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Bud Ice

by Tristan Dolce

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about

We’re not sure why a family of tourists drove into the most remote area of Death Valley in 123 degree weather during July of 1996. Was it dumb curiosity? Did they disappear to start new lives? Or did they mean to penetrate the nearby top secret military base, China Lake, and saw something they weren’t supposed to?

The van wasn’t discovered until October of the same year, by helicopter. A search and rescue operation was launched but they were not found. The only clue, an empty bottle of Bud Ice. 14 years later came Tom Mahood, an off duty search and rescuer who made it his mission to find the missing tourists.

When I read Tom’s accounts of his searches I became obsessed, pouring over the topo maps and weather data, military archives, interpol law. Anyone interested in mysterious disappearances would love Tom’s piece. Plus, it contains Pynchonian names like “Egbert Rimkus,” “Emmett Harder” & “Dick Hassleman.” It can be read at his website, otherhand.org.

I wrote this song about the whole thing.

lyrics

So I bet they took a southern route after a bottle and a half
At one hundred and eleven there would be no going back
Not knowing just how grave the situation
They left the van and headed down the path

What a miscalculation
Mistakes you couldn't make if you had tried
What a miscalculation
A series of decisions gone awry

I had heard the search and rescue had a tough time
Just getting to the spot they left the van
A crew of thirty men had searched the desert
And thirty men returned with empty hands

What a miscalculation
If only they had searched the southern route
They would have found their bodies lying in the bushes
In the desert sun drying out

It was fourteen year until I heard this story
In another couple months, I'd make the pact
I would find out what if anything had happened
And return with indisputable fact

What a miscalculation
I almost lost my life a couple times
What a miscalculation
Sometimes you don't know just what you'll find

credits

released August 14, 2020
music/lyric/vocal/guitar/piano: Tristan Dolce
drum/trumpet/vocal: Meagan Dolce
bass: Patrick Clancy

Recorded & Mixedby Tristan Dolce

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Tristan Dolce Los Angeles, California

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