On the road with Steve Haworth

A certain Mr. Crumbs let me know that the legendary Steve Haworth is hitting the road this fall, and is taking his act across the pond to a number of cities in Europe.  If you don’t know who Steve is then you owe it to yourself to find out.  As for where and when Steve will be appearing, here’s a handy list to help you with your travel plans.

steve-europe-flyer-two

Steve will be appearing at the Primal Arts Festival in Maryland September 3-6, and doing all four of his seminars and participating in suspensions. Visit our Seminars page to register for the seminars. Contact us at [email protected] for appointments. This should be an exciting mix of the body mod world with kink and alternative lifestyles.

Steve will be doing an in-store appearance at INFINITE BODY PIERCING in Philadelphia, PA September 6-7. If you would like to make an appointment, please contact us.

Steve has finalized his European tour plans! He will be appearing at CALM Bodymodification in Stockholm Sep 10-11, Copenhagen Body Extremes Sep 13-14, BMXnet Conference in Berlin Sept 16-19, Trust Mannheim Sep 21-23, the London Tattoo Convention Sep 25, Self Sacrifice in London Sep 26-27, and Ghirigori Family studio in Oggiono, Italy Sept 29-30.

Steve will be presenting all four of his seminars at the BMXnet Conference, and at Self Sacrifice September 26-27. Visit the BMXnet page for more info and to register for BMX. More info will be posted soon on how to register for the London seminars.

Steve will be at Sanchez Ink Tattoo and Body Piercing in Fontana, CA on October 15-16. So if you’re in the LA area and have been wanting a mod from Steve, this would be a good opportunity. Please email [email protected] to make an appointment.

Modification practitioners and enthusiasts alike can benefit greatly from Steve’s seminars, so I highly recommend taking the time to go see him if you’re able to.  Also, with Steve performing some modifications near the end of his tour you have the rare opportunity to be modified by one of the finest practitioners in the world.  While Steve’s works can be seen in several galleries on BMEzine.com, a good place to start looking would be his own scarification gallery.  For those who are subscribers to the surgical areas, the implant section is always a great place to check out some of Steve’s other work.

The BME World Tour Winners are..

This has been a really hard month for me. First I get crazy in the middle of the night in a hotel in Austin. I haven’t slept in days, I’m alone, it’s 30 degrees out, I’m starving and I’m out of change for the vending machines. I started to think about how I haven’t been traveling at all over the past year. I’ve noted that falling in love has this affect on me. I stop being the person that’s only home one weekend out of the month because I’m at conventions, BBQ’s, suspension events, learning/teaching conferences and I focus on being home so that I can be a supportive, attentive and caring partner at home.

I was suddenly back on the road and realizing how much I miss it and how BME suffers when I can’t be out on the road. I decided though after a lot of thought that my passport is full because I’ve traveled around the globe but that for one reason or another all of my travels were alone. The last time I went on any kind of extended trip was in 2008 when I went to the Oslo Suscon, then to BMXnet and finally to a tattoo convention in England (which I ended bailing out on!). That was 3 weeks in Europe SOLO. I submitted around 1000 photos from that trip alone and had a great time meeting people in person.

Now I’m doing it a little differently and I’m extending the amount of time that I’ll be on the road and bringing 4 people with me. I’m sure that you want to know who they are but you HAVE to understand how difficult the selection process was. First it started out with watching hundreds of videos, browsing portolios, reading blogs and writing samples and with Jen‘s help, I narrowed it down to 17 finalists. Everyone has so much to offer and all of the finalists are multi-talented. While some people shine at one particular talent more than others, they are still fully capable of doing everything else that will be required on the road.

The hardest part about choosing the 4 winners is that there are some people who aren’t getting chosen that have been helping out a ton behind the scenes. When they volunteered to help out, I told them it wouldn’t be scoring them any extra points and I had to go with my gut. The other thing that was really hard is that one of my closest friends applied for the video. Thad is an awesome photographer and a great friend but ultimately I feel like I would lean on him too much during this tour. Plus he’d let me get away with being like “I’m too tired to cope today” and I can’t have that.

Click through to find out who won!

In no particular order, the four interns that will be accompanying me on this tour are Chez, Richard, Darah and Megan.

This was a very hard decision and I have my reasons as well as where I just needed to “go with my gut”. If you are a contestant and you want more feedback on why I didn’t pick you, feel free to contact me. I wish I could have brought everyone or I could split it up into two teams so that I could bring more people but I simply can’t due to the costs involved.

Thank you go everyone who applied and for all of the hard work that everyone put in. It means a lot to me and I appreciate your support as always.

Don’t forget the sale on BMEshop is still going on until Midnight! Use the coupon code “worldtour” (without the quotes!) to get 30% off of nearly everything!

2009 BME Year End Awards

Happy New Year!! Let’s start this off by giving away free stuff!

It must have been the year I turned 21 that each day started by passing more and more quickly. I remember being 12 thinking I”d never be 16, then 18, then 21 and now I’m 4 months away from being 30. It means another year of growing BME has come and gone. It seems like the 2008 Awards were posted just a few days ago but it’s been a year. A whole year. We’ve seen so many ups and downs. This year marks the largest contribution by one person over the course of a year, which is also the largest contribution by one person during a year in the history of BME. There are also a couple faces here from last year that we couldn’t kick off the leader boards if we tried. Perk900, I’m talking to you, let’s see you get first place next year!! With this being the last day of 2009, I figured I’d kick it off right and present the 2009 Year End Contributor Awards!

You’ll also note that if you check the leader boards you’ll see different people listed in the top ten for image contributions than are listed below. Our 2nd and 3rd place winner is actually the same person so they’ve been combined and Jen gets disqualified and doesn’t get to win a contributor staff shirt because she already gets one for being staff! That moves everybody up one or two spots and that’s how we’ve come up with the list below.

If you are on the list, you’ll be contacted by me personally. If you don’t hear from me, check your spam or please email me with your address and shirt size to [email protected]. We will be sending out a very special surprise to the top contributor in each section!

I’m throwing in some BME trivia for you all to enjoy as well:

BME Facts:
Photos: 4,493,138
Experiences: 46,980
Videos: 7,942 (plus more that have been posted on Modblog!)
Posts on Modblog: 8,061
Comments on Modblog alone: 177,491
Average Daily Modblog readers; 112,387
Tattoo & Piercing Shops listed on 411.BME: 10,680 (not including the shops that are pending verification
Countries with users on BME: 70
Ask.BME answers: 1,083 (not including the previous version of the QOD)
Ask.BME comments: 2,870

There are tons of other things I haven’t included but I just wanted to show what we have all built together and thank you all again for contributing to BME and making the site what it is today.

TOP 10 IMAGE CONTRIBUTORS

1. 45,802 images

number1

Kitano Karyuudo

See the rest of this year’s top contributors after the break!


2. 15,488 images
number2
kokomi.3k
3. 2,717 images

Perk900
4. 1.014 images

Alienboy
5. 872 images
number6
UREA
6. 626 images
image71
China Tattoo Portfolio
7. 577images

Allen Falkner
8. 560 images
number9
LilFunky1
9. 559 images
number10
JOSEPH DOWNUNDER
10. 473 images
number10image
Thou_Art

TOP 9 EXPERIENCE CONTRIBUTORS


1
. 7 experiences

Devro


2. 7 experiences
expnumber2
Larry666

3. 6 experiences (tie)

Bluestar

3. 6 experiences (tie)
expnumber3missbrutal
MissBrutal
4. 5 experiences (tie)
exp4hoboqueenhoboqueen

4. 5 experiences (tie)
exp4scrletroseScarlettRose
4. 5 experiences (tie)
exp4dear29

dear29

4. 5 experiences (tie)
exp4sevendaze
sevendaze

4. 5 experiences (tie)
exp4ycul

Ycul







Experience Reviewers:

I wanted to add in a special thank you to our reviewing volunteers who vote on experiences so they can be added to the site. Without them, Jen and I would be reading a lot of experiences and going cross eyed. Experience reviewers earn credits towards limited edition tshirts through out the year. The 25 linked are logged by experience reviews for all time, not broken down by year which is why they’re generally not included in the Year End Awards but I wanted to give them some extra recognition and say thank you again for the reviewing that you do. I appreciate it a lot.

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

Tiff Badhairdo
Ask.BME staff

Meg Barber
Roundtable member,
BMEshop

Brian Decker
Roundtable member

Stephen DeToma
Roundtable member

Allen Falkner
Roundtable, Author

Ferg
Author

Russ Foxx
Ask.BME staff

Ron Garza
Roundtable, Author

Warren Hiller
Ask.BME staff

Derek Lowe
Ask.BME, Roundtable

John Joyce
Roundtable member

Paul King
Author

Lexci Million
Ask.BME staff

Ryan Ouellette
Ask.BME, Roundtable

Sean Philips
Ask.BME staff, Modblog

Shawn Porter
Ask.BME, Author

Efix Roy
Ask.BME staff

Joy Rumore
Roundtable

Lori St. Leone
Ask.BME staff

Steve Truitt
Roundtable member

James Weber
APP Author

Since everyone works from home, I’m not able to give each and every one of them a huge hug and say thank you for all the help that they do behind the scenes in making BME such a great place, not to mention keeping it updated, the servers running properly and the members happy! If you can, drop them a line and say thanks! Without them, I’d probably go crazier than I already am!

BME STAFF



Phil Barbosa

Image processing, party
planning, mustache rides


Mike Brum

Server maintenance,
TOS banhammer


Jen Savage
Customer service,
loud noises


RETIRED BME STAFF



Jordan Ginsberg
Former Witty Guy who took amost two
years of beatdowns courtesy of
Modblog

RooRaaah Crumbs
BMEvideo


Tristan Henry-Wilson
Designer Extroidinarre, whom we
call upon from time to time!


Jonathon Marshall
Our thanks still go out to Jon who helps us
whenever we need him!


jasongrazer
Jason
Former Admin

shannon2
Shannon Larratt
BME’s founder and former EIC

I can’t thank everyone enough for continuing to support BME, not only the site itself but the community that it has fostered over the years. I look forward to a new year with new goals, obstacles and hopefully many many triumphs. The first one being the long overdue launch of the new Beta BME Galleries, then the rest of BME and finally the transition of IAM onto the new software. I’ll be able to start adding new features, aside from the ones already implemented in the new site, and BME can continue to grow while giving itself back to the community where it belongs. I can’t wait!

I also wanted to give a special thank you to the people who have contributed to BME’s Legal Defense Fund. To date we’ve raised $1,470.00, which certainly helps. As I’ve mentioned before any and cost recovered if we’re awarded attorney’s fees will be donated to BME’s Legal Defense Fund that I’ve started to help defend the body modification community at large.

And now what you’ve all been waiting for, this year’s award is the t-shirt below! I wanted to figure out how to make a shirt that said “I was a top contributor to BME and all I got was a bag of dicks!” but Alie K. came up with this great design! Check more of her work out at GoodTattoos.ca if you want to get tattooed by her or need someone to do design work. She’s come up with more than a few gems for BMEshop.

sausage-party-mockup-shirt

Rachel Larratt

* * *


2008 BME Year-End Awards


Some may find it trite to say things like, “Without the readers, none of this would be possible,” but with BME it could not be more true — each and every year, the community sustains us. Without you, there would be nothing here, and we’re routinely awed by the amount and quality of submissions we receive. This year, we published thousands upon thousands of new photos and experiences, to say nothing of guest articles, Ask.BME contributions and roundtable participation, and that, friends, is incredible. And now, on with the awards!

 

TOP 10 IMAGE CONTRIBUTORS

1. 8,707 images

kokomi.3k

2. 5,834 images
Kitano Karyuudo
3. 2,930 images
Perk900
4. 1,476 images
Joao Caldara
5. 1,339 images
Alienboy
6. 1,027 images
Freakboy
7. 995 images
Inksation
8. 979 images
Allen Falkner
9. 929 images
Bena
10. 903 images
Holeybody

TOP 12 EXPERIENCE CONTRIBUTORS


1. 12 experiences
Bluestar

2. 10 experiences
Popecatapetal

3. 9 experiences
Deadly Pale

4. 8 experiences
PhoenixTX

5. 7 experiences (tie)
Devro

5. 7 experiences (tie)
Trannyboy

7. 5 experiences (tie)
Bondage-Kit

7. 5 experiences (tie)
Metal Faced Yazzy

7. 5 experiences (tie)
Dreadlocksmile

7. 5 experiences (tie)
Melissa Rose

7. 5 experiences (tie)
LotN

7. 5 experiences (tie)
Lucass

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

Tiff Badhairdo
Ask.BME staff
Meg Barber
Roundtable member
Brian Decker
Roundtable member
Stephen DeToma
Roundtable member
Allen Falkner
Roundtable, Author
Ferg
Author
Russ Foxx
Ask.BME staff
Ron Garza
Roundtable, Author
Warren Hiller
Ask.BME staff
Derek Lowe
Ask.BME, Roundtable
John Joyce
Roundtable member
Paul King
Author
Lexci Million
Ask.BME staff
Ryan Ouellette
Ask.BME, Roundtable
Sean Philips
Ask.BME staff
Shawn Porter
Ask.BME, Author
Efix Roy
Ask.BME staff
Joy Rumore
Roundtable
Lori St. Leone
Ask.BME staff
Steve Truitt
Roundtable member
James Weber
Author

BME STAFF


Phil Barbosa
Image processing, party
planning, mustache rides

Mike Brum
Server maintenance,
TOS banhammer

Jason Cartwright
Programmer, code-
monkey

RooRaaah Crumbs
BMEvideo guru, Mod-
Blogger, whimsy

Jordan Ginsberg
Managing editor, head
writer, dick jokes

Tristan Henry-Wilson
Graphics, T-shirt
design, lithe
Jen Savage
Customer service,
loud noises

Jonathon Marshall
Former programmer and
over-all tech genie

Rachel Larratt
Publisher, Editor-in-
Chief, BMEshop, HBIC

 

 

 

If you’re pictured above, BME will contact you privately. Thanks again, everyone, and we’re looking very forward to an even bigger and better 2009!

* * *

Please consider buying a membership to BME so we can continue bringing you articles like this one.



Lassi’s Guiche Suspension Video

I went to great lengths to get this video from my computer to modblog. Hours of uploading from the wilderness of Germany. You’ve seen the photos, now enjoy the video!

Lassi and Jussi – BMXnet Conference 2008 – Vluyn, Germany – www.mundusabsurdus.comwww.paradise.fi

[Javascript required to view Flash movie, please turn it on and refresh this page]


DivX download link for BME members: Extreme2 or Full members

This is how the Finnish do!

I’ve finally been able to upload some sweet photos from the BMXnet convention this past weekend. In addition to incredibly educational classes and a great mix of talented body modification artists, BMXnet also provided four performance artists. My favorite of the bunch included Modblog favorites, Lassi and Jussi of Saviours performing a custom act which included an attempt at a single point guiche suspension. This is how they cleaned up before hand!

Photos by Allen Falkner.

Worst Jewelry Yet?

Stephan writes,

We all know those horror stories about cheap and crappy jewellery but now I found impressive proof! When I talked to a doctor about cheap jewellery and risks he said he must have a rusty piercing barbell somewhere, having had a patient come in with a highly infected nipple-piercing which she was not able to remove after several days of pain.

This is a picture of that jewellery, which Stephen now uses as the perfect poster for their organization to inform people about what to look for in quality jewellery.

terrible-body-jewelry.jpg

Two-Hook Resurrection Suspension

In one of 2007′s most intense suspensions, Christiane (PinPoint Piercing, Oslo and Wings of Desire) did this amazing two point resurrection-style suspension at the 2007 Oslo Suscon (with Håvve‘s lifting help) — thanks to Stephan for the photos, who adds, “Christiane was going up, hanging, and coming down just like it was an every day suspension — very impressive.”

Lots more pictures after the break.

christianne-2-hook-res-1.jpg

christianne-2-hook-res-2.jpg

christianne-2-hook-res-3.jpg

christianne-2-hook-res-4.jpg

christianne-2-hook-res-5.jpg