Photo by Flint.

Did you know my friend SHADOW? He was a great one.

I met him in 1976 or ‘77, and I was sooooo impressed. He had the sweetest tag. I just LOVED his SHADOW tags…

How funny that years later I got props for my own ZEPHYR tag. Well, guess what? I owe it all to SHADOW. He helped show me the way…

Six letters? Kinda long. With a name with that many letters, you could get caught street tagging. Well, no worries. If SHADOW could do it….

FAT PETER wrote SI 3. FAT PETER had a greasy ponytail past his waist, wore a bowler hat, chain-smoked Marlboros, and rode a four-foot long homemade skateboard. SHADOW was his homie. They made for an interesting pair. Back then they were inseparable. FAT PETE was my man. He introduced me to SHADOW.

We all hung out in the playground behind the 72^nd Street Bandshell in Central Park. Everyone played hooky in those days. Or had already dropped out of school. We were the heads and the hippies and the burnouts. And in many cases, the graffiti writers.

How much we loved Cheech Wizard, Zap Comix, Skateboarder Magazine, and the bands Hot Tuna, Zeppelin, and later, The Dickies. SHADOW was already trying to dismiss GRAFFITI as being “over”. But with some joints and annoying teenage cajoling, I could always get SHADOW to do some tagging with me and PETE. Sweet. With a new Midi, it was always ON! O, SHADOW! The heart O, the little flame on the top of the A. That script D thing. You were the man.

Hanging at The Bandshell, or crammed into FAT PETE’s bedroom, reading comics and Bode books, SHADOW was always a contrast of sweet and irascible. Like me, he was strongly opinionated, and always defended his opinions with no shortage of conviction (read: bombast). He broke every bad stereotype about graffiti writers. He was a goddamn encyclopedia. Just brilliant.

Did you know my friend SHADOW? Terror 161 called me New Year’s Eve. SHADOW is gone.

Did you know him? He was the great one…

—Zephyr

 

Condolences and peace to the family of our Brother DEE3

Blog:

A personal website or web page on which an individual records opinions.

A truncation of the expression web log; is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries (“posts”)

A continual tour, with a human guide who you get to know. There are many guides to choose from, each develops an audience.

Oddly enough, I do not consider myself a person who prefers writing over talking as a means of expression; however, this is a subject I love and feel honored to be able to discuss, even if it is written.

I consider myself a former Graffiti Writer turned Graffiti Artist who after an almost 30 years hiatus, has returned in time to see only the results of a three decade cultural evolution.  I am both proud and awed to see Graffiti Writers being not only accepted as legitimate artists, but also their works as those of Masters.

Two of thee most influential books on the subject of Graffiti; “Graffiti Kings” (Stewart) and Subway Art (Chalfant- Cooper), are almost 180 out from each other in approach….(“Kings”) a historical composition and odyssey of those who were there in the early days; Subway Art a pictorial catalog of the “then current” Who’s Who in the world of Graff. They were Influential because they both became informal but official legitimacy rosters; they delineated and defined eras as well. Having your name appear in Graffiti Kings gave you instant membership in the prestigious Old Schooler’s club; it meant you “wrote” during “The Golden Age”, a “70’s writer”. On the other hand, shots of you or some of your work in Subway Art for the most part meant you were an 80’s writer; a New Schooler whose era’s metallurgical value had not yet been assigned. There are a handful of corroborated accounts of New York cats writing in the late 60’s, but very rarely, if at all, will you hear anyone referred to as a 60’s writer.

These lines of demarcation caused many to dig in and take a stand as to which side of that chronological fence they rested on. Old School, pioneer, originator, forefather; all highly coveted titles. Some even pushed back the years they wrote when asked or interviewed, only to be checked by historical vanguards like Checker170 who was there from almost the beginning. Some preferred the rock star status of being an 80’s writer, also referred to by some as Hollywood Writers due to their association with “Style Wars” the documentary (Chalfant- Silver). Others like Blade (early 70’s to mid 80’s) had exceptionally long and productive subway careers, enjoying the best of both worlds. 60’s 70’s 80’s 90’s …they all had one thing in common…the transition from yard to gallery, from train to canvas!

Where is (illegal) graffiti headed? Can (illegal) graffiti and graffiti art co-exist? Can anyone just pick up a can of spray paint and call themselves a graffiti writer or graffiti artist? Do collectors know the difference between the two…do they care? What makes a graffiti writer a successful graffiti artist? Does being published in a particular book or film automatically equate to gallery success? Do collectors collect for the aesthetic or the investment value…or both?

I don’t have all the answers, but I have a lot of the questions…

Thank you Alan of DP for the opportunity and forum to talk with others who share the same interest about something I love….Graffiti.

If you look at my resume you’ll see that Yaki showed my work once a year for at least a decade. For each show I flew to Europe and met collector’s and the newer generation of European writers – something I never thought I’d see. Now it’s thirty years later and I’m left wondering: What if Yaki didn’t show our works? Would I have a career? Would there be a graffiti movement in Europe? It all seems so simple today, but there was a time when it was difficult. In 1982 Yaki stood up and took a huge gamble on all of us, and for that he should be saluted.

Thanks Yaki.

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my first ever Column.  (Ladies do not “Blog”.)  I’m thrilled to be in such illustrious company, BLADE, Daze, Freedom, Zephyr and our Pilot Alan!  I’ll hang out in the Yard with this crew anytime.

 HERE’S THE 411 

I got the Idea for the “411” from my favorite Facebook group “Official Ageing B-Boys Unite”, Old School UK Homies who ask me questions, and now you can too!  About Wild Style, FUN Gallery and its’ artists, my movies, the Punk Rock Scene, the 60’s, send them in.  Here’s one to get you started from the group.

 ABU:  Patti, I have seen Wild Style over 100 times and am curious about the end of the “Third Rail” scene when, as you follow Fab off camera you say, “Ouch!”.  What did you step on?

Patti:  Ha, ha I had to go back and watch the scene, forgot about that.  Wild Style was shot very much guerilla indie  style, many scenes were improvised on the spot with a budget for one take only so I had no idea Fred was going to come up with that line.  We were pretty good friends by that time, so when he delivered his famous line, “Watch out for that Third Rail, baby”, I was playing with him and did the “Ouch!”.  You can’t see it on the film but that was the one night we were authorized to be in the Yards, it was raining and freezing and of course the MTA wouldn’t let us change our night.  By the time I got to the scene with Zephyr (Zero) we were ready to kill each other, so it worked out great!

PATTI WANTS TO KNOW

Now I get to ask you.  How many times have you seen Wild Style?  What was your first time and what did it mean to you?  Write in and I will pick the best answers.

THE BOOMBOX ROOM

In the past two years I have been on Facebook I have been introduced to many great ‘Radio’ shows, Mixtapes and Independent Vinyl Releases and I will be featuring them here.  Still on the Ageing B-Boys Unite tip, this is a show I did with Repo 136 on Disco Scratch Radio, created by Waxer Disco Scratch.  Repo does a cool interview and we worked on the Set List together, it was so exciting!

WHAT’S NEW WITH PATTII just shot an interview for the “Sizzle Reel” for a fascinating new Documentary,

Boomboxラジカセ Creators, a search for the original designers and a look at the history of our favorite form of portable music.  Also in the can are visits to Arabian Prince from NWA, inventor of the “tape-to-tape” mix, Collector Hugo Patron (over a 100!) and the Lasonics Factory still operating here in Cali.  Here I am with my Co-Star.

FUN GALLERY…THE TRUE STORY

I have self-published my memoir of my adventures, more info here www.thefungallery.com

OK, let’s get those comments coming in!!

See you on the flip side,

XX  Patti “A”