David Lynch, Devo and others remember the murdered outsider Peter Ivers, who dressed in spandex, sang about frankfurters and pre-empted the pop energy of MTV
When the musician and actor Peter Ivers was found dead in his apartment in downtown Los Angeles on 3 March 1983, at just 36 years old, he was not as successful as he had wanted to be. He pined for mainstream acceptance, but stayed stuck stubbornly left of the dial. With an indomitable spirit, he whirred through the worlds of comedy, film and music, able to conjure good fortune for those around him, if not always for himself. Ivers’ career highlights read like a fabrication; he acted as a talent spotter, dot joiner and circumstantial benefactor for an astrological chart of interlinked stars.
Ivers was deemed “the best harp player alive” in his 20s by Muddy Waters. His music was covered by Pixies on their dealmaking first demo and Bauhaus on their farewell tour. It was through Ivers and his long-term partner, Lucy Fisher, that David Lynch’s work was introduced to Mel Brooks and Francis Ford Coppola. Ivers’ closest friend was Doug Kenney, the founder of National Lampoon magazine; in the early 80s, the Lampoon star John Belushi was an avid viewer of Ivers’ anarchic cable TV music show New Wave Theatre, taking cues from the confrontational humour and sense of punky chaos. Unlike peers who succumbed to the excesses of the era, Ivers worked prodigiously until the grisly end, when he was murdered with a hammer.
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