On the road again yesterday...actually in the air once more. A short flight up to big D! That's Dallas to you non-Texans y'all! Pretty darn excited about this one as I had a photo shoot for Fender guitars with the legendary man of the blues Mr. Buddy Guy.

Anyone with half an ounce of musical taste will know the name Buddy Guy, the man is directly responsible for influencing the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page into wanting to play guitar... Quite an influence eh?

I'm met at the House of Blues in Dallas by Buddy's tech Gilbert who warmly greets me and gets me set up with the necessary passes. No Nazis working at this House of Blues, the staff were nice and accommodating. Gilbert tells me that Buddy is on the other side of a bout of laryngitis and isn't feeling that great but he still wants to do the shoot.

I set up some lights backstage in Mr. Guys dressing room, fire off a few test shots and have Gilbert be my guinea pig for a short time to get things looking right and a bit later Mr. Guy quietly rolls in backstage dressed in a white shirt with black polka dots which contrast perfectly with his Black Fender with white polka dots. I introduce myself and we get started on this quick shoot. He's such a professional, smiled constantly as we chatted about him working with the Rolling Stones on the Scorsese movie "Shine A Light". I had read somewhere that when he performed with them that he really gave them a run for their money. When I mentioned that he laughed out loud and said that they've got plenty of money and weren't worried! HA!

Got done with the shoot and thanked him for his time and headed to the stage where despite being 72 years young Buddy Guy gave 200% in a performance that you'd have thought was coming from someone half his age. There aren't many living legends left in music these days, let alone in the blues... Buddy Guy and BB King are the only ones I can think of. It's not often that I'm impressed by anyone these days but what I saw onstage that night was truly legendary. If you get a chance to see Buddy play, don't think twice about it...trust me.

ASH

Christ! What a whirlwind couple of days! So Monday pm I finally got the word from Metal Hammer magazine in the UK that they had tied down a date this week for me to go hang out and shoot Ministry for a big feature...VEGAS...UGH! Not my favorite place to be at all. For those Brits amongst you it's like Blackpool on steroids...for those of you here in the US...IT'S SHITE! Did I mention that it's not my kind of town? They had the right idea for Vegas in resident Evil 3!!

So! 6am with backache and eyes like peeholes in the snow I'm in the air bound for the shimmering city of lights, tranny hookers and nocturnal everyone's. Cut to midday and I touch down rather heavily in Vegas...so heavily that the huge woman in front of me complains that the pilot hurt her "roids"...no kidding... She should eat more fiber!

Hop in a cab and skip over to the House of Blues located inside the massive and very smokey Mandalay Bay. Flash my laminate and make my way through to the Ministry dressing room where I'm greeted by a very sober Al Jourgensen along with Burton Bell and Syn Quirin. It's midday and Al's on the vino, very tired but sober! Egads!! They've just done six shows in a row and Al was bottled three times the night before and are playing behind their own portable chicken wire fencing on stage! I'm not making this up! I'm informed that they're all wiped out and don't want to go far to do photos...say...no further than the stage door type distance! I had scouted out a couple of locations inside the House of Blues but due to their less than accommodating policies I can shoot the guys basically nowhere that shows it's inside the House of Blues... I had no idea that the third Reich wrote their rule book but...okay!

Grab some shots of Al and the guys relaxing in the dressing room etc and his wife/manager Angie says he's gonna take a nap for a few hours. I ditch my gear and check in to my suite at the Mandalay bay, 28th floor with a view of the strip... The excess of this place is nuts. Order room service, re fuel, take a shower and head downstairs for a coffee and a wander around the lobby. The place is full of just about every demographic you can think. LOTS of Japanese folks chain smoking and constantly yanking the bandit machines, bachelor parties wasted at 1pm, old ho's on the pull and everything in between throwing their money away... Jeez!



6pm and I set up in a hallway where the bouncers eject the troublemakers from the venue. Get some great shots of all the band, individuals and then ones of Al who was really co operative and did everything I asked him to short of dressing in a pink tutu...only 'cos we didn't have one otherwise I think he'd have done it for me. Uncle Al likes Ash dear readers ;O)

The live show is something else... Packed house, loud enough to loosen your fillings and jingle yer private parts and more difficult to shoot than any other show I can remember shooting. The lighting is shite for photos but that's the way Al likes it. Add that to the chicken wire in front and it's impossible to shoot through it... Bugger It! I walk onstage and crouch in front of Al and start snapping... Even up close the lights are so erratic and the strobes are going off constantly so I'm struggling... I love Ministry but shooting them live is a pain in the arse!



Hang out after the show backstage and on the bus. The legendary music journo "Mr. Morat" is interviewing Al, Nick Oshiro from Static X pops in for a while and my film director buddy Dean Karr is there hanging. Great guy but the fool likes to go diving with Great White Sharks! Dunno about you but I like my fishes little and on a friggin' plate! Still, you should check out Dean's Myspace and see some of his awesome shark photography...it'll make you wet the bed for sure!



Cue 5am Thursday morning and I'm up and out of the hotel for a 7am flight back to Texas... A short, hectic trip but with good results...and thankfully less than 24 hours in Vegas. I'm happy to be back home and hear Daisy squeak and ask where the hell I've been!

ASH
 

Sunday...the usual day of blog updates. Sorry for the lack of input the last week. It's been a bit of a bugger as they say what with the rigors of various and sundry tripe getting in the way. That plus magazine assignment dates being shuffled around and re organized. I was meant to be in sunny Los Angeles this weekend but instead I'm sat on my arse at home working instead although yours truly should be on the move to get a few new snaps again very shortly...

In the meantime my illustrious webmaster John or "Fifi" as he's known in certain circles (okay I made that up!) has posted a new gallery of my work for you to ogle. Don't ogle too long though as you might turn to stone and then we're all buggered! SO! New pics from the recent trip to the Ministry camp located in the dusty depths and outer rim of Old El Paso town, Texas ya'll!! Behold the frightening sights of the very last Ministry line up. You'll find them in the "Studio" section of the galleries.

On a different note I'd like to thank those of you that emailed with your kind remarks regarding my previous two blogs. Warmed my cockles a fair bit I have to admit! I'm always a tad glum at this time of year but your words hit the spot ;O) Aye!

Still working on those t-shirts and a selection of photographic prints for the Sales dept here. I'm hoping to have more of a chance to exercise my Landscape Photography muscles this year as well if I can ever take a break from music.

Well, back to the proverbial grindstone as they say.

Luv and muffin top!



ASH

I've come to dislike this time of year very much. Today marks four years since my Father "Alec" slipped away and left us. It was a cold and damp day in England when we let him go. The ultimate April Fools, we kept expecting him to sit up and laugh shouting "April Fool" but that never happened. Instead my Mother and I sat with him as he drew his last breaths and said our goodbyes.

Dad was only 62 when he left. Some folks get far less time than that and some get more and have done bugger all with it. Not Dad, he beat conscription into the Army to do his National Service at 18 by joining the army at 17. He did two years service before joining the Royal Engineers and deciding he wanted to de-fuse bombs for the next few years. He met my Mother a couple of years after getting out of the army and they were married in '68. I came along in '71 and after all my troubles (Me? Never!!) they decided that was the lot!

I had a great childhood and my parents were always there to guide. My Dad was always a wonderful role model for me and although I never had a bloody clue what I wanted to do and was an academic loss he always supported me and told me there was nothing that I couldn't do so long as I was determined enough. He always told me to go against the grain, don't go with the crowd, think for myself and say what's on my mind...and I did. It didn't make me very popular at school but as he said most of those people will dissolve from life and go away...he was right. He usually was. He loved music, bought me my first drum kit, introduced me to great bands like The Who, ZZ Top, Chuck Berry and Howlin' Wolf. I had only just been taking photos a year when he died, I sure wish he could see what I do now. I know he would have loved to carry my bag and help with photo shoots...I just know he would.

I'm rambling here and probably not making a whole lot of sense. I guess I'm just trying to say that I loved my Dad and was very fortunate to have a relationship with him. I miss that. He and my Mom were here in the States on vacation just three weeks before he died and we had some of the biggest laughs and side splittingly funny moments ever. Those moments are more precious to me than any material thing ever could be, especially as close to his death as they were. Not much time passes me by that I don't think of he and I nearly getting kicked out of a tourist store in San Diego for farting around and being loud...

Four years back seems like a minute ago. It's amazing how quickly it goes by and how we get caught up in life without actually taking the time to "live it". I promised Dad when he was going that I would do that... I'm trying...

ASH