He\u2019s a grieving father and a memoirist, which may turn out to be his final act.<\/p>\n
In January, Smith announced on Facebook that he\u2019d been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n
At 71, his medical history is extensive. He’s beaten cancer three times previously. He also endured a hernia, a staph infection, sciatica, two knee replacements, one hip replacement, two cervical fusions, two spinal fusions, vertigo, the removal of his gall bladder and two rotator cuff tears, which rendered his right arm unable to hoist a camera.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rock photographer Sidney Smith walks down the stairs inside his New Orleans home on Tuesday, August 19, 2025 past where he keeps a small “shrine” on a shelf dedicated to his favorite band, The Beatles. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER<\/p>\n
\u201cI managed to get through that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut pancreatic cancer is a little different.\u201d<\/p>\n
A positive person by nature, in late June, he still thought he might outlive his prognosis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey tell me that I\u2019m not going to live out the year, which I find kind of hard to believe,\u201d he said June 27. \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll be one of those that breaks the odds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weeks later, he\u2019s not so confident. His weight loss has accelerated. On Aug. 13, he was hospitalized with complications related to pain management.<\/p>\n
Since returning home, he\u2019s often extremely fatigued. He is on oxygen and receiving IV infusions of fluids and vitamins. \u201cIntolerable\u201d days are becoming the norm.<\/p>\n
After his diagnosis, friends convinced him to write a memoir. He divvied up his life into the 21 chapters of \u201cBeing Sidney,\u201d augmenting his stories with more than 200 photographs from his archives.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing Sidney\u201d is set for publication in mid-September. He hopes he lives long enough to see it.<\/p>\n
Running away with the Allmans<\/p>\n
On a hot afternoon this week, Smith was at home in the Broadmoor neighborhood, being attended to by Laurie O. Dawes, a friend since kindergarten.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Wanting to show visitors proofs of \u201cBeing Sidney,\u201d he was frustrated to find his downstairs office computer turned off. These days, he has little tolerance for wasted time.<\/p>\n
Just inside his front door is a signed note for anyone who might find him unresponsive: \u201cDo not resuscitate.\u201d<\/p>\n
His house is a gallery of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll greats. Upstairs is a shrine to the Beatles. Smith\u2019s own photos lining a downstairs hallway trace a chronology of Jerry Garcia in 1972, Bruce Springsteen in \u201974, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page in \u201975 and Tom Petty in \u201976.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
New Orleans photographer Sidney Smith in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
PHOTO COURTESY SIDNEY SMITH<\/p>\n
He inherited his first camera from his father, an art teacher at Alcee Fortier High School, which Smith also attended. The Warehouse, the grungy brick concert venue that stood on Tchoupitoulas Street, offered a teenage Smith ample opportunity to photograph music legends.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Warehouse was the Fillmore East of the South,\u201d he said, referring to promoter Bill Graham\u2019s famous New York venue. \u201cIt stunk and it was crowded, but we loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He ingratiated himself by taking pictures of roadies as well as musicians; the roadies gave him backstage and stage access. His photos turned up in national music magazines.<\/p>\n
In November 1970, at age 16, Smith snuck into Tulane University\u2019s homecoming dance to photograph an up-and-coming Southern rock band called the Allman Brothers. The Brothers took an immediate shine to him.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band, left, with photographer Sidney Smith in 2012.<\/p>\n
PROVIDED PHOTO COURTESY SIDNEY SMITH<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t some hotshot photographer. I was a kid with a camera. I was pretty damn naive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Off and on for years, he traveled with the Allmans, photographing them backstage, in hotel rooms and at their compound in rural Georgia. Smith identified with the 2000 movie \u201cAlmost Famous,\u201d the semi-autographical account of Rolling Stone writer Cameron Crowe\u2019s adventures as a fresh-faced teenage journalist on the road with a rock band in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat,\u201d he said, \u201cwas my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mardi Gras with the McCartneys<\/p>\n
In November 1974, Smith attended a George Harrison concert in Baton Rouge. Emotionally overwhelmed to be in the same building as a Beatle, he shed tears.<\/p>\n
Two months later, a press agent called him from New York. Would he want to shoot Paul McCartney’s \u201cVenus and Mars\u201d recording sessions at Allen Toussaint\u2019s Sea-Saint Studio in Gentilly?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photographer Sidney Smith looks through a book of his photos from the time he spent with The Allman Brothers Band in the early 1970s. Smith sits at the kitchen table in New Orleans home on Tuesday, August 19, 2025. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER<\/p>\n
Driving to Le Richelieu Hotel in the French Quarter, Smith kept telling himself, \u201cI can\u2019t cry. I\u2019ve got to hold it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joe English, a drummer Smith had met through the Allman Brothers, introduced him to McCartney at the hotel pool.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a slow-motion walk for me,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThere was Paul McCartney in his bathing suit with his wife, Linda. He\u2019s looking at my photos and commenting on them, and I\u2019m having an out-of-body experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
He spent the next few weeks photographing McCartney at Sea-Saint, as well as Paul and Linda\u2019s Mardi Gras adventures, costumed as clowns. It was a dream come true.<\/p>\n
When McCartney hosted a wrap party aboard the Mississippi River boat Voyageur, Smith shot 40 or so rolls of film. As the party ended, he set down his camera bag to savor the moment.<\/p>\n
It was promptly stolen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Paul McCartney, costumed as a clown, in New Orleans on Mardi Gras 1975. Sidney Smith, a young New Orleans photographer, was hired to document McCartney’s time in the city recording the “Venus and Mars” album.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY SIDNEY SMITH<\/p>\n
He\u2019d tucked two rolls of film in his shirt pocket; another was in the camera around his neck. But the rest of the film he\u2019d shot, along with most of his cameras and gear, was gone.<\/p>\n
Smith was devastated: \u201cI lost my innocence that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Disillusioned, he abandoned his dream of becoming a full-time rock photographer.<\/p>\n
Stripper-grams and ghosts<\/p>\n
Shifting gears, he founded Merry Minstrels Singing Telegrams. He specialized in \u201cstripper-grams,\u201d bursting into song in offices, bars, homes and hospitals in various states of undress.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was in the \u201870s, \u201880s and even into the \u201890s,\u201d he said. \u201cI was stripping longer than I should have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Realizing that \u201cI can\u2019t be a 70-year-old stripper, but I can be a 70-year-old tour guide,\u201d he launched Haunted History Tours in 1995.<\/p>\n
From French Quarter ghost tours, Haunted History expanded to cemetery, true crime, voodoo and vampire tours. The company hosts over 100,000 customers annually.<\/p>\n
Smith conducted tours early on, but soon realized his strength was in marketing and running the business. He hired guides who were also actors and storytellers. \u201cEverybody,\u201d he says, \u201cloves a ghost story.\u201d<\/p>\n
A ‘Hugh Hefner’ arrangement<\/p>\n