Intro: It’s That Million Dollar Bash

A new Substack of in-depth, photo-driven features on music and musicians from Jacob Blickenstaff.

I’ve been photographing music since my junior of college at NYU’s jazz program–2000 to be exact. Over the past two decades, moments from my career as a music photographer have been some of the most exhilarating and life-affirming experiences I’ve ever had.

I’ve been backstage in scuzzy Midwestern dressing rooms, on stage at Madison Square Garden and The Beacon Theatre, alone with singers inside vocal booths, on tour buses with cornfields flying by, at Denny’s in the morning and Steak & Shake at night, and and poolside in a producer’s Malibu backyard.

Natalie Merchant

Sharon Jones, Low Cut Connie, Phosphorescent, Jonathan Wilson + Benmont Tench, Taylor Goldsmith + John McCauley, Steve Earle

I’ve always chafed against the restrictions inherent in being a ‘music photographer,’ (hello ‘3-song rule’), preferring to find ways to work from the inside. I made much more compelling photos when I could hang out at rehearsals or the recording studio, wander the stage during sound check, hover in the dressing room as the energy built up to the show, and crawl around the stage ducking behind bass amps and hiding in the wing…