little colorado river gorge

overlook into the little colorado river gorge

yesterday was a stellar day!  besides having great weather with incredible views out onto the painted desert and the little colorado river gorge, i hung with super cool people.  i spent most of the day with aldo and his wife lisa who have a small bead stand at the overlook into the little colorad river gorge.

tourist with a really small chihuahua 

lunar drive was a techno, hip hop, indigenous band from flagstaff.  they were big in the early 90s and got to play peter gabriel's WOMAD festival in england.  one of their big hits was "here at black mesa."  it's sam minkler's voice that is heard at the beginning of the song.  i was playing a mix of the 2 lunar drive cds yesterday while installing the piece above.  aldo, the guy who runs the stand with his wife lisa, was digging the music and kept asking me "...what did you say the name of this band is?"  a highlight of the afternoon was when aldo sang along with one of the lunar drive songs "fifty cents" which is based on a pow wow song.  

towards the end of the day, seemingly out of nowhere, my buddy sam appeared.  it was a fitting conclusion for a perfect day.

aldo returning to his jewelry stand

i got really excited when i first drove past this stand a week ago.  it's located about 14 miles west of the 64/89 junction headed towards the south rim of the big hole.  when i got out to photograph and measure it, i noticed the remains of an old wheat paste.  turns out it was one of the spots overunder hit about a year ago when he came out for the first iteration of the painted desert project (which is going to kick off soon with another outstanding cast of artists).  stay tuned!