What’s Up, Marfa? : August 30-September 2

Rebecca Solnit is a writer’s writer, one of those voices on art and environment and atomic weapons and San Francisco and walking and many, many other subjects that, if we are being really really honest, describes one so reliably prolific and intelligent as to make other writers just a wee bit jealous. This weekend Rebecca Solnit appears twice on the program  of  the second edition of The Marfa Dialogues: Politics and Culture of Climate and Sustainability. On Saturday at 1 Crowley Theater she’ll be moderator of a dialogue involving the

Antony Gormley at Carbon 13, at Ballroom Marfa

artists of the show titled Carbon 13 (link here),whom David Buckland – founder of Cape Farewell, an entity formed “to instigate cultural response to climate change” –curated at Ballroom Marfa. Then on Sunday at 1 she’ll read and sign books (and there are a lot of those) at Marfa Book Company (one of the great indie bookstores in our part of the climate-changing universe.) Yes, there’s a lot going on in Marfa this weekend, including also the farmer’s market, the Marfa Lights Festival Parade, the art show, the dialogues – and a performance  by New York-based artist Cynthia Hopkins of This Clement World, “a musical that sails through the burning ice and myths of the high arctic.” It’s all an earful, a mouthful and given that it’s nine hours from Santa Fe to drive there (and for various reasons, sigh, I can’t go), I figured I’d just bring you this small description of what’s on.

 LYLE LOVETT AND HIS NOT-SMALL BAND

I just have one question, Lyle. Will you be playing the Townes Van Zandt song, White Freightliner Blues?

Here it is from Telluride, if you’re an armchair concert-goer, or just want some pre-show inspiration:

The show is this Friday, August 31st on the Santa Fe Opera stage.

SUPPORT SCUBA HI SATURDAY NOON

A fundraiser is being held this Saturday in Santa Fe for SCUBA Hi, because last week they had electronic gear burgled, and that’s really not a good thing, and proceeds are going to get some of that back, and also to get back the electronic goods of friends of theirs who were visiting (and also burgled). For now the best I can do by way of information is send you this link on Facebook to the event page. And make mention of the work of artists in the auction including Jon Carver,Tim Jag, SCUBA,David Kimball Anderson, Esteban Bojorquez , Tuscany Wenger,Todd White, Cannupa Hanska Lugar and Liberty Yablon. If we want to support young people in Santa Fe, medium and other people, well, here’s a good chance to do so.

 SOMETHING ABOUT BEING, LESS BEING MORE DOING .. NOTHING?

The Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design on Friday opens a show called “Something about the State of Being.” Six artists make their Colorado debut (why is it that I keep feeling, in art writing from Colorado, that everybody’s always “debuting”? Okay, I’m not going to get snarky. I’m not going to get snarky.) In any case these debutantes or celebutantes about the angst of being appear to be contributing work that’s both figurative (yay, that is a head, and yes, that is a body), and also psychological. Check it out.

Don’ll be letting us know what’s going on in Austin next week.

And I know I missed something, but isn’t that how life is lately? (The Yankees play Baltimore at 7:05 ET at Yankee Stadium. On TV. In case you want to know what I at least hope to be doing. This holiday weekend.)