ACT I:
John Paul Jones at Borders, Oxford St
Synopsis: I saw John Paul Jones support Julie Felix at a charity event
for the Manchester based Mines Advisory Group anti-landmine campaign.
Preface
I heard this rumor, or rather I read it on Dave Lewis's website. He's an, uh, interesting man, by the way, but more on that later. The rumor was that JPJ was gonna play with Julie Felix at a bookstore for an anti-landmine campaign. I thought that I might as well check it out.
It was fun. Julie Felix is much fun. JPJ played his mandonlin the whole time. It was a lovely set w/ a bluegrassy, folksy, flamenco feel. Very fun. But I'm getting ahead of my self.
Scene 1
I led Andrew to the book store. He keept asking me where this gig was set up. I led him up the escalators. At the top of the third escalator, we found four rows of chairs, all full. There were about fourty people 'anging about, and in front of them was a man bent over with his back to us. When he stood up, he was holding a mandolin. I acted cool. I said, "Hey, Andrew, look who's here. Isn't that lovely." Andrew looked around like 'who what?' I pulled on his sleve and whispered, "that's 'im right there." How BEAUTIFUL! AMAZING! I COULN'T BELIEVE IT! JUST TWENTY FEET AWAY WAS JOHN PAUL JONES!! Then I realised that Julie Felix was up there with her guitar and that's when they started their sound check.
Andrew and I didn't have any chairs. We were perfectly happy to stand, but I thought that if there were any room to sit on the floor, I might as well ask John Paul Jones if I could sit up there. Well, he mumbled that he kinda needed the space, but that was all right because some more chairs came out and since it was the last row to be put out (just five rows in all) I could sit on my feet to see over the others and still not block the people standing behind me.
The show was SO MUCH FUN! I think that I might like Julie Felix alot. The first song she sang was in Spanish. LEROY! I wish you could have been there. But don't go thinking 'Diamanda' just because she speaks Spanish. She asked the audience to sing along on a couple songs. So fun! One touched me fairly deeply. Let me see if I can remember the words... ah it is kinda cheesy, and it's the last verse that caught me, but I can only remember parts of the chorus:
Learning from you learning from me
*insert something something*
We can reach the stars like the branches
of the trees.
Touching you touching me
Though we're far apart,
we can touch eachother like the
sky touches the sea.
That's a really REALLY rough quote. I have a horrible memory. I just put that in there for my benefit, not for any other readers.
Yes, I like Julie Felix. And here's a FUNNY from the show. She sang a song about Miss M*something* I don't remember. Anyway, it was about a school teacher who'd never been married, with all of the implications that come to that situation. Julie said that sometimes she takes the part of the school teacher in the song and sometimes she doesn't (implying that tonight she wouldn't). When she sang a line about the lady playing her mandolin, she paused and looked at JPJ, who looked at her with surprise and looked like he was wondering what he had gotten himself into. That line came up twice. The second time the lyrics had the lady playing the mandolin behind a closed door and when Julie looked at JPJ, he, in turn, looked behind him, toward the door. It was hillarious fun.
In the middle of the show a lady spoke for M.A.G. (The Mines Advisory Group from Manchester). She didn't speak long at all. She answered about four questions. I wouldn't have minded hearing more about the project, but I didn't really have any questions of my own. Ah well. Then Julie and John played two more songs. She did a really idealistic song about no more war and the like. Yeah, that'd be nice. That'll be the day. She sang Dylan's "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall." I can't remember where that one fell. For a moment I thought that it might have been the last, but I'm not so sure.
Scene 2
After the concert both artists signed autographs. I took my Zooma insert up to Jones. Luckily I did bring something with me, yeah? I left most of my inserts at home. I said, "I have some messages from America. Kat says 'hi' Becky P. says that she didn't mean it and Erika and Ann say that they are not sorry in reference to that drawing that they gave you in St. Louis around that nasty bunch of flowers." He looked slightly amusused, but mostly confused until I mentioned the flowers and then his face brightened and he said, "Ah yes, I remember it. Tell them that they are forgiven." So, Becky, just imagine me singing Pete Townshend style "You are forgiven..." And Erika and Ann, "You are FOR GIVE EN" whether you wanna be or not!
And here is the EMBARRASMENT! I'm going to tell you all one of the most idiotic things of my so far life. I was so caught up in delivering messages, and juggeling my backpack (which I was still carrying because I had gone to class earlier that day) and also trying to get the chance and the nerve to ask for permission for a picture that I... LEFT MY SIGNED COPY OF ZOOMA AT THE TABLE!!! I am not the sharpest tooth sur la tranceneuse (on the chainsaw).
Then Andrew joined the line. He had to buy a Zep I CD because he didn't bring any inserts or the like with him. I stood with him in line, realised that I'd left my Zooma and laughed. So when Andrew reached Jones, I asked JPJ to sign a piece of paper for me, just briefly mentioning my bungle. Then Andrew took a picture of JPJ and I and I shook his hand (that is Jonesy's hand, not Drew's!). His hand is soft, smooth, warm and comfy and makes me think of my feather comforter and pillows. Don't assume that pillows refer to fat. My pillows are not fat. Jonesy's hand is slender and fit, as it must be. Seriously I've never held one like it.
Then we bungled around. We couldn't just LEAVE, now could we? I was still concerned about my Zooma insert/autograph and thought that maybe if I hangged around, it would show up. (NOTE Julie Felix is making HILLARIOUS Diamanda Galasish sounds on this track that I'm listening to. It's a Spanish one called "Tabu") Anyway, I had a grand idea. I thought that it would be awefully funny if John Paul Jones signed that picture of me 'playing' Adam's mandonlin. I thought it would be even more hillarious, if I gave said autographed picture to ADAM (the bass player for ZoSo, an American trib band). So I went back through the line. This time I was the last one. I didn't want to! Andrew MADE me!! (well, I mean I wanted to, but I didn't want to BOTHER my SVEN! I'm not like those unsorry botches nammed Erika and Ann!) When I reached him again, he said, "Not, you again." I appologized and stammered and showed him my picture. He grinned, a bigger grin than I'd seen on him before and he showed signs of amusement such as a somewhat laugh. He appeared taken aback for just a second, or maybe I flatter myself. Andrew was there with me and he jabbered on about ZoSo. I explained that I was holding Adam's mandolin in the picture and that I was going to give the picture to Adam. After he signed it, Jonesy held my diary (to which the picture is taped) and contemplated the photo saying, "But I don't think that my hair was ever that long... well, it might have been." I mumbled I don't know what in response but I thought EEEEEEHEHE!! Naturally I have framed this picture and I plan to keep it for all to myself.
After that encounter with Jones, I was finally able to give my attention to Julie Felix. I bought one of her CD's and had her autograph it. She also autographed that paper (her gig schedule) that JPJ signed earlier. And then I found my Zooma insert lieing at the end of their table. How lovely. She chatted with me a bit and asked about college and the like. I stammered terribly because I was so taken aback by her sweetness and her interest in MY STUDIES. Why? Wow. I felt like I could talk to her all day, if she wasn't so busy.
While I had been standing by his table to get his autograph for the first time, I didn't have the pushyness to force Zooma in front of him, so I just stood there for awhile. I stood right in front of him, and everyone else just pushed their ways around me. I felt perfectly comfortable standing near him. Hey, no need to hurry to get his jonesygraph and run, yeah? I heard some amusing lines. One person asked him in a shakey squeaky voice (I hoped that my star struckedness wasn't going to affect my voice like that) "Can I ask you about your organ?" Jones said that he could. "Why does it have a telephone on it?" Jones said that he didn't know. I said that we'd always speculated that it was for him to keep in touch with his wife. He smiled and mumbled something similar to "maybe." Someother guy asked Jones if it was true about the kangaroos or something wiley like that. Jones was confused and the guy said that it must have just been a rumor and went away. Then I saw two guys get their pictures taken with Jones. One was a deffinate Bonham impersonator. I wondered if he was in a band or if he was just obsessive. His friend had curly hair, maybe like Planty. I considered the possibilities and made a mental note to track them down. However, that note was lost along with my Zooma insert. I forgot. And here's something that I found particularly important. John Paul Jones was somewhat interested in autographing someone's copy of The Sporting life. He showed it to Julie and asked if she'd heard of it. She hadn't. He said that it's a great album. I can't remember his specific comments on it. I do believe that I voiced some enthusiasm for that one. I think that I might have even blathered on about it to someone beside me in the crowd. They hadn't heard of it either, but they were interested to know what Jones was so interested in that he had to go showing it around.
That's about it for encounters with the famous rock n' rollers and beautious folk singers. Andrew and I pittled about for awhile. Jones was just standing around in the store talking to various people that he seemed to know. Andrew said something about having seen a Simply Led CD or something in the crowd. That reminded me about the Bonzo and his friend and I wondered, did I dare guess that he was ... PAUL?? As in ERIKA'S PAUL from SIMPLY LED??? And was that fuzzy haired man the bass player. I couldn't quite remember his name, but no matter because they were walking towards us! I caught them and asked if they were in a trib band. They said yes. I asked which (already KNOWING the answer). Eddie confirmed. I said, "AH! Oh what luck! PAUL, this is for you from Erika!" and I gave him a great big hug. Then I had to ask Eddie to remind me of his name. Hey, he knows who Eddie Harsch is too, but we didn't really talk about him or anything. He said that he'd received my e-mail and that he'd reply soon. Naturally they invited us to come along with them and we did.
Scene 3
At the pub I somehow ended up talking to someone named Tony who's a big boot collector. Naturally I mean bootlegs, but they're all wiley to me. It's the revival of Pontious Wiley, I've mentioned him twice already. Anyway, Tony is involved in the Led conventions or something and I ended up talking to him the entire time. He jabbered on about statistics a little. Nothing like some stimulating talk about standard deviations to grab my attention! Andrew said, "Hey, Becky, take a picture of Dave Lewis." I said, "Who? What?" And I turned to the man on the low stool and said, "Dave? Lewis?" He said, "Yes, I'm fine, and you?" I said, "Doing well, thank you. It's a ... pleasure to meet you!" and I shook his hand heartily. Andrew used my camera to take the picture of him, before I fully realized who he was. I wanted to be in the picture! I am in the background, at least. We got pictures of Eddie and Paul, too. I wish Andrew had gotten in those pics, but oh well. It was crowded and inconvinient to hop in and out of pictures. I guess that's really about it.
Paul said that he should send home a handwritten letter for Erika, but I don't know how he expected to do that. Dave Lewis took down Andrew's address so that he could send him a Tight But Loose newsletter. Whatevah, I think that he just wanted Erika's address. Not seriously, I'm just taking on LeRoy's anti-Dave stance, since Yeti's not here.
We left at ten thirty. We didn't have to leave that early. We could have caught a train easily, but Andrew dragged me away. I learned that he was so insistant because he hoped to get back to Teddington before the Chinese take out closed. Pity. I wanted to chat with Eddie some. And there was some guy named Phil there who seemed pretty intriguing.
close curtains
Raise Safety Curtain
Related Links!
John Paul Jones' Official Website
Julie Felix's Official Website
Tight But Loose Dave Lewis!
ZoSo's Homepage The Ultiamte Led Zeppelin Experience (USA)
Simply Led's Homepage Simply the Best Led Zeppelin Tribute (UK)
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