Dec 14

New Wave Theatre

NEW WAVE THEATRE
 
 
New Wave Theatre  was a television program broadcast locally in the Los Angeles area and eventually on the USA Network as part of the late night variety show Night Flight during the early 1980’s.  It was noted for showcasing rising punk and new wave acts, including Bad Religion, Fear, The Dead Kennedys, 45 Grave, The Angry Samoans, and The Circle Jerks.  Peter Ivers, a Harvard-educated musician with a gregarious personality and a flair for the theatric, was the host for the entire run of the show.   (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
The 1980’s rockabilly revival was sadly short-lived.  Only 2,000 or so copies of the debut album by the Blasters, American Music were originally pressed in 1980 (though the CD reissue did much better); their later albums were critical faves but never sold all that well.  Their wonderful song “American Music” became the theme music for the cult classic New Wave Theatre.  Blasters front man Dave Alvin edged into pure roots music; the fine album I have is called Public Domain: Songs from the Wild Land (2000).  
 
(May 2011)
 
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I first encountered the Unknowns on the eccentric Los Angeles punk rock showcase New Wave Theatre on late night TV in the early 1980’s, and I saw them perform on the show at least twice.  At one of them, NWT host Peter Ivers stuck a mike in front of a little girl who was maybe six years old, and he asked her if she knew who the next band was.  She said, “I don’t know”; and Ivers responded, “Neither do we:  the Unknowns!”  (If I remember correctly, that’s three months in a row where I have referenced New Wave Theatre – actually only twice). 
 
(June 2011)
 
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I was introduced to Dead Hippie in their performance on New Wave Theatre, the punk rock showcase on late night TV that originated from Los Angeles.  Dead Kennedys is about the only band that I had previously heard of which I saw on that show, but most have landed articles in Wikipedia (punk rockers have a lot of fans it seems).  To date, the only other UARB from New Wave Theatre that I have included in this series is the Unknowns.  
 
I didn't really remember the Dead Hippie performance on NWT that well (that’s what 30 years will do to you); it turned out to be “Blue Red and White” – as with the song in the Broadway musical Hair, “Don’t Put it Down” that also scrambled “red, white and blue”, it is a song about misplaced patriotism.  What I do remember was that he is the only guest on the show that ever really got the better of host Peter Ivers, whose annoying interviews after rock performances (including the inevitable question, “What is the meaning of life?”) really got to most of the musicians, even for bands that were on their second or third visit to the show.  I am reminded of the late Tim Russert of Meet the Press who was always very irritated with guests who didn’t have answers ready for his questions – oftentimes he would even send the list of questions in advance.  
 
Well, after Dead Hippie’s performance, frontman Simon Smallwood responded to Ivers’ first question by saying, “I just want to say this, man” before launching into a prepared monologue for several minutes about what it would take to turn the country around (apropos of the news this week, one specific item was guaranteed health care for all).  He then handed the microphone back, and all Ivers could do at that point was scream out:  “Dead Hippie!” 
 
(July 2012)
 
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I am reminded once again of the late, great Peter Ivers and the crazed interviews he used to do with punk rock musicians on the New Wave Theatre show.  When someone was starting to act like a smartass, Peter would get them to turn to the camera and give the answer again; and invariably, they would change their tune.  In almost every case, no matter what anti-religious screed a rock musician is trying to perform, the idea that they are sending their bare ideas out into the universe gives them pause; and they back off from showing a completely disrespectful attitude – that is true I think even of XTC’s notorious “Dear God”, for example. 
 
(December 2012)
  
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There are several YouTube songs by the Unknowns (also known as Bruce Joyner and the Unknowns); here is a striking performance taken from New Wave Theatre of their song “The Streets” (also known as “Shadows Stalk the Night”) that also shows off the other wacky stuff on that channel besides punk rock:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqRQcWJVnbk .  This is another live performance (from 1990) of another great song, “Dream Sequence”:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfg0sS8nhAY .  If you need any other proof that the Unknowns are not like anybody else, check out this demo performance (audio only) of “Common Man”:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO4_5A5pwEE .  There are other Unknowns songs on YouTube, plus additional Bruce Joyner music from his bands the Plantations and Reconstruction.  

 

(June 2013/2)

 

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Anyway, in August 2006, I made my first edit:  The album Peter Ivers by Peter Ivers – the late host of the cult-classic cable television program New Wave Theatre  – has an alternate name of Peter Peter Ivers.  That edit has survived to this day; that is not true of many, if not most of my early contributions – since anyone can edit Wikipedia, a lot can happen in seven years. 

 

(September 2013)

 

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Probably the best known of the women’s music artists is Holly Near, although she is even more familiar as a left-wing political activist.  In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, Holly Near appeared in several films, including Slaughterhouse Five and The Todd Killings, as well as television shows like All in the Family, The Mod Squad and The Partridge Family.  

 

By the way, there might be a few out there who remember a song by the controversial punk rock band the Angry Samoans called “The Todd Killings”; if I remember right, they performed the song on New Wave Theatre one night. 

 

(January 2014)

 

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I first learned of Dead Hippie from their appearance on the late-night L.A. punk rock showcase New Wave Theatre; I later was able to find their only album, Living Dead. 

 

Songs by Dead Hippie are rather hard to turn up on YouTube, but I have found some.  The full-length (half-hour) New Wave Theatre episode that includes the Dead Hippie performance that I saw is also on YouTube at:  www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dead+hippie+new+wave+theatre .  I can’t find the excerpt anymore that only shows Dead Hippie. 

 
(July 2014)
 
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The Cruzados, The Cruzados – The bandmembers in the Cruzados were previously in the Plugz, the first Latino L.A. punk rock band and one of the best L.A. punk bands, period.  They showed up on New Wave Theatre more than once and also performed the score of the 1984 cult classic film, Repo Man.  The Cruzados were more of a pure rock band that were being, er, plugged as the “next big thing”.  I had heard of them already, and these two albums were what drew me to that CD rack at the flea market in the first place.  The first track on this album is called “Wasted Years”; it is a good opening track on a good CD, but I have never been able to shake the feeling that this song was a comment on the band’s years as the Plugz, and that ruins the effect for me. 
 

(December 2015)
 
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A subtext in a lot of punk rock music is the idea of being at the mercy of forces beyond your control, even from the beginning of life. This is particularly true of the legendary public-access program, New Wave Theatre that was a Los Angeles punk-rock showcase and so much more. In a future post, I will give a tribute to this show; thus far, I have not really done justice to New Wave Theatre and their host Peter Ivers (who wound up being murdered in a case that has not been solved to this day).
 
(June 2016)
 
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Also on tap this coming year is an overview of New Wave Theatre, a fascinating public-access show that presented LA-area punk rock bands amongst other assorted weirdness that would air at the end of the popular late-night program Night Flight on USA Network.  I have poked around on the Internet, and even though all of the episodes are now available on YouTube, not much has been written about the show – the Wikipedia article on New Wave Theatre has basically two or three paragraphs.  Thus, I am going to have to do some primary research before I can get this post put together.  I do plenty of that with the UARB’s and UARA’s, but for the remainder of the posts, I typically lean on Wikipedia and Allmusic.  In other words, that is something else that I have been putting off.  I had always hoped to at least keep this up for at least 10 years, but I am not there yet.
 
(Year 8 Review)
Last edited: April 3, 2021