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CHASING GREATNESS
Improve eye coordination
Learn target control
Improve your swing
Boost confidence
Phil Delgado Cell:(973)573-9466 Prodigytraining@yahoo.com
24 Commerce Road Unit M Fairfield, NJ 07004 (973)808-1811
Angel Gonzalez
PUBLISHER
Giselle Torres
COMMERCIAL ARTIST
Pedro Dionisio
COPY Editor
Angel Gonzalez Publisher
Graphic DesiGner
Kerrie Messineo
EDITORIAL STAFF Kerrie Messineo Copy Editor Pedro Dionisio Cover Designer Giselle Torres Commercial Artist Rick Schreck Zombie Illustrator Anthony Gambino Writer/Designer Chaz Carter Graphic Designer Eric Salgado Model Layout Louis Da Michael Illustrations Carley Hussain Web Designer Amber Smith Alternative Model Fauna Ryerson Web Contributor Marco Batista Poet Amir Ressaissi Writer
Source Ind. Publishing, LLC. P.O. Box 803 Green Brook, NJ 08812 Grind.NJ@gmail.com
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SUMMER 2013
CONTENTS
10.
Dark poetry/marco “I AM NOT A VIRUS, I AM NOT A PLAGUE. OVER AND OVER IT IS UNDER MY SKIN. I CAN NOT BREAK THIS UNDERLYING ADDICTION”
11.
ALTERNATIVE MODEL/AMBER BEAUTY AND BODY ART AS A REPRESENTATION OF IDEALS
20.
you are not alone!
23.
Silk City
IF ALL OF THE DARK FACETS OF MANKIND REMAIN, WHAT WOULD A HAPPY SOCIETY LOOK LIKE?
MEET THE RENOUND ARTISTS OF SILK CITY AS THEY HONOR THE MEMORY OF “WILD BILL”
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COMPLETE HOME IMPROVEMENTS
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Louis Da Michael
Deceptive Intent by Marco Batista
Lord, my soul has been dismantled, pandering out of my rib cage, it is looking for a new breeding ground. My face is neutral but my body is panicking. The food for my thoughts have been rotten for days, and my brain is hungry again. I am not a virus, I am not a plague. Over and over it is under my skin. I can not break this underlying addiction. I want to be
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what you drown and manifest in. Let me be your overdosed addiction. My bodily organs slowly turn when our faces use a language it only understands. I can not control it's ticks. Let us destroy ourselves and rebel in the madness. Such perfection, me and you losing control. Get a little closer, let yourself unfold. My brainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s faucet is leaking.
AMBERSMITH
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“I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR ANYONE BECAUSE I BELIEVE IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.”
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I started getting tattoos when I was 18 years old. When I look at tattoos, I do not see them as imperfections or signs of rebellion, I see them as art. My tattoos represent many of the hard times that I have been through in my life. The work on my back is the most important tattoo to me. I felt I wanted to express that growing up in a Christian family and going to private school, I was always told that I had to believe in a god. I was told to always do the right thing,
never ask questions, and follow The Bible. I have respect for every religion and do not judge people based on what they believe. My tattoo means that I believe in doing the right thing, treating people with respect, helping others, and being a good person because I think it is the right thing to do. I am not a slave to anyone, I am a good person and would do anything for anyone because I believe it is the right thing.
My foot has the words, “believe” and, “the lie” in red. I live my life being logical and thinking before I trust anything or anyone.
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When I look at tattoos, I do not see them as imperfections or signs of rebellion, I see them as art.
The images on my stomach and sides also have a lot of meaning for me. My flowers and thorns are not meant to be pretty. They are intended to show darkness, and the wing represents my grandparents who have passed. They both have statues of weeping angles by their coffins with the wings of the angel folded over in sadness. If my tattoos seem to convey these messages, then they are doing their jobs as forms of expression.
My other tattoos, the lily and venus fly traps, were cover ups, but represent a lot for me. Luckily, I have an amazing artist that was able to cover up an almost impossible tattoo! Rick Schreck at House of 1000 Tattoos was able to make my mistakes into amazing work. The images he created for me are my favorites because they covered up my exeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name and let me move on with my life. It is ironic that these cover ups are my favorites because out of something
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negative came the prettiest and brightest tattoos I have; and now, in hopes of a bright and happy future, after making the hardest decision I have ever made, I have built something good, and it is represented within these images. My foot has the words, “believe” and, “the lie” in red. I live my life being logical and thinking before I trust anything or anyone. I have a soft heart and have been taken for granted before, but as I am growing I have learned to overcome the past and live for a hopeful future. My body art is a good representation of these ideals.
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Louis Da Michael
You are not alone! by Amir Ressaissi
Do you ever feel like life is unnecessarily cumbersome? Why canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t we just chill, maybe work a little, but chill a lot? Do you ever think that there must be a better way of living life than being a weekend-warrior without losing the comforts of modern life? Do you ever look at our society and wonder if it has tangled itself into a knot that it canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get out of? Well, you are not alone, my friend, you are not alone! Stirring all around us, are people and organizations trying to alter this mess. The TED organization has become a central forum for many of these people but the world is filled with people that just want everyone to be happy.
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The big question is, of course, if this is even possible; and if so, then how. Let’s first define what we mean by happy. There are many classic stories describing how a utopian society quickly becomes dystopian under the flaws of mankind. Therefore, it is fairly safe to say that a society devoid of murders, theft, corruption, hatred, envy, divorce, etc, seems unlikely and actually undesirable. So if all of these dark facets of mankind remain, what would a happy society look like? According to Maslow’s Pyramid, the first level of happiness is physiological, meaning food and water. Water, food, and shelter are probably the most basic of needs yet our current societies still struggle with providing these to all its citizens. Why? Is it really that difficult? While we put billions of dollars and millions of hours into creating the greatest and coolest ‘toys’, we are still having problems with the basics. Something is not right with this picture. Of course, the list of essentials does not stop with the aforementioned three concerns so let’s continue. We need waste and waste-water
management, health care, energy production, transportation, communication, manufacturing of essential products, education to run these operations, and many other things. However, today, more emphasis is placed on peripheral markets and jobs, instead of ensuring that these aspects of society are provided to us all. Many of these industries and services could be placed under the banner of infrastructure, yet they are not just the underpinnings of society, they are the necessities for a happy society – Maslow’s first level in a societal pyramid, if you will. With today’s and tomorrow’s technology, we are for the first time able to provide all of our citizens an adequate standard of living. We just need to refocus our attention on the vital components. By viewing a community’s holistic happiness as a function of specific ‘essentials’, we can begin to improve and automate as many of the essentials as possible and therefore free up mankind’s daily toil to survive so that he has more time to break-dance. G
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SILK CITY W E L C O M E
T O :
T A T T O O
Photo credit: Christian Masot, portrait by Ruler.
I N C .
MEET
RULER
Hailing from Jersey City, New Jersey,
became a well-known graffiti artist in
for. Ruler's tattooing styles are
Ruler is one of the most well-known
Jersey City. Ruler's artwork began to
unlimited. They range from portraits
and sought-after tattoo artists in the
morph into other mediums and he
to biomechanical and anywhere
Tri-state area. Although he's been
was soon airbrushing motorcycles,
in between. Although Ruler's dark
tattooing for 12 years, his artistic
motorcycle helmets, murals on the
images are his trademark, he can
roots stem back much further.
walls of nightclubs, and canvases for
tattoo a child"s portrait, or a fallen
Ruler started off his artistic career in
sale. Airbrushing quickly lead him to
family member just as well.
the alternative medium of graffiti and
tattoo design as he is now known
I got the chance to sit down with Ruler, one of the faces of Silk City, to talk to him a little bit about his career and about the aura in the shop that is the legacy of Wild Bill. Let’s take a look at what “the man who can’t be fired” had to say.
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Anthony Gambino: So how did you get started working at Silk City? Ruler: “I was actually coming in here a lot just to hang out and Bill handed me papers one day and was like, ‘You’re working for me now!’ I was kind of just like, ‘Oh..OK.’ So yeah, I‘ve been here since then. Bill always said, ‘Ruler can’t be fired!’” (laughs) AG: What was he like? (Wild Bill) R: “Gentle giant. Hell yeah, gentile giant; but don’t cross him though. He was very smart, laid back, likes having fun. I just wish I knew him longer.” AG: How long did he own the shop? R: “Eleven years. He owned this shop for eleven years but started with Pleasurable Piercings over there.” AG: How did he get the name, “Wild Bill?” R: (chuckles) “Because.. he was a wild boy, man!"
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AG: Did he train any of the artists here? R: “Well, he was in charge of all the piercings here; you know he started the whole thing over there (Pleasurable Piercings). He didn’t really tattoo, he just opened the shop.” AG: So since Wild Bill was such a monumental part of this shop, have there been any talks about possibly changing the name of the shop in his honor? R: “Nah. He wanted to call it Silk City for a certain reason so we keep it like that.” Ruler answered that last question with a bit of a wry smirk. As it turns out, there is a quite an interesting story as to why the shop is called, “Silk City.” Read the interview with Russ Kelley to find out why. It’s rather amusing.
AG: Did he have any quotable phrases? Like a catch phrase or something that he’s known for? R: “Uhhmm, nah not really, man. He did have ‘Ho-nasty,’ tattooed on him instead of ‘honesty,’ ‘cause you know, he was an honest dude.”
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AG: Is there anything special you can tell me about Wild Bill? Something that would really reach out to the readers? R: “There’s so many things, man it’s hard to say. I don’t even know where to start. I mean, this shop gives benefits and things to its employees. He [Bill] started all that. That’s what I’m aware of.” AG: Wow, that’s great! I’ve never heard of that, I had no idea tattoo artists ever got health benefits. R: “Yeah, when I heard that, I was like, “You serious?” He wanted his artists to be happy."
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HANG OUT WITH
RUSSELL KELLEY
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Russell Kelley has a long artistic
at the age of 23. "It kind of fell into
Males (they double-teamed me), I
background. Since he could hold a
my lap," said Kelley. "I know there's
truly fell in love with tattooing." And
crayon, he drew. At the age of 8, his
a lot of apprentices and tattooers
the rest is history. Kelley has been
talents were discovered on a more
that hate me for that, but in my own
perfecting his art form at Silk City, and
serious level by his art teacher, Rich
defense, I designed tattoos for people
hasn't looked back. "I paint a lot, but
Fuchs. He won several contests and
all throughout high school and college, tattooing is my passion. My paintings
was commissioned to do many high-
and I always appreciated the artâ&#x20AC;?. He
are original, and that's how I want my
paying projects throughout high school
tattooed for the first 4 years of his
tattoos to be. If you want something
by major companies. He attended the
career with not a single tattoo on his
that's weird or different, I'm your man."
School of Visual Arts in NYC, where
body. "I wasn't afraid of the pain, I had
Russell hopes to open his own shop
he earned a Bachelor's Degree in the
a commitment problem. Ask my ex-
one day, but will always pay his loyalties
fine arts. He started his apprenticeship
girlfriend. When I finally got my first
to the birthplace of his life long love: Silk
under Christian Masot at Silk City at
tattoo from Shawn Dillon and Nick
City Tattoo.
Sitting down with Russell Kelley was like re-connecting with a cousin you havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spoken to in a long time. He was so welcoming, as was everyone at Silk City, and was happy to answer all my questions and have a friendly conversation about our love for tattoos, strange artistic ideas, and the joy that Wild Bill brought to the shop. We talked about so much, I couldn't even get it all down on paper! Definitely an awesome artist and an even cooler person! Enjoy!
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Anthony Gambino: When did you first realize that you wanted to be a tattoo artist? Russell Kelley: “Well, I used to design tattoos for friends in high school and basically a buddy of mine, James, was getting a tattoo of his father who passed away. It kind of fell on my lap strangely enough. Christian was actually doing the tattoo and he saw the drawing [of James’ father] and was like, ‘Who drew this?’ James was like, ‘A buddy of mine, Russell;’ and Christian was like, ‘Does he want to learn how to tattoo?’ So that was a Friday. I started my apprenticeship here the following Monday, and here I am.”
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AG: How did your family react when you told them that you’re going to be a tattoo artist? RK: “My mom was like, ‘Man you have a degree and you’re going to be a tattoo artist? What the hell is wrong with you?’ And then one day I come home and my mom’s like dressed in black tank top with like rhinestone skulls on it and camouflage capris and combat boots and I’m like, ‘Mom, what are you doing? You look great!’ And she’s like, ‘Well, my son’s a tattoo artist. I can do these things now.’ And she looked awesome! So my parents fully support my decision now and they’re great about it.” 32
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AG: Do you have any idols when it comes to tattoo artists? RK: “Um actually, my favorite tattoo artist, you know back from the days of Myspace, is uh, Derek Noble. He actually did my whole sleeve and he’s actually out in Seattle. I wouldn’t say ‘idol’ because now he’s kind of my peer, but he definitely influenced me and my work. No doubt about that.” AG: Do you have a favorite piece that you’ve done? RK: “Ehh, I don’t know man. I do a lot of weird stuff so when people ask me to do stuff [like that], that’s when I have the most fun. So a better answer to that would be when somebody comes to me with like an obscure or weird idea, that’s when I have the most fun.”
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AG: So, I hear the owner of the shop passed away a few years ago. Tell me about Wild Bill. What was he like? Russell Kelley: "I’ll give you the best story ever. Chris gave me the OK for the apprenticeship. I didn’t know who ran the shop or anything so I just figured Chris would tell them. So a buddy of mine went over to Pleasurable Piercings and tried to make a deal with Bill and was like, ‘Oh you know, my buddy is apprenticing for Silk City.’ Bill was like, ‘Apprentice? We don’t have no fucking apprentice. What are you talking about? You want this piercing or not?’ So Bill walks over to the shop, this huge like 6’7” dude just towering over me and was like, ‘Who’s the fucking apprentice here?’ And I raised my hand and was like, ‘Uhh, me.’ So he asked me who approved it and I told him Christian and he asked me if I had a portfolio. So we went into his office, looked at my artwork together, and Bill was like, ‘Dude, your stuff is amazing. We would love to have you.’ So yeah, that was it.”
AG: I hear that there’s a very specific reason as to why the Shop is called “Silk City.” Is there a story behind that? RK: “So there was a huge battle with the town of Hawthorne because Pleasurable Piercings was the first of its kind. Bill actually helped write the laws for the health inspectors on what to look for in a tattoo shop and you know, what’s sterile and what not. So the town was like, ‘If you want to open up a tattoo shop, just go across the bridge to Paterson, we don’t want that shit here!’ So when Bill won to open up the shop, he named it ‘Silk City’ because that’s Paterson’s nickname ‘cause back in the day, they were like a huge importer/exporter of silk. So whenever someone drove past the sop, it was like a middle finger to the town, you know? I love that story.”
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CHECK OUT
SS DILLON I formally started my apprenticeship in 2000 at Underground Images in Secaucus NJ, where I learned under Nick Males, Christian Masot, Ruler, Vincent Meyer, Chi-Chi Gunz and Joey Germinario. In 2004 I started tattooing at Silk City Tattoo, where I have been ever since with the exception of a brief stay at my good friends at Jinx Proof Tattoo in Montclair NJ. I generally enjoy doing small to medium sized color tattoos in the classic traditional style when the customers design choices allow for it.
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CHECK OUT
DAN KENNEDY
Dan began his tattoo apprenticeship at our shop under SS Dillon about 4 years ago. He started tattooing full time when another artist departed 2 years ago. While he does tattoo in most styles, he specializes in realism and larger black and grey pieces.
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RE-CONNECT WITH
CHRISTIAN MASOT Whatsup! My name is Christian Masot. I was born and bred in good ol NJ. I’m a tattoo artist at Silk City Tattoo in Hawthorne NJ. I have a ton of hobbies; surfing, painting , drawing , and martial arts. I started tattooing back around 2000. It was totally random how i got into it. At the time I was attending Montclair State University as an English Major. In my down time I used to draw a lot. Around that time, a lot of my friends started getting tattoos and sooner or later my friends started asking me to design them to bring to the artists. Being young and eager to make a buck i did just that. It wasn’t long before I started to want to get more involved in the industry so I went to a few conventions and started selling my flash at the shows. It was at one of the first NYC tattoo conventions that I linked up with a guy named Joey G. He took me in and showed me the basics about the
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industry. Soon after that, the opportunity arose to work for Mario Barth at Starlite. Mario taught me a lot of really advanced stuff as well as how to be a real professional. I learned a lot about the ins and outs of the business from him. After spending some time at Starlite a buddy of mine offered me a spot at Silk City. I never really felt at home in a shop until i started there; the atmosphere was relaxed , the energy was good and there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t anyone breathing down my neck. So, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been there ever since.
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You guys remember Christian, right? Grind interviewed him back in our Summer 2012 issue. Well, he's back for just a couple more questions, this time with more of the focus on Wild Bill Krebs. Also, Don't forget to check out his Sketchcon, twice a year, sponsored by The Joker's Child!
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Anthony Gambino: So I asked Ruler if Wild Bill had any quotable phrases. He told me about, "Ho-nasty." Is there anything else that he used to say that everyone would be familiar with? Christian Masot: (laughs) "Yeah, Ho-nasty. Nah man, there was not just one catch phrase 'cause you never knew what was gonna come out of his mouth. Every day was more wild than the last. I know a lot of people. Very few are like him [Bill]." AG: So what can you leave the readers with? Anything in particular or really special about Bill that they should know? CM: "I would say that he just had a big heart and was just you know 24/7 on the clock. He just never stopped. He was really ground breaking for the industry. He opened up the first piercing shop in the country, you know? He basically set the precedents for the modern body art industry we have today."
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ADMIRE
JUDY KREBS
I had the honor and the opportunity of speaking with Judy Krebs herself, the mother of the late “Wild Bill” Krebs; and what a special moment it was. Everybody at the shop had nothing but smiles and kind words when it came to “Wild Bill,” but there was something different in the air when I spoke with his mother. I could see the pride in her eyes when she spoke of her son’s achievements, the joy she exuted when she took a look at his portrait, and the peace she felt while being in the shop surrounded by the people who loved him the most. Here’s what Judy had to say about her beloved son and the love he had for his career, his friends, his employees, and most of, his life. It was truly a heart-warming experience. Even if you're not interested in getting a tattoo, I highly suggest going to Silk City just to get the chance to talk to these guys. They're honestly one of the greatest groups of people I've ever met and they're great fun.
“He wanted the best for the shops at all times. He got involved with the state of New Jersey. He was very, very, very instrumental with the state and formulating the rules and regulations on how shops should be run. He knew what he wanted and he knew talent. He was in a sober motorcycle club called Two Roads. This was about twenty years ago. They had a dance every Friday night. One day, Bill went across country on his bike and he was coming through New Orleans and he stopped at a flea market and saw this silver jewelry stand and he loved it. It was just simple silver jewelry, but it was so different at the same time. 46
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So anyway, he asked to set up a little table at the dances and the man who ran the dance agreed to it. So Bill and I went to New Orleans for a weekend to buy a bunch of the jewelry and everyone loved it. I mean, they just kept coming back! And then someone asked us if we would ever want to turn this into body piercings. I said, ‘Oh Bill, you don’t want to do that.’ But he started getting into it and he started learning from the best around, and he started piercing out of the house. Then he decided to open up a shop and we opened it here in this space [Silk City] and the lines were just out the door all the time! So we went
over to the printing press next door and Bill was like, ‘Listen, we need more room. Would you guys ever consider moving locations?’ As it turns out, they were actually in the process of moving because of the un-needed space and so we moved next door. Then our land lord at the time was like, ‘You know, you guys should open up a tattoo shop.’ And Bill fought and fought with the town. Eventually we won the case and here we are. You just never knew what Bill was going to do next. He loved life and he never wasted a single minute of it.”