Ken Davidoff: Bringing Back the Old School

Despite what you may have heard, there was a point in which Miami was a hotbed for Rock music.

Perhaps you may know the story of when Jim Morrison exposed himself at the Dinner Key Theater, or even visited Churchill's Pub a couple of times.

Even though it's been a bit in remission, make no mistake, there is a long history of Rock n' Roll music down here.

A couple of months ago I received an email from photographer Ken Davidoff about his website www.oldrockphoto.com, a library of South Florida rock history spanning the 60's and 70's.

I immediately called Ken to ask for an interview on REV.  While the majority of the coverage on the site is geared towards modern music scenes in Miami, I am always excited when I get to connect back with the city's history.

Below find Ken's interview that flows between old war stories and historic South Florida music moments.  He also was kind enough to let me post some photos from his collection, but I strongly urge you to visit the site and witness some Miami rock history.

When did you first start photographing music?

The first band that I ever photographed was the Young Rascals, but the first major event was The Miami Pop Festival in 1968, a Michael Lang Production.

This was a first for Michael Lang as well, and led him to Woodstock. Michael used four of my images and the Jimi Hendrix poster from that concert in his book " The Road To Woodstock."

The Miami Pop Festival was amazing, a two day festival with a great lineup: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker ( the first person to put a microphone in an acoustic guitar ), Blue Cheer, Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention, and Jimi Hendrix.

On the first day all the bands played twice, unbelievable!

I was a newbie to concert photography and didn't know about available light photography, so when Jimi came on for his nighttime set I was there with my trusty Honeywell Strobe, powered by a 510 volt battery, it must have been blinding at close range.

My first night time shot was a beautiful full length pic of Jimi in these blue crushed velvet pants that practically glowed. For the second shot I moved closer. As the strobe went off for the second time, I was stunned to hear Jimi stop, look directly at me, and say " There will be no more flash photography."

What a crusher.  My hero telling me to stop, and so reluctantly I did.

On the second day only a few groups got to play [because] it rained, and Jimi didn't play, thus [he wrote] the song " Rainy Day, Dream Away."

How much has Miami been an influence on what you do?

Miami has had an amazing history in its relationship to Rock Music. I am working with my business partner, Jack Connell, to produce a documentary about The Miami Pop Festival.

Jack is an amazing musician himself, but made his living in film production, as a sound man and lighting expert.

We have already interviewed, Dickie Peterson of Blue Cheer, Rick Shaw, an icon in the early Miami radio scene, he was the M. C. for the festival, and a major personality on the air for WQAM. Rick was also a forerunner of the MTV look, he had an early morning TV show with band interviews and music videos, back in the late 60's early 70's.

He told us about the early music clubs in Miami like Thee Experience, Thee Image, and The World, where band like Blues Image, a band from Tampa, [would come] to Miami to open up Thee Image. The Mothers of Invention played there first. The Grateful Dead and Spirit played there on a regular basis, some other bands who had Miami exposure at those two clubs were Spencer Davis Group, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, Big Brother And The Holding Company, Ten Years After, Electric Flag, and Savoy Brown, just to name a few.

Some of my backstage photos from The Miami Pop Festival include Marshall Brevitz, the owner of Thee Experience, who was also the manager and booking agent for Thee Image. He was partners with Michael Lang and helped get the acts for The Miami Pop Festival in May of 1968, [which was] held at Gulfstream Racetrack.

The rock scene in Miami has influenced my photography in a huge way. I regularly took concert photos at such venues as Miami Beach Convention Center, The Sportatorium, Gussman Hall, and Miami Marine Stadium.

You said that there has been a resurgence in interest in your
photographs. What do you want to accomplish?

I think that the renewed interest in my photograph's is twofold, first,
these photographs have been hidden away for almost forty years and not seen by the general public until now.

This is new material for Jimi Hendrix fans, and for anyone who is interested in pictures from South Florida rock concerts of the late Sixties and all through the Seventies.

Most of my images were taken right here in this area.

 

Beatle fans will see photographs from the " Lost Weekend " in Palm Beach, this is when John [Lennon] broke up with Yoko [Ono], and was dating May Pang. Everyone thought that since Yoko was out of the picture that the Beatles would get back together.

The second reason is, timing.  The release of these images so close to the 40 year anniversary of most of them being taken [which] is generating interest from an historical point of view.  Thus some of my images are winding up in books, such as " Ultimate Hendrix " by John McDermott and Janie Hendrix and " The Road To Woodstock " by Michael Lang.

I was also the official photographer for The Palm Beach Pop Festival held on Thanksgiving Weekend 1969. This festival was called Woodstock South by the local press, and for good reason. It rained prior to the festival, local, state, and even the federal government had a hand in keeping this festival from being a success.

The local Sheriff said " Nobody in Palm Beach county is going to have a good time." The Governor of Florida was the first Republican in 100 years, and Richard Nixon was a guest at his wedding. Governor Claude Kirk went to the Palm Beach Pop Festival to see a hippie, and to personally make a drug arrest.

The Rolling Stones, who were to be the closing act, were held up on the airport tarmac in New York for six hours because President Nixon's plane was landing there. What a coincidence!

On top of all that the weather got worse, and by the time the Stones came on stage at four in the morning, it was in the low 30's, and the crowd had dwindled from 50,000 to 3,000 people.

This was a very historic performance, the Stones had just finished the album "Get Your Ya Ya's Out ", recorded live at Madison Square Garden, and left directly to come to Palm Beach.  Six days later they played at the Altamont concert (ed. - The concert dubbed "Rock & Roll's worst day," where Hell's Angeles security murdered an audience member).

I want to share my photography from an historical point of view and still be able to make a living selling prints and posters. My business partner and I have sacrificed a lot in the last two years to be able to put this project online, and we still have a long way to go to finish our two documentaries [on the] Palm Beach Pop and The Miami Pop Festival.

What do you think about modern music?

I would like to answer that question with a quote from Dickie Peterson, former bass player from Blue Cheer. We interviewed Dickie for our documentary on The Miami Pop Festival, he put it so well, I can't say it any better.

Dickie Peterson passed away just a few weeks after this interview in late 2009:

"There is a thing that has happened in music over the years that says, if you like rap music, and I like heavy metal music, we can't be friends, and to me, this is the exact opposite of what music is supposed to do. Music is supposed to bring us together, you know, you don't have to like the kind of music I like, to like music. You don't need my approval, you know, you need your own.

"Don't try to be cool, it's the most un-cool thing you can do. Cool is cool, when you try to be cool, you ain't cool."

Dickie Peterson was a great musician, in his interview he bared his soul,
and never let on that he was ill. He never played the sympathy card.

For all us youngin's, what advice would you give if we're just
starting to get involved in Music?

The advice I have if you want to get involved in photographing concerts is this: take some time to learn about the general operation of your camera, so you can respond to different lighting situations.

Photography is all about light, and capturing a moment in time. If you are prepared, you will get what you want, if you are just pushing a button, you have to settle for what the camera gives you. Learn as much about your equipment as you possibly can, then try to learn some more.

Never stop chasing your dream, I had to wait over 40 years to learn that, I worked a nine to five job all my life, then my house got robbed, all my camera equipment got stolen, a lot of stuff got taken. Instead of breaking down over what I lost, I said to myself, what have I got left that I can help myself with?

That was the beginning of chasing my dream, I guess I had to learn the hard way. When I was young ( I started working as a professional photographer by the time I was 16 years old ) working in my Father's Photo studio during the day, and shooting concerts on my own, my Dad used to say to me " Ken, who is going to buy those pictures? " I didn't have an answer at the time, but the future is now, and they are published on the internet.

Check out www.oldrockphoto.com.

I hope you enjoy what I have captured on film.

More Photos from Ken Davidoff:

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 11th, 2010 at 11:02 am and is filed under Counter-Culture, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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