On Friday, I photographed an amazing 14 year old piano player named Emily Bear. She started her career at 5 years old, and played at the White House when she was six. She is classically trained, and plays classical and jazz. Quincy Jones just produced her new CD for Concord Jazz. Met her and her mom at soundcheck, and took some cool pictures of her!

I got home and found the new issue of Rolling Stone in the mailbox, which included a full page article on my friend Quinn Sullivan, who caused a standing ovation at Madison Square Garden last week at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads concert. I met Quinn when he was ten, and have watched him grow (musically and in real life- he is taller than me now). His new CD comes out next week!

Ah, to be young again!!

On another note, earlier this week, I found out that a friend of mine had passed away. The information came from a publicist’s Facebook page. About two hours later, he miraculously came back to life! OOOPS! Guess you don’t have to check facts to have a Facebook page. Just another reason to hate Facebook.

One more thing! Got an email from a representative of an international chain of hotels, restaurants and casinos looking to buy some artwork for the walls of their  green rooms. When I asked what their budget was, this is the reply I got:

We don’t have an exact number at the moment but from past experiences a couple of dollars per print is pretty typical.

WOW, guess the hotel business isn’t doing so well these days!!

Jim was the photographer on the trip, shooting the 2 days of rehearsals and the 2 shows on the day of recording. I don’t think anyone I know has ever gotten better access to a major event, and produced so many great pictures as what Jim did those  3 days. The story is amazing, and Jim’s pictures are unbelievable in their honesty and composition. To be put into that situation with unlimited access is astounding, based on today’s restrictions. Imagine Beyonce letting a photographer within 50 feet of her anywhere!

Speaking of Beyonce, she has decided that on her currant world tour, she will ban all photographers. She has hired someone to follow her tour and photograph her shows, and he will put three to five images up on a download site each night for the publications to use, to make sure that no “Unflattering” photos, such as the ones that cropped up after her Super Bowl performance in January.

So this leaves the process wide open for all cell phone users and point and shoot camera users to sell their images to the wire services. Think of the quality we will be seeing!

From the Huffington Post:

Beyoncé Bans All Pro Photographers From Her Concerts

Last week, exactly 2 months after the Superbowl ‘Unflattering photos’ fiasco, Beyoncé started her ‘Mrs. Carter Show’ world tour. As someone who followed the ‘Unflattering’ story very closely, and as someone who is a big fan of hers, I had no doubt Beyoncé and her publicist will learn from their mistakes on how to deal with bad pictures taken of her, and wont make horrible mistakes again. I was wrong. Beyoncé banned all professional photographers from her shows, hoping this way no unflattering photos will make it to mainstream media. She was wrong. What happened is that media outlets purchased low-quality and not-so-flattering images taken by her fans.

Beyoncé’s publicist, the same one who emailed and asked websites to remove images she didn’t like few months back, decided that this time they wouldn’t allow photographers to shoot her shows. Instead, they would provide 3-5 pre-approved images their own photographer shot for the media to use after each show. They wanted to control what images the media had access to. But we all know how media works – they will do anything possible to get images that other publications don’t have. If they can’t send a photographer to give them original photos, the next best thing they can do is buy photos from fans in the front rows in the arena (cameras were not allowed, but no one can take away phones). It’s the next best thing for them, and a huge nightmare for Beyoncé and her publicist.

Beyoncé The Mrs. Carter Show 2013 World Tour guidelines for Photographers (via Music Photographers):
There are no photo credentials for this show. Local news outlets, including print and online will be given a link to download photos from every show. They will need to register to access the photos.

http://beyonce-tour.photoshelter.com

I first heard about them from Chuck Leavell, the keyboard player for the Stones. Sitting around after a show on the Steel Wheels Tour, Chuck told me about this band from Atlanta who’s record he had just played on, and told me to see them when they came to Chicago. So, four months later, hearing that they were coming to town, I set up a photo shoot. A few days before the show, I got a phone call from my friend Keith Van Horne (Chicago Bears 1985 Super Bowl team). Keith: “Have you ever heard of a band called the Black Crowes?” So I invited him to join me for the show. We arrived at the club and I introduced myself and Keith to the band, and we went out to the back of the club and did a photo shoot.

They kept staring at Keith, and when we were done, Chris said, “Man, I have never seen such a large photo assistant!!” (Keith is 6’7’ tall and over 300 pounds. I explained who he was and we all became fast friends. After the show, we walked back to the dressing room, and Chris said, “You guys are from Chicago- take us to a real blues club.” So I piled them in my car and we went to see Sunnyland Slim. They still talk about that night- last week Chris described that night exactly!

I have watched them grow as a band, and as people, for the last 23 years, and this week was one of the best shows I have ever heard them do.

Over the last few years, they have added an outside guitar player to the mix. For the last couple of tours, Luther Dickenson of the North Mississippi All Stars was the second guitarist. This year they added Jackie Greene, a  young guitarist from Central California, who had come over to my house for a photo shoot when he was about 16 years old.

He has definitely grown up, and adds a great rock and roll sound to the Crowes.

Several years later he and Gene Siskel dropped by my friends Steve and Garry’s radio broadcast at a Subway sandwich Shop. He was up for anything on the air, and was very gracious.

The last time I saw him was in a screening room when we were seeing a new movie. After he got his popcorn, he sat down next to me and we began talking. I mentioned that I had a home theater, and his ears perked up, as this was one of his favorite topics of conversation. He asked me how many speakers I had, and when I replied “Five” he began ridiculing me (in a totally funny way), explaining that he had eight speakers in his system and the missing three (center rear and two side speakers) severely compromised my sound, and that I had better upgrade immediately!

The last time I talked to him (actually not him but his assistant- at that point he couldn’t talk any more) was when I got a request last year asking if he could use the ad that I shot 20 years earlier of him and Oprah in his book. I explained that he didn’t have to ask, as it was a published piece, but he insisted on sending me a check for $100 anyway! A really nice guy, and a great writer. He will be missed.

I’ve quit music photography. I came to terms with the fact that this is a horrible time to be a music photographer, and it’s only getting worse. I see people who are like what I was 5 years ago… determined, passionate, hard working, but they’re still not getting anywhere and probably never will. It was hard, but I realized that it’s not something I even enjoy doing anymore. It was just a source of anger and resentment in my life that I needed to get rid of. There’s no point in doing something you don’t love, that makes you angry, and actually costs you money instead of making any.

Can’t really blame her!

Some excerpts:

Congresswoman Chu: Let me ask about enforcement. Only a small number of internet infringements have been enforced – how do we address that?

Pallante: Exclusive rights are meaningless without enforcement. Perhaps there could be criminal penalties. Or for small artists, perhaps a small claims process. Enforcement must be on the table going forward.

Congressman Marino: You mentioned that there are a number of important issues –

can you name your top three?

Pallante: Public performance right for sound recordings, orphan works, and illegal streaming would be the top three.

Marino: I brought these issues up on my recent trips to China and Russia. What

are other countries doing to update their copyright laws?

Pallante: It depends on the country, and we interact with different countries in different ways. There are bilateral trade agreements. But some are behind us, and some are ahead of us. Some are doing web blocking as a last resort.

Congressman Conyers: Do you agree that more should be done in the area of privacy to protect the intellectual property that is the object of theft?

Pallante: I do, though I’m not an I’m not an expert in privacy law.

One of the most interesting parts of the conversation:

Congressman Deutch: We have crossed into a new era in the copyright conversation. And we must ensure that our laws work in the digital age. But for those growing upon the internet, copyright is the thing keeping you from doing all the things you’d like to do that you should be able to for free. How do we reach out and make those people care about copyright?

Pallante: No one is more pained than us to see the disrespect for copyright law. You have to figure out what the exclusive rights of authors will be –the public performance right is critical. At the same time there are incidental copies, and we should exempt some of them. Although we love the trade associations that visit us, getting around them to the individual creators would be instructional. For roundtables, get out of Washington.

The entire exchange is here

So, the question is, will the government ever give artists the protection that they deserve for their work? And is the world even interested in that happening. I was talking to someone this week who is 30 years old. This person has never been alive when people had to pay for music (or photos). How does one explain to that person that a photographer’s (or Musician’s ) work is their livelihood and they deserve to get paid for it.

This reminds me of something that my friend Dave Douglas (World renowned jazz trumpet player) once told me. After a college gig, he stood at the merch table to sign the CD’s that people had purchased. Three college students walked up. The first guy handed him one of his CD’s to sign, which he gladly did. The next two guys handed him CDs that they had burned from the first guy’s disc. When he refused to sign them, they started swearing at him, and told him they would never listen to his music again! I don’t think logic could ever prevail in that situation.

All of this started the day before when: (From the Los Angeles Times)

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, in a major ruling on copyright law, has given foreign buyers of textbooks, movies and other products a right to resell them in the United States without the permission of the copyright owner.

The 6-3 decision is a victory for a former USC student from Thailand, Supap Kirtsaeng, who figured he could earn money by buying textbooks at lower costs in his native country and selling them in the United States.

He was sued by publisher John Wiley & Sons  for violating its copyright protection. A jury in New York agreed with the publisher, and the former student was assessed damages of $600,000 for willfully violating the company’s copyrights.

But the Supreme Court reversed that judgment today in Kirtsaeng vs. John Wiley and ruled the student had the better interpretation of the law.

The decision helps book buyers and merchants who resell goods purchased abroad, but it could prove to be a setback for American companies that sell copyrighted goods overseas.

Until now, these U.S. copyright holders have maintained that they can sell copyrighted works abroad — and sometimes, at much lower prices — and prevent them from being re-imported for sale in this country without their permission.

But the justices decided Tuesday that the holders’ rights expire when their copyrighted product is lawfully sold overseas. Under the so-called “first sale” doctrine, a copyright holder has a right to profit from the first sale of a book, but not its resale.

Justice Stephen Breyer noted the textbooks at issue were lawfully made overseas with the permission of the copyright owner. They were not pirated copies. In that instance, the “first sale” doctrine applies, he said, so that buyer was free to resell the books he had lawfully purchased.

YIKES! Does this open up a can of worms????

I have had the opportunity to hang with Neil many times (mostly at Farm Aid each year) and see his true passion come out. His speeches at the Farm Aid press conference each year are the high point of the day, and show how much he cares about the farm community and it’s survival.

I had the opportunity several years ago to go to his house on the top of a mountain overlooking San Jose, Ca. I was touring with Brian Wilson and we were asked to play at Neil’s Bridge School Benefit. The night before, all the bands are invited to his house for a bar-b-que. At the appointed hour, two vans pulled up at the hotel and we jumped in. Fifteen minutes later, we were on a terrifying ride up a one lane road around the mountain to the top. My only thought was – If it was this scary with daylight, what would it be like when we came back down in the dark?

We came to the top and saw llamas and ducks walking around on the front lawn, and the host manning the bar-b-que grill. After a night of great food and music (Sheryl Crow and Eddie Vedder were singing campfire songs around a bonfire) we made the perilous journey down the mountain to our beds.

The next day, we came to sound check, and I heard some of the other bands check, and I knew we had to do something to make Brian stand out. So, I walked around backstage and asked every headliner I knew (and some I didn’t know) if they knew the wrds to the classic Beach Boy’s song “California Girls.” Everyone said they did, so I asked them to meet me on the side of the stage during the preceding song. During that song, I looked around and saw myself surrounded by:

Neil Young

Eddie Vedder

Sheryl Crow

Roger Daltry

When the song ended, I turned to them and said “Go out and grab a microphone- you are on.” That song got a huge standing ovation, and Brian was thrilled- so thrilled, in fact, that he asked the crowd if they wanted to hear “Good Vibrations” a song the band had not turned acoustic and had not rehearsed. Somehow they played it and the crowd went crazy. So, in the middle of the night, It dawned on me that Neil had a pump organ on stage, which sounded just like a theramin. So at 7AM, I called Neil’s road manager and told him to tell Neil that he was playing the pump organ on Good Vibrations that afternoon. When I saw Neil backstage, he gave me a dirty look and said, “What are you doing to me- I don’t know that song!” I hooked him up with one of our keyboard players for a quick lesson, and the song was done to perfection!

“Whenever someone in the band climbs up on something on stage, there are only two ways that that person can get down, and only one of those ways looks really cool.” That is how most of the great jumping through the air shots happen.

So…..this week I showed up at the House of Blues to photograph two bands that I had never heard of before that day. The headliner was a band called Imagine Dragons, guys from Las Vegas who are obviously doing pretty good for themselves (two sold out House of Blues shows) The opener was a three piece band from Australia called Atlas Genius. Both bands had an interesting photo policy- everyone can shoot the whole show unless it interferes with security. Most of the photographers had no idea what to do with all that time and left early, but I stayed till the end of each bands set. At the end of Atlas Genius’s set, the singer climbed up on the bass drum, turned around, pulled out his iPhone and took a picture of the crowd. He then put the phone back in his pocket, turned toward the crowd and jumped off the drum. It was almost too easy!! Too bad all the other photographers left!!!