STREET ART

Bad boy of the streets

Cloaked in darkness, scrawls message;

OBEY artistry.

I like Shepard Fairey's work. Yes, he

started out as a skater, bad boy, street

artist; pumping out stickers of Andre the

Giant, scrawling out unwelcome and

uninvited messages and images throughout

our urban landscapes; the mark of a gen "X,"

determined, gritty, defiant. At some point

he found himself a necktie, cinched it up

and made a sweeping turn toward main-

stream; the Hope poster of the Obama

campaign put him in the spotlight and

didn't hurt Obama either. He has a style

that attracts me but I'm not sure how I

would classify it. Much of his imagery

reminds me of old Soviet propaganda

posters, which I have always loved. He has

repeatedly been accused of "stealing" others'

work and is in the midst of a lawsuit for

using an AP image of Obama and stylizing

it for the famous poster. He claims it is

fair use. Despite all of this, I like him.

He recently showed up in Hill-

crest to slap a mural on the side of the

local Urban Outfitters; he has a line of

clothing that is sold there.

Hmm, even street artists need to scrape

together a living.

BUEN CAMINO

Wrote this following a particularly

challenging day of uphill climbing

with my vintage Raleigh mountain

bike sin shocks and shlepping way

more material goods in my panniers

than necessary. The up's never seemed

to be followed by an equal and well

deserved down. Guess the physics of

hill topography is unpredictable. The

travel on the Camino was somewhat

indescribable. It was both a challenging

piece of mountain biking and a memorable

journey through astonishingly beautiful

countryside. I am now an official "Peregrino"

having received my document in Santiago,Sp.

along with thousands of others. All walks of life

trudged along on this 800km path that took

us through river valleys, meadows,

steep mountains, rocky hillsides, pine forests,

charming cobblestoned villages, bustling cities.

As we passed weary but determined travelers

from all over the world we would all share a nod

and a collective "Buen Camino". This area of

Spain, known as Galicia, is compelling and

powerful offering hints of Celtic wizardry, copious

amounts of rioja (red table wine), cerveza San

Miguel and Estrella Galicia in every bar and cafe,

cathedrals, castles and the constant chanting

of Viva Espana as the World Cup came home to Spain.

A pilgrim, of sorts

Freewheeling the St. James Way

Longs for hills' refrains.