Note: This event has been cancelled. This piece is being posted for archival integrity.
An event combining stargazing with cosmic music, art and more is coming to Pioneertown.
Space Craft will unite space and sounds during two days of astronomical fun on Friday, Aug. 14, and Saturday, Aug. 15—the weekend following the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. Expect talks with astronomers, film screenings, live music and, of course, plenty of telescopes (provided by Stargazing Joshua Tree) to check out the night sky.
The festival is organized by Megan Roberts and Adriana Molello of Night Howl Productions, along with Matt French, who owns the Pioneertown Motel and Red Dog Saloon with his brother, Mike. Both Roberts and Molello worked for Atlas Obscura, the wildly popular home of unconventional travel guides, and helped produce two space-themed festivals in the past.
“I think something about bringing people together for a cosmic experience that they can share really speaks to this age-old human experience of looking up at the stars and really realizing you’re part of something greater,” Roberts said during a recent Zoom chat with the organizers.
Roberts and Molello were blown away when they first viewed the night sky in the high desert.
“One of the things that really stood out to us when we were first visiting Joshua Tree and Pioneertown was just how incredible the night skies are, and realizing that’s something that not everybody gets to even experience at all in their lifetimes,” Roberts said. “In doing a lot of work with different astronomers, we’re realizing that our night skies are changing very quickly, and they’re not going to look the same within the next few years with everything that’s being launched into space. Wanting to capture this precious time, we were really lucky to be introduced to Matt, originally through that work at Atlas Obscura, and we started brainstorming on creating a summertime experience in Pioneertown that would really highlight how beautiful the nights are.”
An excursion into the high desert is still worth taking during these hotter months, French said.
“I live in the desert full time, and spring and fall are when everyone’s clamoring to come out, and that’s when high season is, but as a local over the years, I have really been drawn into summer,” French said. “I think it’s, in some ways, the purest season in the desert, and the summer nights are truly magical. I’ve always wanted to help find ways for people to just have that experience personally, because it’s pretty otherworldly to be out in the desert under the stars when it’s balmy and warm, and you can just linger outside in your shorts and hike and hang out.”
This proved to be the perfect year for the inaugural Space Craft, thanks to an astronomical phenomenon coinciding with the meteor shower.
“This year is special in particular for the meteor shower, because it’s the first time in over a decade that the peak of the meteor shower coincides with a new moon, so we’ve got extra-dark skies at the period of time when we’re anticipating 50 to 100 meteors every hour,” Roberts said. “We took that in, and that led to the curation of so much art and music.”
The weekend will include “Cosmic Contemplations” with cosmologists and scientists at the Pioneertown Motel Speakeasy, film screenings and music at the Space Arena at Desert Willow Ranch, and headliner concerts from Tangerine Dream and ESG at Pappy and Harriet’s.
“There’s just so much built around our connection with space, so we wanted to create a whole weekend to really dive into that,” Roberts said. “‘What’s the best possible experience to have under a meteor shower?’ Let’s have some really mind-bending conversations with scientists; let’s have some beautiful cosmic music, and stargazing with high-powered telescopes, and really just give people a chance to choose their own adventure with an array of different types of experiences to have under the Perseids.”
Space Craft will cater to both die-hard astronomy fans and newbie stargazers.
“I think that we’ve hit a nice balance of having programming and offerings,” Roberts said. “These high-powered telescopes we’re bringing in will definitely appeal to people who are already very into astronomy, and we have some really great talks with everything from astronomers to astrobiologists. That said, I think that the music and the overall experience will also draw on people who are totally new to stargazing. The hope is that everyone’s going to get a little outside of their regular box and start to experience something different. We love when we’re combining education with entertainment and having an experience that does a bit of both.”
Added Molello: “I would also chime in and say that the way we curated the music, too, is you can be older, or you can be younger. It’s kind of timeless. It’s cosmic music, so if you want to just contemplate and have a really peaceful experience, you can be at the Space Arena for the outdoor shows, but if you want to party and turn it up with ESG or Tangerine Dream, or at Red Dog Saloon, that’s also there. It doesn’t matter your age; the music is there to be enjoyed by everybody.”
The festival’s concerts will feature top-notch production, but the organizers promised that the offerings will not pollute the night sky.
“With the music we’re doing at Desert Willow Ranch, we’re being very intentional, not just with the curation of the kinds of music that we’re bringing in, but also with the way we’re approaching the sound design and the lighting design, to have it be something that complements, and does not compete with or interfere with, the stargazing experience,” Roberts said. “We’re working with a wonderful local, Bear Glass of Mobius Acoustics, who’s built a custom quadraphonic sound system. It’s all facing in on the audience, and not just blasting out in a single direction, to make a much more intimate experience. We’re also being very intentional with all of our lighting, leaning heavily into red lights and lighting that won’t interfere with visibility. It really is meant to kind of be this immersive, dreamy experience.”
Space Craft features multiple high desert businesses working together for the first time.
“A huge part of us being able to bring this to life is this partnership,” Roberts said. “I would also say that Pappy and Harriet’s, the team there, has been very supportive as well, as has Heidi (Smith Cherry) at Desert Willow Ranch. It feels like whenever we have an opportunity to really present the idea and get into what we’re envisioning, it resonates.”
One can’t miss event is the Welcome Space Brothers screening at 10 p.m., Friday, Aug. 14, at the Space Arena at Desert Willow Ranch.
“It’s the high desert premiere, and it’s a really phenomenal film about the Unarians, which were a female-led, UFO-believing creative collective that made a prolific amount of public-access TV movies with crazy self-made special effects and costumes and stories of them re-enacting past lives,” Roberts said. “… We’re going to have some of the Unarians actually show up to talk about making those films, and then there’s a midnight screening of The Arrival, which is kind of their cult-classic masterpiece, which has some of the most amazing homemade special effects you will ever see.”
Added Molello: “It’s going to be a really amazing weekend, and it’s nice to honor different people’s history and lives in the desert, especially in Pioneertown. I think we’re touching on a lot of different things, and it is the first time all of these partners have all come together to do something, so we hope to continue with them and make this event an annual thing.”
Space Craft will take place on Friday, Aug. 14, and Saturday, Aug. 15, in Pioneertown. Two-day tickets start at $267.09; a Friday pass is $128.75, and a Saturday pass is $179.01. You can also purchase tickets for the Pappy and Harriet’s concerts separately. For tickets and more information, visit www.spacecraftjoshuatree.com.
Note: This event has been cancelled. This piece is being posted for archival integrity.
