Working for Music Express required new learning on my part. I had never worked with Black and White film before. All my experience up to now had been with color slides. Color is so exacting and precise, wheras Black and White can be very flexible and forgiving. This came in handy after my first interview with Keith Sharp. He had aranged to interview Randy Backman when BTO were playing Calgary. I was so excited because this was my first working interview that I didn't make the correct F Stop calculations for a new flash unit. As a result, the pictures were way under exposed. I burned the hell out of those negatives to get something that was passable for the magazine. I didn't tell Keith about my mistake for another six months. When I brought it up later he confessed that at the time I showed him the pictures, he thought that they were underexposed but he didn't know why. I never made that mistake again. In truth, I wasn't too worried about being let go because I knew that there was no money to get anyone with more experience.
The Alternative High School, which I attended, was perfect for someone like me, The staff made it easy for me to do my class assignments and work for Music Express. It was typical for me to be in the middle of a class only to have the principal, Wayne Boss, walk in and notify me that Keith Sharp had called and an interview was on for the afternoon. Few schools would have been so accommodating.
While photographing rock groups was exciting, it also came with its dangers. While photographing The Who in Edmonton on Oct 16, 1976, the group was late starting because of problems getting enough power for the laser beams they employed during the song, Wont Get Fooled Again. As the waiting wore on, fans started throwing glass bottles toward the stage area. On another occasion, rowdy fans were waiting to see Styx in the Jubilee Auditorium, an opera house in Calgary. When the doors did not open at the appointed time they became upset as rock fans will, and made their feelings known by shouting. At this time the announcer let them know that the group would not appear because their truck had broken down. There is nothing more dangerous than being at a rock concert with people waiting when they find out the concert is not going to happen. Luckily, the opening act, Montrose, agreed to to a mini concert and a potential crisis was averted. The most eventful concert for me was Queen at the Jubilee Auditorium on March 17, 1977.
This opera house was small for a group of Queen's stature in that it only seated about 3,500. During the middle of the concert, someone pushed me down and started kicking my legs and punching me in the face. After a few seconds, while I was still on my back, I looked up to see Bear standing overhead. This was not his real name, but the nickname he went by, by virtue of his size. As a staff member the promoter, Brimstone Productions, Bear (Garth Werschler) was the one chosen to give the circus like announcement to the audience that the group was ready to perform. As his nickname suggests he was the kind of friend you would want if you were threatened or in danger. Bear lifted up my attacker tightly in his arms in front of the stage and walked towards the back stage. Rather than push open the swivel doors that lead to the backstage Bear hurled my atackers body head first at the door with all his might. While the force of the impact opened the door it also made a crater the size of his head. When the concert was over Bear took me out through the back stage for security reasons. I still remember walking past the dressing rooms beside the Green Room. A bouncer type stood outside this area and you could read signs above four doors that read "Fredie, Brian, Roger and John".
