August 26, 2013

Last weekend, I photographed the new Bill Camplin Band. They were doing a recording session in a beautiful barn in Palmyra, Wisconsin.

It was about a 45 minute drive into the country for me to get there and when I got out of the truck, I immediately relaxed hearing Bob Knetzger's pedal steel guitar! The guys were rehearsing and it sounded great! The night turned into morning and it was a long evening of fun!

I am only part of the way into editing but had to share some of the photos of old and new friends getting together. I hope everyone soon will be able to hear the recordings from that night.

Right now, I would love to hear that music and Bob's pedal steel again. It would relax me after today's stressful work day.

Well, back to some fun work since I have to finish editing the photos from Saturday night.

Enjoy these pictures and I will post more soon.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

August 19, 2013

In February of 1972, Bill Camplin and his band, Woodbine, played two shows. They played February 7 at the Jewish Communty Center in Milwaukee and then February 11 at the Oriental Theater, also in Milwaukee.

I learned that this coming weekend Bill and a few friends are getting together and recording, so I dug up these old images. The negatives are quite old and please forgive me for not doing any photoshop work on them. The weekend is just not long enough to be able to do it all!

The two color photos are in infrared film. That was a college thing I had going on in 1972!

Enjoy some memories of some great musicians.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

 

 

August 12, 2013

My new favorite radio show is on WMSE, 91.7 fm, at 11am on Monday mornings. It's called the Wild, Wild, Midwest Variety Show. It's a fun 1 hour show that opens up with Tiny Tim's "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" song!

That song takes me back to January of 1975 when Tiny Tim came to Humpin Hanna's in Milwaukee for a show.

Humpin Hanna's that night was a full house of people wanting to see this very interesting character and musician. With his ukulele and tulip themed suit he entertained us all. He even brought a few dancers with him and his band for this little nightclub show!

With his high falsetto voice and ukulele you didn't know if he was a serious musician or just a fun comedy act! Turns out he was a very serious musician and it was a fun show that every one would remember!

Tiny Tim was actually very tall and learned to play the ukulele with a method book that came with an Arthur Godfrey endorsed plastic ukulele! He was a huge fan of Arthur Godfrey I have learned!

We all remember his appearances on the Johnny Carson show where he actually married Miss Vicky on December 17, 1969. He was also on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In many times.

His real name was Herbert Khaury and he passed away in 1996 after 2 more marriages and a bunch of record albums. He even had his own record label for a while, Vic Tim Records!

Have a great week and Tip Toe Through the Tulips if you can!!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 29, 2013

Before I begin, let me thank Andreas Wiegel in Vienna, Austria, for letting me know that Roger Sutton was the bass player and Tommy Eyre played keyboards for the Mark Almond band. In my blog #68 on the Mark Almond Band, I was not sure from my research and asked for some information on that. Very cool to see that I reach out to Vienna, Austria and Andreas!!

This week's blog looks back at Elvin Bishop and his band that came to Summerfest here in Milwaukee in 1979. This was an awesome show and had a guy named Mickey Thomas playing Saxophone and doing great vocals. Mickey Thomas then went on to Jefferson Starship and nearly became a household name. He has such a great voice. I forgot that he played saxophone until I looked back at these photographs!

Elvin Bishop is coming back to Milwaukee for the Harley Davidson Anniversary concerts at the Summerfest grounds on August 29th! I am looking forward to the show because I haven't seen him since 1979 when he was sleeping in the dressing room! The band that night was worn out because they had just come from Hawaii I believe!

Have a great week and enjoy the photographs. The first photograph is a copy of a press kit Elvin had back then.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

 

July 22, 2013

A long time ago in 1971 when I was a junior in high school, my family moved across town. It was far enough away that I needed to attend a different high school. I lost all my friends!

I was mad, sad and buried my head into my love of photography and music! As I look back now, that move was probably one of the best things that happened to me in my youth!

One of my classmates was Steve Cohen. He had formed a band with some of our other classmates. The Stone Cohen Blues Band was it's name and they played some good blues.

The Stone Cohen Blues Band became Leroy Airmaster a little bit later and Steve was the leader playing harmonicas and doing vocals. Bill Stone plays guitar with Dave Kasik on the bass. Tom Wilson played drums for a while but Vodie Rhinehart is getting the job done now and fits perfectly!

The guys were influenced heavily by local bands The Ox and Short Stuff, and so was I!

Leroy Airmaster broke up for a while and since 2009 have been back together again. They are better and a little older now but it's all good.

The photographs here are from 1971 and from Summerfest this year where Leroy Airmaster opened for Jon Paris who opened for Buddy Guy on the Harley Davidson Roadhouse stage.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 15, 2013

Last Saturday night at the Harley Davidson Roadhouse stage at Summerfest, I had a bit of a reunion with some old friends!

Steve Cohen and his band Leroy Airmaster played and they were awesome! That is next week"s blog.

Good friend Jon Paris, brought Ed Sison to play drums with him and it was almost a reunion of The Ox Band. All that was missing was guitar player and vocalist Bob Metzger to make it a full reunion.

Dave Kasik played bass with the guys and it was a great show! Dave did double work that night playing for Jon and Leroy Airmaster!

Enjoy a few photos of the night!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

 

 

July 8, 2013

On February 11, 1972, the Mark Almond Band played at the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee. The opening act that night was the local Milwaukee group Woodbine. I will be doing a blog on them on soon!

I first became aware of Jon Mark and Johnny Almond when they were playing with John Mayall on his album Turning Point.

The band had a nice smooth sound and one of my favorite songs of all time is The City. The vocals by Jon Mark on that song were great!

I am not sure of the names of the bass player and keyboard player but they too were very good. If anyone knows their names I would appreciate an email to update my records.

The jacket that Johnny Almond is wearing in these photos is interesting with little spacemen on it!

Enjoy the old photos and have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 1, 2013

Busy weekend around here getting our yard work done so that we can go to Summerfest next weekend. Saturday night, July 6, will be a good night at the Harley Davidson stage. Some old friends are playing and rockin' the house!

At 6pm Leroy Airmaster is playing with my old high school friend Steve Cohen. Steve has played in the Stone Cohen Band and Leroy Airmaster who still get together occassionally.

At 8pm Jon Paris is playing. He too is an old friend and played with The Ox. Eddie Sisson, drummer from The Ox will be drumming for Jon! Jon has played with Link Wray, Bo Didley, Johnny Winter and lots more!

At 10pm Buddy Guy, will be was crankin' out hits! He is a blues legend!

Come join us for a great time with some of my old friends!

They will get you a rockin'!

Attached are some archived photos of them.

Hope to see you there.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 24, 2013

As I grew up in the Milwaukee rock scene, my favorite bands were The Ox and Short Stuff. Ok, I can't forget The Electric Shit Band, Woodbine and The Hound Dog bands.

Life was good for me during high school days in 1971 and 1972 with photography and rock'n'roll!

When The Ox was breaking up, another band was forming called Bobby and the Helmets! Bobby, was Bob Metzger, the great guitar player from The Ox. These days he plays guitar in Leonard Cohen's band. The Helmets are everybody else in the band I guess!

They were all best friends with each other and terrific musicians. Most of them are good friends of mine.

Here is a look at them playing at the Catacombs coffehouse on January 24, 1972.

Have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

May 13, 2013

Where would rock'n'roll be without the Everly Brothers? As a duo, Phil and Don Everly, probably influenced every musician by what they did in the 1950's and 1960's.

Phil and Don's music career started in Iowa in the 1940's with their father Ike's radio show. Their mother Margaret, was also a part of the radio show and the family performed as the Everly Family in and around Iowa in the early years.

Family friend, Chet Atkins, helped the boys out in 1956 in getting their first record contract.  The Everly Brothers were born.

When I heard that they were playing at a grade school in my neighborhood in Milwaukee in 1972, I could not believe it! The roller skating rink at the school was going to be having a rock'n'roll show with the Everly Brothers?? It was an amazing show and I was star struck to say the least!

Looking at my photographs from that night, I see that my good friends the Hound Dog Band must have opened up the show because the drum set says HDB on it. That was long ago and I don't remember the HDB that night but I do remember the Everly Brothers.

I also was amazed by the band the Everly Brothers had with them. The guitar player was Waddy Wachtel. Waddy has played with just about everyone from Stevie Nicks to the Eagles and many more. He is an excellent and well known session player. One of the photographs here is of Waddy.

It's fun looking back and seeing the outfits musicians wear and I love the dressed up Levi's they are wearing.

Hope you enjoy a little look at the Everly Brothers in 1972. If you would like a photograph on your wall at home or the office, 8 X 10 limited edition prints are on sale for $50.00 this week.

Have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann