Station To Station
We Talk to the Band White Mystery About Their Time on the Station to Station Train with Levi’s®
Alex and Francis’ music is loud and fun and everything that rock today should be but isn’t. Someone told me that Amtrak was scared to have White Mystery play at Chicago’s Union Station because their music might bring the old stone and marble building...
We Talk to Laura Sato from the Levi’s® Makers Tent About Her Experience on Station to Station
Laura Sato was one of the super-talented people hand-crafting one-of-a-kind pieces of clothing in the Levi’s® Makers Tent during every Station to Station event. I convinced her to stop sewing for a few minutes and talk to me about her experiences on...
We Talk to Josh Lovell from the Station to Station Recording Car About Playing with Patti Smith
Josh Lovell was Justin Stanley’s right-hand man in the Station to Station recording studio car. (Josh is actually living in my house right now while he looks for an apartment in New York, so I cornered him as he was getting out of the shower and...
Meet the Conductor
Throughout Station to Station there's existed an emphasis on collaborative work but the most important collaboration has been between Doug Aitken and Len Peltier, the Global Creative Director at Levi Strauss. Without that the train would never have got...
Italians Do It Better
Cat Power played Satisfaction, Jackson Browne sung Take It Easy and Cold Cave performed in the middle of a hay bale maze, then Giorgio Moroder climbed the stage and performed just one song. He'd written it earlier that day on the train in the recording...
Close Encounters In The Desert
The Fitzgerald family are fourth generation Irish with a dash of Cherokee. They're originally from the Burren, a bizarre rockland in the west of Ireland that, from above, looks a little like the pieces of a cracked ceramic plate sprinkled on a table...
Ways to Pass Time in the Desert
Jack Kerouac said that the 'road is life,' but the railroad is really living. A giant, moving platform of bathrooms, dining cars, music studios, gallery space and a Levis® car with sofas and tables and deep-leather chairs that drop you right down to...
Downtime Pilgrimages
When the Station to Station: a public art project made possible by Levi's® train's not rolling we generally find ourselves out exploring the local landscape. In Arizona this means giant craters, grand canyons and a million and one references to Route...
Under a Full Moon in Santa Fe
So this is what a Levis® Station to Station happening is. A concert and alongside that a bunch of little tents of activity where locals flock like moths to gas lamps. In cowboy hats, fleece jackets, hippie dresses sandals and bicycle clips.
Wobbling On A Corner In Winslow Arizona
Levis® didn't build the railroads, the Irish and the Chinese did. But Levis® did outfit those laborers. The 501 jean was introduced just before completion of the Atlantic-Pacific route, the same route incidentally that our merry band has been rolling...
The Station to Station Train Makes an Unscheduled Stop in Missouri
There was a long gap between the Station to Station event in St. Paul, Minnesota and the Happening planned for Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the rumors started circulating around the train. No one I talked to knew anything concrete, but word was that Doug...
Patti Smith Shows Up at Station to Station's St. Paul Event in Union Depot
Josh and Justin, the on-board engineers from the recording car, slink onstage with Patti Smith. We’re halfway through Patti Smith’s set at the St. Paul Union Depot. Justin plops down behind the drums and Josh picks up a bass. Josh, Justin, and a few...