Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Peter Wood

Peter Wood would have been 58 today. If you've read Everybody I Shot Is Dead you already know I have a certain affection for this particular Peter, even though he could be a bit of an imp. This is one of my top ten favorite photographs in the book and Peter Wood is one of the unsung heroes that I want everyone to remember.
He was an amazing keyboard player and writer - he co-wrote Year of the Cat with Al Stewart - but he was also an excellent photographer. He took the photo of me that I used on the cover of my book. It couldn't be more perfect and I thank him for that.

He also took another one of me that I decided to put in the book. And I get a lot of comments on how cute it is - so thanks for that one too. The top one is the Al Stewart Band (the six guys in back) with band manager Luke (front right), record rep Monica Netupsky (front center) and Janus record dude Alan. The middle one is Peter and his cracker and the bottom is the candid he shot of me.
It's hard to find footage of Peter. I wanted Year of the Cat since he also wrote it but all the versions on youtube are done after he parted ways with Al Stewart. But...he also played keyboards (and accordian) on Lou Reed's 1984 album New Sensations so I managed to dig up this footage while he was touring with Lou. And of course it doesn't get any better than Lou Reed. You can really see Peter playing up close from the 7 minute mark on.



Happy Birthday, Peter! I miss you. Think of you often. And wish I could see you the way you were in 1975 just one more time.

13 comments:

Andrea Grasso said...

Do you know the reason of his death? I can't find it anywhere on the net, and also it's not even mentioned in the Al Stewart biography book...

Anonymous said...

Unlike the Al Stewart biography, Everybody I Shot Is Dead does list cause of death.

http://www.cheshercat.com/everybody.html

fancy said...

Isn't it Peter in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM7LR46zrQU

Chesher Cat said...

No, Fancy, that is not Peter Wood.

Unknown said...

There is a YouTube video of Elliott Murphy's performance at the Capitol Theater from April 1977. According to Elliott, Peter Wood played keyboards at that concert. You can see quite a bit of him there, if it is in fact him.

Unknown said...

There is a YouTube video of Elliott Murphy's performance at the Capitol Theater from April 1977. According to Elliott, Peter Wood played keyboards at that concert. You can see quite a bit of him there, if it is in fact him.

Anonymous said...

Peter Wood committed suicide . Yes this is sad but true he actually did . If you watch Al Stewerts video on youtube the year of the cat live at Albert Hall he explains this .

Anonymous said...

Peter Wood was my brother and I can tell Anonymous that he did not commit suicide. He would be 68 today, Happy Birthday Peter and still rocking on!

Everybody I Shot Is Dead said...

Yes, Peter Wood did not commit suicide.

To Peter's brother, sorry for your loss. He was a sweet guy and talented in music and photography. He took the picture of me that's on the cover of Everybody I Shot Is Dead.

Feel free to contact me on my website at cheshercat.com.

Unknown said...

Yes, I was there playing bass. He was a great player and bandmate. I have some pics of him from Murphy's tour in 1977.

John Berry said...

Hi just to let people know that Peter only had one brother who was Owen who was left serverly disabled at about twelve years old

Anonymous said...

Everyone so touchy about the ’suicide’ thing! If it wasn’t ‘suicide’ then why no mention of the real cause of death????

Anonymous said...

Plenty of footage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOoXjYppyMM