Guest Blogger: DEADLEG 167

Wow! STAYHIGH's got his own website, how great is that. I generally
try to stay in the background of the graffiti scene but thought I'd
post a few thoughts about the old days. I took the name DEADLEG
167 back in 1972, it wasn't long after Wayne became STAYHIGH.
We hung out 'cause we're related, pretty soon we were writing together
- it was writing back then, not bombing or tagging. The writers I
first noticed coming up were BARBARA 62 and EVA 62, people don't
remember them. PISTOL and SCOOTER from Brooklyn, they were
killing every train in Brooklyn. LEE 163 was the first writer I saw
hitting fronts, that's where STAYHIGH got that from. And PRAY!
Damn, she was up everywhere. I was inspired by all of them.

I went to Alfred E. Smith High School in the Bronx and we had a
pretty good lineup of writers. There was HONDO 1, SKI 168,
TURK 62, PURPLE HAZE 168, I wrote with all of those guys. That
was when we were doing our first pieces, that's '72 - '73. Those
pieces had polka dots and candy cane stripes, that was something
HONDO came up with. Then the pieces started to get bigger and
wider and the fill ins had to be thick, our first pieces we didn't
really care, they were sort of misted in.

We hung out at the playground at P.S. 63 on the Concourse, we
also hung out at the writers bench. In 1974 we'd go down to the
bandshell in Central Park sometimes and we'd do acid there, that
was a good drug. I think LSD OM took us there, I know FDT 56
hung out there too.

I got busted by Officer Schwartz that year and was forced to scrub
stations, but they stuck me with a group of toys and they all offered
to do it for me. That was like a vacation for me, I'd hang out and
read the paper. Right after that I overheard the principal in my
school talking about how if they caught me they would prosecute
me and that DEADLEG - whoever he is, should think of transferring
schools. That's when I quit.

I was proud to be STAYHIGH's partner but I was also my own man
and I think people figured that out pretty early on. I still draw to
this day and sell canvas's to collectors. I hope to post another
message soon.

Peace,
DEADLEG 167

PHASE 2

I met PHASE, let me see, back in 1972. There used to be this doughnut
shop across the street from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx,
in fact, I had dropped out of Clinton in 1967. All the new writers
went there and I wanted to meet them. I was 22 and none of them were
older then 18 years old, they were still in school. In fact, they were right
by the 4 yard and they used to hit it at lunch time. PHASE, RAY-B, LAVA,
man, all those cats went there!

I found out that they were hanging out at the doughnut shop and I went
in there and that's when I met PHASE. People forget that PHASE was a
bomber first, he was up a lot - him and LEE 163. LEE especially was hitting
fronts, something I loved to do. You could tell PHASE immediately because
he was the one that everyone looked up to - and he could talk! Oh shit,
PHASE could talk, but he always backed it up. I wasn't up that much yet
but the other writers were cool to me because of my age. That place, with
everybody talking shit, and PHASE 2, man that just made me want to write
more! In my opinion PHASE is one of the greatest writers ever.

STAYHIGH 149 / VOICE OF THE GHETTO

Imitators

Other writers were imitated before me. TAKI 183, SUPERKOOL 223,
JUNIOR and CAY 161, all those guys. So when other writers started
using the smoker I really didn't mind, I mean I stole it from the
"Saint" TV show. I sort of turned it around so it would face my tag,
then I made the head longer, and then, adding the joint, man that
just made it click. I mean it was beautiful. But it took a while.
The smoker is something everyone remembers from the old tag.
So for those of you that used it in your tags, thank you! You probably
helped make me more famous!


STAYHIGH 149 / VOICE OF THE GHETTO

New canvasses

This shot was taken on the west coast where I painted some new
canvasses. This was a new version of the painting that I did in
"The Faith of Graffiti". I painted the original piece in the Baychester
layup with DEADLEG 167 and CREEPER 167, CREEPER did his piece on
the other side of the train. When I was done I threw a can of paint over
the top of the train and he started to run, me and DEADLEG had to talk
him into coming back to finish his piece. Man, I loved using that glossy
white paint, it jumped right off the train!


STAYHIGH 149 / VOICE OF THE GHETTO

MALTA the urban prisoner

MALTA was a great writer from the 1 line back in 1973, he had the
craziest tag I ever saw. As an adult he started photographing New York.
If you want to see what New York really looked like back in the day then
you should check out his book " The Urban Prisoner ", the photo's are bad!
New York was so different in the '70's and 80's, there was so much crazy
shit going on and MALTA caught it all. Naturally my favorite shot is of a
VOICE OF THE GHETTO tag. You can find MALTA at urbanphotos.com,
tell him STAYHIGH sent you.

STAYHIGH 149 / VOICE OF THE GHETTO

Across the tracks

Damn! Look at this photo from 1973. People used to always ask me
how I could write my name across the tracks. It really wasn't that
difficult. You'd stand in between cars as the train pulled into the
station, then you'd undo the safety chain and step out onto the
bumpers of the train. Once you finished your tag you'd jump back
and put the chain back in place. Times Square was a great station
for this 'cause everybody would see that shit!

I like the STAG 161 tag, that came out crisp. PAPO and COLA hit
the entire Broadway line like that, station to station. It looks like
a TRACY tag on the right, he was crazy back then and probably
did it in the middle of the day. I don't know why the new writers
don't do this, it was a great way to get up.

STAYHIGH 149 / VOICE OF THE GHETTO

LSD OM

FREEDOM told me he heard from LSD OM recently and I thought
I'd write this post as a shout out to him. Chad was one of the greatest
writers ever, he was baaaaad! We first met in 1973 at the playground
on 149th street, that was my hangspot and me and DEADLEG had
huge pieces there. He was a tall white guy with long blonde hair, he
had an army jacket and ink on his pants and I knew he was a writer.

When he told me what he wrote he explained what the OM symbol
was. To this day most old writers think of him as LSD 3 because
the 3 and OM look similar. I had seen his tag along the Concourse
and he was also hitting a lot of stations where he would nab those
old poster spots.

About a week after meeting each other we met again at the bench,
that was the first day we went tagging. He was a good motion tagger
and I trusted him. We would go from car to car and size people up, and
we both had the same sense of who we could write in front of. Sometimes
he would set a pick for me and then I'd do the same for him. When we
were in between cars, man, we'd catch tags there too! That was a prime spot.

LSD OM and DEADLEG were my two best partners and they were both there
in '73 / '74, my two biggest years. Chad lives in Woodstock now, a perfect
place for someone who wrote LSD!

STAYHIGH 149 / VOICE OF THE GHETTO