Bronx Native Dah, moved to DC in the mid 80’s, then made his way back to NYC in the OT’s. He sat down with me a while back to share some hands for the upcoming book project.

Welcome back!

I’ve posted about Sly Artistic City before. Philly film maker Bob Moran has not put the entire documentary on his youtube channel. If you haven’t seen it, it is a fantastic documentary about the history of graf in the ‘city of brotherly love.’ with tons of interviews of first and second generation writers.

You can support by buying a copy of the dvd here: http://slyartisticmasters.com/

A couple weeks ago, Chicago writer, CYFN came through the studio with KOSBE and   Oscar, when he was in town for the Snowblind show at Klughaus. Dope dude, shared some hands with us, and shot the shit. Thanks, good to meet you.

My man, Frank2Far just posted this up on Facebook. Produced by Henry Chalfant and Rita Fecher, they posted this on youtube in in early December. It is a doumentary of the Street gangs of New Yorks bad old days and the guys who survived and changed from those days.

From youtube:
Portrait of the lives of street gang presidents in the Bronx over a 20-year period. A remarkable perspective on life in the ghetto. - FLYIN’ CUT SLEEVES, completed in 1993, portrays street gang presidents in the Bronx. The project grew out of the experiences of Rita Fecher, the film’s co-producer, who taught in a South Bronx school in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, became intimately involved with the gangs, their leaders, and the leaders’ families and began to document their lives. Their world was the streets, set against a backdrop of uprooted families, cultural alienation, drugs and violence. Neighborhood teenagers responded by organizing into street groups known to the members as “families”, but labeled in the most alarming terms as violent gangs by the press. In fact, the “families” had a stabilizing effect, enabling the youths to cope with their troubled environment. The political climate at the time, movements of national liberation and such organizations as the Black Panthers and Young Lords Party influenced the young gang leaders to aspire to be more than warriors and to become, to some degree, a positive force in their communities. When Rita Fecher returned after twenty years to see what had become of her old friends, she found that they had stayed in the community of their youth, that they were deeply committed to improving conditions there and that they were engaged in helping their own children survive in the hazardous street environment. The documentation of these lives over a twenty-year period offers a remarkable perspective on life in the ghetto (spanning four generations), and the means that people devise to cope from the time that they are children to when they serve as parents and role models for a new generation.

NY Times just acknowledges São Paolo’s Pixaçao scene.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/world/americas/at-war-with-sao-paulos-establishment-black-paint-in-hand.html

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/01/28/multimedia/100000001317597/scaling-skyscrapers-to-leave-their-mark.html

I got a gem of a surprise in my inbox yesterday from Steven at   Self Learn LA He came across a copy of 1976’s Los Angeles Barrio Calligraphy, a long out of print book by Jerry & Sally Romotsky, and one of the first of it’s kind. Photos from the same era as Gusmano Cesaretti’s Street Writing (also out of print) and   Howard Gribble’s collection. Peep my blog archive for his stuff.

Steven wanted to share the wealth so he had the whole book photographed and posted it as a pdf for all of you literate derelicts to enjoy. http://www.mediafire.com/?y5wavd5xjxgv2mh

The guys at Klughaus lined up Jesse Edwards for their next show. Opens Friday, January 13 2012 6-10pm
http://www.klughaus.net/shows.html

Jesse Edwards - “Dialogue of the Streets” at Klughaus Gallery from Klughaus Gallery on Vimeo.

Seriously????? Cops went undercover inside the prison to get this kid to confess to the crime behind the meaning of his tattoos….. I’d like to see some graffiti exploits tatted in a crime scene chest piece. Upload those flicks. I know one of you out there has been there first. Tattoo trend for 2012.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/04/crime-scene-tattoo-leads-murder-conviction/36939/

“The tattoo shows a peanut getting gunned down by a helicopter outside a liquor store under the banner “Rivera Kills.” The detective recognized the distinctive lights on the image of the store and, the Times explains, “In gang slang, the word ‘peanut’ is used to derisively describe a rival gang member.” Garcia, whose nickname is Chopper, belongs to the gang Rivera-13. Another image shows a man (presumably Garcia) holding a Mr. Peanut-looking character in a headlock. Cops went undercover to Garcia’s jail cell after they arrested him, and shortly had a confession for the killing, which led to a conviction on first-degree murder.”

SP.One and I sat down back in December 2010. Sure had passed recently and SP rocked a coupe hands for him. Sure. RIP. On this day we remember you’re life, service and talent.

Thanks to all you vets out there.