Yesterday was this year’s Friday the 13th and that meant that Daredevil Tattoo in NYC was doing their $13.00 tattoo thing. I got there at 10:30 am and was fifth in line for the shop’s opening at noon. Got in the chair by 12:20 and was bandaged up and out about 20 minutes later. It was hard to pick one out this year, since they had a lot of good options. I almost went with a drunken cartoony sailor cat, since it was the best drawing, but then I thought “I don’t like cats, I’m not a sailor, I don’t even get that boozed up anymore, what’s the point of this?” There was a nice candle burning at both ends, a motif I’ve never seen before, but I tend to like to get stuff that marks the positive qualities I aspire to, rather than commemorating the negative ones I hope to transcend. SO I ended up with an eagle’s head, very traditional and something I’ve been incorporating in my drawings for the past couple of years.

Doing the work is Doug – a southern guy who is the latest in the series of hot, straight tattooists I’ve sat under. Like I said last year, It felt good to be under the needle again. I’ve got to do it more often. An event like this is more about making a kooky scene than it is about serious adornment.