Michael Hepworth
THE RAMONES IN PICTURES
Jimmy Steinfeldt reports on, interviews, and photographs Gabba Gabba Hey a Ramones photo retrospective.
West Hollywood(Perfect Music Today)5/7/16/–The show was amazing. It really was a party as much as it was a photo exhibit. Not only was the Morrison Hotel Gallery packed, so was the pool and patio area of the historic Sunset Marquis. The host for the evening was the beautiful Linda Ramone. The Ramones photos from many different photographers were on display and I had the honor of interviewing two of the photographers.
Photographer Brad Elterman interviewed by Jimmy Steinfeldt
Jimmy Steinfeldt: Hi Brad. Tell me about this photo you took of The Ramones
Brad Elterman: I took this photo of The Ramones in 1978. The band was staying here at the Sunset Marquis. It was a very hot day and the band took their leathers off which is very rare. If you want to go and stand where that photo was taken you can’t anymore because they widened Sunset Blvd where that sign was.
J.S. How did you meet the band?
B.E. I came to know them by hanging out with them at the Tropicana Motel.
I got into photography because I wanted to meet the bands and take photos.
J.S. What artist did you photograph the most?
B.E. Joan Jett. She was my Muse. Rodney Bingenheimer, and others introduced me to her.
J.S. Where are you from?
B.E. I’m from New York but I was photographing all these bands here in L.A.
J.S. Did you have a favorite club in New York?
B.E. CBGB’s. I also went to Studio 54.
J.S. Did you know or see Andy Warhol?
B.E. I met Andy a couple of times. My mom introduced me to him. He came out here to L.A. in 1972. My mom and I went to an art exhibit and my mom visited with Andy and introduced me to him. I took a photo of my mom and Andy.
J.S. Did you know Christopher Makos?
B.E. He was one of my photo editors at Circus magazine but I never met him in person.
J.S. Any other thoughts about the Ramones?
B.E. I miss them terribly. It’s a very emotional evening for me. It’s crazy that these photos were almost 40 years ago. I wish all those guys were here tonight.
Music Photographer Chuck Krall interviewed by Jimmy Steinfeldt
Jimmy Steinfeldt: When did you meet The Ramones?
Chuck Krall: 1976 When they first came to the west coast and played in San Francisco where I was the west coast photographer for Creem magazine. I introduced myself to their manager Danny Fields and while I was explaining to him who I was Danny smiled and said “Chuck we know who you are.”
Turned out some of the first photos I had published were of The MC5 and The Stooges and they were bands that Danny signed. So my reputation had preceded me. I asked Danny and The Ramones if they wanted to go shopping for records. We went to Aquarious Records where I shot a photo of Danny and The Ramones in the store.
There is also the photo I did of Joey leaning against a wall and another photo I did of Joey at the Tropicana Motel in 1977 where the band used to stay. They stayed at the Sunset Marquis in 1978.
J.S. What year did you move from San Francisco to Los Angeles?
C.K. 1977. The Ramones were different then most bands in San Francisco. Here in L.A. there were some bands a bit more like The Ramones due to L.A. having such a big club scene. The Roxy, The Whisky, The Starwood. I did however photograph The Ramones at large venues too, The Forum, the Long Beach Auditorium opening for Ozzy.
I liked The Ramones a lot. I talked to Joey 5 days before he died. We both didn’t have a lot of money but what we did have we invested. So we both listened to CNBC to see how our investments were doing and also because we both had a crush on Maria Bartiromo, who Joey did a song about.
Chuck Krall and Joey
J.S. Do you have any thoughts about the film Rock ‘n’ Roll High School?
C.K. Yes, I was here in L.A. when that was being done. I didn’t go to the set because I was busy working with Ted Nugent at the time. But one of the things I really liked about the Ramones was their honesty. Danny their manager didn’t want to change that, he didn’t want to change their sound.
J.S. What did you do for Ted Nugent?
C.K. I was his photographer. Later I worked as a bodyguard for Ozzy for about 6 months. Then I worked for tabloids like the National Enquirer for 7 years. The Enquirer paid well and some very good stories came out there too. However at that time it was run by Gene Pope who had been in the CIA and he ran the Enquirer a bit like the CIA. He would pit different departments against each other and offer bonuses. Most of the people there were from England, Fleet Street.
Around this time the record business started to change and eventually I got tired of chasing after photography gigs. Things also changed when live shows and venues lost business to discos.
J.S. You must have known Jim Marshall?
C.K. Jim Marshall was my mentor. I moved to San Francisco in 1970. I had come out of the Peace Corp. I met Bob Marley the first week I was in the Peace Corp when I was stationed in Jamaica. So I was a Reggae photographer. Eventually I started shooting Country music because I saw no one wanted to do it even though it paid well. But I learned a lot from Jim Marshall and how he always looked for a strong center image with something going on around it. Jim never shot lots of film. He’d get his pictures and put his camera back in his bag.
J.S. He used Leica Cameras.
C.K. Yes, and I used a Nikon SP which was a rangefinder camera developed in 1964 for the Olympics. I used 5 or 6 Nikons at a time. We didn’t use zoom lenses so I had a lot of cameras with different film.
J.S. Did you know Bill Graham?
C.K. Bill was very good to me. He also could end someone’s career. He loved to 86 people. If you did something wrong he made sure you never got into one of his concerts again. I was at one of his concert and Suzi Quatro was on stage and I got on stage too. She shouted “alright, who’s ready to go to Devil Gate Drive?” So I threw up my hands and said “I am” and of course my camera flew out of my hand. About 30 seconds later I feel a tap on my shoulder and it’s Bill Graham handing me back my camera. He said “don’t ever let that happen again.”
J.S. Tell me something about each of the Ramones.
C.K. They were all individuals. Of course we all know that Linda was Joey’s girlfriend and she ended up with Johnny so that created a rift in the band. Dee Dee was a very good bass player and a really nice guy but he was the guy in the band who was always messing things up. He had his own kind of schedule and made things sorta like a Laurel and Hardy situation. Tommy was so intelligent that it was difficult for him to continue working with them. He would get so frustrated dealing with them. He just couldn’t handle doing the road stuff and ended up more involved in managing and producing.
J.S. What’s the first Punk Rock band?
C.K. I’m close to the Patti Smith Group so I think of them. Actually my very first published photo came about because Lenny Kaye helped me get my photo of Grace Slick published. I suppose for me the Punk Rock movement came out of Patti Smith. Although they were more Artists (poetry appropriated to music). Jimmy that’s a very good question.
I saw the Rolling Stones in 1964 and they were considered punk. The term punk kinda changed radically over time. If you were in prison you would get punked by someone.
The Punk Rock movement that came out of New York might even include The Velvet Underground but I didn’t really consider that a Punk Rock band. My photos are in the book Punk 365 and they touted the MC5 as a Punk Rock band but I always considered them a hard rock and roll band.
As for my personal favorite ‘Punk Rock’ band it would be The Dead Boys out of Ohio. They had everything going for them, except they were junkies. The Sex Pistols had some good music but they weren’t a great band, there was so much diffraction with the different personalities. The Dead Boys really remained true to their band, they were a real band. Of course there were The Stooges who were ahead of their time in Punk Rock. Finally I should say that I photographed the New York Dolls around 1971 even before I photographed Patti Smith and so I guess they might have been the first Punk Rock band I ever saw.
Linda Ramone and Jimmy Steinfeldt
Brad Elterman and Jimmy Steinfeldt
April 29th 2016
Morrison Hotel Gallery
Sunset Marquis
W. Hollywood CA
Jimmy Steinfeldt: Photography
Michael Hepworth
287 S.Robertson Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
http://twitter.com/MrSpiritsman
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