Sunday, May 10, 2009

Heather Ainsworth : Dead Photos come Alive !

I would be unable to tell you how it happened, that stroke of singularly serious serendipity the other day, but totally by chance I stumbled on Heather Ainsworth's blog while blog surfing, and I would encourage you to stumble over to it too, as fast as your legs can manage. . .
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I know there are a few of you readers out there who have listened to a little, or alot, of music by the Grateful Dead, or by their more recent derivatives such as Phil & Friends, The Other Ones, or now, just plain "The Dead". Well, The Dead are on tour, and they played in Albany, New York on 17 April, where Heather Ainsworth just happened to have a Press pass, a Nikon camera, and a clear notion of what she was looking for in terms of powerful images. . . and by golly, she got the goods, she bagged "The Dead", and brought them back alive !
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Heather's "Dead" photos, which you can see a few of on her blog Freewheelin' (link above), and which you can see a whole photo gallery of on the Utica Daily News site, are some of the best live music images I've ever seen anywhere, bar none. She is right up there in the same league as Annie Liebowitz when Annie photographed Jerry Garcia, John Lennon, or the Rolling Stones. Heather Ainsworth's photographs are dripping in musical energy, a crystal clear transmission of that magic which has always resonated around the Dead's music. . . go take a look, like, immediately. That's an order ! And while you're on her blog, take a look through her other work, she has done some excellent photo journalism on a number of compelling subjects. . .
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Here is just one of Heather Ainsworth's "Dead" photos from the Albany show, which she very graciously gave me permission to publish here, for all you good people's collective pleasure. . . Thank You Heather !
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PS And I just now realized there is more of her work visible here on her website as noted in the watermark in this photo !
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5 comments:

Lynne with an e said...

Wow! Her photos are amAzing!

I saw the Grateful Dead perform on the parking lot stage outside the Mariposa Festival grounds in Toronto back in...1970? They put on a show for free for the folks who couldn't afford to go in to the festival. Pretty cool.

Owen said...

Wow Louciao, lucky lucky you ! They did indeed play in Toronto in 1970, on June 27th and June 28th. The 6/27 show says Canadian National Exhibition Hall, billed as Trans Continental Pop Festival, with other artists like New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Band, Janis Joplin, Ten Years After, Traffic, Buddy Guy, and many more... did you see any of that ??? What a line-up ! On 6/28 it says "Free Concert, Coronation Park"...

LR Photography said...

Great shot this one Owen!

Lynne with an e said...

I don't know, man. It was the
'70s--you know what I'm saying? It seemed to me that somehow or other the Dead just showed up and jammed. I don't think it was at the CNE grounds...It was like a surprise thing.

I think I was selling handmade hash pipes outside the Mariposa Festival fairgrounds and later on some guy gave me tickets to go in and see the folk festival...and Joni Mitchell was playing...and James Taylor showed up and did "I've Seen Fire"... It's all kind of a jumble...

Have I said too much?

Owen said...

Lynne, no, absolutely not, you have not said too much... I love stories like this, and I don't think the thought police are going to pick up on your nearly 40 years distant hash pipe affair... I won't tell anyone anyway, I promise ! What a time it must have been !