NZ man jailed for killing teenage graffiti artist

A New Zealand man who killed a teenage graffiti artist he caught spray-painting his home has been sentenced to more than four years in jail in a case that has gripped the country.

Fifty-year-old Bruce Emery grabbed a knife and chased Pihema Cameron after he caught the 15-year-old spray-painting graffiti on the garage of his South Auckland home just over a year ago.

The teenager died from a stab-wound to the chest. The businessman told police he was defending himself.

Emery was found not guilty of murder and convicted of manslaughter.

The teenagers mother, Leanne Cameron, is outraged.

“Did any of you fellows see his face? It’s painless, he looked at us an put his head down,” she said.

Emery’s lawyer, Chris Comesky, says both sides involved have suffered, and the victim’s family must move on.

“Family members of the deceased saying they’d love to rip his eye-balls out, they are filled with hate,” he said.

Emery was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.

[Via:www.abc.net.au]

MTA MEMEBERS GET BUSTED!

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies today arrested at least eight alleged members of the notorious Metro Transit Assassins tagging crew, some of whom are believed to be responsible for a several-blocks-long “MTA” tag in the concrete Los Angeles River bed that authorities say will cost millions of dollars to remove.
The arrests occurred during a series of early-morning raids centered in the Hollywood area. Among those detained for a parole violations is a famous tagger whose work “SMEAR” has has won acclaim in the art community.
Those arrested were booked on suspicion of vandalism, drug possession, narcotics for sales, weapons possession and other parole violations, officials said
“These individuals are responsible for tags not only in Los Angeles but Las Vegas and San Francisco,” said Sheriff’s Cmdr. Dan Finkelstein, who is chief of the Metropolitan Transit Authority police. “The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that removing the “MTA” tag from the riverbed alone will cost $3.7 million.

Cleaning graffiti from the river is far more expensive than cleaning other areas. Officials use high-pressure water spray to remove the toxic paint.
But hazardous-materials crews must then dam and capture all the paint and water runoff to prevent it from getting into the river. The crew did an additional $20,000 worth of damage to transit vehicles and facilities. Finkelstein said the Los Angeles River “MTA” tag, in a vast industrial district east of downtown between two rail yards, took about 400 gallons of paint — 300 gallons white and 100 gallons black. “It took them four nights to do it,” he said.
The three block letters cover a three-story-high wall and run the length of several blocks between the 4th Street and 1st Street bridges. The tagging crew, which is also known as “Melting Toys Away” and “Must Take All,” began about the time the transportation agency began using the MTA letters. Investigators say they have statements, including some on video, that implicate some of the crew MTA members get busted!

members in the enormous tag.
“Some of this group could face federal charges,” Finkelstein said. During the raids, Finkelstein said, investigators found customized high-pressure fire extinguishers that, when filled with paint, allow the tagger to hang upside down on the underside of a freeway and quickly scrawl massive graffiti. These taggers are not kids, he said.
Most those detained are in their 20s; one of them drives a $60,000 BMW, and another member possesses a diamond-and-ruby-encrusted Metro logo pendant with paperwork suggesting it’s worth $29,000, Finkelstein said.
– Richard Winton
Photo: Police car shows scale of the giant “MTA” tag in the Los Angeles River in May 2008. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

SOURCE: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/01/sheriffs-deputi.html

Is graffiti worse than prostitution?

By RICK CASEY

http://www.chron.com

If four eighth-grade girls at a Cy-Fair middle school had been found with a couple of ounces of marijuana, or had stolen $1,400 from a house near the school, or had engaged in prostitution, they would have committed a misdemeanor.

But they did none of these things. They wrote on the girls' bathroom wall.

So they face felony charges.

In Texas, graffiti with a Sharpie on a school wall is a more serious crime than carrying a switchblade, making a terroristic threat, burglarizing a vehicle, committing a second DWI, stalking, or assault causing bodily harm.

It's part of our efforts to criminalize childhood.

Handcuffed, hauled off

The mothers of two of the girls, with whom I spoke, agree that their daughters did wrong and should be punished.

But arrested on campus, handcuffed and taken in a squad car to be booked, photographed and fingerprinted?

Both mothers, Noelle Jackson and Christie Mathieu, said their daughters are A and B students who are not troublemakers.

In fact, they are literally choir girls. The trouble began Dec. 1 when the choir teacher failed to show for after-school practice. While waiting for the late bus home, the girls went into the bathroom where, they told their mothers, graffiti was already scrawled on the walls and ceiling. They decided to add their own.

Stronger than 'I love Alex'

Jackson's daughter told her mother she wrote, "We run this sh--."

She said two other girls wrote, "Hi ladies," and "Wipe before you leave."

The worst, said Jackson, was one that wrote, "(Girl's first name and last initial) is a big-azz ho."

Mathieu said her daughter wrote in pencil on the toilet roll holder. This is not a felony because it's not in permanent ink, but Mathieu said she was told her daughter is being charged because she was with the other girls "and didn't rat on them."

A spokeswoman for the school district said federal school privacy law prevents them from discussing details, but the amount of graffiti was worse than the mothers described, and the content was "much stronger" than a similar incident in the Katy ISD last year.

In that case a 12-year-old wrote "I love Alex" on a gym wall. The DA declined to prosecute, but the district sentenced her to four months in the district's alternative center.

After a public outcry, Katy officials lowered her punishment to writing an apology to the maintenance director and thanking him for cleaning the wall, and making posters promoting clean schools.

But the mothers of the Cy-Fair 8th graders said school officials apparently based their punishment on assuming the girls were lying about what little they had written.

Matthieu said she obtained an e-mail a 7th-grader wrote to a friend admitting she and two others had already defaced the walls and gloating that the 8th-graders were taking the rap.

The message read in part: "well we found out today that we didnt get caught. (: they said they cught the ppl who did and they said that it these four eighth graders. bahha but it was really us three. yeahh they also said that those four girls got arrested and sent to juvii."

Matthieu said she showed the e-mail to the principal, not to get the other girls punished but in hopes of getting a more reasonable punishment for her daughter and her friends.

Instead, she says, she understands that the 7th graders are now also facing felony charges. I was unable to confirm that.

State law also requires that any student charged with a felony be sent to the district's alternative learning center. The 8th graders will be there for six weeks.

Matthieu and Jackson are worried about the effect on their daughters' grades and their performance on the upcoming TAKS test.

"My daughter has been there two weeks and she hasn't come home with a book yet," Matthieu said.

I don't know the full extent of the graffiti or who wrote what, but there is no rational reason for the Legislature to make all graffiti in a school a felony.

The punishment should not be administered by the criminal justice system, but by the school.

The law should provide that school punishment be designed to further educate children, not hurt their education.

The amount and tone of the graffiti should determine just how many Saturdays the girls spend cleaning restrooms. That would, at the least, teach the girls appreciation for the noble work of janitors.

Making graffiti in a school a felony is a dumb law. But the principal is not required to call the cops. And the DA is not required to accept the case.

Such outlandish punishment is not teaching the girls responsibility. It's teaching them to distrust authority.

You can write to Rick Casey at P.O. Box 4260, Houston, TX 77210, or e-mail him at rick.casey@chron.com

Cero

De vuelta con lo clásico. Cero okc

TSL bombs

The Darker Knight from Keegan Gibbs . com on Vimeo.

Evidence "Chase the clouds away"

Saber awr/msk y su polémica pieza en el rio de LA-

Saber awr/msk otra vez noticia

Hace algún tiempo esta pieza había sido pisada por JA ONE, un famoso y clásico bomber de la costa este. Saber la arregló, pero además de eso en su libro titulado "Mad Society" hablo acerca de este acto, dejando al lector una sensación de burla hacia JA ONE, quien al parecer leyó esto y decidió volver a Los Ángeles con varios escritores de la costa este a pintar sobre la famosa pieza de saber. Más fama e importancia para saber y su singular obra.

Perve en Bombing Science

Como siempre Bombing Science con buenos artículos y entrevistas. 

Por más que la entrevista trate puntos comunes a la hora de indagar sobre un autor de graffiti y su obra. En este caso Perve toca aspectos muy importantes. Personalmente hago enfásis en el respeto como algo fundamental para un buen escritor, y en el hecho de estudiar previamente la historia mundial y local de graffiti antes de salir a comprar una lata de pintura y pintar sin ningun fundamento.

Entrevista por J.Donaghy

Bombing Science: Start off with the basics. What do you write? What crews are you up with? Where are you based/where are you from? How long you been in the game?

Perve1: I write Perve1 and I'm down with TM7, KAOS INC, UPS, PFE, YNN....and a few others. I'm from the dirt dirty south ATL, GA! But I'm originally from Rhode Island. I've been writing since the early 90's but started taking it more serious about 96.

BS: How did you get started writing? What keeps you inspired?

P: I got started writing in Providence, RI. There used to be this bridge that had alot of big names from RI there and would get painted weekly. Me and my boy Dek used to go down there and get our minds blown away cause we thought right off the bat that the shit was fresh! We wanted to know how to do that shit. We tried and boy we sucked.

What keeps me inspired is seeing new work out there and also up and coming kids that take it serious and won't be doing it for 4 months and be out. Some of these new kids keep you on our toes and push you to do better and get up more.

BS: So you're one of the biggest ups in Atlanta right now, how much time do you put into that?

P: I go bombing a few times a week. Whatever morning I don't have to get up to go to work you'll find me out there.

BS: Someone from outta town comes to Atlanta, how are you showing them a good time in your city?

P: Whenever I get a guest in town I'll definitely take 'em to the Clairmont Lounge(if ya don't know, ask somebody!). Strip clubs, bars, etc...ATL's strip club capital son!! Do a bridge spot or two...and if that certain guest does illegal shit we'll do a spot or two depending on how long they're here. Plus we smoke...ohhhh boy do we!!! Right Jick?? Haha...

BS: So you cover all the angles pretty well, but at this point what do you prefer, bombing or piecing?

P: Right now I prefer bombing. Just the mode I'm in. When it starts gettin' nice again I might start piecing again, but bombin' is so much more fun. There's definitely more fun stories of bombing then piecing ya know?

BS: How has graffiti positively influenced your life?

P: Graffiti hasn't really positively influenced my life. I've been busted a bunch, beat up, hit by cars. I have been fortunate enough to do some backdrops for some hip hop videos down here and also have met a lot of really great people where if I didn't do graff I would have never met. Some of those who became my best friends. So I guess there is some positive coming out of graff.

BS: What's up with that story about you getting hit by a car?

P: The car story eh? Where do I begin or remember?? Well it was about 4-6 years ago. My boy Revise from Chicago was in town and my boy Wage had a dope keg party we were all at. So our drunk asses decided to go bombing. Great idea. So it was me, Revise, Quest, Host, and Wage (if I'm missin' someone it was the head injury). We were gonna hit this highway spot off of 85 south. When I say I was hammered, that's an understatement. The wall we were doing was up a level so I dropped down to the highway itself and proceeded to do 3 filled in straight letters. Little did I know in my stupor that someone had called the cops and there was a cop 2 inches from my legs, parked on the side of the highway!! After I finished the forcefield on the last straight letter I looked to my right and saw him and bounced across the highway. I remember looking back and seeing him chase me then I turned back around and this car hit me in between the drivers side mirror and the left side of the front of the car. Which made me slide head face first on the highway (car kept going btw). Next thing I remember I'm waking up in an ambulance on the way to Grady hospital. To top it all off the cop that handcuffed me to the hospital bed said I didn't have to wait there and gave me a card with a court date on it. So me and my lady leave and at 9am in the morning there's a knock on my door. Its 2 sheriffs saying that I didn't get processed last night and they gotta take me to go get processed. All fucked up...when I say the whole front of my body was skinned, believe it. I got pics to show it too. The straight letters last 3 days. Don't go bombing drunk...lesson learned.

BS: I heard you were working on an Atlanta graffiti documentary. What's going on with that?

P: Me and my boy Viels have been doing this, working on this video for a longtime now, it's gonna be a double dvd. The 1st disc is gonna be all atlanta graff. You name it, they're in it. The 2nd part is our travels around the US and Canada. We got people like Kem/Ges/Ryno/Cope/Ovie/ITD doing freights out of Boston, Hawaii, Cali, New York, New Jersey, CT. You name it, they're in the video or haven't been filmed yet. Shit's gonna be fresh!! Interviews with DK, SBone, WEB1, TOTEM, etc. Don't wanna let to much out the bag ya know!!?

BS: Rackin'? Buyin'? Scammin'?

P: I rack and scam shit. Times are tough...ballin' on a budget!!

BS: What do you do in your freetime?

P: In my freetime I'm looking for spots to paint, hang with friends, work on the video. I've only got one day off a week so not to much freetime.

BS: What's the craziest thing you've ever witnessed?

P: I've witnessed a lot of crazy shit. Anyone that goes thru the hood in the middle of the night has seen some wild shit. Off the top of my mind tho...me and my boy Vomet were doin' a spot one night when we saw this van go by like 3-4 times. We chilled for a sec then kept doing our thing. We hear a car coming so we lay low but the car never came by. We peak around the corner and the car is sittin' in the middle of the street like 30 ft from us. All of a sudden the car starts goin real fast at us then turns its wheel and goes right thru a fuckin' store front!! 4 dudes hop out and start grabbin' clothes from inside the store haha. Me and Vomet are lookin' at each other like is this really happening? So we stand lookin' at each other, me and Vomet and 30ft away are four dudes with arms full of clothes. We all look at each other and then we all go in separate directions. Was crazy funny!! There was a string of smash and grabs goin on in the A at the time.

BS: What can you say to the up and coming writers?

P: To the up and coming writers, just learn the history of graff first before you even touch a can. After you learn the history, start learning the history of where you're at so you don't go over some legendary shit. When you start, it takes time and patience to get better. In graff, respect goes a long way in this game. Don't get a big head either cause there's always someone that'll burn you out there. Learn to take criticism.

BS: In your opinion, what other writers in Atlanta are worth checking out?

P: Some heads out in the a-town that I look at are Kaos inc crew, Totem2, SBone, this up and comer "knife" does his thing. Be on the lookout for this cat. Isto and the AKB cats. Whoever keeps atlanta's illegal shit going keep going at it!!!

BS: Last words?

P: Peace to all my TM7'S across the map!! Themo, Acet, Web, Wiot (RIP), Omen (RIP), Viels (best friends fo life), Ser2, Rath, Aboves, Jaes (my brother), Enzo, Mes2, Stem, Bies, Goser, and everyone that I've crossed paths with. Nothing but love for ya!!!

Thanks to Perve for taking the time to do this interview. Keep doin' big things. Thanks to Brooke Novak and Nick Allin for the photos.