Thought #1

I photographed a band called The Civil Wars this week. Really wonderful people and amazing performers. I wasn’t going to stay all the way through, but they were so great I couldn’t leave. I was standing in front of the stage shooting every once in a while, enjoying the music and getting some really nice photos. After the show, I was invited back to say my goodbyes. While talking to Joy Williams, one of the two members of the group, she made an interesting comment. She said, “ You are not like most of the other photographers. You must have read Cartier-Bresson’s book “The Decisive Moment.” “You seemed to be waiting for moments to happen. Most photographers just shoot all the time.” WOW! Someone who gets it. Made me feel like I was doing something right.

Thought #2

This was sent to me this week:

COACHELLA 2011
PHOTO RESTRICTIONS/ALLOWANCES

**All artists will allow the first three songs (bands)/15 minutes (electro) unless otherwise indicated.

**Please be sure to check in at the press tent daily for updates.

Friday, April 15
BRANDON FLOWERS – no photographers will be permitted to shoot his set from the pit or the side of the stage.  A link to photos from the artist’s photographers will be made available to the media after his set.  If you have any additional questions, please reach out to his representative: Jen Appel/PRESS HERE PUBLICITY jen@pressherepublicity.com
KINGS OF LEON – Only pre-approved photographers, first three songs.
ODD FUTURE – No photography permitted whatsoever.

Saturday, April 16
ARCADE FIRE – Only pre-approved photographers, first three songs.
PAUL VAN DYK – Photography allowed entire set, first 15 minutes from the photo pit—directions for the remainder will be posted at the press tent day of. Contact: Alexandra Greenberg/MSO agreenberg@msopr.com
PERRYETTY vs CHRIS COX – Photography allowed entire set.

Sunday, March 17
KANYE WEST – No photography permitted whatsoever.

So…. Two thoughts on this subject:

1.)   I guess we should all start photographing electronic artists- they seem to like photographers.

2.)    Who the F—K is Odd Future?

This week I had the opportunity to photograph an amazing performer. WHe is Columbian rock star Juanes. One of the best shows, musically and production wise that I have seen in years, even though I could not understand a word spoken or sung from the stage! (except for the word CHICAGO,  which was spoken many times). The crew treated me with utmost respect from the time I got to the venue at 4:30 in the afternoon, till the time I left at midnight. The staging was magnificent. Large video screens surrounded the band on 3 sides and above. The screens played snippets of the show, along with movies and cartoons. The band was magnificent- three guitars 3 percussion guys, bass and keyboards.

From what I read about him, he is a political activist in his lyrics (would have loved a translator) but from what I could tell, he also appeals greatly to the ladies!

After the show, he made it a point to seek me out and make sure I was treated right and that I had good access. The next morning when I turned on my computer, I had emails waiting for me from his road manager and his marketing guy making sure that I had what I needed! WOW! Maybe if more people treated photographers with respect, we might want to shoot their shows!!

One thing that amazed me about the night were the sheer number of cell phones in the front rows, and the sheer number of people standing with their backs to him when he came to their side of the stage, so that their friends could snap a photo of them with him in the background. The people pictured below had seats in the front row ($127.00 per ticket) and must have shot 200 pictures of themselves during the show. Wonder if they even know what songs he sang.

I was recently offered an assignment from a national magazine. They wanted me to photograph Jeff Beck. They sent me an email address for his publicist. I emailed her and asked what the photo policy was and if there would be any kind of contract.

Her reply:

Photo policy is the standard first three songs. She also told me that there would be no contract. I decided to turn down the assignment, but wanted to ask her one more question: Would photographers be allowed to shoot from the front of the theater. Ten minutes later the word came back that photographers would have to shoot from the back of the theater. So I told her I would not be shooting, and also relayed the message to the magazine’s editor.

So the question is- at what point does the magazine stop calling me, and starts looking for the photographers that are willing to take mediocre pictures and have their name printed next to them in national magazines?

Another thing:

This week I had a conversation with a photo researcher who is putting out a box set project for the label she works for. During the discussion, I asked her what she would be doing 15 years from now when every time she calls photographers looking for photos from a bands 2011 tour, she receives 200 identical images form the first minute of the show. She replied, “I hope I am retired by then!”

From a recent blog item:

The story talks about a Brooklyn restaurant owner (Ted Mann)  who recently found out that he was the biological son of Ted Nugent!

“I was like, ‘The guy who kills everything?” says Mann, laughing. “It’s been overwhelming and awesome and confusing, I’m still acclimating to being a Nugent.”

Being related to Ted Nugent has got to be a pretty interesting situation to be in. Beneath the right wing, gun-toting rants lies a pretty cool guy. In the 1980’s I became friends with his parents, who lived in a suburb of Chicago. “Ma” Nugent wrote a column for a local music newspaper. I took a photo of her and Ted for the top of the column, and a friendship was born.

About once a month, I would be invited out to the Nugent house for dinner with Marion and Warren Nugent. Almost every time, we would eat something that Ted had killed. The meat was usually sent to them along with a picture of Ted standing with one foot on the bloody carcass, gun or bow and arrow raised over his head in triumph.

On many occasions I would get a call in the morning from Ms. Nugent telling me to get my butt in gear- we were going to a Ted Nugent show! An hour later she would pull up in front of my house in her SUV and we would head to Michigan, Indiana or Wisconsin to hang with her son, the rock star and guitar god.

One night at dinner, Mr. Nugent asked me an odd question. Could I help them get tickets to see the Lawrence Welk Orchestra, who were playing the following Sunday afternoon. I arranged for the Nugents to go backstage and meet Mr. Welk, where they presented him with some Ted Nugent camouflage tour merchandise, with Ted’s name written in blood on the front. A perfect gift for Lawrence Welk!! As Ted was playing later that night at a nearby venue, we made it a double header! Lawrence Welk in the afternoon, Ted Nugent in the evening. A very weird day of music!

From the Daily Swarm this week:

Yes, this week marks the beginning of SXSW 2011, and SXSW always proves a fantastical cauldron of hate, from buzz bands not living up to their hype to how awful the Internet/phone connectivity is. It’s still early days, though, so we’ll have to make do with this official email from SXSW’s press office outlining “Specific Photo Policies for a Few SXSW Headlining Acts.” Okay, it would be a stretch to say it demonstrates hate, but the acts in question seem to, erm, maybe not appreciate the promotional value of YouTube, Vimeo, blogs, et al?

“TV on the Radio: “We allow first 3 songs only and no flash at all.”

Perez Hilton’s showcase: Perez Hilton’s PR company heavily vets all media requests.

The Bangles: “We generally approve photo/video footage as requested rather than in general. Usually photos are first 3 songs, no flash and video is first 30 seconds”

The Bravery: First 3 songs with flash allowed and thereafter no flash. NO VIDEO.

Widespread Panic: Band policy: No Flash. ACL policy: “ACL’s policy about other media covering tapings is that they can be there during first three songs as long as they are behind our cameras. We have a recommended place for them to stand and request they talk to us about getting access.”

The Strokes: First three songs only from the photo pit. Please get there early and go to stage left. Photographers will go in in groups in order to accommodate as many photographers as possible – Group 1 will shoot the first song, Group 2 the second song and Group 3 the third song. Groups will be arranged at the stage.”

So….. wasn’t SXSW supposed to be the way new bands could be discovered. The world’s media gathers in Austin each March to shmooze and discover new bands. So now, a bunch of old washed up bands play down there and restrict people from shooting pictures of them. Widespread Panic? The Strokes? The Bangles? Don’t they need all the help they can? Perez Hilton? He is trying to restrict who can come to his showcase? Wasn’t he the one who started all of this crap? As soon as the Paparazzi and the blogger journalists started discovering that musicians were also celebrities, and would make them money, they started making themselves obnoxious and causing publicists to start restriction everyone- just to keep them under control. The Bravery? Did they ever live up to even a 10^th of their hype? They should be walking around Austin begging anyone with a camera to come in and photograph whatever they want!

I made the mistake of going to SXSW in 2008. I was speaking on a panel, so I got a free admission badge and a photo pass that would allow me to jump to the front of all the lines. I wanted to see what that was like so I wandered down the street to where REM was playing. Rules were the same as what the Strokes described above.. I found myself in the back of the first group. As the security guy told the first group to enter the barricade, I was body blocked to the ground by a rather small woman, who had to get in there before me. I picked myself up, walked into the pit, and stood off to the side. I watched the same woman pull out a small point and shoot camera. When the band hit the stage, she stood there watching the show, never attempting to actually take a picture!

Last week when all the Lady Gaga S__T hit the fan, many photographers called themselves “Bottom Feeders.” I am not sure I agree with that. The new paradigm of journalism is dominated by blogs and webzines. When celebrities start realizing that, they will treat every legitimate photographer with a degree of respect. (Hopefully) Maybe weeding out the amateurs will allow the rest of us to do our jobs.

Recently there was a big stink on Rolling Stone.com about Lady Gaga’s contract

From the website:

Lady Gaga is now demanding that photographers surrender the copyright of photos taken at her concerts – and photographers are incensed.
Washington, D.C. website TBD.com made this practice public on Friday when they published the release form given to their photographer Jay Westcott. In addition to standard release restrictions regarding the use of images shot at her concerts, the document states that any photos taken at the show  become the property of Lady Gaga. This an especially bold demand as the government has established that copyright exists the moment when a work is created, which in this case is the moment when a photographer clicks their shutter button.

This practice has been going on for years. It exists because many photographers will sign the contract, thereby validating it in the eyes of the people who write these contracts. Many times the artists don’t even know that this is going on- it is all the work of their managers and agents. It also continues because most publications do not have the balls to stand behind their photographers. Many months ago, I wrote about the start of the 1984 Van Halen tour. The first two days of the tour were in Milwaukee and Chicago. On the first night, Neal Preston, who flew in to shoot the band for People Magazine, refused to sign a horrible contract and got in his car and went back to the airport to fly back to LA. (People Magazine supported his decision). From the airport, he called me to explain the decision. The following day, I called Rolling Stone (who I was shooting for that night) and asked if they would stand by the same decision. They said yes. Armed with that info, I also refused to sign the contract. I put my equipment in the trunk of my car, started it up and was about to leave, when I heard my name being yelled. It was VH’s road manager, asking me to come back inside and talk to Ed Leffler, the bands manager. He told me to cross out and initial the parts of the contract that concerned me. I crossed out all 5 pages, except for the heading and the signature blanks. After a 30 minute discussion, and a consultation with Eddie Van Halen, who said he really didn’t care what anybody did as long as they got good pictures, Ed tore up the contract, turned to me and said, “Do whatever the F__K you want.” As far as I know, that was the last contract on that Van Halen tour!

Some people have reported that this contract constitutes a work for hire agreement. That is not the case! From the US copyright office:

If the work is created by an independent contractor or freelancer, the work may be considered a work for hire only if all of the following conditions are met:

• the work must come within one of the nine limited categories of works listed in the definition above, namely (1) a contribution to a collective work, (2) a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, (3) a translation, (4) a supplementary work, (5) a compilation, (6) an instructional text, (7) a test, (8) answer material for a test, (9) an atlas;
• the work must be specially ordered or commissioned;
• there must be a written agreement between the parties specifying that the work is a work made for hire.

The term most often used is “Rights Grab.” This couldn’t be farther from the truth! . It is not a rights grab. It is photographers giving up their rights. The only way to stop this from happening is for you to walk away. Up until about 8 years ago, I was out shooting 5 nights a week. Now I shoot about twice a month. I earn a living licensing photos I took in the 70’s and the 80’s. I would NEVER sign one of these contracts. I learned that from my old friend Jim Marshall, who once, in a very quiet restaurant, asked me if I “put up with all of that 3 song b—l s–t. When I told him that I had no choice, he yelled in my face “You are a F–king moron.” I never signed another contract. Lost most of my business, but I can sleep at night.

In the next few weeks, I want to explore this issue. I post every Sunday morning on this blog. Please comment if you like!

I read a blog post this week titled:

10 Marketing Lessons I Learned from KISS

It was written by Michael Brandvold, who for a time managed the bands website. Now everyone knows that the guys in KISS are the greatest merchandisers on the planet, are very smart guys.

But……. Number 6 on the list is as follows:

6. Treat the media with respect. – You need to love the media! Radio, TV, magazines, newspapers, websites, bloggers, photographers…. all of them! They can make you look like kings or they can make you look like has beens. At every single show KISS performs they give the photographers pose after pose for perfect photos, so they look great in the paper the next day. I have seen them stop and give a reporter or photographer backstage a extra two minutes of undivided attention so they get the cover. Treat the media like the gatekeepers, because they are!

WOW, I wonder what band he was working for!! KISS in the old days followed that credo exactly. It was very difficult to not get great photos. The band would pose for pictures during songs, sometime forgetting lyrics or notes. But photographers loved them!

Everything changed in the 1980’s when the bands career hit the skids. All of a sudden, we could only shoot the first three songs. Contracts appeared. And then it got worse. When all the original members got back together in makeup, they booked a huge tour. I got a call from George, their tour manager, asking me if I wanted to shoot the show. I asked what the restrictions were. He told me that I could shoot the entire show, even get on stage if I wanted. COOL!! Only one thing!! At the end of  the show, I was to meet him behind the stage. He would have an envelope with my name and contact information with him. I would put all of my exposed film in the envelope. He would seal it up, and take it with him. KISS would pay to process all the film. After the film was processed, the band would pick up to 5 images and would return them to me to license to publications. KISS would then own all the rest of the photos, and could use them any time they wanted to, without paying me or giving me photo credit!! WHAT A DEAL!!!

He couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t take the deal. I asked him if anyone had actually went for it. “Plenty of people,” he said. I asked him if he knew any of them. He thought about it for a second and then told me that he had never heard of any of them. He said “I haven’t seen any of you guys” (meaning the professionals who had helped the band become the stars that they were)

I wonder why!

I never photographed KISS again.

Kei$ha played in Chicago this weekend. She must be quite the superstar!! Here are some excerpts from her photography contract:

“Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this agreement, I understand and agree that Ke$ha shall have the right to approve the Photos to be exploited hereunder, and that absent Ke$ha’s written approval of a particular Photo I shall have no right to exploit such Photo hereunder.”

“Ke$ha shall have the non-exclusive right throughout the universe in perpetuity, at no cost, to use the Photos for promotional purposes by any means or media.”

“I agree that it would be extremely difficult to calculate the monetary damages which a breach by me of this agreement would cause Ke$ha.  Accordingly, I agree that, in the event of a breach or threatened breach by me of any of the foregoing provisions, Ke$ha shall be entitled to injunctive and other equitable relief to stop or prevent such breach or threatened breach.”

So what do we learn from these passages?

First off, she must have plenty of free time on tour to sign off on all the photos taken! Then again, according to the Chicago Sun Times yesterday, her lips were moving when no vocals were coming out of the sound system. They also said that when she actually sang, she sounded pretty good! It just didn’t happen enough.

Second, even though she sells millions of CD’s and sells out all her shows, she must not be making any money, as she is forced to steal every journalists photos that she allows to shoot her shows.

Finally, the reason that it would be extremely difficult to calculate the monetary damages  that a breach would cause is that there would not be any monetary damages! She is a very good looking woman who puts on a beautifully staged show. How could a picture of that cause damages? Also, if I remember my legal research from years ago, one cannot ask for monetary damages, unless a monetary figure is stated in the contract.

The other night on Nightline, Chris Connelly was doing a special report on pop music. He was interviewing “Dr. Luke”, superstar producer for Kesha, Britney, Miley and Katy Perry, among many others. They were situated in his studio during the interview, surrounded by wall to wall computer monitors. Luke was excitedly showing Chris how he had constructed Katy Perry’s single “Teenage Dream.” The camera came in for a closeup of the computer screen, while Luke explained that he used 182 tracks of pro tools to create the song!

This reminded me of a passage in Keith Richard’s book, where he described the scene when the Stones arrived in Muscle Shoals in 1969:

“We ended up at Muscle Shoals Sound in Sheffield, Alabama at tours end. There we cut “Wild Horses”, “Brown Sugar” and “You Gotta Move.” Three tracks in three days, in that perfect 8-track recording studio. It was the crème de la crème, except it was just a shack in the middle of nowhere.”

So…….why does Katy Perry need 182 tracks? Maybe because Dr. Luke was building a song around a singer who can’t sing? Just asking.  Or maybe, if the Stones had 182 tracks, they could have really made some great music!! Wild Horses? Brown Sugar? YIKES! Maybe those songs could have been hits if they had more tracks! HaHa.

Giving back…

A friend of mine, Rhymefest (Che Smith), Grammy award winning co-writer, with Kanye West, of the hit single “Jesus Walks” and a recording star in his own right, is running for Alderman in the 20^th Ward in Chicago. He has some great ideas, foremost a commitment to improving literacy rates in his ward. To that end, he held a contest over the Winter break, to challenge all the public schools in his ward to read as many books over the break and write book reports. The winning school, Walter Reed Elementary won a party on the day after Valentine’s Day.

Every child got a certificate signed by Rhymefest, all the Eli’s Cheesecake they could eat, and five books donated by Rock For Reading, a not for profit that I help run. The books were very warmly received, and we promised the principal that we would keep supplying books to the school

I am a television addict. At this point in time, I have two DVRs set to record 18 hours of programming each week. It used to be that television was considered a “vast wasteland” but it has graduated to the big leagues. Some television is now as good as any feature film in story, acting, and visuals. There is still a lot of crap out there (I am addicted to Donald Trump’s Apprentice and Gordan Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen, mostly to feel superior to the so-called geniuses that are booked to appear on those shows).

Every once in a while a show comes along that is so good, that when it finally ends, you feel that a part of your life has been ripped away. Most of these shows are not ratings winners, never coming close to the ratings that Jersey Shores or the Hills get. But for sheer quality, they can’t be beat.

My all time favorite show was Homicide: Life on the Street. At the end of every hour, you just wished for 15 more minutes. Nobody really famous in the cast (except that Andre Brougher and Melissa Leo are now doing some great stuff on television and in films) but just great writing and cinematography.

Then came two shows that ran around the same time: The Sopranos and The Wire. David Chase wrote a family story that lasted about 5 years on HBO that just coincidentally happened to be about a mafia family in New Jersey. Someday when I am old and gray, I will sit down and watch all of the Sopranos back to back- one giant great movie! David Simon, who also is one of the creators of Homicide: Life on the Street, created, with The Wire, a cinematic masterpiece about the City Of Baltimore. Using some of the greatest living cinematographers and a cast of mostly unknowns, he created a 60 hour film that touched on all corrupt aspects of Baltimore city life, from politics to dockworkers to drug dealers and police officers, finishing up with an entire season based on the newspaper world. This one I did watch as a movie, watching all 60 hours in the month of January, 2010 on DVD, sometimes 5 hours a day!

Now we come to another great one, which just aired it’s final episode this week. In 1988, Buzz Bissinger worte a book about the 1988 season of the Permian High School football team from Odessa, Texas, called Friday Night Lights. ESPN called Friday Night Lights the best book on sports over the past quarter-century. Shortly after that, writer/director Peter Berg (Bissinger’s cousin) and producer Brian Grazer released a movie based on the book, starring Billy Bob Thornton and Tim McGraw. It was very successful, and gave then the idea to do a television show. In October of 2006, the series premiered on NBC with almost universal apathy by the viewing public. With a threat of cancellation over it’s head, the show motored on, telling an amazing story of a small Texas town and the lives of it’s citizens (a sub story was also a great football story of the fictional Dillon, Tx. Panthers). The acting was first rate, the cinematography was great, and the writing was exceptional. It was threatened with cancellation last year and Direct TV stepped in to pay for half of the production costs, in return for airing the last two seasons first.

This is what James Poniewozic of Time magazine said about the show last week:

“This brilliantly written and acted drama- about high school football- and much more- has been a moving, regionally specific but universally true portrait of America.”

That is what I finished watching this week. The story was great from start to finish, but I now have a hole in my schedule on Wednesday nights that will be hard to fill!