bio

Having done my first tat with rudimentary homemade equipment at age 14 I knew I wouldn't screw up my friends as bad as they screwed up each other. Definitely a fascinating medium but my friends weren't rich and it was a lot of work with the tools. As I had an artistic bent I visited many tattoo shops but the quality was not very inspirational.
As the 80's broke my interest in the alternative music scene led me into promoting punk shows in Akron and publishing SlaM fanzine. The focus of SlaM was to be the graphic side of the punk scene. This led to record sleeve projects for hardcore luminaries as MDC, Raw Power, Vatican Commandos, etc.

After some aggravation with the urban scene in the mid 80's I did a season with my partner Liz at a goat farm near Lansing Michigan where the band the Crucifucks practiced their farm album. We had another offer to care take some acres and horses and gardens in rural Lincoln Co. West Virginia. My son was born in 86 and grew strong on garden food, hunting, goats chickens and pigs, and plenty of country exercise building my log cabin and getting the hay in. This period saw me getting into environmental activism and wildlife art.

When Liz and me split it was off to Athens Ohio in 1990 where Dave Nicholi Araca inspired me to draw tattoo flash and instructed me on the finer points of professional tattooing. My flash was popular and I crossed the country selling it at tattoo conventions where I got to see the worlds best tattoo artists plying their trade in LA and San Diego, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Baltimore, New Orleans, etc.

In the early 90's I honed and polished my tattoo skills at Smokin Tattooz in Kent Ohio, Sully's in Kalamazoo, Midnight Iguana in Athens Georgia, and Bodean's in Richmond Kentucky.

In '94 I didn't expect to end up as far as Texas but I needed the work and it was a great shop at Touch of a Feather in San Marcos so Corey and me did the journey and I worked there for 3 years.

But Corey wanted to go to school from his mom's in WV and I wanted to be closer so my next try was at Jessie's Fine Line in Pigeon Forge by the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee in 1997.

That was fun but didn't last too long and I got an offer to work in the hoppin' neighborhood of Little 5 Points area of Atlanta at Urban Tribe. Another great shop with great artists like Phil Colvin and Tim Bonaduce. Another 3 years.

Again, I did well enough but wanted to be closer to Corey so in fall of 2000 I took an offer from Bodean's in Kentucky. This lasted about 6 months but a divorce with the boss caused ownership change. Time for a change in plans.

With a little money saved I thought it might be time to spend a little more time in some other mediums I had been trying like painting and ceramics (and computer art) and the old neighborhood of Athens Ohio. But by fall the money was low and my forays into local shops over this last winter did not go well. Thanks to my (ex)girlfriend Lindy for helping me through lean months.

Well, all this traveling kind of sucks for establishing dedicated clientele but has been an invaluable education for seeing lots of approaches in this business. I've constantly upped my standards in sterilization, which can be limiting as far as what shops I'm willing to work.

I don't do drugs and keep my beer intake at a moderate level at least since I started tattooing professionally 8 or 9 years ago. Don't need to come to work with the shakes from a hangover!
I may be a little quiet but I talk to customers and help them find the tattoo they will be happy with for the rest of their life.