If you’ve paid a bit of attention lately, you may have noticed there’s a pretty amazing bit of “underground” media taking place around Mobtown, delivered at the hands of a guy who goes by the name “Priest.” While some of what Priest does may just be described as public art, a good bit of it can also be placed firmly within the category of public commentary biting and acidic enough that it would be perfectly at home on the pages of this fine rag.

One of his most recent exhibits was the transformation of an orange traffic barrel into a pill bottle bearing the name of embattled Mobile County Commissioner Steve Nodine. The bottle, which even carried a serial number and pharmacist’s signature, was for cannabis, the green, leafy, illegal substance police claim to have found in a pill bottle in Nodine’s county-issued truck recently. Priest’s work sat for several days at the corner of Government and Broad Streets in downtown Mobile, unnoticed by many, but enjoyed by more.

Shortly after ex-judge Herman Thomas had his case dismissed, Priest managed to paint an exact likeness of Hermie on the side of an abandoned gas station near Michigan Avenue and Government Street. The newly freed Herman wore an open judge’s robe and held a fraternity paddle aloft. Unfortunately someone painted over the image quickly. And the latest is a mural of Gov. Bob Riley and Anti-Gambling Czar John Tyson playing dice with one another at the corner of N. Dearborn and Congress Streets.

Another notable image was the extremely lifelike portrait on the side of the train bridge that crossed Old Shell Road in MiMo of a UMS-Wright cheerleader smoking a cigarette.

Priest’s images are primarily stencils, he says, although some are hand-painted onto newspaper then wheat-pasted using a flour and water mixture. They all appear almost magically.

Recently, Priest answered a few questions about his style and subject matter.

RH: Describe your artistic style.

P: I would call it Scandalism. A perversion of guerrilla marketing mixed with child-like finger painting.

RH: What prompted you to start making a political/social statement with your work?

P: I got tired of walking into galleries and being more intrigued by what was scribbled on their bathroom walls than the shit they were trying to sell out front…. If you see art as a weapon it’s easier to pull the trigger on things that piss you off.

RH: The first I saw of your work was a cheerleader smoking in the train bridge on Old Shell. Was that your first? Give us a rundown on your public works.

P: She’s been spotted out of school a lot after her dad left her mom for the secretary. I’ve been doing this for a while now but just like in life, when you target the rich you seem to get more attention. As much as I enjoy spending time in the Village of Springhill, I try to work in places where people aren’t able to or don’t have access to art whether that be the Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans or the Mobile Tensaw River Delta.

Some people think it’s a waste putting work up in these desolate places, but when you’re wasted it’s easier to appreciate. Plus I feel safer when I know there is a 14-year- old kid with an AK-47 guarding a crack shack across the street.

RH: The amazing part is it seems no one notices you doing your thing. Is that really the case? How do you do it?

P: You could say I work strange hours, and that helps. Even though most pieces take less than 1-2 minutes, I have been chased by Mobile’s “finest,” homeless, and luckily I have passed for a bum on more than one occasion. The key to being undetected is to act like you’re pissing if you get spotlighted, because people would rather think you’re urinating on an abandoned eyesore than creating a piece of artwork.

RH: How long does it take the general public to notice and react?

P: Depending on the piece, sometimes minutes or weeks. There is an aggressive buffer in downtown Mobile who I am certain wakes up on a bed of nails every morning, put his broken glass shoes on, starts his car expecting it to explode with the intention of painting over everything that is not an ugly billboard or advertisement.

RH: Is there an ultimate goal for your satiric art? Are all the images meant to point out irony? Do you envision it ending at any point?

P: Living life without a certain agenda seems to be more honest. I do have a serious side though, and I should have used it whenever I had my mug shots done. The angels are very sacred to me and I’ve been told stories of people arriving upon them that have inspired me in ways I cannot describe. Although I would love to have a space where I didn’t have to look over my shoulder at all times, to bottle that, package it, and stamp it for sale seems unnatural to me but so does starving to death.

Press Register Changes

We’re hearing there’ve been some flip-flopping of beats at the Press-Register, with Dan Murtaugh headed to the business section, Robert McClendon moving over to cover city council, Gary McElroy heading over to chase crime and Kaja Wilkinson going to the Mississippi Press.

We also understand the P-R has killed its south Mobile County reporter position all in an effort to keep from hiring more folks.

Jacobs out?

Speaking of the P-R, word through sources there that former Mississippi Press Publisher Wanda Jacobs has left the paper before the end of the company’s fabled “Newhouse Pledge” on Feb. 6. The pledge was to never lay off employees for financial reasons, but the paper has been offering buyouts recently, although few have taken them.

Jacobs was only person ever to serve solely as publisher of The Mississippi Press, and was there as it went from roughly 25,000 daily to being more or less eaten by the P-R after becoming a ghost of its former self.

Snapper season no more

Blake Brown, aka “Snapper” is heading off the airwaves at “Cat Country” 98.7, he tells us. He’s been at Cat since leaving WABB 97.5 FM in March of last year, but has recently accepted a position doing videos at Xanté Corp.

Brown says he’ll be dipping his foot back into the radio pool when time allows. Good luck out there Snapper.

Sargent joins WPMI

WPMI has added a new reporter to the mix, and this one has a law degree, too! Irika Sargent joined the NBC affiliate in January, after stops at KOMU, the NBC station in Columbia, Mo. and the Peacock Network’s London, England bureau.

Sargent did her undergraduate work at the University of Missouri, earning a degree in broadcast journalism. She also has a Juris Doctorate from Cornell Law School.

Welcome to Mobile, Irika.

411 not 911

We hear a Fox 10 reporter reportedly ended up irritating the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department Feb. 3 when he called 911 demanding information about a double shooting near Lillian. Apparently the deputies weren’t too happy with a reporter calling the emergency line, although in his defense the reporter claimed he’d called their administrative lines and got switched over to the emergency line, according to a Baldwin S.O. spokesman.