Lisa S. Johnson,"Immortal Axes: Guitars That Rock" - a podcast by Stu Levitan, WORT News and Public Affairs

Madison authors, topics, book event and publishers.

Stu Levitan deviates a bit from that concept today with his guest Lisa S. Johnson because she’s got a new book out which you might want to know about for your holiday gift-giving or gift-asking needs. The book is Immortal Axes, Guitars That Rock, an absolutely gorgeous coffee table photography book focusing on some of the most important guitars in modern music – guitars played on seminal recordings and at historic events – and even some concerts in Madison — by the likes of Les Paul, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Duane Allman, B.B. King, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Phil Lesh, Johnny Cash and more, 157 guitarists in all, 350 pages of high-end photographs and insightful short essays, plus a Forward by Peter Frampton and an afterward by Suzi Quatro. The book is published by the good people at Princeton Architectural Press.

Lisa S Johnson followed a somewhat circuitous route to becoming one of the pre-eminent photographers in a very rarified field.

She traveled solo around Europe and South Africa for seven months as she was turning 21, went back home to Canada and got a hotel job in the icy and isolated North West Territories. Then two years at an exclusive private club in Edmonton before transferring to Florida where she put herself through college studying photography. Naturally, she ended up with a job at a private photo lab with the necessary security clearance to handle material for NASA and various defense contractors. Then a decade with the Eastman Kodak company before the corporate world started to get her down.

After injuring her neck, she took up Kundalini yoga, and took to it so well she quit her job at Kodak and opened up two yoga studios in Las Vegas, where she continues to live. All the while, though, she was continuing with her photographic pursuits, but now, thanks indirectly to her father’s interest in a 1917 Gibson mandolin, with a new focus– guitars. The lure of the modern lyre was so great she sold her studios to concentrate on a guitar project, and in 2013 published her first book, 108 Rock Star Guitars – the number itself a nod to various spiritual aspects of yoga. This new book expands the area of interest to include guitars notable for their custodian’s contributions to country, jazz and blues.

Lisa S. Johnson’s website is immortalaxes.com, her twitter handle is lsjrockphotos. It’s a pleasure to welcome to Madison BookBeat, Lisa S Johnson.

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