Here & There: June 2012

Summer is in full swing and the streets are on fire. Lot's of activity out there. I've been cooling my heels and taking time with some family in town lately so I haven't been able to go through most of my new stuff. Here are some recent pics I've put together from the streets, TA wall and factory, Stinkys, and and just about anywhere else I've been traveling. Still getting those rooftops as much as possible but some access points are getting a little heavy to negotiate. In any case enjoy this hodgepodge of pics from various spots.

 

The upper TA Wall was buffed entirely again. I'm still not sure what kind of strategy this is for the city, or the MTQ to manage the area. There has also been an increased police presence in the area and I have heard of several incidents where the police either stopped or arrested writers in the area over the last month or so. The bottom section of the wall has been untouched. The buff only goes till the junction box area by the far pylons before you descend to the lower wall area. I've even seen a MTQ truck cruise through as I was entering last Friday. Again, I'm not too sure what the city or the MTQ is trying to accomplish here considering the last time they tried this strategy was August of 2009 when the entire upper and lower wall area was buffed, and that was largely unsuccessful. The lower wall and factory remain active.

Solid productions by Otek and Apash, as well as Oser and Fleo as of recent at the TA Wall. I'm also digging a lot of the action in the factory as of late. Lots of bright colors and funky styles. And speaking of access issues, check out this shot I got from the back of Sex Cite. I was about to check the spot to get some rooftop action but was stopped by a stair cage wrapped in razor wire! I've seen enough of this stuff in New York City, but not a lot here, if ever for that matter. Needless to say I didn't get up on the rooftop and can imagine that as long as the razor wire is hanging about this area that I won't anytime soon. I'm not even sure if this is legal in Montreal and have had difficulty locating any information on the city websites on the issue. If anyone knows then message me some details.

More soon, stay posted.

St Pattys Weekend 2012

Another year and another St Patty's. Beautiful, record breaking weather made this an awesome weekend. Good people and good times to start the spring off, even if it's not official yet. The weekend started with a session at the PSC wall. It was a great day that involved a lot of curb chilling and beer. Cheers to Meor, Sohoe, Horse, KidPQ, Beast, and everyone else who passed through and chilled that afternoon. It's a good little wall, one that I'll have to remember to pass on through to flick more often.

Sunday was yet another record breaking day, and the parade was in full effect. It looked like a record turn out too. Massive crowds of drunk revelers, over priced dep beer (I never bring enough and am too liberal with sharing), green everything, back alley parties, and solid group of degenerates to party with made it even better too. I wouldn't have it any other way. Like everyone else this past Sunday I had way too much alcohol coursing through my veins, and I even started late. I didn't  make it to the church until about 1:15 and the place was packed, especially on the north side of St Caths. It's a good space, with a pretty ok view, and good company made it a great start off.

After that I snaked my way on through to carve out some prime rooftop but my access was blocked by some snitches. Instead of wasting time I made a move through some nearby alleys and come across a bunch of folks chilling getting their drink on pretty solidly. I spent the rest of the afternoon there getting pretty blasted. I was pretty plastered, so If I said hi to you incoherently or talked a bunch of nonsensical shit to you for a bit, sorry. And Happy Saint Patty's. No one should really remember the day. I'm sure we'll all catch up on semi-coherent terms some point soon.

I cut out early to check Fluke at A'Shop as he was just finishing up the final touches on this massive container he had been painting since the wee hours of the morning. Solid job. Monster piece. Classic Fluke.

I never made it to Barry's for the big shindig. I was too finished. Next time for sure. Not a tonne of pics but I was a little busy being festive. Again, happy Saint Patty's to all. See you all around soon enough.

Piece of the Week: KidPQ, Beast, & Quidam

I've was out of town for a little bit so I wasn't able to update for piece of the week until now. Considering I missed a couple of weeks I decided that I'd put up one of the nicest productions I came across recently. Well, the first week of July, which means I have another piece of the week to drop soon too. Anyway, this prod by KidPQ, Beast, and Quidam was put up about a week or so ago and really caught my eye. I really liked the way KidPQ pulled off a nice reversal of his letters, Quidam took up the opposite side with a solid set of his own, and Beast brought the whole thing together with a nicely done clown-like character.

I really liked the color scheme, lettering, and the addition of the character that hooked the production together. These guys did a great job in using the entire wall space and the background did well to bring the pieces to the forefront. Even though the lettering for both pieces are not the same, this production still holds its own symmetry and comes across as genuinely appealing.

I'll have more up from TA soon and some stuff from the Rosemont area soon too.

Stay posted.

October Update: The Streets, Stinky's, TA, Griffintown, and more

For the most part, October was a nice month of flic missions and graff. The fall air was in full gear and the early evening skies were alight with oranges, yellows and reds. The winter chill still hadn't kicked in and the sun was still up till about 7 pm at night so there was plenty of time to hunt for shots still and explore some familiar haunts. The nights still dropped to close to zero towards the end of the month but besides some steamy breathe and a bit of a breeze, the streets were still pretty active.

I decided to compile the best of what I got over the course of the month instead of dropping four or five separate posts. I don't know if I'll so the same for November as I revisited Turcot, Rouen, and a few other spots that I'd like to shine a special light on. Even though I scrutinized a lot of my shots for this post there's still a bunch I threw in. From the streets to Stinky's to TA to Griffintown and everything in between, I impart some of my shiniest gems for your viewing pleasure. Even though I'm out in the streets & pounding pavement on the regular, I'm always finding something new to take a shot of, fresh or not, in my face or tucked away in an alleyway somewhere.

The TA wall area was pretty quiet as the construction crews had all but taken over with their equipment and hardware. Except for a few small spots along either the upper or lower walls, most stuff, if anything, was on the pillars. And all the construction vehicles and equipment too, of course. I was able to snap a few shots of the wall area and a few more from inside the factory a couple of times while passing through. I got some great shots from the roof at one point later into the month just at dusk. The factory seemed to be the site of anything new going up although I did like some of the stuff up around the wall area.

  

Stinky's has also been pretty quiet in the last while. Ever since the courtyard was closed up with metal sheeting it's slowly gone silent. There are still pieces, rollers, and tags that go up, but they are far and in between. if you look hard enough though you can find yourself some old gems going back a few years.  It's a shame that I didn't get into this spot until around 2005 as I am sure that, like many other places I frequent, that there was a wealth of history and graff before then. I stopped off once or twice to catch some updates and to grab some general pan shots. Even though this spot is a lot quieter than it used to be I still enjoy rolling through the tall grass and scrap pieces lying about and checking what's been going on. 

I got a good walk through of Griffintown and the surrounding area late into the month. I ended up at this old silo spot just off of Wellington that had been fenced up sometime ago. Seeing there was graffiti, I took my camera in to get a peek. There was no way I was going to get into this place as it had been thouroughly barred up. So I just got some pics of what I could and continued on. Although it was a small little corner in the depths of the Griffintown area, it had great appeal. There was a nice jam wall along Wellington as well that had some solid pieces too. Besides that, it was just nice to be out taking in the autumn air along and around the canal.

The final spot that I checked out was CN Wellington and the old swing bridge along the water. I'd seen this spot for a while but it was never really accessible to me before recent as the doorway is normally sealed and bolted. Someone had taken the time to open it up so this time around I got in and got some shots. It was a nice end to a month of great flic missions. I'd end up coming back here in November and December with an external flash -I'll post those pics soon enough.

November pics and write ups will be up as soon as I can get to them. Till then, stay posted.