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Kevin Stewart

Editor’s note: Roger Charles New York – Fall 2 Collection is now available. To see the shirtmakers latest collection and to place an order log on: www.RogerCharlesNewYork.com.

Rod Stewart 1973

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Posted on September 21, 2011 by Tony Ward

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CHARLES GATEWOOD INTERVIEW

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TW: What do you find most compelling about the medium of Photography?

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CG: I’m a card-carrying voyeur, and my exotic subjects excite me. My camera is a passport to adventure and creative fun. I am my own boss. I have never had a “job.” I travel the world, do whatever I please, photograph famous people, and have kinky sex with beautiful punkettes. ‘Nuff said!

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TW: You have covered a variety of subject areas in your involvement in Photography. Which of these subject areas do you find the most compelling and worthy of further exploration?

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CG: I’ve been photographing almost fifty years, and I’ve covered lots of subjects. Most of my work is about people and behavior, and I’ve spent many years documenting alternative culture in all its ragged glory. My extended photo essays include 60s counterculture, rock and roll (I shot for Rolling Stone and Crawdaddy), the radical sex community, and tattooing, piercing and body art (I helped launch the “new tribalism” movement by sparking the RE/Search book Modern Primitives). I also did lots of traditional photojournalism in the 60s and 70s.
One of my favorite extended photo essays is Wall Street, shot between 1972-1976. This work is more formal, and more about social conditioning, societal control, corporate excess, and fascist architecture. Which subjects do I find most compelling today? Barely-legal girls, ha ha.

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Jimmy Page and William Burroughs, 1975

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TW: How do you think the medium of photography has impacted popular culture at large?

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CK: Are you serious?

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TW: What was it like to encounter William S. Burroughs as a subject in your work?

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CG: In January, 1972, Rolling Stone sent me and writer Bob Palmer to London to do a feature article on William Burroughs. Talk about a dream assignment. We spent a week with Burroughs, smoked hash, stared into the Dream Machine, played with the E-meter, and dug all Burroughs’ best rants and stories. Rolling Stone liked the story so much they asked me to be their New York photographer.
I shot Burroughs again in NYC, 1975, for Crawdaddy. He and musician Jimmy Page met for tea and chat before a Led Zepp concert. I got great shots from that shoot too.
All my best William Burroughs photographs are in my brand-new book BURROUGHS 23 (www.burroughs23.com). The handmade books were released just a week ago, and already we’ve sold nine of the 23 copies. If you want one, act fast!
PS…I made a similar artist’s book about Dylan with photos from my 1966 Stockholm shoot (www.ACompleteUnknown.com).

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Burroughs

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TW: Are you equally compelled to photograph men and women. If not, which gender do you prefer to photograph and why?

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CG: For most of my career, I’ve photographed everyone. Today, I mostly photograph gorgeous women. Wouldn’t you?

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TW: How has photography broadened or defined your view of today’s world?

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CG: Like totally!

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Charles Gatewood

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TW: If you could turn back the hands of time, would you have chosen another profession?

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CG: No, no, no. I do enjoy creative writing, but at heart I’m a picture guy.

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TW: Describe the feeling of taking a great picture? What happens at that moment?

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CG: Well, for me the creative act is a wonderful high, especially if the subject is exotic or sexy. I go into what I call “magic space.” Psychologists call it “flow.” Athletes call it “being in the zone.” It’s an exhilarating feeling. Time stands still, there is total communion with the subject, and the creative process (right framing, angle, moment) is like a beautiful zen dance. I work it, work it, work it—and suddenly there it is, my shot!

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TW: How do you define Photography as Art?

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CG: Andy Warhol said, “Art is anything you can get away with.” I agree!

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Greatest Hits

Editor’s Note: To learn more about Charles Gatewood’s work log on, www.CharlesGatewood.com

www.TonyWardStudio.com

Posted on August 26, 2011

Debut: CD Release

Posted on April 30, 2011

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……….In The Blond, will be releasing their debut CD this evening at the legendary Dobbs, 304 South Street, Philadelphia. Rehearsals leading up to tonight’s debut performance went swimmingly well and the band is looking forward to the excitement of sharing their new music with the world. Schooly D is MC’ing the show which begins at 8:00 PM.

Debut: CD Release

Posted on April 17, 2011

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………..In The Blonde, will be releasing their debut CD this month at the legendary Dobbs, 304 South Street, Philadelphia, on April 30th, 2011. Rehearsals are getting Erika Schiff excited for the show and we are asking friends of the studio to come out to support the band. Schoolly D is MC’ing the show and rumor has it – he will be throwing something down during one of the duo’s songs too. The show begins at 8PM and A.D. Amorosi is hosting the after party upstairs.
Tickets: http://www.ticketfly.com/calendar/?q=In+the+blonde (discount for purchasing online)

Erika Schiff

Posted on April 13, 2011

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TW: When did you first learn that you could really sing?

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ES: I am still in the process of learning that. The love for singing and music was ALWAYS there, I always knew I would be involved in music. I am just finally at the point where I stopped questioning why, stopped being so shy about it. I feared that it was for attention, was it to prove that I could? I’ve ventured into other fields may times because there is a constant mental push and pull with me that I should or shouldn’t be doing this. I feel artists need and should want to create regardless of outside validation…and I finally accepted that this is just who I am, this is what I do and it should be shared because people need it. And it is certainly for the love of it that I am involved. I am very hard on myself so there was never a pinnacle moment a light bulb went off and I suddenly knew I could sing. I guess you could say other people started noticing when I was little, maybe 3 years old. It’s all relative though, what is good, what is not, ya know? It depends on what one is trying to say.

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TW: Who encouraged you the most to pursue your musical dream?

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ES: There’s been many influences and “signs” but the most constant throughout the years has been my mom. She has watched me struggle with my own insecurities and has always been a little pushy when she saw me slacking…I guess she figured that if I was losing faith in myself then someone else had to remind me that they never did. I think there’s some things in life she wanted to try but didn’t for the reasons most people don’t. When I was younger my immediate family and I went through some major challenges. Sometimes it takes a tragedy for people to finally realize how crazy it is to NOT pursue your dreams. My mom and I lived through this together so we have this perspective together. When I see the smile on her face, it’s so much more than just a smile. I know exactly what we are both thinking.

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TW: What do you find the most challenging: to sing or to act?

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ES: Singing is definitely more of a comfort zone because I have done it so much more. I am told I have a certain naturalness about me with acting and that may be true but it is still very raw. Still, singing always presents itself with new challenges…every situation is different! I am constantly gigging with new people all the time so I have to be ready for anything and on my toes.  Also, when I am singing it is ME as a person, especially when it comes to my own songs. There is no hiding. With acting, not only am I no longer Erika…but I am interpreting someone else’s work. That is a comfort within itself. If neither of them had challenges then it would no longer be fun. In a nutshell, to answer your question…acting

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Erika Schiff

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TW: I know that you write your own songs. Where does the inspiration come from to write the particular songs that you do?

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ES: Now that’s a loaded question!!! From life. From things that move me, things that make me feel something, anything. Things I go through that I think other people go through as well. Wisdom I am gaining as I go…thoughts I have that I think can help someone other than myself. For IN THE BLONDE a lot of what’s written were things Jimmy and I were experiencing together which was pretty neat.

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TW: We met at BarNoir during the early nineties. What was your most memorable evening at the night spot?

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ES: I think Dennis Hopper once said, “If you can remember the 60′s then you weren’t having any fun.”  That was Bar Noir. I met owner David Carroll he first night I was in there, he asked if I wanted to be a “Bar Noir Girl.” I was totally guarded and said get the fuck out of here, ha ha. He’s been one of my dearest friends since. That place was crazy, I loved it. It had everything…gay, strait, black, white, doctors, construction men… You could be anyone you wanted to be and it was okay. And there was never a dull moment, David would bring in a famous artist to use the walls as a canvas and create some amazing painting over the entire place…only to have a new artist completely paint over it a month later. That’s how that place worked. Nothing was constant, it was always moving, changing and evolving, like the people that inhabited it. Everyone that worked there was a character. By being there often I learned a lot about myself and who I wanted to be…

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Erika Schiff

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TW: What was it like for you to compete on American Idol?

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ES: It was bizarre, fun, challenging… I had never sung in front of so many influential and known people at once in my entire life. It was so strange being in front of the celebrity judges the first time because two of them were people I grew up watching and now they were watching and critiquing me. How weird! Steven Tyler asked to hear one of my own songs but then Randy said to just do what I had prepared first…Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness.” Jennifer Lopez told me, “You have one of the most unique voices that I’ve heard…and trust me, we’ve heard a lot.” My Idol experience happened throughout the Fall/Winter of 2010…and it continues. It is a process, you don’t just go to one audition and your through, but you have to keep it all secret until it airs. Well it airs starting in January, by then I had already moved on to other projects I was pursuing…but you forget that it’s like literally the biggest show in the entire world, it’s nuts. So I’m still kind of in this whole American Idol bubble, ha ha. It never ends! 

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TW: Describe the feeling you had when you acted alongside Morgan Fairchild?

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ES:
I had no idea what to expect. I was kind of nervous at first…here I am acting alongside a television icon…in comparison having had so little experience myself. I arrived on set the morning of and we did a short rehearsal of the scene which involved Morgan, Suzanne Westenhoefer, Rebecca Staab and Jessica Clark. Morgan modified the script a little…she thought her idea made a little more sense and it totally did, not to mention it really spiced up the scene! I won’t tell you what it was but I can tell you it is really funny and she is directing it towards me. Morgan is a pretty serious person though, very focused on the work and in conversation much into politics and the environment. However when we shot the scene I was completely at ease and all my nerves seemed to kind of just disappear. I play high-end escort “Ella” who is an aspiring singer and dreams of one day leaving the “biz” for bigger things. Morgan is the my Madam/Talent Manager “Valentina.” I sang part of one of my songs “For a Good Time” in the scene and Morgan’s looking at me kinda groovin to it, love it!

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Erika Schiff

TW: Describe your best mental asset.

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ES: My ability to be hyper focused. Once I am passionate and into something I get total tunnel vision. I become meticulous, have a great attention for detail and expect %150 percent from myself all the time. It’s not just that I like things to be great, it’s that I enjoy the process and sometimes feel like I can’t stop. It will be on my mind until it is complete. Getting in that zone gives me such a feeling of accomplishment and wholeness. Recording the IN THE BLONDE album, and actual album design and artwork was a great example of this. The recording process was an amazing time of growth for me. I’m used to going into the studio as a hired gun and obsessing about things being “right” or “perfect.” Perhaps with help through both the recent acting training and my friend/producer Derek Chafin’s coaching I learned to not be as concerned with my vocals and instead put that extreme focus on giving myself more emotionally. I also did the art direction and illustration for the album itself and I get that same, focused thing with drawing and design too. It only took a few days to complete but I don’t think I spoke to anyone or slept in those few days either!  In the same regard I am the opposite with things that do not interest me, haa ha. 

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TW: Describe your best physical asset.

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ES: This is a hard one for me, I don’t really know! People used to say my lips but lately I get eyes. I’m not sure what changed the focus, ha ha. If you ask me it’s my brain! I don’t think I am the most beautiful girl in the world, there’s plenty of pretty people out there. I think I become more attractive to people as they get to know me because I am real, down to earth, very open-minded and I can’t help but to wear my heart on my sleeve, maybe even too much. 

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TW: Which is the most important of the two?

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ES: Unless your making a living solely on your looks, physical beauty means nothing to me without truly caring about something other than yourself. As long as the people you love are as attracted to you as you are to them then that’s all that matters. 

Editor’s Note: Erika and her band, In The Blond will be releasing their debut CD this month at the legendary Dobbs, 304 South St., Philadelphia, on April 30th, 2011.