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Cover Story – Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Are You Experienced?”, with photography by Karl Ferris

Sugartune — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:00:12 +0000

Subject: Are You Experienced?, a 1967 release (on Reprise Records) by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with cover photo & design by Karl Ferris

Considered by many music fans and critics as one of the (if not THE) greatest debut record from a rock-era artist, Are You Experienced (with or without the ?) also illustrated how records were produced, packaged and tailored for distribution to the world’s music marketplaces. Released in the U.K. in May, 1967, the record was a compilation of the fantastic music and performances that had been wowing crowds in London theaters up to that point. Those crowds included most of members of the leading musical acts of the time – including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Hollies, The Who (and many others) – who’d all come to watch and listen in stunned amazement to the trio’s musical magic.

In the 40+ years (yes, that long ago!) since its release, the record’s influence on both the musicians who’ve striven “to play guitar like Hendrix” and those who create “Best Of” lists continues, with EVERY top guitarist today confirming Hendrix’s influence on their playing and the record’s positions on Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” (#15) in 2003 (following up its #5 ranking in 1987’s “Best Albums of the Last 20 Years” and #5 on a similarly-titled list published in 2001 by cable net VH-1. It is now also a national treasure in that it has also been selected to be permanently preserved by the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry and archive.

The performances included on the album include many compositions that would become Hendrix’s signatures, including “Purple Haze”, “Manic Depression”, “Hey Joe”, “The Wind Cries Mary”, “Fire ” and “Foxey Lady”. After 3 of the band’s singles hit the Top 10 charts in the U.K. and the incredible buzz following their mind-boggling performance at the Monterey Pop Festival, the act’s record label rushed to release the record in the U.S. by the end of August.

While the music on the LP represented the leading edge of musical prowess and technical sophistication, the packaging in the U.K. was not what Hendrix thought accurately matched the act’s psychedelic and forward-reaching nature, and so he took this complaint to manager Chas Chandler, who then called upon well-known London photographer Karl Ferris to work with him and the artist to come up with imagery for the upcoming U.S. release that would be a better match to the music. Karl was kind enough to provide Cover Stories with excerpts from an upcoming biography and coffee table book of his most-recognized photos so that we could give you the complete story about “the making of” the universally-recognized psychedelic image that was used on the cover of this seminal record. So, if you’ll ‘scuse me….

In the words of the photographer, Karl Ferris -

The first time saw I Jimi Hendrix was at his début showcase of “The Experience” at the “The Bag O’Nails” club in London in January 1967. This was where I saw members of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Graham Nash, Eric Clapton and many other in the ‘rock elite’ watching awestruck as Jimi unleashed his powerful music on them. They were thunderstruck and completely blown away as evidenced by the awesome silence after he finished, followed by a thunderous applause, with all those jaded ‘rock stars’ going crazy over his performance. Pete Townsend turned to Clapton and said “We might as well go and work for the Post Office now”. Jimi was the talk of the London after that…

Later, in May 1967, apparently Jimi saw my Hollies Evolution cover which had recently been released and said to his manager Chas Chandler that he wanted something similar – “something psychedelic” – on his Are You Experienced? album when it was to be released in the USA. He was not happy with its UK cover which, he said, ‘made him look like a fairy’, so he sent Chas off to contact me. We set up an appointment to meet at Jimi’s flat in London, and I took my portfolio along.

Copyright ©1967 and 2008 by Karl Ferris – All rights reserved.

He loved my work – especially the psychedelic shots – and asked me if I would create a newalbum cover design for the Reprise Records release in the U.S. I said ‘yes’ and that I would have to absorb his music for inspiration. He said that I should accompany him to Olympic studios, were he was recording his next LP, titled Axis Bold As Love. I was totally mind-blown by what I heard there. The shear power of his psychedelic experimentation was awe inspiring, but when taking a break from playing he was a very nice, unaffected and a shy kind of a guy. He asked me where I was from and I mentioned that I had lived in Vancouver for 4 years. He was surprised and said that he also had lived in Vancouver with his grandmother for a while. We then started smoking joints and swapping Vancouver stories, and we got on famously.

At 4am the next morning, I went home with some tapes of the session and the music from the UK Are You Experienced record to use for inspiration for the US album design. I played the music all day and raved about the music to my girlfriend Anke, saying that it sounded so “far out” that it seemed to come from outer space. This gave me the idea of the group traveling through space in a Biosphere on their way to bring their unworldly space music to earth, and so I then set about sketching some designs of this.

For the cover, I decided to use my new “infrared” technique which I had invented, which combines the photographic color reversal image with the heat signature (and, seemingly, the ability to see the Life Force of plant and human life – it even appears to capture auras !).

To create the spherical photo I decided to use a giant ‘fisheye’ lens invented by Nikon (which was much bigger than my Nikon F camera). I would shoot in Kew Botanical Gardens in London, where they had the kind of foliage that would react well to my “Infrared” technique.

Jimi loved this idea when I explained to him how this technique worked, and as I leave nothing to chance and design all the elements of my album cover shots (I had fashion and styling experience from my work in fashion photography), I wanted to pick out the clothes that the group members were going to wear in the shot. I first went to Jimi’s flat to see what he had, and when I looked in his cupboard I saw a painted jacket that an artist had given to him, saying “I painted this for you”. It had large double-pupil eyes painted on the chest, smaller eyes circling the back and psychedelic swirls everywhere else. I said, “This is it! The eyes represent the ‘mirror to the soul’ and the psychedelic vision”. Jimi agreed and said he felt is was part of him and called it the “Gypsy Eyes” jacket.

Copyright ©1967 and 2008 by Karl Ferris – All rights reserved

Later that evening. when Jimi was coming out of the shower before the gig later that night, I was amazed to see his hair all knapped out, as he would normally wear it like the English guys, straightened out and lacquered down into a long ‘Beatle cut’. I said to him, ‘Why don’t you wear it like that, it looks far out’, but he said ‘it looks like shit!’ I countered ‘No man, it looks unique and spacey – it’s just what we need for the cover’. His hair just needed to be evened up and so, at my suggestion, his girlfriend trimmed it into a ball and we had what was later called an “Afro”, after the Sudanese Africans who had always worn their hair like that. The next day, when Jimi’s bandmates Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell saw his hair, they really liked it, so I suggested that they have it, too. My hair stylist Johanna permed their hair into “Afros” so they would have a uniform look and we then went shopping in Kings Road boutiques for outfits for the guys.

When everything was ready, we hired a Rolls Royce limo and drove down to Kew Gardens, where I found the perfect tree which had foliage that reached the ground. I had the guys stand back inside the leaves and shot them through the fisheye lens from a low angle, to emphasize Jimi’s hands. We didn’t shoot long as we had arrived late and we ran out of light, but we returned the following day and shot some more. After the session, to celebrate we walked across the road to an ancient Elizabethan Pub and downed many ales and smoked joints in the garden (it was a good thing that we had a chauffer to drive us back to London!).

When I got the shots back from Kodak, I was amazed and pleased with spherical fisheye picture and the colors that had been created in it. As it turned out, the shot used on the Are You Experienced? U.S. cover was the first frame on the first roll – it was just meant to be – and another fisheye image from that session would later become the international Smash Hits photo cover.

The Kodak lab manager had great praise for the pictures when I picked them up, so when I next took them over to Jimi’s house, he was very pleased and excited and said that the shot was really psychedelic and truly represented his music. ‘You are the only photographer that is doing with photography what I am doing with music – knocking down the barriers and going far out beyond the limits’. He said that he wanted this image for the covers of his U.S. and international releases of his debut album and that I should design the whole album cover for submission to Warner/ Reprise Records. I said that I would be delighted. He then called up Mitch, Noel and Chas to come over and see the new album cover shots. Everyone was very pleased, as they were seen as the perfect images to represent “The Experience” worldwide. We planned a big celebration party that night. We took some LSD and went to the Bag O’Nails club (where Jimi jammed with Jeff Beck) and then took some groupies back to Jimi’s flat and partied all night.

The next day, I began work on designing the album cover. I started with the ‘spheres flying through space’ concept, but as this would be a very wide format, this would only work on a double gatefold cover. I found out from Chas Chandler that Reprise was being cheap and would only produce a single cover, so I had to rethink the design. I began with the approved fisheye shot, over which I placed a gold leaf matte with a hole cut to fit the circular photograph, and added purple filigree psychedelic lettering printed on the gold metallic matte, which would make the lettering also seem metallic. I had an artist friend of mine do the lettering, for which I paid £20 UK to own.

I then organized a photo session in my studio for the back cover shot. I wanted to make a group portrait – emphasizing the group’s Afro hair styles – and so I shot it in black and white with their hair backlit to make ‘halos’ around their heads. The guys loved that shot also.

I then made a printer-ready ‘slick’ of the finished design and sent it to Reprise Records for printing the final cover. Unfortunately, they decided to pursue a cheaper route and not use the gold matte design layer, but to print it all together – photo, lettering and border all in one layer – using gold ink instead for the gold matte surround.

Disappointingly, by choosing this cheaper arrangement, the label’s Art Director was given the AD credit, although it was still my same design and art direction. When Jimi saw the release, he was very upset, as it lost a lot of its visual impact he wanted by using the gold ink border instead of the metallic gold matte surround layer, and also because they had claimed the Art Direction credit. He was very apologetic to me and disappointed, but as it was already out, there was nothing he could do about it, but he said that he wanted to use one of the studio portrait shots for the Axis Bold As Love album that he was currently working on. He said that although the design for that record was by someone else (featuring a Hindu poster design from India), they wanted to use my head shot of the group as an illustration to replace the Hindu god heads that were featured in the center. And so, as it turned out, with the photos I supplied to Reprise for the cover of 1968’s Electric Ladyland album – the final ‘Experience’ album that was released – my images were on all three of the U.S. ‘Experience’ albums issued in Jimi’s lifetime.

I was fortunate and am very proud of my association and friendship with Jimi. He was a prince of a man and we spent many creative hours together discussing philosophy, art, and music. I was also fortunate to have been able to watch many of his mesmerizing performances in the studio and on stage.

He was the ultimate performer – you just couldn’t take your eyes off him. He once told me that “the music played him”, but he played the guitar with total mastery, with every inspiration that came into his mind instantly transmitted through his fingers to caress, slide, strum, beat and squeeze the music out of his guitar. Like a wizard, he would move around his instrument concocting musical magic that would entrance everyone who heard it. He had perfect pitch and timing. He would first play the melody and then go further out in his improvisation than anyone else could, and all the while you could still hear the melody, he could immerse himself deeply in a psychedelic, electronic improvisation and then suddenly, on the beat, he’d bring it back to the melody of the tune. He was the perfect combination of soul and technique – a total genius, an Amadeus Mozart for the Twentieth Century.

Here is a recreation (“AYX Alternate Bubbles”) of the very first double-gatefold cover design that Jimi’s new US record company (Reprise) did not want to do, allowing him only a conventional single-cover design.

About the photographer, Karl Ferris -

Karl Ferris is known as “the Innovator of Psychedelic Photography”. A photographer to the “British Rock Elite” – Eric Clapton, Cream, Donovan, The Hollies and Jimi Hendrix – Ferris was invited as their personal photographer to create their “Images”. He was given an insider access to the “Experience” that defined the 60’s and the world.

As a World War II baby, who grew up in Hastings, England in the 50’s, Ferris learned two things that would later affect his life, the first being the history of Hastings, conquered by the Normans in 1066. This peaked an interest in this medieval period of history and he would bicycle around Norman castles and fantasize about battles, knights, chivalry and heraldry. The second thing he learned was an appreciation of art, having a showing of his early paintings at the Hastings Museum. He later went on to study at Hastings College of Art focusing on the Pre-Raphaelite style of painting which would later influence his psychedelic photography of the 60’s.

After school and with dreams of traveling to India, Ferris signed up as a steward on a P&O liner that went to Australia via India. After returning to England he served two years with the Royal Air Force for his National Service (Conscription) as an aerial photographer. During this period he became friends with a fellow conscriptee, who was a member of a Liverpool Mersey Beat group, and he was introduced for the first time to this type of music.

He was invited back to Liverpool to see a new group – The Beatles – who were appearing at the Cavern Club and was introduced to them. He was then hooked on “Beat” music from which the Beatles took their name. After his military service, Ferris immigrated to Vancouver, Canada working as an assistant to master photographer Harold Nygard. From him Karl learned the skills of composition, form and texture. He also began an involvement in the “Beatnik” lifestyle and began hanging out in “coffee bars” listening to poetry readings and progressive jazz of such artists as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, John Coletrane and Ornette Coleman. He shot his first music subjects at these gatherings for local newspapers and magazines. He also began to take fashion shots of girl friends and models, building up a Portfolio. Nygard told him that he had a real talent in this, but should return to London where the Mod Fashion scene was going on.

In 1964 Karl returned to England and the happening Beat scene. Ferris received commissioned work as a fashion photographer for Teen magazine “19” and later Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, French Mode and Marie Claire. These commissions brought him to such locations as Paris, Cannes, Munich, Ibiza and Morocco. When he wasn’t working he would join into the “Scene”, after meeting up (and eventually dating) Denmark’s Top Superstar model of the time, Karl was introduced to a Pop group called the “ The King Bees” who invited him to sing “Rolling Stones” cover songs with them, so he began touring in and around Copenhagen doing this.

He eventually returned to England for a “shoot” offer with Vogue. The Beatles had just released “ Rubber Soul” and Karl had the chance to meet up with their official photographer, Robert Freeman, who encouraged Ferris to experiment with different styles of images – which he promptly did – in his unique psychedelic style. On a trip to the Spanish island of “Ibiza” he met and began shooting the “Fool” – Simon and Marijke’s Innovative Psychedelic Fashion designs. They were eventually printed in the fashion section of the London times. This was the first time such psychedelic photography and fashions had been seen anywhere. He and the Fool were invited to come to London to shoot some more “Psychedelic” fashion features.

From this Ferris received many commissions. He also began working on “Psychedelic Happening shows” combining projections of colored liquid and photographs over freeform dancers. The likes of Paul McCartney, Graham Nash, Eric Clapton, T Rex, Pink Floyd and John Lennon dropped by and began participating, by playing music, with these shows. Ferris was also invited to do a stage light show for Pink Floyd, which is believed to be the first one ever done in England in 1966.

Ferris met with Jimi Hendrix in 1967 through Chas Chandler, who “discovered” Hendrix. Karl received the compliment of a lifetime when Hendrix remarked to him, on seeing his portfolio, “You‘re doing with photography what I’m doing with music – going far out beyond the limits”.

Karl also created the Album cover images for Donovan’s “Gift From A Flower To A Garden”, “Wear Your Love Like Heaven”, For The Little Ones” and “Hurdy Gurdy Donovan” and for The Hollies’ “Evolution”. He was also instrumental in creating their “Images” for the shoots, which then became their recognized public image. During the years 1967-69, Karl Ferris was one of the preferred photographers to the British Rock elite, shooting also many PR photos for them.

In 2003 Ferris began his quest to re-visit a time in music that defined a generation with, “The Ferris Experience” Happening. Exhibiting the famous Record Album cover photographs and a Psychedelic multimedia video and slide show, opening in Vancouver, Canada at The Exhibitions Gallery . It was be the first time in 35 years that such an exhibition had been unveiled. In 2005, Karl’s Happening show and photo gallery exhibit began a tour of major cities in the USA starting with the San Francisco Art Exchange (continuing in Toronto and other cities in 2006). Also in 2006, a filmed documentary called “Psychedelic Revolution – The Karl Ferris Experience” went into production (to coincide with the 40th anniversary of “the Summer of Love”). To watch this 17-minute documentary on YouTube, please click on the following link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp54sT9qGQk. In 2008, books of his Hendrix and Donovan photographs (including DVDs) will be published.

To see all of the Karl Ferris items available at RockPoP Gallery, please click on the following link – http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/karl-ferris/list.htm?1=1

To see all of the Jimi Hendrix-related items available at RockPoP Gallery, please click on this link -

About Cover Stories – Our series of interviews will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

In each Cover Story, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

We hope that you enjoy these looks behind the scenes of the music-related art business and that you’ll share your stories with us and fellow fans about what role these works of art – and the music they covered – played in your lives.

All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 1967 and 2008, Karl Ferris and Karl Ferris Photography – All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2008 – Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) – All rights reserved

Cover Story – Santana’s “Santana”, with illustration by Lee Conklin

Sugartune — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:00:39 +0000

Copyright ©1968 and 2008 by Lee Conklin – All rights reserved.

Subject: Santana, a 1969 release (on Columbia Records) by Santana, with cover art & design by Lee Conklin

The cover of Santana’s debut record was adapted (at Santana’s request) from a poster design originally done for a concert performance at Bill Graham’s legendary San Francisco venue, the Fillmore West. This iconic image done in pen and ink was certainly one of the best examples of early psychedelic art.

Both guitarist Carlos Santana and artist/illustrator Lee Conklin hit their stride in San Francisco’s mid-60’s cultural scene, with Santana finding a wide variety of music being played in the clubs (Tito Puente’s salsa, folk, Gabor Szabo’s jazz and in 1966, a concert by the great blues guitarist B.B. King at the Fillmore West that would greatly influence the development of his own personal style) and Lee Conklin meeting a number of aspiring artists – Victor Moscoso, Alton Kelley, Stanley Mouse, and many others – who were producing the promotional posters and related graphics for events at the Fillmore and at Family Dog’s Avalon Ballroom and other venues.

Soon after his B.B. King-inspired epiphany, Santana formed The Santana Blues Band (later shortening it to simply “Santana”) and the band made its debut at the Fillmore in June, 1968 (playing a 4-nite stand that was released in 1997 by Columbia/Legacy in a set titled Live at the Fillmore 1968). Santana impressed Bill Graham so much that the band became a regular act at the Fillmore, packing the auditorium regularly.

And then came the Summer of Love, Woodstock, and the band’s legendary performance there on 8/15/69…

Santana’s debut album was released the same month and featured great examples of what would be both “the hits” (“Evil Ways” and “Jingo”) and well-known examples of the band’s musicianship – particularly after their performance at Woodstock – such as the powerful “Soul Sacrifice” (written to be premiered at Woodstock and a particularly impressive showcase for drummer Michael Shieve, I must say). The record peaked in the Top 5, going on to remain on the charts for over two years and ultimately selling over four million copies. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked the album #150 in their 2003 list of the “Greatest Albums of All Time”.

This album featured a classic line-up including Carlos Santana on guitar/vocals, Gregg Rolie on keyboards and vocals, and the awesome rhythm section consisting of David Brown on bass, Michael Shrieve on drums, and Michael Carabello and Jose “Chepito” Areas on percussion.

Lee Conklin also became a favorite of Mr. Graham and produced a particularly trippy poster (aka “BG-134″ to collectors) promoting two multi-day shows at the Fillmore (8/27-29/68 featuring Steppenwolf, the Staple Singers and Santana; 8/30-9/1/68 featuring The Grateful Dead, Sons of Champlain and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band – amazing!), with the resulting pen and ink image so impressing Santana that Lee was asked to create the cover for Santana’s debut, the details of which are presented here in today’s Cover Story. So grab a pick, practice your Sustain, and read on…

In the words of the artist, Lee Conklin – (interviewed February, 2008) –

I didn’t start out initially to be an artist, but while I was studying History and Philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I took on the role of cartoonist for the college paper called the “Calvin College Chimes”. I met my wife Joy there, left school, got married and moved to Florida. The Army grabbed me and I cooked for a year in Korea. They let me out in 1967 and we moved to Los Angeles.

In L.A., I did some pen and ink work and some of it was published by the Los Angeles Free Press (remember “Don’t be a creep, buy a Freep”?), which was cool, and I read an article in Time about the “Summer of Love” and that San Francisco was becoming the center of the Universe for music and art and since I wanted to be a cartoonist, my wife and I decided to move up there to see what we could find.

I heard about the Fillmore and that Bill Graham was hiring artists from the area to make posters for his upcoming shows, and so one Friday night I went there with some drawings and showed them to him. He must have liked what he saw because he asked me if I could do a poster over the weekend for the following week’s show! He chose one of the drawings I had already done and I spent the weekend doing all of the lettering.

From then on for the next two years, I had a pretty steady gig doing posters for Bill and the Fillmore West (Ed. note – he did over 30 posters in 1968-69). At the same time, the Santana band was playing there pretty frequently and I was well aware of their music, both from performances and their demos, which received extensive airplay on FM radio in San Francisco. One day, Bill asked me to do a poster for a show that Santana was headlining and so, with a little inspiration from a Muse named MaryJane, I remembered seeing a picture of a lion in a book of animal picture I had and used that image as the basis of my drawing. Even then, I knew that I was making art for future generations and so even though Bill usually liked posters in color, I detailed this one in pen-and-ink. I only made one image, and the next morning he told me that he was going to print is as it was, so he must have been happy with the results.

Santana also thought that the image was really great, so afterwards he contacted me and asked me to redraw the image for the cover of his debut record. Although the drawing I created really was not inspired by Santana, I guess that the details and the nature of the images impressed him and the people at the record label. My challenge has always been to subvert the poster form to whatever my muse insists on and then to convert my psychedelic experiences to any medium I’m working in. I made it my mission to translate my psychedelic experience into paper. Later on, in the early 70’s, I took acid and when I went to art class, all I could do was sit and stare at the teacher…LSD had little to do with my most-creative efforts (as a druggy, I am over-rated)!

About the artist, Lee Conklin –

Lee Conklin was born July 24, 1941 in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and grew up mostly in Monsey, New York. Lee’s dad was a house builder, his mom was a nurse and he was the youngest child in a family of three brothers and three sisters. Lee graduated from Spring Valley High School in 1959 and attended Calvin College in Grand Rapids Michigan for several years, where he studied philosophy and history and met his wife Joy. In 1972, Lee and Joy had a son, Quinn, and in 1979 a daughter, Caitlin. They have lived in various parts of Northern California over the years.

Lee is now a fulltime artist working out of his home studio in Columbia, California where he continues to create his incredibly-detailed works of poster art (which, according to Lee, he calls “New Age cheesecake”!).

Conklin’s Fillmore posters remain amongst the most-popular and highly-prized with today’s poster collectors – a true testament to his prodigious talents.

To see more of Lee Conklin’s current work, please visit his website at www.leeconklin.com

To see Lee’s “Lion” print in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on this link -http://rockpopgallery.com/items/lee-conklin/list.htm?1=1

To see all of the Santana-related items in the RockPoP Gallery collection please click on this link – http://rockpopgallery.com/items/santana/list.htm?1=1

Santana philanthropy update – Santana and his ex-wife Deborah founded their Milagro Foundation in 1998, which has distributed nearly $2 million to date to organizations that “promote the welfare of underserved children in the areas of health, education, and the arts.”

To learn more, please visit the Milago Foundation’s website at –
http://www.milagrofoundation.org/

In addition, Santana has joined the fight against AIDS in Africa through a partnership with ANSA – Artists for New South Africa (in 2003, all of the proceeds from Santana’s U.S. tour were donated to this cause). To learn more about ANSA, please visit their web site at http://www.ansafrica.org/ .

Other organizations he has championed include Hispanic Education and Media Group, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, Childreach, Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace, American Indian College Fund, Amnesty International, and the LA-based Museum of Tolerance.

In each Cover Story, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 1968 and 2008, Lee Conklin – All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2008 – Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) – All rights reserved.

Cover Story – Ozzy Osbourne’s “Down To Earth”, with photography by Nitin Vadukul

Sugartune — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:00:06 +0000

Subject – Down to Earth, a 2001 record released by Ozzy Osbourne on Epic Records, with cover/insert images by Nitin Vadukul

Metal fans waited impatiently for 6 years for a follow-up to Ozzy Osbourne’s 1995 hit album Ozzmosis, being rewarded in late 2001 with a new studio recording titled Down To Earth.

Of course, during that period, Ozzy was far from inactive, focusing a lot of time and energy on shepherding the successful Ozzfest tours. Beginning in 1996, Osbourne’s traveling show has introduced fans of all subsets of metal/hard rock music to a wide range of acts, including Godsmack, Slipknot, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, System of a Down and Velvet Revolver (until 2006, Ozzy typically headlined either as a solo performer or as part of a reunited Black Sabbath, sharing the Main Stage with other top acts such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Pantera, Marilyn Manson and Megadeth.)

Working for the first time on a solo project without the aid of Black Sabbath cohort Geezer Butler, he surrounded himself with a supergroup of supporters, including Zakk Wylde on guitar, Suicidal Tendencies’ (and, after, Metallica’s) Rob Trujillo on bass and Faith No More’s drummer Mike Bordin on drums. The resulting recording highlighted all aspects of Ozzy’s songwriting expertise, serving up fine examples of what keeps fans happy – from straight-up metal in songs like “Gets Me Through” and “Facing Hell” to introspective ballads such as “You Know” and “Dreamer”.

And so, when Sony Records and Sharon Osbourne asked photographer Nitin Vadukul to come up with an image for the cover of Ozzy’s upcoming record release, the guidance he was given was to “think dark” (he is the Master of Darkness, isn’t he?). Having photographed a wide range of other artists (from Radiohead and Moby to Mudvayne and Korn, as well as Dr. Dre and Eminem), you would think that Nitin would have been prepared do deal with the imagined extremes of such a photo session, but as you’ll read in today’s Cover Story, he found himself caught off guard by one aspect of Ozzy’s personality that shaped the entire creative process. So, cue up the maniacal laughter from “Crazy Train” and read on…

In the words of the photographer, Nitin Vadukul (interviewed Nov./Dec. 2007) –

“I was very pleased to get a call from Sharon Osbourne asking me to come up with ideas for Ozzy’s upcoming record, which was going to be called Down to Earth. I had never photographed Ozzy before, but was always a huge Black Sabbath fan. Sony Records had actually recommended me for the shoot, as I had worked with them many times. The ideas I was to develop would create an image that would possibly be used for the cover, but there was no guarantee. I would have 3 days to work with Ozzy and develop several ideas.

The label and arist management people who were involved with the project were truly amazing – they gave me total freedom to create , and then just picked the ideas they liked that I came up with. I feel that this is the best kind of working relationship because you get to use all of your creativity, and the input from the featured subjects will often go on to inspire your final designs and, ultimately, the final product. The only specific direction I got was from Sharon , who said, ‘think dark’.

The initial inspiration came from my first meeting with Ozzy, because I had never seen a human being with so many tattoos and amazing gothic jewelry in my entire life!! That introduction made me think of the person behind all that – I wanted to know what was inside him.

I submitted 5-6 different ideas before my clients chose the ‘X-rayed Ozzy’ one. One of the ideas was to make up Ozzy as Nosferatu, who was the first Dracula in the movies. As you can see on the accompanying photo (below, left), the make up by Screaming Mad George was amazing. We both liked this idea as it allowed Ozzy to play someone truly dark in broad daylight and get away with it. Another image we shot in New York’s Meatpacking district – we seemed to have found the stairway to Hell (see photo below, right). Some of these shots were also used in the booklet as well.

The CD cover is actually the final image in a sequence that begins inside the CD booklet. It shows a multi-step transformation from Ozzy standing on a path in a forest and then some sort of force or beam hits him to begin the transformation. The transformation idea came from someone at the record label, and I loved it without question. We created ‘the forest’ totally indoors, in the studio.

The entire process – from project approval to the delivery of the final image – took about 8 weeks. I used only a 10×8 PLATE camera, sheet film and my own eyes to shoot the initial images. The only other equipment we used was an X-ray machine and then Photoshop. Sharon had really let me do my thing and suggested some tweaks in the final image – let’s not forget, she did OK the ideas to begin with.

I know that they were very happy with the results. I should say they were completely shocked in a good way, because no-one expected what they finally saw. They must have liked my work during this session as they came back to me to license another image for use on the cover of 2003’s Essential Ozzy Osbourne, which was part of Sony Music’s ‘Essential’ series of limited-edition two-disc compilations of major artists.

I have to tell you that Ozzy is an amazing professional. He was on time, did everything I asked of him and at the same time taught me a great deal about believing in yourself and being the best you can be. I also think that, in my life so far anyway, he is the only person that has managed to keep me laughing for 72 hours non-stop (yes, even in my sleep)!

On top of that, he’s ‘fit as a fiddle’. I know that because before anyone showed up for the second day of shooting, I found him doing 100 push ups in the studio. He was up for just about anything, but on the day we were going to use the X-ray machine he was in the x-ray room and as he started to take his clothes off I burst out laughing. He then asked me if the procedure was going to be harmful and I said ‘no’, but then told him that I needed to leave the room while they did the x-ray. He looked at me and smiled -’Not bloody dangerous, eh?!?!?’”

About the photographer, Nitin Vadukul –

Photographer Nitin Vadukul was born in 1965 in Nariobi , Kenya. At the age of 4, his family moved to London, England where he grew up. His photography career started at the age of 14 and he lived in London and Paris before settling in New York City in 1994, where he now lives.

Nitin’s photographs are truly one of a kind. He creates an individual voice for each subject. His style and sensibility along with his strong technical yet artistic flair make him a true visionary and talent. For publications such as Rolling Stone, Esquire, Vogue and Detour he has photographed well know musicians, actors and celebrities including Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones, Tim Roth, Radiohead and many others. Nitin has been behind the lens for a diverse group of advertising clients including IBM, Nike, Credit Suisse and Peugeot.

For music clients, he has created groundbreaking CD and publicity packages for musicians such as Radiohead , Mudvayne , Korn, Moby , Iggy Pop, The Secret Machines, Wyclef , Missy Elliott, DMX, Eve, Dr.Dre , Eminem, Herbie Hancock and Ozzy Osbourne.

His solo exhibitions include shows for BBH Advertising (New York City – 2007) and the Richard Sena Gallery (Hudson, N.Y. – 2006), and he’s participated in recent group exhibitions including Art Miami (Miami, FL – 2007), Photo Miami (Miami,FL – 2006), the Vaknin Gallery (Atlanta,GA – 2006), Hudson Arts Walk (2006), the Hardcore Art Contemporary Space (Miami, FL – 2006), the “HIP HOP IMMORTALS” showing at Galerie Patricia Dorfmann (Paris, France – 2004), the Govinda Gallery (Washington, D.C – 2004), the Proud Gallery (London, UK – 2003), the Adidas Store (NYC, NY – 2003), the Plus 81 Gallery (Tokyo, Japan – 2002) and the Festival R’encontre (Arles, France – 1998).

His works are also on display at The Saatchi Gallery site – www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk – and he is currently working on a series of images for a project called “ The Art of War”, depicting an epic journey of warriors in worlds unknown. You can see more on this project at his Web site – www.nitinvadukul.com/aow

See more of Nitin’s work on his website, which can be found at www.nitinvadukul.com

To see all of the Ozzy-related items in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click here http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/ozzy-osbourne/list.htm?1=1

All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 2001 and 2008, Nitin Vadukul and Nitin Vadukul Photography – All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2008 – Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) – All rights reserved

Cover Story – The Grateful Dead’s “Dick’s Picks Vol. 25-30?, with design/photography by Robert Minkin

Sugartune — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:00:56 +0000

Subject – Dick’s Picks, a series of CD releases by The Grateful Dead on Grateful Dead Records, with cover images by Robert Minkin

In these days of declining record sales, many people who report on the music business wonder aloud how it is that musicians are supposed to be able to survive (and, even, make a good living) without selling millions of CDs or digital downloads. Throughout the short history of Rock and Roll music, there have been a few great examples of musical acts that have connected with their fan bases in such as deep way that they have been able to build and support their careers (and their families) on the sales of the wide range of related enterprises, with touring being the most obvious (and, done right, a very profitable) method.

The consummate touring band, The Grateful Dead is a great example of such an act. For 30 years, from 1965 to 1995, the band played almost constantly, traveling throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as Europe and, in 1978, in Giza, Egypt, near the Great Pyramids. All during this time, the band lived in an open marriage with its fans, allowing them to record and share their music and, in some cases, providing the throngs of Deadheads who traveled with them from show to show with the necessities of life (free food, shelter, first aid and, quite often, music).

And while this didn’t translate into commercial success in a traditionally-measured way (for example, it took nearly 30 years for American Beauty and Europe ’72 to go Double Platinum, with only one recording – Skeletons from the Closet – going 3X Platinum, and that after 20 years!), the band made a VERY good living from touring and merchandise, and they were very wise to record (on audio and, when possible, video tape) nearly every concert to be put into a vault for use later on.

Beginning in the early 1990s and continuing to this day, the band made good use of their archives by releasing three series of live concert recordings. Two of these series use the multi-track recordings made, remixed using the newer technologies now available. The third series, titled Dick’s Picks, were based on more rudimentary 2-track recordings – more like what would have been recorded by fans at these shows. The series was launched in 1993 and was named for Grateful Dead archivist Dick Latvala, who personally worked with the band members to select the shows for the series and then oversaw production until his death in 1999, after which the new archivist, David Lemieux, took over these responsibilities until the series was completed in 2005.

And although the Dead has fairly-well fully-embraced the new Digital Age – offering their new, internet-only “Grateful Dead Download Series” both on their www.gdstore.com site and through iTunes – the packaging of “traditional” products in high style continues to be a priority for the band. While early records featured the artwork of some of the leading artists of the San Francisco psychedelic and underground scene – Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, John Van Hamersveld, Gilbert Shelton, Philip Garris and others – they chose a long-time fan, artist & photographer Bob Minkin, to create the look of the last 11 volumes of the Dicks Picks series. How this opportunity for a Deadhead to leave a lasting mark on the products for his favorite band is the subject of today’s Cover Story. Read on, dudes…

In the words of the artist, Bob Minkin –

According to Bob – “As a long-time Deadhead, I began photographing the Grateful Dead for fun. In 1977, I had the opportunity to show my work to the publisher of Relix Magazine in NYC. From then on, my photography and artwork was published in almost every issue of Relix – even to this day.

My relationship with the magazine allowed me to get credentials to photograph many artists, and so in the 1980’s, I contacted Grateful Dead Productions directly and they began using my photography for calendars, books and, later, the internet. Although I was also graphic designer with my own business, The Dead’s organization primarily knew me as a photographer.

That all changed in 2000 when they were looking for a new packaging designer. A friend who works for Grateful Dead Productions recommended me to fill that role. I made a presentation and they were impressed and hired me to create a new look for the CD cover and other packaging for the 25th Dick’s Picks. Dick’s Picks is a numbered series of live concert releases that were hand picked by the Dead’s archivist, Dick Latvala, and so the criteria was that the design had to lend itself to a numbered series.

Number 25 was a stand-alone design, but my client was so pleased with that package that they hired me to design and produce all of their subsequent CD, DVD and box set releases. The artist’s management provided me with no visual direction at all. It was wide open for me to come up with an array of possibilities for them to consider.

The next 11 releases that I created were divided into two series with different designs. For Numbers 26-30, I created the ’stamp’ series. As a fan of the band, I was already immersed in their imagery. Their song lyrics conjure up visions of the Wild West, trains, hobos, poker games, dancing bears, roses, outer space and so on, and since these were live concert recordings, microphones, tape reels, the venue and location could all play a part in the visuals.

I had proposed a few different themes for the series – a ‘road case’ theme, a ’space’ theme, and a theme based on postage stamps. Here are some comps of the designs I had proposed –

Copyright 1993-2005 and 2006, Robert Minkin and Minkin Designs – All rights reserved.My client ultimately chose the ’stamp’ design. The idea was to make the CD look like a mailed package, complete with stamp and postmark. The postmark would reflect the date of the concert recording and the stamp would be evocative of the Dead’s imagery.I looked through my childhood postage stamp collection and found beautiful stamps form South America dating from the 1930s-40s. When I scanned and enlarged the stamps, the detail was incredible. Working in Photoshop, I manipulated the images to make the postage value conform to the series number of the Dick’s Picks. Then I replaced the central image and merged it seamlessly into the original stamp design. Two of the central images were from photographs I shot – the skeletons on #26 were taken in Mexico, while the rose on #30 was taken in my garden. The others I found in my collection of ‘old stuff’.

I scanned wrapping paper for the background and created a ‘postmark’ in Adobe Illustrator. I imported the postmark into Photoshop and incorporated it into the paper scan and added shadows and de-bossing effects to make it look real. In the end, everyone was extremely pleased with the results, so much so that they hired me as their principal designer for their new releases over the next five-year period. Nothing wild took place during the development process – it was all very business-like – but it was and still is thrilling for me to work with my favorite band.”

About the artist & photographer, Bob Minkin –

In 1974, when Bob brought his Kodak Instamatic camera to a New Riders Of The Purple Sage concert at New York City’s Academy Of Music, he had no idea he was about to embark on a lifetime journey.

A graduate of New York City’s School Of Visual Arts, Bob earned his BFA in graphic design and photography. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and currently lives with his family in Marin County, CA. He is a partner in Minkin Design, a full-service web design and graphic studio.

His photographs have appeared internationally on CDs and DVDs, and on the covers and insides of many magazines and books. Clients have included Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Guitar World and Grateful Dead Productions.

As Bob tells it – “When I was 13 years old, I fell in with a clique who turned me on to the music I still love today. By 1974, I was going to concerts by Eric Clapton, Grateful Dead, Johnny Winter, Mountain, NRPS, and others. Greatly impressed with this new world, I wanted to capture a memory or keepsake for myself. I began taking my camera to almost all the concerts I attended.

Living in NYC afforded me the opportunity to hear plenty of live music. It became a hobby, an obsession and I went to many shows, seeing not only bands that I was familar with, but exploring new bands that were unfamilar to me – The Plasmatics, Todd Rundgren, Ramones, B-52s, Talking Heads, etc.

By 1977, I had already amassed a considerable portfolio. At that time – through a chance encounter – I hooked up with Relix Magazine, then a Grateful Dead fanzine. My photos were published in Relix and I began gaining official access, that is, photo passes to many concerts. I continue to work with Relix to this day.

As time went on, I expanded my contacts in the music industry. Working with Monarch Entertainment in the Northeast, later Bill Graham Presents when I moved to San Francisco. During the 1980’s I began a close relationship with Grateful Dead Productions which continues to this day in the form of my role as their package designer for most of their CD and DVD releases.

I still do a lot of photography, of course. When shooting, I like the beauty of natural light and try to be as unobtrusive as possible, allowing my subjects to be their natural selves. Capturing the definitive peak moments of an event is what I strive for.”

Bob’s design studio – Minkin Design – opened shop in 1990, the year Bob and Anne Minkin escaped from New York and settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. The two talented designers met at Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts, graduating with BFAs in Graphic Design and designs on a future together.

Their entrepreneurial start in California after stints in the NY corporate world netted them clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500’s. In addition to many long-term client relationships, they developed a full network of support people and services, along with the ability to successfully manage any marketing communications project, no matter the size or complexity.

Their Philosophy
1. Listen and learn
2. Respond creatively with clarity, function, usability and good looks.

To see more of Bob Minkin’s current work, please visit his site at -
http://www.minkindesign.com/cd-dvd.html

To see more of his work as a photographer, please follow this link -
http://www.minkindesign.com/photo/

To see Bob’s work available through RockPoP Gallery, please follow this link –
http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/bob-minkin/list.htm

To see all of the Grateful Dead-related items in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click here – http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/grateful-dead/list.htm?1=1

About Cover Stories – Our weekly series will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 1993-2005 and 2006, Robert Minkin and Minkin Designs – All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2008 – Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) – All rights reserved.

Cover Story – Eric B. & Rakims “Follow the Leader”, with photography by Drew Carolan

Sugartune — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 12:00:33 +0000

Subject – Follow the Leader, a 1988 release by Eric B. & Rakim on Uni/MCA records, with cover image by Drew Carolan

For a guy who thinks that he has a fairly open mind when it comes to music appreciation and thinks that he’s kept abreast of most major musical revolutions of the past 40 years, I must honestly say that I missed the beginnings of organized rap & hip-hop. I do remember Deborah Harry’s rap on “Rapture”, and thought that that was kinda cool, but I entered the rap world only after being exposed to Ice-T’s Body Count. As a music fan with hard rock/heavy metal leanings, I heard that album, was thoroughly impressed, and then wanted to know more.

In my quest for knowledge, I consulted a friend and co-worker at the time who had been involved in the late 80’s rap/hip-hop scene in NYC, which eventually led to the production/promotion world and his own label. He helped me understand who was who, who came first, who was popular, etc., but it may have been too little, too late (thanks, Rocky, for trying). However, when I started the gallery, it became clear that the imagery used to package and promote records in this genre was really compelling, with the talents and artistry of the photographers and illustrators well-represented in the major “world’s best record cover” lists. More than what was typically found in the rock and pop genres, these photographs and illustrations were a vital part of the artists’ image, with these images the keys to the record-buying public’s acceptance of an artist’s “street cred”. The better an artist’s credibility, the more likely it was that the lyrics represented a rapper’s actual life story, and the more that the public believed, the larger the artist’s loyal fan base would grow.

In the mid-late 1980’s, no one had a better claim to the title of “best DJ and MC” in the hip-hop scene than NY’s Eric B. & Rakim. Eric B’s skills on the turntable and his mix of samples were unique and unmatched, whereas Rakim is still considered one of the – if not “the” – premiere lyricists and rap stylists ever (what I liked most was that I could understand the lyrics and, as a drummer myself, I could truly appreciate the technical mastery of the smooth-yet-intricate beats that underlie the vocals). When asked who influenced their styles the most, every rapper (and most of the groups that combined hip-hop and rock – from the Wu-Tang Clan to Rage Against the Machine) named Eric B. & Rakim at the top of their lists. Their second landmark major-label record – 1988’s Follow the Leader – cemented their place in rap/hip-hop history (one of Source Magazine’s 2005 list of the 100 Best Rap Albums), featured much more polished production values than its predecessor (1987’s Paid in Full), the introduction of more unique instrumentation, and samplings of classic R&B that surely boosted the revenues of used record stores as a new generation of DJs looked for source materials they could use to try and out-do the reigning kings. A fixture in NY-area photo-journalism, photographer Drew Carolan was there to capture many of the stars of the emerging scene and was asked to shoot a series of photos out of which would emerge the memorable cover image for Follow the Leader.

So, let’s “Pump Up The Volume” and listen to the Cover Story behind one of rap’s most-iconic recordings…

In the words of the photographer, Drew Carolan (interviewed December, 2007) –

“I had photographed Eric and Ra for Interview in 1987 and, as an ‘inner-city white kid on the hip-hop tip’*(Ed. – see translation, below), I was down with their first record, Paid in Full, as that was a big club record. I had worked with several artists at Def Jam – artists such as LL Cool J – and was already doing editorial pieces for magazines like Interview and SPIN.

For a special Interview Christmas issue, I did a series of photographs which featured the best and brightest rap and hip-hop artists of the day, including Schooly D, Davy DMX, DJ Hurricane and Eric B and Rakim, and so when the Follow the Leader record was being put together Robert Smith, who was the creative director at UNI/MCA, called me to do the covers for the album and the 12-inch single. Robert knew me from the music biz as I was beginning to make packages which included photography and music videos for MCA R&B artists such as Brenda K. Starr and Bobby Brown. Initially, we met with Lyor Cohen and Bill Adler at the Def Jam offices down on Elizabeth Street. They just wanted to make sure that their artist would look as ‘fly’ as possible and, using the clothing designed by Dapper Dan, that wasn’t a hard thing to do.

You have to understand that Eric is a large, quiet gentleman who does his talking by way of the turntables, whereas Rakim is a person as complex as his rhymes. The antithesis of Eric, Rakim is like caged heat waiting to boil over. His thoughts and feelings can be read on his face – but not for long. Like his lyrics, as soon as you think you have him sussed, he’s moved on. They were the perfect compliment for a brand of music that was both rhythmic and deep at a time when no one else was doing what they were doing. Essentially, they were leaders in the school of Rap – and they knew that – so there was no lack of confidence there.

I thought it would be cool to shoot down by the bridges in Lower Manhattan since they represented the connections between the other boroughs and then beyond. The album and title track were called ‘Follow the Leader’, so basically I wanted to present the two of them as ‘leaders’. To do that, I’d shoot them from a low ‘heroic’ angle, being sure to incorporate the design of the car into the shot. I like to keep things graphic and minimal when it comes to design and I like to compose in camera as much as possible. The open sky allowed me to feature the artists against it and, since they were wearing dark clothes, it worked perfectly as a silhouette (so to speak), with the hint of the bridges augmenting the expanse and vibe of New York City.

The morning light would make for a perfect set-up for this cover, so we timed the shoot that way. Photographers always love the early light and, being on the East side of town, we would have a window of opportunity until 10:30am and, after that, it was anybody’s guess.I had rented some 4 x 4 silver reflectors to bounce any ambient light around since the riverfront and the bridges could create lots of shadows and obstructions. On location for a shoot like this and on a limited budget, you have to be clever and economical with the way you work. My background working with several master photographers taught me how to deal with all of that. Annette Daniels was the stylist (she and I had worked on a bunch of project together. She was friends with Living Colour when I photographed them before they were signed and then again when I did the Vivid album photography, their ‘Cult of Personality’ video, and so on) and I had a couple of assistants with me to work the reflectors and call out the light readings but other than that the only other thing I needed was a ladder.

Eric showed up with his crew driving a Rolls Royce of insane magnitude – the kind of vehicle that you look at, but certainly don’t touch. It was a dark burgundy with black trim and had lots of sexy curves to it. It brought the look of the area up to a whole new level. This was basically the Fulton Fish Market area, and when I think of that, I think of On the Waterfront and not about Rolls Royce’s.

As the morning progressed, the light I was hoping for came and went and Rakim was nowhere to be found. This was before technology made someone just a phone call or a text message away. We were standing around in the 30-degree weather watching the winter light head towards New Jersey.

As it turns out, Eric and Ra had done a performance at a fundraiser for Jesse Jackson (who was running for President in 1988) the night before at the Apollo Theater. Word from the inside was that there was a riff between the two that day and during the encore Rakim – the microphone fiend – walked off and left Eric on stage. They had not seen each other since the night before and now here we were on the album cover shoot, four hours behind schedule, in the icy cold and it was about to get colder. When you’re doing a shoot like this, the key to being a pro is to maintain your cool. This would be a test, no doubt.

Rakim showed up driving his Mercedes and behind him were a slew of SUV’s carrying his posse. ‘At least he was here’ is what I figured. Now all we had to do was get an image that would work. The guys were already dressed, so that saved some time in the process. About the only thing that Rakim said to me was ‘How long is this going to take?…I got to get back to Queens!’ Obviously there was something in Queens that was more important than this. I told Ra that we would get him out of there as soon as we possibly could.

I has already shot some singles of Eric leaning on his Rolls with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. These looked good, so we added Rakim into the equation and worked quickly with the available light – which was heading West – and so Rakim could get back to Queens.

I shot everything with my Hasselblad ELX with either a 50 or an 80 mm lens. At the end of the shoot both posse’s got together to pose for a group shot with Eric and Ra’s car pointing towards each other. I shot some with the Hassey and then fired off a roll with my motorized Nikon FM. All the film was Ekatchrome transparency 100 pushed a stop.

I edited the work down to my top choices (keeping a wide range, but weeding out the obvious) and sent them to Robert. He then worked with my friend – designer Carla Davis – on the layout and the lettering. I didn’t see anything again until it was finished but honestly, with Robert and Carla working together, I knew they would make the best image possible. As it turned out, the label was happy, I was pleased, and Rakim made it back to Queens with time to spare. At the time, I knew the record was ground-breaking just because of the samples being used and the flow of the rhymes. I never anticipated the amount of recognition the record has received over the years, so that is naturally very pleasing.You know, I thought it was really dope that these guys were willing to turn their backs to the camera for the cover shot. The concept was that if you are following the leader, this is what you’d see – their backs. As Rakim says on the record…’A lot of you wondering why the album was late? I was giving you time to get the last one straight…’ Check the words…”

* – It means that I was from deep in the bowels of the city (Lower East side) and “tip” as in tipped off to something new, fresh!

About the photographer, Drew Carolan –

Drew Carolan was born and raised on the Lower East Side of New York City. He has been creating photographic works since 1973. His attraction to art started when he discovered graffiti in the early 70’s. Writers like Super Kool 223, Stay High 149 and Dino Nod were superheroes to him.Drew served as a photographic assistant to photographer Richard Avedon from 1983 to 1985 and helped him complete the book titled In The American West. Drew also worked as a photographer for MTV Networks in the 1980’s, and his work has appeared in numerous publications including Interview, SPIN, Rolling Stone, Elle, Vogue and The New York Times.

As a director and producer, he has created many ground-breaking music videos, PSA’s and documentary films. Most notably, his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, B-52’s and Living Colour have been seen around the world.

Drew served as the line producer for David La Chapelles’ documentary RIZE, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. He is now producing another music-based documentary titled A TASTE OF HEAVEN, based on the life of New Orleans gospel legend Rymond Myles.

Recently, Drew just completed a book of photographs entitled MATINEE featuring portraits of the kids who frequented the Hardcore Matinee’s at CBGB’s in the early 1980’s. He has also been photographing the surf culture in California since he moved there in 1994.

To see more of Drew’s work, please visit his website at
http://www.drewcarolan.com

or visit him on MySpace at
http://myspace.com/drewcarolan

For more information on Eric B. and Rakim, please visit these sites:
Rakim is still making music, having worked recently with Kanye West – http://www.myspace.com/rakim
Eric B. is a very successful restaurateur and, as a result, has expanded his car collection impressively –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Barrier

For more information on RockPoP Gallery, we invite you to visit our site at http://www.rockpopgallery.com

Every Friday and syndicated the following week on The Rock and Roll Report, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 1988 and 2007 Drew Carolan Photography – http://www.drewcarolan.com/ - All rights reserved. Except as noted, All other text Copyright 2007 – Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) – All rights reserved.

Cover Story – Korn’s “Korn”, with photography by Stephen Stickler

Sugartune — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:00:49 +0000

Subject – Ko?n – Korn, a 1994 release on Immortal/Epic Records, with cover photography by Stephen Stickler

With “grunge” music filling the airwaves and dominating music television, Bakersfield, California’s Ko?n was a band that stood out from everyone else in a number of different ways. They weren’t full of angst – they were an angry band of metalheads who had discovered hip-hop beats and had a lead singer that also played the bagpipes! After being discovered by an A&R exec while playing in a nightclub, they worked on their unique musical and lyrical stylings until late 1994, when they released their self-titled debut Korn on Immortal/Epic Records.

The release of Korn also established a new genre – called “nu-metal” that showed the way for a number of bands (Godsmack, Limp Bizkit, Saliva, etc.) who had all wanted to give skate/surf kids the high-speed, beat-driven adrenalin rush that wasn’t found in the Seattle sound and to re-kindle the fire under many fans who thought that the metal genre had been buried alive or moved overseas. They toured relentlessly, opening for bands such as Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Danzig, Megadeth and Fear Factory and building a cult of mosh-crazy fans whose following has lasted through the years. Even with little/no radio or video support, their first album has since sold over 3 million copies (rising to #1 on the Billboard “Heatseekers” chart and as high as #72 in the Billboard “Top 200 Albums chart”) and their critical acclaim has handed them six Grammy nominations and two wins.

While Korn’s music is often filled with a sense of dark humor, the cover shot for their debut record did not tickle everyone’s funny bone for its seemed depiction of a young girl about to be lead away from her playtime at the park by a shadowy stranger (with the back-cover shot adding even more to the mystery). Brought in to use his artistic and photographic talents to develop this stunningly creepy image (and others used to illustrate the CD insert), photographer Stephen Stickler recounts what went in to making this memorable work of art in today’s Cover Story…

In the words of the photographer, Stephen Stickler (interviewed November, 2007) –

“At the time of this shoot, I was working with my friend Dante Ariola, who was a graphic designer at the time (now one of the top TV commercial directors in the world – a 2007 DGA award winner!). His company did a lot of work with Sony and Epic, and so we went up to meet the band at a recording studio in Malibu and to listen to some of the tracks. I knew right away that they were going to be huge – the music was so powerful and new sounding. And dark!

Jonathan, the singer of the band, had a pretty strange background – he had been schooled in mortuary science and had worked in the coroner’s office prior to joining the band – so his perspective was dark, to say the least. The cover concept may have been his idea, come to think of it. It was one of the few instances I can recall when the band’s input was great to work with. The label was pretty hands-off on this one, surprisingly, perhaps because I had already done so much of work for them.

This shot was done specifically for the cover and the band’s management and label were involved, not conceptually, but in a supportive role. The band wasn’t even there, if I recall correctly. The little girl in the shot is actually the A&R guy’s (Paul Pontius) niece (8-year-old Justine Ferrara), and the shot took place in a playground located behind the label’s West Hollywood offices. ‘Uncle Paul’ and Justine’s mother were there to supervise, and I just told her to ‘look scared’.

I forget exactly where the specific idea came from, but the menacing shadow is actually Dante’s. He was making strange shapes with his hands to get an eerie shape in the late afternoon sun – note the elongated shadows. You’ll note that the girl’s shadow appears to hang from the shadow of the “K” in the Korn logo. We positioned it there on purpose, and the band was enthusiastic about the effect.

This was in the early days of Photoshop, so I used a manual technique of masking the film to reduce the color saturation and achieve a somewhat faded Ektachrome effect. I don’t generally shoot a lot of frames, so the edit process was easy.

The shot taken for the back cover shows an empty swing swinging, and it completes the tragic story we were trying to tell. Our original submission was accepted, which again is rare. The label was happy with the outcome, but the covers we shot for their 2nd release were rejected because we pushed it too far that time out. Once the girl’s parents saw the finished cover, Paul was in the doghouse for a while, or so I heard…

The band was pleased, too, which of course led to many nights of mayhem when we hung out with the band, moshing up in front, and drinking the sponsored Jagermeister backstage. I remember seeing Marilyn Manson at a Korn after party and wondering who that nerdy geek was who was trying so hard. Then a year later, he was huge!”

About the photographer, Stephen Stickler –

<- Stephen, on his way to work in one of LA’s trendy neighborhoods…

Stephen Stickler has worked hard to establish himself as a photographer and photo-journalist with serious credentials, having served as the Executive Editor for Bikini Magazine (“ACTION. FILM. CARS AND ROCK N. ROLL”) from 1993-1996 and then as Fashion and Photography editor for Raygun Magazine. His work has been published in many magazines, including both general interest publications (Newsweek, Life and Alternative Press) and special interest pubs in the music and fashion world, including Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Seventeen, Maxim, Revolver, CMJ and many others.

His record label packaging work has served to promote a wide range of artists on a “who’s who” list of labels including Sony, Atlantic, Virgin, Warner Brothers, Tommy Boy, Elektra, Universal, Dreamworks, MCA, Mercury and A&M, while his fashion work has improved the fortunes of companies such as Fresh Jive, Ocean Pacific, Sketchers and many others.

He currently lives and works in the LA area and, sadly for fans of his past work in the record packaging area, he’s moved on to focus his efforts and talents in more supervisory roles, i.e., directing and producing. As he puts it (and to which this author must sadly agree) – “The glory days of album photography are over, as are the days of big cover budgets. I was lucky to catch the tail end of 12″ vinyl covers. CDs are dying and, really, so is cover art. It’s just not the same looking at a record cover on a 2″ iPod screen, whereas I’ll always have fond memories of putting on a new album I’d bought and studying the packing while listening to the record for the first time.”

To see more of Stephen Stickler’s work, please visit his website at www.stephenstickler.com

For more information on Korn, please visit their website at http://www.korn.com/site.php

For more information on RockPoP Gallery, we invite you to visit our site at http://www.rockpopgallery.com

Every Friday and syndicated the following week on The Rock and Roll Report, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

Cover images and S. Stickler photo Copyright 1994 and 2007 Stephen Stickler Photography – http://www.stephenstickler.com/ – All rights reserved. Except as noted, All other text Copyright 2007 – Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) – All rights reserved.

Cover Story – Aimee Mann’s “The Forgotten Arm”, with art direction by Gail Marowitz

Sugartune — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:00:29 +0000

Subject – Aimee Mann – The Forgotten Arm, a 2005 release on SuperEgo Records, with cover art direction by Aimee Mann & Gail Marowitz

Based on a story about the relationship between a small-time boxer who’s a Vietnam vet who returned with a LOT of emotional baggage and his small-town girlfriend – who both simply want to run away from their problems – singer/songwriter Aimee Mann’s concept album and her band take the listener on a cross-country musical tour that ends with our two young lovers breaking up, facing their demons and, ultimately, getting back together – well, sort of…

Aimee Mann’s career – from her beginnings in Virginia and Boston at the Berklee College of Music, to her musical travels through punk (The Young Snakes) to New Wave success (and an MTV Video Award for “Best New Artist”) in the mid-80s with ‘Til Tuesday (Voices Carry) and then finally as a well-regarded solo artist, independent label owner and an Academy Award nominated songwriter (in 1999, for music and songs written for the film Magnolia) – has also had its share of heavyweight successes and the sucker punches that only an independent-minded artist suffers in the music business, but in the end, she’s found true love (with singer Michael Penn, whom she married in 1997) and keeps delivering her music to her fans, her way.

The title for this recording is borrowed from a boxing term and serves to prepare the listener for the danger, scuffling and unseen roundhouse punches found in Mann’s songs about both John’s boxing vocation and in his relationship with Caroline. Representing that visually was the challenge that Aimee and her long-time cohort in design – art director Gail Marowitz – took on together, with the results so impressive that they were awarded with a Grammy in 2006 for “Best Recording Package” (single CD). The journey to this lofty place in the music and design worlds is documented here in today’s Cover Story interview…

MG – Thank you for talking with me today. I want to focus first on the artist you were creating packaging for. How is it that you were first introduced to Aimee Mann’s music?

GM – I met Aimee at Imago (Recording Company, and now-defunct BMG label. Gail’s creative relationship with Aimee Mann has spanned more than ten years, designing all of her CDs since 1993’s Whatever – MG). I met her more as a big fan, as I really liked her in ‘Til Tuesday. You could tell by her voice and her song-writing that she was truly unique – no one writes better lyrics. We worked on album design – cover, liner, etc., – as true friends and collaborators. The only other artist I’ve worked with who showed this degree of dedication was Patti Smith.

MG – In coordinating all of the artists, writers, lithographers, and licensing folks, how long did this process take – from start to finished product?

GM – My first conversation with Aimee took place at the end of October 2004 after she was almost done with her record. She sent me some of the initial mixes and told me that the record was conceived as a concept album about a boxer coming back from Vietnam, falling in love and wrestling with his addictions, She had seen Owen Smith’s (the illustrator) show at La Luz De Jesus (a well-known gallery in Los Angeles), and I was familiar with the beautiful magazine covers he’d done for the New Yorker magazine, so I contacted him about this project and, luckily, he had heard of Aimee Mann and accepted the commission. We spent the next 3 months working together and had the package in production in March 2005 – a luxurious amount of time compared to the regular major-label process – I’ve often had only 10 days to put together a package!

MG – Gail, was there a track on The Forgotten Arm that guided your vision?

GM – Although no particular track inspired the work, the song “Video”, which has themes of loneliness and addiction, galvanized the whole package’s “bones”. The Owen Smith illustration we used inside the package for “Video” was the one that we saw at his show (it shows an exhausted boxer with his head down) that drew us to his work. The term “Forgotten Arm” stands for the arm that comes out of nowhere to clock you when two exhausted boxers are leaning on each other.

MG – What “guidance” – or specific instructions – did you provide the illustrators or the designers that created the key parts of your package?

GM – We just tortured Owen Smith in front of his wife and two kids! He’d heard Aimee’s music and responded to her artistry. I did my usual synopsis of each song on the album and provided him with that as guidance. He did pencil sketches, which Aimee and I reviewed, and went back and forth until the final product was ready and we were all happy with it. I did struggle to come up with the right type style for the lettering – I wanted a “pulp-fiction novel feel” to it. While I was upstate at an auction, I bought a bunch of old pulp fiction books and found my inspiration in a book I’d bought and adapted a font and color palette from that.

MG – Did you consider your efforts to be works of self-expression, or did you take your lead from your client (or the artist)?

GM – This was not a work of self-expression. I want to bring the artist’s vision to life and, in this case, Aimee comes “fully-formed”, versus many other artists who might be clueless as to how to approach this part of producing their record. Once we’d agreed that the theory behind the package was “chapters in a book”, I felt that the lyrics should be presented looking like pages in that book. She worked hard as a collaborator with me to re-write the lyrics in this fashion to fit the art direction.

MG – Here’s a more general item I’m interested in getting your opinion on – With the electronic delivery of music products growing at a fast pace, are you noticing any more/less enthusiasm on the client’s (or artist’s) behalf to invest time and money in packaging that stands out?

GM – The major labels don’t seem eager to invest in packaging. The majors are like the Queen Mary making a turn, where the indies are more like speed boats, so they’ll most probably be more interested in this sort of investment. I think that the best ideas will focus on doing limited-edition artwork delivered on multiple platforms, and special packages for the fans – bonuses that will separate these products and keep them unique. These can be delivered online, too (as Apple has demonstrated in their iTunes store, offering special versions of downloadable album cover artwork/notes for some albums – MG).

MG – Thanks to you and best of luck in your career – we look forward to seeing more of the fruits of your labor in upcoming years.

Editor’s Note – in addition to the Grammy, the packaging work for The Forgotten Arm was also honored in late 2005 with an Alex Award at the Entertainment Media Expo. Gail has continued to produce great packaging and online products for her label’s roster of talent, including images for Evanescene, Seether, DrowningPool and Scott Stapp from Creed.

About the art director, Gail Marowitz –

Gail Marowitz – winner (as art director, along with Aimee Mann) of the 2006 Grammy Award for “Best Recording Package – Single CD” for “The Forgotten Arm” by Aimee Mann. For over 17 years – currently as V.P. and Creative Director for Wind-up Records and previously as V.P. of Design at Columbia Records, she has been designing music packaging, having designed covers for Patti Smith, James Taylor, Bette Midler, Aerosmith and Bob Dylan. Prior to her stint at Columbia Records, she was Director of Creative Services at the now defunct Imago Recording Company where she worked with such diverse artists as Henry Rollins, Paula Cole and Aimee Mann. She has received numerous awards and has had her work published in various design annuals. She has lectured at the Type Director’s Club and been the Moderator of the panel “Art Directors Talk Shop” for three years running at The Entertainment/Media Packaging Summit in Los Angeles.

Shortly after winning her Grammy, Gail started a new career at Wind-Up Records, the largest independent label in the United States, where she oversees the entire label’s visual direction, from packaging to videos, as well as satisfying her need for listening to blistering hard rock in the office with no fear of being asked to turn it down.

She graduated Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT with a degree in English literature. Much of Gail’s youth was misspent in record stores, staring at album covers (much of her adulthood is spent the same way!). Some things, fortunately, never change.

For more information on Gail Marowitz’s company – Wind-Up Records – please visit their website at http://www.winduprecords.com

For more information on Aimee Mann, please visit her website at http://www.aimeemann.com or the United Musicians site at http://www.unitedmusicians.com/temp/index.html

For more information on RockPoP Gallery, we invite you to visit our site at http://www.rockpopgallery.com

Every Friday and syndicated the following week on the Rock and Roll Report, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

Cover image Copyright 2005 SuperEgo Records – http://www.aimeemann.com/ – All rights reserved. Gail Marowitz photo image Copyright 2007 Wind-up Records – http://www.winduprecords.com Except as noted, All other text Copyright 2007 – Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) – All rights reserved.

Cover Story – The Go-Gos “God Bless The Go-Gos”, with cover photograph by Maryanne Bilham

Sugartune — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:00:09 +0000

Subject – The Go-Gos God Bless The Go-Gos – a 2001 release on Beyond Records (Re-released in the U.S. in 2004 on Sony/Legacy/Eagle Records), with cover photography by Maryanne Bilham

Having released 3 albums in the early 1980s (including 1982’s huge Vacation, previously discussed in our 9/14 Cover Story) that coincided with the path that took them from bar band to opening act for the Police to superstardom on their own, the Go-Gos disintegrated within a year after releasing 1984’s Talk Show, and the members went their separate ways.

Then, after many years working on solo and side projects, some powerful force took control and brought the original band members back together in 2001 to create an album of new music called God Bless the Go-Gos. The record impressed the critics – many of whom had originally downplayed the band’s importance in the emergence of the 80s punk/pop scene – and showed what we all loved about this band. They are still out to have a good time and want us to grab a beer, talk about whatever’s on our minds today, and if we can share a laugh about how ridiculous the head of the cheerleading squad looks in her too-tight uniform, all the better.

Impressively (particularly to middle-aged men like me who want to believe that aging is just the passage of time), in addition to reminding us of their talents as great songwriters and musicians, the “cute and innocent” young girls who we knew in the early 1980s had grown into a band of alluring women that still have “got the beat”! Of course, then, it would take a photographer with a strong sense of how modern women should be interpreted visually to create just the perfect set of images for the cover of the first new Go-Gos record in 17 years. They found that in Maryanne Bilham, who shares her recollections of the process of turning “good time girls” into Saints in today’s Cover Story…

In the words of the photographer, Maryanne Bilham (interviewed in October 2007) -

“I originally started working with Gina Schock – drummer of the Go-Gos – in the late 90s, photographing her for a series of ads for musical companies she endorsed. She then suggested me to their manager as a potential photographer for the new Go-Gos CD – their first in many years.

The people at Beyond Music were handling the Go-Gos project, but it was the band’s long-time manager – Ginger Canzoneri – who was Art Directing and making the decisions about any photography that might be needed. During this period of time I was also putting on a personal exhibition – a project called Divine Eros, which were modern day photographic interpretations of female saints and mystics. This exhibition was unknown to the Go-Gos at the time, but it ultimately provided some interesting synchronicity!

A meeting had been arranged between myself and Ginger so that I could present my music portfolio to her. We discussed the various musicians I had worked with and the images I had created, and as the meeting drew to a close, she decided to show me the top secret concept for the upcoming project. She the produced a sheet of paper with drawings of prayer cards, each one depicting a Go-Go with a unique virtue. Taking this as my cue, the next day I dropped by the images from my Divine Eros show and, a few days later, I was commissioned to produce the new Go-Gos album art work.

The band has always created interesting art work for their album projects. Ginger was adamant that it should be a return to the “classic album artwork of the 70s” – e.g., paying homage to the great works of Hipgnosis, Kosh, Roger Dean, etc. The fact they had not released any new music in such a long time provided us with a unique opportunity to produce a memorable conceptual piece.

Wardrobe was a large component stylistically in pulling the imagery together. Wardrobe designer Jennifer E. Mc Manus was hired to create the drapery and habits. We decided against using crosses or other props that would denote a particular religious denomination. Next on the list was the makeup and hair. Jane Wiedlin had green hair at the time, so this was another interesting challenge we needed to work through. For this work, we selected a stylist named Robin Slater, who is well-known in Hollywood for her feature work on films such as Memoirs of a Geisha, Artificial Intelligence and The Grinch.

Apart from the cover portraits, we decided to also recreate the famous Nicolas Poussin painting titled Les Bergeres d’Arcadie, more recently associated The Da Vinci Code, the Priory of Sion, Holy Blood Holy Grail, etc. We commissioned Schmidli Backdrops (LA) to paint a backdrop of the hillside and tomb using Poussin’s painting as the reference. Both Ginger and I were very well-read on the Templar Tales of Mary Magdalene and the stories surrounding the Cathars and the Merovingian blood line in the South of France (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian) and thought that this would be an interesting element to include in the artwork. This was all pre-Da Vinci Code and everyone’s current fascination with The Divine Feminine, as seen through Dan Brown’s successful novel.

Also, at the time of the shoot, none of the Go-Gos got on particularly well, so in fact I went to some lengths to make sure their portraits and prep were done separately. I guess this is typical of many bands who reform after being apart for a while –they’re like dysfunctional families. Since all the Go-Gos were in different locations at the time, all the info and concepts from the development meetings were passed through Ginger to Beyond Music, who gave us complete creative freedom for the image development.

It took 3 months from the intial meeting with Ginger to complete the project. The images were shot on a 6×7 Mamiya camera on Fuji 400 ASA transparency film, which I cross-processed to color neg and then had skintones balanced. This gave me a fully-saturated image with a flawless skin quality which worked well for this iconic imagery. The final images were then worked on with Photoshop to create halo effects and renderings to create the final effect.

The label was very happy with the results, but at the last minute they became concerned about an overload of religious imagery. Sadly, neither the “Poussin image” nor an image of the group in habits surrounding a disco ball were included in the final art work.”

Editor’s note – While the label may have been happy, unfortunately Catholic League President William Donahue was not and publicly chastised the girls for exploiting religion for commercial purposes.

As was reported on their website in April 2001, “The Go-Go’s have upset the Catholic League For Religious And Civil Rights with the artwork on their upcoming release God Bless The Go-Go’s, as well as their latest website. The group’s site is designed around a religious theme with a place for confession, featuring each Go-Go decked out in the clothing of the Virgin Mary, which the religious organization doesn’t seem to find quite entertaining.” A prayer is also posted for those who feel the need, reading, “Hail Go-Go’s, full of beat, the rock is with Thee. Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thine talent, music. Holy Go-Go’s, mothers of chick rock, pray for us sinners – now, and at the hour of thy concerts, Amen.” Mindi Sue Meyer, of band label Beyond Music, said the rock act wasn’t intending mockery. “These are all religious girls,” she told the New York Daily News. “They believe that God is giving them a second chance. They feel that they’ve been blessed.”

For more about the Go-Gos (still touring today), please visit their website at http://www.gogos.com/

About the photographer, Maryanne Bilham –

Maryanne Bilham, known for her photography of famous celebrities and musicians, believes that photography and music are both “creative media that constantly explore and project our intuitive abilities.” Maryanne started her career at the University of Fine Arts in Auckland, New Zealand. While assisting one of Auckland’s leading photographers, she became involved with the start of the magazine Paper, a one-of-a-kind graphic and photography publication. Soon after this, she left her antipodean roots to explore new opportunities in the bustling Asian arena of Hong Kong for 9 years, where she began work in the advertising community and at the Performing Arts Academy. Traveling most of South East Asia and China, Maryanne photographed some of their leading musicians and performers, as well as other religious iconography, ancient ruins and mythical sites.Eventually feeling a growing desire to pursue her passion for the rock ‘n’ roll industry, Maryanne decided to base herself in Los Angeles. Since her arrival in this city, her pathway has led her to assignment work with some of the music industry’s more visible companies and publications as well as artists such as U2, the Go-Go’s, Skinny Puppy, Imogen Heap, Sheryl Crow, Courtney Love and John 5 (her image for his Songs for Sanity album features the guitarist levitating between his two guitars – see below – an idea taken from early 20th-century photos of hypnotists levitating their subjects between two chairs. A 20-foot version of this can be seen outside of Guitar Center’s entrance on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles). Maryanne and her partner – photographer Robert Knight – have photography installations on the outside of 200 Guitar Centers throughout the U.S.

Her personal projects include her Divine Eros exhibition. Inspired by the magnificent life stories of the female Saints and Mystics buried in the vaults of Christian Mysticism, these women’s voices spoke to her. “We always stand to learn from a comparison of our own forms of life with those we can reflect on from the past.” In 2005, Divine Eros was exhibited by The Trinity Episcopal Arts Commission in Portland, Oregon and the Farmani Gallery of Los Angeles. In 2003, she received second place in the International Photography Awards – Underwater Section for “Christina the Astonishing.”

Recently commissioned work in 2007 includes a new web and Ad campaign for the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas and a music video production for Bubbles and Cheesecake titled “It’s a Woman Thang”. She will also have an upcoming exhibition of Divine Eros for Easter of 2008 with Theron at the San Francisco Art Exchange.

Bonus images – from Maryanne’s Divine Eros suite, “Marguerite Porete” and “Teresa of Avila”

To see more of Maryanne Bilham’s work, please visit her website at http://www.maryannebilham.com/

To see more Go-Go’s-related works in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please visit our website at http://www.rockpopgallery.com

About “Cover Stories” - Our weekly series will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

Every Friday, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

All images Copyright 2001 – 2007 Maryanne Bilham Photography – http://www.maryannebilham.com/ – All rights reserved. Except as noted, All other text Copyright 2007 – Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) – All rights reserved.

Cover Story – Blackmore’s Night “Fires At Midnight”, cover by George Chin

Sugartune — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:00:10 +0000

Subject – Blackmore’s Night Fires At Midnight – A 2001 recording, released on Steamhammer Us/SPV records, with cover photography by George Chin.

One of rock music’s Renaissance men, guitarist Richie Blackmore is the one who has taken the term most literally, having played for the past 10 years in Blackmore’s Night, a band that brings his amazing talents and prog-rock sensibilities to a mix of music that includes Renaissance-era melodies, English folk and recreations of more current folk/rock tunes. Joined in this effort by Long Island’s own Candice Night on vocals and a backing band of squires, lords and bards playing a broad range of medieval and modern instruments, the band has released a series of well-received records and toured regularly, appearing at Renaissance-themed fairs, festivals and unique concert events in castles all over the world, charming audiences wherever they appear.

While Deep Purple and Rainbow fans might at first question why one of hard rock’s most-influential guitarists is focused more on complex romantic song structures and subtle nuance rather than the gutsy, bluesy power playing that endeared him to rock fans (and legions of admiring fellow guitarists) in the 70s and 80s, it is clear that this is the music that he holds most dear. One listen to Fires At Midnight will entrance listeners with a mix that successfully highlight his electric guitar leads within the structures of beautifully-sung and played melodies and rhythms.

Fires At Midnight was the first Blackmore’s Night release on Germany’s Steamhammer/SPV label, whose other well-known acts include metal fan favorites Motorhead, Dio, Judas Priest, and Type O Negative. The label wanted to impress fans with this new release and trusted that the collaboration between Blackmore and UK-based photographer George Chin would produce just the right image to appeal to fans of all ages and musical genres. The tale of how George went about getting “just the right shot” in a centuries-old castle in the U.K. – complete with magic and a beautiful maiden – is the subject of today’s Cover Story…

In the words of the photographer, George Chin (interviewed October, 2007) –

“One of my clients – the Japanese music magazine Burrn! – had commissioned me to go to Germany to photograph Blackmore’s Night for a cover feature in the Bavaria region in Germany at a small castle called Schloss Eggersberg that was located in a small village in the middle of a national park on the banks of the Danube at least two hours drive away from Munich, the nearest major city. It was an amazing place, with forests everywhere. Prior to this I had photographed Ritchie in concert with Deep Purple, but never with that band in a formal session (this somehow never came together), and so this was my first time to meet the great guitar legend.

I spent three days in Germany with Ritchie and Candice (Night – lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist) and Carole, who is Candice’s mother and the manager of Blackmore’s Night. After dinner on the second night, Ritchie explained that the name for the album would be Fires At Midnight and he wanted to shoot the cover of the album at Schloss Eggersberg at midnight (of course!) with the castle as a backdrop, and a series of bonfires lit around the castle. As we talked about it, it became apparent that it would involve additional lighting to illuminate the castle because it was pitch black at midnight, with no other lighting available apart from moonlight.

At this time, Ritchie never officially asked me to do the cover shoot – he only asked me what I thought of his concept as a photographer and whether the idea he had would work on film. I provided some input and suggestions, but it was left at that and I returned to London after listening to some of his ghost stories on the last night after dinner (more on this later).

One Friday morning, about two weeks later, I got a call from the record company, SPV in Germany, asking me if I would be available on Sunday to fly to Newcastle, in the north of England to shoot the cover for the forthcoming Blackmore’s Night album – Fires At Midnight. Ritchie and Candice would be doing a private concert for their fan club in the rand hall of a medieval castle – called Lumley Castle – and everybody attending would be in medieval dress. I told them that if the idea was to shoot the concept I had discussed previously with Ritchie in Germany, I would need a lot of lighting. The label said that the lighting that would be available which was whatever was being brought in for the concert – anything else, I had to bring with me on two day’s notice!

There was no art director involved in this project – we were simply going to base the effort on the conversations I had with Ritchie in Germany. And while I had not spoken to Ritchie any further up until this point, I felt that – as if by mental telepathy – I knew what he was thinking about and I could visualize the whole thing. I really wondered what the record company was thinking at that point – that is, that the whole album – artwork, promotion campaign, etc. – would be resting on a conversation between Ritchie and me. I had never worked with SPV before this and they had to trust their artist and go with his recommendations. This was the first Blackmore’s Night album for them, so it was a major act of faith on their part. It was Ritchie’s decision entirely to use me for the cover shoot.

When I arrived at Lumley Castle on Sunday morning, I hooked up with the label representative, who was still very much in the dark what the shoot was going to be about. I told her what Ritchie and I had talked about and she seemed relaxed and reassured that I had a hang on the whole concept and knew what I had to do. The concert was happening that evening so I figured out that we would be shooting after the concert – at midnight!

After lunch, we all sat down and talked again about the shoot. The main concept of fires and flames was still there, but Ritchie was now thinking some of the fans dressed in medieval garb should be holding flaming torches in a recreation of a medieval scene with Ritchie and Candice both dressed in medieval clothes. This was to be photographed at midnight after the concert was over.

I had already done a recon of the castle and found that the entrance to the main keep had an old wooden door with an iron grill, whereas the walls surrounding the doorway already had medieval torch holders in place which we could light and use that whole area as the background for the shoot. The lit torch holders would be ideal for flames and I could use the concert lighting to fill in and light the castle walls and also to light Ritchie and Candice. If I shot everything on daylight film, it would have a warm cast overall which would give it a feel of a scene from another time in history. One or two of the fans could be in the shot holding additional torches for added effect. I had brought a smoke machine with me to create some smoky haze and, adding that, this was the entire set-up.

Ritchie and Candice loved my suggestions. They also wanted to shoot a drunken medieval scene with the fans in the grand hall after the concert. This idea was a medieval banquet with all the fans dressed up drinking and laying about looking pissed, with Ritchie and Candice at the center of it all as the Lord and Lady of the castle. . I decided to shoot this using the same concert lighting again to create the same old-world effect. I had brought strobes with me, but decided not to use them, opting for the concert lighting instead. By 4am the next morning – after a long night – it was all wrapped up and in the can.

Tech notes – Everything was shot as it was set up using transparency medium-format film. I could have done with a couple of extra lighting heads, but had to make do with what was available by pushing the film. I used daylight 400ASA film pushed one stop to 800ASA. I also shot some 35mm on tungsten film to see how that turned out. Nothing was done in Photoshop afterwards – the images were used as they were shot.

Everyone was absolutely delighted with the results. The photos were exactly what they had in mind. They chose one shot for the cover and that was it. I had that scanned and sent over to SPV in Germany. Two days later, SPV called me and bought out all the rights to the entire shoot and I sent them all the selections that Ritchie and Candice had made. The banquet scene photo was then used on the cover of the first single off the album (‘Home Again’ – see image, below) and other images were used on merchandising and websites, including Blackmore’s Night official website.

The whole project and process worked as if by magic, which reminded me of something that had happened on the last night of my stay at the Schloss Eggersberg. As we were all sitting round the dinner table chatting and having a few drinks, Ritchie asked the lady from the Japanese label to think of someone she knows – a relative, friend or colleague – write his/her name down on a piece of paper, then fold it up and place it under a glass.

He then proceeded to ‘read her mind’ by asking a series of questions – ‘is the person male?’, ‘does he/she have blond hair’, ‘is he/she a close relative’, etc. – and to each question, her response was – ‘yes, that’s correct’. He then named the person – a Japanese name no-one else would have guessed or known apart from the label person herself. She confirmed he was right again and then he asked me to open the folded piece of paper. On it was the name of the person he had just called out. I couldn’t figure out how he could have done that because it was impossible to guess the name of anyone, let alone a foreign name. And how could he have guessed that the person had blond hair when Japanese people all have naturally black hair? Now, that was magical!!”

To learn more about Blackmore’s Night, please visit their website at
http://www.blackmoresnight.com/

To see more examples of fine album cover artwork and photography in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please visit our site at
http://www.rockpopgallery.com

About the photographer, George Chin –

George Chin started his photographic career while still at college in 1979. Gaining access to black artists at that time was relatively easy because, unlike today – apart from Bob Marley – they had little media value. George began honing his photographic skills on artists such as The Jackson Five, Parliament & Funkadelic, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Manu Dibango, Toots & The Maytals, Dennis Brown and the 2-Tone bands – Specials, Selecter, Madness, etc.

Next came the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene, spearheaded by Diamond Head and Iron Maiden together with the New Romantics and bands like Duran Duran, Culture Club, Spandau Ballet, The Thompson Twins, etc. It was an exciting time and George was soon very busy shooting these bands and others for magazine and record company clients in the UK, Europe and Japan.

During rock and metal’s halcyon days of the late 1980’s, George was one of the early contributors to Kerrang! magazine and worked for all the major publications of those genres in the UK, Europe, USA, and Australia. Also during this time, George toured the world extensively as the official tour photographer for many of the biggest bands of that era – Guns n’ Roses, Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Motorhead, Anthrax – while at the same time working exclusively with Terence Trent D’Arby and a young Whitney Houston whenever she toured the UK.

By 1990, George’s reputation and profile were so high that he landed the prime job for any music photographer; i.e., official tour photographer with the Rolling Stones on their Urban Jungle Tour of Europe. Then, early in 1991, Axl Rose invited George to join Guns n’ Roses in Rio de Janeiro to photograph them exclusively at the Rock in Rio II festival at the Marcana Stadium, following that with the Get In The Ring Tour of the USA in 1991 and the Use Your Illusion world tour through to 1994.

Next followed a stint with Aerosmith in 1994 -1995 for the Get A Grip world tour and again in 1997 for the Nine Lives tour of Europe. At the end of 1997, for personal reasons, George took a break from touring and worked in the studio doing editorial and record company sessions shooting bands as diverse as Blur and Iron Maiden.

In 2000, after a three year hiatus of no overseas tours, George went to Rio de Janeiro to hook up with Guns n’ Roses again at Rock in Rio III where the new GnR were headlining to 250,000 people (also photographing the entire set of Oasis). In 2002, Axl again invited George to go to the Far East for a short tour followed by the aborted autumn tour of the USA (which ended in a riot in Philadelphia!).

After that, George settled down in the U.K. with his young family, preferring to work with bands touring the UK/Europe and those based in the UK. The list, by no means complete, of acts he worked with includes Ashanti, Beyonce, Black Sabbath (reunited), Cream (reunited), Eric Clapton, Annie Lennox, Cher, Coldplay, Deep Purple, Depeche Mode, H.I.M., Jay-Z, Joss Stone, Judas Priest, Madonna, Metallica, Morrissey, New York Dolls, Oasis, Paul McCartney, Pink, Primal Scream, Queen + Paul Rodgers, REM, Rolling Stones, Scissor Sisters, Shakira, Simple Plan, Soulfly, and Sting. In 2006, Axl Rose once again invited George to New York for three warm-up shows, followed by dates in Europe and the UK.

George continues today to work for bands, record companies, and editorial clients using the latest digital cameras and imaging technology meeting today’s demands for instant delivery. He specializes in providing the photographic requirements that today’s artist and artist brands now demand for a variety of uses (including merchandising of all kinds), as well as web and print use for press, promotion and advertising.

According to George, “these days, anyone can call themselves a photographer because they have a digital camera and, while shooting a lot of pictures, they get at least one or two good shots. My trademarks are creativity and imagination coupled with professionalism and over 25 years experience of shooting under any lighting conditions at the drop of a hat. Quality before quantity is what I am about.”

To see more of George Chin’s photography, please visit his website at http://www.georgechin.com

About “Cover Stories” – Our weekly series will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

Bonus Photo info –

#1 – Candice Night and Ritchie Blackmore live, 2001 Blackmore’s Night performing a private concert at Lumley Castle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK – 07 May 2001

#2 – Blackmore’s Night – Lumley Castle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK – 07 May 2001 Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night photographed exclusively for the cover of the CD album “Fires at Midnight” at Lumley Castle, Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK – 07 May 2001.

All images Copyright 2001 & 2007 George Chin – www.georgechin.com – All rights reserved. Except as noted, All other text Copyright 2007 – Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) – All rights reserved.

Cover Story – “A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan”, cover by W.A. Williams

Sugartune — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:00:55 +0000

Subject – A Tribute To Stevie Ray Vaughan – a 1996 CD & DVD release from Sony Music Entertainment, with cover photography by W.A. Williams

A short while ago, I wrote a Cover Story based on an interview with photographer Robert M. Knight and his photos of guitar great Stevie Ray Vaughan. The response to this article was astounding – although SRV’s been gone 17 years, his fan base is a DEDICATED one and his music brings great joy to them (and to anyone else lucky enough to be within earshot).

That article also introduced me to another fine photographer who was part of the SRV “inner circle” – W.A. Williams (aka “The Reverend Billy Rose”, a fine performer on his own right), from Cincinnati, OH. Finding W.A. also solved a personal mystery that has haunted me for a number of years. A number of years ago, I bought a fantastic image of SRV at a fund-raising event and, unfortunately, the person that donated it did not provide any information regarding who had taken the photograph. It was signed, but for the life of me, I could not make out the signature, and so I’ve had this “mystery photograph” proudly displayed on a wall next to a great photo of Jimi Hendrix by Nona Hatay and hoped that, someday, I’d find out who the photographer was.

Well, after visiting W.A.’s web site, my mystery was solved – there it was! After that date with Destiny, I knew that I’d need to do a Cover Story on W.A. and, arguably, his best-known image – his portrait not of the musician, but of the musician’s favorite instrument, known to fans as “Number One” (or “#1”). This was the image that Sony chose to use to illustrate the cover of their 1996 releases of a CD and DVD titled A Tribute To Stevie Ray Vaughan, which chronicled the 1995 concert organized by his brother Jimmy, gathering guitardom’s best (Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt) – along with keyboardists Dr. John and Art Neville and the Double Trouble rhythm section of Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon – in Austin to pay homage to their compadre who’d died in a tragic accident five years before. What better way to do that than through heartfelt and impressive interpretations of SRV tunes?

Number One was a used Fender Stratocaster – found in 1973 by Stevie in an Austin music shop, for which he traded in his original Strat – that was a patchwork of parts (a ’62 with ’59 pickups and, later, a gold, left-handed tremolo, added to emulate the upside-down arrangement of the guitars of Jimi Hendrix and Otis Rush, who both influenced Stevie’s playing style) and decorative touches such as stickers of the word “Custom” and his initials “SRV” applied. The guitar was an important part of Stevie’s sound and on-stage persona, and so it is only fitting that Mr. Williams’ photograph was chosen as a stand-in, in tribute to its former owner on the cover of these recordings. W.A.’s friendship with SRV and the details of his #1 cover photo session are the subject of today’s Cover Story…

In the words of the photographer, W.A. Williams (interviewed in October, 2007) –

“In the summer of 1987 (after returning to college in 1983 after a number of years spent as a singer), I was a semester away from finishing my undergraduate studies. I had finished all of my TV and radio production classes and was going bonkers needing to get my hands into something. A professor of mine – younger than myself – suggested I take a photography class. I had my camera and off I went. I had a blast shooting everything and anything. I have always loved photographing people more than anything. Some friends of mine – the Toler Brothers, Danny and Dave (Frankie) from Connersville, Indiana and Tim Heding, from Cincinnati – were playing with The Gregg Allman Band. They were doing a show at Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center and I was invited to the show. I rode the band bus over to the venue and photographed the band’s set as a class project. I decided I’d stick around for the headliner… a guy named Stevie Ray Vaughan. The thing that initially impressed me about Stevie was that Tommy Shannon was playing bass – I’d been a Shannon fan since the days he was with Johnny Winter.

Anyway, I photographed the set. I went anywhere I wanted to go and no one asked me anything!!! Towards the end of Stevie’s show, the lights came down and things got quiet as Stevie began to address the crowd. I didn’t know who Stevie was or that he was just 4 months shy of celebrating his first year of sobriety. As Stevie spoke, chills ran through my body and the hair on my neck stood up – I knew I was in the presence of one who knew God on a personal basis. I was blown away as an audience of 25,000 people hung on his every word and cheered as he testified before them. I had never seen an artist of his caliber bare his soul to such a large secular congregation. I went back stage after the show and captured a few candid images and left, never thinking I’d ever see him again. I went back to school, developed the film and printed some pictures. A fellow student asked me if the picture in the developing tray was Stevie and I told him ‘yes’ and asked him if he knew who he was. Of course, having recognized Stevie’s image, he knew who he was!

I decided to send a picture to Alligator Records founder Bruce Iglauer, himself a Cincinnati native. I had met Bruce prior to my becoming a photographer through contacts with Johnny Winter and with Lonnie Mack. I sent the picture and unbeknownst to me, it was intercepted by Bruce’s assistant, Mindy Giles. In turn, Mindy sent the picture to Stevie’s management. I started my graduate work in January of 1988. It must have been around February that I received a phone call and it was Stevie’s management wanting to know if I was…’W.A. Williams, Photographer.’ I though to myself… ‘Well, I AM today!’ I was asked if I’d like to take some more pictures and I answered with a resounding ‘YES!!!’ On March 5th, of 1988, I found myself on my way to the Holiday Star Theatre in Merrillville, Indiana to officially photograph Stevie for the first time.

Anyway, the SRV crew gave me carte blanche to shoot whatever and as much as I wanted at every show I photographed. I suppose they did like my work…once when I queried Alex Hodges, Stevie’s personal manager, about the use of my images (I had sent him a lot), he replied, ‘Your pictures are the kind we hang in our houses, Bill.’ I found that quite complimentary and actually true, that he and others with Strike Force were, in fact, mounting and framing my work and hanging it in their homes and offices. I suppose they also express their pleasure with my work in that they kept letting me and my cameras come back!

As for the inspiration for the image of his guitar – I had arrived at the Ohio Center in Columbus, OH, early and was wandering around the empty venue capturing moments of a quiet time. I was shooting the crew at work and I went up on stage and saw this configuration already set in place. The trunk was there and the guitar was on the stand on the trunk. The towel was draped across the corner of the trunk and the strap over the towel. It looked very cool and I aimed, composed and released the shutter. One time and one time only, there was no reason to shoot again – I had gotten it the first time. Had I been a “real photographer”, I suppose I would have sliced and diced the situation shooting dozens of times from all angles and shot the living Soul right out of the image. It was a beautiful thing. I saw it. I liked what I saw and I shot it. It was that simple.

Tech Talk – I usually shot with B&W film – Kodak Tri-X 400 always pushed to 800…regardless – and I sepia-toned the image. There were no other ‘tricks of the trade’ nor ‘bells and whistles’ added. I was using NIKON F3 High Eye Point bodies with one of two lenses. I had and still have a NIKON 35 1:4 that I use as my normal lens and my coup de grace for my ’signature shots’, the NIKON 80-200 2:8 (I LOVE that lens!!!). I shot either aperture priority or fully manually and would use a fill flash if needed. I preferred to shoot with the existing lighting. I would have been using the 35 1:4 and a flash for this photo because the arena was nearly dark at the time.

Having personally faced and conquered the demons of the ‘rock and roll lifestyle’, at the time, in my mind, I’m still not a “photographer” in the sense that people think I am and my motive was to simply be there for Stevie as part of his support network for encouraging his day-to-day walk in sobriety. He and I even talked about this on the night I captured both the ‘Number 1′ and the ‘Last Call’ images. It was a very spiritual and emotional moment for both of us. Each show, eighteen from June 23, 1987 to July 15th, 1990, we had brief moments to catch up and it was never about business. I didn’t care about the business; I didn’t care about money – I never asked Stevie or his organization for anything. They were the ones who called me and brought me into the loop. I had been sober for sixteen years when I met Stevie in ‘87 and remain so unto this day, twenty years later.

There were times I have wished I had never become this ‘W.A. Williams Photographer guy’, but it was meant to be for some reason. I don’t think the answer is as simple as it being about the photography. I’ve had thoughts of destroying every image I have, of every artist with whom I have even had the privilege to have photographed, but why? Why deprive the world of being right on stage with some of the greatest entertainers who have ever graced a stage?

I think about standing not more than 40 feet away from Joe Cocker standing center stage with me in the wings, observing this phenomenal talent and crying as he sang ‘You Are So Beautiful’, knowing all the while it was his mother’s favorite song and in that moment, believing it was her to whom he was singing. It could have all been in my imagination but I was there. Laying my camera on the front of the stage as Stevie played ‘Little Wing’ or ‘Voodoo Child’ and thinking ‘wherever Jimi is tonight, he’s smilin’ real big.’ Watching Stevie go into the solo of ‘Couldn’t Stand the Weather’, standing not ten feet from him in front of the stage as he closed his eyes and went somewhere magical and as the second half of the solo kicked in he was up on his toes dancing backwards making the crowd erupt with cheering and applause that was so filled with love and passion that it was intoxicating. Booze, drugs… man, if you didn’t experience Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble in full control of your faculties, you really blew it!

I have been blessed in so many ways and… I have been cursed. I am not one who possesses a thick skin. I look like a hardcore outlaw biker – well, I did before I lost nearly 100 pounds (down to 235!), so now, I’m not sure!!! Anyway, I’m a soft touch and that’s probably why I’m not better known as a photographer. My desire is to share my gifts, these wonderful images I possess of Stevie and all the others with whom I have been fortunate enough to have worked. I’d like to get my first book of my photography published and go from there. I think the time is right.”

About the photographer, W.A. Williams (in his own words) –

“In addition to my shots of Number 1 and ‘the Last Call’ that have been used on a major label release, I was honored to have been asked to shoot the late great Boogie Woogie piano master and powerhouse vocalist Big Joe Duskin’s return to recording (Living Blues called him ‘The Lion of Winter’), Yellow Dog Records’ 2004 release, Big Joe Duskin: Big Joe Jumps Again! Cincinnati Blues Session. The CD featured the King Records original rhythm section of Philip Paul/Drums and Ed Conley/Bass. Mr. Peter Frampton makes a guest appearance on two tracks.

I have also done a variety of photos for indie artist recordings such as Sharon Lane and Danny Sauers: Gig’s Up (I do some back up singing and contribute to crowd noise), Bonnie Allyn’s: Tavern (on which I also sing as The Reverend Billy Rose!), Blue Lou and The Accusations: Guacamole Dip, Sharon Howarth: Psalm Singer, The Blue Birds (Cincinnati): Argentina, Jeff Pitchell and Texas Flood: Fat Cigars, Dallas Moore: My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys and others by Jason Dennie and Josh Smith.

I have had my work featured in most of the major music magazines over the past seventeen years since Stevie’s death and have been published both nationally and internationally. I also have to my credit:

Little Brown and Company’s 1993 best seller – penned by Bill Crawford and Joe Nick Patoski – titled, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire (one of my photos graces the cover of both the hard and soft cover editions domestically as well as my photos being used in the book along with a blurb about W.A, Williams);

Taylor Publishing’s 1993 best-selling (Keri Leigh penned), Stevie Ray: Soul to Soul (there are more of my images in this book along with another blurb about W.A. Williams);

C.L. Hopkins is preparing to publish his third book on Stevie and has requested and received permission to publish some W.A. Williams images and has, in fact, already received them…watch for the release sometime in early 2008).

Fender Musical Instruments has used my work in promotions and in their Fender Frontline Magazine. MARS Music (advertisement), The Hard Rock Cafe’ (stained glass window in San Antonio), Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago (huge wall mural and photos displayed on the walls), VH-1 (their LEGENDS series), E! True Hollywood Story: Gary Busey. Sculptor Ralph Helmick used a bust shot of mine to design the head of his Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue in Austin, Texas. Other publications such as Block Magazine (Holland), Drums and Percussion (Germany), Drums and Drumming, Modern Drummer, The Kentucky Headhunters, Lynyrd Skynyrd (Fan Club Calendar), The Wilson Quarterly (a Smithsonian Institute publication used a photo of Buddy Guy) have all been clients and other photographic subjects include: Dick Dale, Jonny Lang, Jeff Beck, ARC Angels, Storyville, Johnny Johnson, Otis Rush, Doyle Bramhall, Lonnie Mack (my dear friend), The Gregg Allman Band, .38 Special, B.B.King, Johnny Winter, Lefty Dizz, Junior Wells, Little Milton, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The Neville Brothers, Eric Johnson, Eric Clapton, Hubert Sumlin, Jars of Clay, LIVE and Joe Cocker (Joe once told me, ‘Your pictures have Soul, Bill… YOU have Soul!’)

Other Clients/Publications include: Sony Music, Epic Records, MCA Records, Living Blues Magazine, Lee Oscar Harmonicas, Seymour Duncan, Mercury/Polygram Records, Guitar for the Practicing Musician, Guitar (England), Guitarrista (Spain), Guitar World, Guitar Player, Billboard, Rolling Stone…. this list in no way represents all of the artists and clients/publications with whom I have worked. My work is out there and is very well known. It’s just that… I’m not!!!”

To see more of W.A. Williams work – both as a photographer and as a musician, please visit the following links:
www.wawilliams.com for photography and www.thereverendbillyrose.com and myspace.com/thereverendbillyroseandthelegendarysoulshakers for his music and photography.

To see more examples of iconic album/CD cover artwork in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please visit http://www.rockpopgallery.com

All images Copyright 1988-90, 1998 & 2007 W. A. Williams – www.wawilliams.com – All rights reserved. Except as noted, All other text Copyright 2007 – Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) – All rights reserved.