TattooAftercare.org

I think I’ve only done one Needles and Sins Public Service Announcement, probably around this time last year, so I guess we’re due for one. Let’s call it an anniversary PSA.

I should first define what a PSA is, I guess. According to Wikipedia, knower of all things, “a typical PSA is
part of a public awareness campaign to inform or educate the
public about an issue such as smoking or compulsive gambling.”

We’d like to address these very issues here. Our message is this:

Smoking, compulsive gambling as well as excessive drinking can be very expensive.
Server fees, travel expenses to conventions, and the cost of our events and swag aside, the real cost of bringing you this content for free is our bar tabs, bookies and a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camels.

Our advertisers are our enablers.

We are selective, however, as to who gets the job of making our lives a cautionary tale. Our latest advertiser is Eikon Device Tattoo Equipment & Supply. They paid for the post below. Now, we’ve been approached by a number of tattoo supply companies who’ve wanted to advertise, and we turned them down because we couldn’t vouch for their stuff–and thus, risk steering you the wrong way so that you never return here. [We also have abandonment issues.] But Eikon has been around for over 13 years. I watched Dan DiMattia make his needles using only Eikon (later switching to their pre-made) and so I knew that top tattooers trusted them. And if Eikon takes money from top tattooists, we’ll take Eikon’s money and promote top tattooists. The circle is complete.

Yes, all this text above is simply to say: Please support our advertisers.

I know, WTF. We could’ve just asked at the start and avoided the verbal foreplay.

One more thing: If you’d like to support N+S beyond advertising, you can throw something in our virtual tip jar.

Back in February, we talked about performance artists Wafaa Bilal, who was embarking on a tattoo-based performance-art piece entitled “…And Couting,” in which he would be receiving a tattooed dot – in both black and UV ink – to commemorate the military and civilian casualties in Iraq.

So, seeing as how I’m a “white-noise” freak who keeps WBGO blasting in the living room 24 hours a day and NPR equally cranked in my office here at the Needles and Sins Compound, I was pleased to find out that the latter had done a piece on Bilal.

Click here to read the transcript, see some cool pictures or stream the audio of the segment.

[above photo by Brad Farwell]

Follow this link: Wafaa Bilal on NPR