JANUARY 2000 — EDITOR'S COMMENT
It's the end of the bleedin' millennium, that's what it is. And I get to write about it. A daunting task, for sure. Editor of a tattoo magazine and it's up to me to encapsulate the last 1,000 years of tattoo history, finish it off with a couple of sky rockets, mention Sailor Jerry a couple of times—and there you have it.
I figure the best advice is, be brief. No need for me to explain how the Inuits decorated themselves by pulling charcoal-coated twine through their cheeks—simply riffle through the pages of this here current issue and experience the results of 1,000 years of progress for yourself.
Take for example the history part. We have Tim Coleman's view of the Maori's getting the wrong end of the stick; providing yet another example of man's inhumanity to man. On the other end of the spectrum, the survival of sideshow attraction and sword swallower deluxe, Captain Don Leslie, is a fitting tribute to the permanence of the tattoo mystique. Paul Sayce chips in with the skinny on British tattoo clubs and Long Island's Joe Capobianco tells us what it's like to be a next-generation icon. Conventions seem all the same? Bernard Clark's photo essay proves that Canada is the home of innovation on the current tattoo circuit.
Sounds typical, right? A little bit of this and a little bit of that. Each issue of Skin & Ink is like taking the industry's pulse—an industry both millenniums old and fresh as the last tattoo. Midnight December 31 is not a brick wall. There is no discernable difference between a Horiyoshi dragon done the last day of 1999 or the first day of the year 2000. It all kind of blends together. Just as Cap Coleman blends into Sailor Jerry into Bert Grimm into Zeke Owen into Greg James into whatever 30-year old hotshot is mixing his ink from powder; welcoming in the New Year with a mortar and pestle.
It just seems to me that the less I draw a line, set up a signpost or summarize this timeless phenomenon, the better. This millennium hoopla is quite overwhelming. If you want it to be. Otherwise, while everyone else is partying and tooting their tooters, I'll just be sitting back and remembering the stories connected to each of my tattoos—and the cool dudes who did 'em.
—Bob Baxter, Editor in Chief