Peter

Peter Valentino was born in the Castle of the Count De Montenegro in the Northern Italian countryside on an extraordinarily cold and rainy night in early January. The most immediate consequence of his birth was that he screamed out a high C, breaking a champagne glass almost thirty feet away.

At that moment Peter knew two things: that he wanted to sing and be a musician, and that he had better be successful at it, having already broken some of his mother’s finest crystal.

The first instrument Peter tackled was the Cello, which his mother played with much gusto in the village orchestra. Soon enough Peter was sawing away at the instrument, making better sounds at least than his young friends did on their Violins and Clarinets. Then one day, on his way back from orchestra class, walking through a meadow owned by a neighboring Baron, Peter heard weird musical sounds emanating from an open window on the second floor of the Baron’s huge castle by the sea. He set his cello by an open door with a narrow staircase beyond, and, following the strains of music up the staircase (not entirely without fright, I might add), he reached an open door at the top. Gathering his courage, he peered in and saw a young lad his own age playing something he had never seen.

“What is that?” Peter asked with unusual bravado.

Somewhat startled, the young boy turned and said the words that would change Peter’s life, “It’s an Electric Guitar.”

That was it for Peter. He and the young boy, Robert, started meeting all the time to learn the power of this most ingenious instrument.

The rest of Peter’s formative years were spent learning and playing guitar and singing. He learned that the electric guitar had the power to collect huge groups of People together in one place–more people than had ever gathered in one place for any peaceable purpose. This sent him traveling all over the world to bring People together. New York, LA, Hong Kong, Thailand, Cuba, Africa, and of course, Europe. People came together instead of falling apart.

Peter Valentino met the Love of His Life, Lissette, in New York City, at Strawberry Fields. They knew it was Forever, so they formed the band Neon Venus and decided to put all their talents toward the goal of World Peace, and equally importantly, toward helping everybody have Good Dreams. They went here and there signing and playing and making Peace. They went from the Pyramids of Egypt to the Lagoons of Puerto Rico.

After years of traveling all over like Gypsies, making friends and making timeless music they settled in Las Vegas and started the Neon Venus Art Theatre. And I guess the rest is history.