I was in a bar in Bay Shore NY around 1979. There were oil paintings on the wall, for sale at around $25 per. Great winter landscapes, my girlfriend at the time bought one. We asked who the artist was.. someone local? He points to someone passed out in a booth... there's your artist.
There are amazing VD tales, I wonder how many are true. One was, a car shop owner wanted him to stripe a customer's car, even if it took him all night. He locked VD into the shop with a carton of smokes and case of beer. In the morning the shop owner comes back... sure VD was up all night striping. He had striped everything BUT the car. The phones, file cabinets, chairs, desks...