Last night I solved a mystery that started 3 years ago near the Salton Sea at Salvation Mountain. First a little bit about Salvation Mountain, as the name might imply, it is a religious monument. Built by what some might call an eccentric, although most agree is a delightful old man who took on the task of covering a mountain in the desert with paint hay and clay. Leonard Knight would greet you and give a tour of his creation and if you where lucky play a tune or two on his guitar.
Salvation Mountain is the first thing you will see if you camp at "the slabs" and abandoned WW II military base (Camp Dunlap) and home to hundreds of "snowbirds" and an eclectic collection of misfits, hippies, anarchists and anybody who wishes to disappear into the desert. Not a campsite for the feint of heart but teaming with a rawness that is truly exciting and free! Salvation Mountain has been used as a back drop in movies, Easy Rider, Into The Wild, documentaries, novels and music videos.
Which brings me back to the mystery. While camped at the slabs there was a bit of a buzz about that a music video was being filmed and this required further investigation. A small production company was setting up at Salvation Mountain, I had befriended a young lad that was a protege of Leonard's and camera in hand drifted over to see what was going on. Two very pretty young girls where being videoed and it looked like an opportunity to get a few shots. While clicking away my friend came over and asked if I had seen the large menacing man staring at me. Since I was focused on the girls and had not, he explained that if I didn't stop taking pictures he was going to do unmentionable things to me and my camera. This was a public place and it is "the slabs" where there are no rules, but he was a large fellow and I didn't want to find out if my camera would fit where he planned to put it, so I chose to leave.
The issue it seems was that they didn't want pictures to show up on the internet before the video was released. They would not even tell who the artist's were. I had done some digging on line trying to find these girls but to no avail. Fast forward to last night, some down time in front of the TV, a couple of young girl country singers got me thinking. A few Google searches on my IPad and bingo, Coldwater Jane, a sister group from Mississippi doing a video at you guessed it Salvation Mountain.