When we have enough time, I like to walk around whatever town or city I’m playing at and check out the public art. It definitely gives a sense for the place; its inhabitants, their politics and fears, the tolerance of its police anti-graffiti division. Last time I was up in Bellingham WA, up near the Canadian border, I found a few cool images just around the corner from the Wild Buffalo (where we were playing that night), and around the corner from the Boundary Bay (which we played the time before).

Alright, so I’ll begrudgingly acknowledge how cool camera phones are.

Oh, and “Emobama” is better than “Emo For Obama.”

Street graffiti artist Slinkachu is pimping snails rides all over London. He uses nontoxic paint to make the wild snails shells look fly. He frees them to roam around again after painting them. AWE they’re so much cuter now!

His project is titled “Inner City Snail - A Slow-Moving Street Art Project.”

The 2008 lineup is FRESH! KRS-One, 88-Keys, Buckshot, Blu & Exile, Fresh Daily, Mickey Factz, J. Period, Zaki Ibrahim and DJ Premier. The Brooklyn Hip-Hop main performance day is July 12th. Check the calendar on the Web site for the rest of the festival days programs & performers. If yer going, I’m super jealous - take me with you! I can fit in small spaces!

HA! F-W-I! If you don’t know what FWI means, you should ask Cayle Hunter, cuz he says it all the time. Maybe you should look it up right now. Go ahead. FWI. Click that shit.

Anyways. Here’s the real point of this blog. I assume you’re probably just perusing the internet right now, at about 25 MBPH, a slow surf on a cruiser bored board. Well, here’s a little salt for your tastebuds: Trouble Me Flickr. From Oakland. A photografffffer.

I’ve never met him, but I imagine Fred Radtke, the “Grey Ghost”, as an ornery old asshole who hates everything from puppies to sunshine. The one thing that brings him joy? Painting over graffiti and illegally posted flyers with ugly grey paint, where ever it may be.
52 year-old Radtke is a former Marine, and founder of the nonprofit Operation Clean Sweep in 1997 to fight graffiti. He has made it his full time job to hunt and kill all graffiti around the New Orleans area and depends on funds from donations and grants including including several $10,000 grants from the city of New Orleans and a $32,000 grant over a four-year period from Freeport-McMoRan. He works as a freelancer for the New Orleans Police Department as is often called upon by them when new graffiti is spotted as they claim to have a lack of manpower and time.

Enter Michael Dingler aka ReX, also a former Marine and a New Orleans native, and founder of NoLa Rising, a campaign that encourages people to paint and post colorful signs of hope throughout New Orleans. Michael Dingler is Radkte’s Worst Enemy. In January, Dingler was cited (with Radkte’s tipoff to the NOPD) for more than 1,100 counts of unlawfully posting signs such as “Smile” and “Welcome Back” on telephone poles that could cost him more than $50,000 in fines.

“When I asked Officer Joia if he was going to file the same charges against Fred [Radtke] under the graffiti statutes, he said he was unaware of what I was talking about,” said Dingler. “Here’s a guy who is destroying city property, who has become what he said he is fighting against. And yet I’m the one facing all these charges? It’s selective enforcement of the law.”
Radtke dismissed Dingler’s accusations, called him a “loser,” a “phony” and the “biggest pain in the ass I ever met.”

He said Dingler’s so-called “messages of hope” are “vertical trash” that promote other forms of vandalism.
“It’s real simple: people either want to abide by the law or not,” Radtke said.

Dingler’s court date was March 18th. He was building his own case by documenting all of Radtke’s work, belittling his charges of 1,100 counts of vandalism. He intended to present his evidence to the police, just as Radtke did and file charges tit for tat. Anyone know what the outcome was? [Update: Read the comment ReX left]

Naturally, people have begun spraying anti-Radtke stencils in the grey areas among other things all over NoLa. The Grey Ghost simply creates a canvas for more graffiti. He is a haunting nuisance that has become part of the culture. Annoying, yes, but he forces writers to up the ante. And these shirts have sprung up.

UPDATE: Read this blog post. Apparently Mr. Radtke lost his temper at a coffee shop and verbally assaulted the lady behind the counter when she told him he couldn’t paint out some graffiti on the shop.  Cops be lookin’ for him in the area. Oooooooo!

The Inversion House (r.i.p.) More pics at this crazy German blog. Built by Art League Houston

Houston based graf artist Gonzo247

They also have their own toast, wtf?