Lydia Lunch "The Gun Is Loaded"

The Gun is Loaded - Long out of print on VHS

Performance artist/confrontationist icon Lydia Lunch delivers a brutally frank manifesto in this journey through the heart of contemporary American darkness. Lydia's poetic nihilism is set against a barrage of real-life street-action, scenery, news footage, and the deranged music of J. G. Thirlwell.

Language NSFW.

Order the NEW DVD HERE Or Rent to Download Here

ABOUT "THE GUN IS LOADED"

THE GUN IS LOADED is a performance video featuring former punk rocker, political satirist and sexual provocateur Lydia Lunch.

This video trails Lydia in 1988 through a series of staged sets and location shots in New York City as she fires her spoken word manifesto directly into the eye of the camera, and in haunting voice-over. Underscoring Lydia’s onslaught is cinema verité footage of bottom-rung Americana: racecar crowds, dead-end streets and meat packing plants effectively illustrate her ruthless examination of “the American dream machine turned mean.” J.G. Thirlwell’s ominous score magnifies this brutal desolation.

Identifying herself as “the average, all-American girl-next-store gone bad,” Lydia vivisects her own sustained damage as a product of this emotionally ravaging environment.

This was partially shot at the Performance Garage, but without an audience. Lydia asked Producer-Director Joe Tripician and his production company Co-Directions to record her show, but Joe wanted to expand the production from its theatrical base and exhibit her in an outside environment. So, this video is also a document of the ‘80s NYC street life—from the 14th Street Meat market to Wall Street. The producers called it a “video super-realization” of her spoken word performance.

In the video she fires her venom directly into the camera lens, and in an intimate voice-over. J. G. Thirlwell supplied the original music score - a one-of-a-kind aural onslaught.

It was released on VHS in the late 80s, but has never aired on TV. The one response the producers received was from PBS, who called the video in their rejection letter “exceptionally unacceptable.”

CREDITS:

"THE GUN IS LOADED"

Written and Performed by

Lydia Lunch

Shot, Directed, and Edited by

Joe Tripician

Merrill Aldighieri

Music by

J. G. Thirlwell

Also appearing:

Animal

Victoria Bisi

Michael Buscemi

Emilio Cubeiro

Erdene R. Greene

Gretchen Hopkins

Sadie Mae

Prentice Polk

Jack Rice

Theater Stage Design:

Richard Phillips

Theater Lighting:

Leslie Steven

Theater Lighting Assistant:

Mike Taylor

Costume:

Vivienne of Lilla Lova

Jewelry:

Sophie of Lilla Lova

Production Assistance:

Kristen Bjaastad

Sherri Brienning

Will Hammerstein

Ellen Colon Lugo

Carl Tripician

Thanks to:

The Performing Garage

Exterminator Chili

Susan Martin

Marko

G.B.S Video

North Star Video

Media Alliance

Order the NEW DVD HERE Or Rent to Download Here

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