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

 

Steve Miller and Leslie West

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

The J. Geils Band in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Summerfest in 1972.

April 20, 2013

My blog this week, that I have been working on for a while, is about a little blues band from Boston called the J. Geils Band.  After a bad week in Boston, I felt it was rather fitting that we talk about some good people of Boston.  John Geils and most of the band are actually from Worcester, Massachucetts.

John Geils, the guitar player and founder, started the band in the 1960's. He went through a few versions before getting it right in 1967 to form the band we are all familiar with.

Peter Blankenfeld, who we all know as vocalist Peter Wolf, was an ex disc jockey before joining the band. 

Richard Salwitz, became the harmonica player and is one of the best in the world.  He became "Magic Dick", and known for his "licking stick", on stage.

Danny Klein, known as "Dr. Funk", was the bass player of the band and Stephen Jo Bladd, was the drummer.

More people came and went with the band but this was the core and this band that I photographed at Summerfest in 1972, which is what you see here. 

They got the crowd moving and everybody had a good time!

Enjoy a few photos from 1972 and if you would like some copies for your walls at home please contact us today.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 15, 2013

Lowell Geoge's birthday was April 13.  In his memory here is my weekly blog.

Lowell George and his band, Little Feat, played in Milwaukee at the Oriental Theater in 1977.  It was a great show.

The amazing fact I discovered in doing this blog is that Lowell George was a former member of the Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa's band!!  There are several ideas of why Frank dismissed Lowell from the Mothers and I like the one that Frank said Lowell was to good for the band.  Frank then helped Lowell out in forming his own band.  The Mothers of Invention drummer, Jimmy Black, gave Lowell the name of his new band Little Feat because he supposedly has little feet!  The changing of feet to feat is in homage to the Beatles I read in an article.

I have seen people play slide guitar before but at this show, I was watching the master at work!  Lowell George was amazing on his slide guitar.  I recently heard that he taught Bonnie Rait how to play slide guitar.  She learned from a very good teacher.

These images, give us a look at the master at work with his friend, Paul Barrere.

Put some history on your walls at home with our blog pictures of the week.  All 8 1/2 X 11's are  $50.00 for a limited edition archival print.

Enjoy, and have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Lowell George, a master slide guitar player with his band Little Feat at the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1977.