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May 25
Rock In Rio last night in Lisbon. Saw Evanescence who were awful - some fat girl in a tutu running around the stage screeching.
Here's Kazuyo having a little light snack in her suite.
May 24
Off to Lisbon. Flew mid-afternoon, arrived early evening.
Watched the sunset and had a fantastic dinner of fresh oysters, clams, albacore and lobster, then a steak with two bottles of wine. Got a text from Kazuyo and General Norieiga - still at Heathrow from 2pm waiting for a flight. I thought of them on my third bottle of wine as they waited to take off. The Master feels compassion sometimes… General Norieiga told me they arrived at 3.30am.
May 21
Back to Birmingham today to do a photo session with Black Sabbath. It went well, they looked good and got on with it - paid attention, even Ozzy wasn't messing around… Well, he was, he's unstoppable and funny. I got loads done, then back on the train and headed home. A productive afternoon.
May 19
Black Sabbath - Birmingham. Drove up with my posse of General Norieiga, Peter Makowski, Kazuyo and "The Boss", who was there to check we were working. I truly hate motorway driving, give me a helicopter, a plane or a train any day. After stopping for sub standard "tucker" near Silverstone race track to my horror I spotted a KFC at the next junction as we zoomed past - life can be cruel.
Now of all the shows I've shot I used to love shooting at the now long gone Astoria in London, and the Birmingham Academy was just like that. Friendly and helpful staff, now that's a first, and a nice wide area to photograph the show.
There's a lot of stuff about Bill Ward and Sabbath all over the internet - if I'm honest this was the best I have ever seen them. They played Under The Sun and Wheels Of Confusion, Tomorrow's Dream from Vol. 4. Bill Ward was just not missed and I'm being honest. Tony Iommi was playing the best I've ever seen him, in a bluesy style - they were magnificent...
May 17
Some stuff of mine from various French magazines
A present from General Norieiga - "You Wanted The Best..."
May 15
A present from Billy Gibbons. My photo ring just arrived in the post.
The Kills from Paris
May 14
Have been in Paris - I'd forgotten what a great city it is. I was with the General and Kazuyo and decided to educate them at the War Museum at Les Invalides. They loved it ! Full of Japanese atrocities - managed to upset the French by taking a few photos of Kazuyo having a good time smiling at the photos of beheadings. She and the General were crying when they found out Japan had lost, 'Nooooooooooo, it's not true, western propaganda!!!!' I showed them Napoleon's Tomb. 'Who's he?' They said, looking blank. 'Let's go back to the good stuff.' I then took them to the armoury. 'Boring' said Kaz. 'How can they fight wearing that?'
We even had a look at the Trocadero where Adolf popped in to Paris in 1940. Here's a few photos of my staff outing.
May 8
As I've been scanning negs here's a few Led Zeppelin from the 02 show I found....
As I've been playing the outtakes from Between Nothingness & Eternity here's John McLaughlin shot in Monaco. It was a pleasure to shoot him...One of the times I've enjoyed meeting someone.
May 7
Been a wonderful weekend doing nothing, watching the rain and damp and hardly any trains as they're are fixing the tracks for the Olympics. I was going to Vietnam and LA but stayed home - 'I am stupid…'
Re-arranged all my records, sad kind of thing you do at my age, and the worst part was I got satisfaction out of it. Since I got my record player going again I've stopped listening to cds - there is something special about playing a vinyl record, turning it from side 1 to 2, and I'm dead serious.
Played these, The Rolling Stones at the Roundhouse is good for an audience tape and the Hollywood Palladium has lots of energy but the sound isn't so good.
Golden Earring from 1970 I picked up at Amoeba in LA, I'd never seen it before on Red Dwarf Records, great record. I always have a soft spot for Golden Earring. The BOC is a live promo EP I found, much better than the studio records. The Last Picture Show I got for $4.00 sealed, it has Hank Williams - a good Sunday morning LP and I hate country.
Mungo Jerry I saw at Spitalfields Market and Jimmy Page made me buy it just for the glasses. Mott is another LP I got in LA which is a soundboard tape from Overend Watts. Fantastic Mott The Hoople as I originally saw them - go and find it.
I've been sent a YouTube link of Jimmy Page and I shopping at Spitalfields - well really it's Jimmy. Look, I don't understand why people can't fuck off and leave him alone. He's out doing stuff PRIVATELY albeit in public BUT this is NOT a show or an event and this sort of thing is wrong. Are you THAT sad that you want to film him looking at books? The person who did this asked for a photo - he said firmly 'NO' yet they go and film him. People are sad...
Also I've had lots of emails re Metallica - can I get people Photo Passes and into Meet and Greets to meet the band. None of this is to do with me, so please don't ask.
May 4
Having a bit of a Bowie night - played Boston Music Hall '72, Santa Monica Civic '72, a broadcast but not that good a show, and Tokyo 1973. Boston has the best set list. It's a cd with nice packaging with a Japanese Obi.
I saw him at Earl's Court on that Tour. The show had a small PA, no lights, bad sound, it was a mess in an 18,000-seater venue. I remember buying the programme which was the Duffy cover of Aladdin Sane with three other pages showing and telling you nothing - you got ripped off then and now…
The band were tight for a three-piece, funny how after all the posturing Bowie plays Around And Around. I even had tickets for the last night of Hammersmith when he "retired". I gave them to my girlfriend at the time and didn't go - I regret that now.
Dug out Bowie's Kooks cd, a best of the BBC 1970-72. Excellent, also with good artwork for a bootleg.
My current favourite is Unreleased Tracks from Between Nothingness & Eternity, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Central Park 1973 mixed by Marcus Wippersberg in his Bunker in Vienna. It is amazing! I wish Marcus had remixed the original album and released it in the original order. But hey, this is still great. It makes a change from the first two Dio albums which my offspring has discovered and has been blasting for the last three days. Not that I don't like Ronnie, it's more that my tastes have changed in old age...
And here's a link to a newsletter from the National Portrait Gallery http://e-npg.org.uk/ZL4-S1L1-A35CKPJQ55/cr.aspx
May 1
The heading photo kind of sums up the weather here in the UK last month...
I've been trawling through lots of old slides - yes, stuff shot before digital. Found these of Robert Plant - the black spangled shirt is at Madison Square Garden, the one of him in the alley is in Los Angeles, sitting down in daylight is Glastonbury, and the other singer is Chris Robinson jamming on You Shook Me at the Brixton Academy, can't remember when it was. Funny, you look back at old pictures of Robert and realise how charismatic he is
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