more namedropping!

A whole bunch of people with whom I used to work have now gotten books published in time for Christmas, the most noteworthy being Tony Mott’s Every Picture Tells a Story. Tony is Australia’s premier rock photographer, and not because he takes particularly great pictures — he’d be the first to admit this. Rather, it’s because he’s so affable, generous and funny, and presumably unflappable in the face of tantrum-driven stardom. Anyway, the book’s title is a laugh, because Tony bears an uncanny resemblance to Ronnie Wood.

One quibble: there’s a section on his magazine covers, and I was surpised to find one for JUICE that I designed (back when JUICE was still in a vague position to rival the Rolling Stone dinosaur in Australia; now it is no more). It’s a shot of little ol’ Silverchair (ha!), of which Tony is evidently proud. Only, the original shot was so flat, underexposed and generally dodgy that I had to Photoshop it to hell and back to make it work, you bastard, after which it was almost unrecognisable. So nyah, Tony. :)

A great Tony Mott anecdote you probably won’t find in the book: he’s backstage with Fleetwood Mac just as they’re due to go on, and Stevie Nicks is flitting around in a confused daze, desperately asking “which gate are we? which gate are we??”. She thought they were at the airport.