Mike Malone, R.I.P.
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.