Your cousin and his buddies got a rare treat indeed but I suspect this friendly conversation or talk happened before he found out his youngest son had died because that loss, understandably, devastated him and this is just MO, but I suspect his first marriage falling apart in the early 80's may have been connected to Karec's passing and subsequent grief. His closest friend in the band was John Bonham due to their shared working-class, Black Country roots and them being high-school friends. Bonham was also the only Zeppelin member to attend Karec's funeral afterwards. Again, after such a devastating loss, its a miracle Plant ever wanted to be a musician again or that Zeppelin recorded one more album or played further shows in U.K. or Europe again. After the 1977 tour ended, the band didn't see or hear from each other for almost a year-and-a half.