David Flores

Jason, I think your article was well written and you brought up a lot of points, many of which are discussed regularly amongst the people around me. My response seems to be more of a rebuttal to the discussion we have at the shop and similar threads on here regarding "custom work". I think my points are valid but never meant to imply that you reflect that type of mindset. Thank you the article.

Honestly I remember a bunch of a people doing specials for his birthday last year so this is nothing new, it's just has corporate sponsorship this year and free rum and the "media" is now covering it. Bottom line is he died in 1973, so I can't really pretend to have a moral high ground on this issue, I wasn't even born yet. It could be worse, there could be cherry creek rum and tattoo johnny vodka.

Sexy Dragon Magic!!!!!! That song is worse than the outfit David Lee Roth is wearing in that video you posted @dari

I feel exactly the same way. I have been part of one free tattoo event and it was invite only to people who are regular customers (who tipped) and people who we actually wanted to hang around with all day, we chose 12 desigs in the lobby and put golden stars by them, if you can find a star you get the tattoo for merely a tip. I made wings, we had pizza delivered and made a party out of it as one of our tattooers was going to New Zealand in a couple of weeks. Everyone made good money, but one guy didn't want to do free tattoos because he just doesn't give deals and he made just as much if not more doing 3 full price tattoos that day and actually had time to hang out. Needles to say the guy is back from New Zealand and I think we will have a party but not do the free tattoos this time. Here is a picture of one of our regulars Chris posing next to the makeshift sign that day.

Sounds like in Chicago if you showed up you got tattooed even if you weren't' in the 101. They did 173 tattoos yesterday according to their shop facebook page and instagram.

I find the term custom confusing. So getting a crawling panther is not cool because it's flash, but being the 1000th person to get an owl or your favorite song lyric makes you original? Or having a tattoo with no outline is somehow a good idea just because you think it's a new idea. I use these as examples but it works with every tattoo trend, I hear people talk down about flash and then proceed to jump on the next tattoo trend because all the cool kids are getting "custom tattoos" so they bring their google search image to the nearest shop to blow your mind. I think the reason some tattooers say that they would like people to get more flash is not because they don't want to draw tattoos for people, but they just talk to so many people with bad ideas for tattoos. Furthermore I have seen more that one custom tattoo specialist butcher a piece of flash so there has to be some credit to the application of clean traditional tattoo even if it is someone else's design. This is not to discredit the people out there trying to draw things better and breath new life into old designs to establish the nuances of this era in traditional tattooing, but most of them I have met would have no issue with doing a nice piece of flash or people that make a living that way.

Klem That guy!

Not the same tattoo, but similar enough for this quick comparison tattoo recently posted by Mike Rubendall. Putting it next to a great tattoo and see how it stands up.

I think there is a lot of truth in this article. I for one do enjoy the American Traditional style of tattooing and will always be biased towards it. That doesn't mean I don't think there are people doing good stuff in other realms of tattooing and that tattoos in general continue to get better. Each person tattooing has their own style, and a base of customers who want that type of tattoo, so I mean there is a place for everyone, except maybe realistic color portraits of actors in their movie roles, that is to tattooing what rollerblading is to skateboarding in my opinion.

Mom and Dad's credit card I imagine. I mean you can't dip in the drinking money. But seriously it's a tattoo not a Lamborghini! There are a lot of people that get tattooed because they don't money to go on exotic vacations or drive fancy cars, but they might have $300 to get a tattoo and they just want to do something for themselves.

People have eyes like potatoes. First of all I think the design could have be drawn to fit the space better and fill up the space better and with the amount of detail in the tattoo bigger is always better and yeah there is nothing that spectacular or newsworthy about it for that matter.

Saw the birds earlier today, didn't know where they came from

It has been a couple places Rum Company Offering Free Tattoos in Chicago - Local News - Chicago, IL - msnbc.com Sailor Jerry Rum Offers 101 Free Tattoos In Honor Of Brand Namesake's 101st Birthday

That just sounds crazy. I would be the first in line if I were in Chicago, but not going again til May, oh well told all my friends hopefully someone get a free one. Hopefully people actually appreciate this gesture and tip well. Getting tattooed by Nick Colella or any of the guys there is worth paying full price. I think an event like this should somehow be geared to reward loyal tattoo customers of the shop or loyal drinkers of Sailor Jerry Rum vs random people looking for a cheap tattoo, but either way it's a hell of an oppurtunity.

Funny I read this thread as Stigmatas when I clicked on it just now.

Yeah me and my wife watch some of those shows, mostly savory cooking shows. I just wonder when is enough enough. How many times can they have a competition for Top Chef and still expect it to mean something. The only thing about a tattooing show is you actually have to convince the client of your idea before you execute it, which could make things a little more interesting.

Yeah Tim really is the only saving grace on NY INK. Not that the other people don't do good tattoos, I just think Tim comes across very genuine, what you see is what you get. Plus he can pull off any style of tattooing.

Uinta Brewing this would be the beer I would drink in Utah. We just got their IPA in oregon.

You can't drink while you get tattooed because it thins your blood. While I suppose in an extreme case this is true, I have always thought of this as an excuse to get rid of drunk people. Funny thing drunk people don't listen to reason and argue with you anyway so why bother.

We used to listen to a lot of rocksteady and reggae Jimmy Cliff, Derrick Morgan, Toots and the Maytals, then it was like Buzzcocks, Sham 69, Cocksparrer, Uk Subs, Last Resort, then it was Neil Young, now it's the Animals, The Zombies, and The Sorrows.

I haven't heard much about this show except that Oliver is in it, but I would say if they want to make it realistic the first challenge they should do is have a client come in with a horrible idea. The tattooers job will be to talk the client out of it and make them get something better. Extra points if finished tattoo is a eagle, dagger, or jungle cat of some sort.

I will probably end up watching this show. As much as I despise the negative aspects of tattoo television shows, I still am curious about the tattoos and some of the people involved, namely Oliver Peck. I can push aside the bull shit and focus on the tattoos and people involved in these projects that I respect. Furthermore I think television can make anyone look like a dick. I watch reruns of Miami Ink sometimes and I actually enjoy watching Chris Garver tattoo and talk to clients. I never watched it when it came out, but I guess it's my guilty pleasure.

I'm back thanks for all the help. Please ignore my last email, I sent it today before logging on. Feels good to be back.

maybe she is just ahead of her time. Donkeys and turkeys will be like owl's were a couple years ago.

Doesn't she know only Freddy Corbin is allowed to tattoo kids. Part of me feels sorry for the girl, the stupid things we do when we were young. She should have got all this out of her system before she turned 18, plus you know 12 year olds are going to fold under questioning so you know you can't trust them.