Summary
The entertaining 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.
The book also includes a foreword by critic and journalist David Luhrssen, author of many books on film and music— from classic rock to new wave—and managing editor and film critic of Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express. 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.
Authors
AMY T. WALDMAN is an award-winning writer and editor whose work has appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Publishers Weekly, People, and Reader’s Digest. She is a reference librarian at the Milwaukee Public Library.
PETER JEST has promoted music in Wisconsin and the Midwest for more than forty years and is the owner of the Milwaukee music venue Shank Hall. This is his first book.
Forward by David Luhrssen
