...and now EVERYONE has one. That's not fair. From the Times-Picayune:
Gregory "Boobie" Toefield sears memories into flesh every day.Good thing I got mine in Kansas City.
Just across the Industrial Canal, one of his Aart Accent Tat-2 facilities sits on St. Claude Avenue, lime-green facade partly overgrown with plywood boards, prim floral curtains peeking out over black bars. Inside, hunks of fiberglass are piled on a chair that looks like it belongs in a dentist's office.
Latest reopening estimate: 2010. Maybe.
But wait!
In fact, at Aart Accent's other store -- an undamaged orange building at the edge of the Quarter, decorated with a rainbow of gremlins and jesters -- Toefield does a brisk trade in New Orleans tattoos.Arrggh! Shocking, just shocking! I don't like that at all. Well, I should have known. It's a no-brainer, really. Oh well. What's done is done.
....
What's keeping these tattoo parlors in business, artists agree, is fleur de lis madness. Before Katrina, tattooists averaged a New Orleans tattoo or two a month, usually during Saints season. These days, Freaky Tiki does about 25 fleur de lis tattoos per week, and Toefield said he'll do a dozen a day near Mardi Gras time.
"We're doing nothing but fleur de lis," said Louis "Screwie Louie" McDowell of Brad's West Bank Tattoos in Marrero. "Everyone and their brother has to have one."
Wait again! It gets worse!
And the tattoo parlors report more old folks -- Jones of Freaky Tiki recently tattooed a 75-year-old woman -- and first-timers than ever before.Older than I am! Am I to be left with nothing to crow about? And it's a trend. More old folks! I don't want to be trendy.
Well, I console myself that the fleur-de-lis is still pretty rare in my little town, and it may be well be unique amongst the population of 73+ year old women here.
My tattoo looks better than the picture shows.
I don't have a tattoo because people named "Boobie" have them. Please, don't change your nick name!
ReplyDeleteHere are the lyrics to my favorite song about a tattoo. It's by the Who. Change the words "a man" to "a grandmother" and it still works.
Me and my brother were talking to each other
'Bout what makes a man a man
Was it brain or brawn, or the month you were born,
We just couldn't understand
Our old man didn't like our appearance
He said that only women wear long hair
So me and my brother borrowed money from Mother
We knew what we had to do
We went downstairs, past the barber and gymnasium
And got our arms tattooed
Welcome to my life, tattoo
I'm a man now, thanks to you
I expect I'll regret you
But the skin graft man won't get you
You'll be there when I die
Tattoo
My dad beat me 'cause mine said "Mother"
But my mother naturally liked it and beat my brother
'Cause his tattoo was of a lady in the nude
And my mother thought that was extremely rude
Welcome to my life, tattoo
We've a long time together, me and you
I expect I'll regret you
But the skin graft man won't get you
You'll be there when I die
Tattoo
Now I'm older, I'm tattooed all over
My wife is tattooed too
A rooty-toot-toot, A rooty-tooty-toot-toot
Rooty-toot-toot tattoo too
To you
"Boobie" is hardly a flattering name for a man. It reminds me of a man whom you and I both know (virtually), and about whom I do not want to think.
ReplyDeleteI love the song lyrics. It requires a little mind-bending to get the genders right, but it's all the more fun for that.
I have a common old dolphin tattoo because I swam into a dolphin during a long distance sea swim quite a few years ago. I converted to Dolphinism and carry the memory with me always.
ReplyDeleteSteph, a dolphin is good. I can see having a dolphin. I had been wanting an ankle tattoo for about ten years, but I didn't know what to get, and I decided about a month or so ago that I wanted the fleur-de-lis - along with everyone else, it seems.
ReplyDeleteJust as your dolphin has meaning, mine has meaning for me as a native New Orleanian, who still misses living there after 40+ years away.
maybe your tattoo is common, but you are still unique, Mimi!
ReplyDeleteI like your fleur de lis. I could never get a tattoo because I'm afraid of needles.
ReplyDeleteI will tell an anecdote--but please forgive me after wards. :)
I forgot you had a tattoo the other night when I got into a conversation with some friends about them. My friend Karleen said she would never get one because she saw a really old guy with tattoos drooping everywhere and she thought it looked bad.
So I said, yeah, what's a tattoo going to look like when you get in your 70s and all your skin turns to scrotum? Unless you wait until you're in your 70s to get one.
Now I say this unequivocally--your ankle looks fabulous. Not at all droopy or scrotumy. So please forgive my stereotyping. :)
Awww thanks, Diane.
ReplyDeleteMissy, LOL. If I had scrotumy ankles, I would never have called attention to one of them with a tattoo. I confess that I photoshopped a few veins out. They showed up a lot more in the picture than in real life.
Me is big giant chicken. No tatoo for meez.
ReplyDeleteCany, me is a big chicken, too. Me was scared.
ReplyDeleteGrandmère Mimi, I just discovered your blog (followed you here from Rising Tide).
ReplyDeleteI love your spirit and your wisdom...and your wicked, wicked humor. Thank you!
You have fabulous ankles. Don't even think of photoshopping any bit of them. 100% real is the only way to go, she says, head firmly embedded in the sand...
ReplyDeletemissy: the needle doesn't hurt, it just tickles. Mind you I once met a girl whose husband was a tattoo artist of some fame. She had her whole body, neck to toe and part of her face, absolutely covered in the Tolkein illustration. She was a perfect walking masterpiece. Amazing. Now I bet that hurt. I prefer my little dolphin and mimi's fleur de lis.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what, you're still unique, don't worry about that!
ReplyDeleteWhile you do have fabulous ankles, that tattoo might have been even more interesting somewhere else... ;)
ReplyDeleteKevin, welcome. I checked out your blog just now and found your impressive resumé. You are a REAL WRITER. You were excellent on the journalism panel, as were the others. Don't you dare work for free, so Arianna can make money.
ReplyDeleteYour gravatar is a handsome likeness of you, indeed. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a few words.
Yeah, I be wicked.
Gee, Ostrich, thank you.
ReplyDeleteCaminante, and also are you unique, and I have not walked the El Camino Real.
Steph, love, it hurt me. It felt like tiny needles sticking in my ankle, but the pain was nowhere near unbearable. I'd do it again, but I won't, because I only want one tattoo.
David, why would you want me to have it in a place where you couldn't see it?
That's a nice tattoo, and very sexy ankles!
ReplyDeleteLindy, you're a brick. Thanks.
ReplyDelete