lets not forget, shotsie,kevin brady ,sailor moses, pj english, cw eldrich, i dont know where to stop. these fuckers survived. they didnt stop. i came after them, but they survived the worst. the 70s. when only a moron would get tattooed. Oh shit sorry,Martin Robson, this fucker worked at Lyles above the old greyhound station in SF. God bless his ass.

why don't you all chase Jack?, Tim Hendricks, GTC, the shit takes great talent. heres my issue. i couldnt take the pressure of a street shop. its too hard to pour your soul out to people and their blood ,that just want more. I don't get it. I wanna work for Bert Krak. really, do people get that rough stuff everyday nowdays? come on. Im ready. I can do that . no offense Bert ,love it. cant believe their are that many goofy kids out there. God, I hope so.

not all of us art school kids are trust fund babies.

my parents are both union workers, my father at an oil refinery and my mother through the school district as a "classified" aid (rather than certificate/credentialed). the price of college is the burden i have to bare, and while many of my friends were up till 2 drinking and doing god knows what, i was asleep so i could wake up at 4 to sling coffee for the parents of real trust fund kids in a upper class town 30 minutes outside of Oakland where the median home price was 1.5 million (and i held two jobs at one point while going to school full time). those are the people who can afford to spend $2-5 on a cup of coffee everyday, and not the $2 for a pot of foldgers or whatever brand was on sale that my father used to buy (actually, now i think he gets his coffee from Trader Joe's which is a bit of a step of up haha!).

anyways, the argument is somewhat mute because i went to school for photography and am not looking to tattoo. but you can't judge a person based on whether they went to college, and i don't hold myself above anyone because i have a degree. i still live in a shitty part of town, in a 10x11 room, in a house i share with 4 other people because that's all i can really afford, and i don't expect it to change any time soon. and some kids make art that is reflective of tattooing because, well, that's what inspires them, leeches or not. hell, i doodle flash all the time at work, because tattoos aren't ever far from my mind. i even draw flash in my sketchbook, but i wouldn't dare show anyone what i've created. anyways, sorry for ranting on your page, your response just struck a chord with me, and i felt like i needed to respond. tattooing is a whole different world, and i've come to the conclusion to not even try to understand it since i will always be an outsider.

I've never really understood the animosity towards "art school kids" myself, and I've heard it, A LOT. I don't think you can fault someone for either being born into a home where their parents can support them and want them to chase their dreams, or having the energy and determination to make it happen themselves. I have two kids, and I won't be surprised if at least one of them tattoos, but I hope I can help them along no matter what they want to do. I think the bar in tattooing has been raised, I've seen a lot of not-so-great old school flash with funky and weird proportions that would not pass as good tattooing these days.

everyone is right,if they are being true to themselves and not just trying to be cool. I appreciate anyone that read my personal demons. Im sorry fer bein such a dick.

Not a dick, just opinionated, nothing wrong with that. I'm listening to strong opinions all fucking day long over here!

tell Scott hey still love that motherfu%#$r