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Robert Plant At My Encino Park 1977 - Brad Elterman // Seven Aside Stories
18 Plays14 days ago
In this special documentary episode, the famed photographer recounts a brush with Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, in 1977, that produced a series of unforgettable images gracing the pages of music magazines worldwide. In doing so, he hearkens to a lifetime of capturing exquisite moments with iconic figures, to an inflection point in a young career, and to a bygone Los Angeles and media culture.
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Transcript
Encounters with Legends: Bowie, Lennon, Starr, and Dylan
00:00:00
Speaker
It happened to me with Bowie walking down Fairfax Avenue in 75, John Lennon and Ringo Starr in 76 at the Roxy, Dylan in 76.
00:00:12
Speaker
He puts his arm around me, he tells me I look like him, gives me a hug, and then asks me if I would set up a picture of him with this new actor named Robert De Niro, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols swimming in my...
00:00:25
Speaker
pool, you know, just these things just kind of fell into my lap.
The Iconic Robert Plant Photo: A Career Milestone
00:00:32
Speaker
It's summer 1977 and a tip from a fellow photographer leads 17-year-old Brad Elterman to an unforgettable brush with Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and images that would grace the pages of storied music magazines and biographies about the legendary band common.
00:00:46
Speaker
More than that, they're testimonials to a lifetime of capturing exquisite moments, to an inflection point in young photographer's career, and to a bygone Los Angeles and media culture whose heydays remain vivid.
Artistic Roots: Growing Up in Sherman Oaks
00:01:10
Speaker
I was very, very shy and quiet and i was not a great student. um my My mom was a painter. um we I grew up in Sherman Oaks. My parents hired Gregory Aime to design their fifty style house surrounded by my mom's paintings and they were on the board at LACMA and so on.
00:01:35
Speaker
And they were very supportive, whatever I wanted to do. You want to become an astronaut? That's wonderful. You want to work for the sanitation department? We love you. You want to become a rock star photographer? Great. Just do it. Just be happy.
00:01:50
Speaker
So I had a lot of support from my family. and um And growing up in Sherman
Discovering Sunset Boulevard at 16
00:01:59
Speaker
was fine. It was a little bit quiet. But when I turned 16, I got my driver's license.
00:02:04
Speaker
And I would drive over the hill, over like Benedict Canyon. And I would get to Sunset Boulevard. And I would make a left heading east.
00:02:16
Speaker
And right around, just right about Doheny, I would enter the Sunset Strip. I felt like I'd entered into a different civilization. and Just the way people looked and cool young people and the the way they were dressed and the light.
00:02:31
Speaker
The light was different. It this beautiful, intense light. um And there were stunning girls and and there were rock stars. If you knew where to find them, you wouldn't find any rock stars in Sherman Oaks.
00:02:44
Speaker
But there were rock stars staying at all the hotels on the Sunset Strip. And I love this vibe, this vibration. And I knew that I wanted to spend more time here.
The Art of Photo Syndication: A New Era
00:03:01
Speaker
i was this kid with a camera, and I was going around town, up and down the Sunset Strip, I would be up all night, I would take the pictures, be at the club, two in the morning, come home and go to my mom's studio downstairs, develop the film, print it up, and by the time she would come in for breakfast at 6.30 in the morning, I was washing the prints the kitchen sink, and then I would dry them, and then I would caption them, and then I had a stamp.
00:03:32
Speaker
And I would stamp them with my name and I would take them to the local post office and mail them to these magazines all over the world. Cream and Circus. And I could also sell it to a magazine in Germany, a magazine in the Netherlands.
00:03:48
Speaker
A UK newspaper, Haruko Minikami, the editor of Music Life magazine in Japan. She would get these packages from me at least once a week. This was kind of the birth of photo syndication.
00:04:00
Speaker
This was original content. There was a scarcity to these pictures. They were scarce because how many people were backstage at the whiskey getting a picture of Joan Jett with Debbie Harry together?
Choosing Experience Over Education
00:04:13
Speaker
Eventually, you know, I saved up enough money. I was able to get my first apartment at the corner of Sunset and Doheny, 10th floor, with a doorman and a swimming pool for $315 month. It was the cast of a Fellini film, which has all these, you know, showbiz agents and ex-showbiz agents and models and actresses and groupies and people of, you know, questionable professions there.
00:04:42
Speaker
It was great. It was amazing. And all this, you know, i dropped out of school because I wanted to, I was going to college, but I dropped out of school because I was too busy taking pictures of the Ramones and the Pistols and hanging out with Joan Jett.
00:04:59
Speaker
But this was a great education for me. I learned i really learned a lot.
Mentorship and Access to Rock Stars
00:05:10
Speaker
I lucked out because I had a mentor and my mentor's name was Richard Creamer and he was a brilliant photographer and he was a heck of an eccentric guy. he didn't look the part of a rockstar photographer. He looked like and somebody's uncle who was an accountant and he was he was incredibly funny, brilliant guy and Plant just adored Richard.
00:05:32
Speaker
And they were always hanging out the rainbow together and Plant always let him take photos. So Richard gives me a call one day, and I'm still living in my parents' house in 1977 when that photo was taken.
00:05:44
Speaker
and And we all had these very primitive mobile phones. Richard was 165 was his call sign. was 180. i was one ado And it was all connected through um a bunch of repeaters and a mobile phone center in downtown, in the city of commerce by downtown LA.
00:06:04
Speaker
So this is how these tips would kind of emanate back and forth. He was very animated and he says, it's all happening. He had this very
Capturing Candid Moments: Plant Playing Soccer
00:06:14
Speaker
shrill voice. It's all happening. I'm here at this park in Encino and Blanche is here and he's kicking his soccer ball. Come on down.
00:06:21
Speaker
Led Zeppelin were playing, I think it was something like five nights at the Forum. I couldn't get a photo pass. Getting a photo pass would let you take pictures of the rock star with a guitar in their hand or a microphone, and that was okay. that was It definitely was ah an adrenaline rush and fun, but it was not like getting a candid photo of a pop star.
00:06:49
Speaker
So I had I had a tip. I didn't really have much to lose. And this was I grew up in Sherman Oaks. This park was in Encino. It's a hop, skip and a jump away. They're right next to each other.
00:07:02
Speaker
I've been to this park a million times. I had kicked a ball in that park since I was since I learned how to walk. I probably learned how to walk in that park. So this was my local park.
00:07:14
Speaker
And I get there and sure enough there's Richard and he's waving his arms back and forth that he's he's taking photos and and Plant is there he it's like my god it really is Robert Plant it's the biggest rock star on the planet earth and he's wearing speedos and he's kicking this soccer ball and it looked like he was playing with roadies and friends they all looked very British you know very pale skin and so on um and
00:07:45
Speaker
So, you know, I stood there, I had a long lens and I started taking photos and I knew with absolute certainty that this these pictures were going to be iconic. You know, because it is it's not set up, it's it's the real deal. you know His hair is long and it's this mane and it's flowing in the wind and so on.
00:08:11
Speaker
So I think I probably shot a roll of film. And then Plant sees me and he was, ah you could tell he was a little bit perturbed. he kind of points at me and gives me a bit of a dirty look.
00:08:27
Speaker
um and But, you know, I still like put another roll of film. I took a few more shots and then he comes over to me and kind of the roadies kind of surround me.
00:08:38
Speaker
and he's like saying you know what you give me your business card who are you and you don't have the right to do this and you know he's kind of like well you'll never work again in this town again it was kind of that attitude and richard stuck up for me and he said you know he really you know he's a good kid he really does have a right to do it there's something you can do know it's a free country and and i think plant just kind of laughed it off So I got these photos and I sent them to Music Life magazine
Published Success But No Overnight Fame
00:09:09
Speaker
in Japan. Well, they did like, you know, two pages of it. Bravo magazine in Germany published it.
00:09:16
Speaker
course, Cream magazine, and it went all over the place. it didn't It didn't really put me on the map, but but it was fun. And you know, it it paid my rent. And when you're 19 years old and somebody tells you you're never gonna work again, I mean, that's really, that's monumental. And you never forget it.
00:09:34
Speaker
but But I wasn't breaking any laws and you know, I knew what I was getting was incredibly special and if I didn't get ah a backstage pass or a photo pass for a Zeppelin concert in the future, big deal.
The Role of Luck and Karma
00:09:52
Speaker
So it was luck, it was timing, right place at the right time. I think a lot of it has to do with just good karma. If you're positive and you go out there and you can just, you know, you work hard,
00:10:04
Speaker
and you have dreams and aspirations that good things will happen do you If you walk around with a dark cloud over your head, forget it. None of this is going to happen.
A Lasting Legacy and Future Aspirations
00:10:14
Speaker
ah You know, I'm still here. I'm i'm still, you know, i'm I'm kind of selective what I shoot. I'm very happy. I got a great life. I travel.
00:10:22
Speaker
um Occasionally do some work with some fashion brands and that's always fun. And when i when I get the assignment here and there, you know, now and then, i always say, how do you want me to shoot these pictures? And they all say the same thing.
00:10:38
Speaker
Exactly like you did in 1977 and don't change Still, ah want to run into plants somewhere, see him somewhere, and just get his kind of like, you know, his view on the whole thing. Like, you remember that? you I'm sure he remembers the picture, and but ah it'd be interesting to get his his take on it. And I'm sure he sure he would laugh the whole thing off.
Inspiration from 'Becoming Led Zeppelin'
00:11:23
Speaker
This pilot episode of Seven Aside Stories is inspired by the documentary film Becoming Led Zeppelin, which hit theaters like a thunderclap in 2025. Tip of the hat to Sony Pictures Classics' Dylan Leiner.
00:11:36
Speaker
Seven Aside is a production of Studio Santiago.