"Visual Quotations"
                  Photographs by Richard Freeman

Musicians

While working on this portfolio the biggest question I had was: out of the hundreds of shows I have attended since the mid-1970s in Chicago, and later elsewhere, why didn't I take my camera to more shows? Then I kind of remembered what the shows were like back in the day, the extra-concert activities, and what a hassle I probably thought it was to take my big ol' Canon FTb with a 135mm FD lens (f2.5). Now I think it was too bad. Oh well. I mean in some small venues I saw the likes of Muddy Waters, Lou Reed, and Albert King. I saw R.E.M. for $3 in the cafetaria at the Student Center at SIU-Carbondale in front of maybe 100 students! Well, here is what I have taken. I hope you get a kick out of them. My favorite concerts? Easily the best show I ever saw was the Who in Chicago in 1975, with Keith Moon on drums. The Who shows I saw in the early 1980s were also quite spectacular, but not quite the same. The Clash's Combat Rock tour in Chicago at the Aragon Ballroom certainly is up there. Sonny Rollins at the Chicago Jazz Festival sometime in the 1980s (not Sonny pictured here) was a tremendously passionate set. As were both Bruce Springsteen shows in the late 70s and early 80s. Pink Floyd playing the entire Wish You Were Here. Warren Zevon with a full band! My first full-fledged rock 'n roll show in 1974, the J. Geils Band will always hold fond memories. Several Zappa shows, and of course a number of the over 50 Dead shows I slogged through (those I can remember, heh, heh). Derek Trucks, Los Lobos, Elvis Costello, Ozomotli, I can go on for a long time. But I won't. : )

Since my first "real" digital camera (Lumix GF1), I realized I can shoot pretty good video. I thought of this in 2011 at a David Bromberg show, outside in a park in Rochester, NY. It came out so good, I uploaded it onto You Tube. I now have over a dozen videos (of individual song performances), The Who, Wilco, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Chris Duarte, and more!!!. My You Tube home page is: www.youtube.com/user/Munenerules Munenerules You Tube!! Enjoy!