Peter Laughner

In 1974, in a piece about the nascent Cleveland underground music scene, Peter Laughner wrote, "I want to do for Cleveland what Brian Wilson did for California and Lou Reed did for New York." In a real sense, Laughner accomplished what he hoped to do, though he wouldn't live to see how the musicians he worked with and inspired would help launch the punk and new wave movements in years to come. Peter Laughner was a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and music critic who embraced a wide range of musical influences, mixing rock & roll, blues, folk, and proto-punk and boiling them d...