Commemorating “30 Years Of Pro Photos On A Hang Out Tip” native New Yorker Ricky Powell has been preserving moments in time, and as he will tell you, more importantly making people look good, such as iconic visual and sonic artists like Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquait, Cindy Crawford, Eazy-E and the Beastie Boys. One year into his career as a “photographer” the Beasties started inviting Powell to gigs around the Northeast, and shortly after he would link up with them on their Raising Hell tour in the summer of 1986. After that the quartet was visually inseparable as he was transformed into the Rickster and the unofficial “Fourth Beastie Boy,” thus they are the subject of his latest 1xRUN release “The Charles Street Shuffle.”
“This shot was from my first ‘official’ photo shoot with the Beastie Boys. We went out by the schoolyard on Charles Street and Greenwich Avenue. That was kind of a focal meeting place for everybody who grew up in the Village. We thought, whatever, we’ll shoot at the yard. Rick Rubin was there. Cey Adams was there. So we just did shots off the cuff. ” Powell said on the phone while walking through New York City’s West Village just blocks away from the original photo shoot.
The now defunct East Village Eye — an art newspaper on the cutting edge of New York’s now iconic 1980s art scene — featured “The Charles Street Shuffle” as part of a cover story on the Beastie Boys, Powell said. Shot in May of 1986, the aluminum and canvas editions releasing on 1xRUN will be available exactly 29 years after the original photo was taken and Powell was transformed into The Rickster.
“At that point I was shooting pictures for about a year. I got transfigurationed from Joe Schmuck into The Rickster – Downtown Club Photographer. This was just as I was discovering what my whole steez was with photography,” Powell said. “It’s this. It’s easy, breezy. Natural. Relaxed. I just see what I like and I push the button. I think my personality chemically worked with them. I had them laughing all the time. We made an image together that’s dope. That’s the way I like to look at it. That’s it. It was good times.”
The good times for Powell would keep rolling as he would continue to hone his craft with a Minolta Hi-Matic AF2 Auto Focus camera left by an ex-girlfriend. Powell said he would use the Minolta for virtually everything he shot at the time, including his iconic Basquait/Warhol portrait taken outside of the Tony Shaffazzi gallery after their milestone show, as well as both the License To Ill and Raising Hell tours. Returning from massive global tours to his spot in the West Village, Powell said he found that New York was like a candy shop of people to shoot.
“There were a lot of colorful characters and perplexing personalities. That’s what it was like in the 80s. To me it was like collecting baseball cards. I want him. I want her. I want them in my collection. They were around. You put your pants on and get out of the house and anything is possible. I still live with that adage. Especially as a street photographer. It definitely goes hand in hand,” Powell said.
Powell certainly has been living that adage as of late, currently in the midst of celebrating what he calls “30 Years Of Pro Photos On A Hang Out Tip.” Just recently, he curated “If You Ask Me…It’s About The Soul” at Sacred Gallery in New York City, ventured out to the Cannibus Cup in Denver and put the finishing touches on his Rickford Institute clothing line with his partner Tono Radvany being released throughout Japan. Last but not least, just as he has always done, Powell continues to shine a light on his life long friends and fresh new talent .
“Where do begin? I love having these relationships — like I have with you all 1xRUN — that help the artist, in this case me, to maintain. Which I’m doing. People are resonating from it. I am riding a mad vibe right now,” Powell said. “I love using the Facebook and the Instagram as a gauge for that. I like seeing an instant response. People like following what I’m doing and good things are coming my way. People want to get down with that. I just came from the Cannibus Cup. I was embraced like Joe Namath at the Super Bowl of pot. It was exciting. It was touching. It was fun. I’m about fun.”
The Rickster. The Funky Uncle. The Dirty Doorman. Uncle Sloppy. The Rickford Institute. Uncle Doinky. Doink Master Flex. Professor Puffington. The Cool Substitute Teacher. Ricky Powell has more nicknames and one liners than we can remember. The only way to experience it is to keep up with the fun and follow the one and only Ricky Powell @TheLazyHustler.
-1xRUN
Written by 1xRUN Editor Pietro Truba. Among several others, he has previously interviewed Ricky Powell for RUN #00881, Saber for RUN #00800 and Doze Green for RUN #00562. Follow him @Pietro1xRun.
Portrait of Ricky Powell taken by Mike Popso. Follow him @MrPopso84
All additional photos by Ricky Powell. Follow him @TheLazyHustler