When the news hit of David Lynch’s passing, I was stunned. I couldn’t formulate words. It just never occurred to me that I would live in a world without him. The more heartfelt stories and testimonials I read on X, the more I wept tears of pain and joy. My 8 year old daughter (my empath) sat next to me and started crying too. She asked why I was sad and I told her my hero passed away. She asked “was he part of our family?” I thought for a while and said “yes.” In my heart he was family. His picture has been on the wall in my office for years.
Where do I start? I have always been a movie guy. From the time I was born, I gravitated toward the magic and the stories being told at the movies. Seeing Star Wars at the drive in and Close Encounters at the local General Cinemas as a 5 and 7 year old really infused my soul with the power of cinema. I first remember hearing the name of David Lynch when I was a kid from The Elephant Man. This film moved me, I saw it on TV/HBO with my parents. I remember Mel Brooks called him “Jimmy Stewart from Mars”. A perfect description. When Dune came out there weren’t a lot of people seeing this in the theater so I waited till it was on VHS to rent (big regret retrospectively). I thought it was great but it didn’t even register that this was a “David Lynch” film. Fast forward to when I was I was at Norristown High School in 1989 (suburb of Philadelphia) and the Entertainment Weekly magazine with David Lynch on the cover promoting Twin Peaks came to my house, I was intrigued about the man who was going to “change the face of television forever”.
This was a Friday night. After reading the article, my best friend Wayne and I went right to Video Village and rented Eraserhead and Blue Velvet. We watched them back to back that Saturday afternoon. Needless to say our minds were opened and melted at the same time. My life was changed forever. It felt like seeing these films made it feel like anything was possible, anything could happen in films and I wanted to experience more. The Pilot for Twin Peaks aired the next night on ABC and I was hooked, I was going to live in Lynch’s universe forever. David was showing us the very darkest place and also the sweetest love at the same time. So after two seasons of Twin Peaks, plus Fire Walk With Me…I was obsessed. Seeing Twin Peaks as it aired, reading Laura Palmer’s Diary, the Dale Cooper Diary/tapes, Twin Peaks Travel Guide book and the hard to find Lynch/Peaks focused fan magazine “Wrapped in Plastic”. All of these combined created a world that was so special, so mysterious and wonderful. I feel very lucky to have experienced Twin Peaks like this. From this point on I saw every Lynch film in the theater. I changed my major in College from Engineering/Architecture to Radio/Television/Film. I was a full on film nerd now and Lynch was my guy, my inspiration. Reading about his history, his connection to my city of Philadelphia and how it informed his art while at the Art Institute and later infused in his short films and Eraserhead, this really connected with me. Lynch was a Philly guy, walked the same streets as me. It felt like he was extended family. We also shared a love of photography and strange abandoned industrial spaces. I fell in love with all his collaborations with Angelo Badalamenti. These became the soundtrack to my life in the 90’s.
Around this time is when I became a hard core Laserdisc aficionado to the detriment of my credit rating. Seeing my favorite films in their proper scope 2.35:1 aspect ratio was another life changer. Seeing Blue Velvet and Dune the way they were meant to be seen was essential. Tower Records in Philly and King of Prussia carried Japanese Import Laserdiscs, famous for having better quality sound and video transfers and I was lucky to get the Dune Box set and Eraserhead in beautiful letterbox editions. The Twin Peaks Box sets were crazy expensive (about $300 for each season) but I didn’t care, I had to have these. I was the guy among my friends who exposed everyone to the latest Lynch content whether they wanted it or not. I took my friend Scott to see Wild at Heart in the theater at a midnight screening and hearing him cackle loudly during a tense scene (he was the only one laughing) was a favorite moment. That was the power of Lynch’s films. They were beautiful, disgusting, sweet, terrifying and funny as hell. They were abstract and focused at the same time. The themes of light and dark, good and evil, hate and love were strong. What is real? What is a dream? Is this reality the only reality? These are concepts that Lynch handled with such style and imagination. Making the abstract real and tangible. Making you ask questions about the very nature of our reality.
I remember in the mid 90’s going to see David’s paintings at his art show inside the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art on Broad Street. Seeing his work, touching his work (nobody is looking, it’s ok) seeing the colors and textures…it was really a thrill.
Opening night in the one large screen theater at the Ritz 5 in Philadelphia to see Lost Highway with a full audience of Lynchheads like me was incredible. Same for when Mulholland Drive came out. There was nothing like the thrill of seeing a new Lynch premiere on the big screen with the people that are in on the secret. What’s the secret? For me, it’s that Lynch’s surreal worlds are much closer to reality than anyone is willing to admit. There is strange and weird all around us and Lynch seems to recognize and depict the world in a way that feels true to us. We get him.
I started my own video production business in 2005 and owe a lot of inspiration from David for deciding to pick up a camera and film things that interest me and tell stories that move me. In 2006 David was working on his new independent film Inland Empire and I heard he was going to speak at the University of Pennsylvania about his love of Transcendental Meditation so I grabbed my Sony HVR-Z1U HDV camera and fought Philly rush hour traffic to see him. I get there, the auditorium is full. I can’t get in. I am bummed beyond belief, but I am not alone. We all sit outside in the parking lot listening as they are pumping the sound from inside outside. Then, like a miracle the doors open and they let more people in. I rush to the doors and get a spot in the back of the auditorium. At some point he says he will take questions from the audience, I rush over to get in the question line in the aisle and was lucky to be the last question he took from the audience. Here is the video of my brush with greatness. My heart was pounding out of my chest.
So after Inland Empire hit, I wasn’t sure if we would ever see Lynch working for a studio or a television network master ever again. He loved the freedom of working with digital video. So when the word hit the internet “that gum you like is going to come back in style” and that exact message came from Lynch and Frost on the same day on Twitter, it was like being given a gift from heaven. In retrospect, Twin Peaks The Return is a miracle. I still can’t believe that we were lucky enough to have been given the key to the world of Twin Peaks and its expanded universe again. Watching this series, I was able to connect all the films in his library to Twin Peaks. I know we will all be rewatching his work soon and for years to come. I look forward to getting the entire Twin Peaks series remastered in 4K UHD HDR someday. Maybe Criterion is up for this along with the Fire Walk With Me Blue Rose Cut?
It saddens me that I will never feel the thrill of another David Lynch premiere. I wonder what will come of all those uncompleted projects? Unrecorded Night, One Saliva Bubble and Ronnie Rocket, etc. I read the scripts to One Saliva Bubble and Ronnie Rocket many years ago. Best quote on Ronnie Rocket comes from David Bowie when after reading the script he said “It makes Eraserhead look like Dallas” referencing the 80’s television night time soap opera. Who knows what else he was working on that will surface? Maybe Jennifer or Austin Jack will pick up the mantle of his unfinished works? I have some great ideas for a Twin Peaks prequel story that takes place in the 1950s and may involve a Blue Rose if they would like to collaborate? In the meantime I will try to focus on my own projects, my own writing and keep David in my heart forever.
