2001-01-28

im sitting here at work trying to get some sleep, but it just isn't happening. and that's fine. and my mind is going places. its a natural habit to want to travel, right? so any way, i was thinking about tonite, jake and i ran into chalk drawings on the ground by DeLaVega.

he's this sort of local guy that leaves the thoughts from his notebooks on the ground, in little quotes written on the sidewalk. occasionally accompanied by a drawing. he is reaching heroic proportions, you see him all over the upper east side, and soho. there's a song about him that i've heard,even.

the quotes are reminders to new yorkers not to be so damn uptight, or not to smoke, or just funny little ironies of life. tonite i saw a drawing of a face about to take a huge bite, teeth bared -- and then he had actually bought a slice of pizza and put it there on the pavement, for the character to bite into. it was amusing how people were walking around it. it had become an event, the usual joe could understand it, appreciate it, and leave it alone. it made countless people smile, i'm sure. what a great idea.

and so De La Vega reminded me of eric's talk about the impermanent graffiti thing. of going around the town and putting up office stickies in the bathroom stalls, scrawled with an idea or a sketch. graffiti has seen its hey day, now its out of style here in newyork. kind of funny, you would think something like graffiti would never go out of style.