The largely untold history of grime in our nation's capital gets some much-deserved light in the forthcoming documentary The Legend of Cool "Disco" Dan. As the title suggests, the film follows the legacy of Washington, DC graf legend Cool "Disco" Dan, whose ubiquitous tag marked the streets of an increasingly crime-ridden city at the height of the 1980s crack era. Using the street artist's rise to underworld infamy to explore the city that would become known as Murder Capital, USA, The Legend of Cool "Disco" Dan highlights both the creativity of the city's emerging go-go scene and the destruction wreaked experienced by a city caught up in an epidemic of violence. Punk legend and music historian Henry Rollins lends his narrative touch, while filmmakers Joseph Pattisal and Roger Gastman (the producer behind Banksy documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop) interview various street hustlers and musicians from the heyday of DC's most infamous era. If the history of graffiti itself isn't quite your jam, commentary provided by go-go pioneer Chuck Brown and the notorious former Mayor himself Marion Barry (amongst others) makes for a compelling feature for graf heads and general audiences alike. Check out the trailer below, and if you're in the Maryland/DC area, you can catch the world premier of the film on February 23rd at the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, MD (grab tickets here).
spotted at ETL
