Guitar Player Bill Pester - "Nature Boy"

Nat King Cole had a huge hit with the song "Nature Boy" in 1948. It was written by eden ahbez, who is often referred to as the first "Hippie". But the person that the song is written about, Bill Pester, is probably the first California Guitar Playing "Hippie".

Pester lived in a log hut near Palm Springs in the early 1900s playing Guitar, living simply on a vegetarian diet, making and selling walking canes. Pester was a German Immigrant of the "lebensreform" philosophy which is credited with inventing the back to nature hippie lifestyle.

Pester and a few others brought this lifestyle to California a half century before the 60s. He was a big influence on eden ahbez, Gypsy Boots and others, spiritually and musically. They went on to be mentors of California 60s subculture movement.

 

Yes amazing how contemporary he looks. You still see guys playing at the Beach that look just like him! Bill was a fascinating character then and now.

 

Thanks for this info, Tone, and for the links. It is interesting to see how the German paganist sould continues to this day Germany being the country that is more dedicated to ecology and natural medicine in Europe.

 

Yes, it would be nice if people would take a wider perspective on the movement and it's roots, and not just the media "hippie" image often spoofed in South Park and elsewhere.

The progressions from the early German immigrants like Bill Pester (above) through the 60s counter-culture, and into current times is quite fascinating. One of the major cutural movements in modern times.

Bill himself was said to be quite a player, though I doubt that any recordings exist of his music.

'Tone

 

The lebensreform link you posted has quite a lot of information about music near the end of the page. It talks about many California groups including The Beach Boys.

 

"Gypsy Boots" who passed away just a few years ago, knew and was greatly inspired by Bill Pester. He also lived "wild" in Tahquitz Canyon near Palm Springs in the 1940s. Gypsy was well known in the early Califronia music scene.

" ......... Gypsy Boots’ influence helped inspire members of several Los Angeles rock bands to become vegetarian, notably Randy California of "Spirit" and Arthur Lee of "Love", as well as Sky Saxon of the "Seeds." Mickey Dolenz, the zaniest member of the TV pop foursome "The Monkeys" was also a Boots fan, while Frank Zappa appeared in the cult movie "Mondo Hollywood" (1968) with Boots."


Anyone have this record?

 

Steve, Professor Peter Wild at the University of Arizona is writing a book on Bill Pester. Information is hard to come by on this 'Hermit'. If you know of anyone who has ever met Pester or has any further info. you might put them in touch with Peter.

I knew some "old-timer" Health Gurus at the Beach in Southern Califronia in 1970 who had known Pester, but they are probably long gone. Then again those guys might live to be 150!

'Tone

 

I was asked about the guitar that Pester is playing in this 1917 photo. It's listed on Greg Miner's Knutsen site as a "Knutsen hollowneck Hawaiian guitar (HW19 in the Inventory)." But there is some controversy as to whether it's a Knutsen or a Weissenborn Hawaiian Guitar.

Looks like a Knutsen to me. The Weissborns Hawiians were made a few years later. Also check out that walking stick leaning on the hut behind Bill, one of which he made and sold to 'tourists'.

 

Didn't know anything about the guy, but it's nice to know what the song is about. So thanks for the information. The song is an old fave of mine. Of course I know (and have) the Nat King Cole version, but the first time I heard it was the version of a British funk band called Central Line. They made an interesting funky/jazzy version of it, kind of like George Benson could have done it.

 

50 years ahead of his time. Amazing.

I was very young, so take this with a slight grain of salt; but when I visited Kashmir with my parents, in 1961 or so, I believe we caught a glimpse of some of the very old lebensreformers in Srinagar; European-looking men and women, very long hair, beards on the men and Hindu sadhu-type clothing & beads. This was years before "hippies" made the cover of Time, Life et. al.

 

Bill Pester is the direct "missing link" of the West Coast counterculture. He immigrated from Germany to California, bringing the "Lebensreform" cuture with him, along with his guitar playing. The 60's lineage traces directly back to him through the 1940s Nature Boys that he mentored, who were then the inspiration for the 60s generation. That 1917 photo of him in my Avatar could have been taken in 1972! (or last week in some area)

Wow, very interesting. We are only starting to get enough distance from the "hippie" stereotype to gain a wider perspective of the counterculture phenomenon and it's German roots in the the Lebensreform movement. It has been an important cutlural movement worldwide, and has also had a great infulence on popular music. Thank you Bill, for sharing.

'Tone

 

Never heard of this guy before or his story. Very interesting.

 

"There was a boy
A very strange, enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far, very far, over land and sea..."

Fantastic! Thank you for sharing the info and pics, Tone

 

Another Edwardian figure that had an effect on Sixties culture, was the English poet and classical scholar Robert Graves; among other things, he wrote I, Claudius. Anyway, he dropped out after WWI (he was wounded in the Somme) and moved to Majorca with his companion, where he did most of the work that he became known for. In the Fifties and Sixties, he took in various beatniks and artists into his home in Deya, and encouraged their vision; among them were members of (what became) the Soft Machine.

We tend to think of Vietnam-era soldiers (occasionally) dropping into the counterculture; these people were dropouts from the Edwardian age; World War 1. This amazes me. And, why I love History: if you read and research enough, you will find someone amazingly like youself looking back at you. And smiling.

...

Among other amazing biographies I'd like to read, would be ones of Lord Byron, Thomas Paine (a great American), Niccolo Paganini (the original "metal" rock star, in a way!) and the "Lost Generation" (WWI again) that populated the artist garrets of Paris in the Twenties. Right soon though, a formidable book awaits: a biography of Beethoven.