IconIc rock photographer neal preston on musIc and the meanIng behInd hIs artBy C. Moon Reed photogRaphy anthony MaiR

A Life Behind the Lens

hard rock hotel & casino Fall 2012 51

How does it feel to have beenshootingformorethan40years? The people in my generation arenow the elder statesmen of all ofthis, which is why everybody who’sever been in the record business isnowdoingadocumentaryorwritinga book. When you’ve been in thebusinessaslongasIhave,sinceIwas17,you’reacceptedwithouttrying.Imean,I’vebeenaround longerthanmostmusicians.[Laughs.]

Doyoustillshootfilm? Whenever possible. I don’t likethewaydigitallooks.Ithinkpeopleare pleasantly surprised [by film],especiallywomen.There’sadiffer-ent quality, it’s not so uber sharp.It’s more pleasing for people’scomplexions.

Whydoviewersgetsopassionateaboutyourphotography? I always tell people, “It’s not

me you’re impressed with; it’s thepeopleinmyphotos.Ijustpressthebutton.” There’s a voracious appe-titethatthepublichasforanythingthatreeksof“behindthescenes”or“whatreallyhappened.”Iliketocallit,“Everyonewantstotouchtheguywhotouchedtheguy.” Who’syourfavoriteband?

My favorite band right now isTheCramps.

tevieNicksishismuse,soyouknowhehasgoodtaste.AndhetouredwithLedZeppelin,TheWho,QueenandBruceSpringsteen,soyouknowhe’sseenitall.Perhaps itwillcomeasasurprisethen,thatPeople’smost-assignedphotojournalistwouldexperienceloveatfirstsight.

NealPreston,thegodofrock’n’rollphotographers,fellinlovewiththeHardRockHotel&Casinothedayitopened.Heworkedthatfirstweekendshootingtheresort’sfirstconcerts,nearly20yearsago,andfromthosefirstmomentsheknewitwaswherehewantedhisphotosdisplayed.Thefeelingwasmutual. Today,Preston’sphotos—anextensiveandexquisitevisualcatalogofmusicalgreatness—areeverywhere:inthesportslounge;onthevideoscreenbehindthereceptiondesk;onthegallerywallacrossfromHart&Huntingtontattoos;onelevatorlandings;andinhotelrooms.Thereareabout70inall.“It’sstartingtobealittletoomuchformeandmyowngood,”Prestonjokes,andthenadds,“I’mproudtohavemystuffhere.” SowhenPrestonwantedtocelebratehis60thbirthdayonJune22henaturallychosetheHardRockHotelforhisparty.(Healsospenthis50thbirthdayattheHardRockHotel,andwastheretoseeTheWhotheweekendbassistJohnEntwistledied.)Ontheoccasionof thismilestone,Hard Rock Hotel magazinevisitedPreston intheSex&Pistolssuitetochatabouthislifebehindthelens.

s

Two of Neal Preston’s front-men favorites, Freddie Mercury (top, in 1978) and Iggy Pop (in studio, circa 1975), and leading lady Stevie Nicks (opposite page, during a music-video shoot in Hollywood in 1982).

52 hard rock hotel & casino Fall 2012

IoncetoldPeteTownshendthatI wasn’t listening to anything re-corded after 1972. He said, “You’reoutofyourmind.”Ihavesincecomearoundalittlebit.

Whatbandsdoyoulikepost-1972? I have pretty eclectic tastes. It’smoreofwhatIdon’tlike.Idon’tlikehip-hop,andIdon’tlikejazz.Every-thingelseisfairgame.Ihavelotsoflittleguiltypleasures,whichIwon’tsharewithyou.[Laughs].TheWhoandTheBeatlesaremyfavorites.Itend toward straight-ahead rock,theolderstuff.I’vegottenintoPinkFloydlately.

Who do you like photographingnow,otherthanStevieNicks? I’vestarteddoingalotofglamourphotography—shooting womenjust because I love doing it. I don’thave any pet projects that I’ve shotfor years and not told anyone. Youknowsomephotographers:I’ve never showed this to anyone but I’ve shot people with hangnails for the last 40 years.I’mastraight-aheadcommercialphotog-rapher. No gerbils with whips andchains.

Wouldthosebeminiwhips? Tinylittlenippleclamps.[Laughs.]Well, we are in the Sex & PistolsSuite.

There are bands you love andbandsyoulovetophotograph.Isthereanyoverlap? Thereissomeoverlap.Thesinglegreatest guy to photograph is PeteTownshend. Jimmy Page is a veryclose second. Normally, one hasnothingtodowiththeother.IfyougotoaWhoconcertoryoudoases-sionwithJimmyPageandyoudon’tcome away with something great,thenyouhavenotalent.

Of all your photos on display intheHardRockHotel,what’syourfavorite? I love the three pictures of Mi-chael Jackson playing basketball as akid. They’re in the new sportsbooklounge.TheoneofLedZeppelinwiththedryiceismysinglefavoriteone.

Isthereastorybehindthatphoto? I remember taking this photo,whichisunusualbecauseI’vetakenso many photos I don’t remembereverything. [Page] caught my eye,rightafterhetookadragonaciga-rette.Hecamewalkingovertome,andIthought,“WhyisJimmyPageabouttotalktomeduringashow?AmIfired?”Hecomesoverandhepointstothefrontrowandhegoes[PrestondonsaBritishaccent], “Isthat the tour doctor over there?”We had a doctor on the road withus in ’77—Dr. Larry. He had a bagofgoodiesallthetime.JimmylooksandheseesDr.Larrysurroundedbyfivehotgirls.Andhesaystome,“Isthat the doctor? Is that the doctordown there?” I go, “Yeah, Jimmy,that’s the doctor. Is everything allright?” And he says, “Fuck me, hepulls more birds than anybody inthis fucking band.” Then he walksawayanddoesasearingguitarsolo.People love hearing the storiesbehindalotofthis.Itneverfailstoamazeme.I’mtooclosetoit.

Whatdoyoufindmeaningfulasaphotographer? I’m in a good position because Ihavealegacy.Someofthesephotosmeana lottocertainpeople—fans.I’mproudofthefactthatwhenI’mgone, this is the stuff that lives on.It’s a big job, managing those files,taking care of them, protectingthemandensuringthattheyremainingoodshape.Alotofmynegativesare in a little funky condition. If Ihad it all to do over again, I wouldnever have hired so many differentdarkroom people or used so manydifferent labs. I would have madesure they took care of the analogmaterial,becausesomeof it’sfilthyand scratched, which is what hap-pens when you’ve been printingnegatives for 40 years. The morethey’re handled, the worse shapetheygetinto.

Whatgivesyoupleasure? Letting people look at photosthat they’ve never seen before, ofwhichIhavealot.Itgivesmeplea-suregivingpeoplepleasure.Iknow

hard rock hotel & casino Fall 2012 55

From Neal Preston’s 1977 studio session in Hollywood with KISS.

Neal Preston and Cameron Crowe met backstage at a Yes concert when they were about 20 and 14, respectively. That meeting sparked a lifelong personal friendship and professional partnership—from divvying up writing and photography duties for Rolling Stone magazine articles to, more recently, Preston shooting the stills for Crowe’s movies. In Vegas for Preston’s birthday party, Crowe discusses his deep appreciation for his best friend’s photography. Neal never alters his flavor for any artist. He’s this completely enter-taining guy who loves music, who contributes to the vibe of whoever he’sphotographing.Sothere’saninsider’slookthathe’salwaysgivenbecausetheyliketheingredientthathebringstomusicandtotheexperienceofthehumantheater. He immediately joins the circus, and the circus is part of him andhe’spartofthecircus,andthat’swhatyou’reseeinginhisphotos.There’saningredientofescapadethatcomeswithNealwhenyouinvitehimonatour.Nealispartofthecarnival,andhe’salsothechroniclerofthecarnival.He’spartiallytheclownandpartiallythehardestworkingguyonthetour. IalwayslovedbeinginateamwithNeal.Hewasthe journalistthatdidn’thaveapen—hehadhisphotos.AndIwastheonewiththepen.Buttogether we would analyze everything. It’s just great to have a gunslingerpartnerwhendoingastory. The reason why Neal’s photos still matter is their authenticity.There’sforeveraquestofauthenticity.Neal’sphotos—andalotofthesto-riesthatwedidintheday—reallywereaboutdocumentingatimebeforeitallgotover-branded.Itsureis nice to have a documentof that time, and that is whypeople beat a path to yourdoor to look at these photos.They’re snapshots from themuseumofauthenticity. I feel a complete lack ofjadedness.WhenIseeNeal’sstuff, it’s like I see somebodythat really fucking loved be-ingthereandcouldn’tbelievehowmuchfunitwastoactu-allyfindsomebodywhowouldevenpayyoutodoit—becausewe would do it for free. Wewoulddefinitelydoitforfreeanddidalotofthetime. HetookapictureofMar-vinGayethattometellstheguy’swholelifestoryinonelook. It ended up being thecover of Rolling Stone for the “Death of Marvin” issue, sadly. I think thatMarvin died about nine months after he took the picture. From all theresearch,MarvinGayewasanextremelyshyguy.Andhewasinthehousewherehewouldlaterdieinthelivingroom,thehousethatheboughtforhisparents.ItwasjustarandomphotosessionforPeople,andMarvinGayedidn’tdothatmany.Nealgoesinforatightshotofhim,andit’sreallypow-erful.Ithinkalotofpeoplewould[prefer]thatJimmyPage/JackDaniel’sshot,which isamazing.AndI rememberbeing in thehallwaywhenNealwastakingthephotoandthinking,“Thatisfuckingclassic.”ButtheMarvinGayeshotistheoneforme.

– C. Moon Reed

preston perspectIve from hIs best frIend, cameron crowe

what it means to be a fan.And Ijust love when people go, “Oh myGod,I’veneverseenthatphotoofStevie before,” or “I’ve never seenthatphotoofStevenTylerbefore.”

When I see these rare old pho-tos, it’s like going back in timeandbringingbackanewartifact. It’s a time capsule. Every once ina while, I’ll come across some nega-tives thatI’veneverprintedorneverscannedbecausetheywerejustoldandpoorly processed, and I didn’t knowwhatIwasdoingwhenIwas18.Now,throughthewondersoftechnology,wecanscanthoseframes,andIcanbringsomethingtolifethatevenI’veneverseen.ThatphotoofJanisJoplin[Pres-tonsayswhilepointingtohisiPad]hadto be rescued from an insanely filthynegative.GodknowswhatIwasusingforchemicalsbackthen.

Shoepolish? Yeah!Wealwaysusedtojokethat

when you soup film you’re not sup-posedtodoitinsoup.Italmostseemslike I was. But bringing stuff to lifethatevenI’veneverseenisablast.

Sonow,partofyourjobiscurator? Definitely. It wasn’t designedthat way, it just kind of happened.Thereare24legal-sizefour-doorfilecabinets in my house that requireconstant attention. It’s worse thanhavingadogkennel.

You’vedonesomanyshootsoverthe years. Did you ever photo-graphTheBeatles? No,that’salittlebeforemytime.I shot Paul individually, Georgeindividually and Ringo individually.Never photographed John, nevermet John. One of my big regrets isthat I never got to meet John Len-non.MaybeI’llseehimupthere.

So, ironically, of all the concertphotographyandmusiciansyou’ve

shot,youdidnotgettomeetyourfavorite? Pete Townshend, yes. John Len-non,no.Ifitwasn’tforJohnLennon,wewouldn’tbehere.GodknowswhatI’dbedoingasacareer.Butthatfate-fulnightin1964,whentheywereonEdSullivan, that’s thenuclearbombthatchangedmylife.

Did you get that new Yellow Sub-marine album? They just remas-teredit. No.That’soneoftheworstBea-tles albums. Give me Rubber Soulor Revolver or something like that.I got very into [The Who’s] Qua-dropheniaboxset.ItendtogobacktothestuffthatIknowandlove.Idon’tgivenewmusicachancethatoften.ButI’mthelastonetotalk—whatIlikeiswhatIlike.

Neal Preston’s photography is available for purchase in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino gift shop.

More classic moments from the Neal Preston collection (opposite page from top): Clarence Clemons and Bruce Springsteen backstage at the Los Angeles Coliseum, 1985; Chaka Khan at the beach, circa 1975. (This page) Madonna in a Miami dressing room, 1985; Red Hot Chili Peppers backstage at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, 1980; Elton John at the Los Angeles Forum, 1974; and Marvin Gaye in his parents’ house in L.A., 1982.

56 hard rock hotel & casino Fall 2012