Lensman Jay Blakesberg has captured some of the most important cultural moments of bands, musicians and insulated communities of the 20th and 21st centuries. It began in 1978, when the teenager sold his first photographs of The Grateful Dead to a small newspaper in New Jersey.
Since then, Blakesberg’s photographs have been shown worldwide in galleries, and he will be in person for a special showing at the Nicely Gallery on April 3 for a meet and greet.
We wouldn’t even have a lot of our rock and roll memories if it weren’t for the photographers. Would we even remember the iconic shot of Jimi Hendrix praying (or something) over his burning guitar at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival if it weren’t for photographer Ed Caraeff?
And while Caraeff might not be the name you associate with rock and roll photographers (his work is legion), even the names you do recognize only shoot for a brief period of their career. Blakesberg hasn’t stopped for forty years. “Even big-name people like Jim Marshall had careers that were at the most 18 years long, before they phased it out and went into the legacy phase and not shooting as much,” says Blakesberg from the road.
Blakesberg was more often sweating alongside you at concerts. Holding his own in the swaying front row as he tried to capture magic. It’s a noble, gritty profession, and moving to the Bay Area allowed the Jersey-bred Blakesberg to see a wide array of incredible bands.
“People didn’t have big ears the way they have them today. I remember being at a Butthole Surfers concert in the late 80s. I’m at the I-Beam in San Francisco and the guy next to me was like, what else do you shoot? Told him I’m going to shoot three Grateful Dead concerts at the Greek Theater next month and he couldn’t grasp it,” says Blakesberg.
These days, Spotify allows listeners to float between Snoop Dogg, alternative rock, punk rock, the Grateful Dead, classic rock and the Beatles. “Their breadth of fandom is much wider,” notes Blakesberg.
At his core, Blakesberg was drawn to the heady Grateful Dead scene of the 1980s, all the way to the bittersweet end of the Jerry Garcia era in 1995 and beyond. Blakesberg was a noted fixture. The long-haired tie-dyed Blakesberg was always there in the parking lot of Oakland Coliseum, and the hallways of Madison Square Garden, and in the fields of Lewiston, Maine. Like a scribe with a camera.
Sometimes, if a photographer is lucky enough to graduate from the field to stage, it’s born out of quality and perseverance.
For longtime deadhead Blakesberg, the opportunity came in 1990. “Bob Weir had a musical partner named Rob Wasserman,” says Blakesberg.
“Rob was making a record called Trios. And I was doing most of the photography for Trios. When Rob and Bob decided to start doing a duo thing called Weir Wasserman, and Wasserman’s manager, referred me to do the publicity photos. That was the first time a member of the Grateful Dead paid me money to photograph them”
For a working photographer, you need to be out in the wild, searching for the sound, style and next big thing.
In the late 1980’s, Blakesberg starting shooting Soundgarden, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Flaming Lips and later, Pearl Jam and Jane’s Addiction.
Blakesberg found himself at the pivotal moment when grunge was blowing up, like a flanneled Forrest Gump. But he was still shooting the Grateful Dead and those worlds didn’t really mix at the time.
It was in the mid-1980s that Blakesberg starting getting some assignments from Rolling Stone magazine.
“My first assignment was U2. My next assignment, a few weeks later, was in LA with Roseanne Cash playing at the Roxy. And then the benefit in Oakland called Blues for Salvador. That was Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Boz Scaggs, and Tower of Power. I took an incredible photograph backstage of Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Bill Graham.
And even though it’s a snapshot flash on camera, it’s become somewhat of an iconic photograph. I was really trying to make a living as a photographer, and I was shooting everything that I could,” Blakesberg concludes.
Jay Blakesberg will be appearing beside his work, starting at 4pm on Friday, April 3 at the Nicely Gallery, 1349 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz. The exhibit runs March 15-June 30. More information at firstfridaysantacruz.com/event/jay-blakesberg
