California Dreaming on such a Winter's Day...

It is damn cold here in the Heartland of Ohio. Not sure why they call it the Heartland. I assume if you were to look at a map of the U.S. this general vicinity would look somewhat like the heart area of the human body. Digressions aside and putting it bluntly it's cold. The first real snow of Winter has been dumped upon us like debris from an overfilled tavern's ashtrays. Not that there are any ashtrays in Taverns in Ohio. Citizens are banned from smoking in public buildings here in "The Heart of it All". Not that I give a rat's ass. I'm not a smoker per se and anything that would be worth smoking around here wouldn't be kosher to smoke in a public setting anyhow.

Didn't I put digressions aside half a paragraph earlier?

Snow slows the flow of the tattoo crowd around these parts. It's hibernation time in the great Midwest and much of the rest of the country right now. It's not as bad as it used to be, the Winter tattoo deceleration. Thanks to those crazy tattoo shows that seem to be the only thing that anybody talks about in tattoo circles currently. I love interviews like this...

"So, you've been tattooing for 15 or 20 years. You must have experienced so much in this industry. What do you think of all these TV shows?"

I've been guilty myself once or twice but for fucksake people...

Approaching digression, please return to your seats and close your overhead compartments.

Speaking of tattoo TV, it looks as though there's a new contender on the horizon. A show is currently in pre-production, tentatively titled "Marked" that should be airing later this year on the History Channel. The show will be more informative and educational than the current crop of docudramas on the air and will take the viewer around the world exploring various underground tattoo cultures. I received a personal letter from their casting department asking me to send in a tape for consideration as the host of the show but it was so last minute that I didn't have time to get it together. I don't think my out of shape ass would've been the best candidate for trekking up a mountainside in Japan or South America though I would've relished the experience and given it my best. A far better candidate currently in the running for this program is Durb Morrison. Durb is the former owner of Columbus Ohio's Stained Skin, the organizer of the Hell City Tattoo Convention and is currently working out of High Street Tattoos South location. I don't know who else is in the running but my vote is for Morrison for whatever it's worth. If anybody could eat maggots, climb a mountain and then base jump into a tribe of tattooed cannibals and come out the other side smiling it's Durb.

Did I mention how cold it is?

I have friends who currently live in Alaska. This would be picnic weather for them but it has the Schools closed here and the good Reverend planted firmly on the couch clacking away at the keyboard of his MacBook still in his pajamas dreaming of swapping places with his little brother out in San Diego for the Winter all the while knowing that a few inches of snow is far less fatal than the earthquakes, fires, flood, mudslides, killer bees and not to mention many of the humanoid inhabitants of the great state of Schwarzenegger.

Maybe I'll warm up with another cup of coffee or some snuggling with the wife and kid. Maybe I'll take a peek, strictly for the sake of science, at the www.SuperCult.com website. They're probably the most artistic and well done of all the "tattooed chicks in the nude" websites...

And they've got some pretty steamy pics of televisions favorite tattooer, Kat Von D.

Hey, isn't she from California?

Rev. Chad Wells www.wellstattoo.com