smiling.politely

he most definitely was not a banker... i know he moved furniture for a few different places, and built barns, worked in a lumber yard, and worked in his brother's cabinet shop after we moved out into the country. the details some of his arm tattoos have left is surprising based on all the years of outdoor construction work. on a side note, he was 23 when he started going to Charlie.
as for being awesome, both of my parents are pretty rad.
also had them dig out a frame with Charlie's old business card and care instructions. the blue card and "Keep the world artful" bits are from my mom's brother's time in California, and the card for "Sully's" was the aforementioned garden shed shop.

got another bit of Spider Murphy flash from the apprentice in the shop where i work. not the greatest photo, but it gets the point across. photo and tattoo by Jon Probasco.

got another bit of Spider Murphy flash from the apprentice in the shop where i work. not the greatest photo, but it gets the point across. photo and tattoo by Jon Probasco.

they'll definitely let me get some more photos, and i'm glad everyone is liking the ones i've already put up. the majority of the tattoos on my dad are pre-1995, as are most of my mom's (although some have been reworked, and some are going to be covered). as i've gotten further into getting tattooed and learning about the history of tattooing, they've gotten more and more surprised at how much i ask them about what seems trivial to them at times. i actually didn't know "Charlie" was Goodtime Charlie until i was 21 or 22 (2 or 3 years ago, i know, i'm so old), when i was getting tattooed by Dennis McPhail, and mom pointed out a photo from Jack Rudy's wedding with Dennis, Charlie, Jack, and Corey Miller. until that moment, i just thought Charlie was a rando local, since his time in Kansas isn't super known among most people here.
and my mom may wind up making an account, but dad is a bit of a Luddite with computers. maybe i can talk her into signing up, even if it's just to do a blog telling some of their old stories. and as surprised as they are that learning all of this is as important to me as it is, i'm not sure they quite understood how many people on here will be interested by it, along with the scope of this particular forum.

got another bit of Spider Murphy flash from the apprentice in the shop where i work. not the greatest photo, but it gets the point across. photo and tattoo by Jon Probasco.

got another bit of Spider Murphy flash from the apprentice in the shop where i work. not the greatest photo, but it gets the point across. photo and tattoo by Jon Probasco.

they'll definitely let me get some more photos, and i'm glad everyone is liking the ones i've already put up. the majority of the tattoos on my dad are pre-1995, as are most of my mom's (although some have been reworked, and some are going to be covered). as i've gotten further into getting tattooed and learning about the history of tattooing, they've gotten more and more surprised at how much i ask them about what seems trivial to them at times. i actually didn't know "Charlie" was Goodtime Charlie until i was 21 or 22 (2 or 3 years ago, i know, i'm so old), when i was getting tattooed by Dennis McPhail, and mom pointed out a photo from Jack Rudy's wedding with Dennis, Charlie, Jack, and Corey Miller. until that moment, i just thought Charlie was a rando local, since his time in Kansas isn't super known among most people here.
and my mom may wind up making an account, but dad is a bit of a Luddite with computers. maybe i can talk her into signing up, even if it's just to do a blog telling some of their old stories. and as surprised as they are that learning all of this is as important to me as it is, i'm not sure they quite understood how many people on here will be interested by it, along with the scope of this particular forum.

he most definitely was not a banker... i know he moved furniture for a few different places, and built barns, worked in a lumber yard, and worked in his brother's cabinet shop after we moved out into the country. the details some of his arm tattoos have left is surprising based on all the years of outdoor construction work. on a side note, he was 23 when he started going to Charlie.
as for being awesome, both of my parents are pretty rad.
also had them dig out a frame with Charlie's old business card and care instructions. the blue card and "Keep the world artful" bits are from my mom's brother's time in California, and the card for "Sully's" was the aforementioned garden shed shop.

in early 1983, my dad walked into Charlie's shop, watched him tattoo for two days straight, then started dropping money on tattoos over 10 days. in that time, Charlie did his hands, added the dozen roses around the girl on his right arm and clouds around the eagle on his left arm, and tattooed almost his whole chest, except for the wizard/castle, dragon, and lettering on his stomach. in 1984, he went back and had the dragon outlined, the peace pipe on his forearm, and the text inside his forearm. around that time, he had met my mother, and converted her from house tattoos. her first was a Van Halen logo with a guitar string/casette motor machine. the unicorn on her forearm is hers. of the tattoos i've mentioned, none have been retouched since Charlie did them almost 30 years ago, except shading in the dragon and the clouds around the eagle. Nick Cartwright did a tattoo on my mom's other forearm which is currently being covered in a Koi/chrysanthemum sleeve by my boss, Josh Cruse.
the butterfly girl in the midst of the dozen roses was done by a guy named O'Sullivan, who apparently had a fully functional, immaculate shop set up in a garden shed. the castle/wizard and shading for the dragon were done later by a guy named Richard "Critter" Trukken, who also did all of my dad's legs, back, both sets of ribs, and finished out what's on his arms. he also redid the clouds Charlie did on his left arm (hence the lack of closer photos of it). at some point, if he feels like it, i'll get some photos of his other tattoos, and possibly some stories. having been fairly entrenched in the tattoo world of the late '80s and early '90s in Kansas, there's a fair few of them.
side note... excuse the scratches on his hands... new, fairly violent kitten in the house.

got another bit of Spider Murphy flash from the apprentice in the shop where i work. not the greatest photo, but it gets the point across. photo and tattoo by Jon Probasco.

in early 1983, my dad walked into Charlie's shop, watched him tattoo for two days straight, then started dropping money on tattoos over 10 days. in that time, Charlie did his hands, added the dozen roses around the girl on his right arm and clouds around the eagle on his left arm, and tattooed almost his whole chest, except for the wizard/castle, dragon, and lettering on his stomach. in 1984, he went back and had the dragon outlined, the peace pipe on his forearm, and the text inside his forearm. around that time, he had met my mother, and converted her from house tattoos. her first was a Van Halen logo with a guitar string/casette motor machine. the unicorn on her forearm is hers. of the tattoos i've mentioned, none have been retouched since Charlie did them almost 30 years ago, except shading in the dragon and the clouds around the eagle. Nick Cartwright did a tattoo on my mom's other forearm which is currently being covered in a Koi/chrysanthemum sleeve by my boss, Josh Cruse.
the butterfly girl in the midst of the dozen roses was done by a guy named O'Sullivan, who apparently had a fully functional, immaculate shop set up in a garden shed. the castle/wizard and shading for the dragon were done later by a guy named Richard "Critter" Trukken, who also did all of my dad's legs, back, both sets of ribs, and finished out what's on his arms. he also redid the clouds Charlie did on his left arm (hence the lack of closer photos of it). at some point, if he feels like it, i'll get some photos of his other tattoos, and possibly some stories. having been fairly entrenched in the tattoo world of the late '80s and early '90s in Kansas, there's a fair few of them.
side note... excuse the scratches on his hands... new, fairly violent kitten in the house.

they'll definitely let me get some more photos, and i'm glad everyone is liking the ones i've already put up. the majority of the tattoos on my dad are pre-1995, as are most of my mom's (although some have been reworked, and some are going to be covered). as i've gotten further into getting tattooed and learning about the history of tattooing, they've gotten more and more surprised at how much i ask them about what seems trivial to them at times. i actually didn't know "Charlie" was Goodtime Charlie until i was 21 or 22 (2 or 3 years ago, i know, i'm so old), when i was getting tattooed by Dennis McPhail, and mom pointed out a photo from Jack Rudy's wedding with Dennis, Charlie, Jack, and Corey Miller. until that moment, i just thought Charlie was a rando local, since his time in Kansas isn't super known among most people here.
and my mom may wind up making an account, but dad is a bit of a Luddite with computers. maybe i can talk her into signing up, even if it's just to do a blog telling some of their old stories. and as surprised as they are that learning all of this is as important to me as it is, i'm not sure they quite understood how many people on here will be interested by it, along with the scope of this particular forum.

they'll definitely let me get some more photos, and i'm glad everyone is liking the ones i've already put up. the majority of the tattoos on my dad are pre-1995, as are most of my mom's (although some have been reworked, and some are going to be covered). as i've gotten further into getting tattooed and learning about the history of tattooing, they've gotten more and more surprised at how much i ask them about what seems trivial to them at times. i actually didn't know "Charlie" was Goodtime Charlie until i was 21 or 22 (2 or 3 years ago, i know, i'm so old), when i was getting tattooed by Dennis McPhail, and mom pointed out a photo from Jack Rudy's wedding with Dennis, Charlie, Jack, and Corey Miller. until that moment, i just thought Charlie was a rando local, since his time in Kansas isn't super known among most people here.
and my mom may wind up making an account, but dad is a bit of a Luddite with computers. maybe i can talk her into signing up, even if it's just to do a blog telling some of their old stories. and as surprised as they are that learning all of this is as important to me as it is, i'm not sure they quite understood how many people on here will be interested by it, along with the scope of this particular forum.

in early 1983, my dad walked into Charlie's shop, watched him tattoo for two days straight, then started dropping money on tattoos over 10 days. in that time, Charlie did his hands, added the dozen roses around the girl on his right arm and clouds around the eagle on his left arm, and tattooed almost his whole chest, except for the wizard/castle, dragon, and lettering on his stomach. in 1984, he went back and had the dragon outlined, the peace pipe on his forearm, and the text inside his forearm. around that time, he had met my mother, and converted her from house tattoos. her first was a Van Halen logo with a guitar string/casette motor machine. the unicorn on her forearm is hers. of the tattoos i've mentioned, none have been retouched since Charlie did them almost 30 years ago, except shading in the dragon and the clouds around the eagle. Nick Cartwright did a tattoo on my mom's other forearm which is currently being covered in a Koi/chrysanthemum sleeve by my boss, Josh Cruse.
the butterfly girl in the midst of the dozen roses was done by a guy named O'Sullivan, who apparently had a fully functional, immaculate shop set up in a garden shed. the castle/wizard and shading for the dragon were done later by a guy named Richard "Critter" Trukken, who also did all of my dad's legs, back, both sets of ribs, and finished out what's on his arms. he also redid the clouds Charlie did on his left arm (hence the lack of closer photos of it). at some point, if he feels like it, i'll get some photos of his other tattoos, and possibly some stories. having been fairly entrenched in the tattoo world of the late '80s and early '90s in Kansas, there's a fair few of them.
side note... excuse the scratches on his hands... new, fairly violent kitten in the house.

in early 1983, my dad walked into Charlie's shop, watched him tattoo for two days straight, then started dropping money on tattoos over 10 days. in that time, Charlie did his hands, added the dozen roses around the girl on his right arm and clouds around the eagle on his left arm, and tattooed almost his whole chest, except for the wizard/castle, dragon, and lettering on his stomach. in 1984, he went back and had the dragon outlined, the peace pipe on his forearm, and the text inside his forearm. around that time, he had met my mother, and converted her from house tattoos. her first was a Van Halen logo with a guitar string/casette motor machine. the unicorn on her forearm is hers. of the tattoos i've mentioned, none have been retouched since Charlie did them almost 30 years ago, except shading in the dragon and the clouds around the eagle. Nick Cartwright did a tattoo on my mom's other forearm which is currently being covered in a Koi/chrysanthemum sleeve by my boss, Josh Cruse.
the butterfly girl in the midst of the dozen roses was done by a guy named O'Sullivan, who apparently had a fully functional, immaculate shop set up in a garden shed. the castle/wizard and shading for the dragon were done later by a guy named Richard "Critter" Trukken, who also did all of my dad's legs, back, both sets of ribs, and finished out what's on his arms. he also redid the clouds Charlie did on his left arm (hence the lack of closer photos of it). at some point, if he feels like it, i'll get some photos of his other tattoos, and possibly some stories. having been fairly entrenched in the tattoo world of the late '80s and early '90s in Kansas, there's a fair few of them.
side note... excuse the scratches on his hands... new, fairly violent kitten in the house.

in early 1983, my dad walked into Charlie's shop, watched him tattoo for two days straight, then started dropping money on tattoos over 10 days. in that time, Charlie did his hands, added the dozen roses around the girl on his right arm and clouds around the eagle on his left arm, and tattooed almost his whole chest, except for the wizard/castle, dragon, and lettering on his stomach. in 1984, he went back and had the dragon outlined, the peace pipe on his forearm, and the text inside his forearm. around that time, he had met my mother, and converted her from house tattoos. her first was a Van Halen logo with a guitar string/casette motor machine. the unicorn on her forearm is hers. of the tattoos i've mentioned, none have been retouched since Charlie did them almost 30 years ago, except shading in the dragon and the clouds around the eagle. Nick Cartwright did a tattoo on my mom's other forearm which is currently being covered in a Koi/chrysanthemum sleeve by my boss, Josh Cruse.
the butterfly girl in the midst of the dozen roses was done by a guy named O'Sullivan, who apparently had a fully functional, immaculate shop set up in a garden shed. the castle/wizard and shading for the dragon were done later by a guy named Richard "Critter" Trukken, who also did all of my dad's legs, back, both sets of ribs, and finished out what's on his arms. he also redid the clouds Charlie did on his left arm (hence the lack of closer photos of it). at some point, if he feels like it, i'll get some photos of his other tattoos, and possibly some stories. having been fairly entrenched in the tattoo world of the late '80s and early '90s in Kansas, there's a fair few of them.
side note... excuse the scratches on his hands... new, fairly violent kitten in the house.

he most definitely was not a banker... i know he moved furniture for a few different places, and built barns, worked in a lumber yard, and worked in his brother's cabinet shop after we moved out into the country. the details some of his arm tattoos have left is surprising based on all the years of outdoor construction work. on a side note, he was 23 when he started going to Charlie.
as for being awesome, both of my parents are pretty rad.
also had them dig out a frame with Charlie's old business card and care instructions. the blue card and "Keep the world artful" bits are from my mom's brother's time in California, and the card for "Sully's" was the aforementioned garden shed shop.

just got a bunch of new photos of my dad's tattoos from Goodtime Charlie, back when he was in Kansas in the early '80s. i'll upload them a little bit later.

in early 1983, my dad walked into Charlie's shop, watched him tattoo for two days straight, then started dropping money on tattoos over 10 days. in that time, Charlie did his hands, added the dozen roses around the girl on his right arm and clouds around the eagle on his left arm, and tattooed almost his whole chest, except for the wizard/castle, dragon, and lettering on his stomach. in 1984, he went back and had the dragon outlined, the peace pipe on his forearm, and the text inside his forearm. around that time, he had met my mother, and converted her from house tattoos. her first was a Van Halen logo with a guitar string/casette motor machine. the unicorn on her forearm is hers. of the tattoos i've mentioned, none have been retouched since Charlie did them almost 30 years ago, except shading in the dragon and the clouds around the eagle. Nick Cartwright did a tattoo on my mom's other forearm which is currently being covered in a Koi/chrysanthemum sleeve by my boss, Josh Cruse.
the butterfly girl in the midst of the dozen roses was done by a guy named O'Sullivan, who apparently had a fully functional, immaculate shop set up in a garden shed. the castle/wizard and shading for the dragon were done later by a guy named Richard "Critter" Trukken, who also did all of my dad's legs, back, both sets of ribs, and finished out what's on his arms. he also redid the clouds Charlie did on his left arm (hence the lack of closer photos of it). at some point, if he feels like it, i'll get some photos of his other tattoos, and possibly some stories. having been fairly entrenched in the tattoo world of the late '80s and early '90s in Kansas, there's a fair few of them.
side note... excuse the scratches on his hands... new, fairly violent kitten in the house.

he most definitely was not a banker... i know he moved furniture for a few different places, and built barns, worked in a lumber yard, and worked in his brother's cabinet shop after we moved out into the country. the details some of his arm tattoos have left is surprising based on all the years of outdoor construction work. on a side note, he was 23 when he started going to Charlie.
as for being awesome, both of my parents are pretty rad.
also had them dig out a frame with Charlie's old business card and care instructions. the blue card and "Keep the world artful" bits are from my mom's brother's time in California, and the card for "Sully's" was the aforementioned garden shed shop.

in early 1983, my dad walked into Charlie's shop, watched him tattoo for two days straight, then started dropping money on tattoos over 10 days. in that time, Charlie did his hands, added the dozen roses around the girl on his right arm and clouds around the eagle on his left arm, and tattooed almost his whole chest, except for the wizard/castle, dragon, and lettering on his stomach. in 1984, he went back and had the dragon outlined, the peace pipe on his forearm, and the text inside his forearm. around that time, he had met my mother, and converted her from house tattoos. her first was a Van Halen logo with a guitar string/casette motor machine. the unicorn on her forearm is hers. of the tattoos i've mentioned, none have been retouched since Charlie did them almost 30 years ago, except shading in the dragon and the clouds around the eagle. Nick Cartwright did a tattoo on my mom's other forearm which is currently being covered in a Koi/chrysanthemum sleeve by my boss, Josh Cruse.
the butterfly girl in the midst of the dozen roses was done by a guy named O'Sullivan, who apparently had a fully functional, immaculate shop set up in a garden shed. the castle/wizard and shading for the dragon were done later by a guy named Richard "Critter" Trukken, who also did all of my dad's legs, back, both sets of ribs, and finished out what's on his arms. he also redid the clouds Charlie did on his left arm (hence the lack of closer photos of it). at some point, if he feels like it, i'll get some photos of his other tattoos, and possibly some stories. having been fairly entrenched in the tattoo world of the late '80s and early '90s in Kansas, there's a fair few of them.
side note... excuse the scratches on his hands... new, fairly violent kitten in the house.

in early 1983, my dad walked into Charlie's shop, watched him tattoo for two days straight, then started dropping money on tattoos over 10 days. in that time, Charlie did his hands, added the dozen roses around the girl on his right arm and clouds around the eagle on his left arm, and tattooed almost his whole chest, except for the wizard/castle, dragon, and lettering on his stomach. in 1984, he went back and had the dragon outlined, the peace pipe on his forearm, and the text inside his forearm. around that time, he had met my mother, and converted her from house tattoos. her first was a Van Halen logo with a guitar string/casette motor machine. the unicorn on her forearm is hers. of the tattoos i've mentioned, none have been retouched since Charlie did them almost 30 years ago, except shading in the dragon and the clouds around the eagle. Nick Cartwright did a tattoo on my mom's other forearm which is currently being covered in a Koi/chrysanthemum sleeve by my boss, Josh Cruse.
the butterfly girl in the midst of the dozen roses was done by a guy named O'Sullivan, who apparently had a fully functional, immaculate shop set up in a garden shed. the castle/wizard and shading for the dragon were done later by a guy named Richard "Critter" Trukken, who also did all of my dad's legs, back, both sets of ribs, and finished out what's on his arms. he also redid the clouds Charlie did on his left arm (hence the lack of closer photos of it). at some point, if he feels like it, i'll get some photos of his other tattoos, and possibly some stories. having been fairly entrenched in the tattoo world of the late '80s and early '90s in Kansas, there's a fair few of them.
side note... excuse the scratches on his hands... new, fairly violent kitten in the house.

in early 1983, my dad walked into Charlie's shop, watched him tattoo for two days straight, then started dropping money on tattoos over 10 days. in that time, Charlie did his hands, added the dozen roses around the girl on his right arm and clouds around the eagle on his left arm, and tattooed almost his whole chest, except for the wizard/castle, dragon, and lettering on his stomach. in 1984, he went back and had the dragon outlined, the peace pipe on his forearm, and the text inside his forearm. around that time, he had met my mother, and converted her from house tattoos. her first was a Van Halen logo with a guitar string/casette motor machine. the unicorn on her forearm is hers. of the tattoos i've mentioned, none have been retouched since Charlie did them almost 30 years ago, except shading in the dragon and the clouds around the eagle. Nick Cartwright did a tattoo on my mom's other forearm which is currently being covered in a Koi/chrysanthemum sleeve by my boss, Josh Cruse.
the butterfly girl in the midst of the dozen roses was done by a guy named O'Sullivan, who apparently had a fully functional, immaculate shop set up in a garden shed. the castle/wizard and shading for the dragon were done later by a guy named Richard "Critter" Trukken, who also did all of my dad's legs, back, both sets of ribs, and finished out what's on his arms. he also redid the clouds Charlie did on his left arm (hence the lack of closer photos of it). at some point, if he feels like it, i'll get some photos of his other tattoos, and possibly some stories. having been fairly entrenched in the tattoo world of the late '80s and early '90s in Kansas, there's a fair few of them.
side note... excuse the scratches on his hands... new, fairly violent kitten in the house.

in early 1983, my dad walked into Charlie's shop, watched him tattoo for two days straight, then started dropping money on tattoos over 10 days. in that time, Charlie did his hands, added the dozen roses around the girl on his right arm and clouds around the eagle on his left arm, and tattooed almost his whole chest, except for the wizard/castle, dragon, and lettering on his stomach. in 1984, he went back and had the dragon outlined, the peace pipe on his forearm, and the text inside his forearm. around that time, he had met my mother, and converted her from house tattoos. her first was a Van Halen logo with a guitar string/casette motor machine. the unicorn on her forearm is hers. of the tattoos i've mentioned, none have been retouched since Charlie did them almost 30 years ago, except shading in the dragon and the clouds around the eagle. Nick Cartwright did a tattoo on my mom's other forearm which is currently being covered in a Koi/chrysanthemum sleeve by my boss, Josh Cruse.
the butterfly girl in the midst of the dozen roses was done by a guy named O'Sullivan, who apparently had a fully functional, immaculate shop set up in a garden shed. the castle/wizard and shading for the dragon were done later by a guy named Richard "Critter" Trukken, who also did all of my dad's legs, back, both sets of ribs, and finished out what's on his arms. he also redid the clouds Charlie did on his left arm (hence the lack of closer photos of it). at some point, if he feels like it, i'll get some photos of his other tattoos, and possibly some stories. having been fairly entrenched in the tattoo world of the late '80s and early '90s in Kansas, there's a fair few of them.
side note... excuse the scratches on his hands... new, fairly violent kitten in the house.

just got a bunch of new photos of my dad's tattoos from Goodtime Charlie, back when he was in Kansas in the early '80s. i'll upload them a little bit later.