Tag Cloud
July 22, 2013
A long time ago in 1971 when I was a junior in high school, my family moved across town. It was far enough away that I needed to attend a different high school. I lost all my friends!
I was mad, sad and buried my head into my love of photography and music! As I look back now, that move was probably one of the best things that happened to me in my youth!
One of my classmates was Steve Cohen. He had formed a band with some of our other classmates. The Stone Cohen Blues Band was it's name and they played some good blues.
The Stone Cohen Blues Band became Leroy Airmaster a little bit later and Steve was the leader playing harmonicas and doing vocals. Bill Stone plays guitar with Dave Kasik on the bass. Tom Wilson played drums for a while but Vodie Rhinehart is getting the job done now and fits perfectly!
The guys were influenced heavily by local bands The Ox and Short Stuff, and so was I!
Leroy Airmaster broke up for a while and since 2009 have been back together again. They are better and a little older now but it's all good.
The photographs here are from 1971 and from Summerfest this year where Leroy Airmaster opened for Jon Paris who opened for Buddy Guy on the Harley Davidson Roadhouse stage.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
July 15, 2013
Last Saturday night at the Harley Davidson Roadhouse stage at Summerfest, I had a bit of a reunion with some old friends!
Steve Cohen and his band Leroy Airmaster played and they were awesome! That is next week"s blog.
Good friend Jon Paris, brought Ed Sison to play drums with him and it was almost a reunion of The Ox Band. All that was missing was guitar player and vocalist Bob Metzger to make it a full reunion.
Dave Kasik played bass with the guys and it was a great show! Dave did double work that night playing for Jon and Leroy Airmaster!
Enjoy a few photos of the night!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
ÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂ
July 8, 2013
On February 11, 1972, the Mark Almond Band played at the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee. The opening act that night was the local Milwaukee group Woodbine. I will be doing a blog on them on soon!
I first became aware of Jon Mark and Johnny Almond when they were playing with John Mayall on his album Turning Point.
The band had a nice smooth sound and one of my favorite songs of all time is The City. The vocals by Jon Mark on that song were great!
I am not sure of the names of the bass player and keyboard player but they too were very good. If anyone knows their names I would appreciate an email to update my records.
The jacket that Johnny Almond is wearing in these photos is interesting with little spacemen on it!
Enjoy the old photos and have a great week.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
July 1, 2013
Busy weekend around here getting our yard work done so that we can go to Summerfest next weekend. Saturday night, July 6, will be a good night at the Harley Davidson stage. Some old friends are playing and rockin' the house!
At 6pm Leroy Airmaster is playing with my old high school friend Steve Cohen. Steve has played in the Stone Cohen Band and Leroy Airmaster who still get together occassionally.
At 8pm Jon Paris is playing. He too is an old friend and played with The Ox. Eddie Sisson, drummer from The Ox will be drumming for Jon! Jon has played with Link Wray, Bo Didley, Johnny Winter and lots more!
At 10pm Buddy Guy, will be was crankin' out hits! He is a blues legend!
Come join us for a great time with some of my old friends!
They will get you a rockin'!
Attached are some archived photos of them.
Hope to see you there.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
June 24, 2013
As I grew up in the Milwaukee rock scene, my favorite bands were The Ox and Short Stuff. Ok, I can't forget The Electric Shit Band, Woodbine and The Hound Dog bands.
Life was good for me during high school days in 1971 and 1972 with photography and rock'n'roll!
When The Ox was breaking up, another band was forming called Bobby and the Helmets! Bobby, was Bob Metzger, the great guitar player from The Ox. These days he plays guitar in Leonard Cohen's band. The Helmets are everybody else in the band I guess!
They were all best friends with each other and terrific musicians. Most of them are good friends of mine.
Here is a look at them playing at the Catacombs coffehouse on January 24, 1972.
Have a great week.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
May 13, 2013
Where would rock'n'roll be without the Everly Brothers? As a duo, Phil and Don Everly, probably influenced every musician by what they did in the 1950's and 1960's.
Phil and Don's music career started in Iowa in the 1940's with their father Ike's radio show. Their mother Margaret, was also a part of the radio show and the family performed as the Everly Family in and around Iowa in the early years.
Family friend, Chet Atkins, helped the boys out in 1956 in getting their first record contract. The Everly Brothers were born.
When I heard that they were playing at a grade school in my neighborhood in Milwaukee in 1972, I could not believe it! The roller skating rink at the school was going to be having a rock'n'roll show with the Everly Brothers?? It was an amazing show and I was star struck to say the least!
Looking at my photographs from that night, I see that my good friends the Hound Dog Band must have opened up the show because the drum set says HDB on it. That was long ago and I don't remember the HDB that night but I do remember the Everly Brothers.
I also was amazed by the band the Everly Brothers had with them. The guitar player was Waddy Wachtel. Waddy has played with just about everyone from Stevie Nicks to the Eagles and many more. He is an excellent and well known session player. One of the photographs here is of Waddy.
It's fun looking back and seeing the outfits musicians wear and I love the dressed up Levi's they are wearing.
Hope you enjoy a little look at the Everly Brothers in 1972. If you would like a photograph on your wall at home or the office, 8 X 10 limited edition prints are on sale for $50.00 this week.
Have a great week.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
Â
May 6, 2013
At Summerfest in Milwaukee on July 25, 1977, Steve Miller and his band played the main stage. Also, on that night the band Mountain played with great guitar player Leslie West.
Love Steve Miller's rare vintage Ibanez Artist 2623 guitar! It's just beautiful!
During Steve Miller's show we were given a treat when Steve brought out Leslie West to play a few songs with him! Wish I could remember what songs they played but I do remember it being very good and very windy as you can see in the attached photos.
The great Norton Buffalo is on stage left. He was awesome and miss him.
This gives us a nice look at Summerfest in 1977 and some of the greatest guitar players around.
Need a new photograph on your office or home wall? Limited edition prints 8x10, are $50.00 the week of the blog. Contact us soon for a print.
Enjoy and have a great week.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
April 29, 2013
This week's blog is hard to do because it's finally nice in Wisconsin and I want to be outside! That means bike riding, fishing and of course, Spring house chores.We have been cleaning the outside of the house and cleaning all of the windows! Hard work, but it's done now and it looks great.
Other than talking about Spring cleaning chores, our blog is about one of the best country rock bands to ever come about. That would be Loggins and Messina, shown here in 1974 at the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh. In 1974, they played a lot of college shows and were very popular on FM radio.
Jim Messina, after being in the bands Poco and Buffalo Springfield, was an independent record producer for Columbia Records in 1970 when he met Kenny Loggins. The two recorded some songs in Jimmy's living room in Colorado and Loggins and Messina was born. The teacher/apprentice duo had a great following and Kenny Loggins had to put his solo career on hold because they were so successful. This was a very good thing.
Their debut album, Sittin' In, was released in November of 1971 and five more albums would be released before Kenny Loggins went on his own to become a solo act.
They have done a few tours since the old days. One in 2005 and another in 2009 and I missed them both unfortunately!
Enjoy the photos and if you would like a copy for your walls at home or office, an 8 X 10 limited edition print is on sale this week for $50.00.
Have a great week and don't do too many Spring chores!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann