Dee Lippingwell has she wants to share.
It鈥檚 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 festival鈥檚 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.
鈥楳ountain鈥� memories: Surrey photog鈥檚 book recalls 鈥榗razy-ass scene鈥� of Merritt music fest.
鈥� Tom Zillich (@TomZillich)
Campground C party zone and more remembered in Dee Lippingwell鈥檚 third book.
Lippingwell鈥檚 yearly job was to 鈥渂asically take photographs of everything on a daily basis,鈥� she explains in the book, her third filled with concert photos.
鈥淲e looked forward to whatever the festival had in store for us 鈥� rain, hail, blistering sun, dust storms, just to name a few,鈥� she writes. 鈥淏ut we came prepared for everything and were never disappointed at each year鈥檚 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.鈥�
鈥� RELATED STORY, from January: .
PICTURED: Dee Lippingwell
The book鈥檚 intro, written by former Province entertainment reporter John McLaughlin, chronicles the festival鈥檚 infamous Campground C party zone, filled with cowboy hat-wearing guys (鈥淐ody鈥�) and bikini-clad gals (鈥淐rystal鈥�), tricked-out bars, pool tables, pools, DIY dance floors and lots of liquor.
鈥淭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,鈥� McLaughlin writes. 鈥淐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 wasn鈥檛 and, like starlings out the barn door, the kids swarmed off with some new distraction and just didn鈥檛 come back.鈥�
(Story continues below photo)
PICTURED: Country musician Keith Urban on stage at Merritt Mountain Music Festival in 2002, in a photograph by Surrey鈥檚 Dee Lippingwell.
McLaughlin tells the story of the festival鈥檚 鈥渋gnoble finale鈥� in 2009.
鈥淎dd in the disaster of a brain boggling backstage cash demand from Kenny Chesney鈥檚 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.鈥�
Only 250 copies of 鈥淢emories From the Mountain鈥� 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 she鈥檚 catalogued images of the 3,500 rock, country and pop concerts she鈥檚 photographed since her very first, a Pink Floyd gig in Vancouver in 1973.
Lippingwell鈥檚 1987 book, 鈥淭he Best Seat in the House,鈥� was followed in 2012 by the self-published 鈥淔irst Three Songs鈥� No Flash,鈥� a title that referenced the instructions typically given to concert photographers before a show begins.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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