tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post768369435043124317..comments2024-03-27T17:03:57.341-04:00Comments on Murder is Everywhere: Desert HighOvidia Yuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749549092493567689noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-23918500752009180382010-01-14T15:22:48.194-05:002010-01-14T15:22:48.194-05:00Progress, indeed, Tim. I hope they'll add anot...Progress, indeed, Tim. I hope they'll add another hundred thousand acres at some point in the future.<br /><br />Would love to pay another visit to Joshua Tree, but doubt that I ever will. Back in my truck-driving daze, I passed by the preserve numerous times, but never had time to stop.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-30389733399905612562010-01-13T19:18:05.077-05:002010-01-13T19:18:05.077-05:00Ahh, Phil, you had very different experiences. I ...Ahh, Phil, you had very different experiences. I floated in on the last remaining fumes of the hippie ethos -- I would have gone barefoot if not for the cacti -- and you were suited and sweating, humping stuff over the sand. You really should go back.<br /><br />There may be a hidden reservoir. It's hard to imagine anything that couldn't be found in Joshua Tree if one only knew where to look.<br /><br />By the way, they just added a couple of hundred thousand acres to the preserve. Now that's what I call progress.Timothy Hallinanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00551263887774445511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-40244891008714615252010-01-11T16:14:39.702-05:002010-01-11T16:14:39.702-05:00Hey, Tim, you bring back old memories. My first an...Hey, Tim, you bring back old memories. My first and only visit to Joshua Tree National Monument was in 1963, courtesy of USMC desert survival training. It is, indeed, a beautiful area, but there is much I didn't see. Our time at Joshua Tree was severely limited, and the Monument served more as an open-air classroom than as an actual experiential training facility. There's said to be, somewhere within the Monument's boundaries, a vast reservoir of cold, pure water hidden inside a cave. Just what lost, weary, delirious desert travelers need, if only they can find it.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-63218654304442578642010-01-10T22:12:25.211-05:002010-01-10T22:12:25.211-05:00Thanks for sharing. Never been there but may have...Thanks for sharing. Never been there but may have to make a trip. <br /><br />LeahAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-26837502243775323482010-01-10T19:36:22.180-05:002010-01-10T19:36:22.180-05:00Dan, you're costing me money. Now I have to f...Dan, you're costing me money. Now I have to find "Begonias" and DL it. But I'm loving "The Joshua Tree." Talk about a fresh idea.<br /><br />The center section of my new book is populated almost exclusively by young women, and I wrote most of it to Tegan & Sara -- not country, but great nevertheless.Tim Hallinanhttp://www.timothyhallinan.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-62510376425991164862010-01-10T17:09:24.376-05:002010-01-10T17:09:24.376-05:00Wow, Tim, looking at those names we could certainl...Wow, Tim, looking at those names we could certainly swap playlists. I love them all. And Grievous Angel is utterly perfect, I agree. It's in my top five.<br /><br />When I completed my first novel, amid pretty trying personal circumstances, I fully intended to thank Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell for their album Begonias (think a modern Gram and Emmylou), which helped me alot, but I clear forgot. Thankfully, I saw them play the Borderline in London and thanked them personally. Caitlin, showing a wicked sense of humour, said she'd rather have the thanks in print for my readers to see and hunt down their records.<br /><br />I always write with a bit of music on the go, sometimes even if it's just a murmur.<br /><br />Think I've just got an idea for my next blog post...Dan Waddellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04320741202757960766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-66347309447426285512010-01-10T16:47:02.144-05:002010-01-10T16:47:02.144-05:00Hi, Dan -- Joshua Tree is amazing in part because ...Hi, Dan -- Joshua Tree is amazing in part because it encompasses desert at about 1500 feet above sea level, all the way up to almost 4500. Completely different terrains. I spend most of my time in the higher reaches, speaking literally now, but it's beautiful down below, too.<br /><br />And you and I could probably swap playlists. I'm downloading the Pickens CD as I write. Country/western is high up on my list of favorite genres -- probably 1/3 of the 7000 or so songs on my iPod. At the end of my books, I often acknowledge the music I listened to as I wrote it, and the list is always heavy in Emmylou Harris, Parsons, Vince Gill, the Avett Brothers, Mary Gauthier, Lucinda Williams, and on and on and on.<br /><br />And I know of few more perfect albums than GRIEVOUS ANGEL.Timothy Hallinanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00551263887774445511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-13939198864033385732010-01-10T15:39:18.678-05:002010-01-10T15:39:18.678-05:00It's a fascinating place - one I'd love to...It's a fascinating place - one I'd love to visit, as somewhat of a Gram Parson's devotee, though the morbid farce of his death and stealing of his corpse has, bizarrely, burnished a legend that should have grown from his music alone.<br /><br />On another musical note, one of my favourite albums of last year was by Earl Pickens and Family, a country-fried version of the whole of U2's The Joshua Tree. Sounds gimmicky, but it works. I'm no U2 fan but stripped back you have to admire the songs. Worth seeking out if you like both kinds of music - country AND western.Dan Waddellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04320741202757960766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-47772756995769024882010-01-10T13:53:10.958-05:002010-01-10T13:53:10.958-05:00Hi, Beth --
Religious experiences come when I lea...Hi, Beth --<br /><br />Religious experiences come when I least expect them. I've had them in chemically altered states and at times when I was as straight as a church organist. One of the most profound walloped me in the middle of the night, afloat in the Andaman Sea, when I looked behind the tiny longtail boat I was in and saw that we'd churned a long line of green phosphorescence in our wake. A whole chunk of metaphor about being alive fell into place, along with a renewed realization that nature defaults to beauty of the most evanescent kind.<br /><br />I walked around for days vibrating to all that. Even though I don't much believe in a deity that's personal in any meaningful way.<br /><br />That U2 album remains my favorite of theirs, and I hardly think it's lightweight. And who knows? He might have used the crystals if he'd found any. I personally find tedious the mystical qualities and mysterious vibrations so many attribute to crystals, but they're pretty. And not evanescent. <br /><br />I don't see the human face in the rock, but I can tell you from personal experience that it's an absolutely great place to sit. And I don't think it's any coincidence that monotheism arose in the desert -- for as long as there have been people with access to deserts, they've been rattling up phantasms out on the sand. Maybe the silence has something to do with it. If you're going to hear God's voice anywhere, you'll hear it here.Timothy Hallinanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00551263887774445511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-17860935129233667542010-01-10T11:31:30.872-05:002010-01-10T11:31:30.872-05:00Tim - Although you consider your first book to be ...Tim - Although you consider your first book to be terrible, it was a success in that you had an end. Whether writing a letter, a term paper, or a comment to a post on a blog, it is always the end that is hardest to resolve.<br /><br />Religious experiences, chemically induced or not, are about ends. Often these are the ends of beginnings. The Bible is full of desert moments, perhaps because the barren landscape induces introspection.<br /><br />The petroglyphs adorn a rock that looks, to me, like part of a human face. There is the forehead behind which is the center of rational thought and the eyes, the windows of the soul. One eye is larger. Do we see better when we narrow the field or when we look at the big picture?<br /><br />Paul Hewson used Joshua Tree as his inspiration. Although it likely labels me as a music lightweight, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is a pretty good anthem.<br />There isn't anything to look forward to if you have everything you think you want. The search can be more fun, more exciting, and more enlightening than the discovery.<br /><br />At least Hewson didn't use the crystals as a metaphor nor did he get into the legend behind the name of the tree. For this he deserves credit.<br /><br />Magic can be found when one remembers to look.<br /><br />Bethbethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17405199782450351160noreply@blogger.com