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Marfa Movie
November 09, 2005

Thanks to Things, as usual, I'm pleased to discover that there is to be a Townes Van Zandt movie. Whether it'll get a release here or not I don't know, but a DVD will appear soon. I first came across Van Zandt in the brilliant, 1977, James Szalapski documentary, Heartworn Highways.

Hearing his performance of "Waiting Round To Die" in that movie made me track down his albums, which weren't readily available then. Anyway, the reason I discovered this is Things link to the bizarre Prada installation in Marfa, Texas, which was vandalised recently. Looking at the Marfa blog I noticed the the film, Be There To Love Me, will be previewing there next week. Not that I'll be going, much as I'd love to, but as I don't drive I don't know how I'll ever reach the place. I've found where I'd like to stay if I ever do though. Hotel Paisano. It's where Liz Taylor, James Dean and Rock Hudson hung out whilst filming Giant.

But look at this for difficult to reach! The closest major airports are located in El Paso and Midland/Odessa. Marfa is approximately 200 miles from both cities. El Paso is serviced by American, Continental, Delta, and Southwest Airlines. Midland/Odessa is serviced by Southwest Airlines, American Eagle and Continental Airlines. Major car rental agencies are located at both airports. The Marfa airport is located three miles north of town and can service most small jets and jet-prop aircraft.

There are a few charter companies that service Marfa:
Aircraft Charter Services: 1 888 ALL JETS
Air Transport, El Paso: 432 772 1448
Airway: 815 235 3256 American Jet International, Houston: 713 644 4359
Jet Aviation, Dallas: 214 350 8523

Amtrak offers regular rail service to Alpine, which is approximately 26 miles east of Marfa.

Greyhound offers daily connections from El Paso and Midland/Odessa to Van Horn (74 miles Northwest of Marfa).

So, unless I can charter a plane, the nearest you can get by public transport is 26 miles away! It'll certainly be an adventure - But I've been wanting to visit the Chinati Foundation for years so I'll go one day. I hope!

Named in 1883 by the wife of a railroad executive, after a female servant in Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamozov [the book she was reading when she arrived there], the town of Marfa was originally known as Tank Town as it was a water stop on the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad.

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Comments:

townes was the man! i'll await the movie. i love his stories about his teeth and the magic pint of guiness.

# posted by

leo myshkin : November 13, 2005 12:44 AM