The Screamers - Tomata Du Plenty CNN spotlight from Jan. 1999 & rare footage of vertigo

[@twolegsnotail]

Tomata was one of the sweetest, most gentle, most clever and almost always cheerful people that you could ever meet. It made me so sad to learn of his death. I knew him in Seattle from The Whiz Kidz house. Their shows were so much fun and so clever. Love you forever Tomata and Gorilla Rose too.

[@t.j.7789]

Yeah LOVED/LOVE Tomata!!! We were fortunate enough to meet him. I had/lived this lifestyle and I didn't see it!!!

[@GyntherMeyer]

"Punk rock, especially in the early days, these people had library cards". Thanks for posting!

[@Brewzerr]

It's so true. Most of the early 1st wave punks were well above average intelligence, and extremely creative. After hardcore took over it got really dumbed down. Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of the early hardcore bands, and many of those guys were pretty smart too... but the scene as a whole really took a nosedive in the IQ department in the 80's.

[@GyntherMeyer]

@@Brewzerr Thanks for your comment to my own ditto that I wrote eight (8!) years ago! I've just rewatched the Du Plenty video, and I must admit I like these 1st wave punks/punk bands more and more as time pass. And definitely way more than what came after. I agree on your hardcore comment.

[@Brewzerr]

@@GyntherMeyer I'd be a liar if i said i was involved in that early scene in the late 70's. I saw my first punk gig in summer '80. I got into it just as the big transition from 'punk' to 'hardcore punk' was starting to take place. I'm a 2nd generation punk, but I did get to see a lot of those early bands and knew/know tons of the original scenesters. There was definitely a marked difference between them and the crowd I was coming into it with. A big rift opened up around that time between the older punks and the new, more suburban younger 'hardcore' kids. I honestly preferred the older crowd, but most of them didn't want much to do with me or my peers back then. It's understandable looking back. We were pretty violent (not so much me, but a lot of my peers and friends) and we looked a bit different and danced different. We had to go through that too when an even younger and MORE violent crowd started showing up around late '83/early '84.

[@GyntherMeyer]

@@Brewzerr I didn't start going to punk gigs until '88 and this was in London (UK) so it was very different. But I watched the new(ish) (2019) four part tv doc on punk recently and basically everyone mentioned that there was a big gap between the original punks and the hardcore punks. Ron Reyes said he left Black Flag for Canada because of the growing violence.

[@Brewzerr]

@@GyntherMeyer Black Flag gigs were the most violent of all during that time (1980). Violence followed them everywhere they played, and a lot of that had to do with them being targeted by the cops. I was at a few BF gigs where the cops inevitably showed up early into their set and started busting heads. Us punk kids, not being the type to back down or run away, would start throwing whatever we could find at the cops or busted out windows and headlights on their cars (in a few cases), and it would just escalate from there. I could say that was fun, but honestly it was scary as hell. I got beat up pretty badly by the cops more than once, and so did all my friends. The cops singled out a few different bands, but none more so than Black Flag. They were like public enemy #1 as far as the cops and the local media were concerned. It got so bad at one point that they had no other choice but to hit the road and tour all over North America. If they had stayed home in L.A. they would have all ended up in jail and done hard time. That was literally the main reason why Black Flag constantly toured. They were trying to stay one step ahead of law enforcement.

[@paulbeahm3891]

Just got into the screamers. Watched 122 hours live at the target now I'm hooked.

[@saintblith]

man that shit's just masterpiece..

[@kryptichands968]

Just watched it again today

[@MsZoombye]

I keep visiting 122 hrs of feat. Love tomata!!

[@rosendamoore]

So cool to see this. I lived down the street from Exenes store back then. I didn't know about his paintings, or that he'd passed away. Last night I saw some short films of him and The Screamers in various performances, as part of a punk film event. He was such a great singer performer. So crazy and funny and xciting and wild to watch. I first heard of him in my last year of high school, from this boy I liked who was a huge fan of the Screamers.

[@rodoza66]

I bought art work at "You've Got Bad Taste" (Excene's store). I still have the t-shirts she designed and sold at the shop. Was good while it lasted. I prefer the seedy Silverlake, as opposed to the gentrified one!

[@pshmidget]

Thank you for posting. I met Tomata in Seattle just before he, Melba and Rio took off for LA, and "stardom." For a few years they were like big brothers to a few of us "young punks"...

[@surfleopard]

Oh he wasn't quiet, believe me! LOL I did promotion for this show, which we did 11 years ago this month at Exene's store in Silverlake, Ca. Tomata was very social and had friends all over. A fun and amazingly creative guy. I miss him.

[@cyclotimique]

AGREED...

[@trinaharris1312]

I love u tomata du plenty!! I fell in love wit yr music n now yr art! You were a godsend! I will forever rock the screamers! So sad i wasnt alive in the 77 scene! I would have loved it! Up the punx!!!

[@pmcfarlin7]

WHEN THE SOUL ACTUALLY LEADS THE WAY YOU LEARN MORE THEN YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE.

[@t.j.7789]

I knew Tomata........................ SFAC...........I am the little Black girl from Ohio who sat at the front desk and ran the art school, made bank runs solo into Miami and danced the night away. Wonder what's up with Charo Oquet, Wily, Alfonso, Pat, Chris, alesh, (the REAL PRINCE who bought me a cassette single in line because he found my perfume beatiful - and the two lovely ladies with him one white/one black...why didn't I follow haha)......so many damn memories and I do NOT have photos to prove, well one that I was HOT!!! Versace's palace was a home for homeless. Would I go back??? HELL YEAH!!!!

[@rememberingmiami]

Who are you? I was in SFAC. 924 Lincoln Road was the office. There was only one black girl who managed the office back then. I'm sorry I forgot her name. TJ? You were there when Jane Gilbert was the director? I was at the 800 Building, painting still lifes. Do we know each other?

[@OtherMike5000]

Do plenty people go for Tomata? *....YES!*

[@Artaud1957]

Thanks for posting this! So, I see that I've been pronouncing his name incorrectly all these years. How I wish he was still walking the earth...

[@cleverpittsburgh]

No, the correct pronunciation was 'ToMAYta', which is what his mother called him. Somehow the public changed it to 'ToMAHta' and he thought there was no use fighting it, or so he said.

[@Brewzerr]

You and me both. I've always said "To-MAH-tah".

[@instantlybent]

amazing material. thanks for posting.

[@billybrown00]

R.I.P Tomata, legend forever

[@jastockton1]

Wow:I didn't know he'd passed away. I first met David when Ze Whiz kids were just forming, on Beacon Hill, Seattle, around 1970. Adios!

[@mick2spic]

RIP Tomata

[@MichaelMarko]

I met this guy. He was living in a storefront with a friend of Mine and a couple of others in Miami's downtown. They all moved to New Orleans at some point.

[@rememberingmiami]

Tomata was living at a place close to the OMNI with Eddie Mac. Was that your friend?

[@nicolasa3810]

⁠@@rememberingmiamiwho is eddie Mac? And what is OMNI 😮

[@rememberingmiami]

@@nicolasa3810 Eddie Mac became Tomatas executor when he passed away. The OMNI is a closed in mall on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami

[@louskum]

Simply the greatest

[@deanpd3402]

You say Tomata, I say Tomata.

[@saintblith]

why the f*** havent i ever heard of him and this band?

[@beattodeath]

Cuz they Never recorded anything.

[@rodoza66]

They are part of the global punk rock compendium from 1975 to 1978, when the Sex Pistols, broke up in SF, it all became "post punk", at that point.

[@frankensplean]

good find!

[@FriedAbortions]

RIP tomata

[@RecordsAdNauseam666]

a NEW? career as an offbeat artist!! what the fuck is he talking about

[@thePsykomanteum]

killer fucking upload

[@kmmk292929]

can anyone upload music by the Tupperwares???

[@jonathanmitchell9886]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6rIq6WNbriBhpI

[@nicolasa3810]

You have it?

[@Lulugirard94]

Oh I love that- an "offbeat artist"!

[@chainsawteddybear]

HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO

[@qubixrube]

great music, bad art, cool guy!

[@corduroykumquat]

truth

[@Lucas-dm1lu]

Jestifer Chalice but Picasso’s art was bad too

[@monsieurlaguillotine3481]

No such thing as bad art if you're putting yourself into it.

[@CortoArmitage]

1:29 Punks+Library cards

[@KelseyJoMusic]

[@UTFRG]

Your not an artist if you take lessons

[@s.miller2648]

You're not a speller if you spell it "your".

[@rodoza66]

it never was part of the academy!

[@CelineRazavi]

huh, didn’t realize his art was trash