The Early Years
of Frank Campagna
I recently saw the movie ‘Almost Famous’ and it really took me back… Below is a letter I wrote, that was published in
‘Creem’ magazine, November 1973,
funky spelling and all.
“Gee! About six weeks ago I went down to 7/11 to buy me sum Rolling Stone.
But they didn’t have it so I sez: “Frank you gotta get sumthing to read,”
and so I look through the normal scum, 16, Hit Parader, you know, and all of a sudden this magazine cums out of no where, and so I looked thru it, Goddamn!!! I loved it, bought it, took it HOME / read it, an even liked it. Thanx for being better than Rolling Stone and having better pictures too.
Love,
Frank Campagna
P.S. Since I wrote such a nice letter ‘n’ everything, and everybody’s bitchin’ about the polls, and my heros Iggy Pop, David Bowie and even Todd Rundgren were all punks of the year, can you fit my name in there too!!!
Frank’s Early 1970’s
Campagna’s artistic journey took flight in the early 1970s, inspired by music and the sketches he created for DIY concerts and supporting musicians that he loved. What began as a personal passion soon transformed into a lifelong pursuit, paralleled by a flourishing professional career. His transition to large-scale mural art came later, following years of contribution to the cultural fabric of Deep Ellum, Texas. In the early 1980s, Frank played the pivotal role in creating the neighborhood’s punk identity, helping to establish its rebellious and creative spirit. Below, you’ll find a selection of his early works.
By 1978 I moved to Dallas Texas. Nothing was happening in the clubs, unless you liked cover bands of generic ‘classic rock’ In other words, it sucked. The only place that rocked was a concert hall called the Palladium. I had to find a way ‘in’, so I did this mock-up ad for the Ian Hunter show. It also got me in the business of doing rock & roll art!
About the same time, this little dive opened called DJ’s. I started doing flyers for the place in return for admission and beer.
This is a flyer for the first punk rock festival ever in Dallas / Fort Worth. It was held at an old racetrack and the bands performed on the back of a flat bed truck. The first night was amazing the second night everyone left to go see the Clash at the Palladium…
My all time favorite Texas band the Nervebreakers played both shows, and were great as usual. I worked for both promoters and had fun both nights!
The Early 1980’s
In 1980 the Palladium shut down. The owner lost his ass doing Foghat at the Cotton Bowl. He would later return to the business as a partner in the Hot Klub, then at 462 Inc. and currently runs Nokia Live. The Palladium building reopened a few months later as the Agora Ballroom, which played a huge role in my life… As the sole artist for this 1,200 seat nightclub / concert hall, I painted and created artwork for hundreds of shows.
Above is a portion of a mural of acts that had sold the venue out! Below are a few concert calendar headers and flyers…
New Wave and Punk Rock shows almost always needed flyers
because radio really didn’t support these acts.
I can remember getting many phone calls from the GM asking
‘Frank have you ever heard of ______?
So what do you think?
To determine if he should book them or not…
This was a great place to be at the time but I also managed to get hired by the Wintergarden, a 3,000 capacity venue run by another promoter to do the same type of work. Before long I was getting paid to crank out several flyers a week and more to distruibute them at all the cool shops / events in town. This is now called a ‘street team’…
STUDIO D
Studio D was not the first club in Deep Ellum. It was my art studio. I had bands play on the weekend to help ends meet.
Legally there was a capacity of 12 but nobody really cared because Deep Ellum was a vacant warehouse district at the time. For really big shows like the Dead Kennedys, I’d hire off duty police to act as a vacination from getting busted. Aside from the Kennedys acts that played include Butthole Surfers, the original Misfits, Meat Puppets, D.R.I., D.O.A., Lethal Weapon, and Husker Du even played 3 times in six weeks. I really tried to keep it as underground as possible and refused interviews although a few stories appeared in Thrasher, Texas Monthly, The Dallas Observer and the Dallas Morning News. When my lease ran out I continued booking shows in various clubs though June 29th 1986… I had a girlfriend with a baby / my son on the way and what began as a way to help out my buds was becoming a nightmare w/ too many hangerons, junkies, skinheads and cops for me to be bothered with as pending fatherhood approached.