American Migrant 2: Burgers With Dust

By Nathan Payne | pablosmoglives | 27 Feb 2025

How do you make a sequel to a movie that has never been made?

Ask the dust.

The idea for American Migrant has changed. A lot. While the desire to keep it apolitical persists, and the goal would be that conservatives and liberals could sit next to each other for an hour or 2 and forget their manufactured differences, inspired and entertained by what they see, the landscape on which it will be filmed has changed dramatically. While Mexico has never been safe, stories like THIS, of an American disappearing on the road between Reynosa and Monterrey, make it so that I would actually tell Denver Williams NOT to come down here. Which I have. The original idea had us driving around like Easy Rider, without the drugs, in Mexico. We aren't going to do that anymore.

Martyr, Migrant, or Moron?

https://www.publish0x.com/pablosmoglives/martyr-migrant-or-moron-xdkeyyy

I recently moved into a house in San José Iturbide, a simmering hotbed of anti-gringo sentiment in the state of Guanajuato. I am here because of Alfonso, a Nahua Indian who speaks 4 languages and has a love for Charles Mingus. He is the new bassist of the Mexico chapter of my band. He is cool. But we realize we probably aren't going to get anywhere playing for tips in the corner of a bar. We have been working up a setlist, and have well over a dozen songs ready to go. He didn't want to be on camera, but here are a couple of examples from the music room of my house:

I haven't played in years, and me and Alfonso hit it off right away, and since he's a great player, my music has come back to life. Thank the Lord for that. But it's dark and creepy out there. I hate this beautiful house, for all the reasons that can't be seen by the naked eye, and someone egged my gate the other night. They hate gringos now more than ever. "They" meaning stupid, hateful scumbags. Including, God help them, some gringos. Mixed with the increasing hostility of the locals, the likely inability of my band to make rent, and the rekindling of the music flame, the unexpected desire to actually return to the land of the Easy Riders has been awakened deep within my cartoon soul.

There was never a destination on this spinning graveyard anyway. I wrote that song 20 years ago.

The Weight of Fire

https://www.publish0x.com/pablosmoglives/the-weight-of-fire-xnkovoz

The real reason for this message is to invite people to join me on Patreon, where I will be documenting my journey through the kill zone, enroute to meet Denver Williams somewhere on the border. Laredo, or maybe Presidio. I will avoid Reynosa, since some guy got stolen from the highway shelf there just a week ago, but he was making the rookie mistake of driving THIS WAY. If you're driving THAT WAY, you can just gun it to the border. It's only a couple hours from Monterrey. Worst-case, you get in a machete fight with some guy on the shoulder of the highway. When he realizes you're more dangerous than he is because you have less to lose and have been waiting to die for at least 25 years, he will back down. Or perhaps shoot you. But it won't come to that. PSALM 23, PSALM 121, and PSALM 91 apply. The faith required to cross the border, not unlike the faith required to get out of bed in the morning, is TOTAL. 99% will not suffice. I'm talking to myself. Since it's true, I will be fine.

Unless God decides to pull the plug.

American Migrant Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/AmericanMigrant

Because I never expected to return to the US, the only valid legal document I possess is a passport. The license plates and DL are both expired. Since all the cops down here are shady, I don't expect any problems until I get to the border. At which point, I will need some help.

Please share the Patreon link above, and subscribe to it if you can. I find that I am actually able to make updates and progress reports from the road, as opposed to the non-engaging moving-photo-album videos I usually upload. Something in the script has flipped. Assuming no serious film people are involved, whatever I happen to shoot while driving through the narcobloqueos (Spanish for burning school buses in the road) will comprise at least a portion of the handheld epic American Migrant 2: Burgers With Dust. The only standalone sequel ever made.

Alfonso has an appointment with some kind of visa-distribution center in Mexico City next month, and is going to try to get approval to be able to travel into the US. According to rumor, he tells me that they're denying everybody, as of about a month ago. But with active participation in a TOURING ROCK & ROLL BAND filming a road movie through a kill zone, maybe they'll approve him.

We will be pursuing that angle, so that we can do a tour of at least the region between Texas & California, even if the flags on the back of our motorcycle jackets are only part American. And we're going to need some serious coverage, so tell your mainstream entertainment news friends. The dangers are real, and I don't expect the Border Patrol to look kindly on an undocumented American migrant, showing up at the border with a 5-day beard and a caffeinated plea for mercy. Then again, who knows.

They might.