bowie-golden-years
David Bowie at MSG, 1978 (photo courtesy Ed Rosenbaum / Esopus)

unseen late '70s concert photos of Bowie, Lou Reed, The Jam, Queen & more showing at Brooklyn's Pioneer Works

As a teenager in Brooklyn in the late-’70s, Ed Rosenbaum brought along a Pentax camera his brother had given him to many of the rock shows he attended. At clubs like The Palladium, CBGB, and Madison Square Garden, Ed shot David Bowie, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, The Jam, Queen, AC/DC, and more. By the ’80s, Rosenbaum gave up amateur photography and eventually got a job as a doorman at an apartment building in Greenwich Village. He recently came across a box of negatives and happened to tell one of the residents — a student at NYU — who, in turn, told Esopus editor Tod Lippy about them when he lectured recently to her class. The result: Rosenbaum’s photos are being published for the first time in a book titled Golden Years. They’re also on display at a Golden Years exhibit that’s showing at Red Hook’s Pioneer Works now through November 13. Pioneer Works is open Wednesday – Saturday from noon – 8 PM and Sundays from noon – 6 PM.