Our new Carbon 13 sign in progress. Painted by Sam Schonzeit. Our experiment with a forklift begins tomorrow.

Marfans or folks here for the month of September: Synth Class ! ! ! ! ! ! is coming to Marfa, courtesy of Marfa Book Company and marfasynth.com. Classes are at Marfa Book Company on September 11, 18, and 25th. To attend, please write brian@marfasynth.com, or call Tim Johnson at the Marfa Book Company at 432-729-3906. (Note that the Synth Class Record Bin includes Yaz’s Upstairs at Eric’s, my sixth grade obsession) — NI

Erika Blumenfeld, Las Conchas Wildfire (New Mexico 2011), 2012, Digital pigment print, 40x60 inches, Edition of 3

Getting excited about the opening of Carbon 13 this Friday. Installation is in full swing (thanks to master installers Sean Di Ianni and Justin Waugh), and artist Erika Blumenfeld just installed her contribution — paintings, sculptures and photographs related to the wildfires across the US southwest. Erika explains:

“In April of 2011, as the Rock House Fire raged through Marfa and across the beautiful landscape of far West Texas–devastating the region’s wildlife, ranches and livelihoods–I began to collect the charred debris of the trees, dirt, animal bones, and grasses that remained. I then photographed the result of what has clearly become a heightening of conditions for wildfires due to arridification from climate change. I documented four major fires across of the southwest in this way, gathering material from the Rock House Wildfire (Texas 2011), the Las Conchas Wildfire (New Mexico 2011), the Wallow Wildfire (Arizona 2011) and the recent Waldo Canyon Wildfire (Colorado 2012).

I ground the charred debris I collected into a fine pigment, which in some cases is iridescent with metalized carbon, and made a series of Wildfire Paintings, allowing the raw material to sit on the surface of a gilded-edged panel. For the sculptural component, I filled hand-hammered Tibetan song bowls with charred grasses, pinecones, wood and pineneedles and displayed them along burned volcanic rocks, animal bones and cacti. All of these materials are contraband, as the areas from which I gathered them were either private, state, or federal lands. At each location I went to gather debris, I was at some point evicted from the land, highlighting the interesting dichotomy between the varying human ideas of ‘land ownership.’ This work considers the sacredness of the natural landscape alongside our desire to own it, exploring the idea that land ownership has in one sense stolen the land from nature. In stealing it back, the piece intends to re-sacralize nature beyond our possession of it. In the photographic works, I documented the thick smoke of the active fires and the blackened landscape in the aftermath of the blaze.

The works are forensic evidence of the crime of climate change, eulogy to the wildfires, and homage to the nature they consumed. However, as carbon is both the building block of all life and is itself an artifact of light, these works also intend to look to the regeneration that is possible as we look for solutions for climate change.”

Join us on Friday for the Carbon 13 opening from 6 to 8 pm, followed by a community dinner at the Capri, where we’ll also show Koyaanisqatsi, the film by Godfrey Reggio, with music by Philip Glass. –NI

Alex Chilton signing “I Will Always Love You,” live on WLYX Memphis, 1975. Courtesy of writer Lindsay Zoladz.

We’re big fans of Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi, the amazing design duo at Sonnenzimmer, who designed our Yeasayer poster back in 2010, and just sent us this poster celebrating the Marfa Dialogues and Carbon 13. Knockout. What’s more, it’s printed on 100% post-consumer waste paper, courtesy of , an independent printer in Niles, Michigan, with their own hyrdro-plant for electricity (and they’ve been energy radicals for SIX GENERATIONS). Inspiring. Many thanks to Nick and Nadine (be sure to explore their site, I’m in love with that Walkmen poster) and buy the Marfa Dialogues poster now. –NI

Prada Marfa, courtesy of the 55 (http://the55.heroku.com/)

After intending to sign up for at least six months, and taking our cue from our pals at Frama, Padre’s and the Chinati Foundation, we finally did it — we adopted a highway! Praise be. We’ll be cleaning the area around Prada Marfa four times a year, with two of the cleanings open to community volunteers. Orange jumpsuits at the ready. Thanks to Jessica Brassler and John Conners at TX DOT for making this happen (and thanks to the 55 for the great photo of Prada Marfa). –NI

David Hockney, Olympics, 1972

Allan Jones, Olympics, 1972

Horst Antes, Olympics, 1972

Eduardo Chillida, Olympics, 1972

Tom Wesselmann, Olympics, 1972

Josef Albers, Olympics, 1972

According to Creatures of Comfort (GREAT blog): “The 1972 Olympics held in Munich were the first time that the events were broadcast globally through television. As a result, it became the first time a terrorist attack was seen globally. Otl Aicher, who designed the 1972 Olympics chose, also for the first time, to use image predominantly in the graphics, rather than text and he commissioned international artists to make editioned prints for the games.”

ALSO OF NOTE: Texas soul legend Bobby Patterson is playing the El Cosmico festival, in addition to a lot of awesome folks (buy tickets here). In celebration, here’s a Thursday jam by Bobby, courtesy of Aquarium Drunkard.

Bobby Patterson “If You Took A Survey”

Courtesy of Creatures of Comfort.

If you don’t know the brilliance that is Mississippi Records, well, here we go. A record label run out of Montreal and Portland (and named after co-founder Eric Isaacson’s record store in Portland), it specializes in forgotten or overlooked musicians, spanning American roots, blues, gospel, art punk, and world music, ultimately creating a “strange and beautiful canon,” as described by J. Spaceman. Indeed, there’s something haunting about all the records. (Learn more about the label via these interviews with co-founders Eric Isaacson and Warren Hill.)

At any rate, the excellent Aquarius Records in San Francisco has restocked and rounded up many Mississippi Records releases, so grab them quick. The Clean LP, which is awesome, is already gone, but you can still get plenty of gems, including Marisa Anderson, Abner Jay and Mahmoud Ahmed. –NI