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' level...

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

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...

The 30 second Exhibition

So - Green shirt dude is a graphic design student and this was supposed to be an exhibition of some sort. He and his crew were sticking up huge sheets of paper - ie: NOT actually intending to paint on the walls - when the Blues turned up and shut it down. Green dude got some plastic cuffs put on and was charged with drinking a bottle of beer in public.

Moral of the story seems to be that the law doesn't like surprises - the dudes should have got permission, signed in triplicate, distributed to everyone in the neighbourhood, notices in the paper, had at least one sponsor and invited the Mayoress.


Thanks to BEWARE for the images and, green dude, if you read this and I've got anything wrong or you have anything to add, leave a comment.

________________________________

OK - may as well get everything else off my not so substantial chest while I'm here...

Two things about this article in the paper got me going a few weeks ago.
First - that they're assuming it was a/the tagger that beat the guy.
Second - that they've been encouraging people for a while now to ring 111 to report graffiti.
Using our national emergency line to report graffiti?!
What's that about?

No-one that I know of has tried to communicate with the graf community to find out what they want. If they have any suggestions on what would make them stop tagging. What rules they could make for themselves that they might agree on.
Yeah - I know - I'm sickeningly idealistic and we'd probably have more luck finding out Banksy's real name or who The Splasher is but is the whole crack down, arrests, pink vests strategy working?

Now there's an Inner City Business and Residents group being set up in the hood by ex-mayor, Mark Blumsky, and one of the bullet points on their agenda is graffiti. Naturally I had to join it, and I look forward to the next meeting - will keep you posted. Item #1: Distinction between tagging and graffiti ;-)

I don't see myself as an authority on what writers want or even get out of what they do but the very nature of the graffiti game is that the writers and artists stay low therefore don't know, or have any control over, the decisions being made that affect them.
I have absolutely no influence within the graf community and they couldn't give a fat cap about me or these sites but, regardless, I believe in them and their art form and, in the absence of anyone else, I can't not be a stoolie...

Matey Potatees...

I just wanted to do a quick shout out for all the support you guys (and girl) are giving Lefties. Most of the time it feels like I'm posting to a black hole of nothing and no-oneness so every comment, liking or hating, tells me you're there.
About 25 of you are regulars who check in everyday and there's another 20 to 30 Leftie Virgins daily with the weekends being double those numbers (and rising weekly).

I'm happy with that ;-)

And as long as you keep coming back, I'll keep scrounging around the alley to put something on the table each night. I think you know by now that I can only serve you what goes up, burners or bogies, and cred to you because when you find the offerings unpalatable, you're grown up enough not to take it out on me personally.

As you know, sometimes I don't do things very beautifully, I often get things wrong and I can get a bit emo but I'd rather dish it how I see it, albeit naively and idealistically, and cop your bleats than get dead air, so don't hold back.

Thanks again - means tuns
E

That's all.
As you were...

Tagging Rant...

Sometimes when I do a scope of the bank, there's dudes hanging out and yarning. Last month it was a photographer taking images of a crowd of off-their-face Goth/Emo's in The Freaks clothing - maybe for advertising? Who knows.
Sin was there painting so him and I just kept talking about graf land and the Freaks posed and danced all around us. We would have moved if they asked. Maybe they were just making the most of the two bonus Freaks?

Yesterday two English dudes were down by the Drypppls.

As I made my way past them I overheard them talking about graffiti but I couldn't pick up the context. I cruised up taking images of stuff that had come out too dark a few nights before. On my way back down past them, one of the guys had a pair of blue plastic gloves on. I couldn't see any kit but I went and had brunch at Offbeat (try eating Bacon and Eggs with plastic utensils - not pretty!) then went back but no dudes and no new stuff. Boo.
With a bigger anticlimax than last christmas, I realised the guy with gloves had merely buffed over the mailbox below...

We've started seeing Gomans go up in all the wrong ways. He's a grom with a marker pen, hanging with all his grom mates, who obviously wouldn't know Ikon from the Eiffel Tower and will tag anything with no respect. Some would say that's tagging all up but even the viral taggers will wait a few days or steer away from decent burners till someone makes the first move.

Apols for the Tagging Police lecture but after all these years of following the haps of graf around town and seeing how different it is in Oz where pieces are sacred, I've worked out that tagging is what gives graf the bad rep. Not only that - cops schmops - tagging is the one thing that will disillusion the hardcore writers and put them off getting up.

And, as always, I'm up for the beef if I've got it all wrong...

Left Skank

Fresh to you - up Wednesday night...
The guys on this role call are pretty tight. They get up in at least one of their various forms at least once a week.

Someone commented a few days ago that the Leftbank was looking bad (Left Skank?) - well, it's only looking as bad as the writers will allow it. And it's not like there's a shortage of writers.
Even though some writers got busted tagging down Lefties in the weekend, it's still an unofficial free-for-all. Technically speaking, The French Art Shop next door leases the bit of the building the walls belong to, to the left, so go in, introduce yourfineself, get their OK and you're pretty well spik with the law if they give you grief. I've heard they like colour (The French Art Shop, not the Law ;-) and I'm guessing a bit of talent (and respect) goes a long way too...

All I can say is Lefties Needs You