Monday, December 01, 2025

Whither Graffiti?

A fire escape on the wall of which has been painted a man's face with a long purple beard, stretching to the ground.

When people think of graffiti, they think of the intricate work of some artists - often commissioned, as I believe the art in the image above is - but of course graffiti can just be writing - sometimes names, like tags, or sometimes rude sentences (or not rude, sorry to impose my judgment on them). I was thinking a while back about how in two of the three college stations at which I deejayed, the bathrooms were marked up. Just really, really marked up. Here's a snap of the one at KVRX from around 1995:

Lots of graffiti on a restroom wall.

& from about twenty years later, something pithy that always made me laugh found in the WRFL bathroom:


In fact it was in a fit of nostalgia that I came across that WRFL pic a few weeks ago & that's what made me think about doing a show about graffiti.

As a side comment: I do wish I had documented those magnificent restrooms more completely. Neither exists any more. The building in which the original KVRX studios lived was demolished around 1999 I think, & the WRFL bathroom was destroyed when the UK Student Center was remodeled around 2015 or 2016. Too bad.

Songs & interviews about graffiti tonight on KBOO. Midnight to 2am. That's 90.7fm here in town & online everywhere at kboo dot fm. Now. I'd better start working on my tag!

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