[Still from music video for the song “This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)”]
“This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)” – Laurie Anderson and Peter Gabriel (So [second album release and CD])
Luckily, just after Philip Glass showed me that the floor could come out from under me, a new wave radio station arose in my hometown of Pittsburgh and distracted me from my imminent mortality with the best new wave and art rock available in the late 80s. After this radio station appeared, most of my free time was spent sitting next to the stereo with my finger hovering over the pause button, as I created mixtapes of all of this amazing music. Along with the familiar sounds of Depeche Mode, The Cure, and The Smiths came this weird little duet by Peter Gabriel and Laurie Anderson. This was a song that came after a song I meant to record, but I let the tape run. It was interesting. It hooked me. And it became a song I would fast-forward to get to, and their voices lived in my head. I would watch “Alive From Off Center” and imitate Laurie Anderson in my bedroom mirror. This was the song that opened my eyes to music being a medium not just for musicians but for artists in other regards. It was sort of like learning about the fourth dimension, which I may have been doing concurrently in school. It’s not the most amazing song in the world, but it’s the one that opened the door.
5songpjct: I remember “Alive from Off Center.” My Dad loved that show and would try to get me to watch it, but I thought it was a bit too weird as a 10 year old. I wish I had been older, so I could have appreciated it more. I love Anne Magnuson and of course Laurie Anderson. Do you know if you can find old episodes anywhere?
Holly: You can find some on YouTube, but not all of them. Even PBS doesn’t have any stock for sale. I reached out to them recently, and they suggested I “perform an Internet search.”
[Contributors note: “Alive From Off Center” was created in Minneapolis/St. Paul]
NEXT UP the last song with Holly