Re: Jimmy on Wolf

[chris myers <ravyn_slayer@xxxxxxxxx>]

- --- Skweez mylemon247 <skweezmylemon247@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> I was just surfing CNN.  Jimmy is being interviewd
> by Wolf Blitzer in 2 
> minutes. (5:00 pm EST)
> Run to your VCR's!!!
> 
> Sure as shit:
>
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/wolf.blitzer.reports/
> 
> 
> Go Jimmy go!!
> 
> Skweez-
> 
excerpts from
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0305/30/wbr.00.html

BLITZER:
And Led Zeppelin revival. Lead guitarist Jimmy Paige
will join me live. 
First, today's news quiz. What is Led Zeppelin's best
selling song of all time? "Dazed and Confused," "Whole
Lotta Love," "Stairway to Heaven," "Song Remains the
Same?" The answer, coming up. 

And later, he created some of the hottest music in
hard rock. I'll talk live with Jimmy Page of Led
Zeppelin about the band's latest project. 

BLITZER: He's written and performed some of the
greatest rifts, certainly some of the greatest rock
'n' roll of all time. Jimmy page of Led Zeppelin fame
joins me live to talk music memories and what's next
for the biggest selling hard band of all time. You
won't want to miss this. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Earlier we asked, what is Led
Zeppelin's best selling song of all time? The answer:
"Stairway to Heaven." It's also become the most played
track in radio history. 

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The rock music world, late 60's, fusing into
the 70's -- of all of the bands, one stuck to its guns
blasting its way into the minds of countless fans
every where, but especially here in the United States.
After two decades of silence, Led Zeppelin is flying
high again. 

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): As only they could say it. 

(MUSIC)

BLITZER: It's been 23 years, to be exact -- 23 years
since one of rock's most formidable bands called it
quits. 

(MUSIC)

BLITZER: Now Led Zeppelin is back with a purity that
seems to mock the other bands of their era who are
still plowing through reunion tours. 

This week, Led Zeppelin came out with a compilation of
previously-unreleased live performances from the
band's heyday in the 1970s. 

(MUSIC)

BLITZER: Three CDs featuring live material from
California concerts in the early 70's and two DVDs
with footage from four concerts in England and New
York from 1970 to 1979. 

This is Led Zeppelin at the height of its power:
relentless guitar, bass and drum rifts, by the
legendary Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham
- -- and the unmistakable ripping voice of Robert Plant.


(MUSIC)

BLITZER: These four musicians helped create the heavy
metal era, helped sway over a generation and over 11
years, became one of the biggest-selling rock groups
of all time -- more than 200 million albums sold
worldwide. 

It all came to an abrupt end after drummer John Bonham
died of an alcohol overdose in 1980. 

But for Zeppelin fans it's all here, from the classic
"Whole Lot of Love" and "Dazed and Confused" to the
ballad that became an anthem for generations of
teenagers. 

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And joining us now Led Zeppelin lead
guitarist Jimmy Page. Jimmy, congratulations on this
remarkable work. Thanks so much for joining us.
Bringing back a lot of good memories from many of my
generation. What about this decision you did? Why did
you do this, decide to go back and recreate Led
Zeppelin, in effect, on DVD and CD? 

JIMMY PAGE, LED ZEPPELIN GUITARIST: You know, Wolf,
the band Led Zeppelin was really weighed up by the
albums that it had out each album being quite
different to the next. We didn't put out any singles
and we were really there to be stand up and be counted
by the live shows that we did. Every show was quite
different. 

In actual fact we only, as you said, quite rightly
said, we only actually managed to film four of our
concerts with the -- and have an audio track so those
were our four source -- sets of source material. And
you know with the advent of DVDs and digital quality,
surround sound, it seemed exactly the right thing to
do to show people the other side of the coin, that the
live performances after all of the studio material had
come out.

BLITZER: You took the lead in getting all this stuff
together. A lot of us remember in the heyday, you
didn't do a lot of interviews. There weren't a lot of
taped performances. How did you collect all this
material?

PAGE: Well, actually it's true, because we didn't put
out singles, that meant that we didn't have that awful
scenario where you'd be on television miming. You know
we really wanted to be a live band and that was it,
you know. That's how we wanted to do it. 

So because we weren't going to fit into the television
format, we actually had to film the band ourselves.
The first time we did it was in 1970 in Albert Hall in
London just after the second album had come out. So
that was quite a good point for us. The second time
that we did it was three years later at Madison Square
Garden. And that was the source of 1976 film, "The
Song Remains the Same." And that's all there is. It's
a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) document, you see?

BLITZER: It's an amazing documentary.

When we hear, at least when I hear, certain Led
Zeppelin songs it brings back specific memories. What
about you? Talk a little bit about specific songs and
the memories they bring back to you.

PAGE: Well you know they've all got memories for me.
They're all --the way that they were recorded each
song had a very strong identity to it, you know, an
ambience to it which really comes through to speakers
when you hear those songs and the way that they were
actually laced in to the albums. They were laced there
for reason, to give light and shade and dynamics. 

As far as the live performances go, the truth of that
is when you went up on stage you never really knew
what was going to happen between that point and coming
off stage because there would be sort of musical ESP
that we had with these four very different characters
in everyday life coming together, joining together
those four elements. 

And what we created musically on stage was absolutely,
really from inspiration right on that stage at that
particular point of moment. We went on stage
forgetting exactly whatever happened in the day. You
just let the music do the speaking, really.

BLITZER: You guys helped create heavy metal. Who do
you see as the heirs? Who do you like to listen to,
the music, the genre that you helped create?

PAGE: Well, you know, one of the most interesting
things for me and well, inspiring for me as well is
the fact that you know since 1980 every year there's
been bands and musicians, you know, young kids to even
professional musicians and said, you know, it's
hearing your band that really made me want to get into
music. 

So that has been an inspiration for others. And I must
say that's been inspiring for me. So in actual fact,
that's sort of spirit of Led Zeppelin, which is really
the spirit of rock, the sort of thing that I access
through the rock of the '50s like Elvis, really, you
know, is really there sort of permeating through many
bands right now. That's great.

BLITZER: You know a lot of people are going to buy
these DVDs and these CDs and wonder if they're ever
going to see another life concert by what remains, of
course, of Led Zeppelin. What are you going to tell
them?

PAGE: Well, one of the things is that this musical
communication that we had between the four members of
the time, after 11 years of that we knew each other so
well musically and we could throw any idea at each
other and it would just evolve and move and -- you
know what? That's why when we lost John Bonham, we
just really -- it was the right decision in respect to
his part of the band at the time not to carry on. I
think it would have been each and every one of us, if
it ever happened to myself or Robert or whatever, the
same decision would have been made. 

You know with all this DVD and the CDs that have come
out, was there input for the rest of the band. You
know obviously, on the end of the -- doing the covers
and all of that. And even here we'd been doing press. 

And I've to tell you with my hand on my heart that we
haven't discussed getting together to play. But I tell
you that the only way we could really do it is knowing
what the spirit of what the music is and was would be
to get into in a studio -- I'm sorry, in a room with
instruments and do a couple of Led Zeppelin numbers.
And you know what? If there was a smile in each
other's eyes at the end of that, then it would be
worth really doing, you know? BLITZER: Well if you do
it, we'll come and watch. Not only my generation, but
many generations. Jimmy Page, congratulations. Thanks
so much for joining us and bringing back some good
memories.

PAGE: Thank you very much, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you. 

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=====
Chris Myers 
Ravyn_Slayer@xxxxxxxxx 
formerly known as: 
boleskin@xxxxxxxxxxxx 
ravynslayer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
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