On February 15, four of Pete Devine's musical collaborators—Joe Kyle Jr. & Joshua Howell of HowellDevine and Lavay Smith & Chris Siebert of Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers—joined host Devon Strolovitch to celebrate Pete's legacy with music and stories (you can view the playlist here). Chris also posted a lengthy remembrance online, which is reposted here with his permission.
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It’s hard to know where to start when talking about Petie. He’s been in our lives for almost 37 years, close to 2/3 of our time on this planet. Pete was the drummer on the first gig that Chris ever did (with the band Bo Grumpus), and on Lavay’s first gig with her band. We go way, way back.
So where to begin? At the beginning...
Back in March of 1989, Chris met guitarist Craig Ventresco up on Haight Street. After a long conversation about old blues and jazz, Craig invited Chris to sit in with his band Bo Grumpus at the Blue Lamp. At the time, Bo Grumpus was composed of Craig on guitar, an electric bass player named Jim, and Petie on drums.
Chris was 25 and had no intention of becoming a professional musician. He didn’t really know that you could get paid to play music in local clubs. Chris hadn’t been playing long, he was mostly self-taught, and he was pretty awful. For some reason, Pete and Craig hired him to be in their band. Yes, they are to blame.
Unbeknownst to Chris, Lavay met Pete and Craig shortly thereafter, and started busking with them in the street. She had been sitting in with electric blues bands, and they were great, but she was thrilled to find musicians who sounded like the musicians on the old records by Bessie Smith and other blues queens that she was soaking up at that time.
Chris started having a ball right in with Bo Grumpus away. These guys were REALLY different, and a lot of fun. They had recently moved to San Francisco from Maine. They were only 20, but they already had a vast knowledge of pre-war music and movies. They collected old 78 rpm records and already had absorbed a lot of influences. They were throwbacks to the early years of the 20th century, but filtered through the R. Crumb counterculture of the 60s and early 70s and the punk scene of the late 70s and 80s.
Craig could play virtuosic arrangements of Sousa marches and rags by Scott Joplin, as well as old tin-pan alley tunes and finger-picking blues by Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller and Blind Willie McTell. Pete played percussion on everything, including his trap kit, of course, but also Chinese wood blocks, washboards, tables and chairs, and his cheeks. He got a great sound out of his cheeks! He also played a big ceramic jug like his heroes in his all-time favorite group, The Memphis Jug Band.
It wasn’t just that Pete and Craig loved this long-lost culture. They sort of lived it, and spoke using quotes from old songs and movies. They were hilarious. It was as if the Marx brothers started a blues band. We mean this both literally and figuartively; Pete’s Harpo Marx impressions was fantastic. They would make quips onstage, break out into random comedy routines, and generally create wonderful music along with random, theatrical chaos.
Petie was so much fun. His Maine accent (it seemed thicker in those days) made him sound like an East Coast tough guy. His expressed himself personally and musically with elements of Harpo Marx, W.C. Fields, the Bowery Boys, Laurel & Hardy and Spike Jones combined with a certain lyrical pathos epitomized by his beloved Memphis Jug Band (think of tunes like “Stealin’”, “Cocaine Habit” and “You May Leave, But This Will Bring You Back”).
Bo Grumpus had a lot of energy in those early days, and could be (intentionally) pretty rough around the edges. The big influences were pre-war jazz and blues, the Memphis Jug Band, Hound Dog Taylor’s trio, and, to a certain extent, their favorite punk band, the Angry Samoans.
Bo Grumpus fit the Blue Lamp perfectly. The Blue Lamp was the setting for our entry into the world of being a professional musician. It was a dive where epic Tenderloin characters met blues and jazz musicians, with the occasional tourist wandering in (and, oftentimes, wandering right back out). It was kooky, cinematic (á la Fellini or David Lynch), diverse, seedy, and it was at the center of our lives for a couple of years. This period at the Blue Lamp was later memorialized in the writings of Rachel Kushner and a streaming program produced by the Tenderloin Museum during the COVID lockdown (well worth watching on YouTube!).
Pete and Craig gave Chris his start. Chris was already collecting a lot of blue, jazz and R&B on vinyl and CDs, but now he really started diving into listening with the intention of learning how to play. It was a trial by fire, sink or swim thing, with a lot of sinking! Chris learned so much from these guys, and, through them, he started to meet other musicians.
In July of 1989, Craig brought a VERY cute girl into the bar. He and Pete had been busking with her, and she sang a few tunes with the band. The audience went crazy for her, and bartender Ramona Downey, who booked the club, gave her a gig. That girl was Lavay Smith.
As an aside, Ramona took over the booking at the Blue Lamp from Karen, who had booked the Nightbreak and the Chameleon, which later became Amnesia. Ramona would go on to co-found the Bottom Of The Hill a few years later. She’s another wonderful person that we’re very grateful to.
Lavay’s first gig was a big success. We were billed as “Lavay Smith with Bo Grumpus”. The band started getting a lot of work right away. Folks from other venues saw us at the Blue Lamp, and pretty soon we were playing the South of Market rock clubs and the Grant Street blues joints in North Beach.
Our band was pretty unique at that time, bringing a mix of old jazz, blues and R&B into clubs like the Hotel Utah, the Paradise Lounge, the Chi Chi Club, etc. In addition to Pete, Craig and Chris, this earliest incarnation of our band included trumpet player Oscar Meyers, guitarist Mike “Riz” Rizza and our first bass player, Bill MacBeath. Other musicians in the mix in those early days included sax player Jerry Logas and bass player Joe Kyle. A little later, the band included clarinetist Vince Cattolica (the first historically important veteran that we played with), trombonist Larry Leight, saxophonists Harvey Robb, Ralph Carney and Dave Slusser, and bass players Mike Billo, Steve Strauss and Bing Nathan.
Thanks to the presence of Pete and Craig, the vibe was old jazz and blues meets circus music, vaudeville, silent movies and Betty Boop cartoons. Surprisingly, it went over big in the south of Market clubs that were otherwise booking punk, glam, new wave, grunge, etc.
We used to have so much fun hanging out. We have so many stories, but most are better told in person…
We would all go to the Sunday blues jams at Bouncer’s bar (long-gone). That’s where we met Big Bones and Carlos Guitarlos, both of whom Chris was fortunate to play with for a long time. Carlos called Pete and Craig “The Boogie Boys” because of the frantic Hound Dog Taylor inspired boogies that were always part of their shows. He had some other less printable nicknames for them too, all in good fun...
Pete had a lot of fun in our band, as in all of his musical endeavors, and it was infectious. Pete took a lot of pride in entertaining people. He put his heart in soul in everything. He could play this great slow drag kind of stripper groove that other drummers never really could get. It was real greasy, and we really missed it when he wasn’t there.
By 1992, our band started moving in a different direction. We were very fortunate to start meeting folks from the amazing community of veteran Bay Area musicians who had come up playing swing, bebop and R&B in the 40s and 50s in the historic Fillmore "Harlem Of The West" scene and elsewhere around the country. It was thrilling to meet folks who shared the same musical aesthetic as us and sounded just like our musical heroes on all of our favorite records.
Many of these amazing musicians joined our band and became our biggest mentors. Their wisdom and artistry became the core of our sound. This was before there was much of a national neo-swing scene, but by the mid-90s, we started getting invited to tour because of the renewed interest in the sort of music we were playing.
In the meantime, Craig and Pete went on to focus on Bo Grumpus to great success. They made some wonderful records and gained a well-deserved reputation as very unique interpreters of early American music. Pete and Craig became friends with ragtime pianist and historian Terry Waldo and participated in his off-Broadway show “Shake That Thing” in 1999.
Pete went on to play in many musical situations over the years, and our paths would cross in various ways. Chris have many great memories of subbing in Mal Sharpe’s band, of which Petie was a key member. The interplay between Petie and Mal, who called Petie his son, was hilarious. Not only did Mal keep the band and the crowd laughing, but he took a very different and very eclectic approach to playing old tunes. While the core of Mal's band were Dixieland players, Chris also got to play with the great jazz singers Rhonda Benin and Kellye Grey, and even R&B guitar legend Johnny Talbot (!). It was particularly fun when Chris's brother Charlie, our pal (and Charlie’s longtime room-mate) Joe Kyle and Petie were on the gigs together.
Petie formed several fantastic bands, including Devine’s Jug Band and the great blues trio Howell-Devine. Chris first saw Petie play with guitarist and harmonica player Josh Howell when Chris's brother Charlie was visiting from China and they ran into Pete and Josh playing a duo gig at a farmer’s market in the Haight. Joe Kyle joined them on bass soon thereafter, bringing full circle a musical friendship that went back to 1989 at the Blue Lamp!
Howell-Devine was the last band that Chris Strachwitz signed to Arhoolie Records. Their albums would eventually become part of the Smithsonian Folkways collection along with the rest of the Arhoolie catalogue. Howell-Devine also recorded for Jim Pugh’s wonderful Little Village label.
Pete was really proud of Howell-Devine. It's a great band that has made a real impact. They have lots of fans and they have been critically acclaimed. They work a lot, and they have had the opportunity to hang out and collaborate with a lot of wonderful blues artists who really love them. Howell-Devine was the perfect culmination for Pete's amazing musical journey.
The list of artists that Pete played with is long, including Denise Perrier, Lady Bianca, Maya Angelou, Ruthie Foster, Alabama Mike, Andre DeShields, Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong (Pete, Craig and Chris recorded an unreleased album with this giant of American and world culture), Taj Mahal, Big Bones & Paul Pena, Barbara Dane, Gunhild Carling, Maria Muldaur, Mal Sharpe and his merry band (including Brenda Boykin, Kellye Grey, Kim Nalley, Rhonda Benin, George Fleming, Vince Cattolica, Ralph Carney, and Harley White), Mike Lipskin, Terry Waldo, Aki Kumar, Bob Weir, the California Honeydrops, Gaucho, Dan Hicks, Jim Kweskin, Little Charlie & Rick Estrin, R. Crumb, Steve Freund and so many others…of course, they all loved Petie!
Petie’s health struggles went on for years, but he had a lot of success thanks to his perseverance and some great health care from SF General hospital. Petie had so much success, in fact, that he literally became a poster boy for recovery, appearing in videos and on public service ads for SF General. He was very grateful, and he wanted to tell his story so that others could have hope and success too. Petie was truly heroic in fighting his own battles and extending a hand to others.
It wasn’t that Pete wasn’t scared. He was. He had to endure more pain and suffering than most of us will ever know. But he was tough and he kept on being Pete, making music and bringing art and soul into the world through his band and his record store. Despite his challenges, and with the love and help of Sandie and his friends, Pete displayed a remarkable strength. Like we said, he was a true hero.
A few more memories with Petie…
In 2010, Pete invited Lavay and Chris to take part in the First Annual West Coast Jug Band Jubilee, a concert that he produced at the Freight & Salvage. It was a lot of fun being on a bill with Devine's Jug Band and revisiting the material that we played when we first met Petie back in 1989.
In 2013, not long after Chris’s brother Charlie moved back to San Francisco from China, we did a really fun quartet gig with Pete and Joe at Club Deluxe. It was a wonderful reunion. Petie was truly a rock for Chris and helped so much as we tried to help Chris's brother with his own struggles.
Pete and Sandie’s wedding in 2016 was such a great celebration of their love and a great gathering of friends. Chris was honored that Pete asked me to be the person to spoke on their behalf. It was at Pete and Sandie’s wedding where we last saw our mutual pal Mal Sharpe. We are so glad that Pete’s beloved friend Mal and his lovely wife Sandra were able to be part of the wedding.
In 2019, Petie put together a really fun tribute to Bessie Smith at the Back Room in Berkeley a few years ago. It was great to play with a bunch of old friends…our mentor Denise Perrier joined us, along with Rob Barics on clarinet, Joe Kyle on bass, and, of course, Petie on drums.
We had a ball visiting Petie and Sandie out in Martinez last summer, and we saw their record store for the first time. Devine’s Records & Vintage is a little slice of heaven, a wonderful representation of Pete’s love for music and culture.
The last time we saw Pete was in September. We were thrilled to appear on a bill with Howell-Devine at the Alameda Blues, Brews & BBQ festival. They sounded fantastic, and it so fun to hang and be part of a musical event with our old friends. Many thanks to Tanoa Stewart for making that happen.
We had been trading voice messages with Pete before going to Rio and the plan was to take him and Sandie out to lunch when we got back. We never got the chance.
Pete Devine was a totally unique person and musician. He was unlike any other musician we’ve ever known, with a style all his own. He was a record collector, record store owner and musicologist with a vast knowledge of pre-war culture. He represented the best of our country and our culture.
Petie was a fighter who valiantly took on Hep C, AIDS and cancer for years, with a lot of success. He overcame his addictions and made great efforts to inspire others to do the same. He never tired of helping others.
Petie was a remarkably honest and unpretentious person. He was very open about his past struggles with drinking and drugs. He kept us all informed about his cancer through regular posts on social media. It was this honesty that allowed him to help others face their own struggles and persevere.
Petie was eternally playful, youthful, and full of love. He was a natural comedian and entertainer. He was a friend to so many, kind and generous. He was a sweetheart.
Pete lived a remarkably full life. He brought so much happiness to so many people. He inspired others, and was a wonderful friend to so many. He gave so much love, and received so much in return.
The world is a little less fun without Pete. We’re really going to miss him. We have said it many times, and we’ll say it again...We love you Petie! You were a hero to us, and there will never be another you, that’s for sure.
Our hearts are with Sandie, Pete’s AMAZING wife, and all of Pete’s loved ones. Thank you Sandie, from the bottom of our hearts, for taking care of Petie. You are an angel and Pete loved you so much.
