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Paradise, Grants Pass, and Worldwide!
1/31/12
Its been a long time since I blogged! Someday there will be plenty of time for opinion pieces, but for now, theres barely enough time for updates!
A few weeks ago we headed out to Keystone Resort in the heart of the rocky mountains to host a day of free seminars, followed by a day of snowboarding with Durb and Chuck from Prick Magazine. Ten artists each brought clients and Stefano from Last Rites delivered a great seminar where we would jump into the tattoo. Every artist walked away with a few more tricks up their sleeve. The “Great Marketing in 1 hour” seminar seemed to go very well, even got some applause. Im actually pretty excited to be doing a full 2.5 hour business and marketing for tattooers seminar at Hell City in May. Space is limited, if your a studio owner, artist, manager, or front room person you should sign up soon!
Now that the snowboard party is behind us, it has been time to focus on the Paradise Artist Retreat next month! February 20-23 is coming right up, and we are all getting very excited to land at the unbelievable Tamaya Resort in New Mexico. Artists are flying in from Australia and New Zealand and all over the US and all will be treated to the amazing environment. If your a tattooer or artist looking to expand your visual language or need a break from reality and an injection of inspiration, sign up soon!
It's also time to gear up for the Worldwide Tattoo Conference in the Chicago area April 10th and 11th 2012. Tickets to this conference are moving quick, looks like this one might be a sellout! Thats not surprising given the line up of teachers. Guy Aitchison, Nick Baxter, Boris, Bob Tyrrell, Jeff Gogue, and Alex De Pase will all be teaching and taking part in the eventing discussion panels. I was honored to teach a class at the first Worldwide Tattoo Conference in Rome last October, and the experience was awesome. Even though I produce the retreat and the gathering, the unique format of the conference really sets this event apart and impressed me quite a bit. Im very happy to have the opportunity to help bring this show to the US. Tattooers of all skill levels will get a lot of insight from this learning experience !
While these events are exciting, they don't overshadow the opening of an Off the Map Tattoo with Jeff Gogue in Grants Pass OR on March 10th! The paperwork is just about signed, applications have come in for the manager we will be hiring, as well as potential full time tattooers. We are in the process of setting up interviews and such, and the initial lineup of guest tattooers is shaping up. So, if you are in the Pacific-Northwest in early march, we hope to see you out and about on the 10th!
Last but not least I wanted to mention that we are planning a worldwide benefit in July. The last benefit we ran at Off the Map went exceptionally well, and of course other tattoo shops are hosting similar benefits all the time. We are hoping to partner with up to 100 tattoo shops across the world to hold a benefit for hunger on the same day. If we can get 100 shops to participate, the goal of raising $150,000 is entirely possible. The dates are set in July, and soon we will be recruiting other reputable tattoo studios to join us. With this kind of energy, we hope the national media will pick up on the event, ignore the drama of the TV for a news cycle, and we can show the world how much positive impact tattooers can have when they put their mind to it.
Well, thats what I have going on, someday I'll have a little less on my plate and get to chat politics, both real and tattoo... until then, back to the hustle!
Back from the Tamaya Resort
12/20/11
It seems like I am started to get spoiled with my travels, fresh off a life changing trip to Rome, a little over a month later I was lucky enough to return to the Tamaya resort in new Mexico with my wife for the weekend to plan the next Paradise Artist Retreat. The resort is simply amazing, and everyone in New Mexico is extremely nice. And genuinely nice it seems...! Whatever the reasons the tattooers and art galleries were very nice and welcoming. First stop was to see Kelly Gromley who has tattooed at many, if not all, of the Tattoo Gatherings. We then hit up a few tattoo shops we had researched on line, and every one was very friendly, had heard rumors of the art retreat and were pretty interested, and sent us onto another studio of artists. thats says a lot about the community there. The next day we met Maria who we had been emailing for a few weeks. Had fantastic mexican dinner, talked about the art retreat and tattoo gathering for a bit, and drove back to the resort very slowly in a crazy snowstorm. When I say everyone was nice, even the airport security theatre was pleasant enough even though I hate the X-Ray machine.
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We didn't get to spend enough time at the resort, so we eagerly anticipate going back in February for the event. It's very exciting to be able to hustle the art retreat, because the event and the new venue are going to be a perfect match. I just finished up the new press release for the event, and will be spending a fair amount of time spreading the word. If you know anyone who may be interested, please let them know about the event! Thanks to all the artists and sponsors who are enabling us to kick up this great event to the next level!
Recent happenings!
11/9/11
What a whirlwid of a few months! The last time I blogged was a week or so before the Paradise Tattoo Gathering. Well, its been a great ride for the last few weeks. The Gathering was everything I could hope for and then some, and I cant thanks the teachers, artists, and staff enough. The Gathering DVD has been pretty successful with both Kingpin and Tattoo Education both carrying the DVD now. The follow up DVD from the last show is getting edited, and will hit the shelves in February. The shows momentum is building and the gathering is all geared up for its move to Keystone Colorado next year!
As soon as I got back from the Tattoo Gathering, I refocused my effort on the "how to build a great tattoo business" seminar for the Worldwide Tattoo Conference. Teaching alongside Nick Baxter, Jeff Gogue, Boris, and Alex Depase was quite intimidating to say the least. So I pushed most of my other work aside to make sure I didn't fall flat on my face in front of these guys, or the 200 artists in the audience... Gulp. After little sleep for another month, off to Europe I went with Matt the Intern.
Brussles was fun, got to hang out with a bunch of great artists I've known for a while as well as a few I met recently at various conventions. Needless to say the beers in Belgium are great, the convention was pretty good, and the times fun. Got to spend some time with the Hawk tattoo machine guy chatting business and life before wandering around the old part of Brussels in the wee hours. We got to check out the famous peeing boy statue before sampling a few more of Belgiums finest beers. The rest of the weekend was a blur. I vaguely recall a pizza dinner with some funny people, I think they were laughing at me.
Then it was off to Italy where we got to check out Michele Turco's shop Tattoo da Cosa Nasce Cosa in Piacenza, Italy. It was a beutiful shop and a grew crew of people! The next day it was off to Milian City Ink to meet up with Luca Natalini. I've known Luca for a bunch of years now, and it was awesome seeing him in his native country! That night he was off to tend to his family, so Matt and I got to chat tattoos with Claudio the ripper, a great tattooer and musician. Well, I havn't heard his music, but I'm sure its great and loud!
The next day Luca drove us to Venice, where we were to meet up with Nick Baxter, Alex Depase and his crew. Before meeting up with everyone, we checked out a venue for a future Paradise Artist Retreat. Having Luca as a guide was amazing, cause it is rumored he has a degree in history. Its pretty awesome hearing the stories about the damn insurance companies that have been buying up prime real estate in the town squares for hundreds of years... Luca also knew quite a bit about the ages of things, and an invaluable resource during our trip! I know it sounds cliche, and I am not the most well traveled fellow out there, but Venice truly is one of the most beautiful cities/towns/places I've been, and one that I will make sure I return too. I didn't even mind the tons of tourists! So, I think an artist retreat there is in our future for sure... My phone camera died before we got to the Grand Canal and other magnificent sights, sorry to say.
After Venice we headed to Florence, and the art museum there was simply breathtaking. We will be getting over there more often, with the events first, and hopefully an Off the Map someday...
Then, it was onto Rome and the Worldwide Tattoo Conference! One of the things I talk about in my seminar is being comfortable jumping in over your head and boy, being a non-tattooer teaching alongside such world class artists in front of 200 artists who paid to be there was a great example of that in action. Lucky for me, the feedback from the seminar was pretty good, and I'm starting to actually enjoy the process, so hopefully another tattoo convention in a beautiful far-away land will give me the opportunity to fine-tune and do the seminar again. Of course the seminars from Baxter, Gogue, Boris, and DePase were all very informative and having the time to sit through them was another highlight of the trip. I can't recommend their seminars enough, they should be required classes for all tattooers. We're gonna help host the next Worldwide Tattoo conference in Chicago next April, details soon!
For the whole trip I was focused on bringing our events and shop over to Europe, even though thats a very daunting task. After my seminar, those plans took a back seat when Jeff Gogue said he had some ideas he wanted to chat about. To make a short story short, it seems like we will be taking over the management of his space, and opening an Off the Map Tattoo in Grant's Pass Oregon with Jeff Gogue as the lead tattooer! We will supply the management and business, and Jeff will will be able to focus on the inspiration and amazing work.
Got back to the US for and after a few days of not catching up the power went out for a week, but we are opening a studio with Jeff Gogue in Grants pass and are gonna knock it out of the park, so nothing can slow us now, haha. It's very exciting to have an Off the Map Tattoo opening in the pacific north-west, and of course Jeff Gogue has been an inspiration and long distance friend for years. While working with Durb on the Tattoo Gathering has motivated us to kick it up (nothing like a 6' 15" powerhouse like durb looking over your shoulder to make you do it right!), partnering with Jeff is making us tighten up our ship that much more, and it is extremely exciting to see where this new phase of Off the Map leads us!
Ok, lastly, OCCUPY! Love it, go for it, voting only gets you so far, we're getting screwed and gotta take back our fair share... their greed knows no limits and they will lie to you, turn you against your own class, just so they can increase their wealth beyond obscene. Fuck greedy people, occupy. If your not making 11 million dollars a year, you are part of the 99%, statistically.
Big things happened, more big things happening!
11/4/11
Ill tell you about in a sec!
Paradise Tattoo Gathering is tomorrow!
9/3/11
Well, I guess its actually in a week and a half, but it seems like its going to be tomorrow! We just got back from Hell City. The show is so good it made me want to throw away my iPad and give up running conventions... But, of course, we will keep working hard and maybe someday we can achieve the level of detail Durb and crew achieve. In any event, We are hammering out all the last details that we can, printing out signs and banners like its fun, and all the jazz that comes with producing a tattoo convention. See you there hopefully!
Thanks!
8/7/11
Well, the Paradise Tattoo Gathering is coming right up, but not before Hell City! And tomorrow I'm headed to the heart of Chicago to scout locations for an American version of the Worldwide Tattoo Conference. TattooNOW has more help onboard and is launching sites faster than before, and Off the Map Tattoo is gearing up for an amazing September of guest artists after an amazing summer in an economic and political climate thick with impending despair. I can't be thankful enough to all the artists and clients who support these projects. While those two/three weeks vacation a year are still elusive, the fact Im able to work jobs I love, and help support the jobs of a few others, is pretty amazing.
Thoughts on TLC and TV.
7/24/11
Im a computer geek business owner in the midst of the tattoo world, so of course it was/is impossible to miss the uproar over TLCs show, "Tattoo School". I enjoyed reading through many of the rants against the tattoo school show but none of them really summed up how I feel about it all. Regardless, I wasn't going to take the time to throw my two cents out there. There are many better spokespeople for tattooing than me. Last week Crash from Tattoo Artist Magazine asked me to comment on the blogs from the previous week, and no matter how much work I have, I do love sharing my opinions and couldn't pass up the invitation. As a guy who is very involved with the education of tattooers and artists, maybe my thoughts have some merit. Either way, Im eager to blast this out and get back to the work I have cut out for myself.
For the last decade plus I have been developing a work habit and have made little time for TV. I might watch between 30 seconds and a half hour of Book TV before passing out every few nights. Sometimes over lunch I'll try to catch some network blather to keep up on what the masses are consuming (yes, I get the irony). Maybe there are a few odd quality shows out there, but this culture hasn't fostered real creativity in the entertainment marketplace for a long time. It's sad, I miss it, but it is what it is. There is some good stuff out there if you look. In any event, my TV has been set aside so I can work day and night on this years Paradise Tattoo Gathering, a snowboard party with free seminars in Jan, the Paradise Artist Retreat in New Mexico next February, the Worldwide Tattoo Conference in April in Chicago, and then ultimately next years Tattoo Gathering in Keystone Colorado. This pretty much takes up all my time, though I have TattooNOW and Off the Map Tattoo to stay on top of too (thank god I have a lot of great help!). Between producing events devoted to educating tattooers and artists, overseeing 100+ tattoo websites, and owning a studio with 40 some odd guest artists a year, there is no time to care about TLC, and not much for TV in general. Scratchers never really take up much of my time or mental energy, nor do people looking for cheap tattoos. Never been in that game. Maybe Im snobby, maybe business would be better if we did, but we don't. I know that whatever TV, or the corporate industry at large, can throw at tattooing, tattooing will keep the best and the rest will go away with the ebbs and flows of fashion and pop culture or the whims of investors who find it's harder to cash in than they thought. If you have been in the industry for any length of time, you've seen these people and companies come and go. Still, it's hard not to be at least a little thankful for the reality that these awful tattoo TV shows have opened up our culture, and client base, to enjoy tattooing. With more people accepting of the art, and the fact you can't export tattoo jobs to chinese children, many of my clients, friends, and I still have relatively stable jobs. Our hard work and talent will carry us no matter, but as much as I loathe TV its impossible to not acknowledge that they have helped balance out this horrible economy we find ourselves in...
Ok, the topic at hand.. Tattoo School? Really? Its a joke. The few out there cater to inpatient suckers and the lowest common denominator. Dangerous? Yeah kinda... Ultimately means more coverups and hard lessons learned. People do have the right to be stupid. I don't like it. But if you want to give and get infections, then who am I to stop you. If the tattoo schools want to churn out shitty artists to compete for the tattoo clients who don't care for the quality of the tattooer marking them, well I guess I feel they have every right to engage in the marketplace. Personally, my companies don't compete for the bottom, never have. I feel that education is more powerful than regulation any day of the week, and apply that to our business. Sure, many industries need to be regulated, anything with out checks and balances inherently becomes imbalanced as the industry matures, but regulation won't actually solve the underlying problems of unsafe and bad tattooing. I do feel we will get farther by putting our energies into educating the public about the top tier of the art, than making up rules to regulate the lowest common denominator. Of course I support all responsible methods of promoting a healthy industry & community at large, and when regulations are made I would want to make sure responsible tattoo industry leaders can create/guide those regulations. Often more regulation means the government comes in and will regulate for the lowest common demonator. Personally, I don't think our problems as an industry are that big, though, I guess I'd like to see responsible health regulations everywhere so scratching is illegal... The only time i think about tattoos schools or scratchers is when I hear artists complain about all of them poping up everywhere and I think, really? are there that many more of them? Then I shrug and don't think about them again for a few years.
Ok, TLC? Really? People care about TLC this much? Its a joke. Just another cable channel that caters to the lowest common denominator in a medium taken over by corporations who only care about lowering expenses and raising revenues. They actually named it the Learning Channel. Welcome to the machine friends. I don't want to take anything away from the artists who want to jab TLC in the ribs and knock them out of the ring. TLC and that stupid show deserve it. I do feel that TLC isn't worth the effort, it takes a lot of energy to produce crappy TV that doesn't pay for itself and TATTOOING is pretty tough. Most of the folks thorwing their two cents in about TLC will be around for decades after people forget about Tattoo School TV. Will tattoo school TV hurt tattooing? possibly, my bet is very little if any.
So, what do we do? I have heard a lot of people get pretty mad. Nah, not me, I prefer to work hard and get even. Vet suppliers? Yes, you vote with your dollar. I do believe people have the right to sell pretty much whatever they want to whomever. So voting with our dollars really is the best way to not support bad suppliers, but more importantly make sure you are supporting real quality businesses/people who care about the health of their industry. But, well, that should be a given in everything we spend money on. You shouldn't just be picky about where you buy your tattoo supplies because EVERYTHING you buy has repercussions... What irks me even more than TLCs stupid shows, are people who talk big about banning a TV show that would probably have died quickly smoking cigarettes in the Dunkin Donut's drive-through on their way to Walmart... You can ban suppliers who don't care about our industry all you want, there are much larger problems at stake here.... While Im not afraid of how one small crappy show effects TATTOOING, I am very concerned about the aggregate worldwide effects of the multinational media conglomerates on our government and population. If your just starting to ban TLC, I think your way late to the party and bringing a knife to a nuke-fight. Go read, or reread, some George Orwell and Ray Bradbury books. Think Tattoo School on TLC is going to ruin our industry? For the last thirty years TV has been programming the masses and while you can't blame the bullhorn for the message, you bet your life savings the people using TV have helped facilitate so much war, waste, horror, suppression, class warfare, holy moses, the list of damages the puppet-masters behind cable TV have facilitated goes on and on.
The damage Tattoo School TV can do to the powerful and strong art of tattooing is nothing compared to what it has done to the other industries and communities in this country, indeed around the world. I truly feel blessed, and a bit lucky, to have picked an art that really does take care of those who take care of it, even in very harsh economic climates. There are very few industries, never mind arts, that can do this for its community. One reason tempers flare so much is because tattooing truly is a sacred art that should be respected, and I do understand the anger towards those who try to take advantage if it. But just as much as tattooing gives back to those who support it, its really not all that kind to those who mess around with it. Mistakes are easy to make and hard to fix, and the TV producers, and investor types, and hacks, and unscrupulous suppliers will all pay off their own bad karma in time.
As Crash points out there are plenty of people doing good things to promote quality tattoo talent. All that work with real talent builds upwards and onwards. I feel the most effective way, for me, to combat this type of blight is to educate the public about quality art and tattooing the best I can. Maybe that's why I don't give much merit to a fleeting TV show on a crappy cable network. I feel pretty confident in the leaders of the tattoo industry. They will be able to keep the art strong and healthy and growing despite whatever the bottom feeders do, even if the jerks get a big microphone once in a while. I have competed and compete head to head with companies can corporations that can throw hundreds of thousands of dollars more than I can at their businesses and events. Its not trivial, but if you are in this business for hte right reasons, and working hard to make the community grow and not just take away from it, you will outlast a dozen tattoo schools. Or maybe not, nature has its way, but regardless if work your ass off harder and smarter you can compete with a goliath. After a while you can do it without breaking a sweat. Simple as that, no one said life is fair, but tattooing does take care of those who take care of it.
So, the next time scratchers and hacks and the bottom feeders start to infect your brain, you might ask yourself this question. "What am I going to focus my day on, the bottom or the top?"
thanks,
gabe
http://www.OffTheMapTattoo.com/ - Tattoo studio in western mass
http://www.TattooGathering.com - 4 Days of seminars, workshops, discussion panels, and world class tattooing!
9/15-18 2011 - Hancock MA
9/13-16 2012 - Keystone CO
http://www.TattooNOW.com/ - Websites and more for the tattoo industry
112 Cottage St Easthampton MA 01027 (413) 585-9134
shifting gears
4/28/11
It feels like we're shifting gears again! Hmmm, maybe we should finish building the machine first, ack... well regardless of how or why, the Paradise Tattoo Gathering is going gangbusters with weekend passes moving way faster than ever before, Off the Map Tattoo is busier than ever with all of our residents all booking 4-6 weeks out and amazing guests tattooing every day, and TattooNOW is selling and launching sites on a regular basis. I can't thank the folks working with me enough for making it all happen at the same time, I think we are almost ready to striking back at the credit cards...
Anyways, with Paradise tickets and seminar registrations so popular this year, it looks like a half dozen of the seminars may sell out even before September! A few more very talented artists have confirmed for the show, the magazine ads are out in Tattoo Society, Prick Magazine, and Tattoo Artist Magazine, the bi-fold cards are here and will be shipping out soon, Eternal Ink signed on as a sponsor, the "Keeping Sharp" DVD is now shipping again with a new teaser, the Retreat and 2012 Gathering posters have been commissioned, the January snowboard party is near finalized, and holy moses, the calendar is filled up with fun events! What snowboard party you may ask? Well, we're planning a day of free seminars one day, and snowboarding the next at Keystone resort in Colorado this Janurary. Details to come. I will not be boarding, I will be planning.
Off the Map Tattoo has been floored by the recent wave of guest artists, Ivana has been tattooing a ton of amazing color tattoos, and I'm gonna miss out on my bird tattoo this time. Shawn Barber, who did the skull tattoo shown, is always a strong professional inspiration. I'll be getting some fun hand tattoos from him in the future. Stefano had to leave a tad early, and packed 5 world class tattoos in 3 days, and now Ivana is back and hammering out the custom tattoos again to finish off April. The business seminar in Rome this October will be taking up a bit of my time from here on out as I edit my current plans, and distill them into a great seminar. Hell City Tattoo Festival is coming up this August, and we have 10 people from Off the Map all going together, fun fun fun! We are hiring a part timer if your an artist interested in working with Off the Map.
As for TattooNOW I have been wrapping up stats, should be opening them to our clients this week. I've also been working on some long awaited catalog updates, and now that the Gathering is in full swing Im making new catalog reporting tools, our programmer is working on importing external catalogs, and all sorts of fun stuff. I have a few new tattoo artist interviews to post up as soon as I have a free moment, and I believe a six pack of sites will be launched in the following week. ok, enough talking about work for now, its back to it!
Art show tomorrow, european trip this fall!
4/8/11
Godesses art show opens tomorrow, and it looks fantastic! The amount of amazing art submitted is a sight to see in person, you should come to Off the Map Tattoo April 9th from 6 - close. It was very exciting to watch this show come together, see you there.
In other news, it looks like I landed a gig teaching a business for tattooers seminar in Rome this October. It is very exciting (I guess its been exciting around here!) to be able to pass on the business plans and lessons learned the hard, and expensive, way to others. More details to follow. The Rome conference is the weekend after the Brussles tattoo convention, which I will be going to with Kelly Doty and Shawn Hebrank. Of course, I could fill the week inbetween with a nice vacation, but since we have plans to take the Artist Retreat and Tattoo Gathering over to that neck of the woods someday, Im hoping to set up some site visits between Brussles and Rome. If you happen to be from that neck of the woods and know of any resorts or venues that we should check out, let me know.
Off the Map tattoo is going gangbusters, Ty McEwen hammered out some great bio tattoos while here, Christian Perez came up again and its always great to catch up and see his tattoos come out of the shop, John Montolvo is here now for the first time and hammering out the amazing color traditional/illistratory but yet still a little bio-y tattoos. Its been a great run of laid back guests. Next up this month is Ivana (Im getting tattooed this time I hope!), Shawn Barber, Stefano, and then Ivana again to close out the month.
Lastly, I'm working on getting stats back up after the server move, and a few redesigns/programming tasks, but my focus is prettty much on the Tattoo Gathering as it is coming right up! Seminar registration is live and artists are already makeing sure they register to get their spots secured. Many of our tattoo and art seminars do sell out, so registering ahead of time is a good idea. I just about have a final floorplan for the 2012 Colorado show, and will be opening up artist space registration for that show soon. The Paradise Artist Retreat now has a simple website with a video, need to get the real site live for that even live soon. Rooms and tickets for this years Gathering at Jiminy Peak are moving, you cant book them online, you need to call in. Thanks again to all the artists and clients for the support, these projects couldnt happen without you!
off the map madness
3/27/11
Before I get into my stuff, please visit AllForJapan.org a benefit for Japan organized by Jeff Gogue. I already ordered my shirt!
We're heading into spring full tilt! In Off the Map Tattoo news, Christopher Allen was here and tattooing away, its always a pleasure to have him and he is already scheduled to return to tattoo his growing cliental. Ty Mcewen is back and hammering out the sweet bio-tattoos for the next few days. Next month is going to be a lot of fun, the guest tattoo artists lined up for April are Christian Perez, John Montlavo, Ivana (whom I am getting tattooed by!), Shawn Barber, and last but not least Stefano! Shawn Barber will also be holding his portrait painting seminar, quite an exciting month! There is also an events page on Off the Map's site now, that gives all the details on the upcoming Goddesses art show (April 9th), Shawns seminar on the 17th, Chris Dingwells seminar on the 18th, Chet Zar's upcoming seminar, and the Pint Sized Painting show. phew! We also have our first two shop articles lined up. Thanks to Tattoo Revolution and Tattoo Savage for the opportunity. Off the Map hasn't had any press coverage in the five years we have been open, so it will be fun to see!
In event news, we signed a contract to move the Paradise Artist Retreat out west to the Tamaya in New Mexico February 20-23rd. I really cant say enough nice things about the Tamaya, but rest assured, after going there a few times a year for the next few years, well, we may just move in there... ha. I have to get the website up asap! Weekend passes keep moving for the Paradise Tattoo Gathering this September 15-18th at Jiminy Peak, if your planning on coming I'd book your rooms and get your tickets! The resort sells out every year, and this year it will sell out quicker than ever before! I just about had the seminar schedule final, but a few big tweaks need to be made before I post it and we start taking registrations for the seminars. Also, the DVD "Keeping Sharp" which features two full discussion panels as well as other goodies from the last Tattoo Gathering, is getting replicated this week and will back back for sale!
TattooNOW is now fully on the new server with the new hosts, and that is great news! Not only are things now wicked fast, but I got a notice from our old host that their whole data-center is going down for a few hours today... Very excited we got out of there finally, our servers are humming! Stats are next on the list before we're finally done done done.
Welp, to close out, I saw Rollins spoken word last week with Christopher Allen, and he was great... Man, I thought I had a lot of energy! Well, I cant recommend him enough. Here is the video from the one Rollins CD I got back in the day...
Paradise Tattoo Gathering on the way, and Shawn Barber, Chet Zar, and more at Off the Map!
3/14/11
Well, so maybe I havn't blogged every other day, but I am getting better! Still moving over a few straggling websites onto the new freaking fast server. Still tweaking an improving things a bit, but after a month of solid TattooNOW work I am shifting back to the Gathering.
Paradise Tattoo Gathering is in full gear. After taking a quick class in In-Design, making posters is a whole new game! I also have the fancy bi-folds just about done. the above is a quick peek at the full page ad going into Tattoo Society Magazine, Tattoo Artist Magazine, and Prick Magazine. We have smaller ads going into our other favorite international tattoo magazines, Tattoo Revolution from the UK and Custom Tattooz from Australia. This is also the week we will finalize the location for the next Paradise Artist Retreat for February 2012. All the resorts were great, you will be very happy with our destination!
Oh, and Off the Map Tattoo is still jamming. The Godesses art show is April 9th, and the art is coming in and its great! We have new lighting on the way, the floors will be buffed, its always fun getting the shop detailed out. April 17th is Shawn Barber's painting class, limited to 10 artists, get in touch quick! We are also excited to have confirmed the dates for a Chet Zar Seminar at Off the Map Tattoo on May 22nd (again, limited to ten artists dont snooze!), and then the Pint Sized Paintings collection will be here in June! we have these events posted on the Off the Map Tattoo special events page.
Shawn Barber
Chet Zar
Pint Sized Paintings
Id love to have Iron & Wine play the gathering someday...
Back in action!
3/7/11
Well, the server move is just about behind us now. We have had a massive upgrade in the hardware, and if your a TattooNOW website client you will notice the new fancy "WYSIWYG" interface. I have also upgraded the catalog a bit (we have even more enhancements coming to the catalog in the near future!) and this week we start working on "one click generation". After a last few details, not only is TattooNOW working better than it ever has, but then we get to actually work on all our "future plans" which had been sidetracked due to the old hardware. Thanks to the artists and clients who are supporting us, with your help we will make everything work even better.
As far as our event planning goes, holy moses, we checked out some very nice resorts in southern California and in New Mexico. We are settling the location of the February 2012 artist retreat, seems like the dates will be monday to thursday the third week of February 2012. We are also gearing up for this falls Paradise Tattoo Gathering from September 15-18th. The discussion panels have been settled on, the seminars set in time and place, and registration will be up so soon I can taste it. With over 20 different high quality seminars, this year is promising to reward our year off with big things! Booths are also moving for the Colorado 2012 show, thanks again folks!
From here on out Im planning on sitting tight and working strait till Hell City Tattoo Festival where we will have a big TattooNOW/Off the Map Tattoo booth with Oleg Turyanskiy, Kelly Doty, Ben Reigle, Tim Senecal, and Chloe Vanessa working. Rumors have it another artist from Moscow will be joining us as well. Then Paradise, and then off to the Brussles Tattoo Convention with Kelly Doty. I worked in Belgium making smurf and lucky luke video games back in the day, and am eager to return. We will be teaching TattooNOW seminars at each of these conventions. Brian from TattooNOW will also be attending the Tattoolapalooza show in Miami in June. But other than that, we are hunkering down in western Massachusetts and working. Off the Map Tattoo is jamming, and its amazing seeing the awesome tattoos coming from our resident and guest artists. Cant thank all the clients enough for trusting our artists with your skin. Feel free to stop by for a tasty beverage!
Website upgrades, Off the Map madness, and Artist Retreat Wrapup video
2/19/11
We are cruising through the server upgrade, a few bumps here or there, but the websites are going much faster, and its great catching up with everyone. I havnt slept much in the last two weeks, but one last push and then Im off to california and new mexico for site visits for the paradise artist retreat. Off the Map Tattoo is jamming, thanks again to the artists and staff and clients for starting this year off right. The guests are coming every week from here on out, Billi Vegas and Jessica V are here for the weekend, Teresa Sharpe will be here next week with an Art Jam happening on February 24th. If you are an artist and in new england, plan on coming out that evening/night for hours of painting and art creation fun!
In other news we finished up a short video for the Paradise Artist Retreat. Check it out and share it with your friends please! We are now finishing up the audio on the first Tattoo Gathering DVD, which features two full discussion panels, which will be for sale very soon! Tickets to the September Paradise Tattoo Gathering keep coming in, lots of folks want that free T-Shirt! Ok, heres the video, I have to get back to moving and testing websites!
TattooNOW upgrades!
2/13/11
We will see how my new commiment to blogging goes. Every other day, starting today. Sure, there are always other things to do like, well, work, and fix my email problems, but blogging is the way to grow traffic, so here we are. This past week I have been hustling with a major TattooNOW upgrade, which is quite exciting. The upgrade, which will improve the perfomrance of ALL of the TattooNOW websites, will be done before next sunday. Its great to make everyone a little happier at the same time! Brian's holding down the TattooNOW fort while I update and there are more website launchs coming, as well as some great new sites in the works for some more world class artsits. One of the sites is our second artist from sweden, we love doing international tattoo wesites! I also updated our tattoo website sales booklet, you can download it here anytime.
Next week we're leaving to go on another round of site visits for the next Paradise Artist Retreat which will be a year from now. So, to keep it strait, the next Paradise Tattoo Gathering is September 15-18 2011 at Jiminy Peak. Tickets have been selling, and the seminar schedule is almost complete. Very sorry to the artists and clients who need this info to make their plans, my only excuse is the show is over a half year away, and many conventions dont have their seminars set till the month before. Well, its not a good excuse, but hey. Anyways, then in Feburary of 2012 we will be doing another Paradise Artist Retreat, no tattooing just art, somewere out west, either Southern California or New Mexico. Maybe here...
Then the whopper, September 13-16th 2012 the full on Paradise Tattoo Gathering is landing in Keystone Colorado about an hour and a half into the rockies from Denver. If the initial excitement for the colorado tattoo convention is any indicator, we will make the move 2,000 miles away successfully. Just the incentive I need to keep working and kick it up! Anyways, we just about have the video from the 2010 artist retreat wrapped up, we will post soon.
Off the Map Tattoo is going strong, we started keeping track of our numbers about a year and a half ago (please, dont remind me we ran the shop blind for the first 3.5 years, ack!). Its truely eye opening being able to look at the history of the tattoo studio, and knowing its current state of health, not by feeling or intuition, but by the numbers. Being a computer geek, well, I love the numbers. Especially when they are growing! Can't thank Mary, the tattoo artists, and the staff enough. Speaking of the shop, if you are in New England come check out our next group art show. "Godesses" is a collection of amazing artwork from ladies around the world! April 9th hope to see you there.
Off to the Surf n Ink International Tattoo Convention!
1/17/11
Im very excited to be heading to the Surf n Ink international tattoo convention today! It will be a lot of travel, but hopefully well worth it. I'll be giving a seminar on the power of TattooNOW websites as well as schmoozing for the Paradise Tattoo Gathering. Speaking of the Gathering, I'll be organizing the seminar schedule on the way over, artists are already making plans and contacting me about specifics, ack! Things at Off the Map Tattoo are cranking, and our guest artist list is pretty much full for 2011, save for a coupla surprises here and there Im sure. Well, enough chit chat, I gotta huslte the rest of my tasks, including fixing my car to get to the airport, so if you are in Oz, catch up with me at the Surf n Ink show!
Where are the brakes?
10/17/10
Well folks, good news is I've been way to busy to blog, but the bad news is I know more blogging brings more traffic, so here is a keyword laden quickie. Paradise Artist Retreat was simply amazing. Over a hundred artists came out to create and learn once again! We will be doing another in the southern california area february 2012. Keep your ears peeled. That means Im back to planning and promoting the Paradise Tattoo Gathering 2011 for the last time at Jiminy Peak in western mass, and for the move west to Keystone Colorado in 2012! Off the Map Tattoo is jamming, thatnks to the resident tattooers and the guests. Got another three days set aside to finish my half sleeve with Guy, fun! Anyways, clearing through my lists quicker than normal thanks to Mr. Nice Guy working for TattooNOW now, phew! Oh, and Im getting tickets for the Surf n Ink convention in Australia this week, gonna hammer out a seminar and show those artists soon under what high traffic websites mean! Ok, heres a band Id love to have play the Gathering, but Ill probably have to settle for the youtube clips!
Paradise Tattoo Gathering in Rocky Mountains a done deal!
7/28/10
Well, the contracts have been sent, and the ink is drying. In 2012 we will be headed to Keystone Resort in the Colorado Rockies from September 13th-16th for a Rocky Mountain sized Paradise Tattoo Gathering! It is an amazing resort so we get to keep the feel of the show, and the focus on education will remain constant, of course. Many resturants, great views, an amazing convention hall, fun! Check out their website, and their live webcam, and this video to get an idea of where were headed. Hope to see you there!
Also, thanks to all the tattooers who have been stopping by Off the Map Tattoo to say hi and meet everyone recently. In the last few weeks there have been more visitors than normal stoping by, and if we are available we are happy to show you around and chat and maybe have a tasty beverage. Its truely an honor, so dont be shy, stop on by!
Paradise Tattoo Gathering DVDS for sale soon!
7/21/10
Got great word about the Paradise Tattoo Gathering 2009 DVD, should have a near final version this Saturday, and get copies on sale soon after! Below is the preview video. Included on the DVD are 3 full discussion panels, over 3 hours worth of great discussions from some of the tattoo industries finest! Also some interviews, and a gallery of tattoos that is great! We're thinking of a price tag of $49.99, but might sell em for $39.99 if anyone wants to pre-order one...Email me if you are...
In other news,Paradise Artist Retreat signups keep coming in, going to be an amazing event! If your an artist sign up before its too late! We will be filming all weekend for a few documentaries, very exciting. Also made some quick upgrades to the tattoo forums, making the whole system much more efficient. More upgrades to the tattoo forums are on the way. If you caught the last update and were interested in the vintage tattoo machines, they are already sold, but rest assured theres more vintage tattoo flash and machines on the way! Lastly, Im thinking of writing a few essays/videos on tattoo collecting, and am looking to interview as many as I can... If you are a tattoo artist or collector, head on over to the tattoo collector forum thread I started and lets pick your brain!
Tattoo kiosks, retreats, tattoo videos, and a new gogue site in progress
7/14/10
Welp, the tattoo kiosk is getting wrapped up this month! The last bits of the design are being hammered out, then the last technical crunches and by nest month we will be delivering a @#$^%ing bad ass new 27" touchscreen kiosk that updates every day, blasts out big smooth videos, oh boyo, I know how much work it will being doing the next one for our studio, ack!
Here is a tattoo artist interview video from our new series TattooNOWTV. This is an interview with Lou Jacque recorded back in 2007. Next up is a dragon back tattoo from start to finish with Dana Helmuth. Hopefully we will get in the swing of uploading a new tattoo video every two weeks. We have an archive of 20 some odd interviews as well as recording new artists and tattoos as the guest tattooers keep coming through Off the Map Tattoo. The Paradise Artist Retreat is in full swing, if you are a tattoo artist, aspiring tattooer, or just an artist looking for inspiration and workshops, September is coming right up! We are selling artist passes every day so dont snooze much longer, come on out and create art! In 2011 news we got the poster art from jeff gogue and holy shit!!!! I'll post a photo of it later this week. lastly, in gathering news, we will be heading to the rocky mountains in 2012. The details and contracts are being hammered out. It will be quite exciting bringing the show to the rockies, the people there are, well, everyones going to get along tremendously.
Brian, the new guy at TattooNOW, is kicking ass and selling websites and getting details taken care of. The crew is just about as solid as you can get, with just about enough people to take care of everything. Brian and I are getting together a whole new seminar for Hell City in Pheonix AZ, this time done the right way with him doing the talking and me doing some clicking. The slideshow will be a great improvement!
In other news, the vintage tattoo flash website will have some new vintage tattoo flash as the collection allows, but Im very excited to be getting in some vintage tattoo machines too. Working an a redesign for Jeff Gogue, and Im very excited with the new look, just need to hammer through the programming. It was fun hanging out with Manos at his guest spot at the shop, he had stopped by here years ago during his apprenticeship, its great to see artists reaction to how the studio has evolved. Ok, heading downstairs to help with the video interviews, Im gonna try to update more frequently with keyword rich news to get more traffic. If you have a tattoo website with us, you should be too!
kiosks, tattoo videos, stats, and retreats!
6/28/10
Hey folks, keeping busy as usual. We are in the final stages of building a kick ass touchscreen kiosk for Adam at Graceland Tattoo. We are developing a 27 inch touchscreen encased in a rustic tree by our friends at custom rustic furniture.com. After putting the computer into the kiosk shell last weekend I almost peed myself for the first time in a long time, man, I forgot how @#$%ing awesome these things are. Very jealous, I dont want to give it to Adam! But, its his fair and square, we'll have to get one together for Off the Map tattoo this fall. Ive also been working on two or three video projects. Most important is a DVD from last years Paradise Tattoo Gathering that we should have for sale at Hell City in Arizona, and online soon after. Its a collection of four complete discussion panels, a bunch of interviews with many of the amazing tattooers working the show, the tattoo of the day contests, and a collection of other various tattoos shot over the weekend. Here is the preview that we have been plugging on TattooNOW:
Stay tuned for some other fun tattoo video projects soon. My nightmare has been the stats, and if you are a website client know that I am working on the perfect solution for stats, and we might see another server upgrade in the future (less headache, more fun!). Lastly, the Paradise Artist Retreat is filling up quickly with great artists from all over the world! Remember, enrollment is open this year, so if you want a chance to work alongside some of the greatest visionaries of the tattoo world, dont miss your chance!
On personal note, after years of planning and lasering I got an amazing eskimo girl and penguin from Topny Ciavarro over a bunch of stuff Jack Morton lasered. Its amazing what you can do thesedays, it might hurt getting the ink burned out from the inside, but your coverup options can open up drastically. Thanks to Tony for the tattoo and jack for lasering the shit out of that bad tattoo!
Rocky Mountain Tattoo Convention 2012
6/18/10
Hey folks, just getting back from visiting some Rocky Mountain resorts with Durb from Hell City. In 2012 we will be taking the Paradise Tattoo Gathering into the Rocky mountains, holy shit, fun fun fun! The resorts are wonderful, and the buzz is starting all over again! We are quite excited to hammer out the Artist Retreat at Jiminy Peak this September (which is open to all artists and promises to be an exciting event in and of itself!), another Tattoo Gathering at Jiminy Peak in 2011, and then doing it up Rocky Mountain sized the same weekend in september 2012(no, the world wont be ending though it may be a little oilier). While it might seem a tad nuts to try to grow the show 2,000 miles from where I live, if you have ever been to the mountians there, you will know the people are my type of people. Man, are they excited to be hosting all the talented tattoo artists from the gathering. Nearly everyone we met went there to go skiing or snowboarding, and couldnt leave. Its amazing there, and while we may not be moving there anytime soon, its exciting to think Ill be returning there a few times to prepare for the tattoo convention. In any event, Im heading back home to work my butt off getting artists out to the artist retreat this september, hope to see you there!
when doing tricky things, always look forward...
3/30/10
Motor City Tattoo Expo in the future!
1/24/10
Welp, my winter hibernation is over, once again Im venturing outside of the Massachusetts tattoo scene and headed to Detroit's Motor City Tattoo Expo, always a very fun tattoo convention. TattooNOW is offering a 30 day free trial artist membership, so if your a tattoo artist get in touch and we can get you set up right at the convention! Flash galleries have been sucking up a lot of my time this week, I have a sample live at Kelly Doty's tattoo gallery on her new site. Tried to get it up on Ben's too, but alas, it wasnt going to happen before posting this news. Im pretty excited, not only have we kept the search engine friendliness, but the galleries really are slick, and you can view them full screen! We will be offering $50-$100 flash image gallery upgrades to our website clients soon. We are also using these galleries in the touch-screen kiosk we are building for Graceland Tattoo. The tattoos look nice and big and the interface is real slick. Posted a Veritas Irons Tattoo Machine interview on Tattoo Machines NOW... More and more artists are joining the tattoo machine forum there, check it out... Had fun at the last Off the Map tattoo appreciation party at hugos, and looking forward to the painting day with Nathan Kostechko is coming to Massachusetts on the 31st... Lots of artists are coming up for it, hope to see you there! What else, we are working on an Off the Map Tattoo video today, one that has no dates so we can keep it up forever! Luca Natalini is going to be here tomorrow slamming out the bad ass tattoos! Traffic keeps growing too, Off the Map Tattoo is attracting nearly 6,000 unique visitors a day now! Oh, I also got tattoo inspiration set up, so we are posting the tattoo of the day every day on TattooNOW. fun fun fun! ok, more soon, thanks again, dont forget to buy some websites, tattoos, and tickets to the paradise artist retreat!
Kiosks, Tattoo Machines NOW, Clients sites, and Del Mccoury...
1/17/10
Well, Tattoo Machines NOW keep growing, tattoo artists and tattoo machine builders keep joining the new tattoo machine forum we are hosting. I'll keep tweaking the site, its becoming our ecommerce/community guinea pig, we will see how the traffic grows! Staying up late working pretty hard on a touchscreen kiosk for Graceland Tattoo in New York. Its very exciting to be working on "real" programming again. Tattoo websites are cool, and they get lots of traffic and new work for artists, but the kiosks have full screen video capabilities, full soundtracks, a large uncompressed photos, fun fun fun!!! I cut my teeth programming fun kiosks for big corperations, its awesome doing one for tattoo clients again. Back in the day Darkside Tattoo and Joe Capobianco had them, but they are a ton of work, so we dont have one for Off the Map and the others got to old... but will soon after we deliver Gracelands I hope! Im also thankful to the new programmers in training, we have at least 3 new tattoo websites going live this week... The next guest tattooer at Off the Map Tattoo is Nathan Kostechko, a massachusetts favorite. Jan 31st at 5PM we are hosting a painting night so if yer an artist come up and check it out, and bring along materials if you want to participate! Lastly, I know this guy has been around for a long long time, but I just discovered Del... Love em!
Vintage Tattoo Flash, Flash for Kiosks, Kelly doty website Launch, and tattoo machine interview with joe cap.
1/10/10
Worked on vintage tattoo flash.com a bit. Some real serious bites on some real nice pieces of vintage tattoo flash. I wish I had the extra dough to grab a few of the original Sailor Jerry flash sheets myself, I have a feeling they wont last much longer. We have a bunch of new programmers getting up to speed at TattooNOW to handle the workload, so the programming bottle neck is opening up a bit thanks to the new folks working hard. We still have about 10 to 15 websites in production at any given time, thanks everyone! This is giving me some time to research some new flash galleries and Im ready to interface it with the touch screen kiosks. Im moving the touchscreen to the office to play with this week, wo hoo! I also opened up the TattooNOW powered website list sidebar, so now will announce the latest website launched, as well as link to the entire TattooNOW network on the sidebar of every page on TattooNOW! Well, on the first 400 pages of every gallery for now, until I fix a bug... but thats a lot of new links to a lot of great websites that is easily accessible... I hope it encourages some of our website clients to update some more! I do wonder how it could have possibly taken this long to get that there, but lets just say we will get to everything on our checklist...
We also launched our new Off the Map Tattoo's resident artist website, www.KellydotyTattoo.com and Im very happy with it. She has been picking up half sleeves and back pieces, so be on the lookout for some real nice tattoos from her in the future. Im very excited to have posted up Joe Capobianco's tattoo machine interview on Tattoo Machines NOW. Yesterday we designed a website for Oleg, and man its awesome! Still fighting with the banner ad engine, but the tattoo shop is picking up nicely. thanks for all the folks who trust Off the Map Tattoo with their skins! Ok, back to the lists and lists...
Paradise Artist Retreat, Websites, Vintage Flash, Upgrades, Oh boyo!
12/8/09
Well, I have this blog so Im gonna use it! We are finalizing plans for the Paradise Artist Retreat as we speak. Just about to sign the contract for the third weekend of September 2010. No tattooing, we're shooting for 200 artists expanding their vision and skills! Artwork, posters, and T-Shirts coming soon! Thanks to the artists chipping in to help take over some of the responsibilities!
Im am also buried under a mountain of new tattoo websites, as well as upgrades to older websites and the server. Good news is we are testing a WYSIWYG news/blog engine so artists can easily add links and extra images to their news/blog items. We should have some more heavies blogging regularly!
We have some new blood at Off the Map Tattoo and the positive energy from the new artists and the focus and hard work of the new front room folks is awesome too. Just gotta get past December and we will be golden!
Tattoo Jam, cant wait!!
7/18/09
Last year I had the pleasure of attending and working the 1st Tattoo Jam, and I am very excited to be returning again this year with Marc Blanchard, an Off the Map Tattoo part timer. If you are a tattooer looking for a high traffic website on the other side of the pond, we can help! I will be answering any tattoo/geek questions people have at the Off the Map/TattooNOW/TattooGathering booth.
While I am happy to be an American, where I have had the opportunity to make a little heaven for myself, traveling overseas has always been something I love doing... great for the brain perspective. Cant recommend traveling enough. Its exciting to be building tattoo relationships on the other side of the pond, and this will be the third convention in the UK so I can look forward to catching up with "old" friends and meeting some new ones I hope. On the way back I will be stopping off at the Roc City Tattoo Expo. I just found out about it last week, and the line is pretty awesome! So, We will be stopping off dropping off TattooNOW and Paradise Tattoo Gathering propaganda on Friday.
In other news, the Paradise Tattoo Gathering is less than 2 months away so Im staying up late checking things off the 14 pages of checklists. This year is shaping up very nice, with the seminars booking up steadily. Sorry to say, Im very cranky. But I tell ya, all the badgering on the TattooNOW forums about how I should learn to tattoo cant hold a candle to how much putting this convention on makes me want to switch gears and learn to paint, but alas, until the three businesses are all stable at the same time - not an option. So for now I learn vicariously through the tattooers who are coming and taking part in making the event a success. Ok, back to the booklet design, and the signs, and the worker list (if you want to volunteer, contact us!), and the ... website sales... ack!
a personal website
7/13/09
Why would I have one? To post thoughts, links, and other things I find of interest. After doing nearly a hundred websites for other people, here is mine. I hope you enjoy.