Collection: Photography
Photographers on Display Neal Casal, Stu Levine, Jay Blakesberg and John Cornik
Neal Casal:
Neal Casal was born in Denville, New Jersey in 1968. He was a songwriter, singer, guitarist, record producer, photographer, surfer and friend.
When his parents divorced in the mid-70’s, Neal moved with his mom from NJ to Georgia to California, before coming back to NJ and growing up in Rockaway, NJ. After graduating high school in 1987 and the end of his high school rock band, Exire, Neal started working at a guitar store called The Music Maker in Hackettstown, NJ. It was there he met a musician named Davis Jaynes, who would become Neal’s mentor and a huge influence on his guitar style. They would play guitar together at the store all day and spent a year or so playing shows together around New Jersey, where Neal would develop the sound that would become the foundation of his solo career.
Neal would go on to appear on multiple recordings as a member of bands like Circles Around the Sun, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Beachwood Sparks, The Skiffle Players and Hard Working Americans. He added his sublime musical touch to studio sessions and live performances by a long list of artists, including Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Sheryl Crow, Lucinda Williams, The Jayhawks, James Iha and Vetiver.
Stuart Levine is a live music and event photographer. Originally from Paramus, New Jersey, Stuart moved to the Bay Area in the early 1990’s and currently resides in San Rafael, California with his wife and 2 children. He is a staff photographer for Relix Magazine, Jambands.com, High Sierra Music Festival, Lockn’ Music Festival, and Hangtown Music Festival. His images have appeared in various publications, including Relix Magazine, Jambands, Mountain Outlaw, Hidden Track and The Marin Independent Journal.
Jay Blakesberg born December 1, 1961 is an American, San Francisco based, photographer and film maker. His suburban youth was spent mostly in Clark, New Jersey where he first discovered a passion for taking pictures. As a young teenager, Blakesberg began taking his father's Pentax camera to local concerts.
The Grateful Dead performed at the Meadowlands in 1978 and was the first Dead show he photographed. A few years on the road with a group of people called Deadheads resulted in the beginning of a body of photographic work that continues to this day. The early 1980s found Blakesberg living in Olympia, Washington, where he attended the Evergreen State College. More intensive study and focus on photography and filmmaking led him to an internship doing corporate photography and video in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-1980s. This is when Blakesberg started bringing his camera to every musical event he attended.
Most of the 1990s, Blakesberg was constantly shooting for print magazines and record companies, creating what is now an archive of 30 years of pop music icons. Just before September 11, 2001, Blakesberg secured a book deal to publish a coffee table book on his Grateful Dead archive. Working on that book gave Blakesberg the inspiration to start his own book publishing company, which eventually was born as Rock Out Books. Under that umbrella, Blakesberg has either published or packaged over a dozen books of his own photography as well as other photographers and artists.
In 2015, Blakesberg published "Guitars That Jam—Portraits of the world's most storied rock guitars" which explores the history of many of the guitars in the Jamband scene. Featuring images from live concerts and outdoor festivals, this volume captures the personal connection between artist and instrument. Along with the guitar's make and model, each image is accompanied by a story from the musician detailing the instrument's special characteristics, as well as its significance to them and rock history. Including photographs of Neil Young, Carlos Santana, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Trey Anastasio, Derek Trucks, and Warren Haynes to name just a few. Guitars That Jam features a foreword written by Warren Haynes and is an excellent photographic guide to the world of improvisational rock guitars.
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Eyes of the World: Grateful Dead Photography Book 1965-1995 by Jay Blakesberg
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