The Trades

 

1971: BETWEEN FUSE AND SICK MAN

 

MASTER TAPE BOXES: FIRST ALBUM

 Courtesy of Bruce Dickinson

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Marshall Mintz

Oh Candy, why did you do it?

You should've called me on the telephone.

I didn't expect for you to call because I didn't think that you were alone.

So alone.

Who was Candy?

His name was Marshall Mintz. An Army veteran from Milwaukee, Marshall eventually landed in Rockford, where he went to work for his uncle at Liebovitch Steel. 

Marshall and his daughter Helene.

Marshall also had a passion for photography...

As such, he developed a relationship with Cheap Trick, who gave him the nickname "Candy" (inspired by his initials).

  

Candy and his camera

Some of Candy's photos of Cheap Trick:

Tragically, in September of 1975 Marshall took his own life.

A statement from Marshall's daughter Helene:

He was a very intelligent, yet humble man. He had many friends near and far and a love for his family. He spent much of his time embracing his photography and sharing his passions worldwide. It was a rarity to see him without a camera in his hand or slung over his shoulders. Only those closest to him could see the dark depression that painfully entered his life and sadly took his life. To those fortunate enough to have known him, were greatly blessed with his love, loyalty and gift of giving.

Thank you, 

Forever his daughter

-Helene

She still has his camera:

The accordion photo.

In early 1976 photographer Rich Kwasniewski met up with the members of Cheap Trick at the Ralph Nielsen Music House in Rockford for a photo shoot. 

"I remember it was wintertime," Kwasniewski told me, "because I had to drive with a big roll of background paper hanging out my window and it was cold."

Before the photographer had even finished setting up, Rick Nielsen grabbed a nearby accordion (they were in a music shop, after all) and started...performing. Kwasniewski hurriedly snapped some pictures. 

Soon enough, Tom Petersson wandered into the frame.

The bottom photo (above) was used for a promotional 8x10 (ICM was the band's booking agency from the summer of 1976 to the summer of 1977):

A cropped version of that photo (minus Tom) ended up on the cover of Performance magazine in April 1977.

And of course, Rick Nielsen can be seen clutching a framed print of the photo on the band's first album cover:

Read more about the photo shoot (and see more pictures from it) in This Band Has No Past: How Cheap Trick Became Cheap Trick.

Guitar Player/Hamer ad

Hamer Guitars went public with an advertisement in the October 1975 issue of Guitar Player magazine.

 

The model for the ad was none other than Rick Nielsen, who was photographed at Paul Hamer's store, Northern Prairie Music, by Rich Kwasniewski.

Nielsen posed for Kwasniewski with Hamer 0002 (thanks Francis Stephenson), freshly built to fulfill an order by Martin Barre of Jethro Tull.

 

Photos from the shoot were used in Hamer catalogues as well.