Filed under: Photography | Tags: 2008, Adze, Alone, Alone One, Alone1, Art of Graffiti Removal, Bay Area, Bay Bridge, Blogs, Boston, Boxtruck, Bronx, Brooklyn, Buffed Graffiti, Caype, Celtics, Celtics Dancers, Cholo, Divorce, Dumpling House, East Coast, Echo Park, Ellis G., Ellis Gallagher, Fire Escapes, FTW, Gas, Graffiti, Hew Burney, Jesus Saves, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Lost, Lower East Side, M.T.A., Minivan, Nevada, New Years, New York, Noxer, NY, NYC, Obama, OD, Odee, r32, r33, r34, Red Wings, Redbird, Redbirds, San Francisco, Second St, Second St Tunnel, Slay, Subway, Taco Tuesday, Tacos Mexico, Travel, Union Pool, UW, Vault, Water Towers, West Coast, Williamsburg
2008 was a crazy year for me. The “divorce” was finally over and no more mortgage. I was set free in a lot of ways. Here’s some pics from the last year that never made the blog..
I drove (..yeah crazy already) about 15,000 miles in a year.
..even in a minivan, I can’t drive 55. Topped out at 117, shaking ALOT.
Spent alot of time in Los Angeles. Things are just different there.
LA doesn’t have so many Dunkin’ Donuts.
Galo and Size. Don’t know who did the cholo characters, but they are so LA and really dope.
FTW. These dudes were up in Echo Park.
Dope SLAY sticker. This dude was up, creepin tags in weird not-so-quick-to-buff spots.
“ADZE ” also had his ups.
Ellis G came through for a West Coast visit.
The Bay Area became my new second home.
Hew Burney came through with the pics when in Vegas..
Taco Tuesday dictated the schedule in ’08.
OD crew wasn’t being pushed anymore, partly due to a “bad apple” bumming out everyone. Something had to give, and it was either retire the crew or clean it up and move on. Bad apple removed.. new apples added.
Welcome to the family Caype OD.
Getting bored, and with the recomendation/encouragement from some friends, I started this blog.
Gas prices got out of control (I had to spend $5.15 a gallon once in Hollywood), leading me to drive less and steal more (gas). Which made LA suck even more.
..so even with all the beautiful weather and women, LA just wasn’t for me.
I was out.
East Coast <3 .
and oh yeah, huge political news.. Obama pulled it off.
Happy New Years!
Filed under: Ramblings, Travel | Tags: -Fuck, Cars, Driving, Fuck You, Gas, Los Angeles, Mr. Brainwash, Obey, Ramblings, Shepard Fairey, Sheppard Fairey, Sun, Sunsets, Travel, Weather
I’ve had enough of L.A.. Time to be out.
Shit is mad fake. The L.A. river is a fake river. Silver Lake is a fake lake. The plastic surgery. The girls. So many of the people. The wack LA hipsters and the corny Hollywack scene. I’d rather just read The Arab Parrot, and look at his pic of all the clowns I missed from the night before. And even he did the right thing and flew the coop a few weeks back. Good move.
Sick of the L.A. art scene. Sick of Shepard Fairey and his Fuct-up plagiaristic art. Sick of Mr. Brainwash and his mockery of the art world (first art show grossing over 1/2 million$!). If that’s what it takes to make it, I’m all set.
Sick of cars and driving. The city is designed wrong and public transportation here is so useless, that you really have to drive. Driving everywhere. Tickets. Tickets, and more tickets. Car towings. Random car repair bills. Traffic here can make a 15 minute drive turn into 2 hours. Cars are wack. And the gas prices (insane skyrocketing from $3 to $5.15 in the spring)! Fuckin gas. Aren’t people dying over this shit?!
Sick of the segregation. It’s ridiculous. All of the black people are in South Central, Compton or Watts unless they are even less fortunate than that and are on Skid Row. Mexicans live in central (excluding Skid Row) and East LA. Asians live in their retrospective neighborhoods (Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Tokyo). The white people live on the West Side (Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silver Lake), on the top of all the hills, and anywhere near the ocean. There’s not much interaction between races here. No getting on the subway and seeing 12 ethnicities and hearing 6 languages being spoken on the same train. Most of the conversations between races here are actually people yelling at each other while driving. Maybe I’m weird, but I like diversity.
The economy in LA is severely unbalanced. There’s alot of money here, but it doesn’t seem to get around very well. No wonder there’s been some frustration here before (and before that). It seems that you are not making $30+ an hour, you are basically a “Mexican” (meaning everyone else) getting minimum wage. That is, IF you can get work.
Sick of jobs falling through, people wanting art but then “We really want your art, but we don’t quite have the budget. But if you wanna do it for free, it would surely help your portfolio”. ..Um yeah.. charity usually involves helping someone that needs it, not helping your store look better so you can sell more cupcakes. I have to eat. So if I work for you, then “Fuck you. Pay me.” If I just wanted to paint a wall.. I can find walls to paint.
Sick of the best time to get something done out here always being “tomorrow”. Let’s just get shit done!
Sick of the weather. “But it’s ‘perfect'”. Bullshit. It’s the same everyday, and it is borrrring. I can get into a cloudy day, fall foliage, painting in the snow, spring rain and rebirth. Bad weather makes me appreciate the “nicer days”. Sick of the sun. The sun is over-rated, and causes skin cancer, heat stroke, squinting, and exhaustion. Sunsets are ok.. because it’s leaving. Like me.
(*All this ranting aside, thanks and big ups to my all my friends still in Los Angeles. Now I just gotta get y’all out!)
Filed under: Travel | Tags: Dog, Dogs, Fashion, Hotel, Las Vegas, Magic, Plaza, Pool, Project, Sneaking, Sneaking In, Trade-Show, Tradeshow, Travel, Wall-Ride, Wallride
Recap of last week in Las Vegas…
First off, I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.. A week in Vegas is too long!
The Plaza Hotel. Yeah, it’s a “smoking room”.
How to sneak a dog into your hotel room:
Get a good size box. Pup is gonna want to sit instead of lay down so put the box vertical. After goin past security, try to keep him still all the way to your room. One kick and all the people in the elevater will wonder if you are smuggling a midget into your room.
Let him out and enjoy your stay.
Hotel Wall Ride (photo: Skimps)
When you go out on the ledge of your hotel, bring your clothes! Especially if anyone might lock you out there. (Unless you are like Skimpy here, and you like letting Brian hang out.)
Also spent some time in the streets, gettin some ups and hangin with the riff-raff and alleycats while discovering downtown LV. Old casinos, 99¢ deep fried Twinkees (yuck.) or deep fried Oreos (Yum.), $1 margaritas and $2 Shrimp Cocktails (what!).
Oh and almost forgot.. it was fashion tradeshow week. I hit up Pool, Magic and Project. Didn’t care for much of the new fashion and I wasn’t showing anything, but it was cool to see some people that I haven’t seen in a minute. And all the shows lead to some crazy nights and plenty of new aquaintances and connections.
Beauty Bar afterparty
This shirt wasn’t at the trade shows but was was one of my faves. It’s sound activated. Scream and the levels on your shirt go up. DOPE!
Thanks to David and David for hookin us up with a ride outta Vegas.
I’ve left out ALOT, but it was a long week and I am over it. “I’m going, going, back, back to Cali”.
Filed under: Photography, Travel | Tags: Desert, Nevada, Photography, Travel
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