By Kent “I hate writing blogs” Smith
Oh London, how I love you. Every year for the past five years I have traveled the London convention, stayed at the same hotel with a family of friends and shared a booth with my good buddy Hunter Spanks. Every year I am so stoked that I have been able to pick up long-distance relationships with friends right on the spot and add some new ones. I’m not talking about just people from overseas, but folks right here in the states that I only get to see once a year across the pond. The friendships and relationships that we are able to build in our community are amazing. I am constantly impressed by the sense of camaraderie we have in this industry…
Alright, this year’s trip to Paradise Tattoo Gathering was super cool, and I also had a chance to go to Off The Map Tattoo and guest-spot the week of the show.
Let’s just say that the name Off The Map is fitting! It’s in small town USA where nobody locks their doors or cars, which seemed weird to me because back home in L.A. we lock up everything, including the dogs…
By Crash
The Paradise Tattoo Gathering (PTG), at the Jiminy Peak Resort in Massachusetts, is a unique experience and one which I would highly recommend. In its fourth year, this convention stands alone amongst hundreds as being completely orchestrated for the benefit of tattooers. Don’t get me wrong, the public is welcome but with the location chosen and the schedule of events, it’s apparent this show is for tattooers who WANT to be in their community and who also want to improve themselves, their art and their tattooing. It’s quite unlike anything else out there and it was EXACTLY what I needed, at exactly the right time… (More on that in a minute.)
By Gunnar
A few weeks back, I wrote my first blog for TAM. I wrote about the internal paradigm shift I was making in my views toward life and about dropping the ego and being more open-minded. I then discussed the profound effects those changes had created in my sense of community. The response was amazing. It seemed that the idea of a positive paradigm shift in the tattoo community was something hordes of people desired. They were sick of the ego’s and attitudes and like me, were just saddened by the state of the tattoo industry… (more…)
By Jesse Dolphin
Hello fellow tattooer and close followers. TAM just took part in one of the smoothest running conventions this year. Montreal is a beautiful city with its fair share of beautiful tattooed people. The convention was held a the Gare Windsor, a remodeled, beautiful old train station with the natural lighting and its open concept it gave a fresh and inspiring surrounding. Pierre and his wife Val have been doing this convention for a few years now and have an understanding of what makes a good show…
By John
ROC City (now in its third year) had some pretty stiff convention competiton last weekend… ROC City was one of three major US shows that weekend, including the biennial Green Bay show and Hell City PHX. However, despite these shows, a hurricane, an earthquake and whatever other acts of God were thrown in the mix, ROC City definetely put the R-O-C back in rock…
By Takahiro “Horitaka” Kitamura
It’s already August, and the tattoo convention I throw with Roman Enriquez (Strong Tattoo/45s Forever) is coming up soon! This year the convention in scheduled for October 21-23 and we are returning to the SFO Hyatt Regency. Even with last year’s power outage on Sunday, the hotel is perfect for us and we look forward to a great weekend. Here are some highlights of this year’s show…
By Nicki Kasper
My trip to Seattle started a little rough… I was trying to get to my hotel to pick up all my boxes and drop them off at the venue before they closed at 7 p.m. but apparently there are two Roy Streets in Seattle, and my navigation system had other plans for me. After I got all the boxes loaded into my car, I made my way to Super Genius for Damon Conklin’s pre-funk party…
Courtesy of Seattle Tattoo Expo:The 10th annual Seattle Tattoo Expo is being held at the Seattle Center’s Northwest Rooms and Courtyard beginning Friday, August 12 through Sunday, August 14. This year’s expo, featuring national and international artists including Jack Rudy, Shawn Barber, Damon Conklin and Cory Norris will provide attendees the opportunity to schedule on-site tattoo appointments. Additional information about the artists and their portfolios can be found at the Seattle Tattoo Expo website: www.seattletattooexpo.com. (more…)
Despite an auspicious start my trip to Toronto to cover North by Northeast (NXNE) music festival and North Ink Exposure (NIX) tattoo convention was quite informative and enjoyable. NIX was my second convention and I was to learn how to run the TAM booth from the boothmaster John, as well as interview tattooers and cover music at NXNE. We embarked on this trip with less than a full night of sleep between us, so by the time we made it to Canada we were what you might call, spent…
By John Niederkorn
Oh… Canada? The Northern Ink Exposure (NIX) ended a string of three successive tattoo conventions for me, which would explain this post’s extreme tardiness. It was my first time on Canadian soil and Kent had me super stressed about Canadian customs… Okay, lets get my story straight; “Hello, I’m here on ‘vacation’ and in no way will I be taking your crazy Monopoly money back to my country.” Luckily for us North By Northeast (NXNE) was the same weekend as NIX so I had a built in excuse…
I’m going to start this out by saying what an incredibly long week it was leading up to this convention. Crash, John and I all woke at 4 a.m. (well Crash and I did, I think John got up at 5 a.m.) to catch a flight from Atlanta to L.A. on June 3rd…
By Crash
I’m too old for this shit, but damn, what an adventure! I thought I could write something short to share the TAM Road Trip journey and give TAM Blog a little more content. I believe the potentials we have with the TAM Blog are pretty evident, and given enough time, can be fashioned into something powerful, entertaining and educational…
By Takahiro “Horitaka” Kitamura
My first blog…
I’ve never blogged before but I’ve been a contributor/reader/supporter of Tattoo Artist Magazine since its inception, and so when Crash asked me to join the new blogging crew, I readily agreed. I figure it’ll be a mix of tattoo news, upcoming projects, food posts and photos of my dog… Very similar to my Facebook probably. Hope ya”ll like it… (more…)
I’ve been doing music coverage for Tattoo Artist Magazine for several months. June 4th, I passed the TAM Tattoo Convention initiation by setting up shop and representing Tattoo Artist Magazine at the Augusta Tattoo Convention in Georgia… (more…)
The Sailor Jerry Rum Company will be hosting a special screening of Hori Smoku this weekend at the Ink and Iron Festival on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. If you have not seen this award winning documentary, this would be a great time to see it… [Lager image and more info on expanded page]
Well, it’s here again… Ink ‘n Iron time. Time to cram into a giant haunted boat with 10,000 of our closest friends…
This year the good folks at the Sailor Jerry Rum Company are sponsoring a toast to the life and memory of Norman Keith Collins, a.k.a Sailor Jerry. [More info on expanded page](more…)
Maybe it was the being-awake-for-24-straight-hours thing… Or maybe is was the insanely dangerous night drive through the mountains of Napa Valley… But by the time we got to Lakeport all was well. This was by far the most isolated tattoo convention that Kent or I had ever been to… [Video on expanded page] (more…)
Well, my New York trip was a little hectic. I managed (with lots of help and cooperation) to get around 10 interviews filmed in four days, while having a pretty good time in the process… (more…)
Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most… New York has missing pieces of my memory buried in her blanket of billboards, bright lights and broken glass… The end of the weekend had a very Fear-and-Loathing-in-Las-Vegas feel to it… There are cell phone camera-flashes, and small chunks of larger events replaying in a non-descriptive manner in my mind. I can recall middle pieces that have no end and beginnings that have no middle or ending… They only thing I’m 100 percent positive on; I had a good time… I think? [Video on expanded page](more…)
When people think of “big” tattoo conventions there are a few that come to mind; London, Milan, Ink ‘n Iron… But just like Darth Vader said in Empire, “There is another…”
As unlikely as it sounds, the tattoo convention held in Taiwan this Aug 5th –7th 2011, may actually be the biggest tattoo convention in the world? [Video link on expanded page](more…)
By Kent “I hate writing blogs” Smith
By Big Gus
By Crash
By Gunnar
By Jesse Dolphin
By Takahiro “Horitaka” Kitamura
By Nicki Kasper
Courtesy of Seattle Tattoo Expo: The 10th annual Seattle Tattoo Expo is being held at the Seattle Center’s Northwest Rooms and Courtyard beginning Friday, August 12 through Sunday, August 14. This year’s expo, featuring national and international artists including Jack Rudy, Shawn Barber, Damon Conklin and Cory Norris will provide attendees the opportunity to schedule on-site tattoo appointments. Additional information about the artists and their portfolios can be found at the Seattle Tattoo Expo website: www.seattletattooexpo.com. (more…)
Despite an auspicious start my trip to Toronto to cover North by Northeast (NXNE) music festival and North Ink Exposure (NIX) tattoo convention was quite informative and enjoyable. NIX was my second convention and I was to learn how to run the TAM booth from the boothmaster John, as well as interview tattooers and cover music at NXNE. We embarked on this trip with less than a full night of sleep between us, so by the time we made it to Canada we were what you might call, spent…
By John Niederkorn
By Kent Smith
By Crash
By Takahiro “Horitaka” Kitamura
I’ve been doing music coverage for Tattoo Artist Magazine for several months. June 4th, I passed the TAM Tattoo Convention initiation by setting up shop and representing Tattoo Artist Magazine at the Augusta Tattoo Convention in Georgia… (more…)
The Sailor Jerry Rum Company will be hosting a special screening of Hori Smoku this weekend at the Ink and Iron Festival on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. If you have not seen this award winning documentary, this would be a great time to see it… [Lager image and more info on expanded page]
Well, it’s here again… Ink ‘n Iron time. Time to cram into a giant haunted boat with 10,000 of our closest friends…
Maybe it was the being-awake-for-24-straight-hours thing… Or maybe is was the insanely dangerous night drive through the mountains of Napa Valley… But by the time we got to Lakeport all was well. This was by far the most isolated tattoo convention that Kent or I had ever been to… [Video on expanded page]
By Crash
Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most… New York has missing pieces of my memory buried in her blanket of billboards, bright lights and broken glass… The end of the weekend had a very Fear-and-Loathing-in-Las-Vegas feel to it… There are cell phone camera-flashes, and small chunks of larger events replaying in a non-descriptive manner in my mind. I can recall middle pieces that have no end and beginnings that have no middle or ending… They only thing I’m 100 percent positive on; I had a good time… I think? [Video on expanded page] (more…)
When people think of “big” tattoo conventions there are a few that come to mind; London, Milan, Ink ‘n Iron… But just like Darth Vader said in Empire, “There is another…”
Thanks for your support!
