Tattoos have been very popular for at least 30 years now, I thought for sure back in the '90s that it was a fad that would pass quickly. Wrong. Here to stay. I used to joke about investing in tattoo ink back then, probably would have been a solid move. Laser tattoo removal would also be good if there is one or two companies with the best technology for that.
I've seen some really fantastic tattoos and of course a lot of bad ones. We've all seen a million tats at this point. I don't haver any but I've come close a couple of times and it's a very specific tattoo by a specific artist, (and friend). His name is Mark Mahoney and he's world famous for his incredible work, almost exclusively in grey ink with exquisite detail in the tradition of East L.A. Mexican ink. I even had an appointment once, (needed to book 6 months or more in advance), when they called, I was out on the road and had to cancel. He has tattooed a ton of famous people from Tupac to Angelina Jolie to you name them but that is not why I wanted him to do it. He did one of his grey ink jobs on a friend of mine back in the '80s of Jesus on the cross, it's his entire upper arm from his shoulder to his elbow and I swear it's like staring at a work of art in the Sistine Chapel. The expression on the face...incredible.
Anyhow, some trivia; among my 4 or 5 best friends, none of us have a drop of ink. One is a long haired Native American guy who is extremely hip, (IMO), and another is a rockabilly type dude who has sported a pompadour for close to 40 years and has a chopped '51 Mercury. Another is a younger guy, (40), who has never worked a 9-5, throw in a few lifelong friends in Minneapolis and a very cool guy who chimed in already on this thread...not a drop of ink among us. What are the chances in 2024 of that in L.A. and Minneapolis?
One of my buddies in Mpls. back in the '90s said to me, "hey Denny, when we get old, all of the young chicks will want to get naked with us because they will never have seen a guy's body with no tattoos! It will be exotic for them!"
What a dreamer that guy was. You have to admire his optimism at the time, though.
