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Back to July, 2024
We Had Fun and Nobody Died: Amy T. Waldman and Peter Jest in conversation with Dave Luhrssen at Central
Saturday, July 20, 2024 - 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Audience: Adults/ Older Adults
Categories: Author Visit, Cultural Heritage/History
Peter Jest and Amy Waldman share behind-the-scenes stories of how he helped put Milwaukee music on the map, promoting acts such as the Violent Femmes, John Prine, Patti Smith, and many more. This irreverent biography provides a rare window into the music industry from a promoter's perspective. From a young age, 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 UWM, booking thousands of concerts across Wisconsin and the Midwest, and opening Shank Hall, the Milwaukee venue named after a club in the cult film This Is Spinal Tap.This funny, nostalgia-inducing book shines a light into the seldom-seen world of music promotion, as Jest 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. As the music industry has become dominated by profit-driven corporations, We Had Fun and Nobody Died chronicles the career of an 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.Amy T Waldman is an award-winning writer and editor whose feature articles, reviews, profiles, and essays have appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Shepherd Express, and Milwaukee Magazine. She was an editor for the Marshfield News Herald where she wrote Fresh Sounds, a biweekly record review column. 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.Books will be for sale at this event from Boswell Book Company. Author signing to follow the main presentation.Location: Rotary Club of Milwaukee Community Room
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