The one thing that the writer of the article didn’t mention- and to me the most ironic part of the discussion- was this:

Flosstradamus, who were “focusing on their own compositions” used a sizable chunk of the melody from Dutch Master! Is this what they mean by their own compositions? WOW, maybe they should learn how to write some of their own songs from start to finish.

A few years later, in March of 1987, I got a call from my friend Steve, a New York publicist. He asked me to do a shoot with the Beastie Boys. Budweiser had asked them not to use their beer on stage, as they thought the band was not an appropriate vehicle for their fine brew. So Steve wanted me to photograph them “auditioning” a new beer for the tour. I showed up at sound check, set up in the balcony, and waited for the guys. When they arrived, I asked them if they could possibly direct the spray away from my camera equipment. Bad move!! They proceeded to shake up and open about 50 beers, aiming most of them directly over my head. My lights and camera smelled like beer for about a year. Loads of fun!!!

By the time 1992 rolled along they were not a party band any more, but a serious politically motivated band when I did my last shoot with them.

They then stopped letting photographers shoot them (sounds like a broken record) and I never saw them again.

My last contact was a year ago. Someone from Oscilliscope Laboritories contacted me. They said that they were a documentary film production company, and their president had found a portrait that I had taken of William S. Burroughs many years in the past. He loved the photo and wanted to use it is the packaging for a documentary they were releasing. We agreed on terms, I sent them a scan, and a month later one of the most beautifully designed DVD packages I have ever seen arrived in the mail with my image spread across two pages in the center of the fold out package! The owner of that company was Adam from the Beastie Boys.

Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys lost his battle with cancer this week.

He talked about spending time with a new, unknown band called the Rolling Stones, photographing them around London as they tried to make it big. At one point they met up with the Beatles- they asked them if they had a song that they could record. The Beatles gave them a song they were working on called “I Wanna Be Your Man.” As Terry says, “That’s the way it was in the early days; Everyone was pals.” HA! I would like to see that happen today- wait till the lawyers and record company execs got involved!!!

He talks about going through all of his old stuff starting about 4 years ago and finding images of Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Liz Taylor, Bridgette Bardot and Faye Dunaway (who he married). Also JFK, Churchhill and the Queen,

Here is the quote that was most interesting to me:

“Intimate, candid shots of rock and roll and movie stars don’t exist any more. Everything is stage managed for publicity and marketing.”

Makes me think of a few things-

Last month, I was asked if I wanted to go to the White House with Buddy Guy for a performance he did with BB King, Jeff Beck and Mick Jagger (and others). I reserved a hotel room and a plane ticket- then I found out that only the official White House photographer would be allowed to shoot- so I canceled the trip. Probably should have gone, but it would have been tough to sit there and watch without shooting.

Early in her career, my friend Jack was asked by People Magazine to go to New Jersey and photograph a young singer with potential by the name if Whitney Houston. He went to her house and spent the day taking beautiful pictures of her and her family. There is a great photograph of her from that shoot on the back cover of a Life Magazine special issue on the newsstand now. I am pretty sure that that situation would never happen in this day of “control of the artists image.”

Their loss.

Which brings me to the Rolling Stones- 50 years as a band. They climbed to the top when they were young, and continue to put on great shows now that they are old.

I went to a show this weekend. The band was called Cults. The road manager came out to talk to us, and I realized that it was the son of a friend of mine- I first met him when he was about 5!

We talked for a while, and I went upstairs to shoot the show. There were three other photographers in the pit. If you added up all of their ages, I am guessing the number would have been about my age. The band was dressed for the most part completely in black and they played in almost total darkness. All the other photographers were using entry level DSLR’s, and seemed to be having many problems.

I have never claimed to be a great photographer, but I feel that my age and experience makes me a great problem solver. As the show continued, I saw many moments that I could work with. Knowing that the camera I use is great under low light conditions, I shot a bunch of stuff, knowing that, even though it looked kind of dark on the screen in my camera, it would look great with a little tweaking.

I walked out of the show confident in my, and Photoshop’s abilities!

During that same time period, I got to watch a Chicago man conquer many demons, and come out the other side with an amazing CD that has been released this week. His name is Lurrie Bell, the man behind the new CD “The Devil Ain’t Got No Music.” Lurrie was born into a musical family- his father was the great Muddy Waters Harmonica player Carey Bell. Lurrie started playing guitar at the age of six, and played with many of Chicago’s blues greats in his teens and twenties. He had a lot of problems as he grew up. I once saw him homeless and begging for spare change at the Chicago Blues Fest. Then with help from many Chicago people, he got control of his demons, and a few years later, he was performing on the main stage at the same blues fest and regularly recording, culminating in his latest release, which appeared in my mail box this weekend. I am very proud of the cover, with beautiful design by Al Brandtner. We rented a giant painted backdrop, which his producer picked up on the way. Of course, they gave him the wrong one, and he had to exchange it. While he was gone, Lurrie and I had a very deep conversation about suspenders- why would anyone want to wear them. We shot some great pictures, and the results appeared this weekend. My hope is that a lot of people will buy it, and help Lurrie continue on a great journey.

Before the show, most of the photographers that walked into the pit did what every band I have talked to about this hates. They walked in, plopped their camera bags on the stage, and proceeded to unpack all their stuff. THE STAGE BELONGS TO THE BAND- PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOULD TREAT IT THAT WAY. During the first three songs, there was a feeding frenzy to get to the middle area to photograph the singer. Two guys in particular spent most of their time holding their cameras over their heads and leaning way forward, sticking their cameras right in the singers face (and also standing right in front of me to do it). Alan, the singer would have been totally within his rights to slap their cameras away, but he is too nice a guy. During that time they also completely ignored the audience behind them screaming at them to get down so that they could see. I guess taking crappy pictures is more important than anything else these days!

I was reminded of this when I read all the coverage of  Trayvon Martin’s death in Florida this week.. The most chilling of all the stories was in the April2 issue of Time. It is written by Toure’, an author and music journalist. It is titled “How to Stay Alive While Being Black.” The article is written in eight parts, sort of rules to living in a white world. The first one starts with- “It’s unlikely but possible that you could get killed today. Black maleness is a potentially fatal condition.”

It goes on to describe ways to protect yourself. They all seem very logical and pragmatic, but taken as a group, they paint a chilling picture of the racial divide in America today.

I have had several black people tell me, simply as a fact, that black and white can never be equal, because every day, when I get up and look in the mirror, I see a white person, and every time that he looks in the mirror, he sees what, as Toure’ says in this article, what a lot of people in America sees- “a thug- even if their only evidence is skin color.”

When my father got out of the Army after WW2, he helped start Ebony Magazine. He was the only white staff person, and after 2 years, it was agreed that he should quit, so that a black magazine could have a black chief photographer. I am guessing that he is rolling over in his grave today thinking about the nonsense that passes for equality in America today.

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

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.

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!