Visionary Surrealism by Myztico

Art, Films, Music, Photography & Poetry by Myztico

WC3 Memorial

This section of the gallery is dedicated in loving memory to my younger brother , William Campo  who passed on over to the Spiritworld at 10 am, February 12th. 2008, after a valiant struggle against liver disease. William and I played in several bands together over the years,  most notably X-IT-5 some of the songs that we recorded are presented here for the 1st time online. The live performances were a lot more intense than what was captured on tape, so what you are listening to here is some of that energy captured in a time capsule, so crank up the speakers and enjoy!!! . It was a great time for us all and I recall lots of laughter, crazed hijinks and some very profound out of body sonic experiences. In total I estimate we performed a little over 200 gigs, (most of our favorites were at CBGB's in NYC) . It is my intention to add video footage of some of these performances shortly so check back over the next few weeks.

The last time I saw my brother up and about was at our family traditional cuban style christmas eve dinner at my sisters and although he wasn't his usual boisterous self he seemed ok. Little did anyone of us know that this would be the last family meal we would all share together. When word got to me that he was admitted once again to the hospital in critical condition I had no choice but to fly back to the states to be with my family. I spent the last 5 weeks of my brother's life by his bedside at NYU Hospital (as well as my family and friends keeping bedside vigil in shifts) sometimes up to 10 hours a day, needless to say this was emotionally draining. To see my brother who was so robust and animated, bed stricken and withering away losing his muscle tone and unable to feed himself  nor be able to sit up on his own was extremely heart breaking. 

He was under a lot of heavy medication, and at times he would see the spirits of our dead relatives, he would smile and he'd tell us that "they are here and they want to say that everything will be ok", he would call out their names. There were moments when he was lucid and he would ask how others were doing unconcerned about himself. William had a big loving heart yet he had a deep sadness in his soul over the last several years that caused him to become self destructive, this was difficult to deal with at times by my family, his loved ones and I, it seemed like he was Jekyll and Hyde, a loose cannon unfortunately, a WildChild that ultimately caused our band to break up...yet the possibilities were there...

I was by his bedside during his last night alive and I held his hand as we discussed the "afterlife", he gripped my hand hard and we looked each other in the eyes, and he was frightened yet in a peaceful state of mind knowing that his time on earth was coming to an end. He said to me as he looked into my eyes gripping my hand strongly as I caressed the hair on his head, "I am tired, and I can't continue to hold on here any longer...(he was breathing heavily) I am not afraid to die, please forgive me, just know that I Love You, and no matter what happens I will be around for my family"....I told him, "William, if you feel that it is time to enter the Spiritworld and leave this earth plane, please don't let us hold you back in that suffering body, we all love you and want you to be at peace"....I borrowed a line from the Hendrix song "Voodoo Chile" and told him, "I'll see you in the next world and don't be late".... he smiled at me...I had to leave the hospital as I was drained after being there7 hours that day...no sooner that I get back home after walking from 1st ave and 30th street to midtown manhattan on that chilly eve, Phil Allen (William's good friend) calls me in a panic that I MUST come back to the hospital that William is breathing heavily and that a priest had been summoned to give him his last rites. My family and I held out hope that he would pull through as he had done so many times in the past, as we gathered in a circle holding hands and praying for his peaceful transition,my instincts told me that this was his last night, a few hours later on the morning of the 12th his spirit had left his suffering body...

 He had the "Live fast and Die young, leave a good looking corpse" kinda' attitude. Although he had his faults (as we all do) he was a good soul deep down and loved many as well as helped out strangers throughout his life just out of sheer generosity. He is survived by his young son William Matthew & his ex Madeline Alomar, our parents, my sister Martha and his niece Helena &  myself.

I have launched this page into cyberspace on his birthday, April 16th in his honor so his memory can be shared by our family and his friends who will miss him dearly as he left the earth plane way too young. So for those who knew William and would like to leave any comments or stories about him and want to share it with others, please feel free to email me from my contact page so I can add it to this page.  

I am currently co-directing a documentary about my brother's life titled, "Mi Hermano, Mi Familia y Yo"  with my co-director Pedro Carvajal who directed the award winning documentary, "Popaganda: The art and crimes of Ron English"...Updates to it's progress will be posted.

William you're Forever in our Hearts and I can sense you here and smiling on about all of this, this is for you my dear brother...some day we'll be together in the meantime I'll keep rocking on in your memory with R'EYA and the MOONSHINE CROWS...

From L-R (Roger Martin, Rick "musicman" Rivera, Rok, Myztico & William Campo at the NYC premiere of "The StarSeed Incident"

Tico, Martha & William