hawk

Good write and it sounds like good times Shane.

Just got off the phone with LeDan to let him know about the post and he's callin Jennie to have her check it out. The pic's are great and Scott is lookin better than ever, time has been good to him.

Just to correct a couple things though, the shop Jennie is workin from is Allegiance Ink Tattoo and not alliance and the old shop location was occupied just 4 months short of 50 years instead of 40.

The interview will be great! So much history! Tex, Ann and the kids were everywhere, shops(plural) in Portsmouth, even a time in Chicago when the likes of Sparrow and Thomas were there, just an amazing history.

When I hit my 30th anniversary with Hawk's Tattoos it was the Peace Families 75th in 2009 so I celebrated by flyin down to Georgia to see and visit as my own reward, gotta show respect to the Gods of tattooing and it was bountiful.

Thanks for the pic's and can't wait to read the interview, guaranteed to be a good one.

Oh, I love calling out the people who claim this "My Great Great Grandmother was a Cherokee Princess" thing, it generaly pans out to a 6.5 blood quantam but I always retort that I'm 1/32nd Wicken on my Mothers side, ha!

Thanks for all your hard work, lots of good has come out of this site and I know it ain't easy so a big pat on the back to all involved

I respect your opinion but you know what they say about opinions. Mine is that I will speak out over a scam that someone could be a tattoo artist in two weeks and a program that claims such or lends credibility to the concept. People make stands for their beliefs all the time, that is why we don't see Italians playing the roles of native americans anymore and I would like to see the same in the industry of tattooing. Giving the general population the idea that what we do is so simple that a caveman can do it is no more cool with me than going back to the days when I couldn't get a loan for used pickup truck for what I did for a living.

Sure thing that this tattoo school will crank out tattooers or people roll playing as such because they are set up around me already and making me money on the cover ups and fix it work but I would rather see more people treated better and becoming living examples of our craft than living with people who figure a tattoo that ain't half bad is truly half good and good enough to be excepted as a tattoo. To acknowledge this activity and lending credibility to it is two separate things and I will never except green day as punk rock no matter if it's placed in that area of the music store. I feel that the community speaking out in numbers against something they feel is fraudulent is very valid and lends more to the respect of the craft than the program will. The tattoo community speaking out is lending fuel to our credibility and not that of a two week grad, so I disagree.

Gal walks into the shop, demands a turkey on the inside of her right thigh and a Christmas tree on the inside of her left, I said "what's up withe the turkey and tree idea?" She said "I'm tired of my Husband complaining there ain't nuthin good to eat between Thanksgiving and Christmas!"

Hey, if yer refering to the machine frame at the top center as the Jensen, it's a Zeis frame and a very nice one at that.

Shant,

If you are from Mumbai, you can check into the tattoo school at Body Canvas there in Bandra (W) Mumbai, call Vicas at +91-9819184454, or Mickey at +91-9820384542.

If you want you could visit one of the shops in Mumbai City and explain your interest in learning tattooing. You didn't state your having a portfolio of artwork but if you do you should remember to take that with you. Forgive my copy and paste of ATTN:'s but if you are serious about learning there is no exception for formal training.

Good luck to you

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Stunning, enought to charm the last sparrow right out of the tree.

Hot Damn that was great readin!

Thanks so much for sharing that and how much you relish the memory. I was supposed to visit him in March of last year and the chips didn't fall right. To read how much you savor the moments and knew that the company you kept was of greatness is the best compliment someone like Pinky could ever want out of a lifetime of tattooing, to be appreciated. The only person tattooing and otherwise that I knew of who was truly ambidextrous, could draw simultaneously a pair of panthers on paper, panthers facing each other and be exact, always made me wonder if he had a dominant eye or not, what an artist. Early on he could tattoo either hand, then he settled into drawing it left handed and tattooing right handed. And to think how a Veteran could get work from him in Hong Kong and meet up with him again in the Sates is amazing also. When Pinky first came to the States some of the surrounding shops would work on customers with the angle that they shouldn't go down to see him and instead get a tat from an American shop was to deny his obvious talent. The man worked hours that 80% of tattooers today couldn't handle and in smoke filled rooms with the "expected" drunken Sailors of the era's he'd seen, hell if that atmosphere wasn't something out of a Norman Rockwell with a Salvador Dali twist era. He lived a long and happy life doing what he knew best and your post supports what he meant not only to a customer but to the art, you certainly compliment the man and his Family. Thanks again for sharing!