Latest news with #Zeppelin
Indian Express
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Know Your City: When the boys of Bengaluru's Bishop Cotton went to war
On the night of September 2, 1916, Britain faced a menace that it had seen over its skies for two years of World War I—the high-flying German Zeppelin. While the bombings by these airships did not impact the war effort, they did cause considerable property damage and instil fear across the country. Until then, Zeppelins had been destroyed in Europe, but not over Britain. That night, this would change. William Leefe Robinson, emptying three drums of ammunition before the airship exploded, became the first to achieve this feat. Robinson soon became an overnight celebrity. The Victoria Cross followed, and he was a household name across the United Kingdom. Back in India, another group had reason to cheer him on—the students and teachers of his alma mater in Bengaluru, Bishop Cotton Boys' School. More than a century later, Robinson and other alumni of Bishop Cotton were the topic of a talk by senior lawyer and author Aditya Sondhi at The Bangalore Room in Indira Nagar on Sunday. In his 2014 book, The Order of The Crest, Sondhi had documented the prominent alumni of Bishop Cotton, and had noted that over 175 Cottonians had volunteered for service in World War I. At the time, the students were mostly of European descent. The terrible, grinding trench warfare took its toll on these volunteers, and 23 of them were killed in action. Noel Saunders, who wrote the music for the famous school song, died in battle, as did a teacher, Cyril Walter Wallace, who had only weeks before written about the gallant death of one of his students leading an attack. Brothers Captain Robert and Lt Col Kenelm McCloughlin died fighting in France. So did Harold, Robinson's brother, who died just months before his brother achieved his great feat. Weakened by a stint in German captivity, Robinson himself would not live to see the inter-war years, dying in 1918 of the Spanish Flu. 'He had written to the warden a few months earlier (before his death in Mesopotamia) offering to join the staff of the school, pending his commission. He was remembered by many Bangaloreans for his role as Portia in the school's production of The Merchant of Venice in 1909,' Sondhi noted in his book. From Sondhi's accounts, it seems that Cottonians did not let the privations of warfare daunt them. Even as late as 1917, Sondhi quotes a Reverend Bazley, who notes that several students hoped that the war would continue until they graduated, so they too could volunteer. The sort of officer that the school sent to the war is perhaps exemplified by Lt Col Terence Claud Crichton, who went so far as to climb onto his men's shoulders to shoot at enemy soldiers defending a wall opposite him. A glance at the school's history in World War II throws up Indian names in the records. One of the earliest of these, and arguably the most well-known, was General K S Thimayya. Sondhi's research shows that Thimayya had a fighter's spirit from the early days—a fellow British student who tried to rag him for being an Indian found himself on the wrong end of a punch from Thimayya. Thimayya was one of the only Indians assigned a major battlefield command in World War II, and Sondhi records that he took a point known as Hill 109 in a morning attack after a climb up the hillside. This enabled the British forces to link up near Imphal, a crucial moment in breaking the siege of the town. An anecdote shared by Sondhi revealed that in the later years, Thimayya would, without ceremony, visit one of his old teachers at the school, who still knew him as 'Timmy'. 'I found a reference to one of his masters at school, Sergeant Burgess, who said to him – Like the princes of the states, you can earn your commission and be an officer, see the world and be a hero -. What a prophetic call….' Sondhi said at the talk. The number of brigadiers, generals, and senior air force officers from Bishop Cotton Boys' School in this period forms an exhaustive list. When the Partition split the country, it did not spare the school alumni either. Brigadier Mirza 'Hesky' Beg was one such former student who later went on to be known as one of the finest polo players in Pakistan.
San Francisco Chronicle
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Jeff Buckley's mother to attend San Francisco premiere of new documentary
When 'It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley' premieres in Bay Area theaters next month, audiences will get more than just a cinematic portrait of the late musician whose voice captivated a generation — they'll also hear from someone who knew him best. Mary Guibert, Buckley's mother and a central figure in the new documentary directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg, is scheduled to appear in person for a Q&A following the opening-night screening at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco on Aug. 8. The film, which earned critical acclaim after its debut at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, traces Buckley's brief but luminous career. Best known for his haunting 1994 debut album 'Grace,' Buckley delivered a singular vocal style that reimagined songs like Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' and Nina Simone's 'Lilac Wine' with stunning emotional depth. Buckley drowned in Memphis' Wolf River in 1997 at age 30, leaving behind just — although many posthumous releases have arrived in its wake. In the film, a brief moment captures Buckley listing his influences: 'Love, anger, depression, joy… and Zeppelin.' While his soaring vocals owed much to Robert Plant's blues-rooted howl, Buckley's voice was more fluid, oscillating between ethereal beauty and explosive force. 'It's Never Over' weaves together never-before-seen archival footage with new interviews featuring Guibert, Buckley's former romantic partners Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser, and bandmates Michael Tighe and Parker Kindred. Musicians Alanis Morissette, Ben Harper and Aimee Mann also appear, with the latter calling Buckley 'literally the best singer I've ever heard.' There's footage of Paul and Linda McCartney visiting him backstage. A quote from David Bowie describes 'Grace' as 'the greatest album ever made.' The documentary also emphasizes the mythology that has grown around Buckley since his death, but grounds it in the complexities of his real life. We hear how his father, the late folk musician Tim Buckley, abandoned him before he was born, yet still loomed over Jeff's creative psyche like a ghost. Jeff was raised by Guibert, who recalls in the film that she first heard him sing from his bassinet. From a young age, music seemed to possess him. In 1991, when he reluctantly participated in a tribute concert for Tim Buckley, his performance was so electric that it marked the start of his own ascent. As a bonus for theatergoers, all screenings from Aug. 8-15 will include nearly half an hour of newly remastered solo concert footage from a 1994 performance in Cambridge, Mass. — a rare artifact pulled from Sony's vault that will be shown exclusively in theaters and never made available online or via streaming. In his own words: Jeff Buckley on music, love and legacy More than two decades before 'It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley' brought his story to the screen, the late singer shared raw insight into his art, his estrangement from his famous father, and the weight of being alive. In this archive interview, conducted just before the release of his debut album 'Grace,' Buckley spoke about the forces that shaped his music. On songwriting: 'It's just about being alive, my songs. And about even emitting sound. It's about the voice carrying much more information than the words do. The little scared kid or the full-on romantic lover is being accessed.' On inspiration and rage: 'I have notebooks everywhere I go. I'm always daydreaming. Or things that happen to me. Sometimes, when you get too smart for yourself, you start worrying about things that everybody should be worrying about but nobody worries about, and the weight is so overwhelming that you feel rage on a global level. And the whole world is so anti-life, especially a world ruled by men who don't want to sit, listen and understand what life is all about.' 'Sensitivity isn't being wimpy. It's about being so painfully aware that a flea landing on a dog is like a sonic boom.' On his father, Tim Buckley: 'I met him one time, and a couple months later he died. But between that, he never wrote and never called, and I didn't even get invited to the funeral. There's just no connection, really. I wish I did get to talk to him a lot. We went out a couple of times. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page have much more influence on me than he ever did.' On his creative aesthetic: 'My music is like a lowdown, dreamy bit of the psyche. It's part quagmire and part structure. The quagmire is important for things to grow in. Do you ever have one of those memories where you think you remember a taste or a feel of something, maybe an object, but the feeling is so bizarre and imperceptible that you just can't quite get a hold of it? It drives you crazy. That's my musical aesthetic, just this imperceptible fleeting memory.'
Miami Herald
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Why Led Zeppelin's Unexpected Collab With '70s Rock Legend Is Still Dividing Fans 30 Years Later
When it comes to legendary guitar players, Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page has been consistently topping the lists of countless music lovers for decades. Also counted among the most iconic axe men in rock history is Neil Young - but the two musicians have drastically different styles of playing. So it makes sense that one epic '90s collaboration featuring Page and Young would result in mixed no one could have predicted that people would still be arguing about the performance decades later. In 1995, when both Led Zeppelin and Young were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they took the stage together to perform a rendition of Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" featuring a particularly unforgettable solo from Young (and a bit of surprise additional shredding by Robert Plant). In keeping with initial reactions to the performance, commenters on a recently shared clip were divided by Young's contribution. "Sigh. Young cannot play solos. Great talents, but not on the guitar. And everyone being polite and pretending, like he's the 4 year old kid brother pretending. This is embarrassing," one person wrote, with another calling the clip "painful." However, others were quick to defend Young. "People saying Neil was bad don't understand this era of music and what this was about. Sorry it wasn't auto tuned for you," somebody argued. "I frigging love Neil Young's guitar solos," someone else declared, adding, "Probably because I usually dislike guitar solos. All these so-called guitar heroes boring us with their 'fret work', yawn. Feel the passion, not the 'technical ability.'" "Boo boo Neil Young can't play, he sucks, boo hoo" - dude sitting at home with his phone, who will never be remembered for his contributions to music, unlike Neil Young," quipped yet another fan. One person who was reportedly thrilled with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame collab was Young himself, who had such a positive experience performing with Zeppelin that he considered recording an entire album with the band, according to Rolling Stone. While that never came to pass, Young did write a song inspired by the experience, per American Songwriter - "Downtown," the lead single on his 1995 album Mirror Ball (recorded with members of Pearl Jam). Related: Legendary Rock Star, 79, Thrills Fans With Rare Throwback Pic on Anniversary of Iconic Performance Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dakota Johnson Reveals New Tattoo After Devastating Family Loss
Dakota Johnson Reveals New Tattoo After Devastating Family Loss originally appeared on Parade. Dakota Johnson is getting ready to add more ink to her tiny tattoo collection — and this one is going to have a very special meaning. The Materialists star, who already has at least 12 tattoos, recently opened up about her plans to get some new ink dedicated to a beloved family member who recently passed away. While sitting down for an interview with MTV, Johnson revealed that her dog Zeppelin passed away in December at age 17 — and she wanted to do something heartfelt to honor his memory. "I did want to get a tattoo while I was here but I haven't had time. My dog who was 17 is no longer with us so I was gonna get a little Zeppelin thing," Johnson explained during the interview. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 Although she's still workshopping ideas about what the tattoo could be, Johnson is absolutely certain about what she wouldn't get inked. "The cremation place — isn't that crazy that I cremated him? — they gave me a little paw print of his, which I would never get tattooed, but maybe like a little Z or something," Johnson shared. Johnson went on to discussing the passing of her pup, calling the dog the "love of her life," joking that everything is "now bleak" and "nothing matters" without him. Despite the loss of her beloved dog, Johnson recently opened her heart to a new family member. Just days before the interview, she shared that she had adopted a dog named Tokyo. "We rescued her on Saturday from the Santa Barbara pound," Johnson shared on Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast. "I didn't plan on it." She continued, "I had a dog for 17 years. He was 17 and died in December. I was like, 'Oh it's going to be a while.' But then I saw her like an angel!" You can hear all that Dakota had to say below. Dakota Johnson Reveals New Tattoo After Devastating Family Loss first appeared on Parade on Jun 13, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 13, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Yungblud Confronts His Insecurities on ‘Idols': This ‘Was Almost My Last Chance'
Yungblud initially tried to make Idols right after his album 2020 Weird! hit Number One — but it didn't come together at the time. Instead, he ended up working on Yungblud, his self-titled record from 2022 that, in his view, came together partially by 'letting too many opinions in.' 'I was always discouraged from making [Idols] because Weird was so commercially successful,' he tells Rolling Stone. 'Everyone was like, 'No, we need to keep the momentum going.' When Yungblud came out, I stood on top of a hotel room in New York and I went, 'Fuck, I've repeated myself.' I almost made an album with the poster boy of what people said Yungblud was.' More from Rolling Stone Yungblud Really Really Really Swings Big on the Charmingly Overwrought 'Idols' Lola Young Sets Release Date for New Album 'I'm Only F-cking Myself' The Band Camino Preview New Album 'NeverAlways' With Double Song Release After some much-needed self-reflection, he finally completed Idols, out Friday, at a 'really pivotal time' in his life. 'I really asked myself, 'Am I fucking happy?'' he recalls. 'I was falling into a cycle of giving a fuck what people thought.' Idols is his attempt at making 'something classic,' not a record you'll overplay and then move on from but something you'll 'put on once a week for the rest of your life.' It pushes his sound into new sonic territory and introduces a more mature Yungblud who looks inward. 'If it sounded like the past, I failed. Fuck that. There are so many pastiche rock bands out there. That's why rock's been dead for so long,' he says. 'I didn't want to adhere to a time period… If it felt too specific to this moment, then I failed. And it would cringe me out.' As a young artist, he says, 'you want to be the photograph on the wall,' pointing to icons like Freddie Mercury and Mick Jagger. The album, instead, reflects a journey of self-fulfillment and the realization that 'we never give ourselves enough credit for our own individuality.' 'This album was almost like my last chance,' he says. 'If I hadn't been sure of what I was making, I don't think there would've been a way back for me. I made a fucking incredible album when I was 19 — 21st Century Liability. I got so much bigger than I ever expected to get. And then the mainstream finds you and you become insecure about things you didn't know existed.' The cover is intentionally 'statementless,' showing Yungblud in a submissive pose, with his body pulling away from title Idols. 'I've been too wounded by this shit. I don't want to be up front and center anymore, for the time being,' he says. 'I want to get out of the line of fire, I want protect myself.' From London, Yungblud breaks down five songs from his new album Idols I was listening to a lot of theater and a lot opera. If you look at Zeppelin, the Who, the Rolling Stones, it is all derivative from Bach and Vivaldi and Chopin but on electric guitars. If you listen to Zepplin melodies, it's classical music and John Bonham's drumming is classic percussive shit mixed with the blues, but from a perspective of theater that tell a story through music. In the video, I start with 'hello, is there anyone there?' and it goes through this journey of self-discovery and one step into heaven and a reclamation — but first you have to go through all this bullshit… and I arrive at the end of the mountain. I'm not questioning shit. It's very religious, but in discovery and a search for meaning. This album is about the idea of idolism, and this song came from me facing people leaving the fanbase. If you know Yungblud, it's a tight community, and I would see people almost outgrow it. I really wrote this as a love letter to my fanbase. And people who have left been like, you were once a part of the greatest parade, and you can go, you can come, but I will think of you. I will dream of you, I will do this for you every day until I am not here anymore. It was a really gutting song. It's about how we lift something up onto a pedestal and rip it down and then lift it up and rip down again because it's entertainment. We like to build fairy tales to enhance our own lives. I looked at what everyone had to say. 'I can't like Yungblud anymore, I'm not 17.' It's interesting because I hadn't grown. That's why I needed space. I needed to fucking grow. I stagnated in time. I'm frozen in a statue of what I as for the first iteration of my career. I just started getting singing lessons to hit those notes at the end. If I didn't call the album Idols, I would call it Change, because it's been the biggest transition point as a human being in my life. I remember writing this song at nighttime, about 2 a.m. The song came out, and I remember just crying my fucking eyes out to my producer Mati Schwartz, We were having a conversation about how every point in my life, when I feel happy about how I feel in my head, everything fucking changes again. Why does someone die? Why do I have to leave my house? Why do I fall out of love? Why does everything change? I learned through this song that there is beauty in the uncomfortable and that there's something to learn more than ever in the uncomfortable. The more uncomfortable you can be, the harder you feel anything. At the time, I wreaked of insecurity, because I took people saying, 'Your music's shit.' All I had cared about was the one guy in the fucking pub who believes I'm inauthentic, and it was dimming my light. I was allowing these people to make me quieter, to make me more insecure, to make me more hesitant… On the song, I was talking to a 19-year-old, going like, you ain't fucking ready for this shit. And 'Why, at 26, are you so confused and insecure? You get to do what you love,' and by the end of the song I check my fucking chest, and I go, 'Does that look like a good shot? You missed.' I'm still here. I'm still around, and I got my spunk and bite back. Fuck, I love this song. I was walking down the banks of the River Thames in London, and I was wondering: how many people have walked where I have walked? How many ghosts have walked where I have walked? It was this image of ghosts passing me, or someone in 20 years or 100 years passing me. 'Choose life and don't forget to live. Don't forget to feel the air on your face. Don't forget to fucking enjoy every experience you feel.' It's really cool to be alive — it's confusing and it hurts, but it's a beautiful thing. I wanted to stay there in London forever. It's the point in the album where I start to win as the protagonist. I'm gonna get through it. The end is a three-and-a-half-minute outro inspired by The King and I… the music had this waltzing, temptress thing. I wanted to make stadium rock [at the end of 'Ghosts,'] so I said fuck it — I put all my mates in the studio, and I wanted to [imagine] Wembley Stadium, River Plate Stadium. I wanna get something that's gonna make people move, and then it's gonna build musically. It's an insane rock outro to get a stadium shaking. I want to envision that stadium with me when you have your headphones in. When you are in a room full of 25,000 people outdoors, and you're all there for a mutual reason, I have never felt calmer — even if the music is sporadic and mental. I felt calm. That's why we did that with the outro. Part two is the dark and downward spiral to the inevitable realization that I'm not going to be here forever. Mortality. So when you find yourself, when you love yourself… Who are you going to share that with? Part two talks about my mother, it talks about my family, it talks about the love of my life that I broke up with in pursuit of myself. Part two is almost contradictory to part one's idea. This is a massive moment for me because this is the first song I've ever put on an album that I didn't write. Mati had written this song for me seven years ago when he met me. And he saw me starting to take off, and he knew. It's probably been the most understanding thing about myself I've ever read, and I didn't even write it. It made me fucking cry my eyes out because no one has ever understood me more in my entire life. When you make art from your soul or your heart, it can never be intellectualized, because it pours from that thing—you don't know why it's there, what makes you feel. It's yours. He basically just said to me, 'All you are is a self-fulfilling prophecy, a product of your temptation. You live in your imagination… All you are is the self-filling odyssey. Tell me what inspired you lately, and maybe I'll remember you vaguely.' Everyone's always asked me, 'Who are you, what are you?' And always my answer to them is, 'When?' Instead of being afraid of the change, I've embraced it and used it as inspiration. It was mental that he wrote that. On this album, I had to alleviate my ego. It was more of an artistic statement to include it, and I don't want to change anything about it. The song was perfect as it was written. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
