Musician Monday: A Trio of Tattoos from Justin Y. of Everyone Dies in Utah

 Back in May, I met Justin in the Borders at Penn Plaza and he shared his three tattoos. Justin had recently been signed to a band from Texas called Everyone Dies in Utah and he was moving out from Maryland. He offered up his knuckle tattoos:

Justin has been playing drums for about eleven years and loves drums, which explains these knuckles. Of course, I would be remiss if I mentioned knuckle tattoos and didn't direct you to KnuckleTattoos.com to see more, courtesy of my friend Nathan.

The most compelling tattoo Justin shared was this piece, on his right forearm:

He explained:

"I have a little sister, she's ten now, but it was last year, so she was nine, and she was all bummed that I was moving really far and touring and stuff, so I told her I would get a tattoo for her ... I was trying to think of what would be absolutely unique, and the only thing I could think of was fingerprints. So, I decided it would be cool to get her hand print, so I went out and got a big old ink pad and did her hand print on a piece of paper, took it in, and he [Jason Kramer at Positive Image Tattoos in Baltimore] did all of his magic and got it done."

Justin's third tattoo was this piece on his left forearm:

He told me

"I love Jesus ... simple as that. I was thinking about doing a whole arm, faith-based kind of thing, and I ike the ides of just being able to walk into a room and people know exactly like, well, that guy's definitely a Christina and he's for serious ... It's a good starting piece to talk to people."

All of Justin's work is by Jason Kramer at Positive Image Tattoos in Baltimore.

Be sure to check out Everyone Dies in Utah on Facebook here.

Thanks to Justin for sharing his cool ink with us here on Tattoosday! 

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Small World, Tattoosday-Style

I have a few days off and was buying some milk at the grocery store when an older gentleman in line behind me complimented me on the tiger tattoo on my calf, which has been well-documented here, in this initial post, and subsequent ones.

The gentleman asked who the artist was and mentioned his son was an artist as well. "Who?" I asked, and he told me, Mike Perfetto, aka Designs by Michael Angelo in Brooklyn. I gave him a flier and he introduced himself as Ralph Perfetto, our Democratic District Leader here in Bay Ridge.

I know you're likely thinking, "Nice story, Bill, but is it really that much of a small world coincidence?" Actually, yes, because my backlog had brought me to posting a couple of tattoos on Peter, who I had last seen at the Matty No Times benefit back on July 17. One of those tattoos, you guessed it, is by Mike Perfetto.

Let's take a look:

Pete also shared a tattoo on his leg by legendary Brooklyn artist Tony Polito. As you can see, Pete has quite a collection of ink, and he takes pride in the work he has from "old school" New York artists tattooing in the American Traditional style.

Pete explained that "Old Calcutta" was a nickname for Tony's shop from the early '80s to the mid '90s because of the high intensity atmosphere of the shop and the people who were there.

Thanks to Peter for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday (again and again). Peter has been working hard at New York Hardcore Tattoo on Stanton Street. They have recently remodeled the shop and are working hard on producing quality art on the denizens of New York City. Be sure to stop in and meet their crew.

Jesse's Religious Experience

Religious imagery is among the most popular of themes in tattoo art. There is, to the shrinking minority of people who don't like tattoos, a greater level of acceptance of Christian-themed body art.

[Jewish tattoos are coming along, but the majority of Jews have fundamental issues with ink on Jews. Islamic tattoos are less common, and I can't speak to their acceptance. Eastern religious tattoos may be the most popular of religious ink, but there is a greater understang of body art when it comes to Hindu and Buddhist themes. But I digress.]

I generally avoid talking to people about full sleeves, but when I started talking to Jesse while we were browsing the books at the Chelsea Salvation Army store, it was clear that his right sleeve, which continued onto his chest, was the most important work he had.


Jesse's ink is a reflection of his faith. It is inspired by religious images that he has come across while visiting churches in Europe. He couldn't give me the specific locations of the art which inspired his work (Rome, Paris), but I'd be happy to hear from readers who may recognize the
work.
Aside from the obvious depictions of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, Jesse also pulled up his shirt to show me the most recent of his ten tattoos, which was the extension of his sleeve into his chest:


All of this work was done by Mike Pastore at Masterpiece Tattoo in Staten Island, New York. Work from Masterpiece has appeared previously here.

Thanks to Jesse for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!