April 28, 2024

Moviewise, this has been an unusual year for me, as I haven't watched with anything near the nightly regularity of recent years, in which I averaged well over 300 films annually. That practice led to an expected dead end because I eventually ran out of unseen films, both at the Libe and on Youtube, and that lack of material, coupled with the life-changing revelations I received from October 2023 to April 2024 (and the examination that resulted) caused me to "pause" movies for a while. Last night, however, I got an urge to watch "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me", which I bought on DVD in 2018. It's been sitting on my shelf for six years. Why have I never watched it? I don't know. Maybe it has a vibe associated with the era: early '90s. I am so attuned to my subconscious that it's more or less my waking state. I mean, it doesn't brush my teeth or make my coffee, but, my life being what it is, my subconscious wants me to be a whole person again, something I have not been for 35 years, and so it saturates me in what I call notions, sensory or emotional input from my past, often specific to certain years. And of course movie triggers (memory prompts) are hugely important for me, and especially from a David Lynch movie.

So, last night I popped "Fire Walk" into the player, on impulse, and as it began, I realized I last saw it half my life ago, when it was released in 1992. As it played, I realized I was a different person then, 100% in the dark about the monumental occurrence in my life. I was mourning the loss of Lillian (always will). There was no internet, no cell phones, and George Bush the First was still president. The world was a different place, and yet I also realized that it was really the same place then, because the internet and cell phones are just distractions. They have no effect on the birds or the rocks at Chatsworth Park, and we are living in a holding pattern for the past 35 years because 1989 has been buried and erased. Of course, the general public does not know this, so life for them continues on, in it's 24/7, excito-toxic way. Where I see stasis, the public sees something that is commonly called "progress". We could get into a lengthy dissertation on why technological life is meaningless, and it would be fact-based and not merely my opinion, but I don't want to depress you.

What we see, through "Fire Walk", is that the world was not a different place in 1992. It was the same place it is today, hiding a truth buried now for 35 years that, by its erasure, has affected the entire world. It is not for nothing that I've said, for decades, that What Happened in 1989 is the biggest secret in American History.

Nothing else is even close.

And so the movie blew me away. It is so dark, and so prescient, that if it wasn't so ugly I'd want every adult in America to see it. "Fire Walk" is the Ugly Truth as framed by Laura Palmer. That's why critics hated it, because it lacked the friendly camp of the "Twin Peaks" TV series, the folksy, endearing touches.

The movie is brutal and disgusting, not because it's a disgusting movie, but because many of the characters and the depicted and insinuated truths are disgusting and repulsive. And as I watched, it hit me that I was naive at that point in my life. Something phenomenally unconscionable was done to me - I was medically lobotomized so that I would not remember what happened to me in the Summer of 1989, and what made this different from "normal" amnesia is that I did not know that I didn't remember (normally, an amnesiac is aware they've lost their memory). I now believe that an attempt was made to help me recover my memory, beginning in 1992. It continued into '93, and resulted in my first recollection that October. But in early 1995, that effort was wiped out, too. Since then I've been operating solo, no longer naive, slogging away to try and become a whole person. And here we are today, as a country in 2024, with 24/7 electronic culture, and progress that means nothing. Everyone's "opinion" is news-directed (or did you post up your Ukraine flag on your own initiative?). So Hooray! Hooray for 24 hour news "alerts"! Hooray for inflation and war, and protests of war that mean nothing and will achieve nothing. Hooray for the burial, not only of truth, but real life. They've done a fantastic job.

"Okay, Ad. Enough with the bum trip." And I agree. I don't like it either, but I've gotta get to the truth. 

And so I slog on. I have my David Lynch movies, and there are two sides to every coin. Every dog has his day, and I'll have mine, because as hard as the bad guys work to control and dominate the physical side of life, they don't stand a chance on the spiritual front. That's my territory (remember, I'm subconscious) and I foresee a time when true love will again reign, just like it is hoped for in this movie. As much as I write and think about 1989, 1981 is the year that should really be explored because that was the year in which magic entered the world. It was a year of unbroken, optimistic hearts, inspired by the Angel of True Love. 1981 must be not only be explored but carved in stone so that its meaning will be captured for all time. This is the real Twin Peaks ethos: the desire for Truth and Love, and truth in love (arrived at through true love) not merely lust and sex, certainly not wantonness, nor lurid, aggressive behavior, not ego (or lack of self-esteem), and not any kind of "group mentality" which leads to peer pressure, drugs, prostitution.... to downfall.

Nobody interviews David Lynch, or if they do they expect him to be The Weird Lynch, and that's fine (it's the "slot" folks put him in who don't understand his nature), but with "Fire Walk" he hits you in the face because it's not weird. Oh, it has plenty of strange and dreamlike elements, but the story is straightforward: a father is raping his daughter (Laura Palmer) and she is compensating with cocaine and exhibitionism, prostitution and abandon, because she doesn't care any more, which is horrifically depicted in the penultimate scene with the character "Bobby", where Laura is coked out and uncaring, laughing insanely at the most catastrophic thing: murder. Bobby has shot dead their drug dealer, and she's laughing to avoid passing out.

That, folks, is abandon. Abandonment of one's humanity (represented by a beautiful young girl, Lynch's whole point because she represents "having everything to live for"), in which the girl, knowing she's always been a target (because of her inner and outer beauty), gives up. She gives up and laughs, while the men, bestial and disgusting, take advantage. But far worse is what awaits her at home. Her father, Ray Palmer, is a monster.

Folks think David Lynch is weird, or even "weird for weird's sake", but with "Fire Walk" he hits a Truth Home Run. Hipster movie "critics", who since the 1980s have been more concerned with cultural and political status, didn't get what he was saying with this movie, but he went all the way, and the ending leaves no doubt of his intention. I think it's one of the greatest films ever made. ////

In music news, another legend has left us: Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues. His was a low-key fame, and it's ironic because when you see a list of great keyboardists he is never on it and yet he may have done more to establish keys as the main component of progressive rock than anyone except Keith Emerson. Besides being a founding member of The Moodies (when they were still an R&B outfit), he also worked at the Birmingham factory that manufactured the Mellotron, and it was his job to test and repair them. Pinder was, really, the first "hands-on" guy of the instrument that made progressive rock famous. It was also he, who - in late 1966 - told John Lennon about the 'Tron (as he called it), and John requested the instrument for the recording of "Strawberry Fields Forever" (Paul McCartney plays it on the intro).

Mike Pinder went on to use the Mellotron extensively with the Moody Blues, who changed their style when Justin Hayward John Lodge joined, and made the first progressive rock album: "Days of Future Passed". Now, some will say that "Sgt Pepper" was the first, but it wasn't because The Beatles are unclassifiable. They didn't play anything but Beatles music. Also, "Pepper" is too diverse to be considered progressive rock (I use the full word to take back the classification from "prog".) "When I'm Sixty Four", my new theme song, is a nice tune but not progressive.

But yeah, dig it: Mike Pinder and the Mellotron. No Pinder, no Moody Blues sound. No "Days of Future Past", no "In the Court of the Crimson King". Yeah, I know. Two completely different bands, the virtuosity of KC, etc. But the 'Tron is all over "Crimson King", and the album wouldn't be the same without it. And it's Mike Pinder's instrument, literally speaking. The factory he worked for had no initial marketing plan for it, except to replace studio musicians in an orchestral setting (the Mellotron sounds like a string section and can do other things), but he brought it to his bandmates' attention and the rest is history. The 'Tron was notoriously wonky (it ran on taped samples), it weighed a ton, and was often quite a hassle. King Crimson's David Cross said in 1975 that he wanted to push his Mellotron into the Thames, and Mike Pinder sometimes had to pull his apart on stage to replace the tapes. So it was a cumbersome and erratic beast, but nothing else ever sounded like it, not even the best synthesizers they came up with to replace it.

Nothing sounds like a Mellotron, and a Mellotron is synonymous with progressive rock, so you can thank Mike Pinder, that most anonymous of legends, unless you are a Moody Blues fan, then everyone knows his name.

We've talked about bands with a string of flawless albums. The Moodies are known for their "core seven", as the fans call them. I shant list them here, just Google "Moody Blues Core Seven", but the point is, each of those seven albums is a Ten. I have often posed the question, "Are They The Greatest Band Of All Time?".....needing someone else to answer because I can't do so in the negative. I can't say they were not the greatest band of all time. Seven #10 albums in a row, of music that sounds almost sacred or reverential but still rocks. For me, Justin Hayward should be ranked with the giants. He wrote "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon" when he was 19.

Let's list some of the greatest progressive rock albums ever made, one per band, no particular order:

"Godbluff" - Van Der Graaf Generator

"Brain Salad Surgery" - ELP

"To Our Children's Children's Children" - The Moody Blues

"Close to the Edge" - Yes

"Utopia" - Utopia

"Per Un Amico" - PFM

"Red" - KC

"Selling England By The Pound" - Genesis

"The Snow Goose" - Camel

"Acquiring the Taste" - Gentle Giant

"Land of Grey and Pink" - Caravan

"National Health" - National Health

"Fish Rising" - Steve Hillage

"Lightbulb Sun" - Porcupine Tree

"Another Fine Tune" - Gilgamesh

"Rotter's Club" - Hatfield and the North

"Felona e Serona" - Le Orme

"Remember the Future" - Nektar

"Tubular Bells" - Mike Oldfield

"Hero and Heroine" - Strawbs

"Six Wives of Henry VIII" - Rick Wakeman

"One Size Fits All" - Frank Zappa

"A Passion Play" - Jethro Tull

"UK" - UK

"Refugee" - Refugee

Most of these bands had multiple great albums. These are just the cream of the crop. There also are bands, like Refugee, who only made one album but it was classic. Then there are artists like Frank Zappa, who I only grudgingly added to the list, because as great as "One Size" is, it isn't truly progressive rock. The same goes for Pink Floyd and Rush. Incredible? Yes, in spades. Progressive? Not really. Both bands could be placed under the progressive rock umbrella but should not be, because the music is guitar-based. You can't have guitar as the main component of your sound and be progressive. Sorry. 

Rush are hard rock. Dream Theater? Hard rock. If you do have guitar, it must be blended in below the keyboard, and it must rarely, if ever, solo. In progressive rock, it is the keyboard that solos, or the flute. Bands like DT are metal masquerading as progressive. You know progressive rock when you hear it. 

Matching Mole, anyone? I'm listening to "Little Red Record" as I type. 

I like to talk about music, but I'd rather talk about truth. I'm interested in learning about my life, which I know very little about. In my 20s and 30s, I was at the mercy of exceptionally bad people who knew more about my life than I did. Many of those people are still around. I pray for truth and justice, Lord. And I pray for good health.

Finally, on Friday night I went with Grimsley to Harley's Bowling Alley in Simi Valley to see a Rush tribute band called Natural Science. They were excellent, pretty much note-for-note Musician's Institute guys, but man were they loud. It was fun, though, and only fifteen bucks. Onward and upward...