Twin Peaks UK Festival

[Jerry Horne]

[iar]

I'm very jealous of those who were able to attend! So nice to see photographs and videos coming through.

Both myself and my sister wanted to attend, but I had reservations because she's only 16 and I wasn't sure that I wanted her watching FWWM quite yet...
Also, off the back of a slightly expensive trip to NYC it's all I can do to afford the petrol in my car right now. lol But fingers crossed that there will be another festival next year because I'll definitely be there!

Any word on the numbers that attended? A success?

[hori82]

The cinema was pretty packed, but looked like it got completely full later in the day. Julee Cruise made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the day with a performance of 'Falling'. I was 2 rows away from the front for the whole day & she was very emotional singing throughout.

At dinner they gave out cherry pie with Catherine Coulson & Charlotte Stewart chatting to fans, signing & taking pictures. I got Charlotte to sign the black & white picture that Richard Beymer took of her & Don Davis on the last episode & got a picture of her showing off a Eraserhead bag that she made. Another fan got her to sign an Eraserhead vinyl & she told him that she could channel Jack Nance & sign for him as well, but didn't see if the other fan went along. I also got Catherine to sign my FWWM dvd sleeve. Both ladies were so nice & I was impressed that Charlotte remembered my name later on in the evening when I got her to sign the Twin Peaks Gold Box.

Julee was supposed to perform at 5.30pm, but we were told that she hadn't left her hotel. They started setting up for the Q&A with Catherine & Charlotte, when I overheard that Julee was now in the building. Julee perfomed many songs off Floating into the Night & she was very emotional again. Sometimes she couldn't finish lines (she was singing over a CD) & at one point she looked like she was heading for the exit.... but luckily she came back. She came across as very fragile, maybe she was very nervous? Some people thought she was drunk.

We then had the Q&A with Catherine, Charlotte & Julee. Here are some things things that they mentioned;

Catherine had spoken to David Lynch before getting on the plane to London & he asked her to tell us that he sent "a big hello from Dave" & also to purchase 2 new songs that he was releasing.

Julee was thinking about her dogs while she was performing earlier in the evening (I recall her saying that on one of the Twin Peaks dvds)

Charlotte thought that Kyle was very handsome & she spotted him rehearsing his lines on his own while dressed up in the tux that he wears at One Eyed Jacks for the first time. She especially liked him in the tux.

Julee didn't like Eraserhead & hasn't watched any of Lynch's films since.

Charlotte's favourite Lynch film is 'The Elephant Man'.

Jack Nance got Piper Laurie's character name changed to Catherine.. after his ex wife Catherine Coulson.


I then met Julee Cruise. She looks pissed in my picture, but she didn't look like that in real life. She was very nice also.


Overall it was a good day with a few hiccups that led to the agenda being thrown out the window by the end of it. They played the Twin Peaks episodes off a DVD, which had subtitles on at the beginning!! Luckily they rectified it very quick. I didn't stay for the showing of FWWM as I thought it would be a DVD copy also. Can anyone tell me if it was or was it a print??

I'm currently uploading some videos of Julee performing. I'll put the links up shortly.

[hori82]

Here are videos of Julee Cruise performing that I've uploaded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH5GzdvqN4I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6YJAQClmUs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrMl7Hbj094
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FbH4-1puX8

[hori82]

[bitethebullet]

The cinema was pretty packed, but looked like it got completely full later in the day. Julee Cruise made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the day with a performance of 'Falling'. I was 2 rows away from the front for the whole day & she was very emotional singing throughout.

At dinner they gave out cherry pie with Catherine Coulson & Charlotte Stewart chatting to fans, signing & taking pictures. I got Charlotte to sign the black & white picture that Richard Beymer took of her & Don Davis on the last episode & got a picture of her showing off a Eraserhead bag that she made. Another fan got her to sign an Eraserhead vinyl & she told him that she could channel Jack Nance & sign for him as well, but didn't see if the other fan went along. I also got Catherine to sign my FWWM dvd sleeve. Both ladies were so nice & I was impressed that Charlotte remembered my name later on in the evening when I got her to sign the Twin Peaks Gold Box.

Julee was supposed to perform at 5.30pm, but we were told that she hadn't left her hotel. They started setting up for the Q&A with Catherine & Charlotte, when I overheard that Julee was now in the building. Julee perfomed many songs off Floating into the Night & she was very emotional again. Sometimes she couldn't finish lines (she was singing over a CD) & at one point she looked like she was heading for the exit.... but luckily she came back. She came across as very fragile, maybe she was very nervous? Some people thought she was drunk.

We then had the Q&A with Catherine, Charlotte & Julee. Here are some things things that they mentioned;

Catherine had spoken to David Lynch before getting on the plane to London & he asked her to tell us that he sent "a big hello from Dave" & also to purchase 2 new songs that he was releasing.

Julee was thinking about her dogs while she was performing earlier in the evening (I recall her saying that on one of the Twin Peaks dvds)

Charlotte thought that Kyle was very handsome & she spotted him rehearsing his lines on his own while dressed up in the tux that he wears at One Eyed Jacks for the first time. She especially liked him in the tux.

Julee didn't like Eraserhead & hasn't watched any of Lynch's films since.

Charlotte's favourite Lynch film is 'The Elephant Man'.

Jack Nance got Piper Laurie's character name changed to Catherine.. after his ex wife Catherine Coulson.


I then met Julee Cruise. She looks pissed in my picture, but she didn't look like that in real life. She was very nice also.


Overall it was a good day with a few hiccups that led to the agenda being thrown out the window by the end of it. They played the Twin Peaks episodes off a DVD, which had subtitles on at the beginning!! Luckily they rectified it very quick. I didn't stay for the showing of FWWM as I thought it would be a DVD copy also. Can anyone tell me if it was or was it a print??

I'm currently uploading some videos of Julee performing. I'll put the links up shortly.

[musicaddict]

I attended the Festival and I thought overall it was a great effort.

Things did start late which meant the screening of FWWM didn't start until 10:15 pm instead of 9pm. Sadly because it started late I could only stay for the first hour so was a bit disappointed as really wanted to see the whole film on the big screen as I didn't get the chance in 1992. The film was an actual print because at the start there were quite a few scratches and artefacts on the screen. I think it must have been a special one anyways since it was in letterbox format and not wide-screen.

Catherine and Charlotte seemed really down to earth and lovely people. They have some interesting things to say during the Q&A but I am not sure I agree with Catherine's statement that Mark Frost was a good typist (when asked about his contribution to Twin Peaks).

Julee Cruise seemed incredibly spaced out. Not meaning that in a horrible way but I found her performance quite distracting and a few people in the rows in front of me were laughing at her...at first she appeared really frail and possibly anxious but by the Q&A section she wouldn't shut up. Many times she didn't even answer the question that was asked and she talked over Catherine and Charlotte. It felt very much like since she was there she was going to tell us her stories whether we asked for them or not. I think I picked up some insecurity on her part because she spent most of her answers name dropping eg. that she had Madonna's publicist at one point etc.....

Double RR Club act was superb. When I read about them at first I thought it might be a bit cringey but they were so good they actually "got" Twin Peaks and how to incorporate it into their act. Will definitely see them again next year!

Hopefully there will be another Festival and more actors next time!

[hori82]

At some points during the Q&A it looked like Catherine was getting annoyed with Julee.. especially when Julee was giving a long answer & Catherine wanted to get through as many questions as possible within the short time given. Meeting all 3 of them, I thought they were all very nice, but I can see how Julee could come across as annoying in the Q&A.

[Annie]

Thanks guys for reporting on the UK Fest. I'm glad somebody did and it sounds better than I'd heard elsewhere.

[piero]

This was my first TP Fest and I really had a great time. Catherine was so awesome and she was very happy to be there. Charlotte too. Julee was cool, and I don't mind if she was drunk or whatever! She was GREAT! Before the Q&A with actors we had a break and I went to see some merchandise in a room close to the cinema room. I didn't expect to see Catherine and Charlotte there, for the very first time in my life. I was very excited. So happy! They signed some stuff I took from my collection and took pictures with me. A very cool experience. Watching some episode and FWWM on the big screen was a real crush. I could noticed a lot of things that I never noticed on tv! Was too amazing. Then the Q&A with all three... I realized that I can understand american speaking more than english speaking. I really understood everything! Yes, Julee was sometimes...I don't know how to explain...For a while I thought she was Courtney Love! I hope there will be a second fest next year (hope in spring or summer time because it was too cold - when I came back here in Italy looked like it was spring!). I really hope to get the money to make the US Fest too! Here's some pictures I took. Enjoy.

[piero]

...

[jlyon1515]

I'm SO happy for all of you who attended the fest, especially those who were having this as your first big Twin Peaks experience.

A big THANK YOU has to go out to the organizers, too. Knowing from experience, festival schedules always seem to get changed, and you have to go with the flow. (Have we ever started the movie night at the Seattle Art Museum on time? LOL.) They put in a bunch of time and energy to spread the Twin Peaks love, and it seems to have been quite the success!

[oneofthesupremes]

I'm glad to see people had a good time at the festival, but I and my friends were very disappointed by it.

I was unsure whether to say anything because I know it will seem as if I'm criticizing the organisers who obviously were doing something they'd never done before and it must've been very difficult. On the other hand, we each paid £50 for an advertised event which did not live up to its promise. And if the event is to happen again, I think it would be helpful to take note of what went wrong.

Firstly, losing three of the booked acts is really unacceptable. Illness can't be avoided of course, but Kimmy's flight requirements should've been known and covered beforehand. And a reserve list of replacements should've been made and pulled from. Heck, even if it was just Dick Tremayne! We're told a sponsor pulled out taking the flight money with them, which again is possibly unavoidable. But to have no back up plan? Did the event have no insurance to cover this? Were contracts and funds not in place before the guests were announced? If not this is bad practice and it's unacceptable to expect the ticket buyers to accept this without complaint. And Paula's cancellation was announced in such a matter of fact way on the day, when this was a major reason for my attendance (along with my photographer friend). Was it not possible for her to FTP or drop box her slideshow so we could at least have seen that?

It was great to see Charlotte and Catherine and the Q&A was fascinating. But I paid to see Kimmy and Michael, and Paula's slideshow too. I didn't get any of those things, so am I not entitled to a refund? I would not have paid £50 for just Charlotte and Catherine, as wonderful as they were (I'll get on to Julee, later).

The screenings were shoddy. I'm sorry, but they were. It was a cold cinema (I noticed several people pulling coats over their legs). The firedoor was left ajar so light streamed in by the side of the screen (as well as a draught). A triangle of light was reflecting off the screen for most of the evening, which was distracting, and the other side had a black mark on it. The first episode started very late, it wasn't explained why. And no rare material? Just four episodes? Even showing some of the extras from the gold box might've made it slightly more interesting.

The breaks were far too short, meaning there was little time to pee or eat. Lunch was 40 mins yet the restaurant was fully reserved (and wouldn't have served food in enough time any way) and we were too far away from Hammersmith to get there, eat and get back. The entire day I managed to eat a slice of the free cherry pie and a doughnut thrown at me by a stipper! I was shaking from sugar and grumpy from hunger. I'd tried to queue up to get another free doughnut with a coffee (even though I don't drink coffee - the doughnuts weren't for sale) but the queue was too long and I had to go back into the screening before I got to the front. Not happy.

The sound on the screenings was way too quiet. Maybe I'm knit-picking? Maybe, but all I could think was I could be watching a far better picture with far better sound, in warmth with food at home. Why was I paying £50 for this?

I've never been to a fan convention before so I don't have anything to judge them against but I was expecting a lot more set dressing of the venue to make it seem special. As it was we had some red lights in the cinema but the rest of the place was bare walls and fluorescent lights. It looked grim.

The merch table was confusing. The specially made merch packs did look good and made to a high standard. But I couldn't see any explanation of what the silent auction was and how one took part. There were some photos on the table but no prices.

Now onto Julee. Many people seem to have been wowed by her performance. I was embarrassed. Never mind her unprofessional lateness (where was she? We were told she was at the hotel so couldn't a cab have been sent to fetch her?) but she appeared to be drunk or worse. Now I have no evidence that she was, it's just my observed opinion, but she sang badly out of tune on several occasions. And her behaviour at the Q&A was cringe making. It was telling that when Charlotte spoke of the recent reunion of almost all the cast, Julee piped up with "I wasn't invited!" Hmm, wonder why... Rather than talk about Twin Peaks (which she claimed to have seen little of) she preferred to keep telling us how she can play the French Horn (I counted 5 mentions) and all her success in musical theatre. That's fine but it was at the expensive of some truly fascinating Lynch and TP anecdotes from Charlotte and Catherine (some of which she talked over or joined in with incongruously).

Of course, none of that was the fault of the organisers. But it was the lack of anything else that made it feel so frustrating and such a, sorry to say it, rip-off.

We adjourned to the pub for the FWWM screening (since we were not in the best of moods by then and didn't want to see it on the square screen - picky, but hey we're fans prepared to go to a convention, of course we want the best print on the best screen with the best sound. Anything else we can get at home.) When we returned, the screening had barely begun since apparently the signing had massively overrun. When one of our party enquired about the disco and quiz they were told there'd just be a parade of costumes in the bar then that would be it. So that's two more things I paid for that didn't happen. We went home, several hours before the advertised finish time. I can only hope those who stayed got their money's worth.

And even as I'm writing this I realise I sound like one of those terrible people who complain about everything. But goodwill is one thing, but I've been excited ever since the announcement of this event; it sounded fantastic. In reality, for my £50 (let's overlook the requests for us to donate more money) I got less than half of what was advertised and what did happen was mostly shoddy.

The Double R burlesque was well done (though not my kind of thing - stripper doughnuts accepted) but without them this would've been a very expensive day in a cold cinema with a Q&A and a ropey karaoke from Julee Cruise. I wouldn't pay for that again, and neither would the seven friends who came with me. And yet we'd all love to go to the kind of event that was advertised - if only it could be done properly.

One final note. As Catherine Coulson pointed out, it's very difficult to get American guests to fly to England (economy) on Thanksgiving weekend. No wonder it was so sparsely attended by the stars. Another date might have made all the difference.

I can't begin to imagine what a nightmare it must've been to organise. But if you're going to charge people a lot of money, you really need to be damn sure they get what they pay for.

[missoulamt]

How many people attended the event?

So, Kimmy R cancelled because of flight problems. Was it ever mentioned why Michael and Paula never showed up?

[oneofthesupremes]

How many people attended the event?

So, Kimmy R cancelled because of flight problems. Was it ever mentioned why Michael and Paula never showed up?

Don't know what happened with Michael. Paula got ill on the day. The problem with Kimmy was that the festival apparently lost sponsorship and couldn't afford the flights. They asked the stars to fly economy but Kimmy has back problems and couldn't. That's all I know.

Apparently Catherine and Charlotte both flew economy and appeared for free. I think I might actually have been happy if the whole day was just sitting about talking to them. Fascinating and funny women, both.