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.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: RICK NIELSEN (1967)

In March of 1967, a then eighteen year-old Rick Nielsen, as the leader of The Grim Reapers, became a client of Ken Adamany's RAM Productions, which was still based out of Janesville, Wisconsin at the time. Adamany asked Nielsen to fill out a standard four page questionnaire. Below is a scan of the original document.

Read more in This Band Has No Past: How Cheap Trick Became Cheap Trick, published by Jawbone Press on September 6th.

 

CHEAP TRIX

Cheap Trix formed in Tucson in the mid-seventies.

They performed a lot in southern California.

In August 1977, Cheap Trick passed through Tucson while on the KISS tour, and caught wind of the band. They drove by the club where Cheap Trix were performing, snapping this picture:

The above picture was then forwarded to Cheap Trick's lawyer, Richard Shelton.

Read the rest of the story in This band has no past. How Cheap Trick Became Cheap Trick.

https://www.amazon.com/This-Band-Has-No-Past/dp/1911036874

 

An unidentified fan...

Photos by Rich Kwasniewski

 

The Grim Reapers/Fuse

Rockford Morning Star, September 1965:

promo, 1966:

poster (pictured at The Factory, Madison) 1967:

Belvidere Daily Republican, March 1967:

Rockford Morning Star, August 1968:

Kinetic Playground, July 1969:

Valley Forge, November 1969:

Rockford Morning Star, November 1969:

Rockford Morning Star, May 1970:

Lake Mendota, Madison, 1970: