Well, welcome back to another edition of the What Podcast.

I'm Barry Courter.

With me is Russ Jackson, otherwise better known as Lord Taco.

And Russ, I don't know about that sweater, man.

Is there a good story about that sweater or just?

Well not yet.

Not yet.

Okay.

Great.

No, I just wore my ugly Christmas sweater.

It's that time of year, getting festive, getting ready for the holidays.

Well, it makes a statement.

I'm not sure exactly what it is, but anyway.

It speaks to someone.

I know we're still waiting on those endorsements.

Any day now.

If they're not going to give you one, I don't know who deserves one.

I don't know who's getting it if I'm not.

Anyway, normally Brad Steiner would be with us.

It's December.

These are sort of the in between weeks or months, whatever.

On this show, we talk about Bonnaroo, as anyone who knows why we're here.

That's why we started this podcast.

It's morphed into a broader show about festivals and music in general.

And Russ, I think you know this.

I've had a list of people that I wanted to interview.

And I'm not kidding when I say this.

It's like a dream list.

I didn't even want to say it out loud kind of thing.

My top of my list would be Paul McCartney.

I don't imagine that's ever going to happen.

Next would have been Jim James.

Guess what?

That happened.

We talked to him.

Probably number three.

He was a great interview.

Please go back and listen.

He was so good.

Number three on my list is the guy we have today, believe it or not.

And it's probably a name that may or may not jump out to a lot of people.

He's not a rock star.

He's a rock star in his field.

He is the rock star in his field.

But for me, the reason I so badly wanted to talk to him is because he seems to encapsulate

everything that is meaningful to me about Bonnaroo, if that makes sense, and personally.

We're talking about Danny Clinch.

I'll go ahead and just say it.

Look him up.

You've seen his work.

You've seen Bruce Springsteen in the snow.

You've seen Taylor Swift.

You've seen Kanye, Beyonce, Jay-Z, The Stones.

He's the photographer of rock and roll, basically.

But he's also a huge Bonnaroo fan, as you will hear.

And he gets it, right?

I mean, he gets everything we love about it.

He loves about it.

And I kind of figured that.

And I also wanted to say, and I didn't want to bore him with it, but as part of my job

covering Bonnaroo for the Chattanooga paper was not only to write about it, but to take

photographs.

And I had some opportunities to take some great bands.

And I told him, and I said, on here, I probably shoot 30,000 frames and I get eight that I'm

kind of proud of.

He probably shoots 30,000 and gets 25,000 that he's proud of.

He's a photographer.

I'm not.

I've never claimed to be.

I get lucky.

And we talk about his process.

We talk about so much.

He was so giving.

We talked to him for almost an hour.

Almost an hour.

It's a great conversation.

And like you said, it was not a name I was familiar with when we first started talking

about this.

But when you start naming, oh, have you seen that picture and this picture?

Oh, you've seen it.

Oh, OK.

You've seen it.

Yeah.

I've definitely seen him.

His picture.

Yeah.

If you go on his website, yeah, he's got just a scrolling feed of all these pictures that

he's taken.

You're like, oh, I've seen all these.

And he was so funny and so nice.

But I mean, no kidding.

I mean, just his role in rock and roll history and his take on rock and roll history and

all of that is what I wanted to get into.

And we did.

He shares why a certain very famous band played Bonnaroo.

That's right.

Yeah.

Thanks to him, helped talk them into it.

And why Springsteen ended up playing with a special set.

So I mean, Danny has been as much a part of rock and roll history as any band you can

name.

And that's why I think I was so excited to talk to him.

So absolutely.

Yeah.

He's not just one that shows up and takes pictures and goes home.

He's actually built a relationship with a lot of these artists and has influenced them

a little bit.

No, no question.

And he was very kind.

And we've we've been trying to make this work.

And special shout out to David Bruce.

I am Bonnaroo.

Again, if you don't know who he is, go back and look through our archive.

David is a special friend of the show for sure.

And he helped put this together.

And I can't thank him enough for that.

And so here we are.

It's December.

It's rumor time.

Artists have been coming out.

Shaking knees is incredible.

Some of the other ones.

We're not going to get into that for this episode.

I think we want to get some other guests on to talk about that and what's coming, what's

coming in the in future weeks.

But this was such a special episode.

And Danny said yes.

And he picked a date.

And if he'd have said 3 a.m., I'd have been there.

So we jumped.

Me too.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we did it.

And he was great.

And I can't wait for you guys to hear it.

And like I said, we we're still trying to figure out scheduling.

We're trying to have a show every week, even if it's a high five clip, because quite honestly,

we're kind of proud of some of the past shows that we've had.

I mean, you know, we had Noah Khan, even though he was just with us for a full episode this

summer.

He's everywhere all of a sudden.

He literally everywhere.

He's literally everywhere.

And I'm so happy.

He's yeah, he showed up at the top of the Shakenese bill and it just did SNL and lots

of.

Yeah.

And I thought the message that he had when he talked to us was just as relevant today

as it was then.

So we're going to absolutely.

So you're probably going to get a few more high five clips, but hopefully we're going

to have a whole lot more episodes like this one, though.

I don't know.

I mean, unless, uh, unless Macca calls me, you know, answers my emails.

He's your last checkbox, right?

Yeah.

If he calls, if he says, yeah, let's do it, then we're doing it.

But, uh, right.

Anyway, we've got a lot of other ideas planned and I'm excited to see what's coming up.

So all right.

Uh, anything else?

I think we're ready to just get into it after Danny clinch.

Well here's Danny clinch and man, I can't think even if I'm so excited about this, this,

this was great.

Man, I am so excited about this.

I can't even hardly speak.

I hear you.

I'm excited.

I didn't know it was ugly sweater day.

Well, let's explain.

So I'm Barry that's Lord taco or Russ, uh, we call him Lord taco.

Uh, PBR is, uh, I should just say, what's that website you use Russ?

He rates beers.

Oh, untapped, untapped.

He, he, Danny, if you go to untapped, he's been rating beers for six, 10 years and it's

all PBR.

That's all he drinks.

That's funny.

That's funny.

I think it's hilarious.

So that's why I, and I didn't know he was wearing that sweater either.

I, you know, I don't know what we'd have done, but thank you so much for doing this.

Um, you are with us because in part, because this has been something I've wanted to do

on the what podcast, which we started in 2018 because we love Bonnaroo.

And then we figured out people are talking about Bonnaroo year round.

And then we figured out festivals are just a lot of fun and, and they're great.

And, um, and, and because, and I want to mention our mutual friend, David Bruce, I am Bonnaroo.

Yeah.

He helped put this together and I'm so thankful for him and, and, uh, reaching out.

And I wanted to say too, I actually met you through our friend, Ken Weinstein at Bonnaroo

outside the media tent one night.

Uh, you were taking pictures of a beautiful woman and her toddler.

And Ken said, Hey, have you met Danny?

And I'm like, Oh, hi, Danny.

How are you?

And then I went inside media and my friend, the photographer said, that's Danny clinch.

And I was like, Oh my God, I'm such an idiot.

Anyway.

Um, anyway, yeah.

So thank you again.

And thanks to David.

Um, and I just got to say upfront, for your background, for your benefit, I've been in

the newspaper, was a journalist for 37 years, uh, covered Bonnaroo since about 2002, since

it started, skipped the first three or four years for a variety of reasons, but been there

since 2017.

Russ has been there since 2018, right?

That is correct.

Yeah.

We love this festival.

So that's the basis of this show.

So I'm going to ask you some questions based on journalism, industry, photography, music,

all of that, but also kind of as a fan boy.

So forgive me.

Bring it on.

Forgive me if I cross some lines, cause I just love, I love how this all merges.

And that's why I'm so excited about this.

Um, do you remember, was it music first for you?

Or for photography first?

And when did they merge?

Well, someone asked me this the other day.

They, they were like, what's your earliest memory?

Uh, it was a family conversation we were having.

Um, and I said, my earliest memory was laying on my mom's, um, bed while she was getting

ready for, uh, for work.

She was a nurse at the time and my cousin was going to be watching me.

And I heard, um, Hey Jude on the radio.

So like, I guess music came first.

Um, uh, although my mom always had a camera, uh, and was always taking photographs, um,

she was the snapshot queen.

Um, and so, you know, I naturally wanted a camera when I was really young.

So I got one when I was young, but there was always music being played in our house.

It was usually fifties, fifties music.

My folks were into, um, you know, Johnny Cash and Elvis and, uh, you know, Buddy Holly and

that.

And my dad had a, had a eight track tape that went from each used car one after the other.

He would trade the car in, but he'd always keep that eight track.

And it was the big bopper, Richie Valens, Buddy Holly, you know, Elvis and the like.

So I got a heavy dose of early rock and roll.

Uh, and, um, and then, then I had a great, um, you know, uh, influence in my music.

My buddy's, uh, uh, older brother and sister were into, you know, the Allman brothers,

um, uh, Jackson Brown, Bob Seeger, Springsteen, um, uh, Warren Zvon, stuff like that.

Kat Stevens, T for the Taylor man.

I remember anyway, just, you know, always around music.

And I had a love for music and when it became time for me to decide what I was going to

do with my life, I had already been photographing and sneaking my camera into concerts.

Um, and my folks said, you know, you've got to make a decision about what you're going

to do here with your, with your life.

And, uh, and I just decided to follow my love of photography.

Um, my dad was a house painter, so I did plenty of house painting when I was younger, uh,

enough to know that I didn't want to do it every day for a living.

Uh, although I still love to paint to this day.

Um, you know, and plenty of dishwashing and, uh, short order cook and waiting tables and

stuff as we do.

But when, when did, when was that?

Aha.

Like for me, all I knew, I love music.

I had no talent.

I can't play the radio.

I've got older brothers and a younger brother who are musicians.

That's all I cared about was being around music, but I had no, no talent.

But sometime in college, I realized if I wrote about it, I could get free tickets.

So that was the aha moment for me.

What was it for you?

I mean, was it, when did you figure out if you said you, you would sneak your camera

in?

Did you remember when you got paid for a photograph first or when did they merge?

You know, some, yeah.

Uh, some, well, the first time I made any money off of my photography, I think it was

when I was, um, I was, you know, in school in high school and, uh, these guys I knew

were like big Ted heads, like Ted Nugent fans through and through, you know, uh, this was

way before he started showing his true colors.

Uh, and, um, so I went out to six flag, six flags, great adventure where Ted Nugent was

playing and I took a bunch of photos and I knew if I blew a couple of them up poster

size, I could probably sell them to my friends.

And I did.

Nice.

So that was pretty fun.

Uh, and, uh, so that was kind of a moment where I was like, wow, I can make a living

doing this.

And, and then, you know, several other things, you know, I, I photographed some weddings

and stuff.

I worked as a videographer for a wedding photographer and, um, and I also, you know, just I was

going to concerts all the time and I was just always bringing my camera and I would get

it in one way or another, um, from, you know, early shows at the stone pony, uh, to live

aid in Philadelphia in 1985.

Um, you know, and just every other show that I, I would, I would basically would hand parts

of my camera off to my friends.

Uh, you know, here, take this lens here, take these rolls of film, you know, put them in

your pocket and then I'd shove the camera body down my pants and go get in.

And, um, and then we'd, we'd gather up, I'd collect everything, you know, and then I would

say, all right, I'll see you guys at the end of the show.

Cause I'm going to go try to sneak up, you know, sneak up front and get some photographs.

Uh, and so I just followed that muse to, uh, and I went to, uh, uh, uh, community college,

ocean County college in New Jersey, uh, which is actually Springsteen went there for a couple

semesters before they, they said, we don't like your kind.

I'm not sure they said that, but, uh, um, and, and, uh, he ended up, you know, leaving,

but, uh, and anyway, then I went to a new England school of photography in Boston.

Um, and, uh, that was in Kenmore square and, uh, Boston was a great music town.

And I, and I, you know, continued my love of, uh, photographing.

I would bring music into my assignments at school.

I had a documentary photography class and I chose to follow around a rock band at the

time that was called Rick Berlin, the movie.

And they were similar to like the talking heads in a sense, uh, their vibe was really

cool.

They were very theatrical, a lot to photograph and, um, and, uh, and then, you know, when

I was done there, long story short, I ended up, um, looking for a workshop to do, um,

to just, you know, expand my experiences and, and the people that I knew and my networking

and stuff.

And I went to the Ansel Adams gallery workshops in Yosemite.

Um, and, uh, the two of the instructors that I love the most there was one was Annie Leibovitz

and one was David Hockney.

And, um, the long story short is, uh, at the end of the workshop, Annie invited me to intern

at her studio, which I gladly accepted.

And then I, uh, you know, went there and worked my way up to be in one of her assistants and

traveling around, you know, with her, uh, assisting and stuff, which was really integral

to me, uh, you know, learning how it was done and how it was done properly.

Yeah.

I want to get, I want to, I want to ask about her.

Uh, obviously I was, it sounds like that was such a, was that a gradual thing?

Or, or, I mean, I keep, I keep asking for this aha kind of moment.

Was, was there that aha moment where, and when was it where, I mean, for people who

are listening, who don't know, I mean, obviously I've been talking about this interview for

weeks that it was going to happen.

And my, a lot of my friends are like, you know, who?

And I'm like, he's Annie Leibovitz of rock and roll.

I mean, come on, this is, this is the guy.

When, when along that path did, not only did you think I could make a living at this, but

maybe it was like, this is, this is more than I could have maybe hoped for, or has it happened

to that point yet?

Yeah.

I mean, there's a, there are a lot of those moments.

Um, for me, I'm not like a very good planner.

Like I don't really plan ahead.

I just, I just live in the moment and go for it.

Uh, and that's what I continued to do.

Um, my, my girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife was also a very good planner.

So we were like a good team where she would, you know, kind of help me stay on track.

And, and, uh, while I was, you know, spinning my wheels everywhere, um, you know, just trying

to be somewhere, trying to capture a moment, um, all that stuff, uh, that was, you know,

important to me just and my obsession with documenting doc, my obsession with documenting

the music that I loved.

Uh, and then a lot of my good opportunities early on came from people that I met through,

uh, like the Andy Leibovitz crew, like, uh, the other assistants and that, um, made, made

friends with some of, uh, the assistants and then their friends.

Uh, and there's like a whole click of us that really started from the Andy Leibovitz

moment who are still like some of our best friends to this day.

Um, and one of them actually got a job at spin and was one of the photo editors at spin

magazine.

And she, um, helped me get a couple of assignments early on for spin magazine.

So that was cool.

That was an aha moment for me.

It's like, okay, here's my opportunity and can I do it?

Like I had to, I had to not only do it for them, but I had to make sure that I did it

for myself, you know, that I came through for myself and it was photographing the hip

hop band called third base.

And um, and I, I felt great when I finished the shoot, I felt like, you know, I could

absolutely see these in the magazine, you know, and being a music fan myself and a fan

of music magazines and photography, like I looked at it and I thought, all right, I,

I kind of nailed it.

I feel good about this, you know?

Um, and then I struck up a friendship with MC search who was in third base.

Um, and I took those images to deaf jam, uh, records creative team called the drawing board

at the time, uh, say Adams and Steve Carr.

And um, I, uh, I, you know, I showed them my work and we were, we were all the same

age, you know, like they were deaf jam was just a startup kind of, you know, everybody

was young.

Everybody was like, let's do this, this is exciting.

And then I showed up and I was like the same age and like, there were no other big name

photographers like knocking down the door to shoot hip hop.

Everybody thought it was just going to be a fad and like gone in a year or two, you

know?

And so they were offering me work like straight away.

They were like, yeah, young guy like us, like let's, let's have some fun and make some art

and, you know, do some album packaging.

And so that was cool.

And then a little bit down the road, MC search hit me up and said, Hey, I have this artist

that I'm, uh, producing and helping get signed to, um, to, uh, Sony records and his name

is nasty Nas and he's got a record coming out.

It's incredible.

And I think your style of photography will lend itself to what he wants to do, which

is document himself at, you know, where he came from in Queensbridge.

And uh, and so I did, and it was incredible.

It was, it's an incredible record.

As we all know, it's proven to be a longstanding, incredible, uh, masterful work.

Um, always at the top of everyone's favorite records and hip hop.

Um, and, uh, and you know, relationships, you know, it really is about relationships

and friendships and, and being, being kind to people and working hard.

And you know, if you, if you, you know, if you treat people nice and you work hard and

you've, you know, the talent comes, comes almost secondary.

You have to, you know, you have to get along with people and you need to come through when

you get an opportunity.

Wow.

That answer is a lot of, uh, so part of why I'm so glad to be talking to you is, I mean,

like I said, I've done this a long, long time.

Mostly a writer always, but our newspaper was small, so they would hand me a camera

every now and then, you know, you'd have to take a picture.

For the last 10 or 12 years, I've taken pictures at like a Bonnaroo.

I'm that guy can walk up to the front of the stage in the pit and I might shoot 8,000 pictures

and I'm, I'm going to get one.

I'm going to get a good one.

I'm not the guy that can go get that good one.

When you, that first session with the, did you have an idea going in how you wanted to

shoot it or were you, like you said, you're not a planner.

You, did you walk in and I'll shoot what they give me.

Um, that, that always fascinates me about how these, these sort of processes.

Yeah.

You know, I think at that time I was probably more of a planner when I started to get work.

Like I didn't want to screw it up.

I wanted to come through, you know?

But to this day, I still, you know, plan ahead and collect ideas that I'm going to bring

to the table when I show up.

And then, and then often I just throw them out the window because I prefer to be spontaneous

and I prefer to be reactive to the situation, you know, to come in, see how the person feels,

see if they're up for any of the ideas that I'm bringing in.

Do they have any ideas?

You know, do I get there and go, oh my God, like this location's incredible.

All of a sudden my whole idea has changed, you know?

So I would always go not only with a lot of different ideas, but I was also someone who

used a lot of different cameras.

You know, today you can come in with a digital camera and you can literally just shoot 8,000

photos in a matter of, you know, 15 minutes and get in there and make it look like any

camera that ever existed.

And you know, you don't, you know, there's got to be, there's got to be a moment in there

somewhere.

You also have, you also have to be, you know, have enough good taste to choose the best

moment.

So there's that.

But I think that I, I would go in and, you know, like I said, I've, I had like old Polaroid

cameras and I was shooting with a Hasselblad, I was shooting with a 35 millimeter camera.

I would shoot with little half frame cameras and toy toy cameras and double exposures and

all kinds of weird stuff just to see like what would come out of it.

You know, and the art directors that I was working with at the time, they really loved

it because it gave them like, it wasn't like, you know, there are some photographers who

lock into one idea and they'll shoot like, you know, back then you were shooting film.

So you know, you shoot 20 rolls on this one thing and there's just like these subtle little

differences, you know, whereas like I would go in and I would just shoot a lot of different

types of films.

A lot of different like ideas from something that was simple and perfect for like a publicity

shoot or something that was so out there that it was like a double triple exposure.

You know, that just had a feeling to it.

So it was like, you know, you are creating like a library of images that the art director

could use in any way that they like, you know, I mean, I think and that's one of the things

that I heard feedback wise from a lot of the art directors that I worked with.

My friend, Say Adams, who worked with, you know, with Def Jam, you know, would say like,

well, we could just send Danny out.

We first couple of times we went along with him to make sure he was getting what we needed

and we were so busy that we were happy that we could just say, yeah, we'll just send Danny,

you know, he's going to come back with the goods.

He's going to come back with something interesting.

So see, that's that trust thing.

Because I mean, the other side of it could be somebody's like, man, this guy doesn't

know what he's doing.

He keeps taking, you know, versus that photographer who comes in and takes one one shot and said,

got it.

You know, yeah, that's interesting.

Obviously, I would I would assume now you've certainly built that trust where, you know,

it'd be like he knows what he's doing.

If he wants me to stand on my head, I'm going to stand on my head kind of thing.

Yeah.

So you got to build that sort of trust, right?

Yeah.

And everybody's different.

Some people don't need that trust and other people really do.

So yeah.

You've done so much the the clubs, the small clubs, you've done the album covers, you've

done the magazine covers, you've done festivals, big arenas.

You're you're a year younger than I am.

So you kind of watch this industry grow and change.

Do you have do you have a preference in the music world as far as where and how you shoot?

Do you like the studio stuff?

Do you like the live festival?

Do you like the big arenas?

Do you miss the big arenas?

Do you like the small clubs?

What do you prefer?

You know what?

I like a great life experience.

And I feel like that is what I got through photography in my life is any of that stuff

is exciting to me.

I love I do love being in the recording studio and documenting capturing moments, being like

a fly on the wall.

But I also like to direct people and try and capture a great portrait that might end up

on a on a magazine cover or an album cover or, you know, or a thumbnail that's this big

on iTunes.

So I really do love it.

I love shooting live, being being there, like, you know, maybe hiding behind an amplifier

on the stage and like feeling like you're a part of the band in a sense.

And, you know, even being in the pit is a lot of fun.

So yeah, I do I do kind of I appreciate all of it.

You know, it is a lot of work.

It's a lot of work like shooting a live show and you have a really energetic band and you're

chasing someone around like, you know, who's running all over the stage and you're you

want to be in the right spot.

And sometimes you are sometimes you're not you make your decision.

You got to live with it.

You're like, damn, I was just over there.

And he just ran over there.

I got it.

I was just over there, you know.

But you know, I also think and I do think this is interesting is, you know, there's

a there's a lot of photographers out there now, especially now, you know, in the digital

world and stuff.

But I also feel like there's certain photographers who, for the most part, you know, shoot live

shows.

That's what they do.

You know, and there are people who have a relationship with the band and they're you

know, they can shoot the live show and be backstage or in the recording studio.

And then there's you know, there are people who are like, yeah, I'm not shooting a live

show and I'm not going to a backstage, but you know, I'll shoot the album cover, you

know, and I'll shoot the album cover.

That's what I do.

I'm an album cover shooter, publicity type stuff.

And I admire all that.

But I feel like there's, you know, that I've done kind of all of it, you know, like I'm

excited to shoot the album cover, the publicity stuff.

I'll go in the studio and hang out.

I'll shoot the live show.

You know, I make a concert film, you know, a documentary, you know, as I've done for

Bonnaroo, you know, many times.

And you know, you know, there I am like setting up at Bonnaroo, like a little portrait spot,

which the first year was two flats, you know, just kind of made into a corner in the middle

of the field.

And you know, then it evolved into what it became, which was like, you know, almost two

sets, you know, backstage at Bonnaroo and stuff.

So a couple of things I want to ask you about the different scenarios.

Let's start with the probably one of your more iconic photographs, the Springsteen in

the Snow, that that was you didn't know it was going to snow, right?

That was kind of an impromptu, not planned type of thing.

You got to love stuff like that, right?

I mean, that's versus Taylor Swift just recently, Time magazine, Person of the Year, right?

And I saw your note that, you know, you've been shooting her for quite a while.

That's something I always loved when I was doing the job was sort of finding a person

and following them along.

Yeah.

So how are those two shots different in relation to in the third, I was going to ask, because

you were in Chattanooga last year with Nathaniel Rateliff, right?

Or was it two years ago?

Where was what was Chattanooga?

I don't know that I was in Chattanooga.

Oh, no, I wasn't.

You weren't?

Okay.

All right.

Then I thought you were some other guy with some other guy with a hat taking a photograph.

Yeah.

But I'm curious about like how the planning, how much planning goes in, how those work,

those kind of sessions.

And then literally when you're like, wow, I'm going to take this picture of Bruce in

the snow because this is a this is a cool thing.

Well, you know, they're both like way, way different.

So they're great examples, you know, to balance off.

You know, Taylor Swift was at the Grammys and I had done all the portraits of the winners

at the Grammys over, you know, 15, 16 years, actually.

And so, you know, it was great because here are people, you know, you know, winning an

award for their art and their music and, you know, just feeling really great.

They're all dressed up and they're so excited and they've just won this award and they come

back and you literally get like, you know, 60 seconds to maybe four, four minutes or

so.

A little more if you know them, you know, to come back and capture them in that very

important moment in their lives.

So so that was cool.

And I did that several times.

I think, you know, while I was there, I'm sure Taylor came back like probably four or

five times.

And there were probably a couple of years where she won and didn't come back for whatever

reason.

Same with Jay Z and Beyonce.

Beyonce came back a bunch of times to the Grammys.

And I just recall one or two years where she just blew off most of the press but came back

and sat for a portrait for me because this wasn't like a step and repeat where that said

Grammys on the background.

This was like a classic, you know, beautiful portrait to memorialize that moment.

So that was cool.

And and just in the Bruce in the snow was was basically was he was doing the Broadway

shows in New York City.

And I was there photographing those some of those shows.

And and I said, you know, I just was talking to him one one one day backstage.

And I said, you know, be it be cool.

We should probably, you know, take a walk around the city one day because, you know,

you're you're own in New York right now.

You're kind of staying here.

You got a show here all the time.

You're in every newspaper, every magazine.

Everybody's talking about how epic these shows are.

How cool would it be to meet up and just like get a photograph of you standing in New York

City?

And that was the idea.

So we made a plan and he I texted him in the morning.

I said, yeah, I'll see you down there.

He's like, yeah, yeah, I'm good.

I'll meet you there.

You know, Central Park, you know, 72nd and Central Park.

So so I I went down and it started to snow.

It wouldn't really expecting to snow.

That was the interesting part.

And it just started to snow and it got heavier and heavier and heavier.

And I feel like we were supposed to meet at like two o'clock.

And I was looking at my watch.

It was like two fifteen.

And I said, hey, you know, I'm just checking in.

The light's really nice here.

It's snowing hard, but it's still pretty cool.

Are you still coming?

He's like, yeah, yeah, I just I'm in a cab.

I just had had a hard time catching a cab, which I thought was funny.

You know, to imagine Bruce out in the snow trying to catch a cab.

I was like, I want that photo.

Anyway, so he showed up.

And when he walked out of the cab, he looked at me, he was like, I hope you got some ideas,

you know, and I said, oh, yeah, I've been here for an hour, you know, wandering around,

picking out the best spots.

And in fact, I want you to just stand right here.

This was literally like 20 paces from the cab.

And you could see the, you know, the what I call the vanishing point of the buildings

going down 72nd Street with the Dakota on one side and and knowing how much actually,

you know, John Lennon and the Beatles meant to to Bruce.

And I had him stand there and the snow was falling and landing on those little rickshaws,

the bicycle rickshaws and that.

And I just, you know, banged off like half a dozen photographs.

And I was like, wow, this looks great.

And then we could have just went home after that.

But instead, we went into into Central Park and we walked around throughout Central Park

a little bit.

And then and then I said, yeah, I feel good about it.

This is great.

You know, and he's like, oh, yeah, I think there's going to be some good pictures, you

know.

And and and he said, all right, well, I'm going to walk down to Tavern on the Green

and get some hot chocolate.

And I was like, OK.

And he like put his headphones on and put up an umbrella.

And then he just like walked it walked down into the snow disappeared in this in the snow

storm, which was pretty cool.

And I actually, of course, photographed that, too.

And and one of the reasons, also one of the reasons I wanted to photograph him there is

there's a famous Richard Avedon photograph of Bob Dylan in Central Park.

And I was kind of hoping to get that.

And I did.

However, it was just covered in snow, which was, you know, there's a there's a lot of

good images there.

And they used them.

And then when when they were doing the album, you know, recording Letter to You, Tom Zim

was there, whose Bruce's documentarian and he was making a short film about the about

the record.

And while they were there recording, it started to snow.

And he captured the snow and he captured Bruce walking around his property in the snow.

And so when they were interested in doing the album packaging, Bruce called me up and

said, hey, you know, why don't you send me some of those photos that we took in the snow?

Because I feel like there's a little thread here.

And so I did.

And that that's what happened.

Yeah.

See, I love the two kind of bookends.

The you know, the first story where you're taking eight thousand photographs to see,

you know, maybe get one and then the snow and you're like, I got it.

I got what I needed.

Yeah, I'm good.

Yeah.

But you're here.

You know, I can't turn you back away.

Yeah, that's right.

Send you on your way.

It's kind of funny.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How much FOMO do you have at this point?

How much, you know, photographers?

I can't tell you how many shows I've been at where I like, I wish I had a camera versus

the times I was like, man, I wish I didn't have this camera wrapped around my neck or

on the end of my hand.

Yeah.

Do you have that or is it are you at the point now where you just take it's all you everything

scheduled?

You know what I mean?

You don't work.

No, I mean, well, I'll let you finish the question.

I was just thinking, do you have those?

Do you even go?

Do you even go to shows just to watch a show?

But, you know, without a camera?

Not very often because I want to, if I'm going to fully enjoy the show, you know, I usually

have a camera.

Uh, I did, however, go to see Paul McCartney in Mexico City recently and I left my camera

at home and went with my family and, uh, and some friends.

And I was just like, you know what?

I'm just not going to, I'm not going to worry about it.

And you know, as I look back on it at the time, I didn't really, and I do, I do have

severe FOMO.

I really do.

You know, at the time I really didn't, I just really tried to enjoy the moment.

But afterwards, when I was looking at my iPhone photos, I was like, man, if I had my Leica,

oh man, this would just be epic.

It would be epic.

See that anyway, that's, I gotta, I'm gonna let that wrap around my head.

Cause I get it.

I mean, the McCartney Bonnaroo is everybody, anybody who listens to this podcast, you know,

when you say what's, what's your best moment, Paul McCartney, 2013.

And then there's second and below, you know, for everybody.

And it's cause we all sat there and saying, Hey, Jude together, right?

80,000, 80,000 of us.

That's really interesting that you would do that.

But you also took iPhone photos.

That's even more interesting.

Well, I wasn't going to let the whole entire moment go by.

Come on.

I didn't capture it.

All right.

Um, man, I know you're very busy, Russ.

I've hogged all this as I told you that I would, you gotta have a question.

I mean, this is an amazing opportunity.

Oh, you did great.

Um, you know, thanks to David Bruce for setting this up and, you know, we talked to him a

few weeks ago and, uh, you know, his big thing is that he still shoots on film.

Uh, are you fully digital or do you do a mix of both or like, I'm probably 25 75.

I have a shoot mostly digital because it's just my job demands it.

People need things quickly.

Um, you need to see what's going on.

I did go to recently to Joshua tree to visit my friend, uh, Christopher Thorne who's in

blind melon built a really nice studio out there called fireside sound.

And, um, I, uh, I brought my bolex, you know, camera, the film, uh, movie camera, 16 millimeter.

And then I brought my half frame camera and I brought my, um, my Leica all shot.

I shot all film while I was there for the most part.

So it feels really good to get some, get some film back.

I do have, I meant to ask the video is, did that feel like a big difference step difference

for you?

Or does it feel like it's just another, um, another leg, another part of, um, I think

it's a little bit of both.

I mean, I feel like there's a big learning curve when you start to, to use a moving image

camera.

I mean, you're still framing something up, but it's like, how long, how long do you stay

on your subject before you're moving around and trying to capture the story?

It's all storytelling, you know?

And so storytelling with a still camera is, is a little different than storytelling with

a moving image camera.

So I'm my first film that I made, which is called pleasure and pain, which was a documentary

on Ben Harper, the editor, you know, we got in there, fortunately I got in there with

her like midway through the film to start like pushing things around.

And her first comment to me was like, dude, you got to hold on the shot, you know?

Cause I was basically just like, as a photographer, you're like, Oh, I'm telling a story.

Here's a wide shot of the whole picture.

Here's a shot of the hands.

Here's the instrument in their hands.

Click, click, click.

And then if you're doing that with a movie camera, you're like, here's a shot.

Here's a hand.

Here's a thing.

You know, you're like whipping the camera around and you're like, Holy shit.

What?

You know?

And that was the difference.

It's an interesting thing.

Cause I've done a little bit of both and I don't mean to put myself in your world at

all, but one of the beautiful things about your photographs and any good photograph is

anybody can look at it and it just, it's a story.

I mean, it's, it can go anywhere.

And then a film that it kind of has to have that sort of wide shot in, you know, tight

shot, blah, blah, blah.

You got to tell the story.

You got to set it up so that they are very different.

Aren't they?

Yeah.

Um, they are.

All right, Danny, man.

Uh, like I said, this has been a dream of mine for a long, long time.

I can't thank you for your time and, and, and sure visiting with us and I hope to run

into you again on the farm.

Is that it?

That's all the Russ is.

That's all Russ gets to ask me.

This is what this is his skill.

Is that it?

Go ahead and rest.

That's all I got.

What about Bonnaroo?

Did we not talk about bombing?

I thought you had like a bottle.

Yeah.

I did want to talk about how do you, how, I mean, cause you've seen it all.

How do you think things have changed or have they changed?

Not just Bonnaroo.

Cause to me, the Bonnaroo, the beauty of the Bonnaroo festival is it to me, it changed

music.

It, it made live music fun again.

You know, it did.

And you know, I think it all started really like that whole vibe obviously like it was

rekindled by Perry Farrell and Lollapalooza.

And then that kind of faded away.

And then fish picked up the ball, uh, did Clifford ball and lemon wheel and all those

great festivals.

And Bonnaroo came in and saw an opportunity there and, you know, uh, collaborated with

some of the same artists like Russ Bennett, who did, who handled all the creative side

of Bonnaroo.

And then just like, you know, the super fly partners just were just like had great ideas

about, you know, bringing in the art and having, you know, silent disco and having super jams

and you know, all that sort of stuff.

And you know, it started out like, you know, what, you know, I can't remember the first

lineups or whatever, but you know, fish widespread panic, uh, you know, wean, um, you know, all

that sort of like kind of jam band stuff.

And then segued into bringing us bands that nobody had ever heard of, like my morning

jacket and Kings of Leon and the black keys and, you know, and sort of like, you know,

Brandi Carlisle, you know, Marin Morris, like, you know, I just feel like all of a sudden

we are like being introduced to these incredible bands that like we're playing on a Sunday

like morning at noon before anybody was even up.

And my morning jacket is playing in this tent, you know, there's maybe like a couple hundred

people there.

Well, the next time they show up, there's a couple thousand people there because everybody's

spreading the word and how everybody wanted to be there and weren't.

And so, you know, Bonnaroo was like, was, you know, started to, the best part was being

introduced to all this, you know, these new, new, new artists and stuff.

And for me, it was a great opportunity because like I said, I started out photographing there

with two flats put together doing portraits and, and that, you know, that really came

from my work that I did with the Beastie Boys for the Concerts for Free Tibet that they

did in the, in the late nineties.

And I did a portrait studio there for that, for those shows.

And Jonathan, Jonathan from Superfly, you know, said, hey, you should come and do the

same, the same for us, you know, at Bonnaroo.

So I did.

And it slowly built up and I just captured all these artists that we were talking about

and more coming through.

I mean, I just posted recently a Jimmy Buffett photo that I took when he came strolling by

the portrait spot and, you know, and then there's all these like all the sort of the

super jams were amazing.

But I also think about like, you know, I had a hand in telling Radiohead how cool Bonnaroo

was and that is the closest thing to a European festival that they would see.

And they were, you know, not so sure about doing it.

And when they ended up doing it, they absolutely loved it.

And it was one of the best sets they had done up to that, up to that point.

Can I thank you right there?

Can I just thank you?

That's right.

Yeah.

And then I also had something to do with, well, a lot to do with Springsteen sitting

in with Fish that year.

Bruce had come and done the festival and he stayed an extra day and he was watching Citizen

Cope from the side stage with his one of his sons.

And I wandered over to Bruce and said, I said, have you seen Fish before?

And he's like, no.

Well, they're tonight, you know, and those boys can play anything.

And they've done these holiday shows, you know, like on Halloween where they take like

Remain in the Light or they do this record or that record.

And Bruce was like, oh, damn, all right.

And like an hour later, I ran into their tour manager, Brad, and he said, you know, hey,

Bruce just hit us up.

I think he's going to come and sit in, like, come over and photograph while they're rehearsing.

And I was like, all right.

Wow, once again, thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I mean, and I'm grateful, too, you know, for those opportunities and again, life experience,

you know, through that.

And I've made a couple of films about Bonnaroo 270 Miles to Graceland, which is the like

the first, the second Bonnaroo film that was made.

Someone else made the first one.

And then I made another one.

I don't even remember what year it was, but it was the year that Trey played with the

orchestra.

And I don't even know that they gave it a name.

I feel like it's just like Bonnaroo, whatever year.

But you know, it's so much fun.

And all the relationships talk about relationships, you know, and, you know, all the crew that

I used to photograph or to film the film, those shows are, you know, camera operators

and producers and people that are still great friends of mine to this day and who have gone

on to make their own films and become directors.

And, you know, Colleen Hennessey and Jojo Pennebaker and Alia Lissy and Linda Narvaez

and all these like Taryn Gould and stuff, all these really super cool people.

So that's been fun.

And you know, I mean, I could go on and on about Bonnaroo.

It really was a great, you know, great moment.

So the evolution for me was, you know, again, working at the paper, covering music.

In the 80s, 90s, there was the punk scene, there was the zines and everything was whatever

you wanted to do.

It was great.

And then we got into the arena rock sort of thing, which was very exciting.

I loved it, but then it became very familiar.

It didn't matter whether it's a country show or a hair metal band show.

It was, you know, third song, say hello Chattanooga, fifth song introduced the band.

I mean, it was all very choreographed and it became very insane.

And then, you know, it was, I don't want to say boring because it beat, you know, any

other gig I could have, I could have had.

But then in 2002 Bonnaroo was like, Oh my God, what, you know, what is this?

And then since 2007, I've been going every year and what you, I mean, you nailed it.

It was like, now I want to discover new bands.

I don't want to, I want to go see the McCartney's and the Radiohead's, but I also want to come

home with a whole list of new bands that I've never heard of before.

Yeah.

And that's what they gave us for sure.

100% and that's what changed.

And yeah.

And then I'm now a festival founder and promoter for See Here Now Music Festival, which is

on my hat in Asbury Park.

And we try to do the same thing.

You know, we're bringing in artists that people hadn't heard of and, you know, you know, people

come to us the next day and they're like, they had seen like Seema Funk or Ron Artis

or, you know, even, you know, even Nathaniel Rateliff who played this year.

You know, they're all, you know, people are coming and saying, wow, I wasn't familiar

with that act and that's like my favorite band now, you know?

So you know, bringing that to Asbury Park has been really cool.

And I would like to mention also, you know, not only, you know, being able to bring something

like that to Asbury Park, which is pretty epic.

We had the Foo Fighters and the Killers last year as our headliners.

I'm not sure how much you know about See Here Now, but it's a really cool festival right

on the ocean.

We have a surfing component.

We have an art component.

And I have a gallery in Asbury Park called the Transparent Clinch Gallery.

And it showcases, you know, my photography.

And we have live music there as well and all sorts of events, little fashion shows and

things like that.

And I also just started dropping t-shirts that have my photographs on them, like real

simple like old school, like almost punk rock style t-shirts, skater style, you know, old

school, just like a photograph with a little inscription, you know, this is Beastie Boys,

Los Angeles, Danny Clinch underneath it, like real simple.

It's called Clinch Collections.

And we just dropped the Beastie Boys Run DMC, Green Day, Dave Matthews, Fish, Bruce Springsteen.

And we have Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash.

It's quite a collection.

And they're super, super well made t-shirts.

And I thought I'd give them a plug because it's a startup and we're having a good time

with it.

And it's something I'm proud of.

How much of these guys come to you versus you going to them?

How much are you, you said you're not a planner.

Do you have a list of people you, you know, I'd like to photograph or they come into you

at this point or is the labels coming to you?

How is it working for you at this point?

It's probably a little bit of everything.

I mean, I'm not a planner, but I'm a hustler, you know, so, you know, if I want something,

I'm going to go find it.

You know, I mean, I made my career of showing up the places, you know, whether I was invited

or not and trying to capture something.

So you know, with that said, you know, something like something like Bonnaroo and the Grammys

was super cool because people were there and they were, you know, I could then encourage

them to come and sit for a portrait, which is always great.

And then other things, you know, it's like I go to Newport Folk Festival every year and

they have, you know, and see here now every year and there's just great artists wandering

around.

And there's a lot of them that I know, some I don't where I can capture these great moments

of rehearsals and hanging out and pre-show and all that sort of stuff.

So two things you mentioned community and getting to know people and that Russell agree

with me.

That's what we love about Bonnaroo.

That's why we're doing this podcast.

I mean, we've been doing this since 2018 because it's a community.

We I didn't know Russ before 2000.

We don't know each other except for this podcast and yeah, and a ton of people like that.

Ken Weinstein and Paps Blue Ribbon, Paps PBR.

Yeah.

Brings people together.

So, so there's that, but also that, that, that sense of like with David Bruce, he had

an idea and he did it in Bonnaroo is cool enough to embrace it.

You know, you got it.

Yeah.

Got a great idea.

Talk to me.

You know, tell me that's right.

And, and yeah, and it's not always the most talented people that have their idea and push

it through, you know, it's like, it's, it's a balance.

You know, some people who are so super talented and no one will ever know them.

Right.

Right.

And then there are some people with medium talent that are just so good at networking

and hustling and have ideas and they're executing them.

They're getting them done and there's something to be said for both, you know.

And, and if you have a, if you are able to balance it out and have some talent as well

as some hustle, you know, you can get out there and make a living and have great, great

life experiences, a lot of passion, which is David and, and, and you and everyone else.

So, yep.

All right, Ross again, man, you nailed it.

Any other, uh, anything else?

Russ, you talk too much.

This is my best one yet.

Danny, man, I can't thank you enough.

Um, love the work obviously and love, thank you.

Love the life, love what you've done.

And, uh, and I, I appreciate you giving us so much time.

Yes.

Thank you.

Yeah, you bet.

All right.

There you go.

Like I said, I'm, I'm still tingly.

I'm still, I may not come down off of this high for a while.

It was, it was almost as fun interviewing him as it was just watching you.

Just kind of light up like a schoolboy.

Just, you know, I get so nervous.

I told some friends, you know, I've done interviews now for 40 years and, uh, Brian Wilson was,

I was so nervous.

I was convinced I was going to go Chris Farley.

Um, I was, I wasn't too fearful that I would pull, you know, the Chris Farley, Paul McCartney

on, on this one, cause there was a lot to talk about.

You know what I mean?

I knew there was a lot of, uh, but you just never know how the guest is going to be.

And he was, he was great from the job.

Well, Danny was so easy to talk to.

He had a lot of good stories.

Yeah, just, it went great.

In fact, we tried to end it and he was like, is that it?

You're not going to ask me about it.

Yeah.

We almost didn't talk about Bonnaroo.

And then he was like, Oh, don't you want to talk about Bonnaroo?

Yeah.

How much time you got?

Yeah.

And I, you know, I kind of had, you know, the feeling like the assistance off to the

side pounded on their wristwatch or something, you know, or he's given the high sign, you

know, cut it off.

Yeah.

It was great.

So much fun.

And, and I, I, you know, we'll see.

Uh, all right.

Well thank you guys.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did though.

I doubt that's possible, but anyway, I hope you do.

Yeah.

Thanks for listening.

Uh, feel free to drop a like, uh, rate the podcast, share it, and, uh, we appreciate

it.

We'll be back with more hopefully soon.

Hey, and thanks to Consequence for coming.

Oh yeah.

Please do.

Like and share.

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All right guys.

See you soon.