Something happened when I watched “Style Wars,” the documentary about graffiti in NYC in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I started to understand what the graffitoes (if that’s the word) were trying to do. First of all, how interesting is it to be standing in a subway station, watching the grey cars go by, and the, all of a sudden, there is this big, smiling face looking at you? Imagine, then, pulling off such an outrageous piece of work in the wee hours of the night. Your friends never believe that you did it until — BOOM — there they are one day on the N train and your work goes rolling by! It’s that unexpected thrill that mixes up a whole day. If I don’t get what a street artist is doing in a piece when I first see it, I have started trying to see if spending a little time with the piece will show me something I did not see before. I don’t just write it off as vandalism.
There is large, noisy, piece going on in town starting tomorrow that I usually view as a sort of sanctioned vandalism as performing redneck art. This festival happens every year and, all too often, the locals just clear the hell out of town. Being local, I’m all about clearing out. Except, maybe not so much this year. My lady and I went downtown for a meal a few nights back. The air was pleasently cool for a summer evening. One guy was dragging around a cross and reminding us to “Remember Jesus” which is always a good thing since my memory is somewhat weak. He’s got a birthday in a few months and I need to start looking for something for the guy who has everything.
There was also this dude doing a living statue. He would play about a half a song whenever someone put a dollar in his guitar case and then go back to standing still. Except I don’t think he was totally clear on the concept because he kept playing little bits of songs even when nobody paid. Then I think he had a smoke or something. Not exactly a Rodin, that guy. He might have been having some fun though, and we certainly had fun looking at him and talking about him. We also had fun walking around and being with the other people who were walking around and waiting tables and all that sort of thing.
Living here in Altamont, it is easy to forget that people from all over the world want to come here. Other people who live here depend on people from all over the world coming here so that they can make a living. Because this works, I can be here all the time and experience the sorts of things that some people have to travel across the world to experience. And if, for one weekend, they all come at once and make a lot of noise, so what? Besides, Webb Wilder is playing a free show Sunday. That’s an unexpected bit of joy right in the middle of the street. A little graffiti if you will.
