Category Archives: People

George Duke

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George Duke is an amazing piano and keyboard player. He played with Frank Zappa on Chunga’s Revenge, 200 Motels, Waka/Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, Apostrophe, Over-Nite Sensation, One Size Fits All, Bongo Fury and Roxy and Elsewhere. He has also played with other artists like Stanley Clarke and Jean Luc Ponty and has a successful and current career as a solo artist. The original photo for this digital creation was taken during a show with Frank Zappa on the Apostrophe Tour in Pittsburgh. You can buy a print on my commercial gallery by clicking here.

George Duke with Frank Zappa

Ace-Bob Weir

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Early on in the Grateful Dead, Bob Weir was known as Ace. His first solo was also entitled Ace. It was also the name of my first dog as an adult, but we didn’t name him after Bob. A great writer and guitarist in his own right, he was a key element of the Grateful Dead’s sound. Here he is the last time I saw him with the Grateful Dead in Madison Square Garden in 1993. You can buy a print of this image on Red Bubble

Grateful Dead Madison Square Garden 1993

Phil Lesh

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Phil Lesh is arguably one of the best pick bassists of all time. He is very musical and like all the other great bass guitar players uses the whole fret board and exchanges leads with the other players. What keeps off the all time best list in my opinion is that he always plays with a pick and never plays finger style or slap bass. Here he is with the Grateful Dead in a concert at Madison Square Garden in 1993.

Phil Lesch at Madison Square Garden 1993

Kim at the Barn

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A long time ago I used to shoot photographs for model’s portfolios. Most of these were done in my studio under controlled lighting. Kim was a model that I used for my Photography classes in Pittsburgh and she wanted to have some fashion photographs in exterior locations. We found this old deserted barn and did most of the shots outside the barn where there was decent light. I have always like this one the best however and think it is one of the best back-lit images in my collection.

Kim at the Barn

Jean Luc Ponty

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Last year I saw Jean Luc Ponty play with Return to Forever at the Beacon Theather. The warm up band was Zappa Plays Zappa and Jean Luc came out and played “Fifty Fifty” with the band. I had only seen him play once before and that was with Dweezil’s Dad at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. You can buy a T-Shirt of this image at Red Bubble.

© Richard Burke 1973-2012

Jean Luc Ponty

Stanley Clarke Back in the Day

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Stanley Clarke playing at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. The guitarist was Ray Gomez and was part of the School Days album tour in 1976. We recently saw him play with Return to Forever and he has not lost a lick. One of the best bass guitarists of all time.

Stanley Clarke at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh

Captain Beefheart and His Magic band

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This past year, Don Van Vilet passed on. In 1973 I took this picture from the stage wings right before I was thrown out. It was easier to get on the stage back then but I had no credentials and eventually someone ratted me out. The Band started to play and the Captain was standing next to me waiting for his entrance. I looked at him and he nodded at me and then went on stage and launched in to “Crazy Little Thing”. A magic moment with the magic band.

Zoothorn Rollo with Captain Beefheart an dHis Magic Band