We are joined by Peter Jesperson as he tells us about his time spent with R.E.M. & his role in Twin Tone Records in the twin cities of Minneapolis/St.Paul. We also squeeze in a couple of stories about his time around Alex Chilton & the 1993 Big Star reunion.

Peter's career began importing records into Minneapolis from the UK at legendary record store Oar Folk, specifically the first release Beatles albums with the UK tracklistings.

While at Oar Folk the store pioneered in-store appearances & gigs from bands passing through Minnesota including Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson, Graham Parker, Pere Ubu, Blondie, the Dead Boys, Devo, Ian Dury, The Only Ones & The Ramones (on no less than 3 separate occasions.

We hear about the important Twin Cities venues of the time - The Longhorn, The Depot, First Avenue, The Labor Temple & the 7th Street Entry,

From there Peter plays a key role in the founding of legendary indie label Twin Tone records with over 300 records released over 20 years & distributed by Rough Trade.

Bands based in the area during this time include Soul Asylum, The Replacements, Husker Du, the Suicide Commandos, Flamingo & more.

In 1981 Peter first hears 'Radio Free Europe' the debut release by R.E.M. & they play their first gig in the area on Thanksgiving of that same year. Over the next year the band are back in Minneapolis on 3 separate occasions & Peter gets to know them & starts joining them at gigs elsewhere.

The band invite him to become their Tour Manager & he unexpectedly ends up sharing a room with Michael Stipe. Peter drives the van into Shea Stadium as one of seven dates the band share with Sting & The Police.

After a year or so with R.E.M. Peter joins back up with the Replacements & his time with the band comes to an end.

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps

It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it.

You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events

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Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell

Music by Andy Maxwell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we get to talk about one of the best music books of recent years Revolutionary Spirit by Paul Simpson.

Paul was born in Liverpool but grew up in Lancashire alongside future members of Echo & the Bunnymen - Les Patterson & Will Sergeant. After relocating back to Merseyside Paul was frequented legendary Liverpool venue Eric's & became a founder member of The Teardrop Explodes alongside Julian Cope.

He left the Teardrop Explodes to form his own band The Wild Swans & their classic debut single Revolutionary Spirit is funded by Paul's flatmate, Echo & the Bunnymen drummer Pete De Freitas, who also played on the session. It comes out on Bill Drummond's Zoo Records.

After Courtney Love stays in Paul & Pete's flat for 9 months he disbands the Wild Swans & goes on to form Care with future Lightning Seeds frontman Ian Broudie. Briefly a pop star, Paul shares an unexpected encounter with Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder while making a record at AIR Studios in London.

The 2nd incarnation of the Wild Swans end on Seymour Stein's Sire Records but also comes to a premature end. Inbetween Paul enjoys cult success under the name Skyray before a 3rd version of the Wild Swans comes into being & enjoys huge success in the Philippines.

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps

It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it.

You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events

Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17

X: @simonmusicmaps

Facebook: E17rockbookclub

Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell

Music by Andy Maxwell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is truly a pleasure to welcome Donovan to Music Maps - a true legend of the 60s. His book The Hurdy Gurdy Man is available on Penguin.

We start with his early life in Glasgow in the 1950s & the family relocate to Hatfield in Hertfordshire when Donovan was a teenager. His early influences included Buddy Holly, Hank Williams & Jack Kerouac.

After a trip to Southend on Sea with the blue rock crowd from St. Albans, Donovan is spotted & taken to Tin Pan Alley to make his earliest recordings (The Rolling Stones were also making demos on Denmark Street at the same time).

Into 1965 & Donovan has key encounters with Bob Dylan (contributing to the video for Subterranean Homesick Blues) & The Beatles at the Savoy in London. He also saw the arrival of Jimi Hendrix to London in 1967 first hand.

An A to Z of session players appear on Donovan's records including 3 future members of Led Zeppelin - Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones & John Bonham as he scores big hits with Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman & more.

In 1968 Donovan travelled to Rishikesh in India with the Beatles, Mia Farrow, Mike Love & others to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, where he taught John Lennon a style of fingerpicking he later used on Julia & Dear Prudence.

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps

It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it.

You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/live/

Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17

X: @simonmusicmaps

Facebook: E17rockbookclub

Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell

Music by Andy Maxwell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.