1950's Ford Thunderbird

Unbelievably pristine. I'm only sorry the photos don't do it justice.

One of my readers, Carolina Linthead, informed me there's a great song about this car. I looked it up on YouTube and Indeed it is a great song. The YouTube of the song is below the jump.

The Old Station

Greens for the New Year

These are the white versions of ornamental Kale. A looseleaf one and a tighter-headed one.

I couldn't find them yesterday evening. Here you go, Bob and The Observer! More Martian lettuce. Although these don't look quite as wild as the other one did.

Full of Cheek

In the post below, Ann T. posted gritty pictures. She keeps running on and on about unrealized genius. But then there's dinner. An acorn, as it happens. Enjoy!

Jan T.and D'Love, Nearly Famous Around Here--

Now mind you, I understand this tagging or graffiti is vandalism, a crime. However, I am interested in it as a way that some express identity and hostility--or if not hostility, how they extend their space in the world.

I think taggs are similar to Queen Elizabeth's elaborate panniered skirts, soaring cathedrals, and election signs--extended "space-taking" through "decoration".  They can be critiqued, therefore, and analyzed. The stakes in this activity are different for different people; you can kind of tell what the stakes by the actual tags that you see. I use a kind of amateur handwriting analysis coupled with number of tags, and amount of effort expended to reclaim space and fill it in.

A guy like Che needs to have a venue. He's developed some techniques. I'd like to see a large canvas from him--what he could do on the legitimate side.

I had this one figured out except for the J. Fortunately, Janti provided a helpful key.

On painted cinderblocks, along an alley. This is a pawn shop wall. As you will see through this post, he's still trying for the perfect signature. Don't ask me why I think he's a he. Never met him.

A space with poor graffiti remediation ALWAYS gets more graffiti.

Now my next question is: if you look at Che above, there are initials associated. Is this his fans--they don't disturb his work--or is it a message of some sort from Che himself, or a tribute to a sponsor?  Then D'Love here has somebody R--k below them. Did R--k come first, then D'Love established supremacy, and then both of them were crossed out by someone else?

Here is D'Love not crossed out. This is a girl. I think so, anyway--after the jump.

She's got good control. Of the can, anyway. 

Janti has been busy. We have a non-strategic defense on the part of this business. All they did was give him a glowing white field to play with. Art criticism: he didn't extend himself much to his canvas. Still it's a public intersection. But I conclude he is more interested in claiming space than developing his talents. And I could go way out on a limb and say that's a problem with his personal security. Threat interferes with training.

If you look closely, Mars painted here before in black. The owner painted it out with a slightly different white. Now when Mars paints himself in again, his name has texture. Art criticism: Mars hasn't exploited the surface enough, or the possibilities of the can of paint. Also I've seen his tags nowhere else. This is the only place. If it's so important that you come back, why not dress your tag up a little? The impulse is met once the name is in. It's not art. It's territory.

Nineteen days later. Totally different neighborhood. It would be quite a walk. Not impossible though.

His name is starting to look like Jan Tsi. Still it's the same angular J. I think it's the same dude. If not, could this be the kind of thing that starts a tagger blast? I'll never know unless I look.

Two more. Two different names. I think this surface has been treated. You'll notice all the paint disperses on the brick, which means I think that it's going to wash off.

I think this next one reads differently between urban residential and suburban/rural residential. If this was on a house, it would seem like a personal insult to an inhabitant, or an invasion of privacy. (Or at least where I grew up.) But since it's in a highly gay neighborhood, very high rise, it seems more like an affirmation or call to arms, or just, territorial. More that "I'm here to stay" than "I want you to leave." It's political.

Kweer!

Here is (Amen?) MOA with Cuzo on top. This does look hostile to me. Can't explain it, exactly, it just does.
But I remain fascinated. I will look for these names elsewhere. See if I can confirm this impression.

The MOA is also one of the initials in the Che picture. I think it stands for something, but not Member of the Academy. Now racking my brain. If anyone knows, Please Write In.

And may it interest you, even if it doesn't thrill you--

Have a great day, everybody!

Related articles

• Southern Utah task force works to stop graffiti ()
• Graffiti art brightens war-torn Afghan capital (reuters.com)
• Graffiti removal an ongoing headache along Livingston (dispatch.com)

Leaves, November 21, 2010

Just getting organized. And I thought they turned out.

One more after the jump, of a tree this time.

Merry Christmas

These photos are red and green and not traditional like holly or ivy. Still, they are my Christmas card to you.

Have a Great Day, Everyone! 

from Ann T. Hathaway. 

Looking Up

Christmas decorations and a crane. The crane was sandwiched between two heritage buildings.

The quality of light in the winter time seems so different to me. Slightly yellow, and flattering to many things.
Both taken December 4.

Plenty Work Ahead.

Street Art: Happy Birds!

Something for you kids at heart, for those missing warm days and sunny walks, for those nursing colds and blahs and driving through snow:

This fence hides some construction--this time of a play area for kids in a skyscraper. And talk about advance billing. Somebody knew how to spread their wings over art, graffiti, and kids all at once. Love it. Something happy and sloppy and detailed at the same time.

I keep wondering if this bird has a halo.

Two more detail shots after the jump.

Love it. Have a great day, everybody!

Blue Streak

The Bus Bench

Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.

--John le Carre, "The Chancellor Who Agreed To Play Spy", 

The New York Times, May 8, 1974

Photo September 1.

I would write more, but everything is so serious right now. I have to finish this road. I think two weeks. That doesn't mean I won't blog for two weeks, but maybe not about the real stuff. I mean, the condo board.

I am catching up on your blogs and trying to comment here and there. You'll see me.

Ann T.

Grey and Gold

taken November 2.

Some Very Sweet Potato

Sweet potato vines, early in the morning, late in August:

Have a Great Weekend, Everybody!

The City Writes

and in so many cases, it's vandalism. The institution versus the vernacular. But I must say, it interests me.

Two wars: Chikin versus the 8, and the taggers versus. the businesses that try to keep graffiti-free.

Close to this, Lil Ray 77, Ed, and Ally left their mark. The other two were more interesting, but Ed is the one that reads, so Ed you get. I have a bunch of these, from different places. Some proclaim love. Some look almost like the credits on the side of an old bank building. Yet we walk on them. I think besides the fun on breaching the pristine, there is a desire for being known, remembered. I also think the ancient impetus to art--as in horor vacui, the fear of the open as an impulse to decoration--is a part of this universal expression/annoyance.

Here is a sign where the vernacular and the official meet beautifully.

A Vietnamese family runs this Mini-Mart. The son is clearly headed to greater things, but has helped out all summer. This is a gorgeous sign, and I imagine he made it. However, it's silly, because if people can't park, then they can't come in and buy Gummi grapes, Scotch shortbread, or Vietnamese iced coffee, am I right?

Not a gorgeous shot. However, the top sign tells us that volunteerism still exists: it's a backpack drive for returning schoolchildren.  The second sign: stolen bike. I once saw a bicycle courier rip off a bicycle tire in 30 seconds with one tool. Unbelievable. I flagged down a police officer and gave a description, but no, the guy was long gone. It was a fun conversation though.
The third one: Math tutoring for money. Somebody please hire me. They've even taken the risk of putting their phone number out there.

Right next to that, someone possibly desperate has written on the side of a traffic-sign utility box. This box frequently serves as a communications center, as you can see. But this is in pencil--a schoolchild, maybe?--and starts out, "To All my Friends" and then becomes illegible. Sad. It's so small in the picture (along the top rim) you'd need Federal help in parsing it out.

Then there's BYPO. He writes perfectly legibly. I think with a Sharpie. I've seen a few others of these.
This is already covered up--didn't even take a week. For him, I think it is performance. Does he keep a notebook with his poems in them? Or are they just ephemera, like all the rest of this?

It's the life we know: some people are better at communicating than others. They have different things to communicate. Their messages are deemed worthwhile or not. Either way, it's hard to keep them in the forefront. Other stuff happens--new distractions, a coat of fresh whitewash. Yet we continually assert our identity, whether it is permitted or not. And I think, when it comes down to it, that's true in lawful communications as well as unlawful ones.

Roses, the End of Summer

I suppose you could see this as sad. But what I see, is that when the roses are gone, they leave behind a star shape. So I think this is a pretty thing.

Wake Up You Drunkards

One of the best things about this pic? A UPS driver saw that I was trying to take this shot, and waited further back in the lane until I could get it. What a nice guy.

In case you're wondering, I love this man's sense of collage, his sense of commitment, his willingness to put his beliefs out front for us all, and I disagree with his stand on several of the above.

For those who are truly waking up after tying one on: I recommend menudo, a spicy soup made with brains. Because you lost yours, and this will give you some back. Of course they will be cow brains, LOL.

Green Row House

A little shabby. About three blocks east of where streets are revitalizing. Their time will come. 

In the meantime, the green paint has faded and cracked and softened. I know improvement is good, but when these houses are rehabbed, who will be able to afford them? 

Yet there is absolutely nothing I would do to prevent someone from trying to get their money back. Rehabbing is expensive. It frequently doesn't pay to make a house of smaller expectations. I think that is why condominium ownership is a good way for inner cities to keep a middle class. 

In the case of this rowhouse, though, we are talking four families, maximum, to split the costs--three floors plus the English basement. There is a problem of scale with that. It would be better to own the whole row and defray the costs by that many families. And that takes a larger investor. Again, where does the middle class go?

Truly, I love them just as they are.

Passing By

Mysterious Flowers, Again

Okay, these shots will never win me the Pulitzer. But I have never before seen this flower or its like. Nobody seems to know what they are. So these shots are without perspective, just trying to get as much information as possible. The stem branches out in umbrella-spokes, and this branch is covered by tiny leaves, almost like scales, and then topped by the flower corolla.

Those five-part leaves you see below this fairy-head are the leaves below the branch-out. Totally weird! And gorgeous.

More significant post below--food for thought as well as wonders for the eye.  Have a great weekend!