Dee Lippingwell has she wants to share.
ItB次元官网网址檚 the title of her new, limited-edition book that documents the 17-year history of Merritt Mountain Music Festival, the popular country-music gathering once held in the B.C. Interior town.
A longtime concert photographer based in Surrey, Lippingwell was the festivalB次元官网网址檚 official photographer from 1993 to 2009.
Just published, the 220-page softcover book features her photos of Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire, Dwight Yoakam, Tim McGraw, Randy Travis, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban and other country stars, along with shots of festival moments.
B次元官网网址楳ountainB次元官网网址� memories: Surrey photogB次元官网网址檚 book recalls B次元官网网址榗razy-ass sceneB次元官网网址� of Merritt music fest.
B次元官网网址� Tom Zillich (@TomZillich)
Campground C party zone and more remembered in Dee LippingwellB次元官网网址檚 third book.
LippingwellB次元官网网址檚 yearly job was to B次元官网网址渂asically take photographs of everything on a daily basis,B次元官网网址� she explains in the book, her third filled with concert photos.
B次元官网网址淲e looked forward to whatever the festival had in store for us B次元官网网址� rain, hail, blistering sun, dust storms, just to name a few,B次元官网网址� she writes. B次元官网网址淏ut we came prepared for everything and were never disappointed at each yearB次元官网网址檚 review, only to start planning for the next year and what would be done different or added. We were a family that included paid and unpaid participants, all of us anxiously awaiting the next Mountainfest.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址� RELATED STORY, from January: .
PICTURED: Dee Lippingwell
The bookB次元官网网址檚 intro, written by former Province entertainment reporter John McLaughlin, chronicles the festivalB次元官网网址檚 infamous Campground C party zone, filled with cowboy hat-wearing guys (B次元官网网址淐odyB次元官网网址�) and bikini-clad gals (B次元官网网址淐rystalB次元官网网址�), tricked-out bars, pool tables, pools, DIY dance floors and lots of liquor.
B次元官网网址淭here were a lot of different customers that kept Merritt as a top summer event on their calendars every year, buffing up the RV and making plans to camp with friends,B次元官网网址� McLaughlin writes. B次元官网网址淐ody, Crystal and their many friends and all their cute, pink livers are actually what kept the place going all those years, kept the beer garden full and the party never ending. It was a crazy-ass scene until it wasnB次元官网网址檛 and, like starlings out the barn door, the kids swarmed off with some new distraction and just didnB次元官网网址檛 come back.B次元官网网址�
(Story continues below photo)
PICTURED: Country musician Keith Urban on stage at Merritt Mountain Music Festival in 2002, in a photograph by SurreyB次元官网网址檚 Dee Lippingwell.
McLaughlin tells the story of the festivalB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址渋gnoble finaleB次元官网网址� in 2009.
B次元官网网址淎dd in the disaster of a brain boggling backstage cash demand from Kenny ChesneyB次元官网网址檚 people, payable before his sold-out performance, which led to a mad scramble and left all the staff and freelancers, including our own Dee (Lippingwell), unpaid to this day. That left behind plenty of fury and drama, lawsuits flew like scared chickens but in the end, somehow, there was simply no money. Zip. It was amazing to see it go down, but down indeed went Merritt Mountain Music Festival.B次元官网网址�
Only 250 copies of B次元官网网址淢emories From the MountainB次元官网网址� are available (for $65 on ), and each book comes signed and numbered.
Lippingwell, 75, photographed the festival with the help of her husband, Paul, and some hired shooters.
Over the years sheB次元官网网址檚 catalogued images of the 3,500 rock, country and pop concerts sheB次元官网网址檚 photographed since her very first, a Pink Floyd gig in Vancouver in 1973.
LippingwellB次元官网网址檚 1987 book, B次元官网网址淭he Best Seat in the House,B次元官网网址� was followed in 2012 by the self-published B次元官网网址淔irst Three SongsB次元官网网址� No Flash,B次元官网网址� a title that referenced the instructions typically given to concert photographers before a show begins.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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