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WELCOME TO LEVEL 4 OF THE MINESHAFT RABBIT HOLE !
Congratulations! You made it to Level 4! You are now 60 feet underground and the air is stale, still, thick with dust and grime. Your lantern is your only source of light and it casts odd shadows and highlights on the walls and ceiling above you. Step carefully...
serious injuries await at this level...
ONE CUT
"One Cut" is probably the best song on the "Mojave" album. It was 95% written by Hunter (her very first! It took me YEARS to write something this good.) We needed a stripped-down folk song that sounded innocent yet had a dark side and she delivered. I put in the chords and ever-so-slightly tweaked a couple melody lines, otherwise this is hers. So I will let her tell you a bit about this song.
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As my husband created scenarios with his desperadoes, renegades and (sometimes) devil worshipers, I started thinking...why should bad boys have all the fun? What about giving equal time to bad girls? I mean, even if those bad girls are actually really, really good, and loving, and have everyone's best interests at heart all the time? I mean the ones who just give and give, until they can't give any more...and then they're so tired from just giving all the time, that they're ready to just give out, and find the exit however they can. Oh, and of course, you're coming too-
because they love you,
so, so much,
until death do you part.
Since this video was shot in one take, there aren't any outtakes. Instead, here is video taken at the art colony of East Jesus, in Slab City, California. Slab City is one of the locations that inspired my sadly awful short story "Frannie", that bit the dust during the making of the Mineshaft Rabbit Hole. Slab City starts at Salvation Mountain (more on that place in our newsletter) and built on the slabs left behind from an old military base. Considered "The Last Law-Free Town In America", it consists of artists, the socially and emotionally challenged, homeless people, the impoverished and people avoiding THE LAW. There's no police force, no running water, no electricity, no anything, really, except relentless heat and the opportunity to live your life without the usual requirements society demands. Depending on who you speak with, Slab City is either dangerous or liberating. And there is art everywhere there isn't something rusting or rotting. and even the rusting and rotting eventually turns into art. Here is a taste:
YOU NEVER REALLY KNOW
This song came out in one piece. No rewrites, no second guessing. Which is ironic, when you consider second-guessing is what this song is all about! The recording was also almost effortless, which was a rarity for "Mojave".
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Karma. Cause and effect. Enjoy the highs, learn from the lows. Maybe life is better lived if you learn from the highs and enjoy the lows instead? "Buy low, sell high," right? I like to believe we all create our own realities. Sure, Fate intervenes, whether you call that God, the Universe, Wally, whatever works for you. I think it's how you deal with the situations thrown at you that directs what you do with your life, for better or worse. I have no idea how this strange world works, therefor I believe everyone's theories have a speck of truth. HOWEVER,... what if we live in a computer simulation? I am sure you have laughed at that theory. Of course you would! To buy it without hesitation is removing your right to choose what happens in your life. It mimics the tenets of standard religions in that way. Are we all just in some advanced game, like "The Sims?" How would you feel if you found we were at the mercy of some teenager's keypad and everything you do, every thought, action, indecision, fear, joy and regret was actually programmed? Would your reaction also be programmed? In the desert, things seem to have a brutal logic. Survival of the fittest. It can sometimes feel like the barren result of Bad Decisions; dust, dirt, a harsh living environment.
But some living things thrive there.
Could you be one of them?
I wasn't sure what to do with the video of "You Never Really Know", since the lyric is such an image-laden, cause-and-effect type of affair. So Hunter said "get out of my way!" This one is her handywork. We took a trip to the Nevada desert and WOW did we find things. Most of the scenes in the video were shot in Nelson, Nevada, Goodsprings, Nevada and of course Rachel, Nevada - outside of Area 51. Yes, THAT area 51. We didn't go to the gate, but we stopped at the Black Mailbox set up for aliens, and had to try the Alien Burger at the Little A'Le'Inn.
SEE YOU TOMORROW IN LEVEL 5
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