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The Tattoo Chronicles >> Archives >> Chronicle #1 |
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Forward I first started researching the history of tattooing in the mid-nineties, and to say there was a dearth of source material at that time -- online or elsewhere -- is a little bit like saying there's a chronic shortage of water in the Sahara. The magazines of that era that did cover tattooing where often sporadically printed, niche publications that seemed aimed at the fetish crowd, or were mostly interested in pretty girls with ink on the back of Harley's, which wasn't really a surprise, because they were off-shoots of biker mags. There was almost no mention of indigenous tattooing, or "tribal tattooing" as it was usually called, and even less printed of might be called casual cultural anthropology about tattoos. Most of what appeared in print that did mention "tribal tattoos" were first-person travel stories, the thrust of which would have been perfectly suited to a Ripley's, "Believe It or Not" panel in the Sunday Comics. "Look at what those crazy natives are up to!" It was at this time that Bob Baxter showed up on the scene, and magazine coverage of tattoos and tattoo culture would never be the same. As Editor-in-Chief of Skin & Ink magazine for over fourteen years, Bob Baxter guided the publication to a Folio Magazine Editorial Excellence Award, making it America’s most respected and educational body art publication. I often called Skin & Ink, "the National Geographic of tattoo magazines", but that is something of a disservice to Bob and diminishes his editorial vision to cover the full spectrum of tattoo culture around the world. Such vision was and remains a rarity. Bob Baxter made Skin & Ink the best tattoo magazine in the world, bar none. When I heard that Bob had left Skin & Ink, I reached out to him the same day on the telephone, urging him to write for the Vanishing Tattoo website and share with us his extraordinary experiences covering tattoo culture over the last decade and a half at Skin & Ink. The Tattoo Chronicles by Bob Baxter is the result of that exchange and just like every other regular visitor to www.vanishingtattoo.com, I can't wait to read his weekly reminiscences, scoops, untold stories, behind the scenes gossip and unexpurgated recollections. That means you'll get the full Bob Baxter - longer and uncut, complete and unabbreviated, uncensored and unabridged. To ask questions, make comments or demand an apology, you can email Bob at baxter@tattooroadtrip.com. Welcome aboard, Mr. Road Tripper. |
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Tattoo Chronicle #1 ~ Bigger Than Brazil |
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I am able to live with the label that has been thrust upon me, because, I think Vince was referring to the part about Cassandra’s ability to foretell the future, you know, talk about where the world is headed, what might be the coming tends, what color suit Thomas Lockhart will wear at next year’s Nationals, that sort of thing. Well, Mr. Hemingson, you have it wrong. Wrong, I tell you. You might enjoy slipping in seemingly literate references to Greek mythology to impress other people, but that doesn’t impress me, no siree. Part of this is due, I am convinced, because Mr. Hemingson, much like his enormous vanishingtattoo.com website, has grown to such legendary proportions in the web world that he is accustomed to talking “big.” In another article in this very E-zine, I stated that Vince’s ego was “as big as Brazil.” This did not sit well with Mr. Hemingson. In fact, when he read my comment comparing him to the world’s fifth largest country in land mass, he immediately emailed me that he was offended and hurt that I had only placed his ego in fifth place and that he “hoped to do better.” Well, to my way of thinking, that kind of audacity immediately kicks Hemingson up one notch on the list, to the number four spot: The United States of America.
