Dee Lippingwell has she wants to share.
It91裸聊视频檚 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 festival91裸聊视频檚 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.
91裸聊视频楳ountain91裸聊视频� memories: Surrey photog91裸聊视频檚 book recalls 91裸聊视频榗razy-ass scene91裸聊视频� of Merritt music fest.
91裸聊视频� Tom Zillich (@TomZillich)
Campground C party zone and more remembered in Dee Lippingwell91裸聊视频檚 third book.
Lippingwell91裸聊视频檚 yearly job was to 91裸聊视频渂asically take photographs of everything on a daily basis,91裸聊视频� she explains in the book, her third filled with concert photos.
91裸聊视频淲e looked forward to whatever the festival had in store for us 91裸聊视频� rain, hail, blistering sun, dust storms, just to name a few,91裸聊视频� she writes. 91裸聊视频淏ut we came prepared for everything and were never disappointed at each year91裸聊视频檚 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.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频� RELATED STORY, from January: .
PICTURED: Dee Lippingwell
The book91裸聊视频檚 intro, written by former Province entertainment reporter John McLaughlin, chronicles the festival91裸聊视频檚 infamous Campground C party zone, filled with cowboy hat-wearing guys (91裸聊视频淐ody91裸聊视频�) and bikini-clad gals (91裸聊视频淐rystal91裸聊视频�), tricked-out bars, pool tables, pools, DIY dance floors and lots of liquor.
91裸聊视频淭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,91裸聊视频� McLaughlin writes. 91裸聊视频淐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 wasn91裸聊视频檛 and, like starlings out the barn door, the kids swarmed off with some new distraction and just didn91裸聊视频檛 come back.91裸聊视频�
(Story continues below photo)
PICTURED: Country musician Keith Urban on stage at Merritt Mountain Music Festival in 2002, in a photograph by Surrey91裸聊视频檚 Dee Lippingwell.
McLaughlin tells the story of the festival91裸聊视频檚 91裸聊视频渋gnoble finale91裸聊视频� in 2009.
91裸聊视频淎dd in the disaster of a brain boggling backstage cash demand from Kenny Chesney91裸聊视频檚 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.91裸聊视频�
Only 250 copies of 91裸聊视频淢emories From the Mountain91裸聊视频� 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 she91裸聊视频檚 catalogued images of the 3,500 rock, country and pop concerts she91裸聊视频檚 photographed since her very first, a Pink Floyd gig in Vancouver in 1973.
Lippingwell91裸聊视频檚 1987 book, 91裸聊视频淭he Best Seat in the House,91裸聊视频� was followed in 2012 by the self-published 91裸聊视频淔irst Three Songs91裸聊视频� No Flash,91裸聊视频� a title that referenced the instructions typically given to concert photographers before a show begins.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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