Peter and the Wolves

by Adele Bertei

ADELE BERTEI is a poet, writer, actor, performer, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker. She entered the downtown New York scene of the late 1970s as organist for musical insurrectionists, the Contortions. Bertei appeared in lead roles in several indie films, notably Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames, and has toured with, written songs for, and recorded as a vocalist for artists as diverse as Tears for Fears, Sandra Bernhard, Culture Club, Scritti Politti, Whitney Houston, and Lydia Lunch. Bertei’s first solo recording “Build Me a Bridge” on Geffen Records was a dance hit, as were singles “Just a Mirage” and Thomas Dolby’s “Hyperactive!”. She debuted new material in 2017-18 at MoMA, Club Salo Paris, and in Florence at La Compagnia Cinema. Adele has facilitated songwriting workshops for homeless youth at My Friend’s Place in Hollywood, and volunteered with Wayne Kramer’s Jail Guitar Doors. Bertei’s book Why Labelle Matters will be published in 2021 by the University of Texas Press.

Adele’s memoir, Peter and the Wolves, recounts her friendship with the late great Peter Laughner, Cleveland’s answer to all things underground and punk in the 1970s. Adele and Peter’s collaborations appear in Smog Veil’s groundbreaking 2019 box set. The book is Bertei's intimate recounting of the musical education she received from Laughner; of their complex artistic kinship, and the vivid trajectory of the ‘live fast die young’ ethos that extinguished the light of a radiant rock and roll heart.

This first paperback edition contains newly discovered photos, a new forward, and an epilogue penned by original Pere Ubu bassist Tim Wright all contained in 93 pages.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

93 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This small gem of a book is superb. Adele Bertei's memoir of her brief life with (now) legendary Cleveland musician Peter Laughner is a very heartfelt look at their friendship. Bertei, after this time, became a member of the original No Wave band The Contortions and worked with Tears for Fears as well as Whitney Houston. Laughner was in the classic band Pere Ubu and a key figure in the music scene out of Cleveland, Ohio. One of those present that is felt through the music and the intensity of those times. Bertei, in this brief but powerful writing, captures the essence of discovering music, narcotics, and social drinking. At the time, she was a fellow musician and a member of Peter's band, 'Peter and the Wolves.' There are no cliches, only the strong characterizations of Laughter and the introduction to the world of CBGB's - all captured by Bertei's stark but descriptive prose. Ninety-three pages long and not a wasted word. Along with Patti Smith's "Just Kids," Richard Hell's "I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp," Chris Stamey's "A Spy in the House of Loud," Richard Lloyd's "Everything is Combustible." Duncan Hannah's "Twentieth-Century Boy, you can add "Peter and the Wolves" as another classic literature regarding the punk years.

We interviewed Adele on our podcast BOOK MUSIK. Here: Book Musik podcast

[Benjamin Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Laughner lived approximately one third as long as beautiful fuck ups Alex Chilton and Rowland S. Howards life, was ten times as fucked up as them and released a tenth the amount of music but is as much a candidate for the lasting argument that the rock era produced figures on par in life and in art with the French Romantic poets. Wish there were more books like this because I would never read anything else.

[Kimley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tosh and I discuss this with the author Adele Bertei on our Book Musik podcast along with her other recent book Why Labelle Matters.

Adele started singing and playing music in the nascent punk scene in Cleveland with her dear friend Peter Laughner. Her memoir about that time is a stunningly poignant reminder of what an important role a single person can play in one’s life. It’s a vivid portrait of Peter as well as the music scene in both Cleveland and New York in the 1970s which were heady times to say the least. At the same time, Adele has had a longtime love of everything Labelle and she lets us know that they do indeed matter! Starting out as a more traditional “girl group” in the 60s, Labelle broke free of those constraints and then nothing could hold them back. Labelle shattered boundaries creatively and pushed for women’s rights with an all-female team behind them and supported the LGBTQ community long before anyone else.

[Gio Descartes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bertei's book takes us into the dark heart of rock and roll as she excavates the light of what moves us in music's most ecstatic moments. The story takes place in the punk scene of Cleveland, overlooked but not to be underestimated in its importance to the punk and no wave music scene of the mid-to-late 1970s. She meets a photographer (most likely Nan Goldin) who opens her eyes to a new way of seeing queer life, and afterwards, meets and teams up with Peter Laughner, legendary musician and bad boy misfit. Without falling prey to the live-fast-die-young ethos afforded to those who leave the planet due to excess, she looks into what often prevents us from being our authentic selves, and the elevation music provides, with a poet's heart. Her prose is electric, the story, cautionary, painful, and achingly beautiful. In an age of identity politics, this is one of the most on-point books I've read about
authenticity and the dangers of playing to the crowd.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir recalls to me Patti Smith "Just Kids" for the youthful embracing of a vibrant, exciting music scene. Indeed, the author flows from the Cleveland-Akron to the New York Scene and that second generation music rebels as part of Contortions. I hope she makes good on the implicit promise of writing on those days. As it is, this is about her Virgil-like guide through the rock demimonde Peter Laugher and must conclude with his unfortunate death. And along with that life, there is an examination of other personages on the scene including "Crocus Behemoth" (David Thomas of Pere Ubu) and groups like Tiny Alice.

A Spotify playlist (soundtrack for the book), streams HERE.

[Ilka Erren Pardinas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and eloquent memoir. So heartfelt and beautifully written. You enter this era in music and feel you've just become part of the scene in Cleveland and New York City. You feel you are right there with Adele and Peter and Lester Bangs and the rest. Highly recommended also as a queer coming of age story as well. It's a fast read. Only 93 pages. Leaves you wanting more. Loved it!

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book, read it in one sitting. Adele Bertei, who shortly after found fame in The Contortions, writes about her early life & her relationship with legendary Cleveland guitarist the late Peter Laughner. Her writing style made me want to keep reading til it was done. I was in Cleveland during those times, knew a lot of the people & places she wrote about & just couldn't put it down

[Richard Sanford · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant, heartbreaking pinhole camera trained on the fertile Cleveland rock scene of the 1970s and the driving, elemental impulses that drive someone to make art. I've been a fan of Bertei's work - music and film - for years, and in awe of the legend and songs of Peter Laughner for just as long, and this took my breath away.

[Clif · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adele Bertei backs more into 90 pages that I want to read than most "memiors" bakc into 300 or more. Insightful, informative, and lots of heart. Great book for anyone interested in early Cleveland rocks scene and Peter Laughner in particular.

[Greg Masters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Affection for a talented albeit troubled friend, while keying into rock n roll vitality, lifts this beautifully written memoir out of the squalor, detours, blocked exits and missed chances lived through in late 70s Cleveland and downtown New York. Art as transcendence.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great. I didn't know much about Peter Laughner but love reading about local musicians and what the music scene was like in past generations. I definitely bought more albums just based on this book and the stories that were told. I hope Adele Bertei writes more about her own story.

[Peter Landau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me nostalgic for Cleveland in the 1970s even though I grew up in New York in the 1970s.