For the last several years I’ve hosted an unofficial afterparty to celebrate the Philadelphia Tattoo Convention at a really awesome bar called the Bike Stop. The owners are kind enough to allow us to have our own dedicated floor with drink specials, a complimentary photobooth, a great playlist and more!

We have a $.50/game pool table on the Sports floor (one floor below the party) with Smithwicks, Guinness, Yuengling Lager, Shocktop Belgian White, Coors Light and Yards Brawler on tap.

The bar is located a few blocks from the Philadelphia Convention center and is walking distance from several restaurants that will be open late, including Maoz Vegetarian, Moriarity’s Irish Pub (best buffalo wings in town) and the Farmer’s Cabinet. (upscale, amazing menu for adventurous foodies)

There’s a Facebook RSVP list here: OV Presents An Unofficial Philadelphia Tattoo Convention Afterparty. If you’re thinking about attending, please sign up so you can get the latest info.

The party starts at 10pm on the top floor and goes until 2am.

Disclaimers:
The Bike Stop is 21+
It’s a gay leather bar, so if you’ve got a problem with gay folks, this isn’t for you. For the last three years the staff and patrons of the Bike Stop have welcomed our party with open arms and treat us respect. We’d appreciate the same courtesy from guests attending the party.

The event is open to everyone who wants to have a good time. There’s no cover. If you’re sXe or don’t drink booze we have soda and water available for sale.

Just in time for Black Friday, we’ve found backstock of old Scarwars merch.
Please swing on over to my OV Storenvy page to pick up the remaining stock.

I’ve seen our community come together time and time again to help our own; today I’m asking for your help.

HIV/AIDS affects 30,000 people in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania region. My girlfriend Claire volunteers at a center for youths at high risk for contracting HIV/AIDS and on Sunday, October 17th, she will be participating in the Philly AIDS Walk as part of Team Y-HEP. Her goal is to raise $200 to donate; and we could use your help!

Support Claire!

UPDATE!
Claire raised $500; $300 OVER her goal… all of which goes to help local charities/organizations!
Thanks so much to everyone who donated!

Claire and I will be attending the 2010 ROP BBQ this weekend in Pittsfield Mass.
Expect some off-topic updates when I get back!

That said, I wouldn’t be the man I’ve become were it not for his influence, guidance and friendship.
Six years ago I hosted Modcon4 in Toronto, Ontario. The following is an open letter I sent to the attendees thanking them for keeping Jack’s legacy alive.

Thank you, Jack. For everything.

Nine years ago tonight, Mike Natali called our house and delivered the message that Jack Yount had passed away while on holiday in Denmark.

Jack had been in hospital for over a month fighting a case of pneumonia. Had we known, we would have flewn to Denmark to tend him. We would have been prepared for the eventuality of his passing.

As it was- we had to deal with not only his death but the knowledge that for the thirty days before his passing, Jack was alone.

Later, information would get back to us that Jack was being attended to by his oldest friend Bill Hollingsworth for that month- but thinking about the person who most responsible for helping to shape Robert and I into the men we were becoming laying there alone was almost too much to bear.

Being alone was something people in the heavy, advanced and surgical modification community were accustomed to. We existed on the fringes of the fringe. Related to the tattoo and piercing community but never fully accepted, we met briefly from time to time- Trips to “the clinic” in Mexico City- Weekend visits to Jack’s in Zephyrhills- Letters exchanged through ENIGMA and UNIQUE….. we were united by our similarities and our differences, because we all chose extreme modifications as a lifestyle.

Eight years ago today, a project that Shannon Larratt had shown me while in it’s beta form was “unleashed” onto the internet. BME/extreme was officially unveiled. It started out with the ever growing amount of advanced mod images that Shannon was receiving, subsidized by images I had shot or images that Jack had archived. It started growing faster than I could have ever imagined.

Once people saw that there was some place out there that they could be themselves- they came in droves. They started contributing, sure- but more importantly, those images encouraged others to find themselves through extreme and atypical body modification.

Times have changed. We’ve had four and a half MODCON conventions. We have people in the typical tattoo/piercing scene begging to get into our events. We’ve crossed the line from being curiosities to being a culture on the verge of full bloom.

In 1989 the piercing/tattoo was shocked by the image of Carl Carroll’s biurified penis in RE/Search’s MODERN PRIMITIVES. In 2003, ModCon: The Secret World Of Extreme Body Modification was released. Published and Edited by Shannon Larratt with images from Photog Philip Barbosa, it’s publication took our subculture off of the internet and onto bookstore shelves.

Finally- we have a place where we aren’t alone.

To everyone who came to MODCON4: Thank you. Without you, the event wouldn’t have been what it was.

And without Jack…. without the seed he planted… none of this would have been possible.

Quite a few important folks in my life are joining the “dirty 30″ club this year; today’s inductee is Brian.
Over the last 9 years Brian has fulfilled many capacities under the blanket title of “my consigliere”, some of which I don’t even know about (and I was there for them).

Claire pointed out that I normally post photos of him in some state of undress, so I dug out this Atom Moore shot from Scarwars2 of B relaxing in the Standard’s pool after a long day of work.

Happy Birthday, buddy- I’m looking forward to our next decade of good times!

Sorry it’s been so quiet here at the SW blog; my life has become very busy lately and regrettably the blog is one of the things that’s had to suffer in the face of not having enough time for everything.

Things are finally slowing down and hopefully I’ll be able to get back to a daily SW update.

Tonight we have our old friend Brian (photographed in ’06 at SWLA) apologizing for the lack of picture updates. Brian and I will be traveling a bit soon;

Easter weekend we’ll be in Dallas, TX for the SusCon.
May 2-8 we’ll be in Las Vegas for the APP conference.

So expect much more of Brian in the coming weeks!

There’s a long story behind this painting that’s far too boring to go into…. but it sort of fits the holiday mood. My pal Rick Lohm painted this for/of me; you can catch him tattooing at John Joyce’s Scarab Body Arts in Syracuse, NY.

Happy Thanksgiving!

“Why, then, are more and more people, outside of direct cultural influence, driven to get scarred? A cry for help? Mental disturbance? Self-harm? Thse are all easy labels to use- the process is painful, invasive, messy. The cuts bleed and the process of irritating them to ensure successful scar formation is often excruciatingly painful. Nevertheless, scarification is markedly different from angry, impulsive self-harm, or “cutting”.

Scarification involves a deliberate selection of design, placement, symbolism, form and healing. We’re not talking for the most part about slashed wrists and razor blades, although it is indubitably true that for some the line can be crossed. Instead, scarification is consensual, considered, calm; the rational expression of what, to many, may seem an irrational desire.”

I met Philip in Toronto, the evening before the first MODCON event. Shannon and I had thrown around the names of plenty of well known photographers to document the event (Joel Peter Witkin was contacted but couldn’t comply with our requests) and the job finally fell into Philip’s capable hands.

We were all so goddamn young. That was ten years ago.

Philip documented all of the Modcon events and when the time came for a portrait photographer for the first Scarwars event, there was only one name on the list. Phil worked under grueling conditions for three straight 15+ hour days and produced a body of images that helped put faces to the new scarification culture.

Today is his birthday, so send him some love.