Happy National Book Lovers Day, Milwaukee!Amy T. Waldman first met independent concert promoter and Shank Hall rock club owner Peter Jest in 1991 while launching a career in local journalism. Jest was already known for being driven and headstrong, two qualities that Waldman appreciated. 

“I learned that Peter … was kind of a polarizing figure. I instantly recognized him as one of those people who is direct and doesn’t suffer fools. Those are my kind of people,” says Waldman. 

Later that decade, Waldman invited Jest to dinner, during which she realized something else that impressed her. If given a date – any date – Jest could recall exactly who performed at his club that night.

The two remained pals over the decades, and when the pandemic hit in 2020, they reconnected over Jest’s Facebook posts of scanned concert flyers and media agreements from the past 30 years, including $500 contracts for Alanis Morissette and Pearl Jam to play Shank Hall gigs – just months before their records topped charts. 

Waldman, who had moved on from her journalism career and was now a librarian, suggested that he create a “Virtual Shank Hall” with a paywall to make some extra money during the shut-down. Instead, Waldman and Jest created the book, “We had fun and nobody died: Adventures of a Milwaukee Music Promoter.”

“We both refer to it, interchangeably, as ‘my book’ and ‘our book,’” says Waldman. “Peter’s not a writer and I’m not a promoter – we both stuck to what we were good at.”

The 200-page book, published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press, spans from Jest’s teen years to the present. There are numerous entertaining details, like his obsessive determination to win call-in radio contests that gifted him more than 1,200 prizes in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. And the time he made Iggy Pop laugh because he told him that bowling was the only college course he was taking.

“We Had Fun” also delves into Jest’s personal life, including his love for animals – particularly a macaw named Echo – along with his wife, Karen, and his parents, who were extremely supportive of him even when they didn't understand their youngest son.

But mostly, “We Had Fun and Nobody Died” tells the tale of Jest’s determination – and continued determination – to be an independent concert promoter despite changes and challenges in the industry, from personal beefs to the near-monopoly of Live Nation.

“Being actively discouraged from doing something you want to do and know you can do, being marginalized and misunderstood and misjudged and figuring out how to succeed – not just in spite of it, but because of it – that's inspiring,” says Waldman.

The book is a quick and engaging read that will be especially entertaining to Milwaukeeans who attended East Side concerts in the 80s and 90s as myriad musicians' names and long-defunct concert venues are mentioned.

Waldman fairly presents Jest's story with a sense of warmth, but without coming off as overstating. For those who know him personally, or through the Smallwaukee grapevine, these pages introduce a Jest that, like all of us, is more complicated than the one who appears in public and on the job.

“I am mostly a quiet guy, but felt my story is important to a young person who is a bit odd and whose parents support them in their odd endeavor of a career,” says Jest.

After high school and a short-lived ticket scalping stint, Jest enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He quickly realized he was not interested in studying (hence taking the one bowling class that made Iggy Pop chuckle), but was extremely interested in bringing national bands to the campus, something that had not been done. He received a lot of blow-back from the university, but ultimately started a student organization called Alternative Concert Group that brought Violent Femmes, The Replacements, T-Bone Burnett and more to UWM’s Ballroom and Wisconsin Room.

In 1984, Jest went on to manage a stage at Summerfest. A few days after the Fest’s run, he went to see “This Is Spinal Tap” at the long-closed Mill Road Theater on Milwaukee’s North Side with friend Dave Luhrssen – who wrote the forward of the book.

The mockumentary followed a group of has-been rockers that gig at a fictitious club in Milwaukee called “Shank Hall” during which they play a song called “Stonehenge.” After the movie, Jest told Luhrssen that if he ever opened a club, he would name it Shank Hall. 

In 1989, he did just that. To this day, and despite a fire, an 18-inch replica of the Stonehenge stones hang over the Shank Hall stage.

Along with Alanis Morissette and Pearl Jam, Jest booked No Doubt, Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, Goo Goo Dolls and Widespread Panic before they were famous. He also recruited legendary acts like Patti Smith and Leonard Cohen, developed deep friendships with Leon Redbone and Arlo Guthrie, while remaining supportive of local musicians and bands.

“(Peter) did not become one of Wisconsin’s longest lasting independent promoters or the owner of one of Milwaukee’s oldest music clubs … because of his charm,” writes Waldman. “He does, however have a strong moral compass and no tolerance for anyone who challenges it. He is fearlessly, unapologetically himself.”

Buy "We Had Fun and Nobody Died: Adventures of a Milwaukee Music Promoter" here.