boston area shows of note: thursday, may 15th tourfilter dj night songs by bands coming to town (with djs yours truly & chris tourfilter) 9pm @ river gods near central square thursday, may 15th the broken river prophet tim gearan jennifer greer @ the lily pad thursday, may 15th bishop allen the teeth the self righteous brothers @ the middle east downstairs friday, may 16th ryan's smashing life presents... aloud, murder mystery, miss fairchild, & scuba @ tt the bears friday, may 16th bell x1 @ the paradise friday, may 16th bruce cockburn catherine maclellan @ the somerville theatre saturday, may 17th the great bandini the luxury status green the bleedin bleedins @ tt the bears saturday, may 17th wzbc's flyweight presents... 28 degrees taurus the december sound screen vinyl image static of the gods @ great scott saturday, may 17th thee silver mt. zion memorial orchestra & tra-la-la band (members of godspeed you black emperor) @ the middle east downstairs sunday, may 18th snowden colour revolt the epochs age rings @ great scott monday, may 19th daily show writer rob kutner signing 'apocalypse how' @ pandemonium in cambridge tuesday, may 20th x (john doe, exene, bonebrake, & billy) the detroit cobras @ the paradise friday, may 23rd joe lally (of fugazi) glorytellers thalia zedek @ the middle east friday, may 23rd writer neil gaiman @ mit's kresge auditorium friday, may 23rd laura veirs liam finn @ the middle east saturday, may 24th cake, cracker, the english beat, bodeans @ the dcr hatch shell saturday, may 24th son volt @ the museum of fine arts boston saturday, may 24th the mary onettes @ the middle east wednesday, may 28th duran duran @ agganis arena friday, may 30th the gentlemen eric salt & the electric city the rationales (cd release) @ tt the bears friday, may 30th sea wolf the jealous girlfriends @ the paradise saturday, may 31st jeremy enigk damien jurado @ great scott sunday, june 1st ida michael hurley @ the nave gallery, somerville monday, june 2nd M83 @ the middle east downstairs wednesday, june 4thnd hayden @ great scott thursday, june 5th the breeders the montana boys @ the paradise friday, june 6th orbit taxpayer the fatal flaw boone @ tt the bears friday, june 6th styrofoam broken spindles @ the middle east friday, june 6th mudhoney the cynics @ the middle east saturday, june 7th langhorne slim baker @ tt the bears saturday, june 7th pela static of the gods the motion sick shawn fogel @ the middle east sunday, june 8th donita sparks (ex-L7) & the stellar moments @ tt the bears monday, june 9th the kooks @ the paradise tuesday, june 10th swervedriver @ the paradise wednesday, june 11th the cannanes the in out painful dentistry @ the midway cafe wednesday, june 11th grand archives @ great scott wednesday, june 11th mark kozelek (sun kil moon / red house painters) marissa nadler @ the museum of fine arts boston thursday, june 12th tullycraft pants yell! the smittens @ pa's lounge thursday, june 12th damon & naomi helena espvall & masaki batoh @ tt the bears thursday, june 12th mission of burma performing the album 'signals, calls and marches' @ the paradise friday, june 13th mission of burma performing the album 'vs' @ the paradise saturday, june 14th centro-matic @ the middle east upstairs friday, june 13th r.e.m. modest mouse the national @ the tweeter center wednesday, june 18th sloan the golden dogs @ tt the bears thursday, june 19th retribution gospel choir (with low's alan sparhawk) @ the middle east upstairs thursday, june 19th the ting tings @ great scott friday, june 20th polvo birds of avalon @ the middle east downstairs friday, june 20th my brightest diamond clare & the reasons @ the berklee performance center saturday, june 21st eksi ekso (cd release) caspian hooray for earth dj die young @ the paradise friday, june 27th devo tom tom club @ bank of american pavillion saturday, june 28th peter murphy @ the roxy saturday, june 28th & monday, june 30th pearl jam ted leo & the pharmacists @ the tweeter center saturday, july 5th cassavettes girls, guns, and glory teenage prayers @ the paradise tuesday, july 8th feist @ the bank of america pavilion saturday, july 12th bottomless pit the kadane bros. (of the new year / bedhead) chris brokaw @ the middle east upstairs thursday, july 31st the police elvis costello & the impersonators @ the tweeter center saturday, august 2nd wolf parade @ the paradise wednesday, august 6th neil halstead (slowdive/mojave 3) rogue wave jack johnson @ the tweeter center wednesday, august 13th radiohead @ the tweeter center wednesday, august 20th human league, belinda carlisle, abc, flock of seagulls, naked eyes @ the bank of america pavilion sunday, september 7th ryan adams & the cardinals @ the bank of america pavilion tuesday, september 23rd writer dennis lehane (release day for 'the given day') @ the coolidge corner theatre monday, october 6th stereolab monade @ the paradise monday, november 3rd coldplay @ the td banknorth garden visit tourfilter for more shows |
Sunday, December 10, 2006 Mp3s: David Lynch at the Brattle First, an admission, and I don't think too many people who aren't married to me know this: I was a total Twin Peaks geek. I don't just mean your average "love the show, bummed when it got cancelled" fan... there are no small amount of those. No, in 1991 I wasn't just a card-carrying member of "C.O.O.P." (Citizens Opposed to the Offing of Peaks)... I was, in fact, the Vermont chapter president. Seriously. I actually sat in a hallway of UVM's Billings Student Center and collected signatures, bundling them up to send to David Lynch's production company, who would send them on to the network. Go ahead, picture it and laugh a little inside, as if you aren't already.Now, keep in mind, this was back in the early 'net days, when fans communed through Usenet and email discussion lists, when we sat in front of monochrome monitors and sent amber-texted messages through what may have been an actual series of tubes. When Twin Peaks was put on hiatus and in danger of disappearing during its second season, C.O.O.P. chapters started popping up all over the country, with members petitioning, spreading the word, organizing fan-events and letter-writing campaigns. I ended up, by default, becoming my state's lead representative, and I wasn't alone... my fellow volunteers might even be out there reading this. Don't worry, I won't out any of you... you can do that yourself in the comments (I'm looking at you, Mr. Vice President). Weird thing was, all that effort actually paid off, at least for a little while. ABC listened and brought the show back for six more episodes, just enough to finish off that shaky second season, but no more. The follow-up-that-wasn't of a film, "Fire Walk With Me", answered none of the hanging questions from the series, most importantly: "How's Annie?!". Later that year, long after the final episode of Twin Peaks came and went, I received an unexpected envelope in my mailbox from the production company. Inside was a personalized thank-you note, written and signed by David Lynch himself, along with a crisp one dollar bill, as he said, "to buy yourself a damn fine cup of coffee." As a hardcore Lynch fan, one who started watching Twin Peaks thanks to a love of "Blue Velvet", and counted the more-recent "Wild at Heart" among his favorite films ever, there couldn't have been anything cooler. (not cool: watching as that framed letter went up in fast-spreading flames just a few months later. An almost Lynchian image, but that's another story). While his output has varied a bit in the years since, I've never missed seeing his films as soon as they hit theaters, for Lynch succeeds far more often than he fails. With all his work, even if I think he comes up short creatively, the ideas and images still resonate for days afterwards. It had been five long years since his last theatrical release, the excellent "Mulholland Dr.", so when I found out that his newest film was coming to Cambridge's Brattle Theatre, I knew I'd be in line. What I didn't know was that tickets for the very first showing last Sunday, December 3rd, which would include a Q&A with the director himself, would sell out before I had a chance to get them. Even Craigslist searches proved fruitless, with far more fans looking for tickets than those with extras to offer. I'd given up long before Ashley dropped me an email a few hours before the screening to say she had two extras. Aces. It'll come as no surprise to David Lynch fans that "Inland Empire" is a hypnotic, twistedly confusing time-bender of a film. At three hours, it's pure, unfiltered Lynch, full of disturbing, dream-like imagery, role-switching, life-sized rabbits (one supposedly played by a masked Naomi Watts), and almost indecipherable symbolism. And as lengthy as it was, there wasn't a single moment that had my mind wandering, and it was tough deciding when to break for the Brattle bathroom. He mines his dependable stock of previous actors (Harry Dean Stanton, Justin Theroux, Diane Ladd, Grace Zabriskie), and adds some new ones (Jeremy Irons, a William H. Macy cameo), but it's Laura Dern's film. We haven't seen enough of her on screen lately, and she's just amazing in this. After we left the theater, we were trying to figure out what a marketing team's plot summary would possibly say, and Lynch's own tagline of "a woman in trouble" is really the only thing that works. And while Dern is easily the female lead, it's hard to say she's actually the woman in question. ![]() Here's David Lynch's question & answer session with the Brattle audience after the credits rolled, as well as a pre-film intro that included some improvisational viola and a bit of poetry... ![]() David Lynch @ the Brattle Theatre for a screening of "Inland Empire" Sunday, December 3rd, 2006 Officially declared "David Lynch Day" in Cambridge, Massachusetts Mp3: "Inland Empire" Introduction Mp3: Audience Q&A Session Y'know, I still can't listen to Lynch speak without thinking of Gordon Cole. In response to a question about the long-awaited DVD release of the second season of Twin Peaks, he answered with a fairly definitive "spring" (update: April 10th! Season 2 set artwork here). Finally, just a few cold months away. And as unoriginal and unanswerable a question it would have been, I was seriously tempted to ask "Sooo... how's Annie?"... A few related links... If I still had that dollar bill that he sent me 15 years ago, it'd be fitting if I spent it on some of "David Lynch Signature Cup" brand coffee. Yes, the director has his own new line of organic brews, including espresso, house roast, and decaf french roast. He made it available for free at our screening, along with "Inland Empire" t-shirts and coasters. The DL coffee line's motto? "It's all in the beans... and I'm just full of beans." Sounds like something one of his characters might say, doesn't it?... ![]() Labels: movies $blog_id=116523395806869418; $blog_mail="bsearles@gmail.com"; $file_name=$PHP_SELF; global $blog_id, $blog_mail, $file_name; include ("blogkomm/module/blogkomm_show_link.php"); ?> |
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