New Facebook Page

Please take a moment to check out my new Facebook page for Sheri Lynn Behr : rock and roll photography. It's new and it wants to be "liked". There'll be more photos. Tell me whose photo you want me to post and if I have one, I just might do it.

Big City (David Johansen)

One regret I have is that the New York Dolls were a little before my time with a camera. Now those photos would have been really amazing! Still, David Johansen seemed to turn up a lot when I was taking pictures. I have photos of him performing at the Palladium as Buster Poindexter,

and showing up at parties (like this one at a party for a band called Tornader)

and visiting other artists at record signings (see my earlier post on Ian Dury). 

Always seemed like a good guy, never gave me a hard time when I took his picture. Especially not at the Mermaid Parade in 2005 when he was King.

Hello in There (Bette Midler)

I was once hired by Atlantic Records to photograph Bette Midler doing a radio interview at the studio. I arrived there on time, only to be met with disbelief. No one had told Ms. Midler that a photographer was coming. Her hair was up, and she was in a pink button-down shirt. She had glasses. She was absolutely lovely and gracious about it all, and certainly looked good enough to have her picture taken doing an interview, but she was also very, VERY clear. It was just NOT going to happen. Basically, BETTE MIDLER wasn't there, only the lovely and talented Bette Midler, who said she would absolutely make sure I got paid anyway. And I did. But there are no pictures to go along with this post.

Rich Girl (Daryl Hall)

It's nice to be published in a magazine again. Last week's New York magazine did a story on Daryl Hall, using my photograph from 1977. Here's a link to the story.  Oh, and choosing Rich Girl as the title of this blog post-- yes, I was being sarcastic. There's not much money in editorial photography. (If I had really wanted to be a rich girl, I would have gotten into advertising photography). But I have to say, I always had a lot of fun. And as for Daryl, last week wasn't the first time I had a photo of him published.

I actually worked with Daryl Hall and John Oates a lot back then. I think that this was my first published picture of Daryl, other than what may have run in the trades. It was shot in the summer of 1977 in their trailer in Central Park. And remember the Elton John story I posted ("I don't read that trash"), when I saw Daryl after this picture was published in Circus, he was the one who mentioned it to me, and told me that he really liked it. Now that's the kind of person he is, and why I always enjoyed working with him. Great guy, great musician. I love that he's still making music! And who knows, maybe our paths will cross again one day. It's really been way too long.

Good Friends We Had and Good Friends We Lost

When I was taking photographs, especially at the Palladium or the Bottom Line, there was always a group of other photographers around. One of us was usually hired by the record company to shoot, and the rest of us were there to service the magazines as freelancers. We were all competitors I guess, but we always got along and were considerate of each other. I really don't think it's that way any more. 

In the years after I stopped shooting rock and roll, I seem to have run into almost everyone I shot with at some point: Richie Aaron, Gary Gershoff, Ebet Roberts, Lynn Goldsmith, others. The only one I never bumped into was Chuck Pullin. Chuck passed away earlier this year. I always thought he was a great guy and I know he's missed.

Stiv Bators and Chuck Pullin at a party for the Rolling Stones in 1980

The Pretender (Jackson Browne)

My good friends Lisa and Tracy in LA have been going to small clubs recently to hear music ( Jacksh*t at McCabes, Watkins Family Christmas at Largo) and Jackson Browne keeps showing up and joining the bands onstage. Here's hoping he shows up again the next time I visit them. It's been a while since I photographed him here in NY at the Palladium.

Jackson Browne at the Palladium, 1976

One Way or Another (Blondie)

Deborah Harry of Blondie onstage at the Palladium in 1977

The only other person I photographed that I didn't approach in the real world when I had a chance was Deborah Harry of Blondie. I may have the paparazzi gene, but not the rude paparazzi gene. (I've been known to back off a bit when asked-- I always thought in the long run it was better to be nice-- and it always seemed to work in my favor.) 

Deborah Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie visit Mark Mothersbaugh
after a Devo performance at the Bottom Line in 1978

I saw her one day in Bloomingdales and I was about to approach her when I saw she was having an intense conversation with an older woman. It seemed very personal and I just wasn't about to intrude. I followed them while they argued and walked through the main floor without stopping, hoping there would be a moment when I could approach her (hey, i said I had the paparazzi gene), but they were totally involved in conversation, and I let them walk out the door without saying anything.

Not too long after, I was hired to photograph two Blondie video parties that were seven months apart, but the band wasn't even there. All there was to shoot were people in a club watching videos on a monitor, and record company execs with some fans who won a contest. And I made more money from those two shoots without the band than from selling photos of Blondie or Deborah Harry to magazines.