Dedicated to Robert Altman (1944-2021), photographer. He was Rolling Stone's chief staff photographer. He studied with Ansel Adams. He shot the Stones recording Let It Bleed, Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, the Doors, and everyone else who mattered in the late sixties and early seventies. On September 3, 2007, the Record Plant was hosting the launch party for his book The Sixties (Santa Monica Press, 2007), and he was there. We talked. Two photographers standing in a room full of ghosts, comparing notes on what it was like to disappear into the music and come back with proof. His archive lives at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library. More than 40,000 images. He did the work.
The Record Plant opened in 1972 with a Halloween party. The Grateful Dead were the house band. John Lennon and Yoko Ono came dressed as trees. In the 35 years that followed, Fleetwood Mac recorded Rumours here, Stevie Wonder recorded Songs in the Key of Life, Santana recorded Supernatural, and Bob Marley made his first American recording in this building.
On September 3, 2007, the Plant opened its doors to the public for the first time in its history. Michael Indelicato, who had purchased the building to save it from becoming a self-storage unit, was fighting to keep it alive as a working studio and community music center.
I shot these images in near-darkness using drag shutter technique on the Leica M8. No flash. The motion blur is deliberate. These rooms were not built to be seen clearly. They were built to be felt. The technique lets the camera record what your eye actually experiences in a space like this: warmth, color, movement, and the ghosts of everyone who passed through before you.
- Chuck Jones
On the same day, an interview was recorded with Michael Indelicato about the history and future of the Record Plant. He spoke about the Bridgeway Music Foundation, the loss of Bill Graham, the closing of the Sweetwater and Tower Records and Village Music, and why someone had to stand up before it was all gone.
The studio closed in 2008. The bank foreclosed. It sat shuttered for 16 years. But in 2024, new owners reopened it as 2200 Studios, a nonprofit recording facility. The fight was not wasted. It just took longer than anyone expected.
All images shot on the Leica M8. Available light only, no flash. Drag shutter technique: slow shutter speeds with deliberate camera movement during exposure. The CCD sensor’s response to mixed tungsten, neon, and ambient light produces the deep reds, ambers, and purples that define this set.
