April 14, 2025 • 59 mins
Spoiler alert!!! - Tomata keeps doin' stuff in this episode. Our deep dive into his life reveals an artist who refused to be defined by any single medium, constantly evolving from drag performer to punk rock icon to folk artist without ever losing his authenticity.
When a broken leg temporarily halted Tomata's performance career in 1983, he discovered a children's paint kit in an alley and began creating art. That same year, he received an HIV diagnosis – a death sentence in the 1980s. Yet instead of despair, he saw synchronicity and opportunity, launching an artistic career that would sustain him for the rest of his life. His approach was refreshingly unpretentious: "I always have lots of $20 pieces in the show because I think people should have art."
Even in his final interview, just months before his death from AIDS-related cancer, his optimism and self-deprecating humor remained undimmed. For those seeking permission to reinvent themselves creatively, Tomata's story offers not just inspiration, but liberation. Have you been limiting your own creative expression? Perhaps it's time to follow Tomata's lead and simply create without overthinking.
Episode Links:
Population 1: https://youtu.be/B3QpxnCRtVY?si=b5OZfMaKce75kaNC
Eva Braun - https://youtu.be/gIdlqWcGn_s?si=OpAI7nSRrS8bRSxZ
Visual Art journey - https://sandraschulman.medium.com/tomata-du-plenty-from-screamer-to-artist-b5648dd369d
Jack Rabid Interview - https://bynwr.com/posts/the-screamers-tomata-du-plenty
https://www.ebay.com/itm/315411162470
https://art-for-a-change.com/Punk/psketch5.htm
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hello and welcome to Dead and Kind of Famous, where
we dig into the life stories ofdead folks who enjoyed a touch
or two of fame in their time andnow reside permanently in the
Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
I'm Marissa Rivera and I knownothing, but I do know, man.
(00:40):
Thunderstorms in the South arecrazy.
I am currently in Jackson,mississippi, and there was a
crazy thunderstorm that lastedlike six hours with thunder and
lightning overhead.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
It was insane.
(01:00):
We had tornado watch andwarnings.
I don't know which one is worse, but we had both at some point
in the middle of the night.
I didn't sleep a wink.
It was insane.
And before I was like oh, Ireally, really miss going to
sleep to the sound ofthunderstorms, having lived in
Puerto Rico and Florida, but Idon't miss it, I do not miss
(01:28):
that, not when it's like aviolent storm.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
It was so violent.
Yeah, no, that's no good.
Marissa is doing her thing,she's filming, she's on location
.
She's being kind of famousright now.
It's just what she's doing.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, it's just what I'm doing currently.
Right now, I'm just being kindof famous.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I'm Courtney Blomquist and I know way too
much about what we're going totalk about.
But I don't know.
I don't know honestly, likewhat states surround Mississippi
, like what states aroundMississippi.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I do know we're like a three hour drive from New
Orleans, so Louisiana is righthere.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Okay, all right.
So it's like we're almost tothe water, but not quite, and
Georgia is right here too.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Okay, got it.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Got it yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
That's Southern, that's Southern, all right.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, all the little.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Southern states, just snuggling up to you.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
It's not like, oh my gosh and it was like crazy.
You know, I I went from NewYork and it was cold and
definitely like spring in NewYork is like freezing, and then
this cuts and then it's kind oflike nice and warm, but then
it's freezing, you know, twohours later.
And then I come here and it wasin the 90s, so so green
(02:52):
everywhere.
It's like they didn't.
They didn't have fall or winter, it was spring and summer, only
here.
And and then the thunderstormhappened and then it got
freezing cold.
It came in a cold front, cameright after, so it was like in
the 40s and 50s and I was like Idid not pack for this.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
That's scary.
That's scary when the weatherswitches like that, though yes,
that's like tornado conditions.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yes, well, it was.
I could have been blown away.
And for what?
In a little indie film, oh myGod.
I could have been blown away.
And for what?
In a little indie film.
Oh my god, what am I doing?
What am I doing?
And I'm recording this in mycloset, in a closet with that
(03:37):
doesn't have a door.
It has a uh, what is this?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
a curtain a curtain with a hole in it, with with a
hole, with a grommet, with agrommet yeah a face-shaped
grommet and anyway, like thegrossest, I don't even know what
this pattern is.
Yeah, well, that's why I waslike you said it's nice.
But then I saw that curtain andI was like you never know.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
You never know by this curtain, but the rest of
the room is it as depressing asit looks?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
That's what I said.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
It's actually pretty nice.
I'll have to give you a tourafter we're done.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
This is going to be like that indie movie that, like
the one that that what's hername?
Jennifer Lawrence did that likeput her on the map.
That was like you know what Imean, so small.
Maybe it'll be that.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Winter's Bone.
Yeah, that did that.
Like put her on the map.
That was like a you know what Imean so small, like maybe it'll
be that winter's bone.
Yeah, that one.
I fucking wish this was mywinter's bone.
God, do I ever?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
well, we know you're doing the most and, uh, yeah,
when once, once, uh, thatinformation is released, we'll
tell everyone about it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
We'll see, we'll.
We'll see if this movie eversees the light of day.
Yep, let's see.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Well, thanks for coming back to part two for
Tomato today.
Everybody, I'm so excited.
Yes, he's got so many chapters.
So today, like I said, we'rereturning to the life of tomato
to plenty, and thus far we'veseen him evolve from a drag and
sketch performer to anelectrifying punk rocker with
(05:08):
electrified looking hair thatstood straight up on end by
design by choice and in thisepisode we'll see tomato evolve
into his next chapter painting.
(05:38):
What, by the way?
Yep, yep, art.
He is an artist, but before weget to that, I want to give a
little more context intoanything having to do with the
Screamers.
And he doesn't have much of anego when it comes to any of his
pursuits really any of themactually.
No ego, it's crazy.
(06:00):
May have had more of a musicalinfluence per se, but tomato
wrote many of the band's lyricsand he also put all of his
efforts into the stage presenceof the band.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
that made them so intoxicating frankly,
intoxicating it was and frankly,without it was fascinating to
watch gosh yeah truly likewatching him just jump around
and and his facial expressionsalone.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
It's like he's.
It's a performance.
It's not.
It's.
It's so much more of aperformance than um, it's
performance art, for sure it isperformance art.
It's because it's like he's noteven really singing.
It's, yeah, it's something else, something else entirely.
So, frankly, without tomato theband would have been quite
boring to watch.
(06:45):
I mean, it's like there's notguitarists, right, it's like
people on keyboards andsynthesizers and there's a
drummer and that's it.
So like he was kind of thewhole thing.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
In his final interview with Jack Rabbit for
NWR, tamada said I was soinvolved in the stage act you
know every show was so much work.
It was my only focus theperformance, really it was.
I don't do very much of thebusiness and I have to give
credit to Tommy Gear.
He did most of that work.
(07:16):
I was free of thatresponsibility so that I could
devote all of my time to goingout there and making a total
fool of myself, which was a lot,lot, a lot of hard work again
super self-deprecating listen,uh, as someone who's a
professionally may go.
I go into every commercialaudition and make a fool out of
(07:40):
my.
I check my ego and pride at thedoor, and I check my ego and
pride at the door and make afool out of myself.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I get it.
Yeah it's.
You know it's fun to be aprofessional clown.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Isn't it, Marissa?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
You tell us I wouldn't know.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
No, I'm kidding, you've done a professional
everything else.
I know it's true and I kind ofhave been a professional clown.
Courtney is an actualprofessional.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yeah, which makes me a professional clown.
And though he may have thoughthimself a fool, he also felt the
message and the feeling of theband was more important than the
music Tamada told Lee Lumsdenin 1977.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Actually we don't really write songs.
We write more like anthems.
When we write our songs, wevisualize thousands of people
marching.
Music is not really the correctcontext to place us in.
There really is not a nichethat we can really feel
(08:44):
meaningful in.
The kind of niche that would bemeaningful to us would be more
political, political, artistic,then say, musical.
I find music to be very tawdry.
I prefer to think of myself asa designer of sound, of noise,
in the context of time.
(09:05):
I think that's a more realisticway of looking at music, the
purpose being some kind ofpolitical outcome.
I think of politics in terms ofpower.
That's what politics is.
It's power.
And I think a lot of timesAmericans get confused that
(09:29):
politics means political partiesof left wing, right wing, and
all politics really has to dowith is power and the exercise
of it.
Power to control people's wants.
Power to control people'sconceptions oh man, does this
hit so hard right now?
Shit.
Control people's wants.
Power to control people'sconceptions oh man, does this
hit so hard right now?
Shit, I know, oh my.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
God I know.
But it's interesting that it'slike that.
They're kind of like trying totap into a sort of power, like
that they're.
You know that that stirs peopleup in the same way and to
recognize that I don't know it'san interesting way to think
about it and um, and very headykind of, and I don't know it's
(10:12):
just it is.
Somebody else said this um, inthe research I was going through
, but it's like so much, it's sointellectual for la, they were
like overly intellectual foryeah um, because it's just not
the norm right.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I mean they feel very portland and seattle.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
I mean yeah, no, no for sure they're definitely like
they had a huge influence on la, but it's like they're.
They were also like very muchoutsiders though the band may
have never put out a record, butbefore their breakup in 1981
they definitely got around.
They once performed in iggypop's living room for a private
(10:51):
party because he personallyrequested them what yeah they
were.
They had a bunch of buzz aroundthem.
They were like playing at thewhiskey, at go-go, like all
these places that, like thesehuge bands that we all know
today, played at you know andthey were like, their shows were
like saw like people weretalking about it so so they were
, you know, known especially bypeople that were here.
(11:15):
Uh, they did a show yourfavorite band's favorite band
yes, exactly exactly 100.
They did a show in a warehousein new y York where the band set
up in a freight elevator andplayed a song when it stopped on
each floor, which is awesome.
That is fun as hell, I know.
(11:35):
I wish I was at that party.
That sounds so fun.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Oh my gosh, that sounds so fun.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I know I'm obsessed.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
That's like you know, site-specific theater.
Yes, exactly, exactly, oh, I'mupset.
That's like you know,site-specific theater.
Yes, exactly, yes, oh, I loveit.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Without having much to promote themselves with at
all besides local LA buzz, theytoured a bit and performed in
Montreal, toronto, philadelphia,pittsburgh.
They made their mark, despitethe fact that it was never
marked into vinyl the way thatmany would wish that it was.
Yeah, but they had theirreasons Again.
This is Tamada from his finalinterview.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
The reason we didn't make records is because the
record companies weren'tinterested in us at all, at all.
I mean, first of all, theScreamers was a highly
theatrical thing.
How could you put that on arecord?
What I did, what I went out anddid, it was a controlled
(12:31):
nervous breakdown every night.
I was exhausted by the end ofevery set.
It was theater, and much of itwas theater of cruelty, not
necessarily towards the audience, but much of it towards myself.
It was a lot of very, very hardwork.
(12:53):
I'm really glad I did it.
As far as seeing thattranslated to a record, I don't
know.
I get emails all the time.
Somebody wants to put out aScreamers record.
I know there are bootlegs outthere.
In fact, just at my art showthe other night, a kid had me
autograph a bunch Of bootlegs.
You signed those.
(13:13):
Oh, I do it all the time.
I'll do it.
I mean, I'm not mad at them,I'm mad at the people ripping me
off, but I can't.
A kid comes up to me and, ohsure, I don't know how many
times I've done that.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
What a sweetie.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
What a sweetie.
He knows who the bad people are.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
He's like I don't blame the fans, I don't blame
the fans Exactly, and when hesaid nervous breakdown, that was
something audiences palpablyfelt.
In other interviews, tamedasaid that his frontman persona
in the Screamers was a humanillustration of struggle,
anxiety and fear.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And to that point filmmaker Lucas Reiner said when
you think of the Screamers, theword that comes to mind is
struggle I get that.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
I feel like I get that watching him he does look
like.
I like all of this feels likeif you watch, look up those
target performances or look atthe links that we're linking to
for these episodes, but it youcan feel that all of that it
really is is true, like so.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
I wouldn't yeah Like something is bursting, just
clawing its way out of him.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
It reminds me of that thecredit sequence in Severance
right now at the very end, yeah,where it's like his, like head
is ripping open.
Yes, it feels like that.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Oh yes, it does.
Yeah, like his like head isripping open.
Yes, it feels like that.
Oh yes, it does.
Yep, that is such a if you guyshaven't seen the show, I mean
watch the show, but I think thatthe beginning credits are a
study in and of itself.
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Yeah, I was like I love those credits yeah, we
watched something about like howthey were made.
It's's crazy.
They're incredible, incredible.
The Screamers' desire to putthe album on video and to
incorporate video may havesimply been something that was
so ahead of its time that peopleweren't ready for it.
Artist Mark Vallon recalls.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Of all of my recollections of Tomato and the
Screamers, the following are themost vivid.
Midway through performances oftheir song Ava Braun, the band
members would walk off the stage.
Having eschewed guitars infavor of synthesizers, they let
the electrophonic instrumentsand computerized modules drone
(15:38):
on in their absence as a starkevocation of mindless hero
worship.
The song was chilling enough,but in the context of the song's
lyrics, when the band left theaudience to the machines,
another narrative emerged Eithertechnology is liberatory or it
is an adjunct to tyranny.
(15:59):
Jesus, this is this, this, this, this, this, this God.
It's too close, it's too closeto to this, this, this, this,
this God.
It's too close, it's too closeto.
Oh God, I know.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
During their very last performance, Whiskey A
Go-Go, 1981, the band used banksof onstage video monitors to
great effect, displayingvideotaped scenes that startled
and mesmerized the audience.
Considering that video camerasand VHS cassette players were as
yet unknown to most people orthat video rental stores did not
(16:36):
yet exist, the screamersintroduced us to the future that
evening.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Yeah, so I feel like it was like they incorporated
all of this stuff into theirlive performances, which was,
you know, something that peopleweren't doing yet, and like MTV
didn't exist, we talked aboutall of this.
It's like they it didn't exist,and so there, it was just very,
very novel to people.
But I think, as far as likerecord companies go, and
specifically in LA recordcompanies, they were just like
(17:06):
what the hell am I going to dowith this?
They had no idea.
How am I going to make moneyoff of this?
Oh yeah, no idea how to do that.
So, all right, I'm going toplay a little bit of this song
that I believe was this is justone of their target video
recordings.
I think this is not a liveperformance, I don't think, but
it's hard to tell.
So, yeah, this is like you cansee everything he's talking
(17:28):
about here, like the video.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know video or I'm sorry, behind them yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
With the little mustache and they have the
swastika on here on the screen.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
With your little black stash With your little
black stash.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
She's a girl, she's a girl.
It feels very German, doesn'tit Like?
I feel, it feels very German.
Yeah, it's very.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
German.
Yeah, it's, it's very harsh.
And yes, and you know, germanis a pretty, it's a very harsh
sounding language.
I remember, I remember watchinganatomy of a fall.
Oh yeah, um, was that last yearfor for best picture, or the
year before.
(18:46):
But I remember watching it andthinking is this woman guilty or
is she just German?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I couldn't tell for the whole movie, but still it
seems that there were someopportunities within the band's
grasp that they simply did nottake, for whatever reason.
But still, looking back,tomatoameda has no regrets.
So what did Devo have to sayabout you guys?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Oh, they were really nice.
In fact, they offered us a tourto play with them in Paris and
for some stupid reason we turnedit down.
I couldn't tell you all thestupid things we didn't do, but
I do remember one Robert Frippof King Crimson asked me to sing
on his album and I had to turnthat down.
Oh, please, I mean these arejust things.
(19:34):
I was not in my right mind, butI was working damn hard.
So it's not that I have regrets.
People say, well, you shouldhave done a record or something
like that, and I don't haveregrets about that.
Maybe a record will come out.
I don't own the music.
Tommy Greer wrote the music.
It's up to him.
Wait a minute.
(19:55):
He wrote the lyrics too.
Nah, I wrote a lot of thelyrics.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
That's right.
Well, you are at least halfsongwriter.
Then the compositions would bede plenty gear, not gear.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, but I haven't seen him in over 20 years and I
don't foresee seeing him in thenext 20 years, so it's not a
part of my life anymore.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Yeah, I don't know what's going on with that
relationship.
By the way, like he's, justlike I'm not doing it.
I don't know.
We're not talking, we're nottalking.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
He can have all the credit but we're not talking,
I'm not talking, he can have allthe credit, but I'm not talking
.
Yeah, interesting yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
So the band dissolved in 1981, but some of their
songs did go on to be includedin a strange art film called
Population, One which featuredin appearance by the one and
only Vampyra.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
There she is, there she is, but we'll get to that in
a minute.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Give me just a minute .
We're going to get.
We're going to get to it.
After the breakup of the band,the other members took their own
direction with their owncareers, some with significant
success.
Drummer KK Barrett, forinstance, would go on to be a
well-known production designerfor music videos.
He won MTV Awards for the newpollution by Beck and tonight
(21:09):
tonight by the smashing pumpkins, collaborated on the film being
John Malkovich, and wasnominated, along with fellow set
decorator Jean Sardina, forAcademy award for best
production design for the filmHer.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Okay, okay, yeah, anything that has looked super
fucking cool, like, yeah, all ofthose things I'm like yeah,
that was really cool.
That was awesome.
Yeah, that was so distinct,like such distinct points of
view, such a distinct point ofview yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
I know, and it's like , and he was like the drummer, I
don't know Just total switch,switcheroo there.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
But it also makes me think like teeth you know, with
(22:10):
I mean, I mean the band had apoint of view from it did have a
point of view, it's true fromthe songs, to the, to the, to
the way they dressed andpresented themselves to the set
deck Like, yeah, everything hada point of view.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
No, it did so.
Paul Rossler left the Screamersto go on to play in Nervous
Gender, which was another band,with former Germs drummer Don
Bowles, as well as in I don'tknow how to say this Giza X and
Mommy and the Mommy Men, and hewas involved in playing with DC
Squared DC Three.
(22:46):
I don't know, you're right, andhe was involved in playing with
DC squared DC three.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Is it squared a two?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
You're right, you're right.
Oh, that's another thing.
I don't know Math Forgot it.
I have anxiety about helpingIris with her math homework.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I'm like oh, God oh my God, I dread the day.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I dread the day.
I'm just going to.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
It's going to be Jesse's job.
Well, now the math is new.
It's like they teach kids awhole new way of learning math.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
So you're probably even if it wasn't math, for even
if it wasn't, even if it wasn'tI, I can't do it.
I can't do it.
It was my, it was just.
I mean, actually I was prettydecent at algebra, everything
else, I was like what ishappening?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Same I.
After everything else I waslike what?
Speaker 3 (23:29):
is happening.
You know every same I.
After algebra 2 I was like thisis ridiculous.
Oh yeah, algebra was like youcan make that make sense.
The other stuff I'm like whatthe fuck are you talking about?
What is this strangestrangeness.
Anyway, he was also in criminywith mike watt while also work
criminy, sure I don't know,jesus criminy um also while
(23:51):
three.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
When I read that, I was like.
I was like dc discovery zone umwe're going back to our
childhoods, right?
Now with math.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
I brought that, brought me back with with
discovery zone, with the rainbowslide of it all.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
All right, so DC3, criminy.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Right, and then while also working as a session man
with the Dead Kennedys andSaccharine Trust, amongst others
.
So just, he was like a what'sthe word?
A journeyman, I feel like aband journeyman I don't have a
ton of.
I think tommy gear was similar,with uh being in bands and
(24:32):
stuff, but I don't have as muchinfo on him for some reason.
So if anybody does fill, that inno, yeah, phyllis yeah, but
tomato definitely went in adifferent direction, as was his
nature, but he kept it out ofthe mainstream which was also
his nature.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yes, I feel like.
Yeah, he is true to himself.
God, I love this man.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yes, I know, around 1983, tometa Duplenty broke his
leg and was unable to jumparound like a madman for a time.
Unable to jump around like amadman for a time.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
I feel you, I feel you, oh yeah marissa's had some
injuries, some some surgeries iswhat it is, and he had found an
injury led me to art, so I getthis yes he had found a little
paint kit in an alley, like achildren's paint kit.
Oh my God, and in an alley.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah, and because he couldn't express himself through
performance anymore at the timeanyway, he instead expressed
himself with paint.
This is from his interview withJack Rabbit.
Prior to starting being aworking artist, did you have to
do a lot of art?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
No, no, I broke my leg in that accident in LA and I
was really bored.
I was at home and I think Ilistened to all my Merle Haggard
records which made me even moredepressed, I can imagine.
And I found this kid's littlepaint kit in an alley off
Hollywood Boulevard.
I lived off Hollywood Boulevardand I just started drawing.
(26:06):
First I drew a picture of mycat, then my boyfriend, then my
landlady just people you know.
Then Bob Forrest, a TheloniousMonster, said you should show
this stuff and he was great.
He brought me to the ZeroGallery, which is also on
Hollywood Boulevard, and theylet me hang all my little $10
(26:27):
watercolors all over the place.
And David Lee Roth, of allpeople, mentioned it on the
Tonight Show and it sort ofspiraled.
What year was that?
That was 1983, which is neatbecause it was the year I also
found out I was HIV positive,which made it even better for me
(26:47):
.
I think it was like maybethere's some reason, there's
something going on here.
So he had an injury and acrushing diagnosis, and yet he
never lost his energy to createor his positivity, like just
hearing that, oh my God yeah hejust was like, yeah, all this
(27:09):
terrible, like I broke my leg, Igot the work and you know, an
hiv positive diagnosis in the80s was a death sentence period
totally that's the thing it was,and so he's just like maybe
there's a reason, maybe there,you know, he's thinking in these
ways where it's like everythingI don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
I just think that he always made the most of whatever
direction he was thrown into,and like he didn't have like
agendas, you know, like if hedid, they were for a project,
not for his whole life.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, like I just like having so much pain and
having to go through stuff andit's like, well, all I can do
with this is make art.
I get that, I get it.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Yeah, and also just to find all of your joy in it as
well.
He's such an artist.
He's just such an artist.
He's the kind of person whodidn't need.
It was not about money, it wasactually about art the whole
time.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
No.
And of his artwork.
He says I like I sell my stuffreally cheap.
I do some big pieces that areexpensive, but I always have
lots of $20 pieces in the showbecause I think people should
have art.
I really do.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
I agree.
How would you describe your artif it were possible?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I don't know.
At first it was just cartoonstick figures of my friends, but
now that I've been doing it for20 years it's changing.
I don't know.
I guess I'm a folk artist.
I guess that would be theclosest there is to it.
I've never taken an art lessonand I don't intend to, because I
(28:48):
like where it's going on itsown.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
So confident, love it .
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, he just was like I don't want, I just want
to evolve how it evolves.
I don't want any outsideinfluence.
I don't want to how.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
I love that yeah exactly, it's cool yeah exactly,
it's cool Big punk, big punk,big punk energy, yep, big punk
energy.
Even in this art phase, hetypically focused on portraits
of famous authors, musicians andfellow artists, but he also
created a series called Tipsywith Tallulah.
That was all just people livingor dead that he would love to
(29:23):
get smashed with.
I love that one living or deadthat he would love to get
smashed with.
It's so funny.
I feel like he has such a goodsense of humor with everything.
He doesn't take anything tooseriously, which is great, and
you can see that in his artworktoo.
It's really fun.
So whatever he was working on,it was always filled with fun.
(29:44):
He also continued performing inthe 80s and produced shows
during this time as well.
That is actually how he gotVampyra involved.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
There she is.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
There she is.
Remember when we talked aboutin the Vampyra episode, the last
one about her doing herperformances as Honey Gulper in
the 80s.
Yes, as Honey Gulper in the 80s.
Yes, well, those performanceswere at a club called the Anti
Club in Los Angeles and thewhole show was organized by
Tomato Duplenty.
He called the show the WeirdLive Show and it seems to me
(30:16):
that that name was right.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
on the money, yes, it was Very aptly named, you guys
want to see a weird live show.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
I do, I will be there .
Speaker 2 (30:27):
The.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Weird live show.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Now, I mentioned before that Tomato was in a film
with Vampyra and in all of theresearch I did on Vampyra I did
not find out about this filmuntil I was researching Tomato
and it was called Population One.
That's right, right, and it isa strange trippy art house movie
that stars Duplenty with youknow as himself.
(30:49):
His name, at least, is used asthe character name and he is the
lone survivor of a nuclearholocaust.
It's basically an arty collagedfever dream punk rock musical
by Dutch filmmaker Rene Daldur,and the film is definitely dated
but it did make the rounds inthe film circuit and largely got
(31:11):
favorable reviews.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Oh, hell yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Yeah, at the time it was seen as something new, and
now it's kind of something thatyou'd put on in the background
at a party where everyone isgoing to be high.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I mean, I'm going to show you some clips, but it's
100% what it is.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yep, in the film, tomato's appliances follow him
around the house Like hisfriends, are the robots for a
moment as he sings Scat's poetryand daydreams about his love.
I think I can't really tellwhat's going on in this movie,
honestly.
But, um, she's played by sheilaedwards, who is another um,
(31:51):
like musician at the time, whois supposed to be a clubby
vampire of sorts.
Uh, she has a song called jazzvampire that is super hilarious
and fun.
Um, and just so random.
There's like so many musicalstyles in this.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
It's bizarre, but this wasn't Vampyra, didn't play
the vampire.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
No, because this is no.
Vampyra is older at this point,so she did not play the vampire
.
So this is kind of his loveinterest or whatever I guess,
but he's like the only personalive.
But so I think it's like-.
So maybe it's like a memory, thememory of his love, okay, but
so I think it's like, so, maybelike a memory, the memory of his
, his love, okay, I don't knowwhat's happening.
I'm, I actually watched this.
I did actually watch it.
I was like in the bathtub doingnothing else with like watching
(32:34):
it and just being like what thefuck is happening and I so, if
someone can tell me, great, Ididn't.
I didn't.
I enjoyed it, but I didn't knowwhat was going on.
Plot wasn't really its strongsuit.
I'll say that.
And then the love song thatactually connects this vampire
character with Tomato isactually a screamer song with a
(32:58):
BDSM lean called I Wanna Hurt.
It's like I wanna hurt, I wannalove, like it's, I don't know.
It's strange and fun and itfeatures an accordion
performance by Beck.
Second mention of Beck what thefuck?
But he was actually a child atthe time.
What the fuck.
(33:19):
He's a child playing anaccordion, oh my.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
God.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Yep.
So that's fun, and I honestlycouldn't really piece together,
like I said, enough of this plotto comment on it more than that
.
But as always, Tomato is aperformer with a capital P in it
.
His performance is very fun towatch.
So first let's start withVampyra.
Vampyra plays his mother,Tomato's mother.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yes, vampyra is mother.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Yes, vampire is mother, she is mother and she
it's like it's weird.
I'm gonna show you.
It's more of like a series ofphotos, almost like more than
video.
It's an interesting.
I'm gonna go to the parts whereyou see vampire yeah on this
(34:10):
clock.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
I'm caught in the eye of a hurricane, apple pie and
pork chops just beyond my grasp,pictures of dying soldiers,
pin-up girls and gi joes.
Where am I?
What's going on?
My mother is struck by a boltof lightning.
I'm unable to come to her help.
My mother never needed help.
(34:32):
The house is in flames.
She's singing and dancing whereI can clearly see her.
Now there's a message shesignals through the flames oh,
my baby, my tiny little baby,it's you who holds the promise,
a promise so big that your poormother cannot even understand.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
All I have done is sow the seeds so that you can
fulfill all your needs I lovehow narrated it is, because it's
actually fits the purposes ofthis show so well um it's so
weird, okay.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
So vampire was just, was just like in, like she was
like little house on the prairieclothes with like a torch it
should kind of look like ladyliberty, but in prairie clothes,
yeah and then, and then wasjust like walking down the
stairs and and of this house andthen now she's on the floor
(35:36):
dead, I think with with the,because she got struck by
lightning, is what he said oh,okay, okay, okay but yeah, we
saw her kind of I don't know, itwas a little again.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
This is a perfect encapsulation of what I
experienced watching the wholemovie.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
But um, what, um, what the fuck is happening?
Yeah.
This is exactly what you put onin the back of a party where
everyone is high.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Yeah, I'm gonna try to find what I just mentioned
too with the appliances.
Okay, I think it's right.
Here there's like a hair dryer,that's like hovering near him,
(36:31):
other 80s appliances, asaxophone.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Floating.
Oh my god, oh my god, they'relike closing in on him.
Oh my god, naked or justshirtless he's supposed to be
coming out of the bath.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Now he's kinda like marching with them All in a row.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Hard work on the graveyard shift.
Hard work to keep a smilingface.
Hard work to go on with life.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Hard work to preserve the human race it's a lot of
like him, like scat readingpoetry or something.
Oh wait, oh, this is jazzvampire.
We have to watch this.
This is absurd, like this Ijust, oh God, it's absurd.
(37:41):
It's like a very pale, vampirelooking woman with her arms
crossed across her chest.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Desert eyes for a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Cause I'm a jazz vampire.
Cause I'm a jazz vampire.
Oh, her eye was on the music.
Wise men, keep out of my way.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
You don't know how to lead them astray.
They fall the minute I sway.
I am.
This is amazing.
You can't do this.
A giant.
A giant, that's fire.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Oh my God, I'm a giant, okay.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
So you get it.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
So you get it and then, oh, oh, I'll close up on
the On, you get it.
And then, oh, oh, we got up onthe On her jagged, on her teeth
Jagged, snaggletooth, a littlebit snaggly.
Yeah, I want to find, I want tofind this Beck performance,
because that's the other thing.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
I feel, like you, have to say oh yes, the little
boy on the accordion, find him,I'm finding it.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
We must find him, we will.
We're finding him.
Okay, so somewhere in here.
Yeah, we're kind of like goingaround this little circle with
all the music.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
He got stuck.
He said could you sit him down?
Sometimes I think I've found myhero, but it's a queer woman.
(39:56):
All that you need is a ticket.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Come on, big boys, let's dance in that, oh my God
and guys, it's not a small childaccordion, it's.
It's an adult size accordionand he's just a child playing it
.
And he's just a child with ahuge accordion.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Mac always had the chops.
Now we know.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Now we know.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
Now we know so yes, we always knew.
We always knew.
So this is Planet or Plan, Goddamn it.
Population 1.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
I can't even remember Population 1.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
It is a trip but it's a lot of tomatoes, it really is
he's the star of this movie, soif you want to see it, um, if
you want to see more of him, youknow, in better quality film
this is the way to do it forfree, for free, yep, and I'm
gonna link to it.
I'll make sure you see it Hellyeah, so in 1989, this is like,
(40:57):
so this film.
by the way, this came out in1986.
So just to give you context ofthis timeline here, so he's
still like doing his thing.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Your birth year, courtney, not to put you on the
lap, it is my birth year.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yes, my birth year.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
My birth year was this film, which, my goodness.
The fact that this filmhappened in my lifetime does
make me feel old.
I'm not going to lie, it'spretty dated.
It's pretty dated, it's pretty80s.
So in 1989, tomato left LosAngeles for South Miami Beach.
(41:32):
He cites a few reasons why heleft.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
People are very mad at me for not putting out
product.
Oh please, why do you think Ileft LA?
People were very mad at me thatI left the Screamers.
You know, people make it veryhard on you if you want to do
something else, especially ifyou made a big noise.
You made a big noise and thenyou decide you don't want to do
(41:58):
that anymore.
Oh, you can't do that.
It's like everything should bein its time and place.
People get overly sentimental,especially about rock and roll.
Oh my God, you hear the violins.
It's I don't know.
Know punk rock fans.
They're the hokiest.
He's probably like I wantedwarm weather.
(42:25):
Yeah, the hokiest.
And like and like a good beach.
Because let me tell yousomething, let me tell you
something.
Let me tell you something thismight be controversial LA
beaches, they're not beaches.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
What are they?
What are they, Marissa?
Speaker 2 (42:43):
They're sad excuses for beaches, because if you ever
ever lived in the Caribbean orFlorida, I'm sorry, you can't go
swimming for pleasure, really,unless it's in August in.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
LA.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
It's freezing cold.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
It's for surfers, it's 100% for surfers, it's a
weters.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
It's 100% for surfers .
Yeah yeah, it's a wetsuit ornothing.
You're on the beach or in awetsuit in the water and like no
South Beach, Miami, that is abeach.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
So he was going to get a.
Tan is why he left.
He went to go get a tan.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
He was like I'm dying , I need to live on an actual
beach.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
The funny thing is this was not like a real idea in
his head.
It's so weird.
According to him and I don'tknow if this is true this is
just what he says, but I trusthim honestly.
Yeah, why would he make it up?
Yeah, he met a couple of fanswho gave him a ticket.
(43:59):
They gave him a plane ticket,he took it as a sign and he just
completely relocated.
So that's pretty good.
So he just, he just was likeall right, I'm gonna leave.
I think he was ready to leave,but he didn't have a plan.
Yeah, so then he was like allright, plan presented itself, a
plan presented itself, a planpresented itself.
So once he got there, hehustled and continued his
starving artist life with thesame happy attitude.
He always seemed to haveworking jobs where he could get
(44:22):
them until he found a way tolive off of his art.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
I was a bartender in Miami for a couple of years and
started making a living as anartist the last three years.
And started making a living asan artist the last three years I
said, if I don't do it now, ifI don't just quit everything and
that's when I decided on thethree-suitcase idea.
Whatever I can get into threesuitcases, I call up anybody, I
(44:46):
say I'm coming, let me hang themin your place.
And it's been working.
I'm making a living.
I mean, I'm no richer but I'msure happy.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Yeah, no, that's.
It's cool.
He's just like I'm going tofind a way to make a living.
Doing this in my living is justgoing to be a small living.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
Like yeah.
So he basically was likewhatever I can fit into three
suitcases is what I can takewith me damn.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
So he traveled around doing art shows, keeping it
cheap and never even having thedesire to break into the art
gallery.
He himself said it just wasn'ttomato, it really wasn't wasn't
tomato, the wine and the cheeseof it all, it wasn't for him.
He eventually made it to neworleans where he had an art
studio and continued to diveinto portraiture of musicians
and performers.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
I love New Orleans.
I think it has the best of whatAmerica has to offer in terms
of food, art and music, all inone city terms of food, art and
music, all in one city yes, 100,and it's just like the, the
(46:00):
street performers are liketop-notch.
Yes, yes, the performance artlike everything.
Yeah, I, I think it's, it's.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
It's our best city and in terms of art, fighting
words, I agree, but it's alsolike cities.
Who who have to?
I don't know.
Cities who band together arealways like the ones who have
had to go through some some crap, like we're talking like new
york and los angeles and neworleans.
(46:27):
There's some, you know, we like, we gotta, we gotta roll with
it.
So I feel like, uh, and the artthat comes out of that is often
very good, but, um, yeah, sotomato was there?
uh, he, he was, you know, he wasa fixture in the art community
and in he was like, that's right, he was he was just always kind
(46:48):
of like around um, he, hedidn't just like expect, he
wasn't one of those people, justexpected you to come to his
shows.
He like went to everything.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
You know, he was that guy, he was around I love that
yeah he was just he surroundedwith himself, with art, always
yes, exactly, and artists.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
So it wasn't just he didn't live in a bubble um, and
eventually he got very sick forthe first time in his life,
despite his longtime HIVdiagnosis.
So he got AIDS related cancerand he headed to San Francisco
where he was offered a place tostay and transportations to
(47:30):
doctors appointments.
He was always very good athaving excellent friends around
him and so he just he.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
he was able to be taken in, essentially yeah, yeah
, this is like such the oppositeof vampyra I it is.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
Yeah, I feel like she was kind of people found her.
He was one of the people thatfound her actually, but I feel
like she and she did havecommunity, but she was kind of
people found her, he was one ofthe people that found her
actually, but I feel like sheand she did have community, but
she was, she also like gotreclusive, you know, and he
never really did that he didn'tno, and he was always just like.
He was always like okay, what'snext, what's next, what's next,
(48:09):
and that energy was always there, even in this period.
He just was not slowing down.
Um, and it was actually duringthis period of his illness that
he did the interview that wekeep quoting in this episode,
the one with jack rabid.
So he did this interview and hewould die just two months later
, I know.
So this really is his finalinterview and just to like to
(48:33):
know, you know that he wasactually he was really still
having fun in this interview,you can tell.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
So it's just, it's to me that's really beautiful, and
I don't know how he was feelingphysically, but it probably
wasn't great, honestly.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
No, he was literally dying during this and, like I
had no idea until you saidsomething just now, yeah, and he
was going through, like chemoand radiation treatments and
stuff which always makes me feellike trash yeah, so yeah, um
especially back then.
Yeah, well, this is thetreatment has come a long way
since then.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
Yeah, since 2000.
Yeah, so this is another bit.
Knowing all of that, this isanother bit of the interview.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
Yeah, I really am not a guy who contemplates much,
like I was telling you, I justgot really sick for the first
time in my lifetime Recently.
For the first time in mylifetime Recently, right now.
So my life has really changed.
So maybe now is the time for meto think about things.
But up to this point I neverthought about anything.
(49:44):
I just did it.
You know, I remember when I waslike 15, I was at the beach in
my baggies and I got in a carand we drove all the way to New
York in the winter.
I've never thought about thingsahead of time.
Speaker 3 (49:59):
I like doing a lot of things, being extremely
impulsive like that.
I don't do it as often as Iused to and I never did anything
that extreme.
Speaker 2 (50:08):
Well, I guess maybe I'm.
I'll be 52 at the end of themonth, so maybe I mean I hope to
be back on my skateboard soon.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
I'm not predicting too major change here, but you
said in your email that you'dbeen sick.
Is it worth talking about?
Speaker 2 (50:26):
Oh well, I've had HIV for a long time and they
changed my meds and I got aweird reaction.
So I'm working with that, andin New Orleans I was working
with the doctor there, but theyseem to know a whole lot more
here in San Francisco.
This is where it all began.
They've got the best care inthe world here.
(50:46):
So that's my decision to hanghere for a while.
I'm very optimistic.
Speaker 3 (50:55):
I'm not an old jalopy , so he's kind of downplaying it
here and he obviously isdownplaying it, but like I think
it's, I think he was actuallyas hopeful as he's saying.
But also he did, you know, hehad cancer.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
He was getting cancer treatments at this time.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
And he's like I just switched my medication.
It's like no, no, you're,you're going through it, you're
getting chemo man yeah yeah.
So I think he just I think hedidn't want to, he didn't want
to go there.
And fair enough man, fairenough, fair enough, yeah.
So his funeral at hollywoodforever was attended by vampyra
he she outlived him and his manyother friends.
(51:34):
It was presided over by hisgood friend, chase Holiday Um,
and fittingly, this was the verycemetery that Duplantis and
Holiday used to hang out induring the screamers heyday.
And um Brad Dunning, anotherdenizen of the Wilton Hilton,
who had helped design thecemeteries renovation that began
(51:55):
in 1998.
He is the friend who made itpossible for tomato to be
interred there.
So friends in high places, sotomato friends in all places
friends in all places, friendsin every place.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
It's true, he didn't he was just like a not.
Speaker 3 (52:12):
Yeah he he was.
And he didn't even like justlike a.
Not yeah he he was.
And he didn't even like hewasn't starstruck by anybody,
like it's just like he.
He's just like going in thesecircles and doing his thing and
there's not a hierarchy ofpeople to him you know, and I
love that, love that so tomato.
we hope that you are doingthings up there and that you
(52:33):
toasted Vampyra when she made ityour way.
Yeah, yeah, and I think youknow.
I guess, what would we?
What would we leave tomato as a, as a gift, as a graveyard?
Speaker 2 (52:47):
Maybe like a silly little watercolor.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
A little watercolor kit like the one that got him
started a little water.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
No, I want to paint something oh, that's.
Speaker 3 (52:59):
I love that.
I think that's perfect.
Like, like to do somethingcreative in his honor yeah yeah,
I think that would be veryappreciated.
Yeah, for sure I love it.
And to also do something that'slike maybe you paint with, I
don't know, ketchup or something.
Speaker 2 (53:17):
Or like with with my non dominant hand.
Speaker 3 (53:22):
Go outside the box a little bit with it, just try.
Speaker 2 (53:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (53:24):
For the sake of it.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
You know exactly, Exactly.
Speaker 3 (53:27):
Do something, whatever it is, just do
something.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
Yeah, yeah.
Whatever we do, we can't thinkabout it too much.
We just got to do it that's agood point.
Speaker 3 (53:35):
Yes, I love this.
I love this.
Oh, that's so fun.
Um, I, I, I did not think ofthat and I'm all about it
because, yeah, I think that,like making it to about music,
he just wasn't in that place atthe end for his last 20 years of
life.
He was not.
That wasn't what he was doing.
So, um, I think he always had,like I think he always loves
every form of art, but thatstage like he doesn't cling to
(53:58):
it, that he's dev and like Ialso really love that.
Like I loved everything he wassaying about being like he left,
la, because he felt like peopleare like why aren't you doing
this anymore?
This is what we know you for.
And he's like I want to dosomething else.
Like that I just want to dosomething else and fuck you.
This is my life.
Yeah, I'm like, yeah like weyeah, it's like he didn't give a
(54:22):
shit what anybody else thoughtoh, not one, not one.
Speaker 2 (54:26):
No, not a, not one single shit at any time or any
point yeah.
Speaker 3 (54:31):
So, um, yeah, I I just I think like and also just
and also.
Speaker 2 (54:37):
Also he's like he.
Like you know, he openly,openly talks about his sexuality
, his boyfriend and hisdiagnosis.
Speaker 3 (54:43):
Like he's like vulnerable but also not never
wallowing in any of it no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (54:53):
Vulnerable in, in, in , in a way of openness.
Yes, that's what I mean yes, no, exactly no.
Speaker 3 (55:03):
I think like this is a, this is like an evolved
person, I feel like.
So I just I think, like itseems, like you know, and, by
the way, there's, there'sapparently people are working on
a documentary about him, whichI would love to see when?
Speaker 2 (55:18):
yeah, it's done.
Speaker 3 (55:20):
um, it's because, especially just with the footy,
the video footage that existsand that, like the plans he had
for it that were ahead of histime, and it's like, yeah, let's
, let's do something with it now.
I think because, like, itreally is amazing to watch these
performances and I hope thatyou guys do, because it's it
really is like it's so cool tosee what he's doing and his
(55:40):
artwork.
By the way, marissa, we didn't,we were having technical issues
today, but I will send youlinks if you want, like you
should.
Speaker 2 (55:47):
Yes, I want to see, but you can even look up his
artwork.
Speaker 3 (55:51):
It's like he is, it's , it's very it's like.
Speaker 2 (55:54):
I want to.
I want to see what you curatedfor me.
But I also will just Google it.
Speaker 3 (55:59):
But yes, but I think that, like you know, what you
saw kind of on his on his grave,on his on his box of ashes, so
to speak, like it's kind of likeI don't I feel like it's in
that vein, it's very outsiderart vibes, you know where, um,
because that's really what hewas, he's called folk artist.
Speaker 2 (56:20):
I wonder if we can like, if I can buy some of his
art you can.
Speaker 3 (56:25):
it's going up in price for sure, but like you
can't, I mean, yeah, it's likeit.
Lucky are those people who werelike at the shows where he's
like, yeah, take it for 20 bucks.
You know what I mean, becauseit's going up now, but it's fun.
They're all like fun quirkyportraits and stuff of people
and sometimes they're done onthe back of his old band flyers
(56:46):
and, like you know, on just likepages from books and so it's
very like.
I don't know.
It's all very like found,looking kind of and and very
yeah.
So it's really fun, but yeah, Iwill also include links to to
the artwork.
It's really fun and and yeah,but that was tomato to plenty.
(57:09):
And I feel like I don't know.
I was interested in him in thevampire episodes.
I definitely didn't know asmuch about him, but I was
interested in him.
He sounded interesting.
And then now I'm like wow, likethis is this, is like this
whole world just got opened upfor me and this is why I love,
love, love doing this podcast,because I just feel like these
(57:31):
stories get lost and it's likethey're so good and the work
people did in their life is socool and it's so cool and
interesting and innovative andyeah it shouldn't get lost.
It shouldn't get lost.
So that's our, that's ourproject.
And you know what I also justwant to say right now I've been
meaning to do?
I want to thank everybody who'sbeen leaving us reviews.
(57:54):
It's really nice to hear thatyou guys are enjoying the show
and that you also appreciatethese stories and that you're
just as excited about them as weare, because that just means a
lot to me, because I feel like Idid, I got excited about it.
Speaker 2 (58:12):
And I'm like.
Speaker 3 (58:12):
I wonder if anyone else cares and you guys care,
and it's great.
So thank you for listening.
And also, if you know ofanybody, that's you know, feel
free always to be like did youknow this person was buried here
?
And like you know, because I'llkeep Marissa from reading the
comments, you can just send it,you know.
Send them, know that I'll readthem and that she won't, and
then you know you can alsofreely talk shit about her
(58:34):
because of that.
Speaker 2 (58:34):
So yeah, I'll never know.
Say whatever you want.
Yeah, say whatever you want,yeah.
Speaker 3 (58:44):
But um.
Speaker 2 (58:45):
I'll take.
I'll take a page out oftomato's book and not care.
There you go, love it, love it,love it, love it.
Speaker 3 (58:52):
Love it, love it, love it, but yeah, so anyway,
thank you, guys, and the nexttime, the next episode, is going
to be a really special one, bythe way, because we're going to
actually do it from Hollywoodforever, so stay tuned for that.
If you liked what you heard, orif you have any feedback for us
at all the good, the bad, theugly, the dead, the alive please
(59:16):
leave us a review on ApplePodcasts and let us know what
you think we really want to hearfrom you.
Also, follow the show, please.
You know, definitely subscribewhatever, wherever you get your
podcasts, but write us a review,tell us what you're thinking.
Dead and Kind of Famous iswritten, researched and produced
(59:36):
by Courtney Blomquist.
It is co -hosted by MarissaRivera.
Speaker 2 (59:40):
We tag team on socials.
Jesse Russell and CourtneyBlomquist do our editing.
Speaker 3 (59:45):
Until next time.
You might not be famous, butyou got a story to tell and
you're not dead yet.
Okay, bye, Bye.
Hello and welcome to Dead and Kind of Famous, where
we dig into the life stories ofdead folks who enjoyed a touch
or two of fame in their time andnow reside permanently in the
Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
I'm Marissa Rivera and I knownothing, but I do know, man.
(00:40):
Thunderstorms in the South arecrazy.
I am currently in Jackson,mississippi, and there was a
crazy thunderstorm that lastedlike six hours with thunder and
lightning overhead.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
It was insane.
(01:00):
We had tornado watch andwarnings.
I don't know which one is worse, but we had both at some point
in the middle of the night.
I didn't sleep a wink.
It was insane.
And before I was like oh, Ireally, really miss going to
sleep to the sound ofthunderstorms, having lived in
Puerto Rico and Florida, but Idon't miss it, I do not miss
(01:28):
that, not when it's like aviolent storm.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
It was so violent.
Yeah, no, that's no good.
Marissa is doing her thing,she's filming, she's on location
.
She's being kind of famousright now.
It's just what she's doing.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, it's just what I'm doing currently.
Right now, I'm just being kindof famous.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I'm Courtney Blomquist and I know way too
much about what we're going totalk about.
But I don't know.
I don't know honestly, likewhat states surround Mississippi
, like what states aroundMississippi.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I do know we're like a three hour drive from New
Orleans, so Louisiana is righthere.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Okay, all right.
So it's like we're almost tothe water, but not quite, and
Georgia is right here too.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Okay, got it.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Got it yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
That's Southern, that's Southern, all right.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, all the little.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Southern states, just snuggling up to you.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
It's not like, oh my gosh and it was like crazy.
You know, I I went from NewYork and it was cold and
definitely like spring in NewYork is like freezing, and then
this cuts and then it's kind oflike nice and warm, but then
it's freezing, you know, twohours later.
And then I come here and it wasin the 90s, so so green
(02:52):
everywhere.
It's like they didn't.
They didn't have fall or winter, it was spring and summer, only
here.
And and then the thunderstormhappened and then it got
freezing cold.
It came in a cold front, cameright after, so it was like in
the 40s and 50s and I was like Idid not pack for this.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
That's scary.
That's scary when the weatherswitches like that, though yes,
that's like tornado conditions.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yes, well, it was.
I could have been blown away.
And for what?
In a little indie film, oh myGod.
I could have been blown away.
And for what?
In a little indie film.
Oh my god, what am I doing?
What am I doing?
And I'm recording this in mycloset, in a closet with that
(03:37):
doesn't have a door.
It has a uh, what is this?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
a curtain a curtain with a hole in it, with with a
hole, with a grommet, with agrommet yeah a face-shaped
grommet and anyway, like thegrossest, I don't even know what
this pattern is.
Yeah, well, that's why I waslike you said it's nice.
But then I saw that curtain andI was like you never know.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
You never know by this curtain, but the rest of
the room is it as depressing asit looks?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
That's what I said.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
It's actually pretty nice.
I'll have to give you a tourafter we're done.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
This is going to be like that indie movie that, like
the one that that what's hername?
Jennifer Lawrence did that likeput her on the map.
That was like you know what Imean, so small.
Maybe it'll be that.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Winter's Bone.
Yeah, that did that.
Like put her on the map.
That was like a you know what Imean so small, like maybe it'll
be that winter's bone.
Yeah, that one.
I fucking wish this was mywinter's bone.
God, do I ever?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
well, we know you're doing the most and, uh, yeah,
when once, once, uh, thatinformation is released, we'll
tell everyone about it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
We'll see, we'll.
We'll see if this movie eversees the light of day.
Yep, let's see.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Well, thanks for coming back to part two for
Tomato today.
Everybody, I'm so excited.
Yes, he's got so many chapters.
So today, like I said, we'rereturning to the life of tomato
to plenty, and thus far we'veseen him evolve from a drag and
sketch performer to anelectrifying punk rocker with
(05:08):
electrified looking hair thatstood straight up on end by
design by choice and in thisepisode we'll see tomato evolve
into his next chapter painting.
(05:38):
What, by the way?
Yep, yep, art.
He is an artist, but before weget to that, I want to give a
little more context intoanything having to do with the
Screamers.
And he doesn't have much of anego when it comes to any of his
pursuits really any of themactually.
No ego, it's crazy.
(06:00):
May have had more of a musicalinfluence per se, but tomato
wrote many of the band's lyricsand he also put all of his
efforts into the stage presenceof the band.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
that made them so intoxicating frankly,
intoxicating it was and frankly,without it was fascinating to
watch gosh yeah truly likewatching him just jump around
and and his facial expressionsalone.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
It's like he's.
It's a performance.
It's not.
It's.
It's so much more of aperformance than um, it's
performance art, for sure it isperformance art.
It's because it's like he's noteven really singing.
It's, yeah, it's something else, something else entirely.
So, frankly, without tomato theband would have been quite
boring to watch.
(06:45):
I mean, it's like there's notguitarists, right, it's like
people on keyboards andsynthesizers and there's a
drummer and that's it.
So like he was kind of thewhole thing.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
In his final interview with Jack Rabbit for
NWR, tamada said I was soinvolved in the stage act you
know every show was so much work.
It was my only focus theperformance, really it was.
I don't do very much of thebusiness and I have to give
credit to Tommy Gear.
He did most of that work.
(07:16):
I was free of thatresponsibility so that I could
devote all of my time to goingout there and making a total
fool of myself, which was a lot,lot, a lot of hard work again
super self-deprecating listen,uh, as someone who's a
professionally may go.
I go into every commercialaudition and make a fool out of
(07:40):
my.
I check my ego and pride at thedoor, and I check my ego and
pride at the door and make afool out of myself.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I get it.
Yeah it's.
You know it's fun to be aprofessional clown.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Isn't it, Marissa?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
You tell us I wouldn't know.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
No, I'm kidding, you've done a professional
everything else.
I know it's true and I kind ofhave been a professional clown.
Courtney is an actualprofessional.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yeah, which makes me a professional clown.
And though he may have thoughthimself a fool, he also felt the
message and the feeling of theband was more important than the
music Tamada told Lee Lumsdenin 1977.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Actually we don't really write songs.
We write more like anthems.
When we write our songs, wevisualize thousands of people
marching.
Music is not really the correctcontext to place us in.
There really is not a nichethat we can really feel
(08:44):
meaningful in.
The kind of niche that would bemeaningful to us would be more
political, political, artistic,then say, musical.
I find music to be very tawdry.
I prefer to think of myself asa designer of sound, of noise,
in the context of time.
(09:05):
I think that's a more realisticway of looking at music, the
purpose being some kind ofpolitical outcome.
I think of politics in terms ofpower.
That's what politics is.
It's power.
And I think a lot of timesAmericans get confused that
(09:29):
politics means political partiesof left wing, right wing, and
all politics really has to dowith is power and the exercise
of it.
Power to control people's wants.
Power to control people'sconceptions oh man, does this
hit so hard right now?
Shit.
Control people's wants.
Power to control people'sconceptions oh man, does this
hit so hard right now?
Shit, I know, oh my.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
God I know.
But it's interesting that it'slike that.
They're kind of like trying totap into a sort of power, like
that they're.
You know that that stirs peopleup in the same way and to
recognize that I don't know it'san interesting way to think
about it and um, and very headykind of, and I don't know it's
(10:12):
just it is.
Somebody else said this um, inthe research I was going through
, but it's like so much, it's sointellectual for la, they were
like overly intellectual foryeah um, because it's just not
the norm right.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I mean they feel very portland and seattle.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
I mean yeah, no, no for sure they're definitely like
they had a huge influence on la, but it's like they're.
They were also like very muchoutsiders though the band may
have never put out a record, butbefore their breakup in 1981
they definitely got around.
They once performed in iggypop's living room for a private
(10:51):
party because he personallyrequested them what yeah they
were.
They had a bunch of buzz aroundthem.
They were like playing at thewhiskey, at go-go, like all
these places that, like thesehuge bands that we all know
today, played at you know andthey were like, their shows were
like saw like people weretalking about it so so they were
, you know, known especially bypeople that were here.
(11:15):
Uh, they did a show yourfavorite band's favorite band
yes, exactly exactly 100.
They did a show in a warehousein new y York where the band set
up in a freight elevator andplayed a song when it stopped on
each floor, which is awesome.
That is fun as hell, I know.
(11:35):
I wish I was at that party.
That sounds so fun.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Oh my gosh, that sounds so fun.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I know I'm obsessed.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
That's like you know, site-specific theater.
Yes, exactly, exactly, oh, I'mupset.
That's like you know,site-specific theater.
Yes, exactly, yes, oh, I loveit.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Without having much to promote themselves with at
all besides local LA buzz, theytoured a bit and performed in
Montreal, toronto, philadelphia,pittsburgh.
They made their mark, despitethe fact that it was never
marked into vinyl the way thatmany would wish that it was.
Yeah, but they had theirreasons Again.
This is Tamada from his finalinterview.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
The reason we didn't make records is because the
record companies weren'tinterested in us at all, at all.
I mean, first of all, theScreamers was a highly
theatrical thing.
How could you put that on arecord?
What I did, what I went out anddid, it was a controlled
(12:31):
nervous breakdown every night.
I was exhausted by the end ofevery set.
It was theater, and much of itwas theater of cruelty, not
necessarily towards the audience, but much of it towards myself.
It was a lot of very, very hardwork.
(12:53):
I'm really glad I did it.
As far as seeing thattranslated to a record, I don't
know.
I get emails all the time.
Somebody wants to put out aScreamers record.
I know there are bootlegs outthere.
In fact, just at my art showthe other night, a kid had me
autograph a bunch Of bootlegs.
You signed those.
(13:13):
Oh, I do it all the time.
I'll do it.
I mean, I'm not mad at them,I'm mad at the people ripping me
off, but I can't.
A kid comes up to me and, ohsure, I don't know how many
times I've done that.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
What a sweetie.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
What a sweetie.
He knows who the bad people are.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
He's like I don't blame the fans, I don't blame
the fans Exactly, and when hesaid nervous breakdown, that was
something audiences palpablyfelt.
In other interviews, tamedasaid that his frontman persona
in the Screamers was a humanillustration of struggle,
anxiety and fear.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And to that point filmmaker Lucas Reiner said when
you think of the Screamers, theword that comes to mind is
struggle I get that.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
I feel like I get that watching him he does look
like.
I like all of this feels likeif you watch, look up those
target performances or look atthe links that we're linking to
for these episodes, but it youcan feel that all of that it
really is is true, like so.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
I wouldn't yeah Like something is bursting, just
clawing its way out of him.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
It reminds me of that thecredit sequence in Severance
right now at the very end, yeah,where it's like his, like head
is ripping open.
Yes, it feels like that.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Oh yes, it does.
Yeah, like his like head isripping open.
Yes, it feels like that.
Oh yes, it does.
Yep, that is such a if you guyshaven't seen the show, I mean
watch the show, but I think thatthe beginning credits are a
study in and of itself.
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Yeah, I was like I love those credits yeah, we
watched something about like howthey were made.
It's's crazy.
They're incredible, incredible.
The Screamers' desire to putthe album on video and to
incorporate video may havesimply been something that was
so ahead of its time that peopleweren't ready for it.
Artist Mark Vallon recalls.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Of all of my recollections of Tomato and the
Screamers, the following are themost vivid.
Midway through performances oftheir song Ava Braun, the band
members would walk off the stage.
Having eschewed guitars infavor of synthesizers, they let
the electrophonic instrumentsand computerized modules drone
(15:38):
on in their absence as a starkevocation of mindless hero
worship.
The song was chilling enough,but in the context of the song's
lyrics, when the band left theaudience to the machines,
another narrative emerged Eithertechnology is liberatory or it
is an adjunct to tyranny.
(15:59):
Jesus, this is this, this, this, this, this, this God.
It's too close, it's too closeto to this, this, this, this,
this God.
It's too close, it's too closeto.
Oh God, I know.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
During their very last performance, Whiskey A
Go-Go, 1981, the band used banksof onstage video monitors to
great effect, displayingvideotaped scenes that startled
and mesmerized the audience.
Considering that video camerasand VHS cassette players were as
yet unknown to most people orthat video rental stores did not
(16:36):
yet exist, the screamersintroduced us to the future that
evening.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Yeah, so I feel like it was like they incorporated
all of this stuff into theirlive performances, which was,
you know, something that peopleweren't doing yet, and like MTV
didn't exist, we talked aboutall of this.
It's like they it didn't exist,and so there, it was just very,
very novel to people.
But I think, as far as likerecord companies go, and
specifically in LA recordcompanies, they were just like
(17:06):
what the hell am I going to dowith this?
They had no idea.
How am I going to make moneyoff of this?
Oh yeah, no idea how to do that.
So, all right, I'm going toplay a little bit of this song
that I believe was this is justone of their target video
recordings.
I think this is not a liveperformance, I don't think, but
it's hard to tell.
So, yeah, this is like you cansee everything he's talking
(17:28):
about here, like the video.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know video or I'm sorry, behind them yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
With the little mustache and they have the
swastika on here on the screen.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
With your little black stash With your little
black stash.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
She's a girl, she's a girl.
It feels very German, doesn'tit Like?
I feel, it feels very German.
Yeah, it's very.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
German.
Yeah, it's, it's very harsh.
And yes, and you know, germanis a pretty, it's a very harsh
sounding language.
I remember, I remember watchinganatomy of a fall.
Oh yeah, um, was that last yearfor for best picture, or the
year before.
(18:46):
But I remember watching it andthinking is this woman guilty or
is she just German?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I couldn't tell for the whole movie, but still it
seems that there were someopportunities within the band's
grasp that they simply did nottake, for whatever reason.
But still, looking back,tomatoameda has no regrets.
So what did Devo have to sayabout you guys?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Oh, they were really nice.
In fact, they offered us a tourto play with them in Paris and
for some stupid reason we turnedit down.
I couldn't tell you all thestupid things we didn't do, but
I do remember one Robert Frippof King Crimson asked me to sing
on his album and I had to turnthat down.
Oh, please, I mean these arejust things.
(19:34):
I was not in my right mind, butI was working damn hard.
So it's not that I have regrets.
People say, well, you shouldhave done a record or something
like that, and I don't haveregrets about that.
Maybe a record will come out.
I don't own the music.
Tommy Greer wrote the music.
It's up to him.
Wait a minute.
(19:55):
He wrote the lyrics too.
Nah, I wrote a lot of thelyrics.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
That's right.
Well, you are at least halfsongwriter.
Then the compositions would bede plenty gear, not gear.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, but I haven't seen him in over 20 years and I
don't foresee seeing him in thenext 20 years, so it's not a
part of my life anymore.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Yeah, I don't know what's going on with that
relationship.
By the way, like he's, justlike I'm not doing it.
I don't know.
We're not talking, we're nottalking.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
He can have all the credit but we're not talking,
I'm not talking, he can have allthe credit, but I'm not talking
.
Yeah, interesting yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
So the band dissolved in 1981, but some of their
songs did go on to be includedin a strange art film called
Population, One which featuredin appearance by the one and
only Vampyra.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
There she is, there she is, but we'll get to that in
a minute.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Give me just a minute .
We're going to get.
We're going to get to it.
After the breakup of the band,the other members took their own
direction with their owncareers, some with significant
success.
Drummer KK Barrett, forinstance, would go on to be a
well-known production designerfor music videos.
He won MTV Awards for the newpollution by Beck and tonight
(21:09):
tonight by the smashing pumpkins, collaborated on the film being
John Malkovich, and wasnominated, along with fellow set
decorator Jean Sardina, forAcademy award for best
production design for the filmHer.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Okay, okay, yeah, anything that has looked super
fucking cool, like, yeah, all ofthose things I'm like yeah,
that was really cool.
That was awesome.
Yeah, that was so distinct,like such distinct points of
view, such a distinct point ofview yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
I know, and it's like , and he was like the drummer, I
don't know Just total switch,switcheroo there.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
But it also makes me think like teeth you know, with
(22:10):
I mean, I mean the band had apoint of view from it did have a
point of view, it's true fromthe songs, to the, to the, to
the way they dressed andpresented themselves to the set
deck Like, yeah, everything hada point of view.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
No, it did so.
Paul Rossler left the Screamersto go on to play in Nervous
Gender, which was another band,with former Germs drummer Don
Bowles, as well as in I don'tknow how to say this Giza X and
Mommy and the Mommy Men, and hewas involved in playing with DC
Squared DC Three.
(22:46):
I don't know, you're right, andhe was involved in playing with
DC squared DC three.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Is it squared a two?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
You're right, you're right.
Oh, that's another thing.
I don't know Math Forgot it.
I have anxiety about helpingIris with her math homework.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I'm like oh, God oh my God, I dread the day.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I dread the day.
I'm just going to.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
It's going to be Jesse's job.
Well, now the math is new.
It's like they teach kids awhole new way of learning math.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
So you're probably even if it wasn't math, for even
if it wasn't, even if it wasn'tI, I can't do it.
I can't do it.
It was my, it was just.
I mean, actually I was prettydecent at algebra, everything
else, I was like what ishappening?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Same I.
After everything else I waslike what?
Speaker 3 (23:29):
is happening.
You know every same I.
After algebra 2 I was like thisis ridiculous.
Oh yeah, algebra was like youcan make that make sense.
The other stuff I'm like whatthe fuck are you talking about?
What is this strangestrangeness.
Anyway, he was also in criminywith mike watt while also work
criminy, sure I don't know,jesus criminy um also while
(23:51):
three.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
When I read that, I was like.
I was like dc discovery zone umwe're going back to our
childhoods, right?
Now with math.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
I brought that, brought me back with with
discovery zone, with the rainbowslide of it all.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
All right, so DC3, criminy.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Right, and then while also working as a session man
with the Dead Kennedys andSaccharine Trust, amongst others
.
So just, he was like a what'sthe word?
A journeyman, I feel like aband journeyman I don't have a
ton of.
I think tommy gear was similar,with uh being in bands and
(24:32):
stuff, but I don't have as muchinfo on him for some reason.
So if anybody does fill, that inno, yeah, phyllis yeah, but
tomato definitely went in adifferent direction, as was his
nature, but he kept it out ofthe mainstream which was also
his nature.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yes, I feel like.
Yeah, he is true to himself.
God, I love this man.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yes, I know, around 1983, tometa Duplenty broke his
leg and was unable to jumparound like a madman for a time.
Unable to jump around like amadman for a time.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
I feel you, I feel you, oh yeah marissa's had some
injuries, some some surgeries iswhat it is, and he had found an
injury led me to art, so I getthis yes he had found a little
paint kit in an alley, like achildren's paint kit.
Oh my God, and in an alley.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah, and because he couldn't express himself through
performance anymore at the timeanyway, he instead expressed
himself with paint.
This is from his interview withJack Rabbit.
Prior to starting being aworking artist, did you have to
do a lot of art?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
No, no, I broke my leg in that accident in LA and I
was really bored.
I was at home and I think Ilistened to all my Merle Haggard
records which made me even moredepressed, I can imagine.
And I found this kid's littlepaint kit in an alley off
Hollywood Boulevard.
I lived off Hollywood Boulevardand I just started drawing.
(26:06):
First I drew a picture of mycat, then my boyfriend, then my
landlady just people you know.
Then Bob Forrest, a TheloniousMonster, said you should show
this stuff and he was great.
He brought me to the ZeroGallery, which is also on
Hollywood Boulevard, and theylet me hang all my little $10
(26:27):
watercolors all over the place.
And David Lee Roth, of allpeople, mentioned it on the
Tonight Show and it sort ofspiraled.
What year was that?
That was 1983, which is neatbecause it was the year I also
found out I was HIV positive,which made it even better for me
(26:47):
.
I think it was like maybethere's some reason, there's
something going on here.
So he had an injury and acrushing diagnosis, and yet he
never lost his energy to createor his positivity, like just
hearing that, oh my God yeah hejust was like, yeah, all this
(27:09):
terrible, like I broke my leg, Igot the work and you know, an
hiv positive diagnosis in the80s was a death sentence period
totally that's the thing it was,and so he's just like maybe
there's a reason, maybe there,you know, he's thinking in these
ways where it's like everythingI don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
I just think that he always made the most of whatever
direction he was thrown into,and like he didn't have like
agendas, you know, like if hedid, they were for a project,
not for his whole life.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, like I just like having so much pain and
having to go through stuff andit's like, well, all I can do
with this is make art.
I get that, I get it.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Yeah, and also just to find all of your joy in it as
well.
He's such an artist.
He's just such an artist.
He's the kind of person whodidn't need.
It was not about money, it wasactually about art the whole
time.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
No.
And of his artwork.
He says I like I sell my stuffreally cheap.
I do some big pieces that areexpensive, but I always have
lots of $20 pieces in the showbecause I think people should
have art.
I really do.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
I agree.
How would you describe your artif it were possible?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I don't know.
At first it was just cartoonstick figures of my friends, but
now that I've been doing it for20 years it's changing.
I don't know.
I guess I'm a folk artist.
I guess that would be theclosest there is to it.
I've never taken an art lessonand I don't intend to, because I
(28:48):
like where it's going on itsown.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
So confident, love it .
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, he just was like I don't want, I just want
to evolve how it evolves.
I don't want any outsideinfluence.
I don't want to how.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
I love that yeah exactly, it's cool yeah exactly,
it's cool Big punk, big punk,big punk energy, yep, big punk
energy.
Even in this art phase, hetypically focused on portraits
of famous authors, musicians andfellow artists, but he also
created a series called Tipsywith Tallulah.
That was all just people livingor dead that he would love to
(29:23):
get smashed with.
I love that one living or deadthat he would love to get
smashed with.
It's so funny.
I feel like he has such a goodsense of humor with everything.
He doesn't take anything tooseriously, which is great, and
you can see that in his artworktoo.
It's really fun.
So whatever he was working on,it was always filled with fun.
(29:44):
He also continued performing inthe 80s and produced shows
during this time as well.
That is actually how he gotVampyra involved.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
There she is.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
There she is.
Remember when we talked aboutin the Vampyra episode, the last
one about her doing herperformances as Honey Gulper in
the 80s.
Yes, as Honey Gulper in the 80s.
Yes, well, those performanceswere at a club called the Anti
Club in Los Angeles and thewhole show was organized by
Tomato Duplenty.
He called the show the WeirdLive Show and it seems to me
(30:16):
that that name was right.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
on the money, yes, it was Very aptly named, you guys
want to see a weird live show.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
I do, I will be there .
Speaker 2 (30:27):
The.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Weird live show.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Now, I mentioned before that Tomato was in a film
with Vampyra and in all of theresearch I did on Vampyra I did
not find out about this filmuntil I was researching Tomato
and it was called Population One.
That's right, right, and it isa strange trippy art house movie
that stars Duplenty with youknow as himself.
(30:49):
His name, at least, is used asthe character name and he is the
lone survivor of a nuclearholocaust.
It's basically an arty collagedfever dream punk rock musical
by Dutch filmmaker Rene Daldur,and the film is definitely dated
but it did make the rounds inthe film circuit and largely got
(31:11):
favorable reviews.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Oh, hell yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Yeah, at the time it was seen as something new, and
now it's kind of something thatyou'd put on in the background
at a party where everyone isgoing to be high.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I mean, I'm going to show you some clips, but it's
100% what it is.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yep, in the film, tomato's appliances follow him
around the house Like hisfriends, are the robots for a
moment as he sings Scat's poetryand daydreams about his love.
I think I can't really tellwhat's going on in this movie,
honestly.
But, um, she's played by sheilaedwards, who is another um,
(31:51):
like musician at the time, whois supposed to be a clubby
vampire of sorts.
Uh, she has a song called jazzvampire that is super hilarious
and fun.
Um, and just so random.
There's like so many musicalstyles in this.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
It's bizarre, but this wasn't Vampyra, didn't play
the vampire.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
No, because this is no.
Vampyra is older at this point,so she did not play the vampire
.
So this is kind of his loveinterest or whatever I guess,
but he's like the only personalive.
But so I think it's like-.
So maybe it's like a memory, thememory of his love, okay, but
so I think it's like, so, maybelike a memory, the memory of his
, his love, okay, I don't knowwhat's happening.
I'm, I actually watched this.
I did actually watch it.
I was like in the bathtub doingnothing else with like watching
(32:34):
it and just being like what thefuck is happening and I so, if
someone can tell me, great, Ididn't.
I didn't.
I enjoyed it, but I didn't knowwhat was going on.
Plot wasn't really its strongsuit.
I'll say that.
And then the love song thatactually connects this vampire
character with Tomato isactually a screamer song with a
(32:58):
BDSM lean called I Wanna Hurt.
It's like I wanna hurt, I wannalove, like it's, I don't know.
It's strange and fun and itfeatures an accordion
performance by Beck.
Second mention of Beck what thefuck?
But he was actually a child atthe time.
What the fuck.
(33:19):
He's a child playing anaccordion, oh my.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
God.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Yep.
So that's fun, and I honestlycouldn't really piece together,
like I said, enough of this plotto comment on it more than that
.
But as always, Tomato is aperformer with a capital P in it
.
His performance is very fun towatch.
So first let's start withVampyra.
Vampyra plays his mother,Tomato's mother.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yes, vampyra is mother.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Yes, vampire is mother, she is mother and she
it's like it's weird.
I'm gonna show you.
It's more of like a series ofphotos, almost like more than
video.
It's an interesting.
I'm gonna go to the parts whereyou see vampire yeah on this
(34:10):
clock.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
I'm caught in the eye of a hurricane, apple pie and
pork chops just beyond my grasp,pictures of dying soldiers,
pin-up girls and gi joes.
Where am I?
What's going on?
My mother is struck by a boltof lightning.
I'm unable to come to her help.
My mother never needed help.
(34:32):
The house is in flames.
She's singing and dancing whereI can clearly see her.
Now there's a message shesignals through the flames oh,
my baby, my tiny little baby,it's you who holds the promise,
a promise so big that your poormother cannot even understand.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
All I have done is sow the seeds so that you can
fulfill all your needs I lovehow narrated it is, because it's
actually fits the purposes ofthis show so well um it's so
weird, okay.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
So vampire was just, was just like in, like she was
like little house on the prairieclothes with like a torch it
should kind of look like ladyliberty, but in prairie clothes,
yeah and then, and then wasjust like walking down the
stairs and and of this house andthen now she's on the floor
(35:36):
dead, I think with with the,because she got struck by
lightning, is what he said oh,okay, okay, okay but yeah, we
saw her kind of I don't know, itwas a little again.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
This is a perfect encapsulation of what I
experienced watching the wholemovie.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
But um, what, um, what the fuck is happening?
Yeah.
This is exactly what you put onin the back of a party where
everyone is high.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Yeah, I'm gonna try to find what I just mentioned
too with the appliances.
Okay, I think it's right.
Here there's like a hair dryer,that's like hovering near him,
(36:31):
other 80s appliances, asaxophone.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Floating.
Oh my god, oh my god, they'relike closing in on him.
Oh my god, naked or justshirtless he's supposed to be
coming out of the bath.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Now he's kinda like marching with them All in a row.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Hard work on the graveyard shift.
Hard work to keep a smilingface.
Hard work to go on with life.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Hard work to preserve the human race it's a lot of
like him, like scat readingpoetry or something.
Oh wait, oh, this is jazzvampire.
We have to watch this.
This is absurd, like this Ijust, oh God, it's absurd.
(37:41):
It's like a very pale, vampirelooking woman with her arms
crossed across her chest.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Desert eyes for a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Cause I'm a jazz vampire.
Cause I'm a jazz vampire.
Oh, her eye was on the music.
Wise men, keep out of my way.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
You don't know how to lead them astray.
They fall the minute I sway.
I am.
This is amazing.
You can't do this.
A giant.
A giant, that's fire.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Oh my God, I'm a giant, okay.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
So you get it.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
So you get it and then, oh, oh, I'll close up on
the On, you get it.
And then, oh, oh, we got up onthe On her jagged, on her teeth
Jagged, snaggletooth, a littlebit snaggly.
Yeah, I want to find, I want tofind this Beck performance,
because that's the other thing.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
I feel, like you, have to say oh yes, the little
boy on the accordion, find him,I'm finding it.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
We must find him, we will.
We're finding him.
Okay, so somewhere in here.
Yeah, we're kind of like goingaround this little circle with
all the music.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
He got stuck.
He said could you sit him down?
Sometimes I think I've found myhero, but it's a queer woman.
(39:56):
All that you need is a ticket.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Come on, big boys, let's dance in that, oh my God
and guys, it's not a small childaccordion, it's.
It's an adult size accordionand he's just a child playing it
.
And he's just a child with ahuge accordion.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Mac always had the chops.
Now we know.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Now we know.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
Now we know so yes, we always knew.
We always knew.
So this is Planet or Plan, Goddamn it.
Population 1.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
I can't even remember Population 1.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
It is a trip but it's a lot of tomatoes, it really is
he's the star of this movie, soif you want to see it, um, if
you want to see more of him, youknow, in better quality film
this is the way to do it forfree, for free, yep, and I'm
gonna link to it.
I'll make sure you see it Hellyeah, so in 1989, this is like,
(40:57):
so this film.
by the way, this came out in1986.
So just to give you context ofthis timeline here, so he's
still like doing his thing.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Your birth year, courtney, not to put you on the
lap, it is my birth year.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yes, my birth year.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
My birth year was this film, which, my goodness.
The fact that this filmhappened in my lifetime does
make me feel old.
I'm not going to lie, it'spretty dated.
It's pretty dated, it's pretty80s.
So in 1989, tomato left LosAngeles for South Miami Beach.
(41:32):
He cites a few reasons why heleft.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
People are very mad at me for not putting out
product.
Oh please, why do you think Ileft LA?
People were very mad at me thatI left the Screamers.
You know, people make it veryhard on you if you want to do
something else, especially ifyou made a big noise.
You made a big noise and thenyou decide you don't want to do
(41:58):
that anymore.
Oh, you can't do that.
It's like everything should bein its time and place.
People get overly sentimental,especially about rock and roll.
Oh my God, you hear the violins.
It's I don't know.
Know punk rock fans.
They're the hokiest.
He's probably like I wantedwarm weather.
(42:25):
Yeah, the hokiest.
And like and like a good beach.
Because let me tell yousomething, let me tell you
something.
Let me tell you something thismight be controversial LA
beaches, they're not beaches.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
What are they?
What are they, Marissa?
Speaker 2 (42:43):
They're sad excuses for beaches, because if you ever
ever lived in the Caribbean orFlorida, I'm sorry, you can't go
swimming for pleasure, really,unless it's in August in.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
LA.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
It's freezing cold.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
It's for surfers, it's 100% for surfers, it's a
weters.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
It's 100% for surfers .
Yeah yeah, it's a wetsuit ornothing.
You're on the beach or in awetsuit in the water and like no
South Beach, Miami, that is abeach.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
So he was going to get a.
Tan is why he left.
He went to go get a tan.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
He was like I'm dying , I need to live on an actual
beach.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
The funny thing is this was not like a real idea in
his head.
It's so weird.
According to him and I don'tknow if this is true this is
just what he says, but I trusthim honestly.
Yeah, why would he make it up?
Yeah, he met a couple of fanswho gave him a ticket.
(43:59):
They gave him a plane ticket,he took it as a sign and he just
completely relocated.
So that's pretty good.
So he just, he just was likeall right, I'm gonna leave.
I think he was ready to leave,but he didn't have a plan.
Yeah, so then he was like allright, plan presented itself, a
plan presented itself, a planpresented itself.
So once he got there, hehustled and continued his
starving artist life with thesame happy attitude.
He always seemed to haveworking jobs where he could get
(44:22):
them until he found a way tolive off of his art.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
I was a bartender in Miami for a couple of years and
started making a living as anartist the last three years.
And started making a living asan artist the last three years I
said, if I don't do it now, ifI don't just quit everything and
that's when I decided on thethree-suitcase idea.
Whatever I can get into threesuitcases, I call up anybody, I
(44:46):
say I'm coming, let me hang themin your place.
And it's been working.
I'm making a living.
I mean, I'm no richer but I'msure happy.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Yeah, no, that's.
It's cool.
He's just like I'm going tofind a way to make a living.
Doing this in my living is justgoing to be a small living.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
Like yeah.
So he basically was likewhatever I can fit into three
suitcases is what I can takewith me damn.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
So he traveled around doing art shows, keeping it
cheap and never even having thedesire to break into the art
gallery.
He himself said it just wasn'ttomato, it really wasn't wasn't
tomato, the wine and the cheeseof it all, it wasn't for him.
He eventually made it to neworleans where he had an art
studio and continued to diveinto portraiture of musicians
and performers.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
I love New Orleans.
I think it has the best of whatAmerica has to offer in terms
of food, art and music, all inone city terms of food, art and
music, all in one city yes, 100,and it's just like the, the
(46:00):
street performers are liketop-notch.
Yes, yes, the performance artlike everything.
Yeah, I, I think it's, it's.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
It's our best city and in terms of art, fighting
words, I agree, but it's alsolike cities.
Who who have to?
I don't know.
Cities who band together arealways like the ones who have
had to go through some some crap, like we're talking like new
york and los angeles and neworleans.
(46:27):
There's some, you know, we like, we gotta, we gotta roll with
it.
So I feel like, uh, and the artthat comes out of that is often
very good, but, um, yeah, sotomato was there?
uh, he, he was, you know, he wasa fixture in the art community
and in he was like, that's right, he was he was just always kind
(46:48):
of like around um, he, hedidn't just like expect, he
wasn't one of those people, justexpected you to come to his
shows.
He like went to everything.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
You know, he was that guy, he was around I love that
yeah he was just he surroundedwith himself, with art, always
yes, exactly, and artists.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
So it wasn't just he didn't live in a bubble um, and
eventually he got very sick forthe first time in his life,
despite his longtime HIVdiagnosis.
So he got AIDS related cancerand he headed to San Francisco
where he was offered a place tostay and transportations to
(47:30):
doctors appointments.
He was always very good athaving excellent friends around
him and so he just he.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
he was able to be taken in, essentially yeah, yeah
, this is like such the oppositeof vampyra I it is.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
Yeah, I feel like she was kind of people found her.
He was one of the people thatfound her actually, but I feel
like she and she did havecommunity, but she was kind of
people found her, he was one ofthe people that found her
actually, but I feel like sheand she did have community, but
she was, she also like gotreclusive, you know, and he
never really did that he didn'tno, and he was always just like.
He was always like okay, what'snext, what's next, what's next,
(48:09):
and that energy was always there, even in this period.
He just was not slowing down.
Um, and it was actually duringthis period of his illness that
he did the interview that wekeep quoting in this episode,
the one with jack rabid.
So he did this interview and hewould die just two months later
, I know.
So this really is his finalinterview and just to like to
(48:33):
know, you know that he wasactually he was really still
having fun in this interview,you can tell.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
So it's just, it's to me that's really beautiful, and
I don't know how he was feelingphysically, but it probably
wasn't great, honestly.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
No, he was literally dying during this and, like I
had no idea until you saidsomething just now, yeah, and he
was going through, like chemoand radiation treatments and
stuff which always makes me feellike trash yeah, so yeah, um
especially back then.
Yeah, well, this is thetreatment has come a long way
since then.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
Yeah, since 2000.
Yeah, so this is another bit.
Knowing all of that, this isanother bit of the interview.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
Yeah, I really am not a guy who contemplates much,
like I was telling you, I justgot really sick for the first
time in my lifetime Recently.
For the first time in mylifetime Recently, right now.
So my life has really changed.
So maybe now is the time for meto think about things.
But up to this point I neverthought about anything.
(49:44):
I just did it.
You know, I remember when I waslike 15, I was at the beach in
my baggies and I got in a carand we drove all the way to New
York in the winter.
I've never thought about thingsahead of time.
Speaker 3 (49:59):
I like doing a lot of things, being extremely
impulsive like that.
I don't do it as often as Iused to and I never did anything
that extreme.
Speaker 2 (50:08):
Well, I guess maybe I'm.
I'll be 52 at the end of themonth, so maybe I mean I hope to
be back on my skateboard soon.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
I'm not predicting too major change here, but you
said in your email that you'dbeen sick.
Is it worth talking about?
Speaker 2 (50:26):
Oh well, I've had HIV for a long time and they
changed my meds and I got aweird reaction.
So I'm working with that, andin New Orleans I was working
with the doctor there, but theyseem to know a whole lot more
here in San Francisco.
This is where it all began.
They've got the best care inthe world here.
(50:46):
So that's my decision to hanghere for a while.
I'm very optimistic.
Speaker 3 (50:55):
I'm not an old jalopy , so he's kind of downplaying it
here and he obviously isdownplaying it, but like I think
it's, I think he was actuallyas hopeful as he's saying.
But also he did, you know, hehad cancer.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
He was getting cancer treatments at this time.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
And he's like I just switched my medication.
It's like no, no, you're,you're going through it, you're
getting chemo man yeah yeah.
So I think he just I think hedidn't want to, he didn't want
to go there.
And fair enough man, fairenough, fair enough, yeah.
So his funeral at hollywoodforever was attended by vampyra
he she outlived him and his manyother friends.
(51:34):
It was presided over by hisgood friend, chase Holiday Um,
and fittingly, this was the verycemetery that Duplantis and
Holiday used to hang out induring the screamers heyday.
And um Brad Dunning, anotherdenizen of the Wilton Hilton,
who had helped design thecemeteries renovation that began
(51:55):
in 1998.
He is the friend who made itpossible for tomato to be
interred there.
So friends in high places, sotomato friends in all places
friends in all places, friendsin every place.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
It's true, he didn't he was just like a not.
Speaker 3 (52:12):
Yeah he he was.
And he didn't even like justlike a.
Not yeah he he was.
And he didn't even like hewasn't starstruck by anybody,
like it's just like he.
He's just like going in thesecircles and doing his thing and
there's not a hierarchy ofpeople to him you know, and I
love that, love that so tomato.
we hope that you are doingthings up there and that you
(52:33):
toasted Vampyra when she made ityour way.
Yeah, yeah, and I think youknow.
I guess, what would we?
What would we leave tomato as a, as a gift, as a graveyard?
Speaker 2 (52:47):
Maybe like a silly little watercolor.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
A little watercolor kit like the one that got him
started a little water.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
No, I want to paint something oh, that's.
Speaker 3 (52:59):
I love that.
I think that's perfect.
Like, like to do somethingcreative in his honor yeah yeah,
I think that would be veryappreciated.
Yeah, for sure I love it.
And to also do something that'slike maybe you paint with, I
don't know, ketchup or something.
Speaker 2 (53:17):
Or like with with my non dominant hand.
Speaker 3 (53:22):
Go outside the box a little bit with it, just try.
Speaker 2 (53:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (53:24):
For the sake of it.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
You know exactly, Exactly.
Speaker 3 (53:27):
Do something, whatever it is, just do
something.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
Yeah, yeah.
Whatever we do, we can't thinkabout it too much.
We just got to do it that's agood point.
Speaker 3 (53:35):
Yes, I love this.
I love this.
Oh, that's so fun.
Um, I, I, I did not think ofthat and I'm all about it
because, yeah, I think that,like making it to about music,
he just wasn't in that place atthe end for his last 20 years of
life.
He was not.
That wasn't what he was doing.
So, um, I think he always had,like I think he always loves
every form of art, but thatstage like he doesn't cling to
(53:58):
it, that he's dev and like Ialso really love that.
Like I loved everything he wassaying about being like he left,
la, because he felt like peopleare like why aren't you doing
this anymore?
This is what we know you for.
And he's like I want to dosomething else.
Like that I just want to dosomething else and fuck you.
This is my life.
Yeah, I'm like, yeah like weyeah, it's like he didn't give a
(54:22):
shit what anybody else thoughtoh, not one, not one.
Speaker 2 (54:26):
No, not a, not one single shit at any time or any
point yeah.
Speaker 3 (54:31):
So, um, yeah, I I just I think like and also just
and also.
Speaker 2 (54:37):
Also he's like he.
Like you know, he openly,openly talks about his sexuality
, his boyfriend and hisdiagnosis.
Speaker 3 (54:43):
Like he's like vulnerable but also not never
wallowing in any of it no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (54:53):
Vulnerable in, in, in , in a way of openness.
Yes, that's what I mean yes, no, exactly no.
Speaker 3 (55:03):
I think like this is a, this is like an evolved
person, I feel like.
So I just I think, like itseems, like you know, and, by
the way, there's, there'sapparently people are working on
a documentary about him, whichI would love to see when?
Speaker 2 (55:18):
yeah, it's done.
Speaker 3 (55:20):
um, it's because, especially just with the footy,
the video footage that existsand that, like the plans he had
for it that were ahead of histime, and it's like, yeah, let's
, let's do something with it now.
I think because, like, itreally is amazing to watch these
performances and I hope thatyou guys do, because it's it
really is like it's so cool tosee what he's doing and his
(55:40):
artwork.
By the way, marissa, we didn't,we were having technical issues
today, but I will send youlinks if you want, like you
should.
Speaker 2 (55:47):
Yes, I want to see, but you can even look up his
artwork.
Speaker 3 (55:51):
It's like he is, it's , it's very it's like.
Speaker 2 (55:54):
I want to.
I want to see what you curatedfor me.
But I also will just Google it.
Speaker 3 (55:59):
But yes, but I think that, like you know, what you
saw kind of on his on his grave,on his on his box of ashes, so
to speak, like it's kind of likeI don't I feel like it's in
that vein, it's very outsiderart vibes, you know where, um,
because that's really what hewas, he's called folk artist.
Speaker 2 (56:20):
I wonder if we can like, if I can buy some of his
art you can.
Speaker 3 (56:25):
it's going up in price for sure, but like you
can't, I mean, yeah, it's likeit.
Lucky are those people who werelike at the shows where he's
like, yeah, take it for 20 bucks.
You know what I mean, becauseit's going up now, but it's fun.
They're all like fun quirkyportraits and stuff of people
and sometimes they're done onthe back of his old band flyers
(56:46):
and, like you know, on just likepages from books and so it's
very like.
I don't know.
It's all very like found,looking kind of and and very
yeah.
So it's really fun, but yeah, Iwill also include links to to
the artwork.
It's really fun and and yeah,but that was tomato to plenty.
(57:09):
And I feel like I don't know.
I was interested in him in thevampire episodes.
I definitely didn't know asmuch about him, but I was
interested in him.
He sounded interesting.
And then now I'm like wow, likethis is this, is like this
whole world just got opened upfor me and this is why I love,
love, love doing this podcast,because I just feel like these
(57:31):
stories get lost and it's likethey're so good and the work
people did in their life is socool and it's so cool and
interesting and innovative andyeah it shouldn't get lost.
It shouldn't get lost.
So that's our, that's ourproject.
And you know what I also justwant to say right now I've been
meaning to do?
I want to thank everybody who'sbeen leaving us reviews.
(57:54):
It's really nice to hear thatyou guys are enjoying the show
and that you also appreciatethese stories and that you're
just as excited about them as weare, because that just means a
lot to me, because I feel like Idid, I got excited about it.
Speaker 2 (58:12):
And I'm like.
Speaker 3 (58:12):
I wonder if anyone else cares and you guys care,
and it's great.
So thank you for listening.
And also, if you know ofanybody, that's you know, feel
free always to be like did youknow this person was buried here
?
And like you know, because I'llkeep Marissa from reading the
comments, you can just send it,you know.
Send them, know that I'll readthem and that she won't, and
then you know you can alsofreely talk shit about her
(58:34):
because of that.
Speaker 2 (58:34):
So yeah, I'll never know.
Say whatever you want.
Yeah, say whatever you want,yeah.
Speaker 3 (58:44):
But um.
Speaker 2 (58:45):
I'll take.
I'll take a page out oftomato's book and not care.
There you go, love it, love it,love it, love it.
Speaker 3 (58:52):
Love it, love it, love it, but yeah, so anyway,
thank you, guys, and the nexttime, the next episode, is going
to be a really special one, bythe way, because we're going to
actually do it from Hollywoodforever, so stay tuned for that.
If you liked what you heard, orif you have any feedback for us
at all the good, the bad, theugly, the dead, the alive please
(59:16):
leave us a review on ApplePodcasts and let us know what
you think we really want to hearfrom you.
Also, follow the show, please.
You know, definitely subscribewhatever, wherever you get your
podcasts, but write us a review,tell us what you're thinking.
Dead and Kind of Famous iswritten, researched and produced
(59:36):
by Courtney Blomquist.
It is co -hosted by MarissaRivera.
Speaker 2 (59:40):
We tag team on socials.
Jesse Russell and CourtneyBlomquist do our editing.
Speaker 3 (59:45):
Until next time.
You might not be famous, butyou got a story to tell and
you're not dead yet.
Okay, bye, Bye.
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