May 30
David Coverdale emailed me to say he's been really
ill with gastric flu and had to stop the show in Birmingham
which he feels really bad about. He did a great interview
in The Observer on Sunday.
Mick Wall has done a diary on his website www.mickwall.com
It's very funny, well, let's say honest. Mine is far
too toned down. When I win the lottery I'll write a
more truthful one - just for the hate mail.
Loads to do in London today...
May 29
This weekend I have been jet-lagged. Sometimes it's
bad, and this time it's really bad.
Got a nice present from my ex, Anja, a four DVD set
collection of Cinema Dogme. It's all in Danish, but
it does have English subtitles. Must invite Lars around
for some bonding...
Got up at dawn to fly to Dublin. Def Leppard are rehearsing
with a light show for their tour. Arrive to bright sunshine
- there must be some global warming going on if it isn't
raining in Paddyland. Funny how everyone here looks
like Mick Wall. Well, it's not funny - he is Irish.
He just isn't pissed anymore like the rest of them.
Leppard run through the set. They actually do a very
impressive version of Hanging On The Telephone. Escape
home late afternoon - I'm joining up with them in Milan
this weekend for Gods Of Metal. Home to a sunny England
at about 7pm.
I was going to see David Gilmour this week, but his
PR, Doug Wright, is not returning any of my calls...
Funny how in this business it all goes one way, only
when they want something - Flake - I will remember this
next time he wants something...
May 26
Elton John's band are on my flight. A strange looking
bunch, over-tanned with clothes FAR to young for them.
They remind me of a bunch of ghouls - I'll stick to
black.
Land at 10am, an hour early. Three hours later I'm
still at Heathrow as the airline have lost two of my
bags. They tell me they are in LA. They'll be flown
over tomorrow - how nice of them. The agent seems amazed
that I'm getting pissed off.
   Finally
home. Got the new Classic Rock magazine with a Bon
Jovi cover by me - have to say it looks great. What
a magazine cover should be like, except you would need
a microscope to find the credits inside. A JOKE - it's
something which always pisses me off.
PS. Classic Rock has a Metallica special about my new
book with lots of outtakes that aren't in it...
May 25
I am tired today, too tired to even go for a run -
must be all that shit I ate at Las Vegas airport.
See Loudon Wainwright III for a shoot for Mojo magazine,
and he needs a press shot. Shoot in the grounds of my
hotel. As we finish see Billy Bob Thornton outside my
room - I do a quick pic of the two of them together.
Arrange to shoot Billy Bob in LA in a couple of weeks.
Off home to London tonight. I'm sad to leave - the
weather is glorious...
May 24
Off to Las Vegas this morning to sit in the sun - it's
105 degrees. Shooting Def Leppard tonight on the Vegas
strip.
Las Vegas is hot, which is fine by me. Go to the Manderlay
Bay Event Center at 5pm. Def Leppard are going through
the camera angles for the VH1 Rock something or other,
which is tomorrow. I am going home and don't have to
stay for this pain in the arse event. Leppard do a good
version of Rocket with a drawn out middle guitar part
- so that Phil Collen can take off his shirt. Brian
May joins them for a run through of 20th Century Boy.
There is a supergroup rehersal featuring Slash, Tommy
Lee and, gasp, Scott Ian and Rob Zombie!!! We escape
this and go to the old part of the Vegas strip to take
photos. At 9pm it is 94 degrees, and full of people
with mullet haircuts saying things like 'SHITTTTTTT,
IT'S DEF LEPPARD!' We persevere with the throng and
I get a good photo session. I am quite happy, even though
where we are resembles an day out at a mental institution.
I'm off back to LA on the midnight flight. I haven't
eaten all day. The food court at the airport is junk
food and has huge lines of people eating this crap -
me included...
May 22
Strange weather. Wake up to rain but by 11am it's sunny
and a hundred degrees. Shoot Def Leppard, try to be
more arty - we'll see if it works...
A middle-aged figure with a goatee comes over at the
Leppard studio to say hello. 'Hi, it's Mike Clink.'
I haven't seen him since, er, I have no idea when. 'We
went out with Lars and went mad, it was a lot of fun,'
(me, go out with Lars and have fun?). 'Yes, around the
time of Justice For All.' It must have been then, he's
been no fun since then. A surprise to see Mike.
Can't get going today, no energy.
May 21
Get up at dawn as I'm jetlagged. Seeing Phil Collen
has made me paranoid about being fit. As I'm heading
for the gym run into Jack White looking his usual vampire-white
self. He's been in LA making a video. 'My wife's just
had a baby girl, she's named Scarlet - tell Jimmy,'
he beams. 'Yes, I've got one too - his name is Oliver
and he's, ummm, eighteen.' I give Jack a copy of the
Guitar Legends issue. 'You'll hate me when you read
this.' Jack laughs, 'Yes - but I'll forgive you...'
At the gym I'm running next to someone who looks familiar.
I'm sure I know them. I'm just about to say hello when
I realise it's Rob Lowe - who I don't know. Funny how
you think you know celebrities...
Get an overcast sky to shoot Def Leppard. Makes a good
backdrop - looks like doomsday. Shoot for an hour before
the band rehearse.
May 20
Los Angeles and it's sunny and warm - what more could
you want?
Drive out to the valley to meet up with Def Leppard.
There's a real sense of deja vu. Did a couple of group
setups as the band rehearse for the tour. It was strange
as we just sort of fell into what we've done for years.
I'm shooting them over the next few days.
My hotel is full of foreigners - Danes, Swedes, Germans
and, worst of all, the French, who sit outside my poolside
room chainsmoking! I notice one of them is the French
Elvis, Johnny Halliday. He looks good considering he
must be a hundred and two.
Go out with Duff Battye (famous PR) and Michael Kobayashi.
Both are suffering from the Caveman disease of wanting
to destroy Los Angeles, after a very nice meal at Wa
(fashionable Japanese restaurant). I eat, they drink.
I leave them staggering into my hotel bar, walking into
walls and repeating mantras over and over - they're
going to feel good tomorrow...
May 19
Off to Los Angeles today, haven't been for a while.
It's raining in London - I'm looking forward to some
sun.
May 18
I have a cold and am feeling sorry for myself - but
the weathers nice again. Met Phil Alexander at dawn
to look at the venue for the next Mojo awards. It's
miles from me, nearly as far as LA!
My son, Oliver, passed his driving test yesterday and
came straight round to see me to ask me to buy him a
car. 'Yes, of course, no problem, let's go straight
out and get one. Perhaps a Porsche - what colour would
you like...?'
Scarlet Page has a exhibition of her Your Child photos
opening at the Proud Gallery in Camden. Went along with
Wilf Wright and Charlie Hernandez. The photos are nice
and the money's for a good cause. Well, I think it's
for a good cause. Thought it would be nicer if Scarlet
did a Ross' Child exhibition where all the money went
to me. She could put up photos of all the bands that
hate me - there'd be loads... Maybe all of Scarlet's
PR chums could sponsor it - call it More Poison...
May 17
Did exciting stuff today like post. Shitty weather
- it's been so nice recently. I'm off to the dark depths
of Shepherds Bush to shoot Bic Runga.
   Bic's playing The Bush Hall. I've never been there before.
Nice, intimate venue. She gets ready early, we go to
shoot outside. The weather is so foul I give up on the
idea but she doesn't mind at all. We shoot backstage
in the hallway. She is very self-concious at first (she's
told me she hates doing pictures) but relaxes and is
very focussed, though she gives the impression she isn't.
She asked me earlier what photographers I liked. I said
Jim Marshall, Baron Wolman - she told me she liked Irving
Penn. Ahhh, real photography. I felt a bit stupid...
  It was better to shoot there than I expected, with
no pit or barricade. The lighting was a bit one-dimensional,
it's much better at The Scala. I'd love to shoot her
with a proper light show. She was good, but I thought
the band were a bit sloppy. I took Peter Makowski with
me. He was raving to Bic about Little Fish, an Australian
film she appears in. I thought it was a pile of shit
and I told her. She was very diplomatic about it, which
makes me think she didn't like it as much as Pete. No
Crying No More was great live, so was It's Over, though
Peter is convinced a) that it's the same as Heartbreaker
by Grand Funk Railroad, and b) Bic was smiling at him
during the show. I thought he had stopped drinking and
taking drugs years ago - I think he's back on the glue...
On the way out I bought a nice T-shirt by the support
band, Devastations. Came home and was starving. Ate
two tubs of ice cream. Well, I had a bit ,Pete ate it
all - must be the glue...
May 16
As I'm starting with Def Leppard at the end of the
week here is new vintage Leppard from the dawn of man
- okay, Pyromania 1983. I'm in the middle of scanning
my file which will go up soon.
May 15
 Got the new Guitar Legends issue which is a photographers
special. The cover is mine of Edward Van Halen (a bit
over-inked) - still looks good.
 As
for the rest of the photographers, Neil Zlozower's
Van Halen are great and his comments about the music
business are spot on. It is more of a science now -
no fun. Henry Diltz is like looking into another world
- you want to go there. Michael Putland's are boring
and show he really wasn't very good, his AC/DC and
Kiss are awful. He's also a hypocrite saying if Retna
did anything it helped photographers save their work.
But what bollocks! It helped Mike line his pockets
when he sold the company.  Strangely, he didn't tell
the photographers he was selling the company... Clay
Patrick Mcbride's are too set up - they have no soul.
Getting quite deep aren't I? River Cuomo, I mean, who
cares? Charles Peterson shows any idiot can use a flash
on a slow shutter speed. I do like his one of Stone
Gossard looking about nine. Justin Borucki I wouldn't
class as photography. His Robert Smith just about counts,
if you include fat guitarists...
The magazine's worth getting for the stuff that is good
and there is a lot of it. Okay, I've been a bit caustic
but these are my opinions and what do I know about photography...?
As I say in the magazine, my greatest regret is that
I shot most of the 80's in colour. I look at all that
stuff and I think, ugh, perhaps not! In fact, definitely
not...
May 14
Thought I'd have a nice Sunday afternoon shooting around
London. What I hadn't realised was Chelsea football
team were driving around London waving to morons who
like football - there were thousands out of them out
there. Got stuck in the traffic, every road in to London
from the south was diverted. It was worse than any Friday
afternoon, in fact, worse than driving from Los Angeles
to Irvine...
I didn't take a single photo....
More of my travel stuff is up on www.hungreyeyeimages.com
for those who are interested.
Stopped at the Conran store and got a good book - Hip
Hotels. This one is on the Orient and Southeast Asia.
May 13
Notice The CAVEMAN is trying to do "Damage Limitation",
as they say in America. I think he's been told off by
a certain manager. As The CAVEMAN says, what does he
(and Dick Carruthers, another expert on anything) know
about Heavy Metal. I'll answer it for them - nothing...
All I can say is The CAVEMAN likes a drink - I rest
my case...
Off to London to meet Mick Wall, who's taking me for
lunch at Nobu. Halfway through lunch my son decided
to join me. He ordered steak and was more interested
in who was in the restaurant than the food. Dragan (one
of the managers) looked after us very well. Oliver then
wanted to go shopping - strange how you are loved when
your offspring wants something...
May 12
It's a lovely day. Christophe Le Pabic has sent me
Christian Rose's Meetings, a photo book of Jazz in Paris.
It's official, I'm Danish (like my hero, Lars). On Amazon
it says I'm a Danish photographer, and it has an awful
outtake from my Metallica book. This is the cover I
hated and rejected - time to call Omlibus books....
"Metallica was the most consistently innovative
metal band of the late '80s and early '90s. Danish photographer
Ross Halfin worked with the band as their long-standing
tour photographer from 1984 until 1991 and his photographs
are featured on a selection of Metallica album covers.
Includes live photographs and behind-the-scenes footage
of this most successful mainstream metal band."
May 11
It was a beautiful evening. Went up to the Gibson guitar
shop in London to meet up with Jimmy Page and Kevin
Shirley. We watched a band called the Flaming Monkeys.
The drummer was outstanding, doing fast fills and tom
tom work like the old surf record Wipe-out. Jimmy and
I were impressed. Kevin was trying to show off, chatting
to girls and his friend Dick in poor Russian. As the
copious amount of wine he consumed kicked in he told
me the Iron Maiden album is finished, and is great -
he even offered to sing some lyrics and hum a few time
changes. The band should hire him as their new PR.
We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant - Roka in Charlotte
Street. The street was packed. London has a great vibe
when it's nice.
May 10
Saw a dvd last night about New York Doll bassist Arthur
"Killer" Kane - very sad...
Another hot and sunny day, time to enjoy the garden
and cheer up the neighbours with a bit of Corrosion
Of Conformity's Deliverance cd - nice and sunny and
light...
May 9
Woke up this morning to several messages from a happy
(drunk) Kevin Shirley. They'd been left at 2am. The
Caveman was letting me know he'd finished a new Iron
Maiden extra track called The Hunt For Red October.
It's about a submarine (really, I'd never have guessed)
and it's forty-nine minutes long. It's sung in Russian
and English. He then proceeds to sing me most of the
lyrics, including the bits in Russian, in a Waltzing
Matilda voice. 'I'm not allowed to post this on the
Maiden site, I've been censored by the band's communist
management. I recorded some of it in the bath - I used
cold water so you get a real feel of being in the Bering
Sea...' His message then cuts off...
I rang him this morning - he didn't pick up the phone.
Wonder how he's feeling...
 I can now officially say I am Def Leppard's tour photographer.
I'll probably be fired this evening... And yes, I am
looking forward to it.
Put up some more Bic Runga. Go to Bic
Runga Page...
   Some new pictures from around Battersea Power Station,
London. Go
to page...
May 8
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Loads of mail from sad people who are pleading
to see David Gilmour with his 1954 0001 Fender
Strat - so here you go.
Go to David Gilmour page...
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May 7
Was going to do nothing, just relax, couldn't face
driving to Wembley to the record fair.  The truth is
no one wanted to go with me...
Kevin Shirley started texting me - I HATE text messages,
it's what girls do. I ignored twenty of them from him.
The Caveman wanted me to meet him in Finchley and join
him for a Sunday bagel or roast pork (I didn't think
they sold pork in Finchley). Finally he phoned, 'Let's
get drunk.'
 By now I decided to go to see Royal de Luxe, a French
street theatre company. Phil Lemon, a Hells Angel friend,
had been boring me all last week going on and on and
on about this. So I drove up to Westminster and headed
to Horse  Guards Parade. There were thousands of people
everywhere (more than at a Bon Jovi concert). Kevin
phones and declares he'll come and join me. I meet
The Caveman under the Crimean War statue. 'Lots of
good looking women,' he gushes excitedly. Kevin must
have bad eyes, there wasn't a good looking girl in
the whole crowd. We look down the Mall and coming towards
us are these two giant puppets. A girl and an even
bigger elephant. It was like being in Gulliver's Travels
- surreal. It was an amazing sight.
 I also take some photos of the most beautiful flowers
in St. James Park.
We leave before the end and walk opposite the Houses
Of Parliament. I shoot all the protester's banners and
posters. In the middle of this is Brian Haw, who's been
protesting against the war and the government weapons
programme for five years, sitting outside parliament.
I try to talk to him - he's very brusque. I tell him
good luck. He then starts giving me a lecture on the
evils of the British and American governments. 'This
is worse than the gas chambers and the Nazi camps,'
he rants, 'And they're not there anymore.' I point out
that they are still standing, and I've seen them (I've
been to Auschwitz three times). He gets even more animated.
'What about Belsen? My father liberated it - what do
you know?' I get annoyed by now, 'My dad was in the
RAF so you don't have to tell me about the second world
war!' I give back. I realise he's only listening to
himself - and he's mad...
 I ask to take a photo. 'Only with your friend,' he insists.
I take a strange photo of Brian and a grinning Kevin,
while Brian is holding a photo of a horribly mutilated
woman. Kevin didn't realise what the photo was. You
can't talk politics with people who believe only they
are right.
I take The Caveman to the wastelands of Cheam. Kevin
has never been to my home. He tells me his fiancé
would feel uncomfortable in my home as it has too many
Buddhas and she's very religious, from the fundamentalist
mid-west - Halleluyah, Praise The Lord...
Kevin wants to drink so we drive to Wimbledon, where
Kevin's ancestors are from and where I grew up. Kevin
orders a salad (so as not to interfere with the wine),
I order liver. The Caveman is disgusted. 'How can you
eat organs and offal?' 'With great pleasure,' I say.
Strange, I thought THE CAVEMAN was from down under,
and loved a bit of kangaroo liver while hunting with
the local aborigines on walkabout. The Caveman is now
turning green and I don't think it's his eighth bottle
of wine that's doing it. He staggers to my car and urinates
in a bush. 'You know the Iron Maiden album is great,'
he slurs for the twentieth time. Time to take the Caveman
back to his Finchley cave. I drive him home as he sings
me the lyics to the new Maiden opus - I 'll put them
up tomorrow....
May 6
Spent the evening reading Star Trippin', Mick Wall's
book. It is a great reminder of touring and shooting
bands for magazines like Kerrang when it was planet
rock and not kiddy rock which it is now - that's not
sour grapes, that's the truth...
Jon Hotton's intro is spot on apart from his description
of Peter Makowski, which is stupid and throw away, and
typical of someone from the home counties who still
lives with his parents (he's 52), and who's never had
a good time - never been on tour and never taken drugs.
And if anyone is interested Derek Oliver's floor was
reinforced not because of his records, it was because
he was so overweight. And he couldn't write, he was
and still is the biggest crawler and kiss arse to bands.
And we could add Steffan Chirazi, another eating machine,
Xavier Russell, spoilt rich kid - I could go on... And
yes, Dave Dickson is a midget.
Mick and Pete were the best writers, as was Geoff Barton,
but by this time he'd retired to suburbia to wake up
again in 2005. I enjoyed the Rock In Rio chapter. But
Mick is exaggerating how I sounded and acted. Yes, I
did fly First Class and leave him in the back - wouldn't
you? Mick had a habit of singing Irish rebel anthems
endlessly when drunk... And he did get a pool side room,
which was well out of order. He never went in the sun,
he liked drugging and drinking - then again, so did
I...
I had completely forgotten about John Sykes having
me thrown off the stage as Whitesnake were going on
- I remember him smiling at me as he went on. I woke
up this morning quite angry! But he was a wanker then
and still is now, and these days looks like Derek and
Steffan - I wonder if the stage has to be reinforced...
Just had an email from Pete Makowski. "Brilliant
diary! It is legal to call John Sykes a wanker - he
was the worst thing that happened to Thin Lizzy."
Mick's intros to Bon Jovi and Metallica (Lars) are
spot on - perhaps they could form a band with John Sykes...
Go and get the book - it's all true. Here's Mick's website
www.mickwall.com
Check out his very fetching and very camp portrait featuring
his Lone Wolf tattoo - I must get one.
PS. If I ever do a book I'll call it Never Trust Your
Heroes, They Will Only Let You Down. Well, my two heroes
are okay, it's the others I work with...
If you're really bored this weekend check out Kevin
Shirley's website, there's an exciting new picture of
him with guitar legend Joe Bonamassa. They're obviously
off to this weekend's guitar and record fair at Wembley...
Alright, I admit it, I'll probably go tomorrow...
May 5
  Got an email from someone called Steve in Melbourne
who pointed out that Bic Runga live is 'Captivating,
quietly spoken, wide-eyed with an underlying strength,'
- which sums her up a bit better than I did.
Been reading Joe Boyd's book, White Bicycles, and Mick
Wall's Star Trippin' - both good.
Heard the sad news that Paul Caruso, drummer and engineer
for Joe Perry, died of a heart attack last night.
Here are some new Red Hot Chilli Peppers...
May 4
Pete Townshend has put a posting on his site saying
he may use my shoot of Roger and him on the new Who
cd. If he does I'll be over the moon... well, happy.
Another summers day - great, except I'm not in the garden...
Spending today shooting Jimmy Page and David Gilmour
in the studio. Start the shoot with Jimmy first. It
was actually quite hard as it took a while to get going.
Finished shooting outside against a wall with Jimmy
laughing (which he won't like) - thought he looked very
relaxed.
David arrived in the afternoon, shot outside first.
He didn't look comfortable as it was so hot and sunny.
Went into the studio and it was much easier. Got a relaxed
session with him. He looked fit and well - easy to shoot.
He'd brought a white strat with him - the serial # was
0001. I asked him if he took it on tour. 'Er, no,' was
his reply. I'd brought along an art print of Atom Heart
Mother, which I got him to sign. He's always a pleasure
to deal with - I was happy...
Saw my Pete Townshend session, and Bic Runga too - both
looked good. I had a productive day - wish they all
could be like this...
May 3
A nice summers day - it was hot. Makes you enjoy England,
but enough of my weather reports...
Went to see and shoot Bic Runga (New Zealand singer)
with Jimmy Page at the Scala, an old cinema in shitty
Kings Cross. Jimmy knew this area well from his days
with Neil Christian and The Crusaders. He seems to know
every short cut across London. He should do a book.
I played Jimmy the Joe Bonamassa cd in my car. It's
alright if you like people who play very technical guitar
with no mistakes, if you drool over the Nam show (boring
trade show for sad people who worship guitars and amps).
I'm not a great fan of guitarists who have none of their
own songs. The vocals on Tea For One are better than
the original, and the guitar is very Robin Trower, but
he does overplay. Jimmy liked it, but thought he was
showing off in the middle of Tea For One. A great cd
to drive to...
The venue has been refurbished - very nice. Did some
pictures of James and Bic who was amazed he'd come along.
I watched and shot the show from the balcony (no photo
pit and the place was packed). She dressed and looked
great and did a Jacques Brel song sung in perfect French.
I couldn't put my finger on what was so good and unusual
about her - Jimmy got it. 'She was classy,' he said.
She's playing the Bush Hall in June, go and see her.
May 2
A nice sunny day. Went over to Richmond to shoot Pete
Townshend. It went rather well. Did a couple of different
portraits with backdrops then shot him out in the street.
I was very pleased and Pete was VERY cooperative. It
made a nice change from Pearl Jam who had assistants,
bodyguards, PRs, and people to wipe their bottoms. Pete
was on his own and I had as long as I wanted...
May 1
  The
new Q magazine is out. It has a nice live feature on
David Gilmour, plus more of my RHCPeppers.
 The
new Classic Rock has an interesting review of my Metallica
book by Geoff Barton. Do I have sour grapes with Metallica?
Not any more. I just want to be paid when my photos
are used - and they begrudge paying me...
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