Mike McCartney's Liverpool-- SIXTIES Black and White contains 65 photographs. Captions are as follows:
My First Photograph!
After borrowing the Kodak Brownie box camera to record low-flying seagulls the size of GIANT Albatrosses (!) over 20 Forthlin Road's back garden, I took the film to be developed at the chemists, resulting in this tiny black smudge above the Police Training College (!), which made me think: "there must be more to photography than meets the eye!" As there were no Bresson, Brandt or Bailey videos on photography in those days, I got the 86 bus up to Allerton Library, where I took out all the available books on photography and set about to learn my art.
Me and 1st Camera, Plus 1st MJQ Album, Plus Octopus!
After I read the books from Allerton Library, it was time to "experiment" with photography. Taken on my first Retina 2-1/4 pop-out camera bought in Koln, Germany, on a school exchange trip, this is one of my first self-portraits in the bedroom mirror of 20 Forthlin Road. In the foreground, next to my octopus, is the RCA album by John Lewis, Percy Heath and Connie Kayrecorded before they became the MJQ.
Me and 2nd Camera
Can't even remember the name of my second 35 mil camera (plus viewfinder), but the National Trust of Great Britain would be fascinated with this image, taken in the front parlour mirror of Forthlin Road. When they bought our old home, they had great trouble tracing and buying the false brick wallpaper, which the mirror is hanging on. In the end, they gave in, but my wife Ro suggested, "Why don't they paint it on the wall from your photograph?" (Over to you N.T.)
Me and 3rd Camera
This was me in my hairdressing days, i.e., a clean-cut, "reflective" me with Bobby (fan club secretary) Brown, taken by cable release on my Hamburg-bought Franke & Heidecke Rollei Magix twin-lens reflex camera in the bedroom mirrors of 20 Forthlin. This was the 2-1/4 square negative camera that got me into printing, but I didn't exactly have the right studio conditions. I couldn't afford an enlarger. My "darkroom" only became a dark room when it became dark outside! And my "dryer" was a string attached to these mirrors across my bedroom into the wardrobe cupboard, using ladies' hairdressing clips to secure the 2-1/4 square prints till they dried.
Me and 4th Camera (With 3 Eyes!)
Taken on my "Thank U Very Much" Nikon camera. It was so named after I rang my elder brother to thank him for his 1966 Christmas present of an expensive Nikon camera (in velvet-lined leather case!). Whilst I was waiting for him to pick up the phone, a ditty popped into my head. When he eventually picked it up, instead of talking, I sang the little ditty: "Thank U very much for the Nikon camera, thank U very, very, very much." The rest is (as they say in Albertan folk lore) history!
Liver Lines
The art (and problem!) of photographing your own, very familiar hometown is to present it in a brand new, original, unique way, i.e., it's virtually impossible! Here, to create a different view of Liverpool's famous Pierhead, I used the lines of a dockyard wall and fence to take the eye up to the Liver Buildings and their infamous Liver Birds.
Schoolboy Me and Liverpool Cathedral
Gaining illegal access to the new Art School roof, this is schoolboy Michael (plus leather patch on elbow!) using Liverpool's unfinished Anglican Cathedral (which loomed over our little heads for the whole of our school lives) as a backdrop. I would set my camera on its tripod, focus on my school friend, then swap places so he could press the cable release and record me for posterity!
The "INNY"
Liverpool people have a notorious habit of abbreviating anything. Hence, when I joined my new city centre school, the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, it quickly became the "Inny." The photograph not only shows the adjoining (black!) Art College (which I desperately wanted to go to) but also the Inny's upper and lower school yards and their "fives" courts and toilets for a thousand boys! Once, when I threw a water bomb from the upper to the lower yard and managed to drown a school prefect called Peter Sissons (now one of Britain's most famous news readers!), my reward was a caning from the head, Mr. J. R. Edwards, or the "BAZ"!!
"Elvis" Me Posing Over Liverpool
Moving along the Art School roof, it's me again, hiding my school uniform under my brown mac and trying to look like Elvis the Pelvis as much as possible! As backdrop this time I chose my school, the Liverpool Institute High School, plus lower playground and the distant Liver Buildings.
The "Alternative" School Photograph
This was my version of the official school photograph, which was usually taken in two halves -- 500 boys in the lower school and 500 boys in the upper school. Because we were about to leave the Inny, we were allowed to "goof around" a little, so this is me and classmates (plus Bin Lidon!) in the Upper Yard, which adjoined the Art School (where John, Stu, Cyn and Geoff Mohammed were ensconced).
Dad On Piano
A memory I've had all my life, but this is the only photograph of my Dad actually playing the piano. He was in great demand at parties (he was the family's mobile disco!) and there would always be two or three half pints of beer lined up for him on the top of the pianoto keep him going! Here, he's talking with his youngest sister, Ginny (Mac), in her twin set and pearls, whilst the other partygoers are patiently waiting with their "requests."
Dad And Dollies
This is a nice change, several years after Mum died, seeing a more relaxed side of Dad, "chilling out" with two lovely family friends at an Aunty Jin and Uncle Harry party at 147 Dinah's Lane, Huyton, Liverpool. The lady on the right is trying to tell us she might have had ONE too many shandys! As you can see, Dad was always "correctly" dressed, even at a family party!
Dad Doing The Crossword
As Dad usually didn't like his picture taken, I had to sneak up on him to get this image of him doing his beloved crossword in the front room of 20 Forthlin Road. The first photo hand-outs and gold disc of his eldest son are resting on his piano behind, but just as interesting are the off-cuts of carpet under his feet (as we couldn't afford a whole carpet to hide the holes) plus the armchair covers made by our aunties to stop the springs protruding through the arms from tearing our clothes to shreds!
2 Number 1's
After his "hard day at the office" (doing the accounts at Dad's A. Hanney & Co. cotton firm) and after her "hard day at the home" (doing our washing, ironing and cooking when Mum died), Uncle Albert and Auntie Milly, who journeyed across the River Mersey to help us out every alternate Monday, certainly deserved a rest! It was only years later that I realized this sneaked image of Dad's sister with her husband was of interest in that both of them were TOP OF THE POPS! Uncle Albert got a number one with Paul's group Wings and Auntie Milly (who "ran willy nilly") in Scaffold's number one hit Lily the Pink.
Nash Takes A Nap
A relaxing, meditative image of ex-Hollies singer Graham (Crosby, Stills, Young and) Nash on a train from Scotland en route to Liverpool, dreaming of his first Newcastle Brown beer! He, Alan Clarke and Scaffold stopped off at Newcastle to sample this then unknown strong ale, but before we even got to the pub, we spotted a tiny, one-man "Make Your Own Record" booth on the station platform and couldn't resist squeezing two Hollies and three Scaffold in to perform Tiny Tim's Tip Toe Through the Tulips at full falsetto. John "Tiz Waz" Gorman still has the "ScaffHolly" floppy discsomewhere!
Dreaming Up Poems
This is another sneaked image, this time of Scaffold member and poet Roger McGough, "resting" on the same train as Graham Nash en route to Liverpool from the east coast of Scotland. I have many fascinating photographs of Roger, but, sadly, he'll never see them as he lives in London.
My First CarA Classic!
Imagine being working-class, born into a vicious class-controlled system, with little (to no) hope of ever breaking out of the poverty in those days. Then imagine what it was like to take delivery of your first car, before you even turned 20, anda Ford Classic, too! Hence this proud pose in front of 20 Forthlin Road, Allerton, the house that the National Trust of Great Britain bought! At first, they weren't convinced they should buy a tiny home in the middle of a row of terraced houses, as they usually purchased castles, baronial halls and stately homes for the nation! But my photographs of this era (including this one) clinched the deal.
A "Classic" CarHead On!
Another proud pose in front of 20 Forthlin Road, Allerton. The road at the top of the picture is Mather Avenue, where the Queen tried to knock me down! And I think it's a Ford Popular that is passing -- the usual shape of cars in those days. That's why having a British racing green car with such sleek lines (!) twin headlights (!) a back window that went in (!) and small "American-style" fins at the back (!) was such a coup.
Ford Classic Through Mum's Net Curtains
When you've taken pictures of the front, back and sides of your new car, there's only one shot left -- from the top! Taken through the net curtains of Mum and Dad's bedroom at 20 Forthlin, this shows the "going in" back window, plus two lads heading towards the flats at the end of our road. One of them might be Terry Sylvester who, years later, replaced Graham Nash in The Holliessmall world!
A "Classic" Spaceship
A rear view of my Ford Classic (showing the British version of American fins) about to take off from Forthlin Road into the sunset. Note the old-fashioned cars of the day in cool contrast to my classy Classic. The flats on the right are where Terry Sylvester lived. What's even stranger, many years later, when Terry had finished with The Hollies, he ended up across the water of Merseyside in the next village road to me!
George's Jag
Being a working-class lad and having just bought a gleaming Jaguar to replace his Ford Anglia, it wasn't long before George knocked on our Forthlin Road front door. "Quick Mike, get your camera and take a picture of me with my new Jag." "But, George, it's getting dark!" I observed. "Bring your flash," said George. "And it's started to rain!" said I. "Bring your umbrella," said George.
A "Strange Car" Outside The House
It isn't often a car like the Queen of England's drives up to your home and stops! But when your elder brother joins a successful pop group, it happens more and more. Strangely, whenever the old-fashioned limo appeared, so did the fans, out of nowhere, clutching pens and paper. And look, they've even nicked our gate!
God Bless The Speeding Queen
Having missed the entrance of Her Majesty's Rolls Royce into Liverpool past the top of Forthlin Road in the late '50s, I was determined not to miss her going back to Liverpool Airport. When I first jumped out of the Mather Avenue tram lane bushes, I swear the security cops thought I was going to mow "Her Maj" down, but when they saw a school boy holding the family box camera, they allowed me to snap this fab pic of the Queen of England, waving regallyto anyone!
Cable Release Me, Bowlers And Light Bulb
This is me experimenting with light bulbs in the bedroom of 20 Forthlin Road. As you can see, I'm taking the photograph by cable release and it must have been taken during daylight, as I've wedged a blanket over the window! My hand-painted pelmet is above the blanket and some of my artwork adorns the walls, but please don't ask what I'm doing with two bowler hats!I have no idea. Dad did not wear a bowler. He wore a trilby (which could be why my son calls his rock 'n' roll band Trilby!).
Me In Bowler And Borrowed Leather Jacket
This is a young me (looking a little like my eldest son Josh) and dressing up for the occasion in big brother's leather jacket, plus black bowler hat (influenced by René Magritte!). Taken in my Forthlin bedroom (with artwork on the walls), this is my first attempt at something the library books called "bounce flash" on my first Koln pop-out camera. The cheap flashgun was a little too near, and as you can see, I nearly blew my eye out!
Me Under Chair
Not content with sitting for self-portraits, I took the mirror off its hinges, propped it up against the chair, and lay on the floor for this one! To the left you can see a bottle of developer, jug and fixer tray, and in the background, an "Operation BIG BEAT, Tower Ballroom, New Brighton" poster for Friday the 10th of November, 1961. This very poster was recently on sale at a Christie's auction for an incredible 4,000 6,000 pounds!! (Should have kept it!)
Me Times Three, Plus Peggy Lee
More light experimentation in my bedroom, this time using three mirrors and angling them to get me and three Scaffold nooses in the shot! (I must have just started with my group). Carefully arranged round the bottom of the image are family portraits, a House At Pooh Corner book, the Peggy Lee and George Shearing, plus Ray Charles In Person LPs and -- wait for it -- my octopus!
Me In Glasses With Octopus Head!
(Or first blond dreadlocks) The more interesting aspect of this rather out-of-focus image (taken on my hand-held first camera) is the bedroom wall behind me. Apart from the drawings I did to try to get into Art College, immediately behind my rasta locks, is the one (and only!) prize I got at my Liverpool Institute High School. Realizing that an academic career was not in the offing at the Inny, as the only thing I excelled at was art, unfortunately, I was now heavily into Surrealism and Salvador Dali. So, knowing my entrance for the school's big Hobbies Day Exhibition stood no chance, I had nothing to loose by sending in this drawing of me in a red, white and blue sky, plus army boots on the carpet and ONE finger protruding through the carpet! Strangely, Mr. (Stan) Reed gave me first prize!
Liverpool Party
One of our favourite Liverpool groups was the Fourmost because they tended to be less serious than the rest. This light bulb, top-lit image was taken during Paul's 21st party at Aunty Jin's home in Dinah's Lane, Huyton, Liverpool. Hank Marvin from The Shadows even turned up! But this image is Billy "Fourmost" Hatton enticing John Gorman and George (to name but two!) onto the dance floor.
Dressing Up Down The Cavern
Because the Fourmost were more comedic (i.e., had a laff on stage) they were one of the few groups that my brother and his chums mixed with on stage. This image was taken from the back of The Cavern by the entrance steps at a Christmas "do" with Mike (4most) Millwall borrowing George's jacket, Brian (4most) O'Hara borrowing Christmas cracker hat! I've just realized that, sadly, none of these young men are now with us.
PASSING MUZOS -- Jeff Beck On Geet
In nineteen hundred and frozen to death, Scaffold were the comedy comperes on a rock 'n' roll tour with Manfred Mann, the Yardbirds, Charlie and Inex Fox., Paul and Barry Ryan, Garry Farr & The T-bones, The Mark Leemon(ade) Five -- to name but one! This is a stage photograph of a young Jeff Beck (who had replaced Eric Clapton on guitar) with the Yardbirds. Jeff was one of the first guitarists I'd ever seen to experiment with the "feedback" of his guitar on the amps. The out-of-focus singer in the background is "Yardies" lead singer, Keith Relf (also no longer with us).
PASSING MUZOS The Flowering Hollies
Scaffold again providing the light relief (this time on a Hollies Paul Jones tour). My "Tommy Cooper" trick flowers had gone missing during the tour, but one evening they magically turned up in the middle of the Hollies' act! And this is Graham Nash (before Terry Sylvester nicked his job!) trying to figure out exactly where my flowers had appeared from!
'60s Liverpool Skyline
Because of the pollution and smog in those days, most of the buildings in Liverpool were black. This is a tramp, and a drunk, and a German girl in the gardens of St. George's Hall, city centre. To the right is the entrance of the "Queensway" Mersey Tunnel, and in the distance you can just make out the birds on top of the Liver Buildings, but this view today, from the same place, is totally unrecognizable!
Scaffold In Broken Windows
Left to right, Roger (poet and sailor's cap) McGough, Mike (straight man and sex god) McGear, and John (comedian and "Tiz Waz") Gorman in a Liverpool bomb site window, returning from a Peter Stringfellow gig in Sheffield, Yorkshire. Scaffold were originally a theatrical, university-style, satirical humour group, but I got them into the pop world by writing our first top-five song, Thank U Very Much (Prime Minister Harold Wilson's favourite song, even with the words "Thank U very much for the NAPALM BOMB" in it!), which led to the big number one Lily the Pink (with Tim Rice, Graham Nash, and Jack Bruce involvement) and finally to the top-10 hit, Liverpool Lou (produced by big brother).
Scaffold on Bomb Site
Taken the same day as the broken windows, this is the Scaffold in more serious mood, with John Gorman's nose predating Clockwork Orange and Slipknot by years! Just prior to this we all had safe, respectable "jobs for life," with John as a Post Office engineer, Roger an English teacher and me a ladies' hairdresser, but when Mersey Beat came along and they needed a contrast to all the pop groups, they offered us a five-minute comedy slot on local television and we all jacked in our jobs immediately!
Pop Group Scaffold -- "Serious" Pose
After I'd read all the photographic books and practiced on myself, relatives, cars and seagulls (!), it was no great effort to set up my camera in John Gorman's 88 Rodney Street flat, city centre, to record for posterity the sexiest "pop group" in Great Britain. As we had to learn how to pose, and as I wanted to show two halves of the Scaffold, the first image had to be "serious." We all did very well, particularly me -- until I got the prints back and noticed the big boil on my nose!
Pop Group Scaffold -- "Smile" Pose
To show the other half of Scaffold's new show business life, I suggested a little lighter mood might be in order, i.e., a "smile," but not just any smile -- it must be a "sincere" smile. Gorman, in the middle, got it right! We are merely apprentices to the master. (P.S.: McGough must have felt confident -- he sneaked his glasses on for this one!)
A "Hedgey" Scaffold
Three "liver wacker wits" (as the media described us!) in our back garden hedge. As you can see, we could easily be mistaken for a heavy metal, punk group and indeed we would have been the biggest rock 'n' roll band in the WORLD, only for the fact we couldn't play instruments or sing!!! So we settled for being a nice, friendly, poetic humour group instead. Don't ask me why, but we were originally called the Liverpool One Fat Lady All Electric Show (which nobody could pronounce!), so we thumbed through Roget's Thesaurus and out tumbled SCAFFOLD (into a hedge!).
Happy Dad
Dad being the former secretary of the Speke Horticultural Society, it presented no problem getting him to pose in the middle of his prized apple tree in the back garden of 20 Forthlin Road on a nice summer's day. More of a problem was getting a smile! After Mum died, life wasn't easy for Dad, bringing up two teenage sons on his own, so I must have done something pretty impressive (or very silly) to get this lovely, relaxed feeling of a happy Dad.
Me And Dad's Apple Tree
Experimenting with my new Rollei Magic camera in the back garden of 20 Forthlin Road, I got my friend Celia to press the cable release to capture this 20-year-old me in woolly jumper, button-down shirt and wooden Scholl sandals -- looking "pensive." (I can hear Frasier's Niles now saying, "Up Mount Ego, Michael!") Behind the hedge behind me was Mather Avenue Police Training College, where they would train dogs and horses by firing guns at them (blanks, I hope!) and where my wife's uncle (Frank) trained to be a cop, ending up a detective inspector in the Liverpool Police Force, no less.
Celia And Dad's Apple Tree
My turn to snap "pensive" Celia in our rather overgrown Forthlin back garden (but concentrating on apple tree leaves a little too much?). As the shed in the background was taller than the hedge, we would all climb on top of the shed for a "free" Police Horse Show every year. As Celia was at the Art College and the students were always into the next phase of everything, she was the one who introduced me to the first Modern Jazz Quartet and Bob Dylan albums (and therein lies a storyor two).
Mum And Her Clock
When she was a young nurse and got into debt, Mum borrowed money from her colleague under the strict conditions that her friend would "hold on" to her grandmother clock until Mum repaid the debt. Sadly, Mum died before this could be accomplished, so her friend just kept the clock over the years. Eventually it returned to our family via her friend's daughter. When we'd finished printing this exhibition for Canada, my printer pointed out that there were no photographs of Mum in it. I explained that I was only 12 when Mum died, so had no time to take a photograph of her, but then remembered that I'd taken this one of Mum's "nurse" photo, resting against her own clock. I eventually found the neg. and here (thank God) she is.
JAZZ BAND! On The Tower
I'd worked my way round the rear of the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Merseyside, and emerged on the back of the stage where (and to this day I don't know why) I took this photograph of a -- JAZZ BAND! (Jazz bands were our sworn enemy!) I could understand if there were some good looking girls in the audience, but they are mostly men -- bored men at that! I still don't know the name of the band (Chris Barber and Monty Sunshine are the only names that brother and I can come up with). Any ideas?
Jerry Lee And Big 3
Taken in the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, but this time I was relegated to the audience! As my Rollei Magic was a twin lens reflex camera with the image taken through the bottom of the lens, large crowds did not suit this photographic process. The only chance I had of getting anything was to hold the camera, plus flash, above my head and pray! The drummer (on Big 3 kit) and guitarist must be session men, because they're not the Big 3.
"Great Balls Of.Jerry Lee" (Lewis)
Another photograph taken at the Tower Ballroom and in the early '60s (Paddy Delaney, the Cavern bouncer, is behind Jerry's knuckles). I gave this photograph to Jerry Lee at a Birmingham (England) concert in the '90s. He thanked me and said that it was good to have a record of him actually singing in the '60s, as he didn't remember much of that era (intimating too much enjoyment!?). "You're not actually singing," I said. "How d'you mean? asked Jerry. I explained that during his concert all the excited fans had climbed onto the stage (including me and camera!) and he was in fact shouting "Get these *** kids off the stage, or I ain't goin ON!" (click)
Joe Brown On The Tower
Cockney singing star Joe Brown, with his horseshoe-strap guitar and backing group The Bruvers (pronounced "Bravvers" in London) taken from the back of New Brighton Tower stage. Although only part of the support act that night, later on in life, George Harrison became a good friend of Joe and his family (possibly because Joe's wife was one of the Liverpool "Vernons Girls," but probably because they were both Music Hall star George Formby fans!).
Bruce Channel On The Tower
Shot from the side of the Tower Ballroom stage, this is a clean-cut Bruce Channel (who looked more like one of my ladies' hairdressing stylists than a rock 'n' roll animal!) performing the original Hey Baby hit, with the distinctive harmonica (or gob iron) help of Delbert McLinton, under the lofty balconies of the ballroom. The balconies were some 30 feet high over the dance floor, and if the bouncers had any "trouble" at the door or in the audience (and to get the message over that they were serious) they would simply take the (usually drunk) trouble makers up to the balcony andthrow them off!
Little Richard On The Piano
Possibly the greatest rock 'n' roll singer of all time, here's a sweating, shiny-mohair-suited Little Richard, live in the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Merseyside, with his customary "cheesy" grin between Lucille and Tutti Frutti, and with the help of the London-based, Sounds Incorporated band.
Little Richard ON The Piano
Performing against the glorious backdrop of the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Little Richard (Mr. Perriman to his accountant!) belts out another of his rock 'n' roll classics to a lucky Liverpool audience. One of the sax players from Sounds Incorporated, looking up at Richard standing on the piano, can be seen thinking: "What are you doing up there?" The tiny Alpha Sound amp, in the bottom left corner, was all that the groups had to reach the audience in the giant ballroom!
Little Richard's Back
As it was 2001, I thought it was time to give my '60s prints a new lease on life, so I took up an offer from Curwen Press (who work with the Royal Academy) to be the first photographer to try out a brand new lithographic, continuous-tone printing process, which they had invented. The first ones were Me in Mirror and Ro Sew, but then we produced two rock 'n' roll versions, for all you rockers out there! This lithograph was taken at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton. It came about after I set up my camera behind Richard and asked for a little help from Ringo, who misheard my instructions to press the cable release. So when I said "Now!" he replied "Pardon?" "NOW!" said I, too late. Hence Little Richard'sback!
Gene Vincent Live on the Cavern
(The second of the experimental lithographs, which are in limited editions of 100). I haven't seen another photograph of Gene Vincent on the Cavern stage, so this image must be quite historic. It's taken from the back of the stage, where only Bob Wooler, the groups, and brothers were allowed. Gene's in cool, head-to-toe leathers singing Be Bop a Loola, but you can clearly see that the fans weren't overly excited by the presence of one of our heroes (they were waiting for my brother and his group to come on!). When the Cavern was bulldozed, enterprising Liverpool lads placed ads in American and Canadian magazines re: "Buy a historic piece of wood from the Cavern Stage." They then went to the local bomb site in search of wood! (At least it was from Liverpool.)
Me On The Mersey
I set up my Rollei camera at the top of these Albert Dock steps, on the bank of the River Mersey, and asked Ursula to press the cable release. I like the out-of-focus chain right across the middle of the image, and in the background is not only a "Ferry Cross the Mersey" (when smoke was allowed to pollute Merseyside!) but in the very distance is the enormous outline of the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton. When the ballroom originally had a tower, it was bigger than Blackpool tower and even the Eiffel Tower, Paris!
Ursula On The Mersey
My turn to take a portrait of my friend from Dusseldorf, Deutschland (plus ballroom shoes!). In the background is the Pierhead with a black Liver Building (all cleaned up now), a Mersey Ferry and distant Tower Ballroom in New Brighton (where I spent many happy hours as a child on the beach). After this shot, I fell into the River Mersey, but, as you can see, Ursula kindly threw in a life belt to save me!
Miller On Merseyside With Don McCullin
In the mid '60s Beyond the Fringe's (Dr.) Jonathan Miller was commissioned by a prestigious American magazine to write an article on "The Real Liverpool." He brought with him the famous war photographer Don McCullin, who is seen here changing the lens of his Pentax camera (plus string strap!) outside John Gorman's 88 Rodney Street flat. It's a good job Jonathan was a doctor because, after our disastrous attempt to show them the fab, swinging, real Liverpool (where everything was closed!) he ended up administering to an accident victim who'd been thrown through the window of his mini on the outskirts of the REAL Liverpool!
PASSING MUZOS The Searchers
Waiting for the cameras to record a TV program for America, this is Liverpool group The Searchers (looking for Needles or Pinzas!). Their drummer, Chris Curtis, once stopped me in Liverpool to complain that too many girl admirers were coming up to him and asking "Hey lad, are you Mike McGear from the Scaffolds!" (We have the same "Roman" nose.) "That's funny," I lied. "They come up to me all the time, asking 'Are 'yous' a Searcher?'"
PASSING MUZOS Wayne Fontana & The Mind Benders
On the same "telly" show, this is a happy Wayne Fontana, plus tambourine. I'd forgotten that next to him was Eric "I'm Not In Love" Steward until I printed up this image for Alberta! Later on we became friends when Eric joined 10cc and I recorded my Woman and McGear albums at their Strawberry Studios in Stockport near Manchester. Unfortunately, I've not met Wayne (a nice man) since.
PASSING MUZOS Georgie & Eppy
(Taken at the same TV studios) This is the moment Brian "Eppy" Epstein walked straight across George Fame and The Blue Flames camera shot! Whilst working on this print in the darkroom of my printer's house in Leigh (on the East Lancs Road into Liverpool), I mentioned that Georgie used to live in Leigh under his original name of Clive Powell. "Georgie Fame lived here in Leigh? I never knew that!" said Reiki Ray. "You do now," said I.
PASSING MUZOS(ish)
Eppy on telly -- literally! One of the main lessons I learned from the Allerton Library photographic books was to "experiment" (i.e., to me -- try anything!). There can't be MANY mad young men who would draw the curtains of their front parlour home, mount their camera and cable release, wait for their brother and chums to come on the black & white TV and then experiment live with different speeds and apertures until they got a decent picture. Lots of fab pics had thick black lines across the screen, wiping everybody out! But at least this one of Brian Epstein being interviewed on Granada TV's See At 6:30 survived.
PASSING MUZOS Billy J. Kramer
One of Brian Epstein's "NEMS' stable, Billy J. Kramer, waiting to sing on the "telly" (hoping the tree doesn't fall on him!). NEMS originally stood for North End Music Stores (owned by Brian's Dad, Harry Epstein), which was at the bottom of Everton Brow, Liverpool. Being an Evertonian, my Dad bought his first piano from Harry's shop! (Small world, ain't it?)
Me In "Eagle Hotel"
Taken in the octagonal window at the top of Uncle Bill's Liverpool centre pub. Uncle Bill was my Mum's youngest brother and when she died, we would visit their home above the pub. Auntie Dil would cook us delicious Sunday dinners. It was at "The Eagle" where I had to change my name (to protect the innocent) due to the extra-ordinary popularity of my brother and his chums. We tried out Mike "Dangerfield" (from J.P. Donleavy's Ginger Man), and as "Fab" and "Gear" were the in Liverpool words at the time, it was nearly Mike "McFab"! We eventually settled on Mike "McGear" as it was the one that sounded most Irish.
Celia Silhouette
After following the Allerton Library photographic book instructions for years, I started to "bend" some of their strict rules. One of the rules was never to shoot into the light, which I obeyed until I saw Celia's silhouette against the lounge windows of our new house. "What the hell," I thought and got her to pose with as much light as possible flooding the black leather '60s furniture for this award-winning shot.
PASSING MUZOS Elvis In Liverpool!
Many people over the years have had the gall to suggest (and even state categorically) that Elvis Presley NEVER came to Great Britain -- never mind Liverpool. Well, here it is -- the irrefutable evidence. Not only did Elvis visit Great Britain, but here is the great man himself (laughing with John from The Searchers) in the heart of Liverpool! -- a WORLD exclusive taken by my very own fair hands -- "Thank U Very Much."
Liver Bird Beak
The stories and myths surrounding the Liver Birds (pronounced "Lie-ver," not "liver" as in the kidney) are almost as strong as "Did Elvis visit Liverpool?" In 1968, Scaffold recorded the theme tune to the cult comedy TV series The Liver Birds, which ran for over 20 years! But the jolly little birds perched on top of the Liver Buildings are not all that they seem. This is a close-up of one of the birds, and as you can see, it actually looks like a giant, vicious, pop-eyed, alligator-beaked creature who has just ripped the whisker off a dinosaur, and if the photographer's not careful, his head could be next!
Me Mirror
This is one of the first, brand new, continuous-tone printed lithographs, fresh off the Curwen Press, Cambridge. All four lithographs are on fine art, archival, mould-make Somerset paper (300 gsm weight). This self-portrait was taken on my "thank U very much" Nikon camera through an old-fashioned mirror in the late '60s. You can tell it's the '60s -- the hippie carpet and the wooden "butterfly-painted strap" sandals! From a distance, when this image hangs alongside (to the left of) Ro Sew, it gives the appearance of eyes, or a pair of goggles.
Ro Sew
Not exactly a '60s shot, but I've included this image of my wife Rowena because she was born in -- 1960! But more importantly, she was born in Montreal, Canada. And without her, we couldn't come to Alberta! This is the second of the first lithographs and features a sneaked photograph of Ro, patiently sewing a wedding dress for her sister. It is tradition in her family that she makes the wedding and bridesmaids' dresses. I was lucky to have recorded the endless hours of sewing that go into the finished product, which the bride never sees. Equally the time, patience and experience that Stanley Jones and Tom of Curwen Press put into these lithographs is a joy to behold. I hope you enjoy them -- we do!
