Most of these are from old postcards and show life in Knik, Alaska around 1904 through and mostly July 4, 1914.
Click through to see all of them.
Source: Old Photographs & Postcards 2
Neon
A few more in my on going series “neon.”
There’s just something I like about it.
Alice Cooper – Seattle – July 10, 1971
I was 17 going on 18 when the single “I’m Eighteen” was hitting the airwaves in Seattle. The song still rings true for that young person still in me somewhere.
I have a recording of this show and at first I could not remember how I could have seen the show and recorded it also. Refreshing my memory with the net, I found that the Alice Cooper band came to the Paramount Northwest for 2 shows on the Love It To Death tour with the locals, Ze Whiz Kidz, opening. The show on July 9th was broadcast on the radio. I’m sure you can find my reel-to-reel recording out there on the net somewhere. I let it escape a few years ago and I’m sure someone must have posted it by now. It’s a great early Alice Cooper live recording. I still need to digitize Ze Whiz Kidz part of the show.
This photo is from the show on the 10th. Alice in straight jacket for The Ballad of Dwight Fry.
Laura Nyro – April 10, 1971
There is quite a story to go along with these photos.
By spring 1971 I was finishing up my senior year in high school, taking photography classes, working on the yearbook as a photographer, was a photographer and writing music reviews for the HS paper, and found a new friend in the neighborhood (as it turned out) who was the radio promotions guy for Columbia Records (Ben Wood). As Ben’s “go-fer,” I was privy to a lot of inside the music biz stuff that I wasn’t before. I’ll save most of that for another time.
One of the perks was that Ben asked if I would take photos at some of his goings on. I gladly volunteered. This particular time he asked me to shoot some photos at the Seattle Center Opera House of Laura Nyro’s April 10, 1971 show. It was Laura alone on the stage at the piano. With ticket and photo pass in hand, I took some fantastic shots from the very front of the house in the pit. There was another guy who came up front and was shooting also. She could hear the “click, click, click” of our cameras during some very quiet moments in her performance. At one point Laura hissed at us to be quiet, so I quit and went back to my seat. Ben had forewarned me Laura could be temperamental. I already had what I needed.
The rest of this has only been pieced together over the past few weeks.
In the lobby on my way out, Rick Sakoda, stopped me to ask about my photos. He told me about a recording he had made of the show and wondered about possibly getting copies of some of my pix. He seemed to be a big fan of Laura’s and we exchanged phone numbers. I was pretty busy at the time so, in Rick’s words, “I had a darkroom at the time, so he let me use the negatives to make prints, and even gave me (a) few color slides…” and that was our exchange.
45 years later…I scan this photo to go in my “Just pix – analog” photo album here. I had an incomplete date on the back of the print, so I went looking for a more definitive show date. To my surprise, not only did I get the date for the show, but there were my images, and on YouTube, a recording of the show using my images! I could not remember giving them to anyone other than Ben Wood.
Reading the info with the YouTube video (which has only been up since August 25, 2014) Rick wrote, “Also, I should mention that it was a high school kid I met after the concert who took the photos you see in this video. Sadly, I cannot recall his name.”
I decided to leave him a message. “Hello. My name is Howie Wahlen and I was that high school kid who took the photos. I was 17 at the time…”
A few weeks later Rick responded, “After all these years I finally have a name, – Hello Howie!…”
After that brief contact 45 years ago, we have now been in direct contact for over 3 weeks. He even sent me scans of the color slides I gave him. I have a new old friend, if I can call it that.
Only in the internet, YouTube, Facebook age could this have ever happened. To those of you who aren’t aware of this, I almost didn’t make it this far for it to happen. Amazing.
PS – One of the photos has also been used as the cover for a bootleg. The video here…
Jimm McIver video shoot
Witchcraft – Jimm McIver (Official Music Video)
No children were killed or otherwise harmed in the making of this video, though one was a trifle grumpy.
A fun video to shoot. Check it out power-pop lovers. Click the link above.
Mallets of Forethought are:
Jimm McIver
Vincent Gates – Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Harmony Vocals
Vee Sonnets – Electric Guitar and Vocals
Andrea Wittgens – Keys and Harmony Vocals
Mark Guenther – Drums and Percussion
Walter Singleman – Bass Guitar
Video:
Directed by Howie Wahlen & Tom Dyer
Edited by Howie
Cameras by Jeremy Wahlen, Tom Dyer, Jeff Kelly & Howie Wahlen
Video band starring:
Lockie McIver, Dash McIver, Josie Augustavo, Eddie Augustavo
Video link for the Flamin’ Groovies fixed. See post.
Flamin’ Groovies come to Seattle!
- Flamin’ Groovies (Photo by Howie Wahlen)
Flamin’ Groovies – Please Please Girl
By Cyril Jordan’s own admission, the Flamin’ Groovies hadn’t played in the Northwest since a rock festival in 1969! They hail from just down the west coast in San Francisco. I’ve been waiting for this since 1970 or ’71. That’s a long time! I took a bunch of pictures (one of which appears un-cropped & un-touched) and some video. The next day the granddaugther came over and we made a video for Please Please Girl. Click It!!
Link fixed. Sorry for the screw up.
Something warm
Something for the holiday
I recently completed a video. I don’t know if you’ve seen it yet. If you like it, please share it.
Happy Christmas
No Lou This Xmas – Tom Dyer/Northwest Ono Band (Official Music Video)
photography by wahlen 
