MICHAEL STIPE
TWO TIMES INTRO: ON THE ROAD WITH PATTI SMITH
AKASHIC BOOKS
by Christine Natanael
LINKS:
When people think of musicians, what normally comes to mind is a song, an album, a concert experience, a tour program, a video, or a photograph. Mostly these are professionally packaged and presented to the fans. There will also be the accompanying tour blog and tie-in merchandising to illustrate the adventure. Occasionally, there will be a limited-edition book of photographes taken backstage by the touring artist on their tour.
More recently however, there has been the trend of established and well-respected rock and punk legends issuing volumes of their never-before-seen photographs taken while touring over the years. Sometimes these are done by the musicians themselves, sometimes in collaboration with another musician, and/or with an established rock photographer.
In this instance, the musician wielding the lens is 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Michael Stipe. The context: a two-week tour in 1995 with friend and fellow musician Patti Smith. The point-of-view: that of the admiring teenage fan with his Dad’s 35mm camera and the long-time industry insider, simultaneously.
The 128-page hardcover volume is comprised of black and whites, sometimes grainy and out-of-focus, but more due to artistic design in the technique used to enlarge and modify as some are taken from Polaroid land camera snapshots. Captured are quiet moments of concentration in solo as well as joyful moments of intimate comraderie.
Stipe gives a glimpse into a brief moment in time when Patti first returned to performace after the death of her husband, Fred Sonic Smith, when she opened for Bob Dylan. (“Being a very private man,” says Patti, “Michael never took his picture.”)
Included along with the images are words by: William S. Burroughs, Michael Stipe, Oliver Ray, Paul Williams, Jutta Koether, Tom Verlaine, Thurston Moore, Jem Cohen, Lisa Robinson, Lenny Kaye, Kim Gordon, Frances Yauch, and Patti Smith.