When legendary New York photographer Bob Gruen turns to you in the middle of a crowd and asks if he can take your picture, you smile and say, “Yes!”

I’m captured me here with former client Johnny Rotten/John Lydon—who today (January 31) celebrates his 70th birthday—at the infamous Hotel Chelsea in NYC. I rode there on the tour bus with John after the Sex Pistols’ show at Jones Beach in August 2003. 

Someone in NY (I forget whom) thought it would be clever to have an after-party in the basement space of the same hotel where Sid Vicious’ gal Nancy Spungen died from a stab wound in 1978.  I thought the party location idea was in poor taste. But then, I guess, “it’s only rock and roll.”

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We couldn’t let January go by without sharing a fun story about RATT while working with them in 1991 (we’re now happily aligned again with Stephen Pearcy). 35 years ago this month, the band received a certificate of commendation from L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley.

The wording on the certificate was absolutely classic, as noted by Patrick Goldstein in his Los Angeles Times article, titled “RATT TRAP.” It ends with a brilliantly funny Pearcy quote. Link to the story below. 👇

Here’s what Goldstein wrote:

“L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley recently paid tribute to Ratt for the hard-rock group’s involvement in several anti-drunk driving organizations and voter education programs. But did the band get a key to the city? A free pass to City Council meetings? An honorary badge from police chief Darryl Gates? No way. The group got an offer it couldn’t refuse. In a certificate of commendation signed by Mayor Bradley, the band was so honored: ‘Recognizing the usual habit of Ratt’s rodent namesake, the group has an open invitation to receive a tour of our hundreds of miles of Los Angeles sewers anytime.’ According to Bill Chandler, Bradley’s publicity exec, the city does occasionally offer similarly oddball commendations. ‘We once had a Funniest Nut Day in honor of Planter’s Peanuts,” he said. “But we did want to praise Ratt’s involvement in several worthy causes.’ As for Ratt, group leader Stephen Pearcy sounded excited about taking Mayor Bradley up on his offer. ‘I’m anxious to take the tour. Trust me, I’ve slept in worst places.’”

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-13-ca-178-story.html

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One of the best things about being David Bowie’s publicist for 21 years was the trust his team had in me. Whenever I would suggest musicians and celebrities to be invited to his shows and meet him backstage, they always greenlit my ideas. Of course I always got to meet those special people when I set up the photo (a very nice perk of the job), usually snapped by the great guys Kevin Mazur and Lester Cohen.

Back in December 2003, Bowie performed at Madison Square Garden on his “Reality” tour for what turned out to be his last concert there. Since I was a big fan of Interpol, I invited them to the show—and it was wonderful to see their eyes absolutely light up when I met them at their seats and led them backstage to meet the master. ⚡️ Also there that magical night was David Byrne, Jude Law, and Lenny Kravitz.

Back in November 1994, Sandra Bernhard (a client at Levine Schneider PR) headlined the prestigious Pantages Theater in Hollywood. My friend and former associate Tresa Redburn and I wanted to make the show extra buzz-worthy, so we invited John Doe of X and Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction, knowing that a photo of them with Sandra would be “gold.”

And what an honor it was to set up the photo backstage that night, showing three of the most original voices ever to emerge from Los Angeles—all in one frame. 🖼️ ⚡️

The following year, X would become clients of MSO in its first year of operation (for the band’s 1995 live acoustic  “Unclogged” album), while Jane’s were a client at both Levine Schneider (1990’s “Ritual de lo Habitual” album) and MSO (for their final studio album in 2011, “The Great Escape Artist”).

Woke up today and felt like spinning Korn. I noticed (at one of the streaming platforms) that a 20th anniversary edition of their “See You On The Other Side” album was released last Friday. It triggered many terrific memories of working with the guys.

At MSO PR (the pre-SRO PR company), Marcee Rondan, Kristine Ashton-Magnuson, and I organized a graveside press conference (playing off the album’s title) at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, for which the band arrived fittingly in a hearse.

At the celebrity-studded party at the cemetery later that night, Axl Rose made his first public appearance in many years, which helped garner the event an extra bump of publicity.

I remember walking up to Axl and saying, “Hi Mr. Rose, I’m the publicist for the band and they know you are here. May I take you back to meet them, and if you are OK with it, we have a photographer on hand who would like to take a few photos of you with the guys?”

Axl was very gracious. I think by addressing him as “Mr. Rose,” he felt he was being treated with the right amount of respect. He wound up posing for many photos including this one with KORN’s Munky. 📸 by Getty Images.

Mitch

Green Day released their sixth album ‘Warning’ album 25 years ago this month. Here they are in Mitch Schneider’s Mack Daddy Caddy during the album’s sessions in Hollywood for that album. Mitch is driving and the photographer is in the front seat,  shooting the band for a Guitar World feature that my associate Amanda Cagan and I set. This framed photograph hangs proudly in Mitch’s office. It’s a magical “capture” that zeroes in on the different personalities of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool. 

Tom Waits’ terrific fifth album ‘Foreign Affairs’ was released on this day (September 13) in 1977. I reviewed it for the monthly Crawdaddy (it was one of the many plum assignments that editor Jon Pareles gave me).

Back then, I was 21 and living at my folks’ house in the Bronx. I would lock myself up in their basement (when I wasn’t going to shows) and listen to test pressings of albums that were assigned to me to review.

It was always a nerve-racking experience to review albums because you hoped and prayed you would  “get it right“ and do a great album justice. There was of course no Internet back then so you couldn’t read, and perhaps be influenced by, what other writers may have been saying about a particular album ahead of its release. You were pretty much on your own when it came to forming an opinion.

Years later, in 1999 at MSO PR, I handled the PR, along with my friend and former associate Tresa Redburn, for Waits’ deeply moving “Mule Variations” album. That was a fantastic full circle moment for me. 

When you worked as a publicist for Ozzy Osbourne, you had his full attention + respect.

Whenever I saw Ozzy, the first thing he would say was, “Show me pictures of your daughter.” That’s who he was. And I’ll always remember when Ozzy and Sharon gifted Sorrell Schneider with stock in Disney when she was born.

📌 Thank you Stephanie Cabral for sending along this photo you captured of me talking to Ozzy—with Sharon and my partner Marcee Rondan in the frame—outside the Hollywood Palladium at a pop-up promo event for Ozzfest in 2017.

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