January 9, 2023

Happy New Year!!!

Here we are at the beginning of another year and I hope it's a good one for all of us.

I'm officially announcing that I am retiring from photographing music and rock and roll! Started music photography when I was 17 years old in high school, with the Bugle American newspaper here in Milwaukee. Then, I worked 52 years of Summerfest on and off, promotional photographer for Columbia records and many other publications. Plus, I worked with several bands as their photographer.

A lot of books have been published with my work, most notably friend and best guitarist in the world (to me) Jeff Beck's beautiful book, BECK01. Jeff Beck was one of my first big shows in 1972 and last October I photographed Jeff and Johnny Depp in Chicago.  That was the finish line for me.

Prints of mine are all over the world and it's been an honor and pleasure, but the politics and bs to photograph a show at all have gotten so complicated.  I'm done.

I will however continue as a racing photographer of Indy Car, IMSA and more at Road America and the Milwaukee Mile. I'm 68 but ya can't get rid of me yet!

Now, I get to edit the archives of my work and I plan to compile a nice coffee table book. That should take about 3 years I figure! I will also have more time to spend with my beautiful wife Claudia.

Been trying to catch up with the past year of Summerfest to put into my website and blogs.

So, today we have Todd Rundgren from Summerfest on June 30th 2022. Todd is a musician I've always wanted to see and photograph.

Enjoy a look at Todd Rundgren and his band on a beautiful night at Summerfest.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Todd Rundgren enjoying a fun show at Milwaukee's Summerfest June 30th, 2022.

Keith Pulvermaker and Johnny "Cee" Calarco and the CD photo shoot for "Can't Wait For Christmas".

A look back at September 11, 1977 backstage at Milwaukee County Stadium for the Fleetwood Mac show.

December 12, 2022

On November 30th, we lost musician Christine McVie from the band Fleetwood Mac. I was fortunate enough to photograph Christine with Fleetwood Mac three times through the years. She had such a great voice and was a talented artist.  She even did the album cover artwork for their album "Kiln House". That album is one of my personal favorites, especially  the song "Station Man".

In my very early photography days back on October 20th 1971 at the Milwaukee Arena, I photographed Rory Gallager, Frank Zappa and Fleetwood Mac with Christine. Also playing in the band was guitarist and vocalist Bob Welch who passed in 2012.  Rhythm guitarist, Danny Kirwan, also played that night. He passed away in 2018.

Maybe there is a new Fleetwood Mac band upstairs having fun and playing music again. Christine and Bob Welch really worked well together with their awesome vocals. Christine has been quoted saying  that she really enjoyed working with Bob.

These black and white photos shown here are not the greatest photos I've ever taken but I was just getting started at 17 years old!

The next time I photographed Fleetwood Mac was on September 11th, 1977 at Milwaukee County Stadium. I wasn't allowed to photograph the show but had fun backstage taking a few photos and then listened to the band play to a very large crowd. One of the photos shows Christine backstage with a large boombox! Kenny Loggins and his band opened up  for Fleetwood Mac that night.

Then in 1987 as a house photographer for Alpine Valley Music Theater, I was allowed to take a few photos and one of Christine is included here as the last photo.

Enjoy a look at Christine, Bob Welch, Danny Kirwan and a couple of Mick Fleetwood.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

November 28, 2022

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.

A few weeks ago we lost one of the best rock 'n' rollers to ever play. Jerry Lee Lewis ,"The Killer", was one of a kind and we will never have another musician or person like him.

I had the pleasure on July 18, 1972 to not only photograph The Killer but to chat with him and his band backstage that night. Really a nice guy and had alot of fun with him that night.

The band Truc, also known as Truc of America,opened the show for Jerry Lee Lewis. Drummer Ed Sison became a good friend and was also playing for the band The Ox in those days.

Enjoy a look at both bands from that night.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Part 2 of the 2022 Millers at Milwaukee 2022 event.

A fun weekend at the Milwaukee Mile with the Harry Miller Indy Cars and a few others.

November 14, 2022

I can't believe that it's almost Thanksgiving. Time flies, doesn't it?

Finally catching up with things but still have a ton of Summerfest photos to edit and archive for future blogs.

So, this is Part 2 of the Millers at the Milwaukee Mile on July 8th and 9th of 2022. The previous blog was Part 1.

During this two day event I took over 600 photos at the Milwaukee Mile. Then I went to Summerfest in the evening to photograph Rod Stewart, Cheap Trick, The Tubes, John Fogerty, Los Straightjackets, Rick Springfield, The Cult and the Marshall Tucker Band!!  Probably took over 3000 photos that weekend.

Enjoy another look at some amazing and historic cars at the Milwaukee Mile.

It's such a good story of how Indy cars evolved through the years. I still can't imagine driving an Indy 500 in some of these cars, but at the time, they were the state of the art machines.

Some of these photos may look very similar to the photos in the Part 1 blog but the drivers are diffferent in a few of the cars. I'm also using 3 cameras with different setups and lenses.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

October 31, 2022

I just realized that I didn't put a blog up of this great event. It was at the same time as Summerfest and Gathering on the Green. It was a busy weekend here in Milwaukee.

The Millers at Milwaukee is a wonderful event held annually at the Milwaukee Mile. This year it was on July 8 and 9, 2022 and the weather was perfect.

If you don't know who Harry Miller is, PLEASE look him up and read the amazing history of this man from Milwaukee who changed racing history.

A lot of these cars are Millers that were complete with Miller engines. But, there are some other great pieces of history here running on track as well.

I took enough photos that I'm going to split this into two blogs and this is part 1.

These cars are pieces of art and one can only imagine racing 500 miles at Indy in one of them!

Not all of them ran on track but I tried to get a photo or two of all, plus of course the famous grid photo.

My grid photo is different than the traditional one done for years from the starters stand on the side of the track. I brought my 10 foot ladder, put it in the center of the grid, and photographed the bunch as they left the grid.

Enjoy a peak at them and more to come next blog.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann