Let’s talk about emotions. The physiology or origins of emotions in particular. I probably shouldn’t have eaten that 420 chocolate bar before delving into this train of thought but it’s been rolling around in my head for a week or two so we’ll proceed.
Why? The great question that has driven mankind from the start. Why? The most powerful, one word, story stopping, parent infuriating sound ever to pass air over vocal cords. If you have ever tried to explain to someone about East Jesus, you have probably heard the question “Why? Why would you travel hours in traffic over dirty farm roads to a desert scrap yard?”
Remember when you learned the 5 question words back in school? Who, What, When, Where, Why and How? They always added How like it was an after thought. So after you got the real information you could garnish the story with how it all came about. But it’s a valid question and one that is key to this discussion.
How do you explain to someone, that once you get here, that it just FEELS right.
“Why?”, “What do you do?”, “Who’s there?”
Well, we really do nothing but somehow things get done and usually I don’t know who’s going to be there but it’s a lot of fun.
What???
Example 1. Art Slam 2013 March 22 -24. Again our friends have no idea when the weekend begins and so they started to arrive on Monday. One of the things that make Royce Carlson’s visits such a joy is that he has since day one simply pointed to a spot and asked, “Can I camp there?” and then proceeded to make himself at home. His entourage arrived a few days later and made themselves just as comfortable. Bob brought his own lazy boy recliner, Nita decided that the bathroom needed a make over and Leslie just annoyed me, on purpose, because she knew she could get away with it after we saw the welded spiderweb she had made for us.
By the start of the actual weekend we had Technomania Circus pulling into the driveway with a plastic toy castle strapped to the roof of their car and our trio of boyhood friends from San Diego with a motorcycle and golf clubs as well as the train track rail rider made famous on youtube. The Gypsy Camp Crew represented with Chris and Aaron moving into their second home around the piano and Heather and Omo putting their feet up on the couch. I’m not sure who the last to arrive was but Bill and Jana didn’t really get the welcome they deserved after driving all the way from Flagstaff, a fact we remedied after coffee the next day.
There’s a lot to tell about that weekend but I’m losing your attention and need to move on so I’ll tell you to see the movie Saltwater and look for the nude scene. If you can tear your eyes away to the background you might notice a familiar urn containing the ashes of Charlie. They filmed Sunday night as we couldn’t promise continuity for longer than two days. In this place two days could mean any number of changes.
Example 2. Slab City Prom 2013 March 29
The 12th annual end of the season party for those Slabbers who leave before it gets hot. Everybody attends the Range in their finery which this year meant a few very hairy men in black dresses and some very uncomfortable men dressed in stiff suits who were dragged to the lit arch for pictures. Among our guests that weekend was the DeLisi family with sisters Angel and Autumn who contributed not only assemblage art to our Tower but homemade cookies to our table. We had to find fault with Megan after she made the mistake of worrying at a small piece of buried metal in the Zen Garden. When we had finished digging we had unearthed a V8 engine block and passed a new rule that if you see a small hole just brush some dirt over it and move away.
Example 3. Just another weekend 2013 April 5-7
Dan and Heather, Brianna, shit it ain’t my dept. to remember names, there were a bunch of them. We went swimming during the day and night and still managed to put a new roof on the music room and redecorate the other bathroom. There always seem to be a lot of cameras around here pointed in all different directions.
Example 4. Purgatory Collective’s Morton Salt Children s Religious Revival 2013 April 12-14
The 6th annual desert pilgrimage for this group of eclectic artists who showcased so many styles and skills that it would take another whole candy bar just to understand. Music that swept across the garden at night to cover the cries of the tattoo recipients while videos flashed across the sunken bus. By day the sun caused the clothing optional gun range to live up to it’s name and various cinematic spots around the Imperial Valley were invaded for the purpose of art. We pulled a roasted goat out of the ground and spread a table and our arms open to another round of celebrating life.
With another weekend on the horizon and another group of people already planning on visiting East Jesus I think about the feeling here and how to explain it to people and all I can come up with is a contented smile, “I stopped by once and got infected.”