Slash Flips Me a Bird

While I was the
in-house photographer for Gibson Guitars I was required to attend the Consumer
Electronics Convention in Los Vegas and cover the company’s presence and the
artist’s performances in the super-sized Gibson tent. Celebrity artists often
came by to make an appearance and or a guest performance.

This particular
year it was Slash from Guns & Roses and our CEO Henry Juszkiewicz always wanted a photo of
himself and any celebrity. Henry
often got confused and thought he was a celebrity. So I dutifully walked up and
fired off one shot of Slash and Henry. Experience had taught me to do a quick
review.

Well, sure
enough as was often the case Henry made an odd expression, and knowing our
public relations person would likely not be able to use it I caught Slash’s
attention and asked him if I might get a retake. He just smiled and flipped me
a bird. Whenever I got to work with Slash he was always such a swell guy so I
knew he must have figured out the situation. To this day this always gives me a
chuckle.