Pete Speak

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I bought candy that sucks this year (suckers - ha! sucks!) so I wouldn't eat it all.

I used to be a gigantic fat man and still cannot resist a bag of individually wrapped chocolate and peanut butter treats. I could down a bag of peanut butter cups in an hour right now...

I bought suckers so I wouldn't.

My girlfriend, Danielle, is a teacher in the city. She's dressed up today as the "Operation" game patient. She sent me this with her phone:




And this is Buster's costume:




This is my pumpkin:















I think I'll put on my Fireworks Hard Hat and a flannel tonight and call myself a construction worker.

This was our costume last year: The Publisher's Clearing House Prize Patrol and Sweepstakes winner:





Here are some of my "little" relatives all dressed up for the occasion:


































































HAVE A GREAT HALLOWEEN!!



posted by Pete Spaker at 9:49 AM 1 comments

Friday, October 26, 2007

Umphrey's McGee : Class Act








Up All Night Concerts hosted Umphrey's McGee at the Harro East this past Monday, October 22nd. It was awesome.



Umphrey's has become one of my favorite acts to see live; now they're one of my favorite acts to produce the event for. I have worked a bunch of Umphrey's shows in Rochester but never really listened to their live show recordings until recently. It's hard to pin them down to a genre besides "progressive". They can easily transition from a sick, down-tempo trance beat to a raging guitar driven rock solo in seconds. So seeing a live show is a lot like a sonic roller coaster. It's not for everyone. They seem to attract jam-band type fans and definitely have a following that FOLLOWS them around the country. They constantly tour with Chicago as home.

Monday was great. I enlisted one of my buddies to run errands for the band during the day. He is a huge UMPHreak and had the time of his life chatting it up with band members, watching the show and then eventually hanging out with them at Salingers long after the show was over.






Pictures taken by myself, Mike Yates and Jeff Rhodes.



posted by Pete Spaker at 9:48 AM 0 comments

Hi! I'm Pete. Because I didn't get enough attention as a child, I now seek the approval of complete strangers in all four of my current jobs. I produce concerts with a company called Up All Night, market even more concerts and other ticketed events with a company I formed with my buddy Yates called Sharptoe Design, am a DJ on a local radio station (WBER 90.5FM) and shoot fireworks for Young Explosives, my favorite legal rush. I have so many jobs because I can't ever quit anything.

I'll drop various observations and write about the things I do in this blog. The Insider has promised I am allowed to swear and post naked photos of my elderly neighbors I take thru their window while they are changing. I also love to take (non senior citizen nudes) pictures and go on vacation, usually to see even more music. I'll probably be deaf soon from all of my sonic barrier-breaking activities so I am soaking in all of the aural damage I can before I turn 30 on 8-8-08. A drunk psychic once told me I'd die at 53 from lung cancer and I believe her.

I am Rochester born and raised, Irondequoit>North East City>Brighton in jamband setlist format. I lived in Albany for six months in 1997 and hated it. If I weren't allergic to snow, I'd say I'll be here forever.

And in case you haven't noticed, I am a complete wise-ass; you can't take anything I type here, say on the radio or in person seriously- ever. Enjoy!