We Had Fun and Nobody Died : Adventures of a Milwaukee Music Promoter / Amy T. Waldman, with Peter Jest ; foreword by David Luhrssen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Waldman, Amy T., author.

Contributor:

Jest, Peter, contributor.

Luhrssen, David, writer of foreword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jest, Peter.

Shank Hall (Milwaukee, Wisconsin).

Concert agents--Wisconsin--Milwaukee--Biography.

Concert agents.

Rock concerts--Wisconsin--Milwaukee--History.

Rock concerts.

Concerts--Wisconsin--Milwaukee--History.

Concerts.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (187 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Madison, WI : Wisconsin Historical Society Press, [2024]

Summary:

"This is an authorized history of Peter Jest's career as a Wisconsin-based concert promoter and club owner. Jest has lived his whole life in Milwaukee. During his youth, in the late-1960s and 1970s, he was a gawky kid with asthma who got hooked on music. Around age twelve, he began calling local radio stations and winning hundreds of giveaway prizes-albums and merch, but most importantly, concert tickets. After seeing a transformational Bob Seger concert in eighth grade, he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life doing something related to that experience. Jest attended UWM, where he founded Alternative Concert Group-a student group dedicated to bringing national acts to campus. After college, he parlayed these skills into a short-lived gig as the tour manager for the Violent Femmes, then a job promoting and booking concerts for venues around the city and region, and eventually into owning his own venue, Shank Hall. Along the way, Jest developed his own unique business style-some associates and competitors have been known to call him a hardheaded jerk. However, he has also gained the trust of many musicians over the years by being fiercely loyal and devoted to those individuals who earn his respect. This devotion is exemplified in chapters dedicated to the artists with whom Jest developed special relationships throughout his career: Violent Femmes, John Prine, Leo Kottke, Leon Redbone, and Arlo Guthrie. The narrative, which ends in 2022, also details the experience of a small music venue during the COVID-19 pandemic. While this is memoir of Peter Jest's life and a book about the state's music scene from the mid-1980s through 2022, it is also more universal story about a person finding his place in the world and pursuing his passion to benefit his community"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Foreword

The Contest Winner

That Won't Work Here

Pissing Next to Batman

On the Road

Brushes with Stardom

Welcome to the Club!

The Music and the Mileage

Rising from the Ashes

Fine Milwaukee Water

Practically a Guthrie

Only Love

Hope Springs Eternal

Shutdown.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Waldman, Amy T. We Had Fun and Nobody Died

ISBN:

9781976600319

OCLC:

1436830444