Okay Plant, Page & JPJ finally announced that they will play a show together as Led Zeppelin. So far it’s only a one-off tribute concert to Ahmet Ertegun (the recently deceased record executive) that was suggested by his widow. The show will take place in London on November 26 at the 02 Arena. Their opening acts are no slouches either, scheduled to appear are: Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Stars (former Stones bassist), Pete Townshend (Who), Paolo Nutini (who?) and Foreigner. Oh yeah, sitting behind the drumkit will be Jason Bonham, son of the late John Bonham.

Whether a tour will follow is still unknown, but classic rock radio should have a field day with this. Just one more excuse to play Stairway to Heaven…

Fellow blogger and all-around good guy, Rob Gorczyca told us about a tribute to Radiohead’s OK Computer on Stereogum.com

It’s the tenth anniversary (where does the time go?) of the recording and Stereogum has enlisted 13 different performers to offer their spin on Radiohead’s ode to anxiety. I think the highlight is My Brightest Diamond performing “Lucky.”

The Monterey Pop Festival is being resurrected this July and in an effort to recreate the original 1967 “summer of love,” they’re inviting bands of that era to participate. Signed up so far are (surviving members of) The Jefferson Starship, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Riders on the Storm (Manzarek and Krieger of The Doors) Big Brother & the Holding Company (featuring Cathy Richardson on vocals from the US musical, ‘Love, Janis’), Electric Flag and The Grateful Dead’s Tom Constentan.

In my opinion, Monterey Pop actually had better musical performances than the more widely recognized Woodstock Festival. Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and the Who somehow sounded better under the sunny skies of California than in the rain-soaked fields of upstate New York. Here’s hoping the weather cooperates for the sake of everyone’s arthritis.

According to the their website, “Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent series of 9 concerts taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.”

Locales for the shows include Istanbul, London, East Rutherford, NJ, Sydney, Shanghai, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro and Hamburg.

Initially organizers Al Gore and Kevin Wall (Live 8 founder) had capped out their multi-continent concerts at six, but now a band made up of five researchers (calling themselves ”Nunatak”) in the Antartica  has been assembled to join in on the occasion. Nunatak may not be as well known as some of the other performers; Police, Genesis, the Black-Eyed Peas, Dave Matthews Band or Joss Stone are just some of the acts signed up to play, but because of these singing scientists, Live Earth can now claim six continents.

Harptallica is a female harpist duo who play Metallica. Here’s a video of them doing “Unforgiven” and to be honest, it works. Makes Metallica sound sort of respectable. These girls have pluck.

Comedy Central has an adult cartoon show called “Lil’ Bush” which is a parody of George W. and his administration. Not being much of a TV watcher, I’ve never seen the program, but I’m intrigued to learn that they’ve got several members of the rock community doing voices for characters. Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) is the voice of God, Iggy Pop is “Lil Rummy” and Frank Black (The Pixies) is the Devil. It’s always good to have a backup career plan….

Before there was the White Stripes there was “The Hentchmen;” a Detroit band (not known for their spelling prowess) on Italy Records who sometimes sported a young Jack White on guitar and vocals. They’re about to re-release some of this early music (circa 1998) to coincide with the Stripes new CD, “Icky Thump.” Should make for some interesting listening.

Legendary songwriter Leonard Cohen has surfaced again in a new documentary, “I’m Your Man,” now out on DVD and a 50th anniversary edition of a collection of his early poetry “Let Us Compare Mythologies” is being re-issued. And interestingly enough he’s is pondering going out on tour.

Drummer Stewart Copeland has been dissing the Police reunion performances so far in the forum section of his blog, much to the dismay of Police fans. This is what happens when you’ve been apart 25 years. Could be why Mick & Keith have decided to hang in there for 40 years. It’s supposed to be about the music. Here’s hoping they’ll get it together before they give old rockers a bad name. Maybe Sting and company will consider lowering ticket prices.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper.” Not much I can add to mark the occasion of this cultural landmark other than to say it certainly made an impact on this wide-eyed boy from Detroit. That chord from “A Day in the Life” still sends shivers down my spine. Memorable stuff.