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Artist of the Month - June 2007

LX Skye
By Omega LaBeau

LX Skye

You may know LX Skye, for his gonzo articles in Bob Dudek’s legendary `Stinking Desert Gazette’ newspaper.

Writing under the guises of: Izzie Kiddin, Steamboat Willie, and Omega Besseler, his sarcastic and humorous slant on the environment and local issues, helped us make the tough transition from a mining town, to a tourist town.

“That was the time”; LX says, “when you could fill Star Hall with boisterous voices of the community. It was a time when `the people’ took charge of this towns future. Sadly, those days are long since gone. But, The Stinking Desert Gazette’ will always be remembered, as a paper, that gave the people a voice.”

You may know LX Skye, for his large format landscape photography. His images have appeared on over 100 post cards, and within various magazine articles.

“Knowledge of the desert, and knowing exactly where to be, at what time, is paramount to capturing your vision on film. Up before dawn, hike to where you want to set up shop, and wait for `magic time’. Sunrise. Patience is the mandatory virtue, regarding successful landscape photography.”

You may know LX Skye, through his song-writing and music. Born on the south-side of Chicago, (many years ago), weaned on guitar by the great bluesmen that resided there, it is a passion he has continued, for over 40 years.

He has had successful bands in Chicago, and a punk-blues band in Boulder, Colorado in the early seventies, before retiring from live performances when he relocated to Moab in 1976. He prefers doing only studio work, so he is one of our most reclusive artists.

LX still writes, records, and releases his own cds here in town. His latest electric cd is; `The Blues Aint Bad’.

“My influences are Albert King, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters, to name a few. It’s a shame young people don’t know their musical roots. The early blues pioneers, helped pave the way for rock and roll. I’ve experimented with a lot of musical styles over the years, but I always return to the blues. It is my first love. LX has also generously, helped start quite a few musical careers, with financial and influential support, for upcoming local artists.

But, most of you may know LX Skye, as the Head Wizard, at `Wizards Of The Desert Card Shop’, here in Moab.

For the past 13 years, he has been teaching and playing `the greatest card game in the world!’, Magic: The Gathering. “There are currently over 18,000 cards to pick from in Magic. Some worth more than a $1,000. It’s printed in over 20 different languages around the world, and appeals to young and old.”

“Unlike other games, you don’t need books, materials, miniatures, or God forbid, a computer! (LX hates computers). All you need in Magic, is a 60 card deck, and the strategy to choose the right cards for it.” On a national rating scale for the game, seven of the top ten Magic players in Utah reside in Moab!

LX hopes to retire soon. He has run the card shop for over a decade, without a vacation except for funerals, and he longs for the camera and the canyons, while he is still able to.

“On this earth”, LX muses, “in this lifetime, it is not ultimately how much wealth you have attained, or how much material baggage you have acquired. But, what kind of difference have you made on this planet? What have you contributed? After you’ve traveled so many paths, and made so many greedy mistakes, you finally arrive at the realization, that life is all... in the giving.”

      

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