Spotlight ON! Peter Garellick

February 15, 2022 • Addison Ching • Entertainment

This month we shine the Spotlight ON! Peter Garrelick.

Peter was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and currently resides in Berkeley, California. He was involved with public education for thirty years and is a recently retired public high school history teacher.

"I started playing stand-up bass in 3^rd grade, then switched to cello," says Peter. "Wish I had kept that up!" he laments.

Peter worked at Down Home Music, a record store in Richmond, California, that specializes in roots music such as folk, gospel and zydeco. While working there, he was exposed to reissues of early Hawaiian 78s.

"I was just mesmerized by the steel playing," says Peter. This inspired him to take up the steel guitar.

Regarding his steel guitar preference, he remarks, "I mostly play acoustic resonator guitars–tricones, dobros, etc.," I have dabbled a little with electric steel guitar but it doesn't suit me the way resonators do."

"What I love about non-pedal steel guitar (resonator and electric) is how expressive it is, and how every player has their own unique sound," says Peter. His favorite steel guitar players and influences are Sol Ho‘opi‘i, Benny Nawahi, Dick McIntire, and Rudy Wairata.

Peter has performed in a variety of venues in California, Hawai‘i, and Indonesia. His wife, Vanessa Alputila, is Indonesian. When in California, he performs Country music with Crying Time, a group that is described as Honkytonk revisionists out of Oakland that plays straight-up country and western music, from Bob Wills to Glen Campbell with whistle stops in between.

His California appearances also include performances of Indonesian music with the Javanese Gamelan Ensemble Sari Raras, and with his Hawaiian group Haopinaka, which describes itself as bringing "the spirit of aloha to the San Francisco Bay Area with Hawaiian guitars, ukuleles, and sweet vocal harmonies." The group's name Haopinaka is derived from the origins of the group's members. Peter is Caucasian (HAOle), Sil Castillo is Filipino (PInoy), and Rod Valdez is Hawaiian (KaNAKA).

Peter concludes, "I am always striving to express myself better on steel, and it seems like a never-ending process." He continues, "[But] not in a bad way! There is just always something new to learn, a different way to play something. There are days I feel so incompetent on steel, and the very next day it's like 'Hey I sound pretty good!'"

This video is of a performance by Haopinaka doing "Ke Aloha". Vanessa Alputila is the featured vocalist with Peter Garellick on the tricone.

The video can also be seen on YouTube.

This feature is a snapshot of the complete tribute that is posted on the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase website. See the complete tribute here.