AboutMike Caldwell Expertise Fortunately, or unfortunately, there are no Led Zeppelin questions I can't answer. My immediate specialty (or proclivity as it may be) has to do with concert performances and lyrical interpretations.
Experience Countless hours of biographical research and personal interaction with relevant individuals. Avid contributor to Led Zeppelin newsgroups since 1997 (check Google groups!)
Publications Bullseye News Magazine. The Vapid Voice.
Question QUESTION: Hi Mike,
Why did Joh n Baldmin change his name to John Paul Jones? I know that it was under a suggestion from a friend but why did he do it anyways? Thanks
ANSWER: Hi-
Jonesy had been considering a stage name that would be different from "John Baldwin" for a while - after all, his father Joe was a prominent pianist decades earlier. In a sense, he wanted to assert his own independent success as an arranger and musician of the time (early 1960s). He didn't change his name until he was basically "ordered" to do it by prominent producer Andrew Loog Oldham, back when he had hired he young Baldwin as his arranger.
Oldham mentioned this in an interview with Goldmine magazine. See http://www.led-zeppelin.org/reference/index.php?m=assorted17
for more about that. Oldham wanted his newly hired arranger to have a more prominent stage name, and Oldham liked the name John Paul Jones, from a 1959 biographical movie about the historical figure of the same name. At this point it was still early in Jonesy's career (around 1964), and since the very powerful Oldham was hiring Baldwin for a big career leap, Jonesy took Oldham's suggestion/demand and adapted the new stage name. So it was partially for career success (as appeasing Oldham was a big resume builder at the time) and also Jonesy had been considering a stage name anyway.
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QUESTION: Another question.. Is it true that the band members of Led Zeppelin rode motorcycles into the Chateau Marmont Hotel in LA in 1969? Thanks again
ANSWER: Yes, the story is true, but the way I recall it, it wasn't something by the whole band. I believe it was John Bonham and road manager Richard Cole with the motorcycles, and they were often the worst instigators in such madness. It's possible that Plant took part but nobody's story from the time can confirm it.
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QUESTION: Hi again. Did Jonesy ever take part in the "madness" on the road? Did he take the drugs and all that? Thanks again
Answer Sure, he took part in some of the madness, but everyone did, it was all around, all the time. For a lot of the crazy stunts, he was usually more of a bystander than an instigator - Bonham and Cole did most of the instigating when it came to hotel craziness and the like.
In terms of groupies and the like, he was said to be the most faithful of the husbands, but it's likely he had a fling or two during all those tours. The story from which the song "Royal Orleans" was written involves Jonesy. When in New Orleans, his room caught fire because the transvestite/drag queen that was with him fell asleep with a lit joint in his/her hand. He eventually confirmed the story:
"The transvestites were actually friends of Richard [Cole's]; normal friendly people and we were all at some bar. That I mistook a transvestite for a girl is rubbish; that happened in another country to somebody else... Anyway 'Stephanie' ended up in my room and we rolled a joint or two and I fell asleep and set fire to the hotel room, as you do, ha ha, and when I woke up it was full of firemen!"
(Mojo Magazine, 2007)
Obviously he won't admit to any sexual horseplay, but obviously he recreationally used drugs - he just didn't get hooked on anything like Page ultimately did. Drugs were everywhere during tours, and nobody really gave a second thought to taking them.
