Wilkommen, Taggers! Then Again, Maybe Not.

Five out-of-town - and a few out-of-nation - graffiti artists are accused of tagging MBTA cars in Braintree. While they went to court, Boston police grew jittery because of an impending "graffiti convention."

The lawyer for the Braintree Five, including two Germans and a Swiss, says that they were out looking for something to eat. But, when MBTA police pulled them over, they smelled paint fumes, had a Berdvosky/Stevens flashback, and brought them in.

If you read the Herald, you'd think a bunch of paint-spattered hedonists were coming to town: "Five paint-covered punks, suspected to be in town for a naked graffiti party in South Boston this weekend, were busted by MBTA police while trying to practice their illegal art on several subway cars, officials said."

"Naked graffiti party"? Wow - if they wanted to reduce attendance at this supposed graffiti convention, then they failed. Apparently the convention will involve the opportunity to "tag" a few naked models.

Bostonist looked up said party. It's called Shriiimp (spelling is intentional). And no wonder the Herald, the Germans, and the Swiss got all excited. The poster does indeed promise "Live Graffiti on Models!" For more information, you can check out ngparty.com.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that kind of tagging party, unless one of the models breaks out from the paint. But keep reading the papers because the media might make this into Aqua Teen Hunger Force Marketing Blunder: Part Deux.

As a final note, one of the taggers tried to pull a Berdvosky by freaking out the reporters. According to the Globe, one of the American taggers asked a Herald photographer out on a date. (That little episode wasn't mentioned in the Herald piece.)

Discreet image of potential nude, tagged model from ngparty.com.