“I really enjoyed the sort of real crazy, eclectic layering stuff and how it all worked together. I could tell some of it was derivative of something. I could tell that certain things were being looped around and I just really enjoyed the way that it all came together.” –Eric San (musician)
The quote above is from a Canadian musician who was talking about the various sounds of musical syncopation. He very well could have been speaking about the eclectic fun and funk found layered and looped all around, within, above and next to Joshua Tree Oasis. Our guests joy in discovering yet another “hidden” treasure tucked around a corner or peering out of the cemented collages in walls, grooves, buckets, wheelbarrows, a permanently parked Chevy, etc. The brand new (actually antique) “WEST” sign telegraphing its bright blue presence in counterpoint to a neighboring “EAST” sign. Right outside the Master Bath tucked in between cacti and stones are weathered piles of old glass power resistors…you’ll find them near shards, smooth stones and an animal bone or two. Old charms, dolls heads, chipped bowls, sculptured faces, and quirky bits of stuff here and there all seem so perfectly outrageous within the inside and outside world of JTO.
You might not have seen the newest old additions, but just look closer. The wonderfully ancient lawnmower leaning up against a corner. You can almost smell the fresh, spikey scent of fresh-cut grass and that timeless chuckety-chuckety sound as it long-ago clunked across someone’s faraway backyard. New and old seem to dance together so naturally in this surreal vacation resort at the edge of the Mojave. The brilliant Brazilian wood and cork fish sculptures add new eye-pleasing fun to the second bathroom in the main house. Here and there are surprises tucked into every corner, on every shelf, woven into every wall—exotic Gypsy bracelets, an African stick, a watch fob, colorful match boxes, circus figures posed in garish states of dress and undress—each brought back in time to once again bring delight anew.
How lovely to enjoy such down-comforted luxury against a backdrop of otherworldly beauty—coyote choruses, trilling songbirds and the soothing sound of the wind and sand lulling you into an altered state of peace. And in within it all these comical relics and funky remnants that, once woven into the look and feel of JTO become instant works of art. James Madison said it best , “One man’s (or woman’s!) trash is another’s treasure. Come join the most captivating “treasure hunt” of all. Joshua Tree Oasis—where the real treasure is just being here.
