Remembering Wayne ‘Bully’ Petersen: Musician, Artist, Author, Storyteller, Historian, Quelbe Singer, Culture Bearer

Crucian Wayne “Bully” Petersen has joined the ancestors and leaves a “G.O.A.T.” legacy for his family, his community and future generations. His multi-faceted spirit is an incredible one. 

Bully was born on the island of Puerto Rico to Sylvia and Alexander Petersen on March 30, 1955, where his father was serving in the U.S. Army. As a young man, Bully also served in the U.S. Army.

From Bully’s youth through his amazing adult life, his human qualities shone a light, creating the aura that surrounded his bodily image. He died Feb 11. He was 69.

Crucian elder, masquerader, storyteller, and culture bearer Asta Williams has been Bully’s “buddy” through his youth as they both evolved and maintained a lasting friendship. 

Bully organized the “Kafoonaz,” including musicians high on the totem pole, and with Williams hanging around him…she was determined to play with them. And, she did…she played the squash.

“I didn’t know anything about playing the squash, and Bully was always telling me, ‘you are not playing it right!’ I worked hard until I played it ‘right!”

“With practice, you get to be good; I got to be good,” she said. “I was getting better and better. I got so good until I got into the band.”

Williams was on the Tenants’ Council for the Ludvig Harrigan Court, where Bully started a Junior Kafoonaz Band. She became a chaperone for the youngsters. Isidore Griles and Williams would go to the Tenant Council office and play music there, she said.

“Bully did not mind that I was not ‘top shelf.’ I played with the band for birthday parties, the Ag Fair, and Jump Up in Christiansted. Later, I played with him at Sunshine Mall and Whim Greathouse.”

“I stood out like a sore thumb as the only woman until Sandra Michael joined the band. She played the triangle very well. Sandra was a prolific artist and eventually left to continue to work on her art,” Williams said.

“Bully was a strong presence at Our Town Frederiksted and he worked hard at keeping the organization alive and well, Williams said. He was a good person and his human qualities were so important in his mentorship with the youth and in his sharing the preservation of our Virgin Islands culture,” she continued.

Williams recalled the story about their drive to a gig in Christiansted during a downpour. Bully’s old vehicle had a hole in the roof. “I sat in the car with an open umbrella and a large garbage bag against the window. I finally convinced Bully to pull over and park under a canopy in a car wash until the rain was done. Our close relationship was such a joy and overcoming that obstacle became fun for us.”

There were always around six musicians at one time or another in the Kafoonaz. Some passed away, Williams said. She remembers the late Sylvester “Blinky” McIntosh, Dimitri “Pikey” Copemann, King Derby, Mason, Isidore Griles and several others.

Virgin Islands Council on the Arts Special Projects Coordinator and musician Kendell Henry met Bully when he was a youngster attending Head Start. “He used to come and play for the students when he moved to the Marley Homes. He started a community band with the resident children and students at the Marley Homes and the Ludvig Harrigan Court,” Henry reminisced. 

“Over the years, we became very close and my interest in quelbe music grew. We were practically neighbors, so I would go over and learn ‘extra’ when he was playing and practicing. He participated in the FolkLife Festival as one of the storytellers. I was always happy to assist him when he came to VICA during the grant period. He was my close friend,” Henry said. 

Musician, artist Dimitri “Pikey” Copemann remembers Bully during their days at St. Croix Central High School. “I recall seeing Bully around the campus, but I was two grades ahead of him and we never really developed a friendship, at that time. Although Bully was younger, he began singing in high school, while I started music in the sixth grade and got serious in high school,” Copemann recollects.

Copemann’s music covered quelbe and quadrille in his Native Rhythm Band around 1992, he said. He and Bully got together during that time. When Bully started his band, he would call on Copemann when he needed a sax player to fill in.

Copemann remembers Bully as being very talented in music and very knowledgeable of the culture of the Virgin Islands. “One of Bully’s last recordings was with him playing all of the instruments: banjo, guitar, flute, the squash and the steel.”

“He was also very good as a visual artist. He used to hang around with the prolific painter Lloyd “Dove” Braffith. Bully picked up a lot from Dove. One piece that stays in my mind is one with fishermen pulling a net to catch whelks. It was very realistic.

“He loved these islands and he was always involved in cultural projects. He collaborated with the late Jamsie Brewster in a recording on St. Thomas.” Bully was a very talented fellow, Copemann said.

Artist John Obafemi Jones and Bully had a personal relationship. “A lot of things I didn’t know were revealed to me by Bully. He shared with me the fact that St. Thomas, the jazz standard composed by musician, saxophonist Sonny Rollins, was originally titled ‘Danish Lullaby.’ He made me aware of cultural facts I would not have known, except for his knowledge of history.”

“I always considered him a renaissance man with all of his talents as a writer, musician, artist and more. He even went back to school and earned a degree in accounting,” Jones said.

When Jones and his wife lived in town, he would visit Dove. “Bully and Dove would talk a lot about all the happenings in Frederiksted town in the 1960s. I learned so much about St. Croix through Bully. He was very forthcoming with his knowledge – always willing to share. I knew his kids and his wife. I consider him a close friend. I was taken aback when I learned he had passed.”

“Bully was a good man. He was not one with a big ego. He would come by my house and talk. We shared about art and local artists. He will be missed,” Jones said.

Musician, producer and arranger Marsvyn David shared his musical association with Bully when he recently worked on a recording that Bully did at home with musicians, including Junie “Bomba” Allick. 

“Bully brought it to me to edit and coordinate. He had listened to an album I did with Pikey and he liked it; he asked if I would work with him on his album. That was my first time working with Bully. I redid the bass and basically coordinated the work he did on flute, guitar, banjo and vocals. This was Bully all the way.”

“Bully went to the States for medical reasons. When he returned, I was not able to give him the finished product. I’m glad that it’s done, otherwise it could have been lost. I can share the album cover, but it’s up to the family to release the recording,” David said.

David mused on life and the events that take place during our existence on this planet.

“Our whole life is in a shoebox. We don’t care about the car. We don’t care about the house. All of those things can go. We care about the art, the memories, and the art we do. At the end of the day, our whole life ends up in a few boxes. These are the things that are important. Then somebody comes along and throws them away. They’re lost. If we’re able, we must preserve them for our children and our grandchildren. With modern technology, we can preserve a lot of these things…making them readily accessible. Twenty or thirty years ago, we couldn’t capture what we can today…like the live concerts. When music was music and not a business, many recordings were lost because we didn’t have the technology then.”

David turned his thoughts back to Bully’s recording. “We produced it by editing and mixing to make it polished enough to get it ready to be released. I did all the bass on the tracks. That was the extent of my playing with Bully. I waited for him to return to continue. It was fortunate that we finished it. I just have to do some last little tweaks.”

“Bully was an artist and an activist…not only with the youth, but with his music.”

Lady Mac is the Crucian Christmas Festival Calypso Monarch, back to back, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 and is the daughter of the late singer and bandleader Sylvester “Blinky” McIntosh. She was exposed to the musical culture of the islands at an early age.

“I’ve known Bully all my life. Our families are from Frederiksted and when you’re a Frederiksteder, you’re interrelated somehow. His sister was my best friend at Arthur Richards Junior High School. I watched him play with my dad. When the members of my dad’s band [Blinky and the Roadmasters] were passing away, my dad joined Bully’s Kafoonaz band. Whenever my dad was playing, we would come out to hear him. Bully would talk about all the stories my dad told him,” Lady Mac said. 

“Bully began writing his own stories and illustrating them. After he had a stroke, he was unable to continue. When our culture bearers pass, the work stops; there is no one to carry on. That’s why I’m interested in documenting our culture, because the culture bearers remember all the details and how vividly they lived. If we document it, that’s the way of keeping the culture alive for future generations,” she said.

“Bully was good at documenting: art, writing, music, and storytelling,” she continued. 

Lady Mac is working with the Red Dragonfly Foundation on the documentary, “Calypso in Me.” “We’re constantly evolving documentaries surrounding our culture. My life is spread out into my ancestors…the people who came before me. They contributed to the art form of Cariso: voice and drums, to quelbe to calypso, she said.

“I was looking forward to seeing Bully at our last Crucian Christmas Festival. I hope someone carries on Bully’s legacy…someone who has the same desires and will finish his many projects.”

Lady Mac is putting the word out that anyone who would like to document any part of their culture, they can contact her and she will record them. This is an ongoing project and there is no deadline yet.

She is also looking for a camera crew who would be willing to dedicate their time. She can be contacted at: 340-277-0987.