The fluttering pages of a rudimentary book were recently painted atop one of Shreveport’s most signal historic buildings. It is a symbol that has been painted on buildings coast to coast. “It has been part of the street scene in New Orleans for years,” said a local source. It is the sign of a street writer or writers called Read More Books. Juxtapoz.com says, “Juggling between countless names, monikers, and cities, remaining elusive and off the radar has been an effective force behind the graffiti of Read More Books,” in a Dec article.

Doug MacCash, arts writer for Nola.com, recognized a wave of Read writing in a 2009 post in which he said, “Gaia, a Brooklyn street artist, said that though he doesn’t know Mr. READ (aka Read More Books or The Booker), he believes that the ambitious tagger has hit San Francisco, Cleveland and New York, as well as New Orleans.”

On the 1904 Caddo Brewery Building there is an additional sign: a whistle. It is emblazoned with the initials WB. That may or may not refer to “whistle blower.” Heliopolis’s anonymous source added, “The whistle, which is a national phenomenon, has been seen all over downtown recently.”

MacCash continued, “As an art critic, I’ve always been ambivalent about reviewing graffiti. On one hand, most graffiti remains more antisocial that artistic. On the other, graffiti is very fashionable these days, and, let’s face it, way more people see it than ever cross the threshold of an art gallery or museum.”