Episode 13: Richard Fulco with Elliott Landy
Episode 13 Promo
Richard Fulco
Richard Fulco received an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College where he was the recipient of a MacArthur Scholarship. His plays have either been presented or developed at The New York International Fringe Festival, The Playwrights’ Center, The Flea, Here Arts Center, Chicago Dramatists and The Dramatists Guild. Richard’s one-act play ‘Swedish Fish’ was published by Heuer Publishing and his stories, poetry, interviews, essays, and reviews have appeared in ‘The Brooklyn Rail’, ‘Failbetter’, ‘Across the Margin’, ‘Fiction Writers Review’, ‘Gargoyle’, ‘The Daily Vault’, and ‘American Songwriter’, among others. For six years, Richard wrote about music on his blog, Riffraf. He teaches creative writing and English at an independent high school in New Jersey and interviews writers for his “5 Questions” series at www.richardfulco.com.
Richard’s debut novel, ‘There Is No End to This Slope’ was published by Wampus Multimedia in 2014. ‘We Are All Together’, also published by Wampus Multimedia, is his second novel.
Elliott Landy
Best known for his classic rock photographs, Elliott Landy was one of the first music photographers to be recognized as an “artist.” His celebrated works include album cover photographs for Bob Dylan’s ‘Nashville Skyline’, The Band’s ‘Music From Big Pink’ and ‘The Band’ album, and Van Morrison’s ‘Moondance’. He’s also taken portraits of such rock icons as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, etc. He was the official photographer of the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
Since 1967, Elliott’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide and published on covers of major US and international magazines and newspapers including the ‘New York Times’, ‘Life’, ‘Rolling Stone’, and the ‘Saturday Evening Post’. He has published 11 books of his photographs including, ‘The Band Photographs, 1968-1969’, which was the highest Kickstarter funded photographic book in history at that time.
He is also the architect of a new App, LandyVision® which blends still and moving imagery with music to create a new type of interactive sound and visual experience.
And . . . Elliott has a new book out, entitled ‘Photographs of Janis Joplin On the Road & On Stage’, featuring 129 photos, including 100 unpublished, accompanied by Janis’s own words from recorded interviews by David Dalton of ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine.
About This Episode
Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett, circa 1967
EPISODE NOTES:
In this episode of Rock is Lit, Richard Fulco, author of the new novel ‘We Are All Together’, is here to take us on a rockin’ jaunt through the late 1960s, where we’ll encounter several iconic players on the music and literature scene from that era. If you’re a fan of the Summer of Love and all the trimmings that go with it, you’ll love his novel and this episode.
Later, Elliott Landy drops by to talk even more about the 1960s music scene, a period he should know a lot about since he’s been photographing rock stars since the mid-60s. Best known for his classic rock photographs, Elliott Landy was one of the first music photographers to be recognized as an “artist.” His celebrated works include album cover photographs for Bob Dylan’s ‘Nashville Skyline’, The Band’s ‘Music From Big Pink’ and ‘The Band’ album, and Van Morrison’s ‘Moondance’. He’s also taken portraits of such rock icons as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, etc. He was the official photographer of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. And . . . Elliott has a new book out, entitled ‘Photographs of Janis Joplin On the Road & On Stage’, featuring 129 photos, including 100 unpublished, accompanied by Janis’s own words from recorded interviews by David Dalton of ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Richard Fulco and I talk about
Syd Barrett’s descent into mental illness and his exit from Pink Floyd
1967: The Summer of Love—music, culture, vibe—but for African Americans, 1967 was known as The Long Hot Summer
Richard’s music career when he was in his twenties
The story and characters in ‘We Are All Together’—Syd Barrett as inspiration behind the character Dylan
The Beatles’ performance on the ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ in 1964
The quest for fame and having “IT”
The American Dream and racism and toxic Christianity
Charles Manson
The Merry Pranksters
The significance of the title of the novel and its connection to The Beatles
Andy Warhol, The Factory, The Velvet Underground with Nico, Lou Reed and their role in the novel
The depiction of the Monterey Pop Festival in the story, especially the performance of Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company
Some of the other icons who make cameos in the novel: Pete Townshend, Eric Burdon, Jann Wenner, Neal Cassady, William S. Burroughs
What the Jack Kerouac classic novel ‘On the Road’ means to Richard and me
The Monkees as a gateway drug to The Beatles
Elliott Landy and I talk about
How Elliott’s concern about the Vietnam War brought him from a job as a photographer on a Danish film set back to America in the mid- to late 1960s to photograph peace demonstrations
How a Country Joe and the Fish light show at The Anderson Theater in NYC’s East Village started Elliott on a new career path photographing musicians
Seeing Janis Joplin, Tim Buckley, and Albert King perform the very first show at the Fillmore East on March 8, 1968
Hanging out with Janis Joplin after a NYC gig
Elliott’s style as a “fly on the wall” photographer
Shooting the album covers of The Band’s ‘Music From Big Pink’ and ‘The Band’, Bob Dylan’s ‘Nashville Skyline’, and hanging out with guys in the town Woodstock
His experience as the official photographer at Woodstock in 1969 and the spirit of Woodstock and the 1960s
MUSIC AND MEDIA IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
(Royalty Free Music) “Summer of Love” by Roy Edwin Williams
“The King is Half-Undressed” by Jellyfish
“Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding
“See Emily Play” by Pink Floyd
Roger Waters talks about Syd Barrett on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
“Four” by Sonny Rollins
Clip of Muhammad Ali explaining his anti-draft, anti-Vietnam War stance
“I Am the Walrus” by The Beatles
“Ball and Chain” performed by Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company at Monterey Pop Festival
“Heroin” by The Velvet Underground with Nico
‘The Monkees’ Theme Song
“Itchykoo Park” by The Small Faces
“I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag” by Country Joe and the Fish
“Morning Glory” by Tim Buckley
Country Joe and the Fish chant at Woodstock 1969
“To Be Alone With You” by Bob Dylan
Wavy Gravy at Woodstock
“Woodstock” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
“Down on Me” Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company
LINKS:
Richard’s website, www.richardfulco.com
Richard on Twitter and Instagram, @RichardFulco
Link to clip of Roger Waters talking about Syd Barrett on the Tonight Show, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXSHZQ0AEqE
Elliott’s website, www.elliottlandycom
Elliott on Instagram, @elliott_landy_photography
Link to Christy Alexander Hallberg’s short story on Janis Joplin, “Third Party,” published by ‘Eclectica’, https://www.eclectica.org/v20n4/hallberg.html
Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company at the Monterey Pop Festival, 1967
