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This is a pic taken by my long-time friend and often partner in crime, Lance De Los Reyes, aka graffiti artist RAMBO. He painted the upside-down crown for a while as a tribute to Basquiat and made the crown upside down to say, “there are no kings.” I found out late Thursday night that Lance passed away. It hit me hard. Lance and I have a long history. I met him in San Diego in ’97 when he was maybe 19. He was bombing under the name CHIE and was up in a bunch of ill spots. He came up to me at a DIY art event with his wide-eyed, unfiltered personality, and I was charmed. Lance was both feral and sweet. We started doing street art together in San Diego, LA, San Francisco, and in 2000 I took him to NYC for the first time. He fell in love with the city instantly. We did street art night and day for three days, and I remember Lance literally pounding his fist against the hardwood floor at 4AM on night three when he was fighting against sleep. We napped for two hours and then started bombing again. Eric Elms was with us and can verify this story. Lance was the most fun, fearless, and spontaneous bombing partner ever.
Unfortunately, he was also reckless. He totaled one of my cars and later got another impounded for 30 days. I was amazed how he seemed to have nine (plus) lives and land on his feet despite living a wild life.I guess we can only play Russian roulette for so long before our luck runs out. Lance wasn’t just impulsive, though. He could be very thoughtful. Look at his poetry billboards on the BQE and listen to the song he wrote and sang “No Monkeys On Our Backs” https://www.instagram.com/p/B8DN80gpPUa/. It has the style and humanity of a Woody Guthrie song. Lance had been making his best art ever over the last couple of years, and I was very happy that he seemed to be in a healthy groove. I guess it didn’t last. I texted Lance a few weeks ago when Amanda and I went to see Modest Mouse, but he did not reply, which was unusual. I introduced Lance to Modest Mouse back in ’99 when he was living in a tent in my yard (the bedrooms in my house were taken). Lance would come in to take a shower in the mornings and sing Modest Mouse, out of key, at the top of his lungs. Lance, I always think of you when I listen to Modest Mouse, and I always will. Thanks for the good and bad times… I’ll miss you.
-Shepard
