Twin Peaks Festival 2006

Wow. What can I say? The trip to North Bend and Snoqualmie Falls was absolutely amazing. Mom and I weren't sure what to expect at first. I knew I was going to fall in love with the experience and the people, but I had no idea how much my heart would be touched. It's hard to sum up in words....even emotions....For those of you who know me, I'm going to put together a photo album and I can show you me being total Geek Nathan. I have this really goofy shot of me lying on the zig-zaggy floor of the Red Room, looking like I'm Slewn Annie/Caroline.

First, the people: I met many kindred souls....Robin....Charlie....Mary....The list goes on and on. I am super impressed (SUPER!) with Josh's knowledge of everything Lynch, and I loved the festival leaders: Kelly, Jordan, Jared, and Amanda....and so many others, Bryan, Andrew and Bree, on an on....Thank you all for your kindness, creativity, support, and intelligence. This was like the family reunion I've always wanted to go to -- a pure slice of Cherry Pie Utopia. Mom had a blast, as well. We just totally hit it off exploring the sites, hiking through the woods, eating some good and not-so-good food, going to Seattle for the film festival at the Museum of History and Industry (and those pre-Lost Highway margaritas were fun, too!), partying like rock stars, attending that lush and wonderful banquet in the cabin/barn, with the owls all over and the strung lights and the amazing caterers. I am really, really impressed with the celebrities who attended, as well. Phoebe Augustine (Ronnette Pulaski) is a beautiful, open soul who is, like, the easiest person in the world to hold a conversation with; plus, out of all the fan attendees she annointed Mom with the tiara, so she's got really good taste. Jan D'Arcy (Sylvia Horne) has a brazen, yoga-ish sexiness and intelligence to her. Kimmy Robertson (Lucy Moran) is pure Lovely Fashion Icon; she says what's on her mind and gives good hugs. Kenneth Welsh (Windom Earle) has a graying, middle-aged sexiness, as well as natural charm. A couple more highlights: Mom wanting to get it on with Windom and Kimmy tapping my shoulder and saying, "Nathan, I hope to see your book on a shelf one day. I look forward to reading it." And, of course, I came home with lots of yummy merchandise: a lunch box, a half-heart locket, magnets, pins, a T-shirt and sweater, coffee mugs, signed pictures, a handmade owl named Who purchased by my mother from Miss Oblivious, she of the glitter mascara at the Moose Lodge (No. 1666).

Twin Peaks came into my life just when I needed it -- like most everything else. I remember my dad dropping Jordan, Aaron, and me off at home after a weekend at his house in Chicago. (I was 13.) I missed the first 10 so minutes of the pilot (sigh!)....and that night sticks out to me, sitting on that dying gray futon chair.....my mom coming home from her date with John Brady and saying she wished she'd stayed home to watch it with me, because she kept catching glimpses of it on the bar's TV and she would have rather been caught up in the mystery that night. Over the next year and a half-ish, Twin Peaks became a mentor, friend, bible, spiritual guide. It's not like the popular kids were knocking down my door to ask me over on Saturday nights, thus--during the show's second season--I had plenty of time to get wrapped up in cherry stems and eye patches, orchids and gravestones, plastic and safety deposit keys. This show is one of this Pivotal Things that truly has helped shape me -- much like Tori Amos's music, the books of Christopher Pike and Francesca Lia Block, films like Lawn Dogs, Contact, and American Beauty. Sometimes we are witness to Soul Events that don't teach as much as help us remember. Twin Peaks helped open my sexuality, my sense of identity (or, well, several of them!), helped me tap into my life in the small town of Lake Geneva, WI. We are all wrapped up in surreal events and magic, both the literal kind and the kind of the heart. Mysteries, I've learned, can make us stronger if we let them--we don't need life to always come in tidy packages. Agent Cooper and the rest showed me what it's like to reach inside our guts, yank out that black motor oil, and smear it lovingly over ourselves to understand it better. And heck, Audrey Horne has been my role model ever since! I mean, she's drop-dead gorgeous, does that wondrous cherry stem thing, captures a room when she enters it, has a sense of sexiness and innocence intertwined, and won the heart of her Special Agent. She was both vulnerable and ferocious, wise and naive. You know the scene when Cooper rescues her from One-Eyed Jacks and picks her up and she says something to the effect of, "You answered my prayers, you came for me"? Yeah....that pretty much sums up my version of a knight in shining armor. You know, except he's dressed in black and I'm not shot up with heroin and tied unwillingly to a bed. Unwillingly, I said. Unwillingly.

It was hard to leave on Sunday. Those few days are some of the best of my life. Thank you all (you rock, Mom!) for making this so special. Like I just said about the show, it's more like I remember you all rather than just having met you. Twin Peaks brought us together for a reason. Many blessings, everyone. The owls are not what they seem, but you are more damn fine that infinite cups of coffee.