@cmonstah

‘Six Los Angeles Artists’

Classic Kent Twitchell mural in Torrance, painted in 1979.

Intended as an homage to six prominent Los Angeles artists of the era: Marta Chafee Stang, Alonzo Davis, Paul Czirban, Oliver Nowlin, Eloy Torrez and Wayanna Kato.

David Cusick’s Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations' was published in 1828. It was the first account of Native American history and folklore written by an American Indian. There is continuing controversy about the extent to which Cusick may have compromised his Iriquois heritage in favor of negotiating a path through contrasting tribal views at a time of massive historical upheaval. Beyond this, the book has been touted as an early influence on Mormonism and as an origin for the Big Foot mythos. The Library of Congress version is missing a couple of illustrations that I think were issued in later editions. [The top illustration is called 'The Stonish People']

“I’d like to introduce a friend of yours: Maradona", the phrase with which Freddie Mercury invited Diego Armando to the stage of Velez Sarsfield only served to make the Argentine audience explode once again on that magical night that was March 8th, 1981, when Queen closed their tour in Argentina ( after Mercury’s death, the band would return without their legendary leader in 2008 and 2015), after touring Mar del Plata and Rosario.

Maradona was already a star and youth world champion, in Japan 1979. And his idolatry in the Argentine people grew at the same time as his evolution as a footballer. Carefree as always, at the age of 21 he took the microphone and said: “I want to thank Freddie and Queen for making me so happy”. Immediately afterwards he announced the following song: “ And now, Another One Bites the Dust”.

Queen’s visit, one of the most magnificent rock bands in history, took place in a very special context. Argentina lived isolated from the world because of the military dictatorship that five years earlier had taken over the government. Therefore, international visits were not frequent.

Queen had arrived to open a series of shows with a big concert on 28th February in Velez Sarsfield stadium. The audience exploded once again on March 3rd and after the performances in Mar del Plata and Rosario, the big closing came on March 8th 1981. Football fans like most of the English, Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor wanted to meet Maradona, and in the backstage, waiting to go on stage the band got what they wanted: the national football star. “To have the great idol of the country was like receiving a blessing”, Roger Taylor would remember years later in an interview. The band and the footballer exchanged words of admiration and t-shirts. Maradona posed with a T-shirt in the colours of the British flag (Union Jack), which May wore at the concerts, Freddie’s red silk tie and Taylor’s drumsticks. 

“During a barbecue the president of Velez Sarsfield , offered in his country house to the band and a small group of guests, a controversy was generated. When Mercury commented that he was going to come up with the national team’s soccer jersey, the journalists argued vehemently that this was probably going to cause a rejection in the audience because in those times, soccer and rock were not compatible terms. Freddie listened attentively to the arguments of the locals and explained his position, of which he was fully convinced.  He thanked the opinions but finished the subject, it was a taken position,” recalled Juan Manuel Cibeira (editor of the specialized magazine “Pelo”) about the idea of linking football with rock. Brian May had arrived at the meeting wearing the Argentinian team shirt.

That night, the night of the last concert, Mercury finally wore the Argentine national team shirt. It was one of the first approaches between two worlds united by passion: music and sport.

“I remember that I accompanied my father to buy a national team shirt in a local shop in Buenos Aires. It was bought as a gift from the EMI company as they were English and football fans. It was left in the hotel room because the musicians were with the shows in Rosario and Mar Del Plata. Freddie was the first foreign artist to wear the "sky-blue and white” in a show. Now it’s a common.thing. Legend has it that Maradona gave it to him, but in reality it was my father without the intention of it being shown at the concert,“ said Lisandro Ruiz, son of Roberto Ruiz, who in 1981 was responsible for the Anglo sector of the label and later president of it.

The members of Queen with the EMI staff. Roberto Ruiz, the first from the left (Photo- Ruiz Family Personal Archive).

Due to the context of the country, the great moment of the British band and Diego’s presence in Argentina, the meeting between Queen and Maradona became a unique event, which could only have taken place because the planets aligned at the right time. It was, without a doubt, a kind of magic.

There are 14 blank ruled pages in the collection of the Getty Museum. They are bound into two manuscripts. There are 32 other blank pages or half-blank pages, but I didn't get quite so interested in them.