Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Snappy September - Day One - Clerk is a JERK

It's that time of year again, when I try to blog every single day for a month. I did it in 2008 during Appreciative August and twice in 2009 with Knowledge November and the daggy Doggy December.

In 2010 it's Snappy September. Silly LOLcat captions, cartoons and artworks are the backbone of this blog, but this month it's all about my photos. Ones I've taken with my old Canon 'sure shot' won on 'Wheel of Fortune' in 1988, or the digital brick we bought in 2003; or the brilliant SLR that was a birthday gift from Love Chunks and Sapphire in 2009.

So, are you ready?




















I've never really paid much attention to graffiti unless it's really unavoidable and ugly in both senses of the word.

















You know the stuff I mean: the classically horrendous, hand-written 'Sharon is a mole and we're going to punch her face in' local trivia that's mostly found scrawled on the back of roadhouse toilets or thick spray-painted hate like 'Go Home Afghanis/Greenies/People Who Think for Themselves.'




















Therefore whenever I see the little white panel van with 'Graffiti Removal Squad' driven around the neighbourhood by the nice retired blokes, I usually give them a wave and say 'Good on yer' as they pass. They've got their hands full and therefore don't have time or the energy to climb on top of shot towers, railway bridges and apartment buildings to remove the tags that plague our area.




















In Flemington, graffiti tags are on everything. If the Thursday winos who like to sun themselves on the tram stop seats by Racecourse Road stay motionless too long they're likely to have 'Mine' or 'Herpys' or 'Klerks' written on them in fat texta.

And its Clerk (with a 'C' and no 's' at the end) and Klerks (with a 'K' and an 's' at the end) who completely and utterly dominates our little part of the city.

















Clerk/Klerks have tagged the railway bridge, the actual track, the station's doors, roof guttering, heritage-listed pedestrian bridge, cement underpass, platform benches and brickwork.

According to a policeman I chatted to, keen graffiti taggers hate it when haters or lovers of their 'work' mis-spell their tag. He then said, "So go on and write about him. If he - and yes, they're mostly male - is like our other frequent taggers, then he'll be eager to google himself online to see how infamous he's become and if you mistake his work - Clerk or Klerks - it'll be a huge insult."















Well, KClerks - YOU are the insult. Clearly you have a lot of time on your hands, money to spend on art supplies and perhaps suffer from insomnia or restless legs syndrome, because your 'art' is mostly done in the middle of the night.














I've found you on the back of the truck owned by
Mr Divvy Van's house mate














.....and on this poor backpacker's van by the railway station. Sapphire and I have also seen your handiwork on the tennis courts, shopfronts, builder's port-a-loos, Laksa King renovations, garage doors, school signs, road work barriers, roundabouts, chimney tops and billboards.


It's hard not to ask why someone who clearly has a lot of time, daring and energy doesn't put it to good use. You know, stuff like rescuing kittens, catching drug dealers, fixing up cracked walls, fighting crime etc.

Whilst I'm currently a Litter Ninja, I'm still avoiding the suggestions that people 'helpfully' throw my way about tackling graffiti. Picking up a squashed Maccas box is over in seconds and makes a difference for - oh ok, maybe only a day - but graffiti can take hours to remove and cost a lot of solvent, paint or water to do so and reappear again that night. Pretty dispiriting stuff.

Apart from being a Night Time Ninja with Harry Potter's borrowed invisibility cloak, how would I catch you, Mr CKlerks? And if I did so, armed with just a bit of middle-aged, middle-class anger and some $5.95 barbecue tongs, what could I do to change things?

66 comments:

Nicole said...

Wow! That is horrible. I get so angry about people defacing other people's property - especially cars and houses.

franzy said...

Yeah!
I funking love photos!
I am looking forward to this month...

franzy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cinema Minima said...

Woohoo, go Kath! Looking forward to Snappy September, especially with your trademark Famous Five-esque mysteries. I can't wait till you find Clerks/Clarks/whatever and tear off his hoodie and hear him say "Bah! I would have got away with it too if it weren't for you meddling bloggers!" And armed with only middle-age anger and a pair of BBQ tongs, I think you could render Mr Vandal unable to participate in his favourite activity again, let alone walk straight. As Blackadder once said, "Baldrick, believe me, eternity in the company of Beelzebub and all his hellish instruments of death will be a picnic compared to five minutes with me and this pencil!",

I like a nice, colourful mural in the right place, but taggers are just dogs pissing on trees.

PS-You can remove 'permanent' marker from cars easily with White Spirit (Shellite).

River said...

The tags are awful to look at and are appearing with more almost everywhere it seems. Colourful graffiti with pictures included doesn't seem to be so bad, at least it's not so hard to look at. There's a wall near my home that's covered in colourful paint. I don't mind walking past it, but fences and stobie poles etc with just a few dozen tags? Ugh!

nuttynoton said...

we had a really interesting debate recently on whether graffiti is art or not, my whole thought is if it is some one else's property it is vandalism without their permission if they are ivited then it is art

Vanessa said...

I so look forward to hearing from you every day for September. I detest graffiti and fortunately when it appears in our suburb it is removed swiftly. Jerks like to tag the WAFL Footy oval ticket booth opposite our home.

mele said...

I love melbourne culturally, but it's a pretty ugly city. Went recently and couldn't help noticing here's litter EVERYWHERE, graffiti everywhere and and there are lots of beautiful buildings next to 'crack' houses! What's going on with local council and the state government?????

Tagging-the name symbol-is the signature of the vandal, but 'graffiti' is the art, apparently.

Kath Lockett said...

Hmmm......I dobbed in four kids who were smoking underneath an apartment balcony on the corner of our street yesterday and hid in Sapphire's room (the front of our house) and saw the teacher come, tell 'em off and send 'em back to school.

Then today, I was walking past the school at recess to take Sapphire's forgotten lunch to her and the same four boneheads were smoking - this time in the actual school yard, up against the main building where, two windows up, I could see four teachers having a chat in someone's office. The reek of smoke was down the street.

Again, I got back home, phoned the school and am sure the kids got told off again but it makes me wonder if there is ever a teacher on yard duty if the kids think they can smoke so openly like that?

And - was CKlerks one of them???????

Baino said...

There's a fine line between graffiti and street art don't you think. I have no problem with street art on designated spaces but the wanton destruction of property by taggers really drives me crazy. Ah Snappy September, no wonder you've got 4 posts up already.

janelouise said...

hi, i have noticed Clerk for some time now and would be happy to start a group that will travel to all Clerk locations and deface their tag, from clerk to gerkin, whos in? janelouise

Anonymous said...

real graff is born from this, ask any writer this. you really think big time graffiti artist didn't have a tag to start off with? you guys are really confused

Anonymous said...

R.I.P Clerks, you will be missed

MedicatedMoo said...

Gosh, got to love the bravery of someone who posts as 'Anonymous'.

Now that my slow hand clap has finished I do NOT believe that tagging everything in a barely artistic signature is art. That's like a dim-witted child writing their name on everything they own, but in this case it's a dim-witted doofus with a wallet and the ability to buy a felt marker writing their name on everything they *don't* own.

Anonymous said...

you people must also have a lot of time on your hands, would you rather a heroin plague resulting in many house robberys? or kids resulting to what is also percieved as art by the not so narrow minded, lifeless community superheros. this is an outlet for many young teenagers as to mature adults, so before you get on your moral high horse and speak about how you are the perfect citizen, have a think behind potential reasons and results that could happen without graffiti for these people, if caligrahy writing can be considerd and art form, how does that differ from "tagging"? be a bit more open minded.

Anonymous said...

rest in peace clerks WH

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

RIP CLERKS, PROZAK AND GIZMOE. Keyboard warriors need to watch how they talk about people who have passed away. KINGS NEVER DIE.

MedicatedMoo said...

Ah Anonymous, so brave yet again.

'You people must have a lot of time on your hands' - er no, Anonymous, MINDLESS TAGGERS who climb buildings to scrawl a tag - NOT ART - a tag, have way, way too much time on their hands.

Anonymous said...

its middle class loosers like you who spend their time internet crusading that have too much time on their hands, rip clerks

MedicatedMoo said...

Why don't you reveal your real name, Anonymous or are you too embarrassed as misspelling the word 'loser' ?

MedicatedMoo said...

Hi again Brave Anonymous

Why don't YOU have some respect and leave this website and do something decent for a dead guy instead of wasting your time here?

....some paint thinner and a donation to the Moonee Valley Council's Graffiti clean up crew would be a start.

Anonymous said...

I am a different anonymous.
i dont know what to say, you have once again showed no respect to clerks someone who has passed and you cant bring back. many people are in mourning because of this. He might of de-faced property that pissed you off but he also would of brought happiness to many people. Yet you still decide to act like a spineless bitch.
if i was you i would be quiet and not respond and put it to rest.

Anonymous said...

you're allowed to share your opinion of course, but at least have some respect for the dead.. rest in peace clerks.

jenny Stark said...

I'm with you Katherine.
Find out where he lives and do something!

MedicatedMoo said...

Thanks Jenny!

Anonymous number two, or one or whoever you are - I don't dislike whoever Clerks was as a person, but I do dislike his tagging which, in my view, will always be considered unsightly and unartistic graffiti.

If he *did* paint or spray anything that you do consider 'art' then please send me a photo or a link and I'll reconsider my opinion.

Otherwise, I'm sure you'll find more appropriate and useful ways of remembering Clerks than staying on this blog.

MedicatedMoo said...

Oooh Anonymous, you're so scary when you're angry!

Yet again - as I seem to be writing to a slow-witted, rather dull child here - this is MY blog and contains MY opinions.

Graffiti - like your writing - is butt ugly. That's why it's called 'graffiti'. Now run along and do something to commemorate your dead friend instead of littering the place with your ignorance, shallow mindedness and bad writing.

MedicatedMoo said...

My priorities, oh brave Anonymous, are absolutely fine.

I say again - please share with me what 'art' Clerks ever did (and where to find it) and what (if anything) he did to contribute to society as a whole?

Glad to see that you can, at the very least, spell the rude words. You must feel very proud of yourself.

....Any progress on how you're actively planning on commemorating his life by doing something more useful than being an anonymous little coward on this blog?

MedicatedMoo said...

One final word, Anonymous (1,2, 3....). It's clear that you have a lot of love and respect for Clerks and I empathise with your loss, I really do.

However, as we know, it's impossible to change someone else's opinion on issues they're passionate about so further comment on whether tags are a social service or annoying graffiti are no longer going to be accepted. Same goes for insults.

clarice said...

Sorry, all you anonymice, but Clerks was no loss to the rest of us. In fact, I'd say the world is better off without him, if all he had too offer was some pathetic scrawl. Now go away, children, and play somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

If what you call "art" is so artistic then why aren't you out painting the Mona Lisa, instead of posting brain dead comments on someone's blog?

Anonymous, got to love your bravery. Kath is awesome. She's never done anything wrong. You only think that tagging is acceptable because you have crap pulsing through your undeveloped, adolescent veins.

And calling her an old hag will definitely get her on your side! This "spineless bitch" has a lot more spine than you, ANONYMOUS. She has a name and a picture and is not afraid to share her thoughts. Do you?

Nice language too. Come up with that yourself?

I you really do love and respect Clerks then why are you wasting your time here on this page? You do know that this is a post from 2010, right? Grow up and do something useful.

This "stuck up bitch" isn't a snob. Do you see any fucking ferraris in Flemington?

"Keyboard warriors"? Wtf dude, she's just as brave in real life. You're a keyboard warrior yourself, dear ANONYMOUS. I bet everyone is impressed as hell by your bravery. Oh my god, he anonymously posts on someone's blog! HOW FUCKING AMAZING!

Maybe you should spend less time being a hypocrite and go away, sit down and mourn for Clerks with some actual respect.

Have a problem? Oh wait, I wouldn't fucking care if you did. Run along darling. Get an education while you're at at.

ASHB to you said...

You do mean my Internet Provider (IP) address right?
But I am interested, what are your plans involving my identity. Are you going to charge with me cyber bullying? Come to my house and scare me? Write a blog post about me?

Please Kath let me know I am so intrigued.

Kath while you are entitled to an opinion that was not my point. My point is that as a deficient person, you should not voice your opinion where I might stumble upon it. It is just not fair to people like me.

Why do my remarks suggest I cannot take "heat". What is the "heat". Many girls have told me that am I hot, so maybe I do not feel the full extent of this "heat". I don't know K, you tell me?

Oh and thank you for the concerning comments about my head. I will have you know that I did not fall on my head as a child. However I have fell on my head many times later in life. For example, this one time I was playing hopscotch with my sister May. May always liked hopscotch, she would often tell me that if she was a chicken that she would play cricket. But as a girl, hopscotch was more appropriate game. Back to what I was saying, basically I feel over playing hopscotch but that is not the point. Chickens cannot play cricket in the same way you cannot make any sort of an intelligent rebuttal.

You have disappointed me Katherine.

ashb said...

Oh we have ourselves a comment deleter? who cannot take this heat now. Do you know what DDOS is Katherine. I suggest you do some reading because this blog may well be history.

MedicatedMoo said...

I'm deleting them, ASHB, because they're unnecessarily insulting and I'm sure you have better things to do than litter my site with more comments.

You do know, don't you, that I have tracked your server address details?

MedicatedMoo said...

...I also deleted them because, on a second reading, I felt ashamed at what I wrote to you.

Your ill-informed and immature comments made me angry when I should have realised that we both had/have different opinions.

What does amuse me is that you STILL won't reveal yourself to me, or the readers who visit here. Why not?

? said...

yet comments insulting dead people is perfectly ok?

- yes I know, believe it or not I am not breaching any cyber bullying laws.

go ahead said...

feel free to reveal me in a blog post along with a copy of our deleted conversation

? said...

please explain how my comments are ill informed and immature. I gave you clear precise reasoning, why can you not do the same?

respond I am tired and want to go to bed said...

this feels a bit like a one way suburban conversation.

MedicatedMoo said...

Oh please, ASHB - you know what you wrote and what you linked to. Call that mature and intelligent?

I'm insulting Clerk's actions and graffiti and I'm allowed to do so. Haven't you got an science test to study for?

Please respond said...

Kathy comment deleting is greatest sign of cowardice. I am asking for your permission to re post the before comment.

Also as Al Pacino elaborated upon in The Scent of a Woman, snitching is for those without character. Can you handle the heat? or do you need to employ internet censorship tactics?

MedicatedMoo said...

Oh sweetie, that's so funny coming from someone who won't even reveal themselves!

I am the insult said...

Kathy I will have you know I am one of these insomniacs with restless leg syndrome. I will not relent. I am happy to make alterations to the profane points in my argument as long as you uphold your end of the bargain

MedicatedMoo said...

Wow, that's, like, so admirable that you 'won't relent'. Slow hand claps to you for selecting such a worthy campaign to fight....*zzzzzzz*

MedicatedMoo said...

Oh and the last thing you deserve is a bargain with me. Or anybody who is decent and possesses a working brain.

Ooops. I suppose I should say I'm sorry for that.

oh no its the grammar police said...

btw an is only used before words that begin with vowels.

ASHB (you said it) said...

Kathy do not kid yourself, I am a lot smarter than you. However if you do think my brain does not work, why did you delete my comment. Surely everybody will see that my brain does not work and they will ignore it. Won't they?

Can it be true? said...

does '*zzzzzzz*' suggest that you are typing whilst sleeping. If so please tell me how you do it? You may have just found the competitive advantage that takes a poor free lancer nobody to the tops of high society.

duh said...

I am of course referring to you not me. I have many skills and talents.

MedicatedMoo said...

Thanks - are you saying I'm at the top of high society? How kind.

Well, at least I'm keeping you off the streets busy creating new anonymous log ons and away from that ugly, pointless and expensive-to-remove practice of tagging, so some good has come out of it.

Master of the blogger admin said...

Not once did I mention was a tagger. No I did not say you are at the tops of high society, you are at the bottom. Though your unique ability to type in your sleep if nurtured properly could allow you to reach the tops one day. I can help you with this Kathy, for seven easy payments of $19.99 I can take you from a conventional suburban bogan, to a successful collins st wolf.

MedicatedMoo said...

But I'm happy being a suburban bogan, dearest.

disclaimer said...

This is an expression and may not be representative of truth.

lying to yourself said...

Now whose brain isn't working now?

MedicatedMoo said...

I'm very GLAD that you're not a tagger.

And: 'disclaimer said...
This is an expression and may not be representative of truth.' Hasn't that just summed up this entire discussion on your part?

Bigger than Jesus said...

Kath I am regrettably off to bed. We can continue our consultation tomorrow and I will have the edited version of the original post ready as you ordered. No vagina jokes. Your right that was unfounded. How I am supposed to know anything about your vagina or menstruation patterns for that matter. I mean I can't imagine you have had too much action. Your probably quite youthful down in the chamber of secrets. Maybe you could tell me some more so my edited version is more accurate. Should I post it on here, or would prefer it on a separate website and I can provide links to here. It is up to you Kath. I really don't mind. Its like apples and oranges. there not the same. just like you and me Kath. Yet we are not that different. (No actually we're polar opposites..... thank god).

Speak to youzee tomorrow luv

MedicatedMoo said...

Yeah, best be fresh for school tomorrow.

And this final comment before beddy-bies reveals so much about your lack of credibility, nastiness and utter absence of rational thought.

Trolled hard said...

No it will not. However reading crappy blogs makes my life worse. It's almost unavoidable nowadays.

However I more than likely will not sabotage your blog as you have provided a lot of entertainment and I have saved this conversation for a blog of my own, which you will never know and many many many people will be laughing at Kath from Flemington and you won't even know anything about. Is ignorance bliss? Yes. But now your not ignorant anymore because I just told you.....

Trixtar said...

Just joking Kath, I would never do that to you. I withdraw all comments except the funny ones. But humour is subjective you say. Well you're right, It is up to you the reader to decide. You are your own censorship machine. Do as you will.

MedicatedMoo said...

I will read your blog with great interest, should you be brave enough to reveal it to me and the rest of the readers here. I'm sure it'll be just as crappy as you say mine is.

And yet, for something so crappy you seem so reluctant to leave.

Clarice said...

Time to ignore these mental pygmies, Kath. Ashb and all the rest of you, you've made your little points now clear out. Being unemployed losers probably takes up a lot of your time. Surely there's some daytime telly and a bucket bong that need your attention. Just a hint for the future, though. If you want people to take your arguments seriously, learn to spell and punctuate and don't be abusive little cretins. If you don't know what a cretin is, there's a big book called a dictionary that can help. I wouldn't expect you to own one, but if you ask the nice lady at Centrelink, I'm sure she will help.

R.H. said...

Dear pimp, i'm glad clerks is dead.

Anyone scribbling on my fence will be dead too.

Spencer said...

I'm a big fan of street art. Melbourne is famous for it and it is appreciated by thousands and we go to much effort to preserve the best of it. The art is created to be admired and enjoyed by the broader community. Then there are taggers who are deluded and think they are artists, just like some P Platers who think they are formula one drivers.

Clerks and Prozak achieved the milestone of being able to write by the age of 16 and then spent most nights out on the town showing off their ability to concentrate long enough to spell a single word.

How sad it is to learn that Clerks has passed away. Reminds me how I felt when Carl Williams passed away. Or Tuppence Moran. Or Bin Laden. What a loss to Flemington and beyond. He will definitely be missed. I certainly miss having my property vandalised by this talentless moron who must have had a brain the size of a flea. It is an insult to all artists to imply he was one. We have all seen his portfolio and it is not art. But perhaps we're missing something. Maybe there is a gallery in Richmond displaying his best work? Now he's dead it must be worth a fortune!

I would have a bit more respect for Clerks if his scrawls were witty or inspiring. Or even if he painted something political, topical or creative. However, my 4 year old is a much better artist than he could ever be. I saw the word CLeRKS scrawled on a wall in Northcote today. He sure got around. What a hero!!

Unlike street art, Clerk's scribble was never admired by the community. It was never enjoyed by anyone. Council has not added any of it to the Victorian Heritage Register. It has cost the community many thousands of dollars. I personally have spent hundreds of dollars repairing the damage Clerks has caused.

Clerks is now revered by his pals because he is the biggest tool in the school. They recently painted a large tag in Elm St in his honour:
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=zfj759c9jg9gjxf
I note this monument comes with a sign imploring the community to respect the paintwork!!
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=4anh42ixricp482
Oh yes, we must all respect the "artist's" property rights!! As if Clerks ever had any respect for the property rights of our residents or community. That the MVCC or any resident could have approved this type of eulogy to the City's biggest vandal is quite frankly beyond belief. We should be suing his estate, not hosting more banal scribbles.

Clerk exhibited utter contempt to me and my community for many years, so please don't start preaching to me how I need to show him any respect merely because he did us a favour by passing away. His death has not changed anything. It has not turned his shit into gold. He and his mates are not sorry. All is not forgiven.

Anonymous said...

So SA is gone and good riddance.

How would his parents like their home and fancy car to be tagged?

Or YOURS, oh brave Anonymous?

Emma K said...

Now we have to walk past a memorial to a vandal every day!! Does council even know that Sam Alderuccio was the "clerk" responsible for so much damage? If his mates need to do some art to remember him then they should choose a better subject than a giant version of his stupid clerks tag.

TOM MURPHY said...

you should get educated on the culture and community of street art before you start abusing the whole group AND by talking about this guy you have given him more reason to go do it more..... you are feeding your own issue that you dislike.

And also to add to that. Our local councils are actively sourcing "graffiti artists" (not vandals) to cover the walls with their work as they are respected and it will prevent shitty taggers defacing property.