Hi, I'm Mary L. from Brooklyn, New York. The sound of you in America is an independent

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Live on tape from my house in Los Angeles. I'm Jesse Thorn and this is the sound of

Young America from MaximumFun.org.

It's the sound of Young America. I'm Jesse Thorn America's radio sweetheart. My guest on the program is

John Reese. He's a documentary film director, a music video director of long standing among his

works are the seminal film on rave culture called Better Living Through Circuitry. His most

recent film is called Bomb It. It's about street graffiti not only here in the United States but

also all over the world. John, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to have

you, sir. Thank you. It's been a pleasure so far as well. Oh, good.

We're just getting started, John. Don't count your chickens before the hatch.

Yeah, I'll give you a report at the end, too. Okay. Good. You know, usually I like to hand out

a form that you can fill out anonymously. How did I perform? Or I also have you might see behind

me the plaque with the 1-800 number. How's my interviewing and the little code I can call in?

All right. Good. I mean, the first obvious question is why did you want to make a film about

graffiti? It didn't start right away, frankly. I wanted to make a film about graffiti like around

the eighth to 10th hour of interviewing when the whole notion of the battle over public space

and who controls public space became apparent is one of the key issues in graffiti culture.

And whether kids who are outbombing at 14 years old and just writing their name realize it or not,

that's what they're involved in. And I've actually had in screenings kids say, so you really,

you think this is about the battle over public space? Because I don't really think I'm doing that.

...