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Today we bid adieu to Season 1! Join us as we visit the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to pay tribute to Season 1's final featured individuals (Tomata du Plenty and Maila Nurmi) and share some significant personal news as Courtney announces her upcoming move to Minnesota. To see our other grave offerings for Season 1, check out our instagram or substack!

In short order, we do all of the following in this episode:

• Record from a bench in Hollywood Forever Cemetery on a cloudy day surrounded by peacocks
• Announce that the podcast will continue remotely despite Courtney's upcoming relocation to Minnesota
• Visit Vampira's grave where fans have left lipstick kisses, makeup, flowers, and trinkets
• Explore unexpected graves including one for a woman described as an "occasional wife"
• Color a peacock-themed page as an offering to Tomato DiPlenty
• Share the origin story of our friendship and creative partnership
• Reflect on how graves and memorials represent the importance of chosen family

THANK YOU so much for listening this season and also showing us so much love. It means the world and we will see you for Season 2 in the fall!

If you liked what you heard, or if you have any feedback at all—the good, the bad, the ugly, the dead, the alive—please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and let us know what you think.

Love, Courtney and Marissa <3

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Instagram- @deadandkindoffamous
See us visit the graves of our subjects and pay our respects with lovingly selected offerings.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify- Please be a Bon Vivant and leave us a rating and review. It would mean the world!

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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

Follow us on...

Substack- https://substack.com/@deadandkindafamous
Here, you can find our episodes, transcripts, relevant images and newsletters.

Instagram- @deadandkindoffamous
See us visit the graves of our subjects and pay our respects with lovingly selected offerings.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify- Please be a Bon Vivant and leave us a rating and review. It would mean the world!

Send us a text

At the intersection of drag theater, punk rock innovation, and fearless artistic evolution stands David Xavier Harrigan - better known to those in-the-know as Tomato DePlenty.

From his early days with the revolutionary Cockettes (described by John Waters as "insane hippie drag queens" creating "complete sexual anarchy"), to founding Ze Whiz Kidz in Seattle, to pioneering synthesizer-based punk with The Screamers, Tomato consistently positioned himself at the cutting edge of artistic movements.

What makes Tomato's story so compelling isn't just his artistic versatility - it's his uncanny ability to be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.

He embodied his personal philosophy: "Let's do things" and "Do plenty."

Listen in as we uncover the first chapter in the fascinating life of this punk pioneer, theatrical innovator, and boundary-breaking artist who helped shape multiple movements while remaining just outside the spotlight.

Links From This Episode:

Tomata's Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18803/tomata-du_plenty

The Tupperware's at the TMT show recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyezrW9SNP0

The Screamers Target Studios Promo Video: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18803/tomata-du_plenty

Gary Panter's famous rendering of Tomata: https://obeygiant.com/gary-panter-a-provocateur-print-available-now/

The Cockettes Documentary Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gPxQvN0f1c

Follow us on...

Substack- https://substack.com/@deadandkindafamous
Here, you can find our episodes, transcripts, relevant images and newsletters.

Instagram- @deadandkindoffamous
See us visit the graves of our subjects and pay our respects with lovingly selected offerings.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify- Please be a Bon Vivant and leave us a rating and review. It would mean the world!