The Tomato Patch Murder I

THE TOMATO PATCH MURDER I

This much is clear, on May 18th, 1997, Billy Crowder and John Stanton entered the bedroom of Thurman Martin, Billy`s maternal granddaddy, and shot him to death with a 22 rifle as he slept. Then they wrapped him in a shower curtain and buried him in the backyard. In order to cover up what they done they planted tomatoes on top of him to account for the fresh dirt. As an afterthought, Billy had taken Thurman`s wallet and used the money to pay some bills. This action would prove to be Billy`s fatal flaw. They made it seem like the grandfather had disappeared. Katie Crowder, Billy`s sister, had cleaned up the bedroom, wiping blood off the walls. This case would become known as The Tomato Patch Murder, since the disposal of the body involved the planting of tomatoes on top of the grave.

A random stack of hand-written notes, trial transcripts, and Polaroids rested quietly on a tabletop in a corner of my room. I had done my research well, yet how could I organize this data in such a way so that people could make sense of it? Troubling too was the fact that there were many things about this case that were unknown to me. The biggest one was the question of who Thurman Martin really was? Why was Thurman Martin such a despicable person? Why was he the perfect bastard towards his own wife, his own daughter, and his very own grandkids?

Much of it was coming back to me now. I had been searching frantically for a photograph of my yellow Mustang to share with a friend. Over the holidays I found a musty archive box with some forty unlabeled VHS tapes in the closet. I carried the archive box over by the TV and put the first tape I could grab in my Sanyo player, just out of curiosity. Gradually, it came back to me just what I was watching. This was the Tomato Patch Murder Trial on Court TV, with the familiar face of Dan Broden as your host.

The main focus of this case is on Thurman Martin, a retired truck driver, husband, father, and ‘good old boy’ from the small town of Ludowici, Georgia. He had one other character trait also, he was an abuser, chronic and violent. Thurman abused his wife, Lula, for a lifetime. He hated her with a passion and beat her repeatedly, right in front of his grandchildren, Billy and Katie. The abuse spread to his grandkids, and over a span of time I intend to detail for you many of these sorted events. As far as motive goes, Billy Crowder felt as if he had no choice but to take the life of his granddaddy. The reprehensible pattern of behavior would not seize until Thurman Martin was stone dead.

So ten years have passed by since The Tomato Patch Murder Trial was broadcast on Court TV; that was January of 1999. It was my habit at that time to tape record many shows that I deemed worthy for future reference. In the back of my mind I recognized the remote possibility that some of these tapes may come in handy one day. I believe that it has come to pass now. I watch this fragile VHS tape over and over again. I am reviewing the evidence for something I may have missed, a tiny speck of evidence that may have been carelessly overlooked. I didn`t want to take that chance. Good God, one thing is for certain, Billy Crowder might well spend the remainder of his life in jail for what he`s done. We can surely afford to be critical of the case made by the state of Georgia, and contemplate the worthiness of incarceration a s the only option on the table for this young man.

I meandered over to the research table with the stack of Tomato Patch evidence again. I recalled all the labor involved in compiling this data. But I also saw shortcomings. A visit to Ludowici is necessary. Interview witnesses, attorneys, family members, and friends, if possible. I hadn`t seen the crime photos either. I feel a need to share what I do have with you. This will improve the process. I will release it little by little, in parts, or chapters. Serialized, you see. Truman Capote had done it this way in his book In Cold Blood. If there are flaws, let me know. If Thurman Martin was as bad of a man as I suspect he was, then maybe more facts should be disclosed about his life to fill in the picture.

XTC`S SKYLARKING REVIEW

SKYLARKING IS A RARE GEM AND A HIGH MARK FOR XTC! By John G. Kays

SKYLARKING *(please visit me over at Newsblaze) IS A PAISLEY UNDERGROUND MASTERPIECE THAT IS PERCHED IN THE PANTHEON OF GREAT ENGLISH ALBUMS AND FURTHERMORE, PLAYED A ROLE IN THE CREATION OF A MOSTLY FORGOTTEN COMEDY/PARODY BAND FROM DALLAS, TEXAS: THE POTATOES!

Rediscovering XTC`s Skylarking after twenty-three years is indeed a pleasant prize. I had recently read Bucks Burnett`s (a former proprietor of Fourteen Records and present day owner & General Manager of Earotica) piece “My 10 Favorite English Albums Ever”; he had sung its praises as “ridiculously melodic and irritatingly good.” I concur with his positive accolades. A “Sentimental Journey” was unleashed after this reading. The mnemonic runs something like this: during one particularly crisp fall evening sometime in 1986 I ran into a friend at the now defunct Peaches Records in Dallas, Texas. Hubert Winnubst, a guy I had worked with before in a band named Rachel Bazooka, had in his hands a gigantic stack of LPs ripe for purchase. Skylarking was intermingled amongst this stack.

“Hey Hubert, do you want to get together and jam sometime next week?”, I blurted forth with a wavering throat. “Why not,” Hubert retorted. We did just that, and over a few near-beers we jammed freely on guitars and Hubert played that lovely record several times over. We whipped up enough inspiration to start up another band, and we did just that. Later, after many of the members were assembled, each with their own distinguished musical assignments in place, we called ourselves The Potatoes (1987-1991). It`s difficult to put a moniker on this band, but it approximated a Comedy/Parody band, a Dinner Theater revival group that danced around many genres and made a sizeable splash on the local scene, mostly in the Fair Park District of Dallas. So Skylarking does have a permanent parking place in my heart; thus I hungrily snatched it up at Waterloo Records last Saturday, and have been listening ever since.

It`s produced by Todd Rundgren and he was hired to make a record that could result in some kind of commercial success. Todd`s sequencing of the songs is nothin` short of brilliant, one song syncs into another seamlessly and mellifluously. He also decided which songs were used from the demos that he received from XTC. Rows between Andy and Todd were rumored widely, but later Partridge recognized the gifted hand of Rundgren, that delivered the goodies, indeed a very beautiful product. The genre is psychedelic pop; the lyrics remain abstract and the music stays tuneful and inventive. It is, roughly speaking, a ‘concept album.’ Let me shed a few impressions of this sonic kaleidoscope for you. Let`s see here…

I am interpreting “Summer`s Cauldron” as Andy Partidge`s coded statement on his dire addiction to pills. “Please don`t heed my shout I`m relax in the undertow.” I could be wrong. ”Grass” is my favorite song, a pastoral spoof written by Colin Moulding, a clever play on words, a blatant double entendre where turf and pot are interchangeable, and vice versa. Huh? “Over and over we flatten the clover.” Is this a zany scene from Green Acres? “Shocked me too the things we use to do on grass.” Like what? Play croquet such as Alice In Wonderland? Fight off fire ants at a bummer-of-a Sunday School picnic? Should I marvel at Astro-Turf newly revealed at the Astrodome in the mid-sixties? Let yourself take a tumble in the hay as this lilting melody sends you away to Day Camp. Clean-cut lawn or up-in-smoke, it`s green either way!

You will find yourself humming “The Meeting Place” in the shower or on a work break in some hefty-foreclosed-building in the middle of nowhere. Moulding`s melodies are contagious! “That Really Super, Supergirl” is comic book song that combines a catchy tune with upbeat lyrics that may be partially biographical for Partridge, but things remain metaphorical to the umpteenth degree. “Ballet For A Rainy Day” is a psychedelic tune and reminds us of the Paisley Underground phase in the mid-1980s, that XTC partially fits in with. Think of bands like Green On Red, The Dream Syndicate, and Jesus & Mary Chain as examples of this interlude in pop music. ”Silent film of miracle play” is a most pleasing line for me in terms of palpable poetry. `Twas a refreshing blast of Nouveau-Flower-Power for that time in the mid 1980s.

“Another Satellite” is a catchy outer-space type theme, where people orbit around each other like planets around the sun, or otherwise around each other. “Don`t need another satellite” with treated guitars and synthesizer is out there and seems to be a plea for your own free space. “Mermaid Smiled” was cut from the LP to make room for “Dear God”. It was put back on when Skylarking was remastered in the 2000 reissue. Mermaid is an enchanting nautical nursery rhyme that chimers and chimes ryely.

Two late appearing tunes by Colin Moulding are pleasantly plump partridges resting sweetly side by side. “Dying” is a melancholic reflection on the death of an unidentified acquaintance, “the day you dropped in the shopping line.” Moulding does not want to die like his unfortunate colleague? An enviable goal for sure! “Sacrificial Bonfire” is puzzling? It reminds me of a Medieval, quasi-Provencal yarn; Colin delivers the vocal in a knavish nasal phrasing, as if he were a servant/clown/bard at some fictitious royal court of yesteryear. He sings it almost soprano, happy, like some kind of comic puppetry, yet the lyric is dark and foggy. The theme is change, which can only be gained painfully. “Burn up the old. Ring in the new.” Savonarola burning at the stake in a Florentine square? The tragic bonfire at Texas A & M? Two odd parallels, yet not transparently logical, that rang the doorbell of my mind as I listened.

The thought-provoking track “Dear God” was initially just a B-side to the single, “Grass”, but was added to the U.S. album. It helped boost the sales of the record, and you can easily see why. It starts out with an acoustic guitar and a child singer asking if God got his letter. On the second verse Andy Partridge pipes in with: “Dear God, sorry to disturb you, but…I feel I should be heard loud and clear.” The tone gets more passionate and angry as the song progresses. Basically, Partridge is voicing skepticism and anger towards God. If God made Man in his own image, then why is Man hungry and suffering and all? So the argument might go, why is Man not all perfect and happy like the Buddha-Head God? This doesn`t make sense? Andy is making a valid point, and in concurrence with some of our modern-day pundits of theology, who have gone south on God themselves!

The music is delightful with Colin Moulding`s thumpy bass, Andy`s jangling guitar, and the middle lead section with Dave Gregory`s synthesizer ching-a-linging like a toy instrument orchestra. The finale C section is a choppy staccato and oozing umbrage. “I won`t believe in heaven and hell. No saints, no sinners, no devil as well. No pearly gates, no thorny crown. You`re always letting us humans down. The wars you bring, the babes you drown.” God comes off as a bad guy in this song! Bohemians love this kind of Existential banter…echoes of John Lennon`s “God,” “I don`t believe in Jesus.” And the child singer has a touch of Pink Floyd`s “Another Brick In The Wall, part II.” Profound also is that in the B section, Partridge says that man made God first, then God made man…this makes sense, from what little I can remember from my isolated bible studies.

I have a cloistered compartment in my heart for Skylarking, it resides in the childhood section of my heart where daydreaming in some empty cow pasture of Texas (a good part of the day) is allowed, and make-believing life just might work out is also legal.

MY FUNNY VALENTINE-LA PARISIENNE

This is, for me, a good representation for Valentine. It is Minoan (Late Minoan IIIA,c. 1400 BCE) and is a fragment of wall-painting from the palace at Knossos. It is simple, yet elegant, and gives us a glimpse into Minoan notions of feminine beauty. Bronze Age cosmetics are gleaned, with ruby lips and talcum powder white on the cheek. The eye is huge with prodigious eyeliner and flowing curly black locks. Presently, this is my Funny Valentine-La Parisienne!

THESE WERE THE DAYS: THE AUSTIN PUNK SCENE IS REANINMATED!

THESE ARE THE DAYS: THE AUSTIN PUNK SCENE IS REANIMATED! By John G. Kays

IT`S JUST A JOKE MAN! IT`S JUST A JOKE MAN! IT`S JUST A JOKE MAN! PERE UBU-THE MODERN DANCE-1978

On January 24th, 2009 I stepped into the Arthouse to take a peek at These Are The Days show, and was amazed as I walked around the facility fancying music flyers, vinyl singles, LPs, tattered Tee-shirts, and flaking fanzines on the walls and `neath glass cases. Punk poptones wafted from an adjacent room where a film installation called itself home. I thought I had vacated a Time Machine such as Rod Taylor in the H. G. Wells movie by the same name. Was I at The Museum of Natural History looking at Neanderthal dioramas in a primordial backdrop? I don`t think so. I pondered prodigious ephemera from the Punk/New Wave scene of a bygone Austin ala 1978? Rushing (or sorta rushing) through my mind was the scary visage of the Ayatollah Khomeini, Jimmy Carter`s haircut, his silly brother`s Billy Beer line, and the Kool Aid party of doom. I stumbled about, partly in the here and now, and partly in the ELO electric groove of the late 1970s!

The show was put together by Matt Stokes, an artist from England who is more interested in, how say a music movement affects people`s lives and how it shapes that local culture. Social anthropology, my friend. Matt interviewed many people who had a role in the scene and they gave him materials that he displayed at Arthouse. None of the ephemera is labeled but is rather displayed organically about the gallery in no particular chronological sequence; I knew enough about the scene to enable me to categorize particular bands or writings and associate them with the appropriate philosophical components of ‘The Movement.’ Through the years, I`ve manned Aristotelian methods of procurement that enable me to sort things into its proper box. Youngsters may not be so lucky, but should contact one of us ‘New Wave Historians’ for a fleshing out of the period.

When I first conceived of this show, after hearing about it from friends, or opening their emails, I imagined it to be more of a massive installation, perhaps an experimental sculpture of sorts. I thought of it as a New Wave Funhouse where you`d be on a joyous watery log ride, like at Six Flags, and you`d float past dioramas of Duke`s Royal Coach, punk puppets would pop out suddenly and sing their old songs, there would be footage on the waxy, stalagmite cave walls, as you drifted in and out, with holograms of faded events looming large…okay Goofy, I woke up. The actual show was more linear and two-dimensional, self-evident ya see than my pipedreams, but Matt did a good job of assembling these replicas of this bygone era. Never will all of these Punk/New Wave flyers, records, and fanzines be gathered together in one space again. You should definitely check this out!

Read Contempo Culture lampooning society and religion, terrific music reviews, & a jiffy interview with William S. Burroughs-King of the Grizzlies & Urban Buccaneer, best Art Cassettes around! Cap`n BrewKid`s Yankee Doodle Freak Flag poem springs outta the page again! Read Stewart Wise`s original interview with Patty Smith as if it was yesterday! Listen to The Reverend Neil Xs New Wave radio show on KUT! Can calibrate my groove to `is tunes! Is that Skylab selling British Punk import singles over at Inner Sanctum…I believe it is! Doc at the Radar Station, here ye be. A Fairy Queen`s Paradise of X-Y-Z! Fanzines `neath glimmering glass?Foosball anyone, at the Posse East? There`s Doctor Stix telling jokes at Dukes at a Gator Family show! Fritz Brow zooms by on a mopad or flips a steak over the hot Raw Deal grill while wiggling and writhing in his kitchen to Devo`s Crack That Whip! A Touch of Evil emanated from the punk flyer?

I enjoyed Matt`s 16 millimeter film, but I primarily focused on the pasties *(paper, pastiche, & plastic) from the Austin scene, since I had played a minor role in this trip, and I knew many of the parties involved from these creative times. Look, there are many 45 rpm vinyl singles lined up on a shelf! A partial list of the bands with singles is: The Stains, Inserts, The Offenders, Dicks, Re*Cords, Terminal Mind, Pork, Radio Fre Europe, Big Boys, Huns, D Day, and Lester Bangs Y Los Delinquents. On another wall Long Playing Records are prominently fitted to the plaster wall as trophies to a remote, but mostly not forgotten time. The punk music scored my circuit board as I drifted in and out of reverie or returned to observations of graphics in this moment…of experiences echoing through time where more than thirty years have passed by our confounded eyes.

For a flash, I focused on the Sluggo Fanzine display case, and read a faded article on Nick West that explains his position on the media, as he defined it. In his latest issue, No Tocar (some time in 1980, I fathom), he focuses on ‘Psychotronic Warfare’, an apparent hidden agenda of the Soviets that acts as a counter-punch to American aggression, and then it summarizes an article on the mutilation of cattle that has mostly hazy attributions. Nick West describes his magazine as “cultural blips on a distant radar.”

Nick`s angle on the culture of that time was that the real dialectic, that might define dynamics in our culture, was between Science and The State, not between Religion and The State. This is an out of date model. His reason for believing this is that Science has replaced Religion in the context of spiritual values. Science is Religion now (1980 ya see). This makes sense. My own take: Nick West was a media guerrilla capturing subliminal messages, decoded by Sluggo, that had slipped between the cracks of the ‘generic media’. I began to wake from the slumbers of bubble dreams…


The video and film installations were everywhere! There were two old TVs, Magnavox I suppose, and two big film screens. One small TV had The Re*Cords (a very early, influential New Folk band) in the Capitol Rotunda playing Guyana Holiday acoustically while strolling the interior of the Dome; the accordion player Bert Cruz is interviewed for a nightly news broadcast, defending his art. Also, there is a video of Lynn Keller doing perhaps the best song of the entire ‘Movement’, Plastic Money, penned by Doug McAninch (okay Bert, Guyana Holiday is a masterpiece too).

One film loop projected on a canvas screen was black and white footage of Rauls (the vintage Punk club of Austin) with frenetic dancing and the pusillanimous pounding of bass strings flickering past your eyeballs. On the other side of the exhibit was a film of The Huns (the most Punkie of the bands) gigging in East Austin-footage of The Beatles and The Stones was mixed in, for some reason unknown? My favorite was the footage of every day people from the late 1970s just on the drag (Guadalupe) noodling on the street. Random unrehearsed chaos. I saw The Varsity Theater, I recognized Tim Kerr, Gary Floyd of The Dicks, and many young punks who I didn`t know. Recognized Conans Pizza next to Rauls and saw Zebra Records where my sister Jenny had worked. This footage provided a natural gut-shot of Austin at this innocent juncture, unstaged, direct and simple…

The reverie kicks in again…stop studying Lester Bangs` Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, it`s not a bible! Stop analyzing the period like it was The Roaring Twenties! The period only ran from 1977-1980, then morphed to a new configuration! There are three separate periods her, maybe five! Start looking at the Xyphoid Process Xeroxes again. Control Rat X was a Xerox Artist of the highest caliber! Triple chicken fried steak with greenie/tan gravy at the Stallion-can`t wait! If it`s in stock, we have it! Paranoid Of Banana Yogart, you know the drill!

Matt Stokes` title for the exhibit is These Are The Days, but for me it`s Those Were The Days, such as in the Mary Hopkins song on Apple Records. For me, PUNK ROCK IS DEAD! The dribble coming out since 1980 is recycled garbage, nothing` more! Men At Work is the most banal excuse for New Wave, that I`ve ever heard! Those were the gunslinger days of the Old West. Austin was Dodge City or Abilene Kansas (ala 1870) back then! No amount of an injection can re-vivify this pale, gossamer Frankenstein. & Lester is kaput…so is Willy Pickel! No one to carry the ball…Doke Walker is gone.The biggest genius of the scene was Brian Hanson…he died a long time ago…Radio Fre Europe and the film Speed Of Light-Future of Man, God rest his soul!

Austin had an open atmosphere at that time, not tethered by the media and sweetly free as a bird in the blue sky. Afterwards, The Austin Chronicle gobbled up the local culture, like the Giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, in its own image and pigeon-holed artistic output into icy, concrete molds of sterility. Bands were simply sucking-up to these media-master slaveholding bastards! This was unfortunate, but is the record, Post-Punk. Matt`s show REANIMATES those days, almost brings them back to life, but the dummy sputters, falters, then quivers on the floor, a lifeless manikin on cold concrete mortar. The day is gone, just a memory of bangin` git-fiddles, sweaty blue spiked hair, runs to Swedish Hill, or taping flyers on dragstrip lightposts, keg parties and all-nighters. Get over it!

*Thanks Ellen Gibbs for the Punk Albums photo and the Sluggo Glass Case snap! You`re a better photographer than me, Ellen!

THESE ARE THE DAYS

I went to Matt Stokes` art show These Are the Days yesterday for about an hour, and was getting into it, but felt twitchy like I was getting outta a Time Machine. Many old flyers (some yellowing and fragile) were displayed from the PUNK DAYS, as well as Fanzines, such as Sluggo and Contempo Culture. I saw fragments of an old guitar...don`t know what that was? Some of the 45 rpm singles that came out from that time were displayed also.

My favorite aspect was the television sets that were set up to show, I believe, 8 millimeter films of some of the local punks just fooling around, simply dittling around in Austin somewhere (maybe by the University or on Guadalupe...don`t know). I recognized some of the faces, but couldn`t really put together who they were? This may be a good thing. This isn`t odd though, because I was living in Dallas in 1978, and managed a Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Store at Preston/Royal. I actually wrote parts of Magnum Lust (the Norvells` song) back in the stock room where we kept malt cups, straws, sundae dishes, and cake boxes also. Oh, the film of the Re*Cords was an eyeopener! Bert Cruz had on shades and played the accordian and had on that striped shirt I remember just like Mr. Peppermint. Doug and Tom and Lynn waxed electric too.

I didn`t take everything in, but felt like I was taking a step back in time...not that I really wanted to go there? I felt nervous as if I was at Roswell or Area 54...can`t say why really? The new punk film was a little loud and I felt like I was watching a parody of the old punk bands. Maybe a sort of Spinal Tap one off to punk? I don`t think the simulation really reflected back on the period, in a way that I remember it. That may bot be saying much? I could have used some historical context too. Things like the Son of Sam shootings, Jimmy Carter`s haircut, the Iranian Hostages, Billy Beer, and the gas crisis would put this period in a national context. This could have been a little corner with newspaper clippings, where people could go hah hah...that`s what was going on nationally at the time...1978 or 1979. But that`s my own little brainstorm, folks.

I`ll try to go back and take a camera (my Polaroid One600/Ultra fur sure)...I`m certain my perspective will change...it was very cool...good job Matt...I just feel lucky to still be alive in 2009! The punk movement was just a fad, but it still holds some importance...what that importance is is what I`m still trying to determine? Maybe it was just an adolescent initiation rite, nothin` more.

It`s too early (6:34 AM-1/26/`09) to dig into my boxes for flyers (I actually have a few myself somewhere?), so I`ll just put my Gut Shot piece up...it`s as punk as anything else I have!

CHE GUEVARA AS POP ART-THE PURPLE EDITION

CHE GUEVARA AS POP ART by John G.Kays

I am looking forward to the movie Che by Steven Soderbergh, but I know it will take its time in coming to Austin. In the mean time I have been studying up on Che Guevara and am noticing a curious thing about how he is portrayed in Pop Art. Most of the interpretations of him, by way of graphic art, come from one photograph taken by Alberto Korda on March 5th, 1960. Different versions of this same image abound, with the colors, texture, or lay-out only varying slightly from one item of art or another . This Korda photograph is essentially Che Guevara as Pop Art proliferated throughout many different mediums. Why? Probably because people prefer its simplicity and the easy access of identification that can be obtained with the Communist Revolutionary/Saint that we call Che, so much revered by so many. This is my theory anyway.

The iconic photo was taken at a memorial service for the La Coubre ship explosion in the harbor of Havana. Alberto Korda went back to his darkroom and developed it and knew immediately that it was the ultimate Che image, and he was certainly correct. An Italian publisher, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli got the rights to the photo in 1967, on a hunch that Guevara would die soon, and then produced a poster that sold 2,000,000 copies in a half year. I have seen news footage of the students holding the posters up high during the Paris Protests of May 1968. You can see them clearly carrying these posters along with ones of Ho Chi Minh in El Che: Investigating a Legend. Korda just wanted to remain true to the anti-capitalist spirit of Ernesto Guevara, remain true to Che`s sincerity, his heartfelt commitment to Socialism; for had Korda retained the rights to his photo he would have been wealthy beyond belief!

When I look at the Korda image of Che I think of the graphic artist Shepard Fairey`s image of Barack Obama which is everywhere I look. I have seen it used on political placards, stickers, and even on the cover of Time Magazine. His previous stickers of Andre the Giant (Obey) are all over town, on street signs, light posts, and on the walls of buildings. I LOVE to see Andre`s mug and also it might not hurt that I once saw The Giant wrestling live at The Sportatorium in Dallas many, many years ago. How do you account for the popularity of Fairey`s clever little graphics? The simplicity and humor may be the reason. Similarly, Che has the beret and shaggy hair-he seems to personify revolutionary virility and defiance.I try to project myself into the frame, even though I`m just a wimpy little nobody with husky dreams. What do you think?

What is stunning to me is the fact that many people in Latin American countries have this image preciously mounted on their walls, simulating a religious icon, say a Christ icon or possibly it is a mirror of Milagros that could bring a body good luck. In my Che Handbook I have seen this image as a mural on a brickwall in Belfast, and I`ve seen it printed on a wine bottle, a cigarette pack, and even on a carrying bag. There`s a striking statue by Delarra in the Che Guevarra Revolution Square in Santa Clara, Cuba. Luis Martínez Pedro`s “Che America” is Warholesque with multiple single-colored prints of the Korda photo juxtaposed on one poster. There are scads of other examples as well.

I was curious about this proliferation of Che paraphernalia, so yesterday (January 17th) I visited a local retail import shop myself, Tesoros Trading Company on South Congress Avenue, here in Austin. They have souvenirs and novelties from around the world, but they specialize in items from Latin American countries. I marveled at two kinds of Tee-shirts, Che postcards, gigantic mousepads, refrigerator magnets, and pricey original posters from Cuba, commemorating the Revolution. Only Frida Kahlo merchandise was more ubiquitous. This stuff sells like hotcakes! Believe it or not, exclusively, all of the Che ephemera in the shop used the famous Alberto Korda photograph, no exceptions.

This may seem somewhat childish, but I tried my own hand at some Che pop art. First I printed out a Photostat of the Korda photo on Kodak photo paper, then I painted it with acrylics such as yellow ochre, antique brown, cadmium yellow, raw sienna, and lots of burnt umber. Oh, I used some orange, tan, and red also. I let it dry, sprayed it with Krylon Crystal Clear, scanned it, and then tweaked it slightly on Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0, then saved it on My Documents, and now here it is! Bingo, I`m a fantastic Che artist myself now, or amateur artist anyway. Whoop-di-do right? The idea behind this was Instant Karma, immediate gratification, FRIENDO! Who knows, maybe thousands will see my Che art on NEWSBLAZE?

Still with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1989 and the present near collapse of Communist Cuba (don`t forget Castro`s close demise) the question remains: why do so many people persevere in worshiping this simple graphic? Does it provide hope for poor people? Yes. Do people still idealize this earlier Communist era, though it is now in shambles? Yes. Maybe people just like the simplicity of it. Maybe people like to worship political martyrs too, like JFK, MLK, and CHE. I know I do. I have a portrait of JFK on my wall and pray daily to the American Saint. I do not know why really. People watch The Motorcycle Diaries over and over again. I have seen it five times and have loved it every time. The Korda shot is a NOSTALGIC TALISMAN that people grab on to, like the ‘Hope’ poster of Obama by Shepard Fairey. The cult of Che will never die out! I`m not a Communist people, but I can not stop staring at this Che icon!

CHE GUEVARA AS POP ART

CHE GUEVARA AS POP ART by John G.Kays

I am looking forward to the movie Che by Steven Soderbergh, but I know it will take its time in coming to Austin. In the mean time I have been studying up on Che Guevara and am noticing a curious thing about how he is portrayed in pop art. Most of the interpretations of him, by way of graphic art, come from one photograph taken by Alberto Korda on March 5th, 1960. Different versions of this same image abound, with the colors, texture, or lay out only varying slightly. This Korda photograph is essentially Che Guevara as pop art proliferated in many mediums. Why? Probably because people prefer its simplicity and the easy access of identification that can be obtained with the Communist Revolutionary/Saint that is called Che, so much revered by so many. This is my theory anyway.

The iconic photo was taken at a memorial service for the La Coubre ship explosion in the harbor of Havana. Alberto Korda went back to his darkroom and developed it and knew immediately that it was the ultimate Che image, and he was certainly correct. An Italian publisher, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli got the rights to the photo in 1967, on a hunch that Guevara would die soon, and then produced a poster that sold 2,000,000 copies in a half year. I have seen news footage of the students holding the posters up high during the Paris Protests of May 1968. You can see them clearly carrying these posters along with ones of Ho Chi Minh in El Che: Investigating a Legend. Korda just wanted to remain true to the anti-capitalist spirit of Ernesto Guevara, or the sincerity of his commitment to socialism; for had Korda retained the rights to his photo he would have been wealthy beyond belief!

When I look at the Korda image of Che I think of the graphic artist Shepard Fairey`s image of Barack Obama is everywhere. I have seen it on political placards, stickers, and even on the cover of Time Magazine. His previous stickers of Andre the Giant (Obey) are all over town, on street signs, light posts, and on the walls of buildings. I LOVE to see Andre and also it might not hurt that I once saw The Giant wrestling live at The Sportatorium in Dallas many years ago. How do you account for the popularity of Fairey`s cute little graphics? The simplicity and humor may be the reason. Similarly, Che has the beret and shaggy hair-he seems to personify revolutionary virility and defiance.I try to project myself into the frame, even though I`m just a wimpy little nobody with husky dreams. What do you think?

What is stunning is the fact that many people in Latin American countries have this image preciously mounted on their walls, simulating a religious icon, or possibly mirrors of Milagros that could bring a body good luck. In my Che Handbook I have seen this image as a mural on a brickwall in Belfast, and I`ve seen it printed on a wine bottle, a cigarette pack, and even on a carrying bag. There`s a striking statue by Delarra in the Che Guevarra Revolution Square in Santa Clara, Cuba. Luis Martínez Pedro`s “Che America” is Warholesque with multiple single-colored prints of the Korda photo juxtaposed on one poster. There are countless other examples as well.

I was curious about this proliferation of Che paraphernalia, so yesterday (January 17th) I visited a local retail import shop myself, Tesoros Trading Company on South Congress Avenue, here in Austin. They have souvenirs and novelties from around the world, but they specialize in items from Latin American countries. I saw two kinds of Tee-shirts, Che postcards, gigantic mousepads, refrigerator magnets, and pricey original posters from Cuba. Only Frida Kaylo merchandise was more ubiquitous. This stuff sells like hotcakes! Believe it or not, exclusively, all of the ephemera in the shop used the famous Alberto Korda photograph, no exceptions.

This may seem somewhat childish, but I tried my own hand at some Che pop art. First I printed out a Photostat of the Korda photo on Kodak photo paper, then I painted it with acrylics such as yellow ochre, antique brown, cadmium yellow, raw sienna, and lots of burnt umber. Oh, I used some orange, tan, and red also. I let it dry, scanned it, and then tweaked it slightly on Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0, then saved it on My Documents, and now here it is! Bingo, I`m a fantastic Che artist myself now, or amateur artist anyway. Whoop-di-do right? The idea behind this was Instant Karma, immediate gratification, FRIENDO! Who knows, maybe thousands will see my Che art on NEWSBLAZE?

Still with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1989 the question remains: why do so many people worship this simple graphic? Does it provide hope for poor people? Yes. Do people still idealize this earlier Communist era, though it is now in shambles? Yes. Maybe people just like the simplicity of it. Maybe people like to worship political martyrs too, like JFK, MLK, and CHE. I know I do. I have a portrait of JFK on my wall and at times, practically worship it. I do not know why really. People watch The Motorcycle Diaries over and over again. I have seen it five times and have loved it every time. The Korda shot is a NOSTALGIC TALISMAN that people grab on to, like the ‘Hope’ poster of Obama by Shepard Fairey. The cult of Che will never die out! I`m not Communist people, but I can not stop staring at this Che icon!