This project took place in Memphis in 2006; same trip I shot comprehensive guitar building footage of Gibson’s ES factory. “Memphis In May” is an annual festival that takes place on the bank of the Mississippi. I Shot BB King, Hubert Sumlin, and the incredible Johnny Winter on this trip. There was a lot of anticipation in the crowd for Johnny’s set. It was in a huge tent and was jam packed right up to the stage. My first challenge was to rig the DAT machine at FOH console for audio. That was complicated by the high humidity that caused the DAT player to cease a couple times. The audio is pretty decent actually. The distortion you hear is the way it sounded live so…it’s the blues, ya know? This was a 2-camera shoot with Panasonic HVX-200’s; David Trenkle shot with me (FYI – David later was/is DP on the “Jon And Kate Plus 8” reality show). We both shot handheld; David, onstage, me in the pit right at Johnny’s feet.
My second challenge after starting the DAT machine at audio console was to haul ass up to the front. Fortunately I had a security guy who quite willingly, eagerly in fact, busted a hole in the crowd for me to get right up there. Once, I was there the people around me were cool and it was the best spot to shoot from for sure. Johnny’s Gibson Firebird has probably never seen a dust cloth, not sure about string changes either. My goal in making this video was to setup the Custom Shop Signature model that was detailed to exactly match Johnny’s guitar, all the wear, grime and rust. It took 2 years for that to happen but this video came in handy for that marketing campaign. And Johnny kicked ass!
