Nicely is hosting Jay Blakesberg, to come hang out! https://firstfridaysantacruz.com/event/jay-blakesberg/

Please, join us for First Friday for a fun filled evening of champagne and nibbles. Jay’s pictures tell the story of his life and he will be here to tell you all about it. He will be signing his newest book portraying all of The Dead and Company. https://deadandcompany.com/

April 3rd., 4:00-7:00 pm for First Friday

Jay Blakesberg - Photographer, Filmmaker, and Public Speaker. https://www.blakesberg.com/

@Nicely.SantaCruz March 15-June 30

The Grammy Museum can be added to his accomplishments, along with being our first resident artist. Jay’s work will be up during the first ever Ripple Effect Festival, in Santa Cruz, CA. https://www.rippleartsfestsantacruz.org/ He has captured the heart of the Grateful Dead causing “Ripples” far and wide in the world of musical photography. He has also, been working with his daughter since 2020, collecting retro archives- Check it out: https://www.retrophotoarchive.com/

The Grateful Dead performed at the Meadowlands in 1978 and was the first Dead show he photographed. A few years on the road with a group of people called Deadheads resulted in the beginning of a body of photographic work that continues to this day.

During most of the 1990s, Blakesberg was constantly shooting for print magazines and record companies, creating what is now an archive of 30 years of pop music icons. The late 1990s saw the explosion of the "Dot-com" movement in the Bay Area. Many of the most popular of the business magazines of the day were looking for an edgy look to cover these new "technology rockstars" and they turned to Blakesberg for his eclectic and original style of photography. Some of the magazines he shot for included the Red Herring, Business 2.0 and Fortune Magazine among many others. It was during this time that new "online" music magazines were founded, giving Blakesberg a new category of projects. The most prominent and one of the first of its kind was "Addicted to Noise" (ATN) founded by Rolling Stone magazine staff writer Michael Goldberg. Blakesberg became a frequent contributor to this new online magazine shooting artists such as Weezer, Phish, X, Radiohead and DJ Shadow exclusively for ATN. The commissioned assignments continued from music magazines and record companies, giving Blakesberg the opportunity to work with many well-known artists including Tom Waits, John Lee Hooker, Santana, Brian Wilson, Willie Nelson, Metallica, Talking Heads, Beck, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Dead Hot Workshop and many others.