The Trans Pecos Festival of Music and Love happened over the weekend beginning on Thursday with a surprise performance by Robert Plant.
It sucked hard that we were not in Marfa on that day, but that s the nature of this kind of beast, when you have a music festival in an art town that is in the isolated plains of Texas, you can now expect for anything to happen.
The festival takes place at El Cosmico, and both the event and the hotel / campground have evolved significantly over the years. This year’s lineup was stronger and the grounds got a makeover with more lights and less allergy inducing tall grass.
The beautiful night sky is still the crown jewel though, it is what makes shows out here so special, and after a few beers and a few puffs of stranger resin, the cosmos pulsate to life – these Texas stars will blink, glimmer and shine for you if you pay attention long enough.
The road to Marfa began well, we had left with plenty of daylight and expected to be at El Cosmico a little before nightfall. But, as we got close to the checkpoint, the front left tire popped and became shredded as we veered towards the shoulder of the road.
Our journey had come to a halt, as I began to dread the notion and physical action of changing a tire, a tow truck was passing on the opposite side of the road. I waved him over and he came.
The truck driver’s name was Mike, he was from a repair shop / towing business from nearby Sierra Blanca. The grimy repairman expertly replaced our tire with the spare and told us to follow him back to his shop.
It was a little creepy at first, but we eventually got to a rundown garage. Mike charged us a whopping $50 for his services. After waiting patiently for a receipt written out by an ancient man with carpal tunnel syndrome in both of his hands, we zoomed out of Sierra Blanca leaving those road side vandals in our dust, desperate to take advantage of the fleeting sunlight.
We arrived in Marfa at 10 pm, fortunately, EPCB rented out one of the campground dwellings at El Cosmico and we didn’t have to worry about putting up a tent in the dark or endure a bad night’s sleep thanks to the bed the Safari Tent, as it was dubbed, came with.
The night’s music was coming to an end, Ben Kweller came on and played a good set, as always. We stayed up for a while but we all knew that Saturday was the day to enjoy ourselves vigorously.
We woke up, showered at the communal showers and left to drink brews around town during the day. We had lunch at the Pizza Foundation, a large 18 inch pie with pepperoni, red pepper and chorizo. The thing was damn delicious, it gave us the energy we needed to go on with our day. Once our bellies were full of pizza and beer, we came back to El Cosmico to deal with the miserable daytime heat.
The cool of the late evening was ushered in by the interesting sounds of the multi member group, Mother Falcon.Their set was short and sweet, their sound is intricate and very subtle, the band’s choice of instruments included cellos, horns, accordions and electric banjos. They were folky, yet funky and fun to hear.
Alejandro Escovedo played an intense set filled with crunching riffs and solos filled with whammy bar bravado. This guy reeks of old school rock and roll, he’s got that vintage bad boy-that might cut you with his switch knife kind of look. Escovedo is a great performer, his chops and singing are in top form if you ever get a chance to see him live, check him out and be prepared for some real rock and roll.
The ever mysterious Black Angels performed their dark reverb filled surf-blues psychedelia to an attentive crowd. These guys hypnotize you with that droning tribal stomp sound they honed. This band puts you in a trance and grabs you back from the black hole of your mind with a shout or a wicked breakdown doused with crashes and howling guitars.
Once the Black Angels left the stage, the festival came to a close and revelers retreated back to their trailers, yurts, teepees and tents.
EPCB got back to the safari tent and popped open some more brews, laughs were had and eventually a party was crashed but it all ended on a high note with a good night’s sleep and breakfast at Alice’s Restaraunt – eggs your way with a buttermilk pancake stack are the best.
This fest, El Cosmico and just coming to Marfa is always a good time waiting to be had. You just need to be informed and have an inclination to venture out of the city and into the wilds of Texas.
by M. De Santiago
photographs by Apples
