These stories are accurate to the best of my abilities....
When I first started collecting autographs it wasn't as things are today. While CD's were available, you went to Tower or some other store, laid down your $18+ bucks and bought it, artists weren't selling them from the stage. The key to being able to get images signed was access. And not always were musicians eager to signed things. I was at Legends in Chicago, taking pictures using a flash and Robert Lockwood Jr stopped the show and said he was tired of photographers making money from his image, and he wasn't getting a cent. [This has stuck with me and probably greatly influenced me not to sell my images] Things are different now, artists are prompted to sit and sign after the show. People still buy CDs, and get the signed.
The first person I ever asked for an autograph was Charlie Musselwhite. He said that he liked the picture, and as I had a packet of the 4" X 6" images with me, I asked if he wanted to see them. He agreed, and told me that he liked them. He then told me "come on, I want to introduce you to my friends...". We walked around Harper's Ferry, and he was so nice! I couldn't believe how easy-going he is, I was hooked right then and there.
I was getting pretty brave about approaching the artists for their autograph on my enlargements. Carol from Newtonville camera had turned me onto paint pens and the images, complete with autograph were a thrill to me. At Harper's Ferry one night I asked Bo Diddley to autograph an image I made of him. He looked it over very carefully and then asked if I brought a copy for him. I hadn't. He told me straight, "I don't sign anything unless I get a copy, too". Dejected, I returned t me place at the bar. This was the first time I'd ever been told no. I thought about it for a while and decided to give him my copy, that I'd get another later to be autographed. I'll never forget the look in his eye as I made my way back to him. I'm certain he thought I was going to ask him again. Instead, I told him that he could have my copy. I surprised him. He thanked me, and told his road manager to give me his mailing address, that if I sent him one, and included the pen, that he'd sign it and send it back. I did and he did. That was my first Bo Diddley autograph. When I moved up in enlargement format from 8" X 10" to 11" X 14" I approached him at another show. He looked at the image and said "I have a copy of this at my house". He then gave me a hug and autographed the new one.
My brief interaction with John Brim involved going to a show of his at Harper's Ferry in Allston. He was in town with the band I knew formerly as Big Jack Johnson's band. He had just released a recording on the Tone-Coll label, owned by my friend Rosy Rosenblatt. (Ice Cream Man, Tone Cool 1994). On the same night that he played at Harpers Ferry, over at the House of Blues Billy Boy Arnold was onstage with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith; Calvin "Fuzz" Jones; Hubert Sumlin and David Maxwell. Rosy, knowing that I knew the staff at HOB asked if I wouldn't mind taking the band, along with John Brim over so that he could see his old friends. Um, yeah I can do that.....
For most of the trip John didn't speak a word. While I was concentrating on driving (while secretly freaking that John was in the van) my friend Greg Sarni was making small talk. Greg asked the band if they had dined on any seafood while they were here. At some point during the conversation Greg spoke of how he learned the hard way that he was allergic to shellfish, describing the nervousness he felt when his throat became restricted. From the backseat I heard a loud laugh out of Mr Brim,
The real joy for me, that night came as we topped the staircase leading up to the bandstand at the Cambridge House of Blues. The moment Billy Boy's eyes made contact with John Brim he flashed a huge grin, and turned to the other members of the band to alert them of John's presence. It quickly became obvious to me that John was the big man here; the upper classman.
For most of the trip John didn't speak a word. While I was concentrating on driving (while secretly freaking that John was in the van) my friend Greg Sarni was making small talk. Greg asked the band if they had dined on any seafood while they were here. At some point during the conversation Greg spoke of how he learned the hard way that he was allergic to shellfish, describing the nervousness he felt when his throat became restricted. From the backseat I heard a loud laugh out of Mr Brim,
The real joy for me, that night came as we topped the staircase leading up to the bandstand at the Cambridge House of Blues. The moment Billy Boy's eyes made contact with John Brim he flashed a huge grin, and turned to the other members of the band to alert them of John's presence. It quickly became obvious to me that John was the big man here; the upper classman.
In 1992 and in 1995 I went to the San Francisco Blues Festival, an awesome event held each year in Great Meadow at Fort Mason Park, right in San Fran. The big event in 1995 was that John Lee Hooker was going to be the headliner. I had press credentials through the Boston Blues Society, and the photo pit that day was beaming with camera people with cameras. I remember that the Rolling Stone photographer brought a step ladder (that he didn't share. I also remember that the gentleman's rules typically followed in a situation such as this went out the window when he walked onstage and sat down. I became a free for all. Regardless, I was able to capture a few images, but my best was a little soft in the focus. I got a call one day from Teo Leyameyer asking if I had any good John Lee pictures? I mentioned that my favorite isn't crystal clear... but that didn't matter to him. He asked if he could have a copy because he was flying to San Francisco and staying at John Lee's house, and he was hoping to get an autograph. I asked if he thought John Lee would sign two... hoping to get one as well.
Teo came back without the images, saying that he left them with Archie, John Lee's nephew and that once they were signed he'd mail them back. After a while I stopped asking about them, the gesture was kind and after all, it was John Lee Hooker we're talking about. It was a long time before he got them back, long enough that I thought we'd never get them. On more than one occasion I was in Teo's office when he called Archie, yelling at him and telling him that the "pain in the ass photographer is bustin' my balls and wants his picture!". About 15 months after Teo went to San Francisco he called me at work and told me to come by the office. With a big smile on his face he handed me an envelope. Inside, my own personalized autographed image of John Lee Hooker!
Teo came back without the images, saying that he left them with Archie, John Lee's nephew and that once they were signed he'd mail them back. After a while I stopped asking about them, the gesture was kind and after all, it was John Lee Hooker we're talking about. It was a long time before he got them back, long enough that I thought we'd never get them. On more than one occasion I was in Teo's office when he called Archie, yelling at him and telling him that the "pain in the ass photographer is bustin' my balls and wants his picture!". About 15 months after Teo went to San Francisco he called me at work and told me to come by the office. With a big smile on his face he handed me an envelope. Inside, my own personalized autographed image of John Lee Hooker!
In 1989 I attended a show at the Channel, Bo Diddley and Johnny Winter. I snuck my camera in as I used to do in those days, and shot toward the end of each set. I ended up with an okay image of Bo Diddley, but a much better one of Johnny Winter. Accessibility to artists was way easier in the smaller venues, but some artists were off limits to me. I found out that Johnny Winter was going to do a rare, intimate show at the Cambridge House of Blues, so I had my images enlarged and brought to with me to the show. It was a cold, rainy night in November, I remember specifically because I opted to wait outside the band's bus to ask for an autograph. The band exited to club and got on the bus. A few other autograph seekers showed up, and being that I'm reserved to the point of being shy, I waited for my chance. Eventually the band's road manager asked if I was looking for something to be signed. I explained my request, which didn't go over well when I asked for my (slim) paint pen to be used. The road manager (a Boston guy if I'm not mistaken) told me that because of the issues Johnny had with his hands, holding the pen wouldn't work, telling me Johnny can only use a fat Sharpie. He saw my disappointment and when I told him the image was 99% black, he asked to see it. Then he said that he loved the image, one of the best he'd seen of Johnny, and that to wait, he'd see what he could do for me. I don't think I'd be exaggerating if I said I waited about 45 minutes in the cold, rainy November in New England night. Eventually he came out, and he had a huge smile on his face. "Wait until you see it" he told me. I put it back in the plastic bag I brought it in and retreated to my car. I opened it up, and immediately I remembered seeing the exact same signature on an album in my collection, with a very distinct J and W. It was a hard acquisition but it was worth it!