Sign-In
Cart
We Had Fun and Nobody Died: Adventures of a Milwaukee Music Promoter
Paperback
Entertainment & Performing ArtsMusiciansMusic Business
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9781976600302
Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society Press
Published: Jun 25 2024
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.75
Height: 0.70 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Awards: Independent Publisher Book Awards
The entertaining and inspiring story of a stubbornly independent promoter and club owner
This irreverent biography provides a rare window into the music industry from a promoter's perspective. From a young age, Peter Jest was determined to make a career in live music, and despite naysayers and obstacles, he did just that, bringing national acts to his college campus at UW-Milwaukee, booking thousands of concerts across Wisconsin and the Midwest, and opening Shank Hall, the beloved Milwaukee venue named after a club in the cult film This Is Spinal Tap.
This funny, nostalgia-inducing book details the lasting friendships Jest established over the years with John Prine, Arlo Guthrie, and Milwaukee's own Violent Femmes, among others. It also shines a light into the seldom-seen world of music promotion, as Jest attempts to manage a turbulent band on the road, negotiates with agents, deals with fires (both real and metaphorical), struggles through a pandemic, and takes pleasure in presenting music of all kinds--from world-famous acts to up-and-coming local bands. In addition to photos of celebrated musicians, the book includes concert posters, tickets, and backstage passes documenting decades of rock, folk, and alternative shows that helped put Milwaukee on the live music map.
As the music industry has become dominated by profit-driven corporations, We Had Fun and Nobody Died chronicles the career of a one-of-a-kind independent promoter whose hardheadedness and love of music have helped him keep it real and make it in the music business for more than forty years.
[An] adventure-filled biography of music promoter Peter Jest. . . . Reflecting decades of changes to the music business, We Had Fun and Nobody Died is a fascinating biography of a passionate promoter's work to transform Milwaukee's music scene.--Foreword Reviews Amy Waldman and Peter Jest weave a thrilling tale of fanhood gone pro. Dreams followed, dragons slain, and the roof of a venerable venue repeatedly blown sky-high. We're proud to have provided the name [for Shank Hall]; it took men and women of sterner stuff to do the heavy lifting.
--Michael McKean, actor and comedian, This Is Spinal Tap We Had Fun and Nobody Died is a fantastic journey of a Midwest boy, his love of music, and his excitement to be part of it all.
--Kevn Kinney, lead singer and guitarist of Drivin N Cryin Peter Jest's story is one that conveys a winning combination of friendship, determination, and entrepreneurial insights that led him to a lifelong career in support of the live music industry and the community that comes together in common appreciation of it.
--Shana Morrison, singer-songwriter
Also in
Musicians
Smash!: Green Day, the Offspring, Bad Religion, Nofx, and the '90s Punk Explosion
Winwood, Ian
Hardcover
A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond
Thayil, Kim
Tepedelen, Adem
Hardcover
Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other--And the World
Windolf, Jim
Hardcover
Mahalia Jackson, Moving on Up a Little Higher: The Story of an American Civil Rights Pioneer
Tyson, Timothy B.
Williams, Mary D.
Hardcover
The Little Guide to Dolly Parton: It's Hard to Be a Diamond in a Rhinestone World
Hippo! Orange
Hardcover
P Fkn R: Bad Bunny Y La Música Como Un Acto de Resistencia / P Fkn R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance
Rivera-Rideau, Petra R.
Díaz, Vanessa
Paperback
Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days
Beard, Javon
Whitfield, Bill
Hardcover
David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God: A Spiritual Meditation on His Music and Creativity
Ormerod, Peter
Hardcover
Dolly Parton Songteller: My Life in Lyrics: My Life in Lyrics
Oermann, Robert K.
Parton, Dolly
Hardcover
A Life in Lyrics: The Official Creative Legacy of Freddie Mercury
Mercury, Freddie
Austin, Mary
Hardcover
What Do You Do When You're Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle
Bernstein, Jonathan
Hardcover
With a Little Help from Their Friends: The Beatles and the People Who Made Them
Maconie, Stuart
Hardcover
Ain't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton (Large Print Edition)
Ackmann, Martha
Hardcover
Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise and Fall of the Strokes (and Rock 'n' Roll)
Hyden, Steven
Hardcover
Bust a Move: Matt Dike, Delicious Vinyl, and the Hip-Hop Hits That First Conquered Pop
Relic, Peter
Hardcover
It's No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown's Legendary Songwriter Sylvia Moy
Christian, Margena A.
Hardcover
Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm
Charnas, Dan
Paperback
Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles
Emerick, Geoff
Massey, Howard
Paperback
3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool
Kaplan, James
Paperback
Little Book of Elvis Presley: Inspirational Quotes from the King of Rock 'n' Roll
Croft, Rod
Hardcover
The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership That Rocked the World
Guralnick, Peter
Hardcover
Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008
Payne, Chris
Paperback
What Happened to Your Hair?: How We Played Loud... Loved Proud... and Never Backed Down... Together
Nelson, Matthew
Nelson, Gunnar
Hardcover
The Silver Snarling Trumpet: The Birth of the Grateful Dead--The Lost Manuscript of Robert Hunter
Hunter, Robert
Paperback
Keep It Beautiful: Inside the Funkyverse of Shock G and Digital Underground
Mbassa, Alexis Wolfe
Jacobs, Gregory E.
Hardcover
Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock
Gould, Jonathan
Hardcover
Puccini Without Excuses: A Refreshing Reassessment of the World's Most Popular Composer
Berger, William
Paperback
Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah
King, Charles
Paperback
Elvis and Me: The True Story of the Love Between Priscilla Presley and the King of Rock N' Roll
Harmon, Sandra
Presley, Priscilla
Paperback
Loud and Clear: The Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound and the Quest for Audio Perfection
Anderson, Brian
Hardcover
Beethoven's Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved
Martin, Russell
Paperback
Positively Fourth and Mercer: The Inside Story of New York's Iconic Music Club, the Bottom Line
Altman, Billy
Pepper, Allan
Hardcover