Statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan
Austin, Texas
Blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan died at 35 when his post-concert rock star helicopter crashed into a ski slope. He was a rock 'n' roller, but his statue looks a lot like the David Carradine character from the TV series Kung Fu. That's because the sculptor, Ralph Helmick, deliberately wanted to avoid a statue like the one in Lubbock of Buddy Holly -- an earlier Texas rock demigod -- who is portrayed actually performing. Instead, Vaughan is shown standing upright, "meditatively," wearing a broad-brimmed hat, a serape, and cowboy boots. Helmick claimed that he drew inspiration from Michelangelo's famous nude statue of David.
The big hat on Stevie Ray's statue blocked his face from the sun, so that statue was moved from its intended location to a jogging trail next to the river, so it could face south. Some joggers complained, but they weren't nearly as cool as Stevie Ray Vaughan, so the statue stayed.