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Wanted to share my torso piece, I don't have a pic right now of it finished, but this session was the 2nd to last before we did everything else. This was done by Nick Ley, and we plan on doing background on my ribs and fill up toward my shoulders in 2 months. We started this piece back in 2007, finished it 2010.

If you have any bootlegs of good music laying around post em' up here. Ill start it off with some rad stuff I found. Tim Barry - tim barry mercury lounge.zip Lucero @ Armando's Martinez, CA #1 Lucero Live @ Armando's Disc_1.zip Lucero @ Armando's Martinez, CA #2 Lucero Live @ Armando's Disc_2.zip Gaslight Anthem @ Bamboozle 2011 gaslight bamboozle 2011.zip Keep em comin

I kind of secretly love when I see someone with upside-down script. I am obviously a jerk.

Haven't been on in a while.

All of the better shop's are on the lower east side. http://thickerthanwatertattoo.com/ is a street shop on LES. Daredevil Tattoo has plenty of good traditional tattooers.And it's down the street from Kat's deli where you can get a good pastrami sandwich. Kings Avenue has some excellent tattooers.And if you wan't a good banh Mi,this place Banh Mi - Vietnamese Sandwich is close to Kings Ave,and is real good. Red Rocket Tattoo New York City You probably can do a walk-in at this shop. Invisible NYC - Art Gallery and Tattoo Studio | Tattoo Artists has some excellent tattooers.Smith street as mentioned is a real nice traditional shop.If you go to brooklyn,check out Brooklyn Flea on Saturday in Fort Greene has some real good food. HopStop.com - Transit Directions and Maps for New York City (NYC) is a pretty good site to help navigate around the city.

I was at an offsite work event yesterday and a woman from our LA office saw my sleeves when I rolled up my shirtsleeves. She has a tattoo of upside-down script on her wrist--in all red--so I already knew how this was gonna go. "Can I ask you some questions about your ink? Because I just love ink. I wear some myself--but obviously not as much ink as you do. I only wear about three pieces of ink." Every time she said "ink," I cringed.

Is it wrong that I just checked my bank account to see if I had a spare $5k?

And customers often make the assumption that the person booked out the furthest is the best! I used to work in a shop with 6 other tattooists. We were booked according to seniority at the shop. So, inevitably some were booked out further than others. A customer would come in only to be told that Joe is booked out for 6 months and Jim for 3 months and 2 months out for Jay and John but You can get in with Deb TOMORROW! Customers assumed then that if you weren't booked you weren't worth waiting for, usually not taking in to account that Jay only booked 1 appt a day or Jim only worked every other week. People are weird, they like the hard to get, the over priced .

i think its not too difficult to get tattooed by somebody you really want if you are patient. WAIT. get in contact with the person, let them know what you want, drop off a deposit and wait. save that spot you want to get tattooed for that tattoo. people bug out when i tell them they gotta wait two weeks for their tattoo. like they are going to die or go to prison in that time. CHILL. if you aint a pain in the ass, itll happen

That's REPULSIVE. Tattoo shop in a nudie store? I'm outraged. Can you get me the address of that place so I can go tell them how upset I am? And do they have peep booths?

Here is a video that I found on Marcus's Facebook.

CUSTOMER RESPECT...OF COURSE IT EXISTS...WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT CUSTOMERS.... It is very varied...like someone said there are all kinds of people..so there are all kinds of tattooers....Most people when they first come in the shop think i am scowling at them...but i cannot see past 15 feet so I am trying to discern who it is.... I work in a street shop..I always have worked in a street shop...I like it.....I always liked Mikey perfettos(pronounciation..not spelling) way of running a shop...the dry erase board you put your name on...whether you want a back piece or a litlle kanji...you get your name on the board..you will get tattooed that day... he takes the board away at a certain point and you gotta come back tommorrow...Also his customers are fiercely loyal...people go there with sleeves or work from really great and well known artists and his customers will look at it and say.."those are nice...but look at the ones Mikey put on me" Tattooing has turned into a real whirlwind...more people today getting tattooed than ever...more tattooers tattooing than ever...more personalities....I promise i will not go into a "back in the day" rant.. I am not sure if it was better back then anymore but with the tattooer and tattooed population exploding that adds alot into what is happening...With all these people comes all these personalities and egos and behavior.... It is a imperative for a tattooer to remember that his customer may have worked 40 hours for the 200 bucks you are gonna get in an hour or two...and it is also hard to have 6 or 7 18 year old girls ask you'what place hurts the least on the body and i can hide it from my parents" naturally I think...if you want a tattoo you will get it where you want it regardless of the pain...it is a tightrope or have people coming at you all day asking"how much would you have charged for this?" rolling up their sleeve... but it is important for customers to remember that a tattoo machine is not a magic wand...(well Id swear it is in some peoples hands)Like all the young tattoo-ologists that come with their friend to get their first and you put the pattern on and they ask their friend rather than look in the mirror...or the facebook thing...tattooing with people trying to film it to put it on line with their phones...or when you go to dip your machine in ink they slip a camera in and take a shot of a pattern with one line....I mean it is alot.... then the memorial tattoo.... they are going thru the biggest changes in their life and you are poking holes in them...there is so much going on that people do not realize....and while all that is going on you may have had a fight with your significant other, or your kid or grandkid is sick....but you have to leave all that outside of what you are doing.. Then we have that all too ga-narly EGO...on both sides of the fence...Like in sobriety at the end of a 12 step meeting they say the lords prayer and I heard a guy say "deliver us from ego" rather than "deliver us from evil"...ego is a huge thing...more now than ever...Opinions(like mine i am typing out now) are a big factor too....what was it rollo said"alot of tattooers are building monuments to themselves rather than doing what the customer wants" people get tattooed for all kinds of reasons..and sometimes people think a tattoo is gonna change their life...its not...it is just them with a tattoo... Then the cool factor... right??? I had a guy tattooing for a couple of days at the shop who used to have a serious attitude...not anymore..and i asked him about it.and he said he learned it..like watching more 'experienced" tattooers act bothered by the customers...Its actually pretty funny when you think about it...but he realized that is what he thought he was suppose to act like...and you tattooers would laugh if you knew they guy he learned from...this guy was notorius like sitting behind a counter with his hands hidden smiling and talking to the customer while flipping them off with both hands Most Tattooers start hanging around shops very young...they are very impressionable...it is the old nature versus nurture arguement..and one day the nature wins over if they were nurtured liked the guy i just mentioned...unless they are naturally nitwits to begin with...but they may have learned that arrogant behavior....but usually they will lose it if it is in their nature.... Or how about they act like they think they are suppose to act because they heard some story about a big noise tattooer acted towards a customer...the story is completley blown out of proportion and when you get the real skinny on what happened it all made sense.... Tattooing is hard work...most people that spend an hour in a shop that you spend your whole life in probably get the perception it is easy....IT IS VERY DRAINING.....I mean ass kicking as hard as running a jack hammer or ditch digging(I guess i still am kinda)ass kicking... but the customers are the real reward...that is why it gets good...and I have a alot of friends that agree...However the customer also makes it the biggest struggle... what is that saying..'people only ask how your doing so they don't let on how little they care"...Ok a customer books an appointment(thats why i like walk ins..I tell them i will get em tattooed if they can wait...for the people in front of them or the hours it takes to draw the picture they showed you on their phone...)is every single customers printer always out of ink... But lets go with an appointment..Ok the guy works all week and he has an appointment at 5 on friday...he is running a little late but figures it is his time anyway so what is 15 minutes...at the same time at the shop the artist has a guy there with the cash that wants a small one...well is the appointment coming?...if i tell the guy at the shop no and the customer does not show up i am out both tattoos and cannot pay my starbucks debit card(yeah right...somethin important like that)...whatever...so you take the guy there and then the appt. shows up... he flies right up to your station and you tell him.."i got this one infront of you and then i will get to you..."he is pissed...pacing...but he will get over it....He shoulda been on time..I am a nut about being on time....it is all about the individuals personality... Ok or you are working on a tattoo that some guy worked all week for the $ and another customer comes up and wants to ask you how you can add on to a tattoo..and you try politely to tell them.."hey i gotta do this right now when i get to you you will have my undivided attention" in which the customer replies.."do you think cherry blossoms will work?" like you did not say anything....usually we are guarded until we see where they are coming from... there is a whole lot going on before you walk in the shop.... The customers are usually intimidated to begin with...they think their questions will be dumb...but i always ask them what they do...lets say they cut hair..i do not know anything about that..like they do not know anything about tattooing...of course they have questions....fire away....but when you get the customer that wants you to give them the answer THEY WANT..not the truth...tattooing is so overrun now they will find someone who will give them the answer they want...maybe not the tattoo but the answer.... People love their tattoos....I was told that very young by a great tattooer....remember people love thier tattoos...I have seen a perfectly good reaper done on a customer by someone and had a tattooer look at it and say 'who did that reaper?...they shaded it backwards..." (actually it is that cliff raven reaper..it is not shaded backwards it is like that on the flash) so a week later i get a call from the customer"shane can you fix my reaper?"...Why? whats wrong with it? it is because that guy told you it was shaded wrong? it was fine and you loved it for 2 years until some nitiwt says something about it...you loved it when you picked it....that is so sad... Anyway....It is a fine line......but there are all kinds of tattooers..like there are all kinds of customers... Another older tattooer told me when i was young that it is the experience...the whole of it...someone who bumps into a world famous guy tattooing them may do a beautiful eagle but they like the one that we, as tattooers, may not think is the best technically because they dug the experience people get tattooed for all knids of reasons and art is relative...... My longest friendships are with tattooers...in spite of us being tattooers..some i may not see everyday or every year but when i do it is like not a day has passed....and in every tattooer there is a customer...WE ARE CUSTOMERS...all of us....and regardless of what they may portray they all put there pants on one leg at a time...noone truly shits beige.... I do not take breaks....not rest breaks anyway..i may have to pour some color..but I usually do not stop to smoke or coffee or eat...I barely do that between tattoos...and i know i am not as good as my peers...but i have been around it and done it since i was a little kid and i know part of the reason i am so swamped every single day is customer relations...THANK GOD I AM SO SWAMPED.... gratitude...being grateful that we have the best job in the world...in spite of the bad backs,neck extra 20 pounds the lack of privacy,the hurt hands and wrists,bad eyes,the judgements,bad diet,the intra industry personality wars, who knows who, thousands of people chasing the same nickel....the cant get to sleep because i crossed that line on the eagle feather...,is my dick too small( where did that one come from) the IRS,state laws,the internet etc...etc.etc...it is still the best job in the world.... The customer is the most important part of all of this....no question....it is a two way street and keeping your side clean is the best thing you can do.... PS i did an article/ interview with Big bad Jack Rudy that is coming out in TAM #25...check it out....

After subjecting y'all to my shit, I actually motivated to read a few more of these comments . . . Dude, Pauly was forced to wait TWO HOURS after his appointment, and was subjected to further disrespect thereafter. I've seen that type of behavior countless times. Pauly's being eminently reasonable, not hyper-sensitive. He wasn't asking to be "BFF's" with everyone in the fucking shop, he was asking for courtesy and a respectful gesture. That's understandable, considering how inconvenienced he'd already been by the shops lassitude and egotism. I commend him for standing up for himself. Guarantee if Pauly'd stripped naked and had a Kuronuma bodysuit, these guys woulda been arm-wrestling to suck his cock. Then again, most tattooers don't even know who Kuronuma is. Hopeless idiots. Hell, one of the big-name hotshots I mentioned above had to be dragged out of bed to tattoo me two hours late a couple years ago. I was a touch peeved, but the way he greeted me with a look of contrition and a handshake, coupled with his subsequent treatment of me and the diligence he committed to the tattoo, earned him a $50 tip. Charity's a two-way street, though. Tattooers are not more important than the rest of us peasants. I can see why tattooers want to eat cyanide when groupie clients want to be best buds with them. Pauly was not asking for that. He was asking, as one of you said, to be treated professionally. Most of my friends are tattooers, now that I think about it. They hate tattooers passionately, as well, for good reason. The whole thing's an adolescently-fixated joke. Glad there are a few tattooers who see through the weakness. They're good arm wrestlers, too! I love good arm wrestlers. God Bless!

Oh, I forgot to ostentatiously name-drop Fred Corbin among the pantheon of big-name tattooers that I'm cool enough to have tattoos from. I probably neglected him in this discussion as, in my experience, he was as far from disrespectful as you can get. Dude was fucking cool to me the first time I ever travelled out to the Bay to get tattooed in 2002. I greatly appreciated it. Oh, and one other note: With all due respect, I'd argue that the relationship of collector to tattooer, and vice-versa, is not analogous to that of bartender or sales clerk to customer. I don't spend three hours naked with the gas station attendant as they grope and permanently alter the appearance of my ass. I do with Tim Lehi. No wonder tattooers hate people. I would hate all that intimacy with people, and this is coming from a personable guy who can muster a semblance of social skills, at times. I can see how being "nice" to people all the time and babysitting them through what some perceive as some mystical rite of passage would get old, fast. So I sympathize with tattooers' plight. At the same time, I'm not exactly a fucking imbecile, and I've done my homework. It was cool of Dick Stell to say to me last month "You'd be a great shop owner or manager. You know more about tattooing than some tattooers." I'm the first to acknowledge that I don't know shit about tattooing, drawing, or painting, technically. However, if I haven't developed at least a mediocre eye for the aesthetic over 15 years of study, I'm retarded. Problem is, everything becomes a fucking insecure little boys' pissing contest. I really don't give a fuck, I just want to learn shit. If I have any insight to offer anyone who's sincerely interested in this bullshit (and not ascending the social hierarchy of "cool"), great. There are shit tons of tattooers who know more about this crap than I ever will, and if they're willing to part with some of their knowledge, I'm grateful. It seems pretty simple. I swore a lot in that paragraph. Tattooing is rock-star shit, ego-trip-wise. Difference is, you don't interact with rock stars. The reason why so many tattooers are so disrespectful is because they can get away with it. I had issues with a few of the tattooers I encountered right from the get-go, when I first started getting tattooed. Why? Well, I'm an adult, and I demand some modicum of respect . . . And I happen to get along with almost everyone I meet. If you have a problem with me, it's your problem. I'm far from perfect, but I treat others respectfully. I see right through these idiots' weak facade. It's boring and pathetic. Not everyone's as dumb as they think they are. If this particular breed of person who makes a living as a tattooer wants to see an imbecile, find a fucking mirror. Can I get a witness??

The answers to this thread are simple. There are assholes everywhere. No matter where you are. Nobody likes the I'm too cool for you Tattooer, Bartender, Sales Clerk, whatever. We also don't like the whiny customer, guy who waves his money in your face like he is buying you type, or stalkers, or the never satisfied customer. There is etiquette for any business out there. If you don't act accordingly you will either: Lose customers, Not get served, be asked to leave, or in extreme cases, Beat the Fuck up. You are not the only Tattooer in town, and You are not the only customer in the shop. It's really easy. And if somebody doesn't treat you right....don't come back. That's like the battered wife who stays with her husband. "He mistreats me but I keep going back, whimper, whimper." Ok I'm done. Get it? Got it? Good.

Paulywhore: You are correct, period. Not that it's a prerequisite for seeing simple insecure egomania for what it is, but I have a decent amount of experience from the collector's perspective. I've been lucky enough to have been tattooed by the following, among others: Lehi, Rassier, Malone, Sylvia, Grime, Don Nolan, Bert Krak, Stell, Adam Ciferri, Seth Ciferri, Whitehead, Brooks, Spanks, Roberts, Conn . . . and my best bud Kyle Franklin! You don't need a fancy bullshit worthless psychology degree from a "Little Ivy", which I happen to have, to deduce that most tattooers succomb to the temptations of warped adolescent egomania. There are exceptions, but those guys (and gals) tend to get so disillusioned with tattooing that they quit. Read Mike Malone's letters to Keith Underwood in recent issues of TAM. Spot-on. He rags on "cool guys" who are too self-absorbed to actually learn about the fucking artform. I've wondered if the absolute elite echelon isn't as likely to be possessed by this meek demon. Hell, if you spend all your time seeking empty accolades and proverbial fellatio, it might be hard to fully concentrate on something of substance. Then again, I don't know: Bullshit megalomania permeates tattooing from the bottom up, doesn't matter how well you paint or tattoo. Power corrupts, in every context. If you're used to having your ass kissed, you come to expect it. Fucking pathetic. I'm sorry these folks are really insecure and immature, but it'd be peachy if they wouldn't take it out on me while I put food in their mouths. To be fair, at the same time, I can totally see why tattooers get sick of clients. I couldn't do their job. Hell, I can be annoying as fuck, myself. Give me a painkiller and I never shut up. That being said, some of the behavior I've personally experienced and witnessed is absolutely inexcusable. Straight disrespect. Funny thing is, most tattooers are sedentary lumps of shit that couldn't fight their way out of a colostomy bag. Tattoos don't make you tough. Tattooing's an intimate and intense experience, and, too often, familiarity breeds contempt. Like I said, having spent a fair amount of time in tattoo shops, I can totally see why being a tattooer is the yellow brick road to misanthropy. I hate people, too, but I try to be humble, honest, and respectful. Ya know, all that "Golden Rule" bullshit. Speaking for myself, I'm glad my bodysuit's about done. I'm too old for this shit. It's too much work. God Bless!!

Consider the $1.53 the tip for the tattoo, cheapass.

When I was just getting into getting tattooed, I was getting worked on by Bud "Just Plain Bud" Pierson of Ancient Art in Orlando. This is... 1990 maybe. When I first went in I was pretty young, but we hit it off pretty well. I was worried that I wouldn't be taken seriously by the "collectors" or the "serious artists" due to my age and my lack of large tattoos. Bud was about as politically incorrect and offensive as they came, and he summed it up like this: "I'm just a guy who does tattoos and you're just a guy that gets them. That makes us as special as the guy who fixes the toilet and the guy who uses it." At the time I was all butthurt that he equated tattooing (something he had been doing for 20+ years, but my 16yo pride wanted to defend) with that, but as I got older, I totally got what he was saying. So yeah. God I miss Bud.

Say what now? (ps: this drawing is still better than the tattoo I posted earlier. As such, I get a free pass to say "I wanna use my tatgun to tattyzap this, bro".

And also maybe a xanax.

Anyone see the Chris Garver praying hands finger tattoo going around Twitter today? I posted it in the Religious and Spiritual Tattoos thread (page three, post number twenty-eight).

The tattoo is 6 days old. Give it some time to heal.