May 2016

Going back to the James Brown bio I am reading, james McBride, the author suggests that “one of the richest nations in the world does so little to aid the artists whose sacrifices created one of our greatest cultural and economic exports.” He goes on to say, “What’s the difference between a guy who plays music that came from the back roads of Vienna in 1755, and a guy who plays music that comes from the back roads of Toccoa, Georgia in 1955?”

Near Toccoa sits the military base that the soldiers from the HBO series “A Band Of Brothers” trained. It also became the boys prison that held James Brown! The soldiers get honored (and they deserve it) but not James Brown.

So that brings me to Otis Rush. Otis is one of the seminal blues guitar players of the last 100 years. When I was growing up, I would go to any club he was playing at, just to see and hear his amazing left handed guitar work. Shortly after starting in the business, he played the Chicago Blues Festival, and brought the house down. At the end of his set, he brought Luther Allison out to do a number with him. It still is one of the greatest moments in Blues fest history.

Shortly after that Otis signed a major label deal, and finally all the guitar magazines came calling. I became the designated photographer for all of them. Three weeks in a row, I drove to Otis’ house, picked him and his wife Masaki up and brought them back to my house for a photo shoot. One of the greatest thrills of my life!!!

Otis continued to play around town until he had a stroke in 2004 (he is now confined to a wheelchair). This year, on June 12, the Chicago Blues Festival will declare it “Otis Rush Day” in Chicago and celebrate his career with a two hour set of music played by almost all the musicians that played with him in his prime. Not to be missed

In the middle 1980’s I met a guy named Lonnie Mack. He was a guitar player and songwriter who, I later found out, was a big influence on guys like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Duane Allman and Jeff Beck. He was living a pretty quiet life in central Indiana, occasionally going out to play some shows. He did a tour opening for George Thorogood. Then Alligator Records signed him, and I did a photo shoot for his album package.Then Epic Records signed him, and I was asked to photograph his album cover. He was playing somewhere in Indiana, so I went to photograph him there. After the show he invited a bunch of us back to his house, and we decided that it was easier to just stay there than find a motel. So we all slept on couches and extra beds. The next morning I got up to find Lonnie getting ready to go fishing, so I joined him for a while down on the dock.

He was an amazing guy, and a true gentleman. He was one of those guys who never made it over the hump. Just kept on playing, and making music for his fans. This week, while going through my Getty sales report, I saw a large amount of Lonnie Mack images licensed. I Googled him to find out that he had passed away at the end of April.

In April of 1982, a publicist from Polygram asked me if I wanted to do a shoot with a new band they had called Girlschool. I agreed and the next day the band arrived at my house! In the ensuing hours, I became friends with four very nice women. I went to see them that night, and they rocked the house! Loud and fast (very loud), they exploded onstage and the audience went crazy! I followed them for a few years, shooting a few shows, doing a few photo sessions, and then they kind of ran out of gas. Their records kept on being rereleased, and they seemed to still be touring.

Last week someone posted one of my photos of guitarist Kelly Johnson on Facebook with a notice that she had passed away in 2007!

It is amazing how the level of fame of a person determines how much press coverage they get. Kelly received almost no coverage, and Lonnie the same. A friend told me that he had an obituary in the New York Times, but none in Chicago.

I am reading a new book by James McBride called:

Kill ‘em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul

 It is interesting to see a biography of an African American musician researched and written by an African American musician!! Also one that lived a mile from James Brown’s mansion when he was a little kid. Just getting into it, I saw a lot of parallels with all the recent news about Prince and his estate.

It seems strange that someone who was such a great businessman would pass away without a will, leaving his music, which he fought so hard for during his lifetime, up for grabs by greedy relatives (and even a kid who says that he is Prince’s son). If a paternity test proves it, under Minneapolis law, the son wins. So all that money and all that great music changes hands to people that might not know how to curate it.

This brings to mind a passage from the forward of the James Brown book:

James Brown, The Godfather of Soul, America’s Greatest Soul Singer, left most of his wealth, conservatively estimated at $100 million, to educate poor children in South Carolina and Georgia. Te years after his death on December 25th, 2006, not a dime of it had reached a single kid. Untold millions have been frittered away by lawyers and politicians who have been loosed on one another by various factions of his destroyed family.

I hope the same thing doesn’t happen with Prince’s estate.

There is a great article in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated. It is excerpted from “Relentless: The Stories Behind the Photographs” by the legendary sports photographer Neil Leifer, arguably the best that ever held a camera in the sports world..

A lot of the stories are funny stories about elaborate practical jokes he played on other photographers and writers, but there are a few that can easily translate to the music world.

He was asked to go to Moscow in 1961 to photograph a USA-USSR track and field meet. When he got there he presented a letter to the guard, signed a sheet of paper next to his name, and was presented with an armband as a credential. He was told to return it when the meet was done, as they used the same armband for every event. As he collected all of his credentials, he tucked it into his camera bag and came home. (He was 19 at the time and saw no problem with that). In 1963, he again flew to Moscow to cover that years meet. When he handed the same guard his letter, he was given a one work answer- Nyet. The guard then pulled out the paperwork from two years earlier, and showed where he had not returned his credential!! Only because he was working for Sports Illustrated was he allowed a new credential, which he returned when the meet was finished.

This makes me think of the way photographers are treated these days at most big concerts. You are not even given a credential. You are herded to the area that you are to shoot from, and then herded out of the building when your allotted time is up. God forbid you shoot a photo after the first three songs! I have always collected credentials- especially from the really big shows. That will never happen again in our world.

He also talks about how he gained access when he started out at age 16. Ay Yankee Stadium, they had a ramp where they rolled wheelchair bound army veterans out on to the field, and lined them up along the outfield wall, So Neil volunteered to help the veterans, camera under his coat. Once they were all settled, most of the volunteers disappeare3d into the stands to find a seat and watch the game. Not Neil. He stayed on the field and avoided security, although at times he would fetch coffee for the guards and they would look the other way while he worked.

I remember that when I started I made a point of befriending as many security guys as I could. (I am still friends with a lot of them today). They are much more important to know than any band manager, as they control access!

So I am proud that my career took some “sort of” similar paths as a legend in the business!! (and I still have a great collection of passes from cool shows.)

As the political season heats up (or gets more depressing- take your pick), I look back on traveling through the south last year and seeing how the good folks in Montgomery, Alabama kept poor people from voting by demanding a drivers license that a lot of poor people didn’t have.

This week, the US supreme court refused to block the Texas law that asked for a photo ID at the polls. As the article continued:

The Law is the strictest in the nation, permitting only certain types of photo ID at the polls. Gun licenses are permitted, college ID is not. It was enacted to cut down on in-person voter fraud, but only 2 people were convicted of voter fraud in Texas in the last 10 years.

A federal district judge rules that it was passed in the Texas State Legislature in 2011 with a “Discriminatory purpose and could disenfranchise about 600,000 voters, most of whom were black or Hispanic. Three days later a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals blocked that judges ruling from taking affect, and the Supreme court ruling allows the as of today the law stands.

Oh well, guess if you are a minority in Texas, you don’t have to choose between all the morons that are running this year! Maybe that’s a good thing!!!