Road Stories: My First [Paid] Live Gig Pt. 2 of 2

1996 was supposed to have been the year I moved out of Chicago, I had already quit my job with Kodak and was actually pretty excited of a change of scenery, but things happen and I was going to be in Chicago one more year before finally relocating in the winter of 1997.

I pushed myself more than ever to get in more studio time to make ends meet, I had already been Ronald Anthony’s [my mentor] location/studio assistant in Park Ridge since ‘94, and the desire to photograph bigger events was becoming more and more intense than ever before.

I spent my free time trying to make new connections and reconnect with some people in the music industry, mostly in the rock n roll scene. Namely with some of the indie record labels; Roadracer [later to become Roadrunner], Nuclear Blast. along with radio station WWBZ [TheBlaze] later to become Rock 103.5. There were a couple of things that played against me at the time, 1. most people I had known in the industry during this time didn’t stay with their label but for only a few months at a time, there were always new faces when the A&R and sales rep people would come around. and 2. everyone was either wanting to photograph the Rock scene or had a pretty good hold onto there spots. So I needed a new game plan, I needed to do something different, think outside the box. Then it hit me. Country music, nobody was covering this genre in Chicago, though it was picking up momentum and hitting the mainstream quite quickly.

Marty Stuart, Country Fest, 1997

WUSN [US99] it did look to be a good fit for me, so I asked around and though it took several months of cold calls I Found CBS Broadcasting had recently acquired the station, which brought in a new station manager (Alan Sledge)  program director (Steve Lee), a good opportunity for me to make a connection and present my proposal in becoming their event photographer. So at this point, I started to write out many key points for what I had to offer; such as meet and greets at events, live images of the events (both crowd and stage) and on the air coverage of guests.

I believe it was late winter or early fall in 1996 that I got the nerve to pick up the phone and make first contact, and with that call and initial meeting thereafter, I became the official event photographer for WUSN-FM (US99), covering all their station sponsored concerts, I also photographed all their behind the scenes and meet and greets between 1997 and 1998. This opened a lot of doors that would have been left closed, if I had not taken that first step and believed I was good enough to be that guy in the pit, and why not me.



Wynonna Judd, Country Fest, 1997

Bryan White

Country Fest, Chicago, Il. 1997

Keith Urban

Lambs Farm, Libertyville, Il. 1997

Paul Brandt

Country Fest, Chicago, 1997