January 29, 2003
Flew from New York to Florida for 50 Cent. Stayed at the
very nice Shore Club. Wanted to shoot 50 around Miami. He
had full security the size of houses, all carrying guns and wearing
bullet-proofs vests. They had no sense of humour whatsoever. I
was told "you can't do this and this and this..."--which
meant that you can't do anything. I pointed out we were in
upper-middle-class suburbia.
Shot 50 in a hotel room against the wall, showing off his new
tattoo. And after assuring him that he wasn't going to get
wiped out by the Crips or Bloods we shot on Miami Beach...much
to the bemusement of sun-bathing tourists. I should shut
up really as his album just went straight to #1. He's actually
a very nice guy.
January 28, 2003
Des Moines--the coldest I've ever been. It was miserable. I
just didn't want to be there. Got in at 11am, got out at
3:30pm. Jim Root dropped me at the airport.
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Shot them in the street in front of City
Hall, then at a fake brewery bar (you know--those dreadful "this
is meant to be the 1920s"). Drove out to Corey's
grandmother's (Thelma) home, shot them in front of the house
and the two of them on her doorstep. This was the first
time I'd been back in Des Moines since the Iowa Jam (I think
in 1984 or '85). Aerosmith headlined with Dokken and
new band Metallica in support. |
January 5, 2003
Checked out of hotel. Saw Gene Simmons who asked me to contribute
to his new magazine Tongue, now on its third issue. He managed
to tell me there was no budget (this means that he's not going
to pay for anything). I introduced him to my agent Simon
and headed home.
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January 4, 2003
Meant to leave today, but Maria Gonzales (the tattooed
Roadrunner PR, she has a habit of emailing her tattoos
around the world) told me about a Stone Sour video shoot. She
said no one can shoot it; I told her to ring Larry Mazer
(manager of Stone Sour--a person I particularly like). "He'll
say no," she said. She was wrong. Larry
asked me to go down to the shoot and we swapped stories
for most of it. |
The video was shot in a really bad part of
downtown LA. As I was leaving late-afternoon, I took
a photo of a homeless person's "home" which was
decorated with an American flag...in hindsight, I wish I'd
stopped and taken more but felt I was intruding. Driving
back along Sunset Blvd. with the tattooed lady. Took
a photo of the Sahara Motel on the Strip. I liked the
way the neon and trees silhouetted against the winter light. |
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