sean works booth ii (the sunday wrap up)

the title is a bit off…

…’cause i actually only worked the booth on friday. but regardless, here are some notes from my first ever tattoo convention.

1. 9:55am (two hours and five minutes before doors open to the public) – i arrive and head for the parking garage only to find out it was completely open and parking was free! i immediately text all my guys working that weekend and let them know parking was free…but it turns out you only got that if you got there before the parking attendants and state trooper security – than it was seven bucks. oops.

2. random austin building note – the palmer events center was built not where the palmer auditorium USED to be, but rather off to the side of it…palmer auditorium being that greenish domed building that used to sit at the corner of riverside and south first that was both the last place on texas soil where elvis played before he “died” (in quotes so conspiracy theorists don’t bombard me with emails again) and the place immortalized in LIFE magazine back in the day when their brand new (at the time) light up marquee was photographed saying “TONIGHT ONLY – SPECIAL GALA DINNER FOR PRESIDENT JFK HOSTED BY TEXAS GOVERNOR JOHN CONNOLY”. needless to say thet didn’t make it.

3. don’t judge a book by it’s cover – i walk up to a girl in torn jeans and a “minor threat” t-shirt with no less than three facial piercings and lots of visible ink crouched down smoking outside the mammoth structure to verify i’m walking towards the convention. she replies with a very slacker-cool vibe, “i dunno, i guess…not heading there till after work”. when she stands up i see her i.d. badge from the city of austin energy department, who’s offices are in the building. welcome to casual friday in austin texas!

4. random joke i couldn’t stop telling all weekend – what’s the difference between a joke and three dicks? sometimes your mom has a problem taking a joke…

5. i may have to cheat on my employers – and get a calf piece (yes, a tattoo that will SHOW when i’m in cargo shorts) done by this guy. probably be a while, but i know he likes working on different stuff, and my calves certainly give an artist some room to move, fill, etc…but again, might be a while. maybe after i’m forty.

6. where’s the mention of the actual tattoo convention, you might be wondering… – so i’ll throw this in at the end. austin has a TON of tattoo shops…give or take sixty or so. most of them do the convention, along with a few from SA, houston, dallas, and then one or two national guys. overall, it’s like walking amongst austin’s “tattoo row” if there was such a thing…and the booths that weren’t local shops were geared towards tattoo artists which, while i work in the industry, i’m not an artist. booths filled with ink and machines do nothing for me. booths lined with flash (the stuff you see on the wall of most tattoo shops) just makes me feel like I’m at our shop. the custom cars were cool, but during a workday (Friday) the crowd is pretty sparse so overall i was just kinda bored. i DID get to eat lunch at sandy’s though, so that made the trip worth it for me…but that’s just me. then again, this whole fuckin’ site is just me, ain’t it?