Simply The Beth

Everyone's reeling from a year that took so many celebrities from us. 2016 will be remembered as a devastating year from that perspective, and yet there are many of us who lost people near and dear to us - family members that left our lives too soon.

Last June, we attended a family event in New Jersey, and spent some time catching up with cousins. One of those cousins, Beth, has always been interested in Tattoosday, and we always talk about ink, inevitably, when we get together. She even appeared in these pages five years ago, here.

Anyway, at this latest gathering, Beth shared one of her new tattoos:

It's a simple tattoo, but Beth was very proud of it. The open hearts form a type of infinity sign. She summarized it saying that the open parts of the symbol allow "the good shit to come in, and the bad shit to go out." It was a marked note of optimism from her, as she elaborated that she was not letting the bad things in life bother her, and she was welcoming in the good. The musical notes are a nod to her love of music, and the paw is a tribute to her dog, Tiki. Beth loved animals and dedicated a lot of her time to dogs, even fostering puppies in her own home.

The piece was tattooed by Thomas "Thomi Hawk" Hickey at K&B Tattooing and Piercing in Hightstown, New Jersey.

Like a lot of Tattoosday encounters, I didn't post this tattoo right away. I hung on to it as the summer started and I had loads of material. This is a normal part of our "organic" process at Tattoosday. Looking back, I wish I hadn't waited.

My wife woke me up early one morning in August, in tears. Beth had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly overnight in her home. She was way too young and our hearts were broken. The photo of her tattoo sat on my phone. I had recently thought about messaging her to tell her I hadn't forgotten about it, that I was going to get to it soon.

That's an apt metaphor that we all know too well. We often take for granted that the people in our lives will be with us for a long time, and then, in a moment, they're gone.

Beth's funeral was heart-breaking, but it did afford our family the opportunity to start healing. We also got to meet Thomas Hickey and my wife and I chatted with him and his wife about Beth and her love of tattoos.

It is easy to forget in the midst of the wave of "celebrity" passings in 2016 that so many of us lost people near and dear to us. Cherish those memories. Remember the message in Beth's tattoo - let go of the bad shit in your life and allow the good shit in. We remembered Beth knowing that when she was taken from us, she was happier than she had been in years.

Thank you Beth, for your love and for your tattoos, and for being part of the Tattoosday family, always.

Beth was a huge supporter of Southern Paws Inc., a non-profit animal rescue group that rescues dogs and finds them new homes. Learn more about the organization here.

This entry is ©2016 Tattoosday.

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Jessica Follows Up and Shares a Little More

Last Tuesday, I met Jessica outside of Madison Square Garden before a Pearl Jam concert. I posted a few of her 49 tattoos here.

Since then, we have exchanged e-mails, and I have updated the previous post, which now includes a link to her MySpace page (and photos of ALL her ink).

But for the purposes of Tattoosday, I am posting photos of three more pieces.

She told me "If I had had a tank top on ya coulda taken pics of my two favorite tattoos".


First, at the top of this page, is one of the seven crows she has inked. This is on the right side of her back and is called "Caw Caw Bird". The artist is Thomi Hawk from K&B Tattooing in Hightstown, NJ.

The second crow she sent me is on her left side, near her collar bone. She calls this "Hiya Kung Fu Karate Chop Crow" and she inked it herself, using a mirror. Quite impressive.

And finally, I featured a "sliver" of a sleeve on her right forearm. This is one of the finer pieces she has (that I personally observed). She passed it on for our appreciation here. They are her geisha and foo dogs.





Thanks to Jessica for sharing her ink here at Tattoosday. Remember, you can see all of her tattoos over at her MySpace page. We're hoping she'll let us know when she gets tattoo number fifty!

Jessica Shares Some of Her Tattoos before Pearl Jam Plays the Garden

I had it all worked out. Last night was the first night of the Pearl Jam concert at Madison Square Garden. Even though I wasn't going, I would see plenty of ink right next to where I work. Pearl Jam fans are prolificly tattooed (see this site as proof). What could be easier?

One guy didn't want his tattoos photographed. And he was wearing a t-shirt for a tattoo shop on Oregon. In my disappointment, I forgot what it was called.

Another guy was in town from Italy to see the band. I think the language barrier was an issue.

But I am not generally discouraged. There was, however, a vibe. A general sense that something bigger and better was going on besides indulging the hobby of an almost-41-year old blogger in dire need of a haircut. And of course, they were right. Pearl Jam was returning to the Garden after five years. Really, Tattoosday had to take a back seat to that.

But thank goodness for Jessica. She was thoroughly inked and indulged me. Granted, she seemed a little bemused by my exercise and a little disinterested, but she did let me take some photos and gave me cursory explanations. Alas, no Pearl Jam tattoos, but she still had some cool ink.

This was her most meaningful tattoo:

It's on her left wrist and is the autograph of Jonathan Davis, lead singer of Korn. He signed it, and she inked it. Jessica has her own tattoo gun machine, and does some touch-ups and basic line work here and there. Embarassingly, when she said it was Jonathan Davis' autograph, I couldn't connect the name to the face right away and I asked who he was, knowing full well that doing so would make me look like a total dork. And I was right. Of course I knew who he was, I just didn't compute it at the time.

Here's Jessica's left arm:

She likes crows. She has seven in all. She didn't tell me why the cheetah was significant. If you look at her right arm, you can see a sliver of an amazing piece that I didn't photograph, but should have. It was amazing piece that encircled her forearm.


And here's her upper right arm. That's Pig-Pen from Peanuts, which was one of her nicknames growing up.
And on the bottom is Mokey, a "primary Fraggle" from Fraggle Rock. Mokey was also one of her nicknames from very early in life.

Thanks to Jessica for taking the time to chat with me when so few people seemed interested in sharing. I am celebrating my birthday a week early at the show tonight (Wednesday), so we'll see if any tattoos pop up here on Thursday (or Friday).

UPDATE JUNE 29, 2008:

Jessica followed up with me and wrote the following:

I may not have any Pearl Jam tattoos, unless you count that my nickname is Mookie (Mokey from Fraggle Rock) since I was a toddler, from my dad. My mom calls me Pigpen cause she's a obessive complusive neat freak who thinks an open TV Guide is a mess...

I've idolized Jonathan Davis from Korn since 1996. To finally meet him was amazing. I always thought I'd be starstruck and lose my composure, but didn't. I held a conversation with him. Wow. How did that happen? A group was forming around the tour bus. He came out...to sign autographs. I told him he was my idol for 12 years, and asked if he could sign my wrist. So he grabbed my wrist. On the outside I was fine, but in my head I turned into a 12-year old boy band fan thinking OMG OMG HE'S TOUCHING ME DON'T FAINT!!

The Mokie tattoo, above, was inked by Troy at K & B Tattooing in Hightstown, New Jersey.