Milwaukee’s Larry Widen is a Renaissance man. He’s run movie theaters, has worked as a photographer, teaches classes at MIAD and is an author of a variety of books, the most well-known being "Silver Screens" (aka "Milwaukee Movie Palaces"), cataloging Brew City movie theaters since the dawn of film.

Widen combines many of his passions in his latest book, "Milwaukee Rock and Roll," published by Arcadia Press as part of its ongoing "Images of Modern America" series of illustrated paperbacks.

In this one, Widen draws on his own collection -- as well as other sources -- to trace the history of rock and roll concerts -- typically by out-of-town bands -- in the city: from B.B. King gig at the Wonderland Ballroom and Little Richard’s performance at the Colonial Theater to Jimi Hendrix at The Scene and the Beatles at the Arena to Tom Petty at Alpine Valley and even a 1990s Culture Club reunion at State Fair.

But Widen focuses heavily on the 1970s, when he shot The Stones, The Faces, The Allman Brothers, Elvis Costello, The Ramones and many others in Milwaukee. Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen wrote a foreword to the book.

Widen launches the book with a free event at Boswell Book Co., 2559 N. Downer Ave., on Thursday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. He also appears Friday, Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. at the St. Moritz Salon, 3955 N. Prospect Ave., in Shorewood, which is currently hosting a photography show on which he collaborated, called "We Shot L.A." 

We recently asked him about "Milwaukee Rock and Roll."

OnMilwaukee.com: Tell us about the concept of the new book. It's not so much a book about Milwaukee bands, but more about the concert scene here, right?

Larry Widen: Exactly. The book covers the clubs and theaters that were popular in the 1960s and ‘70s, and of course the big pre-Bradley Center venues like the Arena and Auditorium.

OMC: Were you tempted to include more local bands?

LW: No, but that’s only because there are two or three books currently available that document the garage bands, club bands and other important aspects of Milwaukee-based music. The publisher and I decided that "Milwaukee Rock and Roll" would focus on some of the great national touring acts that played here over the years.

OMC: This isn't your first book about music, is it? Tell us a bit about "Tombstone Blues."

LW: "Tombstone Blues" actually spun off of a travel piece that I did for the Journal Sentinel about nine years ago. My son and I took a train to Memphis and then drove south through Mississippi on the legendary Highway 61. Our goal was to visit as many blues-related sites as possible in three days. Ultimately, we found the house where Robert Johnson died after being poisoned by a jealous husband, the remnant of a cabin where Muddy Waters was said to have been born, and the hotel room where Bessie Smith died of injuries following an automobile accident.

We also found gravestones for Charley Patton, Memphis Minnie, Sonny Boy Williamson, and quite a few others. Lastly, we found the man who helped pull the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd from their plane when it crashed in the woods near his house in 1977. He’s quite old now, but he took us to the exact spot. There are still pieces of aluminum scattered about in there. So, that whole adventure was expanded from the newspaper story into a book.

OMC: The spirit of that book is here, too, isn't it, in that you make a point of including the blues?

LW: I have a real soft spot in my heart for the music from the American South. The African-American men and women who labored in farm fields from dawn to dusk are the originators of rock and roll. This music was born from sadness, misery and poverty early in the 20th century. It was rediscovered by British teenagers in the 1950s.

They listened to the recordings of Howlin; Wolf, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and a host of other musicians as a way of teaching themselves to sing or play the guitar. Ultimately the blues was repackaged and sold to American kids by the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin … the list goes on and on.

I just think it’s really important that we all remember where this stuff came from. In the racially divided 1950s, Muddy Waters and the others couldn’t even play the downtown clubs and theaters. They had to play in the nightclubs of Bronzeville, near 7th and Walnut Streets.

OMC: You've clearly been to a lot of great shows in Milwaukee -- many of the photos in the book were taken by you -- which ones stand out most in your memory?

LW: I thought Robert Plant and the Band of Joy show at the Riverside a few years ago was one of the best concerts ever. He performed an amazing set of songs that included covers of Reverend Gary Davis’ "Twelve Gates to the City" and Blind Willie Johnson’s "In My Time of Dying." And there were the Zeppelin songs, but they were dialed back into country, folk and blues versions.

Other shows that stick in my mind include Edgar Winter’s "They Only Come Out at Night" tour (1973), Deep Purple and backup band ZZ Top at the Arena, The Stones at County Stadium in 1975, Roxy Music at the Oriental, John Lee Hooker at Summerfest, and maybe that first time Elvis Costello played here, at The Palms on State Street.

And the one I’ll never forget is Johnny Winter at The Times in July 2007. I owned the theater at that time, and it was amazing to actually promote a show with one of my early heroes!

OMC: Do you still go to a lot of gigs in town?

LW: I go to less shows these days, but that’s because I’m not as interested in the newer bands. I’ve seen the Stones live 19 times since 1975, so that should tell you something.

OMC: Any other books in the works at the moment? Or in the ideas stage?

LW: I just finished ghostwriting an autobiography called "Job Man: My 25 Years in Professional Wrestling." One of my oldest friends, Chris Multerer, started working for Verne Gagne in 1979, so this is his memoir.

Now I’m collaborating with two photographer friends of mine, Leonard Sadorf and Dave Gilo, on a book called "We Shot L.A." We spent four days in Los Angeles just shooting, shooting, shooting. I think each of us racked up close to 1,500 images in cemeteries, movie backlots, the beach towns, the old historic downtown.

The book is actually a much larger version of a 32-photo exhibit that’s running right now at St. Moritz Salon in Shorewood. I’m also working on another project for Arcadia Publishing and teaching part time in the Continuing Ed division at MIAD.