タトゥートライバル新刊（４２）発売中！
Tattoo Tribal #42 is out!

なんと、お花の特集にのしてくれたやつが表紙！感謝しています…が！１８ページをよく見ると、名前が間違っているみたい。
An unexpected surprise was a nice little corner on the cover… But! On page 18 the photo is credited to someone else. Oh dear… and my name is under their’s. So… I doubt whether or not they’ll print a correction but for the time being, here’s mine.

先週のイベント写真をやっとアップした！日本全国の彫師さんが集まった、無限軌道！人はぱんぱんやった！沢山の人きてくれて嬉しいぃ！
Here’s some random photos from last week’s event – Mugenkidou Vol. 5 in Hiroshima! Psyched so many people showed up – it was a great time!

準備中ぅぅっぷぅ！ステージはめっちゃ近かったわ！
Gettin’ ready for action – you can see how close the stage was!

へのへのもへモヘヤぁぁ！
Moheya!!! (Some jokes are hard to tape in both languages, ok?)

合わせ鏡風な状態。カメラの事はまだ全然慣れていないわ！
Like a mirror facing a mirror… I still have no idea how to use this camera.

RYOJIアンドGAK!!
Ryoji from Hyperdragon Tattoo and Gak from Biorhythm Tattoo!

なんと！バニー様ぁぁぁ！！
And hey! A familiar bunny girl!!

先輩の手首に先輩の作品の周りにバックグラウンドを彫る事になって、ちょっと緊張しっちゃったわ！バイオ風な牙はいつもえぇ感じや！
A little pressure tattooing on an upperclass(wo)man’s wrist… around the work of other upperclassmen. Can’t go wrong with bio-y teeth!

広島のイベントはめっちゃ楽しかったがやっぱり大阪に帰ると安心するわぁ！
Hiroshima was a blast, as expected (a tiring one at that). Everyone down there really went out of their way to make sure all guests were accommodated and that things went off without a hitch. Still, I was glad to be back in Osaka the next morning. Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home!

今朝、ブログを更新して、携帯でも見れる様になっているぅ！多分…みんなさん、よかったら確認して見てください。

これから携帯の方に対しても、優しいアンド読みやすいブログをお送りします！

Made a few adjustments to the site – you should be able to view it on Japanese keitai now! Special thanks to the genius contributors on the wordpress plug-in KTAI! (Site in Japanese, but if you can manage to install it, an English interface of fun awaits!)

Some are already calling it “The Perfect Storm” of a product. Local Osaka ex-pat tattooist Benny, known to be a fan of illustrator Coop, a loyal reader of the blog boingboing, and an aficionado for hot Girls in Overalls ^(tm) finally completed the ultimate trifecta by purchasing a T-shirt containing elements of all three.

When pressed for comments by local media, Benny was able to respond with little more than unintelligible “Zuh’s” and “Guh’s.” Approximately 8 hours later, once the shirt was forcibly removed for laundry, Benny was once again composed enough to speak. “I don’t believe in an interventionist god, so I can’t call it a miracle. Still, I have a hard time accepting this shirt’s existence as only a coincidence. To all those responsible for it’s inception and execution, I thank you.”

Is this T-shirt perhaps evidence that the targeting of a specific individual with merchandise based on their surfing and blogging habits is already a reality?

SLICESの展示はやっと終わった！今回のギャラリーはちょっと小さかったけど大成功だった！来てくれたみんな、ありがとう！！！発売している絵は少なかったけど一枚を売れた！

Last year’s Slices art show was a great success! Thanks to all those who attended. Not too many pieces were for sale, but one of them went pretty fast…

（ぷぷぷ！ぷぷぷ！）あれ？どっかに見た事ある気がするなぁ、このパトロンさん！絵は気に入ってくれて、このシリーズの次も頼まれました！めっちゃ嬉しいぃ…もっと頑張らんとあかんなぁ！

…to this guy! Strange – I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before. This patron of the arts was so impressed he decided to take the next few pieces in the series! Gotta get back to the drawing tablet.

次のギャラリーイベントが決まりました！でも今度のは絵ではない。写真家の友人、BRAD CRAWFORDさんと一緒にコラボして、タトゥーの写真の展示にします。北堀江のCAFE ABSINTHEで、３月９日（日）OPENING PARTYを行います！１９時スタート、夜まで。ミナミの有名なDJグループHIJAKのDJ３人も参加する！楽しいぃ！絵や写真を見ながら楽しい夜を過ごしとこう！

The next event is already on the plate for this week! Developing Ink 2008, a collaborative effort between myself and Photographer Brad Crawford being held at Cafe Absinthe March 9th. Opening is at 7PM and will go through the evening. Come check it out! More info at the Facebook event page.

See you there!!!

アメ村のピザ・カフェのSLICESにてギャラリーを行なってる！今回はタトゥーの写真、いろんなジャンルの作品をだしてみてる！１０月２７日のHalloweenイベントが終わってからかるくオープンした。来月（１１月）の２７日までしてるので是非遊びに来て！１１月１０日は「2回目のオープニングパーティ」なので、Halloweenの時行けなかった人はまだまだ見る機会があるよ！セカンドパーティの為、新作品を追加するのでお楽しみに！

Beginning on Halloween party night after all those events on October 27th, I opened a small art gallery at Slices Cafe in Amemura! Lots of tattoo photos and (as the flyer sez) “works in various mediums” this time around. For those who missed the fun the first time around we’ll be having a second opening on the 10th of November featuring a few new pieces – you’ve got until November 27th to come on down so don’t miss it!

相変わらずミナミのHalloweenイベントが多すぎて、楽しすぎたけどOnziemeで行なったHijakのHalloweenパーティはやっぱり最高だった！マスカレードスタイルなのでゲストの全員は顔が見えないようにマスクをかけていた。めっちゃおもてぇぃ〜。今年は何故か女装無しで、みんなすみません！

Minami was chock full of crazy parties and events as is typical fare for Osaka – but the Hijak party topped them all! Everything was masquerade style so there was plenty of opportunity for pranking and mischief. Look at this heavy freaking thing I walked around with all night! And what’s that you say? No more dresses? Yep, despite winning several contests over the past few years I decided to hang up the skirts and go relax in manly fashion. Nobody seemed all that disappointed!

今年、久しぶりにイベントにでて、ライブペイントをした！ステージの上にのっていたのにめっちゃ暗くて全く見えなかった！なんとなく「髑髏」を描けた気がするけど。あまり厳しく言わんといてな。

My first “live painting” gig in a couple months. Despite being on stage it was super dark so I stuck with familiar subject matter (oh human skull, is there any drawing you can’t save?)

Today I was shocked and saddened to hear of Mike Malone’s passing.

I only met Mike once, back when I lived in Minneapolis maybe 8 years ago or so. I had been studying Japanese at the time and my roommate mentioned that the shop she worked at, the Ink Lab, would be in need of a translator for a Japanese tattooist who would be doing a 2 week guest work spot. I couldn’t resist the appeal of the offer and readily agreed. The guest tattooer was Gotch of Chopstick Tattoo in Osaka Japan. His English was rudimentary at best and my Japanese was hunt-and-peck, but we managed to communicate better as the days went on. At the shop I was introduced to Doug Hardy who had recently moved up from Hawaii as I recall. We became fast friends – and for the next few days we set about to showing Gotch the time of his life. (Gambling, Firearms, Drinking… and Tattoos)

After awhile Doug decided to take us down to see a shop called the Aloha Monkey south of the city. It was there that I met Keith Underwood, Josh Arment, and Mike Malone. As someone who was not tattooed (at the time!) nor used to tattoo shops, I initially felt a bit intimidated by the atmosphere – but Mike’s friendly demeanor quickly put me at ease. Various members of our entourage took turns getting tattooed (as I recall, Gotch got a “Circus Pig” by Keith!) and we shot the breeze for a few hours. I remember that Mike was such an instantly likeable guy – no matter what the subject of the conversation was, Mike had a story about it. The subject of my awful blue-green mohawk came up and Mike was on it – relating his story of attending some of the first performances of Iggy and the Stooges. Recently, if you’ve been reading Tattoo Artist Magazine, you may be familiar with Mike’s literary style – he wrote those articles in just the same way he spoke that day. Mike showed us his impressive model figure collection and I got to see a few of his paintings up close and in the flesh. The afternoon sun began to set and we said our goodbyes and headed off in search of further ways to corrupt/entertain our Japanese guest.

Shortly after Gotch returned to Japan, I began working at the shop as a part timer at the Ink Lab back in Minneapolis. I recall my first duty – hanging flash sheets on the freshly painted shop wall. Some were signed “Malone” but many more were signed “Rollo.” Doug taught me later, “Those’re Mike’s too, Rollo’s his nickname.” I still remember being surrounded by those cool “old school” sheets on Lake Street. Unfortunately, Mike soon moved shortly after, handing over the shop to Josh Arment who still runs it to this day and regrettably, I never had the chance to meet him in person again. (though I often heard news of him from Doug as we have been close friends for many years now.) Years later, I came to Osaka and began my own apprenticeship and subsequent career as a tattoo artist. In Chopstick’s vast library of books, sure enough, there were 2 copies of Mike’s “Bull’s Eyes & Black Eyes” as well as files of his flash. Reading through Mike’s narratives is great – especially when he talks about his own induction into the world of tattooing – As an apprentice I took a lot of comfort in reading about his experience – in a time when tattooing as a medium was even less accessable than it is today.

2 weeks or so ago, I got a mail from Doug again mentioning that Mike was on mySpace. I figured that this was my chance to bring things full circle and get in touch again so I dropped Mike a message (maybe a bit long-winded in hindsight) recounting our brief meeting all those years ago.

Then today, via the same medium I recieved the news from Doug.

Other than the fact that Mike was the “Shisho” of one of my best friends I regrettably had no other formal or informal connection to him. We only met once and shared a brief conversation. And at the time I had no idea of who he was and the contributions he has made to the world of tattooing. But I do remember my impression of him that day – he was a genuine nice guy. When Mike spoke it was from his heart… same thing when he laughed. Even though I was a green-back-wet-behind-the-ears-know-it-all brat with a goofy mohawk, he made me feel welcome in his studio.

In Japan there is a saying, ichigoichiei. It means that each meeting in life is important and should be treated as such. No meeting occurs by chance, and each meeting makes you the person that you are today. I’ll always remember the that once-in-a-lifetime meeting.

You will be sincerely missed Mike.