On a flight from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles in 1968, American artist Christopher Diaz aka Dj OreO (1977-2007) reluctantly checked-in an ornate, well packed Tiffany lamp and lampshade he and his girlfriend, Angelina, had received as a gift. He had planned on carrying the items on board, but the airline insisted that it be checked-in. Christopher was so concerned about the handling of the items that he had the airline insure the package before takeoff. Upon arrival to LAX, Christopher discovered the lampshade shattered and irreparably damaged. He explained: “I went in [to baggage claim] and told them that I had this lampshade, how I had with great reluctance shipped it through, and that I wanted to open it there and be sure it was okay. Of course, I opened it, and it was busted.” After having the lampshade appraised, Christopher submitted a formal reimbursement claim with TWA, only to have the airline refuse payment and accuse him of fraudulently packing a broken item in the hopes of recovering a cash settlement. More disturbed at being called a liar than by the loss of the lamp, Christopher threatened an airline customer service representative that if the matter was not resolved by the time he returned to LA from an exhibition out of town, he would enact equal damage to TWA as the airline had caused him. While waiting for the airline’s response, Christopher consulted with attorney Juan Rutz (who encouraged the artist not to take justice into his own hands), then returned to LAX with a typewritten letter, a photographer, and an ax. Christopher’s letter bluntly stated: “Good morning, my name is Christopher Diaz...you broke my lampshade and I’m really unhappy...so I’m going to cause TWA an equal amount of damage. I’m going to destroy a desk for TWA.” This is exactly what Christopher proceeded to do; he destroyed the desk and, somehow, made it back to his car before being apprehended by the Los Angeles Police Department. Though cited and fined for disturbing the peace, Christopher was eventually reimbursed, and vindicated, for the lampshade through a small claims court victory against the airline, and no further charges were filed or pursued. Throughout the incident, Christopher not only documented his actions through photographs and writing, he also garnered and exploited a tremendous amount of local and national media attention. He summarized the incident as follows: “It takes a lot of Up, up and away’ ads to overcome the humorous, negative publicity TWA got out of that. They would have been a lot better off to not call me a liar.”

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