Helmets, Rhinos, and Dogs

So, today they are having some sort of casting thing for the second season of Best Ink here in Atlanta.  You can probably guess that I'm not going.  But, rest assured, when it airs, I will be here to rip it apart for your entertainment.  

Did another beer label for my buddy Joey.  This one is for his Rye Pale Ale called Rye-Noceros.  Here's a couple of in progress pics and the finished product:

Here's a couple of recent helmets.  The first is finished and has been sent to it's new owner.  The second is an in progress pic of the first helmet I tried spraying- the one that the tape pulled up the paint.  I sanded it all down and started over- I'm gonna keep this one for myself when it's done.

Here's a pic of a tattoo I finished the other day.  The picture kinda sucks because the dog is healed and the flowers are fresh- I hate that.  I'll get more pics when it's all healed up.

Here's a special picture for all you people on the interwebs- a Fathers Day raspberry from Gracie and I.

One more thing- the back in 15 minutes sign Nick made that we use at the shop:

Negative Approach

So, last night, Negative Approach played the Drunken Unicorn, and it was awesome!  They broke up in '84, so I never got to see them, and thought that I never would.  It was well worth the 30 year wait- it's fuckin' Negative Approach.  Some people might argue that it's not really NA, since the only original member is John Brannon, but NA is one of those bands where the singer IS the band, and as long as the guys behind him are playing the right notes, it's Negative Approach.  And damn, did they play the right notes.  It couldn't have been any better, and they played all the great NA songs (they may have actually played ALL of the songs since their legacy is one LP and one 7"), plus they did an awesome cover of Borstal Breakout.  I didn't much care for the first opening band and spent the time they played their short set in the bar.  The second opening act was the Bukkake Boys, a local Atlanta band that I had never seen. They were a pleasant surprise, playing an excellent set of angry hardcore songs reminiscent of early Poison Idea (Pick your King era PI).  I picked up their LP to add to my record collection, and it's pretty sweet, clocking in at under 15 minutes for 12 songs.  Now I gotta try to track down their first 2 EP's.  Here's a few shots of NA playing....

The guy that I did the St. George tattoo on recently came back, so I got a good healed pic of that.

That's it for now.  I'll find something to bitch about soon....

COC, Ride, Boortz....

So, I've been threatening to do this thing more often.  This time I'm really gonna try to do it.  When I started this blog thing, I was posting about twice a week, eventually it ended up being more like once or twice a month.  I'm gonna try to do it at least once a week- the problem is that not enough interesting stuff happens to me- guess I'll just have to start bitching and ranting more.

Anyway, I went to the Corrosion of Conformity show Saturday night and it was great.  I've written a couple of other blogs where I mentioned that even though Animosity is one of my favorite records, I haven't liked much of anything COC has done since Technocracy.  I also told ya that I actually like the new record.  A year and a half or so ago, they reformed the original 3 piece line up that was responsible for all their best stuff, and toured the Animosity record.  I didn't go, and have been kicking myself in the ass ever since, so I wasn't gonna miss the chance to see them this time- The last time I saw them was somewhere around 87.  The opened with the first song off the new record-Psychic Vampire, then blasted into 3 songs off Animosity- Fuck Yeah!  The set was basically half the new record (sticking mostly to the faster, more punk songs) and half the songs from Animosity.  They also played Technocracy and Deliverance, which was a surprise- I don't really care for that record, but the song sounded great live and with the 3 piece line up had a much more raw sound, plus I prefer Mike's singing to Pepper's.  The also threw in about the first 3rd of Vote With A Bullet in the middle of one of the new songs- thats actually one of the 3 or so songs that I like off of Blind.  The only thing that could have made it better was if they'd have pulled out some stuff from Eye For An Eye, but I'm pretty sure they're never playing any of those songs again.  The band was obviously having a lot of fun playing all the old songs, which was cool to see.  Took a couple of pics of the show, here ya go...

Went riding with friends yesterday.  Started with lunch at a local place- if ya live around here, and you are in the mood for Mexican food, DO NOT go to Cuernavaca on 20.  The food was not very good and the service was atrocious.  The company was good, but I was with my friends- you'll have to get your own.

Cheryl, Jeff, Kevin and Jason.  They all look very excited.

When we got up around Athens, my damn throttle cable came loose, and we ended up in an Eckerds parking lot getting that taken care of.  Here's an excellent shot Cheryl took of Kevin supervising my efforts.

With the throttle cable all fixed up, I go to start Carla back up, and the damn battery is dead.  Luckily, Jason (Big Sexy) has battery issues and rides around with a charger in his saddle bag.  Some electricity borrowed from an outlet outside Eckerds, and we're back on the road.  This morning I sat in the garage for a while and got the throttle cable properly tightened, and Carla's good as new.

Here's a pic of a tattoo that I worked on Saturday.  One more sitting and it'll be done.  Probably could have finished it Saturday, but I had another appointment.  It's a shitty picture, but when it's done and healed I'll get a good one.

My wife has this weird little long haired chihuahua thing and he gets miserable in the heat of the summer, so the other day I shaved him.  He didn't like me very much after that.  He's gotten over it.

Found out this morning that Neal Boortz is retiring.  Good for Neal, bad for me.  I have been listening to Boortz in the mornings for 10 years or so.  It'll be strange not to hear him anymore.  He's also one of the very few Libertarian voices on the radio and he's pretty damn funny as well.  Even my kid likes listening to Boortz- she mostly just likes when he rips into an idiot caller.  If there are any Libertarians reading this, I highly recommend his book "Somebody's Gotta Say It".  Its a good book and a highly entertaining read.  He's also the guy that co-authored the 'Fair Tax Book', which is probably the only reason that a book about taxes was readable.

Here's the Damn Blog...Now Stop Bothering Me.

So, I've been getting messages from people asking where the new blog is and what I'm gonna do now that Best Ink is over.  Well, I was writing this blog before Best Ink, and I'll continue to write it.  In fact, there are 136 blog entries that have absolutely nothing to do with Best Ink.  I've just been doing other stuff lately.  Don't worry, I'll have plenty to bitch about- I always do.  It's something I do well, and often.  There are lots of things that I rant about that I don't care to publish on the internet.  I know that TLC has started airing their 'Tattoo School' show.  I've been told that it is an embarrassing abortion of a show, but haven't watched it and probably won't- remember, the only reason that I even watched Best Ink was that Joe was on it.  I'm pretty sure that I couldn't watch Tattoo School without having my head explode or at least firing off a few rounds into my TV (and I like my TV, so I don't wanna do that).  Basically Tattoo School is a 10 episode advertisement for shitbag Bill Pogue and his shitbag tattoo school- personally I hope his tattoo school burns to the ground with him in it- I hope he dies slowly and painfully.  If by some chance that does happen, I am stating right now that it wasn't me- hoping and doing are 2 entirely different things.

Last time I blogged, I was working on beer labels for my buddy Joey.  Well, I finished the second one and Joey's beer thing went really well.  It looks like the place that held the event is going to make his home brews their house brews- way to go Joey!  Here's a pic of the finished Hoppy McBitterton label:

And here's a few pics from the event:

My awesome kid graduated from elementary school last week- there was a big ceremony.  Back when I finished elementary school there was no hooplah.  I'm pretty sure they just thought "Thank god we never have to see that group of rotten little bastards again".  Here's a pic of her getting her pass to middle school.

Until drama camp starts next week, she has been spending the days at the shop with me.  She's been working- making stencils, copying ID's, filing forms and answering the phone.  She's an awesome front person.  She is also becoming quite an artist, and does a lot of digital stuff- she's been teaching herself to work with photoshop- pretty impressive for an 11 year old.  Last week, she drew a sweet Octo-Bear, which we then stencilled on her arm.

Got tattooed by Nick the other day.  Got a tattoo for the Templars- the band, not the 'Order of...'  Always been a fan.  They're just a great punk rock band.  But I've become a real big fan over the last year or so.  I was first introduced to the Templars by Jamie, and since Jamie died (just a little over a year ago), listening to the Templars always makes me think of him.  So, the tattoo is for a great band and for my lost brother.

Got some pictures of some recent tattooing.  Here's healed pics of some stuff I posted before- the owl and cameos tattoos.

A Thor's Hammer tattoo...

A big reaper- wish I'd have got a better picture.  He said he would email me a healed pic.

Kim's space coverup.  Ya cant see the tribal anymore...

Did this bamboo on a kid.  He wanted it to look like sumi- simple but fun.

One day at the shop, we were kinda slow and Nick made the mistake of saying "I really want a traditional moth coming out of a skin rip behind my ear".  Within an hour, he had this: