~calamity strange~

today, some more photos from the heretics and heathens show, and a bit of info about them to address the questions i received about where, why, how, what???

a lot of people have asked about this place, and scant few had been there.  three of the photos in the show were taken at or near The Salton Sea in southern california.  here are a few places you can learn more about it:  the basic explanation of the area on wikipedia: HERE.  the documentary film that will explain everything and is VERY interesting: HERE   (really, you should watch this film… it is VERY interesting!) or if you’re on netflix… you can find it HERE

…the Salton Sea, an inland ocean of massive fish kills, rotting resorts, and 120 degree nights located just minutes from urban Southern California. This award-winning film… details the rise and fall of the Salton Sea, from its heyday as the “California Riviera” …  to its present state as a decaying, forgotten ecological disaster. From wonderland to wasteland, PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA captures a place far more interesting than the shopping malls and parking lots of suburban America, a wacky world where a beer-swilling Hungarian Revolutionary, a geriatric nudist, and a religious zealot building a monument to God all find solace and community.

(not to be confused with the hollywood movie called “the salton sea” with val kilmer!)

there are three main aspects of this area:

the sea itself.  which is a giant saline lake at 226 feet below sea level.  the nicest beach created entirely from the corpses of rotting fish, you will ever find anywhere.

here’s how the guy i live with, who is way better with words than me, decribes it:

“A massive accidental diversion of the Colorado River that proved fodder for the proverb “when given lemons, make lemonade”, the Salton Sea has for just over a hundred years now existed in this strange cycle of opportunistic dreamscape/cataclysm/opportunistic dreamscape/cataclysm that has ended up creating a highly saline, below sea-level sump full of agricultural runoff and a seemingly inexhaustible Tilapia population. It is home to some incredibly desolate human poverty that is surviving on the foundations of what was supposed to be “the next Palm Springs.” Every summer millions of Tilapia suffocate to death during prolific algae blooms, then rot, then get infected with botulism, which birds then contract from eating the fish. It is a bird habitat of global significance. It is a salty, and growing saltier, cesspool. Water flows in from irrigation runoff and one very polluted river, but doesn’t flow out again. The only water to leave the sea leaves via evaporation. I have never seen anyplace like it. Best sightseeing trip of epic perversity that I have ever been on. Highly recommended. Just don’t go during summer. Smells like rotting fish then, and apparently the flies are out of control…”

so, lake itself, the bizarre communities that still exsist (sort of) around the lake, like bombay beach for instance, which is where my photo: “blame nietzsche” was taken.

the sea it is also home to one of the largest and most important wildlife/ bird and waterfowl preserves in the country- which is kind of unbelievable, but no less believable than the fact that sono bono is responsible for creating the nature preserve!

seriously.

it is also a hot-bed of geothermic activity, and the south end of the lake is home to both lava formations and several geothermal power plants.

then, just slightly southeast of the sea, outside of a town called niland, california- you will find salvation mountain.  trust me, photographs do not do justice to this place.

this is leonard. he practices what he preaches…. the man is committed to god, undeniably.

driving past his monument is one thing, getting out and walking around: another, but going inside this structure that an eighty year old man, crisped from the sun, and a teeny bit crazed (probably from all the paint) spends his days building as his tribute to jesus…. well, you just really have to go. i have seen a lot of art in my days, and walking into this structure was one of the most powerful and mind-blowing art experiences i have ever had. just go. go before leonard passes away. go before the thing get torn down.

lastly, there is slab city.  you might remember it from the movie into the wild.

part burning man, part hesher-tweeker-kook-land, part military survivalist, part hippie, part…. well… you tell me. “the remains of the abandoned World War II Marine barracks Camp Dunlap … a group of servicemen remained after the base closed, and the place has been inhabited ever since. the site is both decommissioned and uncontrolled, and there is no charge for parking. the camp has no electricity, no running water or other services.” this place is a trip.

if you are a into road-trips… this is one of a kind.  don’t go all the way down there and miss any of these sights.  in the past week i have talked to people who have been to slab-city, but never over to the lake itself- and vice-versa.  go see all of it.  it’s worth it.