May 19, 2019

Sorry for being late with my usual blog!!! Never have I been this late but never have I had such homeowner chores! It's spring time and when you own a house you have a lot to do! Enough of that for now.

My blog here is on the band Queen when they were in Milwaukee at the beautiful Uptown Theater. That venue was torn down and is now a Milwaukee police station! Sad to see that because it was a beautiful old venue.

Personal story here-  I was photographing from the orchestra pit that was full of equipment cases from Queen for the show on March 7, 1975. Nothing strange about that except I remember some fog coming on the stage. Then I moved over on the equipment case I was kneeling on to get the perfect shot and fell a few feet down right off the equipment case!!!

Got back up and I was fine and the camera was fine so kept on shooting.

These are some of the photos from that night.

Enjoy and get ready for the Indy 500 coming soon.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 29, 2019

Hope everyone watched the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony last night. A few of my photos of Roxy Music were used from a 1975 show in Milwaukee! They are a great band and they have that clear electric violin! I believe it was made of fiberglass or plexiglass.

Today we look at some reworked images of mine of ELP, otherwise known as Emerson, Lake and Palmer. These photos are from a show in Chicago in 1973. I was 19 working for the Bugle American newspaper here in Milwaukee and going to college. Those were good times.

Security in the old days was something to behold but people behaved back then most of the time. Notice how the crowd is leaning on the stage! Don't see that anymore for a big act and ELP was huge then.

I couldn't get very close to the band and wandered about photographing from where I could.

The band had an orchestra with a conductor. Don't see that much.

Very interesting looking at Keith Emerson's keyboard setup. Look at the size of his HUGE synthesizer full of cables and a oscillator screen!! Crazy cool and now it's the size of my desk!

Enjoy and have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Shortstuff in 1971 at Whitefish Bay High School

April 1, 2019

I'm a "Happy Boy"!! If you have never heard that tune, please Goggle or use You Tube to watch "Happy Boy" and The Beat Farmers. Listen to this old fun tune!! Miss you Dick Montana.

I am a happy boy because two of my photos of Roxy Music from 1975 were used in the induction ceremony for the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame last Friday night! Hopefully the photos will make it to the broadcast of the show on April 27th on HBO and you can see them. Love the clear electric violin of Eddie Jobson. Otherwise, just go to my website, Rock Category and find Roxy Music for all the photos.

Anyway, this blog is about my old friends and local band here in Milwaukee, Shortstuff. I am going to try to do some more blogs on the local bands that inspired me a lot in the 1970's. Shortstuff was one of those bands with the great Junior Brantley and Jim Liban. The lineup changed a bit through the years and this version was a favorite.

These pictures are from a show on 1-8-1972 at my high school in Whitefish Bay in the field house/gym when I was 17!

Check out the guys.

Have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

March 18, 2019

Glad to see our snow is finally melting around here!! Just needs to get a bit warmer.

I have redone my photos of TheTubes in 1975 with new software. In these pictures they are playing in Milwaukee.

They are a fun band and a great show. Their new tour starts April 4 in St. Charles, IL. Catch them if you can. It will be worth it and fun I guarantee!

Check them out here in 1975!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

February 18, 2019

I first met Linda Ronstadt in a locker room/dressing room in 1972 when I was 17 years old!  I then took one of my favorite photographs ever! That black and white photo is with Ramblin' Jack Elliott listening to her warm up before she went on stage.

I've been working on some photos of Linda Ronstadt from 1972 and 1980 lately for something coming up!

Other than that picture, these are photos from 1980 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Always have loved Linda's talented voice. She has sung just about every type of music I believe other than opera in her long career.

Not sure on the band here but I think the main guitar player is Danny Kortchmar. Any help in identifying the band would be appreciated.

Enjoy the photos.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

February 4, 2019

Hope everyone has been staying warm with our cold winter weather!   Do you think Mother Nature may be angry with us?

I covered the opening of the U.S. WorldWired tour of Metallica that was in Madison, Wisconsin last September in a previous blog.

Recently, I realized that I forgot to show you the Milwaukee tour stop of Metallica on October 16, 2018 at the FiServ Forum.  I've been too busy with this thing called life I guess.

Here are a few of the photos of that amazing Metallica show.  The stage and production design by our Milwaukee friend, Dan Braun, is just incredible!!

Check out the boys and this tour if possible to see in action the kinetic cubes above the stage. Four of the cubes rise from within the round stage and become drum kits for all four guys to play.

Stay warm!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Metallica and the WorldWired Tour at Milwaukee's FiServ Forum on October 16, 2018

January 21, 2019

It's finally winter here in Wisconsin! We got about 6" of snow the other night and it's beautiful outside!

My last blog was about Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac in 1987 without Lindsey Buckingham. Here we have Lindsey Buckingham at Summerfest in 2007 without Fleetwood Mac! He did a solo tour then like he is doing right now.

Lindsey has a great voice and I think he is even better at playing guitar. The guitars he used here were Turner guitars that looked a bit modified if you look closely. Great sounds out of these guitars with the master playing them on a nice night at Summerfest.

Enjoy and stay warm.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

January 7, 2019

Happy New Year everyone!!!  Hope you all had a great holiday season.

This week we look at Fleetwood Mac way back when in 1987 when Lindsey Buckingham was not yet part of the group.

It's similar to what Fleetwood Mac is like now without Lindsey.  For me,  he really was the heart of the band. Well, maybe after Peter Green and Bob Welch that is!

So, check out Stevie Nicks, Billy Burnette, Rick Vito, Christine McVie and of course Mick Fleetwood. This was a cold night in 1987 at Alpine Valley Music Theater here in Wisconsin.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann