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One down. LOTS to go!

"tribal" is the ultimate traditional style. I have had the great pleasure of tattooing many of our local Native Americas, with their imagery. It's a real honor to make these tattoos. While these tattoos have a fashion aspect to them, they seem about as "real" as it gets to me. Whenever I work on these folks, it makes me think of the rest of what I do as kind of corny.

Im importing some stuff now; Phil Sparrow talking about meeting Hardy. I'm not going to import full documentaries till I fully figure out the software, but I'll likely have something online tonight.

They're not mine to charge for, Pete. I'm just glad they're getting seen. I've had people send me stuff in trade; drawings, books, etc- but I wouldn't feel comfortable making money from them. Speaking of- Cliff Raven. 1974. This video features Cliff tattooing in New York & Florida. And generally not wearing pants. There was no audio originally, so I decided to leave it silent for now. Enjoy-

So I'm pretty much a packrat. And I have 1000s of hours of VHS video in various rubber maids around my house. Some commercially produced stuff. Some literally one of a kind transfers of old 8mm films that were left to me when older friends passed away. I found out last night that my "dazzle" video hub doesn't work with a mac, so I put an order in for a Apple compatible device. Soon I'll be transcoding old films to digital. I'll try to remember to post links to anything I put on youtube here, though some of the footage (Cliff Raven tattooing naked) may not be everyone's cup of tea so I'll use discretion. First up is some NON naked Raven, some classic Realistic Tattoo stuff with Hardy, Irons, Salmon, Zulueta and the gang. Just have to wait for the hardware to arrive!

i have recently switched over to RCA for all my machines after getting frustrated with clip chords. ive found that the adapters from Eikon work the best. What do you prefer and what brand do you find works the best?

Today is Cliff Raven day. Some (edited) footage from 1974 and a documentary called "Tattoo Take Two: A conversation with Cliff Raven"

2011 Superbowl of Hardcore has been announced and set for Saturday May 28, 2011 in New York The official lineup as of now is: Gorilla Biscuits Agnostic Front Terror Absolution Antidote Maximum Penalty Backtrack Down To Nothing Take Offense No Turning Back Bottom Out ++++ A surprise special guest ++++ Black N Blue Productions

Petri, great topic with a lot to think about. That's a really good Cliff Raven quote, too! It's strange, too, because I've been thinking a little bit about blackwork tattooing lately as I've been reading up on plains Indians (this is a really fantastic book on the Blackfeet, by the way if anyone has any interest) and learning about some basic things, especially how artwork reflected their beliefs and what was important in their lives.. seeing some old photos of the men and women, and gathering little tidbits about the importance of tattoos across different groups. Which also ties in to the sun dance that the Blackfeet participated in, incorporating some serious piercing… Anyway. I think this topic is pretty huge but I'll try keep it short. In my opinion, with tattoos, we're all struggling to apply ten million things to our bodies, most of which we’ll never fully understand. Aside from our struggle to reconcile our own mind and spirit with our physical world, we obviously latch on to art that we can identify with, be it music, tattoos, or the argument could even be made for clothing. And so much of it is ingrained in our culture and subconscious, it's tough to step outside those parameters, tattoo or otherwise. I do love blackwork tattoos and I do appreciate what those (growing) few have done and are doing by exploring different styles of the artwork. I do think it suits a lot of people but I think there's a certain... not problem, but maybe an uncertainty, when it comes to co-opting various styles and designs from other cultures. It's powerful and striking and instantly more "meaningful" or "exotic" than traditional western tattoos, but sometimes what happens is just a bunch of borrowing from other cultures. Now -- there's not necessarily anything wrong with it and, in fact, there's something very American -- and very human -- about that. We consume and incorporate and for the most part it's to understand and gain knowledge. And in that way, we create a new tattoo language, which is really exciting and maybe even necessary. All of this is to say, I’ve had a real, growing interest in blackwork/native tattooing as I’ve gotten older. And I think it’s because I’ve made myself think about things a bit more, try to understand the whys of tattooing and expression; whys that probably won’t ever be fully answered. I think folks that exploded the possibilities for our modern times, like Leo Zulueta, and those that are building on that foundation, like Thomas Hooper, have the right idea. When I mentioned “co-opting” and “borrowing” I didn’t mean it in the negative, I think that’s just our nature because we’re all trying to understand something we can’t put our finger on. Who knows – maybe as I get older I’ll get really into black-only tattoos. I identify a lot with both Celtic and American Indian designs but maybe that’s my own subconscious connecting slivers of my ancestry to my geography to my own search for meaning. I’m glad for the renewed interest in tribal tattoos, I just keep my fingers crossed people will treat it with respect.

Oh, I gots me some RoyBoy vids. They're indescribable.

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7509401Funny as hell..

that book is great! leo is only 3 and a half hours from here, i gotta get out there and get tattooed! i don't have any "tribal" on me, but i want one from him!