Osaka Ben

Today I was shocked and saddened to hear of Mike Malone’s passing.

I only met Mike once, back when I lived in Minneapolis maybe 8 years ago or so. I had been studying Japanese at the time and my roommate mentioned that the shop she worked at, the Ink Lab, would be in need of a translator for a Japanese tattooist who would be doing a 2 week guest work spot. I couldn’t resist the appeal of the offer and readily agreed. The guest tattooer was Gotch of Chopstick Tattoo in Osaka Japan. His English was rudimentary at best and my Japanese was hunt-and-peck, but we managed to communicate better as the days went on. At the shop I was introduced to Doug Hardy who had recently moved up from Hawaii as I recall. We became fast friends - and for the next few days we set about to showing Gotch the time of his life. (Gambling, Firearms, Drinking… and Tattoos)

After awhile Doug decided to take us down to see a shop called the Aloha Monkey south of the city. It was there that I met Keith Underwood, Josh Arment, and Mike Malone. As someone who was not tattooed (at the time!) nor used to tattoo shops, I initially felt a bit intimidated by the atmosphere - but Mike’s friendly demeanor quickly put me at ease. Various members of our entourage took turns getting tattooed (as I recall, Gotch got a “Circus Pig” by Keith!) and we shot the breeze for a few hours. I remember that Mike was such an instantly likeable guy - no matter what the subject of the conversation was, Mike had a story about it. The subject of my awful blue-green mohawk came up and Mike was on it - relating his story of attending some of the first performances of Iggy and the Stooges. Recently, if you’ve been reading Tattoo Artist Magazine, you may be familiar with Mike’s literary style - he wrote those articles in just the same way he spoke that day. Mike showed us his impressive model figure collection and I got to see a few of his paintings up close and in the flesh. The afternoon sun began to set and we said our goodbyes and headed off in search of further ways to corrupt/entertain our Japanese guest.

Shortly after Gotch returned to Japan, I began working at the shop as a part timer at the Ink Lab back in Minneapolis. I recall my first duty - hanging flash sheets on the freshly painted shop wall. Some were signed “Malone” but many more were signed “Rollo.” Doug taught me later, “Those’re Mike’s too, Rollo’s his nickname.” I still remember being surrounded by those cool “old school” sheets on Lake Street. Unfortunately, Mike soon moved shortly after, handing over the shop to Josh Arment who still runs it to this day and regrettably, I never had the chance to meet him in person again. (though I often heard news of him from Doug as we have been close friends for many years now.) Years later, I came to Osaka and began my own apprenticeship and subsequent career as a tattoo artist. In Chopstick’s vast library of books, sure enough, there were 2 copies of Mike’s “Bull’s Eyes & Black Eyes” as well as files of his flash. Reading through Mike’s narratives is great - especially when he talks about his own induction into the world of tattooing - As an apprentice I took a lot of comfort in reading about his experience - in a time when tattooing as a medium was even less accessable than it is today.

2 weeks or so ago, I got a mail from Doug again mentioning that Mike was on mySpace. I figured that this was my chance to bring things full circle and get in touch again so I dropped Mike a message (maybe a bit long-winded in hindsight) recounting our brief meeting all those years ago.

Then today, via the same medium I recieved the news from Doug.

Other than the fact that Mike was the “Shisho” of one of my best friends I regrettably had no other formal or informal connection to him. We only met once and shared a brief conversation. And at the time I had no idea of who he was and the contributions he has made to the world of tattooing. But I do remember my impression of him that day - he was a genuine nice guy. When Mike spoke it was from his heart… same thing when he laughed. Even though I was a green-back-wet-behind-the-ears-know-it-all brat with a goofy mohawk, he made me feel welcome in his studio.

In Japan there is a saying, ichigoichiei. It means that each meeting in life is important and should be treated as such. No meeting occurs by chance, and each meeting makes you the person that you are today. I’ll always remember the that once-in-a-lifetime meeting.

You will be sincerely missed Mike.

Flash - 5 pages a week… every week until my debut! That was the initial “contract” I undertook as part of my apprenticeship with Wataru. (Though mercifully reduced to 2 sheets a week after my debut) I know we’ve heard it all before… Flash is dead, blah blah blah. Admittedly, I too had trouble understanding this draconian requirement, especially on top of my other duties at the shop. But over 5 months and 150 sheets later, I have to say - being forced to draw this much flash was probably one of the best experiences for my tattooing. For more reasons than one:

このフラッス・ロードは最近の５０枚。全部は手で水彩で塗ったやつ。堀江店の受付から裏まで届いてる！
でも水彩はめっちゃ難しい：

Dear Dawkins, what is this mess?! I got my first watercolor tools from the very generous and kind Ai of Cat Claw Tattoo in Kyoto. (check out that guy’s flash - AMAZING!) I had no experience with Watercolor but was fairly competant with oils and acrylics. So I decided to do some rough work on this Aquarelle (I didn’t realize at the time that this stuff costs like 1000yen per sheet - sorry Ai!) I also didn’t realize watercolor must be built up slow, filled in from light to dark… in some ways the total opposite of tattooing - and nothing like more opaque mediums.

うわぁぁ！何これ？！京都のCatClawTattooのAiさんからもらった水彩絵の具で描いた初フラッシュ練習！その時まで、水彩の経験無しで大失敗しました！こんな１枚千円のものすごい高級AQUARELLEの用紙に！AIさん、御免なさい！）塗り方は油絵やアクリルと全然違う！びっくりしたわぁ。

This stuff is a pretty good compromise - I used to use Canson brand, but the grain is more “natural” on this Cotman paper. 15 sheets is less than 1000yen, so it’s affordable. I also dye the color before I start. Not really to give it an “old feel” but to be closer to a skin pigmentation. I suppose you could use anything - I use tea packets, but BOSS coffee or cola work as well. (Trade secrets - I could be forced to commit seppuku for divulging them)

Cansonのやつもよ〜使ってたけど最近はCotmanを。用紙の目はめっちゃ綺麗、もっと自然な模様になってる。１５枚は千円以下、とっても安い！（おい、Cotman,スポンサーしてやぁ！）塗る前、茶で色もつける。古くみえて、あじがでるからじゃなくて、真っ白の用紙よりも人間の皮膚色と近いから。（まぁ、民族によるけど言ってる意味わかるやろう？！）秘密な知識やで〜。ばれちゃあかんでぇ

You can see more of the newer pieces on my flash page. There’s some older colored pencil stuff there too - Check back often!
最近のサンプル。ここまで読んでくれてありがとう！よかったらフラッシュのギャラリーのほうも見てな、しょ〜ちゅ〜更新してる。