By Invitation Only

The Sam Esses Studio

I have a confession: I'm a hippie at heart. So when I was invited to the studio Futura was sharing with Zephyr on 77th Street and 1st Avenue and they told me they wanted me to spread the word to invite all the other writers I had been working with in the 5 boroughs of NYC, I couldn't say 'No.'

Because of the MTA Transit Strike, trains were not running. I had no money for a cab or bus so I had a long walk down to the space. I finally arrived to an unassuming building that by today’s standards would certainly be an attraction for developers to tear down and put up a high-rise luxury building. I climbed a narrow staircase to the second floor into a warehouse-type interior, a large open raw space with paint and materials laid all around the room. I hear Futura and Zephyr in the back talking. I'm greeted with a warm approach and big smiles when they see me. Then they’re like, “Hey! Where is everybody?” I reply, ”First I needed to see what’s up before telling everyone.” They are super chill. Our conversation starts to take shape around the concept of the space and expectations of the kinds of work we might see based upon the writers I know. We talk about the possibility of a group show as a collective, which sounds like a good idea. Definitely a talking point to invite the guys down to paint. So I spread the word, just as I had that time when I first introduced everyone to Henry Chalfant's studio Downtown.

All the guys agreed to visit, but with the strik, it had to be on their own time of arrival. Trains would not be running. Most lived way uptown or out in Brooklyn and didn’t have a car. From either direction the walk was going to be very long, leaving no room for a schedule of any kind. As a result, we had several waves of incoming writers from each of the main boroughs make it to the studio at staggering times. First came Manhattan writers Like COS 207 who had with him SHY 147. Slowly, after some more time came CRASH, KID 56, FACT aka Dr. Pepper, DAZE. Next, Brooklyn arrived— with DONDI, DURO, RASTA, KIST. And finally, from the Bronx, we had BUTCH II and KASE II and company.

It was an epic cast of characters, which resulted in an outcome of another kind, and NOT a group show. But that's a story for another time.

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