John Lee Hooker shakes my hand

500-Weeks #006

John Lee Hooker in Toronto, 1990. Photo © 1990 be Steven Lungley

April 1990 and I had just started taking photos seriously. My one outlet was Share Newspaper, a weekly publication dedicated to the Black and Caribbean community in Toronto. I wasn’t part of either community, but they still hired me to do graphic design and I ended up also being an editorial contributor.

I had a friend named Mongo, who I had met on a summer job unloading tractor-trailers a few years earlier. He had been a long-time doorman, roadie and all round rock ’n roll guy working out of New York City, mostly with punk rock bands. He had moved to Toronto and was establishing his rock ’n roll contacts here.

He called me to let me know that he was going to be running security for a club date featuring legendary bluesman John Lee Hooker. He asked if I would like to come, and said I could bring my camera. 

John Lee Hooker 1990

I was in downtown Toronto, and the show was west of the city, in Mississauga. I did not have a car, so the trip by public transit was an hour-and-a-half each way. I had been introduced to Mr. Hooker’s music in high school, really liked his tunes and decided the opportunity was too good to pass up. Plus, I was hoping the newspaper would run an article about the show and pay me to use one of my photos. Even considering the three hours of transit, I was going.

I packed the camera and a couple of lenses and headed west. Met with Mongo, said hello and shot the breeze for a bit before going into the club. My memory of the show is slight. For some reason, I remember it being light outside. Maybe I was just very early.

Inside, the club was dark. There were not many people in attendance, and the area in front of the stage was a mostly deserted dance floor. I could walk around where I wanted to. 

Eventually, John Lee Hooker took the stage and Boom Boom Boom Boom, we’re off. The lighting was very theatrical, with every lamp covered in a coloured gel. No white light, but lots of blue and purple and red. Still under the influence of my first photo editor, I had brought colour slide film, which requires precise camera settings to get a decent image. Get it right, and the picture is beautiful, fail and it’s mud. 

While I’m setting up to take a photo, I’m also looking at the camera’s built in light meter which is telling me my settings are wrong, and that I need to increase the exposure. A lot. My instincts, however, were saying otherwise.

Prior to pursuing still photography, I had spent a year working at a motion picture equipment rental house in the lighting and grip department. As a film student, I had never had access to such a variety of powerful lights. Part of the job was to test every lamp before it was rented, and after it came back, to ensure it was functioning.

Being technically curious, I would not only turn the lamps on and off, I would shine them down the aisles, to understand the quality of light and type of beam spread each one produced. I even brought my light meter to work sometimes, and checked out how much light they put out, concentrating on lamps I thought I might be able to rent. One of these fixtures was called a parcan, which could be fitted with bulbs that featured different lenses, from wide beam to narrow spot.

Which happened to be the exact same type of lamps that were illuminating John Lee Hooker.  I also remembered being told that in-camera light meters can be incorrect if the scene is extremely bright - like a snowy day - or very dark, like in a theatrical show, such as the scene in front of me. But I wasn’t totally sure what to do, because I hadn’t taken many photos of nightclub shows before. 

So while the camera is saying to do one thing, my instinct and memory of testing those lamps had a little voice in the back of my brain saying: “don’t do that.” If I do what the camera is telling me, the slower shutter speed will result in blurry photos. Instincts and belief in my tests won out and I set the exposure to what I believed would be correct.

I then proceeded to concentrate on trying to capture a memorable moment and used up the whole roll of film in the process. Afterwards, Mongo invited me backstage, and introduced me to Mr. John Lee Hooker, who shook my hand.  Impression: Well dressed, amiable, firm grip and soft skin. 

As we were the only three people in the dressing room, I could have asked to take his portrait, and I am sure he would have said yes. But being inexperienced, I had already used up all my film and did not have a spare roll with me. Not even a roll of B&W. Nothing. I didn’t think to hold a couple of frames back, in case something better came along later. Opportunity lost.

That was a lesson I carried forward.

The newspaper never ran a story on Mr. Hooker. These photos have never been published previously. 

Technical stuff: Camera: Nikon FE using a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 and a Nikkor 50mm f/2.0 leness. Shot on film using Kodak Ektachrome 160T (Tungsten) code 5077 – ET colour transparency.