A Hard Lesson Learnt...

In an effort to get rid of all things Google out of my life, I got rid of all my email addresses, You Tube and Picassa accounts.
Yup - Picassa equals the 5,000 plus images on the two graf websites.
I was so devastated when I realised they were all gone that it's taken me this long to even look at this site again.
But - the text is still there (and of course I still have those images backed up to Silicon Valley and back) so I've decided to leave this site live.  I just deleted The Street Said because there was neither text nor images left on it.

I have, however, had to delete all the empty spaces where 7 years of graf history used to be and I've only left posts that either have writing and/or comments on them.

2008 - 2009 What a moment in time aye?!

BLISS N ESO feat ASKEW and DEUS

ADDICTED

Because you can never have too much white...

Graf has lost some but it's also won some.
Leftbank may no longer be accessible but there are massive pieces going up everywhere else in the CBD.
All I can say is Look Up...

Once upon an alleyway...

Even though there's no new stuff going up here anymore, it seemed like a waste to deactivate it so it's been left online for historical purposes. 
You're still able to leave comments, which will continue to be moderated, and you may be surprised by the odd post but essentially, it's the big Over and Out...

FULL FACIALS

Request: Paste Recipe

I'm working on something and need some doozey paste jizz.
The shit I need to stick up must NOT come off.
It won't be outside and it's paper on (varnished) paper.
Any suggestions?
Best I've experienced is Surplus Bargains - man - you have to be prepared to take the whole wall if you want any of his goods ;-)

Oh - and rumour - could be some wall buffing action happening this weekend...

Optimism

Haha!
When I first saw OPT, I thought the OTP crew had taken on a dyslexic.
No disrespect to dyslexics of course.
Lucky I spotted the long version...

Everybody Loves Covet

Beam Me Up

Gangstahs Paradise

Watch Out Zeuss

Here's some information for free...dial up sucks worse than a mouthful of petrol from a syphon hose!

LB back on WB (wireless broadband) Sept 3...

URL Request

I have no illusions that this site is about as classy as any corner of Lefties after a Saturday night and the only reason you would come here to see what's up, and not trek down the alley itself, is to save you having to hose down your kicks ;-)

However, here and here are where you want to go for a grittier classier wider picture of what's up in Wellie and its burbs.

I know they're not the only ones though, so help me with a Role Call of other sites showing off the cities graf goods so no-one has to miss out.
Leave a comment with any URL we should know about and I'll add it to the side...

Slim Pickings

Shite happens and it goes like this...
Phone (camera) went swimming, died, resurrected itself mysteriously then recently died again.

When I got the phone, it cost $1,100 for all its shizzle and this week I got one off Trade Me for $80! I pulled them both apart and did a recon job to make one good one, so, game (back) on!

Seriously - was there life before Trade Me?

When there's no burner shit, is any new shit better than no shit at all?

PhoneX Risen From the Ashes

Back ;-)
After almost 6 months of zero camera action, the Nokia randomly resuscitated itself, so here we are, where we left off - but not quite...
Comments now moderated and minimal chit chat.

Rumour is that's just how the boys like it...

Catch Up - December...

There's been some tough times and some good times in Graf Land lately.
Writers being stabbed by writers, writers being sent to the penitentiary in droves, and more knowing their numbers up any-day-now and Le Big Man getting all puffed up about De Facement Epidemic.
But some sick wall coverage happening too and a new Manky's graf exhib and rumoured Leftie Jam coming up.

So - they can take out some of the troops but the Graf Force is still strongas ;-)

Back (ish)

Okokalready!
I'll try get some images up over the next week ;-)

Hols

I've just made an executive decision and decided to take 10 days off from Lefties (and The Street). Truth is I'm house sitting and only have dial up and it would take me till next christmas to load any images anyway.

In the meantime, I'm still in town so will still be collecting images and haps and will be back fresh-as on New Years Day.

Hope you get some holidays worth remembering and some bling worth keeping ;-)
E

Disco Inferno

Was a treat having Stray in town mixing it up with IKON, fellow crew member of RTR...

Some of the best news lately - NeoNate's back in town and he's spending some quality time with Drypnz.
Reeeeallly looking forward to more colabs from those two!!

BTW: Really getting into the Tag Talk comments - keep throwing them up...

H8 | CAST | QUEW | VIEW

Have you ever met someone who seems to be, or should be, their own Reality TV show?

I was dropping our visitor off at the train station after a very productive week and ran into a couple of writers we don't see much down the alley anymore.
One of them went on to tell me about the weekend where he got drunk, tagged what he thought was someone's fence, which was actually someones house, fell asleep right there and woke up with the houses someone standing over him and calling the cops. Then he spent the night in the cells with no pillow or blanket.
I'd say he would've needed a Nana the next day for sure - what do you think?! lol
Everytime I talk to this dude he's been up to shit that someone couldn't write a script for ;-)

Peace Mishin'

Some highlights of the day...

At one point there were about 30 people down the alley.

I overheard two convo's between opposing crew members with beefs but both times they talked about them then carried on with the day without any agro.

The surrounding tenants were super patient with the space invaders hanging around their doorways and one Copper wandered down once early on in the piece without a word.

But the most encouraging news is that all the building owners turned up at some stage during the day and were overwhelmingly supportive - so much so that there's a high chance we'll be able to do this all again, but on both sides.
Personally - I'm really proud of everyone who turned up. Not many people passing through would have been aware of the swapfests and colabs that were going down all day with older writers helping out younger ones etc.
At one stage I was hit with spin out deja vu, then I suddenly realised I was looking at what I saw in that dream I told you about months ago...
"Last night I had a dream where I climbed through one of those little windows down the alley - I wasn't the only one, Trust Me was climbing through it too. It was kind of like a doorway or portal we had to go through to get into the alley and when we got through it was sunny and there were funky tattooed, pierced women sitting around on picnic blankets eating and laughing with each other and kids running around and writers getting up everywhere, helping each other, sharing gear.
The feeling of community was overwhelming and sitting grinning in a corner, marvelling proudly at the unity around me, all I could think was "...who would've thought?!..."
One of the writers who got up in the weekend was adamant he wasn't going to. He said it was a waste of time cos it would only get munted with tags as usual.
Of course he got itchy fingers as soon as the cans came out though and couldn't help himself.
By the end he was all We need to do this again like soon man!

Tag Talk

I'm holding out on some info from the mish because I want to find out something first - I want to know more about tagging.
If you tag, why?
Has anything stopped you, or would stop you from tagging?
If you're a piecer, what do you think of tagging?
Have you ever thought one way about tagging then changed your view?
Is there a right and wrong place for tagging?
Do you have a theory about it?
Do you have a solution for it?
Do you think the anti-tagging strategies are working?

Whatever side of the wall you're on - this isn't a trick question - I'm genuinely curious.
BTW: When you leave any comment, there is absolutely no record of where it comes from...

Mishin' Complete Left to Right...

HELP

COVET

SICK

BEWARE

CAST & EDITOR

ERASE

DOTS

KURS

PSYLON

SHIV

ESAY

EPSA

CORE

VIEW

SILENC

Massive ups to KURS, BEWARE and SIN for doing all the hard graft buff work, CAST for his timely contribution, DJ Balanced for the beats, Steven, the wall owner and to all the writers who did their time with everyone standing around watching.
No pressure ;-)

Mish Prep

So we (KURS, SIN, BEWARE and I) get down the alley at the right time, surprisingly with all the right tools. We had no idea what or who to expect so, like good little Kiwi's, we just get stuck straight in. Beware, Sin and Kurs worked like troopers for 3 hours non-stop and it was a treat that all of us were perfectionists so the coverage was about as good as it gets!

My only regret is that I didn't get any before shots...

CAST was wandering through after a night out just as I was trying to get the high spots so he got nominated ;-)

We finished the buff all shaking with lack of food so ordered a round of legendary fish burgers from Offbeat, who delivered them to us up the alley.

Not being a writer, some things go over my head so when Kurs couldn't stand it anymore, he commented that he's itching to paint. I looked at the blank canvas behind me, turn back to him and say Knock yourself out!

From then it was all on...

KURS

ERASE

DOTS

ERASE and CAST

Brothers CAST & EDITOR

BEWARE

PSYLON

ESAY, EPSA & CORE

About now DJ Balanced has fired up and writers crews start filing in and people walking past either entrance to the alley, noticing activity, come down to watch...

Mishin' complete...

We did it.
The Buff Mish was a beef-free cruise that flowed from start to finish and of course I've got a stack of images and vids which I'll put up over the next few days.

In the meantime though, it's almost midnight and I'm shattered and going to bed in a sec but I couldn't sleep tonight if I didn't put a six foot four shout out to this dude.
KURS and his support crew get the biggest props from me - without his generous donation of buff paint and rollers and trays, and the amount of effort he put into buffing, I'm not sure the day would have been as much of a success.

I also want to thank our neighbourhood DJ, DJ Balanced, who asked if it would be OK to throw out some sounds.
Would it be OK?!
Fah!
And I knew it was going to be good day as soon as he cranked out the first and very fitting track by Leftfield off the album Leftism ;-)

In my mind these two guys were the stars and I could see someone was going to offer me a bib soon if I didn't stop thanking them.

But there's so much more to tell...

RAD | AK | TEST

With yesterday being a bit chill and the forecast for rain, a few people asked what we'd do if it rained today. Call is denial but I just refused to believe we were going to have this event persisted on and, sure enough, woke up to the most exquisite day. Think I might go out and paint some walls with my friends...
BTW: If you're picking up supplies, Loaded has Ironlaks for 5 buckers ;-)


Truth is not putting up tags and being selective of throwies means I've got a scanty Mother Hubbards file of nothing much to chose from so just call these throwies crumbs and be thankful ;-)
Actually, I thought the way AK used the arrow to create an inverse K on the TEST piece was quite note-to-self worthy.
Stroke of genius or fluke worth thrashing?

Check this out for outhereness...

Pidoom...

In the bizarrest set of coincidences, I ended up doing my first frowie last night.

It goes like this...

So, ever since our Aux Boy arrived on Tuesday night, he's been out writing and hanging with his Wellie buds all night, then sleeping all day.

He wakes up yesterday avo and, after making a coffee, we sit out in the backyard and settle into a decent bit of gritty graftalk. In amongst it all I admit that I've never written but that I'd bought a few cans last week and had a huge hessian canvas from my artist days and was gagging to give it a go. He's all keen as and suggests he could do an outline and show me how to do fill etc.
We go on to other things then I drop him in town and drive on to the gym but with a meh, I keep driving and go home.

Now - you'll have gathered by now that I lead a bit of a double life. So - I have to get home to meet up with someone who needs me to do something for them. Because I bypassed the gym, I have a bit of time cash to spare so I drag out the canvas and the cans, go out back, put some gloves on and have a go at spraying.

WTF?!
I would have felt less unco doing it with my feet. Man - how does anyone do this shit?!

So I'm all absorbed with this dripping, overspraying mess when I suddenly remember that I'm expecting this visitor so I zoom inside, take off the gloves, wash my hands then the doorbell rings. I open the door and A and M come in.

So - they walk in my door and his nose is like some super hyper CSI beagle sniffing the air and his eyes get all glinty and he goes Hmmm smells like paint! I'm all muttery and embarrassed cos I can't say I'm writing, cos a - he might not know what that means and b - cos I'm not really, I'm just toying, so I deflect and ask him the obvious - Are you a writer?
M looks at me, then he looks at A, they laugh, and he flips open his phone to show me a piece they'd just finished.
As you can imagine, it was all on! Within seconds we were all over the graf scene with M knowing everyone I know (of) here and in Sydney and we both know all the same goss then I suddenly remember I'm meant to be doing this thing for A. I have a quick look and realise A has some work to do so I set her to it, then suggest that M might like to give me some tips. So we go out back and he quickly shows me how to outline the fill, then fill, then go around it. I'm all And what about this, and how do you do that?
When he showed me, it so made sense. Earlier I had been holding the can too far away from the canvas and was using the wrong cap. Also, I had been trying to do outline all at once but M did short strong strokes close up.
We both finally go back inside and I finish off doing the thing for A and thanking M, I let them out the door, stoked that I would see them again at the Buff Mish.

Surreal man!!
Having to do the left brain right brain switch between the two things was trippy beyond words and it's the first time my two worlds have crossed over.

Still marvelling at the coincidence and timing, I go back out to the courtyard, rearrange all the furniture, nail the canvas to the wall, set up a trolley with the cans on it and go for it!

________________________________

So the one on the right is M's demo - of absolutely no reflection of his skill cos every question I was asking, he was having to show me with new lines etc, so that's why it looks really 101.
The O'Neil family from the Naki have their own word - Pidoom.
Pidoom is for when you use or do something for the first time.
So the one on the left is E's pidoom throwie ;-)
What's fascinating is that already I look at it and see so many things wrong but also, that in the nano's it took me to do it, I was hooked and if there was a quick way to buff it, I would have been buffing, throwing and buffing again all night!

I apologise for being so self indulgent, also for telling you this really long novella when I could have given it to you in shorthand but you'll remember what a thrill it was to do your first piece. It reminded me of the rush the first time I got behind the wheel of a car. I didn't get very far then stalled but I had felt the power and there was no going back...

See you cats tomorrow ;-)

CANNES

"A regular 400ml can of paint will give you up to 50 A4 sized stencils. This means you can become incredibly famous/unpopular in a small town virtually overnight for approximately ten pounds"Banksy
Wall and Piece
A while ago, with a surprising amount of help, we worked out the Crew scene (updates welcomed btw).

What I'm curious about now is the dealio with paint and caps etc.
Who are the suppliers around town?

We've heard that dealing in cans is far from rewarding because of a) the anorexic profit margin and b) it bringing suppliers more grief than lovin'.
It seems that every weekend they have to deal with either parents and/or property owners bellyaching about them selling toys/taggers their paint. Of course we all know most suppliers don't sell paint without ID and that the toys get others to buy it for them, but do you think Don, of Cedar Lane is going to go Right You Are - Sorry to Have Bothered You to that answer?

So what others are there?
I know The French Art Shop sell Plutoniums but that's about the end of my local list so a bit of help needed here...

The French Art Shop
Plutonium - $12ish

Trade Me
Dude selling Nozzles

Empire Skateshop
I just heard today that these dudes don't sell cans but they do sell the knarliest caps (thanks DENS)

QUEW | VIEW mystery demystified...

This was nowhere near the alley but I took it to prove I wasn't going bat shit crazy afterall.
What was driving me spare though, like tip-of-the-tongue spare, was that I recognised the throwie style and lettering, but couldn't quite put my finger on whose.
Tonight I got the big I Knew It I Knew It grats when I got a surprise comment left on an ancient post telling me the answer.
Thing is this...the stoolie said it was a name change cos the dude got busted so, because my last promotion didn't come with either the payrise or title of God, I don't think I'd be doing any favours sharing the info.
However - if you troll through enough posts comments, especially the oldest ones, you'll find out for yourself ;-)

Of New Names, Things and Walls

I was looking at some of the images spread around My Space from the Aro Block Party and there were at least three writers I hadn't heard of.
And on that note - how did I not know about that party?! I'm gutted that I missed it. Erase mentioned something about getting up over that way but I didn't really click that it was a Thing - like a gig Thing.

One Thing I'm not going to miss is the Buff Mish this Saturday.
The Wall permission letter is in my back pocket and the tubs of buff paint and about 6 rollers & trays are on their way. Haven't been able to score any surprise cans so that side's BYO but, apart from a few more trivs to sort out, as of right now, we've got ourselves a mission - if we chose to accept it - and that is to deal to those huckor walls!

In case you're wondering, so far the We I know about are BEWARE, PSYLON, KURS and probably a few Toys knee-high to a towel rail I don't know about yet, but I've heard rumours of a few other writers planning to show.

This isn't the Lefties Xmas Party so I'm not getting all RSVP by yesterday on ya's, but if you are coming down, bringing a paintbrush, or roller and tray, will score some seriously high def chromie points! And smurf points also dished out for turning up ready to roll, whether you have gears or not.

So - we'll be ripping into it by 10, then hopefully, depending on how many coats we have to do, you'll be getting your Burning | Throwing | Stencilling | Pasting | Sticking jollies by early afternoon.

As long as we don't get gatecrashed by any town clowns from Wankerville, can't see why it shouldn't be a choicey ;-)

DRYPNZ presence...

We all know the above stick is DRYPNZ, but I had a few people ask me if the lower pair were. They definitely look like mutey cuzzies of your favourite Lefties character and mine, Lucha.
No doubt we'll be set straight whatever the lineage ;-)

Taggings Wak rant draft

So - the mish planted the graf acceptance seed and now it's up to you.

The whole point to this exercise was to wipe out the wak tagging and put up graffiti pieces.
Note the difference?
A distinction between Graffiti Pieces and tagging. That's what the advocates are trying to do - get the public to see them as separate. I even overheard a few writers commenting that tagging was what gave graf a bad name and ruined it for everyone.
We all know that most writers start off with tagging, and that tags are part of graf and have their place on role calls, but it's the weak-as, offyaface or bored, can't-get-noticed-any-other-way tags that are causing the grief.

The wall owner doesn't mind you doing pieces, as long as they don't go above the window line. And most of the writers who got up over the weekend fully expect their pieces to be capped but that's ok too - as long as they're capped by pieces. Man - use your tag as a signature to something of substance - that's what most artists do.

I'm not nominating myself the Wall Police, I'm just telling you what's been passed on to me. Bottom line is if you spend time doing pieces no matter how good or trainerwheels you are (and there's no excuse for not taking your time if the wall is legal - that's what your black book's for isn't it?), there's more chance that we'll be welcomed, even encouraged to have our wicked way with these walls in the future and respect for those pieces is the only way Lefties will ditch the label Toy Alley.
You might not know this but we were this close to losing these walls a few months ago - they were almost going to close off the alley to the general public indefinitely.

AK | Killer Mops

One of AK's better efforts.
A few people have been commenting lately on AK's relentlessness - bottom line - he doesn't give a shit who he goes over. Call me a Newtown Crazy but I often wonder if people like him could use that relentlessness and make a stash being hardcore take-no-prisoners businessman? What do they call that in money land?...Skill transference?

We'll see if skill transfers works for these cats...

In The Fabric...

SIN told me yonks ago, when he first did the above pasties that they were photocopies of toys so, when I was around at his place the other day, helping him sort some shit out - actually, watching him sort some shit out - I spotted them for real. I felt like some groupie getting all high pitched over some muso's guitar or something - I had to get a picture and, yes, if they could've, I would have got their autographs ;-)

Fill

"Crime against property is not real crime. People look at an oil painting and admire the use of brushstrokes to convey meaning. People look at graffiti painting and admire the use of a drainpipe to gain access"
Banksy
Wall and Piece

Clean Out and Up

You're all right - most of what I put up is shit.
I haven't got my hand on it going all like Oh Woe Is Me - the stuff going up in the alley is genuinely mostly shit. I mean no disrespect to anyone who contributes because I've always seen it as gritty and raw and the reality of what goes up, but I remember back years where there was more respect and the tagging and capping just didn't used to happen like it does now and I'm grown up enough and observant enough to admit it's got worse since this site started.
Two things have happened as a result - noted Writers can't be bothered cos they know their piece is going to get munted before the paint's even dry and I now get regular comments or emails from toys asking when I'm going to put their stuff up.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do but I'm not going to put tags up anymore (unless there's a point or they're just funny as fuck). I haven't supported them on The Street since I got back from the Grand Graf Tour of Sydney (except for Covet recently just cos I had so many and, apart from the odd stick, that's pretty much all he's been doing).
And even though I'm guessing a large proportion of the 60 - 80 hits a day come from Toys wanting to pant over their latest throwie, maybe the bar has to go up there to? Fame on the wall or Fame on the web? Same diff to the new generation?

Lefties could do with a Nip Tuck about now starting with liposuction of the tagging and hating bullshit followed by some Burner enhancement, Stencil tats and some quality accessorising - now that lot would be worth reporting on.
Think Mays Lane - you on this page yet?

What's fascinating is that The Street has no commentary and way more images but even though it's been up since 06, it only gets half the amount of hits. What's that about? It seems that people like to read the rabble, even though reading the inside of a toilet bowl would probably be more informative and entertaining.

As usual, don't hold back - verbalage always welcome entertainment...

LOADED Lovemark

It took a ten pack of will not to give notice at my current flat and move right on in to Loaded when I first saw this not so unimpressive and not so unsexy set up ;-)

And what do I do about this paint smell addiction? Man - I'm not even a Writer and I can track it at 50 paces - haha - I guess that's why they call us Graf Hounds?

I had this surreal feeling a while ago when I bought a stash of cans at Loaded for a birthday present - I had them in the Loaded Duffel over my shoulder and actually felt like a Writer on a mish.
I'm still really tempted to give it a go cos at school, the substance of my assignments was always skimpy but I would spend hours on the cover page doing block letters and fill and shading and bubbles. If Brent Bloody Proctor (aka Classic Hits jock, Barney)who I thought was one of my friends, didn't munt one of my cover pages when we were in Intermediate, devastating me, I might have gone on to walls eventually ;-)

Is it ever too late?...

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

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.

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, ;-)



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...

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 fans like 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 now 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' level...

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 DRYPNZ. 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...

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...

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...

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?!

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...




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 ;-)

Rhombus feat McMana (& Lefties!) - Losing It

TRU Dat!

Lefties Words of Wisdom...

Last week I was talking to a writer who gets up everywhere but Lefties. When I hit him up about it he said he only does illegals. I told him that Lefties wasn't legal and that there's usually at least one bust a week.
So - it was a pleasant surprise to see him up the alley today laxing out and watching one of his potatee's throw up.
I've noticed that no writer worth his can control can watch someone else spraying without getting itchy palms themselves so when I walked back past a little bit later I wasn't surprised to see him with face to wall.
Not long after I split, I got a text to say the Boys in Blue were down there enquiring into everyones general well-being via 376 questions. Fortunately no arrests were made and even more importantly, no cans confiscated.

All this to say that a) Lefties is definitely not legal, and getting less lenient everyday b) The old "I Know The Guy Who Works Next Door" tactic is wearing thin and c) The many tenants who live behind the windows are getting less patient and more confident in their ability to push the same number on their phone three times in a row, in the dark if they need to, if you get what I'm sayin...

Doors open, come on in...

Good to see REVAMP up and about with these throwies and a few sticks...






I heard the other day that ERASE isn't in CFG anymore. It was his choice but the crews still tender about it.

Him and Happy aren't in the hoods good books at the mo either. They've been getting up full on - that's not so bad - it's just that even though they've been told, they haven't quite got the concept of 'don't shit in your own nest!'
In other words, they may as well be painting an image of a front door and tagging ERASE and HAPPY hang out here on it.Apparently they've been relieved of a stash of their cans but the damage is done and I suspect it's only a matter of (not very much) time before they get some visitors who are hot for them in all the wrong ways.

Call me any kind of genius but I'm guessing we'll be seeing some new names going up pritttttty soon...

THE BOOM'S BACK IN THE BOX

When I saw this ghetto blaster sten up the alley, I guessed it was Elie's way of saying that BOOMBOX had finished it's relocation mission across the park and they were back in business. I wandered over and sure enough, door open, game on ;-)

There is no way these images do the new pad justice so you'll have to go look-see the red velvet, chandelier and brick classiness for yourself on Labour Day.

One piece of advice though - if you and money find it easy to part ways, leave your wallet at home because we're talking 100% pure street candy that no one can resist...

Plastered in BMD

So - what I want to know is, what came first? The critter that happened to fit around the pipes or the pipes that inspired the critter? And is that a posca he's holding in his hand?!
So it was him doing all the tags round town all this time...






Here's Banksy's latest mission...

CFG Whitewash

I swear CFG have gonads the size of Auckland for some of the shit they get away with...





None of it's classy but it's a fkn bold move!

The friend I was with wasn't sure he liked it but I pointed out that CFG just effectively buffed the whole alley for everyone else ;-)

Keeping An Eye On the Prize...

Erase's old man told me he was taking him and Happy to some graf comp out of town so when I caught up with them down Lefties yesterday, I wasn't surprised to find out they won.
Erase has always had the Can Gods in his back pocket. He inherited a shitload of them when Mephisto Jones split over to Oz and now him and Happy are flush with booty from the comp...



SIN rocked down as I was taking these images and watching the boys finishing off. He looked at the one above and said to Happy - At least it's got eyeballs!
Later on, when I had split from SIN, I saw this fresh one and chuckled to myself...
Man - I'm so stoked I got these images when I did cos CFG went on a mental block buster rampage and capped them all.
You can see them here tomorrow...

ID | NEWS

One of the highlights of the Decked Out opening was meeting ID.
Now I can put a face to the throwies.
I especially get a kick out of seeing experimentation and variations on the usual, which is what ID's been doing lately.

Maybe this is an offensive and naive generalisation, and I'm sure you'll tell me if it is, but maybe there's two kinds of artists/writers?
Those who get a good thing going or something that works for them and rarely stray far from that style/formula - getting slicker and sharper every time.
And those who can never stay anywhere for too long before getting either bored, therefore adventurous, or being stimulated or inspired by something or someone else. It's like they cruise down a street for a while then see a side alley they can't help but go down, which leads them down another one.

From what I've seen of ID - I'd put him in the latter, rapping out the same theme for a while then going total 360 on us.

__________________________________

Side note: Here and here are some of the latest tactics being trialled by anti-taggers around the country FYI...

Bewarefest

What can't BEWARE do?
He's done slaps, stens, pasteys, free photos, a deck and the odd throwie, not to mention both his sites of images and goss. If there were jobs in Grafland, he'd be getting a promotion and payrise before he even started.

What I'm getting at is that people like BEWARE who live/breath/do/share graf are such good advocates for the scene. He's always helping out writers, supporting and encouraging them, putting their stuff up on his sites, visiting them, going to their openings, texting them when he sees something new of theirs, putting people in contact with each other (not just in New Zealand by the way) - the list goes on.

If you've read the book The Tipping Point - you would know that BEWARE is a Connector - and in graf speak, he could be classed as Paste. He quietly contributes to binding all the chaotic haphazard multi faceted aspects of the Wellington graf scene together. Of course, some would say who the fck is he again? But I could almost guarantee the 1 Degree Of Separation rule would apply to anyone with a can or posca in their back pocket and there wouldn't be a tag or cap of hate to be found...

Black and White

While I was hanging out with my whanau in Narrowtaki this weekend gone, BEWARE texted me to say he was in a black book sesh at Manky's with Star Mugs who's from Aux. He also cleared up a mystery for me...
Last week I was doing my usual rounds of the alley when I saw what looked liked the beginning of a throwie.
Now - you know I'll put up anything I find in the alley - almost to the point of being merciless on the toys but I couldn't even bring myself to take an image of this one, let alone put it up here. Turns out that was a rare good call cos it wasn't a piece at all, it was only the start of Mugs - just before he got busted ;-(




This, and morphy variations of it, has gone up all over the city. No idea who it is but quite like them for a change. Another one to add to the GFC list...

Erasing Silenc | Silencing Erase

I've been waiting for an excuse to put up Silenc's last rap text and tenuous as it is, Erase has given me one. Here he's capped Silenc huge piece over in the carpark near the new Boombox. Also - Silenc tells me he'll probably be down in the New Year to get some shit up...

All the bestist!
Jah rythym of rain hit d roof
ova realheads i bn blessed with,
cash distracts from higher values
n incentives to progres d next ish,
do yo thing as strong young Kings n Queens!
who aint on that chicken neck shit,
seek proof n speak the truth
like soulrebels Krs n mc M1,
go to war with these devils n dnt cm bak till afta death -
mum aint gna miss this,
plus i aint gne wait til christmas
to rip shit apart like presents
im out for the poor n opressed workin people peasants
and easily influenced adolesants
who are stressed with' modernday life'
Soul Power!
Lets take it back to the essence!
Text from Silenc
8 Sept 08

If You're Happy and You Know It...

Happy is charging man!
You might remember me rabbling on a while ago about Erase's progress.
I've noticed the same with Happy over the past few months.
It might be obvious that he has DRYPNZ's shoulder to look over in the studio but he's definitely got his own groove...

Pidgeshit

Apparently FKBs CERS isn't thrilled about Erase's ERS (try saying that after you've been up to take part in the joy and happiness of DRIPs birthday imbibeathon!!)





I know!! Scraping the Tragic Barrel when I have to feature the (fornicating 30 seconds ago) pidgeons.

The Family That Paints Together Stays Together ;-)

DRIP is ERASE's old man - I was so stoked to see this! It's not about a father and son doing supposed criminal activity together - it's about a father doing the 13 year old son's favourite thing in the world with him - whatever that is -without judgement...

Luckily DRIP and DRYPNZ are friends so there will be no biting hate bullshit here either ;-)

The Idealist in me is seeing Grafland inching closer to that dream I had that time...

Words

The Decked Out opening at Manky Chops and Alc HQ was way too epic and I'm blaming that for not getting anything up this weekend ;-) I can't wait to put up the images I got of the decks earlier in the day but I promised I'd wait for WWS to go first so you'll have to wait...

Today Sin and I went on a hound mish and got a ton of new and old burners and throwies. Had to make something of the weekend after spending most of it in the recovery position ;-)

Chromeomeo's

Do these two say Magic? Update: Manic apparently ;-)




Eye of the Fish asked the other day for someone to translate 'Squiggle'. I know what he means! As I've said before, it's usually doh! obvious when someone enlightens you...

Hey - props for all the contributions to the Crew Comp! There's still a few question marks but Sherlock Homie's on that case ;-)

BTW - saw Street(un)Wise taking down names up the Alley again today. What do they hope to discover? Do they think the writer names are anagrams for their real identities? Do they collect them to decipher in the smoko room at morning tea when the crosswords get too hard?
Hmmm - I can see it now...
ID - well that's clearly Di! She says that's silver nail polish from the $2 shop but we all know she's as guilty as chromey sin.
And IKON? Does he seriously think that we haven't worked out he's that Niko from Dick Smiths slipping out in his lunch time for a quick throw up?

Haha - would pay money to find out what the Wise Ones are up to.

So - question has to be asked - what's Streetwise an anagram for?

Wire Testes?

Now that's one badass crew name right there!!