Day 28: Santa Fe, NM
Welcome
Yesterday we played our first ever show in the state of New Mexico.
Our day began as it often does with a trip to the nearest climbing gym, which in this case was only a few minutes walk from the bus. The first thing we noticed about this climbing gym was how out of breath we felt after the tiniest bit of exertion. It turned out we were 2,194 metres above sea level, and the air inside this gym contained 5% less oxygen than your standard sea-level climbing gym. To put it in perspective, the air in a climbing gym on top of Mount Everest would have a 6.9% oxygen content, compared to 20.9% for one on or in a boat.
Tristan and Liz both had their first go at top rope climbing. These days there are auto-belay systems that safely lower you to the ground of you fall off the wall. It takes quite a bit of courage to just let go and trust the technology, though.
The Pueblo style architecture was the first thing to make an impression on me when I went into the city centre in the afternoon. This distinctive building style comes originally from Native American homes constructed from wood, stone, and adobe (mudbrick). The Spanish who settled in this region in the 16th century immitated this style but added their own methods to the construction process and brought some of their own architectural style. The style suffered a decline in the 19th century with the United States conquest of New Mexico, and the introducition of railroads bringing greater access to building materials like pressed metal and glass. The early 20th century however ushered in the Pueblo Revival Period, a movement led by a group of artists and architects trying to create a unique regional identity. The historic district of the city now has legislation mandating the use of ‘The Old Santa Fe Style’ in all new buildings constructed. The results speak for themselves. In 2009 the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Santa Fe one of its Dozen Distinctive Destinations in America.
In the northwest corner of the historic district, housed inside a building of the ‘Old Santa Fe Style’, is the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. I went inside not knowing anything about O’Keeffe, and left feeling blown away by the breadth of her work, and the huge amount she accomplished over her lifetime. There was a great collection of original works on display ranging from her early years as a student at the University of Virginia, to her later life living in Abiquiú, New Mexico.
In the foreground of this photo are some of O’Keeffe’s homemade pastels, and behind them the jars of pigment she used in their making.
When I got back to the venue I ate a very late breakfast of sliced vegetables and hummus, and chocolate.
Meow Wolf, who’s name was spawned from two pieces of paper drawn from a hat, was one of the more unusual venues we have performed in of late. I was struggling to describe it so I have pulled some buzz words from their website and laid them out in an easy to read format.
Immersive
Interactive
Portal
Maximalist
Multiverse
Audience participation
Creative exploration.
Anarchic art collective
Basically it’s a huge escape room/art installation that has a stage in one of the rooms for live music.
I will say that my experience of looking around the rooms at Meow Wolf was on the good side of intense. My eyes were well stimulated by the vivid colours, pulsing lights, and the incredible amount of visual detail painstakingly poured into every situation. My favourite installation (and Gabe’s) was the Laser Harp room.
The exhibitions all closed at 8pm and at 9pm they let all of the concert-goers into the venue. When we went out to play, the floor was jam packed and there were people hanging out of the tiny house windows on the second story. In the front row were two Beths fans who had made their own bootleg merch; a high quality tshirt print of ‘The Beths Demos’. I was thoroughly impressed.
I’ll leave you with a parting gift, a beautiful performance by Gabe Nardin on the Meow Wolf Laser Harp.
If you’ve made it this far here is another bonus video I took of a train.