La Chancla measured the capacity, and force of gratitude
Through human acceptance and love of punk, the closing DIY music venue is now a blueprint for the world to echo.
Gratitude cannot be measured, but it can be observed, through human spirit, the outwardly presentation of existence, through movement. Work. Actions.
The wind cannot be seen, yet it can be measured, and its effects observed.
Sunlight can be measured, seen, observed, and monitored, yet some argue it is the source of all life on this planet. All life, without condition. Nature is the only entity to supply condition to an unconditional life source in the now.
Water, makes up an entirety of planet earth, just as it makes up an entirety of the human body within the race, yet humans pollute, control, empower, and weaponize the delicate liquid life source.
All energy forms, whether listed here or absently omitted, are earthly energy forms and all are misunderstood and abused. Yet when we study quantum (discrete amount of energy within each force), we see a connection of energy structure and transfer; certainly in observation and production. When we zoom out, we take those same observations and overlay them on a small demographic (community) and we can study the behaviors of mass energy transfer, health of the group, and a sense that all is well in the cosmos.
The power of knowing that a thing is ok is often the only signal the soul needs to express gratitude, not only as an outwardly gesture for human connection, but as a state of being for the vector.
Bethany and the crew will shut down La Chancla (DIY) after tonight but we get a sense that all is well in the world. Likely the best show producer in Albuquerque, Bethany and the crew curated shows that pulled humans together in a remarkably cozy and quaint Barelas white-walled mechanic shop, about as unassuming as a music venue could be. It was a quasi nihilistic venture that worked brilliantly well in the poverty stricken society that is New Mexico.
Everyone was welcome there. A remarkable and admirable display of human compassion and unconditional love through music that the city of Albuquerque, and the state could earnestly model. La Chancla (DIY) wasn’t just a music venue; it was a community statement of peace through human acceptance and passionately curated punk rock madness. I call it genius and it became a secret escape for me to consume music away from drunks, brewery chatter, and toxic social ignorance.
I came into the game half way through the venue’s lifespan, and felt an instant acceptance of both human and musical love within the cold, loving walls of an old small engine repair shop. La Chancla was a space where the masses came to silently gather, in honor of punk. Music was the medium, but La Chancla was the community. If anyone reading this went to a show there over the last two years, you’ll recognize the feeling of being embraced warmly by those who dreamed it to life, through sacrifice and selfless, noble work.
To create an organic welcoming space in a world of relentless division, the producers at La Chancla pulled in human energy we recognize as acceptance of all human life. Soon, we will only know that feeling as nostalgia. Gone before us yet living within us.
To Bethany and everyone who had sweat equity and human suffering poured into La Chancla, the work is a noble example of what we could do with our society if we follow the blueprint of peace, set forth by human acceptance, with expressive art that both highlights and celebrates the time and space continuum of life we now occupy.
La Chancla is a true to life blueprint for gratitude, and a schematic for its observable power application within community.