May 19, 2019

Sorry for being late with my usual blog!!! Never have I been this late but never have I had such homeowner chores! It's spring time and when you own a house you have a lot to do! Enough of that for now.

My blog here is on the band Queen when they were in Milwaukee at the beautiful Uptown Theater. That venue was torn down and is now a Milwaukee police station! Sad to see that because it was a beautiful old venue.

Personal story here-  I was photographing from the orchestra pit that was full of equipment cases from Queen for the show on March 7, 1975. Nothing strange about that except I remember some fog coming on the stage. Then I moved over on the equipment case I was kneeling on to get the perfect shot and fell a few feet down right off the equipment case!!!

Got back up and I was fine and the camera was fine so kept on shooting.

These are some of the photos from that night.

Enjoy and get ready for the Indy 500 coming soon.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

November 12, 2018

I am frequently asked what is the best rock show I have ever seen.

It was asked again this past summer when my wife and I saw Alice Cooper with a group of friends. That was a really great show!

I have been photographing shows since 1971 (junior year of high school) for various publications and record companies. So there have been a lot of really good shows.

I think my favorite show is still The Rolling Stones, June 18,1972 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, MN. That show amazed me!

The stage had a huge dragon on the floor and the some stage lights were behind the band and then shot up to mirrors that bounced the light back onto the band. Nicky Hopkins played piano. Bobby Keys played saxophone and Mick Taylor played guitar.  That combination of musicians is best version of the Stones to me. Stevie Wonder  opened up the show. Even being on the side, seemingly a mile away, the sound was great and of course it was loud!

So yes, the Rolling Stones in 1972 was my favorite show but there are soooo many others that were just as awesome!

Here is my top ten after the Rolling Stones from 1971-

Queen-Uptown Theater in March of 1975. Just incredible and when they fogged the stage I fell off of a crew case in the pit where I was shooting from!  Moved a few inches to get the shot I wanted and down I went! No one saw it and I got back up and kept shooting.

David Bowie-Milwaukee Arena October 1974. Even the rehearsal was amazing!

Joe Walsh with James Gang and Barnstorm. 1973 Summerfest. Also at the Milwaukee Arena and the Riverside Theater. He is a master at his craft.

The Everly Brothers at Pius grade school in Milwaukee in 1971. Unbelievable harmonies!

Steely Dan at Humpin Hanna's-Milwaukee 1972. The 14th show they ever played and we had drinks together after the show.

Pink Floyd-Milwaukee County Stadium 1977. Big, big show and the rehearsal was good too. During the actual show, it rained so hard but nobody left early.

The Who-Madison, WI 1975. Almost got crushed waiting to get in the doors. It was general admission and I wanted to be right up front.

Babe Ruth-Riverside Theater. Janitta Haan, Alan Shacklock and the rest of the band dazzled me!

Robert Palmer-Park Avenue club in Milwaukee. Very nice guy and the band was so good.

Metallica-2018 WorldWired tour-Madison and Milwaukee, WI. The stage and show design with a great band was something to see. Drones flew above the crowd! Cubes moved around from the ceiling with graphics and coming up from the stage turning into four drum sets!

I almost forgot my personal favorite photo from 1971 of Linda Ronstadt playing for Ramblin' Jack Elliott after she kicked the beer cans off the locker room bench and put her leg up to play! I was 17 and in a dressing room with Linda, Jack, Kris Kristofferson, Richie Havens, Earl Scruggs, Rosalie Sorrels and more. Learned about tequila that night with Kris Kristofferson!

There are many more I could list but these are pretty good choices I think.

What is the best show you have ever seen?? Let me know please.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

March 4, 2013

One could say that this week in Milwaukee is Queen week.  "One Night of Queen" with Gary Mullen and the Works is coming to The Northern Lights Theater for a couple of tribute shows on March 6 and 7.

Queen came to Milwaukee's Uptown Theater for a show on March 7, 1975.  The Uptown Theater was torn down a long time ago and is now a Milwaukee Police Station!  Too bad, because it was a beautiful old movie theater with a lot of history.  It was the theater where Bruce Springsteen played and had the famous bomb scare show that I also attended.  The Hunter-Ronson band also played a memorable show there.

The Queen show was an evening I will never forget.  The show was that good.  Freddie Mercury had so much presence on stage and you could tell that he absolutely loved what he did.

I will never forget that show for another reason too. I fell off an equipment case in the pit right in front of the stage when I was taking photos probably because they fogged the stage and I couldn't see!  I moved a little to the left to get a better shot and down I went about 4 feet!  Still got the shot.  The equipment and I were fine!

Also being circulated lately is a concert film of one of the last shows Queen did.  Called "Queen, Live in Budapest". It is from a live show on July 27, 1986.  It's getting great reviews and is a must see movie for any Queen fan.

You might enjoy going into my blog archives and looking at blogs#19 and #21.  They are both about Queen.  One features color photos and the other black and white photos.

All Queen photographs are on sale this week, just $50.00 for a limited edition 8 X 10 and 8 1/2 X 11's.

Pick a couple photos out and contact us for some nice prints for your home or office. Have a fun week of Queen memories.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Queen, at the Uptown Theater March 7, 1975.

August 13, 2012

Two weeks ago in blog #19, I had a story about myself and the band Queen with some color photographs that I took on March 7, 1975.  The response was wonderful from all of you and I appreciate the comments as always.  It made me dig into the archives a little further to find the black and white images from that show for you to enjoy.

We are spoiled in the digital world as a photographer in that we can switch from color to black and white very easily.  In 1975 you had to switch rolls of film!!!!!!!!!!  In digital, we can also change the ISO or film speed quickly and from photo to photo.  Wow, would that have been nice in 1975 because we were all using push processing on our film to get a faster ISO or as we called it back then, ASA.  I had to do special things in the darkroom in the old days and it was fun but you did not know what you were going to get right away like we do now.  It took a while to see what you photographed in the old days.

I miss the smell of fixer and stop bath in the darkroom and it was like being a magician sometimes.  The darkroom was a fun place to play and work with film, paper and chemicals.  Black and white versus color is like digital versus film.  They both work but are very different and people still argue over film being better and color being better than black and white.

What do you think and which do you like better, film versus digital or color over black and white?  It is a very personal choice I think and it will be interesting to see what you think.

All blog photographs are for sale at a special price of $30.00 for a limited edition 8 X 10 or 8 1/2 X 11 gloss print which includes shipping in the U.S..  This sale is just during the week of the featured blog.  Contact us soon.

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 30, 2012

In 1971, Queen, one of the world's greatest rock'n'roll bands was formed.  Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon traveled the world extensively touring through the years.

On March 7, 1975, I had the pleasure of photographing Queen at the Uptown Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The night before they played Chicago and the night after Milwaukee they played Madison, Wisconsin heading west. 

For me it was a very memorable show.  I was photographing from the orchestra pit in front of the stage which was filled with equipment cases from the band.  During one of the songs they used a fog machine to fog the stage.  The orchestra pit and the front of the stage were filled with fog.  It was beautiful and I tried to get the perfect shot by moving over to the left a little on my knees.  I proceded to fall about 4 feet down off of an equipment case going off the edge of the case!  I was fine, the camera was fine and no one saw a thing because of the fog!  It was worth it too because the shot was exactly what I was trying to get.

I just got back up and kept on photographing like nothing happened and I will never forget that incident.

All blog photographs are for sale at a special price of $30.00 for a limited edition 8 X 10 or 8 1/2 X 11 gloss print which includes shipping in the U.S..  This sale is just during the week of the featured blog.  Contact us soon.

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann