Riding the Zeppelin

Ralph Hulett became fascinated with Led Zeppelin when his friend and musician Clyde Johnson introduced him to the band’s self-titled debut album in 1969.

“It was just this mind-paralyzing sound “” a musical hypnosis that dragged you in,” Hulett said. “It was a blender full of different music elements and was very different from what everyone else was doing at the time.”

Hulett, who grew up in Laguna Beach, was a writer and photographer on the rock scene for many years and interviewed numerous musical legends, but was captivated by the stunning originality of Led Zeppelin.

“Zeppelin was more interested in being visionaries and blowing listeners’ minds with their musical art than pleasing critics,” he said.

He’d been a fan of Jimmy Page since his days as the Yardbirds’ guitarist, but found the new sound Page created with vocalist Robert Plant, bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham to be greater than anything he’d ever heard.

The feelings aroused by songs like “You Shook Me” and “Dazed and Confused” would lead Hulett “” and many others “” to follow Zepp on a 12-year flight through stardom.

And Hulett “” the son of Disney watercolorist Ralph Hulett Sr. and artist Shirley Sullivan “” would turn his fandom into a career.

In 2005, he and fellow writer and “Ledhead” Jerry Prochnicky released a collaborative book effort titled “Whole Lotta Led,” a personal account of Zeppelin told by the band, musicians, groupies and fans including themselves.

The photographic memoir takes off during the New Yardbirds-turned-Led Zeppelin’s first rehearsal in 1968 in a stuffy London basement and pilots readers through 12 years and nine albums of rock-royal fame, fortune, and misfortune, including their demise in 1980 as a result of Bonham’s death.

The book shares the band members’ personal experiences, which gives meaning to many of the songs they wrote, including what many consider their greatest hit, “Stairway to Heaven.”

The collection of rare and never-before-seen photos were taken by the authors and various other photographers of that time.

Hulett will sign the book this Saturday at 2 p.m. at Sound Trolley Records in Costa Mesa.

Hulett, who interviewed music legends like Bo Diddley and Frank Zappa at the onset of his career, and Prochnicky “” who co-wrote “Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison” “” wanted to tell their favorite band’s story from a personal perspective.

“I was inspired [to write this book] by my two loves: writing and music,” Hulett said. “Jerry and I put the two together to share what it was like growing up in the ‘60s and ‘70s music scene “” the good and bad times “” and how it shaped our lives.

“This is a book by fans, for fans. Memoirs and photographs are meant to show just how creative and influential Zeppelin was. It also shows how riches and fame don’t last and how popular culture was affected by rock music.”

Stephanie Meek, a lifelong Zeppelin fan who gives her account of a 1971 show at Madison Square Garden where she saw the band perform “Stairway to Heaven,” said she wanted to be a part of this project not only because she loves the music, but she thinks readers will enjoy the personal experiences.

“At the time, I thought I was just seeing a band,” she said. “Looking back, that experience was astronomical.

“This think this book is great because it’s done from the heart.”

Hulett and Prochnicky are currently working with Harry N. Abrams on a new Zeppelin biography, which will tell the band’s story through more than 200 photos.

That book will be released in September, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Zeppelin’s first album tour.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Book-signing by “Whole Lotta Led” co-author Ralph Hulett

WHEN: 2 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Sound Trolley Records, 440 E. 17th St, Costa Mesa

INFORMATION: (949) 642-4826