While the Beatles inspired people around the world to pick up an instrument and start a band, photographer Janet Macoska used her love for the Fab Four to jumpstart what has become a four-decade career documenting music history.
“They totally transformed my life. If four young lads from Liverpool could have a worldwide impact with their music and personalities, I knew a kid from Cleveland could do anything. What I wanted to do was be close to the rock and roll music that I loved.”
As a 12-year-old, this Cleveland native created her job position, replying to deejay fan mail, at a local radio station. It was there that she had her first photo published – Sonny & Cher answering listener phone calls. “I got paid $2.”
She followed that up by starting a section devoted to rock music for her college newspaper. Cleveland may have been suffering from the 1970s recession but its music scene was one of the nation’s strongest. Radio station WMMS supported artists early in their career, i.e. Rush, and there were numerous concert venues including Municipal Stadium, the 21,000 capacity Richfield Coliseum and Agora Theatre (site of Bruce Springsteen’s classic Aug. 9, 1978 ‘MMS radio broadcast).
She chronicled punk rockers, new wavers and stadium acts. Photos of Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Genesis, Ramones, The Clash, Blondie, Queen, DEVO, Rod Stewart, The Police, B.B. King, Cheap Trick, Hall & Oates, Sensational Alex Harvey Band and many many more are among thousands of artists she encountered and a portion of more than a million images she shot.
Her work has appeared in “Rolling Stone,” “Creem,” “The New York Times,” “The Times (of London),” “American Photo,” “People,” “US,” “Vogue,” “16 Magazine” and VH1 and other TV and film productions, and hang in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the National Portrait Gallery in London and David Bowie’s home in Switzerland.
Macoska compiled select shots into All Access Cleveland: The Rock and Roll Photography of Janet Macoska.
Despite it being localized to a particular city, her photographs and anecdotes have a universal quality to them. They present a time when music still exhibited a free-spirited innocence before media was overwhelming and an artist’s public persona was completely refined, calculated and marketed.
Macoska is so pleased with the results that she’s just announced that she’s working on a sequel with Peter Chakerian, MORE ACCESS – Vol. 2 of The Rock and Roll Photography of Janet Macoska.
JPG: A lot of photographers are inspired by another photographer’s. You were inspired by the journalistic and life-capturing moments in LIFE magazine.
JM: Yes, telling a story with photos and the idea of a photographer – and you know it doesn’t happen anymore because we get three songs and then we’re out – being there with a subject. In the slower days of photojournalism you would take your time and you would reveal a person’s character and spirit just by taking the shot when you felt it was time.
I keep thinking of some photojournalist who went with James Dean back to his hometown in [Fairmount] Indiana. (Photographer Dennis Stock chronicled the experience in “James Dean Revisited.”) James Dean would have been a hard guy, I guess, to get to know but put back into his old hometown, going to the barbershop or wherever revealed much more of him. It finally broke a wall down where he wasn’t James Dean, actor in his characters; he was that person, which I found very compelling to be able to do something like that.
When I started I could because all the performers were about my age and things were more innocent. We were all going towards the same goal. They wanted to sell records and be in magazines. I wanted to take photos and put them in the magazines. So, we were always on the same page.
In terms of my photography I wanted to tell a story about that person. So, I didn’t want to just show them onstage although that is also their true self. I wanted to be able to do other kinds of photography. It was a more well-rounded portrait of a person and a photo story rather than a couple shots of them onstage.
JPG: I was going to comment on that later. There are a number of quality concert photos in it but the behind-the-scenes shots and portraits that you were able to get – The Clash, Debbie Harry, The Ramones, Joan Jett. And even as bad as the experience was following Lou Reed around, you still got a couple great shots.
JM: It was an opportunity to be a more well-rounded photographer than what’s offered up today for photographers to do.
JPG: Other than the Sonny & Cher photo you took as a pre-teen, there weren’t a lot of photos from the ‘60s. Was it a matter that you didn’t attend shows or like what you had?
JM: I was 10 years old in ’64 and when I started hanging out at WKYC radio downtown [Cleveland] I was probably 12 and 13. That’s ’66, ’67. I probably didn’t even go to my concert.
JPG: Do you remember what your first concert was?
JM: It was the Monkees. I couldn’t get tickets to the Beatles. So, the Monkees were like the pretend Beatles. I don’t know if it was ’67 or ’68 but anyhow that was my concert and I was in nosebleed heaven, could barely see the stage. I didn’t start going to concerts a lot or bringing the camera until ’73, ’74.
JPG: So, Genesis was one of the earliest shows you documented.
JM: Yes, it was one of the first. And that image where Bruce Springsteen opened up for Wishbone Ash…actually, Lauren Onkey [formerly of] the Rock Hall told me, “You have his first show in Cleveland!” I said, “I do?” “Yeah, he opened up for Wishbone Ash.” I said, “Oh, those pictures are awful.” “No no no. We need to see those.”
JPG: That’s always the difficult part, to decide what photo works and what doesn’t work.
JM: Historically speaking, too, the Springsteen shots she was talking about I had just started with the Tri-C (Cuyahoga Community College) newspaper. They gave me a 2 ¼ Mamiya, the big film camera, and I didn’t know what I was doing. You had to stand and look down into the camera to take a picture. It was a horrible thing to take photos with at a concert. It was a very bad experience. As soon as I got back to the newspaper the next week with my one roll of film I said, “I don’t want to use this thing anymore,” and I bought a $100 used Minolta 35mm camera because there’s just some ways you have to shoot a concert and it’s not with a big cumbersome thing like that.
JPG: As far as getting established, being young and being female did that work against you or for you because the music world was much more male-dominated at that time.
JM: What got me in originally was because I was with a college paper. I thought, “How funny is that?” I’m getting further being with a college paper because all those bands and the promoters – Belkin Productions used to give me a set of tickets for every single show they did, which was like nirvana – because they wanted coverage of their shows because college kids are the ones who buy the tickets to go to shows…and high school kids. They wanted to reach that audience and I was a way into that audience.
Being female, I think bands, promoters, venues, wherever I showed up for the first time, I know I was looked at with a question mark. “Is she seriously here to do a job or is she just gonna hang out with the band and be groupie?” Number one, I didn’t look like a groupie. I’d show up in blue jeans and denim jacket. I didn’t go for that. I didn’t act like that. And I kept coming back with photos and stories. So, it was like, “Oh, I guess she really does want to do this.” The whole thing was shoot the photos, do the story, bring them a copy of the newspaper the next week. You just do that consistently and pretty soon they’re getting an accurate perception of you, and that is that you’re here to do the job.
I didn’t feel like I had that magnifying glass on me all the time. As I started in the business, I just had to make sure that I kept producing the work and showing them the work. Then, it was like, “Okay. Leave her alone. She’s doing the job.”
JPG: Did it help at all locally that promoters knew Jane Scott (“Plain Dealer” music writer since the mid-‘60s) and were a little beyond the male-dominated thinking? They recognized you as someone else that could promote their bands.
JM: I still think it was the boys club. There always was. It still is. Even though people will say now that Jane’s gone, “Wasn’t she cool?” and “Wasn’t it neat to have her around? She was like somebody’s aunt or grandmother…”
David Bowie used to call her “Dear sweet woman.” I think there was something about that, which is why Springsteen and all these people had taken to her and loved her so much. They thought that was very cool someone their mother’s age or even their grandmother’s age was doing something like this.
There were people in Cleveland that just thought she was this ditzy old lady and why doesn’t she hang it up. Sometimes she got respect. Sometimes she wasn’t treated with respect. But, the best thing about her was she got the job done no matter what. Even when people were putting up barriers for her she got around them. She was a damn fine journalist.
When you’re bound and determined, there’s just a certain mindset about people who love what they do and want to do their job well. You don’t give a shit about all the other people who may be saying something. You know when people are putting up barriers and if somebody won’t let you in the front door you get in the side door. If you can’t get in the side door you go in the back door. Really, that’s what a journalist does.
JPG: Music then and now. How has it changed for you? The inspiration of taking concert shots or finding new artists changed in what way?
JM: When I started and through most of my career…and it helped to be in Cleveland with radio stations like WMMS that was playing cutting edge stuff like four or five cuts into an album instead of one song. It just was a different time. So, you could discover a band or feel like you discovered a band at the beginning and adopt them and help them move up the ladder.
Once, I did that in the ‘70s and ‘80s with music I went into shooting for the teen magazines, 16 and Teen, in the ‘90s. We were doing the same thing. Part of what we were there to do was find the Next Big Thing. So, for Boy Bands I was looking at videotape of the Backstreet Boys before they had a record deal. I was going down to Orlando to shoot them at their houses and the different locations because we were writing about and photographing the Next Big Thing.
After that if I settled back into my photography mode, which I did in the 2000s and up, I’m then working for the Rock Hall or Playhouse Square of the Cleveland International Film Festival and that’s not my job anymore. What do we do at the Rock Hall? We have all the oldies-but-goodies, the greats and not-so-greats wandering through and I photograph them. What do I do at the Hard Rock Rocksino? Pretty much the same thing. We don’t have a lot of up-and-coming edgy new bands. We have classic rockers, country people and we’ve had a couple like Alabama Shakes that are newer modern groups. But, we don’t do it that much.
So, in the last 20 years my function in music has changed. It’s not to find the Next Big Thing or bands on the way up. Now, it’s to shoot whatever’s put in front of me and have fun with it and make a living.
JPG: What brought you back to rock ‘n’ roll?
JM: 9/11 changed everything in the publishing business, strangely. 9/11 changed everything in the world. It was a terrifying time in America but…I don’t really know why psychologically why this happened but every business got conservative. The teen magazines, for example, got bought up by one big company. They were run by different companies and I pretty much worked for everybody, but 16 and Teen Beat were owned by one company and they had a stable of five, six, seven different teen magazines. So, the work got distributed among a bunch of them. A company seeing that, “Well, I own the competing company. I only have one or two magazines.” They bought up the company and then they squished those magazines out of existence with one big swipe.
So, I took three years off after the ‘90s after shooting all my teen magazine stuff. Film photography was turning into digital photography, and that was scary. I ended up being the marketing director of Tri-C JazzFest for three years, having never been a marketing director in my life. They wanted to find new audiences and I had done marketing in a smaller way…it was big fun. The way I sold myself to them and perceived my function to be there was I’d been on the other side. My feeling was the more information and photos and access you gave a reporter meant we got more coverage. Why wouldn’t people want to do that? And we got a lot of good coverage. Then, after I left JazzFest in 2004, I started easing myself into the world of photography with the digital camera.
JPG: By 2005 did you hook up with the Rock Hall?
JM: They already had Neal Hamilton as staff photographer. So, I shot some of the early stuff as a freelancer for the Rock Hall like the American Music Masters. I must have had some outlet for that. I tried to dig corporate clients but my corporate clients and interests were more non-profit art organizations. I loved working, and I still do, for Playhouse Square, the Cleveland International Film Festival, Ingenuity Festival, things like that.
I was getting back in my wheelhouse then. Once you let me run wild at something like Ingenuity Festival then I’m feeling creative again because I can look at all those different artists and what they’re doing and…so I was getting back in the groove. Working for arts organizations really helped me do that.
JPG: You mentioned in the book that Panic! at the Disco are one of the newer artists you enjoyed shooting. Are there other artists in the past decade that you’ve discovered and ignite that creative spark when you photograph them?
JM: I took a suggestion [laughs]. That was my niece who said, “Panic! at the Disco!” She saw them a couple times when she was a junior or senior in high school. I looked at a Youtube video on them and thought, “Oh! They’re pretty cool. I like them!” So, I got a photo pass to shoot them at Nautica. That was fun.
At the Rocksino, Alabama Shakes, love them. They were fun to shoot. I’m sure there are many more I just have to discover them. I shot the Alternative Press Music Awards in 2014 for Gibson guitars. I saw bands that were interesting but…somebody has to be really really special in a band for me to get interested in them. Brendon [Urie] from Panic! at the Disco is just a real interesting character.
It’s knowing the music and the musicians and what their tendencies are. If you go to them fresh and new if you haven’t seen any video but now you can because you can just go to Youtube then you have to do that in the first minute or so and see what people’s mannerisms are. You know what you need to get out of that. It’s anticipation so you know when to shoot.
JPG: What are the things that you are trying to get when you’re taking photos?
JM: Oh, wow…it’s obviously different for everybody. With three songs [limit], for example, you’ve got to focus on who are the stars in the band. Is it the lead singer? Is it the lead singer and the lead guitarist? Do they have a drummer that you can get a clear shot, if there’s a lot of action, and he’s well-known?
It is different for every band. You’re just looking for that dynamic moment, and, unfortunately, you have entertainers who don’t give you those, sometimes. Then, you’re just looking for a nice attractive shot.
One of the things about digital and lighting and all that stuff — and I’ve done this with performers – if it’s a really boring performer and they’re not giving me anything because there are not much facial expressions. They don’t move away from the mic. They have a guitar. Then, you just wait for swatches of color to come through on some computerized lighting so I can get some red or blue going through the back of that person. You’re just trying to make an attractive photo. I want everybody to look good.
If they’re an exciting performer I’m going to get that. If they’re not I’m still going to make them look as good as I can make them look.
JPG: With the current restrictions on photographers – only two or three songs in the photo pit or placed back at the soundboard being a couple examples — “All Access” also becomes a sentimental trip when rock ‘n’ roll was a bit wilder rather than as tightly structured now.
JM: That’s the response I’ve been getting from the people who’ve grown up with rock n’ roll, whether or not they’re working it like you, but you’re also a music fan. That’s what we all started off being; a fan of the music. People who went to the World Series of Rock [at Cleveland Stadium] or used to go to the Agora every Monday night, they come back and go, “Wow! I had such a great time with that book. Thank you for putting all of this down.” Those are their memories. It brings ‘em back to however old they were when they were hanging out at the Agora, going to the World Series of Rock, whatever their favorite concert memories were. I might not have been at their particular favorite show but I think I hit enough shows or memories in that book that people just like going back in time.
JPG: What makes the book more universal rather than just being something for Northeast Ohio music fans is that it represents a period in rock ‘n’ roll – the innocence and naiveté of the ‘70s when it was easier to get started and go backstage and meet people.
JM: I can’t be really positive when…I did a talk at Cleveland Institute of Art and I had a couple of photographers that came up to me and said, “I want to do what you do.” I said, “Well, it’s a little more difficult these days.” What I tell them is, “Shoot where you can shoot. Shoot in clubs. Shoot local bands.” One showed me on her cellphone — I think she shoots with a real camera — but she was totally doing it already. What she would do is go down and shoot those free performances at the Rock Hall on Wednesdays during the summer, and she’s getting great shots. They don’t ask about photo passes. It’s like, “Come on and shoot.” I said, “You’re doing it.” Sometimes they were outside. Sometimes they were inside with stage lighting. And I said, “You are building a portfolio and you’re getting experience doing exactly what you want to do. I don’t have anything to tell you. You’re already doing it.”
JPG: You could have also said as I discovered with some photographers I meet. “You might want to have a lucrative career on the side.”
JM: I also said to those photographers, “Do pursue this because you love this but do every kind of photography you can to pay the bills because you’re going to have to.”
JPG: Going back to the book, are you an organized person who was able to pull the photos right away? On the other hand I read that you were going through your work and discovering shots that were not previously used?
JM: All the slides and all the negatives are organized alphabetically. In each, every band has their own little envelope, where if I shot Springsteen 12 times all those concerts are listed on that. The proof sheets tell what the show is, what the date was. So, I could go back and find things.
Where I was finding things I hadn’t seen before were instances like U2 in 1983. When U2 in 1983 came through, just for immediate use, I probably printed off a couple shots of Bono. I’m pretty sure that’s how I worked that show, and sent ‘em off because they were relatively new. When I went to revisit it, I’m looking at three rolls of film and I go, “Look. I shot everybody else, too.” (slight laugh) I find all these photos including Bono trying to get into the crowd.
It’s fun. It’s just the way you perceived that shoot at a certain time or what was valuable for you in the moment was just to get a couple shots out of Bono. And now, it becomes a whole different story as you look back at it and I scanned more negatives. I think I did that with Led Zeppelin in ’77 and a bunch of other shows that I took a different view of and found some nice looking nuggets.
JPG: I noticed that a lot of your work is in black and white, which gives it a particular look and feel. Was that an artistic choice?
JM: It’s the era in which I photographed, and the magazines or newspapers that I worked for primarily used black and white. That’s why we all shot black and white. It was a rare instance when we would use colored slide film. Some of the magazines like Circus had a glossy paper and started using more and more color. And a lot of photographers then switched over to slides. I would carry some slide film but I would only use it if I felt that I could sell it in that manner. I always shot black and white but then I would throw in some color too if I felt I had a market for that band in color.
JPG: Obviously, the cost for black and white film was cheaper…
JM: …and you can process it yourself.
JPG: But also, was there an artistic reason behind it too? If you’re shooting a show now would you lean towards black and white or color?
JM: For example, I think all jazz and blues should be in black and white just because. I shot Asleep at the Wheel at some funky little club for the Rock Hall. It was during the American Music Masters week. And they’re a country swing band. So, I shot them and I made some of the images black and white just because I thought this is timeless stuff. Some of these photos and the kinds of music are just timeless, and if the artist looked that way, often, I’ll convert them into black and white.
Artistic decisions. I love my black and white photos much more than I love my color photos but I think that all of us who were shooting back then…Robert Alford talked at the Rock Hall. He used to work at Creem magazine and he was doing the same thing that I was doing only he was from Detroit. I went back to see him before he went on to do his talk. We’re sitting at this conference table and I said, “How did you budget your film back then?” And he goes, “Oh, you did that, too!” Even though a roll of film might not have cost that much, we didn’t have any money. Photographers didn’t have any money. If you went to the show with six rolls of film, you had to know how you were going to use your film. For example, you’d give an opening act half a roll of film, half a 36 [frames] roll. We’re talking about this and he’s doing the same thing that I’m doing. I said, “An opening act?” He goes, “Half a roll of film.”
Depending on the band you were shooting, if you knew about them enough, you’d have to gauge how much film you were going to give these people. Like a Led Zeppelin three-hour show, they let me shoot a three-hour show. So, I’m sitting there going, “I don’t know what’s going to happen here. Okay, I’m just going to sit here and wait for cool shit to happen.” And that’s what you did because if you got all gung ho and started using up your film at the beginning, what happens if something outrageous happens later on and you don’t have any film? I still have nightmares about that, like I’d be at Public Hall in ’64, of course I’m not because I’m 10 years old, The Beatles are there and they say, “Hey, c’mon back and shoot some pictures backstage,” and I don’t have any film. (laughs) So, it was maybe an artistic decision but it was mostly a decision out of necessity.
JPG: Obviously, that worked well for you. I’m thinking of the David Bowie shot, the Paul McCartney shot that’s in the National Portrait Gallery in London…
JM: They wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t black and white. And if it wasn’t organic black and white shot with film, it wouldn’t look the same.
JPG: And then there’s the Jimmy Page photo from the Richfield Coliseum in 1977 that he used in his book. How did he know about that one?
JM: How did Jimmy know about that one? That’s a good question. Genesis Books in England, they do limited edition books. They did the first version of that book. I think there was 2,000 copies or something and they sold out immediately. I got an email from Genesis Books. I’ve known those people for awhile. Off and on, I work with them. And they said, “Jimmy’s doing this book. He’s not doing a normal biography book. He’s doing his autobiography in photographs and they want to use your photo.” For that one they used it on the inside but they liked it so much that they also wanted to do a deal to use it for promotion of the book. I figured Genesis picked the photos for them. I said, “Did you guys pick the photos for him?” They said, “No, either he or his people researched everything ever shot on Jimmy Page, whatever they could find, and he really loved that photo.”
They used it that time and I got paid some money and I got a book. Then, because it sold out so quickly, they decided to do the publication you can buy in a bookstore. Genesis came to me again and said, “Jimmy’s going to do a mass trade publication of the book but this time he wants to put your picture on the back cover.” I go, “Really?!??” You think of all the photographers that have shot Jimmy Page including those that went on tour with him and he’s decided that my picture’s going to be on the back cover. So, we do that deal. Now I’m starting to correspond with people that work with him. Last year, I went to London for a week for a friend’s wedding and I met with a couple of Jimmy Page’s people. They said, “Yeah it’s one of his top 10 favorite photos. He always refers to it as the doubleneck guitar shot.”
How can these things happen? I don’t know how they happen. That’s the magic of having photographed rock and roll for 40 years in Cleveland, Ohio primarily but in other places. And when it comes back to you that the artists know your photos. Bowie knew my photos and used them on projects. Jimmy Page is using my photos. You’ve got to pinch yourself. It’s just beyond comprehension.
Anyhow, I’m gonna do a couple more projects with Jimmy using that photo probably this year. They said, “With Jimmy you put stuff in the pipeline. He has these ideas and projects and you put ‘em in a pipeline. You never know when they’re going to pop out. It could take two years. It could take two months.” He just kinda says, “Okay, now it’s time. We’re going to do the limited edition print. Now, we’re going to do the designer t-shirt.”Then you run with it. They just work on these things he wants to do and then as soon as he decides he wants to do ‘em, poof, they come out. Now that I know that that’s how he works, I don’t stress about it because before having that conversation with them I just thought, “Well, they told me he wants to do a limited edition print. When’s that going to be?” And six months would go by. A year has gone by. It’s still not happening but now I know it’s going to happen I just don’t know when.
JPG: Just a matter of making sure you have it where you need it to be when you need it.
JM: I did something called a drum scan. It’s the highest quality scan you can get from any kind of negative. So I had a drum scan done and I had my lab, I sat there, while we tweaked the image. They have it in the best version available. That’s all I need to know is I’ve done my part.
JPG: Now your work has become a combination of old school film and digital technology.
JM: Digital for me has expanded the way…it actually sees light differently that helps me with the photographs I’m shooting of live performers because it adds another dimension. You can wait for swatches of color to come in from behind and stuff like that but it also can confound the camera, “What the hell am I supposed to be looking at here?!?” It’s the double-edged sword.
JPG: I used to shoot with film as well. And I tell people that the greatest thing about digital is that I know right away if a photo looks okay to me rather than thinking that everything is fine, waiting a day or longer for the film to be processed and finally overjoyed with the results or saddened that it didn’t turn out in the way I thought it would.
JM: Yes, you can correct it in the moment.
JPG: But, like ultra-high definition televisions the one thing about digital that I’m still contemplating whether or not I should do as well, is the very sharp, hyper-realistic portrayal of subjects and seeing every wrinkle, pockmark, pimple, etc.
JM: It’s interesting that you called it “hyper-realism” because it is but I know the guy who shoots for Cleveland Institute of Art and he was showing one of the guys at the Rock Hall how to do that. And I’m thinking, when I look at all these photos it doesn’t look real. It’s hyper-realism. It’s a freaky weird effect. I’m not sure if that’s where we’re going or that happens to be a style.
I find myself, too, when I’m scanning photos that I crank up the sharpness a little bit. Somebody told me, “You’re Jimmy Page looks a little soft.” And I said, “Yeah, but it was film. It was 1977. He was moving. So, if you perceive it to be soft – I think it’s a fine photo – it’s probably because you’re so used to all the crispy clear shots that people are using and how much they mess with the digital image before they put it out there.”
JPG: It’s a consideration now if I want to use some of my older shots in an exhibit.
JM: Nah…I think it’s a matter of taste and style but I hope it doesn’t become the norm.
JPG: Then there’s your infamous DEVO shot in front of Chili Mac, which thanks to technology is in multiple versions – black and white, only the band and sign in color…
JM: That was a collaboration. That was the city of Akron wanting to make this giant building-size Chili Dog Mac shot. I said, “That’s very cool. Let me call the band.” I called the man who pretty much does practically everything for DEVO, Michael Pilmer, who also happens to be a graphic design artist. I said, “Michael, can you imagine this being on the side of a building? He goes, “It’s gonna be so cool. How do you feel about putting the color back in the outfits?” I said, “That’d be great.” “We actually have something we call DEVO yellow. It’s like the yellow that we used back then.” I said, “Fine. I’m going to put this in your hands.” He talked to Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale of the band and pretty much we put the yellow back in. I think the letters on Chili Dog Mac we did red and it just popped.
I love that. Now when people ask, “Can I get a copy of “Chili Dog Mac?” I say, “Well, which version do you want? Do you want the original 1978 version or the new version?”
JPG: For that particular photo shoot with DEVO you shot in color and black and white?
JM: Mostly black and white, probably three, four rolls of black and white and a smattering of color.
JPG: And once again, you had an assignment but there was a degree of good timing and trust between you and the musicians.
JM: We were all on the same wavelength. They didn’t have a record contract yet in America but they were big…Stiff Records put out an EP for them (1977’s “B Stiff”). I don’t know what else. I think they were just working off an EP but they went to England and to Europe and were working that record because that’s where they were getting publicity. They became the darlings of the British music papers. They were on the covers of the music papers. They had never seen anything like this before. The British music papers started saying that Akron was going to be the next Liverpool and that all these great bands were coming out of Akron. One of the publications, “Sounds” magazine had a picture of DEVO on the cover and it says “Win a Trip to Akron!” [laughs] I know.
Knowing this, because I’d been over to England in ‘77 and got an agent, I kind of lived by what the British music papers were writing about. They were ahead of the game. I watched what they were writing about and then I covered those bands. So, when DEVO found out they were going to do a promo film for “Satisfaction” and I think they were on the verge of getting a deal in America, but the truth was I shot that because the British music papers wanted shots of DEVO in Akron. They wanted to see what Akron looked like; this mythical place. I shot them doing the video for “Satisfaction” at the Akron Civic Theatre and then we just walked up and down the street and took some shots.
It’s probably 15 minutes of walking up and down the street with DEVO but I got some really magical stuff. I didn’t have to coach anybody. They were ready for it.
JPG: Getting those type of off-the-cuff portraits with people, like the Joan Jett sitting atop the trashcan. Her sitting like that was impressive…
JM: Well, she was 16 or 17. I guess, she could do that then. (slight laugh)
JPG: …or the Debbie Harry shot of her using the gate as a prop; the subject and the photographer being inventive.
JM: Again, it’s kind of indicative of the times and the relationship that you could have with an artist because it was…collaboration was the word of the day. We were all going to the same place. We were all on that ladder trying to climb it. They didn’t see me or photographers as a threat. Maybe they saw other photographers as a threat but I wasn’t. And they were easy to work with for the most part.
JPG: You have had your work published in the past such as the one focused on Alex Harvey but you truly consider “All Access” your first book. I bring it up because it took awhile for you to do a career retrospective.
JM: The Alex Harvey book is just on Blurb. I did that with a journalist over in Scotland. And I did it for the Alex Harvey fans over there mostly, although, many people have bought it over here. There was a booklet that I put out for my exhibition at the Rock Hall in 2004.
I’m working with a Jewish Museum in Austria. And they’re using my “Jews Rock” photos for the exhibition and for their catalog. I’m working with a Jewish Art Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma on a “Jews Rock” presentation in the next couple months.
The reality of the photography book has changed over the years, just like publishing. No more Borders bookstores. Things have changed. Alex is self published. The Rock Hall book is self published. So, All Access is really the first book, if you say that a publishing company published your book and you didn’t pay for it. It depends on how you define that but this is really my first published book as far as I can see.
But it didn’t take the form of most coffee table photography books you would have seen in the past because the market doesn’t embrace that anymore. What I figured to do, and this was based on just being on Facebook, I’d post a photo and tell a little story about it, and then it would blow up. People would want to talk about it. Had a lot of fun seeing these photos. I thought, “Well, that’s all people really want, isn’t it? See some cool photos and hear some stories about how that came about. It doesn’t have to be a big coffee table hardbound book, which no publishing company wants to make anymore because they lose money. Really, it just needs to be peeling back the curtain a little bit and telling a few stories about how photos happened or what was happening in that day and age or why the World Series of Rock was fun or Swingos was fun. Stories and memories.”
