I remember Chuck Eldridge telling me that he only writes about dead people. "That way," he assured me, "nobody complains."

We all know that Chuck is highly responsible and does extensive research and fact checking, but his point is made. Dead people are safe. It's the live ones that make all the noise.

Take for example Tennessee Dave. His Wit and Wisdom column is a readers' favorite because he tells it like it is, or rather was, in the tattoo world. Talk about dirty laundry; Tennessee tosses it in the air with a pitchfork as he details the foibles and idiosyncrasies of an unending list of colorful dear-departed characters on yesterday's tattoo scene.

I have edited SKIN&INK for ten years and have never received a single word to denounce either man and, if one of their facts was a bit cockeyed, the relatives or friends of the parties involved make the corrections in a light-hearted and humorous manner.

Not so with the living. Any correction, negative review, rebuff or reprimand results in an automatic hissy fit. For a group with such a major investment in acting tough, living on the edge and, generally, projecting the image of iconoclastic trailblazers, tattoo artists are, for the most part, rather thin-skinned. Any hint of criticism and they shrivel like the witch in the Wizard of Oz. They especially cannot understand it when other kinds of artists-especially those that write or edit-are as dedicated, ground-breaking and success-minded as they claim to be.

Case in point: a recent story about several world-class artists. While the various intrigues and dramatic scenes were relatively localized and short-lived, the who-did-what-to-whom was the talk of the tattoo world, from the Mission District to Milan. It was, to be honest, a tempest in a teapot. But, being a conscientious magazine that reports the ebbs as well as the flows of the industry, we picked up on the story and assigned a reporter to gather pertinent quotes.

Ooops. We committed the cardinal sin. We forgot to wait until they were dead. Being alive and kicking, the parties involved did what they probably have done a thousand times, they voiced their opinions but, this time they did it, so to speak, on camera. Then everyone starting taking sides and the roof blew off.

Let me reiterate. This is a magazine. It is a tattoo magazine. We report on what happens in the tattoo world and, often, because we have vowed to be honest and not produce a fluffy fan rag where every tattoo is "mind blowing" and every tattoo artist "unbelievable cool," we often publish commentary and stories that not everyone agrees with. It is no longer a fringe business with a couple tattoo parlors down by the docks. It's a world-wide industry generating tens of millions of dollars and involving hundreds of thousands of people. It has a life of its own. And that is what we report on. We are a sounding board. We are a soapbox. We are champions of the art form. We are publicists for the talented. We are critics and reporters and interviewers. We are historians and documentarians. And we are a mirror.

What you are seeing is life.

Bob Baxter
Editor in Chief