Only Blue Skies and Golden Sunshine All Along the Way: A David Lynch Tribute
It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch. We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’
Shock. Disbelief. Anger. Emptiness. Grief. Those are just a few emotions I was experiencing in the evening of January 16th 2025 once I read that statement of the Lynch family. Someone hacked his account, can’t be the real official one, right? Right?? Right??? Very soon it was obvious that it wasn’t an elaborate sick prank by someone on the internet using a fake account to gain some attention. It was real, damn real, but felt so surreal even though everyone knew that he was 78 and struggling with with emphysema after being a chain smoker for most of his life (starting from age 8), barely going outside and in need of supplemental oxygen to be able to walk. He was recently evacuated from his home because of the LA wildfire getting out of control. “At least Mr. Lynch is in a safe place,” was exactly what I was thinking the previous days after seeing the horror of wildfire in LA. It will be later stated that he died on January 15th during his meditation session that he hasn’t ever missed since he started meditating using the technique of transcendental meditation in 1973.
My usual habit on 3DXChat on Thursday evenings is to open my own room that is heavily inspired by David Lynch and Twin Peaks (called The Lodge built by my dear friend pamelapammy). It is mostly a room for the metal community as that genre is usually played there.
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My first room was even more inspired by Lynch and the Roadhouse segments from Twin Peaks: The Return (A’n’D’s D’n’A Roadhouse build by Almuth) where besides metal, we’d often play dark jazz and music inspired by Lynch’s work (mostly metal but often transcending genres if the concept was fitting). Both were conceptual rooms and carried the idea of thematically conceptual events for every time they would be opened. The relation and influence between David Lynch and music should be a topic of a separate article, but is stated here just as some background context for my personal experience with 3DX, my hosting and streaming music. It was always Lynch related…
On that Thursday evening another completely different thematical event was planned. They usually take quite some time to think about, research and prepare, so I plan them in advance and rarely cancel. The previous one we did was a touching tribute to David Bowie. After reading the sad news I was not sure what to do exactly, but doing the planned event was not right. So it was essentially between cancelling for that day or insisting on the planned Canada theme.
Luckily my dear friend Vibrent talked me into doing a David Lynch tribute. That essentially meant opening the room as soon as possible and adding music as it goes which is not something I like to do. However, that was the only right thing to do for that occasion and regardless how difficult it was for me to do it, I’m glad we did it and had our own small tribute night to Lynch by playing from some of his own music to the one he used in his movies, with Twin Peaks related music being mostly played. Almost four hours of music was streamed and it was my longest streaming session since hosting events.
Did I feel better after it? Not really, but great art can have the healing effect which I believe exactly started with that process of going through some of his most iconic musical collaborations with Angelo Badalamenti, including many more. It turned out to be the last time the Roadhouse build would be opened as I decided that it got the perfect ending it deserves. As Chromatics would say in their iconic song “Shadow”: “Shadow, take me down with you / For the last time…” Or who knows, maybe again in 25 years…
As one chapter was closing, another one opened, continuing the same theme. I was approached by my friend Vibrent to maybe write something about Mr Lynch for The Hidden Circle Gazette and ended up soon talking about it with Curt. As the last Renaissance man put it himself in Twin Peaks through the character of Special Agent Dale Cooper: “I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.” So buckle up for some tunatelling experience (term coined during one streaming session in The Lodge).
To celebrate David Lynch’s birthday (January 20th), we won’t start with the beginning of his career, nor with my favourite Twin Peaks material, but rather something towards the end when he once again redefined himself.
Mr. Lynch as YouTuber
Yes, you read that right, not a typo! Correct timelines and linear chronology are lame anyways in the Lynch universe… The first cases of the COVID-19 happened in November 2019 which soon became a global pandemic from March 2020. The lockdown started to be the new reality with all the other measures of social distancing. While everyone was dealing with it in their own way, it was a very uncertain time and keeping sanity intact was not so easy to achieve. The mass hysteria and madness that followed was also a bad place for creative people and art in general. Enter David Lynch.
While the idea of Lynch doing an internet related project is not something new and can be traced to his early website in the mid 2000s, this came as a real surprise. Initially he stopped doing the weather reports in 2010 because of too many other projects and it served its purpose being a kind of early social media. On his website, many clues could be found and then traced to the forum where they would be discussed and hidden links would lead you to some secret video clips from Lynch himself. It was interactive in a fun way, weird in a positive way and very, very avantgarde. During those late 2000s, he’d even call local LA radio stations and give them his short weather report which he’d do again during the pandemic era. Some of these old weather reports and the content from his web site from that time can be found in the internet archives (search for “davidlynch.com”). The revived format would be brought back during the covid era in May 2020:
What started as a 30 seconds short weather report slowly became a bit longer with some occasional musical recommendations, varying from 1 to 2 minutes. You can find all the songs that were mentioned in those weather reports on Spotify.
While Lynch is famous for not wanting to explain his work, he gave us quite an insight during those short videos, as well as in many other interviews. Music was always special to him and he most definitely engaged in poetic cinematography where music became a vital part to understand a particular scene or even the entire movie or series. But when the entire world stopped, when everyone became at least a little insane, Lynch became for many the beacon of sanity with his daily weather reports that for the next 2 and a half years he’d almost never miss.
You were forbidden to leave your home, but you knew David Lynch will say something about the weather the next day. You could not go to your dear friend’s funeral because it was only for close family members allowed, but you knew David Lynch would give a song recommendation to listen to the next day. The usually toxic YouTube comment section became a place of compassion, friendship and collective struggle during those difficult times, regardless where you live. Many did not even live in the USA, let alone in LA, but all of could not wait until the next day and hear about what Mr Lynch will say about the weather in LA.
Blue skies and golden sunshine all along the way became a mantra for keeping sanity for so many people. Mr Lynch waving to the camera and wishing us to have a great day gave the much needed strength and hope when everything seemed so bleak. Sensing what the world needs, he’d a spin to the weather reports and take it to the next level, going almost back to the codes in the old website but this time in a new medium of YouTube.
Lynch would also start YouTube series from late May 2020 under the title What Is David Working on Today? You can find the link to it here:
Many of these would be case book definition of Lynchian videos and amused his fans all along the way. It all led to the making of the jar and balls for what soon will turn out to be another daily segment on the David Lynch Theater YouTube channel. August 16th 2020 was the day when the purpose of the Jar would be revealed:
The first number drawn out in this lottery would be 8 and very soon the comment section went crazy (in a positively creative way) about expectations for the next day’s number. Very simple and effective way to unite the people and to talk about something so trivial as this, with the hopes that the reality would become easier to handle. And it worked, Mr Lynch’s magic was everywhere for those longing to see it. More and more fans would be coming to the comment section and talking about it. It became so popular that even The Guardian wrote about it, in what turned out to be an absolute classic episode when finally the 7 would be drawn out.
One YouTube commenter became especially legendary and was even mentioned in that article. Wes W would write every single day the following: “Man if tomorrow’s not a 7 I’m gonna lose it.” While we don’t know who Wes W really was, or was it maybe Lynch all along, we all became Wes W in a way. The collective effort for the next 41 days to get that 7 out of the jar was unmatched which is by the way Lynch’s favourite number. And then the joy and happiness when it finally happened and when even Mr Lynch mentioned Wes W giving us clear indication that he was checking out the comment section and in that case then most definitely also knew how much that meant for all of us at that time.
The daily Weather Report and Today’s Number became the two most important internet segments for Lynch’s fans more than 2 years since their introduction to the David Lynch Theatre YouTube channel. Stories were written and shared, people got comfort in knowing they’re not alone and many new friendships were forged. Mr Lynch sparkled creativity in some people who didn’t even believe they had it in themselves and it was pure magic. However, all good things eventually have to end, or at least in one of their forms, in this case the physical one. On December 11th 2022, his dear friend and lifelong artistic collaborator Angelo Badalamenti passed away. Lynch addressed that the next day when he stated “today, no music” in the Weather Report for December 12th while everyone could see how deeply Badalamenti’s death has affected him.
The world was already restoring at that point and the early days of the pandemic felt like distant past. Lynch’s mission seems have ended too very soon after Badalamenti’s passing, he will post the final two videos for both segments on January 16th 2022. While Lynch’s fans kept commenting and wanting more of their daily Lynch doses, it was a right thing to let it go at that point. It will be known later that it became some sort of a burden for him to keep it doing every single day, combined with his declining health, but he felt it needed to be done regardless of what.
With Badalamenti being no longer there and the world restoring to how it once was, this experiment has fulfilled its purpose and it was time for something else. Mr Lynch would still be very active in his studio and take part in many interviews, especially regarding his favorite topic of transcendental meditation, but the last number from the jar was 1 which was a nice ending to that series as it represents oneness and unity, key principles David Lynch believed in most of his adult life. He certainly did bring peace and unity for his fans at least during the duration of those video segments in a very difficult time for most of the world.
The fun work train never stopped moving for Lynch as he kept working on numerous projects, particularly painting, until his death. Today (January 20th) would’ve been his 79th birthday and the fans all over the world would be thinking about what his next project might eventually turn out to be. While we all do hope some new documentaries and unreleased Lynch projects will eventually be released, the last truly Renaissance man has gone and there would never be someone like him. This article (maybe the first in the series of many more on the topic of Lynch) most certainly proved that he had his fans and admirers in all spheres and places, including such an unlikely place like the adult game 3DXChat where he has a small but dedicated number of lifelong fans and also many more who would like to learn more about this exceptional and unique Artist (yes, with capital A!).
Dear reader, thank you reading this article and have a great day with blue skies and golden sunshine all along the way!
By The Magician Longing to See
Amazing story and so well put together