December 7, 2020

As I wrote that date, December 7th, I realize that it is the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Very sad day to go down in history. Many thanks to all the servicemen.

This is my last blog on Joe Walsh!! Four is enough and that's all I've got of Joe in photos. Once he joined the Eagles he and the band became very hard to photograph. Even with Vince Gill as an old friend from his Pure Prairie League days it just got really hard to get access. 

They have also become the most expensive tickets to buy for a show I hear. Great band but $1000. or more for a good seat is crazy!

This show I photographed was in Milwaukee in 1980 according to my records but that doesn't work out with the tour list! So, if anyone knows a Milwaukee date let me know please. The slides are stamped August 1980!

The band here was great with Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Don Feldner and Glen Frey. Joe Walsh joined the band in late 1975 and they broke up in late 1980 a few months after this show.

Enjoy a look at the boys from my one seat way back with a long lens! Wish I had my present gear back then. Photos would be a lot better!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

November 23, 2020

Continuing with Joe Walsh blogs, here is another one!

Joe played a show at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee on March 19, 1975.

This was towards the end of his solo career as he was to join the band The Eagles in December of 1975.

He is an amazing guitar player and this show did not disappoint.

His microphone stand has an interesting display of a horn, a mask and even a bicycle handlebar.

Enjoy a look at one of Joe Walsh's last solo shows.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Joe Walsh on March 19, 1975 at Milwaukee's Riverside Theater.

November 9, 2020

For my last blog I cleaned up a lot of old images of Joe Walsh from 1971. So, I figured I should keep working on Joe Walsh photos and cleanup some of my favorite photos from Summerfest 1973 and some of my favorites of Joe!

It was in 1973 when Joe Walsh had his band, Barnstorm ,with Joe Vitale, Rocke Grace, and Kenny Passerelli

When I took these photos, I could not move from the spot I had secured because it was so crowded. If I could have moved, I would have pictures of the drummer and bass player! Joe Vitale is such a great drummer and Kenny Passerelli a great bass player.

Enjoy a look at Summerfest and Joe in 1973. I cleaned them up a lot but a few could use a little more work!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

October 26, 2020

On November 25, 1971 my thoughts were not on Thanksgiving too much. That is because two days later the James Gang Band was coming to the Milwaukee Arena for a show!!

Joe Walsh has played in many bands but he's also a great solo artist.  My personal favorite was the time he spent with the band The James Gang. To me, Joe Walsh was the band!

He did have a great band though with drummer Jimmy Fox and bass guitar by Dale Peters.

John Mayall and another band, Jake Jones, played that night too.

I'm thinking that the James Gang Band was the headliner act that night, but not sure.

Enjoy some freshly cleaned up images!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 20, 2020

In the past I have written blogs about John Prine who is in my opinion is the best songwriter and storyteller in the world. Steve Goodman was a good musician and friend of John's who would have to be the second best. John Prine lyrics are just amazing and to think he wrote some of his early material during his six years as a mailman in Maywood, Illinois!

John passed away on April 7, 2020 at 74 years old. It put tears in my eyes and I'm sure a lot of other people felt the same way.  COVID-19 was stronger than John and took him to heaven. He is now with his buddy Steve Goodman who passed in 1984. When they did a show together it was really a fun time with many great songs and stories.

I had the pleasure of photographing John twice, in 1972 and then again in 1974 when I worked for the Bugle American newspaper. I have seen him probably six or seven times and every performance was just great.

My photographs of John are some of my favorite images. In 1974 when he played at Milwaukee's Summerfest Schlitz Country stage, I gave him a photo from the Milwaukee PAC 1972 show and had a few Schlitz beers with him backstage. It was called the Schlitz Country Stage after all so we had to have some Schlitz beer and it was flowing pretty good and I was only 19! John loved the photo and we joked about the 1972 photos where he had Pabst beer on his stool and now it was Schlitz! I always wanted to get a photo autographed by him and never did after all these years...

The 1974 photographs are fun to look at because it was about 100F and the Summerfest Skyglider ran almost right above the stage. John was talking to the people up there and they were talking to him which made for some interesting banter.  It also made for some great photographs of him looking up at them talking and playing around.

John had some health issues and could not smoke anymore and he LOVED to smoke cigarettes! He often said that when someone would lite up a cigarette he'd rush over to get a whiff of that first puff! He even wrote a song about going to heaven and smoking a nine mile long cigarette.

My heart goes out to his family and to our Milwaukee promoter, Peter Jest and his wife Karen who became very good friends of John.

We lost a good one on April 7th.  He will be sadly missed.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 6, 2020

I hope everyone is doing well during our pandemic right now. Here in Wisconsin we are being advised to stay at home.  There is not much traffic out there so hopefully everyone is complying and staying safe.  It's a good time to get house projects done and other chores.

We go back in time today for my blog which is about my first paying music related photo job!!! I was 17 years old, in high school and working at Camera Corner here in Milwaukee every day after school.

My boss at Camera Corner, John Dunar, was very nice and saw my interest of getting into the music photography business. A friend of John's was Dave Kennedy of Dave Kennedy Recording Studios. They were talking together in the store one day and Dave said he had a band called The Serendipity Singers coming in to record that week. Then he asked me if I would like to photograph this folk band and document their day of recording in his studios! Before I could say yes he even offered to pay me!

The day is documented here and you can even see my photo gear bag in one photo. The experience was an eye opener for me in a few ways. It was the first time in a recording studio and I was just in love with the technology that surrounded me. Dave Kennedy had THE 16 track tape machine of the time, an Ampex Master Maker 1000 16 track recorder!

The second eye opener of the day happened when I learned that my borrowed camera was stolen!  I borrowed it from Camera Corner with permission from my boss. I wanted to have two cameras available to me that day.  I put one of the cameras on a couch in the reception office for a few minutes. In less than five minutes someone took it and it was never seen again along with the exposed film that was in it. My boss at the camera store was very nice about it but it was a big life lesson for me!  Still would really like to have that film.

Enjoy the photos that I have of that very interesting day.  They even played kazoo's! Remember those?

Be safe everyone.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

March 9, 2020

On March 4, 1973, Pink Floyd arrived at the Dane County Coliseum for a show that would become a favorite show for a lot of people.

The "Dark Side of the Moon" album had just been released and the show centered around that music.

A large rotating disc with fog behind it rotated behind the band for some nice lighting during some of the show.

I remember driving in my 1972 Volkswagen Squareback with some friends from Milwaukee to Madison for the show. Loved that car and it had a great heater but we all froze waiting outside for the general admission show doors to open!

Then we ran inside when the doors were opened to get as close to the stage as possible.

The original film of black and white negatives were given to a friend years later who was doing a book on the band. She didn't look after my kids (the film), and they were never seen again!!

Recently, I found a few 5 x 7 prints and the proof sheets from the show!  It's better than having nothing at all but hard to duplicate the original film.

I photographed the 5 x 7 prints and they came out alright considering they were printed on matte finish paper in 1973. Matte paper shows a lot of grain in the fibers unfortunately.

We are working on the proof sheets but they are stuck in plastic and also printed on matte paper!

Check out what I have so far and maybe more photos will happen down the road.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Pink Floyd in March of 1973 at the Dane County Coliseum.

February 24, 2020

Lifetime Achievement Grammy Awards will be presented to Isaac Hayes and John Prine soon with a television ceremony in April.

This blog looks at Isaac Hayes when he played Summerfest in 1973. I remember it as a very hot and humid night with Isaac having a lot of fun.

Isaac continued his music career for many years with the theme song that he wrote and performed for the movie "Shaft" and then became the voice of Chef on "South Park".

Check out that hot night in July of 1973 with Isaac playing keyboards and saxophone and singing away!

He was a legend!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann