Pan American Dreams

I picked up Denna and Orian at 7:30 am this morning in Beverly Hills and we drove all day through Las Vegas and into Utah, arriving at Mystic Hot Springs at 11:30 pm tonight. It was freezing cold and snowing in the mountains of Utah, and we encountered occasional ice and snow pack on the roads. We had no protection from the cold because the heater in the Bronco did not work! I had loaned my gloves to Orian, who was freezing, so I drove with one hand in my pocket until the hand on the steering wheel began to freeze, and would then alternate. This went on for five or six hours!

I was so tired from a restless lack of sleep the night before that I also had to stop several times for catnaps. Neither Denna nor Orian drive, so it was up to me. I could not drive fatigued. In St. George, Utah, I went into the local McDonalds, bought a cup of coffee and promptly fell asleep in a warm booth for 25 minutes. The nap also gave me a chance to thaw out. Amazingly, no one bothered me. They must have thought I was a drunk sleeping off a bender!

With no heat in the truck all day, we were frozen by the time we arrived at the Hot Springs. Mike and his girlfriend greeted us in the huge front reception room with a roaring fire in the wood burning stove and quickly showed us the kitchen for cups of hot tea and vegetarian snacks. After we joked and talked with one another about the trip for half an hour, Mike, his daughter Mieka and his girlfriend showed me their latest passion - sewing!!

The focus was quilts, but they also make scarves and pillows and some clothing. Their new found passion for sewing was turning into a serious endeavor, with two rather expensive microprocessor based German sewing machines in the sewing area and talk of buying a "long arm" sewing machine that cost $10,000 to $15,000. One of their quilts has won several awards, and Mike thought he might be able to sell computer files that contained patterns and unique designs that could be downloaded to a computerized sewing machine.

We spent an hour sewing. Mike showed me all the nifty features of his fancy sewing machines, then he and I spent another hour in his video editing studio experimenting with all of the software that he uses and reviewing some of the terrific long form music videos he has produced over the past several years.

Mike has hosted and recorded a wide variety of artists and groups from what he calls the "jam scene." He pays the groups a small amount to perform at Mystic Hot Springs but also produces videos of these performances. Sometimes only 5 or 6 people show up for the concerts, at other times 25 or 30 people are in the audience.

Mike produces his videos using a studio quality three camera setup. Mike and the artists then split any profits that eventually ensue. It isn't about the money for Mike or for the artists. It is about the music. Mike has built up an enormous video archive of more than 125 hours of live performances that are absolutely unique! He has slowly been putting these performances on YouTube and has already built up a sizable online video library that can be accessed on the Mystic YouTube site.

Some of this music is simply wonderful, and some of the groups who have performed on camera are enormously entertaining and engaging. They play everything from guitars and drums to exotic African, Middle Eastern and Native American instruments to the common carpenter's saw!

Usually, even the most talented of these artists are not widely known. They are generally from Utah, Colorado, and other states in the Western U.S. What seems to unite them is their approach to the music. Their quest is to understand and keep alive a variety of native and folk traditions, styles and instruments. No doubt some would like to have a wider audience, but this is not strictly a fame and celebrity driven musical community.

A couple of my favorites are:

Mystic Mike is a kindred spirit to these folks. His values center on a sense of community and sharing. What I like about Mike is that he discovered a physical place and a way of life that he loved many years ago, and then made a total commitment to both. 

Now, more than 20 years later, he lives a genial life at Mystic with friends and family near, close to nature, engaged in a wide variety of creative pursuits while striving to increase awareness of vanishing traditions and folkways and the sense of community that originally supported them. Mieka and Denna are also delightful kids who reflect Mike's energy, curiosity and sense of engagement.

We talked at some length about Mike's idea for buying older equipment and setting up video recording and editing studios throughout America to empower as many different forms of indigenous creative expression as possible. It is a worthy idea that I like a lot. We will continue talking until we have a plan to make it a reality.

Denna, Orian and I finally retired to a big dorm room with about half a dozen beds and slept under piles of quilts and comforters with one tiny electric heater vibrating and working overtime to generate a little heat.

I left at 6:30 am in the freezing cold, snow covered morning. Mike came out in his bathrobe to warm up the wood burning stove and gave me a friendly send off. He even loaned me an old glove for my steering wheel hand!