Vince's Half-Sleeve: One Dragon, Lots of Skulls

I met Vince last month on Broadway in Lower Manhattan last month and I asked him about his half sleeve. He was more than willing to share it:

The sleeve includes an old gnarled tree, a dragon clutching a skull, a rose, smoke additional skulls and a moon and stars.

Vince also has this section on his inner bicep:

The playing card, aflame with a skull-faced suicide king, is bright in the center of the inner arm. You also can see another flower with a skull peeking out.

Vince had the dragon inked twenty years ago at The Tattoo Shoppe in Carlstadt, New Jersey, but all of the surrounding work was done by Charlie at Lola's Tattoos in Bogota, New Jersey.

"There's a lot of skulls in there," he told me, "I just like skulls."

Thanks to Vince for taking the time to stop and share his cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

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Five Years Gone: I Still Miss You, Tom

When Tattoosday was but a wee little blog, with big hopes and dreams, one of the early champions and supporters was my friend, Tom.

Five years ago today, he died suddenly and tragically. I still miss him.

Although the memories fade, his spirit still lives on in the pages of Tattoosday.

That said, I share this post, from 2007, featuring my friend Tom's tattoo:

"This is the sole tattoo of my friend and co-worker, Tom.

Tom designed and drew the art upon which this tattoo was based.

The Reaper is posed on Tom's biceps/deltoid and has resided there since 1984, when its host was a young lad of eighteen. 

This is Tom's only tattoo and he has no plans to get more. He is proud of the fact that, because he designed it and because he then tore up the original design, it is a one-of-a-kind piece. He said that it was very painful because of the amount of black ink that went into it.

The tattoo was inked by Dean at Lola's Tattoos, then in Cliffside Park, but now in Bogota, New Jersey. Tom got this tattoo "because it was cool," although the tattooer tried to convince him not to get it because it was "too mean" for him. Twenty-three years later, Tom says he has no regrets about his ink.

Thanks, Tom!"

Last night, on the eve of this somber anniversary, my Google Play shuffle served up the following song, which I had the pleasure of seeing live with Tom at Jones Beach just a few months before he died:




Thinking of you, Tom, I still miss you, and Tattoosday misses you too.