Ground Score

Itinerant photographer and filmmaker Bill Daniel will screen his film on hobo graffiti, “Who is Bozo Texino?”, and install a show of photography called “Ground Score”. This is a mash-up of 20 years of underground documentation including: early 80’s Texas punk and skateboarding, freight riding and hobo monikers, San Francisco graffiti, hippie houseboats, and a mess of evidence that the apocalypse is well underway.

Who is Bozo Texino?

Who is Bozo Texino? chronicles the search for the source of a ubiquitous and mythic rail graffiti-- a simple sketch of a character with an infinity-shaped hat and the scrawled moniker, “Bozo Texino”-- a drawing seen on railcars for over 80 years. Daniel’s gritty black and white film uncovers a secret society and it’s underground universe of hobo and railworker graffiti, and includes interviews with legendary boxcar artists, Coaltrain, Herby, Colossus of Roads, and The Rambler. Shooting over a 16-year period, Daniel rode freights across the West carrying a Super-8 sound camera and a 16mm Bolex. During his quest he discovered the roots of a folkloric tradition that has gone mostly unnoticed for a century. Taking inspiration from Beat artists Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac, the film functions as both a sub-cultural documentary and a stylized fable on wanderlust and outsider identity. “I was drawn to the subject by the universal graffiti impulse and the classic, corny notion of freight train blues escape.” – BD

Since completing the film Bill Daniel and “Who is Bozo Texino?” have been touring on the road, wowing audiences of punks, geezers, folkies, foamers and graffiti toughs all over the nasty ol’ usa. Over 350 shows so far! The film has screened at dozens of venues and festivals across Europe and South America, including Rotterdam, Vienna, and Slovenia.

$5 cover
Film screens at 9pm sharp!

Date & Time:
June 5th, 2009
7-11 pm.

Event Location:
Cranky Yellow
2847 Cherokee Street.
Saint Louis, MO
63118

Ground Score

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