August 29th
After running around London all day, I'm really jet lagged.
The very nice Will Nash brings me a copy of his amazing new "very
deluxe" leather bound book "Stu". It's about
Ian Stuart, keyboard player and an original Rolling Stone,
with interviews with everyone.
August 27th
United 934 to London. As I go through security, the
very bright people of the TSA (airport terrorist surveillance)
pick up my bag of cameras and as they are about to
empty them on a metal table, ask in all seriousness "is
there anything fragile in this bag of cameras?", "no" I
reply "it's only a bag of very expensive and professional
cameras" |
..... Evening flight home from L.A.
It's very stormy shoot clouds and end of day over Las
Vegas, Arizona, Utah. |
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I wish I could do this for a living. |
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August 22nd
I miss the K party as I know I'm getting up early
to fly to L.A. Go with my
son for a week to do.......er...nothing. |
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Shoot Mike and Chester from Linkin
Park, surprisingly drinking champagne. Deryek from
Sum 41 and his new
girlfriend Paris Hilton. Mr and Mrs Rob Zombie. |
System of a Down, well 3 of them, Hovig,
Chavo and Serge who I have to say are the most friendly
and genuinely
pleased to see me. When Metallica win the award one
of the bodyguards tells me I've got one minute to shoot
this.. |
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O.K
I say, lets not bother. This really perplexes him.
I get about 5 minutes with Lars being as sincere as
Tony Blair and George Bush.
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Kirk is my best friend. James
is strangely distant (I chat with him for a bit and then
he's fine). Phil Alexander asks if I've got what I needed.
I tell him a big NO. He goes and gets James with various
other band members and saves the day... It also must
be said Scarlet Borg and Caroline Fish made it all happen
as well, otherwise we would have got nothing |
August 18th
Arrive home 10:30am, met by not very happy Kicks.
At least
the weather's still good.
August 17th
Up at 6am, fly to New York Newark.. Land at 12:30
into the city, pick up cameras, arrange to shoot Korn
at 5pm. Finish at 7:20pm, back to the airport in, surprise
surprise... pouring rain. 9:20pm United flight from
JFK to London. It's delayed due to the weather until
11pm...
Must thank Maria (the Tattooed Lady) and Laurence
for making the session go smoothly. |
Mr Jonathan Davis
with his hero
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August 16th
5:30am. Get woken by Bill Greer (Ozzy's tour manager) to
cancel me going to New York. I'm on a flight at 1:20... Of
course I've left all my cameras in New York as I knew I was
going back.
August 15th
New York. At 4pm has the biggest power cut ever. I am thankful
I'm not on a plane on my way to Jones Beach.
August 14th
Phil Alexander asks me to shoot Jeff Beck and BB King at
Jones Beach in New York... I point out BB's people are not
the most pleasant to deal with. After half a million
e-mails go back and forth, the session goes from hanging
out and getting what I like to 5 minutes after the show...
I decide it would be easier to pull rabbits out of a hat..
Phil thinks the same. We give up.
August 11th
My birthday and it's a 100 degrees..... Spent the
day doing nothing. |
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August 9th
Arrive 6:50am. Met by grumpy Kicks. It's very very very
hot !! Fantastic !!!
I'm off to sit in the garden.
August 8th
Go home. I've had enough of this city....... Nice empty
United airlines 6:50pm to London.
August 7th
Up at 6am, decide to go to the Ozz Fest in Philadelphia
for the day. I figure it's got to be better weather
than New York. 2 hour drive with the very lovely Maggie
Wang and the Tattooed Lady (who was super late) blaming
her alarm clock... She is always infuriatingly late...
Get to Philly (as you say) at 9:30am. The weather
is not better than New York ! Hang out at the second
stage which in reality is like a parking lot with a
flat bed truck with the bands to play on.
RH and MW photos: copyright The Tattooed Lady |
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Hotwire say hello and thank me for shooting them.
It starts raining, Maggie is the only person to bring
an umbrella which stands out rather strangely especially
when she escorts Russ the singer from Hotwire to a
signing session.
Wander over to the river and shoot the Battleship
New Jersey with Laurence. We were going to go on it
but the security is too hard to bother with.
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I shoot a new band called Motograter from Santa Barbara.
They are mostly painted in black except the singer who
is bright red. I was going to stay for Korn and Ozzy
but by 4pm we've all had enough.
Head back to rainy New York. |
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August 6th
Jones Beach second show.
Follow Steven's car, he jumps in mine, shoot him "high
fiving" fans as we drive in backstage.
Do a
quick session with Kiss as they go on. Get some
great posing. They are true professionals when it
comes
to this. |
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Shoot them live, goes O.K until a group of
Kiss midgets (I'm not joking here) in full make-up
run to the front and knock 2 pints of beer over
my camera lenses which go from pin-sharp
to now soft focus... Just as Gene is dripping
blood.
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Aerosmith change the set, opening with "Mama
Kin" then "Toys". Great set. Shoot most
of the show on stage. All run again at the end.
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August 4th
Jones Beach, Wantagh, 40 miles from N.Y. As we leave at
4pm it starts raining so hard, you can't even see out
the car windows. Amazingly, Jones Beach is sunny but
very windy. Hard to shoot again. But nice low stage (a photographer's
dream). Pre show go through group shots with the band. Everyone
does a runner straight after the show back in New York
at 11:45.
August 2nd
Run into Phil Collen (Def Lep guitarist and one of my oldest
friends), I realise I haven't seen him for two years.
We have a very Rock'n Roll Starbucks together. I'm off to
Hartford he's off to play in Holmdel... Still it's great
to see him and catch up.
Hartford 120 miles from New York, due to traffic takes 3
hours. The car driver wants to play Bob Marley until
I finally had enough and stop him. He thinks I'm a kill-joy,
he's right... The venue, Meadows Music Centre is even
more humid than New York. The stage is really really high.
Hard to shoot. End up shooting Aerosmith next to Joey Kramer.
Nice to see all the crew. Lisa, Liz and Jaime.
Aerosmith are rocking. Opening with "Let the music
do the talking"
August 1st
Fly to New York to shoot new Aerosmith tour, 6pm arrive
9pm to storms and tropical rain... Fucking awful... I want
to go home. |
