each other, so it didn't take very long before the conversations
became interesting.
The sight of six or seven shave-headed pierceniks, who packed
more brass than a roadie for Blood, Sweat and Tears, caused bare-
ly a second glance in the midst of these who have seen and heard
it all. The probability that the Pain Parade had permanently custom-
ized peninsulas lurking beneath their leather briefs reminded one
veteran tattooist of the Danny Hansen story. It seems that Danny
Hansen had someone come into his shop in Copenhagen and ask
if he would tattoo that most tender of appendages. Most artists turn
down this sort of work, or they do what Hansen did: hike up the price.
The customer agreed to the cost, but said he wanted Hansen to
draw it on him first in pen, so he could approve the design before
it was tattooed in. Hansen complied, and as he drew on the penis,
the customer ejaculated in Hansen's hand. Hansen cursed, reached
over for a paper towel and soothed his anger with the thought that
at least he'd be making good money on the job. Meanwhile, the
customer looked down, said, "Thank you, but I don't care much for
the drawing." and walked out.
Over by the hors d'oeuvres, Mike Malone of Honolulu was telling
one of his favorite Sailor Jerry stories. Sailor Jerry is to American
tattooing what Bear Bryant is to college football. Jerry died in 1972,
but much of the tattoo imagery he created is still popular today. He
was also a legendary practical joker and his former protegé, Malone,
recounted how Jerry would make his target relax before mentally
drop-kicking him. "There used to be a tattoo artist in
Honolulu, just down the street from
Jerry, named Lou
(Continued on page 116
HRASHER
Mark and Maria Mahoney
Okay, Mark, why did you get into tattoo-
ing? Isn't it kind of gross?
Yeah, it is. I got fired from my paper route,
so I needed a new way to make an income.
I knew a lot of suckers with money in their
pockets.
What was the first single needle tattoo you
ever saw?
I was in Johnny Thunders' big Winnebago
out in front of the Paradise in Boston. He got
a tattoo from Bob Roberts. His ex-old lady's
name in single needle. I had never seen that
fine line stuff before, and I thought it was the
baddest ever. I wanted to come to California
and get into that, because it's illegal on the
East Coast.
How was working at the Pike?
That was a dream. The closed down
amusement park on the Coney Island of
California. I lived in a rat-infested ex-strip joint
that had become a low rent tattoo shop. I
learned the basics of tattooing, the most im-
portant things, like how to fire bomb competi-
tion, and tell everybody not to go to him, he's
a fag, he'll give you hepatitis. But seriously.
I learned the art and basics of tattooing: how
to talk shit and lie.
Did you have to go to school to learn how
to tattoo?
Yeah, reform school.
Who's your favorite skateboarder?
I don't know, I like them all except Jason
Jessee. No, Fred Smith, he's one of the around for a good clean shop. Look and see
pastafarians from the Habla Team.
You had a party in Long Beach for all the
people you have tattooed-the Hell's
Angels, the punkers, the cholos. What
happened?
That was a nice smorgasbord of Long
Beach low life. I needed to get pictures of the
people I'd been tattooing. I never had pic
tures. I invited anybody who had a tattoo from
me. It ended up being like a hundred and fifty
green-haired Mohawken type, you know
colorful leather jacket punkers, and then a
hundred and fifty forty-year-old grey bearded
Long Beach-area motorcycle club guys. One
guy left early saying, 'Nobody can pull this
off, there's gonna be a riot' I told him, 'I ain't
nervous enough, get out of here. Everybody
was putting coasters under all their cocktails,
emptying their ashtrays, and it was nice. I got
thank-you notes for three months afterwards
and a write-up in the society pages of the
Long Beach Gazette. It was a happenin',
hippy love groove.
if they have a sterilizer. If it doesn't have dust
on it, you'll be all right.
What religion are you?
I was born and raised a Catholic boy and
I'm still raising myself as a Catholic boy. I
think that for a tattooer it's good, it's got all
the heavy symbolism of the blood, the
candles, the thorns, the holy water. I need
all those trappings of spiritualism, and I like
it. Confession is the especially good part, it's
like a car wash for the soul. Once a week-
boom-whether you need it or not.
What got you into fine line tattooing?
Like I said, the first single needle tattoo |
ever saw was that one on Johnny Thunders
that Bob Roberts did. I had heard that it
couldn't be done. You had to have multiple
needles to hold the ink in. I was told that it
was happening in California, so I came out
here and I saw the work coming out of Good
Time Charlie's. The best stuff I ever saw was
by this guy Coyote, Freddie Negretti, who
retired from tattooing to be the low riding
Do you get many yuppies coming in try- king, with his custom-made zoot suit pants
Ing to get tattoos?
and everything. When I was a kid my mother
I think they know better than to come to bought me a big box of Crayolas. After about
MARK MAHONEY
INTERVIEW BY JASON JESSEE
me, but I get some customers in my hair. High
falutin' captains of police forces and the like.
I used to judge people because of what I
heard about them, but now I'm doing rock
stars and actors, and all the people who I
thought were cool, from seeing them on MTV
or whatever, are all dicks. The ones who I
would have thought were uncool are the
coolest. One of the coolest people I met lately
is that Jack Russel guy from Great White.
There are all kinds of lovely people. Like
Jason Jessee's mother. Wigger says I should
put 'Mark Mahoney tattoos everyone and
their mother, on my car. We like to help out
the good people.
What do you think about people that are
afraid to get tattoos because of AIDS or
the needles not being sterile?
I think that's kind of goofy. People like to
kiss, but they didn't stop that. I sterilized
when I first started tattooing thirteen years
ago, before they even had AIDS. There are
all kinds of funky infections you can get from
one person to the other, but sterilize and
you're clean.
The chances of unsterile equipment are
nil if you go to a good place, but lots of peo-
ple go to 'Chewey's Garage' to get worked
on. That's taking too much of a risk. Ask
a week, the black
crayon would be
half an inch long
and the rest would
be untouched. I
guess I was
meant to do this.
Some kids out there think tattoos are
really cool. Do you have any suggestions
on what they should do if they want to
start tattooing?
Well, the only good way to get into the
business is to be an apprentice for someone
for a couple of years before you start tattoo-
ing. That way you get to see what the tattoo
life is like, because it's not a regular job. Sure
it looks like easy money, but you have to deal
with the public, and that can be grueling. It
looks easy, but in the end it's really not. A
lot of tattopers retire after ten years, or go to
the nut house, or jail. It's real hard on you.
It's high concentration and it can be a good
living, but you have to be cut out for it. I've
known lots of real artistic guys who have
done it for a few years but just can't handle
the stress.
How do you feel about the fact that tattoos
and motorcycles are so trendy?
I feel like a motorcycle thief. I think there
might be something good about it, but in a
way it's a drag for people who have been tat-
tooed and riding bikes for a long time and
paying dues for it. Now they're getting shit
for it everywhere they go. The fact that these
yuppie guys don't even get pulled over isn't
fair. It's good for business that different kinds
of people are getting tattooed, but that's the
public that I never really wanted anything to
do with. I became a tattooer instead of a
painter because the only people that buy
paintings are the people that go to galleries
I wouldn't want to sell to any of those people.
Tattooing is a folk art. It's done by poor people.
for other poor people to appreciate. I don't
think that will ever change. It's got a five-
hundred-thousand-year history of being on
the outside of the real art world. I enjoy my
little day in the sun here and I'd like to make
some money while it's happening, but I hope
the sun sets pretty soon too.
Who were all the people who helped you
out when you were getting started?
The main break I got was to hook up with
a motorcycle club from Boston, the Centaurs.
Those guys did me absolutely right. Paid me
good, treated me good. When I came out
here Colonel Todd gave me my first real shop
job and taught me the basics of the tattoo
world. Other people have helped, such as
Rick Walters, who works for Todd, Horse, a
penitentiary tattooer, John Sandler, Mike
Brown from Tattooland. Mike Brown is one
of the best unsung tattooers in the world. I
guess a lot of other people don't believe it,
but I know it's a fact.
To get my job at the Pike I had to bring
down someone to tattoo. My partner Eddie
Devine was a merchant marine and he let
me do an anchor, a heart, a cross and some
chains on him. That's how I got my job. I went
down there into the back room and they all
tried to make me nervous to see how I worked
under pressure. I had a hangover and I didn't
shave, but I did all right. I set everything up
in the back room and Colonel Todd kept
asking me what kind of equipment I had.
Then he starts looking at my machines and
laughing. He tells the guy in the front 'Well,
hell, Gary come on back here and take a look
at this. He's going to tattoo his friend with
this. They made me nervous, but I did well.
He couldn't believe that I could just draw it
on. I don't think they'd ever seen that.
When did you know you could do por-
traits, and who was your first portrait?
I did one on this guy Spider from the Cen-
taurs. He had a big 6'2" 200 pounds plus
peasant Norwegian girlfriend and he made
her stand naked on the bar at the clubhouse
for about two hours while I drew her on his
back arm. He had a lot of pin-up girls on him,
but they all had their heads cut off and bone
and blood sticking out. It took a long time.
I drew a head on her and everything and then
Spider told me 'Hey, Mark, I want this the
grossest one of all. I want more blood a..d
bone and veins sticking out of this one, go.
ahead and draw the head, but if you tattoo
it on there I'm going to cut yours off." So she
comes down and sees the drawing and she's
all happy, and then he (Continued on page 116)
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