Posted on 01/11/2008 8:55:25 AM PST by SubGeniusX
A dreadlocked street artist’s effort to cash in on last year’s light-board bomb scare has one high-ranking Hub official vowing she’ll reach into the jokester’s pockets to grab a share of any profits for the city.
Boston City Council President Maureen Feeney told the Herald last night she “cannot believe” guerrilla marketer Peter Berdovsky is now selling art spliced with scenes of the chaos he cooked up.
“He continues to poke a finger in the eye of the people of Boston,” said Feeney.
Feeney, who said she’s still offended by the Jan. 31 cartoonish caper that cost $2 million, said the city should “share in the profits” of any sales.
But it isn’t stopping the 28-year-old Berdovsky, who says he remains a misunderstood, struggling artist - with a devilish sense of humor.
“Any exposure is good for me,” Berdovsky told the Associated Press yesterday.
“I view media attention as useful to my potential success as an artist,” he added, saying he’s selling his new-age video art that “mashes” his art and the work of others with scenes from the terror scare.
“I think, regardless of what I do, it’s part of the cultural consciousness of the United States,” he told AP.
Berdovsky and his partner, Sean Stevens, 28, both of Charlestown, were paid $300 each to plant 40 battery-powered light screens on highway ramps, bridges and stores in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville.
The backfiring marketing hoax - dreamed up to promote a Cartoon Network “Aqua Teen” television show and movie - brought the jittery city to a screeching halt over terrorism fears.
Turner Broadcasting paid for it all, paying $1 million to cover the law enforcement response and another $1 million in “goodwill” money for public safety programs.
Berdovsky and Stevens served 80 and 60 hours of community service, respectively.
And, to councilor Feeney’s disgust, Berdovsky will even sell you a replica of the hospital mural the duo painted as part of their penance.
“I wouldn’t expect any less from this guy,” Feeney scoffed.
They never seem to stop overreacting to this dopey bit of “pop art” magnifying it even more.
A hoaxer is somebody who sends an inert powder through the mail w/ an anthrax letter ... that is a terroristic hoaxer ...
Lightbrights w/ a cartoon character flipping the bird ... not so much
agreed
Money grubbing city council. They got their $2 Million back.
Hoax? This must be an entirely different definition of hoax than I am familiar with. I would consider it to be "silly overreation by city officials". A hoax would be if he planted these and then claimed (or at least implied) they were bombs.
“He continues to poke a finger in the eye of the people of Boston,” said Feeney
I would say the Boston political establishment has done, and continues to do, far more than just poke a finger in the eyes of the taxpayers of Boston and Massachusetts.
It wasn’t “pop art”. It was guerilla marketing from from Time-Lies-Warner’s Cartoon Network.
They have the billions to advertise. They shouldn’t have to resort to illegal posting of signs in public.
America still hasn't figured out the success of terrorism.
Muslims, Mexicans, queers, dems with their scare tactics ... all work together to put fear in the hearts of too many people .. especially pols that have the power and position to enact bills and pass laws that just further compounds the fear.
The uber-jerkoff Berdovsky is a direct result of art now meaning nothing more than "shock."
It's hubris for an elected official to take offense at someone else's attempt to earn a living. May she spend eternity standing outside a soup kitchen.
It would be one thing if this guy had left fake package bombs all over the city. Instead, representatives from Boston continue to open their mouths and look like complete and utter morons for not using an ounce of their brainpower to figure this one out.
They screwed up traffic. You have no idea what that incites a Bostonian to do to seek revenge. Felony Caning for both of them.
The chowdaheads up there need to just go on about their business of screwing the Massachusetts taxpayers. It’s over, it’s done, move on.
That having been said, that Berdovsky guy sounds like a real tool. Let me see, boxes with exposed wiring placed on bridge abutments, hmm, nah, that won’t cause anybody to freak, will it? Idiot.
}:-)4
He committed no real crime (I think they got him for littering), and now the city thinks they deserve a piece of his profits from his own work.
Wait a second, don’t they already get his tax money?
Well, they did pay 2 million for it.
I still crack up thinking about the “press conference” they did, where they told the press they would only answer questions related to hair.
that was classic
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