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
June 11, 2018
In 1987, I photographed Bon Jovi at Alpine Valley Music Theater for the first time. Hopefully, you saw my blog a few weeks ago of their show at the Bradley Center. It was the last rock show ever at the Bradley Center here in Milwaukee.
In 1987, hair was big and stadiums rocked. Maybe leather pants were in style too! I remember I had a gray pair about that time!
The guys were so very nice that day in 1987 with some Make a Wish Foundation kids before the show. It was so cool to see Jon and Tico being soooo nice them.
Enjoy a look back at 1987 when you were how old?!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
Bon Jovi at Alpine Valley Music Theater in 1987.
January 4, 2016
Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a nice holiday week.
My blog last week was on the band Boston playing at Alpine Valley Music Theater in 1987.
This is Part 2, and includes the photographs that I took from a helicopter during that show. It gives us an interesting aerial view of Alpine Valley and shows the cars we all drove in 1987.
In the background you can see the ski hill, that I worked at when I was 17 years old and was a junior member of the National Ski Patrol. That was so much fun! I could ski for free and that was the key for me!
Enjoy a different view of Alpine Valley. The sun was going down. It was a beautiful evening and the band Boston was about to take stage.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
December 28, 2015
In 1987 I was the house photographer at Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconisn.
Photographing the band Boston on the weekend of July 10, 1987 was an awesome experience!
These photos were taken on the one nice evening of the weekend. I remember it rained most of that weekend.
I am breaking up the photos into a few blogs. I have a lot of them and many of the photos were taken from a helicopter. Those will be in separate blog.
Enjoy these pictures and Happy New Year everyone!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
Boston, playing at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in July of 1987.
September 9, 2013
In the early 1970's, I was on the Alpine Valley National Ski Patrol as a Junior Ski Patrolman on the ski hill in East Troy, Wisconsin!
In 1987, I returned to East Troy, Wisconsin, as the house photographer for the Alpine Valley Music Theater which is on the other side of the ski resort! It is one big valley of fun wether it's winter or summer here in Wisconsin!
One of the best shows in 1987 was Fleetwood Mac even though Lindsey Buckingham wasn't in the band. It took two guys to try to replace Lindsey and it was a different sound.
Enjoy some photos and notice that you can see their breath! Stevie even wore gloves because it was so cold that night in the valley!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
October 8, 2012
In 1987, I was fortunate enough to be the house photographer at Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin. It was a great job, with no pay, but it was fun. When I was a bit younger and in high school I was on the Alpine Valley Ski Patrol at the ski hill at the same resort! That could be a whole different interesting blog with some good stories.
Alpine Valley is legendary for all the acts that have performed there, but Madonna's show on August 2, 1987 was truly amazing.
When she came to Alpine Valley on her True Blue Tour, construction had to be done because she required a bigger stage. They took out the back walls and made the stage deeper for her big show. She had a huge band and showed a lot of video on a large screen during her show which was why the stage had to be expanded.
She did not disappoint. The crowd loved her singing and every costume that she wore.
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
