Jessica Shares Some of Her Tattoos before Pearl Jam Plays the Garden

I had it all worked out. Last night was the first night of the Pearl Jam concert at Madison Square Garden. Even though I wasn't going, I would see plenty of ink right next to where I work. Pearl Jam fans are prolificly tattooed (see this site as proof). What could be easier?

One guy didn't want his tattoos photographed. And he was wearing a t-shirt for a tattoo shop on Oregon. In my disappointment, I forgot what it was called.

Another guy was in town from Italy to see the band. I think the language barrier was an issue.

But I am not generally discouraged. There was, however, a vibe. A general sense that something bigger and better was going on besides indulging the hobby of an almost-41-year old blogger in dire need of a haircut. And of course, they were right. Pearl Jam was returning to the Garden after five years. Really, Tattoosday had to take a back seat to that.

But thank goodness for Jessica. She was thoroughly inked and indulged me. Granted, she seemed a little bemused by my exercise and a little disinterested, but she did let me take some photos and gave me cursory explanations. Alas, no Pearl Jam tattoos, but she still had some cool ink.

This was her most meaningful tattoo:

It's on her left wrist and is the autograph of Jonathan Davis, lead singer of Korn. He signed it, and she inked it. Jessica has her own tattoo gun machine, and does some touch-ups and basic line work here and there. Embarassingly, when she said it was Jonathan Davis' autograph, I couldn't connect the name to the face right away and I asked who he was, knowing full well that doing so would make me look like a total dork. And I was right. Of course I knew who he was, I just didn't compute it at the time.

Here's Jessica's left arm:

She likes crows. She has seven in all. She didn't tell me why the cheetah was significant. If you look at her right arm, you can see a sliver of an amazing piece that I didn't photograph, but should have. It was amazing piece that encircled her forearm.


And here's her upper right arm. That's Pig-Pen from Peanuts, which was one of her nicknames growing up.
And on the bottom is Mokey, a "primary Fraggle" from Fraggle Rock. Mokey was also one of her nicknames from very early in life.

Thanks to Jessica for taking the time to chat with me when so few people seemed interested in sharing. I am celebrating my birthday a week early at the show tonight (Wednesday), so we'll see if any tattoos pop up here on Thursday (or Friday).

UPDATE JUNE 29, 2008:

Jessica followed up with me and wrote the following:

I may not have any Pearl Jam tattoos, unless you count that my nickname is Mookie (Mokey from Fraggle Rock) since I was a toddler, from my dad. My mom calls me Pigpen cause she's a obessive complusive neat freak who thinks an open TV Guide is a mess...

I've idolized Jonathan Davis from Korn since 1996. To finally meet him was amazing. I always thought I'd be starstruck and lose my composure, but didn't. I held a conversation with him. Wow. How did that happen? A group was forming around the tour bus. He came out...to sign autographs. I told him he was my idol for 12 years, and asked if he could sign my wrist. So he grabbed my wrist. On the outside I was fine, but in my head I turned into a 12-year old boy band fan thinking OMG OMG HE'S TOUCHING ME DON'T FAINT!!

The Mokie tattoo, above, was inked by Troy at K & B Tattooing in Hightstown, New Jersey.

Heeeeeeeeere's Victor's Tattoos!

As awesome as the tattoo above is, it was The Who tattoo that first jumped out at me from the back of Victor's right arm when he passed by me on the sidewalk near Penn Station:

He had a few minutes before he had to catch a train to New Jersey, and was waiting for a friend, so he proudly showed me his gallery of tattoos, on both arms and his right leg. He has 13 in all, and here are 8 of them.

Generally we here at Tattoosday like to focus on one or two, but he had so many cool pieces, and he was totally game for sharing them, I just kept taking photos.

I'm going to divide them by the artist that did the tattooing.

We'll start with the "Soozie tattoo" because it was his first tattoo, drawn by Victor's favorite actress, Angela Bettis, who has quite a following among her fans. She is best known for her role in the film May, and works primarily in independent films.

Victor explains how this tattoo came about:

“I met her at a horror convention, and on an autographed poster she gave me, she drew a ‘Soozie doll’, which is one of the characters in the film. I went home and said this would be great for my first tattoo. So I did it, just as it is drawn on my poster”.

Victor adds that this tattoo "is one of my favorites because it looks like it was drawn on with a sharpie (it was supposed to)". And, like most of the tattooed can relate, once he got this inked, he became “addicted”.

This was inked by Kurt Fagerland at Empire State Studio, in Oceanside, New York.

Fagerland also inked this black heart:

This piece, done in tribute to Joan Jett and the Black Hearts, is on his left forearm, below the Soozie piece.

Victor didn't mention this, but I would interject that the Joan Jett tattoo could also symbolize that one wears one's heart on their sleeve.

Another piece from Empire State is a tip of the hat to the film Donnie Darko, on his inner left forearm:

Finally, the last tattoo inked by Fagerland is a portrait of Pee Wee Herman, the character portrayed by actor Paul Reubens. This piece is on Victor's right leg (calf):

One may have noticed, near the "Soozie" tattoo, there are some other lines drawn below and to the right of it. If it looks like an autograph, it is.

Nikki Sixx, the bass-player for Mötley Crüe, signed his arm. He then had the signature permanently inked by Chantal at Sparrow Tattoo in Franklin Square, New York.

Believe it or not, this is the second Nikki Sixx tattoo I have seen since the dawn of Tattoosday. The other is on the back of a woman who lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. I saw her on the R train one afternoon last Fall, but didn’t have my camera with me at the time.

Why did he tattoo the autograph? Again, he elaborates:

“I have been a Motley Crue fan for a while, but I always loved Nikki. He's dreamy. I went to his book-signing for The Heroin Diaries, and got him to sign my arm, because the asshole security guards would not let me get anything else signed. So I said ‘Fuck it, I want to engrave Nikki Sixx in my arm forever’ ”.

The three remaining tattoos were all inked by Vinny Romanelli at the House of Colour, in Bay Shore, New York.

He did the Mod symbol, appropriated by The Who, as seen above on the back of Victor's right bicep, above, and the New York Dolls pin-up on the inside of his right bicep.

Most impressive is the awesome Nicholson portrait, commemorating the famous “Heeeeere’s Johnny!” scene from the Stanley Kubrick film, The Shining. It’s worth a second look:

One might question why someone would get these various tattoos like Victor has chosen to do. People get tattoos for various reasons: as memorials, as decoration, and as commemorative pieces. Victor explained poignantly why he has chosen to decorate his body with such a variety of images from popular culture:

“The reason I get tattoos is because I pay tribute to the things that inspire me. Mostly movies & music, and certain people. I am a filmmaker myself, and one day hope to have a scene from one of my movies tattooed on some weirdo’s body.”

Well-put, Victor, and thanks for sharing the sources of your inspiration here on Tattoosday!