Ep. 44: Legendary photographer Michael Zagaris (Part 2)

Pass It Down

Eager to photograph the Rolling Stones in the early ‘70s, Zagaris talks his way onto a tour by impersonating an editor of English Vogue and never looks back. He also recalls getting caught in the crossfire of a violent clash between Led Zeppelin and iconic rock impresario Bill Graham and tells the story of a wild acid trip on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach with T-Rex frontman Marc Bolan, during which they “hear the universe” but tragically miss the band’s scheduled gig. Zagaris also talks about how San Francisco has gotten less weird and the toxicity of the Trump presidency and the extremism it fostered. He closes with a classic story about the origin of “The Object” on the cover of Zeppelin’s album Presence.