There are two very different sounding segments to this piece. The first is about Peter Ivers and his music, and the second contains vintage footage from his time as host of 80’s new wave/punk show New Wave Theatre. The shows usually started with a cosmically stoned, but brilliant ramble by Ivers about society and utopian visions, followed by some amazing old footage of early 80’s LA punk and new wave bands.

Peter Ivers was an American musician, songwriter and television personality born in 1946. He grew up in Brookline, MA and attended Harvard University in the second half of the ’60s. A research study at the school revealed he had a genius-level IQ, but much to his money minded father’s chagrin Ivers was mostly interested in music, banging around Boston, playing with rock bands and jamming with touring bluesmen, reportedly even earning the admiration of Muddy Waters. He moved to L.A. in 1971, where at first he lived in the Tropicana, a notoriously sleazy West Hollywood rock ‘n’ roll hotel now famous for hosting the likes of Jim Morrison and Tom Waits. He worked on film scores at the American Film Institute, where he befriended the young, aspiring director David Lynch. Lynch was in the early stages of creating Eraserhead, and he asked Ivers to provide music and vocals for the Lady in the Radiator scene. His music is kind of art glam rock, but more experimental. He was the host of the experimental music television show New Wave Theatre, but never achieved mainstream success. Ivers was signed by Van Dyke Parks and Lenny Waronker to a $100,000 contract as a solo artist with Warner Bros. Records in the early 1970s; his albums Terminal Love and Peter Ivers were commercial flops, but would eventually come to be well-regarded by music journalists. On March 3, 1983, Peter Ivers was found bludgeoned to death with a hammer in his Los Angeles loft space apartment. The murderer was never identified. Here are some singles I like. below them is some incredible early LA punk/ new wave footage from New Wave Theatre. Ivers usually opens each episode with a captivatingly brilliant monologue.

The change ups on this track are awesome, as well as some great saxophone playing

Peter Ivers instrument was the harmonica which he plays here

Heres where it gets fun! The following videos are from episodes of the New Wave Theatre shows. They usually start with some sort of glam tinged cosmic, yet brilliant ramble by Ivers about society and utopian visions, followed by some amazing footage of early 80’s LA punk and new wave bands, and then usually some sort of hilarious outro as well by Ivers.