Witness to Rock ’n’ Roll’s Biggest Acts: Michael Zagaris’ Music Photography
Michael Zagaris (b.1945) grew up in the central valley of California. In 1967, he entered law school and also started working for Sen. Robert Kennedy. The assassination of Kennedy in Los Angeles only weeks later had a profound effect on Michael, who had been standing just a few feet away, and in the aftermath he immersed himself in the blooming San Francisco counterculture. One day in 1968, he called in sick from work, bought a camera and two rolls of film, and attended the Northern California Folk Rock Festival in Santa Clara. A year later, Eric Clapton was looking at some of Michael’s pictures and proclaimed, “This should be your gig.” Michael was on his path.
“Z-man” writes: “The times we went through in the 60s and 70s were way beyond control, and unless you were there, you don’t get the whole picture. We thought we were changing things but we were really channeling music, fashion, sex, drugs and film. For a photographer like me there were no restrictions.”
Here are some highlights from Zagaris’ new book, Total Excess. The following excerpt reveals a secret to Z-man’s success at gaining access to one of the world’s greatest rock and roll bands, The Rolling Stones.
I had seen the Stones in November of 1969 at the Oakland Coliseum and then a month later at Altamont. When they announced they were going on the road in the summer of 1972, I immediately set out to get on the tour. Calling first their publicist in Los Angeles and then the Stones directly. I was told they already had a tour photographer and the only way I could shoot was to be on assignment for a newspaper or major publication. I racked my brain going through numerous magazines over a two-week period and finally hatched an idea. I contacted Jo Bergman who was Mick Jagger’s Girl Friday, and affecting an English accent I became Leo Lerhman, photo editor for Vogue magazine. Telling her “We’re planning to do a story on the lads and have this great new, young photographer Michael Zagaris we want to use.” Jo explained that they already had a tour photographer, Ethan Russell, and they would be glad to make Ethan’s shots available to them. But I (Leo) demurred saying “Well love, we can’t really take handouts can we? I guess we’ll not do the story. Maybe next time…” At which point Jo said “Wait, if you can get your photographer to Vancouver he can shoot the first few days of the tour. But that’s all.”
I flew to Vancouver and met up with the Stones but wasn’t able to shoot. There were so many potential pictures both backstage and on the Stones’ plane that I wanted to take. I felt like a cat on a leash in an aviary. In San Francisco, [the legendary] Jim Marshall joined us on assignment for Life magazine. Or as he told me, “Hey Greco [his nickname for me], who are you working for? I’m working for Life!” I said, “I’m shooting for Vogue,” hoping he wouldn’t check.
The shows themselves were musical tour de forces. The Stones were arguably at their musical zenith from 1972–75. Stevie Wonder was the opening act in San Francisco and at the conclusion of his show there was a half-hour cooling off period. We were led onto the side of the stage, which was dark, and when the band came on the first notes of Tumbling Dice assaulted the crowd, the Stones were bathed in light and the show was on! Musically much of the show was drawn from their newest album ‘Exile on Main Street’ with Keith Richards and Mick Taylor trading searing leads while Jagger pranced and preened.
Camera Details:
Camera: Nikon F2
Lens: 105mm
Aperture: f2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/500
ISO: Tri X pushed to 1600
More photos from the book:
Z-man can be found on Instagram @michaelzagaris. To purchase “Total Excess” click here.
This excerpt has been republished from The Shot, Flipboard’s Photography Magazine and hub, and reprinted with permission from the photographer. The Shot also includes:
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