Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Coe Lewis and Robert Plant: connected at the lips

A harmonica with a rock and roll past lands up under Coe Lewis's Christmas tree

"I just want to point something out to you right here." Coe Lewis sets a smallish white box on the table at Einstein's and opens it to reveal: a pocket harmonica with set of pinkish lip prints.

"That's my lipstick," she says, "where my spit swapped with Robert Plant's."

And then there is the man's actual signature, an R and a P, which looks to me like two felt-penned circles.

I desperately want to touch the harmonica. I want to lift the thing out of its box, and I want to honk a few notes on it. I am a bit saddened by Lewis' lack of offer to do same, for I am a true rock star gear junkie.

In years past I have posed with Pat Travers' Gibson Les Paul double-cut. Ditto Tony Iommi and Ritchie Blackmore axes. I've sniffed the hallowed air inside of the Who's road cases, twittled the knobs on Carlos Santana's and Robin Trower's amplifiers.

Once, I was allowed to actually play one of Jimi Hendrix's inventory of Strats. No, not the Woodstock White or the Black Beauty. It was a plain 'burst he'd only written and jammed with, but believe me, the thrill was borderline insane.

But the Plant-Lewis harmonica stays in the box. Talk turns instead to DNA and laboratory baby jokes. We stop and wonder for a moment whether there is enough genetic material in the harp to clone a second Robert Plant.

As it turns out the harmonica was a Christmas gift to Lewis from her KGB FM morning show partner, Bob Buchmann.

"So basically, I'm thinking about what to get Coe for Christmas," Bob says. "I'm sitting in my office, remembering that I've got this harmonica in a box somewhere."

"I do have a little crush on Robert Plant," Lewis says.

"So I think," Buchmann says, "why not give her that?"

The back story of how that harp came to be, explains Buchmann, is that six or so years ago Robert Plant used an East Coast radio station Buchmann worked at as an interview hub. In other words, Plant sat in one studio and was telephone-interviewed all over the country.

"He came on my show, and he sang happy birthday, and he played this harp."

And, he autographed it. The harmonica was packed away, forgotten, and remained sealed in its box until it was gifted to Lewis.

Coe Lewis has worked on-air at KGB FM for a couple of decades. An American child of hotel-industry parents, she grew up in Ethiopia, Spain, Lebanon, and Belgium. Somehow, she got the hard rock bug while overseas. "Tapes and records were my friends."

Buchmann comes from Brooklyn. He worked Long Island rock radio, then graduated to a station in Manhattan before landing up in Los Angeles, then San Diego.

But the question remains: can Lewis play harmonica? And if so, will she? I'll never know. She puts the Plant harp back in her handbag and darts out for another appointment before I get the chance to ask.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/17/38556/

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/17/38563/

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema

"I just want to point something out to you right here." Coe Lewis sets a smallish white box on the table at Einstein's and opens it to reveal: a pocket harmonica with set of pinkish lip prints.

"That's my lipstick," she says, "where my spit swapped with Robert Plant's."

And then there is the man's actual signature, an R and a P, which looks to me like two felt-penned circles.

I desperately want to touch the harmonica. I want to lift the thing out of its box, and I want to honk a few notes on it. I am a bit saddened by Lewis' lack of offer to do same, for I am a true rock star gear junkie.

In years past I have posed with Pat Travers' Gibson Les Paul double-cut. Ditto Tony Iommi and Ritchie Blackmore axes. I've sniffed the hallowed air inside of the Who's road cases, twittled the knobs on Carlos Santana's and Robin Trower's amplifiers.

Once, I was allowed to actually play one of Jimi Hendrix's inventory of Strats. No, not the Woodstock White or the Black Beauty. It was a plain 'burst he'd only written and jammed with, but believe me, the thrill was borderline insane.

But the Plant-Lewis harmonica stays in the box. Talk turns instead to DNA and laboratory baby jokes. We stop and wonder for a moment whether there is enough genetic material in the harp to clone a second Robert Plant.

As it turns out the harmonica was a Christmas gift to Lewis from her KGB FM morning show partner, Bob Buchmann.

"So basically, I'm thinking about what to get Coe for Christmas," Bob says. "I'm sitting in my office, remembering that I've got this harmonica in a box somewhere."

"I do have a little crush on Robert Plant," Lewis says.

"So I think," Buchmann says, "why not give her that?"

The back story of how that harp came to be, explains Buchmann, is that six or so years ago Robert Plant used an East Coast radio station Buchmann worked at as an interview hub. In other words, Plant sat in one studio and was telephone-interviewed all over the country.

"He came on my show, and he sang happy birthday, and he played this harp."

And, he autographed it. The harmonica was packed away, forgotten, and remained sealed in its box until it was gifted to Lewis.

Coe Lewis has worked on-air at KGB FM for a couple of decades. An American child of hotel-industry parents, she grew up in Ethiopia, Spain, Lebanon, and Belgium. Somehow, she got the hard rock bug while overseas. "Tapes and records were my friends."

Buchmann comes from Brooklyn. He worked Long Island rock radio, then graduated to a station in Manhattan before landing up in Los Angeles, then San Diego.

But the question remains: can Lewis play harmonica? And if so, will she? I'll never know. She puts the Plant harp back in her handbag and darts out for another appointment before I get the chance to ask.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/17/38556/

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/17/38563/

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.