April 19, 2021

My wife and I have been watching Dan Rather and the interviews he has done with musicians and actors. Most of the episodes are quite old but we have never seen them until recently.

Always liked and respected Dan Rather who is a lot like my father with his style of reporting and news broadcasting.  However, my father definitely did not appreciate modern music as much as Dan Rather! Carl Zimmermann enjoyed Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and that era of music. Dan Rather likes all styles of music it seems.

The other night we watched Dan interview Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. The interview was a few years old but it was great to watch. Dan Rather confirmed how different Ian Anderson is and how very opinionated he is about pretty much everything.

Ian is an interesting individual demonstrating that in his music lyrics and ideas in general. I find him to be a bit unusual but a very talented musician. He told Dan that he plays the flute because he didn't want to be like everyone else and play the guitar.

The shows of Jethro Tull are entertaining for sure. There is alot going on and during the "Passion Play" tour he had movies and a ballerina on stage. For 1973 this was special!

I was part of an interview with Ian in 1971 for the Bugle American newspaper I was working for. I photographed him then and again in 1972 and 1973. That interview in 1971 was very very interesting. Ian had an opinion on everything! I'll dig that up for another blog soon.

The photos here are from the show on June 6, 1972 at the Milwaukee Arena. I always thought the 1972 band was the best version with Martin Barre on guitar who is an amazing guitar player. John Evan played keyboards along with Jeffrey Hammond on bass guitar. Barriemore Barlow on drums was also very good and the band you could see had a lot of fun together.

Enjoy and be safe.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

March 8, 2020

Taking a look back at the Steve Miller Band in 1978, performing at the Dane County Coliseum in Madison, Wisconsin.

Steve Miller's first band was started in 1966 and has had many transformations throughout the years. He is still playing! He was Wisconsin born and his Godfather was the great Les Paul!

The version shown here has two personal favorite musicians in the band.  They are Norton Buffalo who passed in 2009 and Leslie West who passed just last year.

This band was always having a fun time filling halls, arenas and what ever festival they played.

Steve has sold a lot of records and his greatest hits 1974-1978 album, that was released in 1978, sold over 13 million copies! One of them is downstairs and was recently played!

The photo with Leslie West is not the greatest but he was an amazing player so I had to include it.  He and Steve had a lot of fun playing together at this show. They also played together a year earlier at Milwaukee's Summerfest.

Enjoy a look at the guys in 1978.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

January 11, 2021

Happy New Year everyone and let's hope it's a better year for all of us!

Today, we take a look back at June 8,1975 for The Eagles show at Milwaukee County Stadium when they played with the Rolling Stones and Chaka Kahn.

It was a very, very hot June day and the house was packed.

I remember that the press box where I shot these photos from was shaking so much, because of the crowd in the grandstands, that my cameras actually shook!!

These photos from June were just before the band members changed.  Bernie Leodon was about to leave and Joe Walsh was coming at the end of 1975. Timothy B. Schmit would come in a couple of years and the sound of The Eagles was complete.

Enjoy a look back to our old Milwaukee County Stadium and the Eagles.

Be safe everyone!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

December 7, 2020

As I wrote that date, December 7th, I realize that it is the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Very sad day to go down in history. Many thanks to all the servicemen.

This is my last blog on Joe Walsh!! Four is enough and that's all I've got of Joe in photos. Once he joined the Eagles he and the band became very hard to photograph. Even with Vince Gill as an old friend from his Pure Prairie League days it just got really hard to get access. 

They have also become the most expensive tickets to buy for a show I hear. Great band but $1000. or more for a good seat is crazy!

This show I photographed was in Milwaukee in 1980 according to my records but that doesn't work out with the tour list! So, if anyone knows a Milwaukee date let me know please. The slides are stamped August 1980!

The band here was great with Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Don Feldner and Glen Frey. Joe Walsh joined the band in late 1975 and they broke up in late 1980 a few months after this show.

Enjoy a look at the boys from my one seat way back with a long lens! Wish I had my present gear back then. Photos would be a lot better!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

November 23, 2020

Continuing with Joe Walsh blogs, here is another one!

Joe played a show at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee on March 19, 1975.

This was towards the end of his solo career as he was to join the band The Eagles in December of 1975.

He is an amazing guitar player and this show did not disappoint.

His microphone stand has an interesting display of a horn, a mask and even a bicycle handlebar.

Enjoy a look at one of Joe Walsh's last solo shows.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Joe Walsh on March 19, 1975 at Milwaukee's Riverside Theater.

November 9, 2020

For my last blog I cleaned up a lot of old images of Joe Walsh from 1971. So, I figured I should keep working on Joe Walsh photos and cleanup some of my favorite photos from Summerfest 1973 and some of my favorites of Joe!

It was in 1973 when Joe Walsh had his band, Barnstorm ,with Joe Vitale, Rocke Grace, and Kenny Passerelli

When I took these photos, I could not move from the spot I had secured because it was so crowded. If I could have moved, I would have pictures of the drummer and bass player! Joe Vitale is such a great drummer and Kenny Passerelli a great bass player.

Enjoy a look at Summerfest and Joe in 1973. I cleaned them up a lot but a few could use a little more work!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

October 26, 2020

On November 25, 1971 my thoughts were not on Thanksgiving too much. That is because two days later the James Gang Band was coming to the Milwaukee Arena for a show!!

Joe Walsh has played in many bands but he's also a great solo artist.  My personal favorite was the time he spent with the band The James Gang. To me, Joe Walsh was the band!

He did have a great band though with drummer Jimmy Fox and bass guitar by Dale Peters.

John Mayall and another band, Jake Jones, played that night too.

I'm thinking that the James Gang Band was the headliner act that night, but not sure.

Enjoy some freshly cleaned up images!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 20, 2020

In the past I have written blogs about John Prine who is in my opinion is the best songwriter and storyteller in the world. Steve Goodman was a good musician and friend of John's who would have to be the second best. John Prine lyrics are just amazing and to think he wrote some of his early material during his six years as a mailman in Maywood, Illinois!

John passed away on April 7, 2020 at 74 years old. It put tears in my eyes and I'm sure a lot of other people felt the same way.  COVID-19 was stronger than John and took him to heaven. He is now with his buddy Steve Goodman who passed in 1984. When they did a show together it was really a fun time with many great songs and stories.

I had the pleasure of photographing John twice, in 1972 and then again in 1974 when I worked for the Bugle American newspaper. I have seen him probably six or seven times and every performance was just great.

My photographs of John are some of my favorite images. In 1974 when he played at Milwaukee's Summerfest Schlitz Country stage, I gave him a photo from the Milwaukee PAC 1972 show and had a few Schlitz beers with him backstage. It was called the Schlitz Country Stage after all so we had to have some Schlitz beer and it was flowing pretty good and I was only 19! John loved the photo and we joked about the 1972 photos where he had Pabst beer on his stool and now it was Schlitz! I always wanted to get a photo autographed by him and never did after all these years...

The 1974 photographs are fun to look at because it was about 100F and the Summerfest Skyglider ran almost right above the stage. John was talking to the people up there and they were talking to him which made for some interesting banter.  It also made for some great photographs of him looking up at them talking and playing around.

John had some health issues and could not smoke anymore and he LOVED to smoke cigarettes! He often said that when someone would lite up a cigarette he'd rush over to get a whiff of that first puff! He even wrote a song about going to heaven and smoking a nine mile long cigarette.

My heart goes out to his family and to our Milwaukee promoter, Peter Jest and his wife Karen who became very good friends of John.

We lost a good one on April 7th.  He will be sadly missed.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 6, 2020

I hope everyone is doing well during our pandemic right now. Here in Wisconsin we are being advised to stay at home.  There is not much traffic out there so hopefully everyone is complying and staying safe.  It's a good time to get house projects done and other chores.

We go back in time today for my blog which is about my first paying music related photo job!!! I was 17 years old, in high school and working at Camera Corner here in Milwaukee every day after school.

My boss at Camera Corner, John Dunar, was very nice and saw my interest of getting into the music photography business. A friend of John's was Dave Kennedy of Dave Kennedy Recording Studios. They were talking together in the store one day and Dave said he had a band called The Serendipity Singers coming in to record that week. Then he asked me if I would like to photograph this folk band and document their day of recording in his studios! Before I could say yes he even offered to pay me!

The day is documented here and you can even see my photo gear bag in one photo. The experience was an eye opener for me in a few ways. It was the first time in a recording studio and I was just in love with the technology that surrounded me. Dave Kennedy had THE 16 track tape machine of the time, an Ampex Master Maker 1000 16 track recorder!

The second eye opener of the day happened when I learned that my borrowed camera was stolen!  I borrowed it from Camera Corner with permission from my boss. I wanted to have two cameras available to me that day.  I put one of the cameras on a couch in the reception office for a few minutes. In less than five minutes someone took it and it was never seen again along with the exposed film that was in it. My boss at the camera store was very nice about it but it was a big life lesson for me!  Still would really like to have that film.

Enjoy the photos that I have of that very interesting day.  They even played kazoo's! Remember those?

Be safe everyone.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann