The second day of the 2014 Twin Peaks Festival was really fantastic. The ambivalence I had faced the previous morning had long since dissipated, especially after reading comments from fellow first time Murray Wasylnuk, who had read my recap of Day 1. Murray and I met up early Saturday morning – we were both on the 8:30 am bus tour that would take us to many of the amazing locations used for shooting the pilot and Fire Walk With Me.
Our tour was led by Rob Lindley, who also happens to be one of the organizers of the Fest. The fellow clearly knows his stuff, and considering his army background, has kept things running at a perfect pace. Plus, it’s hard not to like a guy who can speak educatedly about both versions of Queensryche that have been touring the past year or so (Rob gives top marks to the original version with that now has Todd La Torre singing, by the way, so I can’t not like this guy).
The bus tour itself lasted roughly three hours and visited so many Twin Peaks landmarks – the Hurley House, the Sheriff’s Station, Ronnete’s bridge and so many others. The main reason I came to the festival this year was because I was able to get on the bus tour, and it was well worth it.
The Hurley House
From the opening credits – Snoqualimie Falls
Ronnete’s Bridge
What remains of the Packard Saw Mill
“Uh, I’m going to transfer it to the phone on the table by the red chair. The red chair against the wall. The little table with lamp on it. The lamp we moved from the corner? The black phone, not the brown phone.”
Following the tour, a bunch of us braved the freeway to caravan to Laura Palmer’s house, which was close to an hour away from the Festival site. This tour was led by filmmaker Josh Eisenstadt, who is a Twin Peaks expert and could point out what went on it a given room in the Palmer house. The home was recently sold after being owned by the same folks for the last 25 years plus. We were able to peak inside and the layout and much of the furniture was exactly the same as when we all first saw it so many years ago. Seeing the Palmer home, as well as the Hayward’s, which was just around the corner, made the seemingly endless drive there well worth it, so thanks again to Josh for taking us there.
The Palmer House
The evening portion was the Q & A, dinner (very tasty), costume contest and autograph signing with the celebrities – Kimmy Robertson, Sherilyn Fenn, Chris Mulkey, Charlotte Stewart, Wendy Robie and Connie Woods. This is an interesting part of the event for me – truthfully, lining up long stretches to get something signed has not really been something I’ve done for many, many years now. I’m simply not good at standing in one spot for too long, so I bowed out of a few lines and stood back and watched the other fans interact. Every one of the actors completely gave of their time, and didn’t simply rush through the throng of people. That being said, I did manage to get my Rue Morgue cover story signed by Wendy, Charlotte, Chris and Kimmy for both myself and the magazine, but this was during a second session when the lines were far less treacherous.
Chris Mulkey (Hank Jennings)
Wendy Robie (Nadine Hurley)
Kimmy Robertson (Lucy Moran)
While all this was certainly wonderful, one of the real highlights was the little group of us that wound up spending lots of time together – Phil, Andrea, Murray, Melanie and Matt (that’s who you’ll find in the final picture). It was nice to have a few folks to gravitate to and share the experience with – in fact, I’m off to meet everyone for breakfast right now at Twede’s aka the Double R Diner!
Trapped in The Black Lodge
Happy release of Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery and The Missing Pieces day! Like so many of you, I’ve waited decades to see the scenes cut from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and having watched them over the weekend for Rue Morgue Magazine, I can tell you that you won’t be let down by what David Lynch has compiled.