Armadillo Origin Trivia Q

[Wayne Johnson]

Honor and I were living next to David & Paula and company (on West 22d) in
1961.  The Armadillo Weeks were very noisy and lots of fun.  And I would
give anything for one of the damn 'dillo drawings right about now.

Wayne

-----Original Message-----
From: austin-ghetto-list-admin@pairlist.net
[mailto:austin-ghetto-list-admin@pairlist.net]On Behalf Of Bill Irwin
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2001 4:24 PM
To: jaxon41
Cc: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
Subject: Re: Armadillo Origin Trivia Q


Ah,  finally a subject line that I can wrap my mind around without loosing
sleep!

About the origins of the Armadillo cult:  During the early 60's and
extending up to the mid 60's David Dean and  a group of his friends and
associates who were commonly known as the Hogs (or Hawgs (sp?)) began
celebrating an annual holiday that they called International Armadillo Week.
This was mainly a drinking festival and it did last all week (in David's
case it lasted all year).  There was always one big party and a lot of
people came to these parties.  A lot of folks from the Ranger staff would
come to these parties and several people on the AGL have already remembered
these affairs.  To prepare for these festivities David would prepare some
promotional material, these included posters, hand bills and t-shirts.
David did all the art work for these things and of course all the art work
featured armadillos in various activities, mainly drinking and fornicating.
He also did some other sketches and toons featuring armadillos and I don't
know if they were published in any publication but it is possible that they
were.  Of course other artists were also inspired by the Armadillo festival.
I am not real sure of the  beginning date for the International Armadillo
Week but I would guess that it was 61 or 62 and I am leaning to the 62 date.
By 65 the festival had died out.  David Dean was the creator of the
Armadillo festival concept and did all the art work for the festival.  The
parties were held at his house.  David and his friends always considered the
International Armadillo Week as the origin of the Armadillo cult.  Weather
or not that is true I don't know.  I don't know much about Austin before the
60s.

About the attached art work:  I am no longer sure about the province of this
piece.  It's a t-shirt and there is no credit line that I can see.  I was
thinking that David Dean did it but like I say I don't really know for sure
any more.  If it was done prior to 65 then the artist is David if after 65
then the artist is Franklin.  Anybody out there that remember this T-shirt?
If so, I would be interested in "remembering" the creator.

I hope that this helps with your historical research.
Bill "Ewie" Irwin

PS; this art work would be a good thing to add to the Austinghetto web site
if we can figure out who the artist is - definatly one of us..


----- Original Message -----
From: jaxon41 <jaxon41@austin.rr.com>
To: ghetto ghetto <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2001 11:59 AM
Subject: Armadillo Origin Trivia Q


> After the Fall of Hairy Ranger (meaning, after we ran that photo of
luscious
> Karen Gordon in a see-through blouse), a New Crew was installed to run the
> Ranger.  How long UT continued to foot the bill for it I can't recall, but
> during this wind-down period some fellow did cutesy little Armadillo
> cartoons in the Ranger (or wuz it the Daily Texan?).  Whitehead?  Was that
> his name?  If so, was he the same ____ Whitehead of the husband/wife team
> that went on to some local renoun as designers?
>
> Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this before Franklin hit town
and
> raised the armadillo to Cult Icon status?  Not trying to detract from
Jim's
> Legacy in the slightest here.  Merely interested in pinpointing in Time
when
> artists started depicting th' Little Nine-Banded, Armor-Plated Guy as a
> symbol for our way of life.  Answers, anyone?  jaxon
>