May 7, 2012

In 1971, Milwaukee welcomed Mr. Vinton Medbury and his van from California.  Uncle Vinty was his stage name and his Dodge van was named the Creampuff!  Vinty was a unique performer. He was a musician, a magician, and a clown for all of us grownup kids. 

For many years, Uncle Vinty was a one man show living out of his van, traveling all over Wisconsin.  He would go back to California now and then but during the 1970's Milwaukee was his home.  For a few of those years, he lived with me in Milwaukee and then in Pewaukee, but the Creampuff was really his home.  The Creampuff was missing a shower you see, so he needed a break once and a while and he was always welcomed in my home.  Besides, Vinty being fun, he was also a great plumber so he was handy to have around.

I believe it was around 1977 when Uncle Vinty, with some help from Micheal Morgan, Peter Barnes, his brother Ted, and a few others, formed "The Movies".  It was a big band for Vinty and he was the band leader.  Some success was achieved when they made a TV show but Vinty actually never left his one man show.  He continued to tour the United States and then moved back to California.

Uncle Vinty is on the great stage in Heaven these days.  He died, I think it was in 1994.  I miss the old boy, especially last weekend when I needed to call a plumber to fix a faucet.

Enjoy the attached photos of Uncle Vinty and a few of the band "The Movies".

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

April 23, 2012

This week's blog is about Al Kooper, a musician who has worn many hats.  Without him we would not have the French horn on the Rolling Stones Let It Bleed album.  We also probably would not have the bands Blood, Sweat and Tears and Lynrd Skynrd since he basically created them.  I heard some BST the other day and it made me realize what Al Kooper has done.

The photos posted are from Milwaukee's club Humpin Hannas that were taken on December 29, 1972.  Al and his band that night were amazing, and check out that nice leather outfit and the white jacket he wore!  In those days it seemed every band lugged around the Hammond B 3 organ.  That heavy organ had the best sound and you knew what it was as soon as they started playing it.

He is still playing and I would love to see him again.  Think he still has those boots or shoes?  I want a pair for going out!

Enjoy these images on my new website and please keep checking it for more photos and stories. 

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 16, 2012

Most of us work in an office or cubicle, but if you are lucky enough to be a race car driver your office is the cockpit. If you are lucky enough to be a musician the stage is your office.  Those jobs are very similar in many ways.  Both demand a lot of brain power and both require stamina because the work environment can change at any second.  Your reflexes need to be quick and you must have the ability to focus only on the task at hand.   Both, hopefully, are in front of a large and excited crowd interested in what you are doing.  Adrenaline pours through the body of the musician on stage or the race car driver in the cockpit.  I feel the same thing when I photograph them! It really is alot of fun for me.

In 2003, after years of photographing race car drivers I wanted to find a different angle, a different view that we don't see very often, a view to call my own.  I thought a view of the race car driver from above, in his office, would be an interesting angle.  On pit lane one day, I put the Nikon directly above Indy Car driver Tiago Monteiro, who I was photographing for Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing.  There it was!  I knew I had something good there.  This started my cockpit photograph library.  It is a difficult photograph to take because I am shooting blind with just putting the camera above the driver and firing away.  Digital photography makes that so easy,  but in 2003, those first cockpit pictures were taken with film.  I did not make the switch to digital until 2005.

My cockpit photographs have traveled around the world since then and all of a sudden it seems that the racing world is catching on.  I see other photographers doing and publishing the same thing!  It is a nice compliment and I believe that maybe I started a little something way back in 2003.  I'm not sure, maybe I didn't start it, but it is a cool view, isn't it?

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 10,2012

I know I have to keep up with this blog thing a bit better.  I will try to blog once every week.

We lost a neat guy last week, Earl Scruggs.  Someone once said that he dressed like a Nashville dentist, but Earl Scruggs was a classy man.  He came from the days when we all dressed up to go on an airplane.  These days, people do not dress up much for anything at all. 

I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing Earl play twice.  One of these photographs is from an interview we did before a show at UW Milwaukee in 1972.  The other photograph shows him playing with one of his sons and the incredible Vasser Clements.  Earl did things with a banjo that made you listen hard and look twice. 

We will miss you Earl and keep playing that banjo in heaven.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

February 26, 2012

Welcome to richzimmermann.com! After years of thinking about it, I now have a website for sharing some of my work with you.  Since 1971, I have been photographing a lot of rock 'n' roll, blues, and country music in and around Milwaukee Wisconsin.

My blog is going to feature a photograph with every entry.  Here in my first blog ever, we here have one of my favorite photographs of Clarence White of The Byrds, taken on April 30, 1972 at Cathage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  At that time, I was a music photographer for the "Bugle-American" newspaper in Milwaukee.  Clarence here is playing his original "B Bender" homemade guitar that is now being played and used by Marty Stuart.  The sound of this guitar in 1972 was amazing!  I will never forget that sound and this image of Clarence.  In 2008, when I took this photograph of Marty Stuart at Summerfest in Milwaukee, something clicked in my head when I saw that Frankfurt sticker on the guitar he was playing!  I knew that I had seen and heard that guitar before but it took a little searching in the archives and sure enough it was Clarence White's guitar!!  Clarence passed away in 1973 ending his fabulous career way too early.  Who knows what else he could have accomplished in his life.  He made a big impression on me that day  and I just love the fact that Marty Stuart is still playing Clarence's guitar.  The history of the "B Bender" is fascinating to me and I don't even play guitar!

Enjoy these images on my new website and please keep checking it for more photos and stories. 

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

March 18, 2012

In 1998 at the Milwaukee Mile I had the pleasure of chatting with Greg Moore who was one of the nicest racers I have ever known.  He was always very calm it seemed when he was going to his Indy  Car office.  He was one of those guys that went into his car and just did it.  Greg made it look very easy to go so fast and he was always very fast.  At the time, I was a bass tournament fisherman and an Indy Car photographer.  I don't remember exactly what shirt I was wearing that day pictured here, which was a Friday practice, but as I was talking with Greg on pit lane he noticed my fishing shirt. We got to talking about fishing and found out that he loved to fish too!  I told him that I lived on Pewaukee Lake which was 25 minutes from the Milwaukee Mile and it was full of bass and muskies and he said he would love to fish it sometime with me in the future.

In October of 1999 we lost Greg Moore in a race in California.  In 2000 he was to be driving for Team Penske which was the seat to have at the time.  Team Penske instead of Greg, hired Helio Castroneves which is another whole story of another favorite race car driver.  As we are about to start a new Indy Car and fishing season Greg has been on my mind.  I don't know if he would like the new Indy Car we are about to see but I think he would.  It's a whole new safer car and if it is faster than the old one I really think he would like it!

Greg and I still have a date to go fishing someday upstairs.  We miss you Greg.  Tell me what you think on my Facebook or Twitter page.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann