up as clowns, there was one occasion where they went to a Dr. John concert and they were dressed up as clowns so nobody would recog- nize them and they were dressed so well as clowns that Dr. John’s security literally threw them off the stage at his concert. Dr. John still talks about that, or did, he’s gone now, but he still talked about that. Joe was there because Jaimoe was asked first, as I heard the story, and Jaimoe was committed to the All- man Brothers, so he sent Joe in his place. But anyway, the reason this is such an unfortu- nate tale is that the day that they had planned to shoot the main photos, that would appar- ently be in the album or on the album cover or whatever, they rented a riverboat to go to up and down the Mississippi River and I was the only photographer on board. The best of New Orleans music was there, ya know, the Meters, the Neville’s everybody, so that day happens and the boat was sailing up and down the Mississippi River all day long. I got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of photos and this was back in the day of film, long before digital. With every roll I shot I would throw it in my camera bag, at the end of the evening Paul was playing on stage with the band and I put my cameras down for a second. I had one camera around my neck, my camera bag on my shoulder and I had a couple rolls of film in my pocket, but every- thing else was in my camera bag and I put the camera bag down to just take in the whole scene, ya know. How lucky could I have been to have been picked for this gig and I am watching McCartney play on stage and just a few feet away from, listening to them sing “I Want to Hold Your Hand “ with all with these New Orleans musicians, and I go down to pick up my camera bag and its gone. Gone! Gone, with all my film, my equipment, every- thing gone. I flipped the fuck out as you might imagine. I went nuts! I hadn’t realized we had gotten back to the dock, I thought the boat was still sailing, I was so immersed in the mo-
ment and I rushed off the boat and to look for anybody that I could find carrying my bag, Its gone, It’s just gone! Somebody stole every- thing I had. Paul and the crew left town a cou- ple of days later, so there was no time to reshoot anything, and that is why I say it was the best and the worst experience of my life as a photographer. I was so depressed over that situation because I blew the biggest job I could have ever had. I mean, I was shooting a fucking Beatles album cover and I blew it. I fucking blew it and I lost my innocence that day. I ended up giving up photography within the next 12 months. I think Tom Petty was the last gig I actually shot as a professional pho- tographer and I just threw in the towel. I just didn’t have it in me anymore. it was like that one episode, that one incident did it.
Wow But if I had continued, I would probably be world class photographer, ya know. I’d proba- bly be the guy that everyone goes to, but I quit in my 20s. But between the time that I was 15 and 21 or I amassed a hell of a collection. The Who, Grateful Dead, Rod Stewart, ZZ Top, Dr. John, George Harrison, Paul McCartney-
You did end up with a few of McCart- ney, right? Oh yeah. Like I said, I had a couple of rolls of film in my pocket from that day, but I also worked with him in the studio leading up to that day. I spent Mardi Gras day with him where they were dressed up as clowns. The thief didn’t take every photo I had, but they took everything from that day and that day was the major day. That was the moment I was waiting for to really capture the lions share, and I did capture it, but I lost them. The next question people ask me is if I’ve seen the pictures anywhere and no I haven’t, that was in 1975, this is 2020 and no, I never saw the pictures again anywhere, and I would rec- ognize them believe me, because I was the
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