JackSmith

I've been back in country fro a little over 2 weeks, usually when I travel I write a lot more than I have this trip, I'm not sure if it's because this is not a new place or if I have just not been quite myself but I haven't felt the urge to write. The trip over was long. I flew out of Sydney on the 29th of June. Stopped in San Francisco on the way. After clearing US customs (which is always nervous) I had a well deserved cigarette. For a smoker the first cigarette after a long flight is always special. It always seems sweeter. An indicaiton of the level of addiction I guess. I was keen to check out Spider Murphy's tattoo shop. Peter from Hold Fast was tattooed by Stuart and Theo ... read more

The thin slice of cresent moon lit the cloudy night as I wandered back to Jessie's place after what would be my last night in Edmonton for this part of my journey. Despite being after 3am and the moon being almost at the end of the lunar cycle the night was not dark, it seemed like it never truly got dark in Edmonton, earlier that night the skies were lit up with long power streaks of lightning as an almighty storm punished the district before the night was through there would be massive storm damage as huge hail stones and gale force winds hammered down. The power had gone out in most of town including 82nd (Whyte) Ave, the party strip of the district which had left most of the locals, ourselves included to carry on ... read more

After finishing up at Black Cat, making few new friends and catching up with some old ones I boarded a plane for Toronto. A stopover in Charlotte and no hassles with customs I was in Canada. I was met at Pearson Airport by Diarmuid whom I hadn't seen for 5 years. It was great to catch up with him. I spent the next week staying with him and his wife Lydia and their two amazing children Alex and Neena. I was treated to my first home cooked meal in weeks which was a real treat. The next morning I headed down town with Diarmuid who works in the building next to the Hilton where the Northern Exposure convention was being held. Upon making my way in I was greeted by Lyle Tuttle and Bill whom I ... read more

I'm still in Austin Texas, it's been a strange time here, I think I would have enjoyed it more had I been a little better organized and timed my stay not to co-inside with a huge biker rally, but that's life on the road when you travel the way I do. As I said in my last blog, my first 3 days were spent sick which didn't help any. The one hostel here is booked weeks in advance so that has ruled out my usual cheap accommodation option. Work at Black Cat has been pretty good, there are around 9 staff here working 7 days, 12pm to 2 or 3am depending on the day. The shop provides almost nothing so I've had to beg borrow or steal everything, (Gloves, ink caps, paper towel, A&D, even distilled ... read more

Wayde arrived in Chicago the Wednesday afternoon before HellCity, he had been working in Wisconsin and had grown himself a nice thick beard since I had last seen him in Vegas. He assured me it was part of a grand plan... Bright and early Thursday morning Jimmy and I met Davheed and headed out to O'hare Airport to collect the van which would transport us all to Collumbus, by 12 noon we were packed and ready to go- Carlos and Mike a couple of shop friends kept us waiting till 1 before we actually hit the road. The drive from Chicago to Columbus was pretty uneventful, we passed through Indiana and arrived around 7pm. I was met at the hotel where we were staying by Leigh and Evan Woolley, It was great to see some familiar ... read more

I'm approaching the end of my stay here in Chicago. The past few days have been great if a little strange, but that's my life... Kelly has had dramas in her life so we haven't spent much time together. As Hell City gets closer the whole shop has been getting excited, It's a huge convention and one of the biggest in the US, it should be a great weekend. Today I did a couple of tattoos and after work Jimmy and I headed to the Bridgeport for a couple of beers and a game of darts, Enrique one of the locals clean swept the board with a last minute triple bullseye- it was incredible to see. We headed downtown to a bar called Lucky's, home of the famous $7 sandwich, this thing was huge, and if ... read more

21st May 2009 Work at Native Rituals continues to be rewarding, Mikey the young piercing protege of Johnny has let me crash at his place a few nights now while Jimmy has been spending time with his girlfriend. Mikey is an animal lover- particularity reptiles with an amazing collection of Boas, anacondas, and reticulated pythons, plus turtles, a tarantula and a crazy pit bull pup named Freddy. Mikey shares his apartment in Bridgeport with this menagerie and Dahveed, who is a tattooist with us out at NR. Downstairs is a great little hole in the wall bar known as the Bridgeport Inn and like all good hole in the walls it's a local secret with a great mix of local people. I have spent many nights there since arriving in Chi-town. On Thursday nights Jimmy, Dahveed ... read more

11 May 2009. I'm in Chicago and despite being spring it's been bitterly cold the past few days. I've been working at Native Rituals in Oak Forrest, it's an awesome studio, by far the cleanest studio I've ever seen, hands free soap, techincare, taps,bins, towel dispensers and lights. Plus Hydrim, 2 statims, sterile wash bottles and everything covered each time including footswitch! The crew is really cool, they all get on really well and hang out after hours- I have done quite a bit of bowling in the past few days as the guys all love to bowl. Jimmy has let me stay at his place which has been great and meant that I can earn some money without spending it all on accomodation. It's been a little quiet but Ive been doing at least on ... read more

8/05/2009 My last few days in LA were great, Wayde Beans and Myself went to the opening of Norm's exhibition at the Canvas gallery on Fairfax, there were artworks by Norm and a bunch of guys from LA's ledgendary Seventh Letter Crew and MSK. Caught up with Todd and Rachael who co-owns the gallery. Rachel is best known as the Editor in Chief of BMEZINE and well known in the Mod community. Was a great night, the next morning we met Bliss at LAX and from there headed to Santa Anna where we met Chantelle who travelled out to Vegas with us. Wayde and I shared the driving on what is always a long hectic drive. With the APP conference in town once again Vegas came alive with hundreds of heavily modified members of the piercing ... read more

I spent this morning at the Farmers market on Fairfax, had some nice fresh pineapple for breakfast and got to know my new room mate Christy. Was nice to get some fresh food and checkout some local dishes. I mwt Duncan at 2 and we caught up over lunch, I spent the afternoon doing jewellery sales with him, checking out more studios as we went. Met some cool people and was reminded of my time selling for Zen. We stopped in at Bob Roberts Spotlight Tattoo and Duncan had some new work done by Norm, I booked myself in for tomorrow. Norm is a former apprentice of Grime and does some of the cleanest work I've seen in LA so far. Looking forward to picking up some tips. Afterwards Duncan dropped my off at High Voltage ... read more