Dec 30, 2005

WalkIcon: Shawn Bryan Peter ::: King of the Backstory

WalkIcons(tm) is the Walktopia interview series that explores the walk universe...people, places and activities of a new walk culture. Our goal is to connect dispersed elements of this dynamic, global walking community through talking and sharing. Here are excerpts from Q&A with walking tour designer/rock musician Shawn Bryan Peter.

Our Own Backstory: It’s a fact that Shawn Bryan Peter originally took his current position as a Community Service Guide with the Downtown Sacramento Partnership to work hard, get good benefits and earn better pay. But years later, his ability to morph into Research Man and successfully add history tour design to his skill set, has placed him among a select few. In Renaisssance Man form, Peter is also a professional musician who sings lead, plays guitar and co-manages indy rock band, A Single Second. We caught up with him in the tiny space between the end of his daytime career duties and the start of a little night music.

Q: What's walk culture? What is the walking community?
A: Walk culture and the concept of a walking community are mixed. There are lots of definitions. It means people who live close to urban centers and don’t rely on automobiles unless absolutely necessary. It’s about bicycles—they go with the walking culture. University students, especially if they’re in school away from home, become part of the walking culture. And, when you’re on a city history tour, you’re walking to learn about historical timelines and urban legends.

Q: What motivates people to take walking tours?
A: People who live in a place have a tendency to become fascinated with its landmarks. Eventually, they want to learn something about them.

Q: Exactly, what have you been up to?
A: I’ve been redesigning and expanding Sacramento’s walking tours, creating themed tours like Cathedrals, Theaters and Government Buildings. We’re planning an annual SpeakEasy tour that will include tunnels and the last stop is dinner. Plus, I’m applying for a government grant to fund all these projects! For the State Parks I’m designing the docent guide for a walking tour of Old Sacramento that will include all the historic State park buildings.

Q: How did you get into tour research and local history?
A: I worked for a downtown merchant and got to know a lot of the City Guides. When an opportunity opened up, I applied for a position. They liked me because I had a good attitude but they also told me they wanted to expand the guide program and offer a walking history tour. They felt I could do it and I’m always up for a challenge.

Q: And the rest is history?
A: Yes!

Q: So the history tour wasn’t originally part of the gig?
A: No. It took me about two-and-a-half years to pull the very first walking tour together. Normally, it would take about six months to create that tour if you worked on it everyday but I was doing the historical research part-time and sharing progress updates with a team every three months or so.

Q: So, you began a career in local history and creating walking tours. It seems like things fell into place so naturally for you. If that sequence of events hadn’t happened, what do you think you’d be doing instead?
A: I don’t know. My heart is in being a musician and playing music so maybe it would be something related to that. Right now I do walking tours as well as musicianship.

Q: You say you want to get more people interested in local history and make them more aware of our past. People might wonder why history is of interest to YOU?
A: History was one of my best subjects in school. I always loved learning and finding out, ‘how did we get to this point?…how did we go from point A to point B to point C and D?’

An appreciation for history, especially knowing the history of the place where you live, is also something passed down to me by my parents. It's part of their European upbringing. My background is German and American and my mom was an Army brat. We were taught that you should know all the odds and ends of your town. From that background, I learned how to dig deeper into the history of a place.

Q: Are there any other reasons why someone who isn’t aware of local history might now find it interesting?
A: One thing to consider is that it’s about respect for where you live. Whether the town is population 5 or 5 million, whether you like the town or not, the fact remains that the more you know about a place, the more you respect it.

If you move to a new place and don’t know anything about it you should go ahead and learn what makes it tick. My parents moved to this area as complete strangers but pretty quickly we discovered every inch of it! Sometimes it just makes for easy conversation. Knowing your area’s history gives you lots to talk about and the more you connect with the new place and the new people, the easier it is to make it your home.

Q: As you create a walking tour, are there any wrinkles or tricky spots?
A: What’s fascinating to you might not be of interest to others. I know lots of facts and things about the area but I have to try out the “material” with different people. I ask locals who’ve lived here for 80+ years about the folklore. I pay attention when I’m giving a tour and I see what gets a response and what doesn’t. Plus, you have to realize that most people want dirt. They want to know what was (or is) the drama going on.

Q: Why are people so drawn to dirt?
A: When you’re relaxed and hanging out with friends, most people gossip. It’s the same with history--people want to know the gossip. Stories about what happens behind the scenes help reveal what makes a place interesting and what keeps it going. When I create a tour I’ve got to learn as much dirt as possible. The dirt is what makes the history. The dirt is where we start…from the ground up...that’s how we build and create things.

Q: What are the steps you use when you create a walking tour?
A: I identify a focus. That focus could be a neighborhood area, a person or group of people, places, landmarks, events or all of the above. Then, I ask some basic questions whose answers can usually be found in historical records or by talking with other people like subject experts and local residents. Step-by-step my process includes: 1. How did all this get here? Create a tour timeline. 2. What are we doing with it now? Discover new and current information. 3. What’s happened to it over time? Identify how it’s changed. 4. What’s the dirt? Find out what the walls would say if they could talk! 5. What do you like about it? Add your touch to the tour, sharing personal insights or things you like best.

Q: You told me that your subject—all things Sacramento—is more than a century old. How do you get the backstory and details about something that took place way-back-when?
A: Besides going to the library, you go to the city archives. Also, you end up buying and reading lots of books. One of the best local history books available is Sacramento: Indomitable City (Arcadia Publishing, 2003). It was written by a close friend of mine, Steve Avella, who spent more than a dozen years researching it.

By the way, “the indomitable city” is the phrase inscribed in Latin on the city seal because in the early days Sacramento survived multiple floods, fires, disease outbreaks and other disasters.

Q: How do people on a tour react when you share your personal insights or opinions?
A: I get all kinds of reactions but people who’ve become interested ask the most questions. For example, I know a yards-worth of information about any given subject and my normal tour is a foot of that. People who ask questions get more than the basic tour—they get the full yard of facts, gossip and stories.

Q: What advice would you give to anyone who’d like to become a guide or create a walking tour in their city?
A: Pick a certain area and do some homework. Find the research and the things that you like about the subject. Assemble a small proposal and present it to your city planners. Ask them if they’d be interested in helping to fund your idea.

Q: Is there a specific training, class or degree needed?
A: We owe a great debt to historians, planners and many other professionals involved in the work it takes to create a walking tour. However, you don’t have to have a degree to get involved with local history, to uncover some amazing facts, or to be a tour guide. The resources are readily available.

In fact, to be a good tour guide you’ve basically got to know how to be a good entertainer. People who join you on your walking tour want to be entertained in their free time. As the History and Discovery Channels have shown, people enjoy learning while being entertained.

Q: If someone walked up to you on the street and asked, “what do you do?” what would your answer be?
A: If it was during the day and I had on my street clothes, I’d tell them about my work with the city and for the state. My evening job, however is a completely different side of me.

Q: Tell me something about your music.
A: I’ve wanted to be a musician since I was a five. I’ve always played, studied and rehearsed. By the time I reached high school I was playing five different instruments in six different music classes each day. In college I majored in music and studied the production and business side of music.

Q: Do your two careers—guiding and rocking--ever intersect?
A: Yes. For both music and tour guiding, I have to use my knowledge of stage presence and my ability to communicate with people. I’m the most nervous person in the world when it comes to tours or stages but I love both of them and the nerves fade when I get that first piece of feedback from the audience.

Performing live, you look for a response and if it’s not there, you try harder to get your audience involved. It’s the same when you’re leading a tour. You have to do things to help people loosen up.

Q: What’s in the future for your tour/history work and your music?
A: As far as mainstream music success goes, I know that it’s all about being in the right place at the right time. Whether your 5 or 45 years old, you’ve got to keep pushing yourself to make it and that’s what I’m doing. My work with local and state history is important and it’s grown tremendously. Personally, I’ve got some international travel plans this year and those trips always broaden my knowledge of history as well as my perspectives on city life and tours.

Q: What’s A Single Second’s bio?
A: A Single Second is a four-year old, four-member rock band that’s played more than 40 venues and 240 shows in California and western Nevada. Our first album hits the street in early February of 2006.

Q: How can we tune in for news about the release party and future performances?
A: We’re at myspace.com/asinglesecondsacca with live video and some cuts posted.

Q: What inspires your music?
A: Life.

A Single Second is my release. It’s that one thing I do--like run, golf or walk the dog. It keeps me sane because I talk about life through the music—in a positive way. No matter how I feel about something I always try to give a positive message. Everything is okay, it’s going to be all right, you’ve got to keep trucking along, you’ll have bad days but there will always be those good days, too.

Q: Who is your biggest music influence?
A: I grew up in the 60’s mod scene so 60’s rock and 90’s rock are my two biggest influences. I like groups like the Beatles, Led Zepplin and the Cure with a host of obscure bands. An artist is influenced by everything.

Q; How does it feel to be doing music outside of the bigger cities like LA or New York? Is Sacramento a big music sleeper town?
A: Looking back in history, we had a vibrant music scene in the 90’s. Today, that’s changed a bit and it’s more of a good place to learn how to be a musician. Sacramento is the epitome of the one-hour, super-instant, quick-fix society where everybody is into their own thing and nothing really phases them. Even major label artists don’t get that much energy and response from audiences here.

In the center of town there’s a good individualism but the suburban areas and outside of town, everyone has 15 malls to choose from and they go to the same 15 stores at each one. Everyone is really respectful of each other for the most part. Certain genres have certain stereotypes and don’t do as well because this city likes to be mellow.

Q: How does the music bring some balance to that scenario?
A: The music is liberating. A Single Second is very high energy and very melodic.

Q: Does the music reach out to fans of other genres?
A: We’re pretty ‘rock and roll’ with everything. Check out the music on myspace and see if you like it. Among musicians, however, there’s always universality. Everybody’s always listening to everybody else. True artists appreciate everything.

Q: What makes you “relax and be fruitful” (a phrase you used earlier in our conversation) in your life?
A: Doing the best in my work as a guide then writing music and performing on stage with my closest friends—that does it for me. Right now, I’m giving 110% to both and I’ve never felt better.

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