I got my start in the business by befriending two guys that owned a string of record stores in Chicago called Flip Side Records. They were also concert promoters, and my deal with them was that they would let me into their shows in return for 5 prints of the best shot I got from the show (one for each of their stores). So a few days after each show I would show up at their flagship store with 5 prints. There was a kid who worked there that wanted to be a photographer. So I would hang around and talk film and developers with him. He always told me that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be in the music business or be a photographer (Or just eat deep dish pizza every day!!).
So, he started moving around the country, working for different booking agencies, and ended up in California. Shortly after arriving there we was booking a small band from Vermont called Phish and he soon became the king of jam bands, also booking the Dave Matthews Band. Meanwhile he was backpacking into the desert (or out to the ocean) each weekend with a view camera and a tripod to take some of the greatest photos I have ever seen!
As his two careers followed a parallel path, I would see him when he came to town and we would talk about photography (and pizza)- never about the music business. And his two kids, Max- who had gotten into Harvard and was a hoops prodigy, and Valerie, who was going to Duke.
About five years ago, I was working with my friends from OAR (who Chip also booked). I was standing backstage talking to some promoters from Chicago when Chip walked up. A big smile on his face, he asked me all kind of questions about photography, completely ignoring all the business talk around us. Then I had to go out to shoot the show. I came back afterword to find him, but he had already left, in search of the elusive perfect pizza. One of the guys from the band came up to me and told me that, in case I didn’t know, Chip had just been diagnosed with brain cancer. I emailed him to express condolences, and he told me he was going to beat it.
He did for a while, but last week it got him. But before he died, he seemed to have touched so many people that tributes kept on pouring in, including a full page in Sports Illustrated (he would have loved that- he didn’t even like sports- just Max’s basketball exploits)
One of his last acts was also one of his greatest. He was confined to a hospital bed, but was invited to attend an awards show where he was going to be honored as “Agent of the Year.” But he wanted to see his kid play one more basketball game. So he got himself to Detroit (in the hospital bed) to watch Max play one more time. ESPN has a video online that has gone viral. If you can watch it with dry eyes, you have ice water in your veins!! http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14856372
The Sports Illustrated article is especially great:
http://www.campusrush.com/oakland-grizzlies-basketball-max-hooper-father-chip-1645951848.html
Chip passed away last week and will always be remembered as possibly the nicest guy in the music business. I would like to remember him as a great photographer who also happened to be possibly the nicest guy in the music business.