At the Jonathan Levine Gallery on West 20th St. at his solo show graffiti artist Shepard Fairey said, ?€?When I confronted James Cooper I said, ?€?I don?€™t know you, you don?€™t know me. I have put together a very time-consuming art show that required an incredible amount of energy and money to produce. I provided free alcohol, free entertainment, it is a free event. Great deejays, you are here to sabotage it. All I can say is that with my street art I know what the consequences are if I get caught and I hope you knew what the consequences might be if you got caught. If the book get thrown at you, I feel a little bad, but not that bad.?€?

The artist continued, “James Cooper just twiddled his thumbs and looked at the floor and would not make eye contact. He was just sitting there and he had not been handcuffed. I was not aware then that he would be charged with arson, I just thought that he would be charged with reckless endangerment. If he had set that thing off with hundreds of people in there and they had started all running out it definitely could have been a dangerous situation.”

I ask if Shepard could see a vandalism-versus-vandalism aspect to his confrontation with James Cooper, because so many people see graffiti as vandalism, Fairey responds, ?€?I have been charged with malicious destruction of public property but I prefer to call it benevolent enhancement of public property. While I would consider what this splasher is doing as just malicious destruction. It is not a statement that has anything to offer. I am used to dealing with forces that are anti-street art. It is just sad that it is from a quasi-intellectual misquided peer. The police are supposed to be dicks, people who have gone to grad schools aren?€™t. With cops vandalizing my art, I don?€™t hold it against them. It is like the lion and the elk, it is in their nature. A really funny time, I got arrested one time in Chinatown where there was a blank billboard and I put one of my works up and they arrested me and then knowing that I would be really bummed if one of my pieces got messed up, the police went and took my extension pole and tried to scrape it off and said, ?€?How do you like that?€™ as they tried to rip off the face. So I guess they look at it that they want to hurt the feelings of the graffiti writer rather than just enforce the law. My relation with them does not get that personal typically but that is just the nature of street art so I know what I am up against with the cops. But when it is a private citizen it makes me think that he is a psycho stalker vigilante type and I think that profile is dangerous.?€?

After performing at the Tribeca/ASCAP Lounge, Folk Legend Donovan and I chatted.

Baird Jones: ?€?Is there any truth that in fact your song Mellow Yellow was really not about smoking banana peels but about a vibrator??€?

Donovan: ?€?With the song Mellow Yellow, Country Joe MacDonald is responsible for the smoking banana peels rumor, not I. At the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland seven years ago he leaned over and confessed, ?€?It was me.?€? The line Electrical banana (is gonna be a sudden craze) was when John Lennon and I got together and looked at the back pages of the personal columns, there were various advertisements and in the cut up form of William Burroughs?€™ poetic constructions that David Bowie was doing at that point as well what we did was pick up lots of little bits and put them all together. One of the bits was an electrical banana that they called a marital aid - that is what they called a vibrator then. With the smoking banana peel story apparently you have to ask Country Joe. I never planted the smoking banana story.?€?

>From: Erick Raymond
>To: Coagula
>Subject: Donation
>Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2007 06:36:35 -0700 (PDT)
>
>Hello There,
> I have considered Museums, arts and culture as a way of life and i have deemed it fit in contributing my little quota towards the growth and development of these sectors. I wish to know the Objectives of your organization and how the masses stand to benefit from it. Basically I intend making a Donation but need to know the objectives of your Organization and how the masses may benefit directly or indirectly. Hope to hear from you very soon. Thank you.
>
> Erick

MY RESPONSE

I intend to take any money donated to my organization and go to Las Vegas and have a lot of fun and the benefit will be a happier art writer whose perspective aided by a nice vacation will benefit the arts with better writing about culture.

Mat.

UPDATE:
Smells like a scam, here is his response:

Hello There,
Thank you so much for your reply.Please provide a Name ,Address and a Phone Number where the payment could be offered to you in the form of a Certifed American Cashier’s Check.Thank you and hope to hear from you soonest.

Erick

SOONEST ? Sounds Nigerian or Ukrainian to me…

At the Film Lounge at PM at the party for Live!, the film?€™s star Eva Mendez said, ?€?When I was a kid I had the nickname Bugsy for Bugs Bunny because I had buck teeth. I still have buck teeth but then I was only like 70 pounds so they really stood out. I never got braces because I am okay with my imperfections. In fact I liked to accentuate my buck teeth when I smile. I just have a big old smile. I never cover my mouth. I liked the name Bugsy. It did not bother me at all.?€?

At the June 2, MOCA FRESH silent art auction fundraiser, actor Tobey Maguire was intent on getting a drawing entitled Tincture by LowBrow art superstar Mark Ryden (donated to the event by West L.A.’s Michael Kohn Gallery).

The 5′5″ actor lurked around the small framed artwork in the company of MK Gallery Director Samantha Glaser, who towered over him as a protective brunette bombshell skyscraper that Spiderman himself could only hope to climb. For the final 45-minutes of the event Maguire suffered the L.A. art world’s fools with a polite aura of resignation that if this is what it took to get his Ryden, this is what would have to happen, topping his early $37,500 bid near the final bell with a penstroke committing $42,500 to MOCA. I snapped THIS PICTURE OF THE FINAL BID SHEET seconds before the auction commitee lady snatched it up with an efficient elbow to anyone getting too close among the gaggle of onlookers.

And yes, for those sharp-eyed Coagula aficionados, the 2nd underbidder is former Coag columnist Erika Icon, happily spending her recent big inheritance, or in the case of this drawing, trying to spend it!