Loud(est)horn Inn

Albie Rock's in town.
He made it this time,
he's here, and it's on.

As if the volume between the two of us wasn't loud enough,
our friends Todd H and Ryan hooked us up with some brass.
A trumpet arrived in the mail a couple days ago,
and a tuba was delivered tonight after dinner.
A fucking tuba.
We don't know how to play, yet,
but he's here a whole week.
And we're not stopping till we have it figured out,
or Meryl's ears bleed.
Louderhorn Inn, indeed.
It's going to be the fullest of weeks.




Before Albie arrived,
before I even left for work,
this went up on my street.
Bets are being taken on how long it might stay up...
My guess is six months.

Ugly and Loud

Apparently, way back in February,
UgliestTattoos.com added one of my (uncredited) tattoos to their site.
Thanks to Jeff for dropping my link in his comments,
and to Steve for giving me the heads up.
Me and my ugly tattoos super appreciate it.

Spencer sent me a healed photo of his tardigrade tattoo.
(thanks dude!)
I realize I usually only put the red, hurty looking tattoos
up on my blog, and save the website for the nice, healed ones.
Here's a little proof that the 'ouch' eventually fades.



Dark Dark Dark came back from tour,
and gave Minneapolis some love at the Cedar last night.
So good.
Makes me wish I knew how to play a trumpet.
That way when Albie got here,
we'd be the loudest band around.

April is my kind of month.

Last night was my birthday dinner.
Some of Minneapolis' finest (and funniest)
came out to eat Ethiopian food,
share stories of dungeons and colons,
and watch the cowboy parade pass by outside.
(saturday night on Lake Street, kids)



I got photos of Meryl's finished/healed leg.
I never know how to photograph these big tattoos.
Some tattoo artists do some fancy frankenstein photoshop stuff,
but it looks so weird sometimes.
It's a big tattoo, here's a couple angles.




Minneapolis has been so beautiful lately,
and there's lots of blooming around Louderhorn Inn happening.
April came at the perfect time this year.
And what's better than Sunday brunch at Seward Cafe?
When the back patio is open.
The first meal eaten outside in a couple months:



And lastly,
Meryl got a fun little one minute video
of me tattooing the birdhouse on Shoes the other night.
I was dressed up for Identity Tattoo's "Not Casual Friday",
not because it was my birthday.
(Todd and Ben were dressed up for my birthday, though)

the almost 30

I turned 29 today.
I know some people like to take their special day off of work,
and do something fun.
I just get pretty picky on what (and who) I'll tattoo on my birthday.
Last year, I didn't tattoo much at all,
and just handed out cupcakes all day.
But this year,
I had two different rad tattoos to do,
and I even ended up working late.

I also took over as DJ at Identity Tattoo,
and played lots of Dark Dark Dark, the Black Keys, and Lady Gaga.
Thanks to Todd and Ben for being so accommodating!

No cupcakes this year,
but Meryl made some banging vegan cookies
that I brought into share with Ben (and everyone).
haha.

First, I did this Obi-Wan Kenobi portrait.
It's butted up against the Boba Fett I did way back in September,
and it looks like we'll be adding in a couple more Star Wars portraits soon.
I used a new greywash ink, and my new rotary tattoo machine,
and had a blast.



Then, Mr Mikey Shoes came in to get a
(slightly more my style) chest birdhouse.
Meryl came to pick me up and got a few photos of the in-progress action,
and I was able to put two of them together in a really simple GIF animation,
but I don't know how to post it anywhere other than my Tumblr site.



Anyway, thanks to all the birthday wishes,
and to everyone who sang along or shared a cookie today.
And a big thank you to Todd for having such a fun place to work.

Second Try

So, Albie Rock has new tickets for MPLS,
cause Southwest didn't learn their lesson the first time.
(but he promises good behavior at the airport this round)
So instead of April Fool's Day, Good Friday, and Easter,
he'll be here for May Day, and Cinco de Mayo.
And since I live in South Minneapolis,
that's where the party is.
April 27th he arrives,
and leaves the 6th.
Want a tattoo from him?
Email me
(or him at battlebeasteleven@gmail.com).

I did this (in between doing my taxes this weekend) for IWYS.
But really, the IRS wrecked my whole weekend.

Quiet House on the Prairie

Ok, ok,
I'm almost done talking about last week's Philly Tattoo Convention.
But our friend Stephanie posted some photos of the show,
and I felt that this one deserved more exposure.



Who would have thought that spray adhesive for linoleum tile
isn't the best way to stick two pieces of burlap together?
Parts of my banner were falling off all weekend,
so we were continuously providing damage control.
(somehow that made people like it even more?)

I got a lot of compliments while I was out there.
Or, at least I took them to be compliments.
Stuff about me not fitting in,
and not being very "tattoo-y".
Maybe it was the pink shirt?

Right about now I was supposed to be halfway through
an Albie Rock action adventure.
I was so ready.
I have two big ass boxes in my living room;
one is of blank shirts,
and the other pinecones.
Ryan even scored us a tuba for the week.
But instead of Louderhorn Inn being turned into a nonstop workshop,
it's kind of empty.
Meryl ran off to Wisconsin with a bunch of her poet friends,
and it's just me and Shamira holding down the fort.

I mean, I have stuff to do,
for sure.
There's seeds and gardens and drawing and projects,
and taxes.
I'm still staying up late doing it all,
but can't help wishing southwest and the S.W.B. didn't suck so bad.

I'm glad all my East Coasters who know what's up
have been driving across states,
and across state lines,
to catch a show of Dark Dark Dark.
You're missing out if you missed out.
April 15th is the big return date for the DDD,
and we're happy to have them back.

So a berserker barbarian walks into an airport....

Joan sent this photo to me so that I knew how nice her tattoo looked
before she went and f*ed it all up.
I did these botanical bleeding hearts at the Philly convention,
but four days later she's swimming in a lake in Austin, Texas.
Oh man.



Speaking of bleeding hearts,
it's a sad day in Minneapolis today.
No foolin'.
Albie Rock was supposed to arrive at 5:30 last night.
We had two weeks worth of plans
that we were going to cram into 6 days.
Tattoos, shirts, still lifes, art, stickers, websites and more.
But where is he?
Well, his flight got canceled.
After he drove the three hours to the airport.
And Southwest thought Kevin Smith caused a scene?
(all that guy did was be fat and whine on twitter)
Albie Rock brought the thunder to the Manchester Airport, for sure.
And was then was forcibly removed from the airport.
No kidding.
You should read about it here.
I'm sure the trip will be rebooked for the near future,
and the case of root beer that Todd special ordered
will be sitting in the fridge waiting for him.
Louderhorn Inn will be happy to accommodate any reservation changes,
and tattoo appointments can be rescheduled.
We'll probably use this time to actually set up a 'Never Quiet, Never Soft' website.

So for now, it's just a little more of the same.
My (until recently) overbooked week looks sad and empty now,
so let me know if you want in.

Don't go swimming with fresh tattoos, kids.
Stay away from airports and exploding maple trees,
and don't poke the bear.