Melena d' la Moja

Melena d' la Moja A.K.A. Mario Gardner was my friend. We were friends in school since the 6th grade. All we knew about Mario is that he was funny as hell and so very nice. Everyone liked him.

I've been thinking about my friend and I miss him.

Here is the article that was written about him:

In addition to art venues and experimental theater, Gardner appeared in such mainstream productions as Hill Street Blues, Ill-Gotten Gains and Madonna's Who's That Girl? He was a cast member of Secrets, an AIDS health-education theater project that toured L.A. County high schools.

Gardner's suicide on June 27 came as no surprise to those who knew him well. Filmmaker Lawrence Elbert, who collaborated with him on the underground feature film Days of Pentecost and a series of 37 shorts called Whitney: Mama's Little Baby -- The Series, described the nature of Gardner's performance work: "He was always suicidal and had demons inside him that came from the abuse he wrestled with. His work came from a place of real anger, he had a strong comedic sense, but there was a dark bottom to it. Our work together was specifically political even though it was slapstick. It was about homophobia, drug issues, child abuse and racism. Many of these came from his experiences growing up in Detroit. He had a completely addictive personality and mental illness. As time went by, he became more and more violent and angry.

On June 14, Gardner did his final Crazy Space performance, called The Nigger of Sesame Street. He was onstage again with his longtime co-star Kuiland-Nazario, and directed by one of his performance idols, Keith Antar Mason. About five days later he went on a cocaine and crystal-meth run.

On the day he died, Gardner called young filmmaker Steve Moreno to take him up on his suggestion to play a drug addict about to commit suicide by taking an overdose. The filmmaker brought Gardner to his house, shot the scene on two cameras and ran out of film. Gardner's line "I'll probably be in the casket, hug me as if I was at my own funeral" was realness in the harshest way. He made his way back home and continued imbibing alcohol and pills; he was found dead the next morning. Gardner is survived by his mother and seven siblings in Detroit and Oklahoma. Whitney: Mama's Little Baby -- The Series is still doing the festival circuit, recently having sold-out screenings at the Castro Theater in San Francisco.