May 18, 2020

May 12th would have been George Carlin's 83rd birthday. George passed away on June 22, 2008 and left us with some of the best comedy routines ever performed. He was making appearances right up to the end of his life.  He had just finished an HBO special and was working on another. George appeared on the Johnny Carson show multiple times and even hosted it more than once. He also hosted Saturday Night Live and to this day is the only host to not do any skits during the show. That was his idea.

The early 1970's were very good to George and afforded him his own private jet for getting to shows and back.  He made several albums as the clean dressing short haired comedian, then he transformed his look to long hair and jeans.

The seven words that you cannot say on television became his trademark, especially when he got arrested performing that routine at Milwaukee's Summerfest on July 21, 1972.

I was at that show and the photographs here are from that night!  One picture shows him being hauled off the stage to be arrested! I'll never forget that night.

The stage manager was a friend of mine. He quickly emptied out his pockets that contained cocaine and marijuana before the actual arrest that some people were enjoying!  Otherwise, the arrest would have been even worse!   That full story will be in my upcoming book that I am currently working on.

Those seven words can be said in my blog though!!  They are- shit, piss, cunt, fuck, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits!! I think I have heard a few of those since 1972 on television, haven't you?

Check out some of his You Tube classic video shows.

Here are some of my photos of that wild night in 1972.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

February 24, 2020

Lifetime Achievement Grammy Awards will be presented to Isaac Hayes and John Prine soon with a television ceremony in April.

This blog looks at Isaac Hayes when he played Summerfest in 1973. I remember it as a very hot and humid night with Isaac having a lot of fun.

Isaac continued his music career for many years with the theme song that he wrote and performed for the movie "Shaft" and then became the voice of Chef on "South Park".

Check out that hot night in July of 1973 with Isaac playing keyboards and saxophone and singing away!

He was a legend!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

January 12, 2020

Happy New Year everyone and may you all have a great, successful new year!

I've spent the past week fixing up some old photographs in Photoshop of the Doobie Brothers at Summerfest in 1973. Black and white film does not scan without a lot of issues to fix. Color is a lot easier!

Check out the guys here way back in 1973 in Milwaukee at Summerfest. It was a different time back then as you will be able to see. There is some barbed wire in front of the stage! Because of some issues at Summerfest in 1972, barbed wire was installed in front of the main stage!

The Doobie Brothers are still touring and are one of the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Always enjoyed the music of the band. Check them out from a few years back.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The legendary Isaac Hayes at Summerfest in 1973.

January 21, 2019

It's finally winter here in Wisconsin! We got about 6" of snow the other night and it's beautiful outside!

My last blog was about Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac in 1987 without Lindsey Buckingham. Here we have Lindsey Buckingham at Summerfest in 2007 without Fleetwood Mac! He did a solo tour then like he is doing right now.

Lindsey has a great voice and I think he is even better at playing guitar. The guitars he used here were Turner guitars that looked a bit modified if you look closely. Great sounds out of these guitars with the master playing them on a nice night at Summerfest.

Enjoy and stay warm.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Edgar Winter and the guys at Summerfest 2018!

August 20, 2018

Time to get back to a music blog since the last three have been about Indy Cars.

Enjoy some pictures Edgar Winter and his band at Summerfest on July 1, 2018.

Edgar still can rock it and had an awesome band.

Check out Doug Rappaport, Koko Powell, Jason Carpenter and of course Edgar.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

March 3, 2018

As promised, here is a look at Heart at Summerfest in 2009!

It's a bit of a different look than 1977 but still an awesome show.

Next week we have a Marty Party with Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives from a show at the Stoughton Opera House on February 24th, 2018.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

October 2, 2017

For a few  months now, I have been working on the 2018 Rich Zimmermann Photography calendar and it's just about done!! It is a lot of work!

The 2018 calendar is going to be a Summerfest theme with it being 50 years old this year or last year depending on who you talk to.

Each month is the featured musician's birthday. That made it tough to dig through my files to find the Summerfest photo that went along with the birthday person.

The calendar this year is $40.00 including shipping in the U.S. Shutterfly is printing it on their nice, heavy board stock. This is frameable board stock for after the month is done!

The cover will be The Atlanta Rythm Section at Summerfest 1977

January-John McGlaughlin of the Mahavishnu Orchestra at Summerfest 1972

February-Melanie at Summerfest 1974

March-Charlie Pride at Summerfest in 1972

April-John Oates from Hall and Oates at Summerfest in 1977

May-Dusty Hill from Z Z Top at Summerfest/Harley Fest in 2008

June-Jeff Beck at Summerfest in 2010

July-Arlo Guthrie at Summerfest in 1972

August-Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers at Summerfest in 1973

September-Jerry Lee Lewis at Summerfest in 1972

October-Steve Miller at Summerfest in 1977

November-Joe Walsh at Summerfest in 1973

December-Eric Bloom from Blue Oyster Cult at Summerfest in 2008

The only thing I have to do is figure out which Jerry Lee Lewis photo to use! There are two shown here and I'm looking for suggestions.

Please let me know if you would like to order one of my calendars as I'm going to try to do just one printing this year.

Check it out and let me know what you think and if you would like one.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

May 15, 2017

Last night I had the opportunity to see and photograph Tears for Fears and Hall and Oates at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. It was a great show. That will be next week's blog after some editing.

This week we have Joe Walsh at Summerfest in 1973.

Take a look at one of my favorite musicians when he was just few years younger. I was young too at almost 19 years old!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann