What are you doing Thursday night?

Last year the Asian Art museum contacted Taki about organizing an event dedicated to celebrating Japanese tattooing. He presented to a crowded room while Horitomo, Horisou, myself, and Shige did live tattooing in the Grand Entrance of the museum. This year they have asked him to lecture on the subject of Samurai, relative to Japanese tattooing. We are so flattered to be part of this and feel the museum is really taking brave steps towards elevating Japanese tattooing to a "high art." It is amazing for such a conservative institution to want to have events like this and if you want to see these types of events continue you guys are going to have to come down and support us!!!!!! Thanks!

SUNSET Livin'

Man, a few days ago me and the dogs were walking on the beach.




I saw a headless corpse of a beached sea lion lying on the sand by the shore.
It was hard to tell what it was at first because it was caught in a net of sea weed.
The body had shark bites all over it,
the rank stench ran the beach.
The dogs didn't even go to it.
Huge beach crows hopped along the decaying body and picked at the remains.
There must have been a dozen crows eating it.



*tattoos: Thomas Hooper, Grez. Sunset photo taken with my cell phone from my bedroom window.

WEE OOO- WEE OOO... Cute Alert!

How have I not posted pics of Colin and Tasha's babies yet?



This is Sweet Lime,


and here is Conan.


Fucking cute little terrors.

Why is my dog such a perv?

This week in the Stitch Presents section, my little dog went a little nuts...

This little number by Daniel Santoro is dirty and awesome,



but I know this piece by Darcy Nutt will be an instant classic. Enjoy!


Stitch chose some really UNIQUE tattoos this week

On the road again and many others

Colin and I are driving down to la for the tattoo Hollywood convention this weekend. I am blogging from colin's I phone! We have the best car mix playing ever. I feel like a mac ad jeez!
We are listening to
the felice brothers
creedence
the Kentucky colonels
arcade fire
bob Dylan
the pretenders
the boss
mason Jennings
taraf de haidouks
dolly pardon
Emmy Lou Harris
pepe romero
Aretha
ralph Stanley...
Cat stevens
seu Jorge
Gillian welch
What can you not take a long drive without?

The Longshot

Katie Kitamura, a young Asian ballerina, is the last person you’d expect to write a book about “ultimate fighting.” But her novel, The Long Shot, may be the sport’s best publicity yet.
-The Daily Beast

As you all know Taki's little sister Katie just had her first novel published and as expected it is AMAZING! The buzz about it is growing. The Daily Beast a hip NY blog just interviewed her and we couldn't be more proud! Here is the link.
Also, if you haven't grabbed a copy yet, here is the link to AMAZON.

Rest in Peace

Bernie Perez, East Coast tattooer and graffiti artist.







My sincerest condolences to the Perez family.

"A Simple Rose" by Kevin Mends

A simple rose I have found
It's not the flower that grows from the ground,
Its beauty is one of such delight ...
This rose is soft to the touch in all its perfection.

The envy for all the flowers in this garden
Its fragrance will consume your every obsession.
This rose must be a gift, a gift from above
A gift from Heaven to show us love.



Every morning I wake to see its petals glisten
Its easy to see how one could be so smitten
If love was a rose it would shine so bright
Because all I need is this rose in my life.




Congratulations to Roman and Suzy and the rest of the Enriquez family on their beautiful baby Rose Francis,
Mazel Tov, she's beautiful and I love you guys!!



paintings in order; Eiland Hogan, C.C. Askew, Chad Koeplinger

RR

Press play to start the soundtrack for this entry:

american cloud songs from puddin aylward on Vimeo.

My friend Robert Ryan stopped by last week to visit the new shop after a week of painting with some of his friends in a cabin in Mt. Shasta. We always have amazing discussions about spirituality and art. Here are some of his paintings and tattooing. He tattoos in Asbury Park New Jersey, the home of the Boss.
















He is a well rounded artist, musician, and thinker. All of his varied work connects in some way, American Cloud Songs is also one of the music projects he is involved in.



















When I interviewed Robert a while back I asked him about where he finds inspiration, he responded,

I draw from years of experimentation with psychotropic substances, a vast record collection and, A strong library. My instantaneous daily interactions and constant dreaming provide a pretty wide spectrum of inspiration.


















I also asked him about what draws him to the American traditional side of tattooing? He responded,

Its sheer power when executed properly.

Something to spice up your Tuesday.

My girl Nikki Lugo and I have sent each other awesome YOUTUBE clips over the past couple of years. She just sent me this clip, and I must say it is pretty freaking amazing! This blog comes with a warning:
***If you find dry-humping inappropriate to watch while at work, my I suggest pressing play when you get home!***
Remember, you've been warned.

TURKEYS OF THE WORLD UNITE!

What if all of the livestock in captivity united and rose up against humanity...








It seems they may have found their energetic leader.

Gypsy Summer

The Wanderlust has lured me to the seven lonely seas,
Has dumped me on the tailing-piles of dearth;
The Wanderlust has haled me from the morris chairs of ease,
Has hurled me to the ends of all the earth.
-Robert William Service





It's the middle of summer and that urge is kicking in to hit the road and move.




...and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn...
-Jack Kerouac




Theo Mindell



Eli Quinters


Behind us lay the whole of America and everything Dean and I had previously known about life, and life on the road. We had finally found the magic land at the end of the road and we never dreamed the extent of the magic.
-Jack Kerouac



Mike Wilson



Jef Whitehead


The all-but-fluid silence, -- yet the longing grows and grows,
And I've got to glut the Wanderlust again.
-Robert William Service

SHONEN KNIFE, San Jose October 30th

We just got word from our buddies down at the Blank Club that Japan's infamous, all girl, punk rock trio will be headlining Friday night after the Tattoo Convention!



We are psyched, if you are around my age (let's say thirty-something) then you probably remember these bad bitches from the first Lollapalooza, or maybe second but you get my drift. They are like an all female Mod Ramones from Osaka, mixing raw punk with a heavy dose of cute.



Well, these ladies have a new line-up (two original members and a new bassist) and are touring the world promoting their new album Super Group. For some reason San Jose made their busy touring schedule, seriously, what could be more perfect for the SJ afterparty????



See you guys there!

STITCH PRESENTS

Stitch and her pals were snerfing around myspace and wanted to take this moment to show some love for Timothy Hoyer,



his oil paintings are so amazing but these water colors really are some next level shit! Timothy is just one of those artists whose work evolves so rapidly and whose repertoire expands with such leaps and bounds it can be difficult to keep up. His paintings completely defy tattooing. What a talent,



and now, for Stitch's Tattoo of the Week




LOVE IT!

Support the arts!

Alright, so Taki's little sister Katie's new novel The Longshot is available for pre-order on Amazon. com. Click here to preorder. We are so proud of her, she is amazingly talented and is already receiving accolades and it isn't even out yet! An avid MMA fan herself, she has written numerous journalistic pieces for a host of newspapers and magazines over the last few years on the subject. With first hand understanding of the sport and an empathy and fascination for the fighters themselves she has delved into the competitive world of fighting as the backdrop of her book. I can't wait to read it!



If those hands look familiar it is because they belong to Taki. He can now officially add "professional hand model" to his roster of achievements! Our good friend Jon Agcaoili shot the photo and Dan Wysuph actually tattooed the name of the book on Taki's knuckles. How's that for supporting your baby sister! The whole event was documented in this video,

Making a cover "The Longshot" a novel by Katie Kitamura from John Agcaoili on Vimeo.

you rule Katie!