BIG RICH VIDEO BEGINNINGS

Big Rich shooting a show

An OBSESSION, that's what it was! I remember how it started... Spring of '87... We went on a Run with a couple hundred Harleys, way out in the country... People were throwin' beer cans at the guys in the 'Vette shootin' video.... I can do that... (shoot video), I figured... so I did.


Big Rich and BIG camcorder!



The next Run, my Brother Tony packed me and the Video Cam on the back of his Hog and off we rode. The Bikers LOVED it, all kinda scoots and chicks and fun and games.... They didn't throw cans, I'm here to say. Tony had a bumper sticker from Daytona Bike Week on the back of his helmet, it said, "SHIT HAPPENS"... Yes, it does.


Big and brother Tony



I just started shootin' every thing goin' on... It truly became an Obsession.The power to grab these crazy events and KEEP them was mind-blowing! No one I knew really took pictures, earlier it was Leni Sinclair... and then Sue Rynski, in the Sonics days.

It was like Art, but completely REAL, if you can dig that... At first I was usin' Mom's VHS camcorder, early on, tapin' my Rock N' Roll Babies and all, but I upgraded pretty quick. My strategy was simple, weakness=strength, no crew, just me and the box. I could go almost anywhere.



So... we were makin' these biker videos and needed soundtracks... the first one had a boombox off camera playin' STOOGES "Down on the Street"... most primitive. A BAD-ASS Guitarist named Bobby East, was playin' at a Club House Party in Roseville.

That was the first Show... shot a bunch of the band and bikers dancin' all day. Scott Morgan was good with the idea too, so they let me use their song "DETROIT"... it became our theme song. People would ask me to tape Gig's and everything just popped. Unbelievable to me now, looking back.

Ron Asheton was a "SHIT HAPPENS" Fan, he called it GUERILLA VIDEO, I liked that.


Ron Asheton

My partner, "Dangerous" Dan Hehr worked at a Big Time Video Production Company and we would go in after shows and hook-up the final tapes, stay up all night, then go right to work in the factory... Bands, Tattoo Conventions... anything. The Grimshaw Tapes were made there too. We used motion cameras to record the posters and stuff... I call that High Cotton...

Real Cool Time.

People were so Damn Cool. Like I said, I could go almost anywhere and tape, talkin' my way thru...I was like an embedded journalist or something... backstage, ON stage. Bands told me, " DO WHAT EVER YOU WANT"! So I did. Man... I shot a LOT of tape... all OVER Town... down in the pit at KID ROCK!



Hardly ever had any trouble... to speak of. Only had the Cam seized once, we worked that out... but that pistol scene after STANDFAST'S Show at Finneys marked the end of BIG VIDEO in DETROIT. Hope you Enjoy.