the video is fine until about 7:00 when they say that the fire department raised the rent — that is absolutely untrue. the fire department was not the landlord of 1462 san bruno ave.

in reference: his wife (Woosley’s daughter, his ‘political connections that will protect him in Petaluma’) wanted to live close to mommy in petaluma. end of story.

the fire department likely didn’t return calls because it’s bullshit, and they were not the property owners, duh. but what makes me sicker is hearing Mark talk about how you can’t do this kind of art anymore, when it’s been happening all around us for years (in the streets, illegally, SF Bay Area) and he’s just so out of the scene he has no clue about the movements at spaces like NIMBY and even DDI because he simply retreated from the world. he got old, and that part of the video makes me angry and just sad. what he says about the SF art scene is so out of touch with what’s happening here.

Mark’s statements really do a disservice to the badass, lawbreaking and truly incredible underground arts scene we have here. even my visit to the Street Art of SF book event was like OMG — these guys (and a few girls) break the law every fucking night because their passion drives them to make art in SF. they HAVE to — like SRL used to a long time ago.

and they didn’t get up and go oh, the city hates us or whine about the deck being stacked against them and how they’re the only ones taking risks with their art. they stood up (at great risk, showing their faces in the bookstore with phonecams recording and liveblogging) and said, we love this city, we make it have a flavor. we create dialogue that gatecrashes art galleries. they have no fear. and they love SF.

like a bad breakup where you dis your ex, the real actually-doing-something and loving/living their art transgressive artists here in San Francisco don’t have to invent reasons to hate the culture that made them who they are in order to change their lives.

one quote from the Street Art SF night was “I hate that the one thing I know how to do and the one thing I love is against the law.”

It’s almost as if the city has become a money-making entity instead of a community. Take the DPT for instance, I had a vision of Photoshopping The Boot on all the cars on my block one day after seeing three cars with the boot and realizing the relentless Wagnerian little bugs swarming the city in the morning handing out tickets without conscience. This is big business. Where’s the money going? Not into the arts, that’s for sure.

As for the fringe, there is definitely room for the fringe in this city, it’s just that the fringe is contained to the homeless, the crackheads, the junkies and the beggars. The art scene here is marginal, at best. There are a few visionaries who move things along–(Million Fishes Gallery, Melting Point Studios, Artaud), but the main galleries are more interested in pop art than art that has real substance, say Vercacci Uzis and skateboard art.

This city is ripe with creativity. You don’t need a permit to express it. Just do it and take the consequences. Having lived in Sonoma County, although Petaluma is somewhat of an open community, it can get very provincial.

Thing is, San Francisco can get provincial too.