Maverick ZINE — Tattoo Culture, Art & Artist Stories

This is an American story and my goal was to have a book that when you read it, you heard Eddie's voice. People said that's the best presentation we've ever had. Tattooing is a leisure activity that changes social norms. And at that point, leisure can change society. Kids love Eddie. Yeah. Yeah. I have pictures of all three of my daughters.

Two of them it was the first time they ever smiled, like when they were infants. He just knew people. He knew how to make people smile. And it didn't matter what age it was. Yeah. Something special. " Cuz here I'm a guy with very little education and with elbow grease and a tattoo machine, I was able to support my family, buy property and make a living with a little education and a tattoo machine. [Music] What's happening?

This is Austin from Sport Local Tattoer. Today is a very special day. I got two two of my hands down favorite characters, dudes. I got Phil Luck in the house. What's up, y'all? We got Dr. Eric Fmeimmel in the house. Hello.

Yes. The doctor in the house. Yeah. The author of uh The Life and Times of Crazy Philadelphia. Eddie, he wrote Are You You wrote I only have four on the table for some reason. There's seven. Seven. Yeah.

So, I got to find my three others. The seventh came out And then two weeks later, Eddie passed. Oh, no way. Yeah. Yeah. And and we worked really hard. Okay. So, this he was going to stop at number six and then the National Oral History Association invited us to come and present at um their at their uh symposium.

What were they thinking? Yeah. " And I saved those emails because, you know, I mean, that was my goal was to be acknowledged by the Oral History Association because this is an American story. And my goal was to have a book that when you read it, you heard Eddie's voice. So when we went to that convention, Eddie realized he had to lace up his boots and do number seven. Got to finish the story. So we worked really hard to get that seventh book out. And then uh he went to a convention.

Not a lot of people were interested. that kind of broke his heart and the wind was gone out of his cells. After that, you know, he uh, you know, just kind of packed it in, you know. So, what was the plan originally? How many books was it supposed to be when you guys first started discussing it? Five. Five. Yeah.

He wanted to get a decade per book. Okay. And then, um, when we did the first book, we put it out at Mario Bart's biggest tattoo show. That was in 2010. The day he had that up for sale on the table, I was already working on book two and he was telling uh the photographer Michelle, book three is going to be in the works. I'm going to give the tapes to Eric. I mean, oh [ __ ] One was for sale, two was at the printers, three was on my desk. I mean, he we were working, right?

And then he slowed down a little bit, and then it was a book pretty much per year. So, yeah. I mean, he was working hard. Yeah. So, we I I think we kind of wanted to uh go a little into you actually, like your kind of intro to tattooing in general. Phil was telling me some great stories. Yeah. Yeah.

That was in Sacramento, California on Capitol and 19th Street. American Graffiti. It was um first of it was a beautiful house. It was not a storefront. It was a beautiful home. Right. Was that That's the one they moved into. Oh, okay.

This is before that. This was kind of like a basement bottom dwelling area and and those guys just it was it was uh blood, sweat, and tears. Was Eric Hogan at the helm at this point? Yeah. Yeah. And Scott was too. Scott Sylvia. And there was a gentleman Nate, but I can't remember his last name.

I don't know how to pronounce it. Starts with a B. Yeah. And is that how you pronounce Benuelos? That's you know I was 21. So that's like 30 something years ago. But like they and they uh they built the cabinets out. They built their own um uh countertops and and I remember him saying like we don't know what's going to happen.

We open the store. We don't know if like the old-timers are going to come and give us a hard time. How did you find the place? Uh the coffee shop I hung out at was around the corner. Okay. From their place, American Graffiti. And that was right that was before they moved into the the house. And I I got a tattoo from Eric Hogan there.

That was my first tattoo. And after that, I was hooked. Right. And all my friends were getting tattoos. And the back piece was how long in I jumped in. I jumped in pretty quick. I mean, like I put my foot in the shallow end, just walked right around to the deep end and dove right in, you know? Yeah, you did.

Yeah. Yeah. That's a serious back piece. Oh [ __ ] man. Yeah. Were you drawn to tattooing a real early age or exposed to it or anything or? Uh, we weren't really exposed to it as a kid. I mean, any family members?

No [ __ ] No. Yeah. Because I mean in the 80s I mean even if you if you had arm tattoos you couldn't get a job, right? I mean like and you know I had friends getting tattoos in high school and I'm like what are you crazy? I mean they were literally decal sized on their arms when was a dragon you know and you're like when was like you know skates skater stickers and stuff and I'm like man you guys aren't going to be able to get a job. What are you doing? You're like you're born to earn minimum wage from this you know those are visible tattoos. So, none of my tattoos are visible to this day.

It's ingrained in me. But, uh, you know, all of our friends started getting tattoos right about that time. In the '9s, there was that big explosion. And, uh, we would go to tattoo conventions. And I went to Japan Town in uh, San Francisco. Yeah. And bought a book that was published by uh, three people. Ed Rubin, I'm sorry, no, Ed Hardy, last guy named Rubin and Al All Alan Governor, and they put together this symposium and invited academics to write about tattooing.

And they were getting away from that academic view that tattooing was for socially deviant people. Yeah. And that um they wanted to look at it as an art form. and that whole tattoo renaissance that was happening, I gravitated towards that book and it had uh a back piece on it by uh Leo Zuda and that Oh, was this what was the book? Was it Modern Primitive? No, it was um Marks of Civilization. Okay. Okay.

That's that's a big book, right? And so when I wrote my dissertation, those were all my sources for my literature review. That's so cool. you know, so a book I bought when I was in my 20s, you know, you know, I had to dig it out of my parents house, you know, because it was under a bunch of crap. My god, this was all the source work I needed. And so, uh, at that point, I was attracted to the imagery and then there was that intellectual side that kind of triggered me as well. And so, I was just kind of drawn to it. And then, you know, those endorphins that you get when you start getting tattooed, it's like, you know, so yeah, I just fell in love with the art form.

That's so great. Yeah. Yeah. So then um you know at that time I was working in trying to get into the park service. I wanted to be a park ranger. Oh yeah. I remember you telling me about this a long time ago. A long time ago, right?

Never never follow your dreams. " Yeah. You know what you going to do, right? With your studies. I didn't even know that was a thing. I might have gone anymore anymore. It's it's fading out. So, um, but if you're going to have a title in life, Dr.

Pretty awesome, man. Amazing. " And then I started to think about it. There's a there's a culture Yeah. that you can write about. And then that's when I started working on the idea of, okay, well, maybe this is what I'll write about. And uh that that pushed me looking in that direction and I started looking at an avenue to to explore this topic and I was going to Penn State and State College and that's when I met Timmy Tats and lowercase J and I wrote a little piece on their shop and then they introduced me to Crazy Philadelphia Eddie and that was how that started to So that was that was the connection. Solid dudes.

The best. You said you wrote that piece for something or other than Yeah. Yeah. You know, which got rejected. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Where were you submitting that work to? An academic journal. Oh, go. Yeah. They weren't. So, you weren't you weren't just like spitting this out for like tattoo magazines. They shot me down. Okay.

Really? Oh, man. I was No one had my six on that one. " Holy [ __ ] I mean, yeah, they really they nailed me on it. Huh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And um when I defended my dissertation on tattooing, there was shouting in the room for two like for 15 minutes before I entered the room. There was shouting and then um then I went in to defend it. It was a two-hour defense. That defense is supposed to take 10 minutes. Man, I got nailed to the wall. that. Yeah. There was one professor that was not too excited about Well, I don't think he thought that.

What year is this? What year is this? Uh 200 five. Okay. Oh, wow. Yeah. He didn't He didn't really see the the merit, the academic merit in studying tattooing. And he had me take key pieces out of the dissertation that were totally important.

Yeah. Saying I didn't understand the theories. Theories aren't that hard. I mean, if I can understand it. Yeah. And then another professor did his research and said, "No, Eric understood the theories. " So I never got the apology, but anyways, yeah, they nailed me to the wall. They did not like a dissertation written about tattooing.

But yeah. Wow, that's wild. Yeah. And so I had called Alan Governor who was the guy that was part of that symposium for Marxist civilization and he put the anthropologist Victor Turner in my head and said look at this look this way. Victor Turner is pretty interesting with you know um the dynamics in in culture and there was the theory of um social drama. And when I did my research, the the theory that I grounded the research on was social drama. And in a social drama, the first thing that you have is a subculture that likes to do something. And they do it just because they like to do it.

It gives them meaning. They enjoy the activity. It's part of their subculture. The second phase is that the moral majority catches wind of this and they don't like this activity. They see it as subversive. So they try to the third stage is to stamp it out either with religion laws um making it a social taboo and then the fourth stage that happens is that activity gets pumped into the mainstream so it's no longer a social threat and I think that's what happened with tattooing. Yeah. So if you've got like when I grew up sports people didn't have tattoos.

Right. Right. And these are the the the lead. Dennis Rodman, that was it. Dennis Rodman was the turn, right? And and my dad as a kid said, "You will play basketball on a team sport. " So if you've got tattooed individuals that are the heroes of these games that we use to socialize kids, something has changed cuz the NBA when I was a kid didn't have any tattoos. No.

None. So you'd see a brand every once in a while. Every once in a while you'd see a brand, right? Yeah. And so I argued that tattooing is a leisure activity that changes social norms. And at that point, leisure can change society. And I guess you can see that in art, too, like you know, um, with segregation, that was a big thing. And then, you know, Frank Sinatra, Count Bassy started to knock that down with in in Las Vegas.

Yeah. with a non-segregated stage. Chuck Barry, rock and roll. That's an art form that knocked down segregation, you know. So, that was what I kind of argued with the dissertation. And uh yeah, they didn't like it. They didn't like it. And now look at it.

They didn't like it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What are you going to do? Yeah. [ __ ] it.

But dude, you did it. And that's so really good. Oh man, it ruffled some feathers. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. and I got my ass chewed out in that defense. " And I think that went really well yesterday.

I'm like, "What are you talking about? What defense were you at, man? " So, yeah. Damn. So, really? Yeah. So, you jumped in. You So, we'll go back maybe to where you met Eddie.

Yeah. Okay. Okay. And you really like connected like Oh yeah. Timmy Tats, he introduced you and J, what was the guy? Lowerase Jas Brothers. The Sellers Brothers. You might have I met Timmy multiple times.

Younger brother. Great tattoo. Great tattoo. He came out with the Philly show. Yeah, probably. Years ago. Yeah. So, um, uh, Tim Timmy talked to to Eddie and said, "These are some great stories.

I got a friend that writes. I'll introduce you to. So, I met I flew out to Philadelphia to help Timmy and the idea was like, okay, I'm a PhD guy. I can write grants. We can get some money. We can do some research. That was that was the angle we were going to throw. No one wanted to give us money.

But anyways, so he was doing this thing from the horse's mouth, interviewing old old school tattooers like Crazy Philadelphia, Eddie, Eddie Peace, and um Stan. Yeah. Barry Stan. Yeah. And um that's where I met Eddie and he took us to the Skin and Bones exhibit at the National Maritime Museum in um Philadelphia. And we walked through that exhibit and it was like walking through the NBA Hall of Fame with with Larry Bird. You know what I mean? Like like some of the stories he would tell me when we were walking.

This is the first time I met him. He says um you know sometimes when you're tattooing someone would come in with a design that you wanted but you didn't have Xerox machines then and no one had phones in their pockets or anything like that. So he said, you know, you're tattooing someone and um you're looking at that design, you really want it. So you say to him, "Hey, that's a nice design. " So you redo the lines. Okay. You put a napkin on it. You pull that off.

And then you've got the outline in blood. Brilliant. And that's how you make your stencil. Get the [ __ ] out with not acetate or whether you Okay, cool. Yeah. Cuz that's how brilliant. Yeah. Really?

Yeah. I just love the the hustle, the little sneaky. So, I mean, like, you've got this bloody napkin. Yeah. And you trace that out. Now, you've got a design on your wall. And I thought, man, this is this is a hell of a story. Yeah.

So, he and I drank some Bloody Marys. Had a great time drinking. And then um Timmy interviewed him. I didn't know he was much of a drinker. Yeah. Imagine that. Yeah. Yeah.

Philly. Phy like to drink a little. Two fists and Eddie. Two fisting. Right. And then um he doesn't remember that that day at all. I totally do because it was you know like wow I'm meeting crazy Philadelphia Eddie. Yeah.

And um and and as you know he makes you feel like you're the only person in the room. Yes. And that you've been friends for 20 years. He had that way about him as a person. Um you know the he had a kind heart for for kids and animals. I mean like like he was a a very genuine person. Love Eddie. Yeah.

Yeah. I have pictures of of my my all three of my daughters. Two of them it was the first time they ever smiled like when they were infants. Like he just he just he just knew people. He knew how to make people smile and it didn't matter what age it was. Yeah. Yeah. Something special.

Yeah. And and then so then couple months went by and I got a phone call from him saying, "Hey, could you come out? " And that was an experience in itself. Yeah. Making a book deal a book deal with Crazy Philadelphia Ed. People have told me I shouldn't tell this story. I love telling it. Yeah.

Yeah. So, so I was helping a friend with his dissertation, collecting the data in Florida. So, I I drove out over to Eddie's to pick up the tapes for the book, eight tapes. " And Shiffer Publishing published that one great book on um that was an oral history on um Sony Stony Knows How. Okay. I mean like this it was an Alan Governor book, right? Well, they had they they had I think was it originally by Schiffer? Yeah.

Shiffer Publishing. Okay. And Alan Governor was the the guy that wrote it and it's all Stony's voice. So I mean like it's an oral history. Yeah. Yeah. So I I I go out and I sit real quick. Was he did he do the documentary as well on Stony?

Yeah, he did. That was him. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for me, like that was that that's what I aspired to be. You know, now I work at a bus station. But anyways, I digress. So, uh, I drive out there and his girlfriend answers the door.

She's, "Oh, Eric, it's great. You know, welcome to the house. The boys are out by the pool. Here's a beer. Why don't you go ahead and talk business with them? " So, I go out to the pool and Eddie's hanging out with a guy that is the girlfriend's brother and uh he runs the massage parlors in uh Philadelphia. Okay. Yeah.

Tough dude. Yeah. Um I really liked him. Really respect him, but I mean like that could scare you, right? Yeah. And uh and he's like, "Okay, so you got a deal for 5%. I got the same deal as Schiffer. Ah, it's not good enough for me, you know.

I want more. So, I did some research and he pulls out the book um that was by uh Michael McCabe uh on the New York tattooers. Yeah. And he says, "This is the style of book we're going to make. It's going to be this many pages. It's going to cost us this much to make. You put in half. I put in half.

" What do you say? " Didn't even think about it. Like, you know, yeah, let's write this book. So, we uh go inside to eat. There's [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] at this table. Every other sentence. Yeah. And then Eddie's friend says, "I noticed you don't swear at the dinner table.

" I said, "Well, you know, there's no reason. I lived in LA, you know, 39. " And Eddie gives me the tapes and I said, "Okay, cool. " And he says the the brother, there's no street in you. I'm like, you got me on that one. There's no street in me. It's all suburbs. So I went home and started knocking out the tapes.

" That's how and then that's what we started doing and that's that's how the book started. Was there structure to the tapes or was it just kind of him going home every day and rambling, you know, or like he was so structured. Really? Great. Yeah. His notes were impeccable. Um so we we wrote the first book and um I'd say, "Wow, that's a great story. " Okay, that's in the next one.

and he would call a friend and uh they would talk about when it happened, you know, in their minds and they would, you know, collectively put things in a in a linear fashion. Oh, that's great. And um he was very meticulous about that. And then he knew that I was writing it perbatim. So he would record and when he didn't when he was done with that portion he would turn it off, collect his thoughts and then say exactly what he wanted to say. And then that way I would transcribe it word for word and then try to punctuate it to get his cadence. Yeah. Cuz he had a very unique way of speaking and so I would always try to get that cadence, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. And uh I mean I I heard those I listen to those tapes at least 50 times. Yeah. I bet. Yeah. Right. So, and that's how book one started.

And then when book two came, he started talking about Philadelphia. And book two is my favorite because like if you read like John Steinbeck and Canary Row, John Steinbeck takes you right into Canary Row, you know, Doc and all the characters that are working in those caneries and things like that. In volume two, he takes you into Chinatown 1963 64. Whoa. And he tells you about all the characters in that neighborhood like like and the things that they did like one character I always remember is poor Stanley. And Stanley had a limp. And Stanley, poor Stanley worked at Maze Tavern at at Maze Tavern. And um they asked poor Stanley if he wanted to go to the racetrack with him.

" And so they go into the bar with him and May says, "Yeah, sure, Stanley. you can have your paycheck early, but I'm deducting all the money for the the dishes that you broke through the week. " [ __ ] stories like that, right? Like that's the character. Those were the characters in in volume two. And it was just like, man, I'm sure Chinatown's not like that anymore. Yeah. And like he really captured Chinatown in the 60s in Philadelphia.

Brilliant. [ __ ] great stories. Brilliant. Right. Oh man. So [ __ ] Okay. So you guys got got the books rolling and everything and then you started traveling with Eddie to promote the book, right? Yeah.

Yeah. So we did the first one at Mario Bart Mario Bart 2010. And after that weekend I said I'm quitting my job. I'm gonna I'm gonna go travel with daddy. And people said, "I don't think that's a wise idea. " I said, "No, no, no. [ __ ] this. " Yeah.

And so I just was his sidekick for for Balry Stan and and Eddie. How How many shows were you guys doing a month? We did 27 a year. Okay. That's a That's a good That's a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot. 27 a year.

Yeah. And uh that's around the time that's when we met, right? Right. Cuz I remember you come and you moved to Vegas or you were I can't remember where you No, I was living in LA at the time. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Living in Skid Row.

I remember you in the parking lot when we would open the shop. You'd be sleeping in the Cadillac or something. Yeah. Cadillac. Yeah. Cadillac and uh and then we would like give you water or something when you come in. It'd be hot as [ __ ] in the desert. Cadillac rider.

But we enjoy Oh man, that was a lot of fun. I remember one time sitting in the back in the artist area where you were and and you walked up to me and you're like you're like what do you actually do? I said I don't even know. I said, "I don't know, Charlie. I'm just along for the ride. " It was fun. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. And I think of some of those shows that we went to um like the one of my favorites was uh in uh Vancouver, Washington.

Yep. Yep. Right across the river from Portland. So fun. Yeah. Yeah. We got my dad Charlie Spencer on the mic. He's he's off set right now, but I miked him up so he could jump in here and there.

Yeah. Um Yeah. So, we sat down at a table in Vancouver, Washington with Lyall Tuttle. Yeah. Eddie and uh Jay Brown. Jay Brown. Okay. Yeah.

And he he's he's uh you know running the Russian crew. Okay. Uh and uh who is one of Eddie's hitmen of the hit squad. Okay. Yeah. They had a hit squad. That's a great story. Kind of.

Yeah. I'm excited to hear that story. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh yeah, that was a that was a great story.

I remember Lyall telling some pretty [ __ ] wild stories that were actually like surprised. Yeah, he was taking over that table like I don't know. I guess we could talk about what he's about. Can we can Can I butt in here? Yeah. Yeah. Do you remember Lyall sitting down with us? " Yeah.

" Yeah. I know. " And you'd go, "Really? " Man, that dude, he was like 85 at the time. Yeah. No slowing down. What happened? Well, you were just telling us stories about how he smuggled it back in like in his cane.

Cane or some sort of cylinder type thing. I remember. I don't know why. Show us his trusty cane. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it was full of cane.

Yeah. Yeah. Like I literally just brought this back from Columbia. " Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember like the one of the first questions he ever asked me was, "Do you know how much a million dollars in $100 bills weigh? " Like I remember like he gave me the answer like cuz he [ __ ] knew.

He knew. He knew. Yeah. Yeah. He knew. Yeah. He just spent it on Coke. Yeah.

Yeah. He Yeah. Yeah. He was a character, man. Yeah. They all were. They all were. I was like a prerequisite to being a [ __ ] tattooer in those days.

You had to have You had to have personality. Yeah. Who was going to sit in your chair if you didn't have personality, you know? Yeah. And then you had to have the balls to kick them out. Yeah. Yeah. I was watching the little interviews with Stan and uh Eddie and they just they were just ranting.

There's only a few videos on YouTube right now. Those are the ones that those are the ones from that special week. Yeah. Yeah. That was a [ __ ] hell of a week. Yeah. And and and this is the thing is like these seven books, how many tattooers have a book out? You know, how many how many tattooers have part of their story told to have the whole life of Eddie and the fact that he is quite possibly one of the most inter not quite possibly one of the most interesting tattooers in the history of the game.

Yeah. The fact that we got these seven books. Yeah. You know, no, nobody's going to know. There's so many tattooers who were important are just going to fall by the wayside because their stories ain't told. Stanley, Stanley, prime example. We got a few people who know the stories and that that verbal history will go on. But this is this is [ __ ] solidified, you know.

Yeah. And and and someone asked Eddie once, well, you know, is this true? And Eddie says, well, yeah, all the parts are true except the ones I made up. Well, I don't know why. I was just thinking about one story I remember in there where they broke into some brewery in the middle of the night and [ __ ] jumped into the beer in Denmark in the beer. Yeah, that was Who does this [ __ ] Am I remembering that correctly? Yeah, you are. Yeah, you are.

Yeah, that was with Tattoo. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. They they they got locked in the brewery and uh Yeah. I mean, happens all the time, right? And he says they were swimming in the beer. Yeah, you know, dude, he was a he was also a ladies man.

Insane. Like I you were talking about how he made you feel special. Every time I was around him, my sister was standing next to me. Didn't pay a [ __ ] lake of attention to me, dude. He would literally wouldn't even look at me. I remember an interaction when he came to the shop and you said he was talking to your sister and he's ah, sweetheart. " And then turn right there [ __ ] Eddie. Eddie, you want to you want to sign the door?

No. Yeah, I know. You know who's so so sweet was Stan Mosquitz. " He was so [ __ ] sweet, which is ironic that he had such a hard ass. Stanley was still so obsessed with tattooing up until the end. Yeah. Absolutely obsessed with tattooing. Stanley was.

Yeah. I've saw him at multiple shows just sitting like just sitting there working, dude. Like working. You you know one day we were driving home and this is when I lived in Vegas. " And I I said, "Well, yeah, me too, Stan. " And he says, because here I am a guy with very little education and with elbow grease and a tattoo machine, I was able to support my family, buy property, and make a living with a little education and a tattoo machine. So cool, right? I mean, you know, I was thinking about this recently.

He in 1961 when tattooing went legal in New York City, him and his brother fought and were able to get it overturned for another year. He told me they spent $200,000 on attorneys in 1961. The other day I was thinking about it and I looked it up. 1 million in today's money. Yeah. So for two tattooers to have that kind of scratch at their [ __ ] disposal. Mhm. Was it just tattooing?

Yeah. I mean that [ __ ] everyone's going to have a side hustle, right? Yeah. Stan told me when they lived on the Bowery or in Brooklyn, one of those. I think it was in Brooklyn, his his mom used to make whiskey on the stove top and then put tea bags in it to diet and she sold that to the bums. Brilliant. Okay, that's what he told me. I mean, yeah.

And I believe it. If Stan tells me Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to question lie. But like, yeah, she used to make like rock gut whiskey and sell it to the B. Brilliant. Yeah. Yeah.

" Yeah. Yeah. There was always a little surprising thing. Yeah. with Stan there like we would we would drive from Fort Lauderdale up to Philly and we would pass a spot. " Dan White was the sheriff. We left New York City. I was 13.

We were going to go down and pick fruit. There was one kid that had to get away because apparently he had killed somebody. And S says, "You know, I need to go make some money. " and they got picked up by the sheriff in this little North Carolina town, put in jail for two weeks, and they were eating beans and rice or something like that and some shitty coffee. And I guess Stan's father let him sit there for two weeks so that he'd never run away again. " Wow. W. " How about that?

I never knew that. Yeah. Oh, I I remember the things they used to tell me on the road. Yeah. You know, you would have both of them in your car. Yeah. You guys would be in their car. Okay.

You're driving their car. They're cruising. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and Eric, can you tell the story about the rubber chicken? I love the story. The rubber chicken. You sent me a photo, a picture, and you told me not to to share it with anybody until you did something with it.

So, I'm still holding on to it, guys. never shared it with anybody. Stand by and a rubber chicken. Oh, the No, it was a rubber alligator. It was a rubber alligator. A rubber alligator. Yes. Sorry.

So, we Yeah. Yeah. " And he's pulling out all of his change out of his pocket to pay for this. " So he he grabs the rubber alligator in one arm. He's got oranges in the other and he waddles off to the car and it was just like that weird moment like here's the toughest dude in the world that I know and he's got a rubbery alligator in one hand. Oranges in the other. It was just a really surreal moment. Humanizing.

Yeah. And it was kind of endearing. I've never shared it with anybody. Oh, you can totally share it now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was a tough tough [ __ ] but very endearing.

And I said to him, Stan, like I know I know you're homicidal. I mean, I know this. You you don't make you don't even hide it. You know, you talk about right those old stories were scary. Those old stories, you know, cutting someone from neck to ass. " That that's a that's a hard you don't find. And I said, Stan, you know, how are you so sweet to us? Yeah, but you're this hard.

And he says, "Oh, Eric, I wanted to be nice like you. I wanted to be a kid that played little league and went to the park and stuff. I didn't have that chance. I was tattooing bums by the age of 14 and every day was a battle for my life. I had to fight these people with like Tony Pledo, you know, and their chair magic. Right now, people don't realize it's so accessible these days, but back in back in the day, you only got tattooed if you were a scumbag. Regular people did not get tattooed. You were a bad [ __ ] You were a prostitute or you were just a degenerate.

There were no inbetweens, right? So the client hell it they were dealing with it on a daily basis as a teenager. As a teenager. Yeah. I mean at 14 my balls hadn't even dropped yet. Right. Right. I mean you're rollerblading looking at playboys.

I shot him under the bus. I I should I didn't even give you a skateboard. I just threw a roller blades at you. It was the 80s. Maybe I was rollerblading. How about that? It was the '8s. We didn't have rollerb blades yet.

That was the '9s. But that if it was the 90s, I would have been doing that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that was me. But but uh Yeah. But like you know, so like Stan at 14, he's got to defend himself with a ballpeen hammer.

Yeah. And defend everyone in the shop. Yeah. I mean the story of him hitting the dude in the forehead with the hammer because he, you know, Well, how did that go down? He said something to his father or something. No, I think I think he punched him in the Stan got punched in the stomach. Oh, Stan got punched. Okay.

Yeah. and uh he didn't like that. So he he hit him in the head with the ballpeen hammer. That's another great story. They kept checking on him. They threw him after they were done beating the [ __ ] out of him, they threw him in the back in the in the alley and they were like, you know, uh we we thought in the morning we'd find the rats eating them. Yeah. But he just disappeared.

That was another beating. Oh, that was a different beating. They were always getting in fights, right? you know, and and then like, okay, the weird thing about these books is every once in a while I get a a message from someone's grandkid, uh, Bill Killingsworth. Mhm. His grandson messaged me, "Hey, I read the books. " I'm like, "Holy [ __ ] man. " He's like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

" Wow. About his shop on uh Surf Avenue. No, Steel Well. On Steel Well. Yeah. And they said, you know, do you have any more information? I said, listen, everything I got is pretty much in the books, so it's right there, you know. So, like, yeah, Michelle is her name.

Um, yeah, she's contacted me several times saying, you know, uh, is this picture from my grandfather's studio? I said, 'Oh, no, that one's, um, 8th Avenue. Now, where did the bulk of the photos come from for the books? Were they all in in in Eddie's collection? No, he's he he called out to friends. Okay. Okay. Yeah, he called out cuz they are chock full of pictures, those books.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know where I think most of those like he didn't have those photos. I don't know where they would be, but um most of the photos he had friends had sent to him and then he'd write on the back what captions he wanted. I gota right and one one of them was piece of [ __ ] great grandson-in-law got a contract on him. Really? Because remember he used to hand out his hit list to you.

Do you remember that? No. Oh [ __ ] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's in book six or seven. He printed out hundreds of copies of his hit list. People he wanted out of the world.

Okay. And one of them was stretched out because he was deceased. And that was Spalding. Holy [ __ ] Yeah. Yeah. I think Spalding was on a lot of people's list. Yeah. Yeah.

" Just so we're clear, these are the people I do not enjoy. Right? " I think the guy's name was Frankie Miller. I can't remember. " He says, "I don't know, Eric. " That was his nemesis, right? And the guy goes, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you're crazy Philadelphia Eddie.

" And he goes, "Yeah, okay. " Weird. You know me, but who are you? And the guy says, "Uh, I'm Frankie's protege. " Anyways, Eddie, good to see you. You know, glad to see you're still kidding. The cops are in trouble now. Yeah, now they're I probably get in trouble for telling this story.

I don't know. And then Eddie goes, "Hey, Eric, go out to the car, get books one and two. " You know, because in book one, you know, that's the beginning story of Jack Dracula, who was like bad luggage for Eddie in uh Philadelphia. You know, he brought him there and then couldn't get rid of him. You know, what the [ __ ] Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, and Eddie would say it's these circles in life and they're all connected. And one day we're in the car and I said, you know, I'm really glad that I didn't settle down and have kids cuz I wouldn't have been able to go on this adventure with you and write these books.

I wouldn't have had the money. I'd be raising kids and I couldn't just take off and travel. Yeah. And he he put his finger on the dashboard and he said, "Eric, this what we're doing is destiny. You didn't make this decision and I didn't make this decision. " And that was one of those profound moments with Eddie, like, you know, Yeah. gives me the chills, dude. Yeah, he was tuned into something, man.

Yeah. Like, you know, he would talk about flash. " Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. Like when you did the fight club thing, you would put out a description of it and then these images would come back by other tattooers and they were all pretty close. Yeah.

Yeah. Some differences. Yeah. Yeah. But you guys are all feeding on the same mental images and stuff. That shared culture. And as a true Yeah. That is true.

Yeah. Damn. Yeah. And if you're a [ __ ] in this business, people will know. Yeah. And if you're a standup guy, that gets out, too. Yeah. What was Eddie's reason for stopping tattooing?

Because he still stayed relevant in the tattoo industry for two decades after tattooing. What was his reasoning for for quitting tattooing full-time? The customers. Yeah. Huh. They got to him. Couldn't stand them. He couldn't stand them.

Oh, I can't even imagine what he'd do these days. Thought I'd be baking a cake with a file in it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Stan would have cut him neck to ass, too. You know what I mean? No joke.

No joke. Yeah. He I I was watching some interviews earlier, too, and he was just talking a lot about how he didn't enjoy the the the fanciness of tattooing, you know, and how it got became upscale and [ __ ] you know, he was just real not again not into it. Yeah. Um Oh, I was also there. He I was watching some videos of him telling he told two different stories about when he got his first tattoo. Was it by Stan? Cuz he went into he was telling a story.

Maxi Peltz did his first tattoo. Yeah. Max Peltz. Yeah, cuz there was one story that he was telling where he went in and he got tattooed by Stan and then he pissed off Stan and then his brother came out in the back holding the [ __ ] ballpeen hammer. No, no. Uh Walter had tattooed two birds on him and charged him what he thought was double. Okay. Okay.

I thought he was talking about Stan doing the tattoo. No. " Yeah. Stan was not. Yeah, cuz he said one of the one of the wings is under my nipple and one's on top of my nipple. And he goes, "The guy just hit me in the back of the [ __ ] head and goes, I don't know what the [ __ ] One's a boy bird, one's a girl bird. " And he So, we still got them, right? Yeah, he still got them.

Yeah. Yeah. But that happened after he got them. He stuck with them. Brilliant. 50 50 cents. And so he gave him I think like a $10 bill expecting $5 change and he said he tucked it in his pocket. He was going to tip you but where's my change?

He's like there's no change. Yeah. On the chest is double. Yeah. It's $5 a piece. $10. And that's when he got mad. And then he started giving Walter a hard time.

And then Stan came around the corner with a chain and a razor. " Yeah. I would not mess with Stan's baby brother. tattooed very much very classic for a very long time. It wasn't until '98 that Stanley started wearing gloves. Oh god. When I first went and got tattooed by him, there weren't no gloves. He They weren't wearing gloves.

They were still It wasn't until he went to do conventions that um Civ pulled him aside and was like, you know, you're going to have to wear gloves. Like people are not going to be cool with this. Yeah. But it was still community ink pots and you know, you went early so that you got clean ink. Yeah, dude. Dude, I got the [ __ ] I got the hammer. What blew my mind was the fact that when I tattoo, my hands are covered in [ __ ] by the time I'm done. There's ink and blood and god knows what everywhere.

When he was done with a tattoo, there was not nothing on his his thumb. His thumb because he used acetate stencils. So, you'd use the thumb to push the the powder into the grooves. Aside from that, there was no ink on his hands, no blood on his hands. He did the finger wrap, the old school finger wrap. So, they'd be, you know, he'd dab with that. Yeah, but it blew my mind that he was such a clean tattooer. We didn't we didn't have to worry about that.

You know, we had gloves on, so it didn't matter how messy we were. But before us, you that was something you took into consideration. You didn't of course you don't want blood and ink on your hands. " Yeah. So much more to think about. You know, another thing I never considered until we were chopping it up one day is that why all the tattooers were in Chattam Square. Yes. Because it was a direct current.

Yes. DC, not AC, right? For their tattoo machine. Yeah. And that was a lot of these areas, a lot of the the lower income the like, you know, the the Bowery and in um in Northark, Virginia. Same thing. There were such poor areas that they couldn't afford to upgrade their electric. So, they stayed with the old electric.

So basically the Bowery was run on a huge bank of batteries, you know, it was just dry dry cell batteries, but the benefit was there was no ripple in the current. So you could literally plug your machine right into the wall. No power unit, no nothing. And you're getting clean current right out of the wall. There's no ripple in your current like there is with AC current. So that's why the Bowerery was the spot for tattooers, you know, up until I I don't think it was until the 60s that they changed it over. thing. Yeah.

Pretty wild. Yeah. It's a trip. Pretty [ __ ] wild. Method to that madness. Method to that madness. Yeah. Yeah.

" Oh. Oh. Oh, I gota I gota Yeah. " He goes, "Well, you know, that's your that's your tube. You get a couple bicycle spokes, that's your needle. That's your needle bar. That's your needle bar. Okay.

Then you start building the machine off of things in the neighborhood. So if all the antennas start going off of cars, right? Someone's someone's building tattoo machines. I remember Stanley telling me that they'd get the stencil material, the acetate, they'd they'd steal them off of um when uh convertible cars became a thing, the back windshield. Okay. Was was easy to turn into a stencil, you know, right? And then um how uh the spring of the machine was the the binding that goes around the cardboard boxes for the refrigerators. Cut that.

Yeah. That that steel that steel wrap. Yeah. They would cut that into the spring and that was, you know, damn. And then they would get the needles from uh Taylor shops and solder those together, you know. Oh, okay. And and and I remember one day Eddie is saying to me like, you know, we were coming back from a convention and he's he's getting upset that there's too many tattooers in eating the pie up like, you know, he goes, Eric, he says, it was a bowl of cherries. you know, you didn't even have to change your needles for six months and your your your um your grip gets a worn in groove from the needle cuz it's keep going back and forth and it just sits in there perfectly.

Then the health department comes around and makes you [ __ ] change. Makes you get rid of your favorite needle. Oh my god. Mild stuff, right? Yeah. I mean, I I saw a little bit of that when I first started, but yeah. Not re Well, I mean, the only reason that we I mean, the in all reality, the only reason that we re that we don't reuse needles is because we use stainless, and stainless wears down super quick. If we were still using carbon, chances are we'd still be using our needles over and over and over again.

Like I was talking about earlier, they did get better as you went on. You know, a carbon steel needle, first off, it it doesn't go dull. It would break before it would get dull. It'll never go dull on you. You'll be the tip would snap off before it would dull down in a customer. Sometimes sometimes, oh my god, I've seen that. But the beauty of it was the fact that carbon was uh had had a texture to it so it would hold ink so much better. Now, working with carbon was absolutely phenomenal.

" That never happened with carbon because they were so saturated in ink. But because carbon rusted, we felt that it was no longer a good thing for tattooing. We should go with stainless. In all reality, what are you going to get? Three hours out of a stainless steel needle before it starts wearing down. If you're using a steel tube, Yeah. you start seeing the damage almost immediately on it, you know? Mhm.

So, I don't know where I was going. So, but what is what is better? What is better? Now, if you're using a sterilizer between between customers, there's nothing wrong with reusing your needle. It's not like a doctor is gonna throw out his [ __ ] scalpel between surgeries. No, it goes into a sterilizer. It is what it is. Yeah.

You know, so I mean I think that the new generation has this misconception of reusing needles and like how disgusting it is and it's like is it is it Yeah. I mean all our dental tools and everything. Yeah. We just they just told us to like take a toothbrush and scrub the skin off, right? Make sure they're get between those [ __ ] and redo it. Phil, you just reminded me of a story. I had an apprentice that ruined all your tubes one time. Remember that?

Who was that? Josh. Josh. Oh, the same [ __ ] that rear ended me last name while I was at a red light. Yeah. Kid was an incredible artist. So good. Incredible.

He was a sweetheart. He was just He was just goofy. Yeah. " and never even seen that. " He I can't remember what he put in there, but it ruin it ruined all of Phil's. Didn't he go to college for like metal smithing, too, ironically, like you know, you know, I saw his his he did like bronze statues like in front of museums. " And I'm like, I'm thinking this kid's like at home with [ __ ] FIMO clay making bongs and [ __ ] And all of a sudden, he's pulling out these pictures of these elaborate like professional photos of like statues of libraries and county buildings. What are you doing?

But he was just he would try to do his own thing. So he decided he's going to experiment with Phil's tubes. [ __ ] all Phil's tubes up. Bill's mad at me. [ __ ] steel tubes you were still using. Did you tell him to do that? " Well, that's a good answer. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, I mean, yeah. Nobody told you not to. Bless them. We're telling you now. Bless. Yeah.

It's funny. Yeah. It's crazy, man. Yeah. I want to hear more stories about like I I don't know. Just I love the idea of you traveling across the country with those characters, man. Like I just feel like those are some seriously how much content did you do you you were never really able to pull stuff out of there and put it in the books, right? Because you were speaking like you said you were writing through.

Yeah. " And when you pull it out of the ground, the guy that's mining it will say to you, "Hey, I've got two sacks of this blue and this cobalt changes 2 feet down. It's going to be a different type of blue. " And then with your reds, this is what you do with your reds and your greens. " Okay. So, he was always telling me these these stories. Some of them weren't related to tattooing, but it really showed his personality. " Mhm.

" So, he'd take down his notes and kind of fit that stuff in there. Oh, cool. and one of the guys that he developed inks with um I want to say Wayne Green but I don't I don't if that's remember it's in one of the books I think it's number three and uh the guy worked happened to work for a cosmetic factory and um he knew the chemicals the colors and how to produce them in a way that would cosmetically safe so you could put it in the skin. Yeah. And um he really explained that chemistry to Eddie cuz Eddie's vocabulary talking about the surficants, you know, how you add these things together to make an ink, you know, with diuretic acids and things like that. He understood the chemistry. Whoa. He was a pretty sharp guy.

Yeah. " Whoa. You know, like little weird things like that. " Oh, tell Wayne and I say, you know, and you know, there was always these weird little things where and everywhere we went, somebody knew Eddie. " He's, you know, anywhere he went, somebody knew him. Yeah. " So, he was Yeah. He overall seemed like he had a real positive energy about him.

Just a salesmany naturally just that stoked dude to tell he liked to talk about himself obviously. And that hairdo always man. It just got more and more better the older he got too. Yeah, man. Yeah. With the ducttails in the back. Yeah. Always the white shoes.

Always white shoes. I have a beautiful black and white screwdriver in his hand. Just his um two like the bridge of his nose and up. Yeah, that I took at Mario's show here. I think that's probably the same show we were talking about at that time. I was I was dating a blonde and he I was getting tattooed by Stan and I'm cringing standing on one leg getting my other leg tattooed while Yeah. Yeah. Stan's tattooing that flounder with the [ __ ] ballpeen hammer through it.

And I think Bob Tyrell had just got done getting tattooed. He's tattooing me and then he's pushing down all of Bob Tyrell's bloody tissues with his gloves and then coming back up and finishing my tattoo and I'm trying not to look. So, I was trying to talk to Eddie and Eddie didn't want to have anything to do with me cuz my girlfriend at the time next to me is standing there and he just wants to talk to the blonde. " Yeah. Good luck. It was so fun. Yeah. Yeah.

And then uh and the women were just attracted to him, you know. What were the reactions like when you were traveling with him outside of conventions? I mean, in conventions, he was treated with the utmost respect. How did the average person take Philadelphia, Eddie? [ __ ] He charmed him. Yeah, he charmed them. It like like he would, you know, he would he kind of had his his his go-to things he would say, you know, to women. Yeah.

like, you know, do you want to run away with me? You you have we can go to two places. You can choose Hawaii or Cincinnati, you know. And somehow that line really worked with women. And like then he would say something like pretty provocative, right? " Yeah. Then I tried to say something like that once. " I got shot down.

He's like, "You're not old enough yet, Eric. " you know, like so yeah, people really liked him, you know, and like uh I remember being in a in a bar with him, a bar and restaurant, and you know, cuz he always smelled like Aramis, you know, like always like and you could smell you could smell him a mile away, right? It was always Aramus, right? " Yeah. She's like in her eyes lit like you know who is this guy but like you know I mean the kids loved this guy like and he was good with kids but yeah he he always made a favorable impression on people um no matter where he went like guys and women liked him you know you couldn't help just be around him and be enamored with his presence guy. Did he always rock like the real elaborate suits and stuff or was that more Yeah.

His philosophy was if you want to look if you want to make a million bucks, you got to look like a million bucks. Yeah. Is that something that he he like we were talking about him having a lot of money on the side, but these older tattooers, it didn't seem like they were they would I mean, what was he spending his money on outside of just stacking it? Women. Women. Ladies, ladies of the evening. He did. Yeah, I was going to say I just watched that.

Yeah. Yeah. Pores, Eric. Ladies of the evening. He would trade. Yeah. And he wouldn't trade his time for it. He would get paid and Yeah.

You know, transaction. I don't know. But I remember one time it didn't sound like he gave [ __ ] up for free. Oh, [ __ ] man. That guy. Yeah. I remember one time cuz he always kept his money in his in his in his sock really on his on his left leg. And uh we were going through TSA and they noticed a bulge on his left right on his left leg.

And um Eddie's in a wheelchair because he can't walk these long distances because of the emphyma. Okay. " And the guy's puts on his gloves, you know, and Eddie starts to pull up his slacks cuz he's not, you know, he doesn't wear pants. He wears slacks. Yeah. He pulls up and I see this big stack of hundreds sticking out of his sock. And the TSA guy starts to go to reach for it. Daddy.

He goes, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. " And then put his pants back down. " You know, that was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know why. I was just thinking too about the story about him feeding the ducks. A retirement home.

A He loved everything. He loved everyone and everything. And they hated him feeding those ducks. Tell a story. You got to tell a story. So, so like he's feeding the ducks and this lady's like, "Sir, would you please stop feeding the ducks? " And her husband's like, "Just leave him alone. " You know?

And Eddie's, "Yeah, yeah, I'm feeding I'm not feeding the ducks. I'm feeding the elephants, but the ducks keep getting in the way. You know, there's no [ __ ] elephants, but like So then the phone rings and it's it's the HOA manager and they're like, "Uh, Mr. Funk, you've got to stop feeding the ducks. I'm not feeding ducks. You're feeding the ducks, sir. No, I'm feeding elephants. And then he says, you know, I'm not allowed to be alone by myself, you know.

And he starts playing the scenile old guy bit. And then they're like, uh, Mr. Funk, we're going to call, um, Stanley Mosovitz if you don't quit this behavior. and he goes, "Oh, no. " He had mind to preface this, at the door that they're talking him at, there's a skid of duck food. Yeah. Legitimately like I have a photo. I'm going to send it to you so that you could post it on this cuz it's literally him standing at the door feeding the ducks with bags and bags and bags of duck food.

Yeah. So [ __ ] funny. Yeah. I mean, like 50 lb bags. Literally. So funny, right? And he would go out there with just cups and just dump the stuff and and they'd get mad like, you know, the ducks shed. He didn't care.

He's feeding his ducks. That was his philosophy. I'm an old man. This is what I'm supposed to do. Supposed to feed the ducks. Don't call Stanley, you know. " He's like, "No, sir. " He's like, "No, I need two.

That sounds really good. " And he goes, "What about vodka? " And he goes, "Oh, don't let her don't let Putin hear you say that. " You know what I mean? Like anyone that called up to that house, he got some [ __ ] in hand. It was great. It was great. And to be on the listening end, sitting there fast, you know, that old man had so much fun [ __ ] with people.

Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah. What um what So he did a lot of other things too also besides tattooing. Like he started a tattoo supply company early on, right? So he had some pretty wild stories with those, right? And and the tattoo association. Really?

That was him. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. That was him. [ __ ] way, dude. Yeah.

Cuz he he knew that that there was cuz they had gotten steamrololled in New York and pushed out. And so if he figured the tattooers got together Yeah. and everyone's paying some dues, they've got a bankroll to hire good lawyers. How How long in did he start doing the conventions? Do you know what year he started doing the conventions? His convention. He was the second to do conventions. David Yurku was the first.

That was 76. That was Minneapolis. So it' probably be right around 7778. Oh, really? Still in the 70s, guy. And I remember like it was the first convention we did here in Vegas. And we go to the the the post office to pick up some books and I was wearing a jacket that day too, a nice sports coat. " and walked out.

" No. In the 70s, tested in the waters. What the [ __ ] Right. In the hotel manager's office, he would just pull out a joint and start smoking. No [ __ ] And that's how he would he would test people to see if it was okay. Brilliant. Yeah. Brilliant.

He had his methods and he could read people pretty good. Yeah. You know, sounds like it. He He thought you were crazy. He did. He thought you were crazy. Really? He's absolutely right.

Nailed it. Nailed it. Yeah. Nailed it. Yeah. This guy's a nut, Eric. That's you know you know feeling and like this like your story of how you got into tattooing and like how two big bikers knocked on your door to take your machines away from you when you were a teenager. So cool.

It's [ __ ] classic. Yeah. Yeah. You know. Yeah. And you kept pushing. I did. I never gave up.

I did now. I I've recently given up. Yeah. You know what I mean? like, you know, uh, you know, I I I can just see your parents answering the door and there's two big dudes from a motorcycle club. The one who was the most thrown off were the bikers. " And they were like, "Come on, kid. " Like, it just [ __ ] cuz they were there to kick the [ __ ] out of someone.

But they weren't going to beat the [ __ ] out of some 14year-old kid, you know? " You know? So they gave me the option find somebody to to back you would be [ __ ] done right now. You know if I were 5 years older Oh you would have gotten I would I'd be done. Yeah we wouldn't be having this conversation. I'd be writing it. So there was that guy Renegade. Yes.

Right. And um he used to tattoo he was trying to get into the business and uh Jack Armstrong uh he went into Jack Armstrong's shop asking about an apprenticeship where everyone else shut him down. Jack Armstrong was on the He says, "Yeah, okay. " He says, "Hold on a second. I make a phone call. " That was his quote. They were artists with that cane. And uh yeah, like Jack Armstrong just stalled him until his goons got there.

[ __ ] brilliant. You know, I mean Jack Armstrong could have done it himself, but I guess you know when you've when you've climbed up the ladder high enough, you don't need to get your hands dirty anymore, you know? Yeah, maybe Michelangelo doesn't need to mix his own paints. That's it. That's it. A couple goons do it. Yeah. But I mean, you know, Armstrong was another crazy personality.

Amazing personality. Right now, he used to tattoo in Vegas for a while, didn't he? Yes, he worked with Cornfed for a for a while, right? Yep. Yeah. Cornfed would bring him around to all the conventions. Really? Yeah.

One were in Vegas at the time, for sure. Right. Yeah. Oh [ __ ] Yeah. And uh Yeah. I mean, like, wasn't he And he was missing a piece of his ear and he had one eye. Yeah. One eye.

Yeah. Jack tough, you know. Okay, then you think about like like tattooers back in the day. He was another one who he started tattooing. His story went back to like I want to say like 10 11 years old. Jack Armstrong. He was extreme. I remember reading an article about him as a child.

He had like a star. He had a kit like on his like uh on his like radio flyer [ __ ] sled thing, you Yeah, that's what he just he'd just ride around on his bicycle with his radio flyer on the back and all of his equipment and just what as a child? That's like legend [ __ ] dude. That's pretty badass. At one point, he was the longest continuing tattooer. When he passed away, he was the longest continuing tattooer. Where did he start out? I don't remember.

I want to say he was Midwest. I want to say he was somewhere in the Midwest, but I I'm I'm not 100%. I don't know too much on Jack's uh history. No, neither do I. I just know that he was someone that you did not mess with. He started as a kid with a wagon. And um if he if he stalled you, you better start running cuz he's called somebody. Yeah.

There was another tattooer that Eddie talked about was uh Dicky Hillburn, and he was a guy that was on a skateboard, didn't have legs, and only had one arm. He was a one- arm tattooer. What? And he managed to support a whole family as a tattooer with no legs and one arm and just damn tattooed with one hand. Yeah. You know, I mean like with a nub. Yeah. No [ __ ] Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, Stony wasn't much different. I mean, Stony didn't have use of his legs and and his hands. He held he used one hand to to, you know, to facilitate the other hand, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and then Okay.

Okay. So then like you know you I remember one time and when when I think of Stony I always I always think of uh Buddy Wheeler and Charlie Wheeler. Never had the never had the pleasure to meet Charlie Wheeler cuz he had passed on before. If he's anything like his son he had to have been a hell of a guy. Yeah. Total gentleman. Right. " And I said, "Oh, you know, we're going to the conventions and we're um we're selling them.

" And this guy says, "I don't mean to overhear you, but I'm from Louisville. Maybe you should give uh Charlie, Tattoo Charlie, a call. " He shows a nice guy. Did uh his son ever tell you about the time Lyall to Lyall Tuttle shot him in the leg with a 22? Oh my god. Of course he did. So of course Lyall did that. So I called Buddy.

I said, "Hey, I was just at a coffee shop. " And I I informed the guy that your dad's passed on. But I just thought you'd want to know that your dad's legacy is still known as a guy that could move things and is a respectable person in tattooing. And uh he goes, "Well, that's really nice to hear. " And I said, "Yeah, well, you know," and I guess they were messing around with a gun in the shop and Lyall shot him in the leg, the gun went off. Oh my god. And played it off like it was a mistake. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. Oh my god. Ly Tuttle was a what a character that guy was. No joke, you know. Another ladies man, too. Like stuck on the women. Any tattoo convention we were ever at.

He was just he would just follow. Yeah. Follow him around was young and tattooing or whatever or was showed any interest in him. Right. And then and then there's Stan. He's the first one on the floor and the last one to leave. No joke. He wasn't there.

Hardest work. wasn't there for the ladies. No, he didn't give a [ __ ] about anything other than tattooing. So, yeah. And he would sit on one cheek of his ass like cuz he had to sit in a way where his legs could not get arthritic on him. Yeah. And he would sit in this weird position for 12 hours. He always looked really uncomfortable.

Oh, I've seen I mean, we've seen him in in his late 70s tattooing on his knees. You know, it didn't matter. It just so long as he was tattooing 9 in the morning. Yeah. Every morning he'd start at 9:00 in the morning. Yeah. Yeah. He'd be after the show was shut down.

He'd be there for an hour after everybody left. If they wanted to pay if they wanted to pay and get tattooed by them, he would be there. Yeah. So cool. That's amazing. Yeah. He wasn't there for the drinks to blow the ladies [ __ ] and baby dolls. He was there for the the moola, the bankroll.

Yeah, man. He used to he used to kill it. Seven decades. Yeah. Seven decades of tattooing. That's so crazy. That's so cool. Yeah.

Yeah. And did you ever get tattooed by him? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I got him. Yeah.

Did I get tattooed up by him outside of his shop? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I got tattooed by him at a convention here, too. So, I got I got the skunk in 98 at his at at SNW tattoo like the year before they closed. And then I got tattooed by him. It's dated. Both of them I dated.

I think it's 98 and 2012. Yeah. Damn. Always wanted to get that by his brother. Right after I got out of the chair, so he was still stuffing the towels down. Yeah. Same one. Yeah.

" What do you want to do? " Where'd you get that? I don't know. I know. I I I see it in my head now. But yeah, I got to go on a pogo stick somewhere. And I asked him when he was done. " And he looks up.

" I said, "Sort of. Yeah. " And I love how his flash near the end of the weekend was just a pile of designs, you know? It's like and then like lowercase like it's the rummage cell, you know? like saying I'll get this one. Yeah. Okay. You know that top dollar price.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, one of the the the conventions that we went to that was poorly attended but was the best convention we ever went to was the one at Hollywood in Hollywood, which was the great convention. Yeah. And that was the roast of uh Hanky Panky. Yes. And Bob Roberts roasted him. Well done at that convention.

That was fun. Did you go out there? Who'd you go out there with? Cuz I don't Oh, you did? Yeah. Yeah. Cuz I don't think I went to that one for some reason. That was a good time.

Yeah, that was a good time. Yeah, there was there And I remember Nobody showed up. Nobody showed up. That was so good. There was nobody dead ass convention. It was just tattooing tattooers. Yeah, it was just rubbing elbows all weekend and it was a good good time. Absolutely.

Yeah. Uh let's see. Good time. Charlie was there. Uh [ __ ] everybody. Everybody was there. Yeah, it was great. Yeah.

Gil Monty was there. Eric Inkmith. Eric Inkmith. Right. Right. That was a character. Yes, he is. He is a character.

And I again, man, so many characters these days. I don't want to meet no new [ __ ] tattooers. I got nothing in common with these schmucks. Did Did Eddie have any like cats that were still around that were hitting conventions that he kind of not buted heads with, but like wasn't a big fan of? I mean, at that age, he's probably There was There was one one guy I remember his name was Todd, but I can't remember his last name. It was down in LA. I remember Eddie had had chased him once down in Long Beach and the guy had locked himself into an area where Eddie couldn't get to. And when we were at that convention in Hollywood, guy Todd, I can't remember what his name, last name was, he approached Eddie and Eddie goes, "That was a long time ago, Todd.

Don't worry about that. " Uh, and that's when he was working with um Bob uh Shaw. Bob Shaw. He was working with Bob Shaw. Yeah. And he had a problem with someone down further down the pike or something like that. Yeah. You know that that famous pineapple story?

Yes. Okay. So, we're at Bob Shaw. We walked out of where Bob Shaw shop was, and we're walking to the car where I have it parked. " It was 25 ft from the shop to the checkered board lounge. That's how far he made it before he got a beer and got drunk with the big Samoan that took him to Hawaii. He made it 25 ft and never got the pineapple juice. And never even got the pineapple juice.

Muzzy Enus, what's his name? Muzzy. Muzzy. Yeah. And he he said he could smell the beer. 25 ft. Oh, I just listened to that. It's a parking lot now.

Yeah. Okay. But like that's, you know, and I was like, man, if like cuz you you kind of get the the impression from when he tells the story that the checkerboard lounge was quite a ways down the pike. No, it's just literally from here to Is that the shop where we all signed the door? The wall. It might I mean that was definitely hike. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And and you had bought the 55gallon drum. Well, I wanted one. I wanted to bring it home. They offered it to us. " And I'm like, it was all the petroleum jelly. And it was it was like it was like half. And I looked at my girl.

" Yeah. " And you showed me a picture of it and like there's dirt and grime on the top layer of the petroleum. Still had the strange color. It was a very strange color. Oh my god, that was crazy. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, that vintage supplies aren't said that fell off a ship, right?

That's what they got that off a ship, I believe it. And they used that everybody, every tattooer in the shop would scoop in the morning a couple slap and you'd use that all day. And that thing was there was still a third of it in there. It had been used since the probably the 40s. So wow. So [ __ ] roguish. And they offered to give it to us and we're like that shop. I just don't know where to put it.

Just in the lobby in the corner of the lobby just got this [ __ ] [ __ ] gross. Yeah, it was pretty gross. I remember that picture. Yeah. And I remember like smell bad. Even the cup looked ancient. You know what I mean? The cup looked like it was something in my grandparents.

Right. It was like it was like brown Vaseline, like brown on the top. It was a very strange color. Yeah. You know, and that was a good And the way those guys would save money like that, you know, I mean, yeah, they they were running businesses, you know. That's the thing was Eddie was saying like, you know, when he was a teenager, you'd find a spot, you'd sweep the floor out, you'd build a little bench, you put your flash up, and you're open for business, right? Yeah, that was it. I was I was thinking about that earlier.

I was like, how many shops he opened? He said he had opened. Yeah, I was going to say 50 something, but yeah. 60 shots. And he would had the same formula down. Throw some chairs in the corner. Yeah. Sweep.

So respectable. The Doc Dog story, right? He he opened was it um where was it? It was in Van Eyes where Doc Dog Shop was and the rule at that point there was not a written rule. It was respect among you know tattooers. Yeah, it was a 10 mile rule. And um Eddie went to Doc Dog before he opened and said, "I found a place. I'm 10 miles.

" And uh he proceeded to build out the shop. " Yeah. And Eddie handed him the keys, walked away. Yeah. Those those two gentlemen had such a good friendship, you know. Uh, I got a lot of respect for Doc Dog, you know. I mean, he was the first to open in in Las Vegas. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, he kept a lot of tattooers out of here for a long time. Yeah, he did. Um, you know, 77 to 93 he was the 77 to 93. Yeah. And then when Mo passed away, who was a tattooer at his shop, he took care of Mo's final expenses. Right. Right.

You know, I mean, that's a standup guy. Yep. You know, I mean, uh, your your story about him buying a boat or something. Oh my god. Dog, $100,000 in cash in a McDonald's bag. Yeah. From from Ernie Becker who owned Arizona. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. " Like, it's, you know, that's awesome. 100,000 in cash, right? you know, and I've the most money I've ever had in my life in cash is $4,000 and it went pretty [ __ ] quick. I couldn't imagine $100,000. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And that was in what, 2015? I had $4,000. So that's like a long time. Right. Now, now I get paid and the bills get paid. That's it, you know. So, so 60 60 shops like what all what all areas of the country like cuz he went from the east coast all the way to Hawaii.

Uh never in Hawaii. Okay. Oh, okay. Okay. Do you know who he worked for in Hawaii? I want to say it's Mugsy Enus. It's in the books, but yeah, I think it was Mugsy Enus and uh it wasn't for for Sailor Jerry cuz Sailor Jerry was around the corner. I want to say it was Mugsy Enus.

Okay. But but it was back in the day like Yeah. 1950s that he worked in Hawaii. Yeah. Holy [ __ ] And at that time the sailor rush was over. You know, the sailors weren't really really there like they were in World War II. Was he opening up specifically like chasing though that crowd or a crowd or like what kept him moving the Well, he I he liked the adventure of Yeah. the road and what's over the hill, what's around the corner.

I think he liked the hookers in the way. Yeah, that makes sense. Absolutely. And he was in LA, too. Like he he opened up in LA. Yeah, he opened it up in in downtown LA. Um he was in Thousand Palms Palms, you know, by the military base there with Dominic Chance. Yeah.

He was a psychopath. Really? Okay. I asked him. " Yeah. Psychopath, as he puts it, which the level of psychopath from really wild dudes like these dudes, right? I'm like, if if dude is put on psychopath level, you got to be something. God damn, that's okay.

Yeah, the Chance Brothers. That's all in book one. And uh Dominic Chance and Eddie opened up that shop on 8th Avenue. And uh before that shop opened, Eddie gave his tried to open a shop in Rockaway Beach. Uh Brooklyn, Brooklyn Blackie suggested he go there. Um Eddie's parole officer had told him, "Everyone that he's picking up has Brooklyn Blackiey's card in their wallet. You're not to be associating with these people. " So Brooklyn Black, he suggested he go to Rockaway Beach.

So that shop does okay, but the cops are on him like white on ice and they're going to shut this thing down. " And Dominic Chance says, "Why don't we go to 8th Avenue? I got a spot picked out. " And Dominic Chance explains to him um I had opened a shop there and uh a really bad fight broke out in my shop and we sent quite a few people to the to the hospital in an ambulance and that is why you can't have a shop. And Dominic went on to explain that. Um, some guys came into the shop to mess with his little brother, you know, and the other brothers came around and locked the door and then they proceeded to beat up these guys and like someone got their nose bit off apparently. [ __ ] name. And um, yeah.

How many was hungry? Tattoo shops used to be awesome. Right. Right. And uh and he said that's why the cops don't want a shop in Rockaway Beach. " And he says, "This guy's a psychopath. " Yeah. So, you know, you know, Dominic Chance like he says he was just a a a guy you did not mess with, you know.

So, damn. Yeah. No. Psychopaths. Yeah. Yeah. I want to hear all those stories. Yeah.

There's so much. They're all in the book. So that Yeah. Yeah. No joke. This is what I'm saying. The book's got to get put back out eventually. Yeah.

So yeah, I kind of wanted to say HBO Nimbled and they were interested and um I remember them calling Eddie when we were on the road to ask him some stories. They asked him about the the hammer fight in uh Coney Island where the guy got a gaff hook put through his head and then they beat the [ __ ] out of him and the guy disappeared. And it's a hell of a story. Yeah. And um Do you have that story? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So, there was a guy named Big Mike that um was coming around Coney Island harassing people for free tattoos, which you didn't get. " And this guy, Big Mike, says, "You tattooed my little brother, and my dad's really sore about it. " He's not 18 yet. He's 17. Yeah. And Eddie said like he knew the law was 16 at that time.

So this guy's full of [ __ ] But like we we we're going to have a battle. " And Eddie said, "Yeah, sure. Okay. Have a seat. " Oh my god. And he said he reached up, he grabbed down, grabbed his hammer, and he says he came up and nailed him right in the forehead. " And Eddie says, "Yeah, that's right. " And the guy left.

And then he came back a couple days later and um started a fight in the shop and beat the [ __ ] out of Eddie's bouncer and sent him to the hospital. Busted up his face. Eddie had a bouncer in the shop. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz while you're tattooing, you're going to have someone watch your back. Okay.

Yeah. That's pretty gangster. I like it. Uh Coney Island Freddy who's in Brighton Beach comes up to Eddie and says, "We got a real problem with this big mic guy. He's been harassing me. He beat up your guy in your shop. We've got to do something about him. " And the guy Mike poked his head out and went down the street and went into Brooklyn Blackie shop.

So Coney Island Freddy walks up to Eddie's shop and says, "Hey, that guy's in the neighborhood again. " And Eddie says, "I had my blackjack. " That's as far as he got in the sense. And he says, so his long shoreman pulled out gaff hooks and hooked this dude and drug him outside and started kicking the [ __ ] out of him. And Eddie says, "All you could hear was this thud, thud, thud, thud. this big Mike guy gets up, grabs the two long shoremen and slams their heads together because he's a big guy. And uh says um to Eddie, "You little [ __ ] you've started a real war now. " And the long shoreman backed up.

" Oh my god. And Eddie said there was a guy in the crowd that used to hang at Eddie's shop and his name was John. " Eddie, I know who this big mic is. And my uncle told him to stop using our [ __ ] last name. Uh, you two guys, the long shoreman, you come with me. We're going to go talk to my uncle. Eddie, this guy's never going to bother you again. And um that's the last Eddie ever saw of this big mic guy.

" "Right over there. " Yeah, that's where I got the the first time. The first time. " He says, "Oh, okay. The hotel's gone, but it's across the street here. " And I'm I'm kind of getting the place of things. And I said, "So when you were a kid and this went down," he says, "Eric, I was watching my back. " And he says for like a month I was on pins and needles not knowing what was going to happen.

And he says that big Mike guy just disappeared. You know, he used the wrong name. [ __ ] He used the wrong name. Yeah. You know, and that was the story he told the HBO guys. Yeah. " Boardwalk Empire, actually, is what they said. Yeah.

[ __ ] brilliant. Boardwalk Empire is what they said. Absolutely brilliant. And it says we've already got Boardwalk Empire. Oh, so they weren't [ __ ] around with like a documentary type thing. They wanted to write, right, a show about his life and everything. I still think it's coming, dude. I don't know.

I don't know. The reason I don't know happened, you know. I mean, those stories are [ __ ] beautiful. He was married to three sisters. This is this you can't make this [ __ ] up. Two sisters, but he was with all three of them. That story is awesome. You got to tell that story.

So, yeah. All right. So, I know there's a million stories, but these are so great. When when he got to Pennsylvania, and now this is coming from the stories from him, and I'm I'm going to piece it together, and I'm I'm sure there's an ex-wife out there that'll argue say that didn't happen that way. And I get it, okay? But this is the story that I got from Eddie was that there was two girls that worked at a lunchonet and I he was dating one of them and then their sister came to visit and he started an affair with her and that led to marriage and a child and and a and a divorce. It's all in book two. I mean, holy [ __ ] man.

You want to talk about a conjugal bliss, this [ __ ] was not it. And uh so he divorced her years later. He married he met up with the girl he was originally dating had a twin sister. He met up with her and married her. They got divorced and then he married her again. Okay. So, dude, you know, I love it. Like, it's such a good story.

I mean, like, but he You can't make it up. You can't make this [ __ ] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I' I've never talked to any of his ex-wives. Okay. I don't know if I want to.

I want to see how if their names are on that list. No. Okay. Was it all men on that list? No. His sister was on that list. Oh, what? His his and her husband.

Yeah. Yeah. And that was over the his daughter got off the list. Oh wow. They made amends. Okay. Chuck Spalding. And who was the who was the other one?

Chuck Spalding. Oh, was it? No, but it was his Was it his ex-wife? This just reminds me of that Billy Madison scene where Steve Bashimi is like [ __ ] putting the lipstick on and he's just crossing out the the name. Yeah. Back to Boardwalk Empire. Yeah. And he used to he used to carry that list around in his inside pocket.

Get the [ __ ] out. And when he would meet someone for the first time, he'd introduce himself as Crazy Philadelphia Eddie. Yeah. And then hand them this list. And he had the hit squad, too. So [ __ ] could get handled. Yeah. Yeah.

That's That's brilliant. That was with So he's known for having goons like Well, they were they were they were they were they were compadres. Yeah. Uh so it was Bob Shaw. Um, RJ Rosini, Pete Pulos. Yeah, Peter Pulos, who was probably the baddest [ __ ] of the bunch, right? Eddie, and then Doc Dog. Those were the five.

No [ __ ] So, he ran that close with Doc. Really close. Wild. Yeah, that's cool. Um, I never got to meet him. I stood in the lobby of the shop and was scared to go upstairs. Yeah. Well, I was like 14 at the time.

You You approached that man with a lot of respect. Yeah. Yeah. I I I hear what you're saying. Yeah. Just like Eddie or Stan. Like I was a kid, dude. I was like [ __ ] terrified of those dudes.

Yeah. Um so yeah. So they had an agreement that if you if someone opened up in your neighborhood, you would go on vacation with an alibi and then they would come in take care of your of shutting that business down and then you'd come back from vacation and that tattoo shop that opened up wasn't there anymore. Damn. And yeah, you're still the only one left in town. Doc was like known for bombing out Dante's shop. the the the tattooer that he got tattooed by when I was like Yeah. Junior.

It's just here. Just a rumor. Just a rumor. Fake news. Fake news. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. The practices were Yeah. They could have been real. Yeah. Right. But yeah, I mean, if you're if you're too close Yeah. You're too close. I mean, that's Yeah.

We used to have a lot of people come asking questions about those. Yeah. Nothing. Ah, man. So, now I'm uh I'm working at a bus station now, you know, which is just as crazy as the tattoo shop. Mhm. And um I feel like you're drawn to this. Yeah.

Yeah. Drawn to the crazy. And uh I always figure I don't talk [ __ ] about no about nobody. I don't rat on anybody. I stay in my lane. You stay in yours and we'll be fine. We'll be fine. Like I ain't going to I'm not going to mess up your jam.

You're doing something. I don't know anything. No one's gonna ask me questions and they say, "Oh, yeah. Okay. " No, you shut the [ __ ] up. Yeah. You just do your job. You go home and you collect your paycheck.

That's what you do. That's how unions work. So, when I got that job, No, I kind I shouldn't tell that story. I've got a I've got a scotch. When I applied for the job, refill when I Okay, so I applied for a job because I needed a job and it was right before Eddie passed. And so I applied for a job as a bus driver here in Vegas. And I I went in for the interview and the guy says to me, first question, what would you do if you saw someone in the company doing something that was against policy? I was like, well, I'd um I would uh I think I might uh I would He says, "Good.

You're not a snitch. " The answer is safety, safety, safety. Can you start next week? I said, "Nah, my boss is really sick. I need to go out to Florida and I I got to pay vigil. I got to So, we were there until, you know, Eddie died. " And uh they gave me some time to do that and then I became a bus driver. Yeah.

But yeah, so like you know, we were with Eddie until till the end. That was Jerry Red's Stan Huey from uh from Philly and two other of his friends from from uh from Florida that he had met at Huie's bar, Lanne and Dan. So the five of us kind of kept guard at his door because he didn't want anyone from his family coming. So we were we were keeping guard for him, you know. And uh when he passed uh tattoo shop, Lab Bomba tattoo shop had sent some flowers and I put uh a white rose on Eddie's chest. They came and, you know, took his body, cremated him, and that was it. So that's what he wanted. He didn't want a a funeral or anything.

You know, he always thought those were barbaric. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. So, and it was, you know, a hurricane came in and they said, "You guys have to go home. " And so, we went home and then the morning they called us and he kind of passed when the hurricane was going through. Which is fitting.

Yeah. You know, that dude was a hurricane man. Yeah. Yeah. He was crazy. Yeah. Was awesome, wasn't he? Yeah.

So fun, man. Yeah. Those are Dude, I So, okay. So, we can't get this book right now. Somebody who who was the supplier that has copies of Jimmy Luck. Jimmy Luck. Litwalk. Whitlock.

Yeah. Lies. Lies. Okay. Yeah. He's got Yeah, he bought he bought what was left. Okay. So, there you go.

Yeah. And then um Litwalk. Whitlock. There's a lit walk and I mix I I can I always say the wrong one, too. I always say the wrong one, too. One's a killer tattoo or the other one's a killer machine builder, right? And I I told him, and my word is on it, I'm not going to reprint reprint these books. Really?

Yeah. Cuz he bought the lot and um you know, I mean, I couldn't ship them from Florida all the way to Vegas. Yeah. And so uh we agreed on our price and I told him uh I I won't reprint, you know, cuz that would cut his Yeah. his sale. So I imagine if you got a hold of him, you could get set up some books. Yeah. Um, I am putting them out as ebooks.

Okay. One, two, and three are up already. And so, like, if you go on Amazon to Kindle or whatever, and you type in Crazy Philadelphia Eddie, books one, two, and three are there. Now, isn't there somewhere to find the audio books as well? Yeah, I've got two of them up. Okay. And those, if you go on to Spotify and type up Crazy Philadelphia Eddie, you'll hear the audio that he gave me. Yeah.

To write the books. The thing about that audio is he recorded it on a cassette tape with the recorder in front of him. So the audio quality is not it's not 100. It's not modern. I mean it's totally analog. Yeah. There's no digital but you can still feel his sol. Dude, I I got to listen to a little bit of it.

Dude, it's so good. And and sometimes it's a little rough to listen to. Yeah. But I mean it's raw. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I mean, uh, it's kind of like listening to, um, a wax cylinder of maybe Abraham Lincoln's speech of Abraham Lincoln had a wax cylinder. Like, it's not going to, you know, I mean, Eddie didn't want to learn how to use a digital recorder, right?

[ __ ] that [ __ ] you know? He had no interest in modern technology. Yeah. I just always thought it was so special your relationship with him and and I've always felt incredibly grateful to be a part of that and especially part of it in person, you know. He loved you. He he loved he could son. Yeah. Yeah.

He would introduce me as his son sometimes. Well, dude, you guys you Yeah, you guys are so similar and so fun. But what you did for him, the fact that he's immortal because of these books. Yeah. There's no other tattooer that has that. no other tattooer whose whole story was told, you know. So the right before he died, I was working a job as a tour guide here in Vegas and uh on on one of my shifts, he gave I I got a call. So I always answered his calls right away and he says, "Eric, I'm I'm having a hard time breathing.

" And I said, "No, I'm not calling Stan. " Yeah. Yeah. " And uh so I I hung up the phone. I called 911 again to check on the ambulance. " Right? Like I mean like two am like two 911 calls for this guy from people that are out of state. I mean that's like how much this guy is respected and adored.

And then uh he's in the hospital. " I said, "Well, you don't get a decision on this one. " And Timmy couldn't make it down, but I uh I managed to get there on a flight. " He says, "Listen, uh I'm not doing so well. Um it hurts a lot to breathe. " And with that, I've I got to go cuz my lungs hurt. And that was the last thing he said to me. Wow.

And uh you know I mean then you know he passes and about 6 months later I had this dream and he's like hey Eric doctor's [ __ ] up. I'm not dead. And I said oh yeah Eddie they [ __ ] up. Where are you? I'm in heaven. And I was like all right. You made it. You made it man.

You know like you know I Yeah. you know, that was, you know, ah, to have a mentor like that. And that guy taught me a lot. Yeah. Um, [ __ ] man. Don't ever hold anyone else's pistol. Don't get your prince on that [ __ ] gun. You need to have that advice as a as a grown person.

Yeah. You might get your ass shipped to El Salvador these days. Was that an MS-13 gun? You know what I mean? Like, relax. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So I mean uh you know and the way that like like uh like in book seven there was a young woman that had passed away and he talked about her for like six pages and he says I want the p the the the book to lay out so her picture is on each of those pages. And it was a young girl that had died and he said, uh, as her kids grow up, I want them to know that their mom was important, you know. Damn, dude. Yeah. So, I mean, like he was always thinking of like the next generation. Yeah. You know, I mean, uh, that's a that's a that's a that's a heart of gold. Yeah.

" I'd say, well, he's got a heart of gold, iron fists, and a spine made of steel. That's the best way to describe that man. Mhm. You know, he's in like a sharp. And that dude, if you were changing him in Stan, you were changing the ninth gate of hell, they'd come and get you. Yeah. Loyal Tuttle would drive him there right to the ninth gate, guys. They'll get Eric, you know, in some trouble.

I'll get us back. Yeah. You know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So, yeah. Those guys like uh we won't have a generation like that again with tattooers, I don't think. No. Absolutely not. I remember when you travel with them, you had the the the the movable bar that And it was not a small box either. It was was the bar was not a small box. " Yeah. You know, that's that's my job.

I That's a hard job when you macro. I move Eddie's stuff. That's hard work. I do the heavy lifting and I mix the drinks. What do you What do you want from me? You know, so much fun. Yeah. Yeah.

That's man. Good times. Every time I see a bottle of Malibu, I got to think of them. [ __ ] Yeah. Malibu and pineapple. Yeah. And then vodka, orange juices. That was another one.

And then uh yeah, that was sometimes bloody marys. My ties. Basically anything that was He's ready to [ __ ] roll. And a beard of ice. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Just just hold if you can swim in it, I'll drink it. That was brilliant, you know. Brilliant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that dude could hold his liquor.

Yeah. I was wondering how much he would hold it or drink it. Yeah. Both. Just always on hand. Always seven. And when he would fly Southwest, by the time you landed, there was like eight swizzle sticks. Okay.

Yeah. And and then he would sit like on the on the aisle cuz we was always the first to get on the plane cuz he had, you know, he needed a chair. Yeah. And uh I would sit in the the window seat cuz I didn't want to sit in the middle. And he'd put his newspaper on that middle seat and if a pretty girl walked by, he pick the paper up and start reading it. Hairy gorilla walks by, paper goes back to that one. Oh man, he he was cool. He was fun to travel with.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, yeah. I don't know, man. I feel like we could we could definitely keep going. You have anything else you want to go over? I'm like so incredibly grateful for this. Yeah.

I'm enjoying this really fun because it, you know, I miss those days when we were out traveling and doing those conventions. Yeah, man. We had such a good time. And you guys did most of it by car, not even flying. Half and half. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And then towards the end, uh, I was taking the Greyhound with the books from place to place. Yeah. Those stories were great, too. You were riding a lot on the back of a Greyhound bus. Like best dressed guy on the bus. Yeah. Yeah. There was some weird [ __ ] that happens on those Greyhounds.

Was there a lot of like uh I don't know. I'm just kind of, you know, on those long open roads and those trips, was there a lot of silence and you guys had that ability to just be comfortable and just chill and and not talk the whole time? Yeah. Cuz he would be thinking on the roads. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then uh then he'd start talking, you know, and Okay, that's got to be in the book.

Yeah. And then he'd start writing his notes and he'd start making calls and kind of laying out the timeline and then he'd go back if he needed to, you know, flash back and circle back. Yeah. So, I mean, on the roads, he would just think and then uh he would say something weird and I'd say that's got to be in the book. M you know whether it was about his childhood, his dad cuz you know he loved his dad and uh he would tell me stories about his dad in in New York City as a metal worker for the city and that his dad could just make anything with his hands. His dad was very industrial. Industrious. Yeah.

And so those stories are pretty cool. Like would make toys and he he uh he invented a quick draw game. His father, do you remember this? He invented a in in arcades in Coney Island, his his father invented a game where you'd you'd shoot against a quick draw robot that that his father invented. Yeah, I remember him talking about it and uh he he he he spoke of his father very highly. Spoke very highly of his father. Not so much his sister, but his she was on the list. She was on the list.

She was on the list and she deserved to be on the list. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he did not like her husband. No. No. No.

That was over the beef with the supply company. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was Yeah. And that's all in book like four or five.

Yeah. And then it explodes on six. And there was two supply companies that exploded, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. One was National and one was United, I think.

United. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then uh and it's weird like I'll have friends in LA that say, "Oh yeah, I met this guy named Steve used to have a vintage clothing shop on Fourth Street. " You know, Eddie just had had enough. And it spilled out into the streets, you know. Yeah.

Was he a pretty big guy? I don't I He was like a smaller guy when we were hanging out with him. Obviously, he was pretty old dude, but he was he was he was a big dude. Yeah. Like a husky dude back in the day. He was built like a brick [ __ ] house when he was younger. Yeah. Yeah.

He he was barrel-chested, man. Yeah. And he was he was pretty fit, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And uh he didn't back down from anything. Yeah.

I was just gonna say he's not afraid of [ __ ] thing. Like always ready to just try it out and figure out how it works and get through it whatever problems come to it. Now his adopted son, how many kids did he raise? That's a good question. Let's see. So he didn't have any of his own kids. Um he had one. You said he had one son.

Yeah. His daughter Ivon. Oh, right. Right. So two, right? Yeah. Donn Ivon, Joe, Bill. I think that's it.

Just three. Three if I can remember correctly. Yeah. And then like there was there was uh Sharon had a daughter or something like that. And there was a guy that had a contract out on Eddie. Oh my god. Um cuz he was dating Sharon and she was writing letters to this guy that had a contract out on him cuz they they had had a kid together. And uh the the guy sent someone to check Eddie out in the shop.

And the report came back that like, "No, Eddie dotes on these kids. " Right. And um God, I hope I don't get whacked for telling those kind of stories. And uh you know, I'm leaving names out of it. " And also in the letter, Eddie's ex-wife said that he locks me in a closet. And this guy said, "There's no way you could lock that woman in a closet. " And so that's what got Eddie off the hook was like the guy figured out like this is this is [ __ ] you know? Yeah.

And there there he goes. He survives a hit, right? I mean, like, yeah, the guy was it was unstoppable. Yeah. You mentioned he was in he was on parole, so he was in and out of jail once as a teenager. Oh, okay. Yeah. He was a burglar.

Okay. And his name came up in an investigation. Really? " No [ __ ] Like he's a teenager. As a teenager. Right. This is a [ __ ] fun story. So, we go to that convention and we pick up Stan and I can't remember where the convention is.

I think it's near North Carolina, Norfolk, Virginia, somewhere in there. And uh yeah, we were with Stan and um we're going to go to the next convention and Stan's riding with us. " And he says, 'Well, the money that I took in that house was say like it was in the second it was in the second book on the shelf. And the husband would say, "No, no, no. " Wow. So, yeah. So, there's stuff I don't even know. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. That's book eight. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.

Seven's enough. Yeah. Yeah. That was absolutely brilliant. Yeah. Those were good times. Yeah. Yeah.

Those are great times. Yeah. We had fun. Yeah. Now I got a boring job at a bus station. No. Where people once a week, you know what I mean? Like or at least threaten me.

Yeah. You know, or man. Yeah. I I think we we could probably wrap it up. Yeah. You know, it was just it's just obviously so much in these books. And if you if you don't have them, figure out how to get them. Yeah.

Go to Ly's. Yeah. Yeah. Go to Ly's. He's got them. And he's got signed editions. Yeah. I was so stoked when I reopened mine today.

It said to Austin and this really squiggly script and everything, you know. I'm like, I forgot that I got them all directly from him and signed from the shows and stuff. So, yeah. And he he probably has five and six. Yeah, I don't have any more of seven, but I might have a five or six stashed away. I might, Dude, if you have them, I will get I'll get them. I might dig through my books over there and see if Let me know. 100% would get a hold of cuz cuz I work one day a week in the neighborhood.

Now, I want you to sign them, too. Well, you had to have signed them. I think I signed them for um I'll I'll dig around in my house and see if I can find you five and six. Okay. I know I've got six. I probably got a five. Excited. Yeah, I'll look for signed ones.

And then if people want to get the audios, they go to Spotify. Yeah, I got I got one and two up there. Okay. Are those other ones coming or no? Yeah. I I kind of want to wait until Yeah. the hit the hit list just kind of happens. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So, no one sues me. Okay. Okay. You know, it's not like a bus driver has great assets, but I don't want anyone to take my pension. You know, I don't want to work 20 years at a bus station for some [ __ ] to come and take my my 500 bucks a month. Well, you know, right now Eddie is is just watching.

He's watching with the biggest [ __ ] eatating [ __ ] grin. Yeah. That's amazing that again he's he's got this story out there like no other tattooer does. And if any if any tattooer from yester year has the opportunity of being recognized in the future, it's because of these books. And it'll be Eddie. Yeah. And he talked about everybody in those books. Yes.

Yes. Everybody he didn't like. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the people he liked and everything. I mean like he like cuz at that time there was only 300 tattooers on the globe, right?

It's so wild, right? And now there's probably 300 on this block. Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. 300 tattooers on the globe. And that's what Doc was saying. Like Eddie wanted to get into the supply business.

Who are you gonna supply? Right. Why? 300 people, right? What a niche market, right? And now I mean your clientele must be international. Yeah. Yeah.

It's wild. Yeah. You just need to get That's just the tiniest tin of it. He had a supply business at a time when tattooers were self-sufficient, too. Yeah. So, he had a very very small part of that, right? Yeah. And I hear his green ink was amazing.

That's what everyone says. Like the of the old-timers, Eddie's Green Ink was amazing. Everything that they were putting out was groundbreaking. The machines that Nationals put out, the inks that Nationals put out, they came up with the homog I don't know if it was before I think it was his time that the homogenized inks came out. So, he probably was, you know, the guy who spearheaded the homogenized inks. It was just constant. Everything was better. Nationals was the [ __ ] Yeah.

You know, you had a nationals machine or you didn't have a nationals machine. Yeah. They were innovators. And then then when when United came out, it was the same thing. Everything was of of better quality than it was with with Nationals. Yeah. Yeah. That was the first machine that I had to put together.

Oh, United. Yeah. They were a trip because the collet was a different size. You had to use his tubes for it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, the national swing gate.

I think I Is that it hanging right there? I ground off the chrome. The one hanging. Yeah, that's a swing gate. So, that was it. I custom made little star stickers on it. Awesome. [ __ ] nice.

But it was used to be chrome, but I wanted to look more old school, so we ground off the [ __ ] chrome. Yeah, there's a couple Paco Rollins right there from like 04, dude. I saw somebody restoring Paco Rollins machines. I thought was really cool. And they're now considered vintage. Yeah, I think I have three of them or four. I don't know. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. He came in. He signed my name on it and the date he made those which is kind of cool. I think he is. I'm pretty sure he still builds. He's out of Seattle, right? Yeah.

I don't remember. I just remember him traveling through town. Yeah. " And when we would drive, he wouldn't say anything. Then we get to a town. Oh, this was uh Bill Collins area, you know. And like I said, why don't you mention him in this? He's like, there was nobody else.

Yeah. You could drive for 300 miles and there wasn't a tattoo shop. Imagine imagine what that must have been like, right? All of that hit all of that. All the relationships that he built up and everything were just for [ __ ] physically being there. It's not like he wrote letters or slid into the DMs. I just love that it was it was all genuinely cuz he was getting out there and like traveling and introducing himself face to face. I love I just love that part.

I don't know. And and and some of the names like Chop Up Charlie. Yeah. Out of out of Baltimore. Yeah. " And he [ __ ] remembers them all. Like Yeah. Like his mind never really went at the end, right?

He was trap. Yeah. He was a steel trap. That's steel trap. Just a smart dude, man. Yeah. Remembered everything. Yeah.

You know, see, I have to do things like this because I'll forget everything, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Me, too. I just got to keep keep documenting. I remember at your house where your one of your house parties, Eddie, and I standing in the living room talking for a long, long time.

And I thought, how many cocktails has he had? Look you in the eye and talk so clearly and remember all he was telling me stories like crazy. I was like, he seemed totally loose. It was it was really uh interesting to watch somebody like And he was pretty old by then. I mean 72 is when we he was 72 years old when we started the project. Wow. Really? Wow.

Yeah. He was 72. Okay. Yeah. And then he passed it when he was 80. Okay. Yeah. So it was eight years, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. " You know what I mean? Like he he some catchy ass lines too. He did he did quick singers. Yeah, that's fun. Yeah. Yeah.

[ __ ] Well, [ __ ] Philly. Close it out. Wow, dude. Thanks so much for coming. Like, this is really fun. We got a new set here today. Um, we're doing a nighttime thing, so we got a little cocktails in us and stuff, but uh, and this was fun. This is really great and very special to me.

I just greatly appreciate you guys. And I I appreciate you. It's so fun, man. I I appreciate Thank you. Cuz like no one ever talks to me about these books or anything. You put so much time and energy and effort and I know you you put your heart and everything you've got into it and I and I just I [ __ ] love it, dude. Thank you. Yeah.

I love I love our stories that we have together. We got to travel, man. We did. We really got to travel and and rub elbows with these guys. Yeah. Yeah. We're so lucky to have known these guys. Yeah.

So lucky to have known these guys. Really special, man. So I I personally want to see you do more. Well, we'll see. We'll see what we'll see. Maybe not. Yeah. You I mean, you've got so much information about Stan, too, or like anybody else.

I just I love that you you did this. It's really cool. Special project. This is pretty much probably what my life's work is going to be. Yeah. If I walk away from writing having done this, I'm happy. That's pretty special. Um, you know, now I write in a journal every day and Yeah.

write down some of the crazy bus [ __ ] you know. Yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe we can do more talking. Oh, boy. Retired from that job. That'll make this look mild. Yeah.

So, [ __ ] it, guys. Like, thank you so much for taking the time to be here, Philly. I love you. Good to see you, Charlie. Yeah, we got we got my dad on the on the mic in the back off set. He snuck in there. Um, yeah, dude. Don't forget to support your tattooers, man.

Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, get out there and research and educate yourself on whatever it is that you're in love with or whatever part of tattooing that you're in love with. Just get into it, man. And just consume yourself in it. It's a It's a beautiful, beautiful culture and it fantastic group of people and I've made some of my best buds and longtime friends and um, through it and I love it more than anything. So yeah. Um, thanks for tuning in, guys.

Peace out. Have a good one. Local tattooer. Thank you guys.