Photos by the Fabulous NC


"Marfa! Marfa! Marfa!"

You can hear the Jan Brady overtones of the ever-overshadowed middle child rising from the Chihuahuan desert.

Alpine is in the middle of the great Marfa-Alpine-Marathon metropolitan area- a grouping of some 10,000 souls caught between the Davis Mountains and the ranges of the mighty Big Bend. Is Alpine,  the city of Sul Ross State, where Don DeLillo once roamed- or so goes the legend of his early career, raising this chant?

Can I hear it in the distance? What's that?

"Marfa! Marfa! Marfa!"


Alpine- is it she who gets the role of the smart girl in the glasses who gets the grades, makes it into the Ivy League school, and  even gets  the Fulbright,  only to find herself well within the  penumbra of the popular girl, the beautiful one- the one with the  teeth, the one with the hair, the one the boys are after, even her own brother? After all, it is Alpine that has two thriving health food stores, a really awesome independent bookstore, more espresso machines  than stop lights, the recognition of every outdoor magazine in the world as a granolahead  heaven, but, still, it's...

"Marfa! Marfa! Marfa!"

Does Marathon echo this chant with it's Gage Hotel and name  right out of ancient history???

"Marfa! Marfa! Marfa!"

What the fuck is it about Marfa?


It's all I ever hear from the hopelessly hip denizens of Austin-  from the yuppietistas, from the  lawyers, from the transplanted Angelenos and Sili Valley nerds who got tired of paying state income taxes:

"Marfa! Marfa! Marfa!"

Goddammit, will they shut it already!!!!

But no. They say it again and again. They sing its praises. They chant its holy name and speak of its virtues as if it were heaven landed gently on earth, as if everyday reality ceased to exist, and there was only bliss once you get to....

"Marfa! Marfa! Marfa!"

"Oh! It's so great!" they exclaim, "the art, the restaurants, the wide open spaces where you can breathe the fresh air rising up out of  the Big  Bend."


"Oh! They even have their own film festival!"

They wax poetically, these  people. They'll even do an interpretive dance from time to time to illustrate their point.

What point are they illustrating, you ask? Just how great fucking Marfa is, of course.

What, specifically,  is so great about Marfa? I hear tons of hyperbole, but no one is able to nail down the specifics so I may examine it under my magnifying glass.

Is it the lights, those famous mysterious Marfa lights that are feted every fall? 

Is it the Paisano Hotel and its endless shelves of trinkets dedicated  to a film made 53 years ago with a trifecta of thespians known more for their  iconic tragic appeal  than acting ability.  Geez- has it been 53 years already, Rock, James, Liz?


Is it that damn fake Prada storefront (no offense, bbd) that someone with huevos bigger than Dallas and uglier than Houston calls art?

Is it the trailer park cum hotel that some trendoid Austinite is trying to  turn into a slacker lifestyle resort?

"No! No! No!" shout the disciples, "It is  more. It is a way of life! It is being!"

Fed up with the oblique nature of the pro-Marfa praise, I had to check it out myself, the Fabulous NC as co-investigator/instigator.


I discovered some things that make Marfa great:

1) there's a shitload of hipsters doing nothing but wearing ratpack hats, riding bicycles (which they don't lock up!) , and stopping at every restaurant and convenience store in town to chat with their friends and drum up free beer, wine, and  the  occasional appetizer;

2) The one and only supermarket still open at 8pm is a tiny 12 foot by 12 foot room stocked with tofu and $10  jars of peanut butter and is manned by a woman with all the ebullience of a Manson family follower who got lost on the way to San Quentin;

3) One can waltz into a restaurant (one of two that is actually open) on a Wednesday night, have a handful of arugula, a thimble of chutney, a tiny slither of parmesian cheese, a tiny saucer of  pasta, a glass of wine and then be granted the privilege to pay $70 for it.  


Good god!! That's living! That's what I'm talking about! These folks in Marfa have got it figured out alright! Let's rebuild Santa Fe right above Big Bend. Just what the world needs, another snooty third world resort town where the new age consumers move in and locals get priced out.

Fuck Marfa!

I'll never set foot in Marfa again. That'll keep their property values up.

Marfa is a high maintenance Princess.

Give me a down to earth gal.

See you in Alpine.

"Marfa! Marfa! Marfa!"



Full disclosure: The FNC did pick up the check- and, uh, Marfa ain't that bad------- yet.

Now that I've dissed an entire town (and a place of business), have you been to Marfa and  the greater Marfa-Alpine-Marathon metro area? If yes, what's your take? Is Marfa getting Santa Faked? What is good and bad about the area? Could you not care less because you just want to get some supplies before you hit Big Bend?