A new coffee table book profiling the world-famous rock palace The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester.
Source: Relix Magazine channel YouTube <a href=”https://youtu.be/y1-4Vd5yfdY”>https://youtu.be/y1-4Vd5yfdY
By Suzanne Rothberg
In the Village of Port Chester, New York is home to one of the most iconic landmarks; the world-famous Capitol Theatre.
The music palace is a favorite for artists and fans alike who come to perform and see shows each year. Unfortunately, this year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic; the theatre is closed, and most shows have been postponed or canceled until further notice. Instead, many of the shows are streamed on the site Fans.com for home viewing.
A new coffee table book; which was released this past March, is now available on the venue’s website; featuring photos of concerts there past and present.
Host Jay Blakesberg, a concert photographer and co-host Stephanie Susnjara spoke about the history of the Capitol Theatre and the photographs by various photographers on the streaming presentation of, “Photos With Stories” on Fans.com utilizing the videoconferencing app Zoom. The video is also available on Relix’s YouTube channel. A Q&A and interviews featuring guest photographers, Chad Anderson, Danny Clinch, Gary Flink, Andrew Blackstein, Charlie Gross, Scott Harris, Marc Millman, Dino Perrucci and Geoff Tischmann were among those that collaborated and contributed stunning photos into what is now volume one of a coffee table book profiling the legendary rock palace.
In the interviews conducted by Blakesberg, photographer Danny Clinch spoke about his experience as a photojournalist; particularly documenting the band My Morning Jacket (MMJ) at The Capitol Theater and what made the photographs unique. Whether it’s photos from behind-the-scenes in the dressing room featuring the custom guitar pics wallpaper that owner Peter Shapiro exclusively had designed specifically for the theatre; to famous bands performing on the venue’s great stage.
“I think that’s the case in this particular situation (with MMJ) they were playing, and I was invited, and I wanted to come out and I wasn’t really on assignment. But as we all know, we go out and do this for free. I think a lot of bands, they appreciate being documented—and you become friends with them and you spend time with them and they realize who do they want to have hanging out with them backstage; who they’re going to let back there—it’s not going to get in the way to photograph and document what they’re doing.” Clinch told Blakesberg in the video.
Photographer Marc Millman, recalled the moment when he captured an emotional photograph of the late Chris Cornell; the former lead vocalist-guitarist of the band Soundgarden; performing live on stage at The Capitol Theatre in 2012.
“This photo meant a lot to me. When Soundgarden got back together for that first reunion tour around 2011 they ran a contest nationally and they chose one photographer in each city where the show was going to be; they did Jones Beach here and I won this competition where the band shows who they liked and I got to shoot the show—so it was my first time getting to shoot a band that I’ve been seeing since back in college. I got in contact from Brad a couple months before the show went down saying that Chris’s people wanted to see some pictures at what the room looked like seated because they were considering using the venue it was a seated show and they were curious so I sent some pictures back to them of the room, and I included a note that said, “I clearly want this show.” Explained Millman to Blakesberg.
Millman continued, “So when the show came down, I was really excited because I just knew it was a dynamite time to see him.” Chad (Anderson) said earlier, some nights you work in that press room and photograph three songs. I think it’s really good to be honest for the most part to be forced to get your work quickly—but when you’re working with artists that are playing acoustic or it’s a seated show, and you’re pinned to that one angle, you need to work to get shots so I snuck up and down the aisles. And I did it all in those first two or three songs and it was nice to see him give that emotion he had in the photo.” I would never have thought that we lost Chris Cornell the way we lost him.”