{"id":18300,"date":"2017-04-30T21:57:35","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T01:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=18300"},"modified":"2023-05-23T09:20:57","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T13:20:57","slug":"2023-40th-anniversary-of-the-biggest-music-event-i-ever-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=18300","title":{"rendered":"2023 – 40th Anniversary of The Biggest Music Event I Ever Shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

………………………………………………..<\/span>(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on May 23, 2023)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Click to enlarge most pix.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

(pronounced \u201cUs\u201d – not \u201cU.S.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anybody remember the \u201983 US Festival? (Anybody even heard<\/em> of it?)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THIS IS THE WHOLE STORY\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.EVERYTHING<\/u>!!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was Woodstockian in size and length – 3 days (plus a 4th day of country music that was held 5 days later that very few – if any – of us photographers attended).<\/span><\/p>\n

I found this online, though I think it shows a cumulative figure and not the attendance for any one day:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

BTW – I attended that legendary 1969 Woodstock (not shooting yet, unfortunately) and when you compare pictures of what appear to be endless crowds, they look pretty similar.<\/span><\/p>\n

This Memorial Day weekend event was the brainchild of Apple genius Steve Wozniak, who had actually staged another US Festival (US \u201982) the previous Labor Day weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t go to that one, but there was no way I was going to miss this one, so I immediately applied for press credentials (photo pass) and received this envelope about a week before the event:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

(Written on May 13 and mailed on May 20? Cutting it kinda close there, Steve, what with having to arrange flights, connect with colleagues around the country – most of whom I had never met before – to arrange sharing hotel rooms and transportation to the site and then getting out there a day or two before the event started on the 28th). Whew!<\/span><\/p>\n

Included in the envelope were the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

– The Credential Approval Letter:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

– Two maps (which I combined) showing the general area and the site area:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

– The unused parking pass (I got there in someone else\u2019s motor home) and the worth-its-weight-in-gold photo pass:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OK – all set!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There have been lots of writeups and thousands of show photos published over the years, but I\u2019m going to show you EVERYTHING I shot (well, almost<\/em> everything) – the good, the bad, the ugly and the kinda cool, including lots of things that I\u2019ve never seen published anywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now we photographers all have stuff like that, but magazine photo editors were only interested in the best performance<\/em> shots\u2026\u2026\u2026.and rightfully so – that\u2019s their job and that sells magazines.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, I\u2019m my own photo editor on my blog, so there are no restrictions. I\u2019m not particularly worried that someone may retaliate by withholding my photo pass for US \u201923 – if there was<\/em> such a thing – and I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll be around for the 50th anniversary, so now\u2019s the time to get it all out there.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As I mentioned before, I traveled from LA to the site in a small mobile home with some photographers I had never met before: Paul Natkin, Jeff Sourner, Ann Summa, and a woman who name I don\u2019t recall (and I didn\u2019t see her shooting at the show).<\/span><\/p>\n

I made a monstrous photomontage that mostly contains photos of that journey (CLICK IT!):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Starting with the upper left: We stopped at a supermarket where Paul and Jeff bought food (I think). As they wheeled the cart back to our vehicle, I took a picture of them through its rear window. Paul smiled as Jeff said\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026um\u2026\u2026.\u201dhello\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top middle: I was playing around with a fisheye lens and its built-in color filters when I took a shot through that same window of the highway we were on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top right: Ann and her friend sit across a table from me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bottom left: Anne takes a shot of her friend and me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bottom middle: Finally at the site, I take a shot of Jeff and Ann.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bottom right: Jumping ahead a bit\u2026\u2026\u2026a familiar face at last! Gary Gershoff – a NYC photographer from Queens – is in the center as Ann and Paul stand on the right. We photographers are in our backstage \u201ccage\u201d. The powers that be decided that after shooting our song allotments, we were to all be corralled within the scaffolding of a bleacher that seated the credentialed \u201cguests\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though it was backstage, the bleacher gave a view of the stage, which the guests enjoyed because the only other option for them was to have to penetrate (and deal with) the thousands of crazed, sun-baked people in the crowd.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, the higher bleacher rows provided the best view and the people who had those seats were reluctant to leave them for any reason, lest other guests quickly take their places.<\/span><\/p>\n

The higher bleacher rows were also where the photographers underneath had the most headroom, so that\u2019s where we were concentrated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guess which group suffered the most when the upstairs guests – who were reluctant to vacate their seats even for a few minutes – had to dispose of their food and drink trash\u2026\u2026\u2026..or even worse\u2026\u2026\u2026.HAD TO PEE!<\/span><\/p>\n

What to do? They realized that they had empty drink cups to pee into! And – apparently either unaware of the photographic population below them or just plain uncaring, simply dropped all waste – liquid or solid – into the \u201cempty\u201d space below them!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BOMBS AWAY!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Having trouble envisioning the setup? This should help:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure when I took this, but the \u201ccage\u201d seems to be empty, so I might have taken this in anger after the fact.<\/span><\/p>\n

Think I made this all up? You can read all about it in a story in a Rolling Stone publication towards the end of this post.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before I get to the actual performances, there\u2019s just one more \u201cbefore\u201d item to show:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE ACCOMMODATIONS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Performers and press stayed in a hotel that was a couple of miles from the site (backstage buses took everyone back and forth). Rooms were limited by the time I got around to trying to get one, so I wound up sharing a room with Paul Natkin (from Chicago) and Ross Marino (Detroit).<\/span><\/p>\n

I had just met Paul, but hadn\u2019t met Ross yet. There were two double beds in this room, meaning we would each get at least ONE night with a bed to ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunate change of plans: Ross unexpectedly showed up with his girlfriend (it would have been nice if he had mentioned that little detail beforehand – maybe we could have made other arrangements).<\/span><\/p>\n

Now we have 4 strangers and none of the 3 photographers gets a bed to himself on ANY night. At least we each got a night with the girlfriend (yeah, right).<\/span><\/p>\n

I had a feeling that – 40 years later – you\u2019d all want to see the room, so here it is:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Ross is sort of hiding in the back left corner and the girlfriend is still in bed. I\u2019m not sure where Paul is\u2026\u2026\u2026the bathroom?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Time to go to work…………and here’s the 3-day schedule with some on-site changes I had to make:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DAY ONE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Gathering all the photos, writing stories for each and putting them in proper order took me weeks, but a big help was my website (bobleafe.com), where I have about 30 pix under the Us Festival listing. And they all have stories with each pic, so it was a lot easier to just steal from my site instead of scanning each pic again and rewriting almost 30 stories.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As I did on my site, I\u2019m posting every act in the order in which they performed, so you can see what I saw in the same sequence. Let\u2019s begin:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Slight correction: Day 1 ended with the Clash performance<\/em>, which isn\u2019t on my site (but is here).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First act: The Divinyls<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Note: the first caption only makes sense if you\u2019re familiar with this very honest song: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wv-34w8kGPM<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After the Divinyls, I went backstage and found Ann Summa chatting up head honcho Steve Wozniak:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next up:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After INXS, Candice, Jesse, and Steve Wozniak make an appearance onstage:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The picture tells me that Jesse was grabbing the mic to complain to the crowd that he was being touched inappropriately.\u00a0\u00a0 \ud83d\ude09
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On to Wall of Voodoo\u2019s Stan Ridgway:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t recall what was going on in the pit at the moment, but Paul Natkin points something out to NYC photographer Ebet Roberts:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Backstage question: whose license plate was \u201cHQ ONE\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Onstage: Oingo Boingo<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

And if your response to the second caption line is, \u201cOh yeah? Name one!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, maybe you\u2019re familiar with the opening theme music you\u2019ve heard on most Sunday evenings for the last 33+ years on \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This image should dispel the notion that shooting from the pit at this show was \u201cso close, you could touch the performers\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Plus, you\u2019re jammed in there with a lot of other photographers and you can only shoot the first 3 songs before being returned to \u201dthe cage\u201d backstage. Keep this shot in mind until after Motley Crue on Day 2, when I worked out something highly advantageous to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sometimes, I managed to avoid \u201cthe cage\u201d for some \u201cPress Island\u201d events:<\/span><\/p>\n

Looks nice and calm, doesn\u2019t it?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This particular event there was Clash-related:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back to the pit for the English Beat and their sax guy, \u201cSaxa\u201d(!)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Besides the performers right in front of us, there were plenty of things to shoot right behind us, like this poor guy:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next up was A Flock of Seagulls:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

You remember Mike Score – the guy who inspired most of us to refer to the band as \u201cA Flock of Hairdos\u201d, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw him strolling through the hotel lobby the next day, but coiffed a bit more normally\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026wish I had gotten a shot of that<\/em>!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back on Press Island, Ranking Roger from the English Beat gets interviewed:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While I was backstage, I saw this amazing string of balloons:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One guy was the connection between two strings of balloons:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, there were no other photographers around! How did that happen? Who cares? Click!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My favorite personal story of Day 1:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s CREEM magazine having fun with that shot:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back to work to shoot Men At Work (how redundant can you get?):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Press conference by the final band of Day 1:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Leafe the Lucky strikes again!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pissed or not, the Clash gave a rousing performance:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

But what\u2019s that in Joe\u2019s mouth?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Closeup:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t help much, does it?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long day. It\u2019s time to find the backstage bus and get back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep. Day 2 is gonna be a monster!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DAY 2 – METAL DAY!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You just knew in advance that this would be THE day that everyone would talk about forever. There was not a single crappy band in the hard-hitting bunch. That\u2019s probably why this day had the highest attendance (almost double Day 1!).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quiet Riot kicked things off and they did not disappoint:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How good was the Crue? The next FOUR shots are all stolen from my site:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"0 \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After that, I was so inspired to get more and better shots that this<\/em> happened:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

That had to be one of the best, quick-thinking (he says modestly) solutions I ever came up with for ANY show I\u2019ve ever attended and it certainly changed everything for THIS show.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How\u2019s THIS for a crowd shot?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was really feeling my oats by now\u2026\u2026..and then – all of a sudden – I noticed this gorgeous girl standing on the ground by the corner of the stage trying to get my attention (she didn\u2019t have to try very hard).<\/span><\/p>\n

I immediately took a picture of her as her friend took one of me:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Although she was 15-20\u2019 below me, we tried to communicate, but everything was just so loud that neither of us could understand a word of the other\u2026\u2026\u2026..and I had to get back to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was hoping I\u2019d find her later, but – of course – that didn\u2019t happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

OH MAN! So near and yet\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I had to trade that wonderful possibility for this crazy-looking thing:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And look who only has eyes (I think) for Ozzy:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

(What would Sharon say?)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back to work (and from a much better vantage point than the pit):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This location also let me see some of the unfortunate things going on:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Security didn\u2019t seem to mind too much about having to carry this audience member over the barrier:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My favorite Ozzy US Festival shot:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next up was Judas Priest. This is a still from a YouTube video that shows me photographing Priest singer Rob Halford:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Gotta love the new, uncramped proximity I now had.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And here\u2019s what I was able to shoot from that spot:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shirtless stagecrasher! This guy is mentioned in possible connection with a certain drug in the published writeup near the end of this post:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This poor girl! I\u2019m guessing that she was pulled over the barrier (I didn\u2019t see it), but what\u2019s up with her LEFT leg? It looks like a chunk of it\u2019s missing just below the knee:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Is that a skimpily-dressed security guy behind her carrying her prosthetic leg? Whatever is going on, I have never before viewed a scene like this at a concert\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..or ANYWHERE!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Priest was followed by Triumph:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then came one of my favorites – Scorpions:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During the Scorpions\u2019 set, I noticed something I\u2019ve never seen in ANY coverage of this Festival. I think that\u2019s a video camera of some sort, but I have no idea what that third crew member is doing on it:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m half-expecting Rocket J. Squirrel to make an airborne appearance. More on this on Day 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The NERVE of this video guy ruining my great end-of-show Scorpions photo!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

(Actually, I didn\u2019t see him in the dark until my flash lit him up.)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Time for the headliner and for the place to go nuts\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.and they did!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be sure to read the story on this one because it leads to the one after it:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is the 1:58 still from that video showing me missing the shot:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And Eddie\u2019s walk-off slide into home with the winning run sends everyone home and happy\u2026\u2026\u2026.except me (I TOLD him to hold the guitar lower and not block his face!).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Just kidding – VH was the perfect capper to this absolutely wild day.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a picture of me and some of my friends that appeared in the New York Daily News the next day:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think anyone who was there will ever forget Metal Day at the US Festival!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DAY 3<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Because I was exhausted after Metal Day and because I had already photographed Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul at the WNEW-FM (NYC) Christmas Concert at Radio City Music Hall in December of 1982, I felt justified in sleeping an extra hour and missing the band kicking off Day 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

To sort of make up for it, here\u2019s a picture I took of Steve Van Zandt in the same band in 1987 at Madison Square Garden:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So the first band I shot on Memorial Day was Berlin and here\u2019s singer Terri Nunn:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t shoot Berlin\u2019s whole performance, because there was something I needed to do and this was my last chance to do it: take a stroll around the back end of the periphery of the crowd (which I thought might be somewhere in the vicinity of Ogden, Utah). Hey – a Robert Klein reference!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From my site:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There were other interesting things to see\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.is that a spy balloon from China?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

There appears to be another one off in the distance. And note the guy on the right wearing an Us Festival t-shirt. You\u2019ll see another one later on.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I guess if Miller can push their beer at 10am, Camel can very subtly push their two-story tall cigarettes that – according to the pack – taste like a camel (no wonder no one\u2019s sitting near it):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing that this is how that Daily News photographer got the crowd shot you saw above at the end of Day 2:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back to work\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quarterflash\u2019s Rindy Ross sticks her tongue out at the microphone:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Highlight performance of the day (with a personal story about the end of the day):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bono shares the stage with John Lennon:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During U2\u2019s performance, is this girl protecting herself or grabbing a piece of ass?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bono roars\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.and then strips to the delight of the crowd:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026AND gets a little support from security:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This audience member seems to approve\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.so why is she sticking her tongue out at me?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bono takes to the air and is never seen again\u2026\u2026\u2026..at least not in this post:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next up\u2026\u2026\u2026DB from MP:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dale takes a crowd shot with her Polaroid camera and has a unique way to display her work (and if you look closely, you can see that the picture she took shows the pit and the crowd):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what happened to this person, but being strapped in isn\u2019t a good sign:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, rocking out to Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders) and Joe Walsh are very<\/em> good signs:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During Joe\u2019s set, our friend from yesterday – Mr. B. Moose – makes a return appearance on the video cam. Still no idea why, but maybe he made a deal with the video crew like I did for better access:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By the way, here’s my tribute to him 20 years later (and 20 years ago):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Back to our show………….<\/span><\/p>\n

Time for the penultimate performance of the entire Festival – Miss Stevie Nicks:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finishing off the festivities was David Bowie. I remember a lot of confusion and disappointment among the photographers over who could shoot and how many songs (if any) they could shoot, with the end result being that many of them didn\u2019t get to shoot at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was turned down, but whatever Grinch made that declaration didn\u2019t know about my \u201cin\u201d with the video crew, so I got to shoot from my lip-of-the-stage spot.<\/span><\/p>\n

But he never seemed to be close to my location. I got fewer than 20 shots, but I only like a couple of them\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..and not that much.<\/span><\/p>\n

CREEM ran two of them and had some caption fun with this one:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And if you don\u2019t get the reference\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And so the Festival ended on not the best of notes as CREEM had more fun with this great photographer group shot by Jeff Sourner:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Photographers who were mentioned in this post and are shown in the picture include: (crouching down: Ann Summa and Paul Natkin\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.Ann\u2019s finger may be poking Ross Marino in the navel\u2026\u2026\u2026..Ebet Roberts (shades) is next to Ross and I\u2019m standing behind Paul).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u2019re not the only ones who felt that way. Read this great article by John Mendelssohn in the August 1983 issue of Record (put out by Rolling Stone). Among other problems, he refers to the \u201cBombs Away\u201d situation the photographers were faced with while confined to \u201cthe cage\u201d that I mentioned earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n

Click this twice so it\u2019s readable:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RELATED<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may recall a picture of someone I photographed wearing an Us Festival t-shirt during my AM stroll on Day 3. I said you\u2019d see another one later on. Here it is:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I recently found this rolled up with dozens and dozens of old t-shirts. It (and the next one) was easy to find because all my other tees are black.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While I can find Us Festival t-shirts all over the Web, I can NOT find another one like this Ozzy\/Us one:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing it was a very limited edition either only available at the show or maybe just backstage to guests and press. If anyone can clear that up for me, let me know.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not sure, but I probably bought the program and the button on eBay:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The last item – a CD of the English Beat\u2019s performances at BOTH Us Festivals – has one of my photos on the front cover. Which one?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mine\u2019s the one that\u2019s in focus, shows an open eye (this guy\u2019s awake!) AND an instrument being played with two hands (he says, cattily).<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m sorry, but two<\/em> performances and that’s the best photography they could come up with for a cover?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

IT\u2019S ALL OVER! TIME TO GO HOME!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

(As I head east over the Rockies)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s ONE more picture I took that\u2019s loosely-related to everything you\u2019ve seen here, but you\u2019ll have to go to an old post on this blog to see it and read the story.<\/span><\/p>\n

It leads off the post and is the exclamation point to this very long week, but it took a little detective work to connect it to everything else:<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=674<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Since that post is a \u201cBest of\u201d for the year, there are other pix I hope you\u2019ll find interesting. In fact, the second pic is one you\u2019ve already seen here from Day 1 of the Festival. The third pic shows where some of the photographers were the next(?) day.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ve enjoyed this tribute to the largest event I ever photographed. Consequently, this may be the largest blog post I\u2019ve created so far.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s taken about 5 months to gather\/scan\/edit\/write about all the slides and negs, but I wanted to show EVERYTHING I saw and experienced – the good, the bad and the ridiculous.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Was it worth it?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

………………………………………………..(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on May 23, 2023)   Click to enlarge most pix. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (pronounced \u201cUs\u201d – not \u201cU.S.\u201d)   Anybody remember the \u201983 US Festival? (Anybody even heard of it?)   THIS IS THE WHOLE STORY\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.EVERYTHING!!   It was Woodstockian in size and length – 3 days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18300"}],"version-history":[{"count":49,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18494,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18300\/revisions\/18494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}