The next episode
A.S.I. Tattoo in Salt Lake City
After over sleeping and almost missing my flight, I do arrive in Salt Lake City in one piece. Julie (Sharon´s girlfriend) picks me up at the airport and brings me over to the house, since Sharon hasn´t arrived jet. I make the mistake of sitting down on the water-bed and (after dreams of being on a life-raft with Tom Hanks) wake up totally confused...
but I´m in Sharon´s town and that means party-party-party! First thing we do is go to a male-strip show... It´s the "first time" for me and after witnessing what women are up to there, I know why they don´t want men to go to strip-clubs: Their behaviour is shameful! Women are out of control! I (of course) keep my European cool (and dollar bills), but hand out some business-cards, so we can write this of as an business-expense (just kidding!).
Next we meet up with some of the tattoo-artists for "suicide-karaoke", this is a first for me too and I´m so touched everyone still talks to me after my earplug-advertisement of "Satisfaction", I almost weep... (all that Jaegermeister made me quite the emotional one). So, I found a new hobby: Karaoke-madness!
Well, needless to say, my first day of work is hangover-hell and I´m not able to tattoo even a little tribal-band. So, I spend the day getting accustomed to the neighbourhood and the shop. A.S.I. in Sugarhouse is a very big shop, spread out over 2 storys. There´s Jesse the piercer, Nick and Molly the counter-help, Shaine, Pierre and Dirk the tattoo-artists, and of course Don, Sharon´s husband. Everyone has their own room and after looking at the bare, blue walls for the first few days, I decide to paint my room (=fit of temporary insanity). While I spend my free minutes blasting music and getting high on paint fumes, the shop is very busy with walk-ins. Lettering is pretty big in SLC, but I also get to do some fun stuff, my ultimate favorit being a monkey throwing a pie. Awsome! I had so much fun with it, I decided to get a monkey tattooed too (where, how or by whom, I don´t know jet).
I also work in the other A.S.I. Location on state Street for 2 days a week. The crew here is Buddha the counterhelp and apprentice, Brian and Justin the tattoo-artists and Eric the piercer. This location is still fairly new and not as crazy as Sugarhouse. Buddha and me spend our free time drawing together and discussing favorits (food for thought: What´s your favorit flash-sheet?).
Well, after getting drunk with them a couple of times and letting them beat me at my first time bowling (but just barely) the guys trust me enough to tattoo them and I get to do some fun and crazy pieces. Over all, this visit could be titled "vagina-madness" (tattoo-wise, you freaks!!!), because that´s what everyone comes up with as designs.
Buddha lets me tattoo a (self?!) portrait of Frankenstein´s Bride on his leg and I had such a good time doing it, I wish I could do more portrait-work. I also get to start a big rib-cage piece with roses and it´s great to get to work on it for 3 hours straight (Super-D you´re a hero).
Don takes me out to the Salt Flats on the motorcycle one day, to check out the local sights. The sun is shining, there´s a cool breeze blowing and we head out on the highway. I´m quite impressed with all the "nothingness" in Utah and take a lot of pictures of the empty countryside. The Salt Flats are awesome to see too and for a short second I get a flash-back of "Faster Pussycat Kill-Kill". It´s so much fun riding around again, I can´t wait to finally get my motorcycle licence to do some riding of my own.
All in all I had a great time in Salt Lake City and will definitly pass through there again on my way down the west-coast in fall, so listen for some undefinable bad singing in your local karaoke bar - it´s me!
Minneapolis Tattoo Tour Convention
After a sleepless night and changing planes 3 times I arrive in Minneapolis to the icy hand of winter... (I can´t stand it, I was hoping it would be warm, and the San Diego sun spoiled me). So, I close my bomber-jacket, draw the hood of my sweat-shirt over my head and try to just pretend it´s warm outside...
Everyone else is in the hotel already and in a party-mood, since it´s the weekend of birthdays (Sharon Brouse, Pat Sinatra, etc.). I´m actually tired and cranky and head to bed early after the welcoming-buffet and a beer in the bar. Early Friday we start setting up and I finally meet Aaron, who I´ll be sharing the booth with.
The day is rather slow, but I do 2 tattoos, which is good for the first day. One of them is the Jaegermeister Emblem and I´m totally thrilled to do it! I always wanted to tattoo it on somebody. We go get some food after the show and since liquor sales are illegal after 1AM, we end up drinking some beers up in the hotel-room.
I go to bed pretty early again and (supposedly) miss out on some great partys... but this way I´m bright and chipper and ready for action on Saturday, usually the busiest day of a convention. The day starts off slow and to my horror, stays slow. I do a small tribal-piece and then get to do a black and gray lion/ornament/wingy/thing on a calf.
Great fun! The customer and I got along so well, he come back the next day and has me cover a tribal he had. I´m sorry to say that was the only work I did on Sunday. The show was altogether rather slow and I think one reason was the snow-slush outside (I wouldn´t go out in that). But for not making any money, I actually have a great time spending it!
On Saturday night we went to Manny´s Steak House and have an awesome meal (although I´m a vegetarian!) Everyone said it was the best steak ever and I think the brownie I took home (the size of a cake and sides to feed a small family) was heavenly... I still lick my lips thinking about it! Our waiter was really funny and brought us a round of Jaegermeister (the recurring theme of this convention) so we could get up and leave.
I was quite disappointed I couldn´t talk him into getting a tattoo from me! All together the convention wasn´t as busy as I expected it to be, there was a good vibe in the air and we all had a lot of fun on the party at Shawn Andersons shop on Sunday night.
Judy had brought a pinata we bought in Mexico, and after stuffing it with candy and other fun stuff, Sharon and Pat had to pop it. Needless to say, they hit like girls! I had a lot of fun in Minneapolis, meet a lot of nice people and (although I got really drunk on Sunday and almost missed my plane on Monday-morning) I hope to go back next year.
Judy Parker´s Pacific Tattoo
After spending some time in New York and Long Island (and getting more cold and rainy weather), it´s finaly time to spend some time in the sun again (or so I´m hoping). Judy´s husband Jerry picks me up at the airport and shows me around the shop, since Judy is off in Philadelphia on convention.
The shop is located downtown, between a bad neighborhood and the marine-base and the customers stopping in are very diverse. The shop is quite very big, with different rooms and spread out work-stations. There is a TV in every room and I think that´s great entertainment! (Although I can´t turn the TV on when I´m working, it distracts me too much). I get to do quite a few black and gray pieces and have some fun with a big celtic cross I get to do on a calf. It seems celtic is making a comeback, wich is to my liking.
When back in town Judy drives me around the city and shows me all the sights and it´s so good to see the Pacific again. San Diego is really huge, but I like the small houses and the palmtrees everywhere. I spend a day at the Sand Diego Zoo and it´s fun to see a hippo underwater.
We all head to Tijuana one day and I end up spending a small fortune on religious kitsch (which goes straight to storage), so when I have a home again one day, there will be a lot of collectible-junk and dust-holders!
I had a great time visiting with Judy and hope to be able to draw like her one day!
Mike and Mary Skiver´s Personal Art Tattoo
We pack up right after the Convention and head out to Somerset. The drive proves to be quite tedious because of snow and sleet, but we do arrive in one piece in the smallest town I visited so far. Mike and Mary live in an old converted church that´s in the middle of renovation, and Mike is planing to open a tattoo-museum and move the shop into the building which will be very interesting.
He has so much old stuff it´s awesome! Mike´s shop is right next door at this point. The shop is fairly slow this time of year and I have a lot of time to work on drawings and catch up on some of my "paperwork". The great thing about being in a small town is that people stop in all the time to just chat and hang out.
Mike has some radio ads announcing my stay and a lot of people came in with questions about Germany and how it changed in the last years. I felt like a sophisticated and well-travelled jet setter! I stayed with Mike´s mother "Granny" as everyone calls her and we had quite a few fun evenings watching TV together and talking. Somerset is a quiet little town, but the countryside is very pretty and must be quite beautyful in summer. I took the train up to New York and got to see a bit of Pennsylvania on the way. I hope to make it back there some time, hopefully when it´s warmer!
Eddie´s Philadelphia Tattoo Convention
After my reunion with Telisa at the Spokane airport we head to Philadelphia... ahhh, finaly, back to the east-coast! The weather is great (for the first time in 6 weeks I´m sweating) and after a long night of partying we head down to South Street. Shopping-shopping-shopping... and good food too. It´s good to see some of the city before starting to work and beeing holed up on the convention. Back at the hotel we meet up with Sandi, Cornfed and Jack Armstrong (who I will be sharing the booth with), run into a lot of other people and make new friends (hi Sid, Andrew, Michael, Caty and everyone else) that we hang out with all night.
Friday morning we set up and the Ballroom is already pretty full at 2 pm, definitly a good start for the weekend. I take it easy, catching up with everyone and finaly do end up doing a tribal. Fun (I just like doing it!). We head up to the rooms early, to be fresh for Saturday. I get to do a flying heart in the early afternoon and that makes my day.
I do some more smaller pieces and set up an appointment for a custom celtic piece the next day, so I go to the room early and spend 2 hours doing homework. I haven´t done any celtic in ages and I´m so excited! I spend most of Sunday on the piece and have a blast doing it. Then I did some more tribal work and runes, just the way I like it!
The convention was over before I mentaly arrived in Philadelphia, but I had a great time and it was fun seeing everyone again. Hopefully I´ll make it again next year.
Circus on Tour
Constant Creations
After beeing in Moscow for 4 weeks, Spokane seems like the big city.
There is quite a bit of cultural stuff going on and the local college is one of the best in the nation (at least that was the excuse for watching sports on TV).
Constant Creations is located downtown Spokane. The shop has an art gallerie in the front and the time and money spend renovating the shop were well worth it. The interior is super-friendly and clean, there is art everywhere and the overall atmosphere is very creative. The clientele is mostly custom and I got to do some bigger freehand tribal pieces.
Fun! My free time I spend designing new t-shirt prints and chatting with Constance, Clae, Charissa and everyone else in the shop. I got back into the habit of drinking coffee (since there is the Rocket Coffee Shop around the corner I couln´t help myself) and all the caffeine made me very productive.
Constance also gave me a place to stay and I spend quite a few nights drinking wine and discussing politics with her and her boyfriend Marco. He also tought me a new drinking game, "the Mexican" (if your interested contact me and I´ll send the rules, or better jet: play with me!) and I can´t wait to try it on all my friends.
All in all Spokane is fun, although the weather was just too cold for me. I look forward for visiting again the end of summer after the Olympia Show.
Little City Tattoo
First thing I notice flying in from Florida is the empty countryside... there are almost no houses and no cars on the roads. Where are everybody? Is that cluster of cross-streets a town? Is that white stuff on the ground snow? Do I really want to be here? I´m a citygirl! Somebody help me!
Once we get on the ground, I actually relax a little bit and look forward to hanging out with Telisa and Fay. After riding through the snow-covered countryside for a couple of hours (which is quite beautyful) we get to the shop and I´m shocked to see a billboard anouncing my stay! (Yes, it´s nice to feel like a movie-star!) The shop is an old church, converted from a movie-theatre and it´s huge. There are a lot of windows and the high ceiling gives it a very friendly appearance. The shop crew is: Telisa, Sarah and Brooks doing tattoos, Fay does piercings and Tiffany apprenticing as a piercer. There is a big traffic-flow through the shop: mostly half hysterical college-kids getting their navel, tongue or nipple pierced, but also some very open-minded tattoo-customers. I got to do quite a few fun pieces. Tribal is big here too and I enjoyed doing some bigger custom pieces. My free time in the shop I spend in making a new convention banner and designing new stickers (I think I´m addicted to having stickers printed!).
Telisa and I traded Wonder Woman tattoos before I left (I cried only a little) and I´m sure the new tattoo gives me super-natural power (man-magnetism for example!).
Telisa and Alan welcomed me in their house and it was great being part of a huge family. There was always something going on, people visiting, children screaming, dogs barking or Telisa looking for something.
I didn´t really expect to find Idaho apealing, but the area is beautyful! I bought at least 4 rolls of film - just photographing the sky and the countryside. The locals in Spokane are different than what I imagined (the local bumpersticker: "welcome to Idaho, now go home"), but I had a great time in the state where soda is still called pop and drinking a Bud while driving to work is okay too!
Ink Factory
Coming to St. Petersburg was fun. Everyone warned me that there was no money to be made in Florida, but I was in search of sun and beach, so that didn´t keep me from going. Andrea (a fellow tattoo-artist from Germany) invited me to stay with her and Lou, the owner of Ink Factory, let me work in his shop for a week. The studio is painted with awesome Dali-like images, keeping with the spirit of the Dali-Museeum in town, and is clean and friendly and I had a fun time working with Lou and Alan. It was slow as expected, but I got to do some work and even had the chance to do a custom piece to my liking (a black and white mask). Lou gave me one of his machine-frames and I have a new challenge for my screwdriver-skills.
The time I had off I spend in the museum, at the pier and on the beach of course. I didn´t actually manage to get a tan in the short time, but boy, it felt great to wear a tanktop again! All in all I had a good time and once again I asked myself why I ever left Florida...
Marked for Life Female Tattoo Convention
This year I looked forward to Deana´s Convention in different ways: sun! warm temperatures! amusementparks! It was hot and muggy when I landed and I was soo happy! After some confusion at the airport, I went to the hotel and checked in with everyone. Holly, Cat and Trine where there from Germany, Telisa, Fay and a bunch of other people came from the north-west, then there was Ronita of course, Judy, Sharon, Constance, Mary and a bunch of other people. I shared my room with Clancy and Mel from Clan Tatu and Gavi, who came from Washington. I tried to go to bed early the first night, but with everyone else coming in at 2AM that was a stupid idea. Still on german time I woke up at 7AM the next morning and couldn´t get back to sleep... great! So basicaly I spend the first day of the convention complaining how tired I was, walking around and spending money I hadn´t made jet. I went to bed early on Friday and was well rested and in a super mood on the second day. Bald!
Bill asked me to participate in his attempt at a new world-record (he wanted every female who was working on the convention to tattoo a fish on him) and the little fish-skeleton I did on him was my first tattoo of the weekend.
After that I tattooed a skull with some ornaments on Fay for helping me out in Sturgis and I had so much fun doing it, I didn´t want it to end. We entered in best of day, but of course I didn´t win. Later in the day I ended up doing a vine around a womans wrist which turned out to be my one and only paid tattoo of the conention. This year was rather slow and it seems a lot of people are not spending any money after September 11th. Sunday was a pretty dead day and after hours of trying Anette and I joked that we couldn´t even give out tattoos away. I spend some time enjoying the sun outside and at least we sold some t-shirts so the booth wasn´t a total loss.
Sundaynight there was a big buffet for all the artists and after everyone was fed and had a few beers, Constance and Miss Debrah unpacked their violins and it was time for tattoo-music. At some point the whole ballroom was singing (except for me of course, since I didn´t want to scare everyone with my horrible voice).
Meanwhile Judy Parker and Guy Atchinson did a colaboration-tattoo on Deana´s arm. The piece wasn´t finished when I went to bed, but it looked good and I´ll have to check it out the next time I run into Deana.
As usual the weekend was over before I knew it and although it didn´t go so well for me this year, I plan on coming back in 2003.
Tattoo Artist Wellness Weekend
A Wellness Weekend for tattoo-artist... that was a new idea and of course I had to be part of it! Getting to Vienna was a nightmare and it beeing below zero didn´t help my mood. We were supposed to meet at the trainstation to get on a bus which would take us to the resort in the south of Austria, but me beeing confused (and thinking: a bus has to leave from the bus-stop not the trainstation), it took some time to meet and the bus had to actually turn around to pick me up... not a good start!
After a couple of hours drive we made it and checked into our rooms. Rogner Bad Blumau is a huge resort with hotelrooms, a waterpark, saunas, whirlpools, restaurants, a bar, etc.... and is completely done by Hundertwasser - a designer/architect using a lot of tile-mosaics, similar to Gaudi. We all got equipped with white bathrobes and for a fleeting moment I felt like beeing in a sanatorium! It was quite funny to see all these pierced and tattooed people run around in robes (I wish I had a waterproof camera) and it felt like beeing part of a strange new cult.
Pogo had organised a huge welcome-buffet and we all met in the seminar-room, eating and looking at the art-exibit. I ran into quite a few people I hadn´t seen in a while, one of them beeing Iwan, the guy who apprenticed me. That was fun and we had quite some catching up to do.
Saturday was spend with the seminars: Lyle Tuttle held a machine-workshop, Bernie Luther talked about cover-ups (I learned to use more universe in my cover-ups), Brian Everit held a discussion about portrait-work, Paul Booth lectured about the left and right side of the brain, and Pogo was so efficient in his lecture about time-managment, it only took 15 minutes.
Exhausted all of us raced out rooms afterwards to change and get to the pool before it closed up for the night. We all swam outside and it was great sitting in the warm whirlpool, seeing snow on the ground and the stars in the sky, and just hanging out. It´s good to get together once in a while not working and having time to just talk and hang out. Afterwards we all hit the bar, but somehow everyone seemed all tired and the night didn´t last long.
Sunday had some more seminars, on hygiene and the business-end of having a shop, but I skipped that and got a massage and a "Cleopatra-bath"... very strange! But my skin was sooo soft afterwards (although no one else could tell a difference). There was another buffet in the evening, this time to say good bye and put a closing on the weekend. We all got together for drinks afterwards and stayed a while although the band was real torture.
All in all the whole event was great fun and I felt relaxed and energetic when we left mondaymorning back to Vienna. I had definitly learned somethings and my body was happy about getting some heat and water (not that I don´t bathe otherwiese, but still). I will definitely go back if Pogo is having the weekend again and I have to say this: Tattooartists everywhere come and join us!
This event also put me just in the right mood to go on the Tattoo-Cruise...
Another Hop
Heaven and Hell Tattoo
Going to Frankfurt was fun, I was looking forward to visiting Astrid and seeing the new location of her shop. The studio located in Limburg is nice and big and right in the middle of a busy shopping-street. The crew is fairly big for a german tattoo-studio and everyone takes turns working in the different stations, wich is like musical-chairs for tattooists! Astrid, Petra, Kai and Thorsten are the tattoocrew and Gregor and Ute take care of the piercing-clients. Most of the customers were young and nervous and we had some fun trying to loosen them up(one girl I tattooed was so excited she threw up in my garbagecan!). I got to do mostly tribalpieces in the week of working for Astrid, wich I don´t mind doing and like to design for the customers. All in all the ornamentic-craze is still going on in Germany and people can´t seem to decide to get something with a "meaning" (like Taz or Tweety). Germans are also not interested in getting names, so I almost forgot how to do script!
It was good hanging out with Astrid again, since we hadn´t realy seen each other in years. We went out a couple of times in Frankfurt and she actually introduced me to my new addiction: Bingo! We went playing one night (Astrid won the pot) and Bingo+Beer seems like the ultimate combination to me! I tried getting other people to go playing with me, but so far everyone is to embaressed... Another new thing I learned in Frankfurt was how to make Sushi and for the first time in my life I ate all you can eat Sushi... oh... soo good!
Anyway, hanging out with everyone at Heaven and Hell Tattoo was a lot of fun and when I make it back to Germany I´ll definitly go there again
Tattoo Studio Cat
I was excited to go to Schauenburg, since I´ve never been to this part of Germany wich is basically smack in the middle.
Holly and Cat have a cute little house (with the coolest bathroom I´ve ever seen) and the studio is located in a second house behind the building. The good thing about that is it cuts your commute to 30 seconds, the bad thing is the customers standing in front of the studio look directly into the kitchen. Quite a lot of the 10 AM apointments (yes, the shop actually opens at 10!) would show up early (some at 10 after 9!) and I would feel guilty about leaving them out in the cold while I had my breakfast.
So I would run ofer and safe them from the cold. This would not start my day in the right way (not beeing a morning-person anyway) and quite a few customers had to suffer through hours of bitchyness from me. I realy feel bad about it now, expecially since almost all customers at Tattoo Cat are very nice, listen to reason and aprechiate the work you do.
I got to do a lot of tribals and it was great to get into some bigger freehand pieces. A lot of people would bring friends and family (one woman brought a little stuffed pig with the name of Eddie and who was part of the family and had insisted on coming along!) and the over all mood was very positive.
Staying with Holly and Cat was a lot of fun, although Holly ruined my diet-plans by cooking delicious, irresistable meals (since I stopped smoking all my pants seemed to shrink and I´m too cheap to buy new clothes). It was a good experience working in Germany again and I was once again supprised at how different the styles and customer-wishes are. Germans are so much more serious about getting tattooed and don´t want as much color as americans do, wich I thought was a nice change. I hope to get a chance to travel to europe more often, but I probably wont be back untill the next Wellness-Weekend in December.
Germany
After the fun (but not very productive) time in Sturgis, I decided it was time for a break and to visit my friends in Germany again.
The first 2 weeks the sun was out and it was actually hot, so we got to do things like having breakfast on the balkony, barbecuing and sitting in the warm breese drinking a beer at night, not a typical thing to do in Germany. I enjoyed it as long as I could since the next 3 weeks where non-stop rain and icy temperatures.
I did some "kitchen-tattooing" on some of my friends and worked for a week at Galina´s shop in Bremen, the Tiki-Lounge. I did a couple of tribals and some black+gray work and I was soo happy! I didn´t even have to unpack my colors! The work-pace in Germany is so much more relaxed than in the States and I enjoyed beeing able to take my time. Although I got in such a relaxed state a piece I did on another local tattoo-artist took me so long I couldn´t finish it. So now I have to go back sometime.
All in all I had a great fun in Germany and I hadn´t realised how much I miss my friends until I spend some time with them again. I actually got to do some "typical" german pasttimes like going mushroom-hunting and cooking them (well, okey, I didn´t actually cook!).
Right before I was supposed to fly to the Inkslingers Ball the terrorist-attacs happened and after missing all my flight-connections, I decided to just return to New York and canceled all my plans for the west-coast. This way I would be able to visit the New Jersey Convention and go back to Austria in December for the Tattoo-Artist-Wellness-Weekend.
Sturgis / South Dakota Bike Ralley
I was not realy looking forward to going to Sturgis, I was nervous about beeing surroundet by drunk bikers and scratchers, but as usual things didn´t turn out as expected.
I was working for Mary and Mike Skiver and this year they set us up in the Laundromat on Mainstreet. The shop was nice and big and it turned out we where definitly the cleanest shop in town. Although we had quite a few people coming in with huge bags of clothing we pretended not to notice.
The "Laundromat-Crew" was tons of fun, there was Telisa and Faye from Little City Tattoo, Josh, Rich and their helper Skinny from Immortal Ink, Jake and Cody from Mind Altering Tattoo, Bill from Hysterical Tattoo and Holly and Dixie from Tattoo Cat in Germany. Not to forget Troy with his clothes from Tattooed Kingpin and Bill who did airbrush.
There were quite a few other tattooartists in town that I knew and I was happy to run into Ronita and Judy and quite a few others. Even in Sturgis there seemed to be some girl-power going on. The weather was great this year, the sun was shining and it was hot! My kind of climate! But even that didn´t realy make up for the small amount of visitors. This was the year after the millenium-run and a lot of people stayed home, even the customers there didn´t want to spend a lot of money. The good thing was that we had a pinball in the shop, so we could master our skills when it was slow. I worked on a lot of locals and people from the near area. I got to do some fun black and gray stuff and my second Jesus potrait. The people where over all very nice and I didn´t see any fights or agression going on, wich might have something to do with the hundreds of cops walking around. This ralley didn´t turn out to be the big money-maker I hoped, but all of us working together had a lot of fun, we basically laughted all day and drank beer all night. I even got a little souvenier from Sturgis, a poisonous martini-glas, that Troy tattooed on me the last night in the hotel. It´s super-cool! Thanks again Troy!
If I do go again next year I will definitly drive there and take some time to check out the local sights. The countryside there is beautyful and I have still to see bufalows in the wild. And maybe one day I´ll learn to ride a motorcycle and then I can ride there!
Mass. Tattoo Festival
Getting to Boston was fun. I was on Long Island before and I took the ferry from Orient Point. It was a gorgeous day and it was great to sit in the sun and have a mild sea-breese in my face again. God, I miss the beach!
The Convention was happening in Worcester near Boston and I had (for once) no problem finding it. Mary Skiver had invited me to share her booth and on Friday we took out time setting up. I ran into a lot of people I had already seen the weekend before at the New Jersey Convention and everyone was in a good mood. The convention hall was very big and there where also 2 other levels with excibitions and ventors. The first day was actually already pretty busy and I ended up doing 2 tattoos.
Saturday was crazy and the rows were filled with people. All of us tattooed all day long and I sold quite a few aprons and T-Shirts. There was also some other interesting stuff going on, like Art-Fusion (5 artists taking turns on 5 canvases), concerts close by and seminars.
Sunday was not as busy as I expected, but we were still working all day. We spend much of the day talking about the rumor that New York was closed of after the bombing of Kabul. A lot of the artist where flying back from New York or Newark and were worried about beeing stuck. At 6pm the Convention closed down and I couldn´t believe a nother weekend of fun was over. I had a great time at the first Mass. Tattoo Festival and have to say it was one of the best conventions I´ve been to. It was well organised, in a good location, there where great artists and the overall mood was positiv.
I hope to go again next year!
the next step
New York / New Jersey Convention
Coming to New York is fun as usual... bright lights - big city! And the never ending shopping-possibilities. But, I´m in town with a different mission: making money, not spending it. The first New York/New Jersey Convention is taking place at a hotel near the Meadowlands in New Jersey. I share my booth with Bert from Way Cool Tattoos in Toronto. We meet up the night before the show starts and after piling all of us and our equipment in 2 cars, we head for New Jersey. Oh, the hazards of traffic! We actually manage to get lost 3 time between the Bronx and our destination, but arrive without getting into an accident or causing one.
The first day of the Convention is slow as usual, but I sell a couple of shirts, so at least I have enough money for food and drink.
Saturday is a little busier, but it´s not nearly as crowded and busseling as I would have expected of a big city convention. After wuite a bit of husseling I finally get to do a tattoo: a small tribal-butterfly on the lower back (as the weekend developes it turns out this will be my first and last tattoo on this convention). I spend most of the day walking around, chatting with colleges and draw, but after 10 hours of doing that even I get bored. And since I´m not making money, I shouldn´t go around spending it. Boring!
At least the responce to my aprons is good and I sell quite a few.
Sunday isn´t much better although there more visitors. I spend the day chatting with friends and somehow don´t really feel like dealing with customers, so I just have fun and the convention is over before I get to blink with an eye. What´s kind of stupid is that there is no "Good-Bye Party" and everyone just drifts to their rooms or into the city. So we just hang at the bar for a little while and then head into different directions. All in all I had a good time, but with 3 more conventions in and around New York and New Jersey, it was not worth the trouble of heading all the way out to the Meadowlands.
Phoenix
Coming back to Phoenix is HOT! (but since it´s dry heat it´s realy not that bad-HAHA!) It´s fun being back and I actually have my own room in the house I live in, ah... the life of luxury. "Black Kitty" the black cat that adopted me is still there too and by the end of the first week has me trained to feed it on time, only buy the best catfood and let him in and out of the house on command.
We´re an international crew at the shop and we spend quite some time making fun of each other accents. The crew was Mel, Micah, Frank and Jon from the shop, Victor from Mexico, Gretchen and Clint from Australia,and me (the homeless person), Clancy was taking some time off and was only in the shop occasionally. Since it´s summer-break the shop is in it´s slow season and it´s a nice change from the hectic in Chico and Las Vegas. I do a lot of smaller tattoos and a Buddah in just outlines, wich is a lot of fun.
The month in Phoenix was more a big get-together than work. We selebrated 3 birthdays while I was there (one beeing a 21st), the 4th of July and had a couple of welcoming and going-away partys. I had a great time and will go back to Phoenix some time soon.
Chico, California
I arrive in Chico, so hungover I don´t know how I will make a good impression. And since United Airlines made me repack my equipment, I carry a box and plastic bags as luggage, very classy! But the sun is shining and I´m in a good mood, what more can you ask for? New Creation Tattoo is a great shop. It´s clean, well organised and everyone has their own room, incl. a stereosystem. I´m in heaven! I finaly get a chance to terrorise everyone with the music I like (and quite suprising, everyone in the shop listens to the same stuff). The best thing about New Creation is that they have receptionist that make the prices, deal with the customers and take care of the afterwards. You realy only have to draw and tattoo. Great! I get to do quite a few fun pieces, I excpecialy like the Pin-Up I did on Sailor, who works in the shop. The whole crew is fun: There´s Ronita, who also put me up (and put up with me), Quannah, Devon the piercer, Jen and Sailor (also known as "Heartbreaker").
Chico is mostly a college-town and I´m thrilled to see young people (and a lot of bars in walking distance). The only thing that sucks is that you´re not allowed to smoke anywhere in California except on the street. I was quite annoyed, expecialy when it rained.
One local highlight is the Sierra Nevada Brewery. We went there for dinner one night and the food is actually good too.
Ronita and me took a long weekend to go visit some fiends in Santa Cruz and go sight-seeing in San Fransisco. I felt like an alcoholic coming back to his favorit bar when I saw the beach again and emidiatly decided to move to Santa Cruz. Of course I changed my mind when I heard about average rents there! Unbelivable! San Fransisco was totaly "cool" and I have to say: I never looked at so much fog before! But the city is great and we had a lot of fun, expecialy beeing the "Tattoo-Artist-Dart/Pool-Team", needless to say I suck at both games.
All in all I had a great time in Chico and if the town had a beach I would move there! But I wander on and maybe one day I´ll find the ideal mix of beach-mountains-lakes-sunshine-good people-bars....
More frome the road soon.
But, it seems I´ll keep wandering a while.
See you in your town soon!
Back in Viva Las Vegas
After stops in Fort Lauderdale, New York and Boston, not realy tattooing, except to finaly finish up some pieces I started, I´m relaxed enough to head back to party-town Las Vegas. Beeing back on the strip puts a smile on my face, I love this town!
Starborn Tattoo hasn´t changed much and I´m happy to bee back with "the guys". I stay with Sandi and Cornfed this time and Jack Armstrong keeps me entertained every night with the storys of his life. He´s a great old man and it´s fasinating to hear about tattooing 50 years ago. He also gave me one of his machines and I will treasure it in the years to come.
Working in the shop I finaly get to do flaming dice on a tourist. Rad!
Otherwise it´s mostly names and tiny stuff. In between I keep myself (and everybody else) entertained with my new Polaroid Camera. I plan to blackmail everyone with their pictures, so I´ve they don´t pay, watch for the photos here.
I don´t realy gamble much this time around and am relived to find myself not addicted! Still this town is a lot of fun and I am still happy to be here (even if I´m not getting married!).
But the west is calling and I´m headed to Calefornia next.
Life Tattoo Convention
This is the 3rd time I´m doing this convention, but as usual I´m nervous, stressed out and hyper about working.
Clancy, Mel and me get into Orlando in the middle of the night and first thing we do of course is wake everybody in our rooms up. The german girls I´m meeting refuse to get up so, I end up having a glas of wine with Sharon, Judy, Constance, Clancy and Mel in their room. Constance plays the Violin for us and after listening for a little while I´m convinced even if the convention turns out to be horrible it was worth coming.
Since there is no health-seminar the next day, we get to sleep late and relax before a weekend of crazyness. After seeing the great weather outside I suddenly can´t remember why I left Florida....
The first day of the convention I set up my booth in no time and try to not seem to anxious to work. It´s slow as usual on the first day, but I get to do a little rose, so I´m happy.
Saturday starts off with buzzing tattoo-mashines and I get to do a bigger piece of 2 fisch on a guys chest.I also do a couple of tribals and start spending money on shirts and patches (like I don´t have enought clothes to cramp into my suitcase!). On sunday Dave Long is giving one of his machine seminars and I promise him (and myself) in a somewhat drunken state saturday-night that yes, this time I will show up! I of course ignore the fact that it´s at 10AM! But, suprisingly I manage to get up in time and go, and I can tell you in those 6 hours I learned more than in the 6 years before that! I can highly recomend taking his class, expecially if you know nothing about machines (or like me, pretend to know something).
After the course ends, we go back to our booths and none of us realy feel much like tattooing... I want to just grab a screwdriver and start using my newfound knowlege on my machines. But I start scetching up some designs for customers and spend the rest of the day tattooing. At 7 it´s time to pack up and I can´t belive another convention is over.
I had a good time and, as usual on this convention, I met a lot of interessting and great people. There was a good spirit in the air and it felt good to talk to tattoo-artist about other things than tattoos and customers. I realy like this show because of this and will definitly go again next year.
Viva Las Vegas!
Driving to Las Vegas is a shock to me! I can´t belive how big the city is!...and all those lights! Even without christmas-decoration!
After 6 hours of driving, we of course do the Las-Vegas-Thing: Gambling! As long as you play all the drinks are free (a concept totaly alien to me) and needless to say, after a couple of hours we´re plastered. Each of us lost about $2 and I´ve never gotten drunk for so little money before.
Starborn Tattoo is located directly on the strip, at the Stratophere-End. Directly across the street are 2 more Studios (right next to each other) and not far down the road 2 more. Las Vegas likes to keep it´s business in the area I guess. The Tattoo-Studio is on the second floor, above Natural Mystic, a shop selling Hemp clothes, pipes and clothes.
The store-hours are from 10 to midnight (2 AM on weekends) and I have a very hard time getting up that early in the morning (I´m used to a spoiled tattoo-artist day). We get a lot of tourist wandering in and it´s a good past-time guessing if couples are in town to get married or are having the fight of their lifes and will split up once they get back home.
The crew at the shop is a lot of fun: Cornfed (the owner), Sandi (also owner of the shop, Cornfed´s wife and piercer), Eron (the piercer), Spike, Ryan Downie, Magic, Danny, Nelson, Twister and Ted. I get to tattoo a couple of the guys and have a lot of fun doing "sexy stuff". Check out the fotos.
Danny explained (after I outed myself as an total ignorant when it comes to games, incuding pool) Black Jack to me and (yes, unbelivable) I actually won some money playing it (and I got free drinks too!).
And I even got a new tattoo! It´s my Las Vegas Momento (and my new years resulution), a heart-card with a knife going through it and a scroll that says: "fool no more". Me and Kerstin (a good friend of mine) got the same thing (hers is in color) and we´re both proud of our "deep and spiritual" tattoo! Ryan did it and here come a big THANK YOU! One more thing I have to mention about Las Vegas: I definitly had one of the best cab rides of my life there. One of the drivers turned out to be a musician and he played the blues on the harmonica for me the whole time we were on the road. Great! I was very sad leaving the city of bright lights (although it would probably turn me into an alkoholic and a gambler) and hope to return soon.
New Orleans
Getting to New Orleans is really nice. First off I finaly get to wear my tanktops again, after almost freezing my butt off in New York and second I´m in a city famous for seafood. I´m suprised a lot of the people running around on the streets are heavyly tattooed, everybody is realy nice and I´m greeted with a "hi" or "good night" everytime I walk down the street (at first I always turned around because I thought they must be talking to someone behind me). The French Quarter is filled with curious shops and you hear Blues on every streetcorner. It´s great fun to just walk around and take in the scenery. One of the anoying things about the city though are the drunk tourists and the paranoia everyone has about beeing abducted and turned into a zombie! Working for Annette at Electric Ladyland 2 was fun.
The shop is done realy nice and is definitly the biggest shop I´ve ever worked in, it even has a waterfountain appropriatly filled with condoms! The people I tattooed where mostly tourists and I did a lot of small pieces. One or the local-customers was the owner of a restaurant around the corner and invited us over for dinner. What a great meal!
Halloween Vodoo Convention
I start the convention off as usual: nervous, excited and tired. I share the booth with Clancy from Clan Tatu this time and we actualy set a new record for setting up our workspaces in only 15 minutes. The first day starts off very slow and I´m very lucky to get to do a large Icarus on an upper arm. It´s a lot of fun and I spend all day on it. At night we go out for a few beers and meet a lot of cool people that want to get tattooed, so the next day we just bring our customers. I get to do a "happy cat" on an underarm and I spend hours doing all the little details (check out the foto). Fun! And right up my alley.
I also do a couple of tribals and walk around a little to check out the other booths and to buy some shirts and trinkets (because there´s always room for one more t-shirt in my already dangerously-close-to-ezploding suitcase!). Sunday is rather slow and a lot of people are bored. At least untill the costume-contest starts and crazy "characters" show up.
Judy Parker is my favorit and I think she won first prise for her "fishy" outfit. I get lucky by having a custumer who wants a Koyfish on his upper arm, so I´m busy untill all the booths are closed and almost everyone has left. I throw my stuff in my cases, drive back to the hotel and head over to the after-party. Since none of my friends has arrived jet, I take a seat at the bar.
I get warned by my neighbor "that a clown has the seat next to mine". I think nothing of it (I don´t have to talk to idiots) and next thing you know there is a guy in a clown-outfitt next to me! And he even had a Ukollee (I have no clue how to spell this instrument) in his pocket an d plays me a song! Only in New Orleans!
All in all I had a great time in "the city of voodoo and blues" and look forward to visiting again some time.
Clan Tatu Phoenix
After the New Orleans Convention Clancy and I head to Phoenix. We´re both hung over and tired from partying in the French Quarter. So, as expected, we both (and everyone else in the shop) get sick. The epedemic lasts for 2 weeks, with everyone coghing,sneezing, having blaery eyes, feeling weak.... (well I guess you get tyhe picture). In this time I figure I might as well stop smoking... but after a couple of days I noticed that my colleges and roomates started avoiding me, since I was the person with the worst mood on the planet. All I do is bitch-bitch-bitch! (Yes, even more than usually)When my pants started getting tight and my skirts would´nt fit anymore I decided to start again. (I guess it´s better to be coughing every morning than to buy new clothes size 14!) My mood improved emidiatly and I had friends again! Working at Clan Tatu was a lot of fun, as usual, and I got to tattoo almost everyone in the shop. Max, a tattoo-artist from Sweden was there too, and we spend quite some time comparing european drinking habits (and practicing them too) I also used the slow time to do some drawings and finaly finished a new set of flash. And hopefully it will be available here at some time! Leaving Phoenix was very hard for me this time, I had a great deal of fun and realy got to know everyone more. It´s hard to leave good people! But..... the highway keeps on calling! And I´ll be back!
Inkslingers Ball Hollywood/California
Wednesday-night I arrive depressed in L.A. I don´t want to go to a convention, I don´t want to be in California, I don´t want to leave Hawaii! Since I´m traveling alone and have nobody to listen to my whining I snap out of it pretty quickly. Thursday I do the touristy thing: Walk of Stars, Hollywood-Sign and writing about 100 postcards bragging about beeing in L.A. In the evening I check into my booth at the convention and am quite suprised to find everyone friendly and relaxed.
On european conventions everybody is running around frantic and confused the night before the event starts. I run into Clancy, Micah, Isa and Dave from Clan Tatu and we catch up on the last couple of months. Friday is a very slow day and after I finish setting up my booth, I walk around checking out on what I can spend the money I´ll be (hopefully)making. I go to bed early to be ready for a fun and excitment filled Saturday. Of course I wake up with a sore throat and a headache, that´s what a lot of sleep gets you!
The day is really busy and I do a bunch of tribal-tattoos, one on a guys stomache, that was a lot of fun. All the customers on this convention are very nice, listen to reasoning and don´t haggle about prices. Great! and not at all what I expected. Beeing very talkative all day I start to lose my voice at the end of the day. Bummer. I go to bed early again, thinking sleep and some Asprin will cure me, but of course it doesn´t! I should have smoked 2 packs of zigarettes, drank 4 six-packs and partied all night instead.
So, on Sunday I have no voice to speak of (or with). I write notes to everybody around me and all my customers are very understanding and supportive, although some misunderstand me, think I´m deaf too and start writing everything down for me. I have a very good day and actually get to spend some of the money I made. At 9 PM it´s all over and I can´t belive how fast 3 days go by.
I enjoyed the Inkslingers Ball, although (or because) it´s not as crazy as the big european conventions. The crowd was great and the overall atitude was positiv. I had a good time and will probably go back next year. From LAX I went direktly to New York..... check for new adventures here!
The early years
Skin Deep, Lahaina/Maui
After 3 weeks in Phoenix at Clan Tatu and a much too short week in Berlin/Germany, I got on an one-way flight to Maui. I felt somewhat adventuresome and on the run! Since I hurt my hand shortly before in Florida, I had to take a 2 week vacation from work. Hawaii is definitely not the worst place for that! After endless days of watching perfect sunsets, working on my tan and doing just plain old nothing, I finally started working at Skin Deep in Lahaina. Being a total workaholic, I was finally happy again. The first day started off well and I can´t belive how organized the shop is, although there up to 8 people working there. About 95% of my customers where honeymooners and it actually depressed me to see so many happy couples! Hibiscusflowers are definitely the most requested tattoo-design and Kanjiis are also a big favorit. I got to some fun pieces, a big shark with a water scene, a Vargas girl (which I didn´t finish, so I have to go back) and my last tattoo in the shop before packing for the "mainland" was a Hula-Girl! FUN! The "boys" Josh, Spike, Jackson, Dave and Bob + Aaron from the Skin Deep Studio on the Big Island are great fun to be around and I had a blast with them. They are hilarious! Josh taught me some hawaiian, but since I have the memory of an ant I only remember "manini" which means small and had a lot of meaning in "manini-tattoo". Debra, the body-piercer, (and the most beautyfully tattooed woman I have seen) actually took me out surfing one day and I ended up with sore arms and cut up feet. I guess it takes more than riding a bicycle and running to become a "surfing-babe"! All in all I had a great time in Lahaina (or Paradise as I call it now) and will definitely go back as soon as I can. Check for dates here.
Clan Tatu, Tempe/Arizona
Getting on a plane from Miami to Phoenix was like going from a Steam-room to a sauna! In the time I was there it stayed an average of 110 Degrees and I felt less inclined to explore downtown Phoenix than working in the air conditioned shop. The Studio has a very friendly touch, a very personal decoration and actually no flash on the walls (the first studio I´ve seen like that in the US). It´s also the best organised shop I´ve ever seen (even better than the shop I had!). I felt right at home and Clancy, Gavi, Micah (the piercer), Isa (the henna-artist), Barb (the other piercer), Dave and Cameo welcomed me with open arms. Clancy and Gavi took me in and I spend the time surrounded by a pack of wolf-hybrids. The welcomed me too and Clancy and I too them out for a walk one morning before work. Fun! Although I sweated about a gallon of water into my shirt (one stain looked like Elvis) and thought I´d have a heat-stroke, I love those dogs. The evenings I spend in lenghty discussions about Hong Kong Action-Movies with Gavi (finally someone who understands me!) and listening to Cameo perform life in a local bar (check her out if you´re ever in Tempe).
I had a good time working in the studio, the customers are very serious about their tattoos, even if its just small stuff, and listen to you, something that almost never happens in Florida (but I guess it´s the sun there!). I actually go to do my fist Batty Page Tattoo and I was so excited it took me twice the time of any other tattoo. One morning, after our usual Mocca Frapuccino and discussions about the new exploits Gavi and Micah managed with Laura Croft, Clancy finished the tribal-dragon on my back. I was so excited and happy to be a "complete woman" I ran around stripping and showing off my back for 3 weeks! Thanks again Clancy!!!
I had a great time at Clan Tatu and will probably be back in November.
Watch for dates here.
Live on the road
After sticking around Fort Lauderdale for much longer than anticipated it´s finaly time for me to go on the road again. I thought I´ll start with the "coolest" place on my list: Toronto/Canada. After some phone-calls and a night of packing I´m ready to go. Niagrafalls here I come!
My first day of travel starts off bad: I oversleep (my flight leaves from Miami at 7.05 AM and I wake up at 5.54!), after some screaming and jelling, going 100 miles an hour and arguing with the counterperson of the airline, I run into the plane, the door gets slamed shut behind me and I´m finaly off to new adventures. Of course my problems don´t stop here! Arriving at Toronto International Airport I can´t find my luggage and when the airline finally finds it, the case with the equipment is busted and stuff is missing. Great! But what the hell, I´m in Canada, want to have a good time and I woun´t cry ofer spilled milk. Just throught customs and let the fun begin (is what I thought). But a guy a customs points at me and jells: "YOU!"
After unpacking my stuff, going through my underwear (jes, very exciting!) and reading my journal, he emties my calender and finds a business card of a Toronto tattoo-studio. Proof enough I´m entering the country to work. He triumphantly jells: "you´re busted! you´re busted!", at wich point I loose my "positive aditude" and have wild fantasies of pulling a gun and shooting him, just to shut him up.
Well, end of story: I get arrested for the first time in my life! So now I have the choice, go back on my own free will or spend a couple of days in jail, waiting for a court hearing. Since I´m not interested in broadening my horizonss by spending time in jail, I leave "on my own free will" in handcuffs (just kidding).
So, after spending 9 hours in holding of Toronto International Airport (with nothing to read and secretly smoking up a storm in the ladiesroom), I´m back in Fort Lauderdale 22 hours after I left! Besides from loosing on of my favorit machines and having blown $500 on a flight to nowhere, I´m hungry and in the desperate need for a stiff drink!
Anyway, I decide to take the next morning flight to New York figuring I need a change in pace! (and spending money allways get´s you ofer the depression of not making any!) The crazyness of New York is catching as allways and sitting in the sun drinking coffee and hearing the familiar sounds of car-horns, sirens and "two for a dollar" "check it out" "nice backpack" is like coming home to grandma´s cooking. I love New York!
I did more partying than tattooing, but I got to tattoo my father (his first and probably last tattoo), my stepmother (her first, but probably not her last tattoo), my stepfather and half of everybody they know. Fun! I also got to visit the "Marks of Identity" Exibition in the Museeum of Natural History before it ended. It was put together well and was very interesting. All in all, I had a good time in the big apple and plan to go there again soon. Check out dates on this site!
New Jersey
After running into Josh and Rich again on the New York Convention, I decide it´s finally time to go to New Jersey and visit. The 2 hour drive turns out to be about 6, since it´s weekend summer traffic and I quite enjoy sitting in my 110 degrees in my un-airconditioned car. But when the going get tough the tough sweat!
I arrive at Josh´s Ranch just in time for drinking and barbeque and it turns out to be a birthday bash for Josh. There where also some tattoo-artists from CA visiting and at a certain time everyone takes off their shirts to show off their ink and it´s time for drunken "show and tell"... always fun!
Rich´s new shop is located in an old railroad depot and spread out over 2 floors.
The shop next door was in the middle of renovation and Josh is planing to open a piercing studio in combination with an art-shop in there. It was fairly slow this time of year, but I got to do a couple of small tattoos and spend my evenings working on a new painting. I also worked a couple of days in the Clinton shop, that was actually hilarious. The guys there definitly know how to have fun and one day for some (unplanned) strange reason, we all showed up in the same clothes... very weird! I got to tattoo a rosebud with "this Bud´s for you" around it on Pete. Fun! And defintly an magnet for the ladies!
Weirdly I had fun in New Jersey (even thought your not allowed to pump your own gas) and it turns out there are actually some green areas in the state...
Inklinger’s Ball, mayhem in Hollywood
"Hooray for Hollywood!” was the song that kept haunting me through the 5 days I spend in Los Angeles. This being the 12th Inkslinger’s Ball tattoo convention I was expecting a fun weekend busy with work. The convention was being held at the Hollywood Palladium on Sunset Boulevard as every year and I was anticipating having my own little island again, wedged between food and booze.
My booth-partners this year where Heike and Erich from Mordslust in Hannover/Germany, but both of them had a bad case of jet-lag all weekend and ended up spending quite a bit of time sick in bed.
We stayed at the convention-recommended Holiday Inn for the first time this year and even thought the hotel was nice, I was annoyed at all the extra charges for parking, local calls, etc., on my final bill. The free shuttle to and from the convention also proved to be unreliable and not free at all. ("Hooray for Hollywood!”)
Friday I spend most of the morning setting up and saying "hi” to everyone I hadn’t seen in a while. I walked around the floor for a while checking out who was there and it seemed this year had a lot less international guests and more local shops. There was a lot of good art for sale and I hoped this was a good sign and that I would sell some of my flash. I didn’t really expect to do much work on the first day, so I was pleasantly surprised to do a bigger tribal on the lower back of a girl and a Japanese symbol on her boyfriend. We all ended up being pretty exhausted at night and just headed to bed early, to be well rested for a busy Saturday.
I started the day doing a couple of small tribals and some touch-up on 2 of my repeat-customers from the years before. I was surprised to see the floor very empty even in the middle of the afternoon and some talking to people informed me of a tattoo convention that took place only 6 weeks earlier in Pomona (another part of L.A.), supposedly the doors at this event had to be shut at a certain time because there where too many visitors to be safely let inside!
But these where rumors of course and I can’t say if I would have made more money being at that show. But I did wonder... The afternoon was really dead and after being bored sitting in my booth I started walking around and took some pictures of the local people and tattoos. Meanwhile the power went out on 2 rows of booths (incl. Mine) and angry artists (and customers) waited for hours to get their tattoos finished. It seemed no one from the convention organizers really cared about it and no effort was made to inform us of what was going on. I ran out and bought some extension cords, to get power from the closest booth that had some, but most where not that lucky.
Getting in and out of the Palladium was a big hassle, with security searching us and all bags being inspected. This in itself would have not been a problem, but we where not allowed to bring any food or drink inside and I was quite annoyed at having to eat French-fries all weekend. Even bottled water getting confiscated was a bit much. I ended the Saturday doing a small tribal-dragon on a guys forearm a little later and that was it for the day. I was disappointed at the days turn out and talking to some of the other artists it seemed I wasn’t the only one. The day left me in a pretty bad mood and I went to the hotel-room instead of checking out any of the parties or the annual BBQ. ("Hooray for Hollywood!”)
Sunday morning I actually set my alarm and got up early to do a tattoo in my friend Nickee’s armpit. We headed to the Palladium before doors opened to get started before the day got busy, but of course this didn’t happen, the show stayed dead all day. I had a blast doing her work thought and at least that was fun. I did another 2 flying eyeballs on a customer of mine from the year before and then sat around for a while. There was really not much going on and I was bored for most of the afternoon.
I ended the convention tattooing Eyor on one of the security guards and started packing pretty early. I figured to sterilize my stuff for the flight back since I had some time, but at this point it turned out the sterilizer provided for the show was not working!
I’m not sure if anyone noticed the pressure not being reached (or even any building up) but everyone from the show insured me it was fine... after that I walked around a while and since all the vendors where having sales I ended up buying some t-shirts after all. The show left a bad after-taste this year, it was badly organized and no one really cared.
It was sad to see such a long running show go so much downhill and it seems no effort was made to keep the artist happy. Plus one of the shops openly selling nazi-propaganda and t-shirts with SS-tanks on them didn’t really make me feel very welcome.
I had a good time at least climbing to the Hollywood symbol and this year I finally managed to see the Elvis-star, although getting lost in Watts wasn’t that much fun... but I live to tell the tale and off to new adventures I go!
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