They Call Him … “Dr. God of Rock”
The Extraordinary Double Life of One ISVMA Member
by Michael Adkins
By day, Peter S. Sakas, DVM, sees patients at Niles Animal
Hospital and Bird
Medical Center
in Niles, Illinois.
But at night, when the stage is set and the baseline kicks in, Sakas trades his
lab coat for a camera, covering classic rock bands for Rock Chicago Magazine — an online source
for concert reviews, previews and other music-related news for the Chicagoland
area.
Sakas
has been a part of Rock Chicago Magazine for
three years. Sakas had talked about music with a longtime client, Kevin
Pollack, for a number of years, and the two shared a love for progressive rock
acts from the 1970s, including Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Genesis; Yes;
Renaissance; and many others. “[Pollack] decided to create an online rock
magazine and asked me to be one of his writers, as he knew I loved music [and]
photography and was a pretty decent writer,” Sakas explained, “I told him, ‘I
can’t write rock reviews,’ as I had never done that before.”
But
Pollack urged him to try. As Sakas noted, Pollack thought “this would be a
great outlet for my creative side … and he was right!” Pollack offered Sakas
tickets to a Greg
Lake concert. Lake is perhaps best known as a longtime member of the
aforementioned band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Sakas, who described Lake as “one of my rock idols,” had purchased tickets as
soon as they were available, but he agreed to cover the show anyway.
“As
luck would have it, his readers loved my review; he said the readers felt they
were at the concert itself through reading my review,” Sakas recalled. “So that
is how it blossomed from there, as he asked me to cover more and more
concerts.”
Some
of the many acts Sakas has covered include Ringo Starr & His All Starr
Band, Aerosmith, Bad Company, Cheap Trick, Bret Michaels, Huey Lewis, Chicago,
and the Doobie Brothers, among numerous others.
Though
Sakas does this for free, there are other benefits, including the free concert
tickets, meeting rock legends and appealing to his clients. Sakas’ clients are
“absolutely fascinated,” in his words, by the fact that their animals’
veterinarian has a double life of sorts. “Those that know this side of me will
ask me which concerts I had been to when they are in with their pets for an
appointment,” he said, adding that he frequently posts reviews and photos on
his Facebook page. “In fact, I am now affectionately known by many of our
clients as Dr. God of Rock,” he added.
One
of the most memorable experiences Sakas has had as “Dr. God of Rock” was
meeting “the Prince of Darkness,” Ozzy Osbourne, at a meet-and-greet event
before Osbourne’s Moline
concert in 2011. “Each person went up to Ozzy, and typically, he would mug with
them or act a bit outrageously. When I walked up for my turn, I handed him a
copy of his autobiography. As I handed him the book for him to sign, I said,
‘This is for my wife; she is the person who keeps my life in order.’ He
responded with, ‘I have one of them too.’ We exchanged some pleasantries about our
spouses, and as he handed the book back to me, I said, ‘Thank you very much.’
He said, ‘No, thank you very
much.’ Then the next person walked up and said, ‘Hey, Ozzy — aaaarggggh!’ Ozzy then
mugged back and made similar guttural sounds. But for that brief moment when I
was with him, Ozzy and I were like two normal guys just talking to each other.”
Another
of Sakas’ memorable experiences involved a meeting of his two worlds. Sakas
explained that he was to interview Alan White, longtime drummer for the band
Yes. The interview took place over the phone, and White called Sakas at the
animal hospital. “When I began, I said, ‘Mr. White, I hope my questions are interesting
to you. Interviewing is actually not my profession; I am actually a
veterinarian.’ He said, ‘You are? That is great. What a great profession. I
have three Jack Russell terriers who I love to pieces. I take them everywhere
with me, even out on my boat.’ He continued to go on [about] how lucky I was to
be in a profession like veterinary medicine.”
Later,
at a meet-and-greet event at the concert, Sakas said, “When I was up there with
the band, I introduced myself to him, and he started gushing all over the fact
that I was a veterinarian, mentioning to his bandmates what a great job I had.
My wife, who was with me, was flabbergasted that he was carrying on about me. I
felt 10 feet tall after that experience.”
Editor’s Note: To read Sakas’ reviews and interviews, visit
www.rockchicago.
net, and search for “Sakas.” If you’re interested in sharing your
unique hobby
with ISVMA, please contact Debbie Lakamp at debbie@isvma.org or
(217)
546-5633.
