By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
BOSTON – Painter and former lead vocalist of The J. Geils Band, Peter Wolf, has poured his heart out in his new memoir, “Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses.” Described as a “a treasure trove of vignettes,” the book, released in March, details a life well lived and filled with amazing tales of the rock and roll world and beyond.
Art student and DJ origins
The 79-year-old was born to “fellow travelers” in the Bronx, New York and studied painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts of Tufts where his first roommate was the late film director David Lynch. During his time performing with the Boston rock band The Hallucinations, Wolf was asked to help establish radio station WBCN, where he created his Woofa Goofa (Mama Toofa) on-air personality.
In a 2021 interview with New Hampshire Public Radio’s (NHPR), Rick Ganley asked Wolf about his radio days at WBCN to which Wolf replied, “Yes, WBCN in Boston, and the fellow that started the station was an eccentric character, and he would drink at these bars until closing time. Come to my apartment to kind of pass out on my couch. He said, ‘Well, why don’t you get all these records, all these 45s, why don’t you maybe help me out?’
So, I became the all-night DJ: The Woofa Goofa…two for half a loaf of show making your knees freeze, your bladder splatter. If it’s in you, it’s got to come out because that’s rock and roll…it’s all about doing the tuning and getting right through ‘em… and welcome the little late at night kid from Alabama doing it all head getting ready and do it to it. Give us a call. We’re going to have some fun until the Midnight Sun. And I did that every night. That’s nonstop for about a year and a half or so. By then, the Geils Band formed, and I just couldn’t do both.”
Marriage to famous actress
“Waiting on the Moon” covers a range of Wolf’s remarkable experiences, including his marriage to Academy Award winner Faye Dunaway. The actress studied at Boston University and was a friend and mentee of playwright and Harvard professor Bill Alford.
Dunaway used to hang out with the band and even traveled with them. According to Wolf, one day they were walking on a beach, and she told him they should get married. The two married in 1974 despite a disastrous evening the year before.
In 1973, Dunaway was shooting director Roman Polanski’s 1974 classic “Chinatown” with co-star Jack Nicholson. One night Nicholson invited Dunaway to his home to rehearse a scene from the movie. Dunaway, in turn, invited Wolf to accompany her.
“As the evening wore on, the other guests seemed to drift away until it was just Jack, Faye and me,” Wolf writes. “They discuss Polanski and the best way to deal with his temperament. Jack invited Faye upstairs to work on the script, and Faye asked if I would mind waiting. I answered, ‘Of course not.’”
After a few hours passed, Wolf called out for Dunaway and got no response.
“I continued to wait in the living room,” Wolf continues. “Finally, as I saw the sun coming up, it occurred to me that what I thought might be happening was definitely happening. I call out her name again, louder and more forcefully, but still no response.”
Unfortunately, Wolf did not drive so he was stuck at Nicholson’s house. He ended up calling a taxi, and when the taxi arrived, he told the driver to wait for five minutes. “I opened the sliding glass doors,” he writes. “Then I picked up the coffee table laden with books…walked over to the pool, and released it all into the water, watching it sink and settle on the bottom.”
A colorful life indeed.
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