I learned only yesterday that my old friend Pompa ---that's what everyone
called him, just
Pompa---died in November 2012. The original sixties beatnik-to-hippie crossover, he was was a wonderful artist and photographer whose gifts went almost entirely unrecognized. (No self-promoter he; wayyyy too hip for that.) His circle of friends over the years included the diverse likes of Nico, Patrick Close, Karen Dalton, Viola Spolin, Dan Propper, Tim Hardin, Wavy Gravy, Eric Preminger, Danielle Luna, and John Phillip Law. I hope someone was around during his final days to help protect at least part of his extraordinary ouevre. He was a wonderful cartoonist, but to the best of my knowledge he published exactly ONE cartoon
ever, in some sub-
True men's mag back in the seventies. The one below, based on a concept I supplied him with, was never published.
He also designed the cover for Tim Hardin's final album but didn't even bother to sign his work. Never dawned on him to do so. The "oversight" was pluperfect Pompa!
Also a dixeur of the first order; oh, the stories he could and
would tell! ("Cuddles" Sakall chucked him under the chin when Pompa was four.)
And, ohhhh, that scene up on Miller Drive off of "the Strip" during the filming of
Skidoo.
2 comments:
O yes, that beautiful cover for Tim Hardin's last recordings. I have two copies of that scarce album. Do you know how many copies may have been pressed? I suspect very few. 500? 1,000? I was lucky to get it when it came out, and many years of hunting only turned up one other copy. Why haven't the rights reverted to Tim Hardin's estate?
I had a great meeting with Tim...I hope you might write more about him
I've written a fair amount about Tim on this blog. go to google and enter "Tim Hardin" and drchilledair and you'll get a few hit. I'm told, btw, that Tim's tales of being stationed in the service in the far east were simply not true. he might never have even been out of the u.s. while in the military. I seem to recall that either Koppleman or Rubin had something to do with the production of the album. don't know how many were pressed. he was an angel. . .of sorts.
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