The adventure started with a nine hour drive from Eugene to S.F. it was long but went by with no real problems. I met up with my roommate for the weekend (Bill Waverly), who was delayed because the President was landing at the same time. This also caused the 101 north bound to be shut down, which we watched for a second from our room.
That night we drove into the city with JJ to check out Skull and Sword, which was awe inspiring. Bill introduced me to Henry Lewis and Lango, while he caught up with them i just took in everything i could. We said our see ya tomorrows and walked up and down the street trying to find the Blue Plate, our dinner destination. We finally found it and had a great dinner with Grime, Noble, and BJ Betts. Food was great as was the company and conversation, both Noble and JJ surf, which led to more things to talk about.
Our plan was to go the the opening party that night but after stopping by Blackheart, and hanging out there meeting more tattooers. We all decided that we were beat and needed to rest up for the next day.
FRI:
We woke up and went to breakfast with Ron Wells and his friend Jhon. We figured out that the show didn't start til 5, what to do? Well we ended meeting up with Sonji and Sal from Luckys Supply, and just bullshitted the afternoon away.
5oclock, time to hit the show. There were 3 things that i had to do while at the show. First I found Scott Harrison and made an appt for the next day. Then Bill and I made our way to the tent, where the heavy hitters were. Ed hardy was there selling origanals, Seth tatting and selling machines, Jack Rudy, Grez, Shige, Henning, and more were also putting it down. The reason I was there though, to pick up a copy of Iron Will (Grime's new book). Pick it up now if you haven't already. The rest of the day and night was spent making new friends and drinking.
SAT.
Went back into the city for breakfast with Dave and Joel from Colorado. I had to get back to the tat con by noon for the third thing on my list, the Chris Conn pin up seminar. I met Kandi Everett in line, she was selling the all new Sailor Jerry pin up sketchbook. Once again, pick it up. The seminar was awesome, and i learned some new tricks that i can't wait to use.
I had to bounce from the seminar a few minutes early because I had an appointment to get tattooed. It's kind of funny that i drove 9 hours to get tattooed by Scott who lives just a 2 hour drive from home. The tattoo came out killer. Tom Devita was doing some tats of his signature and blackbirds next to Scott. So awesome to see. After getting tattooed the rest of the day and night was spent drinking and making new friends.
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| fuck the weather by Scott |
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| Devita tattooing Robert Ryan |
SUN.
We woke up to pouring rain and howling winds, and with no real plans for the day, since everything I wanted to do had been done. So we went back to the city for breakfast and driving around. We went by Tattoo City, but they were closed due to the tat con.
After spending some time in the city, we made our way back to the hotel. It was time to spend what little money i had left on shirts, prints, books and other things to take back home. About halfway through the day the power went out in the hotel bringing almost all tattooing to a stop. I say almost all because i watched Richard Stell tattoo with power from a laptop!
With the power not returning we decided to head back into the city. Bill had talked to Henry Lewis about checking out his painting studio, but we weren't sure if that was going to happen because of the power outage. Bill, Dave and I had food on haight, and then headed over to Skull and Sword where people were finishing up tattoos that they were in the middle of when the power went down.
After hanging out there for a bit, Henry asked if we wanted to go to his studio. Fuck yes. Henry showed us a bunch of his paintings in various stages of completion, and also insight on how they get there. This was such an inspirational experience, thank you Henry.
We made our way back to the hotel to find that the power was still out. Time for bed, because there was a long drive awaiting me the next morning.
MON.
I woke up to find the power was back. Time to pack up the car and start my drive. I said goodbye to Bill and was on my way. I was planning on driving the coast back up to Oregon, but with the shitty weather i chose to go back up the 5 and get home sooner. The drive was pretty uneventful, i stopped for lunch in Redding for some in n out.
Mt Shasta had snow which a few days before there was none. As i entered Oregon it started to rain. Home sweet home.
Thanks to everyone who made this weekend awesome. See all of ya soon.
