Peter's house and mine were a stone's throw from each other. Thus, we saw each other about 18 zillion times growing up and I was often in his home. I knew his siblings and parents reasonably well.
As I saw it while growing up, even by the age of around 12, Peter was the Mick Jagger of Glencoe, then of NTE. As any of you who knew him know....he just had a certain allowable swagger, a totality of coolness, a rakishly bad-boy persona concealing an absolutely niice guy...and many other qualities. But the coolness stood out to me. Even as a kid, he was a rebel who marched to the beat of his own drummer...maybe it was the drummer behind Mick Jagger of the Roling Stones, Mr. Charlie Watts. If it was doing something wrong or against normal childhood behavior, Jerry Braun, I, Peter Niefeld and other uncooperative personalities could easily count on Peter to screw off with us. However, his contempt for square-ass, suburban, American morality stood out to me. I'd say he had a little of the James Dean in him. As many of your girls might recall, he was the heart throb of so many lasses. This was due to the fact that he visibly inherited his mother's looks, and Mrs. Allen was a beauty by any standard.
To me, he reached stellar heights when he played bass guitar with Rob Milburn, Max Wiley, Mike Bodeen, etc. in that great rockabilly group they created, Buckin' Bob and the Bronco's. God, could they belt out the tunes, and entertain us. And to me, that was when my schoolboy friend Peter reached total Mick Jagger-ness, or Keith Richards-ness, if you will. Peter had the cojones to light up a cigarette while performing in our big lunch room, and just like Keith Richards and countless other ultra cool rockers, and put the ignited cigarette into a spare space up where the tuning knobs were at the top of the guitar, during his playing. Talk about f'n cool....to me, he was Keith Richars/Jagger incarnate. With most people of that age, that act would have looked completely pretentious, not to mention grandstanding. But having known Peter so long, I knew it wasn't grandstanding. It was the real him....just cool and suave beyond compare.
Petger I regret terribly your early demise, I miss you of course, and cherish the many good times we shared right on our own block in north Glencoe. You had a lovely family as well.
Joey, I just read your comments about Peter. They were so perfect. He really was a sweet and sensitive guy underneath that sexy and tough exterior. I went out with him 8th grade through freshman year and he was the nicest, sweetest guy. We remained friends through high school but I lost touch after that. Thank you for sharing your memories. It brought him back to life for me!
Joe Goldman
Peter's house and mine were a stone's throw from each other. Thus, we saw each other about 18 zillion times growing up and I was often in his home. I knew his siblings and parents reasonably well.
As I saw it while growing up, even by the age of around 12, Peter was the Mick Jagger of Glencoe, then of NTE. As any of you who knew him know....he just had a certain allowable swagger, a totality of coolness, a rakishly bad-boy persona concealing an absolutely niice guy...and many other qualities. But the coolness stood out to me. Even as a kid, he was a rebel who marched to the beat of his own drummer...maybe it was the drummer behind Mick Jagger of the Roling Stones, Mr. Charlie Watts. If it was doing something wrong or against normal childhood behavior, Jerry Braun, I, Peter Niefeld and other uncooperative personalities could easily count on Peter to screw off with us. However, his contempt for square-ass, suburban, American morality stood out to me. I'd say he had a little of the James Dean in him. As many of your girls might recall, he was the heart throb of so many lasses. This was due to the fact that he visibly inherited his mother's looks, and Mrs. Allen was a beauty by any standard.
To me, he reached stellar heights when he played bass guitar with Rob Milburn, Max Wiley, Mike Bodeen, etc. in that great rockabilly group they created, Buckin' Bob and the Bronco's. God, could they belt out the tunes, and entertain us. And to me, that was when my schoolboy friend Peter reached total Mick Jagger-ness, or Keith Richards-ness, if you will. Peter had the cojones to light up a cigarette while performing in our big lunch room, and just like Keith Richards and countless other ultra cool rockers, and put the ignited cigarette into a spare space up where the tuning knobs were at the top of the guitar, during his playing. Talk about f'n cool....to me, he was Keith Richars/Jagger incarnate. With most people of that age, that act would have looked completely pretentious, not to mention grandstanding. But having known Peter so long, I knew it wasn't grandstanding. It was the real him....just cool and suave beyond compare.
Petger I regret terribly your early demise, I miss you of course, and cherish the many good times we shared right on our own block in north Glencoe. You had a lovely family as well.
Lisa Fremont
Joey, I just read your comments about Peter. They were so perfect. He really was a sweet and sensitive guy underneath that sexy and tough exterior. I went out with him 8th grade through freshman year and he was the nicest, sweetest guy. We remained friends through high school but I lost touch after that. Thank you for sharing your memories. It brought him back to life for me!