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August 28
My last day in the company of the Wheats. I took them to Charlotte Street for lunch, Jimmy Page came along too - he likes Brian. Had a good time until I was pestered by some loonie woman who wouldn't leave me alone. The ruder I was to her the more she came back, plus she was ugly. I mean why can't I get pestered by a Gong Li look-a-like instead of some thing that looks like a cow. She would not fuck off. She seemed to think she and I had bonded, 'Where did you get your Prada bag?' I got up, ignored her and walked down the street with Jimmy leaving her driving Brian crazy. He phoned me ten minutes later, 'She's fucking nuts!' 'I know, that's why we left - enjoy her.'
Jimmy and I did what any civilised person would do and went record shopping. Got the soundtrack to The Gauntlet just for the Frazetta cover and Pink Floyd-Zabriskie Point Outtakes on purple vinyl, both for £10. Also looked in the Levi's Classic Store where you can get overpriced shrink to fit jeans for £250 - stupid. I saw an old style 50s black leather jacket I loved, the kind you pick up in LA for $100, except this was £750. And the worse part is I've been sitting at home wishing I'd bought it...
I hate Bank Holiday Weekends.
August 27
Bank Holiday Friday. I hate Bank Holidays. The weather was SHITE, in capitals. Gloom and rain - I'd arranged to go to the Reading Festival to shoot Queens Of The Stone Age, which looking at the weather was now a bad idea.
Took Brian Wheat book shopping. He insisted on buying a library, then said 'can you ship them for me?' 'What?' He did buy me a few books as well - The SS, A New History, a joyous fun-filled Bank Holiday read. Farundell, a novel (nice cover) and City Of Sin, London And It's Vices, as in a lot of prostitutes and where to find them. Quite handy at the moment.
We drove off to Reading late afternoon and the sun came out in all it's glorious colour. It turned into a beautiful evening. Saw Josh Homme with Alex and Miles and various Arctic Monkeys, got some photos of them all together and some nice portraits of Josh. Plus I got the Queens to line up for a group shot onstage and shot the show from all over the place. They played a lot of Rated R - The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret was rocking.
Every person I saw I knew was completely coked out of their mind with elastic jaws working faster than they could talk. Fuck, it got boring being cornered with 'Hey' then talking a load of shit. One man said 'Do you remember me driving you twenty-five years ago?' 'Er, no.' He looked disappointed, really I had no idea who he was. Cocaine, yuk! I'll take downers any day. At least when you're on downers you can't talk a load of old bollocks, you just sort of fall over...
All in all another fun filled day.
My personal iphone 4 photographer insisted on photographing me in the back stage area. The only problem being people were looking at us very strangely, as in 'What are they doing?' A photo shoot with an iphone... Monique took some nice photos with my camera.
Ross and Brian rock Reading - taken on an iphone4
August 26
Another night of fine dining with the Wheats, Monique and my personal iphone4 photographer Brian, at Bam-Bou in Percy Street. We were joined by Jimmy Page but that didn't stop Brian from documenting yours truly. Brian now wants to do a photo book of me - he thinks it will sell more than my travel book.
I've been trying to get into new (or semi-new) music. Ray LaMontagne - God Willin', quite sad but uplifting in it's own way. Hawkwind At The BBC '72 sounds rubbish but then sounds amazing after a bottle of wine and a couple of Vicoden, really you do end up in deepest space. But I'm going back to Phil Moog & the Sign of 4, it is excellent.
Here's another portrait, a true artistic work of art - easy girls, true love is on it's way xxxx
A bit from Ian Hunter's website where he reveals his secret of eternal youth...
Bill McCue: 'Great RH pic of you with Pagey at High Voltage. Do you two get on these days? I remember bad blood between Zep and MTH at the Uris in the 70's. Re: age - what's your secret?' Jimmy came to a MTH gig at Hammersmith but I wasn't able to meet him as I was leaving the stage and going straight back to the hotel to preserve the vocals. It was great he popped down to High Voltage with Ross. We had a couple of chats before and after the gig - he was genuinely nice. We never mentioned the Uris. We were talking about the real early days. My secret is Ross Halfin!
August 25
Brian and Monique Wheat arrived to visit for a couple of days. I looked at Brian and told him he needed to stop looking like a Caveman and needed some, ermmm, "Halfin Fashion..." I may only take "snaps", as some people think, but let me tell you when it comes to shopping I'm an expert and a connoisseur. So off to Bond Street where I made him spend his Tesla royalties - suit, shirt, shoes and, as the saying goes, "Suit Maketh The Man", except I ended up buying a suit and two shirts which wasn't in the plan...
Came home looked at my Travel Book. It's wonderful, take it from me, and we celebrated at The San Lorenzo in Wimbledon where Brian gave me some photos tips on the iphone 4 and as much as I hate to admit it (I hate camera phones) it is not bad at all - here's the evidence.
And you know what? It's great to see and hang out with Brian.
August 24
English weather - I woke up to sunny skies. I woke up at 4am and could not sleep, haven't slept for three weeks. I would just love to go to bed and sleep until 8.30am without waking or my mind wandering.
Keith Boyce, the drummer of The Heavy Metal Kids, came to my house at 10am this morning. He lives in Toulouse - his parents have lived in Sutton for thirty eight years. We drove to Putney to shoot the HMKs with new singer John Altman - Nasty Nick from East Enders. I called him Nick without thinking. 'Try Mick'' he said. 'Sorry,' said I. 'It's okay, everybody does it.'
Did photos in the streets around Putney and in a real 40s-style cafe. I had a good time. I used to see Cosmo years ago in my first Saturday job in Orange Amps in New Compton Street. It was a pleasure and John Altman was super professional. Only thing wrong was the weather sunny, raining (in fact pouring down), then sunny, then raining - drove me mad.
Strange shooting them, I used to follow them around all the time in the 70s. I saw them at luxurious venues like The Twickenham Winning Post, Marquee Club, The Rainbow, Croydon Greyhound, The Music Machine, Wembley with Alice Cooper. I used to love them, I wish them every success.
August 22
Went out to the Soho House for dinner last night with my friend Gordon, Stefano, and his wife Gemma Arterton. A lovely meal. Walked along Old Compton Street afterwards which I found disturbing. Go and do it at midnight on a Saturday and you'll understand.
Jimmy Page is on the cover of the Sunday Times today with his photo book which I worked on. They call it a book of snaps which it is not. Snaps/snapper, awful, lazy, slang use of English.
I was supposed to shoot the re-formed Heavy Metal Kids today but it has been moved to later this week, so a day doing stuff around my house. I looked at photos I have by various photographers and I have way more than I thought - Jim Marshall, Baron Wollman, Neil Zlozower plus some European and British photographers I like. I may be having a gallery showing in Sydney in November of Metallica photos - which means I'll have to go there.
Got a phone call about writing an intro for a Def Leppard book of my photos which I'm doing with the band. As I pointed out, if the book company (Chronicle) or the designer, Tom Jerman, could be bothered to show me it (I have seen NOTHING), I may feel inclined to write something. I then got told Paul Elliott was writing it with the band so at the moment I'm writing nothing - so if a photo book comes out with no copy by yours truly you know why...
Been playing Mogg and the Sign of 4 "She ain't here she's away ... Dancing with St. Peter". I'd forgotten what a good singer Phil is and how underrated UFO are.
I will see my travel book later this week which is one thing I am looking forward to and I'm going to write stuff in there to explain why I shot it and what it means to me.
Saw the intro to my travel book this evening, written by Jimmy Page. It has my made my travel book more, "real or made it "come to life". Jimmy wrote a personal and factual intro (he remembers everything). It got me enthusiastic and I haven't been happy or enthusiastic for a while. Baron Wolman, Brad Tolinski and Peter Makowski are all going to write essays in the book. Looking forward to seeing the cover this week.
I gave up the idea of not eating crap and decided I needed some sweets at the local corner shop. I bought some sour sweets. A teenager, or young adult (he had a bit of a beard) said to me 'Are you stoned man, you got the munchies?' Me? Stoned in Cheam???? Nooooooooooo, but I will admit I do like a temazepam...
August 19
Doing household chores, amazing what you find. I need a new toilet seat, need to throw out all the plant pots in the garden as well so off to the dump then Tesco - I think they sell toilet seats (I really have no idea).
After saying I haven't seen a good film in ages I just saw a great film, Romanzo Criminale, fantastic and nearly three hours long. Centurion was entertaining but silly - Roman soldiers swearing in present day English. Got another couple of silly Japanese films to watch, Prisoner 701 Sasori and Goemon. I suppose it beats Waitrose on a Friday night...
I've dug out Ian Hunter Diary Of A Rock'n'Roll Star, his 1972 book of touring America, to re-read again. He captures America perfectly.
And Tesco didn't sell toilet seats - after I'd thrown the other away. I'll have to dig a hole in the garden.
Took my son to Koreatown which is near me for a Korean BBQ. He'd never had one before. Oliver ate, I watched - we had a good night out together.
August 18
Some sky the view from my garden...
A couple of books I like,
Beauty In Decay - photos of buildings in decay. They do have a quiet beauty - a bit like me except I don't have the beauty just the decay...
Shaped By War - Don McCullin, his war photos and his magazine covers.
Oliver with Jinxi, from a little while ago.
August 17
Got the new David Gray cd Foundling today, it has the most beautiful song - Forgetting. Nice to hear something new I like. The Union, Luke Morley's cd is good and the singer is incredible, go and buy it. Saviour, You Know My Name, Lilies are the immediate songs. John Grant, Queen Of Denmark is something that will grow on you. And Phil Mogg sent me his cd Mogg & the Sign of 4 which is excellent. The cover is a photo of mine which I took in Texas in 1980. It looks interesting for one of my old photos.
Watched Legion on dvd, the end of the world in the Las Vegas desert - it was rubbish. Tonight I'm going to watch Centurion which I'm not expecting anything from. Whatever has happened to films at the moment it's all awful...
Dawn over Frankfurt last Sunday. The photos were shot with my little Leica. I kind of wish I'd shot them properly on my Nikon but by then I was "Temazepamed" and was flying in my own world.
August 16
Some photos from Dubai. I like the feeling of being not in another city but another planet. That's the idea I'm trying to show in the photographs.
A bit of everything... The pylons are driving back in from the desert, they go on for miles in the middle of nowhere.The fish are pulled out, have water thrown on them and sold (remember this is an outdoor market where the temperature is 50c). It was odd seeing sharks. I wanted to shoot more of the fish but the Indian workers would not stop hustling so I gave up.
The cows head is I think kind of beautiful in that it stands/sits there as the last piece of it's form. The butcher told me that Africans normally want the head but prefer if the skin is on. It's a strange contrast to the rest of Dubai's futuristic world.
The railway to me looks like a fake toy train set, which it is not. It's super ultra modern and beneath it all is the sand where it all started. The dunes give you a real sense of mortality, we are insignificant to them. They shift and change as if time has no meaning. I found them humbling...
August 15
Took off from Dubai in the early hours of this morning. The engine blew up as we were flying down the the runway, nearly taking off. The pilot, being German, merely said 'We must return to get this fixed.' Something of an understatement.
I felt oddly detached as if I wasn't there. Well, I was kind of somewhere else as I'd taken two temazepam. He seemed to fix the engine quickly, we were in the air again in thirty minutes. I didn't mind at all - the drugs do work - normally I'd be freaking out, I just didn't care...
Shot the dawn clouds over Frankfurt then connected home to London, back to dealing with the real world that we live in.
August 13
Decided to get away from the city and go out to the desert, it's sixty miles away and I haven't done it on my own for a while. Driving over the sand dunes in a 4X4 is not my idea of fun, I just wanted to vomit. Worse than a fairground ride and I always disliked funfairs. Still, when we stopped it was eerily silent like space, nothing - not a sound. I found it quite calming, it cleared the mind. Plus watching god's light spread over nothing gave me some perspective.
Came back to Dubai at dusk, went for a run and later watched 2001, A Space Odyssey. The end opens your mind as well, infinite space - we all need it. I finished the evening going to the cinema to see Jonah Hex. It was enjoyable in a mindless way...
A mindless day in a mindless way - sometimes you need it.
August 12
Went out to photograph the Dubai fish market (I didn't even know there was one). Open air in 50c heat there even were sharks. The Indian workers kept pestering me to take their photo which was nice but annoying, getting poked with fishy hands.
I found the meat market next to it, not much left as it started at 5am. A lone cows head, skinned with eyes and teeth and it's tongue sticking out like a bizarre sculpture. It bothered me - I won't be tucking into cows head anytime soon.
Shot the view I like of Sheikh Zayed Road after sunset, then did nothing. I resisted Coldstone (the best ice cream in the world) which is a first for me. If I was still at school I'd expect a gold star for that.
August 11
Here's a photo of some oldies and a young one, first photographed together in Miami in 1991 now reformed in London 2010.... South of the Rio Grande, as they say, or in South London "Tres Hombres".
Today is my birthday and I must say I really do have good friends, and this is a quick thank you to all of them. I do appreciate all of you, and at my age people fall by the wayside. In the last week my friends have risen to the fore and it is truly fantastic of them. A sincere thank you...
Spent my birthday photographing Dubai from the monorail. I was trying to show it as metropolis - who knows if I succeeded? I went to the Emirates Mall where Harvey Nichols has a 70% off sale. Looked around, my heart wasn't in it, and I like to shop. The odd bit was all the shops were open with no one in them as it is Ramadan - no one is around until after 8pm. It's as if Dubai is empty.
Dinner was in the company of Rina, my girl wonder from Dubai via Bali. We ate at the Armani Restaurant at the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The hotel was stylish but very austere. Pete made a point of telling the Chef it was my birthday - I was cringing at the thought. In fact we were well looked after and I was given a gift at the end of the night. I have a deep suspicion they thought Pete and I were an item...
August 10
After undoubtedly the worst week of my life I have decided to go somewhere warm as my home was turning into a prison. I was only focusing on going down. It is time to do something just for me. I considered Los Angeles then panicked over flying for eleven hours without feeling "positive". Aeroplanes are not the place to feel enclosed in. I flew from Rome to London a couple of years ago and it was one of the worst flights I have ever done - felt as if I was enclosed in a coffin.
So settled on Dubai. Warm - baking, in fact - and people may put it down but I like it, it has a vibe. The Metropolis of Fritz Lang's making come to life - Blade Runner it certainly is.
I've been there at this time the last two years which weirded me out, then thought that cannot control what I do so why not? My real problem was finding someone to go with - so Peter Makowski it is. 'Are you paying?' he whined. He then ranted 'I don't want a nice hotel I'll have to look smart'. He loves a one-star hotel.
It is amazing that someone I have travelled the world with is so 100% useless at travelling. He feels embarassed at being in First Class on a flight. Come on, you pay for a service, but he just cringes. And if you give him something he will lose it. It is worse than Oliver as a child. He wanted to get Nandos at the airport in case he didn't like the food - now a bucket of KFC I could understand. but Nandos?
The day started in the grip of the tyre fitters hand and from then everything that was wrong went wrong. London was pouring rain, I hadn't slept for a week and was not quite there, and the traffic to Heathrow was slowly venomous. My flight to Frankfurt was delayed two hours with us being the last to make the connection and all Pete could say say was 'I missed Nandos'. I was starting to panic and spin out thinking 'I can't do this...'' I considered getting off the plane and going home.
Still, sitting in seat 1A on a Lufthansa 747 after a temazepam does have a nice feeling, even Peter is bearable and I look at the route map feeling like I'm flying on a magic carpet. If I can float a bit more I may take some photos. We fly over Kirkuk and Bagdad which are lit by the city grid lights, looking down I find it magical in a strange way.
August 3
Here's a photo of my son and I at his graduation. I've been thinking about him and you know, I love him very much, he has turned into a fantastic human being.
And here's a couple of photos of me and some friends taken at the High Voltage Festival, both shot by John Varvatos - one with his camera, one with Billy Gibbons camera.
And John also sent a couple of pictures of me in action at High Voltage
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