Road Trip – Day Three – Marfa, TX to Tucson, AZ January 8, 2009

I sat on my butt too long today and now I think I’m crippled. Well, I’m at least emotionally crippled.

Follow my route today.

So I peaced out of Marfa really early today. And by really early I mean 9AM. It was COLD! 34 degrees – but the weather report on TV predicted El Paso would hit 60 today so I didn’t wear total winter clothes. So there’s a tiny, tiny town of just over 200 people west of Marfa called Valentine, TX. I drove through it on my way to El Paso and it creeped me out. It looked like a deserted place – weird houses built of stone and adobe, the only gas station was closed down and there was a cafe that looked like no one had ever dusted it so you couldn’t see in the windows – oh and I saw exactly ZERO people and passed ZERO cars driving by it. The place reminded me of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” If anyone ever asks me about a rural setting for a creepy horror movie I am recommending Valentine.

Shortly after that I passed the famous Prada Marfa. That cheered me back up. During all of this I was listening to PP’s playlist, detailed below. Many good remixes to be had and I feel we should pause a moment to discuss her Soulwax Dub remix of Hot Chip. This goes back to a fight James Montgomery and I keep having about Girl Talk. I am a Soulwax fan, but I think Girl Talk can suck it – not to say that Girl Talk’s remixes aren’t ingenius in themselves, because they are, but the lifestyle that surrounds his live shows are so crass and annoying. Soulwax, in their heyday, were never crass and didn’t attract a bunch of loafer college students. Go Team Soulwax.

Here’s a left/right shot of a mountain on one side and some pecan trees (I think) on the left. The scenery was kind of weird around here. To follow when PPPlist was done, I put on part of an ’80s mix I had in my iPod.

Then blah blah blah nothing nothing boring landscape, man is El Paso ugly. However, at this point I put on Josh Rosey’s playlist and it was perfect! FYI, you’ve always been Josh Rosey in my cell phone since we met. I found the whole playlist to be thoughtful, subtle and tres Southwestern without overkill. The Death Cab song also made me tear up a little. Stop tugging on my heartstrings.

More after the jump, including hot burrito #1 and the day’s playlist.

La la la te di until Las Cruces where I found the cheapest gas I expect to come across on this trip – $1.33 for premium! There were cars lined up at the pumps so I’m guessing it was the cheapest gas in town. Lucky me! Once I filled up I finished up Josh Rosey’s mix and then called Adam F on the cell to talk about business matters (and ask him what time it was in NYC so I could figure out what time zone I was in) but the reception kept dropping out.

So, I gave up and put on Kris C’s driving playlist, which he told me were songs for sun and warmer weather and right he was. It was up to 60 in Demmings, NM by then and I actually turned the A/C on for a minute.

During Kris C’s playlist I passed into Arizona. Mostly El Paso to just past the border of Arizona was flat, dull and ugly. But in Arizona there were mountains again! Here’s a shot of driving right up on a mountain that kinda freaked me out.

Kris C ended his mix with “California Stars” and it made me feel so excited about CA that I thought I’d start listening to some of the nearly 4 hours of Cali songs Josh L sent me – so I listened to two of them and immediately was completely depressed. Maybe you should drop me an email and help sort through to the cheerful ones, punk.

After that didn’t work out so great I just wafted around and played various stuff off my iPod, including selections from the Rolling Stones Let It Bleed while I got stuck behind a train.

My motel, La Siesta, was remarkably adorable and I recommend you all stay there. The people were friendly and helpful when I couldn’t get the Internet to work ONCE AGAIN. I am Internet cursed. Then I went to a placed called Rosa’s Mexican for dinner, because it was nearby and recommended on The Internet. Well, it was homemade Mexcian food. By that I mean it was food I could have made in my own home. Not impressed, but here’s what my burrito et al looked like for those with curious minds. Hey and when I was leaving six Tucson cop cars pulled up to eat there. Half the Tucson police force can’t be wrong…right?

If you’re wondering about the magazines, yes I was reading Astronomy. Did you know one of the top five astronomy stories for the year was that they discovered exactly what makes the northern & southern lights happen? Want to know about it? Too bad, I’m not blogging it until this road trip is done (and Miguel, you’ll be the first to get an email re: my next liberal arts education blog).

PPPlist

• Tegan  & Sara “When You Were Mine”
• Joanna Newsom “The Book of Right On (Pocketknife’s Scowling Owl remix)”
• Stricken City “Tak o Tak”
• Riskay “Smell Yo Dick” (oh, you’ve got jokes huh?)
• Hot Chip “Ready for the Floor (Soulwax Dub)”
• Destiny’s Child “Independent Women”
• BRAT Productions “Easy Heaven (The Cure vs. The Commodores)”
• Annie “I Know Your Girlfriend Hates Me (Get Shakes remix)”
• VA “De Conversa Em Conversa”
• Datarock “I Used To Dance with My Daddy”
• Dsico “Love Will Freak Us”
• Howard Jones “Like To Get To Know You Well”
• Simple Minds “Don’t You Forget About Me”
• Dscio does The Donnas “Take It Off (f/ Ruth Wilson)”
• Hot Chip “Over and Over (Maurice Fulton remix)”
• Sparks “I Wish I Looked A Little Better”
• Decemberists “Los Angeles, I’m Yours”
• Adam Ant “Wonderful”
• Coldcut “Autumn Leaves”
• BLUE BOY “Remember Me”
• Death Cab for Cutie “You Can Do Better Than Me”
• Jesus & Mary Chain “Head On”
• Depeche Mode “Behind the Wheel”

An ’80s Break

• Tears for Fears “Mad World”
• Echo & the Bunnymen “Lips Like Sugar”
• Talk Talk “It’s My Life”
• The English Beat “Save it for Later”
• The Cure “In Between Days”
• Soft Cell “Tainted Love”
• Billy Idol “Eyes Without A Face” (this is a great road song)
• The Psychedelic Furs “The Ghost in You”
• Roxy Music “More Than This”

Josh Rosey

• Pasty Montana and the Prairie Ramblers “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart”
• Otis Redding “A Change Is Gonna Come”
• James Brown “Maybe the Last Time”
• Iggy Pop “The Passenger”
• Little Willie John “My Love Is”
• The Original Sins “Big Soul”
• Neil Young “For the Turnstiles”
• Rocky Votolato “Postcard from Kentucky”
• Lefty Frizzell “The Long Black Veil”
• Hank Williams “Ramblin’ Man”
• WIllie Nelson “I Never Cared for You”
• Los Lobos “Kiki and the Lavender Moon”
• Alejandro Escovedo “Helpless”
• Modest Mouse “Sleepwalking”
• Tom Waits “The Pontiac”
• The Breeders “Drivin’ On 9″
• Neutral Milk Hotel “King of Carrot Flowers Part 1″
• Pedro the Lion “Big Trucks”
• Hutch and Kathy “Half These Tears”
• The Long Winters “Blue Diamonds”
• The American Analog Set “The Only One”
• Wire “Lowdown”
• Viva Voce “Alive With Pleasure”
• The Who “The Seeker” (this made me lol)
• Big Star “Way Out West”
• Talking Heads “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” (did you know this is one of my favorite songs of all time?)
• Sondre Lerche “Things You Call Fate”
• Death Cab for Cutie “Passenger Seat”
• Gillian Welch “Relevator”
• Al Green “Jesus Is Waiting”
• Massive Attack “Teardrop”

Kris C Driving Songs

• Bedhead “Felo de Se”
• Felt “Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow”
• David Bowie “Fill Your Heart”
• Ra Ra Riot “Each Year (RAC Mix)”
• XTC “It’s Nearly Africa”
• Arab Strap “Hey!Fever”
• Clearlake “It’s Getting Late Outside”
• Antena “Seaside Weekend”
• Hood “still rain fell”
• Nelson Angelo E Joyce “Sete Cahorros”
• The Ocean Blue “Vanity Fair”
• Dream Syndicate “Tell Me When It’s Over”
• Josh Rouse “Winter in the Hamptons”
• The House of Love “Shine On”
• Common Sense “Voices Inside My Head”
• The Avalanches “Electricity”
• Jonathan*Fire*Eater “When the Curtain Calls for You”
• The Feelies “Let’s Go”
• Fanfarlo “You are one of the few outsiders who really understands us” (is this a hint, Kris?)
• The Band “I Shall Be Released”
• Little Joy “The Next Time Around”
• Billy Brag & Wilco “California Stars” (perfect ender)

A faltering trip down Josh L’s Cali Songs

• Neko Case “In California”
• The Fall “L.A.”

Jami Recommends Joni

• Joni Mitchell “Urge for Going”
• Joni Mitchell “Woodstock”
• Joni Mitchell “California”
• Joni Mitchell “You Turn Me On I’m A Radio”

Sunset Songs of My Own Selection

• New Pornographers “Challengers”
• Bon Iver “Skinny Love”
• Neutral Milk Hotel “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”
• Radiohead “Faust Arp”
• Silversun Pickups “Three Seed”
• The Shins “Sea Legs”
• The National “Start A War”
• Pinback “Good to Sea” (shout out to Sara!)
• Tokyo Police Club “Nature of the Experiment”
• Beck “Gamma Ray”
• Iron & Wine “Boy with a Coin”
• Death Cab for Cutie “Cath (accoustic)”
• Feist “Limit to Your Love”
• The Cure “Strange Attraction”
• The Replacements “I Will Dare”
• Department of Eagles “No One Does It”
• Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers “Breakdown”

The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed