One Hour Tattoo – Rhys Gordon

As someone who spends most of their time behind a computer, I don’t get a chance very often to meet tattooers from various ends of the earth. I’ve decided to get a series of tattoos that I’m calling the “One Hour Tattoo” and I hope to make time lapse videos of all of them. The first tattoo I’ve had done is by Rhys Gordon at InnerVision Tattoo in Sydney, Australia. He drew the skull and cross bones while we were chatting for his interview, which we some how managed not to do! He came out a couple days later to visit with us while we were working in Melbourne and I interviewed him there. I’ll wait to tell you more about Rhys when we post his interview for BMEtv.

rhysDue 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.

Hope you enjoy the video! Don’t forget that you can make your own videos and upload them to the new video sections on BMEzine.com

Where in the world is BME?

Where’s BME? Where are the posts? Are you guys okay? Have you frittered away the budget in strip clubs across the world? Those are the sorts of questions I’ve been getting. While I’d love to be on the perfect schedule of making at least one video a day, it’s going to take us a couple weeks to get to that point. Now bear with me while I try to get you caught up to where we are in the world tour. First I want to take a moment and thank H2Ocean.com and Industrial Strength for being our main BME world tour sponsors. They’re making this trip possible and I, as well as the rest of the crew, appreciate it!

I snapped some quick photos of our group. From Left to Right are Darah, Chez, Richard and Megan.

Darah WraineChez StockRichard KennedyMegan Dejmal

I have exactly 34 minutes of battery life on the flight between Sydney and Melbourne and I’m not sure I’ll be able to finish this post in that time. It simply isn’t possible to recount what we’ve done over such a short time. I’ll do my best to give you an over view and hopefully make you feel like you’re here with us. Some of you came out and showed us around town and for that I couldn’t be more grateful!

In order to get everyone up to speed without creating a massive tl;dr, I’ll try not to go over what Chez has already posted but it’s easy enough to say that the trip started off on a lame first step. We had one thing after another present itself, from drama to suitcases that wouldn’t zip shut, lost laptops to delayed flights, emptied pre-payed phones and more than I will waste any more time writing about. If it wasn’t complicated, it wouldn’t be fun and I wouldn’t trade it for the world on a silver platter.

Click through to read more of the story and what we’ve been up to since we arrived in the country of kangaroos!

After spending about two and a half days getting to know one another, we left Los Angeles on Wednesday April 7th, arriving in Sydney on Friday April 9th. We mastered time travel and now we’re a day ahead of most of the readers out there. As Chez mentioned, Nano was a great host and was fresh faced at 7am to meet us at the airport. We ate breakfast together in what has quickly become a tour tradition, got sorted out at our hostel and then headed out for a walk. We had one day to catch our breath before Chez took on the monstrous task of organizing our schedule for the week.

Breakfast in Australia

L to R: Chez, Richard, Megan, Rachel and Darah

As you remember, we took suggestions from readers and went to almost every shop that was suggested to us that we were able to make time for. Due to having hosted the amazing Trevor McStay back in the states, I was lucky to have a great source for info on the Australian tattoo/piercing/body modification scene. Trevor sent us an email with contact information for Rhys Gordon and a suggestion that I ask him to show me around town. I also want to give a quick shout out to Timothy and thank him for the massive list of contact information that he sent us after his trip to the Sydney tattoo convention.

I made plans to have dinner with Rhys on Friday night but canceled after sitting down on my bed in the hostel and passing out around 7pm. The next day was much better after waking up shortly after 6am. I didn’t realize until later that I’d actually woken up around 2am local time on the flight here and that we’d put in a pretty long day just getting organized.

On Saturday we stopped over at Josh Roelink‘s TatuDarhma to check out the shop and what we’d need to do lighting/interview wise. We were expecting that to take a while but honestly after walking into the space and seeing floor to ceiling warehouse style windows, beautiful natural lighting and art everywhere, we knew we were off to a great start. TatuDharma set the tone for what the rest of our stay in Sydney would bring. One beautiful shop after the next as well as a population of tattooers, piercers and clients who were warm and welcoming.

Rhys showed up shortly after and picked us all up in his ’66 Dodge Coronet and we piled in. The team has gotten used to tight quarters in the back of one car after the next. We headed off towards Inner Vision Tattoo to meet the locals over there but not before dropping BME’s tour crew off at The Illustrated Man to chat with the Tony Cohen and Heather Gee (link to the first article). I met Cliffe Clayton, the owner, as well as several tattooers and guest artist Marcus Kuhn. From that point on I knew this was going to be an awesome trip.

66 Dodge Coronet

After a whirlwind trip around Sydney on a perfectly guided tour, I met up with the Prince of Bondi, Dane, and his awesome Staffy dog named Indie. She’s apparently one of the most photographed dogs in Australia and after meeting her, I can definitely understand why. The people watching from the patio of The Flying Squirrel Tapas Parlour was spectacular, not to mention meeting Miss Australia, who happens to be a regular.

After a few hours in the sun, getting to know Rhys and his local group of friends, I headed back to meet up with my own crew where we had dinner with Nano and HotBrad.

Sunday started off with a rushed morning after I cooked breakfast for the five of us. We took a cab to hang out with Rhys as he took us to Bondi Beach. It’s justifiably one of Australia’s most famous beaches and I’m sure that you can understand why. One thing they don’t put in the brochures about Australia is the lack of a proper ozone layer. We slathered on the sunscreen and laid out on our towels, soaking in the sun, splashing in the waves and generally getting to know each other better.

The crew at Bondi BeachBondi BeachRhys Gordon and Rachel
L-R: The crew at Bondi Beach, the beach itself and Rhys Gordon and Rachel

Our first interview of the trip belonged to Josh Roelink and took place in his studio TatuDharma. It was hard to peel off our bathing suits and dive in to “interview mode” but we were able to do it once the sun stroke wore off. Josh, having just had his first baby only 6 short weeks ago, was kind enough to come in on his day off so that we’d be able to speak with him. Josh is known around the world and has traveled doing guest spots and conventions. It was amazing to talk to each other and realize how many people that we both know. We exchanged stories about tattooing legends as well as conventions that we’ve both worked at, shops we’ve been to, being a new parent and so much more. While Josh and I got to know each other, Darah and Richard interviewed Alex and Megan shot photos of the whole thing.

After we finished up at TatuDharma, we split ways and I headed down to Inner Vision to get to know the staff over there. There is something to be said about walking into a tattoo shop in a country that you’ve never been to before. No matter where you are, there are comforting smells and sounds that will always make you feel like home. At Inner Vision I was made to feel incredibly welcome. I also tried to download as much email as I possibly could! The only downside to our trip so far has been one technical problem after the next. As I sit here writing (at our hostel in Melbourne) I’m unable to connect to the internet. When you’re trying to write for an online magazine, that can be a problem!

Marcus Kuhn, Rachel Larratt and Rhys GordonL-R: Marcus Kuhn, Rachel and Rhys Gordon

We made plans to go to Sydney’s tourist restaurant known as “360” which is at the top of the Sydney Tower. If you haven’t guessed already, it is one of those spinning restaurants which can make you very nauseous. Darah elected to sit that dinner out and I don’t blame her one bit. As Marcus was here, he decided to indulge in a little tourism and joined us. We have hours of video with him, going through his impressions and stories of his tattoo related travels. As someone who has seen the inside of Rikers Island several times to having tattooed with legends from all around the world, it was amazing to be fortunate enough to hear stories and meet someone with as much history and experience as he has. I look forward to getting a chance to interview him in the future.

Rhys Gordon, Rachel and Marcus KuhnL-R: Rhys Gordon, Rachel and Marcus Kuhn.

Rhys, Marcus, Chez, Richard, Megan and I basically closed down the restaurant. Marcus wanted to see “King’s Cross”, which is Sydney’s “Red Light District”. He spent an hour or so trying to solicit hookers to take their photo with him for $10 dollars but none of them would. Shortly after that we made our way into one of the fine establishments in the King’s Cross. I can’t remember what the name was but after negotiating down the entrance fee, we all had a bunch of “dancing bucks” and proceeded to have some fun. Unfortunately you can’t take photos in a strip club but that doesn’t mean we didn’t try!

Elevator ride down from the 360!

L-R: Megan, Chez, Rhys Gordon, Richard, Rachel and Marcus

Marcus and Rhys tried to work the “birthday” angle, which as we were 3 girls and 3 guys, seemed to go over pretty well. At one point a stripper approached me and pulled off my top! As there wasn’t a single exotic dancer with a tattoo, I find it hard to believe that she confused me for one of the dancers! We were smart enough to cash in a set amount of money for the pre-purchased fake bills so that we didn’t blow our entire budget on strippers. It can happen when you’re in a new city and having a great time.

Pile in the back!

L-R: Marcus, Chez, Megan and Richard (PS. We’ve gotten very used to squeezing way too many people into one tiny car after the next!)

The next morning saw most of the crew sleeping in. I’m not sure if it was exhaustion from all the excitement, the many many rounds of drinks, jet lag or a combination of both but I let everyone sleep in as I still woke up around 7am. I went down and cooked breakfast for all of us again and we began to organize our day.

We tried to utilize public transportation but that wasn’t working as well as we’d hoped but we got ourselves to Kaleidoscope Tattoo in Bondi. Our main attraction there, aside from the owner Luciano, was Stevie Edge. Stevie has been on BME/IAM since at least 2001. He met his girlfriend via IAM some 8 years ago and she’s moved here from the USA. I always love meeting people who have met their significant others through BME because it shows that not only are we able to document a love affair with body modification but that we can also facilitate members of our community with finding love itself.

I’m not sure how many tattooers we ended up interviewing at Kaleidoscope but we also grabbed a quick interview with Kaleidoscope’s piercer, Brady. I stepped out throughout the day to buy massive amounts of candy and gorge myself silly. We all had a good laugh at my expense as my belly finally decided to object to the influx of sugar coated goodness. We wrapped up at Kaleidoscope and headed back to the hostel to decompress.

On Tuesday, the crew made their way to Industrial Strength Australia and met with Rob, the piercer there. I spent the day online working on my day to day work that I have to do for BME to keep things running smoothly. I was bummed that I didn’t get to make it back over there but I had work to do!

Throughout the week and time spent with Marcus, he continually brought up “Mr. Shuffles”, the miracle elephant newborn at the Taronga Zoo. We decided to switch our day off and make our way to the zoo on Wednesday. While waiting for the crew to catch up, Marcus and I met Pauly Shore by the ferry. It was a very bizarre meeting but a fun one at that. All work and no play makes the tour a dull one so we had a great time checking out the animals. By the end of the day we were beat.

Pauly Shore, Rachel and Marcus KuhnSydney Opera HouseMr. Shuffles

L-R: Pauly Shore, Rachel and Marcus. The Sydney Opera House. Mr. Shuffles!

On Thursday, it was time to meet with Polymorph and work the interviewing magic that we’ve been developing at a sure and steady pace. While the crew spent the morning over there, I was at Inner Vision. I got the first of what I hope are many new tattoos while on this tour. Rhys drew up a skull and tattooed me for a few hours. I have almost all of the time lapse done. It took 2 hours but I’ve got the footage down to 8 minutes. I need to refine it a bit more so that it’s only about 5 minutes. I didn’t end up having enough time to interview Rhys but he was gracious enough to interview the other tattooers who wouldn’t be returning from Japan until after we were already departed.

Rhys GordonSkull tattoo by Rhys GordonRachel

L-R: Rhys Gordon. Rachel’s new skull tattoo by Rhys. Rachel getting tattooed.

The next morning we left from Sydney to fly to Melbourne, which is when I started writing this post. Work, sun and jet lag caught up with Richard, Darah and Chez who caught some sleep on the plane. Meanwhile Megan and I got some work done.

Sleepy headsBed Head!

We grabbed our luggage and headed to get a “maxi taxi” to the Lord’s Lodge, where the crew is currently staying. I’m staying with Trevor and his family as I’ve hosted Trevor at my place in LA. Trevor not only opened up his home to me but also helped give us the keys to the city by calling around to the local shops and helping us set up interviews.

On Saturday I got the majority of the background on my right leg from knee to shin colored in. I’ll be getting one more sitting done to finish the back of my calf before we head out to Darwin for the weekend. That meant that we spent Saturday at Dynamic Tattoo and interviewed Trevor again as well as his daughter Tarlyn. Tarlyn started tattooing at the ripe old age of 12 and I hope that some day we can interview her again as she becomes a second generation tattooer. While we were there we also interviewed Matty and Rob who I would say that they are lucky enough to work with Trevor but because they do work at Dynamic, it just shows that they have incredible talent to be able to work with a great Australian tattooer and can pull their own weight.

img_0629img_0630img_0632

While I was getting tattooed, the crew headed off to Third Eye Tattoo and I believe they interviewed somewhere around 8 or 9 tattooers. I stayed behind so that I could endure a couple of grueling hours of tattooing and then have dinner with Josh Roelink who was in town for a wedding. We had a great dinner with everyone from Dynamic and exchanged body art and tattoo related travel stories. By the time it was 10pm, I was ready to head home. Luckily so was everyone else.

I woke up Sunday morning and logged online to realize that it was that time. I had turned 30 years old! As I came out of the guest bedroom I started receiving the first of many “Happy Birthday!” wishes. It was a great way to start the day. Rhys had decided to fly in from Sydney to hang out and he arrived shortly after we’d all gotten ready to start the day. I headed out from the suburbs with Rhys to meet up with the crew. They had Sunday off which was hopefully a good break for them. Rhys and I tried to head over to the beach and Luna Park but I wasn’t up for walking as my calf was pretty swollen. We ended up coming back out to Trevor’s house and relaxing. We spent a few hours looking through various books, tracings, artwork drawn by tattooers from around the world that grace Trevor’s home and generally having a pretty chill day. Once a couple other people showed up, we headed out for a birthday dinner.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

When a McStay fills your glass, you can’t say no. I believe they were trying to get me inebriated but after one drink I’d had enough! What can I say? I’m a light weight! The McStay’s surprised me with a beautiful birthday cake and they all sang “Happy Birthday” to me. I think that it was one of the best birthdays that I can remember having.

Happy Birthday!

As I mentioned earlier, I hadn’t had time to interview Rhys so I decided to mix things up a bit and interview him while we drove from the ‘burbs back into the city. We talked about tattooing, traveling, learning more about your career and developing as an artist and what it truly means to live by the motto of “be kind to tattooing and it will be kind to you”.

Where have we gone?

Rhys dropped me off at Chapel Tattoo where I met up with the rest of the crew and we got started on our day. We interviewed Dave McAleese, Dez (the shop manager) and were supposed to interview Shane Gallager but we had to reschedule that for tomorrow.

I’ve tried to get caught up on recapping our trip so far but it hasn’t been easy. Trying to find the time has been one thing as well as just being able to get online. I hope this isn’t too disjointed as it was written on an airplane, on the patio of a hostel while french reggae is blasting and hippies are playing some form of dodgeball that looks both hilarious and painful and finally the last page or so written from the McStay’s porch.

The first 11 days on the road have been amazing. I’ve never felt so welcomed and met so many bright and talented individuals in such a short amount of time. The few IAM members that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting have been hospitable and caring as well as just great people. It reminds me why I love what I do and why I hope to continue doing it until the end of my days.

As I finish wrapping up this post, I’m happy to say that we’ve overcome our Final Cut Pro hurdle (apparently our camera won’t work with FCP 6!) and we should finally be able to move on and start editing video. The last technical hurdle we have is getting the lost but recovered laptop out to us here in Australia without having to pay $400 in ridiculous fedex charges so that Megan can start editing photos. We had to spend close to that to ship back our lighting kits because after they set themselves on fire, we decided that we didn’t want to drag the now useless but probably repairable gear around the rest of the world with us. Nothing says professional like turning on the lights and having a giant ball of smoke rise up in the middle of a busy tattoo studio!

I hope that you guys enjoyed the photos and feel like you’ve been caught up on what’s going on in the world of the BME tour. Thank you again to our sponsors H2Ocean.com and Industrial Strength. Without them, we would have already spent all our money on strippers and booze! An additional extra special thank you goes out to Nano, HotBrad, Rhys Gordon, Marcus Kuhn and Trevor and Deb McStay. These six people have made the beginning of the tour as stress free as possible. From opening up their hearts and their homes as well as showing us around town, I can’t thank them all enough. We’ve already met hundreds of people in the past 11 days and I can’t wait to meet even more. Remember, we’re totally into having BBQ’s or meet ups if anyone wants to organize one locally!

I’m off to bed now that it’s almost 3am my time and I have to be up in 6 hours but I wanted to finish this post and get it online while I still had a halfway decent internet connection!

Heather Gee: The Illustrating Woman

With a smile that is almost as addictive to look at as her portfolio, Heather Gee wins the prize for being both a bona-fide sweetheart and extremely talented artist who works out of The Illustrated Man in Sydney, Australia. Before calling Sydney her home, Heather’s nomadic spirit took her to various shops throughout Europe, starting first in the United Kingdom, then traveling to Amsterdam for her apprenticeship. I imagine her dedication to the tattoo business combined with her lively personality would make it difficult for any shop, no matter the location, to bid her farewell.

close-up

Click through to read the entire interview!

What made you decide to go to Amsterdam after tattooing in the U.K.?
Just because I knew that the tattooing is really good in Amsterdam.

Do you mean the quality of the tattoos, or the consistency of the business?
Yeah, yeah, both. I mean, obviously, there are a lot more shops now than there were ten years ago, but at the time, I had a lot of people tell me there were good shops over there, and then… *nervous laugh* I’m not the best at interviewing, really.

As far as your own tattoos are concerned, which ones are your particular favorites?
Johnny [a fellow artist and friend working at Illustrated Man] just did a Band-Aid on my knee a while ago that I really like.

Is there a specific story behind it?
Nah, I just wanted a Band-Aid on my knee. *laughs*

So, back to your career: you said you started in the U.K. and then went to Amsterdam. Did you come to Sydney after that?
No, actually, I went back to the U.K. and then I went to Scotland and spent about two-and-a-half years in Glasgow, and then I came here after that.

You’ve done so much traveling between shops. What motivated you to change shops each time?
I just never found anywhere that I wanted to settle down and live in until I moved here. Yeah, I don’t know, I just always liked moving around a lot and I never really wanted to stay anywhere long-term before.

Working in all the shops you’ve worked in, and traveling so much, have you noticed a variation in the level of societal acceptance regarding tattoos?
No, honestly. It’s funny, tattoos are just as popular here as they are in London, or Amsterdam, for that matter. I think it’s interesting that nowadays I often tattoo young Muslim girls who come in and want only a woman to tattoo them, and I think that’s something that, five years ago, wouldn’t have happened. They get a small tattoo on their arm or shoulder, something that can be easily covered, so that’s always an interesting experience to have.

Do you have other people of different religions coming in more often looking for a tattoo for symbolic reasons?
Yeah, definitely. There’s a lot of Hindu guys who come in and get the Ohm symbol and various designs of Ganesh and stuff like that. It’s not like just the hippies getting the Ohm symbols now. The customers are definitely much more varied than before. You get the Sikhs that come in, and a lot of Lebanese guys get Arabic writing. I think everyone, in their own cultural way, is more comfortable with getting tattoos that are specific to their personal beliefs. I’ve done a lot of Sanskrit writing. So yeah, it’s interesting. There’s definitely more of that these days than just the typical small flash tattoo.

What aspects of your job do you find most rewarding?
The best thing, really, is the people. You get really nice people who you get to put cool stuff on, so you really love working on them. And just getting to do something different every day, as well. I mean, I know I’m going to be tattooing every day, but it’s a different mix, and that’s always fun.

If you could describe your job in one word, what would it be?
Pain. *laughs*

full-body spraying

Readers can check out Heather’s portfolio by visiting the Illustrated Man’s website at http://www.theillustratedman.com.au/.

megan80x80 Megan takes photographs and doesn’t finish meals so Darah can eat.

Tony Cohen: Tattoos, Tradition, and the Human Condition

An Australian native, legendary tattoo artist, author, and owner of world-renowned tattoo shop, The Illustrated Man, Tony Cohen has an incredible collection of stories that are almost as extensive as his portfolio. As a steely-eyed standard of inspiration, Tony’s name is to the tattoo business what Hubert Givenchy is to the fashion industry. Not only is he a hardworking man with more than 30 years of professionalism under his belt, a lover of Harley Davidson motorcycles, and a cowboy action shooter, he is also a man who has seen it all, heard it all, and possibly done even more. He lives every day as a walking timeline, a man who bridges the generational gap between memories of old-school tattooing traditions and modern-day techniques.

img_0731

Upon visiting The Illustrated Man for the first time, I learned that Tony works out of a small, second-story room, his own private den of creativity. As alpha artist and leader of the pack, his self-imposed disembodiment from the rest of the staff (which includes his shop manager and daughter, Brooke, as well as tattoo artist and son, Brett), serves as a reminder of his ranking among the rest of the group. Surrounded by books and artifacts that present themselves as silent monuments to his adventures both in and out of the tattoo business, Tony sits comfortably in his chair and, with quiet conviction, explains how tattooing was always something he was programmed to do.

img_0743

img_0744

“I was a workaholic for twenty-five years and I’ve been going to tattoo conventions since 1972. Ah, it’s just… I haven’t done anything else, really, since I was about sixteen. Now my daughter’s got an interest in it. We went to the Reno convention about a year ago and had a great time. I got my son into tattooing when he was fifteen. All he basically had to do was teach himself how to draw. Now they’re both here in the studio with me and it’s definitely a thing that going to be passed down. Anyone who wants to work for me has got to have at least ten years’ experience before they want to get a job here. And the first shit tattoo they give, they‘re out. No second chances.”

img_0755

When asked how society has shifted in its views of modified people since the beginning of his career, Tony responded, “Stick your head out the door, anyone who’s breathing has got a tattoo. Y’know, if we didn‘t do it, someone else would. I remember when I was the only shop for three or four miles for twenty years, now there‘s a couple within spitting distance. It doesn’t bother us, this shop doesn’t stop. We‘ve got the reputation, we‘re known everywhere. Since 1970, I‘ve got a virtual photo album from every year that has the work I’ve been doing.”

img_0702

It’s that kind of resolve that keeps Tony’s hands firmly gripped to the machine and his mind unwavering about his standards for the business. Despite the rare status of fame he has achieved in his career, a customer’s happiness is still one of the most rewarding aspects of his job. “That never gets old, seeing people walk out the door with a smile on their face, and at my age, it might be a bit too late to go and do anything else.” This last remark warrants a bemused smile from behind his alabaster beard. “I mean, I’m old enough now, I do what I want. We could spend all day fixing up other people’s tattoos if we like. But if they have a real piece of shit on them and you make it look nice, y’know, spending three or four hours fixing up a piece of crap, then it becomes art. But the people that work here, I very rarely like to see them rework other jobs.”

Being heavily tattooed himself, Tony admits to his own laundry list of alterations, accompanied by a discerning smirk that only someone who has gained wisdom through hard-nosed experience can give. “Wherever I was at the time, I’d get something done. I mean, whenever I started getting tattoos, they were only five shillings. You used to have to get there at 7:00 in the morning to get in line. The first one would be done and then I’d think hell, I’ll get three, four, or five more tattoos. A lot of those ones have been covered up now, thankfully. But yeah, a lot of them are pretty old. I have had a few recent ones, a few on my legs that were done by people I’ve given jobs to. I don’t enjoy getting them as much as I used to. I’d much rather give them to people now.”

“THE TATTOO” BY TONY COHEN

“THE TATTOO” BY TONY COHEN

After the interview, Tony steps outside for his routine smoke break. Cigarette in hand, he stares out at the unfolding metropolis of Sydney from the comfort of his studio sidewalk. As the potent Australian sun shines like a beacon above his braided hair, I can picture Tony riding on his beloved Harley, smooth and silent, across the open roads of nowhere, Australia. He is a man who has gathered several lifetimes of human experience only to gain a courageous badge of self-sufficiency, and somewhere in between, managed to become a walking testament to his own illusory reputation.

darah Darah is BME’s parable jockey, designated leftover-food finisher, and self-proclaimed nerdbomb.

Photography by Megan Dejmal.

Crew Blog #1

THE FIRST FEW DAYS

img_00861

World Tour! Wooo! I know, I know, you guys realllllly want to see an update of our time thus far in Australia. Don’t worry, it’s coming. In the mean time, I’d like to introduce myself. I am Chez and I am the BME World Tour, Tour Manager (see all those capitals? That means I’m important). I will be updating you all on the whereabouts of our crew and our day-to-day stuff. Like I said, don’t worry, the team are tirelessly working on an amazing post of the shops here in Sydney right now. In the mean time, here is a little overview of our adventure thus far!

We all met up in LA a few days before our flight out to Sydney so we’d have a chance to get to know each other and coordinate equipment and whatnot. missmeg and mcshady were gracious hosts in the great Casa Cholita. Getting to know each other came without much work which is nice considering we all have to share space for the next 3 months in unusual circumstances.

We trotted around the city taking care of last minute details like power adapters and travel sized toothpastes and most importantly, twizzlers. Finally, the day of our departure arrived. It seemed like the day flew by ridiculously quick and before I knew it, our airport shuttle was late and I’m pretty sure I called the company at least 6 times in a half hour time frame to ask where the hell they were. Even with the shuttle being late, we still made it to LAX with enough time to grab a quick bite in the one restaurant our terminal had to offer. (Seriously, why does LAX suck so much?)

We spent much of the first hour of our flight chatting to each other via the plane’s instant messaging chat system. Yes, we are that nerdy. We really tried to get other passengers involved but everyone kept turning down our requests. Boooo-urns! Eventually we all passed out and slept in spurts. I put on at least 3 movies and slept through all but Julie and Julia, which was surprisingly good. Made me quite hungry really. Airline food is no bueno. All and all, the flight went by really quick and it seemed like we spent more time in the immigration line than on the plane.

Nano met us at the Sydney airport because he’s a champ. We were at least 45 minutes late, plus the excessive amount of time it took to get through immigration and he was still there with a smile on his face ready to dole out hugs upon our arrival. After mussing around with our bags and exchanging some currency, we hailed a cab and headed to the city. We’ve been staying at a super awesome hostel that has been just as gracious as every host so far. Fernando showed us around town, explained the ins and outs of the transportation system, introduced us to another awesome IAM member, hotbrad and has just been an all around fantastic host. We were sad to see him go when he flew out to the states. If you see him this month on his journey across America, make sure to return the favor and show him a great time for us!

img_0016

The team has been on point and working their butts off this week. We’ve had a few bumps in the road, as any new excursion does but all and all, it’s been amazing. The talent in our group is obvious and I can’t wait to see the finished products that we are able to publish on BME. Hopefully you all will be just as proud of these guys as I am!

Sincerely yours,
BMEWT,TM,
(That is BME World Tour, Tour Manager by the way… yes I get my very own acronym)

img_0114

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!

A day in the life of

If you managed to miss the world tour, the first round of finalists or the final round of finalists, then consider yourself lucky that you don’t have to read the thousands of words that have been written about the project. In short, I decided to have a contest to select 4-5 people to tour the world researching, writing, photographing and making videos of body modification around the world. I got it narrowed down to the last 10 folks and I needed help to decide who would take the final positions. I asked people to make videos our of “a day in their life”. The assignment was to make a video, write a blog post and take some photographs to recreate what we’ll be doing on the trip.

As you know, I posted about the final 10 the other day when I had decided it was too hard to make my choice without giving the potential team members one final assignment. Ferg and I had been chatting about how to get around Australia when he suggested the train ride out to Perth, which I would love to do. His worry was that it would take two days of our valuable time and I told him 2 days over the course of 3 months wouldn’t be a big deal for an amazing train ride. Have I mentioned I love trains? It suddenly dawned on him that the trip was actually 3 months and not 6 weeks like he’d thought. He emailed me a few days later to withdraw from the competition. I’m sad to see him go but I know that he has an amazing tour of his own (not to mention what he’s been doing for years!) so I know he won’t be missing out. People have asked that I consider adding someone else in to take his place but I don’t want to do that because it only makes my own decisions that much harder.

Here are the assignments from the final 9. In some cases the finalists included their photos in the video and in others they’re separate. Both are okay but they’re all in this post grouped by the finalists. This post is automatically scheduled to go up at Midnight Friday morning on the 5th so if you see a finalists name and a blank space, then they didn’t get their submission to me on time and they’ve been officially disqualified.

Hopefully this helps me to narrow it down to the final four (or five if I can’t make up my mind, everyone is superb!). Cast your vote at the end for your FAVORITE application. Base your thoughts on everything you’ve seen so far and pick your favorite finalist. I’m only allowing one vote this time around. Good luck to everyone! The winners will be announced around Midnight Friday night. Don’t forget to help support the tour by using the coupon code worldtour and getting 30% off on almost everything in BMEshop!

P.S. Sorry for the weird formatting with the photos in some of the posts below. That’s entirely my fault and I’m not sure why wordpress kept eating up and barfing out the changes that I made to photos to try to fix the layout.

Click through to check out their videos and blog entries!

Finalist: Nae

Is my day nearly as exhilarating as what will be happening daily on the BME World Tour? Probably not, but it comes darn near close. Sit down for a bit and let me tell you about a typical Sunday in my life.

At 8:15am, the slight glow of Michigan’s cloud-covered sun attempted to light up my room and managed to successfully wrestle me out of bed. I groaned a bit as I dragged myself away from the loving arms of my stuffed animals, Otter and Gloomy Bear, but I was excited for my morning shower. Showers are really exciting to me. First of all, it’s naked time, and everyone loves naked time. Secondly, it’s the time that I give myself to plan out my day and to think through the upcoming events and people I’ll be running into- all while lathering myself up with my Lavender Dr. Bronners’ to make a fresh and clean Nae! Drying off and getting dressed are much less exciting to me because, well, I have to do them. I don’t necessarily have to shower every day, but I do have to be dry afterwards (or else it will happen naturally) and because I live in the frozen tundra of Michigan, I have to get dressed in generally multiple layers. Yes, picking out my clothing is fun, but there are better, more exciting things to do; showering, for example.

Anyway, by 8:40am I was all dressed and prepped for the day (I really don’t take much time or maintenance) and ready to go out to the real world! I headed out of my room and went to go check on the computing sites in my building. As an RCSC (Residential Computing Systems Consultant), it is my duty to maintain, protect, and defend both of the computing facilities within the residence hall that I have been trusted with… and to fill the printers when they need paper. The paper is really the important part; I think they just give me the other responsibilities to feel special (and boy, does it work!). Thankfully, it is spring break right now at the lovely University of Michigan and that means there are no students around – aside from yours truly – and that means that no one is printing and therefore no printers need to be filled.

Once I secured the computing sites, I ran up to my room to throw my laptop in my backpack and grab my things for the day. I then began my adventure to the art school! After frolicking down five flights of stairs, I left the mighty Bursley Hall and journeyed through the University of Michigan’s north campus forest till I found myself at the doors to the School of Art and Architecture building. It was an exciting walk! Spring is near which has been bringing out the squirrels and melting the snow away. I stopped in my studio to drop some sheet metal off (argentium silver, if anyone cares), then swung by the metal studio to see if anyone was around. Of course, no one was there because it’s spring break and I’m pretty much the only one left in this town.

I was starting to get hungry, so I grabbed my friend to go with me to one of my favorite Ann Arbor restaurants, Seva. We both had scrambled tofu with home fries, soy sausage, and toast – it was delicious! The server was fast and friendly, the food was amazing and yummy, and overall it was a great experience! Unfortunately, I had to be at work by 11:30am, so we left Seva and headed off to the Shapiro Undergraduate Library.

Not many people call the Shapiro Library by its full name; most just call it the UGLi. The acronym ‘UGLi’ stands for ‘undergraduate library’ and while yes, it is the main library for undergrads, it is anything but ugly. The curved glass on the front of the building allows for tons of light to shine in on students and to help reduce the ‘trapped in a cave’ feeling that many students studying in a library get after a while and the interior has been remodeled to create a warm and friendly environment. Unfortunately… I don’t have the privilege of working in the warm, sunny parts of the building. No, as a Campus Computing Sites Rover, we get shafted with a basement office with no natural light and the light outside of our office turns off after fifteen minutes if no one walks by. It’s okay though – I’m a ball of sunshine and I light up the room just fine! After providing my beaming light to my coworkers, I left to start my shift.
All I had to do in my four-hour shift was to visit the computing sites in the Michigan Union and the UGLi. Because all of the students are gone for spring break, not only was everything working properly, but nothing was broken! It was amazing! I came back to our dark, lonely office after completing my shift and sat around waiting to get an urgent page from someone on campus asking for me to be that person who could come rescue them from the depths of computer-hell…. but no one called… so I played around on tinychat.com with a bunch of people from iam.bmezine.com.

Upon completion of my roving shift, I headed on over to Angell Hall to work four more hours consulting in the Angell Hall Computing Lab, affectionately called the Fishbowl by staff and students alike. Because of spring break, the Fishbowl was excruciatingly slow and in my entire four hours in the Fishbowl I only spoke to two users. One user told me she didn’t need my help because the last time she needed assistance my coworker had helped her and she’d rather get his help this time for the sake of continuity. However, the other user asked me for some help with a long document she was writing, which helped end my boredom. Luckily for me, the internet is really cool and all of the downtime at work provided me tons of time to explore it!
After my consulting shift, I went back to the UGLi and did the exact same roving shift I had earlier in the day. Needless to say, more computer fun times were had. My coworker, Lou, was also done with his shift earlier and asked if I wanted to watch something online. It was around 11pm at this point, and our shift ended at 11:30, so he suggested watching a random episode of a TV show. We both sat at a computer, pulled up my Netflix account, and searched for something that was 30 minutes. Lou had this great idea of watching ‘Happy Tree Friends’. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this show, or if you’ve ever had the misfortune of watching it, but let me tell you that this is one messed up show. I sat in horror, unable to look away from the horrifically cute animated characters being mercilessly slaughtered one after the next for 22 entire minutes. Needless to say, I was very excited when I looked at the clock and saw 11:29pm. I packed up my things, put on my coat, and clocked out at 11:30.

After an exhilarating bus ride home, I walked into my room, sat down my backpack, set up my computer, and got to work on a project for my internship. I’m currently working on mapping out links in Adobe Flash to help organize course scheduling for architecture majors. My day has been long and exciting, and I am going to keep on going till I can’t keep my eyes open!

jewelry toys jewelry

Finalist: Darah.

Daily Treasures BME from Darah Wraine on Vimeo.

8:30 a.m.
Driving home this morning, the sun like a shotgun blast to my eyes. But it is warm, finally, winter nothing but a dirty, tired memory. There is a cup of free coffee sitting in the cup holder, Guns & Roses crooning through my speakers and me with my subsequent enjoyment of singing along, singing alone. I am behind a school bus at a stop sign, been following it for blocks now. Suddenly, I am not alone. I notice a gaggle of judgmental adolescent eyes peering at me from the rear windows. I felt thirteen again, being scrutinized and shamed by my peers for simple pleasures; singing while in a car? God forbid I should ever admit to sticking my finger in my ear to better understand earwax or remaining giddy after I’ve plucked an eyelash to examine the sturdy follicle.

I feigned an exaggerated yawn and quit singing just as the song reached my favorite part. Bastards. One part of me wanted to blow them kisses just to see their excited, petulant reactions. Another darker, more honest part of me wanted to follow them into the parking lot and cough exuberantly when they exited the bus. Hey, I may not have swine flu, but that doesn’t mean I can’t amuse myself with the social paranoia that epidemics inspire.

10:44 a.m.
Two hours later and I am in the car again, my destination outlined by labor vehicles and piles of wood, brick, cement. I am curious about the new addition to the local hospital that has recently become something of a landmark in this town, eager to invite a series of workers over to discuss my questions about their jobs. When they approach me, I smell the scent of blue-collar work on their skin; construction workers, truck drivers, machine operators. Men who reshape this Earth with their hands. Tugging, digging, building, destroying. I would be lying if I said that such rough-edged potential did not excite me.

There are various orange-shirted men milling about behind the gates, building new offices, lobbies, nurses’ quarters, areas of emergency and care. I hear a constant discordant symphony of vehicles scraping and turning over new earth only to cover it moments later with cement. I hear the hard smack of hammers and wood planks, I watch my coffee ripple in its glass when the vibrations reach maximum level. These constructs stretch upward, not outward, and the sky is being eaten away in square chunks.

1:25 p.m.
The energy I felt from my early morning triple-decker coffee has subsided. Nap time, to dream of warmer weather and, if my brain is feeling really generous, Hugh Jackman.

3:42 p.m.
Wake-up! Groggy, but loving the sunlight pouring in through the bedroom window. I stretch my limbs like a cat and curl into the brightest, warmest spot on the bed. Purr.

6:30 p.m.
Grocery shopping, a necessary evil. I want to dive bomb into the fruit displays and grab handfuls of cherries, grapes, plums, avocados. I pass by the vegetables and inhale the intoxicating smell of wet earth. Turnips look delicious tonight. Strange, as I usually dislike them. Note to self: take more vitamins.

8:00 p.m.
Video game marathon! Gears of War is a never ending love story for me, a challenge I rise to with plenty of curse words and high-fives to my fellow teammates. And it never fails to make me ravenously hungry. Grilled cheese sandwich time!

10:30 p.m.
Lemon yerba mate tea and a few chapters of a recently checked-out library book. My current before-bed novel is Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood. I’m reading almost feverishly before I glance at the clock and realize that midnight is fast-approaching. So difficult to put this story away! Oh, you addictive imaginary antagonist! I will see you again, tomorrow. Same time, same place.

Finalist: Thaddeus

I decided to highlight one of my favorite days of the road trip rather than trying to fill you all in on two weeks of adventure in one post.

We are in New Orleans. Actually we arrived last night and went out and had some drinks with friends but we were exhausted so nothing amazing came from it. We were lucky to get a hotel in the French Quarter, because almost everything was booked due to some sporting events. I have been to New Orleans before but my friend Mason had not so we decided to head out and explore the French Quarter.

I was looking for the place I first had absinthe, but we ended up at Jackson Square to look at the street artists. The cathedral in the picture is Saint Louis Cathedral, it is one of the oldest continually operating catholic cathedrals in the United States. The not so pleasant weather we were having really helps the ominous feel. At this point I realize I should have brought my wider angle lens for the day.

blog_01

Hunger was starting to set in so we grabbed some OJ and water from a smoke shop and asked the owner where we could get some good food near here. She said we had to eat at the Royal Street Deli about 2 blocks away.

blog_02

We wandered over there but as soon as we sat down we heard horns, cheering, and clapping. A parade was coming down the street. New Orleans will have a party for any reason at all and this parade was in celebration of this lady’s birthday. She was turning 80 and it looked like all of her friends came out to celebrate. I hope when I am that old I can still have a great time.

blog_03 blog_04

After they came by we finally got down to ordering some food. We were starving at this point. The lady that recommended the restaraunt to us said we had to have a shrimp po boy, and that’s exactly what I ordered.

blog_05

Amazing is the only way to describe it. The french bread was perfect, soft yet crusty at the same time. Now that we finally had some great food, we were ready to go on our next adventure. There was one last surprise though, our amazing waitress Michelle had some Otter pops for our desert.

blog_06

I don’t know how we got to this idea but we decided that a airboat tour of the bayou country would be something interesting. With some quick iphone googling we found a place called Jean Lafitte’s Swamp Tours, which was about 30 minutes outside of New Orleans.

The weather is getting even worse but we had to experience an airboat ride through the swamp. We finally arrive and we are greeted with an albino alligator and a giant standing stuffed gator inside their welcome center.

blog_08 blog_09

After we filled out all the necessary paperwork we are taken out back and shown our trusty boat. Hearing this V8 start up was killer. The motors didn’t really have any muffling and they were super loud.

blog_10 blog_11

Soon we were introduced to Captain Lou. His family grew up on these swamps and was very familiar with getting around in the bayou. Jokingly we asked, “Why are alligators so ornery?” Without missing a beat he said, “It’s their medulla oblongata.” I guess Captain Lou has seen Waterboy too.

blog_14

We were off on our airboat adventure. If you have never ridden in one, I can tell you they are fast. It is a weird sensation, it doesn’t feel like a boat going through the water but more of a skimming over the surface feeling. You really cant use anything else to get around due to the shallow water and all the grass. Your prop would just get stuck.

blog_15

After seeing some wildlife, Captain Lou said it was time to find some gators. He said it might be difficult due to the colder weather because the alligators like to hibernate. It didn’t take us long to find one. He would toss a marshmallow towards the gator and the vibrations from it hitting the water would draw them closer. After they would get curious, the Captain would make this weird barking sound to interest them even more.

blog_12 blog_13

Before we knew it there was a gator right next to the boat.

blog_16

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay that long. We were informed that there was a tornado warning and we should probably head back in. Captain Lou didn’t seem very unnerved by it, so neither did I.

After we got back to shore we were asking about some interesting roads to take towards Memphis, luckily the guys at Jean Lafites gave us a unique route to take. They said we had to stop at a place called Middendorf’s. Everyone that worked at Jean Lafitte’s agreed that this is the only place to get friend catfish in Louisiana. That was a good enough reason for us to go.

blog_20

The drive there was like nothing I have experienced before. All the roads were these highways elevated above the swamp. There would be small islands but almost the entire highway was above water. If your car broke down you would just have to wait for someone to rescue you. The weather really turned on us and it started pouring but we eventually got to our destination.

Everyone here was incredibly nice. We even met the owner. She could tell we were not locals and brought us some of her homemade banana pudding to thank us for driving all the way out here to eat. Southern hospitality is not dead. Everything was cooked perfectly and delicious. I highly recommend making the drive out here if you are near New Orleans.

blog_17 blog_18 blog_19

After stuffing our faces it was time to turn North and head toward Memphis. We jumped in the car, turned on some Elvis and headed off into the night.

Finalist: Ed

When I got word that I was in the top ten finalists, my heart skipped another beat. Closer and closer to a trip around the world. I could feel my passport tugging on my sleeve, “can we go!? can we go!? please please please!”, but I calmly explained to my anthropomorphized government document that the decision was not up to me. I still had one more assignment to prove I was worthy of such a trip: a blog entry, video, and photos of a day in my life. Luckily the next day had potential to be interesting enough to share with the Internet.

My day started with my fiancée, Heather, waking me up early with the video camera rolling. It was one of those cherished beautiful San Francisco days where the sun was shining and it was actually warm. In between my half-awake grunts, she said goodbye as she was off to hike around Alamere Falls with friends. Shortly after she departed, I crawled out of bed and made myself a gourmet breakfast of Lucky Charms and soy milk. A quick shower and shave and I grudgingly sat down in front of the computer to do some work. The curse of working for yourself is that every day is a possible workday. Luckily addressing my emails and other chores only took about 2 hours this time and I was soon out the door.

Down the three flights of stairs with a laptop, camera, and flip video and tow; I jumped into my car and trekked across the Bay Bridge to Oakland. I was headed to NIMBY, an industrial art space in south Oakland, to work on one of Interpretive Arson’s fire art pieces, 2pir.

For those not familiar with it, 2pir is “a blisteringly interactive large-scale fire toy”. It consists of two circles: an inner circle fitted with motion sensors and an outer circle comprised of 16 large flame effects. When a participant waves their hands, feet, or any other body part over the motion sensor it triggers a large column of flame. While on the inner platform, many people perform their best sorcerer imitation, summoning fire with their hands, while others choose to dance and twirl around, flames following their movement. The beauty of the piece is that the performance is different everytime.

2pir was designed and built by Interpretive Arson, a Bay Area fire art group that I’m a member of. It was originally built in 2006 and has since undergone several upgrades. This year it’s time for another one of those upgrades as the ignition system was no longer up to our standards for reliability. In addition, several components needed to be upgraded in preparation for our second international run in Denmark later this year at Smukfest.

The previous day we had spent some time finalizing a design for new flame effects and built a single prototype for testing. We wanted to make sure one new flame effect worked successfully before building the other 15. Today it was time to actually test this prototype and see how well it performed.

Fire against the sky

We dragged the prototype outside, hooked all the plumbing up to a tank of propane, plugged in the electronics and hit the switch. The resounding sound of combustion echoed off the walls of the warehouse. Success! But it wasn’t perfect. Ignition wasn’t 100% reliable and we wanted the best shape of fire we could get. After a period of tweaking, adjusting, and experimenting we were mostly happy with what we had. We made a quick run to Home Depot to grab a few materials and then stopped off for some burritos to refuel ourselves.

Back at NIMBY, the sun had set and the darkness of the seemingly deserted industrial section of Oakland was just asking for some noise and light. We fired the flame effect back up and enjoyed lighting up the yard and bouncing the percussive sounds of explosive propane combustion off the walls. After a bit of fun it was back to work: grinding, cutting, drilling, and welding the frames for the new effects.

Tom grinds

Finalist: Megan

I was considering not going to pull/suspension last Saturday night.

I was left with one lens, and I could always use more sleep. Sure, it would be good to show support for some really great friends but I also could have a very successful night with a bottle of booze and some Lifetime Movie Network.

After weighing the pros and cons of each, possibly interesting photographs won out over an early morning hangover.

I arrived at Freaks on 39th and was pleased that the book should not be judged by it’s cover (it looked like a tiny shack with water-stained wooden shingles). The epic selection of jewelry was tastefully displayed in wooden, almost steam punk looking, shadowboxes and the photography wasn’t half bad either.

The piercers (Eric Wolff, and Chelsea-apprentice) were super chill and attentive to all of the kids doing the pull and suspension, and they also let me set up as much lighting equipment as I wanted so long as it didn’t get in the way or cause a safety hazard.

After a lot of waiting the girls (Amanda and Trista) were finally hooked up, and I halfway expected it to be some sort of epic battle to see who could pull the hooks out of each other’s backs first (my terrifying, competitive nature?), but in fact, it was one of the most serene experiences…I had ever…experienced? Miss Meg compared it to something like good sex, and if I had ever had good sex before, I’m sure I would agree. The soothing music, gentle swaying, and dim lighting was one of the sweetest things I had seen in a long time.

_mg_9942-copy-copy _mg_9954-copy _mg_9963-copy

I found the suspensions to be a different story. they seemed to be much more a test of will. Cary went first and after a few tentative steps down the ladder and a bit of adjusting he started swinging and Adrian (the other kid suspending) made sure to give him a few good shoves.

The birthday boy decided to go last, and after much heart-wrenching pain felt like the slow combustion he felt in his chest probably wasn’t a smart thing to ignore. He had to stop before fully suspending. But you made for a great model, kid.

_mg_0110-copy _mg_0180-copy _mg_0171-copy

All in all, for me, the entire night made me feel like the world’s biggest pussy.
_mg_9989-copy

Finalist: Kaelah Bee.

You know it’s going to be a great day when you wake up to a barking dog and killer sore throat, and then you realize you slept for 12 hours. It all started yesterday… the sore throat really came out of nowhere. It was not a welcomed visitor, however. Like most people, I really do not enjoy being sick. It hinders my plans for the day; No one likes that. I braved through it and headed to Portfolio class anyway. I didn’t really have too much to show but I was able to get a bit of feedback on a CD design from my classmates nonetheless. After class, Mike picked me up from school and we headed to Goodlettsville so I could have some sleeve work done by my artist, Jason. Fairly uneventful for the most part, but the sickness started to really sink in. We paid a visti to what could be classified as the most ghetto mall in the world before we headed home. By the time we reached Franklin, Mike was feeling lightheaded and dizzy. We were both in pitiful condition. A hot bubblebath to try and soothe it all and then we settled onto the big sectional sofa in our room and watched Wristcutters: A Love Story. I took some Nyquil and I managed to sleep a solid half-day.

I woke up at 10am today to prepare for what was going to be a solid day of getting stuff done. I managed to slink on a dress and head out the door to class. I had to get to school early for a Student Government meeting (Yeah, I’m one of those girls) and go over the budget for the Spring Cocktail. By 1pm it was off to Print Design 2 where the 7 of us (Yes, I really said 7… My school is tiny!) brainstormed over creative headlines for a high-profile real estate brochure we’re having to create. Mike decided to be a sweetheart and drive me all the way to the Sweet CeCe’s in Belle Meade (20 minutes away) because they had Pomegranate Raspberry Sorbet and it’s my favorite. We literally live less than a quarter-mile from Sweet CeCe’s in Franklin; Sadly they only had Orange Sorbet! Yuck! It was a fun adventure trying to find it, but I won’t lie… the rest of the night got juicier.

Upon arriving home, I was greeted by the fact that my slime-ball exboyfriend had listed the Macbook computer he stole from me onto Craigslist. He lives in California now and it’s been this ridiculous battle for months. I’ve contacted an attorney and I’ve tried waiting it out… Nothing works. I let him know (very firmly) that I found out about him trying to sell it and he should prepare for a fun little legal battle. I gave him until 5pm CST tomorrow to send a tracking number for the computer to me or I’d get to work. It’s so frustrating when people try to take advantage of you, ya know? I’ve been trying to avoid any kind of legal mumbo-jumbo-hullabaloo but now I’m just ready to give him what he deserves. Ugh!

Mike is playing Grand Theft Auto while I write my little blog. I just finished up the video to go along with this thing. It’s all music and video (Nothing of me talking) because I’m quite the sick one still. I can barely speak, and when I do, it’s not pretty. I sound like an octogenarian who has smoked since she was 12. Not to mention I can’t smell a darn thing (This could be good though… Mike just scolded Georgia for what is most likely her “signature scent”… if you know what I mean…ha) I wish something more exciting could have happened for you all to read about… It was really just a regular ol’ Wednesday though. Tomorrow will most likely be more of the same. Portfolio class and then hopefully more sleeve work. I’ve always got rambles at my blog though… Feel free to visit and see that I’m not a totally illiterate being. XO Kaelah

Finalist: Chez

Wow. The last few days have been pretty hectic! We arrived into NYC on Monday for a partial day off. We were booted off the bus immediately upon arrival so the drivers could head to a hotel in Secaucus that had parking for all the buses and trucks. I picked up my room key and headed to my room. The room was super cute but the bathroom was really weird… The toilet was so high that I couldn’t touch the ground!

lhlp8r47

Once settled and showered, I headed out for a meander. There was still snow on the ground!

afpprxu9

I headed towards St Marks to hit up S’mac and get my standard nosh, the all-american with slab bacon!

nq0s9l1k

After lunch, I wandered around St Marks for a bit and laughed at all the tattoo shops that sold bongs. This was my favorite, buy one get one! I just wonder, is that for the bongs or for the tattoos? SKETCH!

i7f7zxif

I did a little shopping, wandered down broadway and finally was so exhausted that I grabbed a cab and headed back up to midtown.

qgqr3hf9

I spent the rest of the day danger napping and eventually went to bed around 11. We had our gig at Madison Square Garden that day and it was nuts. When working at the garden, you work with 3 different unions to get your work done. For all the PA and FOH work, you get IBEW. For all the work on the stage or monitor requirements, you work with IATSE Local 1. For truck loading, you get teamsters. It’s very convoluted and can be dramatic. If you piss of the unions, they will make your life a living hell. Fortunately, the show went off great and all of my union hands were great to work with.

feuqnn6a
kqxgf87j

And in the fine words of Jay Z, we were “on to the next one”… Washington DC! The most important aspect of my day:

90dq0asg

For more insight into what my day is like on a show day, feel free to check out my audition tape at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whi3M5xAru8.

Everything was filmed with my fuji finepix and I apologize about the crappy audio in the first minute of the video. The mic on the camera leaves a little something to be desired! All photos from this blog post were taken on my iphone, nothing has been retouched! Hopefully that shows you that I can frame a photo, and with the proper equipment, I could probably get some pretty awesome photos too!

Finalist: Richard

b-kavheadline

For this assignment, I wanted to emulate a possible excursion to a tattoo and piercing establishment for an interview. Visiting a shop in my own backyard would be a good place to start.
a-shp01
a-shp1
a-shp2
a-shp3

In my first video for the BME World Tour audition process, I briefly introduced a body piercer named Kati Vaughn during the final montage. We had planned a short interview when I visited, but time constraints prevented it from happening. Well, in this second video I got the chance to sit down my friend, Kati Vaughn.

Currently, Miss Vaughn is piercing out of Sacred Tattoo and Pure Body Arts. In the interview, she explains her beginnings at Body Piercing By Bink in Tallahassee, Florida and how she ended up in New York City. Kati and I met in Tallahassee through mutual friends in the local roller derby league. We quickly formed a strong friendship through a mutual love of leather jackets, bourbon, and body modification. She is an upstanding professional, an inspiration, and my piercer. I’m proud to introduce her in the video below.

The most exciting part of today will be visiting Sacred Tattoo. Its a 3000 square foot studio right off the main drag of Canal St. in Chinatown. Before going, I gained permission to film to shop for the purposes of constructing a short profile section in the video. Thankfully, they were very cool about it. Took a train over the East River and arrived in the late afternoon. Business was slow at the time, so it gave me the chance to conduct the interview without interruption. Plus, I was not in anyone’s way.

Filming wrapped within an hour or so. By that point, customers had started to trickle into the shop needing various work done. I made sure to thank everyone at the shop before leaving. Hopped on the train back home and contemplated the work in the days ahead. Bartending, editing, and paying this months bills will consume my time until Thursday’s deadline. Looking forward to seeing what the other contestants create. This has been a spirited competition. I consider myself very lucky to be apart of it.
Alright, alright… enough rambling. Time to get to work. Good luck, everyone!

b-kt1
b-kt2
b-kt3

Finalist: RobW.

Today started like any other. Well, except for the camera pointed at my head, I’ve only had that happen a couple of times. I was really exhausted, and climbing out of bed took way too much effort. I had stayed awake until around 5am last night learning how to work with Adobe Premiere. I’m still not an expert in it, but I definitely think I’ve learned enough to make it through the editing process later tonight.

After finally rising from my slumber and crawling to the shower, I was able to get my breakfast bagel in the toaster and really start my day off. The first few hours passed like they normally do, read the news while eating, then buckle down and begin to write. The past few weeks I’ve been so focused on becoming an intern for BME that my writing has fallen to the wayside. Not to say that I haven’t been writing, I just haven’t been working on the projects I have started. Currently I’m working on several stories, juggling them daily to determine where my focus will be for the day. They’re all various forms of fiction, but as the ideas flow in one tale, I’m struck with an idea for another. The way I write is very stream of consciousness oriented. I’m still in the early stages of these projects, as I’m not sure which one I really want to finish first. I know that once I make that decision the rest will have to wait their turns. Like I mentioned, the BME world tour has been on my mind so much, I haven’t really been able to sit down and focus on my fiction. Instead I dedicate at least an hour daily to some form of writing. What is produced is strictly for me as I use it as a reflective exercise. I talk about what’s happening in my life, what’s on my mind, heck I even talk about the news I just read. Whatever it is, I put it down. So today’s writing was mostly about last night, and my trials and tribulations learning a new piece of software.

I received a phone call from a close friend letting me know that he was available to help me out for my video today. He rushed over as I started editing in the morning clips I had shot. When Trevor arrived, we quickly got to work talking about the plan for the day, how I wanted things to look, etc. After sorting out the video equipment, and giving Trevor a refresher course on how to take the lens cap off, we sat down to have a quick chat to catch up with each other. I told Trevor about the internship, and how excited I am to be a finalist. Now Trevor and I have been friends for about ten years, and in that time we may not have been close all the time, but when chips were down, we knew we could count on each other. I knew that he wasn’t working steady at present, but he had just filmed a commercial (he’s an actor), and had gotten himself a new job close to home. The big news came when he revealed that he was interviewing out of town tomorrow to work at a radio station in Woodstock, Ontario. As long as I’ve known him, he’s always wanted to work in broadcasting. To have the opportunity to finally achieve a dream is something we’d all be lucky to have. So we talked about places for him to live once he got the job.
Checking the time we realized we were burning daylight, so we headed out to begin our day of filming. The first stop, the mall! I know, it’s not very exciting, but it did provide some interesting events. I knew that I needed to pick up a few items; little did I know I would only have the chance to actually get one thing on my list. After filming for a while we were approached by mall security asking why we were walking around with a camcorder. It turns out that one of the stores we went into thought we were taking footage to use against the store or the mall. We were politely asked to leave the mall, and the security guard was kind enough to show us our way out.

Now Trevor had never actually been to the mall, nor had he been to the area around it. So I took the opportunity to take him to a park near where I grew up. To describe the area as a park is a bit of a misnomer. Along the western edge of Toronto runs the Etobicoke creek. This runs from north of the city, all the way down to lake Ontario. The park that we went to is the northern tip of a series of parks connected by a path that follows the creek. This time of year it isn’t much to look at, but when spring and summer arrive, the park is constantly filled with families spending a day walking the wooded trails. I don’t get to come over to this area as much as I used to, as I’m now living in another area of Etobicoke, so it was a treat to be able to wander my old stomping grounds. Growing up so close to a park meant in every season there was something to do. Tobogganing in the winter, baseball in the spring and summer, and biking the trails in the fall. It’s a serene experience no matter what time of year you visit. Although today, because of the sun, the ground had started to melt and wandering off the paved trail put you as risk of losing a shoe to the mud.

After spending some time in the park, we headed back to my place to quickly change discs in the camcorder, grab a bite to eat, and hit the road up to the tattoo studio. While we were in the park my artist, Matt Ellis, called to let me know that he had a cancellation and I could come in early. Seizing the opportunity, Trevor and I ate quickly and hopped in the cars, only to find that the highway was backed up from an accident on the other side of the city. Luckily the accident had been cleared, so we only were in stop and go traffic for an hour. In Toronto gridlock, that’s a lucky break. Needless to say all hopes of getting to Matt early were dashed and we ended up being late.

Thankfully Matt understood, and we quickly got started. Today was a day I had been looking forward to for a while. The C’thulhu themed sleeve that Matt has been doing has been coming along great, but there was a huge section without color: the deep-sea diver. So I sprawled out on the bench, Matt fired up the gun, and Trevor flipped the camera on. Now Trevor had never seen a tattoo being done on someone before so Matt and I got to answer a lot of questions. The obvious, “does that hurt” came up, but we ended up getting into a really good discussion of techniques and styles. Of course I didn’t realize at the time, but Matt was doing something to my arm that I can only describe as incredible. I’ve never seen anything with the color palette and shading that he was able to accomplish with the diver. Unfortunately the discussion had to be cut short as Trevor’s band was rehearsing soon and he needed to get going. We said our goodbyes and Matt got right back to work. Thankfully there was no ditch work to be done today, so I breathed a sigh of relief.

At one point we took a quick 2 minute break to stretch and I grabbed the camcorder to talk for a little bit about the experience. Little did I know that the disc was full, and the spare discs were in my car a few blocks down the street. Not wanting to break the rhythm of the session, we got back to work and finished up the 5 hour session. Following the session Matt and I had a quick talk about the internship and when it would be taking place, so we put off the final appointment until after the tour ends, as we both agreed going on the road with flaking skin might cause some problems.

The drive home was uneventful, except for the burning hatred of cab drivers that was reignited as I drove through the downtown core. Getting home, I unwrapped the gooey mess that was my arm, grabbed a quick snack, and sat down to write this out.
So that was my day. It was an atypical day, but it was definitely an enjoyable one, and I’m lucky to have a video copy to remember the experiences. I’m getting tired and I still have a lot of editing to finish up before I finally submit my final assignment for the contest to Rachel, so I’ll wrap this up. As I mention in the video, I am extremely grateful for all the support I’ve been given over the past few weeks towards the competition. I just hope now I’ll be given the opportunity to show everyone I was worth their support.

Here’s a small gallery of some of the pictures I took today: Click Here.

Place your vote for your favorite finalist. You can only pick one finalist to vote for this time!

BME Finalists Round Two

I feel like a teacher handing out extra credit assignments but I need help to pick the winners for the BME World Tour. I’ve just narrowed it down to 10 finalists who will all need to complete an assignment.  If you want to know who the finalists have been narrowed down to, you’ll have to watch the video!

More information on the assignement after the jump!

The assignment really isn’t “extra credit” because if you don’t do it, you’ll be automatically disqualified from the contest. Since I know that everyone is working, I’m going to give this round of finalists until Thursday at Midnight PST to turn in their assignments. They will then be posted on the following Friday for votes by Modblog readers!

Send the following to [email protected].

Since we will be taking photos, writing blog posts and posting videos of our travels, I want the 10 finalists that I have selected to do the same. We will be posting these on a daily basis but since I know that everyone has other full time jobs on their plate, I am giving you until Thursday to turn this in. You’ll need to be able to do this on a daily basis when we’re on the tour.

Make a video, take some photos and write up a blog post about your day. You can do whatever you’d like with it. If you’re a student in school, just make a video about your day. If you’ve got time and you want to pretend we’re out on the road and you want to go interview a shop, do that. Are you going to a concert or some touristy spot during the week? Take photos and videos and write a post about that. There is a ton of flexibility. It doesn’t necessarily need to be “modification based” since the tour will include a lot of BME related stuff but also a lot of stuff about the people that we meet and the tour interns themselves.

Remember to have fun with it. This is your chance to show me what you’ll be able to come up with while we’re out on the road.

You’ve also got a lot of options for how you can record the video. Use your point and shoot camera, a flip cam, an ipod, an iphone, your laptop, or a real video camera! You’ve got tons of options, just remember to get everything in to me by Thursday or you’ll get disqualified!

Thanks again to all of the applicants. I’m sorry that I couldn’t take everyone but I felt it was best to try to narrow it down to my top 10 favorites so that I didn’t waste everyone’s time by making them do the assignment if it wasn’t likely that they’d get picked. My top 10 definitely changed after the last post and I’m glad that I put the finalist up and got to see how people carried themselves under criticism since BME is has a very large and vocal audience. You have to be able to take the good compliments with the bad comments.

To the finalists who did not make it on to this round, all of you are incredibly talented and there are several of you that I would like to offer opportunities to write on Modblog and as well as for BME. I’ll be contacting you as soon as things quiet down!

Thanks again to everyone who applied!

Videopalooza!

Rachel asked me to post some more audition videos while she’s busy recuperating.  I don’t know when she plans to announce the winners or how she plans on notifying them so we’ll all just have to be patient a bit longer.  I’ve only been back in town a few hours and have tons to do and it’s shaping up to be a busy week (in my spare time, in addition to working for BME, I’m a full time graduate student and substitute teacher)!  So with no further ado and in no order, rhyme nor reason, here are some videos!

BME Internship Audition Video by Ari Oh from Ari Oh on Vimeo.

More after the jump!

My BME World Tour Video Interview! from Stewart Donaldson on Vimeo.

Once again, this is just a small sample of the many videos we’ve received!  A huge thank you to everyone who has taken the time!  We sincerely appreciate your efforts.

Videos? You betcha!

Ok folks, here are some more audition videos.  I can’t believe the amount that poured in, it’s truly awesome.  I’m currently “away”, staying with some friends and can’t even get proper cell phone reception here.  Thankfully they’re geeks too so being online wasn’t an issue!  This is just a random selection of videos I’ve pulled from the pile of hopefuls.  I wanted to thank all of the people who have taken the effort to send in applications and videos, you’ve definitely made this hard for us.  Enjoy!

More videos after the jump!