Hubert's Freaks

I've heard it said you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.  Yet when I spotted this book at the Strand with a picture on the front from an old sideshow and the word freak in the title I couldn't resist and decided to throw caution to the wind grabbing my own copy.

I love learning about old carnie stuff, seedy New York history, and of course anything tattoo.  All happen to be included in Hubert's Freaks by Gregory Gibson.  There's nothing I like better than to come accross bits of tattoo information  from outside sources because you can gleam details that may not have turned up in the more familiar histories.  This book tells the story of a rare-book dealer who comes across a trunk of unseen photos by renowned photographer Diane Arbus. These photos and documents are from a midcentury Times Square freakshow called Hubert's that Arbus frequented. That was how she met Jack Dracula the tattooed man. 

Fun City in Tattoo magazine

Hot off the presses the Sept 2008 issue of Tattoo Magazine features Fun City in a 10 page article. The group shot by Markus Kuff is a lot of fun. Chuck the hippie has no shoes on. Big Steve was interviewed for the story, he did a great job, for once we dont have to listen to me talk. We even got some fan mail for the article (from Jail) confirming that Claire is indeed a pretty lady. But we knew that already. Gotta love jail mail.

A big thank you to Easy Rider for an excellent article. Go out, get your copy and there will be excerpts posted on the soon to be launched new Fun City site .

Friday the 13th Pictures by Melissa Pope

I know all this posting about Friday the 13th is pretty after the fact but our technical difficulties lasted a bit so we are just now able to get everything up for your viewing pleasure. And don't forget to read Scott from Father Paniks guest blog for the day posted below.

To see all the pictures Melissa took Friday at Daredevil click here  to see the slideshow. You may remember Melissa getting a pin up tattoo on Tattoo Wars.

Friday the 13th Guest Blog

Father Panik Gets his ass jinx proofed.

I saw the devil once.

NYC back in the early 90's. East Village. Loisaida.
The old alphabet city was filled with burnt out buildings, abandoned cars stripped and skeletal. Junkie crackheads ran the streets like an undead army.
The area was mostly Puerto Rican. The whites who moved in where not looked upon favorably.
The Puerto Ricans may have lived in a ghetto but they did not live in ghetto homes. They had jobs. Went to church. Kept spotless homes. Couches wrapped in plastic....

July The 4th

Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone enjoys Devil City Press version 2.0. There's still a couple changes to be made, a couple colors to be tweaked but I'm excited for the new more functional / working version. The old server was driving us nuts I don't know what happened all of a sudden everything was a mess and I'm getting emails from the company saying they hope I enjoy the new improved platform that wiped everything out. But we should be good to go from here on out.

And we have pictures from Friday the 13th coming up that Mellisa Pope took for us and a guest blog from my friend and customer Scott of Father Panik who made it into the chair in the chaos. Daredevil and FunCity are both closed today. I'm about to head out East, fight the crowds on the train. Big Steve's warming up the grill in Brooklyn. Hopefully the rain won't get in the way of all the rooftop fun or dampen the spirits of all those suckers standing along the water for hours and hours waiting for the fireworks to go off only to realize they're in the wrong spot. I'm hoping the cops don't make it to our house when Kevin sets off the his contraband fireworks.

So even though you can't come in today to get tattooed perhaps your patriotic spirit will be stirred to come in later and get a nice all-American tattoo like the cool eagle pictured. The eagle is from my own collection  of flash the artist and date are unknown.