Willie Dixon
This is one of the most painful photographs that I ever took. Not the photograph per se but the aftermath and the hard lesson that I learned. The radio station in Vancouver LG99 used to have live mini concerts of touring musicians to promote their upcoming concerts. This was shot the day before the event and at the concert before Willie went on I knocked on the dressing room door and gained access to show Willie and his hangers-on the photo. Everyone was ecstatic over the photo until one of the guys turned it over and saw my brand-new stamp that I had started using a few weeks before. ©Chandler Keeler.
The shit hit the fan. “Willie, he done copyright yo image!” “Whitey stealing from yo again!” Nothing I could say could appease the hangers-on or Willie, I was literally picked up and tossed out of the room and the photo torn to shreds. I was nearly in tears wondering what I had done wrong. Growing up in Calgary, Alberta I had no idea about the injustice on the blacks. We had no black people. I never heard any real black music until I moved to Vancouver other than the likes of Harry Belafonte, but they weren’t really black. I was surprised to learn that most of my favourite hits by white artists were ripped off songs from black musicians. I’m sorry Willie, all I wanted was a photo credit and a couple of bucks for the effort.
