e c l e c t i c a
s p o t l i g h t a u t h o r
Chris Epting
e c l e c t i c a
s p o t l i g h t a u t h o r
Chris Epting
(These are excerpts—click on the title to view the whole piece!)
Visiting otherworldly places is comforting, I find, because they seem to have no rules—or at least, rules that we understand. The deserts are full of these strange moonscapes, and one of my favorites is the Trona Pinnacles. Here, more than 500 tufa (calcium carbonate) pinnacles rise from the bed of the Searles Dry Lake basin.
The agency also had a production company arm, and this production arm was hired to produce the very first MTV Music Video Awards Show at Radio City Music Hall. Luckily, a few of us in the creative department were brought on to help get things done, and I was fortunate enough to land one of the more (I thought) interesting assignments: assisting one of the show's so-hosts, the actor and comedian Dan Aykroyd.
This lovely child, who I believe was about eleven, was stricken with a grave disorder that had left him severely physically handicapped. But his mind was spectacular. Creative, intuitive, funny, aware of the reality of his situation... and a Michael Jordan freak.
It was because of this "best of both worlds" situation that certain notable people became attracted to the area. Jackie Gleason, for one. Other actors. Writers. Thinkers. Even Peter Frampton (on the heels of the blockbuster album Frampton Comes Alive) all escaped to the these woods for solace, privacy and the knowledge that New York City was still within reach.
