Inked Talk

The Smoking Gun website has long been a fun website for finding celebrity mug shots, wacky police reports, interesting court pleadings and obnoxious riders and requirements for famous musicians. More recently TSG has been providing its readers with things like the weekly mugshot roundups featuring everything from ironic arrestee t-shirts, booked hotties, and some of the most screwed up individuals known to civilization.

Today’s Smoking Gun really delivers though, and in a tattoo-related way. Today’s Smoking Gun feature is a before and after picture of a man with some extreme facial tattoos. The first mugshot is from 2003. Michael Campbell of Colorado sports just a few face tats and a very dazed look in the early photo. His latest booking from just six weeks ago reveals a totally different look. Campbell’s entire face has been tattooed almost completely, with a particularly jarring expanse of black across his forehead, topped by a pentacle.

Other notable features of this incredible facial work is the Celtic knotwork running down the left and right sides of his face. While most of his original facial tattoos have been obscured, a doglike creature from the original photo remains on his chest. The tip of his nose has been tattooed black, with receding scale-like lines ascending towards the bridge of his nose. My personal favorite touch, however, is what appears to be a big polka-dotted bowtie tattooed across the front of his neck.

The article accompanying the photos is brief, but it notes that Campbell has spent a good deal of the years between his two mugshots in custody, so either he has found a very prolific jailhouse tattoo artist, or he is one dedicated man when he’s out of jail.

Ready for the photos?

The original Smoking Gun post can be found here.

Longtime friendships are a rare and beautiful thing, and a when a group of six New Jersey women - friends since grammar school - celebrated their milestone fiftieth birthdays this year, they decided to commemorate their friendship in a unique way:  they got matching tattoos.

Sue Tobjy, who already had six tattoos, suggested the idea to her friends about a year ago.   One of the women, Darlene Tremont, had three tattoos herself and was easily convinced. The other four weren’t quite as quick to warm up to the idea.

“Can’t we all get a piece of jewelry?” Kathy Sippie countered.

Jewelry just didn’t have the permanence that the women felt was appropriate to commemorate such a long standing friendship. Tobjy reassured her friends that the pain of getting a tattoo is worse than going to a dentist, but not as bad as childbirth. Eventually, the women all agreed, and they decided on shooting stars. The main star in the design is symbolic the women as a group, and the smaller stars represent their personalities. Jae Conner of Electric Lotus Tattoo and Piercing in Boonton, New Jersey did the tattooing.

The women are all 1977 graduates of Wayne Hills High School in New Jersey, and they have all remained very close over the years. They take a yearly vacation together, and they meet for dinner once a month.

“We can all relate to each other,” said Tobjy. “I know more about these girls, and we know each other’s lives, our families, everything. They’re in my life forever.”

“We’re all soul mates,” declared Lori Atieh.

As one of America’s most well-known architechts, Frank Lloyd Wright may seem like an unlikely influence for tattoo designs.  However, the philosophy behind Wright’s “organic architecture” - the harmonious convergence of the natural and the artificial - actually goes hand in hand with the very concept of body art.  Some of Wright’s most recognizable and distinct work is found in the windows and doors designed and created in his more famous houses. While Frank Lloyd Wright tattoos aren’t exactly commonplace, there are some beautiful examples of these unique and amazing tattoos.

The Coonley Playhouse in Illinois features some of Wright’s most famous stained glass designs.  Even people with just a passing knowledge of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work are likely to recognize these famous pieces:

One tattoo enthusiast used the Coonley windows as a basis for an amazing upper arm piece, and the effect is quite stunning:

Wright’s Tree of Life design with its straight lines and strict symmetry is another very distinct and easily recognized piece:

While the design has been simplified, it is easy to see that the Tree of Life design was the inspiration for this upper back tattoo:

While it is clearly a gem among Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts, the Dana House in Springfield, Illinois is relatively lesser-known design among his major works.  Nevertheless, the Dana House may be the consummate Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie style showcase, featuring the trademarked organic components.  One Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiast found the door design of the Dana House to be an excellent inspiration for his calf tattoo:

Frank Lloyd Wright approached architechture in a way that allowed for complete harmony between the natural and the artificial, the wild and the manmade.  Well designed tattoos allow for a similar affinity between the flesh and the design.

Author’s note: Today, Inked Talk takes a literary turn as we look at tattoos influenced by the life and work of Hunter S. Thompson. If this proves to be a popular subject, we may feature more articles featuring tattoos influenced by a particular artist or author. Read on.

Hunter S. Thompson is perhaps best known among the general public for three things: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, his legendary drug use, and (sadly) to a lesser extent, Gonzo Journalism, even though the latter is truly his greatest contribution to the literary world.

It comes as no surprise to those familiar with his work and his life that he has also become the subject of a number of interesting tattoos.

This excellent portrait of HST features his oversized glasses and iconic cigarette holder at his lips. His distant stare, often captured in photographs and artists’ renderings of HST, may be the product of deep thought or heavy drug use. Or perhaps a little of each. The emblem in the background, which is a stylized fist grasping a peyote button, was first designed in conjunction with Thompson’s bid for sheriff of Aspen, Colorado. The logo is now associated with gonzo journalism, and is also popular subject for HST-influenced tattoos:

Perhaps the best evidence that HST’s persona remains at least as great and influential as his body of work is the fact that tattoos of HST’s most famous quotes are far less common. A popular HST quote, “Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride,” is featured on this simple tattoo:

There is no doubt that Hunter S. Thompson’s work and influence will continue to outlive their source. In fact, that his influence has extended to body art seems like a natural extension of gonzo, culminating in a total conjunction of the work with the person.

Former Suicide Girls photographer Lithium Picnic posted this amazing photo on his Myspace page this week.

Lithium Picnic (photographer Phillip Warner) made a name for himself by shooting many of the earliest Suicide Girls with his distinctive photography style. Beautiful tattooed women are a running theme through his work. When he broke off with the Suicide Girls a lawsuit followed, as did many web sites proclaiming “Free Lithium Picnic.” The lawsuit, and other similar suits brought by Suicide Girls against other so-called “alt-porn” photographers and models that were formerly associated with the Suicide Girls caused a huge divide among Suicide Girls fans and a fantastic backlash from fans of the photographers and models who were targeted.

Sadly, the lawsuit led to the closing of the Lithium Picnic website which had formerly hosted a fantastic array of Phillip’s work. Fortunately, there are still a number of websites showcasing his talent.

The lawsuit has been financially taxing for Lithium Picnic, but there are ways for fans to help out. There are some amazing prints of Lithium Picnic’s work available starting at just $50.00 on this site. Every so often Apnea also posts some of her clothing and other items for sale on eBay. (None available as of this writing, sadly).

It is sad that the talents of such an amazing man are being held down by greedy people in search of the almighty dollar. I would like to hope that the loss of the Suicide Girls’ fanbase over this ridiculous lawsuit fully eclipses any monetary compensation they could get from any lawsuit.

Free Lithium Picnic!

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Digital Shutters

Fresh out of rehab, troubled singer Amy Winehouse probably has more on her mind to worry about these days than the rather poor quality of her many tattoos. She was, however, recently spotted with a rather attractive new tattoo on her back. This one appears to be an American eagle perched upon a red, white and blue Ankh.

The Ankh is an Egyptian symbol of life, and the eagle is a very American emblem, so the combination of the two seems like a rather odd tattoo choice for a British woman, but the beauty of a tattoo is that we all get to attribute our own meanings and sentiments to our ink. Her latest is definitely a nicer quality than several of her other ones…perhaps she is at least turning over a new leaf with respect to her ink.

For Mikki Jeane, tattoos are about more than just body art. A musician, a wanderer, a promotional model and a true tattoo collector, her ink is a reminder of places she’s been, people she’s met and the music she loves. For this week’s Tattoo Spotlight, Mikki Jeane shares a little bit of her collection and her life.

Mikki Jeane gets a tattoo in every state she visits, and she is quite the traveler. She has each tattoo artist sign and date his piece of work, as though it was a souvenir of her trip or a memento of that piece of her life.

Mikki Jeane: You got it, souvenirs they are. And I never choose a shop beforehand…it’s mostly just which ever one has the right vibe while I’m cruisin’ by.

I have thirteen tats which blend very nicely together. They are all super memorable with mighty fine stories behind them. If I were to choose one it would be my Libra scales with a guitar in the middle. On one side of the scale there’s a bag of money and on the other side there’s a clock. It means I can’t balance money or time but music keeps them both in check. The day I got it is the day my mother passed on and she was also a Libra.

Mikki Jeane’s music is a big influence on her tattoos.

[I have] a tribal rose that says “darkness imprisoning me,” part of “One” by Metallica, the first song I ever learned on guitar.

I’ve been jammin’ for a long time now and that’s what led me to all these bad ass cities. My tunes are pure pain and they really hit your soul. I’ve lost 3 brothers, my uncle, and my mother and that’s why I hit the road in the first place, to give people a piece of my heart that I once gave to those I lost.

Mikki Jeane’s time in Milwaukee is coming to an end, as the wanderlust is taking her to the the sunshine and beauty of California. She left with a beautiful parting thought that seems to define her life and her travels: “YOU CREATE YOUR OWN REALITY.”

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451 Press Blogger Plug Time: Indie Music Chatter

The “Mom” tattoo is an enduring classic. For this week’s Tattoo Spotlight we are looking at a beautiful twist on the classic “Mom” design. Meet Leah:

Leah’s “Mom” tattoo is unique in that the heart has an Ankh resting between the heart itself and the “Mom” banner. The Ankh is an ancient Egyptian symbol associated with life, and Leah had special reason to choose this design for her tattoo.

Leah’s Mom is an amazingly strong lady in a very small package. She has been plagued with serious back problems for years, for decades, and has undergone excruciating surgeries and in short has dealt with more pain than most people could ever even imagine. Despite all of this, you have never met a feistier, more spirited strong-willed woman. When she learned she was pregnant with Leah the doctors advised her to abort because carrying the pregnancy to term could do significant damage to her already strained body. On top of that, she was four months along when she found out she was pregnant, and she had been taking some heavy-duty medications for her pain. She refused the doctors’ advice and she bought an Ankh ring as a symbol of the life she was so determined to protect. To this day Leah’s mom still wears the Ankh ring.

As a Mother’s Day tribute to her mom, Leah got her tattoo, complete with the Ankh.

And for the record, Leah is an amazing lady with a sharp sense of humor, an incredible amount of talent, and she’s a great friend.

Thanks for sharing your story, Leah. You rock!

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Lost starts tonight!

Ron Black, Founder of Wild Oklahoma Media, was kind enough to share his tattoo story with Inked Talk.

What is the story behind your ship tattoo?

In Ron’s own words:

Ron was a mere seven years old when he realized what he wanted to do with his life. He and his family toured the USS Missouri while on display in Bremerton, Washington and seeing the majestic nature of the warship and the historical impact of the Mighty Missouri, it was settled: Ron would join the Navy.

Strangely, no one has ever had the courage to speak disparagingly about Ron’s tattoo. They call him the “400lb Gorilla of Oklahoma Media” - perhaps that’s why.

Ron - thanks for sharing your tattoo and the story. Military tattoos have a special significance for me: my dad had some excellent and admittedly bizarre tattoos from his days in the Army in the 1950s. I bet each one had an amazing story, and I wished I had asked him to share them before it was too late.

Visit the Wild Oklahoma Myspace page for more about Ron and his show.

Thanks, Ron! Awesome ink, and a great story.

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I always love to plug my fellow 451 Press bloggers. If you are a video gamer you can’t miss 1PStart - easily one of my favorite video game blogs around.