It is happening again. The Great Southern, that is. Last April, Richmond saw its first Twin Peaks festival, presented by Video Fan, Movie Club Richmond, and Makeout Creek. This year it’s back with even more bands, more films, and more special guests! That’s right, David Lynch fans–time to get pumped.
The event kicks off this Sunday, June 5 at 7pm with a Preview Show at Strange Matter. There will be a screening of Lynch’s 1986 film, Blue Velvet, followed by live performances from Christi and Lady God. Blue Velvet centers around a young man’s discovery of a severed human ear in a field which leads him into a thrilling investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of hedonistic criminals who have kidnapped her child. It was David Lynch’s project immediately before Twin Peaks.
“It’s about the darkness that lives in a small town, so there’s some thematic links.” said Andrew Blossom, the man behind the festival. “So much of the cast went on to be on Twin Peaks, so there’s just some natural connections that make it kind of a jumping off point for the series and for the festival.”
Then, on Thursday, June 9 there is the Happy Generations Happy Hour starting at 4pm at Ipanema Cafe (my favorite RVA bar). DJs Sister Golden Haze and Greg Darden will be spinning and there will be happy hour specials. Immediately following the happy hour, there will be a Twin Peaks inspired art show at Mojo’s Philadeli starting at 7pm. After that, the celebration moves to Gallery 5 at 8pm with a Concert for Agent Jeffries in honor of the late David Bowie. There will be live music from Life on Mars and Gull and an Agent Jeffries costume contest!
You know, the guy who scared the crap out of you in Fire Walk With Me?
Friday, June 10 starts off at 1pm with a Twin Peaks Listening Party at Steady Sounds. Free music, coffee and doughnuts?! Sounds like a dream to me. Then starting at 4pm the Byrd Theatre is screening short films in the spirit of Twin Peaks. Then at 6:30pm you just cross the street and head over to Chop Suey Books where Charlotte Stewart (Betty Briggs on Twin Peaks, also starred in Eraserhead, Tremors, Human Highway, ect.) will be reading and signing her new memoir, “Little House in the Hollywood Hills”.
“Charlotte is such a wonderful person.” Blossom said. “Last year, while she was here she was talking about writing this book. So it’s so nice to be able to have her back and to hear her read from it a year later.” The book was only just published this week, and this will be one of the first readings Stewart does. Following the reading, there will be a panel of people who write, blog, and podcast about Twin Peaks, including Stewart and Brad Dukes, author of “Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks”. It should be fascinating to hear so many viewpoints and interpretations on the show! This will be one of the events that I can’t miss.
Dinamo will be hosting the Damn Fine (Pizza) Pie Brunch at 11am on Saturday, June 11. Then at 2pm is Big Ed’s Craft Farm at Hardywood Craft Brewery, an arts and craft fair organized & presented by Curio Market. Hardywood will be selling Twin Peaks-inspired craft beers. But what I am most excited about is the panel discussion on the mythology of Twin Peaks with Scott Ryan (host of the Red Room Podcast), David Bushman & Arthur Smith (authors of “Twin Peaks FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About a Place Both Wonderful & Strange”), Brad Dukes, and John Thorne (creator of Wrapped in Plastic). There are so many ways to interpret the wildly bizarre show, and I am super pumped to hear what these guys think. Yesterday’s Heroes will screen 1944 film, Laura at 8pm. Laura is a noir film about a detective who falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating. I don’t think I need to explain the connection to Twin Peaks. Then starting at 10pm, Don’t Look Back will be hosting food and drink specials and tarot card readings!
The Great Southern will close things out with An Afternoon Both Wonderful and Strange Sunday, June 12 at Hardywood starting at noon. The event will feature live music from Big No, Lodro, Ghastly City Sleep, and Little Black Rainclouds with Kimmy Robertson (Lucy from Twin Peaks). There will be a Twin Peaks costume contest, judged by celebrity guests, a trivia contest, signings, and (of course) craft beer!
So, if you consider yourself a Twin Peaks and David Lynch fanatic, you gotta get out there and join in the festivities. If not, then now is the time to start marathoning it on Netflix!
It should be a damn fine time.
For more info:
http://thegreatsouthernrva.com/
Becks and the City 