Comments on The mark of Cool �Disco� Dan lives on in Southeast - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by LOCO

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:55:18 EDT

All you folks talking trash need a check up. There were a lot more criminal things that we could of been doing besides tagging buildings that you didn't give two $hlt$ about then or now. Get a Fing life folks and recognize this man for what he is.

Comment by Asad ULTRA Walker

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:02:31 EDT

everyone on here talks as if dan is dead. he is very much alive and still partakes in the occasional tag here and there. dan's style is a holdover from 70s and early 80s go-go culture. i assure you the gunfire was automatic. dan and i heard quite a bit of it creeping around ne in the early 90s. if you would like to learn more about dan and possibly even help in efforts to assist him, please join The Society For The Preservation Of Cool "Disco" Dan at http://www.facebook.com/CoolDiscoDan thanks.

Comment by Woody

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:52:13 EDT

I think it's awesome too see this come too life he is a legend and give him that whatever you think in my book he put us on the map I should know I tried to keep up with his tags but Dan took it too new heights keep it dude

Comment by Susan at AFI Silver

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 10:40:08 EDT

MARS: Mid-Atlantic Regional Showcase World Premiere!
THE LEGEND OF COOL “DISCO” DAN
In person: filmmakers Joseph Pattisall, Roger Gastman, Iley Brown, Caleb Neelon and narrator Henry Rollins
Sat, Feb 23, 8:00
Discover the “other” Washington of the 1980s through the story of legendary graffiti artist Cool “Disco” Dan, a mysterious, ubiquitous presence during the height of go-go music, record crime rates and city-wide dysfunction. Few people knew every block of the city like Dan, and as intrigue about his identity grew, his illegal scrawl became a unifying force for a city on the verge of chaos. Narrated by DC native Henry Rollins and featuring interviews with “Mayor for Life” Marion Barry, civil rights activist Rev. Walter Fauntroy, punk rock historian and activist Mark Andersen and musicians Chuck Brown and Ian MacKaye, this documentary from filmmakers Joseph Pattisall and Roger Gastman (producer, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP) tells a fascinating chapter of DC history. DIR Joseph Pattisall; PROD Roger Gastman. US, 2012, color and b&w, 90 min. NOT RATED

Screening in conjunction with the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s exhibition, “Pump Me Up: D.C. Subculture of the 1980s,” opening February 23, the first exhibition to explore the thriving underground of Washington, DC, during the 1980s, giving visual form to the raucous energy of graffiti, go-go music and a world-renowned punk and hardcore scene. For more information, visit corcoran.org.

Comment by Mark

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:06:58 EDT

I remember these tags from my youth. IMO people are being too hard on him. It was a vastly different time and mindset.
Urban decay was all around in a way that many in DC today would have a hard time truly comprehending. To me, his tags humanized decrepit infrastructure that had been made cold and foreboding by a generation of civil disinvestment.
I don't recall his tags on things that people obviously cared for.

Comment by Uncool "new wave" Fred

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 09:53:44 EDT

He was a poor man's Donald Trump plastering his name everywhere.

Comment by ceefer66

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 09:33:48 EDT

@SluggoSluggo,

"The people who see Cool "Disco" Dan as nothing more than a common criminal are rather common themselves"

----

What's "common" are the people who can't differentiate between art and vandalism.

It isn't "art" unless you own what you're taggging. Anyone who can't see the difference isn't the brightest bulb on the tree.

End of story.

Comment by SluggoSluggo

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 07:13:02 EDT

The people who see Cool "Disco" Dan as nothing more than a common criminal are rather common themselves.

Comment by SE Jerome

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:30:19 EDT

@beatbox What crew you claim?

Comment by beatbox

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 20:40:12 EDT

@SE Jerome---Yes, I remember that, and although AKs do come in "selective fire" (or the ability to fire full auto) that is not what they were using. They were using the semi-auto version. The full auto versions cost 20K minimum, are tough to get, and just are not worth it. Any gang worth its salt would not use them. They were semi's.

Comment by ceefer66

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:16:02 EDT

So now this "Disco Dan" clown has gone from common vandal to media hero.

Well done, GGW. You've just legitimized him. Look for a copycat tag near you.

Comment by G.Friday

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:15:13 EDT

I always appreciated the quotes around "Disco", as if Cool Dan was his given name.

Comment by Cyclone

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:01:03 EDT

"For others, cutting across ethnic and class divisions, Dan was a local celebrity. "

Translation: White people liked these tags because they could actually read them. All of the other tags looked like gibberish.

Comment by Falls Church

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:40:41 EDT

As a criminal who is part of DC folklore, Cool Disco Dan is worth remembering just like other criminals in American history, like Bonnie & Clyde. While its arguable whether any criminal deserves a place in history and deserves remembrance, I'm glad to see that modern day versions (like CDD) do not physically harm anyone or steal money. Bonnie & Clyde, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd and others like them were a totally different level of criminal.

Dan was nothing more than a vandal; a low-level criminal who defaced private property for reasons of petty vanity. There is no reason to recognize or remember him.

I guess if he was a high-level criminal who committed crimes for reasons of self-enrichment, then there would be a reason to recognize and remember him?

Comment by Brian

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:54:32 EDT

Not true about Dan never having been in the movies--his mark makes a brief appearance in the unfortunate Tim Burton film "Mars Attacks!"

For those of us native to Washington, Dan represents a lot--including a reminder that there are people actually from here, which in the 70s and 80s, was a rare thing. His tag was certainly a cultural touchstone for me growing up here, and I hope they can find a way to preserve some of his tags.

Comment by Tina

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:27:47 EDT

How does Cool "Disco" Dan feel about Borf?

Comment by SE Jerome

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:18:00 EDT

@JessMan -- look closer

@beatbox -- Don't know what you're talking about. AKs, etc. can be semi but out here they came auto. Remember when the Jamaicans tried to take DC over? Maybe you don't, but I do. Yeah, autos, bro. And I don't know watch TV, I watch the streets.

Comment by JessMan

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:06:37 EDT

very cool. but i question the authenticity since it's missing the quotes around "disco"

Comment by beatbox

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:02:09 EDT

Please. Despite what you see in the movies, there was never any "automatic" gun fire in DC. "semi-automatic" would have been more appropriate.

Comment by spookiness

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:50:17 EDT

Hurry up and cover or remove immediately before somebody nominates them as historically protected.

Comment by GU Alum

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:44:31 EDT

There's a Capitals v Penguins rivalry joke in here somewhere...

Comment by RJ

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:36:00 EDT

Nope you had it right the first time: Dan was nothing more than a vandal; a low-level criminal who defaced private property for reasons of petty vanity. There is no reason to recognize or remember him. He and his ilk cost taxpayers thousands of dollars in clean-up cost