Fresh from honors, Jimmy Page refuses to comment on current musical direction

The concept of picking up awards the way Jimmy Page does is something few others can comprehend. He hasn't exactly been an active musician for some time now, yet it seems that almost anytime somebody somewhere holds an awards ceremony of some kind, Page is on hand to take home one of the top honors.

This again proved to be the case Thursday night at the annual Mojo Honours List Awards gala exalting musicians for their talents. The soon-to-be-published author was all smiles as he was inducted into Mojo's Hall of Fame.

With John Paul Jones at his side two years ago this month, Page showed up at Mojo's 2008 awards ceremony the night Led Zeppelin was named the previous year's "best live act" as voted on by readers in recognition of the group's single reunion concert. Remarkably, the one-off show in 2007 had been Page's first show anywhere in more than five years.

And the question then was: What would Page's next move be?

Two years later, the question is just as relevant. The tired and silly question of whether Led Zeppelin will reunite has been debunked enough.



Obviously, Page doesn't have to do anything; it's just that he's led people to expect he will do something by repeatedly saying he will do something. We're little more than a week away from the first anniversary of an interview for the LA Weekly blog West Coast Sound in which Jimmy Page said:

"I've got some new music. ... It's just a question of actually doing it now. Actually getting a project that I've had in mind for a while. I've just got to go and do it. Don't want to tell anyone about it. But, yes, I've got a big project I'm working on."

Allow me to be the first to say: Happy anniversary, Jimmy!

Granted, it was great news at the time because, more than anything else, Page's remark aided in overwriting the recent memory of his manager, Peter Mensch, having answered a reporter's question in January about what kind of projects the guitarist would be up to next with the decidedly uncouth words, "F--- if I know!"

Well, a great revelation was carried out of the Mojo awards ceremony, as BBC News reports that Page now has a new manager.

How's that for burying the lede? Indeed, Page has a new manager!

"He has been taken on by Robbie Williams' management company IE," the BBC News article states.

The piece even delves into the nature of this new material Page has been promising:

"I'm just looking forward to making some music and surprising people with it," he said. "It won't be just teaming up with lots of people who are [big] names. I've got an idea of something which I've had for a long time and now's the time to do it."

So, that kind of rules out the Santana-style album that was suggested to be in his plans as far back as 2004. (In the meantime, Carlos Santana keeps on churning out album after album in that same Supernatural mold, with the latest even containing a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" with Chris Cornell on vocals.)

So, what is the nature of this new project of Page's? He still won't say.

But at least this new project, whatever it may be, is on his mind when he is out there picking up awards for music he created a long time ago.

Let's just hope this new music is also award-worthy.

In the meantime: Oh no, Sky News, you couldn't bother to spell "Led Zeppelin" correctly? I'm gonna send you back to schoolin' ...