THE FIRST ANNUAL
JACKSONVILLE TATTOO CONVENTION

Like many, our first thought was to find our friends and loved ones after Hurricane Katrina left her indelible mark on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. No small task considering there wasn't much left of the communications services. Reports trickled in that Annette LaRue was stranded on the West Coast, the guys from Eye Candy had scheduled some guest spots and some couch surfing, and it seemed everyone was traumatized, but generally, okay. After weeks, we still hadn't heard from our old friend Jacci Gresham whose Aart Aaccent Tattoo shops are located in the French Quarter and the now infamous Ninth Ward. A call went out to Ms. Deborah at Fountain of Youth Tattoo in St. Augustine who hadn't heard from Jacci yet, but suggested we check out an upcoming convention in Jacksonville that was offering booth space to displaced artists from the affected areas, with a portion of the show proceeds benefiting the American Red Cross.

In 2005, Jacksonville, Florida, a super city, got the attention of a world audience of 800 million, including thousands of visitors with an economic impact of more than $350 million. The numbers all added up to 39, Super Bowl XXXIX, that is, when the National Football League chose Alltel Stadium as its 2005 venue. This is also the site for the college football border war between Florida and Georgia, a.k.a. the Gator Bowl. The city is the smallest market ever to host the world's most-watched championship game, creating a challenge to provide hotel accommodations, nightlife and entertainment venues, including eight cruise ships with luxury accommodations, for more than 30,000, but has secured a place in the rotation for another Super Bowl, a pivotal point in the city's history. Their 21st-century urban facelift left no stone unturned. Even long neglected areas of town were spruced up, which helped breathe new life into an already booming city.

From downtown to the beach, at malls and in the surrounding areas, Jacksonville has no shortage of tattoo shops. They run the gamut from classic walk-in street shops to new skool studios and creative world-class custom artists' spaces. The U.S. Navy maintains two large bases in Jacksonville, making it a major presence in Northeast Florida and a prime location for tattooing. Paul Rogers made it his home for many years and welcomed artists from all over the world to his machine workshop.

Encouraged by Mom's art and gallery background, Santana Simmons, who co-owns Oddity Ink with Dwayne Crafton, had grown up on a boat filling reams of blank paper with doodles and drawings. Ms. Deborah was Mom's best friend and Santana's godmother, who inked his first tattoo and set the wheels in motion. Settling on land and well on his way, Santana began tattooing while his brother Bert worked in hotel management in Tennessee, specializing in conventions.

Well, a light went off for Santana, after working conventions and a guest spot in one of the most unlikely of places for a Floridian, Reykjavik, Iceland. His enjoyment of the atmosphere of artistic and cultural exchange made him want to create yet another first to follow the Super Bowl success. In other words, a first-ever Jacksonville Tattoo Convention! From the very beginning, it was more than a logistical business endeavor. It was a fun family affair. Brother, mom, sister, godmother and close friends pulled together to create an unstoppable team. It was too inviting to miss, so we set off to the festivities.

After a brief delay from a blown tire, we arrived at the Hyatt Regency Riverfront, a 900-room facility filled with fantastic original works of art, a full service restaurant and bar, a rooftop pool and a gracious staff. Our room overlooking the convention hall offered a tremendous view of the St. Johns River and the city's many bridges. A big connection to the world marketplace is Jacksonville's deep-water port, the 14th largest in the United States and home to two U.S. Navy bases. Seven vehicle bridges cross the St. Johns River at Jacksonville, Florida's river city by the sea. All seven got maximum cosmetic attention before the Super Bowl and each was given a new look for after dark, from pearls of light outlining some structures to a splash of artistic technology with the use of multicolored LED light displays on the Main Street bridge.

Venturing outside, we found the great mix of old and new that can only be found in a city with history. The Old Morocco Building with an entrance flanked by dueling sphinxes is an interesting contrast to the mid-century, modern public library a couple of blocks away. The sounds of a saxophone filled the air, while we enjoyed the public art and golden sun, as the ferry hustled down the river.

We awoke to the scene outside our window, the Florida Responder, a boat complete with heliport poised to serve (as we kept watch on the projected track of Hurricane Wilma through Florida). While in the Caribbean, Wilma made history as the strongest hurricane on record. But that didn't keep the tattoo fans away. A steady stream of people drifted through the show and the buzzin' didn't stop. During this excellent opportunity to get some quality work done, tattooists were cranking out choice pieces demonstrated in the daily contests. From the comic book pages of Frank Miller's Sin City, we saw tattooist Richard "Bone Daddy" Poole execute a true-to-form, crisp black image of Nancy with a trademark splash of color on her pouting ruby red lips. The piece was concealed beneath a pleated blue camouflaged schoolgirl miniskirt, until the unveiling at the tribal competition where flashes popped and cell phone cameras captured the winning tattoo. Bone Daddy's partner in crime, Crowbar, walked away with second place in the portrait competition for his Jack Nicholson (from The Shining) peeking between images of Leatherface on Mike Mullins' leg. Bill Dawson was also kept busy with gore and horror as well as expert tattoo renderings of lowbrow artist Mark Ryden's popular and obscure designs, including the twisted image of Abraham Lincoln juggling cuts of meat and one of his signature doe-eyed dolls.

As always, it was nice to see some familiar faces, including Mark Longnecker, whose winning portraits of Jimmy Buffet and Nikki Sixx continued to impress. We also got to know many other new and talented artists. Oddity Ink, the host shop, was filling the room with world-class work from JJ Dunbar, Dwayne Crafton and Santana, including some classic Florida kitsch. At the front of the room was the Hurricane Katrina booth with Cheryl Cline and Tiffany Campbell of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, representing their temporary home of Holy Mother Tattoo in Atlanta. Cheryl said the support and encouragement they had received since the hurricane had been tremendous, but she knew there was a long road ahead. The hurricane had come on shore between Waveland and Bay St. Louis and the chance that anything of theirs still existed was very slim, not to mention that all of their customers are now scattered across the country. Slim's Hunkerdown shirt, listing the previous year's storms tour-date style, reminded us that sometimes the only thing you can do is to find humor in a situation. In the back of the room, Mike of A.G.O.N.Y. Skateboards, across from the ArtFusion, had some well-designed decks with fantastic graphics and a nice variety of widths and styles. Salt Life surf wear and 8103 Clothing represented the locals, while supporting the crowd's need for new duds.

Each evening offered first-rate entertainment, including comedy and live music with after-parties to keep everyone going well into the night. Bound, one of our new favorite undiscovered bands, put on a great show Saturday night, even after Dee Peacock of Peacock's Tattoos (the band's bassist) had been tattooing all day! Twisted Martinis at the Jacksonville Landing welcomed us like family and threw a great Sunday night wrap-up party with champagne toasts in the VIP section, while the London Bridge Pub fed us yummy homemade grub that beat the usual convention food any day.

Monday morning, we made the difficult decision to cut our trip short to avoid the outer bands of Hurricane Wilma. We had planned to go to St. Augustine, about 40 minutes away, one of the first cities settled in America and home to the fountain of youth, to visit with Ms. Deborah, Sailor Cher and Stevie Floyd. Though we were disappointed that Jacci never made it to the show from New Orleans, it was wonderful to have met so many new friends. We can't wait to see them again at next year's event!

Watch for the second Jacksonville Tattoo Convention on September 29th through October 1st, 2006 at the Hyatt Regency Riverfront. For details visit www.conventionpros.com, email daughertyjack@hotmail.com or call Oddity Ink at (904) 249-3335, where you can also find out more about Santana's new location in Iceland!

Indelibly
Lisa Marie and Matty Jankowski