Bongo, cool stories. Word of mouth... it's amazing to think it crossed the pond and all.

Dave, that's a sweet pic, what a dream to see those guys live.

Very unbeknownst to him, John Bonham taught me how to play drums.

I started out playing to Zeppelin records (that skipped most of the time because I had to have my junky stereo so close to me in order to hear the music) at the age of eleven or so.

It got to a point where I purposefully abandoned any and all contact with Led Zeppelin music. I was a one dimensional drummer.

Would have come in real handy if Page, Plant or Jones called.

But alas, they had no knowledge of me in my Dad's basement in Pennsylvania.  

The things I took consciously were related to this. To not be afraid to be primitive. It was encouraging to see contrast to the ever-so-polished Peart, et. al.  That, and being an animal; having fun with it.

Turned my 14x6.5 Supra into a great investment.  

There are still a few Bonzo licks that I need to bone up on.

He always got a great sound I thought from the kit, for the most part very economically as incontrast to some of the other players of his day.

So I've tried to incorporate that.  I also like the power triplet as a sextuplet and use it quite a bit but I've taken the "Weckle" approach to this and have displaced the voices and sticking/kick sequences.  This pattern (R L Kick) pretty hip when you take that approach.

I have to disagree with the comment that we had a hard time finding out about new music in those days.  I heard "Good Times, Bad Times" on AM radio in Albany, Georgia.  Bought that album and Jeff Beck's "Truth" that week at the PX and spent the weekend listening to both over and over.

That said, I was much more influenced by the jazz drummers I listened to.  Among rock drummers, Carmen Appice, Keith Moon, and Mitch Mitchell affected me much more than Bonham did.

He was an excellent drummer who benefited greatly from the situation he was in and the way LZ was produced.  As with Stevie Ray, dying definitely boosted the legend.

well, since i started drumming quite late in life, i can't say bonham directly influenced me in a drummerly way. but because he set such a drumming precedent, a lot of his techniques were shown to me by my teachers. so i was playing bonham stuff without realizing it was bonham stuff.

for me, led zep was all about the music. i never really singled out parts or players, like i did with rush. it was the sum of the parts of the band for me. also, zep was [and still is] my main frame of reference for what hard rock is all about. again, it's the total effect, not just the guitar solo, drum part, etc. it's the tunes and the power of the tunes.

so perhaps bonham creeps into my thinking [playing?] because led zep is what i know, and what i like. and now that i know what it is that distinguished him as a drummer for the time, i can work on some of those techniques and cop his style. when i think about his playing now, i'm always moved by how he propelled the music [achilles last stand] and how he could be explosive and mellow in the same tune. so if i can learn to think like that, then old john will have done his part.

dave -- that pic is priceless. who cares if you didn't have a 'real' camera? it says it all!

"Boy, you've got a right foot like a rabbit." -- Jimi Hendrix to John Henry (Bonzo) Bonham