THESE EYES STILL SEE THE MAGIC!!!

You know,I sit here some times and reflect back........................way back,to when I fell in love with this thing called tattoo. Now I don't want to say back in my day, like some ancient bastard......BUT,,,back in my day,ba ha ha ha ..this sub culture into which I dove,and drown and was reborn anew from...was a very different thing.I laugh now when I see these "tattoo acceptance in the workplace" and other such nonsense groups. believe me folks TATTOO has gone main stream,and quite honestly I kinda miss being a part of something special.Don't get me wrong,in areas of artistic merit and sterile environments this culture has come a long long way,but I cant help but feel bitter when these people come into the shop for work,who 20 years ago,would never have considered doing something so "trashy"as getting a tattoo.I miss the us vs' them attitude and connection we all used to share.we quite literally were like one big family...Tattoo conventions used to be like some big primitive meeting of the clans where we all FINALLY felt like we belonged....and we did,we belonged to something amazing,something that grew into something none of us could have predicted PRIME TIME TELEVISION!!!!!!WTF!!!!! ha ha ha We now live in the world all of us used to hope for but none of us really wanted....where it is totally acceptable to have tattoos. and yet just when I think I'm gonna be sick if one more little boy wearing skinny jeans and a pink sweater comes in for his first tattoo ON HIS FACE!!!!!!someone will walk in,and I see the fire in their eyes,the passion the NEED to be tattooed,and I realize that no matter how main stream or how sold out some of this gets,there will FOREVER be new members of the true tattoo tribe,whose spirits wont let them walk this earth without sacred marks.Believe me, this acceptance phase will pass us by and we'll all go back to being freaks soon enough....and when it happens,I will still be sittin here in my shop,doing what I do.finding and helping those with songs in their souls sing it through their flesh,telling stories,remembering loved ones,healing hurts that only my needles can heal..... and LOVING every minute of it,this magical thing called TATTOO