September 2013

Last weekend was the 2013 version of Farm Aid, held in Saratoga Springs, NY. It was again a great show for a great cause, and included one amazing moment above all else. Halfway through John Mellencamp’s set, he stopped the show to bring on a special guest who lived just up the road. Pete Seeger, 94 years young, walked out on the stage with his banjo and proceeded to bring the house down. When he launched into “This land is Your Land” he asked John, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews and Neil Young to join him on stage for a tremendous performance (and a great photo op!!)

A nice weekend walking around farms and national forests, and hearing and photographing great musicians!

Even when Jesse Jackson Jr has been sentenced for his corruption, he is still making news.

Headline from the Chicagoist:

Auction Of Jesse Jackson Jr’s Collectible Crap Stopped Over Authenticity Issues

Seems he bought  Eddie Van Halen’s guitar from a Michael Jackson video, signed by Eddie and Michael.

From The Chicagoist:

United States Marshals halted an auction of personal items former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. bought with campaign money after questions about the authenticity of some of the items were raised.

Many of the items up for bid were Michael Jackson memorabilia Jackson could have won with a high Skeeball score at a street festival. One item, a guitar supposedly signed by the King of Pop and guitarist Eddie Van Halen, was removed before the auction launched Tuesday because the autographs couldn’t be authenticated. So the U.S. Marshals Service decided to cancel the auction until the authenticity of everything could be verified. A statement by Kim Beal, acting assistant director for the Asset Forfeiture Division of the U.S. Marshals Service, read:

“Because new information has come to light, we are taking additional steps to review all the items. It is our practice to be diligent about all matters relating to the management and sale of assets.”

This is a guy representing me in government!!

When I was starting out, I was working on a big festival in Chicago. David Cassidy was playing one night. When I got there in the morning I heard someone announce: “Who wants to be David Cassidy? We need a bunch of stuff autographed.” Someone in the office then signed David’s name to all the stuff.

Several years ago, I went into the office of a charity. The person there showed me a Stevie Ray Vaughn guitar signed by him. I know enough about guitars to know that the manufacture date is in the serial number. When I told the people the guitar was made two years after SRV died, they were heartbroken (They got their money back)

So, does it bother any one that a guy that governs the country buys counterfit stuff with taxpayer money?

This week is the 50th anniversary of the Birmingham 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that murdered four young girls. This September, Birmingham’s black Mayor, William Bell, will commemorate the anniversary. Seems that Birmingham has come a long way. Each of the four girls will be honored with a Congressional Gold Medal.

I have only been to Birmingham once. I was traveling with the Rolling Stones in 1989. The opening act on the tour was the rock band Living Colour. A couple of nights before Birmingham, Vernon Reid, their great guitar player, came up to me backstage and showed me the new camera he had just purchased. He asked me to teach him a little about photography. I suggested that we walk around Birmingham and have a photo lesson on our day off later in the week. The morning came and the phone in my room rang. It was Vernon ready to rock! He suggested that we meet in the lobby. I grabbed a camera and headed for the elevators. Vernon was waiting for the same elevator. He was wearing a colorful dashiki, and his hair was braided and colored red, yellow and green. We got on the elevator together and headed for the lobby. As we approached the first floor, we heard a lot of conversation coming from the first floor lobby. When the doors of the elevator opened into the lobby, we were confronted with about a hundred white haired old ladies (obviously a lady’s club meeting).

As we walked through the group of ladies, you could hear a pin drop in the lobby. People stared at us as if we were animals in the zoo. As we walked out the front door, the conversation in the lobby picked up again. Vernon looked at me and shrugged. As he put it that day: “Happens to me every day.”

Hopefully Birmingham has changed so that a black man can walk through a hotel lobby without stopping traffic!!

Spent a lot of time reading a great book this week. It is called “Louder than Hell”.

It is a history of heavy metal music told through quotes from its most famous practitioners, from the 60’s till today. It is difficult reading it in public, because every few pages gives me a laugh out loud moment, such as when Ronnie James Dio talks about inventing the devil’s horn sign that he made famous, and then says, “But Gene Simmons will say that he invented it, along with inventing  breathing and shoes.”

Gene, of course in the next paragraph, insists that he invented the sign.

I noticed while reading (at this point I am about 400 pages into the book) that, with the exception of the thrash metal bands, I worked with, and became friends with almost all of the bands in the book. I was welcomed into their entourages with open arms, and was given total access to their shows and their offstage antics. This might have been the last era of popular music where the photographers (and the music writers)were a part of the team. Some of the quotes in this book would never have seen the light of day in the 21st century, but they are all in here, warts and all. There is only one instance that I have read so far where a band (Pantara) stole a reporter’s tape recorder because the stuff that their singer (Phil Ansalmo) said was so outrageous that they didn’t want it in print. Other than that, EVERYTHING is in this book- sex, drugs and rock and roll. It is all fascinating. Too bad today’s bands are too concerned with “Controlling” their persona in the press. We will never see anything like the stuff in this book again!

Another thing: What is this guy doing???

No wonder people think photographers are idiots and just get in the way!!

I have been reading (and watching) about Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga, two people with absolutely no talent. They have been dominating the entertainment news all week over stuff that happened at the VMA’s televised earlier. It is amazing how very small amounts of talent can captivate America.

Meanwhile, I have spent two days this week with people with real talent. I spent two days working with Jack Dejohnette, Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Richard Abrams and Larry Gray. Five nicer, unassuming guys cannot be found. Spent one day at a rehearsal and one day at a free downtown concert.

From the beginning I was treated with respect by all the guys. I was told that I could go anywhere to get what I needed. They gladly posed for pictures whenever I asked them.

Seems a shame that they get almost no publicity, but Miley gets a ton for acting like an idiot.