I spent some time this weekend at the Downtown Artist and Farmers Market in El Paso’s Union Plaza District.  It’s been going on for a few years now and has really taken shape from its humble beginnings.

While browsing around, I walked a few blocks over to see how the area has changed in the last year with all the recent development activity.  One new addition is a large pedestrian mall following Durango street from Overland to the site of the new stadium. There’s been a lot of talk about not having enough parking for the El Paso Chihuahua’s baseball games. This looks like a good way to shuttle foot traffic up the colorful walkway from the downtown transit terminal across from the Civic Center.

The artist market has grown leaps and bounds since the addition of the farmers market.  Food trucks also frequent, parking down on San Francisco street, giving patrons plenty of grub to choose from.

One thing that would really help would be if more of the businesses in the area would open up for lunch on Saturday (Hello! the Garden and Brick & Mortar…)  On the corner of San Antonio and Anthony streets sits The Mix , a cool retail/ shopping venue.  A few retail stores were open but a pub and nearby restaurant opened later in the afternoon. Bummer.

With plenty of parking and new vendors, the Art Market is worth a weekend checkout.  It’ll be interesting to see the area continue to grow once baseball takes hold downtown. There should be more to see and do as this and future seasons get going.

Queens of the Stone Age stopped in El Paso, playing at the Abraham Chavez theater on February 11, 2014.  If memory serves me, they had only been here once before, in support of Songs for the Deaf.  I didn’t go then and was quite surprised that they were coming back in support of …Like Clockwork.  I didn’t want to miss this one, so I snagged a couple of tickets as soon as the pre-sale was announced.

They opened with the fast paced “You think I ain’t worth a dollar but I feel like a millionaire“.  That song still packs a punch even without Nick Oliveri on lead vocals.  From there it was a non stop assault.  Queens is a pretty tight band, and one of the few whose songs you can count on sounding excellent live. Josh Homme’s vocals have been the constant through the bands revolving door lineup over the years.  I would wager he’s one of the current top rock vocalists.  No auto-tuning or trickery required.

The Chavez is a medium sized venue, pretty much every seat gets you a good view.  QOTSA played like they were in a stadium though, it was LOUD.  Three songs in I had to resort to ear plugs (I’m old, I know.)  They slowed mid-way for the title track off the latest album, which I’ve posted a clip of below:

(Turn the volume down, its quite loud even on the slow parts)

The show lasted about an hour and 45 minutes and they did not disappoint.  They came out for an encore and on the last song they literately brought the set down.  Shortly after the start of the last song, Song for the Deaf, Michael Shuman knocked his amp stack to the floor, leading Homme to pull the drum kit down. Rock n’ Roll baby!

If they come again I’ll definitely catch them next time.  The Sun City has finally been getting some acts worth seeing.  With last year’s NIN, and upcoming Old 97’s in May I guess IT IS ALL GOOD EL PASO.

Here are some more crappy cell phone pics from the show: QOTSA on flickr

When it was first announced in Febuary that Nine Inch Nails would be retuning to El Paso, I was stoked.  I hadn’t seen them since the Further Down the Spiral tour WAY BACK WHEN!!! in 94.  They were supported then by a fledgling Marilyn Manson and the crazy Jim Rose Circus at El Paso’s infamous Barn County Coliseum. Back then I was much more tolerable to crowds, idiots and general mayhem, now not so much.  Luckily, NIИ decided to upgrade their return to El Chuco with a night at the Don Haskins.  Assigned seats and crowd control doesn’t completely weed out the fools, but it should at least make it tolerable.

Fast forward several months and the event was upon us.  A weeknight concert is already a cluster and adding to the mix, Virg was bit under the weather.  What seemed like a cool idea in February was now a juggling act of getting dinner, home work and the nightly instructions for the boys to my Mom so she would hopefully have a chaos free night of watching them.  1994 John and Virg would be laughing hysterically at our 2013 versions.

With everything set, we headed down to UTEP.  Parking was quick and easy in the new garage off of Cincinnati Street and we picked up our tickets without issue.  Finding our friends and seats was equally uneventful and we settled in for the opening act, the unknown to us Explosions in the Sky.

😐 Hummm… cool music but something was missing.  Oh yeah, singing.  They apparently are an instrumental act.  There were hints of Trail of the Dead and Barroness and the songs would build up and break in large crashes of momentum and sound, though I felt kind of lost without the some sort of vocal leads.  I could listen to them as background task music or randomized amongst other similar bands but a full 45 minutes got a little repetitive.

After a quick break it was time for Reznor to take the stage.  NIИ historically has had a impressively technical show to match their “industrial” origins and this one was no different.

  The lighting was a dizzy array matching the high BPM tempo of the music.  Curtains of LEDS slipped up and down changing the atmospherics and at times added a weird multi-layer effect.  It had kind of a ethereal feel, allowing for some interesting visual effects.  There was no need for fire and pyrotechnics. This was mainlined technology, distilled for a generation that grew up with Atari and has expanded to include those that capture it with Apples.

The set list spanned his 20+ year catalog and it was cool to hear updated versions of classics like Head Like a Hole.  NIИ was lucky to have such a huge hit early in their career that managed to age well and still resonates with fans. Many in attendance tonight were not even born when it was originally released! I would have never guessed Rezor to become an elder statesman in rock:)

The pacing was good and with one encore it was time to hit the road.  Pro tip, don’t ever park in a parking garage for a concert if you are in a hurry.  I should have anticipated the jam that would ensue after the mass exodus of the exit.  Once they got traffic control going at the street level, we were out and home by 11:30. Not to bad.  My camera phone doesn’t do it justice but for what its worth here are a few pics and quick vids:

Nine Inch Nails on flickr

After a few misses trying to get in, I made a couple of calls and figured out how to gain access to the large concrete silos on Ruhlen Court by the Rescue Mission of El Paso.

I had been given a tip to check out the site by Peter Thak.  For the last few years The Silos have been host to an underground graffiti art show put together by David “Grave” Herrera and others benefiting the Rescue Mission. His art and work in the local El Paso community is well known and he has even championed a public place where up and comers can legally spray and display their art.  I didn’t think that the artwork would still be around but the site is locked up which prevents it from getting tagged or vandalized.

Once you are in, its oddly disorienting. From the outside it appears to be a large rectangle but the building is actually made up of 21 tall concrete silos.  The roof has long been removed so there’s lots of available light during the day.  The downside to that is the exposure to the elements and the pigeons.

After getting used to the vertigo inducing walls, my friend Vince and I wandered around inside documenting the various works.  There was quite a spread in talent and design, no doubt due to the large collection of artists represented.

Historically, graffiti art has been a misunderstood form of artistic expression, in part by being lumped together with gang tagging and vandalism. But if there’s one thing all the excitement over Banksy’s recent New Your residency tells us, its that art is in the eye of the beholder.  Many street artists may have started out on the fringes in the murky world of “is it art or destruction of property” but context and prominence need to also be applied to truly understand the aerosol art form.

Our need to get out and breathe clean air brought our time in the tubes to and end. The temporary existence of the works makes the visit worth it though. Given the recycling nature of the space, hopefully future shows here will continue to exhibit the talent willing to lay down paint for the greater good.

The full set can be viewed here: The Silos on Flickr

I got a tip the other day for a site that I should check out.  I scouted out the location but couldn’t gain easy access.  I’ve put out some feelers to see if I can get in so we shall see.  I’m purposing leaving out the details right now to keep it a surprise but it’ll be worth it if I can get in.