The Velvet Forum

no I dont know who took these pics. There are 2 B+W shots, one showing Moe and Lou, the other Sterl and Doug. I've seen prints offered for sale on ebay not too long ago. Occasionally I've also seen the 2 shots "stitched together" with photoshop or something and presented as one photo.

Look at Lou's flared trousers and afro!

Warlock wrote:Lurid, Is that yr own shots? Very very cool.
Are they color photographs, originally?

I circulated those shots in 1992. I put them together for some perspective of what I witnessed. The line where
the wall meets the ceiling behind band is a dead give away of how it was forced. The photographer lives/lived
in Los Angeles. He had taken 4 shots but could only find 2, though our trade was 4. In place of the other two he agreed
to print negatives from his originals as he lost the original negatives. His name is Aes Hihil or something like that.
He used to go to a flea market in Berkley CA. I saw some VU stuff for sale, and the vendor told me
about Aes Nihil. I kept missing him when I would go there so I got his phone number. The shots came
from the Matrix Nov 1969.
I showed the photos to Moe in 1995 San Francisco and she was surprised at how skinny everybody was.
That's when I first learned about Sterling's illness. The pictures were going to be used for the Quinne tapes box
and I thought it would be an opportunity for Aes-Hihil, I think he also goes by Jon. He put out a scrapbook
about the VU, with an all black cover....

Concerning Lou's afro, the first time I saw him in person I had turned to look back at the audience during
an opener's set, and saw a silhouette of who appeared to be a spade* with a wild afro. Then I saw the person
bend down to speak to a shorter woman, who I realized was Maureen Tucker and added to that realization of
who I was looking at in person.**



* that was the term back then and I was around many at the time who looked like Lou' s cousins when they
all hung around outside the guarded gates of eden, now overgrown in the mother continent.

**My needle was already pressed against the right side of the VU meter back then.

I also bought 2 prints off Ebay of the Matrix 69 photo. Yes I put the two together and did quite alot of photoshop and improved it..made it abit moodier, abit more VUish!

I printed your composite onto a glossy and looked at mine on the wall and I see that the washout at the
lower parameters of the photos has been remedied, however I moved my copies closer together
and eliminated an obstruction between Lou and Sterling. The result being the patch from
Sterl's guitar to his amp is unobstructed and a mic facing his amp is clearly visible. Once again
the primary evidence that the full band view is forced is bent perspective of the line where the
ceiling meets the wall behind the band, on my version. Your VUish scan is wonderful with the deeper hue.
I

I imagine the band performing "I'm Set Free" in this shot, coerced by my recollections.

Incredible shots and info! I feel all delirious! Thanks for sharing

Warlock wrote:Incredible shots and info! I feel all delirious! Thanks for sharing

Priceless...

I got my copies of these 2 pics back in the 1990s in the form of 4"x4" B+W prints. They are obviously "prints from prints" - you can see what looks like the remains of scotch tape (Sellotape) at the top of one of them, but the quality is still very good. You can also tell that they've been taken from very slightly different perspectives, just as gibson343 points out.

My prints have copyright stamps:

Aes-Nihil Productions
PO Box 613
Reseda
Calif. 91337
USA

I had always wondered why they were not used on the cover of the "Quine Tapes" release.