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A BAND FOR THE 21ST CENTURY CLUB & HATE ON DISPLAY AT MUNI
Ok, so I am obsessed with
Check out their site and their vid clips! Awesome band. Can't wait for the full lenght CD!!! ...their maxi CD is out now and it is well worth the money if you like this type of music.
If you're reading this on "my space" you will have to go to my blog space for the link and the pictures. I am not smart enough to figure out how to do that sort of thing on "my space"
Oh, and I have to share my frustration with the homophobe or mean-spirted jerk who defaced the new KNOW HIV AIDS education campagin posters hanging up at the MUNI Church and Castro stations. Now, I am a little indifferent about this current educational poster. However, we live in a world that worships celebrity so maybe these will make some at risk folks think a bit and others think a bit, too. I think it is great that these performers/activists/celebs are donating their time and faces to this attempt at reaching people. Liz Taylor, Tom Hanks, Sharon Stone, et al -- rock!
So, 2 weeks ago when I first noticed that someone had defaced a couple of these posters with arrows indicating that these celebs are going to Hell --- it pissed me off. ...but, now, 2 weeks later - the defaced posters are still hanging. Last week I thought to myself, "Well, I guess it's good that people can see the level of stupidity that is still walking around --- even in a city like ours where so many people are dealing with this horrific disease" ....but this week I am just annoyed that MUNI has not even bothered to either take the defaced posters down or replace them.
So, tonight I spoke with one of the MUNI people in the glass cage and inquired about the fact that they are keeping homophobic grafiti up in stations where a good percentage of their customers are gay and liberal. I advised that it was not only a slap in the face to those of us who have lost friends/family to AIDS, but to those who are trying to help prevent further spread. Why haven't they been removed or replaced and when would someting be done about it.
I got a minimal response which I could barely understand. A sort of disinterested mumble from the dude who makes $60K to sit in a glass cage. So, I offered to take them down for him to which I was told that this would be an illegal act. I then asked if it wasn't also illegal to deface MUNI posters. He stumbled but told me that this was also illegal.
I ended up apologizing to the poor guy. It isn't his fault. He is just doing his job (and I can only imagine the horrors with which he must deal -- the MUNI workers earn their money) --- and it isn't his job to take down posters which have been ruined/mocked by idiot vandals.
However, he told me I could send an email to MUNI. Yeah, that'll work.
I told him I thought it might be better for me to write to the Chronicle and the Mayor's office. He then told me that he was going to call "the command center" to report it and to let them know he had received a complaint. I thanked him. ...but I still want to just rip the defaced posters down. Anarchy! Let's take it back!
I mean, it is one thing for stupid kids to draw gross things on the poster for the new Jennifer Aniston movie --- but these posters are something all together different. They matter. They mean something and they are trying to reach people for the good of us all. I don't know. It just pisses me off.
Ok, soap box is being pushed back into the corners of my mind and I am going to crank up some Dirty Sanchez!
8 Comments:
Hello Matt and happy new year!
Down with Muni they don't remove and replace the defaced campaign posters. Everyone, each famous person, represents figuratively at least, persons lost. That's how I see it. We all have a story about someone. I know.
bummer.
Then, I like your previous post about taking risks. I used to and I wonder where my petrol can of flight-flight went to. Being my first instinct...I feel a tad bruised now. awe.
I'm glad you're there, in the City of Ing.
-g+bb
Matt -- I don't think MUNI is responsible for those posters -- it's space leased to advertising agencies so it's the ad agencies that need to do something.
MUNI guys don't care -- it's not their responsibility and they'd probably get in trouble with their union for doing something proactive but out of their job description.
Talk to the ad agency -- they're the ones with something at stake.
ginab -- yes, I feel this calls for full scale SF revolt! LOL!
Milford -- Yeah, I don't know. If that is the case the MUNI guy in the glass cage could not tell me that. Seems like he would have. Ultimately, I think MUNI takes responsibility for anything displayed on its property which is why they sometimes refuse to put certain things up. But, I guess that could be a wrong way of looking at it -- tho, I don't think so.
Ok, so I know I need this word verification thing, but I swear -- sometimes I can't read the words I am supposed to type! LOL!
Contact Gavin Newsom, yo? Me too, I'll contact & complain (for whatever good that will do), if you're in. I haven't seen the grafitti you mentioned -- but if I did, I wonder if I'd have any idea what those arrows signified. Still, though, if it's common knowledge and I'm just sort of, like, duh, let's call Gavvy. He's pretty good at getting things to happen (he once saved our little bookstore).
Speaking of things I maybe should know, I wish I knew what a "dirty sanchez" was. Mainly so I could sort of hiply and nonchalantly slip it in during a conversation at a New Year's Eve party. Since it's apparently not a topic for polite blogging, though, I hope that in some other forum you'll find some genteel and discreet way of 'splaining it to me, because there's always next year's parties. Maybe my ginafriend knows since she's the worldly one, the dry martini to my merlot-in-a-jelly-glass. I'll ask her.
Happy, happy New Year, my new friend! And now, I'm going to look into Dirty Sanchez, the band.
xoxo
Karl -- Ha Ha, you wrote "dude" --- no hissing from me. I don't like that. The cinema is a holy place with popcorn!
Lords of Acid? Oh my gawd! Matty, props and kisses!
Love the blog, Matt. You remind me visually of a friend of mine called David, who's also in law.
They do say that everyone has a double.
V.entertaining posts, will make sure I pop by every week now.
All the best for 2006.
Trashbinder
I think everyone has covered the bases of my thoughts about the vandalism, but I did want to mention that this campaign really owes a lot to the work of Diamanda Galas in the early '90s.
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