Sabo
Witten by guest author, artist Sabo:
I remember way-back having this little black Sony AM radio. You couldn’t separate me from the thing. From the moment I woke up, to when I rested my head on that pillow to go to sleep, I’d have it on.
My whole day was scheduled around political talk radio. The mornings would start off with people like Bill Handel, John & Ken, Larry Elder, Mr. KFI. Hell, I remember when Tammy Bruce was a wild-eyed, liberal lesbian. I was a bonafide news junky.
It was hard to believe that AM radio, the bastard child of not only radio but of all of media turned into this monumental threat to the Left. They tried everything to shut it down. And who was the man responsible for making it the threat that it became? The one and only Rush Limbaugh.
Everyone else who did what he did seemed a bit like a clone. The one person who could even come close to giving Rush a run for his money was Howard Stern, but Stern relied on bread and circus, boobs and a potty mouth. Every morning, for three hours, with half his brain tied behind his back and talent on loan from God, Rush was able to make something as dry as politics understandable and entertaining for millions of people across the fruited plain. A true virtuoso in his field comparable to Jordan on the court, Tyson in the ring, Brady on the grid-iron or Tiger on the green … Rush was our GOAT, there was no equal and he made it look easy.
When Rush died in early 2021 … It would have never occurred to me that I would create something to commemorate his or anyone’s passing … but … I just had to. I can’t think of too many people in my life that I felt I walked along side on a daily basis, who spoke to me, day in – year out, in a way that made me feel that I wasn’t alone or crazy in how I thought about my country and the people in it.
I first made this digital poster of Rush as MahaRushi and put a few of them out on the street in LA. Then I wondered if I could turn it into a painting. Now I don’t consider myself a painter and I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but again, I just felt that I had to. It took months and more stencils than I can remember to put this together. I wanted to be loose and free with this piece. I scrubbed at the paint for texture to the point to where I wore a hole through the canvas. I painted in ways I’d never done before, letting go, hoping, knowing it would turn out nice and I believe that it did. I’m happy with it.
I hope one day I’ll be able to do a huge mural of this in South Florida or Texas. I wasn’t sure if I was going to frame the piece at first but when I thought of having a frame completely covered in cigar bands there was not turning back, I had to do it. To make it more meaningful I sent out a call on social media for Rush fans to send me the bands from cigars they’d smoked. Individuals as well as cigar clubs from all around the country really came through. Hundreds of bands later – the frame turned out beautifully. My hope is that this piece finds a home hanging where friends gather to enjoy a good cigar and conversation.
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Sabo, who’s name derives from the “SABOT” main-gun-round fired from the M-60 series main battle tank he crewed for four years in the Marine Corp, is a political guerrilla artist who employees culture jamming to disrupt and subvert what he believes is a pervasive leftist narrative in todays creative arts and media culture. Sabo believes that if art is not political, it’s just wallpaper and that’s why every one of his pieces is designed to challenge the political norms and hypocrisies of Hollywood and the creative establishment. Sabo is known as the first and only prolific, hard hitting, right-leaning, political street artist in America.
