If you were alive in the 50s you remember where you were when Betty Cuthbert won the 100/200 sprint double at the Melbourne Olympics. Similarly for the 60s when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and the 70s when Mohammed Ali beat George Foreman in Zaire to reclaim his world heavyweight boxing crown. In the 80’s ??? – maybe you don’t remember anything let alone where you were but if you lived through the 90s you would remember the exact time and place you were when you saw the first episode of Twin Peaks. It changed the relationship between cinema and TV forever, but more importantly it would change your perspective on “normality” and change the way you view the motivation of others and the imbalance in how society values achievement over mythology.
When you walk into Barboza in Seattle you walk into Twin Peak’s Red Room. The stage is small. There are red velvet curtains. Kyle MacLachlan isn’t sitting in the corner. There are no dwarfs dancing but Maria BC (@mariab4christ) like an electric Julee Cruise is playing to a sparse crowd. This could be the Roadhouse scene in Twin Peaks.
Maria BC is playing Taper (included on the sound track to I Saw The TV Glow). Just plaintive electric guitar and the most haunting mezzo soprano you will ever hear. Looped reverb harmonies feed in. The tingling down your spine is real. The whole set is like a dream sequence. You drift between consciousness and unconsciousness.
It’s like the sound extends the red curtains to envelop you. At times you float. During Haruspex your emotions are dissected like a dead animal. Luckily you feel no pain. Closing song The Only Thing describes the limits of memory with only visions and feelings remaining like a gibber plain. Maria BC’s sophomore album Spike Field released last year conjures many meanings. The reality of the collective guilt of human achievement and the price the next generations will have to pay for our pursuit of achievement over mythology. It is a beautiful song list with an undercurrent of horror. Absolutely stunning.
You are left wondering if there will be any beauty in the world tomorrow.
But just maybe there still is, as there are a lot of beautiful trees around Seattle and Snoqualmie Falls are just down the road.
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