Julie Kramer Unveils Photography Exhibition THE BASEMENT ARCHIVES: VOL I: THE GHOSTS OF WFNX

Photographer and revered long-time on-air radio personality Julie Kramer will unveil her rock & roll photography exhibition The Basement Archives: Volume One: The Ghosts of WFNX, featuring portraits and behind-the-scenes images of celebrity musicians. The exhibition takes place at The Factory, located at 545 Washington Street, in downtown Lynn, MA.

The opening reception, Saturday, October 13 from 4-9pm is free and open to the public. Limited edition signed photographs will be available for sale. Additional gallery viewing hours are Sunday, October 14, Saturday, October 20, and Sunday, October 21 from 1-5pm and and by appointment.

The exhibition will feature over three dozen color and black and white analog images including portraits of Elvis Costello, The Clash's Joe Strummer, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Social Distortion's Mike Ness, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Boomtown Rats' Bob Geldolf, Bjork, and dozens more.

Kramer, a trained photographer, left being a full-time DJ at WGIR in New Hampshire to spend more time on her photography. At WFNX, she shares "I always had a camera around my neck - and the rest is history." She often captured moments when bands visited WFNX in Lynn-during the late 1980s and 90s. Modern Rock radio was huge and lots of artists visited the station for live on-air interviews. Kramer documented some of those visits, and often took portraits of the artists after the interviews. Some photos were shot on the roof of the WFNX building (25 Exchange Street in Lynn), some at the nearby Capital Diner, and some at Lynn Beach, a short drive away.

In the last year, Kramer's partner Jimi was cleaning out her basement and came across a handful of framed photos tucked away. "He calls them 'the original 10.' After digging some more, Jimi found boxes and boxes of prints and negatives and said, 'I'm doing something with these photos whether you're in or not.' So, I jumped in."

When asked which photographers she admires, Kramer cites Robert Mapplethorpe, Diane Arbus, Mary Ellen Mark, and Annie Lebovitz.

Kramer loves being a radio disc jockey. "I love the music and I love the connection to the audience. I love spreading good karma--making listeners feel like we're having a cup of coffee together--hanging out, enjoying life, and good tunes. It's great being part of breaking new music-it's exciting to discover a new band or song that makes you feel a certain way and being able to share that with the audience is a great gift."

When asked to recall some favorite moments at WFNX Kramer says, "I loved it all-seriously. The early years were so exciting and creative; we were a family--a bunch of kids pushing the envelope every day and breaking barriers. I loved hanging with Joe Strummer, who was just so nice and funny. I had many fun times with him, like dancing at the VFW in Cambridge just dancing, drinking, and having a ball."

"I loved meeting my all-time hero David Bowie. I interviewed him in his hotel room--drinking coffee, laughing, and dancing. He loved my shoes and sent his manager out to Newbury Street to get him a pair just like them."

"Meeting Nirvana," Kramer explains, "was something. I was driving in the car with Krist Novoselic and he called my nephew Ian on the phone, who was a huge fan and not much more than 10 years old at the time. Ian was screaming on the other end and Krist and I laughed the whole drive back to FNX."

Julie Kramer may be best known as the beloved on-air radio personality for WFNX's "Leftover Lunch." After WFNX she continued on-air at RadioBDC and is now on-air on Indie617. She earned her MFA in Photography from University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

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