December 24, 2018

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

This is my last blog of 2018 and it has been an amazing year in my world of photography.  I've been very busy with some awesome projects. Here are a few highlights.

One of my photographs is in a book on Jethro Tull! I have a two page spread in Neil Preston's photo book on Led Zeppelin! There is a photograph of mine of Al Kooper in the documentary "If I Leave Here Tomorrow" about Lynyrd Skynyrd!!  Thanks to all people involved with these projects.

Presently, I am working on a Roxy Music project that I hope will work out and can share with you soon. Until then, take a look at these pictures of Roxy Music at the Riverside Theater on February 26, 1975.

Babe Ruth and StarCastle also played that show. Babe Ruth people have become friends and I was lucky enough to photograph them at Summerfest a few years back. Those pictures are on my website.

Roxy Music and Brian Ferry have always been one of my favorite bands. Brian has such a unique sounding voice.

Thanks, and I'll talk to you next year.

Rich Zimmermann

Fleetwood Mac at Alpine Valley Music Theater in 1987 on a cold night in the valley!

December 10, 2018

Today, we are looking at Neil Young from a show that I photographed at the Milwaukee Auditorium on January 5, 1973.

I posted some of these photos in blog #26 way back in 2012 when I was first starting up my blog.

Software is better now so I rescanned the negatives and touched them up with the new and improved Lightroom.

I'm discovering that my old black and white negatives are disintegrating more and more. Lightroom helps but I could spend hours on some of these photos. I do exactly that when they are ordered as a print for your home or office.

This show was just a few months after Neil Young's guitar player, Danny Whitten, had passed away. The name of the band at that time I think was Crazy Horse but I have found two other possible names!  Could be The Stray Gators or The Santa Monica Flyers.  I'm not sure.

The band was so good. You can see in the pictures that they were drinking Michelob.  Rumor is that before Heineken became the staple of every band, Michelob was the beer of choice.

Enjoy a look at the boys a few years back.

A couple 2019 calendars are left yet and if you are interested, just let me know. Forty dollars includes shipping and each month is a frameable photo of a musician on his birthday month.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Neil Young and Crazy Horse in Milwaukee on January 5, 1973

November 26, 2019

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!! Too much food around here lately, but all good!

I contributed to a new book by Gary Parker about Jethro Tull called, "Original Jethro Tull".  It's about the glory years 1968-1980. It contains some amazing history that I never knew about. On page 49 of the book, you will find my photo of John Evans, the keyboard player back in 1972.

Check out Gary Parker's book and here are some pictures of the guys taken on June 6, 1972.

Enjoy and I still have a few 2019 calendars left!  Let me know if interested.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

November 12, 2018

I am frequently asked what is the best rock show I have ever seen.

It was asked again this past summer when my wife and I saw Alice Cooper with a group of friends. That was a really great show!

I have been photographing shows since 1971 (junior year of high school) for various publications and record companies. So there have been a lot of really good shows.

I think my favorite show is still The Rolling Stones, June 18,1972 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, MN. That show amazed me!

The stage had a huge dragon on the floor and the some stage lights were behind the band and then shot up to mirrors that bounced the light back onto the band. Nicky Hopkins played piano. Bobby Keys played saxophone and Mick Taylor played guitar.  That combination of musicians is best version of the Stones to me. Stevie Wonder  opened up the show. Even being on the side, seemingly a mile away, the sound was great and of course it was loud!

So yes, the Rolling Stones in 1972 was my favorite show but there are soooo many others that were just as awesome!

Here is my top ten after the Rolling Stones from 1971-

Queen-Uptown Theater in March of 1975. Just incredible and when they fogged the stage I fell off of a crew case in the pit where I was shooting from!  Moved a few inches to get the shot I wanted and down I went! No one saw it and I got back up and kept shooting.

David Bowie-Milwaukee Arena October 1974. Even the rehearsal was amazing!

Joe Walsh with James Gang and Barnstorm. 1973 Summerfest. Also at the Milwaukee Arena and the Riverside Theater. He is a master at his craft.

The Everly Brothers at Pius grade school in Milwaukee in 1971. Unbelievable harmonies!

Steely Dan at Humpin Hanna's-Milwaukee 1972. The 14th show they ever played and we had drinks together after the show.

Pink Floyd-Milwaukee County Stadium 1977. Big, big show and the rehearsal was good too. During the actual show, it rained so hard but nobody left early.

The Who-Madison, WI 1975. Almost got crushed waiting to get in the doors. It was general admission and I wanted to be right up front.

Babe Ruth-Riverside Theater. Janitta Haan, Alan Shacklock and the rest of the band dazzled me!

Robert Palmer-Park Avenue club in Milwaukee. Very nice guy and the band was so good.

Metallica-2018 WorldWired tour-Madison and Milwaukee, WI. The stage and show design with a great band was something to see. Drones flew above the crowd! Cubes moved around from the ceiling with graphics and coming up from the stage turning into four drum sets!

I almost forgot my personal favorite photo from 1971 of Linda Ronstadt playing for Ramblin' Jack Elliott after she kicked the beer cans off the locker room bench and put her leg up to play! I was 17 and in a dressing room with Linda, Jack, Kris Kristofferson, Richie Havens, Earl Scruggs, Rosalie Sorrels and more. Learned about tequila that night with Kris Kristofferson!

There are many more I could list but these are pretty good choices I think.

What is the best show you have ever seen?? Let me know please.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

October 29, 2018

After many hours of work and after making many decisions, the 2019 Rich Zimmermann Photography calendar is done and ready to ship!!

It is a fun but tough project for me.  I feature the musician of the month on his birth month. It's not as easy as it sounds because I don't duplicate artists. Also, I have so many photos of each musician from which to choose.

The cover artist is the attached photo of Metallica at the opening of their 2019 U.S. tour in Madison, Wisconsin a few months ago.

That is all you get to see! Inside, the calendar photos go from Jeff Beck in 1972 to Metallica this year.

The calendar is printed by Shutterfly so all photos are on thick board that you could frame at the end of the year. Shutterfly does a wonderful job and they donate a lot of money to charitable causes.

Forty dollars includes shipping anywhere in the U.S. and they are available now! Just email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I'll send you one or twenty!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

October 15, 2018

This blog is about one of the first shows I ever photographed. It was at the UWM Union in Milwaukee on December 4, 1971.

I used black and white, color negative and infrared slide films!! Used them all that night, so see if you can pick out which is which!

There are two bands called Gypsy and this is the band formed in Minneapolis, MN not the British version.

I remember this show being very loud and very good but it was one of my first shows so they were all good and loud!

The band was the house band at the Whiskey A Go Go in California in 1969 and 1970.

Enjoy!

The 2019 calendars are almost done. My next blog will have a preview!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The band Gypsy at UWM on 12-4-1971. This is the U.S. band Gypsy not the English band.

September 17, 2018

On September 2, 2018 I had the pleasure of seeing and photographing the opening of the Metallica, "WorldWired", U.S. tour in Madison, Wisconsin.

Since 1971 I have seen many shows but none like this one.   It was amazing!

The design and production of the show was done by Dan Braun, a Milwaukee native.

Dan created the show with kinetic cubes suspended above us that changed colors, graphics, positions and more!  It was like a huge beautiful ever changing chandelier like I've never seen before!

At one point in the show four cubes came out of the stage and all four guys were playing them with drumsticks!! These cubes also changed graphics and colors before they disappeared back into the white stage.

Check out a few photos and go see the guys. It's an incredible show.

Great, great job Dan! You are a wizard!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann