Raleigh Rambles

Petrblt – Peter Eichenberger holds forth no more

Scientia aurea — Knowledge is Golden

Peter Eichenberger died Thanksgiving morning and proved well his enduring unique qualities with the breadth and nature of his mourning. Just one of those qualities was: if you were ready for it, Peter was down with it, and so he made many many friends.  They have mourned  the loss of his excellent company and all he might have said, but celebrated a life lived full speed and damn the torpedoes, smelling the roses and leaving no stone unturned along the way. Teasing and sarcasm was our way, as with many, and he would hate those cliches, but he was a man worthy hyberbole, since his life consisted of it.

I feel very lucky to have explored Cameron Park’s myriad of alleyways on bike with him this summer, and glad that I shared so many drinks at Sad’s with him, and I hate like the dickens I never got him together with my dad, whose stories of Depression downtown Raleigh and Southern Railroad energized him any time I touched on them.  He could ably discurse on innumerable subjects, and he taught me much.  He reminded me that Willie York had ditched and piped Pigeon House Branch to build the first shopping center in the Southeast when I was writing about that troubled creek, and he explained to me that the “geodesic” dome I liked so much at the Fairgrounds was actually made of hexagons (instead of pentagrams like Bucky’s).  He could write in the Downtowner of dog history and at Metro of Raleigh history and in the Indy of technological history, but I loved to hear him talk of cultural history and the local media history he had lived with all these years.  He was a writer, Raleigh’s own Gonzo, but he was rooted in the Earth by what he could do with his hands, which was just about anything if he wanted to.

What he wanted was for the world to be right and what he knew was that the world is very very screwed up.  He was right, and when those dark spectres bothered him he would share about the Mayan prophecies or the bombed levees or some other conspiratorial tale that bothered some but seemed clearly to be metaphors: the world is very very screwed up.

Peter also gathered the best kind of vibes and lived in the harmony of many positive energies.  Thus was he beloved and is honored by so many in the words that have flowed since his passing.  He leaves behind many words of his own, but scattered over the town of Raleigh (and the world wide web) like raucous crows, singing a noisy chant of art, art for life, art against the controlling state and the corporate fascists, art for love.  Peter love Peter.

Here are some of the many links for the outpouring online for Peter and links for his own writing:

Peter’s  wonderful narrative in the Indy post accident

 The Second Battle of New Orleans: notes of a bike repair warrior

remembrance by Indy’s Shirlette Ammons

Peter’s article archive at The Indy

Peter’s articles at Metro magazine

posts by Peter at Goodnight Raleigh

Peter’s articles at New Raleigh

New Raleigh’s obit post

Mark Kuykendall’s remembrance at New Raleigh

New Raleigh’s Memorial post w pics and words from many

Raleigh Public Record obit

NandO news article about Peter’s death

NandO obit

LiveRaleigh.com obit

Peter’s Facebook page, with many many wonderful comments

Peter’s blog, Peterblt

December 6, 2010 - Posted by raleighnaturalist | architecture, literary, Raleigh history | Peter Eichenberger, Sadlack's