[Photo by Curt Hoppe from March 2013]
Arturo Vega, the artistic director for the Ramones who created their iconic logo, died this past weekend. He was 65.
John Holmstrom, the founding editor of Punk Magazine who designed two of the Ramones best-known album covers, shared some stories about Vega with Maximum Rock'n'Roll, including:
“But his loft on East 2nd Street – wow! He had his paintings on display, hundreds on Ramones t-shirts in a huge closet, and Joey and Dee Dee lived there. And it was almost on top of CBGBs, so when they would perform there, they’d often hang out at home, then walk downstairs into the club and play their set, then go back upstairs. Arturo was kind of supporting them in those early days, so in a way there might not have been the Ramones without his support.
As the Times noted, Vega was instrumental in getting the City to name part of East 2nd Street Joey Ramone Place.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Q-and-A with John Holmstrom, founding editor of Punk Magazine
John Holmstrom on the CBGB movie and the East Village of 2013
Arturo Vega was a wonderful human being. While he virtually invented the concept of 'branding'- creating, marketing and being identified with the Ramones 'brand' throughout his life- he always had a large circle of friends in other fields, other cities and other countries. And he was always working on his own art projects. I've known Arturo since 1973, when my sister lived in the loft above him (and below the Ramones) on 2nd Street. When the Cockettes came to town to play the Anderson Theater they also stayed in the 2nd Street lofts. Drag queens, rockers, artists, academics- Arturo's universe had room for us all. It was Arturo who convinced me to join him in Mexico City in '74- a crazy trip that ended with us living on a ranch in a Mayan town near the Guatemalan border. A trip which jump started my own career as an anthropologist.
ReplyDeleteJust a few years ago, Arturo traveled again to Chiapas, this time with his friends from the 'hood'-the Lower Eastside Girls Club- for a trip on the Usumacinta River to see the ruins of Yaxchilon. Artist, explorer, mountain climber, renaissance man and life-long friend to so many- his house and heart were always open. There are no words for how much he will be missed.