Farewell To A True Supporter Of Tha Artivist...

Sen. Thomas Eagleton
Sept. 4,1929-March 4,2007
I had the pleasure of personally meeting former Sen. Thomas Eagleton almost four years ago…I actually met him at one of my first major shows post-college graduation, R2C2H2: Visualizing Jazz @ the Sheldon Concert Hall's Jazz Art Gallery…It was Tuesday August 5,2003…That previous weekend I had just buried my Uncle Arthur who passed away from HIV/AIDS complications…So in many ways I was in a very somber, pensive yet excited mood because of the closing of one chapter and the beginning of a new one…

I was informed by the wonderful curator Mrs. Olivia Lahs Gonzales that a very important person wanted to meet me before the opening reception for my show…She said that he was interested in looking @ some artwork I have done on Dr. King because he counted himself as one of Dr. King’s admirers, friends and supporters…So I arrived one hour before my show with my cousin Chris to meet this mystery man…

I went to the curator’s office and there I met this elderly but youthful White man with silver hair…He was dressed down in all pink and had a very engaging smile and demeanor…I thought he was an old school pimp…But I was later informed that he was an old school statesman who was locally deified and nationally recognized…I also discovered that the Federal Building in St. Louis is named after this icon of Missouri politics…However, I didn’t really process all of that until much later the magnitude of the person I was meeting…

So I joyfully showed Sen. Eagleton some of my best and most recent MLK inspired and based artworks…He seemed mildly interested, but yet determined to buy at least one of the works...Somehow I ended up showing him some of my other works out of one of my numerous art journals/sketchbooks…One book in particular had images of gangster Al Capone, tough guy music mogul Suge Knight and other pics of gangsters and gangster rappers that I drew using ink pen, whiteout and marker…He was amused as well as very interested in one of the portraits I did of Al Capone...What a 360, from peace loving Dr. King to the violent gun-toting Al Capone!!!

I was actually going to use the pic that he liked for a book and I wasn’t planning to sell it anytime soon let alone that day…However, he insisted that he wanted to buy the ink pen drawing of Al Capone on 8.5” x 11” sketch vellum paper…In order to scare the man off as well as to test his true desire for the pic I told him that I wanted $1,000 for the drawing…The look of surprise and shock on the curator’s face was priceless…However, Sen. Eagleton said “great” and shook my hand…

That meeting with him as well as the things I read about him (both the good, the bad and the ugly) let me know that I was dealing with an exceptional human being…My prayers go out to his family , friends and all the other souls he touched in a meaningful way on his long journey towards his destination…A wise person once told me to always enjoy the journey more than the destination and I have no doubt that in spite of his ups and downs that Sen. Eagleton never forgot nor took for granted that one piece of advice.
More about Sen. Tom Eagleton:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Eagleton
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/washington/04cnd-eagleton.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=923f0b7d7a371b33&ex=1330664400&adxnnl=0&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1173123577-RJgLrM+O8pcMBGqtzo2H3g
http://www.nndb.com/people/501/000025426/