So kiddies, snuggle up close to the fire and enjoy our latest entry.
Don't Forget Your Roots: A Round Table Discussion.
ToddBlog: There is no doubt that the industry has been and is filled with individuals that have made an impact on the industry. What we here at ToddBlog would like to know is: Who do you admire? Who within this industry has left an impact on you, has gained your respect, and keeps you inspired? Also, is there anyone we should know about? Past or present, that you feel deserves said respect?
Shawn: Without a doubt Ron Garza doesn't get the respect he deserves; we've sort of run with the "Dirty Garz" shtick, but when you look at Ron's contributions to the community... He's put in the time and doesn't get the cheers.
I admire the hell out of Jon Cobb, Keith Alexander, Sean Christian... All of them were smart enough to leave the "business" of body modification while still remaining true to why we did these things to ourselves in the first place.
Tattooers? David Bruehl. That guy is everything a tattoo artist should be. Plain and simple.
From back in the day? Mike Natali....
Jareb: Garz definitely gets hailed for his goat fucking more than his needle pushing. I also think that Brian Decker and John Joyce kinda get overlooked a lot for the things they have contributed.
My biggest inspirations were some of the New England local piercers. End of the nineties, early 2 thousand, there just wasn't a lot of that shit going on here, and it was nice to meet kids that encouraged you and would freely give advice and friendship. Fuck, I met Stephen DeToma randomly walking about a convention when he still pierced here in Mass, and it turned out to be one of the better friendships I found. Ryan Oulette, Zippy, Jonah, and Lumpy were real big on me pushing through the bullshit in this area, too.
Keith was also absolutely amazing, and you can see how true that is with how often people still cite Keith and talk about how missed he is.
And, all bullshitting aside, Shannon and Shawn deserve a ton of credit for the websites that they ran that really brought people together.
J.P. As far as piercers are concerned, my main influences were a few of my fellow local piercers, one of them is Todd's co-worker Denice. Her, Noel Garcia, and Luis Suarez were probably my biggest influences. They were the only piercers in my area that actually cared about what they were doing, and always made themselves available to me to pick their brains. Denice would hang out with me and talk piercing for HOURS at New Age. She's also one of the people that convinced me to keep fighting the good fight and continue piercing. Noel Garcia met me when I was 17 and after finding out I'd done my own PA he jacked me up against the wall and growled at me in his thick cuban accent "You get one dick, that's it, one dick, but your dick works, so keep trying." Watching Denice, and Luis pierce at New Age whenever I was hanging out pushed me in the direction of becoming a freehand piercer, Luis was the first to tell me "If somebody can drop a 6 gauge hook in somebody without forceps, why the fuck do you need forceps for a navel?" . They also impressed upon me not to be shy about asking questions, and finding my own answers if I couldn't get a satisfactory answer to the question. Another huge influence on me has been Johnny"Fuckin"Velez out of Native Rituals. I remember when i first got to Chicago, Johnny acted like it was his job to make sure I loved that city. I remember being on my way to the shop I was working at over there once and Johnny calling me and saying "Hey wanna work?" he'd do this from time to time, so he could take a day-off and get me out of the less than ideal conditions I was working in. He'd even come scoop me up and take me to lunch and crack up when I told him I called out to moonlight at his shop, saying "That's right, fuck that guy, you're working for The Johnny today". These are the piercers that had already blazed their path around me, and helped me get onto my own. Their immediate acceptance of some young kid who only wanted to be a better piercer is probably the main reason I've lasted as long as I have. I also know they're only a phone call away any time I need their input.
I'll also push for Shannon, if it wasn't for BME/IAM I'd have never gotten in touch with as many piercers as I had, and not had a lot of access to great information.
I'm a little young to have remembered SPC(I stared piercing in '03) but a conversation with Shawn is always worth the effort you are willing to put into it, because you will get just as much out of it.
Jareb: I'd even go so far as to say the kids involved in this discussion continue to push and inspire me, and the family aspect drives me harder. No matter the question I have, I know I can always call up Todd, Stephen, JP, Sarvas, Johnny Velez, and so may others. Having that safety net behind me allows me to confidently move forward.
Shawn: Amber Glisson/Zito from Florida is someone who worked for YEARS in the Tampa area at some of the most high volume shops I've ever seen and no one "knows" her because she spent more time working than shamelessly promoting herself.
Amber literally did 10,000+ piercings in the time I knew her (and I'm sure she doubled, tripled that in the years since) but still gave every client a great experience.
She came in early 1990s I think...
Stephen: There are a great many people who I hold in high esteem to this day and some more that have come across my path. One of the guys I look up to is Johnny Johnson in Long Beach. He's not only a technically proficient piercer and great at what he does, but he has a calm, caring demeanor that help put people at ease. He genuinely cares about what he does and strives to not only help make his own craft better but others as well.
Sarvas: I agree with Stephen about John Johnson, that is one of the most legit guys in the industry. That man is so humble and is one of the most positive piercers I've met. Very eager to learn and grow and he's so funny... John Johnson for sure..
Cameron: at this point I feel a bit like I don't have much to contribute.
I learned on my own. I had a few people act as bumper rails in the beginning, people to tell me that what I was doing, and more often than not, how I was acting was ridiculous, particularly my ol' bestie Kit Hall and Cere. Those two, albeit they aren't even piercers, did more for me than I can credit. Kit introduced me to a lot of people, who I like to now call friends, that I learned to take information from and she also let me tag along on her outings when she'd travel to get work done. Cere, quite simply put, stomped my dick when I started waving it around thinking I knew everything. I owe him a great sum for that reality check.
Richmond is an island in the realm modern piercing, as is such I do want to say that BME and IAM have been invaluable tools for me. I learned what to do with the help of people I needed to call on for questions, Decker, Shawn Phillips, Josh Burgh, Toddypants, and so on. But I do have to say that more importantly IAM has been a greater tool for me as in it has provided me insight on what not to do. I've learned more from other people mistakes and hack-ass work than I have from my own. It's sad that I can say this, but I'm thankful that there have been soooo many examples of ineptitude that I've been able to learn quite a bit from the breakdowns in most modblog comments. Those influences include,...naw, I'm just kidding, I'm not calling anyone out...except for Shawn O'Hare...and that's only because he cut off a kids eyebrow and insists on not piercing anything in a straight line.
Shawn: Wasn't Cere a piercer for a while?
Maybe I'm remembering wrong?
Stephen: If you can't remember, we're all fucked. I for one count on you as our living Wiki-Porter-a
Cameron: Okay sure, Cere was piercer for awhile, I always looked up to his piercing hobby for suspensions. I got a lot of help from him on technical shit like cross contamination, sterilization, and bed side manner when I first started fucking around with this, one of the first times at a BBQ in Long Island, from then on I guess I show him more as a garbage man with a cool hobby.
ToddBlog: when i first started getting piercings and all, there were a few big influences for me at that time. I'd have to say Shannon was a very large influence. At the time i met him he was just getting BME off the ground, and he would always bring by everything he was working on and let me take a look. Because of him i learned a lot about the more "underground" modifications.
I also have to give credit to Inferno and Infinite. Getting pierced at those places was what made me want to become a piercer.
When i started piercing i wasn't on IAM so i didn't get to talk to any of the people on there. All i knew were stories about people, but even those stories kept me wanting to learn more. Brian Skellie comes to mind. Such a solid piercer, there are still things that he has done that i can't wrap my head around. Falkner and the rest of TSD were a big influence as well.
I'd have to say that now, the ones that inspire me are my friends. All of you in this discussion keep me going. You guys remind me everyday why i have such a passion for this. There are a few others that currently inspire me. John Joyce is one of them. That dude is some one that we can all learn something from. One of the most humble dudes in this "hobby". Ashley Carment is a big inspiration. It seems weird because she was my apprentice, but every day she manages to make me proud of her as a piercer. I honestly think she is one of the people we should be keeping an eye out for.
Shawn: I thought you were 3rd generation Jack Yount trained, Todd? Heheh.
ToddBlog: Hahah. I believe that qualifies as "old school" doesn't it?
Do i get a T-shirt or something? It can say something like "Jack didn't know me, but i drop his name like its hot." heh.
In all seriousness i think there is a long list of fellows like Jack that should be acknowledged. If it weren't for them we wouldn't be here.
Shawn: I certainly wouldn't be here without Jack.
ToddBlog: Shawn: Maybe you can give us a little insight on that? I know what you mean by that, but some of our readers may not even know who Jack is, or what he even had to do with the industry.
Jareb: I have always explained to people that think doing genital work is "gay," that it kinda is. Tribes aside, we're riding on the chaps of a leather scene and really need to acknowledge that. I never got to meet Jack, but know who he was, and love the stories Shawn has of him, so yes Shawn, please go on about him.
Shawn: Good point. Jack Yount was a piercer and modification artist who worked on the east coast from the 1950s (yep... the 1950s) to the 1990s when he passed away.
He pierced under the named "Mr. Jay" (or Mister J, depending on which business card you want to reference) predominately in the gay communities of D.C. and Florida.
In the 1980s Jack started investigating surgical procedures; he was castrated, sub incised, bisected (glans) and silicone enhanced (several thousand ccs in his penis and scrotum) and had a finger amputated. Some of the surgeries were self done, others were done by the famed "Modification Doctor" Ronald Brown.
I was fortunate to have met Jack when I was 15; he went on to be a mentor/surrogate grandfather to my brother and I. Jack was a true one of a kind character. Kind, gentle, cheeky and generous with his time and his knowledge.
*EDIT* Shawn was gracious enough to give us an article he had written about Dr. Brown to share with our beloved readers. Isn't he swell?
"Dr. Ronald Brown was responsible for quite a bit of the surgical work on many people involved in Extreme Body Modifications. You can read about him, briefly, in the Fakir Musafar section of RE/Search's Modern Primitives. While I never met or talked to Dr. Brown, his reputation, while sometimes dubious, proceeded him. His arrest leaves me to wonder what effect it will have on others working in the "extreme" modification field.
John Ronald Brown, 75, pleaded innocent to charges of murder, practicing medicine without a license, illegal drug distribution and theft. He was held without bond.
After his arrest, bloody towels were found soaking in his bathtub, as well as blood trails and videotapes of him working... as of yet the prosecutor, Stacy Running, has not elaborated on the contents of the tapes, save that they were of gender reassignment. Running failed to mention if the tapes were shot in the US or Mexico.
As I mentioned, the "good doctor" had quite the dubious reputation... his medical license was revoked in California in 1977, and he served three years in prison after a 1989 conviction in San Francisco, where he was arrested for moving a pre-op transexual's hairline.
Running discovered hundreds of records on patients all over the US, and suprisingly only mentioned the "common" surgical choices like liposuction, breast implants and face lifts... no mention of Brown's more extreme surgical modifications.
It was also reported that Brown led potential patients to believe that he was a licensed doctor... as far as I know that is completely untrue. Word has it that he always informed patients of his... status. Stacy went on to say that people were had these operations were afraid to come forward, because they knew they were illegal. Sounds like some double talk from the prosecutors office.
The murder charge refers to Philip Bondy, 80, who died May 11 after a leg amputation. An autopsy found that Bondy died from gangrene poisoning. His body was found in a hotel outside of San Diego.
Prosecutors were puzzled as to why the amputation was performed. ``There was no medical reason evident of why he would need his leg amputated,'' Running said.
There is a documented paraphillia that Stacy Running no doubt knows about where an individual is obsessed with amputation. Either being around amputees or becomming one themselves. Any basic research into the subject should bring up the amputee fetish.... it's highly documented in both psychiatric and "bizarre" literature. For Stacy to say that there was no medical reason for the amputation is true.... but others with this obsession have gone as far as blowing their leg off with a shotgun*, laying their legs on traintracks and more, so performing the amputation would have been good for his mental wellbeing.
As a pro-choice advocate, I support the right for a forming fetus to be disected and removed from a woman, because she has the choice over her own body. She doesnt have to go to back alley clinics, to Mexico, or to a dubious operator, she can walk into a family planning clinic, and with no consuling have a relatively dangerous procedure done. A man who wants his testicles removed does not have that choice. A person who wants an amputation done does not have that choice. Until extreme aesthetic surgery becomes something doctors are willing to do, people like Brown will be able to work privately with extra risk to the patient. That is the true crime.
Both SPC and BME will try to keep everyone posted on Dr. Brown's case.
*Bizzarre magazine recently ran an article on volutary amputees. Included was George Boyer, a Florida man who's amputee obsession became so strong that he shot himself in the leg with a shotgun. His mental heath suffered until he finally became an amputee... which is evidence that there is a medical reason to make someone with this obsession an amputee surgically. "
ToddBlog: I definitely think it's safe to say that Jack had a HUGE influence on you and helped you become the person you are today. Most people in the industry were not as fortunate to have a person of his caliber mentor us in the way you were.
Shawn: The first nipple piercings I saw in person were on Jack; and were 00g rings in 1/2"+ holes. I'm sure it had an effect.
Jareb: I'd say that could make an impact... DAMN!
Stephen: Simply based on personal interaction, I'd also like to throw out Derek Lowe and Jason King. Both of them are stand-up guys and have a genuine love for their craft. Those guys are just some of the nicest, helpful guys ever.
Shawn: Derek is one of those guys that... without piercers like him, modern body piercing wouldn't be where it is but not enough people know firsthand. A shame.
ToddBlog: This is a good point. I say lets give him the credit he deserves!
Would one of you fine gentlemen care to enlighten our readers on how he has had an impact on our industry?
Shawn: By being my bitch?
ToddBlog: So essentially what you're saying is, modern body piercing wouldn't be where it us today if Derek Lowe didn't run and get you your coffee in the morning? Interesting...
Shawn: Haha. Derek was one of those guys who just put the hours in; never really tried to shake up the industry with gimmick piercings. Just a guy who set the standard in his area without becoming a rock star or a douche. And also he's my bitch.
Stephen: The demeanor is a huge aspect of it; both of them lead by example in who they are and what they do personally and professionally.
Jareb: "never really tried to shake up the industry with gimmick piercings"
This statement alone shows who the piercers are that should get credit is in general. Piercers who haven't been featured on modblog for cutting off eyebrows or other stupid stunts are the ones I seek advice from myself. In my opinion, it turns out that most of the guys and gals who no one has ever heard of, are the ones who are going to last forever, give the best advice, and be the most humble.
Shawn: Funny Derek Lowe story:
Derek and I had known each other on the Internets since the 90s but until a few years ago had never met.
I was dating this scene pointing thunder cunt who lived in Minnesota back then and obviously wanted to meet Derek while I was out that way. She knew him (he was famous after all) so she called him up and said that she had a friend in from out of town who wanted to meet him.
The line went quiet for a few seconds and he said ".... it's not... Shawn Porter is it?"
You can't beat that kind of (sexual) tension in my book. I went over to St. Sabrinas (which is an amazing shop) and finally had the pleasure of spending some time with Derek. We've had our (major) disagreements over the years, but it was awesome to finally be able to shoot the shit with him in person.
He's like Wedge Antilles.... he's always got your wing. Haha.
Stephen: And also survived destroying both Death Stars. Oh Derek. First name Minnie. Last name Appolis.
Well, we hope you guys enjoyed reading this. Because we sure did have fun discussing it. Feel free to comment and let us know who YOU admire. Until next time kiddies...
Want to be featured on ToddBlog? Please send your photos and stories to
ToddBlog * Please note that although we here at ToddBlog appreciate your support, not all submissions will be posted. *
I think if I've had any type of impact on the piercing industry, it's definitely been my work as Shawn's bitch.
ReplyDelete-Derek Lowe
That's how I see it, too.
ReplyDelete