page 232
"Helm got the sense that Peter was in search of another alternative community to be a part of. Downtown was the LA art scene's Wild West, a seedy no-man's-land with a tight sense of belonging among its artist pioneers. The social infrastructure was exclusively grassroots, which reinforced the sense of community.There were loft parties, bands playing on loading docks, and one-night-a -week clubs where people packed obscure dead venues just by word of mouth.'
"Some of Peter's friends thought he was searching for something more than a new group of collaborators and friends. Peter was still Peter - upbeat and focused on his work - but something had changed. His friends sensed that the separation from Lucy affected him more deeply than perhaps even he knew. He seemed lost. His woman friends in particular .... could tell that Peter was sad, that he didn't understand why things hadn't worked out, that he was feeling a sense of failure...'
Page 257
"Meanwhile, many of his friends had chosen instead to focus on the one or two things they did best, had leveraged their talents, and hit it big, achieving the kind of success that always eluded Peter. The wear and tear of constant struggle was beginning to show.... Peter sensed he was being left behind... And there was money. Having mortgaged everything on his dream, Peter was essentially destitute. The minor celebrity he was attaining on new Wave Theatre could not pay for dinner. With increasing frequency he started showing up at friends' houses around mealtime, partially for the company and partially for a free hot meal...'
Pages 256-257
In the last decade before his death he (Peter Ivers) had recorded four original records and a demo for a fifth, Nirvana Cuba, which was intended as not only an album but also as a musical performance to be staged and filmed. He had created videos for a number of the Nirvana Cuba songs and secured a National Endowment of the Arts grant for his video work. He had written an iconic song for an iconic movie and a handful of other highly regarded songs and scores for theatre, television, and film. He had countless other original songs in various stages of completion...
