Rhythm & Blues Pioneer Awards Tuesday Sept. 9

Last night the spotlight was on Philly as one of the biggest events came to our City to honor some really deserving people in the music industry.
First off Trudy Haynes, I am always thrilled and honored to see her. Here she interviews the Geater with the Heater, who was the perfect MC for the night, except he never gave us the last names of the talent. Oh and its not really his fault because there were no tip sheets which are really important to have because there were a bunch of people I had no idea who they were and would have really wanted to submit their photos and achievements to my photo agency in NY.

My friends Carmen and Margarita, who own their own NYC agency said, “HughE Get the Chaka Khan & Bonnie Raitt photos, they are the only ones that will sell to magazines.” The rest will go to blogs and websites, which is fine by me, it’s all good to get the word out about the Pioneer Awards, the institution that has now settled in Philadelphia, brought back to life by a handful of people. I don’t want to say I am an expert about running events or red carpets, but I have been photographing in NYC for about 3 years and I do have a little experience on how it should be done. (In the end my photo agency rejected all of Chaka’s photo as I had brought a short lense and a long lense. I used the short lense on the carpet as the long lense wouldn’t have been able to get the groups. Unfortunately the short lens shots came out to soft because the step up, and repeat were too far away [it’s a new lens I am still learning to use it]) is fiOK I know who this guy isIt’s John Oates and his wife. Another thing, if we weren’t shooting half a block away, we could actually ask the celebrity what his wife’s name was, but he wasn’t in shouting distance.
Sugar Pie Desanto who I later heard did a backflip on stage!!

Geater doing what he does best (I went to Memories in Margate when I was a kid)
Who am I? I don’t know I didn’t have a tip sheet, it was a bummer, I can’t promote people without knowing who they are.
Who am I?
They did have a guy that did a great job at getting the talent to look to the right, center and left. I thank you for that, I think you get the jist of the distance a bit here.
Who am I having a great big laugh? At some point I asked to attend the cocktail party as I wanted to shoot a few guests to have on Philly Chit Chat, and also to contribute to Philly Style Magazine. Someone didn’t get the memo and I was denied access. Well that didn’t go over to well with me, as I was working on on so little sleep.

Aaah the real queen of soul Teena Marie and her daughter Holly (later I found out the REAL REAL Queen of Soul showed up. A little birdie tells me that the Queen footed her own bill to drive down from NY to present the award to Chaka)
More royalty, Dionne Warwick with Teena Marie. I was thrilled to see them both.
Wayne Brady, who was barely on the carpet and couldn’t hear us yelling to stay on the carpet because he was about a block away.
Dancing in the Street, My Baby Loves Me, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
They deserve two pixs – Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan. I just had the thrill of seeing her and photographing Patti, Miss Ross and Gladys Knight perform at Radio City Music Hall. From an email I received this morning ” The one and only Diva, the Queen of Soul made a surprise appearance at The Pioneers award to present the Lifetime Achievement Award to Chaka Khan.”
Patti Jackson and Chaka. I love this shot.

Just wanna reach out and touch you
The Kimmel Center shines in glory like it was meant to be. Showcasing the many talented people that come through its doors. Oh and one more thing someone wrote me. I was told by the organizers that Bonnie Rait, the hostess for the night, was not posing for any photos, and if someone took her photo she WOULD SUE THEM. SO I left at this point. That is just ridiculous. BONNIE I can’t believe doesn’t want her photo taken. And then I got this in an email from a friend who had stayed ” Get this, if you wanted to shoot pics or get audio of Bonnie Raitt the made everyone sign these lengthy release forms then she never even came up.”

The last time I ran into this craziness was when I went to shoot Miss Ross a month ago, she could only be photographed from the left side, and only for 45 seconds, at least she gave us that. Then she didn’t show up for the press conference, but Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle and Gladys Knight were there.
I thought it odd to use Bonnie Raitt’s likeness since she didn’t want to be photographed at the event, but they used her face to promote the event. You think they would have used Chaka’s.

Update: At the end of the night they did allow a handful of photographers to get the photos that were necessary to promote the event nationally. I wish I knew this was a possibility as I might have sat in the press room for those 3.5 hrs and chatting with my colleagues, although I probably would have been cranky as I was so tired. – HughE