We Had Fun and Nobody Died
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.
Copies of We Had Fun and Nobody Died will be distributed for free to all attendees courtesy of the Wisconsin Book Festival.
Peter Jest
Peter Jest has promoted music in Wisconsin and the Midwest for more than forty years and is the owner of the music venue Shank Hall in Milwaukee. We Had Fun and Nobody Died is his first book.
David Luhrssen
David Luhrssen is the author of many books on film and music, including The Vietnam War on Film and The Encyclopedia of Classic Rock, and coauthor of Milwaukee Rock and Roll, 1950–2000 and Brick Through the Window: An Oral History of Punk Rock and New Wave in Milwaukee. He is managing editor and film critic of Milwaukee’s weekly newspaper, the Shepherd Express.