People Never Cease to Amaze me

So a bunch of us were over at Paladar the other night after work and Peggy tells me about this lady that came by the shop the other day. She didn't come in to get tattooed she came in as a sales representative. We were'nt interested, we don't need a water cooler the shop is waaay to small for such do-dads. So the lady is about to leave but then she says ,"Oh since I'm here I should ask you about a tattoo I was thinking of getting." She's like, " I wanted to get some clovers with a swastika in the middle"

Peggy - "EXCUSE ME"

Lady - "I'm half Irish and half German and was trying to think of something to represent both countries"

Peggy explains this may offend some people is she sure she wants a swastika maybe she could get something else to portray Germany (a bratwurst or even a big pile of sauerkraut). The lady ponders this and decides that maybe she should think about it a little more.

WOW. Peggy swears the lady wasn't a racist, just clueless.

The picture to the left is not the lates tattooed felon splashed across the news. No, that is Man Woman the artist and swastika advocate. Man Woman has made it his mission in life to redeem the swastika as a symbol of love and good fortune. Way back when I got my first tattoos I remember seeing the book Modern Primitives that featured Man Woman. Back then that book was FAR OUT this tattooing thing hadn't really caught on yet and there wasn't an option to pierce anything besides your ears unless you were punk rock enough to push a safety pin through your nose. Man Woman and all the people profiled in Modern Primitives were real radicals back then. There was no talk of tattoos as trends. This was the late 80's. No celebrities or movie stars were seen in People magazine bearing tattoos. It wasn't popular, there weren't even any good tattoo magazines.

You can read more about Man Woman's, "lifelong seach for the historic truth about the swastika and his journey to detoxify it from the sins of the Nazis" and check out some of hiw artwork at the links above.

Perhaps Man Woman would be pleased to know there's a new generation oblivious to the negative connotations of his chosen sign.

Ahh Summer

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, sunny weekend. 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 will say 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 any traditional 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 online but I've seen copies for sale at most conventions.

Back in the U.S.A

Im home from the Amsterdam convention ,and it was a total fuckin blast..duh.... and Let me just say the Dutch got a good thing going on over there.The show was alot of fun ...I ran into some old friends and made tons of new ones!

Cheers to all:(no particular order)

Ofcourse ...The 81 & Nico for putting on the event,my friend Sascha of Greg Orie's www. Dragon tattoo Nl .com ,JFK and Tomas of www.Studio13gallery.com in Edinburgh Scotland,Soap also freom Scotland,Pat C from old glory tattoo,Bonnie Suicide,Jamie from Britain,Brazilian girls!,The Inkcrowd Nl,Peter tattoo Nl,Deamon from coney island,The hot Italian girl that wouldent give me the time of day I still love you ma.....and the rest of you scumbag tattooers hahaha see you in London!

SVR

click read more to see more pics!