Recently George Lucas decided to put up a ton of money to build a Star Wars museum in Chicago. WTF????? Chicago has no connection to Star Wars, but San Francisco didn’t allow him the site he was trying for. Chicago seems ready to give him a piece of land on the lakefront- for free!!! The initial plans call for possibly the ugliest building ever constructed in our city (Known for it’s great architecture). A judge has stepped in, and the project may be declared illegal, as it is on park district land. We can only hope!!

I recently spent a few days in New Orleans, wandering around the French Quarter, and I came across a museum that fits in perfectly with the New Orleans vibe! It includes Jack Kevorkian’s original death machine, among many other cool exhibits.

Maybe George Lucas should take note!!! That’s how to fit a museum intop a city!

Back in the early 1980’s, I photographed Prince- A LOT. His opening act was usually a group called Vanity 6, three scantily clad women (I think the 6 stood for the number of almost bare breasts on stage!!) They weren’t great but they put on a great show.

In 1986, Vanity, the lead singer of the band, put out a solo album and came to Chicago to promote it to radio. I was asked to ride along in the limo (longest limo I had ever seen. Just me, Vanity and the record company guy we were riding with. He was trying to explain to Vanity that we were meeting a bunch of radio guys at the fanciest, most expensive seafood restaurants in Chicago for lunch, conversation and photos.

She did not seem in any way interested in fancy seafood. She just sat looking out the window. All of a sudden, she started jumping up and down, pointing and yelling Mickey D’s- Mickey D’s!!!

Heading for the most expensive seafood place in Chicago, she directed us through the drive through (no small task- A masterful bit of driving) so that she could order a fish sandwich and fries. I never knew if she was fooling with us or not, but it sure was funny!

Vanity (Denise Matthews) passed away this week at the age of 57.

Last night I watched the bio pick “Love and Mercy” and relived the two years that I spent as Brian Wilson’s tour manager. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have had in my almost 40 years in the music business. Still not exactly sure how I fell into the job, and I did not know much about Brian before I started (other than car songs and surf songs), but it was a college level course in Brian Wilson 101! I soon learned that there were many people around him who knew everything (and I mean everything) about his life and his music. I soaked it up like a sponge, while hanging with one of the coolest (and one of the saddest) people I have ever had the pleasure to be around.

The film got it right, for the most part, in minute detail, and brought back some amazing memories. Being summoned to the backstage desk at the Wiltern in LA and seeing Carole Kaye standing there waiting to see Brian was one of them. When I walked her into his dressing room, she said “Hey boss, how is it going?” as if the 30 years in between seeing each other had been one day.

The way the movie portrayed the Pet Sounds Sessions was a loving recreation. I still have a folder of pictures from those sessions which we got from Capitol Records, and they got it exactly right. The way Brian worked with the band was portrayed beautifully- everyone in one room and Brian conduction them like an orchestra.

Along with the good comes the bad, and the portrayal of Murray Wilson, Brian, Carl and Dennis’s father was heartbreaking. My thoughts go back to a dinner we had after our show at the Beacon Theater in NYC. We went to the Stage Deli (about 15 of us- Brian at one end of the table, me at the other end. Brian ordered first, and they quickly brought him a sandwich as big as his head. Two minutes later, I looked down the table, and Brian was finished eating. He then got up and asked me to walk with him back to the hotel. I hadn’t even ordered yet. When I got back to the table I asked someone in the know why he ate that fast. The answer- his father used to beat him at the dinner table if anyone said anything wrong, and he is deaf in one ear because of it. So he ate fast to ask to be excused to escape another beating. When Murray (in the film) tells Brian that he had sold the publishing to all the Beach Boys songs for $75,000.00, the look on Paul Dano’s (playing the younger Brian) face was heartbreaking as he said, “But those are our songs.” His father then said- “Nobody will even remember you in five years.”

So we come to today, where Brian has been separated and shielded from most of the craziness. He still exists in a somewhat childlike state, and performs around the world for many adoring fans. I am still not sure if that is what he wants to be doing, but he does it anyway.

It is way more than five years since his father sold his songs, and he will always be remembered as a true genius, and one of the greatest arrangers and songwriters of all time. AND the composer and producer of Pet Sounds, one of the 2 or 3 greatest albums in the history of recorded music. That record was a commercial failure, but it sold steadily through the years and in 1999, we were invited to the roof of the Capitol Records Building in Los Angeles so that Brian could be presented with a gold record.

As Mike Love says in the movie, “OK, we got it over with- lets go back to making Beach Boys music.” No wonder he is portrayed in the currant issue of Rolling Stone as “The biggest asshole in the music business.”

Some of my favorites songs of his are:

Til I Die

Love and Mercy

Caroline No

So, I hope Brian finds some peace in his life. If he never writes another song, he will still have his legacy as one of the greatest songwriters in history.

I recently saw a great documentary on cable. It concerned two English guys who wanted to get into the film business. One was Kit Lambert, the other Chris Stamp (The brother of British actor Terence Stamp). They had very littler luck making inroads into the business, so they decided to make a documentary on a local club band. After checking out a few bands, they settled on a band called “The Who.” The film was never produced, but they ended up managing the band (They hated the name, and insisted on adding Maximum R&B on the end). They never made it into the film business but did pretty well with that little band from a club in London!

Also, in what is getting to be a very depressing weekly ritual, RIP Maurice White, founder and lead singer of Earth Wind and Fire, who passed away this week.

And last night, we lost Dan Hicks of Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks fame, one of the coolest and quirkiest singers and bandleaders of the 1960’s. These two guys were truly giants of their respective genres, and will be missed.

Still one of th3 greatest performers on the planet!

15 shows down, 1 to go.

Guest stars- Sinead O’Conner??? Simon Kirke of Bad Company!!

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.

 I think that we, people of privilege, take certain things for granted in this world. One is that we can put our stuff down in our house and sit down to a nice meal. I wish that was true all over.

1/18/16- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in Chicago. I was one degree outside with a minus 25 degree wind chill factor. I was at a homeless shelter on the south side of Chicago. I met 6 young adults. They had been outside all day in the weather, carrying backpacks with all of their possessions. They told me about a friend who broke two ribs carrying a 75 pound backpack around. Another story concerned a young man who took the SIM card out of his phone every night and put it in his ear so if someone in the shelter stole his phone he wouldn’t lose all his documents.

I was there to photograph the installation of 65 lockers to be used by homeless people to store their stuff so they don’t have to find abandoned buildings to hide their stuff instead of carrying it all around all day. A friend of mine is spearheading a program to install these lockers around the city.

So where is Dr. King’s equality and brotherhood? It is a sad world we live in.

It is getting really difficult to write about people dying. Especially this week. My friend Otis Clay passed away on Saturday. A nicer person cannot be found. Warm, friendly and humble, Otis walked through the world with a smile on his face and a good word for everyone. A fabulous singer, he infused every one of his shows with great performance and show biz moments.

The last time I saw Otis was at a book signing event for our soul food book in December. We did not have a large budget for entertainment, but knew that Otis was the perfect choice. We told him what we could pay him, and he immediately said yes. The night of the event, Otis appeared with full band- backup singers-horns. The whole show. He must have lost money on the deal, but he wanted to put on a great show. That was his last performance in the Chicago area.

He will be sorely missed by any one that appreciates great music and show biz move!

Another person that passed away this week was someone who I never met, but greatly admired. Haskell Wexler was a Chicago film maker and cinematographer. In 1969, he made his first film, the Chicago based film “Medium Cool.” Centered around the 1968 Democratic convention, it opened with a scene that is forever burned into my brain. The protagonist, a news cameraman, is driving home from work in the early morning, He happens upon a one car wreck on the highway and pulls over. He sees people dying in the wreckage. He has a choice- help the people or film the wreck for the news. He films it- then calls it in to the station!

He went on to become the cinematographer for “Days of Heaven,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “American Grafitti,” and “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Wolf,” among others.

Both of these guys, giants in their fields, will be sorely missed!

It is really difficult to write about a second death in a band within a two month period. Lemmy from Motorhead died this week , marking 2 thirds of the band passing away in 2015.

Lemmy was one of the nicest people I have met in this business. Although ferocious on stage, he was a soft spoken gentleman off stage. Very smart and thoughtful. One fateful day in August 0f 1983, I was asked to do a photo shoot with the band. I arrived at their hotel, and the guys were standing out front waiting for me. Lemmy jumped in the front, the other two in the back. He was armed with provisions- a bottle of Jack Daniels, a bag of pot and a bag of some kind of pills! (I didn’t ask!!). For some strange reason, they wanted to go to a McDonalds, and who am I to argue. Some great fun ensued, and some of my best pictures were taken!

Saw a pretty weird cell phone commercial this weekend. A family is frolicking during the holiday season, ice skating, buying a tree, etc. and the daughter is acting like a total moron- ignoring everyone while she looks at her phone, taking selfies on the skating rink, and pretty much ignoring her family in leau of her phone. If I were her father, I would have snatched it out of her hands and not returned it till we got home!!

Then we see her in her room wrapping a present, which she gives to her father. He opens it up and- wait for it- it’s a cell phone!!!

Then comes the tagline:    GIVE THE PRESENT OF BEING PRESENT

WOW! Does that mean that you can only be present if you are on the phone? Maybe I am just getting old.