March 14, 2007

new ink ... part 2


I was ready to show my new ink to my friends after accepting and appreciating its beauty. I snapped a cell phone pic of it and sent my close friend in LA who is also into ink. I didn’t get a response.

Maybe Starbucks didn’t like it. My insecurity level rose. I called him to get his opinion. “Why haven’t you responded to my pic?” Turns out he never got the pic.

I hung up the phone and resent him the pic and waited for a call back. I didn’t get a response.

I rang him up after an hour. “Well?” He still hadn’t received it. I chalked it up to my “techno-suave” abilities and told him I would send him a pic via email from home.

A few hours later he texted me back that he finally got the pic, loved it, but proceeded to rag on my cell phone service (he works for AT&T Cingular). “Thank you and fuck you.” “How did you know last week that you would be cursing me this week?” “Huh?” “Clearly you sent that last week since I just got it today.” “Whatever”

A couple of weeks later while surfing, I found out that Mike Shinoda was displaying his work at a gallery in LA. I asked Starbucks to could stop by the gallery and pick up a catalog for me. That's what friends do (the asking and the doing).

On the day of the show I get a call from him. “I’m standing in a line that is two blocks long loaded with fourteen-year-old white boys,” (Starbucks is 50+, black, and very, very bitter). I thanked him for doing this for me and asked him to call me as soon as he was done.

He called back two hours later. “Man that was a long line. I met Mike and discussed his artwork with him for a few minutes. He’s an amazing artist. I got you an autographed catalog. I still don’t understand why there were so many kids in line to see him.” “It’s Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.” “That explains the kids. I just met Shinoda, discussed art, and had my pic taken with him ... cool!”

Loved, loved, loved the catalog when it arrived. I totally appreciate his work and chose a piece from his catalog (fish in the pic above) for my right wrist. Chris’ wife also got a piece done from his catalog (rabbit doctor). The catalog made the rounds while we got our work done. One girl asked my tattooist to duplicate the same fishy for her. He deferred to me. We don't run in the same circles,
so I really didn't care.

So now I’m up to five tattoos and see myself getting many more. I asked Chris and his wife (both artists) to imitate Shinoda's style for a “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil” piece. She's taking the first stab at it. I also really, really like this piece to the left.

Check out Shinoda's work.

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