Dan S

My favorite piece of flash of all time has to be one that was on the wall of the original CLiff Raven Tattoos (CTC) at 900 w. Belmont. Drunken floozy, from the shoulders up, Dixie Cup on her head, x's for eyes, a bottle in each hand, said "My Country Right or Wrong-My Mother Drunk or Sober". Swear to god, couldn't make that up! Dale claimed he had put it on a few guys over the years, wonder if it survived, or??? Hafta ask Nick next time I see him, I know he's got a shitload of Cliff's old flash. - - - Updated - - - I'd go with the SAT CONG for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My feelings exactly!

Not to worry, we're ALL addicts here! I can't think of anyone I know who's stopped at just one...

I've worked in the machine-trades all my life, so it's never been a big thing for me. No one, or at least, very few people working in a machine shop even notice a tattoo. That sorta changed about 20 years ago when I started selling things made in machine shops rather than actually making them, but for the most part, having tattoos gave me cred with the shop-guys, and didn't freak the office types too much. There were/are some accounts where I keep my sleeves down and my suit coat on, but not too many. Nowadays, I see doctors, lawyers, accountants, you name it, that are sleeved or heavily tattooed. Personally I believe that most people have gotten past the irrational fear of tattooed skin. I know some jobs have poolicies against visible ink-believe it or not, McDonalds doesn't allow it! Mostly though, I think you can get away with a few inches of sleeve showing from the rolled-up cuff of a decent dress shirt. Personally, I think it's a mistake to sleeve yourself in at an early age. But that's just me-could be it's fine for everyone else. I always looked at tattoos as a sort of milestone, or souvenir of my life. When the time came that I had enoug of them on one arm to look better connected, I had it sleeved in. Getting ready to do the other arm shortly. Again, that's just me, but I'd say pick out or design something you really like, and get it put on. When you see or dream up something that sorta-kinda goes with it, put that on, etc. Just seems like doing up your arms completely at, say 24 or 25 sure takes a lot of good times out of the picture, and locks you in awful young. One more time-that's just me! My opinion isn't worth anymore than yours is.

Way it always is...shit, if I had kept all my clothes from the sixties and seventies, I'd be all hip again!

And I never heard of the magic soap till I got la Senorita y el Tigre put on my ribs. Nick hit me with the stuff after he did the outlining, and it definitely made life easier!

That's an oldie but goodie, Darlin'...been sayin' that since I was a little kid, and that's a LONG time ago.

Tell 'em to check the IDOC page for him.

That's some very heavy shit right there...but I'll take the magic soap in a heartbeat!

I would like to associate myself with the remarks made by CultExciter. Good man, Slayer!

And now for something completely different...

You don't have to give up on her...I've got six kids, and believe me, I've had my moments with them, but NEVER give up on a child. That said, you still need to kick her in the ass. She doesn't need to be on the street. You can do as I suggested and rent her a furnished room for a month. just make sure she damn well understands that that's all she wrote. In a month of being clean, she can get some kind of pinche little job, enough to pay the bills and keep her too tired to party, or she can go all the way down. If you let her trip you with all that "hanging from the beam" crap, then it's on you, completely. I buried my little brother when he was 20, and I've buried more friends along the way than I can count. The girl is 21, she's raised, and she's gon do what she's gon do, period. Now it's time to step back an see what she makes of it. YOU aren't to blame, and YOU aren't responsible for her anymore. Think you see that scenario everyday because you're teachers? HA! Live in "the Life" for a year and come back and tell me about it. I'm sorry, I know I sound harsh, but harsh is the only way to be with a junkie....trust me on this. I've got a letter my Pops wrote to his sister when I was 25, sez he's "just wainting for the call from the hospital or the morgue". Faked him out, and anyone that WANTS to quit will.

Here's where I get to be the bad guy. If you've got other teenage kids in the house, kick her out. A coke addict isn't any better, and in some ways worse, than a junkie. They will quit when they bottom out and they want to quit. Before that, it's all a fucking game. They may swear they are being clean, this time fir sure, all that, but if they aren't ready to kick yet, they won't. It's nice to be supportive, and to talk about "being there" for someone, but in the end, all you're doing is delaying the inevitable. Kick the props out, let her slide as far as she's going to slide, and then if she really wants, help her to pick up the pieces. If she's chipping because "it was free and it was there", then there ain't no hope, ever, cause I hate to tell you this, but for any halfway decent-looking Lady, it's ALWAYS free and ALWAYS there. Least it's free as far as money goes, the real price is your soul. Don't give up, but don't help her run her shuck. If you want to go all-out, find her a furnished room and pay the rent for a month, then hand her a copy of the want ads. She can make her own choices from there. Eight years of heroin. Five years of cocaine. Ten years of alcohol. I've got a fucking Ph.D. in kicking and relapsing.

Greeings, and welcome to LST! Nice looking work, hope you can get some more detailed pix of it up. Enjoy the forums, browse the galleries, check out the vids, and feel to home-I'll look forward to seeing your posts n pix! Dan

Best of luck-sounds like you've got it all squared-away! - - - Updated - - - And Delicious, if there's a major wait for Horitaka, you can make San Fran for the same fare and be at Black Heart in no time, walk-in's welcome.

So, an advance purchase (internet) ticket round-trip on the Dog from Stockton to San Jose is $32 this weekend, adn that would put you by... Horitaka, State of Grace Tattoo Shop 221 Jackson Street, San Jose, CA 95112 And it doesn't get much better than that.

"...an ancestral custom in the form of a tattoo with jagua, an extract from vegetable seeds which the Indians use to adorn their bodies with geometrical patterns or animal sketches for ceremonies and special celebrations." There you have it. Get yerself some geometrical shit and some animals! Jaguar, javelina, wild boar, sea turtles, all that good stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxrxKTyw63w

Tattoos and Candy Coloured Hair: Sending a Message to Young People « Fat Heffalump No matter what shape you're in, it's always better with ink.

PRetty interesting stuff on there, Vijai. Never realized that tattooing was so popular in India-shows what I know!

Got a lil sumpin goin up to DropBox you might like...I'll send you the link when it's done.

I've got 50's, 60's, 70's, very few 80's, blues, R & B, opera, country, and classical (on 78's). Most of it, I've bought in two or three formats...vinyl, 8-Trak, cassette, or CD, so I figure I own it, and if I want to rip it to MP3, well, I damn well paid for it. That said, I got about 25 gig of that type of stuff, anyone wanting to do some swapping, hit me up and let me know what you're interested in.

Damn, man, you do have it going on! Maybe do an original painting, tattoo it on someone, build a comic around it, frame it, then make an animated series of progressions of it! Seriously, I'm jealous. I can't "art" worth a damn. I have ideas locked in my head, but my hands just won't let them come out! I've done some ornamental ironwork, and some (very) amateur hand-tattooing way back when, but just don't have the chops to do more than appreciate someone who can make art that really touches something in people. Looking forward to reading about and seeing more of your work as you move around the boards! Dan

Welcome to the boards, Alex, sounds like you have quite some interesting stories to tell-looking forwrd to seeing/heaqring about your work! Dan

@Jack, yeah, do a little digging for people now n then, it sure nuff ain't difficult!

Damn straight. I'd feel a lot safer if they let civvies everywhere all over the world carry weapons and disarmed the governments!