Watching TV with Dickie Peterson

Posted almost 6 years ago
Here's an article on Blue Cheer I was working on much of last year which has finally been published. It’s another dry run for a book I've been trying to bash out which deals with some of San Francisco's lesser known acid rock bands (all publishers and/or agents are welcome).The highlight of writing this piece came when I found myself watching TV with BC mainstay Dickie Peterson in his apartment. He had just played me the band's new CD and asked if I wanted to see a short documentary on the group a Dutch television show had made the previous year. “Hell yes,” I said and he slid in the DVD they had sent him. Part of the half hour segment contains the black and white clip of the group performing "Summertime Blues" on Germany’s famous Beat Club in 1968. Most BC fans have seen this already since it’s the only real footage of the band in their notorious early days. This was my first exposure as well; MTV had a retro show in the late 80’s called Closet Classics which ran it quite a bit and I couldn’t get enough. Never had I been both repelled and compelled by a single performance: amazingly raw, aggressive, lots of hair and some of the best drumming I’ve (still) ever seen …all this and they were miming it. So there I was watching the same clip I’d seen hundreds of times…except now it was with the guy who was on TV signing the damn song. It was too much for my little brain to take; I turned to him and half-jokingly exclaimed: “Hey, that’s YOU!” “Yep,” Said Peterson perhaps a little less excited but grinning nonetheless. Life doesn’t get much more interesting than that. For me, at least. Anyway, here’s the article for those interested.

Comments (8)

  1. kristiana says Andrew, where ya been! Good to see you back, anyways. Off to read the article now, juts wanted to say hi.
    Permalink posted 02/16/2007
  2. kristiana says hey! great writing, very evocative! That clip above was the first Blue Cheer I've heard, f'ing great! Thanks for introducing me to what I didn't know. I don't know how I didn't, but here we are. I guess - when you first told me you were writing about the SF acid rock scene, all I thought was "hippies?". Silly me. Funny enough, after watching the clip and before I got that far in the article, I thought to myself - "Mudhoney". Weird! Peterson sounds like quite the character. I think I'd like to hang out with him. Glad you're back! Are you back?
    Permalink posted 02/16/2007
  3. andrew lau says Hi ya Kristiana -- thanks for the kind words. Yes, I'm kinda back, My wife and I seem to have a newborn over here so that's taking up a bit of time. I do more reading here than posting, Yeah, Dickie is a really sweet guy, wish I could spend more time with him but he's busy as hell...looks like he's got another BC tour coming up.
    Permalink posted 02/16/2007
  4. kristiana says OH shit yeah! Haha, sorry, I forgot. And how is parenthood treating ya?
    Permalink posted 02/16/2007
  5. jsguntzel says I love it. Kitty. A car called Kitty. Do guys still name their car's names like Kitty? I've never named a car, although I almost bought a van once that was covered in fake turf with a wooden bumper that said "grass attack." I was 18 and just didn't have the means. It would have been funny though. A really good $2000 joke. I digress. This is a great piece. Really enjoyed the "looking back" conversations. Those "doing it forever types" hold a special place in my heart. The ones that do it even when its just them, the car they've given a companion's name, and their gear in the trunk. And that clip. God. It's been years. God. The drumming... Nice work! So glad to finally read it. Now go change a diaper. Enjoy the breast milk poop while you can. It smells so much better than the next wave - so sweet!
    Permalink posted 02/16/2007
  6. jsguntzel says Can I copy edit my own comments? The question should have read: "Do guys still give their cars names like Kitty?" Much better. Ahem.
    Permalink posted 02/16/2007
  7. Anonymous says i love it. no frills rock, meatball rock, whatever. james gang was like that... my friends played shows with these teenagers who played music like this. everyone thot it was amatuerish, but i dug it.
    Permalink posted 02/16/2007
  8. kumar says I can't believe you found that video! I remember seeing it on MTV years ago and I was totally fascinated by the band members' look and sound. Not only that, I was actually thinking about this song and video a few days ago, so it's doubly cool to me that you found it.
    Permalink posted 02/19/2007

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