Taking Photos For The Village Voice: Documenting NY

Before today I was unaware of Fred McDarrah.  After reading an article in the NY Times, I found out he was the first photo editor for the Village Voice and for many years, it's only staff photographer.  He must have had a sixth sense of where it was happening in NY. He has captured everyone from Dylan and Warhol to Robert Kennedy and Robert Moses. These people mostly appear against the gritty backdrop of the city in the 1960's and 70's.  The city is also depicted in all it's gritty glory. 

His work will be on exhibit at the Steven Kasher Gallery from Jan 30th through March 8th.  Looking forward to seeing this. 

Happy Birthday Ringo

Ringo (do I need to use his last name?) turns 70 today. He's celebrating at Radio City Music Hall with his All Starr Band. In honor of his birthday I thought I'd post a copy of my Help album. His "ring" is circled. The ring of course was a plot in the film. What possesses a four year old to alter album covers? It was done all the time back then. Unfortunately it's a pleasure that is not available to kids today. Happy Birthday Ringo!


Piece of trivia: Originally the Beatles were suppose to be spelling out HELP in semaphore for the cover. This turned out to look esthetically unpleasing to the eye, so the photographer Robert Freeman decided to place them as he thought would look best. There are many theories about them spelling out NVUJ or LPUS (lp record by us). It seems those theories are as baseless as Paul being dead.

The Eyes of Rock & Roll

Jim Marshall, the eyes of Rock & Roll, died this week. Famous for capturing a private moment or a very fiery stage performance, Jim was the premier musicians photographer. He required full access to acts to capture these moments and most of the time, he got it. The iconic images of Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire and Johnny Cash giving the finger belong to Jim.

According to his obituary in the NY Times, his first musical encounter was with John Coltrane. “He asked me for directions to a club,” he said in a 2004 interview. “I told him I’d pick him up and take him there if he’d let me take his picture.” He lived in Greenwich Village and photographed Bob Dylan. He moved to San Francisco and capture the 60's music scene there. After recovering from a drug addiction, he came back in the 80's to work with bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and recently John Mayer.

Photo gallery in the Times.
Photo gallery in Rolling Stone

Music will never look the same.