March 30
 I've
put up some pictures of John Frufcante. Go there...
 Some Paul Weller pictures too. Go there...
March 29
Just spent the last two days going through my Iron
Maiden colour. At the moment I hate them - can't bear
to look at another photo... I've picked a lot of Powerslave
from Long Beach (I have a soft spot for the album cover,
it has everything a fan could want). I've missed out
the mid-nineties offstage, and avoided Nicko's changes
with fashion. At the end of it I'm quite pleased. I'll
put some up next week - all I have to do now is the
black and white...
March 28
March 26
The first day of summer and it's raining. Drive up
to Soho to meet Emilie Fjola, a photographer, who is
shooting me today. I pose with my PT Les Paul. I feel
quite self -conscious. I'd watched James Nachtwey, War
Photographer on dvd last night - it puts what I do in
perspective.
Noriaki Watanabe, my spiritual adviser, has arrived
from Japan. Noriaki doesn't say a lot, he nods. We have
Sunday lunch in Yo Sushi in near silence. I drive home
- he is very quiet. 'What's wrong?' I ask. 'Your driving
is making me sick.' He can walk next time...
March 25
Went out last night to go wild - sort of. Got home
in the early hours of this morning, dug out my Pete
Townshend guitar (I'm doing a photo session with it
on Sunday), turned on the TV and Loudon Wainwright III
was playing Red Guitar - which has the lyrics "Used
to have a red guitar till I smashed it one drunk night,
smashed it in the classic form as Peter Townshend might."
Quite inspiring. I love Loudon Wainwright so I watched
an In Concert retrospective. I wanted to like it - it
was awful. The stage was lit for a sub-standard Pink
Floyd, way too bright. The songs (that I saw) weren't
his best - crooning Mr. Guilty to a fan in the audience.
The crowd seemed to be the staff of The Word magazine.
Old people thinking they are cooooool and trendy, wearing
Gap clothes and denim shirts all with receding hair
lines (women included). Yuk... And they all had bad
teeth, Loudon included. Some people need to go to the
dentist...
Wake up to a sunny day. The clocks change tonight, summer
time has arrived - feel inspired to shoot some travel
photos or go to LA... I spent the afternoon watching
a Korean film, A Bittersweet Life - it was great. It
ended with a proverb on life.
March 24
Peter Makowski had called me to see if I wanted to
go to Prague on Monday to see Blackmore's Night. Half
of me wanted to go until Peter said, 'We can't tell
them your're the photographer - can you dress up like
a goblin or something?' Peter is now going on his own
as a Polish peasant (not too hard for him), wearing
a wig and trying to catch the rainbow...
   Here
are some pictures from my recent session with Lemmy,
Go there...
March 23
Having read The Caveman's latest erudite ramblings
on the subject of photography I feel impelled to quote
from a rather perspicacious email I received today from
Brazil - "I read your diary in a daily basis and,
contrary to the Kevin Shirley's one, your notes are
really entertaining." I'm looking forward to to
more samples from Kevin's photographic portfolio...
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I've just put up some more of David Gilmour.
Go
there... |
March 22
Spent this morning at my agents looking at photos of
Iron Maiden for Kevin Shirley's book... Sorry, I mean
my book. I was so tired doing this I came home for a
nap - it's tiring being a Powerslave.
 Bruce Neubert, a South Dakota Jimmy Page impersonator,
has kindly sent me a load of 70's rock mags - Creem,
Circus etc. There is a nice one with The Faces (I remember
buying this at the time in the foreign newspaper shop
in Old Compton Street in Soho ) - I'm looking forward
to reading it, while sitting on the toilet. My fave
place to read, you can contemplate most things there...
Staying in to get over my Maiden exhaustion - going
to watch Riding Giants, a film about surfing. Something
I can't do and have never wanted to do - too scared
of drowning or being eaten by a shark.
March 21
Spent this morning being filmed for an Ozzy Osbourne
special for English TV. It's hard to tell Ozzy stories
without sounding offensive...
Check out Kevin "The Caveman" Shirley's website
for more fascinating pictures of Iron Maiden in the
studio. I'm surprised Kevin hasn't done a book...
I looked in my fridge - truthfully Oliver looked in
my fridge, he looked at me and shook his head. The cupboard
was bare. So time to go shopping. After a thrilling
visit to Cheam's redesigned Tesco, a monument to British
architectural achievement on the A217, I settled in
to watch Jam Films S, a series of seven short films
from Japan - best of all it has one called The Blouse,
starring Koyuki. But I think my favourite was one called
Heaven Sent, about a killer granted three wishes by
the devil.
March 20
Watched The Proposition, 19th century Australia as
the Wild Bunch. Lots of killing showing lots of gore,
and lots of using the word fuck.    I know I swear but
this was unrealistic - people didn't use it then. Every
idea was stolen from all the good Clint Eastwood films.
Spent the day shooting Jimmy Page for various projects.
Started slowly, then went well - got a lot done.
Guy Pratt has written to me pointing out his journey
into the unknown on British Airways was thirteen years
ago and I've seen him a few times since - okay, I'll
admit it, it was poetic licence...
   I've
started putting up some pictures from my Black Crowes
file - go
there...
and also some more pictures
from Paris - go there
March 18
Wake up to one of those mornings where I can't get
ANYTHING done. Must be me...
Baron Wolman has sent me a fantastic print of Pete Townshend
from The Fillmore West from 1968 - thank you Baron.
March 17
 Wake
up at 4am and I have no idea where I am. Can't get back
to sleep. Shoot the dawn from my window, a sunny but
cold day. Have a good view of Sacre Coeur. Off home
at 10am. Diamond is on the train after. I have a suspicion
Douglas has arranged this - no mixing with the riff-raff...
Steve Gorman called. I'd forgotten he was in town with
the Black Crowes who are playing London the next three
nights. Jimmy Page and I meet him for dinner - have
a rather civilised evening discussing politics. Came
home and had a look at my Crowes page on my site. It's
very poor - I must put some photos up, I have thousands.
March 16
 Off
to Paris on Eurostar with Mark Blake and Douglas Wright,
PR. Mark thinks Douglas' main purpose is to watch me
and make sure I follow the rules - ' What rules?' 'Diamond
Dave's PR Felicity Kendall's upper class etiquette,'
whatever that is...
Paris is sunny and cold - colder than London. My hotel,
the Museum something or other, is very old school (my
room is the size of a broom closet) and it's not the
same as the one Diamond Dave is in - surprise, surprise
- so there won't be any riff-raff hanging out with Diamond
in the bar (as in us...).
  Walk
to the Olympia past the Paris Opera, a very impressive
building, ruined by student riff-raff protesting - shouting
and chanting, looking about ten years old. I feel like
giving them a good hosing down - hang on, I must really
be getting old. Ignore them and take photos of the golden
statues on the Opera roof. The Olympia has a giant sign
for Diamond's show - very impressive.
Douglas escorts us backstage. Everyone is very nice
in a Henley Regatta sort of way, very polite. See Guy
Pratt looking strangely sober. 'Strange to see you sober,'
I say. 'What's that's supposed to mean?' Guy says with
menace. I point out to Mr Pratt that the last time I'd
seen him was when he was so intoxicated he had to be
put in a wheelchair in first class on a British Airways
flight. 'Oh that,' he says and walks off.
Roger Searle is the production manager. A fine man and
one of the original lighting designers for The Who.
Nice to see him.
   Douglas
escorts me in to see David. 'You can take a picture
but it must be QUICK.' I point out that the lighting
is unflattering, let's do it in the hallway. 'OK, but
you have to be QUICK.' David is charming and easy. I
take a whole two minutes, say thank you to David and
run straight into Douglas frantically looking at his
watch. 'Don't worry my son, Felicity isn't here,' I
say. Douglas looks relieved. 'You just have to be quick,
Ross...'
I realise this is like being in the army at an open
day at Sandhurst Officer's college. Everyone very nice
but you must follow the rules. It has now been decreed
I can shoot five songs. I pick the second half of the
set as they finish with Echoes and that's about two
and a half hours long...
  The
audience is seated and remains that way in hushed reverence.
David plays the whole of his new album and speaks very
good French - he must have done it for A-level. In fact,
the audience all look like A-level students. I start
feeling paranoid, I only did CSE's and a few O-levels.
Okay, I did get two A-levels.
  The
second half of the show is all Pink Floyd. David plays
Shine On You Crazy Diamond - what more could a fan want.
I shoot from my seat. The light show looks good but
doesn't light Diamond Dave. Lots of shadows and stuff.
 He
finishes with Comfortably Numb. His guitar sound is
fantastic - perfect.
Backstage, David is very sociable. He says hello - I
am quite thrown. There again, he does have manners and
he's a fine man.
Something which is ridiculous is that although I'm
only allowed to shoot for five songs it seems impossible
to stop the audience taking as many photos as they like
on their mobile phones, so you are battling morons drunkingly
waving their phones all night. I missed a complete group
shot at the end because of this...
March 15
Sunny day, except I'm not in a SUNNY mood. Off to London
see Scott Rowley with Peter Makowski. Both are excited
about Lucifer rising and all things south of heaven.
Peter can help Dave Lewis re-address the balance soon...
Go to the Blink gallery. Run into Anton Corbijn, who
is always sunny - probably why he shoots in black and
white. Anton and I discuss Golden Earring. Emilie, who
works there, is doing a project of photographers as
their subjects. Anton is doing Miles Davis (I'm surprised
he's not doing Lars - they have the same hair). I'm
doing Pete Townshend with my number 1 Les Paul. Emilie
wanted me to pose as Slash, which might have been a
bit hard for obvious reasons - I could be Lenny Kravitz
as he is Jewish and he thinks he's white...
Get home to a nice email from Douglas Wright, Diamond
David Gilmour's PR. Doug and I are off to Paris tomorrow
for Diamond Dave. The email tells me I can shoot three
songs (how kind), and sign a contract (how nice of them
to trust me) and a CASUAL quick pic backstage - "But
it must be QUICK." I become annoyed, then realise
I'm wrong. I'd forgotten how kind and helpful PRs can
be. They must want me to leave the venue and wander
the streets of Gay Paris to shoot the sights - c'est
la vie, mes amis...
March 14
 Found
this, the original composite of the Page Plant Unledded
artwork
- something I was never credited for. I quite like it...
Also the Priest from Donington 1980, I think. Or is
it '81 or maybe '82 - can't remember. But I remember
it was muddy...
 
Found
these in the Jon Bon Jovi file at Idols - good likeness
of JBJ, don't you think? Perhaps Idols think this is
Jon in old age... It's taken in Bombay In the early
nineties of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada - wonder
if he's as friendly with Jon as my agent Simon...
Gave myself nightmares last night after watching Hostel
on DVD. It was actually quite good if you like gore.
I found it disturbing, and I'm not easily disturbed.
It does give you good reasons not to go to Eastern Europe,
especially if you're Japanese or American - I'll stick
to Asia.
Had a clearout of CDs - ones that I only keep for one
song. Thank God for the Ipod...
March 13
Fed up at the moment, can't seem to get out of it.
Kazuyo (my assistant) tells me this is because it's
the month of the loonies. She has three friends who
are mad (I know one of them,and yes, she is crazy) and
they always get worse in March - and now it's affecting
the world and me. Now I know Kazuyo's a loony - I just
want to win the lottery and retire, preferably with
Lucy Liu...
I feel depressed after spending all morning at my agent,
Idols, going through my Def Leppard file. Trust me,
it will give you a headache looking at thousands of
slides all covered in dust. Found about ten million
from the Hysteria tour. I'll SLOWLY sort through them
and get them up, so don't write asking where they are.
Lots of Steve Clark, I'll put up some of all the band.
Simon even found some negs of mine of the great man,
Jon Bon Jovi (Simon, my agent, is one of JBJ's trusted
friends). Now there's another file I should sort out
- In A Blaze of Glory...
Seriously, if anyone is in London and wants some work
experience, sorting out and scanning my file, get in
touch. But you must KNOW the subject matter. My whole
'80's colour needs doing.
Next is Iron Maiden, in colour and not in order - I
should get Kevin Shirley to do it...
Going to try to watch Tsai Ming -Liang's Goodbye Dragon
Inn tonight - it's about a cinema closing and full of
ghosts.
Talking of loonies, I've had a lot of mail accusing
me of blasphemy with my recent John Fruiscante shoot.
Children all around the world dress up as Jesus, and
he's probably a fictional character anyway. Let's put
things in perspective...
March 11
Well, I missed Jethro Tull. I haven't seen them since
I shot them at Hammersmith Odeon in 1978 (and they weren't
that good then). Visually I'm sure they haven't changed.
Would have liked to have heard all the less obvious
songs from Aqualung. I'll stick with my memories of
them from Wembley Empire Pool 1973 playing A Passion
Play, which I loved - I was sixteen. Chris Welch from
the Melody Maker had savaged this show, calling it poor,
amongst other things.
Peter Makowski has sent me Mountain's Twin Peaks, remastered
with extra tracks.
Peter has written a review of this in the new Classic
Rock - his review is so juvenile, it must have been
written when he was sixteen. Worse are the cd sleeve
notes written by Chris Welch. The album/cd was recorded
at the Osaka Koseinenkin Hall in 1973, the same year
as A Passion Play. Welch manages to tell you nothing
about the tour, nothing about the shows. In fact, he
tells you nothing about the record. The writing is sooooooooooo
pedantic. Schoolboy gushing rubbish. Chris must have
knocked this out in ten minutes and it shows. Malcom
Dome, Classic Rock's new writer does the same thing.
A few bits of information which you already know. My
point being if you re-release stuff at LEAST do it properly
- extra info and photos. This sort of thing is insulting
and I didn't even buy it...
According to Peter Twin Peaks is remastered with an
extra eighteen minutes. Er, I dug my old LP out and
it's the same time with the same muddy sound. Peter
feels righteously angry 'I sent you it for nothing -
I could sell it on ebay...'
Bored today, I even read Kevin Shirley's highly uninteresting
diary which tells you nothing about the new Maiden record
- he must be scared of Maiden's manager, Merck Mercuriadis...
Kevin's posted some studio photos which are fascinating...
March 10
I was going to see Jethro Tull tonight but my past
caught up with me (no, I'm not going down the temple
with Danielstein and his mummy). Mark Blake (Croydon
used car salesman and occasional rock journalist) called
and is paying me millions to dig out my Kerrang file.
He's doing the 25th Anniversary Special with the help
of Paul Brannigan's little leprechaun and drinking partner,
Tom Bryant, RPLA lover - an '80's gay band. Let's face
it, Kerrang in the '80s had a strong homoerotic element...
I have a distinct memory of Dante Bonutto, Kerrang
editor for part of the '80s, ogling a photo of Bobby
Rock (drummer of Vinnie Vincent's Invasion) covered
in oil, with spandex and ankle weights. 'What is this?'
I said at the time. Dante had made a giant blow-up for
his office wall... 'I think he looks VERY NICE,' replied
an indignant Dante. He used it as a poster in the mag.
I'm sure he's still got it laminated at home...
God, some of those bands. We should do a then and now
issue. Mark wanted me to caption my photos - then thought
about it and changed his mind... It's not my fault Kerrang
had a Brokeback Mountain-type clientele - lipstick and
mascara, hairspray etc. Funny how things go round in
cycles, now they're covering Trivium - now that's a
gay looking band. Paul Brannigan must be ogling as I
write - looking forward to a special issue of Planet
Rock, with make up...
Off to shoot some travel if it ever stops raining...
March 9
Watched a Werner Herzog film last night, The White
Diamond, about a hot air balloon flying over Guyana.
Beautiful photography - I thought it was rather poignant...
Got Burrn - Japanese magazine still living in 1983.
It has an on tour report of Joe Lynn Turner and Akira
Kajiyama (whoever he is) playing - in clubs - the music
of Rainbow you REALLY don't want to hear. All the limp
stuff - I Surrender, Power etc - bet you Classic Rock
readers can't wait...
  Had
to go to the east end today to shoot George Galloway
MP. The weather was fine until I started then of course
it rains...
Did a set up in Brick Lane by the railway lines. Lots
of people were coming up to George to shake his hand,
he seemed genuinely liked. I liked him a lot, even if
people think he's a smooth operator. He was easy, friendly
and had no ego (I know that's a bit like saying Edward
van Halen doesn't play the guitar!) - not how he's painted
in the papers. I enjoyed it as much as shooting Jesus
last week...
March 8
  Here's
the Q Rolling Stones special with Keith Richards and
a rather amusing by-line, and also Bass Guitar mag with
my Cliff Burton cover.
Just got off the phone complaining to Scott Rowley,
Jocknese (that's Scottish person in Japanese) editor
of Classic Rock. I'd got the new Classic Rock issue
in the post. The cover story has the 100 greatest British
rock albums voted for by journalists, photographers,
and, er, musicians...
 There
is lots of hate mail aimed at Pete Makowski (who's been
clean and serene today for thirteen years) from sad
people who still think Ritchie counts and Rainbow will
be rising. Nice cover on the issue - whoever picks the
photos should be hung, drawn and quartered. For a start
all my Def Leppard photos are uncredited (something
to piss any photographer off ) and the moron who captioned
them - PLEASE... There is a picture which says "backstage
after wowing yet another audience" how old is
the person writing this? It fails to say John Fogarty
and his son are in the photo, taken backstage at The
Cow Palace, San Francisco. The
only time John Fogarty had been to a show in years
- his son was a big fan of the Defs. The Who photo
for Who's Next is from 1968, the album came out in
'71. The Bowie photo is from Aladdin Sane, not Ziggy
Stardust - need I go on? Scott said 'You're just a
moaning sassenach.' He's wrong, I have the misfortune
of having Jocknese blood in me - luckily I don't want
to fight when I've had a drink.
Saying that I do read the magazine cover to cover, unlike
most other mags. There's a funny feature on Francis
Rossi listing his all time favourite records. Let's
face it, when was the last time you read something good
on Quo?
Got a very nice thankyou on David Gilmour's site for
the use of some of my photos - www.davidgilmour.com
March 7
Watched a good dvd, The Harmonium In My Memory, a Korean
film. Sad but moving, not the usual gore. It's about
not noticing things in life until it's too late (well,
that's my take on it). It was originally called The
Organ In My Heart. It won Best Film at the Verona Film
Festival.
Had lunch with David Brolan and the multimillionaire
Danielstein Hay. Dan was excited about his up and coming
honeymoon in India. He's hoping his estate agent and
part time print salesman chum Raj Prem is coming along
to show him around (and carry his bags). Dan even moaned
about buying lunch - business is slow etc...
Dropped off my Lemmy photos to Mojo. I'd rather overshot
- ten rolls (they'll only use two prints). Panicked
when I couldn't find my DC photos - I left the film
in my camera bag...
Shitty day - raining. Then again it is in Los Angeles
too...
March 6
My aunt died last night - she was eighty-eight. She
lived in a nursing home and thought she was nineteen.
I live in this world and think the same...
Been a nice weekend, doing nothing. Saw a disturbing
film, Address Unknown, by Kim Ki -Duk - makes you think...
Here's a Chilli Peppers book with my cover that I got
in the mail. To see Lucifer and Jesus go
to March 1.
March 4
   Fly over London at midday and shoot the city - landing
to a clear sunny day. It beats the rain. Home alone
and quite enjoying it.
 In my mail I have the new Classic
Rock '80's special with a Guns 'N Roses cover by
me. Plus I've written a short intro about the session
in 1986 (just realised it was twenty years ago).
I've been putting stuff on my ipod. I'd
bought Mott The Hoople's Mott, which reminds me of
being sixteen (that's when I'd first bought it).
Whizz Kid, Violence and I'm A Cadillac are good.
And All The Young Dudes. I hate the title song, the
sort of thing Joe Elliott dreams about, wishing he
was Ian Hunter.  The rest of it's good, particularly
Sea Diver, great title.
Q magazine have done a nice review of my Metallica
book - thank you Paul Rees.
March 3
Los Angeles is back to pouring rain. LA is dull and
flat when it rains - at least Europe goes with the rain.
Even New York works with it (much as I dislike NY).
David Coverdale is on the radio singing at a wedding.
He told me this - I'd thought he was joking. Nice day
to get married...
 Have breakfast with Jimmy Page. We are both going home
and the weather's too depressing to do anything. Jimmy
is pursued at the airport by eBay fans (people who want
anything signed to sell) and also paparazzi (Steven
Tyler's favourite type of photographer). How do they
know which airline he's on? JP is pissed off... I'll
put up a nice paparazzi style photo I took this week
of Jimmy and Billy Gibbons. I could get a job at one
of the agencies - no skill required just point and shoot.
 Here's
a picture of Billy Gibbon's hair dresser and beard trimmer,
Jimmy Clark, celebrating his 50th birthday.
March 2
Back to being sunny and warm in LA. Ran into Robert
Plant earlier this week (who's in town with Jimmy Page).
Robert was charming, looked very fit . It was a surprising
pleasure seeing him. After Robert left, I bump into
David Coverdale - a nice surprise - in town to do promo
(in the still of the night - or morning).
Last night I'd gone with Jimmy to see Panic In The
Disco at the House Of Blues. They were a clone of The
Killers. I felt old, thought they were rubbish. The
Academy Is headlined. The singer looked good, overdid
the posing. The crowd of mainly girls were moshing.
It was like watching two different screens.  A Slayer
crowd with limp bands - oddly enough I walk into Kerry
King in the hotel bar...
 Late afternoon did a shoot with the greatest living
northerner - not Robert Plant but DC. It was a pleasure,
he signed his new dvd to me "To my southern brother".
Geoff Barton eat your heart out...
Here's the new Mojo with Diamond Dave |
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March 1
I had a GREAT (even if I say so myself) shoot with
John from the Chilli Peppers. He dressed up as Jesus
- he honestly looked like him. I even made a cross for
him to carry... I finished with him as the Devil - the
De Niro one from Angel Heart, except I added horns.
He looked like a camp Lucifer...
The sun is shining - back to normal here. The travel
photos today are from LA last time I was here. I like
the moon photo although I'd not got what I wanted as
I'd shot it too late. It was yellow an hour earlier
(lower in the sky).
Here are some recent pictures of Aerosmith ...go to
see more
And here is some more Travel
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