A Word of Thanks.....

With the onset of Fall, I compose this note as the month of September is coming to an end.

I look around sadly at the long pants, long sleeves, and covered frames that, just a few weeks ago, were so much more interesting to behold.

I am filled with sadness.

The past month has been a record-breaker for Tattoosday. When we first spun off from BillyBlog, we garnered 120 hits in the first three weeks of our infancy.

Last year, I was amazed by my progress, in September '08 we racked up 13,351 hits.

And this September, when I anticipated a drop off from a record August, Tattoosday soared into uncharted territory, on pace to top 38, 000 hits on the last day of the month. This may not seem like a big deal, but blogging is often lonely, and the number of hits is often the only measure of recognition we receive.

So, the summer ink is running dry, but despair not, I will continue to spot tattoos, although perhaps not at the dizzying rate of the past few months.

I have a backlog of posts and a head full of ideas to keep us entertained as the leaner months loom.

I thank you all for your continued readership and participation. I am very appreciative of your support!

Bill Cohen

Little Dead Riding Hood

I met Amy in Penn Station earlier this month and she agreed to share this, one of her eight tattoos:


Actually, she has since e-mailed me about her ninth, and I am waiting for a photo.

This tattoo represents an undead version of Little Red Riding Hood, which is Amy's favorite fairy tale.


She also likes zombies, so it seemed like a good match.

This tattoo was inked by T.J. Mcinnis at Mcinnis Tattoo Company in Providence, Rhode Island.

Thanks to Amy for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Zack's Spectacular Foot Tattoos

I met Zack earlier this month as he was walking north on Broadway. But, like many Tattoosday encounters, the ink I spotted (on his leg) was not what ended up here on the blog.

Behold, Zack's feet:

These incredible foot tattoos were created by Beef Stu at Bleed Blue Tattoo in Lexington, Kentucky. Zack recently moved to New York from the Bluegrass state.

Zack told me that the idea for these tattoos came to him in a vision. His right foot tattoo is comprised of a DNA strand, the key to life.
And the left foot. with the skull, represents death.


The word "LIVE" is spelled out above the pieces, with "LI" on the right foot and "VE" on the left. The tattoos, together, Zack told me, serve as a "reminder not to get caught up in the shit" and to "make the most of what you can between life and death".

It took three or four sessions (the feet are not easily inked) for these tattoos.

Thanks to Zack for sharing his amazing foot tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Stephanie's חַי

It was a string of elephants marching above Stephanie's right ankle that first made me stop and talk to her, but she offered up this, her first tattoo, as well:


She started with the Chai at the top of her left breast. At the time, Stephanie was dating a guy who was covered in tattoos., She was 35, uninked, and going through a mid-life crisis. The shop was in Brattleboro, Vermont, but it has been gone for years.

She liked the tattoo so much, she later added the Star of David and the leaves. The Jewish theme was a tribute to her cultural identity as a Jew.

It somehow seemed both suiting and slightly inappropriate to post these tattoos on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar.

I am waiting to hear back from Stephanie for clarification on her string of elephant tattoos. But, in the mean time, I thank her for sharing this deeply personal tattoo with us here on Tattoosday.

J.R.'s Five Elements

At the end of August, I spent a couple of minutes on the R train with J.R., who has quite a few tattoos. I didn't have time to take notes, just photos, and I hoped that she would e-mail me with all the details of her work. Fortunately, she did. So, what follows is her explanation of the tattoos, with a little bit of friendly editing.

"My left arm? Dedicated to the five elements...as I see them to be. Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Friendship.

The ants (done by Roni from Hidden Hand Tattoo in Seattle) represent Earth.


Ants are the closest social structure to mirror humans. They have no real strength individually, but together can achieve so much. As a human, I feel it is destined to feel lonely and when I got the tattoo, I came to terms with that and even found beauty in it. I want to feel less like an ant in the sense that there is something that I'm "supposed" to do and if I don't do it I'll be punished or kicked out of the colony, so to say. I want to feel more that there is a greater purpose for my life (or at least one that reflects me as an individual and not what society tells me to be) and that with the help of others I can realize that to it's fullest potential.

The clouds and birds (done by Jeff Cornell owner/artist at Hidden Hand Tattoo) represent Air.


There is a Leonard Cohen song called "Bird on the Wire" that I think is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. I feel the lyrics of the song so deeply and feel that they express such a core sense of who I am. Always, trying to be free. I aspire to someday be free instead of always trying and the tattoo is an attempt to remind myself that the feeling of trying is also a choice just as easy as the feeling of being free is a choice. The past tense nature of the words remind me to be light and free as a bird...

The blue tattoo on my inner arm (done by a girl in her apartment 10 years ago and I can't even remember her name) represents Water.


It is a play on yin and yang as well as a the symbol for Cancer, which is my astrological moon sign. Cancer is ruled by the moon and your moon signs make up your emotional nature. So, I feel this sign very strongly and luckily balances my Leo sun sign which I will get to more later. The symbol has stars instead of circles like a traditional yin yang because I wanted it to represent the universe within myself versus me questioning the universe around me. I got the box around it to express the feeling of being limited due to the human mind. I wanted to remind myself that any limitations are just an illusion and the healthy balance is one in which I'm learning from my experiences but also pushing my own boundaries.

The red and orange tattoo on my outer arm was done by the same forgotten artist though I will mention I was one of her first clients and that she was the perfect person for the job due to her own self-exploratory nature. She provided a healing space in which I was able to have an out of body experience.


The tattoo represents Fire. It captures my before mentioned fire sign of Leo, which is ruled by the sun. It is also Buddhist themed using a Tibetan mantra Om Mani Padme Hum which roughly translates to "the jewel is in the lotus," which to me is a beautiful way to live life. The lotus roots reach far into the muck and swamp but emerge with a beautiful flower on top. The tattoo is an attempt to capture the notion of living in the world yet being separate from it, as to not get burned or be consumed by it. The circle in the tattoo represents the sun and myself and the red is the part of myself that struggles to find my way in the world.

The beehive (done by Louis Barak here in NYC) is a tribute to Emer and Naomi, two best friends of mine, and the tattoo as a whole captures what I consider to be the fifth element, Friendship...It bears the lyrics of The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends." We lived together in Seattle and called our lovely house the Beehive. We used to listen to The Beatles A LOT...though now I'm more of a Stones fan.

There are two bees buzzing to represent them


and the three forget-me-not flowers represent each of us. Emer and Naomi have known me the longest and have seen me through thick and thin. They mean the world to me and I love them both like sisters. I know in my heart that we will know each other forever."

A big thanks to J.R. for sharing her tattoos with me on the subway and then writing so eloquently about them for us to read here on Tattoosday!

No prayer for the dying

M: http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/machine-head-to-remix-rammstein/

J: " Will; 24/09/2009 4am; so sick of MH stop bitching about other bands and touring on a bad
record and remixing Rammstein and break up already"
:D

M: haha, was that secretly you? :)

J: no :P
i was in bed at 4am!

M: i dunno, it's just like you to be up late reading metal hammer ;D

J: I'd rather not, i was on /mu/ insulting people, dissing the new alice in chains, supporting No Prayer for the Dying, and laughing at slayer fans that like anything after HTC :D

M: keep haunting that chapel!
tbh no prayer for the dying did fairly well when it came out, it's no.1 in all the magazines i have at home from 91*

J: and bring your daughter went to no. 1, too, but that's my point about stuff; maiden had released 7th son prior to that, and people love that album, so they all went and bought NPFTD, but no one really likes it, apart from a few :/

M: booooooooooo its a great album! npftd has just as many good songs on it as 7th son, if not more! holy smoke, tailgunner, that nice slow one i like**, public enema no. 1 - that's my 2nd favourite iron maiden song!!

J: the whole album is good, it's possibly the only maiden studio album where i like every song

M: me too! i have no idea why people have issues with it

J: because there is a change in style as such

M: not that much, it still sounds iron maideny

J: they started singing more about social issues than icarus :)

M: yeah but "california dreaming as the world goes screaming"*** or whatever that line is is the best line ever!

J: you're a poser if you like anything after Killers ;)

*On looking it up, it turns out NPFTD was released in 1990, not 91.

**Ironically, the song is actually called "No Prayer for the Dying".

***It's "California dreaming as the Earth dies screaming". I was pretty much there.

Saturday Porn Slot

I've decided to give the honour (if you can call it that) for being the first girl to grace this hallowed hall of hotness to not only one of the best looking people in metal, but one of the coolest.

Liz Buckingham!

She used to play with the (nearly) all-girl sludge band 13, Sourvein and is currently guitarist for Electric Wizard.


To be honest, I don't know anything much more about her, but in my ridiculously shallow Saturday mindset, that doesn't matter. In the words of Bret Michaels: this is one smokin' hot chick.

Cogito Chuck Robbins (Literary Ink)

Sometimes I abbreviate post titles and they seem nonsensical, like one of those captcha messages, or a subject line in a morsel of spam.

So I'm sticking with this title "Cogito Chuck Robbins" because I like the way it sounds. So there. It will all make sense eventually.

I met Chris outside of Penn Station one Friday afternoon, intrigued by his forearm tattoo:


"Cogito ergo sum" is a Latin phrase that means, in English, "I think, therefore, I am." It is attributed to the 17th Century French philosopher René Descartes.

This was the first of Chris' three tattoos. He is a philosophy and creative writing major at SUNY New Paltz. This phrase is the "missing link in a belief system," or, in his words, "what I always knew, but never knew".

The tattoo was done at a shop in East Meadow, New York.

Chris also has this dead bird near his right elbow:


Inked at Skin Deep Tattoo in Levittown, this is inspired by the art on the cover of Chuck Palahniuk's Lullaby.

Work from Skin Deep has appeared previously on Tattoosday here. Palahniuk also has quite a cult following, and his work is the most often represented in ink here on Tattoosday. Check out other Palahniuk tattoos here.

And Chris' third tattoo is based on the cover art from one of my favorite authors, Tom Robbins:


This echoes the front of the great book Still Life With Woodpecker, which has made many people a fan of the writer.


The piece, which was inked by Mike Vlad at Triple X Tattoo in Manhattan, is a subtle nod in appreciation of Robbins and his great book. Work from Triple X has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

If you like these pieces, and are a fan of literary tattoos, you should certainly check out Contrariwise, a site dedicated solely to contributors' literary ink.

A hearty thanks to Chris for sharing his tattoos with us here on our site!

Everything sounds better in Portuguese!

M: STEVE HARRIS-Owned EDDIE'S BAR Closing Down For Good - Portugal bar :D

J: that is just METAL!

M: DESCARGAR!!! :D

J: go to google translator
enter some metal stuff
translate to portuguese
??????
profit!

M: morte ao metal falso!!!

J: metal para a vida :D

M: metal preto para a vitória :D

J: Euronymous era homossexual e tinha que morrer

M: Varg era um assassino super. É meu herói!
everthing sounds cool in portugese. this is a language i have to learn!

J: pamplumossa metal são estúpidas e as pessoas que eles deveriam ser
expulsos da cena metal

M: os povos que fazem a pamplumossa do metal devem mandar suas mãos eliminar

J: that would be cool :D
only trve metal law can make that a reality
death metal é realmente lixo
:P

M: o death metal é um dos formulários os mais elevados da música

J: em seus sonhos

M: parafuse-o jon!

J: voltar a prestar atenção a rocha do amor, mas você pode deixar isso aqui nice ass

M: dat ass!!! (universal language) :D

J: :E

Disclaimer: Obviously we do not speak Portuguese. Sadly my dad comes from one of the only countries in the whole of South America that has English as its official language. On the upside, it has its own Manowar song :D

I can safely say though, despite this being an awesome song, I have NO IDEA what they're on about.

Colin's Left Leg is Traditionally Flash-y

I spotted Colin one afternoon while I was waiting for another tattooed individual to get off of her cell phone.

(Not only have I come up with individual terms for things that are associated with inkblogging, but I follow a code, as well. One of its tenets is to never bother someone talking on a cell phone.)

Colin ambled by and I bounded after him, stopping him and asking about his tattoos.

His left leg is covered with traditional flash, from swallows and bombs, roses, death's head moths,


and a pin-up girl, done in the Sailor Jerry style.


He explained that the sleeved left leg is a result of being "overzealous and excited" about tattoos.
Usually I try to talk about one or two pieces, but because most of his work is just flash, I captured most of his calf.

No fascinating stories to tell, just tattoos.

Thanks to Colin for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!

Sweet Pea Shares More Classic Brooklyn-Style Ink

My last tattoo (here) was inked by Pete who uses the moniker "Sweet Pea".

I stopped by to say hi a few weeks back and I got a glimpse of him tattooing a koi on a client's leg.

Sweet Pea invited me to snap a shot of his own leg, recently inked by legendary tattoo artist Tony Polito:


This piece of classicly-inspired flash, signed by Polito himself, is another fine work of body art on Sweet Pea's canvas. See the original post featuring his ink here.

Thanks to Sweet Pea for sharing this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday.

Existence is futile

M: Revocation - Existence is Futile (2009) - these sort of logos are so standard its almost boring now, but this one is quite well done

J: eh, it's a decent logo though :) but i know what you mean

M: yeah i think its a cool logo, its just these death metal 'unreadable logo' bands are ten a penny nowadays, it's just been done so many times before

J: it's still better than bands that use prefixed fonts :)

M: like burzum :)

J: you've got a point there, never really thought about it, but yeah, it does :D

M: i always think about that :) although he's used the same font always - when he first did it, i dunno if it would have been a set computer font or anything, it was a bit early for stuff like that. but its totally generic yeah :)

J: olde english or something :D

M: yeah gothic or some shit :)

J: although there is that one where the R tails off as an inverted cross

M: orly?

J: i'm trying to find it online :)
its in lords of chaos somewhere

M: oh yeah, i do know that :) those were all unofficial tho yeah?

J: i believe so, ye :D

M: haha so the only burzum logo that included a custom font was made by some randoms elsewhere :)

J: i like the normal one anyway, it suits it

M: yeah, looks pretty cool :) i quite like that it's not fussy or pretentiously "unreadable" or any of that. a lot of the older bm ones aren't so silly, a lot you can read easily, they've just been changed to incorporate loads of symbolism and stuff, they're cool

J: demon burger's is kinda lame :/ them long thin letters

M: it's rubbish, it makes me angry!!! their first logo is AMAZING i can't work out why they ever switched :/

J: i love their first one. i think it might be to do with them going onto a major :?

M: i wondered that, if perhaps someone wanted them to have something more easy to read - they never use the old logo now, although i don't own any of the physical cd's so perhaps it appears on the sleeves. tho i doubt it :/

J: i reckon it's a major label thing. most bands tend to have to alter something to either make them seem cleaner or more sellable to the mainstream market - depending on the label. i'm sure earache don't give a shit, but universal and the like might

M: well dimmu aren't on the biggest commercial labels ever - they were on some sub section of century media when they first got big, and now they're on earache - both labels deal with plenty of metal bands with stupider logos. maybe it was the timing or maybe new band members wanted to have a new logo, they've had a lot of lineup changes :? i've never considered why they gave up the old one before (never got past the anger) it is tres WYRD

J: must be a band decision then to become more known with a readable logo

M: stupidest decision ever.

although it probably did help become more commercial i suppose. it's not always that handy to show people merch and stuff and for people still not to have any idea who you are..

J: they could have at least made it look cool... like immortal who had a similar logo

M: yeah, their new one is so lame, it's just their name written, it's not anything. they could have used a decent font a la immortal or burzum

J: or made it readable in a cool way :)

M: like mayhem, that's easy to read, but its still a big logo sort of thing

J: mayhem's logo is fucking badass :D
because you can write it, that's always a good band logo if you can just scrawl it in marker or key it into a toilet door at the pub

M: i did :D

If he moves will he fall?

J: OZZY OSBOURNE: ZAKK WYLDE's 'Got His Own Career; He Don't Need Me Anymore' - drama :D

M: :O

J: srsly tho, ozzy's dead now, i bet he moves less then mick marz
who'd seriously want to go and fucking see him?

M: people still LOVE him tho and plus hipsters are well into sabbath at the moment

J: suppose, i guess they still play warpigs, paranoid and iron man, which gives people that love sabbath something, but fuck, he needs to stop it

M: mtv won't let him ;D

The shortest straw

J: METALLICA Performs 'The Shortest Straw' For First Time In 12 Years; Video Available - bet that was boring!

M: yeah i thought that when i saw it :) not worth waiting 12 years for that's for sure :)

J: i bet you can't smoke in the venue either. bore-fest!

M: yeah i doubt it :x

J: i think the worst thing they can do is play the whole of justice at a gig. that would fucking kill me!

M: robert trujillo might as well just sit the gig out if they did that O:

J: yeah, get the night off. he should pitch the idea to them :)

Any Port in a Storm: Chris Wears His Clipper Ship with Pride

I spotted this beauty of a tattoo in Bay Ridge on the calf of Chris:


He explained that it is a cover-up and took Alex Franklin at Brooklyn Ink about four hours to complete. Work from Alex and the other artists from Brooklyn Ink have appeared previously on Tattoosday here.


Chris is originally from Boston and he said the clipper ship tattoo just "seemed like the New England thing to get". He later elaborated, in an e-mail:

"I wanted to get something true to where I've grown up and my heritage. A clipper ship is a very New England type tattoo and I was born and raised in Boston before setting off to NYC. Ships also mean a lot to me as 3 of my relatives left England for NYC on the Titanic and 1 of them perished at sea with the ship. In addition, my grandfather was aboard the Navy's USS Allagash in the Korean War. Any Port in A Storm is an important saying for me, because I am a cop in Brooklyn. Essentially it means, when you're in trouble, any way out is a good way out, whether or not you like the decision.

Thanks to Chris for sharing this wonderful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Claire's Tree of Memory and Strength

On a drizzly day in late August, I ran into Claire, a woman on my block in Bay Ridge, with this tattoo on her upper right arm:


When I asked Claire about the tattoo, she explained that her mother is mentally ill and that, despite being present, she really has not been there as a parent to her, due to her illness.


She remembers, as a child, that her mom often wore a suit with a floral pattern. When deciding upon this, one of her five tattoos, the design reminded her of that suit, and subsequently, the tattoo came to represent the absent parent.

This tattoo was inked by Charlie Foos at Fly Rite Studio. Charlie apprenticed there and is now working in Baltimore at Read Street Tattoo Parlour. Work from Fly Rite has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Claire for sharing this powerful and beautiful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Tessa's Tattoo Illustrates the Battle of Head Versus Heart

Yesterday, I wrote about two of Lindsay's tattoos. After talking to her, I spoke to her friend Tessa, who had this amazing piece on her left shin:


First, I need to commend Tessa on the quality of this tattoo, which looks crisp and fresh, as if it had just been inked a few weeks ago. She actually had this done in 2005 by Adam Barton at Samuel O'Reilly's Tattoo Parlour in Santa Cruz, California. The quality of the tattoo is judged not just on how well it is done, but how it sustains its vibrancy over time. Tessa won the lottery with this piece.

The theme behind this tattoo is head versus heart. The struggle between logical thinking and emotional feeling are universal, and Tessa acknowleges that this tattoo reminds her of the ongoing battle between the two sides telling her what to do.

Thanks to Tessa for sharing this, one of her nine tattoos, here on Tattoosday!

Hazardous Mutation

There's no price to pay just follow me

M: SLAYER: U.K. Tour Dates Added To European Tour - i may get tickets if they're not too pricey

J: see, you secretly love slayer :P
i'd only go to have the joy of shouting out SLAYERRRR :D

M: yeah :D over and over again :D

J: the subject looks like Slayer (UK) - as in some UK band called slayer :)

M: yeah it does :) like slayer SA or whatever they are :D

J: slayer sw14

Some days later...

M: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU - http://www.stargreen.com/2009/find?Q=slayer :O

J: who do they think they are, metallica?!?!
£30!!!

M: i know!!!!

!!!!!

that's too much money. i'm not paying that to just see fucking slayer, who's their support?

J: probably some band on the roadrunner label that used to be an emo band, but changed their style to fit in and shift records

M: yeah that sucks, big time. i just can't afford that and won't beggar myself just to go and see OLD SLAYER olllllllllllllllllllllllllld

The right to rock

M: KEEL Signs With FRONTIERS RECORDS

J: KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!!!

M: i always think of that video now when i see their name :D

J: the right to rock :D

M: :D

J: metal law :)

M: metal injection :)

J: metal church :)

M: cliff's church :)

J: the church from the mayhem album cover :)

M: fantoft stave church

(or whatever the fuck the varg aske church is called :D)

J: http://www.metal-archives.com/search.php?string=church&type=band

M: Vomit Church :D

Among the Living?

M: ANTHRAX's 'Among The Living' Digitally Remastered And Expanded For CD+DVD Deluxe Edition - "What many consider to be ANTHRAX's greatest album"
>"What many wrongly consider to be ANTHRAX's greatest album"
fixed :)

J: srsly, this is the worst news of the day. it overshadows the death of patrick swayzee

M: or swazi as you called him earlier (via text message)
i don't really care about him. i'm not saying it's not sad, but apart from recognising the name, i don't really have much of a clue who he is. i am but a youngfag

J: i dont care either, i can't even think of anything i know him in, except dirty dancing :)

M: oh is he in that?
haven't seen it either. people go on about it all the time; i have assumed it's much the same as strictly ballroom, which i have seen and that about as much dancing as i can stand.

J: retro 80s people are in mourning, because they're gay

M: they are :)

_____UPDATE_____

J: Who the fuck is that? (the dude in the picture at the top of this post)

M: he's the walkin dude :D

J: walkin'? :?
he looks like http://www.1019rxp.com/Pics/news/steven-adler.jpg

M: LOL it's that fantastic haircut.
nah umm the song among the living is sort of based on the stand by stephen king and in the miniseres they did, that's the dude that plays randall flagg, who is the walkin dude.

A Ship and An Owl Sail in from California

I ran into Lindsay and her friend Tessa as they were coming out of Penn Station last month.

Between them they have seventeen tattoos, many of which are fairly amazing. Lindsay shared two of her pieces with us here at Tattoosday.

First up is a traditional ship tattoo on the front of her upper left arm:


Aside from the aesthetics, and the nod to the classic style of traditional tattooing, Lindsay told me that this piece is a steady reminder for her to "stay the course" in her life.

It was inked by Shawn Phelps at Integrity Tattoo in Campbell, California.


The back of Lindsay's arm hosts this incredible owl tattoo:


Owl tattoos are a popular tattoo motif. I've mentioned before this great blog dedicated solely to Owl Tattoos. On the far side of her upper left arm, she says her owl, aside from its decorative strengths, "watches [her] back". This great tattoo was done by Karl Fisher at Tattoo 13 in Oakland, California.


I humbly thank Lindsay for sharing her a little bit of her body art with us here on Tattoosday!

Be sure to check here to see what amazing piece Lindsay's friend Tessa offered up to the blogosphere!