Bars, Butterflies and Skulls....

Good morning my friends!!

I apologize for not posting yesterday; I was feeling rather shiteous.....  Ahhhh the joys of an autoimmune disease.  This is apparently my own fault….. But I won’t bore you with that story.

I had an eventful weekend, a date on Friday, I hit Mainstrasse on Saturday with a good friend and had a work event at the Florence Freedom (http://www.florencefreedom.com/) on Sunday.

On Saturday night, Gene and I found my new favorite bar!!! The Up Over bar! 

Not sure how I’ve missed going into this place on my many trips to Mainstrasse (http://www.mainstrasse.org/entertainment/).  It’s a hole-in-the-wall kinda a place, a shotgun style building with just a handful of tables and bar stools and their bathroom was CLEAN!  There was a duo playing, The Fat Shannons, they had a trumpet!! I knew they were my kinda musicians!! 

The Fat Shannons

A patron that was gracious enough to pose for a photo.

The crowd was diverse, there were people that looked kinda like me (tattooed) some biker-looking dudes, a goth-ish couple, some preppy looking folks, some average looking patrons and even some frat-boy looking dudes came in toward the end of the night.  The music that played in between the Fat Shannons’ sets was rock, not the brain numbing, thumping stuff that had to have been written by a kindergartener, playing at Cosmo’s.  And there was smoke! I don’t routinely smoke, but I like a bar that allows it… it feels like a fucking bar should feel, I don’t go to a bar for my health! I did end up bumming a smoke from Tim, one of the folks we met, along with his lovely wife Barb.

I had spent the evening, when I wasn’t drinking may Maker’s and Coke or chattering away, looking at tattoos.  I didn’t really see any I felt like asking about until I saw the bottom of this one sticking out of a t-shirt sleeve.

First let me say that I need to perfect my tattoo photo taking technique…. The photo may not show it, but this tattoo is sick…..

It was on the arm of Joe Vogerl; he was very gracious by allowing me to photograph it and told me that he was inked by Dusty Palmer at Acme Tattoo (http://acmebodyart.co/). You can find their contact information on that page, but sadly there are no portfolios, this is what I continue to bitch about…… I’m sure they have some photos on their Facebook page, but it’s better to have actual portfolios on their webpage…. However, I still admire the work that Dusty did on Joe’s arm, would love to see more of his work.  Maybe I’ll check it out on Facebook; I’d just rather not have to do that. Oh well…….

We were in a bar, and it was loud, I didn’t get any of the story behind the tattoo from Joe.  I did give him a card; maybe he’ll drop me a note and let me know why he chose the tattoo.  We shall see…..

Today after work, I am heading to Asylum Tattoo (http://www.asylumtattoo.com/) once again to have a tattoo touched up, because of my weird healing issues and to have a butterfly added to my right collar bone.  Sunday is my birthday, so it’s an early birthday present to myself! I will be under the needle of Dustin once again (http://www.facebook.com/dustin.zion).

I got this tattoo not too long ago, about 6 weeks or so.  The butterfly is the Tiger Swallowtail, the state butterfly of Georgia, and the flowers are peach blossoms. 

The Tiger Swallowtail in it's natural habitat.

I got them to commemorate 2 beautiful weeks that I spent in Georgia.  Things didn’t work out the way that I had hoped they would, and I suppose that’s my own fault (which is a theme in my life, see beginning of this post).  But I have no regrets, and I never want to forget it.  I’d like to remember every single moment, but I know that my brain won’t do that.  Eventually there will only be a few memories left, just like with other things in a life, and that will make me sad……… but life must go on!! I am about making some new memories now!!

So, come on life!! Bring me some beautiful memories!