When Led Zeppelin toured North America for their 1973 and 1975 concert tours they chartered “The Starship.”  “The Starship” was a former United Airlines Boeing 720B passenger jet, bought by Bobby Sherman and his manager, Ward Sylvester, and leased to touring musical artists in the mid-1970s.

The N Number was N7201U, The Serial Number was 17907, it was the first B720 built and it was delivered to United Airlines on October 1960 and then purchased in 1973 by Contemporary Entertainment.  Sherman and Sylvester invested $200,000 to reduce its seating capacity to forty and to install into the main cabin a bar, seats and tables, revolving arm chairs, a 30-foot-long couch, a television set and a video cassette player, complete with a well-stocked video library. An electronic organ was built into the bar, and at the rear of the craft were two back rooms, one with a low couch and pillows on the floor, and the other, a bedroom, complete with a white fur bedspread and shower room.

Here’s a few shots of Jimmy Page & Robert Plant aboard “The Starship.”

Flying on “The Starship,” Led Zeppelin were no longer required to change hotels so often. They could base themselves in large cities such as Chicago, New York, Dallas and Los Angeles and travel to and from concerts within flying distance.   After each show, the band members would be transported direct by limousine from the concert venue to the airport, as depicted in the Led Zeppelin concert film “The Song Remains the Same.”  For the 1973 tour The exterior of the plane was re-sprayed with Led Zeppelin emblazoned down the side of the fuselage (as pictured above).  Throughout Led Zeppelin’s 1975 US concert tour, “The Starship” was painted red-and-blue paint scheme with white stars similar to the United States flag, and with a smaller Led Zeppelin logo on the fuselage.

“The Starship” went through many owners from 1977 through 1979 until it went into storage at Luton Airport.  It was dismantled for parts starting in July 1982.

raul Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant

During Them Crooked Vultures shows John Paul Jones pulls out this Lap Steel Bass Guitar when they play “No One Loves Me & Neither Do I.”  It was custom made by Hugh Manson of Manson Guitars.   Manson is one of the UK’s most well-respected electric guitar makers and has also been the Led Zeppelin legend’s personal technician since the mid 1990s.

It’s called a Manson Lapaphone.  Its is an 8 string instrument (4 + 4x 1+ octave) the Kaoss screen is a XY midi controller, no internal effects are in the guitar.  It also has a Fernades Sustainer single coil pickup and 3 octave range on the fretboard.  Check out John Paul Jones using it live…

Manson was quoted as saying “Yes I did make this instrument and in fact all that JPJ uses on the Vultures tour.  It is an 8 string Bass lap steel with a midi control screen on it which will control any thing with a “midi in”. This is similar to the guitars I make for Matt Bellamy (Muse).  It also has a sustainer pickup on it and a hipshot bridge tuning system that enables 3 different open tunings by moving levers.”

raul Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, Josh Homme, Led Zeppelin, Matt Bellamy, Muse, Them Crooked Vultures

Here’s photo of Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page in 1977 on stage wearing a Nazi SS hat…

Check out the hat and Hitler himself wearing it…

If anyone knows the story behind Jimmy wearing the hat please let us know…

raul Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin

Queen And Freddie Mercury, July 13, 1985 Live Aid, Wembley Stadium.

Led Zeppelin - Richfield Coliseum Ohio 1975

raul Led Zeppelin, Queen Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Robert Plant

Bebe Buell (born Beverle Lorence Buell on July 14, 1953, in Portsmouth, Virginia) is an American fashion model and singer, and Playboy magazine’s November 1974 Playmate of the Month. She is also a famous groupie known for dating and marrying rock musicians.

In 1972 while working as a teenage model in New York City, Buell met and dated rock star Todd Rundgren for several years.

During and after her sometimes open relationship with Rundgren, she also became intimate with many other famous musicians, including Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, and Steven Tyler.  As well as Elvis Costello, Stiv Bators, Billy Idol, John Taylor (Duran Duran) and actors Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty.

Many people assumed her and Todd Rundgren were married and Bebe was often referred to as Bebe Rundgren in the media. In the fall of 1976, she unexpectedly became pregnant by Tyler, and gave birth to daughter Liv Tyler on July 1, 1977.  Buell allowed her daughter to believe that Rundgren was her father until the late 1980s, as Tyler was still deeply addicted to drugs at the time.  Buell then moved on to Rod Stewart and in the summer of 1978, she began a tempestuous affair with the married but separated Elvis Costello which continued on and off until 1984.  Buell married sometime-musician and actor Coyote Shivers in 1992.  They divorced in 1999 after a year-long separation. In 2002 she married musician Jim Wallerstein.

Filmmaker Cameron Crowe, in his commentary on the extended DVD of his 2000 movie Almost Famous, said he based the film’s “Penny Lane” character (played by Kate Hudson) on two women he met during the early 1970s — Bebe Buell and Pennie Trumble, a.k.a “Penny Lane“.  He said he created some of Penny’s dialogue from statements Buell had made in interviews over the years.

raul David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Quick Tidbit, The Rolling Stones Bebe Buell, Billy Idol, David Bowie, Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, Todd Rundgren

“Presence” is the seventh studio album by Led Zeppelin, released by Swan Song Records on 31 March 1976. The cover, inside sleeve and back of the album features various images of people interacting with a black obelisk-shaped object. Inside the album sleeve, the item is referred to simply as “The Object” aka “The Obelisk“. It was intended to represent the “force and presence” of Led Zeppelin. The background used in the cover photograph above and on the cover is of an artificial marina that was installed inside London’s Earl’s Court Arena for the annual Earl’s Court Boat Show that was held in the winter of 1974–1975.

Jimmy Page explained: There was no working title for the album. The record-jacket designer said `When I think of the group, I always think of power and force. There’s a definite presence there.’ That was it. He wanted to call it `Obelisk’. To me, it was more important what was behind the obelisk. The cover is very tongue-in-cheek, to be quite honest. Sort of a joke on [the film] 2001 A Space Odyessy. I think it’s quite amusing.

Led Zeppelin had real Objects produced. That’s what was used to photograph the album’s black and white inner sleeves. Shortly thereafter, Alva Museum Graphics in New York was contracted to produce 1000 individually numbered 12″ tall black “Objects” for Swan Song to use in their promotion of the record. This is the only way and the only time “The Object” was ever released by Swan Song/Atlantic Records. On each side at the base of “The Object” is the following, LED ZEPPELIN, “THE OBJECT” c 1976 SWAN SONG INC, PRESENCE, _#_/1000. Beware as there are many fakes available and on the market.

raul Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant

The Continetal Hyatt House aka “Riot House” (now Andaz) is a 257-room Hyatt hotel located at 8401 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, California (at Kings Road). In the late 1960s and 1970s the hotel became the preferred accommodation in Los Angeles for traveling rock bands, due largely to its close proximity to popular clubs such as the Whisky a Go Go. It was during this time that it was given the nickname “Riot House“ on account of the wild antics carried out by band members there, most notably those of English rock groups such as Led Zeppelin, The Who and The Rolling Stones.

Here’s a famous photo of Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant on the Sunset side balcony of a room at the Hyatt.

Here’s a photo taken from almost the same angle recently.  Balcony’s have since been covered with glass.

Check out this quick story about Led Zeppelin and “The Riot House“.

raul Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant, The Rolling Stones, The Who

“Whole Lotta Love” is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is featured as the opening track on the band’s second album, Led Zeppelin II, and was released in the US and Japan as a single.  Most people think it is a Led Zeppelin original but they actually nicked two versions of two songs to make theirs.  Check it out.

In 1962, Muddy Waters recorded “You Need Love” written for him by peer Willie Dixon.  Some of the lyrics of Led Zeppelin’s version were borrowed from this song, a Robert Plant favorite.

In 1966 British mod band the Small Faces recorded the song as “You Need Loving” for their début Decca LP.  Plant’s phrasing is particularly similar to that of Steve Marriott’s in this version.

Similarities with “You Need Love” would lead to a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin, settled out of court in favour of Dixon in 1985.  Strangely, the Small Faces were never sued by Dixon, even though “You Need Loving” still only credits Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott.

Robert Plant later said…

“Page’s riff was Page’s riff. It was there before anything else. I just thought, ‘well, what am I going to sing?’ That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for. At the time, there was a lot of conversation about what to do. It was decided that it was so far away in time (it was in fact 7 years) and influence that…well, you only get caught when you’re successful. That’s the game.”

raul Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant

August 21, 1964, The Beatles were embarking on the Seattle leg of their first world tour.  After other hotels in the city apparently refused to accept them as guests, The Edgewater Hotel happily welcomed “The Fab Four”. During their stay, the band famously fished from the window their suite, the photo of which has become legendary. “Beatlemania” so consumed the city that The Edgewater had to install fencing around the hotel to keep the screaming fans at bay. Some fans even tried swimming across Elliott Bay to reach the band.

“The Beatles Suite“, is room 272, a parlor room where John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr originally stayed. It has now be turned into a 700-square foot shrine to all things Beatles, mostly in the form of photographs and Beatles CDs.

It books for $1,050 per night plus taxes. This is also the same hotel that Led Zeppelin got banned from for the famous “Mudshark Incident” or “The Shark Episode” which took place at the Edgewater on July 28, 1969. “The Shark Episode” is alleged to have involved some type of sexual act with a fish. However, there are many variations on the story, all involving one or some of the band members, as well as variations of the type of fish (often claimed to be a shark), and the nature of the acts performed. Read more about that incident below.

The Led Zeppelin Shark episode or Mudshark incident

raul George Harrison, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, The Beatles George Harrison, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, The Beatles

The cover art for Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy album was inspired by the ending of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End.

The ending involves several hundred million naked children, only slightly and physically resembling the human race in basic forms. It is a collage of several photographs which were taken at the Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland, by Aubrey Powell.

The two children who modelled for the cover were siblings Stefan and Samanatha Gates.

The photoshoot was a frustrating affair over the course of ten days. Shooting was done first thing in the morning and at sunset in order to capture the light at dawn and dusk, but the desired effect was never achieved due to constant rain and clouds. The photos of the two children were taken in black and white and were multi-printed to create the effect of 11 individuals that can be seen on the album cover. The results of the shoot were less than satisfactory, but some accidental tinting effects in post-production created an unexpectedly striking album cover.

The inner sleeve photograph was taken below at Dunluce Castle near the Causeway.

Like Led Zeppelin’s fourth album, neither the band’s name nor the album title was printed on the sleeve. However, manager Peter Grant did allow Atlantic Records to add a wrap-around band to UK copies of the sleeve that had to be broken or slid off to access the record. This hid the children’s buttocks from general display, but still the album was either banned or unavailable in some parts of the Southern United States for several years.

raul Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin