It sure doesn’t seem like 22 years ago, but it was 1988, so it must have been.
When getting drunk in Juarez lost its thrill, El Paso had very little to offer. My roommate was from Wisconsin, his name was David Francis Guttenberg, and he drove a silver Chevette that he cleaned up, and put an above-average sound system into.
On nights when we didn’t feel like sleeping, we’d get something to drink, and just drive through the night.
El Paso has roads that literally go nowhere forever. Through mountains, up and down hills, the darkness was pervasive, and there was never a cop to be seen.
I would always bring cassettes along, whatever I got that was new. Finding good music was rare, the entire idea of punk or independent music apparently didn’t make it to El Paso yet. I remember one head shop that sold some decent music, but other than that, there was nothing but chain stores.
We never really talked much when we drove around, just listened to music, Gootie watching the road, and me watching the world go by.
I remember one night listening to Nothing’s Shocking by Jane’s Addiction, driving around the Sun Bowl again and again.
But this night that I’m remembering the most was the night I got a copy of Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth.
Riding though the darkness, the mountains and hills and desert sand going by, the guitars started slowly, Kim telling us we were it.
I’m sure we were drinking or something, but that album fucked our brains up more than any alcohol did.
“I wanted to know the exact dimension of hell, does this sound simple?
Fuck you! Are you for sale?
Does ‘Fuck you’ sound simple enough?”
By the time we got to the track Providence, we were well outside of any city lights, the darkness and quiet of the desert was all around. That lonely piano sitting on top of what sounded like a rocket slowly taking off was our entire world, and Mike Watt’s voice from nowhere talking on the answering machine was like the voice of god startling the shit out of us.
Gootie looked over at me and said “Jesus, this shit should be illegal.”
