February 15, 2016

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day! It was a cold weekend here but we had fun.

This week we continue looking at the Siegal Schwall Band. At this show they opened for the band It's A Beautiful Day, at the UW Whitewater gymnasium on October 19, 1972.

It's A Beautiful Day, in 1972, was a very popular band with signature vocals from Patti Santos. Her vocals along with David LaFlamme's vocals and violin playing, propelled the band to a few great hits. "White Bird" and "Hot Summer Day" were the most notable hits of their career. I remember telling David LaFlamme after the show backstage what a great show they did and he said, "Of course it was great"!

In the early days of the band, they could have become even more famous had a flip of a coin gone their way. Bill Graham and Michael Lang needed one band to open Woodstock, and it was either Santana or It's A Beautiful Day on that coin flip. Santana won and opened up the show at Woodstock! As they say, the rest is history, and Santana played a legendary performance (supposedly on LSD)!

This was a great show for a little college gymnasium on a cold October night in Whitewater, Wisconsin.

Have a great week and I think I have one more Siegal Schwall show from 1973 for next week!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

It's A Beautiful Day, playing at the UW Whitewater Gymnasium on October 19, 1972. The opening act, also shown here, was the Siegal Schwall Band.

February 8, 2016

Last week's blog was about The Jeff Beck Group at the Riverside Theater on May 10, 1972. The opening act that night was The Siegal Schwall Band. I feature them today in my blog.

Corky Siegal and Jim Schwall formed the Siegal Schwall Band in the 1960's and were a popular Chicago house band. They played in Wisconsin a lot, and were the opening act for many shows in the 1970's.

In the next few weeks, we will explore a few more of those shows.

Enjoy a look back and have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The Siegal Schwall Band, when they opened the show for The Jeff Beck Group, at the Riverside Theater on May 10, 1972.

February 1, 2016

If you have followed my blogs and photos, you know that I like what Jeff Beck can do on a guitar.

On May 10, 1972, The Jeff Beck Group played at the Riverside Theater. They opened for The Siegal-Schwall Band.

I have shown photos of Jeff Beck and his band before, but always knew that I had more pictures somewhere.  I did.

I have been scanning the Siegal Schwall band lately and was surprised to find my lost Jeff Beck photos!  It's only five shots, but they are pretty good.  In fact, I think that they are better than the other ones.

Enjoy a look at The Jeff Beck Group and the lost images from 1972!

Next week, the blog will be about the Siegal Schwall Band from that show.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Lost images, now found from 1972!

January 25, 2016

Wow, it's blog #200!!!! That's a lot and I haven't repeated one yet!  Goal accomplished.

Anyway, this week's blog is about one of my first paying photo jobs.  It was the day that the Serendipity Singers came to the Dave Kennedy Recording Studios in Milwaukee on June 7, 1972.

More cowbell please. We hear that a lot these days. However, on this day it was more kazoo please! They spent a lot of time working on a kazoo riff and vocals. The only instruments they had that day were kazoos.  There were no other instruments.

As to who is who in these photos, I haven't a clue.  This group changed members so frequently through the years.  They have been around for a long time and they are still going today.

My job that day was interesting.  I borrowed another camera from my boss at Camera Corner to have as a backup.  I used it with a different lens so I had another camera ready to go.  Well, it was really ready to go because I set it down on a couch by the reception area and when I came back two minutes later it was gone!!  Someone stole it and of course it had the film in it with the shots I had just taken.   My boss at Camera Corner, Jon Dunar, was really nice about it and he didn't even fire me!

Enjoy a look at the film that didn't get stolen from the one camera that didn't get stolen.

Have a good week and if you know anything about who is who in these photographs, let me know please.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The Serendipity Singers at the Dave Kennedy Recording Studios on June 7, 1972.

January 18, 2016

On October 13, 1974 my world changed. It changed once again when I woke up this past Monday morning and learned that David Bowie died on Sunday January 10.

The best concert that I have ever seen was that day in 1974. I have seen a lot of shows since then but that concert still tops the list.  I also saw a rehearsal that day and it was equally amazing.  David's demands of quality were legendary and it was so obvious.

My rock'n roll calendar this year features David on the January page because of his birthday and it's become a nice tribute to him.

David Bowie has been featured on my website before, and one of my photos of him is also my personal favorite photo of my collection. It's the first photo you see here. My photo of Linda Ronstadt and Ramblin Jack Elliott seen also on my website here, is number two. (Sometimes, it's number one!)

There will never be another David Bowie of course.  He really was unique. His performances, his costumes, his makeup and his music will never be close to duplicated. He definitely had his own style.

I watched, and you should too, the Dick Cavett show from on November 2, 1974.  David Bowie does two songs and is interviewed.  It is amazing to watch him here after he had just been in Milwaukee a few weeks earlier for the concert shown here.

I have my favorite photos of him on my website, but here are some other photos that didn't make the first showing.  You could say that these photos are the B sides. They are good but some are not perfect which is why I didn't put them up before.

My favorite radio station, WMSE, at wmse.org, featured David's music all week long.  The "Rock Ride" at 3pm on Monday, January 11th, is worth listening to from their archives.  It is one of Tom Crawford's best shows ever and a great tribute to David Bowie. Three hours of David Bowie is good any time, but it really is good!

Enjoy a tribute look at David Bowie in 1974. Miss you David.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

B side photos of David Bowie at the Milwaukee Arena on October 13, 1974.