Memoirs on Substack
April 22, 2021 § 3 Comments
lindawolf.substack.com which is basically about the wildness of my life as a rock n’ roll photographer with photos you’ve not seen before, plus stories, interviews and more intimate details. Here’s to embarrassing a few people! Hopefully, they forgive me. You see, my 5 pound book, Tribute: Cocker Power, simply did not have room for much writing!
and
beingahuman.substack.com which is about life, death, and everything in between. My take on the universal realities of being human here now, past, present and future!
These are two distinct sides of me. I’m sure my art world in general will make it’s way into both. My sex life, not so sure about that yet! Politics – well, it will be infused in all realms. PS, subscribing is free!
I hope you will join me in either one or both.
Love linda
A fun break from impeachment proceedings tomorrow night
February 9, 2021 § Leave a comment
https://www.facebook.com/events/166364538349946/
Event by BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts at Capilano University
Watch Party Online: Tomorrow at 8 PM PST – 8:30 PM PST
This is Part 1 of 3 parts and will be archived.
Price: Free · Duration: 30 min
Public ·
To anyone on or off Facebook, Seattle-based Linda Wolf is widely known as one of the first female rock photographers. At just 19, Wolf snagged the role of official photographer on the wild and legendary 1970 Joe Cocker Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour. When the CapU Global Roots Series decided to re-image this legendary project with an homage called Mad Dogs and Vancouverites, Linda Wolf paid us a visit and made the shows all the more special.
A formidable writer, musician, and a long-time social activist, Linda Wolf shares stories about her incredible career.
Linda Wolf says participating in our homage to Joe Cocker Mad Dogs and Englishmen show was an amazing experience—high praise, since Wolf was there for the entire original tour. As official photographer, Wolf captured behind-the-scene happenings—she LIVED it, in all its extreme highs and lows. Wolf shares her extraordinary photographs and incredible stories about those revolutionary times, about music as a symbol for transformation and about the tour is all its wild glory. This trailer barely captures the cool conversation between Linda Wolf Photography and show host Fiona Black. Watch the full show Wednesday, Feb. 10, 8 p.m.
Happy New Year Everybody
January 1, 2020 § 5 Comments
It’s 5:35pm. Ivy, the black seal cat just jumped up behind me and is sitting on the chair curled into and warming the small of my back. Eric and I just finished playing cards. I beat him for a change.. but I’ve gotten over feeling good or bad when I win or lose… it’s all the same, really. Heather and Nik are at Doe Bay, playing music. Genevieve and Brandon are going hot tubbing near by. We took a long walk in the forest today in the slight drizzle and big chill. I bought eggs and fruit down the road. The night is upon us. I’m going to make dinner and practice piano. Eric’s going to watch a bit of a b-ball game. The wild wind is rustling the leaves in the pines and the wind-chimes are sweetening up the darkness with their reminders of meditation and sage. I’ll make a fire. We’ll look for a music documentary to watch and cuddle up on the couch, so grateful to have no where to go tonight and just be able to be with each other. I hope we have peace tonight. I wish there was peace all over the world, but there isn’t. We take what each day serves up and we’ll take 2020 as it comes… we will do whatever service we can to make it better and give ourselves as much kindness, forgiving our foibles and the foibles of those against us. In the midst of a life where nothing is secure, where we come and go so fast, and the lose those we love – in the midst of pain and beauty of it, we keep on keeping on. We keep on making love and music and food and forgiving ourselves and each other and cracking our hearts open with all the courage it takes to be human. What a mystery, this being human… — Love more… just do it…. May the New Year be what it will and may we each have whatever it takes inside to live through it the best we can… linda
April 2nd is Leon Russell’s Birthday and Tulsa will be the place to BE!
December 14, 2019 § Leave a comment
Leon Russell’s birthday is April 2nd. Something big is going to happen in Tulsa to celebrate Leon’s birthday. Very soon, I can tell you what it is. However, it does have something to do with my new book, TRIBUTE: Cocker Power. Yes sir, ladies and gents.
It has everything to do with Tulsa greats, Leon Russell, Jim Keltner, Chuck Blackwell, Don Preston, Carl Radle, Carla McHenry, Kay Poorboy, Francine Brockey, and Miss Emily Smith. It has to do with Joe Cocker Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
That should be enough hints for now! Be sure to advance order your copy. Click the book jacket below.
Insight Editions to publish Tribute: Cocker Power
September 7, 2019 § 2 Comments
Dear Friends
I’m delighted to announce that Insight Editions, distributed by Simon & Shuster, will be publishing my new book, Tribute: Cocker Power. Now, the printing process begins! I’ve purchased a limited number to sell, myself, and you can receive one of these first copies, autographed, and hot off the press prior to the official book release in the Spring, 2020…
Joe Cocker and Leon Russell and all the musicians involved with both the 1970 Mad Dogs tour and the Tedeschi Trucks Band tribute concert will have more time in the sun due to the generosity of the over 100 musicians and crew who participated is this book through their stories and interviews over the past three years. Due to them, and to family, friends, patrons who have contributed to this labor of love –especially Dr. John Paddock, Ph.D, who approached me in 2016 and offered me the opportunity to create a serious book, voila – 340 pages, hardback, designed by the award winning designer, Michael Vanderbyl.
“When you look at this book you can see it is a labor of love. When you look at the photos, you get the sense that everyone really trusts and opens up to Linda and that she is really in it. A lot of times I notice photos of us and I think they’re nice but I think but they don’t capture the sense of the people as I know them, but when I look at all the images in this book – the ones of Kofi or Sue or the people that I know intimately — I really feel them. Linda captures the real, personal side of people — the vulnerable side. She goes for the authentic moments. Linda’s photos have real heart to them, a real warmth that I appreciate and am honestly moved by. I can’t wait to hold this book and dig into it when it’s out.” — Derek Trucks, 2019
So many images and stories could not be included in the 340 pages of this book, but I will share them when I do “book readings.” Some are better left out of print and only for sharing in person!
Advance order now, limited numbers available. www.lindawolf.net
See you on the road. Love linda
Harborview Medical Center acquires works by Linda Wolf
August 3, 2018 § Leave a comment
Many thanks to Bridget Zaro for suggesting that I submit work to the Art Program Director for possible purchase.
Warren Haynes Interview with Linda Wolf
June 7, 2016 § Leave a comment
I just published an interview with Warren Haynes on our Teen Talking Circles blog. Check it out here: www.teentalkingcircles.com
Come with Taj Mahal & me to Cuba
March 12, 2016 § Leave a comment
Taj Mahal & Linda Wolf 2015
Yes, you read that right! November 7 – 16th in Havana — and what a trip it will be.
46 years ago, I first met Taj and 45 years later I met him again. And now we’re going to Cuba as part of Cross Cultural Journeys cultural trips. Me, as Journey Ambassador/Photographer AND TAJ MAHAL as the luminous LUMINARY that he is.
Taj is national treasure… An embodiment of the American blues tradition… brilliant, and classic. I feel so honored. It’s going to be a once in a life-time experience. And you can come!! Well, a few of you can come!!! Already in 2 weeks, without publicity, 10 people are registered. Only 15 more can come.
Check this: The Itinerary
Backstory: 46 years ago, 1970 we’re talking about, I was crashing at Leon Russell’s house in the San Fernando Valley with the other members of the Joe Cocker Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour which was about to take off in days on our whirlwind tour around the US, for which the documentary movie was made.
Last year, as many of you know from my FB posts, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks (who modeled their 12 piece band after the JCMD&E tour) invited all of us alumni to a memorial/tribute/reunion concert in honor of Joe and the MD&E tour, at the Lockn’ Festival.
To say we had a love fest among alumni and the TTB & friends is mild — we hung together for 6 days and it was the pure 60s/70s substance… high energy and love was palpable, so much so I heard Leon wrote 8 songs for Susan and cried for 5 days after Lockn because of the amount of love he felt from his peers…Seriously, for me, being with my old friends and new ones, doing photography on stage, singing in the encore with my daughters on stage, being in that sonic experience is one of the 10 highlights of my life that I can list on my fingers!
But back to 1970… A few days before we left LA, Leon had us all get in cars together and go to a doctor in the SF Valley to get shots for the possibility that the Tour would be extended and we’d go to Jamaica. That same day, if I recall, we went over to “The Plantation” — this house in San Fernando Valley that some 14 musicians (at one time or the same time) lived at, including Taj, his guitarist, Jesse Ed Davis, Delaney and Bonnie, Carl Radle, Chuck Blackwell, Bobby Whitlock, and many others.
That afternoon, which could have been afternoon and evening and night, I hung out while Delaney and Bonnie, Leon & the Tulsa guys and Taj were jamming. I remember it like yesterday. I remember the room, and particularly I remember watching Bonnie dance as she sang. She swung her hips in a circle one way and then the other and back again and every move was recorded inside me — I went home and practiced her moves and still to this day do that hip dance and think of her.
I remember Taj back then – he was just beautiful and so soulful — but if we talked or spent any time together that day, I don’t remember. I didn’t have my camera with me that day. Why? I have no idea.
After that, it was not too many days more before we took off on the Cocker Power plane and my life pretty much shifted from planet Earth to the cosmos and I didn’t look back.
So when I heard Taj was going to be at Jazz Alley last December (2015), I had to go see him and bring him a copy of the Joe Cocker Mad Dogs & Englishmen Memory Book I’d just self-published. I waited until the show was over and Eric and I went backstage to see him. I handed him the book, told him about meeting him the first time, and watched him just get lost looking at the pictures. He was blown away, I could see – to be reminded of a treasured past. He knew these people really well, all of the alumni in the book. And that’s when he invited Eric and me to his Thanksgiving dinner in Seattle.
In January, my friends Philip and Cilla with Cross Cultural Journeys asked me if I’d like to lead a trip to Cuba with them. Philip said, “Oh, also, why don’t you ask one of your musician friends to come along?” Well, long story short Cocker Tour alumni Claudia Lennear (who knew Taj very well from the 70s) mentioned to me she really wanted to get in touch with Taj and I knew another Cocker alumni friend, Pamela Polland, was in touch with him. So, I asked Pamela to get Taj’s phone number for us. She got back to me with the number and one morning I decided I’d call him just to see if he had any suggestions of people to connect to in Cuba. When he answered I thought maybe I should invite Taj to come… so I said, “Taj, would you like a free trip to Cuba?” And he said, “Yeah, sure.” Then he told me I’d found him in a Cuban restaurant in Miami at that very moment. The rest is detail history of getting Philip and Cilla in touch with Taj to make all the arrangements. And long story short — here we are — going on a trip to Cuba together with Cross Cultural Journeys.
The exciting thing for me, besides the obvious, is being part of something that will make an indelible impression on all of us going, as well as, the Cuban people. We are bringing the blues to Cuba — but we are also bringing the intangibles that come from those early days, that Taj and I remember so well — the 60s & 70s when rock & roll and the blues merged in this organic, crazy, wild, free, creative human experience and produced some of the most important music of our times. We’re bringing a vibe of a great period of time along with the present time of art, soul, and music nurtured and developed from those roots.
I’m so turned on! Can. Not. Wait. I’m blown away to be doing this and will undoubtedly have so many photos, films, and interviews to share when we get back. So, if you are so moved, jump on board. It is going to be a great ride. Check out Cross Cultural Journeys for more info.
love, linda
happy birthday, Patti Smith
December 30, 2014 § 4 Comments
Somewhere in outer LA, sometime in the early 1970s.
After the Cocker Tour, I went back to live (mostly) at Fanny Hill, the mansion up on Marmont Lane in Hollywood that Warner Brothers/Reprise rented for the band. One night we all went to see Patti perform. I’d met her on the Cocker Tour at the Chelsea one night in New York. Or at least she remembered me when I met her again a couple years ago. I barely remember that a group of us, including Joe, Leon, and well, a whole bunch of us spent the night into the early hours of the morning there hanging out in various rooms in that great hotel. I wish I could go back in time and replay those times, but I refuse to spend too much time pining or regretting the past or fearing the future – now is the best time to be alive!
I met Patti again a couple years ago. She had just completed her album, Banga, which accompanies us on long journeys, every summer in the car, as we sing at the top of our lungs along with her. That afternoon, she honored me by remembering me from the 70s. I gave her copies of my two books. I’d just read “Just Kids” twice in Yelapa, where I had days of lazing about reading. I told her I’d shown my work in Arles at the Photographer’s Festival in the 80s with Robert, and we’d had a photo taken of us together. He was so shy, always sitting alone – I’m sure I was asking him if he wanted company. I recall him being very friendly. I’m always looking to help loners feel connected. I saw Robert again in LA, when we were both part of a book of 100 photographers called “24 Hours in LA”
Patti inspires me deeply. So does her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, who I have plans to interview soon. Both are, well, beautiful and authentic, and both make music that fills my soul and drives me to want more of it. I don’t know many women my age who are as comfortable or natural aging, or seemingly so, as Patti. And I identify with the two of them as mother and daughter working together. I have worked with my daughters, Heather and Genevieve, for years – it is one of the greatest blessings of my life to be able to work together with the people I love the most in the world.
When I saw Patti in NYC a couple years ago, I simply wanted to hold on to her. She came over to my table and we talked. I love her. I guess I resonate with her. I am glad she is so human. Listening to her speak on a radio broadcast once, I heard her say “I’m not Mother Teresa” and talk about not feeling she deserves some of the accolades she gets because she is certainly not a saint – she’s said she isn’t always as nice as she would want to be. So, she’s human! Aren’t we all. That makes me like her all the more. It reminded me of Maya Angelou, who told me, “I make mistakes, daily.” I love people who reveal who they really are, warts and all. People who give it all they’ve got, who don’t take on the projections we put upon them. I remember my friend, Lindsay Wagner saying to me once, “Hey, I’m not even Lindsay Wagner.” Joe Cocker was like that, too. A person of the people. That is what Patti feels like. A person of the people. It inspires me to do the same. 100% – give it all I’ve got!
I wanted to hold onto Patti that day I saw her in NYC, so I did what documentary photographers do, I photographed her. I wanted to gaze into her eyes; to ask her questions; to be her friend. Yes, that is what I wanted most of all, to be her friend. Like a teenager in school, wanting to be friends with someone, someone I longed to know how to be like more. If I’d known her in high school, I would have asked her to come sleep over at my house and we would have snuck out at night and gone to Hollywood to hang around the music scene.
I’m so glad Patti Smith was born, and that she lives, and that she is so accessible and that she has raised two beautiful children who are making beautiful art, fantastic music, awesome waves in the world. Here’s to Patti Smith. May she have a long, healthy, muse inspired and love-filled life.
Linda Wolf 
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