All About Fan Viewpoint
[Introspective Journey]

I have to admit, this journey has taken a lot of time to finally get to this point! Yes, I had a strong nudge by one of my best lifetime friends ( you know who you are Peter) to let others share this photo journey together. If I had a chance to revisit so many of these concerts with the knowledge that I have now, it would be so different in terms of quality but gee, you can’t always get what you want! Thanks to Mick for that one!

Photography is an extension of capturing a memory. Typically we do that simply by experiencing an event, sharing a dinner, traveling to a place to discover and enjoy. Many times a camera wasn’t part of the typical items to bring along, let alone take out to stand out using one. I never have been one to say ‘cheese’ and cause friends to look up, pose and smile. Concerts were a passion for me to attend and experience amazing live music performed by ‘heroes’. I was lucky to have gone to so many shows though looking back — I wish I had gone to so many more!

I have to be thankful to have had the opportunity to attend so many shows and bring along a camera to capture moments that would bring me so much joy later. Much of these concerts have been dutifully recorded and made available on Wolfgang’s web site. At one time Wolfgang’s Vault was free but today it costs $39.95 a year to listen and to watch concerts recorded directly from the soundboard from all over the country. I was pleased to have discovered The Vault years ago and listened to many of the shows that I had the great fortune to relive so many amazing moments in San Francisco live music history!

I have never taken a photography class. Everything was achieved by trial and error. How usual is this with most people who pick up a camera and shoot, right? One thing back ‘then’ was the chance to not only take photos but also to develop and print the visualizations right before my eyes, though many times I was in darkness or ‘safelights’. I was always discovering how to push the limits of the film due to the limitations of existing sensitivity that film had during the years that I shot with film cameras. Research on methods and techniques was not as easy to find back in the ’60s and ’70s. What we have today using online searches was accomplished by inquiring at photo stores who sold equipment and supplies – places that I frequented quite often.

While attending St. Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, CA, I became part of the yearbook staff. Here, along with my good friend Russ, we were always inseparable when it came to cameras, darkrooms and capturing moments.  Most of the photography I did back then was black and white because the finished products would be edited, added to page layouts and eventually printed. How cool was it to know that my work would be published – well at least in a high school yearbook?

So, how does music fit in with the photo journey? It all started growing up in Los Angeles in the ’50s and ’60s. My sister Debbie and I had a babysitter who always was listening to her favorite tunes (Remember Love?). Debbie and I were exposed to music that was cool at the time, so it was not a coincidence that we both were so excited to know that soon on Sunday night The Beatles would be performing on the Ed Sullivan Show, a staple in the Sutter livingroom. We, along with millions, watched and loved every moment when The Beatles came to life on our black and white tv. We had a small portable Sears phonograph setup that was constantly fed with new music bought with the funds that we saved and then splurged to buy Meet The Beatles, Beatles Second Album and anything we could get our hands-on.

Fast forward to 1964 when my mother, sister and I relocated to the San Francisco bay area to live, go to school and be surrounded eventually by what has been deemed to be one of the world’s hotbeds for music.