The true story of an urban phantom &

the murder capital that raised him

The eighties were a peculiar time in the history of the nation’s capital. Even before Mayor Marion Barry was caught on camera smoking crack, D.C. had acquired a nasty reputation as the most dysfunctional city in America. "The United States’ political headquarters is fast becoming the murder capital of the U.S., with more than one killing per day," London’s Daily Telegraph told readers in 1989, "It is infested with drugs the streets are patrolled by an army of beggars the city is corrupt, inefficient and extremely dangerous."

The D.C. of newspapers, however, was not always a version that residents recognized. In their new film, urban culture expert Roger Gastman and music video director Joseph Pattisall take on the loaded questions of how bad the nation’s capital really was and why. Blending exclusive interviews and archival footage, these Washington natives aim to offer the most comprehensive portrait to date on this critical decade. The development of Go-Go, D.C.’s distinctive style of urban music, racial tensions, sensationalist media, crack and corruption, will all be important pieces of this story.

Thankfully, after years of hesitation, this extremely private character is ready to open up about his twisted path to stardom.

Playing tour guide through the historical journey is one of the few people who knew every block of the city during this conflicted time: graffiti legend Cool Disco Dan. The urban phantom, as the Washington Post called him, silently ruled the district during the height of the crack epidemic. Along the sides of metro tunnels, across billboards and walls in every neighborhood, his distinctive tag announced D.C. was his city. Ironically, as intrigue around his identity grew, his illegal scrawl became a unifying force. At the peak of his reign, he drew the admiration of police officers, drug lords and sheltered suburbanites, alike.

Thankfully, after years of hesitation, this extremely private character is ready to open up about his twisted path to stardom. From his unusual vantage point, he is able to slice through the layers of myth surrounding crews, Go-Go and cultural order on the streets. As the film follows him through mental institutions, warring neighborhoods and vibrant shows, he will help carry viewers straight to the heart of the real D.C.

About the Creators

Executive Producer Roger Gastman started writing graffiti as a teenager in Bethesda, Maryland, and parlayed his love for it into a legitimate career, becoming a trusted mediator between the underground art scenes and mainstream culture. He founded and published two respected pop-culture magazines—WYWS and Swindle (co-publisher)—as well as more than 30 highly sought-after art books. He is the founder and creative director of R. Rock Enterprises. Gastman was the supervising producer and creative consultant for the feature-length graffiti documentary Infamy, and served as consulting producer for BANKSY's Exit Through the Gift Shop. Most recently, HarperCollins released Gastman's The History of American Graffiti—the definitive story behind the most influential art form in the last 100 years—and Jeffrey Deitch asked him to co-curate Art in the Streets at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, which is the first comprehensive U.S. museum survey of graffiti and street art. Gastman is currently traveling around the country directing a documentary for Sanrio & Hello Kitty.

Director Joseph Pattisall, the founder of Wraith Films, has been working in film for more than a decade. His unique cinematic vision has made him the director of choice for numerous punk, hardcore and hip-hop artists. His music videos have frequently appeared on MTV2 and BET’s Rap City and one point he produced a cable music show. Personally involved in D.C.'s graffiti's scene, he approaches the subject with astute understanding.

Producer Caleb Neelon, as a thirteen-year-old in February of 1990, Caleb Neelon visited family friends in small-town Germany with his mother and took a side trip to Berlin. The sight of the newly-opened but mural and graffiti-covered Berlin Wall was a revelation to him. By the mid 1990s, Neelon was immersed in the global graffiti scene under the name SONIK, traveling constantly and developed a vivid and raw, naïve style of mixed media painting, freely crossing boundaries between graffiti, murals, and what would soon be referred to as street art. At the same time, he was penning substantial articles for graffiti fanzines, which as years passed would evolve into art and popular culture magazines, trade books, and feature films.

Neelon today works primarily as a studio artist, and his bright, folksy works with frequent nautical and quilting motifs can be found in gallery and museum exhibitions and installations in the United States, Europe, and Asia. In addition to visiting artist talks and programs at every level from Harvard University to preschools, Neelon's work has ranged from cultural diplomacy projects through the U.S. State Department; curatorial advisory work at museums, projects bringing artwork to hospitals, and public artwork projects in over thirty countries around the globe. Neelon regularly contributes writing to national magazines and is the author of several books, among them the landmark 2011 HarperCollins release The History of American Graffiti, which he co-authored with Roger Gastman. He lives and works in Cambridge, Massachusetts. .