October 23 It is quite a nice autumn day so decide to join the tourist hordes and head off to the south bank. Take a load more photos of St Paul's. Still can't get a clear shot without cranes ruining the horizon. Walk along to the Tate Modern, that repository of shite that masquerades as modern art. The building is a monument to Orwellian architecture, a shame it's full of such crap... Stand on the upper level and shoot the poor misguided idiots who think the white cube exhibition is art. It's just piles of white boxes - whatever happened to painting and the ability to do so...?
October 21
Saw Mark Blake, Dave Brolan and the president of the Ritchie Blackmore fan club, Neil Jefferies. Neil knows the words to every Rainbow song. Particularly the '80s ones - Yuk - how sad life can be... Also saw Paul Rees who pleaded with me to write some more on Paul Brannigan. 'You could do his Bio or his CV.' Now that's a thought. Spoke to a couple of galleries about curating a Led Zeppelin/Jimmy Page exhibition. October 19Read Kevin Shirley's diary this morning. He's got a
photo of mine of his two fave singers up on his site.
Kevin makes a good case (and I'll take Kevin's word
anytime) then ruins it by waffling on... Kevin forgets
one thing, singers care about ONLY one thing - themselves...
Kev The Cave (stupid name) then tells the world the
best ACDC record is Back In Black. Noooooooooooo Kevin,
it's Highway To Hell. Brian Johnson better than Bon
Scott? Kevin's been on the martinis. October 18Andy Omel called me (he's the designer for Future in
New York). He's doing a huge issue of Guitar World on
Master Of Puppets, the Metallica LP that spawned thrash...
Or copied Iron Maiden, UFO and Judas Priest. Hang on,
that's Kill 'Em All. Hang on, that's all of their records... Instead of looking for photos in Metallica hell I watch Don Lett's rather good film, Punk Rock Attitude. It's interesting to see the punks etc as they are now. Wayne Kramer of the MC5 is very lucid and thoughtful. One of those films you can watch several times - much better than the Scorsese Dylan dvd. The copy of Punk Rock Attitude I have is an American one - the film has subtitles for Americans who can't understand English. Yes, people who are English-speaking but can't understand English - only in America. And I thought my English was bad. Tomorrow I shall be in Metallica photo hell... October 17Watched One Night In Mongkok (which is the most crowded
place in the world). It wasn't very well acted but the
female lead was nice. It ended in a load of unexpected
gore. Then I watched Skyhigh, a rather rubbish Japanese
film. The female lead from Audition is in it - very
nice. Finished off the evening watching the Faces from
Disco 2 1970 - a great band. October 14One of those days where I can't seem to get anything
done. See Paul Rees who tells me there were people drunker
than Paul Brannigan at the Q Awards party - though I
find that hard to imagine. Paul thought I've been far
too kind to Paul lately... The thing is I only tell
the truth and he hadn't started singing rebel anthems
when I left the awards - but I'll lay money that he
was singing them before he got home...
October 12
Got a couple of nice presents this morning. Peter has got me One Nite In Mongkok on DVD which isn't even out in this country yet. Matthew Kent (Pete Townshend's custodian and part-time Millwall hooligan) has sent the new PT Anthology-Japanese promo copy. If I was gay I don't which one I would marry first - I know they both love me... October 1112.30am, drive home from London after the Q Awards and the visit to the Hard Rock Cafe.
Tired today. Shooting Alabama 3 later... Go up to Omnibus to meet Chris Charlesworth and check the rest of the proofs for my Metallica book. Lisa Ling, who's designed it, had been in and checked them - which is good as I tend to be a bit biased. I don't like looking at my own stuff especially if it's of them. Then again it's for Metallica fans, not me. Afterwards went to the Astoria with Peter Makowski to see Alabama 3. Talk about deja vu. We haven't done anything together properly in years. Went to the soundcheck, half the band weren't there. Get four of them at 6.30pm. It is dark and I am shooting this in available light - of which by now there isn't any. Frontman Rob, aka Larry Love, and Zoe (the new singer) look good. Jake and Seggs look awful, they stand there bored. Knock off what I can. We start to get harrassed by drunks (well,we are in Soho). We are about to go home when Jimmy rings, on his way to London. Pete convinces him to come to the show. We convene to meet Mr Page at his favourite eaterie which we christen McNobu of Soho. It's a Thai restaurant - "All you can eat for £3.99." 'Great here, isn't it,' says Jimmy, as Pete tucks into his third plate of food. I am not too keen, I will take Nobu anyday. Peter and Jimmy can't wait to go back and find my lack of enthusiasm for their love of £3.99 cuisine hysterical. We head off to the show - it's boiling in there and it stinks, everybody's smoking.
I think the audience probably thought he was a band member; put it this way, he didn't look out of place. I head upstairs to join Jimmy and Pete and am pleasantly accosted by a woman wielding a business card.
We leave during the encore. Jimmy takes a cab and leaves us stranded in Oxford Street - rock stars, what can you do? I make Pete carry my HEAVY camera bag to make myself feel better. We get the last train home - the drunk run. People passed out, throwing up or chanting, y'know, talking to themselves and shouting the same thing over and over. Don't know why they're called milk trains - they're not delivering milk, they're delivering alcoholics to their homes... October 10
Everybody is surprised at how small James Blunt is - I didn't know they had midgets in the army (then again, my friend "Queer Dave" is only four feet tall). They must have used James for secret missions. Can't imagine him having a row with someone.
Go up to Liam Gallagher and Damon Albarn, both are rather drunk. I ask Liam if I could get a picture of the two of them. 'Fuck off, sling your hook. This photo's worth a fortune.' My mate Benny who does Oasis's t-shirts says, 'Liam, Ross's alright. Come on, do a photo.' 'Fuck off,' Liam says, 'or I'll give you a slap.' Benny looks at me... 'I think he's DEFINITELY on one'. Everyone is starting to turn into Paul Brannigan clones. Paul comes up - he's swaying a bit. 'If you're not having the rest of the wine can I polish it off ?' 'Go ahead.' 'GRAND...!' Give up on the party and go home...
The whole place is drunk, very drunk. Rooster play, they are good - I enjoy them. Their fans seem to be all gay, loads of older men ogling the young chickens. I think that's a pun- could be wrong, my English is terrible. Still good band. Sitting in a corner is Barry "Bazza" Drinkwater with Irish multi-millionaire agent Steve Strange. Both have been at it since midday at the Q awards and both are finding it hard to talk English. In fact both are unable to talk at all. I offer to take Bazza home. 'Nooooooooooo, heeeee's with meeee,' Steve shouts, 'I'll get him home.' He then starts singing "Danny Boy..." I leave them to it. Deep Purple play next, opening with Fireball/Into the Fire. They REALLY rock - I feel like I'm fourteen again. Strange Kinda Women starts as I head home. Can't wait to play Deep Purple In Rock... October 8Nick Moore, Lemmy's pr, has sent me an email - here's part of it. "Been directed to your blog site...made me chuckle. I've always been a little averse to blogs, but I have to confess that yours is quite outstanding - aided by the wonderful imagery, of course, but fascinating nonetheless." "Just for the record, having already told Lemmy that he had done all the photographs required of him and he could remain downstairs, yours was the THIRD time he had to come up for photographs; I was NOT told that you were shooting for the cover - though I feel that you may have been misinformed there - and if I was told at the START of the evening that you were shooting, I would most certainly have ensured that Lemmy was made aware of the fact!" October 7 Pat Foley from Gibson Guitars has been in touch. He
needs classic Priest photos for Priest's Classic Gibson
Limited Edition Flying V and SG guitars. There are only
thirty of each and they are expensive. Pat begs me to
give him photos, promising me guitars as bribes - a
Pete Townshend # 1 Les Paul etc. 'Please help me,' he
pleads, 'Jayne's going to ring and threaten me with
all sorts of doom - she's a hard manager.' Pat then
announces that Every Night Is A Festival With Judas
Priest - really, that's nice to know, where could he
have heard that...? I read the Independent on the train. It has a double page feature on Dickens' Fagin. Must give it to Dan. I see Phil Alexander, who's had the misfortune of running into Malcolm Dome (another relative of Daniel's). 'At least he wasn't with Krusher,' says Philip, looking relieved... Daniel tells Dave and I that the gallery's been empty
all day - he looks forlorn... We have a nice lunch.
Dan asks which photographers I don't like. Several hours
later I'm still making my list - try asking me who I
like. Dan tells me three he can't stand - he then looks
worried. 'You won't list them on your website?' I tell
Dan I'll have to think about it while he pays the bill
- torture can be fun... Shoot the sun in the Friday night sky - I'm getting a bit obsessed with this. October 5Wake up with a headache - didn't get to bed until 2am and couldn't sleep. The awards were at the Cafe de Paris. We were the first there. Jimmy and Peter were ligging, Barry was intent on getting as out of it as possible (he succeeded admirably), I was half-working doing portraits for the magazine.
Nick is Lemmy's little Man Friday - at one point he is sent out to get Lemmy a Big Mac (he couldn't eat the food - far to posh). As Peter Makowski put it, 'Don't forget he's a speed freak, they can be temperamental to say the least - one minute up, then really down - and he's an acoholic.' After I'd finished Lemmy was all charm asking how I am. A girl comes over looks at Lemmy, she exclaims, 'You have nice legs, do you work out on a stepping machine...?' Sit at a table with Jimmy, Peter, Scott and Geoff (editors of Classic Rock). My mate Gordon Gheller, my agent Simon and Tony Wollenscroft, the gentle, joined us - and proceeded to eat all our food. Peter (a mild-mannered man) threatened to set Barry on him after Tony ate the complete bowl of potatoes for the whole table...
Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy was there being friendly with his new pr, Duff. Scott spent the evening holding up Chris Squire - Duff spent the evening hiding with the rest of us from Chris Squire...
Ended the evening watching Chris Squire try to navigate the stairs as he headed off singing Yours is no Disgrace... October 4Watched a good dvd called Head On, a German/Turkish film shot in the Fatherland and Istanbul, and an ok Japanese one called Sky High - worth seeing for the girl from Audition...
October 2Watched Deep Purple Live at Hoffa University, 1973, on dvd. Various magazines have said it's not very good - thought it was great, DP at their best. I saw them as a teenager on this tour at the Rainbow Theatre, and Denmark '72. I'm getting misty-eyed - they were really good! Also bought Phenomenon by UFO just for the opening track, Oh My. Good artwork by Hipgnosis - I'm feeling old... Watched a Korean dvd called The Coast Guard, a bit
boring but it has a dark and disturbing scene involving
a woman getting in a fish tank. Same director as The
Isle - if you've seen it you'll know what I mean. Head off to the Southbank for a Scandinavian lunch, then to the Monument where the Great Fire of London started - 202 feet away in Pudding Lane, on Sunday 2 September 1666. It has 311 steps and no express lift (oops, thought I was in America). Carrying cameras it's a LONG 311 steps to the top.
Off to St Pauls, perfect end of day autumn light, though really I'm too close.
I was impressed and I don't like anything - photographers never like their own work. Thinking on that, some do - but it's questionable if you'd class them as photographers... October 1
Been listening to the Healing Sixes cd, Enormosound (crap title). It has the worst Storm Thorgerson cover ever, very third-rate, late 70's, I've run out of ideas for the Pink Floyd... But the band photo inside is stunning - wonder who took it? The band sound like a much better Audioslave. In fact, it is better than Audioslave. It's produced by Kevin Shirley (another person with a stupid self-penned nickname), who has done a GREAT job! Go out and find it... Here's an email from a sober Irishman - not Paul Brannigan... Hi,
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