Customer Reviews

Fuzz One

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Fabulous subway graffiti was one of the things that attracted me to New York City when I moved here in 1981. Even though early on I became acquainted with a few of the legends when I worked at a museum that exhibited their work, and lived next door to a writer for years, I never guessed at the danger, complexity and darkness of the world that they inhabit.

Vincent Fedorchak's stories are outrageous, yet his voice, a mixture of bravado and humility, has a candor that suggests that his words (most of them, anyway) must be true. Fuzz One's world is populated with a multy-culty cast of losers, crazies, kindly neighborhood people, sadistic gangs, and beloved fellow writers. His descriptions of them are by turns hilarious, moving, and deeply scary. How he remembered the hundreds of names that appear in the book while on a steady diet of pot and beer is a mystery. The profuse color photographs are invariably, well, fuzzy, an effect of the cheap small format snapshot cameras the writers used, and add to the pervasive 1970s ambience.

Fedorchak's adventures would make an amazing film, backdropped from beginning to end with the "fruity colors" that Fuzz One loved.

Reading this book is quite an experience. For someone like myself who came of age in the South, this was an eye openening experience. Fuzz One gives us outsiders a chance to live in the Bronx during the wildness of the seventies, to tag along on his many dangerous graf adventures, and meet the strange characters who float in and out of his life without the danger of getting jumped or thrown in jail. This isn't just a book for graffiti writers, it is a book for anyone wanting to really learn what urban living is all about.
Some of the tales may seem unbelievable, but I wouldn't pass up a chance to drink a beer with the author while he spins his legendary street stories. And after you read this book, neither will you. Thank God the South is way behind the North.

fuzz one's a bronx childhood was an interesting book to read. there were moments when i found myself totally absorbed. the book at times can be humorous although not necessarily funny. if i did find myself laughing it was because i could not believe how similar my life was to his. i too came of age in the 70's and shared the same propensity for "mischief" as fuzz. reading this book really brought back memories of all the weirdos and misfits that i, and no doubt anyone that has spent more than five minutes involved in graffiti were likely to meet. the stoners, getovers, crazed war vets, all night park zombies, mobsters, bimbos, and of couse the "writers" themselves, the toys and the legends. life for me in bensonhurst brooklyn like fuzz's beloved bronx was similar to a three ring circus. like fuzz i lived with my mom, a single parent who absolutely hated the graff scene. i was frisked and patted down whenever i tried to leave the house. parental beat-downs were a regular occurence and a hated ritual. the hallway in my buiding was so "bombed" you would never guess there was a mailbox there, and of course i denied having anything to do with it. i found myself relating to a lot of what fuzz was writing about but in a weird disconnected way, as if i were relating thirty years ago. some reviewers doubted the validity of fuzz's adventures but i dont doubt it at all. i wasnt nearly as prolific as this guy was and i have countless stories similar to what youll find in this book. if the guy rememebers exactly what he had for breakfast that morning and dinner that night, its probably because he kept a diary. besides what writer doesnt create and then believe his own hype? the thing i did not like about the book was the way it abruptly ended. you get the life story till 1979 and thats pretty much it. when i reached the end of the story i wanted to know what happened to this guy after that because it seemed that fuzz was headed toward a very uncertain future. i have read other graff books where the "writer" at some point seems to have a degree of life success. fuzz's whole career seems to be of mis-steps and calamity. he constantly gets hurt, gets beatings, gets taken advantage of and he repeats it all again! the only thing you know for sure is he wrote the book. other things i did not care for was the constant reference to bodily functions. once was more than enough and after a while i started thinking oh god not this again. although i never met fuzz i do remember seeing his handy work. i thought at the time any name with a z sounded cool and he had two z's. some of the photos in the book as other reviewers have pointed out are a little on the "fuzzy" side. the book itself is hardcover with good paper quality. three stars for leaving me hanging fuzz.

This is quite simply one of the best books I have ever read.
Fuzz takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride through the graffiti underworld and the Bronx otherworld of the early 1970s. The story is told with panache, style, sympathy and humour.
Fuzz One, the heavy drinking and graffiti obsessed 11 year old, is a true hero.
And the pictures are booming.

Fun book. another piece of the puzzle for those obsessed with graf
history, and a great lowlife/wiseguy portrait of 70's Bronx NY for everybody else.of course when you put something out there with a personal point of view, everyones gonna say you exaggerated here and there to make yourself look cool...OF COURSE HE DID!! This aint history class...There's alot of great stuff in here. period.

This is an excellent view into a graffiti legend's weird childhood. A totally unique and hilarious story that could only come from the streets of new york. This is a must read for anyone who writes graffiti, aspires to write graffiti, or just loves a good book. It's beautiful too - I bought five as gifts for friends and family.

ive red hundreds of graff books,and must say that the detail in this book is told with truth,you can tell by the way he describes the,clothes,the buildings,even down to the time and place he was on a certan mission,great photos,althought ive herd people saying the photos,are crapy and blurred,what do they expect,some of these photos are nearlly 40 years old,takin by a kid that was far from a pro,i think they add to the story that fuzz is tryin to get across.for a kid of his age,he truly was a kid without fear,and a appetite for graff and expolring his city,you have to read this book to understand just how well fuzz tells us his story,from chases from rival street kids,to bombing with newyorks finest of the era,yard missions,run ins,even down to what he was eating when he ran into this person,on the corner of martys donut shop.my fav story would have to be when fuzzs mate gets stuck in a sewer tank,way down in a dark newyork city train tunnel,and fuzz and the 3rd guy,had to go up onto the platform and perform a rescue with a fire hose.some say that there is no way that a kid od his age could have done what was said in this book,but being a graff writer myself,i cant see him lying,because there is no discrimination in the graff world,weather it be age or racial,it dosent really happen,i mean they dont care that fuzz was a kid,as long as he got up.1 of the best graff books ive red to date.

This book comes so HIGHLY reccomended.

The message of Graffiti art has ridden many vehicles throughout the globe since Henry and Martha's Subway art. Subsequently homegrown scenes have flourished off the back of these, shaped in large part by the new practitioneers interpretation of the NY dynasty.

The truth of the matter though is that the nature of the game and how it was conducted during that NY dynasty has not really been exposed in a good old story telling account that really draws the curtain back for an outsider to look into. Whether thats been down authors withholding accounts becouse of the criminality factor, literary ability of the practitioneers to express it, or just sensitivity to giving out inadvertent fame, i dont know.

This books strength for me is to convey in rawness and rich detail, the life that sorrounded the act of practising graffiti in NY during the '70's, within graffiti social circles and beyond. I believe someone has already likened it to a modern urban Tom Sawyer tale and thats a good analogy to put forward. In this respect this book leaves ALL other graffiti publications behind. Admittingly i found myself questioning the factual credability of some of the accounts, but im in no position to debate that, and in truth i didnt care to, on the basis that its so damn entertaining.

Never has accounts of various 'social deviancy' (wanton vandalism in pursuit of peer recognition amongst MANY others) been related with such unapolegetic humour. For any NON graffiti enthusiast, there is a tiny bit of unnecessary detail to get past, but that shouldnt be allowed to stop you accessing a story that you just wouldnt find told anywhere else. I would very much doubt that anyone who might be predisposed to a negative disposition of such activities, be caring to do so on account of being so thoroughly entertained by it. The man cannot be criticisied for a lack of charisma, thats for sure.

This book really is unsurpassed. before this 'Getting UP' - Craig Castleman related a variety of good depth accounts and broadened it into the political and economic backdrop. That book i still highly recommend. Otherwise, further quality inside NY accounts can be found in 'Terrible T kid 170' - Julius Cavero and 'Hip Hop Files' - Martha Cooper. Also look up 'Stations of the elevated' on you tube. Thats a treat.

Lastly its worth mentioning that Fuzz has a follow up book to this. "Fuzz One - Last of the Old School". Not as polished as his first, but still engaging with stories that explore a darker side of NY life. A variety of personalities, their hustles and their beat downs, reflecting at times the human wreackage that NY city chewed up and spat out.
This one is only available from the man himself. Makes it a small mission to get a copy but google search around and you'll uncover details somewhere.

... this was how it was. I could smell the layups as I read through these pages of graff history. Sure, it may be hard to believe he remembers what he ate back 30 years ago, but that type of embelishment gives this work it's flavor. If you were there, this will bring back memories. If you weren't, you'll get an idea of what you missed.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a great all-around book. It's written in a natural voice, and contains stories that will literally blow your mind, at least if you didn't grow up in the Bronx in the Seventies (also, I didn't get the sense that some of the stories had been exaggerated, as has been stated in some of the reviews). The pictures are unbelievable, too, and they're supplied in ample amounts. If you like OLD old school graffiti, during the years when even 3-D effects were being invented, ya need this book (and if you don't like this period of graffiti, maybe you need this book even more!)!