TATTOO CRAZY-ITIS!

Haylee Pin Up

Tattoo experience, Number One, down in the basement, 1966... gave my self a lucky "13" with a sewing needle and India ink, my Brother Ray was next, gonna put a swatsticker on his arm... one poke for him and it was over... he's still got that one dot on his arm...


Little Rich with Big Rich before Sicko

Not too much Tattoo goin' on around 1975. My Pal from Hell Creek Ranch had a nice one, Scott Asheton had that famous ROCK ACTION Tattoo by Lyle Tuttle... so I went to see Mel the Head, (RIP) to get some Ink, over on 9 Mile. Little bell rang when I walked in the place, no one home... then a voice hollered from somewhere "Be right with 'ya... HOLD STILL DAMMIT!" So I split... what the Heck. Another time.



My Brother Tony, we call 'em Nail, is full of good ideas and said if I got tattooed he'd pay HALF... or somethin' like that, 1988. So I did... little Puff the Magic Dragon kind a thing, I thought it was cool for awhile.



Well, SICKO showed up one rainy day... at the GHETTO RAGS booth, and said "I can FIX that for ya'"... the rest is history. If I woulda' sat still long enuff, I'd be lookin' like the Sunday Funnies... I swear.

Sicko, aka "Dirty" Kirt Hennings... ran an "Underground" Tattoo Studio in Detroit, early 90's... basement apartment over on 7 1/2 Mile & Wyoming, couple miles from where I grew up. HOME BOYS.


Nail and Sicko

I'd go there, Video, and late at night, get mine done... home 'bout 4, punch that factory clock at 7AM. BIG FUN... in fact, SICKO named his studio FUN HOUSE TATTOO'S, after I played the Stooges for 'em.


Sicko in Action

FIRST Motor City Tattoo Convention, 1996... was a BLAST! Old School, Super VHS, crowd surfin' BIG Video style. Original soundtrack recorded by Detroit's own, Bobby East. They say a picture is worth a thousand words... so I'll let them tell the tale. Dig it.


Haylee Detroit Dewar

That's my story, and I'm stickin' too it. Like Mom said... "Tony, you better put some Cream on your Clown"...


Tony's clown

I Came across a Lady on-line lately, HAYLEE DETROIT. The name grabbed me right off, and this Sister has got STYLE! A Tattooed Model, Mother, Actress, Tattoo Magazine Cover Girl and Bartender at the HARD ROCK CAFE Downtown Detroit... ALL that! She REALLY has it goin'.

I dropped a line, to see if I could put her on my site, she said OK...just spell my name right... so here it is! Haylee Detroit Dewar. Find her on Face Book, I did, and Go to www.tattoo-girlz.com, you will be AMAZED!



Watch these at your own risk.....

Motorcity Tattoo Convention Part 2
MotorCity Tattoo Convention Part 3
MotorCity Tattoo Convention Part 4
MotorCity Tattoo Convention Part 5

KINGDOM OF COOL!

Ray Sr. my Dad, Most Cool Cat

"COOL" by OUR standards, is a mental state, a way of being... controlled emotion, always "Cool"... always "Showin' Class". It's a natural thing.

People have it in all different ways... a "built in knowledge of what's right... and wrong. It's what keeps US separated from THEM. Always. Dig?


Cool 1966

Back in the day, like '66, my Sister Kitty took me to a "basement party", over on the West Side of Detroit, me only 15. It was my first look, guy with big gold earring, black beret... playin' bongo's with Motown 45's on the record machine. I wore my leather, drank a beer, dug all these "Cats & Big Hair Chicks". I was impressed. On the way out I said, "Let's do it again"... she replied, " Long as your not UNCOOL"... so I spent the next 44 years, trying to be COOL. Not an easy task. And I have Lost it, on more than one occasion.


Me Scott Rev. Ray 2010

Next gig was an eviction party, over by Livernois and 5 Mile... We got there as someone rode their NORTON up the front porch steps, right into the living room... didn't much matter, as the drywall had been kicked in by then, anyhow. Went for a "thrill ride" thru the neighborhood, on the back of that Norton 750 Commando... my first motorcycle ride. Cops never came... I couldn't believe it. After that, there was no turnin' back.

One night, way out by Tepoe Lake State Park, some guy had a brand new car, GTO I think... payments and all. He let this Cat they called Edgar take it. I remember standing there, drinkin' Bali Hai wine, in the dark distance we could all hear Edgar, JAMMIN' thru his gears... the guy was havin' a fit.


Pontiac GTO

Lost his Cool, for sure. He got in Ed's face when he finally brought the car back... for his trouble he got a sermon on life, something like, "When it's all over, and your DEAD, you DID it, you LIVED! You don't want NOTHIN' left but smoke..." and so on. We never saw that Cat again.


Bro. Tony (built the devil cycle!)

My shop class buddy, Marty came by one Friday Night on a bad-ass BSA Chopper with welded-chain-sissy bar, I put on my cut-off levi jacket and hopped on... into the night we went. He pulled up in front of a house party on 7 Mile & Hoover... the place was ROCKIN'.


Mike D. Navy (one of my twins)

''Go on in Man'', he said, "I gotta take this bike back, I stole it"... so I did. One step into the front door, someone socks me right back out onto the grass, then a swift kick in the ''nards''. They thought I was somebody, or another... anyway, no harm done. Kid handed me my Buddy Holly glasses... Cool, I said, and walked back home.


Scott my other twin

Marty Lubic... blond, short hair, crazy...cool. An Original. His Dad was a Detroit Cop too. He died in a motorcycle crash on Gratiot near 6 Mile in 1969. One of his Pals came to the house and told my Mom. He was the first of many.

Carolyn Striho Playin with Fire:



Big Rich FLA

BIG RICH; Split the Detroit Scene in the Summer of 1968

I Split the Detroit Scene in the Summer of 1968, left town with my girlfriend in a ''63 Ford Sedan, AM Radio. Toronto was a Hippie Mecca back then, so we went. Hangin' out on Yonge Street, sleepin' in the car... nuthin' cookin' for us there.

Met some kids from The States and headed back to Chicago and the "FESTIVAL of LIGHT", as it was called. In Detroit is was being promoted as the place to be, MC-5, joint rolling contests... I planned on winning that one. When we got there it was a different story... ooooooh yeah. Somehow we fell in at a place right across the road from Lincoln Park, it was a Theatre of sorts with high red brick walls and a big gate they closed at night... that was a GOOD thing... Gimme Shelter, for sure.



It wasn't so bad at first, hung at the Park in the day, we walked all over... saw Allen Ginsberg doin' the OMM chant, tryin' to STOP THE WAR! The heat was on, so the weed scene was zero. Never saw a joint, much less a contest. Radical types were holding seminars on anti-cop moves, roll up a magazine for a weapon, Yeah... sure. One night we were over on Clark Street, the Bar/Club Hip Street. The Cops were everywhere, they had started gettin' heavy... "Up against the wall" they used to say. The "Boys" collared me that night too... when they saw I was only 17, they let me go... once again. Just lucky. I guess.



We showed up in Lincoln Park a little late one day... just in time to see the Cops pullin' the plug on the MC-5, and kick'n everyone's ass that didn't flee. Truly, I saw it happen. We were behind the Cops and all the action, so we just walked on over to the Childrens Zoo, where my Ford was parked. It was the ONLY one left... Cops were hangin' out, laughin' and all.



A couple of 'em were sittin' on the hood as we came up. I could hear the hissing of the air as all 4 tires went flat, they thought it was pretty funny, I guess... we split. I fixed the flats, $2 bucks apiece...and headed for the Shelter. I didn't go out at night after that.

It got much worse. Downtown one day... at the Convention Center. THOUSANDS of people... everywhere.The National Guard had jeeps lined up, far as I could see... each one had a 6' x 6' section of chain link fence on the front, with a .50 cal machine gun mounted in the back...made a WALL. It was a HEAVY scene. I understood. THEY didn't like US. My feet never stopped movin' while I was awake. I gave my YIPPIE! button to someone, he asked for it. Ya' know... Youth International Party, what the hell was that? All I knew was I wanted to have a good time... and didn't wanna go to Viet Nam.



Everyone said go to Grant Park... so we did. It was wild. People were climbing up on this big statue thing, carryin' Viet Cong flags and all... Cops came right up after 'em... Down they came... The hard way. The grand finale came at the Band Shell, HUGE crowd... Thousands of people.

Lots of speeches, Dick Gregory, Comedian/Activist, was up... they wanted a March down Michigan Ave. but didn't have a permit... Soooo, Dick invited everyone over to his place, somewhere... just about this time, we being pretty far back, on the edge of the crowd, I see Hundreds of Cops gathering. They formed a Flying V, like a football game, and charged into the crowd, swingin' these 3 foot long clubs, un-believable. They were maybe 20 or 30 feet away, people were goin' down... blood was flyin' and I started movin' FAST... Escaped without a scratch.

We had enough... went back home to Detroit. I think we won.