March 17, 2017 – New York City artist, Beth B, has known and worked with Lydia Lunch since they were teenagers. They grew up in the late 1970s New York music/film/art scene and brought their radical visions to the underground where they broke boundaries, both shocking and enticing their audiences with their uncensored music and films.
Together, they are now embarking on a Kickstarter campaign to fund a film documentary called LYDIA LUNCH The War is Never Over.
This project will capture the voice and visualize the extraordinary, outrageous work and life of spoken word artist and singer, Lydia Lunch. The film will follow Lydia on the road back to her hometown of Rochester, New York. On tour, backstage, and in interviews, this film will reveal the radical mind, the visceral music, and the edgy, philosophical, and humorous personality of Lydia Lunch.
Lydia Lunch is an icon/poet of the New York City No Wave art scene. In 1976 at the age of sixteen, a teenage runaway, Lydia Lunch, arrived in New York City inspired by the ravings of Lester Bangs in Creem Magazine. The Velvet Underground’s sarcastic wit, the glamour of the New York Dolls, and the poetic scat of Patti Smith’s Piss Factory all influenced her. In 1977, she founded the hugely influential No Wave band, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Lydia went on to star in legendary underground films like Beth B’s “Vortex” and Richard Kern’s “Fingered.”
Beth B is known for being one of the most recognized artists from the No Wave art scene of the 1970s. Her independent film called “Vortex” was a legend in underground film making. This was a time before the internet when films could only be screened with a 16mm projector. Beth B remains an icon of the New York City art scene.
This Kickstarter project seeks to raise $50,000 for Beth B to film Lydia on tour with her band, RETROVIRUS. Lydia will be performing her spoken word while Beth B will be interviewing pivotal people in Lydia’s life: people like Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth and JG Thirwell from Fetus.
Please contribute! No contribution is too small! LYDIA LUNCH The War is Never Over, with its wit, honesty, balls out, mouth open attitude, will help us all to kick the ball forward, toward a future in which we truly have liberation of the mind and body and a new sense of healing from trauma.
Here’s a link to the project