Henry, Norm, and I

My lens shade signed by Henry Diltz

 My friend Norman and I had the great pleasure of going to hear a talk by the photographer Henry Diltz. There is an exhibit of Henry's work currently going on at the university. Henry has had quite the career. He did a slide show of images from early on. It was very cool to see the images that I'd seen over and over but even cooler to hear the stories and see the out takes from shoots. If you don't know, Henry did the photos for the Doors album Morrison Hotel. He showed pics from that day of the band inside the Hard Rock Cafe. Jim and the boys hanging out in this nasty bar with deer hanging on the walls and all the local drunks. I found the pics here if you'd like a peek. Henry was friends with Steven Stills before becoming a photographer and he became friends with quite a few emerging musicians as a result. I can't do his story justice and I'm sure it's all over the internet anyhow. After the talk we walked over to the gallery; the talk was in a nearby lecture hall. They had some horrible looking blue shit to drink and cookies but I had been clutching my Deja Vu album cover for the last hour and I was totally geeking out. I hopped right in and Mr. Diltz was more than happy to sign the inside of the gatefold for me. The cover photo on that album was done by another photographer but Henry did the inside shots. I also had him sign my lens shade which he said was a first for him.  Norman shot about 60 photos of me and Henry while he was signing the stuff. I had been looking forward to this for a while and I was not disappointed. You know that picture of Jimi Hendrix from Woodstock with the white fringe jacket? Henry. Janis Joplin. Henry. George Harrison and Bob Dylan at The concert for Bangladesh. Yeah...Henry. I'm quite grateful that I got to meet Henry, hear him tells some great stories and experience it all with my buddy Norm. Rock on.