Artist's Prank Punks Re-create 68, Other Activists

Agents from Denver will be sending us updates about the 2008 Democratic Convention. Seems there is some controversy starting already... and it is blowing up.

The attached flyer is far from subtle. The screaming slogan "WE BEAT YOU THEN! WE'LL BEAT YOU AGAIN!" appears over two images -- one of a police officer outfitted in riot gear (he looks like an extra from Rollerball), the other featuring footage of helmeted cops facing off with a crowd at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In addition, a winged insignia printed in the lower left-hand corner hovers above the rhetorical, and badly spelled, questions, "Want to 'Recreate '68'? Think your tough HIPPY?" .....

By the end of May, the artist had assembled a MySpace page based on this persona, complete with several videos: brutal footage from the Chicago DNC, an interview clip of Spagnuolo and the "Go ahead, make my day" scene from the Dirty Harry vehicle Sudden Impact. He also printed up a batch of flyers, leaving a stack in the Gypsy House Cafe, 1279 Marion Street, where he'd been told Re-create 68 sometimes meets, and posting them in the neighborhood nearby. Then, on June 5, he sent e-mails to a handful of Denver activists, including Spagnuolo and Herzoff, plus several ideologically similar advocates in the Pacific Northwest; he found all of their address via web searches. These communiqués included the flyer plus the following message

YOU HIPPYS HAVE A GROUP CALLED RECREATE ‘68?? !!

REMEMBER ‘68 HIPPY? WE BEAT YOUR ASS! WE BEAT YOU THEN! WE’LL BEAT YOU AGAIN!

THERE IS LOTS OF SISSY TALK FROM THE DENVER POLICE BRASS AND THE SISSY DEMOCRATIC POLITICOS ABOUT ACCOMODATING THE HIPPYS. WERE PUTTING OUT THIS FLYER TO LET YOU KNOW WHATS “GOING DOWN IN THE UNDERGOUND” ON
THIS SIDE OF THE NIGHT STICK!

WE BEAT YOU THEN!

WE’LL BEAT YOU AGAIN!

THINK YOUR TOUGH HIPPY?

GET READY TO GET DOWN!!

WERE CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF BEATDOWN!!

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