Laura’s Ghost: Women Speak about Twin Peaks is the new book by Courtenay Stallings. She brings actress Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer) to join her in the Red Room. Scott Ryan (Blue Rose Magazine, Red Room Podcast) interviews Stallings and Lee about the new book that covers the darker side of the Laura Palmer story from Twin Peaks. Stallings discusses her interviews with Sheryl Lee, Grace Zabriskie, Jennifer Lynch and many women in the Twin Peaks community.
Sheryl Lee, who wrote the foreword to the book, talks about Season 3, her journey with the character and her involvement in the book.
Press Playbelow to listen or head out to iTunes and download.
Ben Horne said, “We are all Icelanders now.” I would like to change that just a bit. “We are all Harold Smith-ers now.” But we don’t have to reside to being “A lonely soul.” (Sorry my French isn’t any better than Andy’s.)
This Saturday April 4th at 2:00 Eastern Time at the Blue Rose Magazine’s Facebook page will be the “Harold Smith Stay In/Play In” event. So exactly what does that mean? Well you go to the facebook page, like it and then exactly at 2:00 EST this Saturday a free show streams to your device. You will be able to watch it live and send comments and questions to the guests. Each of the guests will also be home FaceTiming your host, Scott Ryan (me). You will be able to see us and send comments. (Don’t worry, we can’t see you, so you can stay in your comfy clothes like you have been for the last 2 weeks.)
The show will begin at 2:00 with a comedy skit staring a Twin Peaks Season 3 cast member and myself, then we will have opening credits with a famous announcer. Then we kick off the show with the first actor to commit to this idea: Charlotte Stewart (Betty Briggs, Mary X).
I am still booking guests but the rest of the announced guests are Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey), Kimmy Robertson (Lucy), John Pirruccello (Chad), James Marshall (James), and David Patrick Kelly (Jerry Horne). David Patrick Kelly will also be performing a song live. And I may just have a surprise or two to magically appear on your Cream Corn plate.
So where did this idea come from? I was supposed to host a panel at Graceland on April 4th with some of the cast of Twin Peaks. It was rightly rescheduled to October due to the global pandemic. I was bummed about not getting to host the panel and see all my Twin Peaks friends. Then I thought, why can’t we all gather anyway? I started making calls and sending emails and everyone was excited to participate. In fact, there is a chance this show will run longer than the Oscars. But I promise it will be more entertaining.
So join us for a free online event to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Twin Peaks. We will laugh, we will be silly and take your questions. It’s a really rough time for artists right now. As an author, I don’t get let go or government assistance, people just stop buying things. The actors are in the same boat. Support art where you can because it is artists that are entertaining you on Netflix, books and music. No one is getting paid to do this event. It is free and just for you.
I really hope to see you there. If you have questions on how to do it, all you have to do is go to the Facebook page and it will be there at 2:00. I set up an event so you can have a reminder.
If you are feeling generous, be sure to check out some of the books and magazines the Blue Rose has to offer at our website: bluerosemag.com
For the first time, Scott Ryan gets to interview Twin Peaks creator Mark Frost. Mark Frost is the subject of David Bushman’s new book, Conversations with Mark Frost. Scott talks to Frost about being a writer, hollywood and Twin Peaks. Then John Thorne takes over to interview author David Bushman about writing the book and interviewing Frost over 20 times. You can order the book discussed by clicking here. For now, listen to this 2 hour podcast all about Mark Frost.
Press Playbelow to listen or head out to iTunes and download.
Last week CBS announced a new Twin Peaks Festival in Memphis, TN. and closed down the one in Snoqualmie, Wa. Scott Ryan invites US Festival organizers Amanda Hicks and Jared Lyon to The Red Room to discuss the 9 years they ran the Festival and how they feel about it all coming to an end. They have not had anything to do with the Festival in over 7 years, but their love for Twin Peaks and the fandom still shines bright.
Scott, Amanda and Jared, while knowing a lot of the same people, had never spoken before this podcast. Listeners will see how quickly they become friends and communicate in the language of Twin Peaks. Topics include: What it is like to run a festival, who they loved meeting, do they think a corporation can run it the same way as fans do, and lots of great memories with some wonderful Twin Peaks friends.
Press Play to listen or head out to iTunes: and download:
July 19-21, Sheryl Lee and Ray Wise came to Columbus, Ohio to attend 4 showings of Fire Walk With Me. Scott Ryan from The Blue Rose magazine was at all four showings and is here to tell you all about it. Josh Minton from Red Room and Skeleton Key was there as well. So Scott & Josh discuss the event.
Then Scott talks with Xan Sprouse from Ghostwood Podcast and Megan Long, a new Twin Peaks fan with an unpopular opinion, and Mike McGraner who planned the entire event. This is the longest podcast we have ever done, sorry about all that.
Click play to listen to the podcast or head out to iTunes:
On Episode 168 of The Red Room Podcast, Scott Ryan welcomes author and Lynch scholar Martha P. Nochimson. She has a new book coming out called Television rewired: The Rise of The Auteur Series. This book covers many of the series that has changed TV over the past 20 years: The Sopranos, X-Files, Mad Men, The Wire, Girls and Twin Peaks. Being the Red Room, we focus on Lynch and Twin Peaks. Listen to this deep dive into Season 3 and the original series. Nochimson lays out all the threads in Season 3 and ties them together as well as anyone has. This is the book that Twin Peaks fans have been waiting for.
The conversation around this podcast dinner table is lively. Click play to listen to the podcast or head out to iTunes:
I don’t know what you do with your friends, but I argue about arcane Twin Peaks history with mine. Yes, I know everyone is wondering about “How’s Annie?” or “What year is this?” or “Who’s the dreamer?” Those answers are easy: Dead, 2014 and Cooper. The harder questions are the ones that we need our memories to answer. The most recent one (so that makes it the most important one) is what day was The Autobiography of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes released?
The internet doesn’t really help on this one. There are websites that say May 1991 or April 1991. Wrapped In Plastic magazine has an article about it in Issue #23, and they list it as April, but no date.
One of The Blue Rose’s Twitter followers said the book came out on May 1st (which was a Wednesday) but Twin Peaks wasn’t airing in May. It was on ANOTHER hiatus. (What was ABC going to do, play the amazing Episode 29 during a sweeps month? Never. Why would they want to air one of the most artistic hours of television ever during sweeps? If they had scheduled Season 3, they would have played Part 8 at 2 AM on a Wednesday. Some grudges I’ll keep for life.)
I want to know the exact date. We know the book had to be released on a Tuesday because that is when books were released back in 1991. So when did it get released?
The month of May just doesn’t feel right to me because I have a memory of reading it while Twin Peaks was airing. I remember specifically thinking because I had read the book, I was more afraid of Windom Earle in those episodes. (But I also have to admit that I could have had this thought when I saw Episode 29, [which aired in June] when we saw Caroline and Cooper laying on the floor together. That scene is directly from the book. {Ok, now I just had a new thought. Does this mean Lynch acknowledged the book? He staged it like it was written in the My Life, My Tapes. Man, he’s changed over the years. If he did that scene today, he would have Caroline be strangled by a rope and say, “I don’t care what was in the Cooper book.” We have fun, don’t we?})
That was when I remembered something very specific. I pictured an article from The USA Today written by TV Critic and Twin Peaks supporter Matt Roush. I was pretty sure that there was a review of the book alongside a picture of Cooper playing chess. But that was in the newspaper in 1991. How could I check that? I would have had to have saved that paper for 28 years and know exactly where I kept it to prove that. Good thing I am a crazy man because I have still have it. (Pictured below)
This article was printed the day Episode 24 aired. (I’ll be damned if I ever use the word titles for the episodes.) Roush has several articles about the return of the show after its six week hiatus. It has a review of Episode 24, a recap of what is going on with the plot of the show, and a review of My Life, My Tapes.
So this article proves that May is not a viable release date. No newspaper would print a review for a book in March that comes out in May. Plus, in the article Roush writes: This “autobiography,” in stores next week, (emphasis added) is by Peaks co-creator Mark Frost’s brother, Scott.” Knowing books comes out on Tuesdays, I submit that the book was released (in the United States) on April 2, 1991. This would jive with my memory that I was reading it while episodes aired. Episodes 25-27 aired for the first 3 weeks in April before ABC pulled the series till June.
I am going on record as mystery solved. (Hey, is this the first mystery ever solved in Twin Peaks? I guess Cooper did actually figure out Josie shot him, but come on, he never really got a handle on her confession. [I love telling Twin Peaks jokes.])
My question for you is can anyone out there prove me wrong? Come on, this is your favorite thing to do, internet. I am asking you to say I am wrong. It is your chance to get me. Ready. Set. Go!
Mike McGraner had an idea and that idea is ready for Columbus, Ohio to experience it. He wanted to play all ten David Lynch theatrical releases in a movie theater. That is now happening. He talks to Scott about how he is doing this and where you can get tickets to this year long event. Eraserhead started the series off in February. Tickets are on sale now for Elephant Man. One movie a month all of 2019. The Blue Rose Magazine and the Red Room Podcast will be at these events. Come out, see a movie and talk Lynch with us.
The Blue Rose Magazine produced a special issue in 2018 called The Women of Lynch; this book is not that. The book, The Women of David Lynch: A Collection Of Essays, was born out of the idea, but it is much bigger. In the magazine, the concept was to review 40 female characters Lynch created/co-created. This new book, brought to you by Scott Ryan (The Blue Rose Magazine) and David Bushman (Twin Peaks: FAQ), is a broader concept. Twelve essays written by female writers with only one direction: write anything you want about David Lynch. The results are amazing, diverse and woefully overdue. This is the first essay book to have all female writers tackle the subject of Lynch.
David Lynch has been accused for decades of sexism and even misogyny in his work, due largely to frequent depictions of violence against women. Yet others see in Lynch’s work the deification of the female, and actresses like Laura Dern and Naomi Watts jump at every opportunity to work with him. “He is the master of the juxtaposition of the creepy and the sweet, the sexual and the chaste,” wrote W’s Lynn Hirschberg. “And at the heart of this tense, intriguing friction, you will always find Lynch’s women.” The Women of David Lynch is a deep, provocative dive into this paradox, featuring twelve essays, thought pieces and impressionistic interpretations of Lynch’s depiction of women on screen by an eclectic array of accomplished female critics, scholars, performers, and writers, each tackling this vexing conundrum in her own unique way. The book also contains an interview with actress Mädchen Amick (Shelly Johnson in Twin Peaks) where she gives first hand knowledge on what it is like to be a woman of Lynch. This book will be released on June 11th but is open for pre-ordering now.
This book contains these new essays:
x. An Introduction by Philippa Snow
1. The Uncanny Electricity of David Lynch’s Women by Leigh Kellmann Kolb
2. Women’s Films: Melodrama and Women’s Trauma in the Films of David Lynch by Lindsay Hallam
3. A Colorless Sky: On the Whiteness of Twin Peaks by Melanie McFarland
4. Welcome to the Bipolar Silencio Club! by Hannah Klein
5. Warding off the Darkness with Coffee and Pie by Mallory O’Meara
6. “This is where we talk, Shelly.” An Interview with Mädchen Amick by Lindsey Bowden
7. The Triple Goddess by Lauren Fox
8. Isabella Rossellini: The Shocking “Real” in Blue Velvet by Kathleen Fleming
9. Tea And Sympathy: Mrs. Kendal and The Elephant Man by Rebecca Paller
10. Jade: Ornamental Gem or Protective Talisman? A Character Study by Marisa C. Hayes
11. “Mary X Marks The Spot.” An Interview with Charlotte Stewart by Lisa Hession
12. Impressions of Lynch: Journaling a Requiem by Mya McBriar
Pre-order this book now from FMP. The book is released June 11, 2019.
Singer and actress Julee Cruise joins Scott for a talk about her albums, career and Twin Peaks. Recently Julee’s second album, The Voice of Love was re-released on vinyl. You will learn what Julee thinks about this album compared to her other work. If you are lucky maybe Julee and Scott will duet on a song…but I don’t think you’ll ever guess what song it would be. Enjoy a look back at the music of the angelic, Julee Cruise.
Special thanks to Julee and her record company for the use of the songs. Please support the artist and pick up some of the tunes you don’t already have.
Also subscribe to the Twin Peaks magazine, The Blue Rose.
Last week CBS announced a new Twin Peaks Festival in Memphis, TN. and closed down the one in Snoqualmie, Wa. Scott Ryan invites US Festival organizers Amanda Hicks and Jared Lyon to The Red Room to discuss the 9 years they ran the Festival and how they feel about it all coming to an end. They have not had anything to do with the Festival in over 7 years, but their love for Twin Peaks and the fandom still shines bright.
