no, I'd start a web store.

who even shops for webs? spiders?

not one member of your crew has ever spent 30 cents in my store, much less 3 grand. so, can i get my couple a' hundred back then? or are you cats coming down this weekend to drop a coupl'a thou? cuz i'll even stay open later for ya!

where is your store?

heheheheheheheh i tried and tried to get there first

mike, you're a slow witted child raised on colur me bad era r&b. nothing you do is different or unique. nothing that you do matters at all. for some reason you think the reason we don't understand you is b/c we're old. really it's b/c tagging is dumb. it's illegal. and it's ugly.

how does your financial future look?

From the man who doubled his post count today.


Let me ask you this Carney, you don't really get why people think tagging is stupid?? How would this make you feel?




I personally can tell you, it would break my heart. Just like I can imagine businesses and homeowners and apartment dwellers feel when some asshole puts their trash all over their walls.

How does your financial future look?

paint shop pro x thanks you all.

Is there a difference between graffiti and tagging?

I think well thought out graffiti done in a way that turns a run down, dilapidated warehouse into something interesting can be great.

However I feel taggin' someones property just to let the mostly uninterested folks know that you were there is pretty lame.

Well, considering I'm not running around with a snot-rag over my face huffing paint fumes while destroying property and running from cops and irate property owners....pretty goddamn good!

trust me lil' fella i'm fine.

so how long is your mom gonna pay your rent

wes, i consider you one of my "boys" and i'm always happy to bullshit with you. i say this only because this means that you know, first hand, how much i love my store, and how much being a high-street-shopkeep means to me. i sank my life savings, my life's amassed knowledge, more hours and sweat than i can even account for and anything else i had into opening a "cool li'l punk rock shop" on the street i grew up on, as a skatepunk, as a member of the arts scene, and as a musician. at what point did i lose my right to see my store be as beautiful as it could be. at what moment did i give away my privilege to choose what my business looked like?






mine wasn't. it was like an opening months present from the pbj kids. what a fucking treat!



and i opened a store specifically aimed at kids, and this is the thanks i get. hooray!!!



if it causes specific damage to a business, and the owner is forced to chose between the look of his store, and paying the phone bill that month, fuck yeah i am!

fuck up public property, not private. hell, you can at least claim that, as a taxpayer, you paid for part of it and you'll be picking up at least part of the repairs . . .



the bit where it's the glass to my front door of the store that i'd like to attract all kinds of customers to. you know, first impression of a small store in a less than savory neighborhood is a big "gang" tag on the front fucking door just might scare away the customers that spend hundreds of dollars.



not every small business owner in the area is doing half as well as your boss. i don't have a fat mansion in hilliard, i rent a place blocks from my store. graffiti costs hurt me. badly. there are things that have been done to my store by vandals over a year ago that i still can't afford to fix. wish to fuck i could, but the economy isn't real kind to the small business shopkeep nowadays, no matter how good it looks like mr. kubat might have it. xantha's just closed last week, and she was never able to afford to remove ANY of the graffiti she got bombed with . . .



youths don't spend 3000 in our neighborhood, their folks do. and when they see a tag on my door, they'll take that money to the fuckin' mall, where they're "safe"



and those places were destroyed, leveled, wiped from the face of the earth to remove the "tagging" element BEFORE a dime was spent improving it.

dude, i love my store more than any "employee" of a small business could EVER understand. it's like getting to design the baby you've wanted for 20 years. and i just can't believe that on this entire thread, the ONLY one here who has firsthand knowledge of having to choose between bills or fixing a vandalism repair, i'm the only one who's being ignored. i would love to have ANY of these questions answered in something more than a query about age or my portfolio. please, tell me what gives you the right to fuck with a small business owner. please tell me what gives you the right to destroy a bar's bathroom on the first night you've ever been there, never to return. please tell me how the tagging "doesn't really hurt." tell it to me. tell it to my face. this face. because that's what i am: the face of the folks who are fucked because of your "art"

and i will not let you ignore that.

Damn.

Teej just covered all that ever needs to be said on the matter.

Well said.

I think with a comparison to skating damage, it comes down to how obvious the damage is.

In my opinion a cracked curb or a scufted rail is less obvious than a big pink and purple name.

Skateboarding does subtractive damage. Clipping away little by little over time, so it's less noticeable day to day.

But when a tag goes up that is in complete contrast to it's surroundings, people take notice instantly and start to bitch.

both do damage, but one is just way more overt about it.

Fuck, I've skated for years... I've put up band stickers. But I've always tried to be tastedful in where I did it.

And there is no accounting for taste and people will always bitch.

I think it comes down to intent. When you skate, your intent is to skate. When you tag, your intent is to show the world you are a complete asshole.

Uh any person that compares writing over a tribute wall to a dead person and tagging a bathroom or doorway needs to check themselves.

seriously that is the most inconsiderate and retarded analogy.

the thread isn't about people that tag gravestones.

i hope your ovaries have cancer.

spoken like someone who knows nothing about skateboarding..

"in the back of mind i hope she swallows"

so you have never been kicked out of skate spot for skating related damage to a spot.........

this intent shit is killing me.

yes graffiti writers intend on ridding the world of small businesses.

they get 25 cents off at starbucks..

hey at least starbucks gives their employess health insurance.

you care about that mural and think it's beautiful
i care about my store and think it's beautiful

no real difference in my eyes.

it's not up to you to decide what is precious enough for some one else. and i'm pretty sure that was redrabbit's point. if you guys can only think in absolutes, that's your problem. perhaps you still need to let her question and it 's relevance to sink in.

ovary comment was below a cheap shot and maybe even below you.

TJ...There is no way I can rationally tell you that writing on your store is something you should like.

I respect you. And can see why you are pissed.

I think though...

LEAD came from R.I. 5 Years ago and glass etched most of the short north...

In the 5 year time, its been scribed and etched by dozens of people most of who don't live here.

Now, I am not trying to tell you that you should like it or not want to kick the shit out of someone that made you get up extra early to clean something off..

But I don't think its killing your business. I don't think "cool' punk rockers
are afraid of graffiti. and won't shop there..

Thats my point.

I understand why you are angry.
I can't say I blame you.

I guess I wrote graffiti for 10 years, and have watched plenty things get vandalized.

I get yelled out plenty at Mags when people vandalize my store.

I really..
I say this with the upmost respect, and almost don't want to type this next phrase cause I really get what you are saying.

I really understand you work hard, and care about what you are doing..

But...I have always viewed doors, and things on the street ..to be that doors and things on the street.

Graffiti doesn't cause structural damage and to me in many ways gives a neighborhood character.

I just don't care about pieces of concrete and glass.

And you can chalk that up to not owning and working my ass off to own that concrete and glass..

I like to believe its just a matter of the fact that to me, most things aren't very important.

Working hard, and making shit pop in your city, is prolly the only things I truely care about.

And so I get..that you are working hard, and trying to make shit pop.


I guess my idea and your idea conflict cause I like the reckless energy.

I like things that aren't planned.

I usually hate graffiti, and have almost the reverse arguement when I am talking to young graff writers..

I am working for them to not feel disconnected to the rest of city and to realize that there are cool people doing good things.

Cause they are honestly are really civicly minded.
They want to support local music, art, and want to develop Columbus.
They love this city believe or not.
Thats their main motivation.
Repping the Bus.

Which may sound real trivial to someone that works 80 hours a week.
But if you met kids that work 50 hours a week, and don't have much else, it kinda makes sense.

But if you catch one of them, and punch them in face, I would see why you would want to....

you are talking about a blank door vs. basically a tombstone..

YEAH LET ME PONDER A TRIBUTE TO DEAD PERSON AND BLANK HIGH STREET DOOR>. fuck outta here.

sorry if its hard for you see the difference in those two things..

Just a coupla add-ins if I may.

First off, a small business owner is rarely rolling in dough. The taxes on smaller business alone are a greater burden than on bigger business. Secondly, small business in Ohio are second in failure rate only to the number one state in the nation, Michigan.

Quite simply put, if you believe what you do is art (as that tribute clearly is), then find someplace where the owner is receptive to what you do...in other words, find someplace where they want your work. Otherwise your 'artistic freedom' is someone else's literal burdon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_Was_Here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_Was ... 28album%29 (ha)