, Guest Musician, 1999)

Yoshihiro Naruse (1990-2006)


Drums

Takashi Sasaki (1976-1979)

Akira Jimbo (1980-1989, 1997 (Part Time)-2006)

Masaaki Hiyama (1990-1993, Guest Musician, 1999)

Noriaki Kumagai (1993-1997)

Woodstock Story...

Historical Importance of the Woodstock Festival of 1969: The Woodstock Festival was a three-day concert (which rolled into a fourth day) that involved lots of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll - plus a lot of mud. The Woodstock Music Festival of 1969 has become an icon of the 1960s hippie counterculture.

Dates: August 15-18, 1969

Location: Max Yasgur's dairy farm

in the town of Bethel (outside of White Lake, New York)

Also Known As: Woodstock Music Festival; An Aquarian Exposition: Three Days of Peace and Music

Overview of the Woodstock Festival of 1969:

The Organizers of Woodstock

The organizers of the Woodstock Festival were four young men: John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfeld, and Mike Lang. The oldest of the four was only 27 years old at the time of the Woodstock Festival.

Roberts, an heir to a pharmaceutical fortune, and his friend Rosenman were looking for a way to use Roberts' money to invest in an idea that would make them even more money. After placing an ad in The New York Times that stated: "Young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting, legitimate investment opportunities and business propositions," they met Kornfeld and Lang.

The Plan for the Woodstock Festival

Kornfeld and Lang's original proposal was to build a recording studio and a retreat for rock musicians up in Woodstock, New York (where Bob Dylan and other musicians already lived). The idea morphed into creating a two-day rock concert for 50,000 people with the hope that the concert would raise enough money to pay for the studio.

The four young men then got to work on organizing a large music festival. They found a location for the event up in an industrial park in nearby Wallkill, New York.

They printed tickets ($7 for one day, $13 for two days, and $18 for three days), which could be purchased in select stores or via mail order. The men also worked on organizing food, signing musicians, and hiring security.

Things Go Very Wrong

The first of many things to go wrong with the Woodstock Festival was the location. No matter how the young men and their lawyers spun it, the citizens of Wallkill did not want a bunch of drugged-out hippies descending on their town. After much wrangling, the town of Wallkill passed a law on July 2, 1969 that effectively banned the concert from their vicinity.

Everyone involved with the Woodstock Festival panicked. Stores refused to sell any more tickets and the negotiations with the musicians got shaky. Only a month-and-a half before the Woodstock Festival was to begin, a new location had to be found.

Luckily, in mid-July, before too many people began demanding refunds for their pre-purchased tickets, Max Yasgur offered up his 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York to be the location for the Woodstock Festival.

As lucky as they were to have found a new location, the last minute change of venue seriously set back the Festival timeline. New contracts to rent the dairy farm and surrounding areas had to be drawn up and permits to allow the Woodstock Festival in the town had to be acquired. Construction of the stage, a performers' pavilion, parking lots, concession stands, and a children's playground all got a late start and barely got finished in time for the event. Some things, like ticket booths and gates, did not get finished in time.

As the date got closer, more problems sprung up. It soon appeared that their 50,000 people estimate was way too low and the new estimate jumped to upwards of 200,000 people. The young men then tried to bring in more toilets, more water, and more food. However, the food concessionaires kept threatening to cancel at the last minute (the organizers had accidentally hired people who had no experience in concessions) so they had to worry about whether or not they could airlift in rice as a backup food supply. Also troublesome was the last minute ban on off-duty police officers from working at the Woodstock Festival.

Hundreds of Thousands Arrive at the Woodstock Festival

On Wednesday, August 13 (two days before the Festival was to begin), there were already approximately 50,000 people camping near the stage. These early arrivals had walked right through the huge gaps in the fence where the gates had not yet been placed. Since there was no way to get the 50,000 people to leave the area in order to pay for tickets and there was no time to erect the numerous gates to prevent even more people from just walking in, the organizers were forced to make the event a free concert.

This declaration of a free concert had two dire effects. The first of which was that the organizers were going to lose massive amounts of money by putting on this event. The second effect was that as news spread that it was now a free concert, an estimated one million people headed to Bethel, New York. Police had to turn away thousands of cars. It is estimated that about 500,000 people actually made it to the Woodstock Festival.

No one had planned for half a million people. The highways in the area literally became parking lots as people abandoned their cars in the middle of the street and just walked the final distance to the Woodstock Festival. Traffic was so bad that the organizers had to hire helicopters to shuttle the performers from their hotels to the stage.

The Music Starts

Despite all the organizers' troubles, the Woodstock Festival got started nearly on time. On Friday evening, August 15, Richie Havens got up on stage and officially started the Festival. Sweetwater, Joan Baez, and other folk artists also played Friday night.

The music started up again shortly after noon on Saturday with Quill and continued non-stop until Sunday morning around 9 am. The day of psychedelic bands continued with such musicians as Santana, Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, and The Who, to name just a few.

It was obvious to everyone that on Sunday, the Woodstock Festival was winding down. Most of the crowd left throughout the day, leaving about 150,000 people on Sunday night. When Jimi Hendrix, the last musician to play at Woodstock, finished his set early on Monday morning, the crowd was down to only 25,000.

Despite the 30-minute lines for water and at least hour-long wait to use a toilet, the Woodstock Festival was a huge success. There were a lot of drugs, a lot of sex and nudity, and a lot of mud (created by the rain).

After the Woodstock Festival

The organizers of Woodstock were dazed at the end of the Festival. They didn't have time to focus on the fact that they had created the most popular music event in history, for they first had to deal with their incredible debt (over $1 million) and the 70 lawsuits that had been filed against them.

To their great relief, the film of the Woodstock Festival turned into a hit movie and the profits from the movie covered a large chunk of the debt from the Festival. By the time that everything was paid off, they were still $100,000 in debt.