Moon Thief chap book by Peter Burg

This pen & ink/water color became the cover art for the poetry book Moon Thief. A collection of verses with accompanying artwork. My friend Tony Moffeit wrote the foreword.

Little Miracles

Back in 1995 I did a recording project with an incredible song writer, Tim Keller. We both grew up in Pacific Palisades, California. To this day we are great friends and still play guitar together.
I was fortunate to co-write several songs and play guitar on many of the tracks on Little Miracles.

Shoot in the Sunshine

Of cold days I would pick today to say yes. Yes in Des Moines, New Mexico. Of Decembers Sundays, yes this is brilliantly cold. A wake up cold, caught in frosted finger tips and fog breath. Tim, with camera and I, with guitar walked across highway 64-87 hopping over the black ice and skipped into Studio C. I brought a fresh supply of pottery, CDs, and poetry books for store stock that Christina requested. Now is the time Tim does a lay-out shoot for the Studio C web site. Here is the result. Tim Keller photographer extraordinaire.

Peter Burg & Bluesuburban open for Sonny Landreth at Blue Bird Theather in Denver 2006

Clown Town A Play by Peter Burg

Clown Town
by
Peter Burg
Water Color Painting by Melissa Adkison

Performances on
July 11,12, & 13 2008
At the Playhouse
2099 Main St,
Rye, CO. 81069

Where Clowns go after the show? The year is 1958 and just southeast of Pueblo there is a haven. It is late summer and on a few acres of windblown chamisa infested high desert the magic of friendship electrifies the wind. The place is Clown Town. A place of the past and present and the possibilities of the future for six clowns living the lives of men. Men doing double duty in the circus of life singing the melody of laughter, but time is fading fast and on the horizon the specter of change is imminent.
Share the whimsical ramblings and comical camaraderie of Rusty, Bobo, Suds, Zappy, Nod and Scamper, the inhabitants of Clown Town, before the wind carries them off into a distance memory.

454 Pop Rock Group from 1980 DVD

454
Peter Burg - vocals , guitar
Chris Judge - vocals, bass
Larry Goldberg - vocals, drums
1978-1981
Pacific Palisades, Califonia
Released a single on Rave Records 1980 "OK Lets Rock & Can't Keep Away"
DVD produced by DigiVintage Records 2008
454 -”Name on the Marquee”

I fell into amazing friendship with Chris Judge and Larry Goldberg while working at the Music Bag on Antioch Street in the Pacific Palisades, owned by Pat Hildebrand and Ray Sullivan. At that time I gave guitar lessons and worked the front in sales part time. Larry was also working there part time while attending Palisades High School. Chris too attended Pali and was just getting started on bass. It was serendipitous that he came to me for a few bass lessons. With his voracious appetite he soon absorbed all I could share with him and moved on to a more competent teacher.
After a baptism by fire as the guitarist with The Razz (original pop rock quartet, headed by Billy Bang circa. 1978) and The Actionaires (original rock band, headed by Terry Keller circa.1979) it seemed the natural progression for me to start my own band. Larry, whom I knew played drums and had an inexhaustible amount of energy and Chris who’s abilities I was familiar with, were both interested and so we started jamming.
The songs during that period were cover songs so we could hone our chops as a trio. They included; Jailhouse Rock, Pipe Line, Rave On, I Fought The Law, Money, All Day and All Night, I Think were Alone Now, and Hang On To Yourself. The early originals were, Downtown Girls, My Heart Skips A Beat (Love Me Now), O.K. Lets Rock, and Walking Home At Night.
The band rehearse in my bedroom at 887 Muskingum Pacific Palisades. There was just enough space for the drums, amps, P.A. and a bed.
Our first performance took place at the Music Bag on October 10, 1979. Larry was 15, Chris was 17 and I was 25. We called ourselves The Look because I had a song by that name. We soon had to abandon the name because another other band had it already. At that time there were a rash of bands with numbers for names, so we chose 454 because it was the Palisades telephone prefix, which stood for Gladstone-4. We first used that name on December 13, 1979 at a Gazzarri’s gig.

December 23, 1979 454 recorded two songs at Harlequin Studio in Northridge, California Double Ticket and Someday Somewhere Else. (No recordings found)

From the end of 1979 to May of 1981 454 played; private house parties in Malibu, Palisades, Brentwood, and Westwood, (Several were broken up by the police because they would get so crowded), Gazzarri’s (Hollywood), The Londoner (Santa Monica), Blackies (Santa Monica), Hong Cong Café (China Town), The Troubadour (West Hollywood), Palisades High School, Palisades Park, Paul Revere Jr. High School, Wood Crest Grammer School (Northridge), Bay City Jewish Community Center (Santa Monica), a total of 35 performances and most were paid gigs.

March 20, 1980 Palisadian Post runs article, “Local boys make new waves in quest for rock stardom”. By Rob Mandell.

April 3, 1980 Palisadian Post runs article, ”Dancers respond to call of 454”. Staff writer unknown.

On April 23 of 1980, 454 recorded two songs, O.K. Lets Rock and Can’t Keep Away at Cat Tracks Recording Studio in Hollywood, California. The session was engineered by Frank Sparks.

May 23, 454’s has differences with manager regarding finances and direction. The manager was also owner of The Music Bag where Peter was employed. The managerial agreement was terminated as was Peter’s employment.

On August 4, O.K. Lets Rock was broadcast on K-WEST Radio, “Seeds”, Monday night at 12:45.

September 6, 1980 454 hired Richard Titelman to shoot home beta video of the band, live at Peter’s parent’s home at 887 Muskingum Ave. in Pacific Palisades.

On October 9, 1980 an altercation occur on the sidewalk in front of Gazzarri’s night club along the Sunset strip after 454 finished there last set. Two street punks were harassing friends of the band and Peter stepped in and then a short fight took place. Peter was kicked in the chest and suffered a broken rib, as a result he was laid up for over a month, unable to perform.

On Sunday, February 1, 1981 The Calendar section of the L.A. Times ran an article, “Washed out for a decade, surf’s up again”, by Stuart Goldman. In it, 454 was mentioned as a surf band.

In May of 1981, 454 played it’s last gig together at Sandburg Junior High School in Glendora, California.
The band was paid $225.00.

March 3, 1994, Palisadian Post ran article written by Patrick Hildebrand Jr. where 454 was mentioned as being at the top of the Palisades music scene in 1978 and 1979.


One of the funniest mishaps occurred at a party on Haverford Street in the Palisades. Chris’s half brother, Jeff McBrien, our roadie that night, walked into a plate-glass sliding door. He hit it dead center, bounced off and we watched the huge mass of glass wobble, then explode, and shatter. Fortunately he was not injured. This was one of the many party’s that ended with the police showing up.

Peter Burg at Boats Blues & BBQ 2008

Peter Burg
& Blue Suburban


Originally from the coast of California, Peter Burg lives in the mountains of Colorado. Influenced by the beach sound and pop megalopolis culture of LA and juxtaposed with the pure simplicity and uncomplicated life style of a rather isolated mountain town, he has been bending and twisting country and blues of Southern Colorado into his own brand of original songs.
Peter is known regionally as a singer and songwriter and performs regularly with his original blues band Peter Burg & Blue Suburban. They have been heard on radio and have performed at many festivals and venues throughout Colorado including the Trinidadio Blues Fest ’00 and ‘05, the Belvedere Blues Fest ’03, Blues Boats and Barbecue Festival in Pueblo every year. Peter is a member of the Pikes Peak Blues Community playing Paint the Town Blues Series and Blues in the Park Series, and a life time member of Pueblo Songwriters & Musicians Association (President in ’04 &’05).
His blues…a Colorado blues, (Roots Music), a blues that encompasses elements of traditional blues forms, rock-a-billy, country swing, and rock’n roll, with the occasional surf twang, and folk elements.
Peter has released four CD, Open Wound ‘02, Corvette Irene ‘02, Hit & Miss ‘03, and Way out West ‘04. Currently, Peter has embarked on a solo venture with his latest release from Digivintage Records, Dizzy Light. Performance at Boats, Blues, & BBQ on June 6-7 at the Digivintage Stage, Riverwalk. Pueblo CO. Peter will be joined by Rick Terlep, on slide Guitar and Sam Giannetto, on bass and Bruce Paulman on harp.
More information can be found at: www.digivintage.com

Torro Pequeño

I wanted to let all of Torro Pequeño friends know of his passing. He was out late Friday night and was hit by a car. Torro was a caricature to say the least. His subtle charm and good looks made him a favorite with the ladies. His presence will be missed in the town of Rye and elsewhere. Torro lived for twelve years and led an interesting life as a father, blues band mascot, hiker, and a companion on travels through out the West. He was versatile in adapting to many situations and could perform several tricks such as speaking, shaking hands, sitting, lying down, rolling over and fetching objects. Of course as any professional he expected payment of a treat or two. He was well behaved but had his own distinct personality as anyone who knew him could attest. Above all he was a great friend with unconditional love. I will miss him profoundly. His passing occurred May 30, 2007 and he was buried in the backyard, underneath the apple tree just outside my bedroom window.

Peter

DigiVintage Records is pleased to announce the release of its second CD “Dizzy Light” by Peter Burg.

Peter Burg has been known regionally as a singer and songwriter and performs regularly with his original blues band Peter Burg & Blue Suburban. They have been heard on radio and have performed at many festivals and venues throughout Colorado. This time Peter has embarked on a solo venture with his latest release, Dizzy Light.

Using the blues as a stepping stone, Peter deals with his particular frailties in the search concerning spiritual awakening, faith, and moral consequence. Blues is not exclusive here. From his musical history he has drawn snippets from jug and string bands, rural country flavors, simple gospel, and primitive beats and brought them together into what is undoubtedly Peter’s best recorded work to date. Dizzy Light initially began as a purely acoustic project but rapidly grew in complexity with the addition of further instrumentation as period or cultural ambiance was needed. As Peter drew on several friends to add their own talents, he remarked “The studio is a canvass on which an idea can be worked out using a store house of colors to indulge one’s imagination. The trick is not to get too carried away and lose the edge, focus and direction.” The goal here was to capture a feeling often missed by large commercial studios and labels with their high production quotas.

Dizzy Light features Peter Burg on acoustic and electric guitar, bass, mandolin, harmonica, dulcimer, recorder, tenor banjo, and percussion with the sounds of Rick Terlep on slide guitar, Bruce Paulman on harmonica, David Gouge on accordion, James Schafer on violin, and Danny Weston on drums. Dizzy Light was produced by Richard M. Holmes and Peter Burg and was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Richard M. Holmes at Amplimedia Production Studios, Pueblo, CO

Peter will be performing at the Blues Boats and Barbecue festival in Pueblo at 1PM on Sat June 9th and will have CDs available for purchase. CDs will soon be available online from CDBaby.com or from Amazon.com and will also be available for download through most online music services such as Apple iTunes and Rhapsody. CDs will be in several Pueblo record stores or can also be ordered by most record stores through Super D/Phantom Distribution.

More information can be found at:
www.digivintage.com

Press Photo Information
R. Holmes Photo
Hi-res digital version available for download along with cover art