A Gathering of the Angels: Celebrating David Lynch, Live

Renowned Lynch enthusiast Keith B Walters chats with Lindsey Bowden, the creative director of A Gathering of the Angels—the much-anticipated celebration of the work of David Lynch to be held at London’s iconic Genesis Cinema later this month. Here be much coffee and donuts.

When the news broke that David Lynch had passed, my immediate thought was ‘it is happening again’ – the same sadness, the same loss and wrongness of it all. It was the same feeling I’d had when David Bowie died, and for the same reasons I’d felt back then: An absolute force of nature, a whirlwind of the creative arts, a person for whom the layers of their life and their work are without limits and without end.

David Lynch, like David Bowie, will never be gone – the indelible marks left on the public conscious will remain, always. It can be no coincidence that their paths crossed and that they collaborated a few times along the way. Maybe they have now had their chance to talk about Judy as they both moved along the Lost Highway.

On seeing the news, my family immediately knew I was really going to feel this one, and so did many friends on social media who have put up with my constant posts about Lynch and his work for a long long time. I have enjoyed and immersed myself in his films, his art, his music, and it’s no stretch to say that his regular youtube videos during lockdown got me through some very low times. He let me, and I’m sure countless others, know that it was okay to play, with art, with making, to ‘enjoy in the doing’.

The early days of my fascination with his work were of sitting with my then girlfriend (now wife) to watch Twin Peaks as it mysteriously unravelled weekly. Pie and coffee were always there waiting for me when I arrived for the next episode. My obsession with each and every facet of his life and work, ‘The Art Life’ as he perfectly named it, has only grown over the years and pretty much every day I am still discovering new things, new interviews, new clips, new music he collaborated on.

And, I am most certainly not alone. If there’s one real takeaway from David Lynch and his life, it’s that it’s okay to be different, it’s fine to be an outsider. And, sometimes, us outsiders get the chance to come together to celebrate that very fact.

Which brings me to the fantastic news that ‘A Gathering of the Angels’ is coming to London for what promises to be an amazing event to celebrate the world of David Lynch at the beautiful Genesis Cinema on 27-28 September 2025. From the producers of the hugely successful Twin Peaks Festival, the weekend is already packed full of Lynchian (sorry, it’s not possible to not use that phrase at some stage here) greatness, through film, music, special guests, art, interviews & panels, and some immersive activities to appeal to every fan.

I was honoured to be asked to interview the festival’s Creative Director, Lindsey Bowden to get some further insight into the festival, and to talk all things Lynchian. Here’s what came to pass ⬇️

Keith B Walters: Hi Lindsay, thanks for taking time out of what I’d imagine is a mammoth schedule for you right now, but it’s not your first rodeo. You’ve done this a few times in the past with the Twin Peaks UK Festival haven’t you?

Lindsey Bowden: Yes, just a few times, for six years. The last one was in 2019; we were planning for 2020, but obviously that year didn’t go to plan, and then we didn’t continue after that. So we decided to do this tribute for David Lynch for many, many reasons.

Really, I want to bring the fans back together. I’ve never ever stopped being in touch with the fans, and they’ve always wanted the festival back. Then, of course, when we lost David earlier this year, we thought this would be an amazing opportunity for us to say thank you to him as well, because he was always so supportive of us. So this is kind of our homage to him, and our thank you too.

Keith: What was your first introduction to his work? When did you become a fan of everything he’s done?

Lindsey: I think, like a lot of people, it was Twin Peaks, right? I was 14 when Twin Peaks came out in 1990, and I got obsessed with it very, very quickly. And it was a lifetime of obsession, love and admiration that never went away, even after it ended on the famous Season Two cliffhanger. 

I went to see Fire Walk with Me eight times in the cinema!

In school to show that you were a part of it, that you were a Twin Peaks fan, you had three lines of eyeliner on your hand. Wow, we don’t do that anymore! (laughs)

So, I developed the Twin Peaks UK festival. I started developing it in 2009, and the first one was in 2010 because that was the 20th anniversary of the show. And then my world just went bonkers!

Keith: Is there a particular element of Lynch’s work that keeps you hooked? Is it still Twin Peaks, or is it right across the board? 

(Still from Twin Peaks from IMdB)

Lindsey: Now, right across the board. I’m a huge Elephant Man fan, a huge Mulholland Drive fan. Mulholland Drive I think is one of the most incredible pieces of work that has ever been created. There’s something incredibly special, unique, innovative, about that film, and very true about the double life in Hollywood. So it’s kind of his work as a whole. 

But I think that initial love of Twin Peaks—that initial grounding, if you like, into David Lynch’s world—has never gone away. That’s always been my safety place, and I’m still known now for sitting here working with episodes of Twin Peaks on in the background. 

Keith: It’s comfort viewing, absolutely. It’s one of those things that wasn’t influenced by anything else, but it’s influenced so many things since.

Lindsey: You look at shows like True Detective, Wayward Pines, all that kind of stuff, you know? I mean, the recent True Detective Night Country with Jodie Foster—which I thought was a phenomenal piece of work—I could see Twin Peaks in there. It’s amazing that this innovative piece of writing has gone on to inspire so many writers.

Keith: I was thinking about this last night. He’s probably the only artist, and I use that term in the whole, for everything he’s done that would have comparisons to someone like Bowie. When Bowie went, I had exactly the same reaction. And you then go down that rabbit hole of all the things that he did in terms of art, music, filmmaking, and all of all of these aspects—you mentioned lockdown earlier, and he was a major part, probably for yourself as well, in getting people through lockdown. The weather reports, watching videos of him fixing his trousers with glue in his workshop, and, you know, thinking if you try to explain to that to somebody who doesn’t know his work, it’s like…

Lindsey: Just no one will ever watch anyone making quinoa the same way again.

Keith: Absolutely not. 

So, as I say, I compared it to my reaction to when Bowie went in terms of then going through the whole back catalogue, of reading every book I could get hold of, of him getting every special edition film, going to the screenings whenever they came up. But your festival is quite different in the you’re not just screening films. There are going to be some screenings—I’m looking forward, in particular, to the screening of ‘I know Catherine, The Log Lady’—but you’ve got the advantage of the events, the special screenings and guests that you’re hosting. You’re holding a Transcendental Meditation talk and demonstration, all of those things, which I think is going to make this event something really special.

Was there a gap between his passing before you decided you needed to do this again, or was it almost an instant need to do something?

Lindsey:  Basically, we were planning on doing an event last year. Two very major things happened, one of which was my father died about two and a half weeks before the event, and we just had to postpone it. We were talking about bringing it back. Then we got the news through that David had passed away. So we sat and talked again and just sort of said, well, actually, this is an opportunity for us to really pay homage to David now, so let’s turn this into a deal—you know, an amazing tribute event. And that’s what we wanted to do: bring not just the fans together, but also the people who knew him, who loved him, who worked with him, and those who were inspired by him. To bring everyone together and really pay homage. What it did do was turn everything on its head and make it even more special.

Image: Lindsey Bowden

Keith: Who were the earliest adopters, who signed up first for the event? Did you have names that would automatically have jumped on board?

Lindsey: We wanted to invite the people that were going to come last year, because we wanted them to come. So it was only right that we invited them, and Sabrina (Sutherland – Exec Producer: Twin Peaks: The Return / Inland Empire / David Lynch: The Art Life) was always top of the list anyway. Sabrina’s a friend. I’ve known her a few years now, and she’s always been incredibly supportive, as she is for most of these sort of fan things. And so of course, she wanted to come. And it’s going to be emotional for Sabrina, you know, she was David’s exec producer for over 20 years. They were very close friends. And for her to be surrounded by everyone who loved David, it’s going to be quite heart wrenching for her, I think. So we’re going to look after her.

We wanted Michael Horse to come because Michael, as Deputy Hawk, is such a pinnacle of the spiritual side and the mystery of Twin Peaks, and also just the nicest guy. He came to Twin Peaks UK Festival in 2017 and you couldn’t ask for a better guest. He was just so wonderful, such a beautiful person. So we wanted him to come back. 

We knew we wanted Chrystabell and Rebekah Del Rio to come. And very sadly, Rebekah Del Rio passed away, which was a hell of a shock, I must admit that knocked me sideways. It was a real shame, because I did want her to come to the events. But Chrystabell is coming, which is amazing, and she’s going to perform the show that she did in Cannes earlier this year. 

We have a long list of people that we think would fit into this really well, but it’s also down to people’s availability. Some people are just so busy with their schedules, either they can’t come, or they can’t give you an answer until the very last minute. There’s potentially two very exciting guests, but we won’t know until last minute if they can make it because they get jobs and they don’t like to let people down. Sometimes people don’t want to be announced, just in case a job comes in—we’ve got that with one person at the moment. 

Image of Lynch with Laura Dern on the set of Wild at Heart, from IMdB

But the guests are very, very important, because obviously they flesh out what Lynch’s world is as well, and give stories that you might not know and it’s just lovely to meet them. They’re all very, very supportive and passionate about the Lynchian world across the board. They’re quite a special group of people.

Keith: Obviously there’s cast coming from far afield, and also attendees as well. Do you happen to know who’s coming the furthest to be there this year?

Lindsey: Yes, we’ve got someone coming from Australia. Brett, who I think is has been before, he came in 2014 I think, if I remember correctly—is that really sad that I can remember? Everyone always says to me, how do you remember who all the ticket holders are? We’ve had someone from Japan before. I think we’ve got someone coming from Japan coming this year, and he probably knows exactly who I’m talking about if he’s watching/reading this, because he’s a really big supporter of ours. And obviously we have a lot coming from the States. We’ve had people from South Africa before. 

We do get them from all over the world, which I love, actually, because what it does, and what I’ve I am most grateful about and what I love most about the festival over the years, is the way it’s connected people. I mean, we’re on our third or fourth couple that met our festival and are just about to get married. I mean, I don’t run a dating service! But it happens because they’ve all got these things in common. It’s a shared interest that brings all these people together. It’s incredible.

Keith: It’s lovely to still see that community continually building.

Still from The Elephant Man, from IMdB

Lindsey: It’s also lovely that we’re taking this event back to Genesis; we were there in 2014 and 2015 with the Twin Peaks UK festival, so the fans will know it quite well. We’re doing lots of different site visits, taking technical teams and other people. It is like walking into home.

Keith: I always get the impression with the Genesis (I’ve been there a number of occasions, and particularly for some Lynch things) that they seem to be huge fans of his work, anyway, and the events that they’ve held in the bar there are always great. 

I watched the TM Tour film that David Lynch put together, and also all of the early Lynch shorts. That bar has got an atmosphere of its own anyway, which is as close as I think I’ve ever got to being in Twin Peaks, when they literally just light a candle in red lamps on the tables. The whole thing has got that vibe to it, and it’s two of the best nights out I’ve had—just watching stuff that I’ve got at home, but seeing it within a group of people in that sort of dark and shady area was perfect.

Lindsey: Yes, and having like-minded people with you. We play on that quite heavily—you’re all like-minded people. It does make a real difference to the atmosphere and the dynamic and also the course of the event as well. 

But you’re right about Genesis. I mean that bar—Bar Paragon, which was actually named after the fact that that used to be the Paragon theatre—we are turning that into the Slow Club from Blue Velvet. I mean, I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but we’ve got this beautiful sign being made, and when you walk in, there’s going to be live music. There’s going to be a lot happening in that. That’s where Tim Burgess is going to be DJing on Sunday night, and it’s where the most cult of all culty things to do with our festival happens. 

Still from Blue Velvet from IMdB

And there’s Twingo, which is Twin Peaks bingo. I can’t take the credit for that; that is all the Double R club and Benjamin Louche. And it gets quite violent; they get very passionate. So you’ve got this wonderful mix of the kind of film festival element meets the Comic Con element meets the fan service element meets the absolutely bonkers element, then there’s the Art Gallery, and the short films…

The idea is—and it’s slightly different for this year, because this is not a Twin Peaks UK festival—but the idea was always that we wanted the fans to be able to create their own experience So there’s everything going on everywhere all at once, basically. You can go and experience what you want to experience. For example, the VIPs adore the Double R Club, so we can’t ever doing a signing session at the same time as that, because we know they will want to see that. It’s very much like herding cats…

Keith: One of the things I’m really interested in this year is the Chrystabell event (Spirit Lamp) with the short filmmaking. Have you witnessed it? It’s only going to be 22 performances, I think, and that’s it.

Lindsey: There is a limited amount of performances, yes, so after Chrystabell has been at our event, she will do a couple more around Europe and the UK. Basically she’s created this wonderful piece called the Spirit Lamp, and she’s created it with her and David’s music. And there’s a very well known experimental film maker called David Gatten, who is going to be at the event, which is great, and he has created all the 16 mm images for it. It’s going to be quite a special thing. And we’re going to also pay tribute to Rebekah Del Rio, and screen ‘I Know Catherine, The Log Lady’, which apparently I’m in!

Still from Eraserhead, from IMdB

Keith: Was there ever any concern on your part that actually the Genesis might not be big enough because it’s got so much traction?

Lindsey: No, I knew that it would work at Genesis, actually. There are limitations in terms of how many spaces there are, because we’re not taking over the entire building, but I also knew that this wasn’t a Twin Peaks UK festival. This was a different event with different activities happening, and that actually it would work, and I already had it mapped out in my head where it was all going to be. 

The main activity takes place in that glorious Screen One which, in my very humble opinion, is just one of the best screens in London. I think it’s amazing. There’s so much history to it; it’s incredible. And we knew that we had the boutique cinemas downstairs, where the sofas can come out so then it opens up more into a black box space, and you can play with it more. That’s where one of the Mulholland Drive dreamscapes will happen.

Keith: You’ve obviously met lots of the cast and crew at various events over the years. Have you got a particular prized possession that links to David Lynch and his work?

Lindsey: I do, but it more links to Catherine Coulson. I’ve got a signed log from her from the 2010 Twin Peaks UK festival. That is probably my most prized thing. 

Keith: That’s a nice touch. So if you could have an hour out of your hectic schedule right now to do something else, and in his words give yourself some ‘room to dream’, is there a character that you would think you’d like to be, and just step outside yourself for whatever reason?

Lindsey: What a good question. I mean, oh, I suppose, in a way we all want to be agent Cooper.

Keith: I thought that’d probably be the go-to for most people with that one.

Lindsey: I was just about to say possibly Shelly from Twin Peaks, but I think I’m only saying that because Mädchen (Amick) is a really good friend of mine. I think it’s quite well known who my absolute favourite character is, and that, yes, he’s evil, but I want to be him. I love the character of Windhom Earle. I loved Kenneth Welsh. I loved him so much. He came to the last festival, and we’ve been in touch for a few years; he came to the 2019 and he went through that festival like a thunderbolt! Ken’s energy: There’s nothing I’ve ever seen like it, it’s amazing. I think he’s a brilliant actor. The way he brought Windhom Earle to life, you couldn’t help but like Windom Earle, he was brilliant. He was funny—okay, evil, obviously—but he’s the most incredible character. And that’s Ken’s work. So sorry guys, I want to be Windom Earle.

Keith: Do you have any more information or hints that you can give away about the Mulholland Drive Dreamscape experience?

Lindsey: I can tell you it is going to be beautiful, created by the German immersive artist Jos Porath. Jos created the Black Lodge experience at the Twin Peaks UK Festival in 2019, which was an incredible experience that people were coming out of feeling quite ill. For me, that’s a success! Actually, I suppose the biggest thing is Ken Welsh walked in it and went ‘I can’t do this’ and walked back out again! 

So Jos has created a very dreamy experience. I can tell you that the audience will be going through in groups of maximum 11, which is why we need everyone to register, even the VIPs. They will start at a particular point in the venue with one of our team members who will take them down to the rest of the experience. And there will be mysteries to solve before you’re able to enter Club Silencio. It’s going to be fun; I’m looking forward to it. 

That’s kind of as much as I know about it, but I know how Jos works, and they’re amazing, so I think it’s going to be something incredible—the idea is to transport you to another world.

Keith: I was impressed and surprised that that a number of guests are from early films, particularly The Elephant Man, with Dexter Fletcher and Lesley Dunlop.

Lindsey: They were both coming last year, actually. And we are trying to talk to Anthony Hopkins. Fingers crossed!

Keith: So is there the possibility that some people that might not be able to physically attend the event will be doing any sort of video/online appearance?

Lindsey: We do have the David Lynch Creatives online events happening, a lot of Lynch collaborators. On Saturday, it’s the Twin Peaks Fire Walk with Me special with Bob Engels, Lori L.Escher, Doug Murray and Ron Garcia the cinematographer, which is incredible. And then on Sunday we’ve got a big pool of Lynch collaborators like Peter Deming and Debbie Zoller, his head of makeup. We’ve got possibly Joanna Ray as well, and Mark Berger. This is just incredible across Lynch’s work. This board of people who are so creative, who have worked so closely with Lynch.

We go straight into the Lynch-inspired short films. It’s one of my favourite things that we ever did at the Twin Peaks UK festival, because one thing I love is how the fans are inspired by Lynch, whether that’s Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart—you know, anything. And so I love seeing how that inspiration goes into their own work.

Lynch on then set of Twin Peaks with Sheryl Lee and Lara Flynn Boyle, from IMdB

Keith: And the art gallery section of it. I was reading up on that, and I believe that some of the pieces will also be for sale?

Lindsey: Yes, most of them will be actually. We actually put some images up this morning on Instagram. There’s some incredible work coming.

Keith: Are the funds from those sales to the artists, or is that linked to the Cabaret vs Cancer charity? Because there is some good stuff on their auction site as well, with the option for winning bidders to collect over the weekend.

Lindsey: Yes, the art at the festival will be paid to the artists. Cabaret vs Cancer will give the auction items away at the event; it’s just easier for them to do that. Most people don’t know that Cabaret vs Cancer was started by the people who started the Double R Club. Obviously, they’re very separate entities, but it’s their charity, so they will be on site.

We’re also holding three charity auctions; one is for the David Lynch Foundation, one is for Cabaret vs Cancer, and then one is for Madchen’s charity Don’t Mind Me. Our auctions will go live the second week in September. We have amazing Twin Peaks posters that have been signed by multiple cast members. Each one of those charities has one of those posters in it, plus some other stuff that is building up. So they’re going to be wonderful packages for each of the charities as well.

Then also, Tim Burgess owns Tim Peaks’ Diner Coffee, and we’re getting bags of that coffee too. All money raised from that goes to the David Lynch foundation as well.

Keith: Lovely. I was aware of his Tim Peaks album, but didn’t know about the coffee. I never managed to get any David Lynch Signature Cup coffee.

Lindsey: I remember the original tins. Actually, I loved those tins. But then the bags are just as beautiful.

Keith: Do you produce a printed programme of events for the weekend?

Lindsey: We do, yeah, every single audience member gets it for free, and in there there’s bios for the actors, schedule for the event, so everyone can plan their weekend bits and pieces as well.

Keith: Another nice collectible, of course.

Lindsey: I mean, I think I’ve got every single one and a t-shirt from the Twin Peaks UK Festival—it’s something for me to look back on and look at my work and the memories. I do see people put them online sometimes; in fact, I did a massive clear out of stuff last year, the year before, so I had hundreds of them. I think I sold them for a pound, or I gave them away and just charged postage. I can’t remember.

Keith: As you say, they’re nice memories. I mean, I’ve been to numerous film related and book related festivals over the years, and they just trigger those memories, particularly if there’s a little note in the diary that says, went to see this film with these guys, and you suddenly think, I haven’t seen that person for years, or sadly, that person is no longer with us. And they are just a lovely little keepsake. 

Can you tell us anything more about the Transcendental Meditation event?

Lindsey: The David Lynch Foundation will be on site all weekend, but they’re going to do their event on the Sunday morning after the Elephant Man Q&A, with a talk about the David Lynch Foundation, and they’ll do a sort of 10-15 minute group meditation. We are half-talking about them doing other sessions at the event, but we’re just planning the schedule right now because we think we might have a space that’s empty towards the end of Sunday that people can go in and just do some sessions if they want to, which is what we did actually at Genesis in 2015—we had them in one of the cinema screening rooms, and you could just pop in. We had certain times that we were doing them, because you don’t want to overload people, and people still need to have a break and to eat and drink.

Genesis are also doing a proper menu and everything for the cafe, —they’re doing Lynch-style, food and everything. Plenty of plenty of donuts and pie, yeah. And, yes, we will have vegan stuff as well.

Keith: Have you got any gaps in the schedule now that you’re trying to put stuff into?

Lindsey: Mainly that Screen One is where the main activity happens all the time. And it’s pretty well full apart from about one section on the Saturday that I’m holding off for Sunday. But obviously, you can come in and you can watch the Lynch short films, and after that’s going to be Sabrina Sutherland’s talk with the Joe Lindsay, and then the signing session. And then you might want to go and do something else, so you can move around. It might be time for your Mulholland Drive dreamscape.

What we do, just so people know, is send out a pre-show email a few days before the event with so much information in it, and everyone needs to really read that because it will give them the lowdown of everything. They really shouldn’t have any questions after that. They’ll know exactly what they’re doing, when they’re coming in, and everything. We try and take away any thinking for everybody, so they can just enjoy it.

Keith: To anyone that might currently be hovering over a purchase button to buy tickets, is there a final push or recommendation you would give for anyone that’s never been before?

Lindsey: Do you know what? We get a lot of emails from people going, is it something I can come to on my own? And all I can say is absolutely, because—I think if I’m right in saying this, and the fans will correct me if not—that most people came on their own and made friends at the event in the very early days, and then they all came back together. When we first started the Twin Peaks UK festival in 2010, we had 200 people there at the height of it; in 2017 obviously it came back and we had 750 people, and most people were bonded. And honest to god, this crowd of people—and I go on about this, and people must think I’m just being like romantic but I’m not—they are the most amazing bunch of people, linked fans from all over the world. They are the most incredible community. Even the actors say that, and the actors are the most incredible people as well. And you will make friends, and those friends you will probably have for life.

It’s just, I think, because you’re like-minded people, you understand the comfort of that world. People just tend to gel and, like I said, people have got married to people they met at these events. I find that amazing. It’s wonderful. So I think if anyone’s worried about coming on their own, don’t be, because you’ll make friends within the first 10 minutes of being in that building.

Keith: Excellent. And beyond this year, are there any plans to continue? 

Image of David Lynch in 1990, from IMdB

Lindsey: No. And I’m being quite honest about that, because I feel that it’s only appropriate. I wanted to do another event because we kind of had to end the Twin Peaks UK festival quite quickly, and there was no sort of resolution to it. With David passing away, I just feel that this is the appropriate thing to do, to say thank you to David. Thank you for everything. Thank you for my friendships. Thank you for supporting us, thank you for bringing this incredible amount of people together. I just feel it’s appropriate to end it, and I can almost hear my team laughing because they’re like she says this every year. She says it’s every year, but I don’t know. I mean, at the moment, no, but I guess never say never—look how I completely went back on myself!

Keith – UPDATE: 

*raises dictaphone to mouth

“Diane, I have subsequently purchased my VIP pass for the entire event, as detailed in the above transcript, as it would clearly be a crime for me not to.”

➡️ To check out the full information for the event and all updates, go to all the following beautiful places:

• www.gatheringoftheangels.com
• Instagram: @agatheringoftheangels
• Threads / Instagram / BlueSky / X/Twitter and Facebook: @tpukevents