Just a Song Before I Go

Is there one photo in this exhibit that tells a really interesting story?

Off the top of my head, I like the Joel Bernstein shot of Neil Young that was used as the After the Gold Rush cover. Because if you look at the full frame, I’m there. I was walking in Greenwich Village with Neil and Joel, looking for breakfast, and we both saw this old woman coming toward us. Joel took the picture and Neil used it—him and the old woman—for his cover. But the full frame shows me in there, and that’s kind of interesting. I have a toothbrush in my pocket. So weird.

Um, why did you carry a toothbrush in your pocket?

I knew you were going to ask that! And I knew I didn’t have an answer. [Laughs.]

There’s such a range of artists in this exhibit. How did you decide to add Aretha Franklin?

I was trying to pay a little respect to the history of rock and roll. And my goodness, you can’t have a show on the history of rock and roll and not have a picture of Aretha! She’s one of the best. She’s one of my favorite musical moments in my life—it was me and Crosby during the Grammys in the ’80s standing right next to Aretha as she’s playing the electric piano. She’s playing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” solo. I mean, wow.

You also have long-term relationships with most of the musicians photographed, and the photographers.

Yeah, I do…. I mean, people trust me. I don’t fuck around. I’m not interested in wasting people’s times. I only want the best out of every situation. My partners and my audience know that about me. I wouldn’t have to call Willie Nelson and ask if I can use this big, beautiful portrait that Annie Leibovitz took of him. He’d be proud to be in this book.

Are you still taking a lot of photos?

I am indeed.

If you could follow any band right now and shoot them, who would you follow?

Wow, that’s a really interesting question. I’d be very interested to see what Peter Gabriel is doing now. He’s always a little weird. He’s always a little strange, a little left. And I like that.

What do you like most about photography as an art form?

The unexpectedness of it. And the fact that, you know, beautiful images exist all around you. You just have to see. You just have to look. And that’s what I do. I don’t take pictures to match my sofa; I take pictures that will startle you or shock you into some kind of other realism.

What picture in the exhibit do you think is the most shocking?

Let me see, probably the one of Debbie Harry in the hotel room [tuning her guitar in her underwear]. I mean, wow, what a moment.

It’s a very intimate moment.

It is—I chose that because of the intimacy. You know, we have to get ready for a show. You’re not just stars up there. You have to warm up. You have to prepare. You don’t just walk out there and rock.

There’s an exhibit coming up at the Seattle Art Museum with mixed-media depictions of Kurt Cobain—paintings, sculptures, photographs. Make an argument for why photography is the chosen medium for covering rock and roll.

I think it’s the immediacy of it all. That shot of Hendrix—it’s not in the book, but the famous one of him burning his guitar? That’s historic stuff. That’s rock and roll.

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Published: March 2010