Peter Malick Listens To The Universe

My entry into the bigtime happened not long after my 14th birthday. The place was a bar on Huntington Avenue in Boston, where I was playing my first gig outside of school or a church basement. I was the youngest band member, and I innocently walked up to the big Irish police officer who was stationed inside the bar and asked “Do you have to be 21 to play in here?” The cop didn’t miss a beat, replying “Shut up kid, you’re 21.” I was now a professional musician.

As it happened, someone took note of my playing. Almost two years later, I was invited to audition for a band comprised of Walter Powers, Willie Loco Alexander, Peter Ivers and Michael Tschudin that had an upcoming gig at The Boston Tea Party. The audition was in a huge rehearsal space on River Street in Cambridge that was the headquarters of Riffs, a management company, and I was shy and nervous. We played for an hour or so, then took a break in the apartment that was upstairs from Riffs.

Now, I was pretty much the last of my friends to smoke pot, and I figured it would be uncool for me to say “no,” so that led to me taking my inaugural toke. It really didn’t make me feel more secure, but I became fascinated with how nuanced and complex the episode of Gilligan’s Island was that we were watching.

I got the gig and we played the Tea Party gig before there was a personnel change and the band became known as Listening. We played some great shows, including opening for Jefferson Airplane, and Sly & The Family Stone. In fact, MMONE co-founder and original Orpheus drummer Harry Sandler recently mentioned how great it was that both our bands had opened for Cream. I said, “We opened for Cream?”

And that is the story of my introduction to this crazy business that I’ve now been involved in for 47 years. I’m lobbying for 47 more.

(by Peter Malick)

Peter Malick is a guitarist and record producer from Boston. Early in his career, he toured with legendary blues pianist Otis Spann and lived at his home in Chicago.