Nile Rodgers reflects on Tony Thompson guest spot at Live Aid

Today's the 24th anniversary of Live Aid, and Nile Rodgers has just shared with me a short reflection on the lineup his late former bandmate in Chic, Tony Thompson, started that day.

As we know, Thompson sat in with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones. As we also know, they had little time for rehearsals before the show, and Page in fact amped up his guitar for the prime time set without even having it tuned first. Not to mention, the four were joined on a second drum set by Phil Collins and also by Paul Martinez, who was Plant's bass player at the time.

Take out those extra superfluous people, and you have yourself a fourpiece lineup that may have very well been the next coming of Led Zeppelin the following year. Rolling Stone broke the story in 1986 that Page, Plant and Jones were rehearsing with Thompson. The former Led Zeppelin members, with their past experiences, viewed it as a bad omen and too much like events of the dark past when Thompson was injured in a car crash during their rehearsal stage, and the lineup retired before anything came off the ground.

Just the fact that they attempted anything like this in 1986 shows there must have been some magic present among the four of them. Guitarist Nile Rodgers was already close to the Zeppelin boys, having been a part of the production team behind The Honeydrippers EP with Plant and that also included Page. Now with ample time to reflect over the nearly two-and-a-half decades that have elapsed since Live Aid, Rodgers spoke to me today, offering the following words about the brief chance Led Zeppelin had to fly again with his close friend and colleague, Tony Thompson, on drums.

Rodgers says:

To see Tony Thompson playing at Live Aid with one of my favorite groups of all time, Led Zeppelin, was a dream come true. I know he had to struggle through the gig because of the near fatal accident he had suffered, but like the troopers all CHIC alumni are, he hit the skins as hard as his body could deliver. It brought tears to my eyes. I love and miss him. How great is music? Who'd believe some unknown black guys from NYC could wind up being life long friends with arguably the greatest Rock band ever (in my humble opinion).

I'm a permanent member of the Honeydrippers with Robert Plant, and we speak on a semi regular basis. I respect Jimmy, John Paul Jones (the unsung hero of the band), and Little Jason Bonham stepped up to deliver the goods at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute in London after his death. Tony Thompson was one of the greatest drummers ever, and that night was history.

Robert Plant speaks upon presentation of British rank

Robert Plant was mellowing by the time he told Buckingham Palace he would accept the presentation of a British rank. A report by the Press Association today opens, "Robert Plant has admitted he's less rock'n'roll these days." Yeesh!

In March 2005, the singer declined a royal invitation to meet the Queen at a reception honoring famous British musicians. His former bandmate, Jimmy Page, was there, along with Brian May of Queen and Eric Clapton of, well, almost everything. The reception's hilarious news angle at the time presented itself when the Queen kept insisting on asking questions like, "And how long have you been playing guitar, Mr. Clapton?"

Plant told New York DJ Carol Miller that he skipped out on the reception to watch a football match.

But he hasn't completely lost his edge over the past few years, despite today showing up at Buckingham Palace and being photographed with the ornament that officially makes him a Commander of the British Empire, or CBE. He insisted to reporters that this didn't make him part of "the establishment." The Telegraph reported him saying, "The diversity of people who have moved through here this morning prove there is no real establishment here."

Plant still got off at least one jab at Prince Charles, referring to their first meeting, in which Charles ogled Plant's then-wife Maureen and commented to the singer, "Remarkable voice. Do you gargle with port?"

Reporters also took the occasion to seize upon Plant for comments about whether he would sing again for Led Zeppelin. (You have to ask that every time you see him or else you might miss that complete 360 he makes every decade or so.)

Apparently, Plant's initial response to the question centered either on his own physical condition or a backhanded jab at others: "Sometimes I go a bit deaf in either ear, especially when people are talking nonsense."

He added that he and his former bandmates still get along: "If we can remember each other's phone number at this time in life it's a miracle. We're still good friends, we both enjoy a rather dark sense of humour that comes I think from being from rather the wrong side of the tracks for all those wild years."

Both the Press Association and the Telegraph were keen on reporting one offhand remark Plant made. The Press Association article reported that "he and former Zeppelin band-mate Jimmy Page - who has an OBE - would not be fighting over rank."

Let the record show that the British Empire rank Plant received today is higher than the one awarded to Page on Dec. 14, 2005.

Previously unreleased Rod Stewart track with John Paul Jones, David Gilmour to emerge

A song recorded in the summer of 1992 by Rod Stewart, David Gilmour and John Paul Jones will finally be released this September after more than 17 years of collecting dust.

The track is called "In a Broken Dream," and it's a remake of the song Stewart first recorded in 1969 as a special guest vocalist for a band called Python Lee Jackson, which had crossed over from Australia to England.

The story goes that in April 1969, Python Lee Jackson's regular singer, David Bentley, told his bandmates somebody else's voice would suit the song better. Somehow, they reached Stewart, who was then singing regularly for Jeff Beck, and he sat in on this and two other songs during the London sessions that month.

Despite the song's special guest star, multiple releases of "In a Broken Dream" eluded the charts for three years. In 1972, it finally became recognized and entered the charts internationally.

As we fast-forward well beyond Rod Stewart's years fronting the Faces and into his third decade of solo stardom, we emerge at the aforementioned year 1992.

He'd just experienced a comeback of sorts with a series of successful singles in 1989 and 1990, namely "This Old Heart of Mine" with Ronald Isley, "Downtown Train," "Rhythm of My Heart," and "The Motown Song" with the Temptations. Stewart was entering into a period of collaborations with other vocalists and musicians.

Having famously reunited with Jeff Beck in the studio to sing "People Get Ready" on the guitarist's 1984 album Flash, Stewart was now making a habit of recording with all sorts of people: Tina Turner, the band Glass Tiger, and pretty soon it would be Sting and Bryan Adams for the Robin Hood soundtrack. Even Stewart's own Unplugged ... and Seated album and TV appearance would feature Ron Wood as a special guest on guitar, a reunion with his Faces bandmate.

In the middle of all that collaborative work is when Stewart got together in the studio with John Paul Jones and David Gilmour over the summer of 1992, in what appears to be a previously unreported recording session!

The Pink Floyd guitarist had worked with Jones longer than a decade and a half earlier. They'd met up when recording a 17-minute song featured on Roy Harper's rock album HQ, which Jones and Gilmour were happy to play out live on one occasion. (Sincee we've been talking about supergroups involving Jones, allow me to mention that their drummer was Bill Bruford!)

Jones had also worked with Stewart long before that. Toward the end of his days as an in-demand session musician, Jones sat in with the Jeff Beck Group on the recording sessions for Truth. Consequently, Jones plays organ on that album's version of "You Shook Me," only a few months before he did the same -- plus bass and electric piano -- for Led Zeppelin's debut album.

Jones had also played as a hired session musician on two blues covers Stewart recorded in 1964, before the singer was anybody. These versions of "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town" were originally released as Stewart's first single, in October 1964, and are now available as some of the earliest tracks on his double-disc set 1964-1969.

Again, this brings us to the 1992 meeting of all three musicians, including Gilmour, who was leading Pink Floyd sans Roger Waters. Stewart had just about given up on creating new songs and decided to record some covers. This superstar edition of "In a Broken Dream" has Stewart on vocals, Jones on a steady yet intense organ, Pete Thomas on drums, (Nick Lowe on bass?), and Gilmour on an electric guitar lead that could have been on any Floyd album from Wish You Were Here or after. This was one of six songs Stewart recorded in the summer of 1992 but chose to put on the backburner.

All six of these will be included on the final disc of the 4-CD box set The Rod Stewart Sessions 1971-1998, offered by Warner and Rhino. The set is scheduled for a Sept. 22 release, but preorders are being taken.

John Bonham's gong fetches $64,000 in sale to anonymous buyer

A gong used in the 1970s by John Bonham has sold in Los Angeles for $64,660.

Specialist Margaret Barrett of the auction house Bonhams and Butterfields confirmed to LedZeppelinNews.com that a buyer who wishes to remain anonymous bought the item yesterday.

The instrument was consigned by John Bonham's sister, singer Deborah Bonham, and their mother, Joan Bonham.

Yesterday's transaction was termed an "after sale" because the instrument did not sell on June 14 when it was part of an Entertainment Memorabilia auction.

It had been expected to fetch upwards of $80,000 and as much as $120,000.

While the instrument's value fell short of these figures, the amount paid for the gong yesterday is still more than double the $30,000 pricetag an anonymous bidder paid in an eBay auction on May 21 for an amplifier Jimmy Page is known to have used frequently between 1971 and 1973.

That amp, a 1971 orange Matamp, was sold by Rutherford Music Exchange in Rutherford, N.J.

Media abuzz over John Paul Jones band, not O2 offer to Led Zeppelin: Michael Jackson's 50 London gigs split between Zep, ABBA

Numerous media outlets have rolled with the semi-confirmed report on the musical project involving John Paul Jones with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme in the past couple of days since Antiquiet broke the story. The as-yet unnamed supergroup has been the talk of Rolling Stone, The Guardian and an infinite number of music blogs with great interest in each of the three.

Yet there has so far been no such mass regurgitation of a report yesterday that AEG Live has offered Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and Jason Bonham, the would-be members of Led Zeppelin, half of the 50 concert dates at the O2 arena that had been booked for the recently departed Michael Jackson. Shows there were to begin July 13.

Perhaps the lack of coverage has to do with the current American holiday, or maybe the media are responsibly holding off until they can confirm the report, considering it was issued by the British tabloid, The Sun.

Interestingly, The Sun is the same outlet that, late last year, correctly aired the first reports of Jones and Page rehearsing Led Zeppelin songs with singer-guitarist Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge.

But this time, the report in The Sun does not come from a source close to the members of Led Zeppelin, rather from a source at AEG Live. It outlines an offer made, not one necessarily being considered, and the point of view comes from AEG Live, which the article says would "face multi-million pound losses if they cannot fill the slots."

The other half of Jackson's concert dates was offered to Swedish pop group ABBA, according to the report in The Sun. It quotes a source at AEG who tells The Sun, "Only Michael Jackson could sell out 50 nights at such a big arena, but Led Zeppelin and Abba combined might just rival him. There is huge money on the table."

This wording could translate to a mistake in making the offer an attractive one for the members of Led Zeppelin, who are hardly ever ones to make a decision about resurrecting that band name lightly. Even despite a close relationship between that band and ABBA, it is hardly acceptable for Led Zeppelin to equate itself with ABBA or any other act. The AEG Live source may have hurt the cause in obtaining Led Zeppelin by implying the group is half as good as Jackson and exactly as good as ABBA.

Another report has surfaced, quoting ABBA's Benny Andersson as denying having been approached by AEG Live. "No one has ever asked us," Andersson reportedly said. "And if they asked us they would have had 'no' as an answer." So, there you have it: ABBA may turn down an offer, although his opinion is admittedly one of four that all matter. If ABBA backs out of the equation, it could leave Led Zeppelin as the sole act to pick up the slack.

A series of 50 gigs is not something Led Zeppelin would quickly, or even slowly, agree to complete. It's reportedly been a sticking point of Plant's that any reunion activity is limited to a single gig here and there, and always for the right cause. In the case of the band's 2007 concert at the O2 arena, its first public performance in 19 years, the cause was a tribute to the late Ahmet Ertegun benefiting a scholarship foundation established in his memory. It seems highly unlikely that a cause like keeping some promoter out of debt would be a top priority for the would-be members of Led Zeppelin.

For the group to accept this invitation would be highly unexpected. Instead, maybe the invitation ought to be extended to Jones, Grohl and Homme, if they're eager enough to get out there and play.