In Memory of Pete Westman aka Paul D. Westman

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Pete was a good friend and mentor to me. We knew each other about 14 years down in Victorville, CA. He passed away on March 8, 2004. Friends are welcome to leave comments here on this post.

Pete did a lot of recording with me and was a featured artist on the New Faces compilation releases by Road Records of Southern California.

Many know Pete as a commercial real estate agent in the Southern California High Desert. He sold real estate in the areas of Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley, Oro Grande, Phelan, et al.

Musicians know him as intense and naturally gifted. And I think all of us knew him as fun and challenging.

UPDATES JUNE 2010: I am taking down Pete’s memorial website because there’s no where over there for people to interact or post messages. So friends of PD can post comments here.

BUT! To make up for taking down his memorial website I uploaded his song Shelter so you can listen to and download his music. That page is located at:
http://conradaskland.net/blog/2010/05/shelter/

(Please note that URL address up above is DOT NET, it’s a different website than this one you’re on now. )I hope you all can listen to it and leave some comments. I really think PD did a great job on this recording.

38 thoughts on “In Memory of Pete Westman aka Paul D. Westman”

  1. Pete will always be special to me. His music was the most important thing in his life and I feel blessed that I could be a part of that. He was very inspirational and I’m sure he’s up there right now singing and composing songs. Its ashame that we lost him so early. I’m greatful that I was able to have lunch with him a few months before he passed.
    Tracy Mahoney

  3. Hi all!!
    I was Pete’s last love, and he was mine! Conrad, thank you so much for this website! I would be so honored to leave a few words on behalf of this incredible man! He and I were talking about getting married, we just weaved in our lives. Everthing was so easy, with the both of us. I loved his music, his soul! I so miss him!! Not a day goes by that I don’t. We wrote his last song . Naptown. I hope one day to publish that song, as a tribute to him. He was so very talented. Conrad, I hope we can finish that. I have been trying to reach you in the last few years. He has visited me in my dreams, I have talked to him, I know that sounds wierd, but when someone loves someone. They do those things. His sister and I talk on his birthday, and the day he left us. I wish I could have him back!! Anyway, Conrad, I also think he is making wonderful music where he is. That was Pete, a true musician who never had his tribute to the talent here on earth that he sooo deserved!! I so want that to happen!!

    The love of his life!
    Rhonda

  4. Hi Rhonda,
    Good to hear from you! Yes, Pete recorded Naptown with me as a scratch but we never finished it. I’ll see if I can get a scratch of it and post it online.

    Pete also had told me how serious he was about you. I remember him saying “She doesn’t do anything that bugs me” – and for Pete that was saying a LOT. Most people bugged him…. It was such a shock for all of us when he passed. Still seems surreal.

    He had wanted to do that summer concert on the beach at Spring Valley Lake – I’m bummed he didn’t get a chance to do that.

    Keep in touch!

  5. Conrad,
    If you don’t have Naptown, I have the copy he made me. Yes, I also wish Pete could of planned that summer concert, it would of been so cool! I also agree, someone like him, to leave us at his time of life is robbery! So let us keep his music alive!! As a tribute to all that he accomplished.

    Rhonda

  6. conrad,
    are you still there? Hope to hear from you. I am now living in Prescott Arizona. You have my email.

    Rhonda

  7. In memory of his death, March 8, 2004, I still miss ya!! And think of you everyday!!

    Love
    Rhonda

  9. Hi Conrad,
    Yes, hard to believe it has been 4 yrs. Where does the time go?? I heard a guitarist named Chris Standring, he is similiar to Pete. Have you ever heard of him. chrisstandring.com if ya want to go to the site. When I heard him, I thought of Pete, and was is really ironic, he sorta looks like him. Hmmm.

  10. Pete and I grew up in the Pasadena area. I met P.D. in 1969 at a band jam in someone’s house. We later lived together in Topanga Canyon in 1972-74. It was at that time Andy Summers and Tim Rose would come over and rehearse at our house off Chaney Dr. This was before “The Police”. Everyday for two years Pete and I would play. I played the bass and Pete on his Les Paul. We later played in a band called the Refugees 1981-1984 with Anthony Barray and Joy Bonner. Our last project was PD’s originals over at his place in Victorville with Roy Hamer. He was writing incredible stuff. It had depth in the lyrics and the instrumentation was tight. I thought finally him and I would get a break and play together in front of the crowds. I still play and he’s always there in my heart to say things that were only between him and me. He showed me some great guitar chords I still use.

    I Love you Pete.

    Greg Elsasser (Chief)

  11. Hi Greg,
    Thanks for posting. I had recorded some of Pete’s originals around 2000 or so and his song “Shelter” was the opening song on one of the Road Records “New Faces” CD compilations.

    Then in 2002 he started working on a whole new group of songs and eventually started building his recording studio in his house. He would lay down tracks there then have me record the vocals and do the mixing. We were right in the middle of it all when he died.

    He had planned on having all of us play in the summer of 2004 in Spring Valley Lake on the beach – I’m sure he had talked to you about that too. We were all really looking forward to it. His music was just so very cool.

    He didn’t really ever strike me as having any form in his writing or playing. But it always sounded good. It was like he didn’t know any of the “rules” or standard songwriting shtick – which is what I think made his songs and tracks so cool.

    I’ve thought about him a lot lately because we had always planned a road trip to Bangkok – and now I’m living in China. I kind of made it part way for him.

    He was so much fun to talk to and so intense. Still really miss him as we all do…

  12. Hi All!
    August 2 is Pete’s birthday. I just came by to wish him a Happy Birthday!! It was nice to hear you and Greg talk about Pete. I miss him alot!!

    Rhonda

  14. Hi Rhonda,
    China is awesome and so is working for Cirque. I love it. I just got back from my second visit to Bangkok and Thailand. Pete and I had talked many times about taking a trip to Bangkok together, so I’m glad I was at least able to visit it for one of us. Kind of ironic that I always thought of it as an exotic destination, and now it’s just a couple hours away.

  15. Well, thats really cool! So glad you did what you always wanted. Life is short as we know. Are you writing and playing there?

    Rhonda

  17. This is to commerate Pete. A great guy! Who I adored! Thank you Pete for your music and most of all for your love you gave me! The times we shared, and for you. I thank God for those times. 5 years ago. I know you are on the other side, happy. I miss ya!

    Love ya!
    Rhonda

  19. Sitting in a quiet state as I do at times my mind thinks about Pete. I googled his name to see if I could read something. Here is this site. How very cool! I really miss him. Its nice to have a place to go where I can read what other people feel about him and how he has touched their lives as well. What a cool guy. Taken way too soon. We had fun working in the real estate office together and had fun get togethers at his house on the lake. Good memories. I miss you bud. Its still hard to listen to some songs that remind me of you. I appreciate your friends who posted comments here. Its a place I can come to in the future. Thanks so much. Peace/Love, Will

  22. Pingback: Shelter | ConradAskland.net

  29. I knew Pete in Pasadena in our 20s. I was married to one of his friends, Chris Papaz. Chris passed away in 2007. Wondering how Pete died if anyone can tell me. He was an amazing guitar player back then. Had not seen him since probably 1980.

  32. I grew up in Pasadena and met Pete around 1970. Ran with some of the same crowd, jammed a few times at parties, etc.. I was an aspiring singer and beginning harmonica and sax player but not really committed to making it. We hooked up again in Santa Barbara in the late 70’s. Pete had been in a good, local R&B, Rock band called Greased Lightning and I’d sit in once in awhile. He truly amazed me with his versatility; Blues, Rock, Funk, he could play it all really well. After that band dissolved, I was putting a cover band together and PD was my guy. We got on really well musically and personally. We rehearsed for a couple of months and at times, it was absolutely magical but Pete was not in a good way then. The booze and coke were ruling his life. He wore out his welcome in SB and moved back to LA. I looked him up around ’84 and he was playing in a cover band. seemed to have gotten control of his life back. That was the last time I saw him. I got serious about playing again around 1998 and have had a series of bands since. I found Pete’s name through Conrad’s label on the internet and tried to reconnect with him a couple of years before he died but with no luck. When I ithink back and imagine if I’d really made an effort to form a musical partnership and try to make it in the early 70’s, it’s always back to when I met PD Westman. Him and me. We only played together for a short time but we had something special. Happy to share my thoughts with y’all…..

  33. Hello,
    Well been some years now, but ya know no one will ever forget magical Pete! We all have a seared heart after his leaving us! But nevertheless His soul and love never will leave our hearts and minds! Thank you, … for your time in all of our lives! Made it unforgettable!

  34. Thank you Pete for making all of our lives enriched by your wonderful self! Greatly blessed and wonderfully enhanced!

  35. I had lunch with my mom today and we were talking about my dad, Pete, and his old band the refugees. I was thinking of him tonight and googled his name which led me here. It’s been many years since my dad passed yet he’s never far from my mind. It makes me smile to know he’s not far from yours as well. Thanks for all of the kind words, my dad kicked ass and he’s smiling knowing he and his music have not been forgotten.

  36. Hello everyone thinking of Pete and I found this wonderful blog. Pete and I were friends in the early 1960s up until his samadhi. We went to Wilson Jr. High school together. We both got into playing guitar at around the same time. We jammed at about 15 years old while having sleep overs at his house in Sierra Madre. He played a Gibson SG and I played a 64 fender jaguar. We went to see the Cream together in 1968 at the Forum in LA. Clapton was a influence on us both. That was the beginning of a marathon of Rock concerts often at the Shrine Auditorium in LA and the Pasadena Civic and Rose palace. We saw all the greats Hendrix Doors Janice Joplin and all the SF groups Airplane Greatful Dead etc. we even flew up to SF to see concerts at the Filmore on School weekends. My folks moved from Pasadena to Huntington Beach but we stayed in touch. We got back in touch a few months before he passed away. He sent me tapes of his music and we caught up on times. And we were instantly best friends again. I will always remember Pete he was a incredible person. So sad he left us so early in life. Happy to see so much love for him is still alive.

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