Sloan: Downed DJ owes livelihood to art

After getting pummeled in dominoes (as usual) last Sunday by residents in their 90s at Heartland Continuing Care Center in Portales, I met 41-year-old Lupe Vargas.

In May, the graffiti artist fell on concrete from a 10-foot ladder while painting a raccoon-washing-clothes mural for an Amarillo laundromat. Busting his knees and feet, he will remain in Heartland — where his mother works — for six months.

Wendel Sloan

Vargas exemplifies the passions and dreams everyone has. Taking the time to listen enriches us by transporting us to others' worlds.

Briefly involved with Albuquerque street gangs as a teenager, he felt more affinity with hip-hoppers and graffiti artists. Rather than defacing property and battling over territory, they turned walls, bridges and dams into art canvases. (One night at a reservoir they were chased by a satanic cult of 40 black-robed men with candles.)

“I am still friends with those graffiti artists,” said Vargas, who volunteers with troubled youth at the Santa Fe Art Institute. “Some gang members are dead, but art saved us.”

Vargas (graffiti name: "Perish") has contributed to television and movies. He was paid $200 for painting a red duffle bag in “Breaking Bad.”

He earned several thousand dollars for painting graffiti on a warehouse in “Hamlet 2,” starring Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler and David Arquette, and acting as an extra.

He played a DJ on the TV show “Crash,” receiving $1,000 for showing his hands—and hugged Elizabeth Shue. He also met Dennis Hopper.

In 1998, while helping paint a giant mural of Albuquerque’s history, Telemundo interviewed him. “It was the first time my parents accepted my art,” said Vargas, whose father left when he was 5.

Vargas’ bread-and-butter is DJing. He travels the country as “A’ight” to weddings, clubs, parties, etc.

“It’s agonizing being in a wheelchair,” he said as we watched YouTube videos, including The Winstons’ 1969 instrumental version of the famous “Amen”— with Vargas passionately explaining how its six-second drum break spawned several musical subcultures.

“It’s weird being in a nursing home on Saturday nights when I’m used to DJing,” Vargas said.

“But everyone here is good and has an interesting story.”

Contact Wendel Sloan at:

[email protected]