Led Zeppelin coming to an arena near you?

TOKYO - Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page said Monday he was ready to take the iconic band on a world tour after burning up the stage at last month's reunion concert in London. But it probably won't be before September.

"The amount of work we put into O2 was what you would normally put into a world tour anyway," Page, 64, said of the intense rehearsing the band did for the Dec. 10 concert at London's O2 Arena.

The band's three surviving members — Page, singer Robert Plant and bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones — were joined at the sold-out benefit show by the late John Bonham's son Jason on drums.

Page, who was in Japan to promote the new Zeppelin release, "Mothership," said the two-hour-plus concert was proof that Led Zeppelin can still perform at its best.

He said the band, which formed in 1968, was ready musically to get back together and take it out on a wider run, but it was not clear when it would go on tour as the singer had other plans.Robert Plant has a parallel project and he is busy with that until September," Page said.

Plant and bluegrass star Alison Krauss will begin their world tour with a run of shows in the southern U.S. this spring. The two released an album in October called "Raising Sand" that debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard chart in the U.S. The duo will tour Europe in May before returning for North American shows still to be announced for June and July.

Page said the band set their standards very high before agreeing to do the reunion, their first in 20 years. Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980 after the elder Bonham's death.

Page said they rehearsed for weeks, apprehensive that the cohesion they had in the 1970s when they were at their peak might be hard to rediscover.

Technorati Tags: tonylimo, led zeppelin, NYC

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Giuliani seeks one more 'I told you so' in Florida primary

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- Rudy Giuliani loves to prove people wrong. He's trying to do it again in Florida.

Polls
show the former New York mayor, last year's national front-runner,
trailing badly in the state where he has bet almost everything in his
pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination. If he wins on
Tuesday, he will have earned the biggest, brashest "I told you so" of
his political career.

Lose, and Giuliani may be uttering his final words of the campaign.

"Wednesday morning, we'll make a decision," he told reporters between campaign appearances.

"In
the past, I've done the impossible - things that people thought were
impossible," he told supporters at a rally Monday. He was talking about
immigration policy, but he might as well have been discussing how to
resuscitate his presidential campaign.

Technorati Tags: tonylimo, Rudy Giuliani

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Caroline Kennedy Endorses Obama, Ted Likely Next

NEW YORK (AP) -- The daughter of President John F. Kennedy endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama
, saying he could inspire Americans in the same way her father once did."I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them," Caroline Kennedy wrote in
an op-ed posted Saturday on the Web site of The New York Times. "But
for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that
president, not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."

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New York Yankees Slugger A-Rod Gets Key to City for 500th Homer

New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez was presented on Thursday with a key to the city in honor of his 500th home run.

A-Rod, who just turned 32, hit the milestone homer against the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 4, becoming the 22nd and youngest player to reach the mark.

He received a key to the city from Mayor Michael Bloomberg at Yankee Stadium before a game against the Detroit Tigers while his teammates and manager, Joe Torre, looked on.

"It will be something I hold dear to me for the rest of my life,'' Rodriguez said.

The Yankees paid tribute to A-Rod on Monday before their game against the Baltimore Orioles, presenting him with home plate, a silver tray with an inscription from team owner George Steinbrenner, two portraits and a sculpture.

Keys to the city are presented to distinguished people for outstanding civic contributions. Last week, the mayor presented a key to New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine in honor of his 300th career win.

Don Imus back ?.....ho,ho,ho

CBS and Imus Settle Differences Over His Firing

The voice of Don Imus could resurface somewhere on the radio dial as soon as this fall, after he and CBS announced yesterday that they had settled the remaining differences surrounding his firing in April over remarks deemed insensitive to women and blacks.


Neither Martin Garbus, the lawyer representing the radio host, nor CBS, which owns WFAN, the AM station that had been the flagship for his morning talk show, would comment on the terms of their agreement, citing a confidentiality clause. Had he not been dismissed, Mr. Imus would have been paid nearly $40 million over the nearly four years that remained on his contract. While some Imus associates suggested yesterday that his final payment was at least $20 million, Karen Mateo, a spokeswoman for CBS Radio, characterized that figure as too high.

In fact, it was impossible for an outsider to know for sure yesterday how much CBS had agreed to pay him. It was also unclear yesterday where on the radio Mr. Imus might be heard next. Two people who had been apprised directly of his plans, but who would only speak on condition of anonymity, said he had yet to line up a deal elsewhere. But his agreement with CBS does not, apparently, set any restrictions on how long he must wait before restarting his morning show elsewhere. (It does, however, preclude his making disparaging remarks about Leslie Moonves, the president and chief executive of CBS, and vice versa.)

LOVE ME DO

YANKEES FANS KEY TO A-ROD’S DECISION

JOE Torre was asked yesterday if he thinks Alex Rodriguez has won over Yankee fans.
“I think so,” Torre said at his Safe At Home Foundation Golf Classic. “Yankee fans like to see explosiveness. They’re used to having big boppers.” Now he imagined A-Rod bopping until the age of 40, probably past Barry Bonds, and said: “God only knows where he’s gonna wind up.”
Torre may as well have been referring to A-Rod’s future home. Because the $30 Million Question hanging high over The Bronx is this one:
Have Yankee fans won over Alex Rodriguez?

A-ROD'S SPENDIND HIS A-WAD...

Maybe we can call him "Stay-Rod" now.
Yankee superstar Alex Rodriguez is eyeing a stunning new $25 million estate in Greenwich, Conn. - strongly suggesting he plans on remaining with the Bronx Bombers beyond this season, The Post has learned.
The Lake Carrington Estate is a sprawling 9-acre lakefront property dominated by a Georgian-style stone mansion spanning 35,000 square feet.
Inside are seven bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, nine fire places, a 45-foot-long indoor lap pool, a basketball court, a 20,000-bottle wine cellar and a 20-seat home theater. Outside are three other buildings, including a fishing and ice-skating hut.
And it would cost Rodriguez, who now lives on Park Avenue, an extra $5 million to finish the mansion's interior, which for now is just framed out.
Rodriguez's interest in the property comes as the Yankees have indicated they want to negotiate a new contract to avoid letting A-Rod become a free agent in November, when he can exercise an opt-out clause on the remaining three years of his existing contract.
A new contract could keep the all-star third baseman in pinstripes for the remainder of his career - and pay him more than $30 million annually.

Caught in New York by the Parksidegent

Tyra Banks and Jaslene Gonzalez