Mon 11/2 @ 7PM
There’s something special about getting the middle finger from Lou Reed.
Just ask Cleveland rock photographer Janet Macoska, who more than 40 years ago caught the famously cantankerous singer – replete with dark sunglasses – in a predictable prickly mood that culminated with giving her the bird.
That moment is just one of 340 photographs featured in Macoska’s new book All Access Cleveland: The Rock and Roll Photography of Janet Macoska. However, the collection offers more than just irreverent intimacy, with memorable concert shots including David Bowie, the Clash, Led Zeppelin, DEVO, Hall & Oates, the Kinks, Alice Cooper, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, Genesis, U2 and Metallica.
With that type of resume, it’s no surprise Macoska’s work can be seen in the Smithsonian, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the Grammy Museum and in Hard Rock properties all around the world (including in Northfield).
Cool Cleveland talked to the native Clevelander about her 40-plus years of photography and her debut book, which combines iconic imagery with entertaining, behind-the-scenes stories.
First of all, how long has a career retrospective been on your radar?
I turned 60 last year, so it had been percolating for a long time. I started talking to different publishers for the last decade, and publishers said traditional coffee table books were becoming a thing of the past. So I said, “OK, there has to be another way other than a traditional photo book.” It didn’t occur to me until last year that the formula was kind of based on Facebook. When I would post a photo and put up a story, people loved that stuff. I thought, “OK, people want the stories behind the photos, which is great. But they want things in little bits they can ingest and have good memories about and chime in with their memories and then they move on.” So this is basically Facebook in a book. The other part of the great process was with my buddy Peter Chakerian helping me with this. It only took eight months from start to finish to make this book. That’s unheard of.
What was it like digging in the vault and revisiting old photos?
There were some photos I really had never scanned or printed or anything. For example, in 1983, U2 was at Music Hall. The way I shot something was shoot a couple rolls of film, go into the darkroom and find a couple of photos I really liked. In that case it was Bono. So I really had never gone back to find the other guys but they were all there. So what you get in the book is a couple of Bono shots I really liked at the time but you get the whole picture, including Bono jumping into the orchestra pit at Music Hall to get closer to the fans. So I got to look at my photos really in a whole new way.
As far as the intimate non-concert photos, how did you get access to the rock stars of the day?
I started in 1974 and I’m about the age of all the bands who are coming through. Back then there are no minders, people preventing you from getting to these bands. The record labels locally had power to make that happen. What often happened is I would get hired by the label to spend the day with Lou Reed or Debbie Harry. The artist would come into Cleveland, I’d get into the car and we’d go to the radio station, record stores, record distributors and work a record. And then you maybe end the day with a party at Swingos. So I’d just be hanging with them the whole time. It doesn’t create a friendship but an intimacy or comfort with me being around. And that’s what you need to get some good shots.
Do any of the photos stand out as being simply in the right place at the right time?
Lou Reed giving me the finger is Lou Reed giving me the finger. He didn’t intend necessarily to snap that shot but I figured fair was fair and I did that. The shots I did with Debbie Harry, it wasn’t a spoken intention, it was just we were hanging out and we’d see something like a metal fence and I picked up a camera and she did something. Those are collaborations. It’s not a sensational picture. The whole DEVO shoot on the streets of Akron are like that because I know what I intended to do. I intended to take DEVO on the streets of Akron so music papers in England could see what Akron looked like. That’s what they wanted.
What do you hope readers of the book take away from your career?
What I see happening is that it’s really connecting emotionally to a lot of people. They come back after they’ve gotten the book and grab my hand and thank me. They almost have tears in their eyes. I’m not kidding. It becomes a document of my 40 years shooting rock ’n’ roll plus many of the stories, plus it gives you spotlights on things that are uniquely Cleveland like Swingos, Jane Scott, the World Series of Rock and the Agora. What the book is doing is connecting with people in a real, real way. It’s touching them emotionally and allowing them to re-experience in those times.
Finally, when you look back at your wealth of photos from the last 40 years, is there a common thread through your work?
Janet Macoska is a fan who became a freelance photographer covering rock ’n’ roll, and I believe that’s the way I shot it. I shot it so all of those people would look like rock stars. I don’t want them to look bad. I want them to look like people we put up on pedestals. And when I talk about it, that’s what I want you to get from it: Unless you’re getting the finger from Lou Reed.
Janet Macoska and Peter Chakerian will be hosting a talk and book signing at Mon 11/2 @ 7:30pm at the Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern. It’s free.
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106