Immortal Rock & Roll: Richard McCaffrey & Rick Farrell’s upcoming exhibit Then & Now

Photographs line the walls of the white, empty gallery. The lights go off and footsteps fade down a long corridor. A door slows to a shut. Silence reigns in a room full of frozen faces. These faces are full of emotion, their bodies contorted in dance – expressions of a soul caught in the throes of art. Microphones are thrust against mouths, hands captured in motion on guitar frets, the beauty of music heard and unheard. Each person captured in a photograph portrays not just the individual, but the essence of the music. These photographs are taken by the music photographer Richard McCaffrey and Rick Farrell, two friends and colleagues who have curated this special exhibit.

Then & Now at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, MA, features photographs of musicians taken by McCaffrey between 1974 and 1985, alongside photographs taken by Farrell of the same musicians between 2008 and 2022. McCaffrey says that this exhibit is “pretty basic. It’s just my photographs from the 70’s and 80’s, and Rick’s from 2000-whatever until now.” Farrell, with the confidence of an old friend, scoffs. “He’s [McCaffrey] downplaying it. It’s pretty impressive. There’s a number of artists we’ve shot similarly, but in such a varied time frame. It’s also a perfect venue for this show because it’s also a music venue. Everyone that works here is a volunteer, and they’re all music people.”

Farrell and McCaffrey have been friends for around 10 years. On their first encounter at a show, Farrell recalls, “I loved McCaffrey’s work, so when I saw him I went up and introduced myself. His nephew turns around and asks McCaffrey, ‘Who’s that guy?’ and he responds, ‘Either a stalker or my new best friend because he just bought 5 of my pictures.’ After he got over thinking I was a weirdo, we did become best buddies.”

McCaffrey is a renowned music photographer from the beginning of the rock & roll / punk era (and has been a regular contributor to Motif over the years). Born and raised in Providence, he started his practice when he was just 11 years old, in 1959. He began taking pictures with his parents’ brownie camera, subsequently taking the film to the drugstore to have it processed. He was inspired by a neighbor who made his own darkroom for developing, so he decided “I would set up a darkroom in my bedroom closet and start developing my own film. I first wandered down to the library, looked up photography books to find out how to do this, and just opened up to the middle where all the pictures were and said, ‘I can do that.’” McCaffrey then had a wild ride pursuing his dream. As a young man in 1973, he drove out with his girlfriend in a VW bus to Los Angeles to find the Rolling Stones magazine. Once they arrived, they found out the office was actually in San Francisco. The two quickly re-routed and settled in San Fran. This is where McCaffrey broke into the scene with the legendary music promoter Bill Graham and the festival Day on the Green.

Some of McCaffrey’s memories include a nighttime rendezvous with a young Aerosmith in Newport, who were looking for chicks and a record contract. A few weeks later in Boston, Steven Tyler, leaning through McCaffrey’s VW window, proclaimed “We got the contract from that night! They’re going to give us each 5,000 dollars and new teeth if we need them.” There’s also an intimate concert with Bruce Springstein at a basketball court in PVD on his first tour, an exclusive invite to photograph a secret show for The Smashing Pumpkins at Lupos, a surprise stage appearance from Bob Dylan when he was photographing Roger McGuinn from The Byrds, watching B.B King eat McDonalds and hang with the guards before a performance at the San Quentin State Prison, and the famous story of a photograph of a photograph of a photograph with an emerging Patti Smith (just Google, Patti Smith and Richard McCaffrey, you’ll understand why.)

It’s hard not to get caught up in McCaffrey’s extensive oeuvre. When you’re hearing these stories from him, it feels like it‘s coming from another world. I would argue that it is.

Farrell started his journey in 2006, when he started using the camera he originally bought as a present for his wife. In 2008, he took it to the Newport Folk Festival, took some shots of Richie Havens, and said he, “Found my calling.” Although, even just under 10 years from when he started, Farrell finds it more difficult than ever to be a music photographer. There is the ever-pressing bureaucratic entanglement of contracts, increasing competition, and the fact that modern music is a bit unbearable. Farrell states, “I hate it. It’s too poppy. Contrived. Fabricated.” McCaffrey nods, “Overproduced.” McCaffrey continues, “In the last 20 years everything became all about staging, lights, costumes, etc. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, it was just the music.” •

Then & Now will be at the Narrows Center for the Arts, 16 Anawan St, Fall River, MA from Dec 20 2024 to Feb 14, 2025. Opening reception will be Dec 21, 2 – 4pm.

Photo: Richard McCaffrey (right), Rick Farrell (left). Photo taken by author.