BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – In his short 52 years, Nathaniel “Nate” Berg made quite an impression — not just on the Bakersfield country music scene, but, long before, in the punk rock domain. Now, he’s being remembered for it.
Berg made a name for himself first as a musician, then as a concert promoter, most memorably at Jerry’s Pizza on Chester Avenue, a dungeon of a venue that featured a host of pre-fame punk rock acts, from Weezer to Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins.
Brian Boozer of Aum Studio, a drummer whose bands played often at Jerry’s, came to know Berg well.
“Nate was always super-cool to bring us on the shows for some of the bigger touring headlining acts that were coming through town,” Boozer said. “It was a really neat way for us to meet some of our heroes.”
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Berg reinvented himself years later as a filmmaker, and music was again an important theme. Not punk rock, but traditional country; his two installments of “Highway 58” were to be part of a series of perhaps a dozen music documentaries, now unlikely to come to fruition.