About The Horn

"What is it?" It's Tattoo No. 5, and it's one-of-a-kind. Of course, there is a story behind this permanent ink, and that's why you're here.

Once upon a time, my family lived in a neat, little Cape Cod house on the West Side of Warren, Ohio. My daughters were about 7 and 4 some 25 years ago and their grandparents lived nearby, across Parkman Road Northwest, in walking distance from the Trumbull Plaza. In that plaza was a junk store called D&K. D&K smelled funny, probably like a Chinese warehouse, because it was loaded with sketchy and unmarked import crap dumped into big wooden bins. The girls and I loved D&K and would walk over there to kill time on the cheap.

Among the shit trinkets at Dump and Krap were fake copper pencil sharpeners in the shape of a gramophone (old-school record player), probably 75 cents apiece. I thought these were very clever because I actually had a gramophone or two and these toys looked fairly accurate. I wanted some because I collect records, and I draw to my music with pencils. Gotta keep 'em sharp, and the sharpeners worked fine! I must have bought a dozen and given away a bunch to friends -- because only two are left.

At some point many years ago, one of the kids or someone at work had a yellow skull eraser atop a pencil. I thought that was cool and clever, too, especially at Halloween. It might have been my daughter Emily's pencil. As a tattoo artist, she still likes skulls. The details of my theft are a little fuzzy, but I did take the thing from her or from some co-worker and it was at my work desk for probably a decade -- right under the computer monitor.

The yellow skull gathered work dust, work closed, I found more work and moved the skull to THAT desk, and then I retired. We had long since left the tidy Cape Cod and spent another 20 years in a too-pricey suburb before moving back to Almost-Warren and a tidy condo. A lot of stuff got tossed in that move but I hung onto the yellow skull and the two sharpeners, assorted ball bearings, badges, railroad nails and tubes of Loctite silicone caulk.

At some point I caulked the skull into the little gramophone horn and declared that even cooler. I took a picture of my abomination sculpture and sent it to daughter tattoo artist. "Wouldnt this be a bitchin' tattoo?" I said. And then I waited more than two years for her to do it, on my birthday this year, Sept. 21. It took her about an hour.

What we have here, then, is a unique tattoo of a gramophone with a skull tucked into the horn. It has no special message or significance other than being pretty badass. But its meaning is clear enough to me. This lifetime badge reminds me of younger days, my kids, old workplaces, my tiny junk hoard, my records and sounds, and the fifth inking experience with Pretty In Ink, North River Road, Warren. Ask for Emily. She grew up around needles.