VIEW or QUEW?

You will have noticed the tags say View on the first one and what looks like Quew on the second so, for once, it's not me being vagueoh.

So - turns out ER is not biting ERASE or CERS or anyone else. He's some dude from the burbs but I'm sure you'll forgive him for that when you hear he's got 5 tubs of legit paint he's said we can use for the buff mish! He's even got all the tools too. How's that for Choice, Choicer and Choicest?!

So - we've got the wall, and permission and the buff paint. Now all we need is a donation of cans and caps from any one of the suppliers who you've all given your hard earned dosh to over the years (who of course would then hope to get even more of that dosh) and whom we would call our Generous and Righteous Supplier of Choice on December 13 and thereafter. ;-)

Either taking the piss or a bite...

So who's this? Cos as sure as I was that ERECT had turned into ERASE, I'm just as sure ERASE is not ER...

More Chrome Than A Hot Rod Convention

Left Overs

NERD

Killa ID

OVER

RESIN

BMD

VIEW

BABA

REMIS

ID

VIK

Stuck

BEWARE tells me he and EEKS have done a mammoth colab pastey. Gagging to see that one!
One of SIN's recognisable slaps. And a Splat by Hatch. I was amping when I found a Splat throwie the other day, which will go up on The Street.





And She Who Will Remain Nameless...

Not A Moment Too Soon...

In my lurkings around the alleys, I've noticed a bit of humour coming into the tags. Especially up Allenby Tce where someone's made comments about BMD, and someone (I'm assuming BMD) has gone back over them with something spazzy like the ID one above. My favourite of this lot is the one with Toy and an arrow, then Toy and arrow pointing to the first Toy.
And a few of us have a stoopid game of theorising what Crew names might stand for.
Who said Tagging couldn't be a source of endless fun and joy?!
pfft!

Now - the Buff Mish...
I talked to a few groovers in the hood about some of the details and it turns out Boombox is having their grand opening bash on December 13 so Elie and I both went Hey Hey!
So the Buff will start at 10 in the morning of the 13th, something to eat around lunch (care of Boomies) then the righteous, well-earned writing sesh. The day will be capped off by a stroll across the street to some fine Boombox Hospitality.
How does that sound?
Plan Stan?

Let me know what you think of this...I decided not to approach the other wall owners so that the GP (general public) get to see the difference between the two. Is it too much to hope that they might like what we've done and be more willing to support us doing the same elsewhere?

I don't do crystal balls so we'll just have to wait and see...

Treaties...

These were a few of the treats over the past few days. IKON's piece is so huge, and in an awkward place, so apologies for the crap rep.

SIN had just finished the skulls when a group of Mr Plodske's arrived. They took down his name and put him on the wanted list but didn't take him for a ride. They said an odd thing though.
SIN said he would be happy to paint on legal walls if there were more and Mr P said that the side he was on wasn't legal (Frenchies side), but that the other side was and that all he had to do was go down with them to the Cuba Street station and get the owners details so he could contact him to get a letter from him.
As you know, I talked to the owner the other day about the Buff Mish, and although he said he didn't mind writing but didn't like tagging (especially high up) or willful damage to the windows etc, he didn't actually say it was ok to be a free for all. Also - I know he's an extremely busy man and wonder what he would say if he knew Mr P was giving out his details for writers to contact him?

More details tomorrow on the Buff Mish btw...

All Over the Place...

I'm hoping you'll get huge bloaty gloaty satisfaction if you're able to correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm suspecting these three might be piss takes on the Crew theme? I might have seen DCG before but what are the others? Don't make us use our imaginations!...



OK - a quarter pounder of CONFESSION being served up here...NERD and I were hanging out the other day and he mentioned AK. I said I'd been wondering what AK and AKFS meant. If I wasn't marveling Out Loud and At Length at my both of my braincells clearly being absent, I could have quietly crawled under something smelly and dark when he told me it was AKFortySeven, ;-)



Dunno

ID who I've heard is gathering a more impressive collection of Haters than caps or colours and...

CAST - who gets 37 points from me if he did what I think he did and helped Erase with his latest piece ;-)

Which way to the sandpit?...

I have no idea what this says but...

...same colours as SEND so guessing there was either a colab or they went halvies on the cans ;-)




Yeah - I know - I could single handedly supply all of Wellingtons creche's with the toys I put up here so why do I do it?
a) because I put up what goes up
b) cos I had a collection of SENDs
c) cos all the toys have to start somewhere

Erase might hate me for this...
Five months ago:


Yesterday:
Say no more...

I say Go Psycho SEND!

Drive Thru...

Beware texted me a few days ago to say there was an Asian woman trying to open the gate at the top of the alley to drive her car in. She must be determined cos here she is again a few days later. We joked that it was probably Would You Mind Not Painting My Window?'s Mum ;-) I said to BW that she better not leave it for too long or it would be tagged to shit and called an Installation before morning tea time...

Update: SIN texted me over the weekend to say there were two Harley's parked in the alley, effectively blocking it, with ACDC playing from some orifice.
Can anyone else sense passing lanes?

Speaking of installations - here are a few other images I forgot I had.

Some News and No News...

So here's some encouraging news...
You know how I asked if anyone was into doing the big buff mish down the alley? Well I got the 5+ so started putting the feelers out.
Through someone I know knowing someone etc, I contacted one of the wall owners and to cut a long email and resulting conversation short, the Darling Man agreed to us having our way with his wall for one weekend ;-)

It's a wee step but has definite leverage value for the next few and once we're running, we'll look at dates. How does that sound?

BTW...Went to the Residents assn meeting tonight but just mumble ramble setting up the legal stuff so nothing to report there...

Sticky

ERASE just for a change ;-)

Erase and matey potatees have been tagging BDC on their role calls - I'd heard that it could possibly mean Bomb Da City but when I talked to Erase yesterday he said it was Bombers Delight Crew.

A few of us were squirming at the potential repercussions of some of Erases crosses and tags over the big boys pieces lately but turns out that it's not him doing it. Even he's surprised at how much the tags look like his style.

Dirtay!

We were all having a whinge about how messy the alleys got - dirty tricks, no respect, posca penis extensions, an overindulgence of hating, no one wanting to waste their time or paint putting pieces up, the cops making it their regular exercise circuit etc. I suggested we should all get together and do the big buff to clean slate it and they were in.

Who else would be in if I could get some sponsored buff paint and make the necessary arrangements with the locals? Maybe we could lure some Burners from either local or Aux or ChCh or wherevs?

If we could get 5+ Hell Yeahs (leave a comment or e me at leftbanklive@gmail.com), I'll start making some phonecalls ;-)

I know it's not going to sort out any of the above problems but you know what it's like when you have a bit of a clean up - does wonders for the tude...

Leftie Linguistics...

DRYPNZ's statement Don't Steal above is related to street art that gets put up, then taken down, and home, by the likes of me.
DRYP has a valid point, and if I could be bothered justifying myself, maybe some would also see my point as valid. However, the point of this point is that you know what the Don't Steal is about because if you didn't know, it could possibly seem a bit random ;-)

Shit 87% vs Love 13%

The temperature's hotter than Hells Kitchen down Lefties right now and I'm not wearing my usual protective gear.

The heat and hating goes with the territory in graf land, however, I don't 'do' hate in my personal life so, up till now, I've been able to leave it down the alley.
Lately though I've been finding smelly piles on my doorstep, that seem to grow daily, so don't mind me while I just go into that corner over there and reflect on my shit When factor...



Of course, you should know by now, I'll get over it ;-)

Rabbit SIN

Both me and BEWARE gave SIN grief for putting his skull over Surplus Bargain's bunny ;-)

Happy Hour

At the Semi-International opening the other night, I hinted to Happy that he must be gagging to move on to some new characters. Before I'd even finished the sentence he led me out the back into the studio and showed me a sketch he'd been working on that day. It was brilliant and it made me realise that he was only playing with the walls and if he had more time, and didn't have to look over his shoulder, he'd be doing some seriously lucid pieces.

He also admitted that he was wary of being accused of biting DRYP. I reminded him that DRYP says himself that he's influenced by others and that everyone is influenced by someone so not to let it hold him back - so you can imagine how chuffed I was to see these new variations on his old theme go up over the weekend...

Whatevs

Red and Black

SEND sent

Last week was pretty full on.
A writer who did some work up Lefties a while ago didn't like seeing his stuff up and threatened to stab me if he saw me. I wasn't bothered by it and didn't take it personally - it was obvious he'd been drinking (or something).
After all this time, I finally got me a Hater ;-)

A few days later, I whipped down the alley to see if there was anything new and Erase and a few of his friends I hadn't met before were hanging out (including SEND). When I started taking images they twigged that I was 'that Leftbank lady' and we started talking.
They might have been young and not even able to be classed as toys but hearing their feedback on what they thought of the site put stabby boy into context. One of them said it was his homepage, they said they checked it every single day and were even quoting from many of the posts. And I had to chuckle when they marveled at my Nokia like it was Darth Vadar's original light sabre ;-)
I got dished up some love at the Semi-International too.

All this to say that despite the haters (and I know there's more than one), I love my job...

That's what I'm talking about...

As hoped, the boys had their way with the alley this week...

DAK

EDITOR

CAST

...and DRYP.

I went to the Semi International opening at Manky Chops on Friday night. Previously, in the excitement of having the graf world come indoors for a change, I'd gone from 0 to 8 (drinks) in 10 seconds and wasted precious conversation ops so this week I made an executive decision not to drink so I could stay semi-coherent.
Wise move because I got some quality time with Star Mugs and Hatch and some briefies with Surplus Bargains and Cast.

Mugs is from Aux and was saying that the graf scene here is really different. Up there it's so spread out that the stuff just gets swallowed up without being noticed. He was surprised how 'followed' it was down here and how everyone knew everyone else (my words).
I guess we don't know any different, and like any whanau, there's the occasional in-fighting but there's also a lot of mutual respect so, overall, I think we've got a good thing going on...

Argey and Bargey

SEMI INTERNATIONAL AT MANKY CHOPS...

At Manky Chops, the decks are coming down and the Semi International (feat Wanyone (Italy) and Beastman (Australia) to name a few, and masterminded and curated by DRYPNZ with a little help from friends), is going up.
Opening ceremony tonight...

Characters in the Hood...

What's not to love about this neighbourhood?!

The Freak's clothes hanging out while Mr Freak takes images of his model...

Some random yet essential information for You and Baby ;-)

Outside Mighty Mighty - I'm sure we were there that night but don't remember any screamer, or her dress...

One of the Dryppls looking up to The BMD...

and ANON petitioning outside Manky's front door ;-)

Speaking of the characters around the hood - I went to the Inner City Residents meeting the other night. After masses of discussion about building heights and carparks and sun access and numerous other things, the chair of the meeting suggested making a list, getting the top 3 and working on them, then getting the next 3 and working on them etc.
Turns out building heights and carparks etc weren't as much of a priority as
1: Rubbish
2: Anti-social behaviour and...
3: Graffiti

I decided to keep my card up my sleeve and not say a word but plenty of others did so I made a note-to-self of said others, then put my name down on the list to be kept informed.

So...
I'll keep you informed ;-)

COVET | PORK

When me, Sin, Beware and Covet were chewing it the other day in the sun, I had no idea it was Pork who was with Covet. I've never been introduced but, still, how did I not click he was back in town lol! I hope he makes time to get a decent throwie or ten up somewhere - we haven't had any for a while...

SIN | ERASE| HAPPY | ID

Haven't seen the Master of Sinister up for a while. I saw his black book sketch of this one and was amazed how close it was. Would be cool if he could get some of his other pieces up from the BB...

and this one was a 30 second throw away...partly cos the Rain was Sucking ;-)




Erase, Happy and ID are relentless!

Everyone Loves Happy...

Happy's obviously been making friends and infuriating people lately.

The pattern we've seen down the alley is that when the weather is shite - as it has been on and off for the past few weeks, and the alley gets messy - as it has been for the past month, people get itchy and scratchy.
But we also know that means it's probably about to have an overhaul because the block buster boys can't usually bear to see it that way for too long and have to do something about it.

Anytime soon is not soon enough for our jaded and suffering retinas ;-)