Legendary rock ’n’ roll photographer Charles Daniels, who died Jan. 22, was honored Sunday at a Center for the Arts at the Armory memorial service. But his work isn’t done.
His partner, Susan Berstler, continues to raise money to develop thousands of rolls of film from Daniels’ time as the legendary “Master Blaster” in the 1960s through his life in Somerville 60 years later – images of musicians, his neighborhood, and the world around him. A GoFundMe page set up in 2022, after Daniels and Berstler started to collect the rolls of film piling up around their Somerville house, has drawn more than 1,300 donations and accumulated almost $80,000.
While some local galleries have shown bits of his work, there are still thousands of rolls left to develop; the fundraising page estimates around 3,400, but it’s hard to count. “I recently found a roll that’s actually labeled, and most of the film isn’t labeled,” Berstler said. “This was labeled Allman Brothers,” referring to the Southern rock band who opened for the Velvet Underground in Boston on May 30, 1969, and returned to record a live album on Boston Common. “So that tells you how old this roll of film is probably, and it was in a sock drawer. I feel like I’m gonna keep finding film until the house falls down,” she said.
“That’s the amazing story,” said Gregory Jenkins, executive director of the Somerville Arts Council, who knew Daniels for almost a quarter-century. “You’re sitting on all this film and canisters, you don’t even know if it’s any good or not, because they could have gotten spoiled,” he said. “The images that Susan’s releasing right now are definitely bringing up an era of another level of community and music and people being together that he captured, and that no one’s seen.”
Berstler works with Film Rescue International, a company in Saskatchewan, Canada, that specializes in old film. “We got 90,000 images back from them that was all paid for through the GoFundMe,” she said, “and that’s 90,000 images that Charles wouldn’t have seen if we weren’t able to do that.”
Backstage access
Daniels grew up on a sharecropping farm near Montgomery, Alabama, and moved to the Boston area when he was a child. He was emcee at the nightclub The Boston Tea Party during its 1967-1970 run – where he would have introduced the Allman Brothers, Velvet Underground and many more to the region – and his collection of images from concerts and backstage in the green room is one of a kind. Daniels was nicknamed Master Blaster by his friend Peter Wolf as co-host of a late-’60s WBCN radio show. (Wolf left to focus on being lead singer for The J. Geils Band.)
In an interview with The Boston Globe, Wolf said, “Charlie captured it all, because he was constantly clicking away … He was a cultural archivist without even knowing it.”
One of the images recovered from Daniels’ camera shows him standing behind a table of guitars next to the band Faces on tour. “Two-Nikon Charlie” – another of Daniels’ nicknames – was often invited backstage or on the road with many of the groups that rolled through Boston.
His unprecedented access to famed bands and musicians is a testament to his love for people and the friendships he fostered. “He could be hanging out or on tour with Rod Stewart and the Faces, but he was just as interested in talking to the chauffeur or the roadies, or people backstage,” Berstler said. “He got along and stayed in touch with some of the stars. He just treated them like normal people.”
Berstler and Daniels met at Nightstage, a nightclub open in Central Square in the 1990s where she took a job after moving to the area. “I’m there working my butt off,” she said, “and he’s getting paid just to hang out and talk to people.”
Capturing community life
Daniels’ renown doesn’t end with his rock ’n’ roll days; once he settled in Somerville, where he lived until the end of his life, the camera came out for other reasons.
Berstler said Daniels was “just as excited shooting children in a ballet dance performance as he was going in shooting Peter Wolf playing the Fenway.”
Daniels loved walking around his neighborhood, spending time in the community and taking photos of Davis Square and the park near his house. “Charles considered himself a street photographer more than anything else,” Berstler said.
“I had the fortune of meeting Mr. Daniels,” said Somerville city councilor Lance Davis during a remembrance at a February meeting. “He was the photographer for my daughter’s ballet recital and also did the video. Little did I know that in addition to the soft-spoken photographer, Mr. Daniels was also known as the Master Blaster.”
Jenkins remembers his presence at many of the community events in Somerville. “At the end, when he was leaving, he just said, ‘Peace, man.’ That was his line – he raised his fist and said, ‘Peace,’ as a goodbye.”
Encouraging the arts
Berstler continues to meet people affected by their meeting Daniels, some speaking since his death at 81 after years of battling a rare blood cancer.
“I can’t tell you how many people said that they became a photographer because of his encouragement, or they became an artist because of his encouragement, or they kept dancing because of his encouragement,” Berstler said. “After he passed and word started to get out on the street, people started putting flowers on his car that’s in our driveway.”
For Jenkins, Daniels’ “gentle soul” equaled his remarkable documentation of the turbulent ’60s. “He was just one of your classic folks in the community that I think touched a lot of people,” Jenkins said.
The contributions to the GoFundMe continue to trickle in, given new awareness by the Sunday memorial, and Berstler continues to develop rolls of films as donations arrive.
“It’s an incredible story of an incredible person who left us an incredible gift,” said Davis, the city councilor. “We will have his images forever. And I’m personally very grateful for that.”
The GoFundMe page is here. The Nave Gallery, 155 Powderhouse Blvd., near Teele Square, Somerville, has a May 4-June 2 exhibit planned of Daniels’ works called “To Be Continued.” Information is here.
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