In 1993, I was asked by Mercury Records to fly to Indianapolis and get in a mobile home with two guys (actually six of us) who would become my friends. Their names were Dan Navarro and Eric Lowen. They were LA songwriters (and former singing waiters) whose songs were covered by many artists, among them Pat Benetar, who won a Grammy with their song “We Belong.” When their second album came out they were booked on a tour, and I was asked to photograph them. Within a few hours of meeting them, I realized that I knew more about touring than they did, so I became their unofficial mentor, teaching them how to pack a trailer, how not to leave the bass amp in Indiana, and how to advance hotel rooms.

Every time they would come to Chicago after that, we would hang, have some meals and I would hear some great music by two guys whose voices blended perfectly, and whose songwriting was world class.

In 2004, Eric learned he was suffering from ALS, but it didn’t stop him he continued touring, using a wheelchair to get him to the stage, playing many instruments until his hands would not work anymore, and after that wheeling to the stage and singing along with Dan’s singing and playing. He performed his last show on June 6, 2009 in Virginia. After that, he stayed home overseeing the release of much of the guys archival material.

Eric Lowen passed away yesterday, March 23^rd. He will be greatly missed.

If anyone wants to read one of the most moving pieces of writing I have ever read,

http://www.lownav.com/perfsong.html

Last weekend, one of the finest people I have ever met passed away. His name was Michael Altenberg. He was a master chef, owner of two restaurants, and one of the pioneers of the concept (quite amazing) that one could eat good food at home or in a restaurant. He was a true pioneer in the “Farm to Table” movement in the restaurant community. He put his ideals to the ultimate test- he would not buy food from a farm unless he had made a visit to the farm to make sure they were doing what he said they were doing, including making sure that they were treating their animals properly! The food in his main restaurant, Bistro Campagne, was all organic or locally produced (except for the seafood) down to the bread and butter! The cooking is superb, and the service is exceptional!!

But he was much, much more. My friend Ken told me at the funeral that he had to cancel a lunch meeting with Michael earlier in the week, and Michael offered to bring him Chicken soup. That was Michael, always trying to help people. Although the Bistro was pretty upscale, you could walk in in jeans and a tee shirt and be as welcome as if you were wearing a suit. (More than likely, when he came out of the kitchen to greet people, he would be wearing a really crude, funny or stupid tee shirt from the seventies).

In one special way, he was the opposite of everyone in the music business in one major way. Because he was so nice, and so into helping others, many people continually screwed him over. Unlike almost everyone I know in the music business, he would turn the other cheek, and welcome them back into the fold. I used to yell at him for not banning these people from his life. He would just laugh and say that he knew he was foolish, but couldn’t help himself!!

I am starting to think maybe he had the right idea.

Michael, rest in peace.

Earlier this week, I was asked to photograph the group Gomez. I knew a couple of their songs from the radio and I had done a quick shoot with them many years ago. I walked into the dressing room, and was immediately brought in to a great conversation, which proved once again that the English have much better taste in music than us Americans. Tom Gray, one of the singers and I engaged in a spirited conversation about 60’s American music, including Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach. Our conversation was interrupted by Ian, one of the other guitar player/singers, who inquired, “Where is the freaky beer?” The conversation then turned to regional breweries, then concluded with a quick shoot with the band before they hit the stage.

The first set was filled with obscure songs from their catalog, along with a tribute to Davy Jones, (an amazing cover of I’m Not Your Stepping Stone). After a five minute break, they came back to play the top ten songs that the audience voted for  before the show. No one in the band played less than two instruments (and played them very well) and three of them traded off on vocals song by song. All in all, a two hour and thirty minute show, with the sold out crowd sang along with note for note.

They were celebrating their 15^th year of recording and touring and seem to be the prototype for the perfect business plan of Music 2012. Write and play great songs, treat the audience with respect, and give them value for the money. They record every show and make songs available to the fans. They ask for song requests on their websites. AND….Most of all they are nice guys!

Earlier this week I was reading the latest issue of  Photoshop User Magazine. There is an article in it about a photographer named Alan Hess, a music photographer from Southern California. He has just published a book called: All Access, Your Backstage Pass to Concert Photography. Not much in the way of stuff people can use. Seems the people who started in the last 10 years are resigned to the fact that they will always be shooting three songs or less, and spend a great deal of time at the soundboard. He does suggest that one should wear comfortable shoes when going to a festival! Good to know. He references Jim Marshall as one of his heroes, although Jim would be rolling over in his grave if he read this book. It is basically about how to get mediocre photos during the first three songs!

Of course, when you order a book on Amazon, you get sucked into buying a few more!

The next one I clicked on is called “Three Songs, No Flash” Your ultimate Guide to Concert Photography. It was written by Loe Beerens, a photographer from the Netherlands. It is a beautiful book with absolutely nothing of worth inside! The whole book is a description of what different lenses do, and where to shoot from to get a shot of the keyboard players hands!

The third and final book (I guess I am a sucker) is called “Concert and Live Music Photography” by J. Dennis Thomas, an Austin, Tx. based photographer. This is a pretty simple book, talking about the basics of photography. There is a lot of talk about etiquette, which is good, especially the parts about treating other photographers in the pit with respect. Great little section about what he calls, with disdain, the “Hail Mary” shot, people holding their cameras over their head or on a monopod. I have always thought about bringing a pocket full of small hard objects and throwing them at the back of the heads of those people, but it doesn’t seem to be worth the trouble. He does have a page near the end talking about not signing “Rights Grab” contracts- man do I hate that term.

Although this is the best of the books, there are some amazing comments included, such as:

“Keep an eye out for the action, and try to anticipate when one of the performers is going to do something compelling.”

“ To avoid having all your shots look the same try shooting from different and odd angles.”

GOOD TO KNOW!!!!

Last week, I was asked to photograph two bands that I had never heard of before. Man, am I getting old!!

First up is Mutemath, 4 guys from Nashville. They sold out the House of Blues, and put on an amazing show. The singer never stopped moving, climbing and jumping. The drummer at one point wrecked his drum kit, and the crew rebuilt it while he kept on playing, I still can’t define what kind of music they played, but it was loud and fast and good. They have a great relationship with their fans, who waited for hours to get the front row, and sang along with every song. I was astounded by their energy, and by their showmanship. A good time was had by all!!

Later in the week, I went to shoot a band called Young The Giant, who sold out a 2500 seat venue. When I pulled up, there was a line of cars on the street with moms dropping off their kids for the show. These guys are from Southern California, and they rock! Drums, bass and two guitars, and a singer who never stopped moving (or smiling).

He jumped into the crowd toward the end, and for one of the encores, the band all donned full length fur coats (Which they sent a crew guy out to buy at a thrift store that afternoon) and did a cover of an R. Kelly song in a tribute to Chicago. That’s what I call attention to detail.

Not sure how long these bands will last, but right now they are great!!!

It was February of 1985, and I was asked by a friend from Arista Records to come to a recording studio in downtown Chicago to photograph a new singer they were promoting. I walked into the room, filled with about 200 people from all over the Midwest, and heard an amazing voice coming out of the speakers. The record company people brought me into a small room off to the side where a scared looking 21 year old girl was sitting in the corner. I was introduced to Whitney and we were told that they were going to bring her out in the big room, stand her against the far wall, and bring everyone in the room up to meet her. At that time, I would take a picture of her with each person. She had a wide eyed look on her face, but shrugged her shoulders and said “Let’s go!” There was a lot of downtime during the next two hours and she kept on asking me if every new artist went through this. I told her yes, but probably not to this extent. She seemed like a very sweet person, but I wondered if she could pull off that great sound live.

In May of that year, she came back to town to play her first Chicago show, at the Park West nightclub. I stopped by to say hi before the show, and she thanked me for making the ordeal 3 months earlier fairly painless. Fifteen minutes later, she took the stage and a voice like nothing I had heard in a long time roared out of the PA system! WOW. She had no stage presence, but she could sing! She came back to town toward the end of the year and was even better. Still didn’t move much on stage, but she was working on it.

By the following year she was a superstar, selling out the large outdoor venue in the suburbs for two nights. By that time, the restrictions were already in place (First three songs only) but I thought it would be worth it. I went both nights, got some pretty good pictures, and saw a much better performer.

That would be the last time I photographed her, as the restrictions got worse each year and it just wasn’t worth it any more.

But man, she could sing!!

I watched a great Super Bowl game with a bunch of friends. After the game, the television remained on and The Voice came on! What a concept! Great chairs!!

Watching it reminded me of a story. It was November of 2003, and I went to the House of Blues to photograph a guy named Gavin DeGraw. I set up some lights near a bar to wait for Gavin to finish his sound check. There were five scroungy looking guys sitting around. I asked them if they were a band playing that day. They replied that they were a California band called Maroon 5. Since I was sitting around doing nothing, I asked them if they wanted to do a photo shoot.

Of course they said yes. This was 2003 and bands had not yet been taught to fear photographers. I don’t know what happened to Gavin DeGraw (I think he is still hanging around making music), but Maroon 5 got VERY famous. Seeing Adam Levine on The Voice reminded me that sometime the nice guys win!!

The last three weeks were a very bad time for soul, R&B and Blues fans. On January 20^th, Etta James lost her battle with leukemia and passed away. She was one fo the greatest soul singers I have ever seen, having the ability to rock out with the best of them, and then change tempo to sing some of the most beautiful ballads in popular music (At Last). I photographed her many times, including the concert that made up the bulk of the Chuck Berry story “Hail Hail Rock and Roll.”

Among the superstars on stage that day, including Chuck, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Linda Ronstadt and many more, she stood out as a singular talent!

She got her start as the lead singer of the Peaches, who were discovered and nurtured by Johnny Otis and went out on many tours that he packaged and promoted.

Ironically, Johnny Otis passed away three days before Etta. He was a Los Angeles talent scout, producer and musician, who nurtured acts such as Jackie Wilson and Etta. He introduced Lieber and Stoller to Big Mama Thornton. They went home that night and wrote “Hound Dog” which Johnny Otis produced and played drums on. Although he was white, he traveled through the South and stayed in segregated hotels with his black tour mates as a show of solidarity.

Finally, on January 31^st, Don Cornelius took his own life in Los Angeles. He was 75 years old, and contributed to the acceptance of black musicians by the white listening audience by producing “Soul Train”, the longest running syndicated show in television history. Last September 5^th, the City of Chicago produced a concert celebrating the 40^th Anniversary of Soul Train. I spent much of the day with Don, who couldn’t have been more charming. The music was fantastic, the audience blown away by the talent on stage. Don seemed very touched when he was told on stage that a street was being named after him, and was presented with a street sign from that street. It is sad that his life spiraled out of control in five months that he took his own life. He will be missed. As he used to say:

LOVE, PEACE, AND SOUL. Good night.

I learn something new every week about lighting by watching the three best shows currently running on television ( although one has just been cancelled).

1.The best show on television right now, in regards to storytelling, acting and best of all production values, is Justified, on FX. Based on a character invented by Elmore Leonard, the best mystery writer I have ever read, it follow the exploits of a US Marshall in Harlan County, KY. Raylan Givins, played by Timothy Oliphant travels through the show each week, shooting bad guys and seducing, and getting seduced, by beautiful women. The bad guys are amazing, especially Margo Martindale, who won an Emmy last year, and the incomparable Walton Goggins (Shane from the Shield), playing an old high school buddy of Raylan, who is alternately good and evil (sometimes in the same scene). The show is so beautifully filmed and lit that I find myself taking notes about lighting techniques, sometime stopping the DVR and rewinding to make drawings of where the light is coming from and trying to figure out how they do it.

2. Boss, which just completed it’s season, stars the amazing Kelsey Grammer as a corrupt mayor of Chicago, who is also dying of an incurable ailment. The camera work is exceptional- almost every scene is shot from an unusual angle with more extreme close-ups than any other show on television. The tension that is built from a full frame half of a face is fabulous. The occasional gratuitous female nudity is kind of fun also!

3. Prime Suspect, on NBC, is so good that, of course it has already been cancelled! Maria Bello and Aiden Quinn star in this great NYC police drama. The lighting and photography are amazing, matching lighting to the vibe of the scene (harsh lighting for interrogation chambers, soft lighting for high end murder scenes) It is mostly shot in muted earth tones, and New York at night takes on an otherworldly look. The acting is great, with just the right amount of humor to break up the sadness. Maybe a cable network will pick it up and save it.

Just spent a weekend listening to loud guitars, keyboards and drums. It is the NAMM show (National Association of Music Merchants). The guys that make all the instruments that bands play, and the musicians that covet them!!

Day one: Hanging with the Shure guys (that’s who I am working for out here). Appearances by Ken Caillat (engineer of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” and his daughter Colbie. Line around the booth to get her autograph after she was done performing. Paparazzi everywhere (This is Southern California, after all). Kept on flashing flashes in her face, taking the same picture over and over. Day ended with The Makepeace Brothers, young Americana band that sounded great. I Think that they might make something of themselves! As I was leaving, I ran into my old friend C.J. Vangston, who is famous for many things, one of which is for being the keyboard player for the mighty Spinal Tap!!
Day two: The day started out with an autograph signing with Meshuggah, a Swedish hard rock band made up of four guys that look to be in their forties or fifties. Nice guys. I wonder if any of them are Jewish. Meshuggah in Hebrew stands for crazy! Next up was Lincoln Brewster, California Chrisian guitar player and singer. Couldn’t have been nicer. Equally so were his fans, who mingled with the fans of the next two acts- Korn and Alice Cooper! Then the craziness started. First Alice Cooper, then 3 guys from Korn! Their fans were very peaceful, unlike the slimeball photographers, who continually shot off flash after flash in their faces while calling to the artists, asking them to look up and ignore their fans so that they could get another twenty identical pictures! WTF, the guy is sitting on a couch on a stage, every picture looks the same. It was obvious that they were trying to crop out everything but Alice’s head, so they could get a mediocre headshot (or 20) for their agency. It is always hard to understand why they put up with this, but I guess it is part of the job now.

Day three: Hanging out with the GOD OF METAL. Rob Halford of Judas Priest arrived to sign autographs and receive a chrome microphone from Shure. For an hour and a half, he signed for anyone that walked up, and was, as I told him after the event, a total mensch! He told me that he was looking into doing a search to find out if he is part Jewish (he has a Rabbi working on it.) Following him was Dawes, a new rock band who played some great stuff and signed for an hour also. The day was filled with many celebrities coming to hang out, including Kerry King from Slayer, comparing head tattoos with Rob.

All in all a cool three days, but I am heading home to peace and quiet