via wustah!

Open note to Junot Diaz,

Damn! Both me and my wife read Domo-novels during our honeymoon in Puerto Rico. Rican-reading has dominated our shelves for years but yall kicked ass this season.

I write this as Boston kills LA in the Finals. Go ahead and make me more pissed. Say that your MIT-teaching ass is rooting with all of neo-dixie Boston.

Player-hatin is the name of my game right now. Even though Im sitting on top of the world- freshly minted married man- the Oscar Wao jumpoff has me reeling disgusted- one eye weeps while the two other scowl. Applause, perplexed.

Ignatius Riley on the Latino tip was bound to come. New Orleans and SD have the same architecture (sans faulty levees) for Jesus sake. But to kill it on some Marvel Universe versus Aime Cesaire ish? Why? Please tell me who gave you the right. Quien te mando? Mash-up may be the name of the game in music, but books? Bow down to the footnotes!

Straight up though- thanks for the motivation. Circle awards? -check, Tony awards? -check. (see comments) Dominicans got it on lock for the moment. Pulitzer and a movie deal (dont let LA hate cuz you a Bost-denizen)? But we PR pride people are coming for your literary ass. You might have just begun killing it on some brainiac S-dot-Pinker novelista shit but we ain’t even got started yet(I guess we have but still). Syntax, Simpatico, Surrealism. Lets do dis thing! De la Hoya, De la Renta lets-Wilde-out-Oscar! Americas, aight!?

Chi-town,
NyC-ricans,
Stand up,

MB

PS: Oscar was too fat for a career in graffiti or dee-jaying, huh? I guess I knew wacked-out 90’s kids who HH did not reach…but not many

That means extra protection against biters and haters. Holler at the legal team
with questions…

Big ups to the buyers!

Peep this video from Graffiti Research Lab

Claw Money says: “i love this shirt!”

Bates says: “WE’RE FEELING THIS!”

Nick Walker says: “You done a crackin version!”

The benefit art show for Ket’s legal fund was visually inspirational. The event claimed to be the largest gallery exhibit of graffiti artists.

It did not disappoint. There was plenty of work from old skoolers and new heads alike. There were classic photos from Henry Chaflant and Martha Cooper. Looking at the winning bids it seems that a substantial amount of money was raised. Works by Espo and Dalek pulled in healthy digits.

Indeed Espo created my favorite piece in the show. His sign-maker-style menagerie of classic characters (mostly from “Subway Art” the book, unless you saw the trains live back in the day) showed the imagined human animals of the train era as “the adult children of alcoholics”.

Stunning, funny and challenging work from heads like Cycle, Too Fly and Milk also stood out in the vast landscape of the Powerhouse Gallery. So did the hood celebs (plus one of my fave intellectuals, Ray Codrington). Lee (the legend) was in the house with a ten year-old he treated like a son. The kid owned the space with his youthful run, jump, climbing.

Overall, that is what event was about: family coming together to support one of its prodigal sons. The Ket case was very likely devised by law enforcement to set a precedent. Keep an eye out for how our team fares in this battle.

flicks follow:

My fiancee and I peeped the canvases, graff celebs and subway-styled interior architecture while indulging in the free Corona and pizza .

The store had a sick selection of Montana Paint and T-shirts. I recognized some serious names in the building including Cope, Kase 2 and Ket. (don’t forget to visit supportket.org)

We ran into Stef , ESP crew from back in Chicago at the show. She happened to have an old sketchbook with her that had a piece I did back in “nine-sex”.

Check out some snaps from the opening and some of  my ill 90’s stylings…