BMEtv – Rhys Gordon

Rhys Gordon is not only a great tattoo artist but he is also a great host. He showed the BME tour crew around Sydney (and Melbourne!). He took us to the spinning tourist trap of a restaurant in the tower of Sydney where he fed us kangaroo!! He also showed us an awesome day at Bondi Beach. He saved our skin by reminding us that the Australian sun is a lot hotter than anywhere else as well as giving me my first “Tour Tattoo”. When you’re done watching the interview, head over to this page and check out the time lapse I made of him tattooing me.

Keep on reading to check out the interview.

BMEtv – Kaleidoscope Tattoo

One of our first stops in Australia was Kaleidoscope Tattoo down in Bondi Beach. We spoke with tattooers Luciano Lima, Freddy, Stevie Edge, Cory Ohrman and their piercer Brady Hardin. If you’re ever lucky enough to be checking out the beautiful beaches of Sydney, Australia, there is no doubt you’ll be making a stop to see the world famous Bondi Beach. Don’t forget to visit Kaleidoscope Tattoo while you’re there!

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Keep reading to check out the video!


Note: Please let us know if you’re experiencing any issues with the videos. Due to the unreliable nature of the integrated video player in wordpress, we will be putting the videos behind the break. We already know that the auto play doesn’t work properly. Despite having it disabled, in some browsers it still starts playing which causes a big problem if you have more than one video on a page! This is the primary reason we are putting the videos themselves behind the break.

If you have any issues playing the videos, please let us know in the comments. Please include your OS,  browser type/version and anything that you think will help us to determine what the issue is. Please make sure to be more specific than comments like “it doesn’t work”.

Subtitles: If anyone would like to volunteer to transcribe the videos so that we can add subtitles for our hearing impaired members, please send me an email and let me know. I would love to be able to include those. Thank you!

BMEtv Update

I can’t believe how much time has elapsed since I started BMEtv. I came up with the idea back in December of 2008. In the first few months I had filmed about 30 interviews but I had a ton of trouble editing them because I just didn’t have the skills necessary to do a good job editing video, nor did I have the time to learn. I hooked up with a friend and he filmed and edited Trevor McStay while he was tattooing my leg. He then went up to the State of Grace convention and video interviewed  Bugs, Henning Jørgensen, Mike Rubendall, and Joey Armstrong. I really liked where the series was going (though some of the editing on the interviews was better than others) and I wanted to do more. This is where the main reason for the BME World Tour came from. I wanted to do more than just American or Canadian artists. I wanted to showcase artists from around the world and I think that we’ve started on a very cool project. I had some ambitious plans and while we didn’t get to do all of the countries that I wanted to, we are of to an amazing start. I lost track of the number of interviews that we’ve done but I believe it’s somewhere between 400-500 tattooers, piercers, body modification artists and “enthusiasts” (people with body modifications).

I’ve had the first few interviews that I’ll be posting finished for a while but I didn’t want to start posting them if there was going to be a big gap in between getting the rest of them finished. I’ve gotten over that hang up and I’m going to post them as I get them done instead of waiting as time seems to be flying by very quickly! The first interviews that are going up feature  Zoe Dennis, Vond Barta, Josh Roelink, Rob Wommelsdorff , Rhys Gordon, Rob Valenti, IAM: Nano, Marshall, Luciano Lima, Freddy, Stevie Edge, Cory Ohrman, Brady Hardin, Jenny McQuade and musician Astronautalis. These are just the first interviews that are finished and ready to go. I’ve got 5 more interviews which just need to have the title credits added to them and then they’ll be ready to go. The rest of Australia should be edited by the middle of February and then we’ll start on the Japanese interviews as soon as I find someone who can help me with the Japanese to English translation.

Thank you to everyone who helped make the interviews happen and who helps support the BME tour along the way!

Keep an eye out starting tomorrow!

2011, you’re not so bad!

The last of the guests from New Year’s Eve/weekend slumber party have headed out on the slick and rainy roads back to their homes. I can’t thank everyone enough for coming down and making it one of the best weekends that I have had in a while. It was so great to see so many old friends. It reminded me of the New Year’s Eve party back in 2000 in the back yard in Toronto. Thankfully it was a lot warmer here! We had a great bonfire, thanks to Rome and Nano. We were lucky enough to have great weather  as well, 60 degrees during the day, but the bonfire was so warm, most of us were able to be outside in just a t-shirt!

The fireworks went off at midnight on the dot and we celebrated with the addition of what appeared to be flare guns being shot into the air by neighbors up the street. I think that some time around 2am, we all headed into the house to make ourselves some food and to be able to see each other as it can get pretty dark when you live out in the sticks!

As you may or may not be able to tell, I’ve got some room here outside and I can not wait to have BMEfest here. I’ll definitely be making it another weekend event because it was really fun to have such a large group of people here all weekend. Everyone will be able to camp out on the property, like we did back in Tweed, and it will be fun! There is also a pool which will be open in the summer. Start planning your trip and getting your sleeping bags ready!

Hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed having everyone here!

P.S. Rob is on the road driving back to Toronto so I’m not sure if he’ll be able to post on Monday. They’re taking the long way so their trip will be 17 hours!

Happy New Year!

I’m really happy with the turn out for our New Year’s Eve gathering. It’s not even 9pm and the nonsense has already begun! Some old faces as well as new ones have turned out to help ring in the New Year.

Here’s a little  sample of what you’re all missing here at BME HQ! Enjoy!

See you next year!

Tattoo Hollywood Opening Party & Bob Roberts’s Book Release!

Tattoo Hollywood & Known Gallery are proud to present new works by BOB ROBERTS and BERT KRAK | LADIES WELCOME and the release of Bob Roberts’s first book ever titled “In A World of Compromise…I Don’t”

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About the book release:
Tattoo Hollywood Opening Party & Book Release: Thursday, August 19th, 2010 | 8-11pm
We will be selling 100 signed copies at $300.00 plus tax
Pre-order at: [email protected]

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When:
Opening reception: Saturday, July 31st, 2010 | 8-11pm
Tattoo Hollywood Opening Party & Book Release: Thursday, August 19th, 2010 | 8-11pm
Show runs: July 31st – August 19th, 2010

Where:
Known Gallery
441 North Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

About the artists:

Bob Roberts
The man, the myth, the legend: Bob Roberts. Few people have had the impact on tattooing that Bob Roberts has. His sheer artistic genius is sublime, and his biography reads the same way. For over thirty years he has been part of the vanguard of talented tattoo artists who, unbeknownst to them at the time, have pushed tattooing from a craft to an art form.

The list of artists Bob has worked alongside reads like a star-studded who’s who of the tattoo artist hall of fame, of which Bob would no doubt be a member if such a thing existed. He apprenticed with Colonel Todd and Bob Shaw at the infamous Pike and then worked alongside Cliff Raven, Greg Irons, Paul Rogers, Jack Rudy and Don Ed Hardy. His own shop, Spotlight Tattoo, continues to house a roster of talented artists bent on following in Bob’s footsteps.

Bob’s creative genius is not limited to tattooing and painting, he is also an accomplished musician. His musical career reads much the same as his tattoo resume. Bob has played with Ruben and the Jets, Hot Tuna, The Offs, New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders, to name a few. His life has been “rock and roll” as well; Frisco, New York, LA, Europe, Japan, Bob has done the world tour. He’s also ridden across most of the United States on a Harley, and he’s “ridden it like he stole it.” That is how Bob lives his life, and his artwork reflects it.

But the thing that stands out the most to me about Bob is his persona. Ungovernable, fiercely independent, Bob does not compromise…. He does it HIS way. And thankfully for us, Bob Roberts has forever changed tattooing for the better.

-Takahiro “Taki” Kitamura
State of Grace
June 2010

Bert Krak

Loyal husband, father of four, expert tattooer, fine artist , business man, genius. Was born July 12th,1977 in Hollywood, FL. Met his wife in 95. Had his first son in 96. Started tattooing and painting around the year 2000. Currently owns and operates Top Shelf Tattooing in Queens, NY and Smith Street Tattoo Parlour in Brooklyn, NY. Specializes in electric walk up style laser proof tattooing that look like they were drawn and applied by a man.

BMEtv – Trailer!

I know everyone has been wondering what’s been going on with the BME tour so here it goes! First I wanted to thank H2Ocean and Industrial Strength for helping make the tour possible and supporting BME.

Our schedule started to get a little haywire somewhere along the third or fourth week of the tour.  It started off with a never ending erupting volcano which soured travel plans, then some political unrest, economic instability causing more political unrest, being hospitalized and then coming home with an awesome case of pneumonia,  and so many more “little things” we had to take a break. Richard has been working his butt off  editing up a storm. I’m glad to announce that things are coming along well and we should be able to start uploading and posting videos in the next week from our time in Australia and New Zealand. With over 60+ Australian and New Zealand tattooers, piercers and body modification artists already interviewed, we are well on our way to a great start with what I originally intended to do with the tour project. I hope you enjoy the tour preview video that Richard put together and I can’t wait to start posting more videos!

I really want to thank Richard, Chez, Darah and Megan for joining me on the Australian & New Zealand leg of the tour and for all the work they put into the 5 weeks we were out on the road. As I said before, I can’t wait till we start publishing the interviews that we’ve done to date and I look forward to getting out on the road again and seeing what else the Body Modification Community has to offer in the rest of the world!

One Hour Tattoo – Ran Maclurkin

I’m not sure what I was thinking when I decided to get tattooed again but the day we were leaving Melbourne, I had to let Trevor finish what he had left of the background on my right calf. I wasn’t sure if he was going to have time for a second session so I had made an appointment later that same day with Ran Maclurkin of The Piercing Urge. The tour team and I had spent the day prior to the tattoo interviewing Ran, Matt and Pete for the tour videos and interviews that we’re doing. As I had explained before, I’m getting a series of skull tattoos to fill up the front and sides of my thighs while I’m out on the road. I really liked Ran‘s “Abstract Noir” style of tattooing and wanted to get a piece from him. He’d already tattooed Chez‘s thigh the day before. I decided to ask Ran if he’d do me the honor of being the second in my series of “One Hour Tattoo” video and he said yes!

Check out the video and I hope you enjoy it!

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Due to weird inconsistencies with the “Auto-Play”, I’ve moved the video to behind the jump. Click the image to go to the post to watch the video or click more.

The next installment of the “One Hour Tattoo” will be from Josh Roelink at TatuDharma in Sydney! No, I didn’t make these out of order, I’m heading back to Sydney for a couple days before we head off from the land of kangaroos and awesome.