Its finally here the much anticipated summer heat. Every year I think it will never make it and then as soon as it arrives I feel it slipping through my fingers like a pile of sand off a Hamptons beach.As far as business goes all of a sudden I'll be booked like crazy, trying to keep up.... and then I walk in the shop and all my appointmentds have dried up for the day. Sudden cancelations appear as if the city was struck by mass outbreaks of consumtion that can only be cured with time in the sun, on the beach. Who wants a fresh tattoo to keep them out of the water one precious, limited edition, tri-state, hot, sunnyweekend. Tis the season of fickle booking. New Yorkers savor the sunny days. Memorial Day slipped past and Labor Day is allready in sight. We'll be bundled up before we know it.

In other news Chuck tattooed some supermodels face yesterday, a beauty mark that is. I won't name names she may not want people to know she bought a bit of beauty in a tattoo parlour....(I willsay SI swimsuit model though) you should have heard the twenty or so minutes of, "a little over here....a little over here.....and over here....do more over here....how bout this spot" all whille chatting on her blackberry, this is for a mole. Cosmetic tattooing requires a monumental amount of patience beyond the bounds of your normal tattoo customer. Good job Chuck.

I finished the pug tattoo check it out in the latest ink, Also I don't know about you but I'm dying to get some dirt on a certain local "celebrity" break-up, Supposedly everyone's being grown up and polite about the situation, no one's talking. I'd like to know what went down. Call me shallow. Call me nosey.Whatever, I admit it. I wanna know.

For myself I will try to get back to posting regularly. I get a little bitter after a while when no one else in the shop post.I know, I should just get over it. But the site was so much work, and it turned out so good. They don't care, they're too busy on myspace.I keep threatening to cut them off, we'll see. I won't even mention the other head honcho who hasn't posted ONCE! I'm not even going to say a word.

The bathing beauty above was drawn by Herbert Hoffmann and was taken from his rather extensive book of flash that I would reccomend to anytraditional tattoo enthusiast. There is so much good stuff in this book (136 pages, full size!)Check it out I had a hard time finding copies onlinebut I've seen copies for sale at most conventions.

Wow, 10 years of legal tattooing in NYC!  Time flies when you're having fun. The New York tattoo scene has come a long way in the last 10 years. Before the ban was lifted we were kind of out of the loop in the tattoo world. 10 years ago we came out of a tattooing dark ages that lasted 30+ years. Now here we are and we have one of the best conventions in the country, tons of talent all around and I think the tightest tattoo community you can find. Of course I'm biased. Yetvsomething about the city, maybe the close quarters, maybe the grit and grime, the energy, the history really makes the tattoo scene here unique. This past weekend we all got to toast 10 years well spent taking back our spot in the global tattoo scene. A big thanks to the guys who run the show at Roseland, (Bonge, Butch, Clayton) who give us all a chance to get together once a year, hang out and have something to look forward to the next time around. This year we were honored to have Stanley Moskowitz working at our booth with us. Which was an honor and another thing to make this year stand out as special.

The picture up top has Timmy tats in the background working away, JoeCumbee from Iron Age with the thumbs up then left to right Peggy Punch, Stanley Moskowitz, me, Bill Salmon, Crazy Philidelphia Eddy and Steve Von Riepen. Me Jason and SVR all got tattooed from Stanley check out our souvenirs from the weekend below.

It's a busy week at the shop, we're getting ready for the show and expecting company this weekend. This year we have a lot going on at our booth. Dr. Dave is holding a raffle for laser tattoo removal treatments. There will be one drawing each day for a $500 credit. We will have a very special guest working with us this year Stanley Moskowitz and Timmy Tats will be taking appointments and Joe Cumbee will be in from St.Louis with Brad. Jason Phillips is visiting from FTW Tattoo in Oakland (call the shop if you would like an appointment).

In Mike McCabe's "New York City Tattoo - The Oral History of an Urban Art" Mike writes, "Stanley and Walter Moskowitz were the last people to tattoo in Chatham Square on the historic Bowery in New York City. They learned the trade from their father Willie who had learned from Charlie Wagner in the 1940's. The Moskowitz Brothers are known affectionately in the tattoo community as "The Bowery Boys" and represent one of the last links to New York's tattoo heritage...."

Sadly, Walter passed away in February and is greatly missed by the tattoo community. The picture to the left is of Willie Moskowitz, the brothers Stanley and Walter, and their customer known as the Human Autograph c.1958. Give us a call if you would like to set up an appointment with Stanley or Tim.