July 29, 2024

This blog was going to be part 2 of the Indy Cars at Road America last June but that will have to wait until the next blog.

Reason being, we just lost one of the most influential musicians ever with the passing of John Mayall on July 23, 2024 at 90 years old. He was still touring and playing but passed away at home in California.

He got into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of fame as a musical influencer this year. My photos of him have been submitted for his induction.

John started in the early 1960's and his lineup of fellow musicians through the years is amazing. Without John we wouldn't have a lot of musicians that he hired and discovered.

Some of them are Eric Clapton, Peter Green, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel, Keef Hartley, Jack Bruce, Sugarcane Harris, Jon Mark and Johnny Almond. That's just a few and he really brought to us a lot of great musicians in his John Mayall and his Bluesbreakers band.

John was a great guitar player but also an amazing harmonica and keyboard player.

I first met John in 1971 doing an interview for the Bugle American newspaper and photographing his show. He was a very nice and talented man.

I also photographed him in 1975 and 1978.

Enjoy some old photos of the master and notice his very cool harmonica holder and unique guitar.

Gonna miss you John and thanks for all you did.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

May 6, 2024

John Mayall turned 90 a few weeks ago and is being awarded the Rock'n Roll Hall of Fame Musical Influence Award in 2024. About time he gets put into the Hall of Fame after so many musicians he helped start out are in there after being part of the John Mayall and his Bluesbreakers band.

Had the pleasure of photographing John and many of the musicians he had with him in his band in the early 1970's several times.

We can thank John for bringing us Mick Fleetwood who would then do his own band Fleetwood Mac with another Bluesbreakers musician John McVie.

Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce who would form Cream. Keef Hartley the drummer seen below, Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel, John Almond and so many others I could mention but John Mayall really influenced the blues and music starting in 1963 and still going!

The photos here are all from Milwaukee in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1975 when I was working for the Bugle American newspaper and had my photo studio.

John Mayall influenced my taste of music greatly I believe starting with his most famous tune "Room to Move".

His harmonica and guitar playing are really, really good and checkout the harmonica holder he wears and his guitar full of holes. Very cool plus he always seemed to have a Fox tail hanging around his belt!

Enjoy a look at the master and influencer WAY before there were influencers.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

A little tour of John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1975 in Milwaukee.

April 8, 2024

I've been a music and rock'n'roll photographer since I was 16 years old (1970) for several newspapers, bands, record companies, Summerfest and more. I wanted to work for Rolling Stone Magazine as a music photographer but it was never meant to be apparently.

An album cover was another item that I ALWAYS wanted but never achieved until this week! I have done photos inside of albums, books and several publications but have never gotten the elusive album cover until now.

On June 3, 1973 at Milwaukee's Performing Arts Center, Foghat played with the Thomas Jefferson Kaye band as the opening act. I photographed the show for the Bugle American newspaper here in Milwaukee.

Bearsville Records Inc. along with Rhino Entertainment Company, a Warner Music Group Company, contacted me a few months ago for usage of my photos for a Record Store Day Foghat album release on April 20th.

Thanks to using metadata in all of my photos on my website, they found me.

The album called Foghat-Permission to Jam-Live in New Orleans is from a show they recorded on September 1 and 2, 1973. This is my first ever album cover and they used three other photos on the back cover. It is a huge honor and only took me 54 years of photography to get'er done.

The album cover is a nice full photo of the band in black and white and the three photos of mine on the back cover were color but they made them black and white.

Lonesome Dave Peverett was the vocalist, leader of the band and a character. Dave was a lot of fun and had the energy to ROCK!

So enjoy a peak at the only copy that is in our house here but you can pick one up soon at your record store.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

March 11, 2024

On June 15, 1977 Pink Floyd brought their Animals/In The Flesh tour to the Milwaukee County Stadium for another great show in the rain!! Their last show here in 1975 for the Wish You Were Here tour was also a rainy event.

It was another amazing show and a lot of work for their team to set up and protect all the gear from the rain. The rain stopped the show a few times, but no one cared.

Notice the photo of The Pig before it was inflated for the show and traveled about via a cable.

Enjoy a look at the setting up and rehearsal plus a bit of the show.

The setlist consisted of;

1. Sheep

2. Pigs on the Wing 1

3. Dogs

4. Pigs on the Wing 2

5. Pigs (Three Different Ones)

6. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)

7. Welcome to the Machine

8. Have a Cigar

9. Wish You Were Here

!0. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX)

11. Money

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Pink Floyd doing their "Animals Tour" June 15, 1977 at the Milwaukee County Stadium.

February 26, 2024

On June 22, 1975, the Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" tour came to the Milwaukee County Stadium for a show.

Milwaukee County Stadium was not real happy to have their nice grass baseball field messed up, so I was hired for insurance purposes by Daydream Productions to photograph it before and after! One of the weirdest photo jobs I've ever had but I also got to photograph the setup and rehearsal for the show.

That is why you see a friend holding a board that has 21 on it for the June 21 field condition on the day before the show.

It took two days to set it up and the field survived well enough that more shows were allowed like the Rolling Stones a few months earlier when I also photographed the grass.

Fun to look at the old days and the gear that was used for the show. An airplane they made that flew on a wire over the crowd was one of the more interesting things used.

For the show it rained and I didn't risk the photo gear getting soaked but the crowd didn't care. The show started and stopped a few times and ended at 12:30am with the crowd still wanting more!

Enjoy a look at the setup, people, cars and staging on a very hot couple of days! It makes you appreciate all the work it takes to setup a major show and notice the $0.65 beer!

Also take a look at the guy with the long curly out of control hair parted right down the middle. That would be me!

Here is the setlist from the night.

1. Sheep

2. Dogs

3. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5)

4. Have a Cigar

5. Speak to Me

6. Breathe

7. On the Run

8. Time

9. Breathe (Reprise)

10. The Great Gig in the Sky

11. Money

12. Us and Them

13. Ant Colour You Like

14. Brain Damage

15. Eclipse

16. Echoes

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

October 23, 2023

Been a bit of a crazy summer medically for me and I missed a lot of things going on, both good and bad.

I didn't realize that Gary Wright had passed at 80 years old on September 4, 2023.

Gary was born in New Jersey and started as a child actor at age 7 on television, and then started acting on Broadway before being cast on the Brady Bunch for several years.

He was a musician from an early age and decided to back up that career by becoming a doctor! He then went to Germany to study and specialize in psychology.

All this time he was in many bands and the most notable was Spooky Tooth. He also played on former Beatle George Harrison's album, All Things Must Pass. He even went to India with George for some musical events.

In the 1970's he went solo and his most famous song is probably Dream Weaver in 1975.

I had the pleasure of photographing him in 1977. It was a nice show with great lighting and numerous fog machines. It made for good photos!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

August 7, 2023

I've had the privilege to photograph a lot of different things in my life and I never take it for granted.

This year at Gathering on the Green I photographed Rise and Shine In The Park on Sunday July 16th at Mequon Rotary Park.  Wisconsin's Frankie Moscato and the national act ,Cain, also performed.

That was a unique experience like I've never witnessed, and was good to see people having fun with religion and music together. There was also a live painting being done as the show was going on for charity.

Frankie Moscato is a young American Idol contestant. The band Cain is a brother with his two sisters performing. It was great music and fun on a really windy day. Frankie lost her hat at the beginning of the first song and I even retrieved it for her! You can see it on top of the piano as she didn't wear it for the rest of the set.

Saturday night July 15th was the rock night with the bands Starship featuring old friend Mickey Thomas and Ann Wilson from the band Heart.  Guitars for Vets, contests and raffles were also going on.

I've known Mickey Thomas since his days with Elvin Bishop in 1977 at Milwaukee's Summerfest and again in 1979. I photographed a meet and greet with Mickey and Starship singer Cian Coey. We talked a bunch before the show about the old days. Included here is a meet and greet photo with me in it!!

Mickey is probably most famous for his song "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" from the Elvin Bishop days and he ended his show dedicating the song to me!! Very cool and appreciated Mickey!

Ann Wilson from Heart played after Starship and it was good to hear some old tunes and a few new ones.

Guitars for Vets opened up the night with a nice set.

WAMI and Guitars for Vets have been around for a few years and it was cool to see veterans having fun! Plus, they are great musicians doing it all for a very worthy cause. 

Enjoy a look at a fun filled weekend for me!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The Doobie Brothers in 1975 with Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Tom Johnston at Milwaukee's PAC.