Discovering Peter Will - By N.L. Belardes
The tribute started at 5 PM at Dagny's coffeehouse at 20th and Eye. As I headed to the corner coffeehouse I saw dozens of people milling about. They were celebrating with poems, acoustic numbers, and talk of an old Bakersfield legend, one a lot of young folk and myself never knew. If you're like me, you knew a lot of people who had been touched by Peter Will through the years. "The sad tragic clown," Craig Trevino had said in an earlier meeting...
By 8 pm folks had moved down to Kosmos bar and grill, as well as a new crowd had arrived. Young Jake Trevino played an original acoustic song along with some other tunes. After his set, the Ventura theatre video of Peter Will from around the year 2000 played on all the televisions. For a few minutes everyone stopped and watched. This was the moment a lot of folks discovered Peter Will in music through a grainy video shot from across the theatre... The crowd cheered after each song as if we'd all darted through the past into the theatre...
Friday night was packed with music. The California cowpunk of Sioux City Sarsaparilla blasted with Jimmy Holliday at lead. "Peter Will couldn't be here tonight," he said. "So this one's for you, Peter Will!" I was entranced by the tough punk/country sounds of Sioux City, with Jimmy screaming and tearing into his train-sounding guitar riffs as if he'd just captured a country locomotive heading down the lonely Peter Will Bakersfield rural landscapes. Sioux City wrapped up their set with an electrifying version of "Fakin' Bacon" that really takes cowpunk to a new level in Bakersfield's own genre of rural rock punk.
Sick Trigger played an acoustic set that was just riveting. Jennifer and Lydia from the Californian were there to see Mento Buru, but Jennifer told me she really dug Sick Trigger's style. I did too. They even had Peter Will's longtime girlfriend, Denise sing a love song tribute that she performed twice in a row. Sick Trigger has a brand new six-song CD soming out playfully titled Triggernometry. I heard it down at the Sick Trigger studio; it's good hard-rocking stuff... very radio friendly. I'm listening to my favorite track from it right now, "Spent".
The Filthies took the stage in force, blasted a bunch of their favorites including the premiere of their brand new hockey anthem, "Condorstown". What an honor to help co-write such an arena type song. "Go! Fight! Skate!" We all yelled as the Filthies fine-tuned their new song in memory of Peter Will, making it almost as if we were all screaming, "We won't forget you, Peter Will!"
Kenny Mount took a moment to say, "This is an honor to play this tribute," while Guppy came from behind the drums to raise a Corona to the crowd, "Peter Will would have dug this!"
What a great night for music. Vanity Avenue, Empath, Mento Buru, and a Peter Will tribute band were all to play... I headed home after midnight, happy that I had discovered more of the love for Peter Will in the Bakersfield music community.
By 8 pm folks had moved down to Kosmos bar and grill, as well as a new crowd had arrived. Young Jake Trevino played an original acoustic song along with some other tunes. After his set, the Ventura theatre video of Peter Will from around the year 2000 played on all the televisions. For a few minutes everyone stopped and watched. This was the moment a lot of folks discovered Peter Will in music through a grainy video shot from across the theatre... The crowd cheered after each song as if we'd all darted through the past into the theatre...
Friday night was packed with music. The California cowpunk of Sioux City Sarsaparilla blasted with Jimmy Holliday at lead. "Peter Will couldn't be here tonight," he said. "So this one's for you, Peter Will!" I was entranced by the tough punk/country sounds of Sioux City, with Jimmy screaming and tearing into his train-sounding guitar riffs as if he'd just captured a country locomotive heading down the lonely Peter Will Bakersfield rural landscapes. Sioux City wrapped up their set with an electrifying version of "Fakin' Bacon" that really takes cowpunk to a new level in Bakersfield's own genre of rural rock punk.
Sick Trigger played an acoustic set that was just riveting. Jennifer and Lydia from the Californian were there to see Mento Buru, but Jennifer told me she really dug Sick Trigger's style. I did too. They even had Peter Will's longtime girlfriend, Denise sing a love song tribute that she performed twice in a row. Sick Trigger has a brand new six-song CD soming out playfully titled Triggernometry. I heard it down at the Sick Trigger studio; it's good hard-rocking stuff... very radio friendly. I'm listening to my favorite track from it right now, "Spent".
The Filthies took the stage in force, blasted a bunch of their favorites including the premiere of their brand new hockey anthem, "Condorstown". What an honor to help co-write such an arena type song. "Go! Fight! Skate!" We all yelled as the Filthies fine-tuned their new song in memory of Peter Will, making it almost as if we were all screaming, "We won't forget you, Peter Will!"
Kenny Mount took a moment to say, "This is an honor to play this tribute," while Guppy came from behind the drums to raise a Corona to the crowd, "Peter Will would have dug this!"
What a great night for music. Vanity Avenue, Empath, Mento Buru, and a Peter Will tribute band were all to play... I headed home after midnight, happy that I had discovered more of the love for Peter Will in the Bakersfield music community.
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Saturday, October 01, 2005.
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