Legalize graffiti

It's a decades-old struggle: kids throwing paint on the wall vs. the cops who arrest them for doing it. "I've been saying this for years: isn't it better to have a kid spend eight hours painting a wall than hanging out with a gun and a forty in the park?" asks Sterling Downey of Urban X-Pressions. This weekend's Under Pressure 2000/Absolut X-Pressions will attract a ravenous pack of international globe-trotting graffitisti from as far away as Australia and Europe.

Money raised at the Aug. 5 showcase at Foufs will help pay the legal fees of four young graffiti artists who were recently fined $600 each. "That zone was considered a tolerated zone," Downey explains. "It's like they're baiting traps, like broken telephone--the city will say it's okay to paint somewhere and some cops don't know and start harassing writers." The event will be hosted by D-Shade and Dave One, with performances by Shades of Culture, Obscure Disorder, turntablism by A-Trak, Blast and more,

7 p.m. The outdoor event happens Aug. 6 at the corner of Guy and Ste-Catherine, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Muralists at work, breakdance crews, DJs (Turntable Dragunz, Brass Knuckles, Jordan Dare, D.R. One and many, many more) will be there. Will you? Call 862-8243 for info. : --Genevieve Paiement

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