Still Drinkin’ & Smokin’ Rockin’ & Rollin’
Amy Yates Wuelfing
DiWulf Publishing
Unusual things come across my desk every week, and I do my best to turn those oddities into interesting text for the Ink 19 readers. When this rather spiffy book, Still Drinkin’ & Smokin’ Rockin’ & Rollin’, appeared recently, I dug in and discovered the charming story of a bar in New Hope, Pennsylvania. I’ve not been to this town, but I grew up in a similar city that really had three bars on every street corner. Yeah, I’m a Milwaukee boy.
But this particular bar, John and Peter’s, has a noteworthy history: it’s the longest-running music venue, or nightclub dedicated to musicians who play original material, in America — and maybe on the planet.
The story flows from patrons and bands and the guys and gals behind the bar and back in the kitchen. Their stories are what you might expect: bands that made it big, bands that cratered in after one night on stage. Fans and detractors, marriages and divorces, and, often as not, parents drinking with their own kids when the kids were finally old enough to drink legally. If that sounds weird, I grew up in an era when at age 16, my mom and dad recommended places to go drink. Try THAT today.
The book is very anecdotal, and there is not really a through line beyond “We were here, we got drunk, and we LOVED it.” Stories are grouped by owners’ names (there were more than a few), and reading through the record is like decoding a manuscript that was flung down a long staircase. The words are all there, but not the sequence. A few bands pour out their heartfelt tales. Ownership changed, but the vibe remains. Hookups and breakups fill in the voids, and the overall theme is “This is OUR place, do not try to improve anything.”
I would love to spend a night here, and maybe some adventurous night I’ll fly up and drop by. And to my readers: this sounds like the coolest place you never heard of, but you will be welcome when you get there. ◼
