Tattoosday's Brush with Greatness: Joan Jett in Union Square

"Timing is everything," goes one saying, and "it's the little things" is also a phrase true to my heart.

Before we venture on a little diversion, let's remind ourselves that Tattoosday is about "meeting and appreciating body art (okay, tattoos) in the New York City area". Unless I go on the road, of course.

There are numerous sites that can give you a road map to celebrity tattoos, for example, but I generally don't encounter star ink, so it rarely graces this site.

Yet yesterday found me down by Union Square, seeking out a copy of Ina Saltz's Body Type 2, which I hope to bring with me tomorrow night to the Upper West Side where Ms. Saltz will be discussing the book.

On the way back to the subway, I had the pleasure of running into a cluster of people milling about a tattooed individual who is a genuine rock star: the lovely Joan Jett.

I was going to just gawk and move on, like a polite New Yorker, but Ms. Jett was there for a reason, she sported a black tank with an "I ? PeTA" slogan and she was talking to folks about a cause near and dear to her, vegetarianism.

Unbeknown to me, this was a bit of public relations, as indicated by a PeTA press release.

At some point, I thought, well maybe I could get Ms. Jett to talk about one of her tattoos, in exchange for some publicity on Tattoosday.

Good idea, and even the PeTA people seemed to think so, but I only managed to squeeze in a mutual "hi" and eye contact, as I competed with fans with much more passion than me. But more on them later.

I took these shots of one of her tattoos as I stood nearby:


I even took the obligatory self-portrait of myself with Ms. Jett being interviewed in the background, just to see how dorky I could make myself appear in public:



I had a great post formulated about the piece, but found myself a little late to the party, based on this great entry by Marisa over at Needles and Sins, which includes links to discussion about the meanings of her tattoos.



But, remember, here on Tattoosday, it's often as much about the encounter as it is about the tattoos.

Remember the fans I mentioned before? I met Danielle, who sports a black heart tattoo (similar to one worn by Victor here), but had just shown Ms. Jett this cool Runaways piece in the center of her back:


Danielle co-hosts a web show on the Hunter College radio station called Activity Grrrls' Radio Revolution on Tuesdays at 2:00pm here (whcs.hunter.cuny.edu), "where to go for your weekly dose of rock n roll".

She was thrilled at meeting Ms. Jett and loved that it was in conjunction with a PeTA promotion. Danielle is a vegan and the tattoo artist in New Jersey used vegan ink for the tattoo.

Danielle updated me with the following information:

I got the tattoo done in Lola's Tattoo Shop in New Jersey, the artist's name is Charlie. He's also vegan. I told him I wanted a tattoo of the words 'The Runaways' through two cherries and he came up with a design.

So it was quite a productive lunch for me. I got my book, ran into Joan Jett, took a picture of her tattoo, and then got a photo of a piece inspired by her first band, The Runaways.

Thanks to Joan, Danielle, and the folks at PeTA for helping make this post possible here on Tattoosday!

If you're interested in Joan Jett's testimonial about her commitment to the vegetarian cause, check it out below:


You can order a FREE 'Vegetarian Starter Kit' at GoVeg.com.

More vegetarian testimonials here.

And here's a link to the PeTA Vegetarian Starter Kit which Ms. Jett was distributing.

And finally, here's a link to a news brief on the event with some video in which I do not appear.

Full disclosure: I am married to a vegetarian, but I am not one myself. I possess not the willpower to commit to such a cause, but I support and commend those that do.

Annmarie's Amazing Tree

I met Jason and Annmarie in Penn Station as they were headed home to Arizona.

You can check out Jason's ink here.

I wanted to give each their proper due.

I was fortunate that Annmarie didn't mind pulling up her skirt a little so I could see this incredible thigh tattoo:


Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get all the details on the piece that I would have liked and, to date, my e-mail queries have gone unanswered.

But I can tell you the artist responsible for this piece was Tony Massoli of Massoli Tattoo in Chandler, Arizona.

Thanks again to Annmarie for sharing her wonderful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Jason's Ink Pays Tribute to a Genre

I met Jason and Annmarie in Penn Station as they were headed home to Arizona.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get all the details on their work that I wanted and they haven't responded to my email queries.

Jason is a big fan of horror films and his right arm is an entire sleeve of memorable villains from that genre:


Lacking a lot of knowledge in the area, I am woefully unable to identify any of the characters, but I didn't want that to stop me from posting the arm. Readers are welcome to post in the comments section helping me identify these gruesome personae.

In addition, Jason's left arm has this immense Freddy Kreuger (from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series) wrapping around it.


[...]

Now, I mentioned Annmarie at the beginning of the post. Check out the tattoo she offered up to us here.

In the mean time, thanks again to Jason for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Ed. Note:
[...] indicates deletion of text in which I mis-credited the artist and shop.

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i: Tricia Allen's The Polynesian Tattoo Today

This is the first of many posts to follow from my recent trip to the beautiful state of Hawai'i....

On Saturday, April 24, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting a tattoo artist and writer who I have admired for quite some time.

I previously spoke about Tricia Allen when I looked at her book, Tattoo Traditions of Hawaii.


Now, with her new book freshly published, I not only got to have my copy signed, but I was fortunate enough to be there for the tattoo contest that followed.


The competition was divided up into four categories (Traditional Polynesian, Tribal, Non- Polynesian and Color). The whole event was pretty laid back, as far as tattoo contests go. In fact, there was a lot of work that was not entered among the audience that could have been in the money, so to speak.

With a heavy focus on the Polynesian style, the two entrants in the color category meant my tiger could have won third prize, at least, had I been astute (and courageous) enough to enter.


In the Traditional Polynesian category, I was particularly fond of Tino Hoffman's thigh piece (pictured, left) with a honu (sea turtle) at the center. Although one could also not help buy be impressed by Robert Medeiros (right), whose canvas merited him top honors in the Tribal category.

A whole slew of photos from the event can be seen here in one of the Facebook albums on the 808Ink fanpage. The magazine premieres next month as a quarterly publication dedicated to tattoos in and around Hawai'i.

It was clear to me that one of the many talents present was the namesake of Tattoos by Bong. I even had a chance to meet Bong, who was responsible for the incredible art on Mr. Medieros.

Having just flown in earlier that day from New York, I most likely would have been a little more hyper-involved with the post-contest mix of book signing (even the subjects featured in Ms. Allen's book were signing the pages on which they appeared) and tattoo admiration among the dozens of contestants and throngs of tattoo fans. But, as 10:00 PM approached, my internal clock was still screaming at me from the Eastern Time Zone yelling "4AM! 4AM!". So i had to bow out a little earlier than I would have liked to.

I spent just under five days on Oahu, and was amazed by the amount of tattooed folk I spotted, much more than I remember seeing just a few years earlier. The skyrocketing popularity of tattooing on the mainland is certainly mirrored in the fiftieth state and amplified, it is safe to say, by the deep roots of tattooing in Polynesian culture and history.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the beautiful, glossy pages of Tricia Allen's new book, which receives a ringing endorsement from us here at Tattoosday.


The book is no tiny effort. At 285 pages, it features hundreds of full-page color photos of various styles of Polynesian tattoos, not just from Hawai'i, but from all around the South Pacific. In addition, many of the artists who created the work are profiled in the back section of the book.

I cannot help but enthusiastically recommend the book to all. It certainly made my flight back to the East Coast a lot more enjoyable. My biggest regret was not being in Hawai'i long enough to be able to have Ms. Allen tattoo me, an activity at the top of my to-do list in the future.

One more ringing endorsement comes from Ed Hardy: �This collection of amazing photos attests to the high level of artistic achievement and technical ability of the Polynesian people today, as well as non-islanders who have been heavily influenced by the art of the Pacific.�

Buy your copy from Tricia's website directly here and while visiting the site, explore the galleries, sign up for her newsletter, and check out her schedule to see when and where she will be tattooing and/or signing copies of her book in the future.