Richard Petersen a Seattle street musician... an emotionally impaired savant with encyclopedic recall who taught himself the trumpet and piano by studying a production LP of musical cues from the obscure early-fifties television show Sea Hunt has been a touchstone in many Seattle lives for years. He has played trumpet outside of concerts, sporting events and blockbuster movie premieres with a can labeled "No Canadian Coins" at his feet for at least three decades. He is ubiquitous--apart from agoraphobics, the bedridden and those chained to a basement wall, everyone in Seattle has one or two Richard Peterson stories: he is well known and well loved. Here, Irwin Chusid, on an Incorrect Music Hour entitled Music everyone at work can agree on, eternally plays--albeit on RA--Peterson's The Enemy (Is on the Radio Singing My Song) and After The Gold Rush from Richard Peterson's First Album. His first album did well--he was big in Japan. He has four albums out. His My Second Album is the hidden song on the Stone Temple Pilots Purple. He has put four albums out. And now there is Big City Dick: Richard Peterson's First Movie--a well received documentary.
posted by y2karl on May 3, 2004 - 8 comments