Category: Features

March 9, 2007

Features

THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN [BME’s The Publisher’s Ring]

Written by

Shannon Larratt

Please note: This is an explicit interview, with explicit photos and video. It is an interview from the upcoming book Tortured and Loving It, a collection of interviews with BME/HARD members.

A few months ago I met “FK” in Germany. His personal play involves intense body insertions with dramatically large (and often unorthodox) objects, as well as other play and body modification activities. Due to an abnormally well developed immune system, he is able to push the limits of “if it feels good, do it” farther than most. The interview below is a translated version (the interview was done in German) of our conversation about his remarkable games.

The video (8 meg WMV file) below give you an idea of the type of play and body ritual he enjoys. I have included ejaculation and clear sexual play in the video so there’s no doubt that this is voluntary and enjoyable play. Again, let me emphasize that this is explicit, an adult interview, and that the activities you see here are dangerous and should not be emulated! Play carefully and know your limits!

* * *

Shannon/BME: How did this type of play begin?

FK: At first I experimented with pins and so on. This was when I was about thirteen years old. I was very drawn to the feeling of putting something inside my body.

At first it was curiosity — how much could I take? Then I found that pain excited me sexually, and over time it became more and more extreme. The thought of putting things under my skin is very hot and exciting. After pins I moved on to skewers, and sometimes 10mm stainless steel rod and aquarium heating rods (not turned on).

To insert the larger rods, I use very sharp special scissors that are normally used for cutting fishing line to make the incision. I’m an avid angler, so I always have them around the house. I usually don’t leave the objects in for long, no more than a day. Last year I inserted a metal rod in myself and rode a 100km bicycle route, which was quite extreme! This was an experiment to see how much I could stand and for how long.

Healing from heavy play takes two to four weeks, and then everything is back to normal. I’ve stopped now because of the considerable scars that I have from the play.

Shannon/BME: What do you think about while you’re doing this play?

FK: Obviously it hurts, but to tell the truth, this sort of pain excites me greatly. I don’t think about anything while I’m doing it, it’s just a turn on. It is a kind of “sex”, and is very exciting right up until the orgasm.

Shannon/BME: Do you think that you have strengthened your immune system with this sort of play?

FK: My immune system is naturally extremely strong. I’ve never had an infection or other complication, in my entire life, which is already quite unusual. I can eat poisonous fruits and mushrooms without difficulty. Drugs and narcotics are almost completely ineffective on me — a few years ago I had surgery with general anesthetisia and I required three times the normal dose!

Shannon/BME: It’s as if you’re a “superhero”…

FK: It’s a mystery to me as to why my immune system is so durable! As I said, I’ve never had any inflammation or infection my whole life. The only reason I stopped was because of the scars, but on the other hand, the scars are a sort of body decoration that I carry with pride. Perhaps I’ll do it sometime again.

Shannon/BME: Have there been any complications from your play?

FK: Other than some bleeding, I’ve never seen any danger in what I do, but I know my body very well. If I push a metal bar through my belly, I always remain in the fatty tissue, in order to not hurt anything vital. I do not sterilize the items but I clean them with soap and water — as I said, I am practically immune to germs. If I wasn’t like that, I’d probably not be here right now!

Shannon/BME: …and how in the world did you find out that you could survive poisons???

FK: That was coincidence — as a child I ate eat poisonous mushrooms and had no complaints! Then when I went to the dentist the anesthetic didn’t work — getting a tooth pulled without it is not fun! Later, in the hospital, for a tooth operation they put me completely under, and afterwards the anestheologist told me the does could have killed a cow… A while ago I smoked a joint with a friend. It was strong and my friend was totally stoned, but I couldn’t feel it — I’d probably have to smoke a whole lawn to get stoned!

Shannon/BME: Do narcotics work at all for you?

FK: Haha, yes, but I have to take a lot! Everything works, I just have to take a larger quantity than others.

Shannon/BME: What made you decide to document it with photos and videos?

FK: I always photographed and videotaped it so I could watch it over and over and remember it, especially because I don’t do this type of play any more. The last scene I did was the one you see in the “stomach torture” video on BMEvideo.

Shannon/BME: Do you do other play or body modification as well?

FK: My other passion is extreme anal expansion. I insert bottles, fruit, and other things into my ass. In addition, I enjoy fisting myself and being fisted by others. I don’t have any tattoos, but I have piercings in my cock, scrotum, and nipples.

Shannon/BME: How do you explain your scars to partners?

FK: I tell them a story about how I went through a window. Many of my scars are actually from a car accident about twelve years ago — I was almost cut in half due to the car not having safety glass… My current partner is not bothered by the scars, but finds it all a bit mad. He mostly fists me, and says that he likes the scars a lot.

Shannon/BME: Did you heal well after your car accident as well (I assume that wasn’t exciting sexually)?

FK: Yes, amazingly fast. I had a broken nose, a dislocated shoulder, cracked ribs, and my belly was nearly completely slit open. It was definitely not sexually exciting, but after three weeks I was back at work farming fish.

Shannon/BME: I hope this isn’t a silly question, but do you consider yourself a sort of “fakir” or is there any spiritual aspect to what you do?

FK: It’s not a silly question, but quite justified. However, there is no spiritual aspect and I am not a fakir. I much prefer sleeping on a comfortable mattress than a bed of nails!

Shannon Larratt
BME.com

February 21, 2007

Teenage Mutant Ninja Librarian

Written by

Shhhhhh!

Donatello (iam:Don) either is or has been a motorcycle riding, experience reviewing, beer dishing, late developing, retired ~~lesbian~~ librarian. As BME’s #1 article moderator, he has confirm-ably read and reviewed literally more personal experiences of modified people than anyone on the planet, giving him a broad and intimate view of modification and the modified community that few others have seen.

Sit down at the back and read the following interview, in complete silence of course.


ROO:	Good morning Don! Do you mind if call you Donatello, just for fun?
DON:	Ha! You’ll make me sound like a cross between a pizza and a flavour of ice-cream, but sure… why not?
ROO:	So Donatello, tell me a lot about yourself..
DON:	Well, let me see… ♦ I’m English. I’d better not say ‘proud of it’, which would make me sound like a football hooligan, but for all its faults there’s nowhere else I’d rather live. ♦ I’m a biker: currently riding a Honda NSR125. ♦ I got my first mod (a PA) at the age of 40: I was a ‘late developer’, you see. ♦ I have a wife, a dog and a cat, none of whom are modded (unless you count the animals’ microchip implants, of course). ♦ I started my IAM page on Bonfire Night 2000 but it hasn’t (yet) gone up in flames. ♦ I was for many years a librarian, but have also at various times been a builders’ labourer, a barman, and a football pools collector.
ROO:	You’ve been a long-time reviewer of experiences for BMEzine.com, what was it that got you started? And more to the point what kept you going?
DON:	As I recollect, experience reviewing started off life as one of Shannon’s ‘toys’. I gave it a go to see what it was like, found I liked it and more than somewhat to my surprise that I was good at it, too. As for what kept me going I’ve simply enjoyed doing it! It’s still fun, but you learn a lot, too: I think I can safely say I now know as much about female genital piercing as most people who’ve actually got one! I’m now coming up to twenty thousand experiences, making me BME’s No 1 reviewer in fact. Which is cool — I think everyone should aspire to being Number One at something.
ROO:	20,000! Cor blimey, how many “Don hours” do you think it’s taken to reach that amount?
DON:	According to my logfile, I take an average of 275 seconds to do each one. That works out at… goes and gets calculator… a little over nine weeks altogether. Of course, I do go off and get the occasional cup of coffee now and then!
ROO:	Did you know that at nine weeks a developing baby is no longer an embryo, but a fetus. Anyway, there’s obviously a huge chasm between knowing the theory behind a specific piercing procedure and having the practical abilities to carry one out. How do you think the exeriences on BMEzine.com should be viewed? As recreational reading, an informative yet fun way to pass the time, or hints and tips for the wannabe piercer?
DON:	It’s very much up to the authors, but some of the best ones — the ones we feature — I think incorporate elements of all three. There’s a definite chasm between acquiring the know-how and putting it into practice safely and with a satisfactory end result, yes. I often wince at the mental image conjured up by these authors who write about buying a piercing kit and an instructional video off eBay and cheerfully assume there’s all there is to it. And of course now with YouTube, everyone and his dog can be a piercer after watching a few five-minute video clips. I don’t want that to sound as if I’m knocking DIY piercing — I’m not, but I do think people should wise up to the fact that it’s not by any means as easy as it looks, and I hope some of the scarier stories we publish on BME illustrate that.

ROO:	Have you ever been asked or tempted to perform a modification on someone else?
DON:	No, I’ve never been asked and I’d say no. I wouldn’t want the responsibility if anything went wrong.
ROO:	Can you drag up a particularly doomed experience from the recesses of your mind, and the lessons you learned from it? Theoretical lessons of course..
DON:	I don’t know that I can: what comes across a lot of the time is that the human body sometimes reacts in the most unpredictable way. It’s a shame sometimes that more authors don’t wait until they can give a longer-term assessment as to the success (or otherwise) of their mods. As for “doomed”, I need look no further than my own abortive attempts at getting a guiche: five times altogether, with the right “theoretical” attention to reputable studio, qualified piercer, careful placement, proper aftercare… the works. And each one rejected! Sometimes your body just isn’t having it no matter what.
ROO:	How about piercing yourself?
DON:	Again, no. The only scenario in which I might be tempted is under the instruction and supervision of a properly qualified piercer.
ROO:	Safety first eh! How does it make you feel therefore when people submit experiences where they obviously don’t have the expertise to carry out a piercing, but feel they do from reading experiences you may (or may not have) approved? Knowledge in the wrong hands can sometimes be a dangerous thing.
DON:	You should see some of the experiences we throw out! Seriously, though, there’s a limit to the extent to which we can shield people from the consequences of their own foolishness. “But it won’t happen to me” is one of the classic lines of all time. Realistically, the most we can hope to do is to say “Look, this is how it’s done: these are the risks. It’s up to you whether you’re willing to accept the consequences”.
ROO:	What was it that inspired you to add a Prince Albert to your wang at forty years old?
DON:	I read about one day it in a library book! Seriously — that’s how it happened. The book had a chapter on genital piercings, commenting “Some people find the whole idea totally revolting, and if the very thought of it makes you cringe, this is not for you”. On the contrary, I found the whole idea a complete turn-on, and of course there was only one way to find out….!
ROO:	That’s fantastic! Do you think that chance encounter brought the inevitable forward slightly, or that was the sole catalyst in your decision?
DON:	Oh that was it, pure and simple. Whether something else at a later date might have happened to have the same effect I’ve no idea but nothing springs to mind.
ROO:	Now, regarding these book things you mention. You’re a librarian (not to be confused with a lesbian), is that correct?
DON:	Was — I’m officially retired now, although I still work Sundays just to keep my hand in. And since you’ve asked, I’ve always found that interestingly enough it’s one of the most tolerant and accepting of occupations as far as sexuality goes.
ROO:	That doesn’t surprise me really as your career is centered around literature, which by it’s very nature is all-encompassing.
DON:	That’s true up to a point. The landmark publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover back in the 1960s heralded the end of literary censorship as such in the UK. But that’s not to say everything’s freely available now. I can’t imagine any public library in this country stocking the BME ModCon book, for example. And when a few years back we got hold of a couple of books of Tom o’Finland artwork on special order for a customer, they came in sealed brown paper wrappers and we were instructed to hand them over unopened!
ROO:	Have you ever encompassed someone passionately in the anatomy section?
DON:	I wouldn’t dare — not with the all-seeing all-knowing CCTV watching me! Actually, its main purpose is to watch for thieves: I’m sorry to say that books on tattooing and body piercing suffer from a particularly high loss rate.
ROO:	Do you have thoughts as to why that might be?
DON:	I haven’t got a clue, to be honest — I’ve never come across any proper research into it. Before anyone starts drawing any analogies with lawless tattooed biker types, let me just point out that one of the other most “sought-after” categories of library books is religion. Make of that what you will!

ROO:	I’m dying to know, when you lay down to sleep at night and gently close your tired eyes, do you fancy yourself as an old-age mutant ninja librarian?
DON:	I don’t know that I do, but I think other people have been known to latch on to that concept (ROO:* And there I was thinking I was being original)*. Some of my bosses have not been slow on occasion to see the potential for a pierced biker librarian to project an image geared at attracting younger users for whom libraries have not exactly had a huge element of street-cred. I’m not saying this would work for everybody, but if you’re worried about the effect of visible mods on your job prospects, it’s worth researching what clientele your employer is trying to attract, and making sure you sell yourself on that basis.
ROO:	A point well made if I may say. Can you give us an example of how you’ve had to ‘shift your image’ during your time as a librarian/bar tender/labourer?
DON:	In one library where I’d just started working, the other staff were quite friendly and receptive towards my mods: at the time I’d got almost thirty, the majority of which were hidden. There was quite a good deal of friendly banter surrounding their attempts to find out what I’d got hidden away. As it was getting near to Christmas, I got as far as coming up with the bold idea of a mock-up Advent Calendar, with pictures of the mods hidden behind the little windows and ‘opening fees’ with the money going to charity. Perhaps fortunately, I left before the plan reached fruition. But then in the next library I worked, the contrast couldn’t have been more marked: none of the staff said a word about mods. I can’t say I detected any hostility, and I suspect part of it was just that no-one else had any — or if they did, they kept them well hidden. It was then that I started wearing my septum CBB visibly: it fell down one day and I “forgot” to tuck it back up out of harm’s way. But again, nothing happened, and no-one appeared to even notice. Strange… but you just have to adapt to the different climate.
ROO:	The Advent Calendar idea was wonderful, personally I think it’s a shame it never happened. Which piercing would have been under the 25th? Your baubles? Can you remember where these two libraries where geographically and did the surrounding neighbourhood have a bearing on the attitude towards your modifications?
DON:	You’re too kind! The 25th was to have been the PA: the jewel in the crown, so to speak. Where was I? Hope I’m not going to incriminate myself too much by naming names… Rugby and Stratford-on-Avon. Rugby’s an average English industrialised town much like many others mod-wise: Stratford of course is Shakespeare’s birthplace more or less to the exclusion of everything else — and that just seems to eclipse mods (and many other aspects of modern society) completely. But then places like Brighton, or Camden — or even Birmingham — seem to be different again, although people who live in those places may well disagree with that comment.
ROO:	Not so much these days but libraries have always had an air of, how should I put this, solemnity about them. Have you ever encountered any ‘prejudices’ in these settings surrounding your modifications?
DON:	Oh yes, the image of “Shushhh” with the dragon ready to pounce at the sound of a pin dropping still lives on in peoples’ minds, whatever we do and however hard we try to dispel it. I’d say I’ve only experienced prejudice indirectly. The worst example that springs to mind was a woman one day who quite obviously avoided me serving her and went to one of the other staff instead. I found out afterwards that this woman asked my boss on the way out why they employed people with piercings, and to her credit my boss simply told her that my piercings were my business and not hers. She said she was surprised at the woman’s rudeness and she too was curious as to whether it happened a lot. It doesn’t really: sometimes you can sense a definite undercurrent of unease, for want of a better word. But there’s a still whole generation of older people, particularly, who were firmly brought up in the belief that it’s extremely rude to make personal comments to people about their appearance.
ROO:	I totally agree. Although ‘kids’ can sometimes be a little rude I often feel it’s genuine curiosity that they’re they’re not quite sure how to put across?
DON:	With young kids, I’m sure a lot of it’s just natural curiosity. They just ask or say whatever occurs to them, sometimes to the acute embarrassment of their parents.

January 1, 2007

Features

2006 BME YEAR END AWARDS

Written by

Shannon Larratt

2006 BME YEAR END AWARDS

Let me first apologize for the terrible layout and style of this piece… I thought it was more important to get it online than to waste time prettying it up.

Thanks again to everyone for a year full of wonderful pictures, articles, and experiences. I think we (everyone from the person who helped financially, to the person who submitted a single navel piercing, to the megacontributors) did a great job bringing BME into it’s thirteenth year online, and continue to stay true to the reasons it was started in the first place… Essentially, to let people know that the way they feel is not just normal, but valuable.

For the second year in a row, our over top contributor was KitanoKaryuudo (who is pictured to the right) with a truly staggering 6,526 images submitted in 2006. What’s even more amazing is that Kokomi (another BME/HARD ultracontributor, and last year’s second place contributor) was only twelve images shy! Even outside of the BME/HARD realm, the top contributors submitted just amazing numbers of images. It blows my mind how generous everyone continues to be with their time. I can not thank you enough.

Anyway, I try to do these things a little differently every year. This year I decided it might be fun to do a regional breakdown, so I split the contributions into regions that roughly represented the number of contributions they generated… On the lists below you can see those winners along with their local and overall ranking. Links go to their IAM pages.

TOP IMAGE SUBMITTORS, OVERALL, BY REGION

ASIA
Regional Ranking	Overall Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	1	6,526	KitanoKaryuudo
2	29	592	Crazy Glamour
3	37	507	Sui Otoko
4	61	304	nobcatz
5	62	300	BME/HARD – Anonymous

MAINLAND EUROPE AND SCANDINAVIA
Regional Ranking	Overall Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	2	6,514	kokomi.3k
2	8	1,991	madmax
3	14	1,447	BME/HARD – Anonymous
4	15	1,391	bena
5	25	657	BME/HARD – Anonymous
6	33	547	babakhin
7	34	543	BME/HARD – Anonymous
8	40	480	BME/HARD – Anonymous
9	49	413	tan0k
10	53	403	Shadark

CANADA
Regional Ranking	Overall Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	3	3,056	RussFoxx
2	6	2,362	Lexci Million
3	10	1,705	Holy Flesh
4	20	834	jasonvandervee
5	27	599	Efix
6	31	580	lilfunky1
7	35	521	Myke
8	55	387	Cerra
9	57	358	Vex Hecubus
10	70	258	JesseV

USA
Regional Ranking	Overall Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	4	2,775	perk900
2	5	2,426	stainless
3	9	1,739	SteveBennett
4	16	1,372	Big Rick
5	17	970	KIVAKA
6	26	606	j_scarab
7	32	552	holeybody
8	36	507	BME/HARD – Anonymous
9	43	445	Allen Falkner
10	44	435	Shawn O’Hare
11	46	423	MUTE-ONE
12	46	423	Melissa
13	48	414	Zebra Tattoo
14	51	408	barryb
15	52	406	CaptNipp
16	56	372	HollywoodPiercer
17	60	306	toxicskin
18	69	265	Piercer Dave
19	72	250	phoenixxx
20	76	225	tattooedheart

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
Regional Ranking	Overall Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	7	2,323	Valnei
2	11	1,640	cutuvi
3	13	1,485	Joao_Caldara
4	22	725	Lucas Takano
5	39	487	UREA
6	41	460	peco
7	42	450	Freakboy
8	45	430	RAFAEL
9	58	341	deb
10	63	288	wild skin

THE UK, IRELAND, AUSTRALIA, AND NEW ZEALAND
Regional Ranking	Overall Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	12	1,501	alienboy
2	18	967	Piercing Pete
3	19	877	dispel
4	21	797	Stretcher
5	23	723	holierthanthou
6	24	715	strawberry
7	28	598	joker
8	30	580	vampy
9	38	503	tattoodfreak
10	50	410	VEAL

THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
Regional Ranking	Overall Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	134	138	dave

Admittedly, the race for the top few spots is daunting, but depending on where you live, submitting enough to win a placement is definitely doable… It’s also interesting looking at the breakdown to note that different types of pictures are dominant in different areas.

As all years, there are prizes as well as recognition. This year there are three different prizes. First of all, everyone who places (on any of the lists here) gets either a staff shirt or a container (more about that below), or both if they place more than once. The staff shirts (which you may have already seen on my IAM page) are based on a sectional view of a head containing various body modifications, and their explanations in Latin. And of course he’s got BME on the brain…

TOP IMAGE SUBMITTORS, BY SECTION

As well as splitting up the results by geographic region, we generated them by section of the site again. Those lists follow:

TATTOOS
Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	910	Big Rick
2	479	babakhin
3	285	j_scarab
3	285	Joao_Caldara
5	278	Zebra Tattoo

PIERCING
Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	1,097	alienboy
2	724	KIVAKA
3	654	Lexci Million
4	529	holierthanthou
5	385	Valnei

SCARIFICATION
Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	641	Valnei
2	527	Lucas Takano
3	513	madmax
4	324	Lexci Million
5	318	Joao_Caldara

RITUAL
Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	2,614	RussFoxx
2	2,073	stainless
3	1,228	SteveBennett
4	1,092	cutuvi
5	964	bena

BME/EXTREME
Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	523	madmax
2	267	SLS-Frank
3	247	Valnei
4	181	old soldier
5	173	SteveBennett
6	169	RussFoxx
7	156	Stretcher
8	146	holierthanthou
9	126	Shawn O’Hare
10	122	Anonymous

BME/HARD
Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	6,517	KitanoKaryuudo
2	6,514	kokomi.3k
3	1,447	Urban Soul
4	832	jasonvandervee
5	609	Stretcher
6	592	Crazy Glamour
7	543	AvantGarde
8	526	Holy Flesh
9	507	Sui Otoko
9	507	Anonymous

As I mentioned earlier, as well as printing shirts, I’m also printing containers (sort of like a sharps or first aid container) with the same logo (although single color). Maybe a place to keep your jewelry, maybe a place to keep your play piercing needles… The exact style of container isn’t confirmed yet so I can’t show you a picture but it’ll be printed with the logo in one of these two ways:

THE SCRIBES OF OUR COMMUNITY

As well as pictures, personal stories and articles are the other core part of BME’s mission to inform and share experiences. The top writers wrote huge numbers of articles, with the top dozen all writing at least a full-length article a month.

EXPERIENCES AND ARTICLES
Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	50	Silhouettes
2	26	strawberry
3	24	broken_wings
4	19	Fuzzybeast
5	16	Caroline June
6	14	Ribibe
7	13	delusionalfairy
7	13	sweetcheeks
7	13	aniorange
10	12	MilllieB
10	12	deadly pale
10	12	kyo
10	12	rwethereyet
14	11	Bondage-Kit
14	11	Flutterfly
14	11	GucciGurl
17	10	Blackvampyremage
17	10	Kyrenna
17	10	ubergeekgawdess

SPECIAL RECOGNITION!

As well as the obvious submissions, there are many other parts of BME that are generated by the volunteer work of people who go largely unthanked (including quite a few that I haven’t even mentioned in this article!). For example, there’s BME’s newsfeed, which has been tirelessly maintained by volunteers even though updates have been sometimes sporadic (my fault).

NEWSFEED SUBMISSIONS
Ranking	# Submissions	Contact
1	909	deadly pale
2	758	rebekah
3	261	Ebowlotus1960

As well as obvious and “official” parts of BME, there are large parts of the BME community which are run wholly independently and autonomously that deserve recognition as well. I’m sure there are many more important ones that I don’t know about… I asked at the end of the year who had made contributions to this community (that isn’t otherwise mentioned here), and a few names stood out with regularity… These included:

Shawn Porter for organizing both fun events and the Scar Wars series of conventions, and his work in creating a cohesive scarification community both online and offline.

Monica for maintaining the series of IAM.Pregnant forums which have been invaluable resources to the many new parents on IAM/BME as this community ages.

Warren for his IAM.Learning forum for people learning to pierce.

Rebekah for her tireless work promoting IAM/BME members and for her hard work with Modified-News.

Anaesthetise‘s Postcard Exchange Forum on IAM is enormous fun for the many participants.

Wlfdrgn has undertaken the important task of managing the IAM/BME Scholarship Fund (see BME’s guest articles for more information, or visit his IAM page), now in its third year.

Havve and Christiane for their suspension work in Norway and elsewhere.

Allen Falkner for — among many other things — suspenion.org.

Vampy and Dispel for their many suspension events in the UK and their excellent documentation.

Perk900 for a series of great parties and a ton of photos.

I could really go on and on, and in a way I feel guilty stopping… There are so many other places people have contributed — reviewing experiences, helping me on technical issues, writing for and editing the encyclopedia, and more.

QOD STAFF

The core staff of BME’s QOD (Question of the Day — book coming soon!) continues to provide wonderful educational resource. They’re made up of Ryan Ouellette, John Joyce, Shawn Porter, Lori St. Leone, Sean Phillips, and Lassi.

Clockwise starting at top-left: Shawn Porter, Sean Phillips, Ryan Ouellette, John Joyce, Lassi, Lori St. Leone.

CORE STAFF

Finally, let me mention BME’s core staff, some of whom you probably already know, and some of whom you may not be aware of… Without these people, it would be much more difficult to keep BME going. Rachel runs the business end of things. Phil processes pretty much every picture that’s added to the site. Rooraaah does the same, but for naughty videos. Jon keeps our UNIX servers going and develops new toys for BME’s users, and Mike helps me keep our Windows boxes alive and uncompromised. Jen handles the customer support, and finally, there’s me, Shannon. Mostly I just put out articles long behind schedule.

Clockwise starting at top-left: Jen, Roo (and me in the background), Phil, Mike, Jon, Rachel.

And that doesn’t even include the staff of BMEshop (primarily Ryan and Corrie).

NOTE TO CONTRIBUTORS

You’ll receive an email and/or IM on IAM from me in the next week with a form where you’ll need to fill in your address and shirt size and all that. I haven’t sent those out yet, but if you don’t hear from me within the week make sure that you contact either me or Ryan and Corrie so nothing gets missed… Other than that, I wanted to mention that there is one very special prize, sort of a secret talisman that will be going out to the very top contributors. Whether they reveal what that item is or not is up to them.

I won’t reveal it here, and probably won’t on my IAM page either, but let me say that (1) it’s very, very cool, and (2) it was created by an award winning butter sculptor.

Thank you everyone for another wonderful year. BME would be nothing without the community that surrounds it and creates it. If you’re reading this, there is a very good chance that you took part in creating this all… If so, thank you. You’ve helped me, and you’ve helped a lot of other people, and I hope you’ve helped yourself as well.

Shannon Larratt
BME.com

November 26, 2006

Features

Next in the firing line is Pauly (IAM: Pauly Unstoppable). He’s got arguably the biggest stretched nostrils in the West, to say nothing of his many other heavy body modifications, is descended from the Maori, he’s been shot at, stabbed, run over by cars, fallen out of high buildings, been set on fire, overdosed by accident (and on purpose), been flatlined by a drunk driver, comatose, beaten, maced, tasered, shot at with rubber bullets and was once pronounced legally dead for eight minutes!

What a gay, erm, guy.

ROO:	Hi Pauly, to kick things off tell me a few things about yourself you consider boring..
PAULY:	Well my name is Pauly Unstoppable — that’s what I go by on a daily basis so the name I was given at birth isn’t really important. I’m twenty-one and was born July the 18th, 1985, and for the most part I was raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, but I’ve lived all over the place. My hair is brownish, my eyes are greenish and I’m about six feet tall and weigh roughly 140 pounds.

ROO:	And now something riveting?
PAULY:	I used to weigh 280 pounds.
ROO:	Did becoming a vegan play any part in that?
PAULY:	Well I was already vegan when I lost the weight. Just being vegan doesn’t make you automatically healthy, you can still be vegan and eat like shit! It was more of a lifestyle change that helped me shed the extra tonnes.Basically I started eating food with really low fat content — fresh fruits, veggies and so on — and exercised like a demon. I rode my bike for eight hours a day and did so many sit-ups and push-ups that sometimes I could barely move the next morning… I really need to get back in line with that though. I’ve been a little out of shape recently sadly.
ROO:	You’ve told me about your wang on many occasions — eight or nine inches long by six and a quarter inches in girth if I remember correctly. What makes it hard?
PAULY:	Pretty boys with tattoos!
ROO:	And what makes it flaccid?
PAULY:	Scary vaginas and Margaret Thatcher!
ROO:	It’s unlikely I’ll be seeing you skipping hand in hand down the street with her in the near future then?
PAULY:	Haha! I don’t imagine so, although I will be in London in December so who knows? I don’t much fancy ladies and boobs just don’t register with me at all — it’s like I have anti-boob vision or something… and besides, she’s old! [ROO: 81 at the time of publishing.] I am trying to stay a kid for as long as possible and I don’t want her aging disease to rub off on me.

ROO:	Tell me more about your chin tattoo’s, rumour has it they’re BME related?
PAULY:	Well, it wasn’t meant to say “BME” — at least I didn’t do it consciously. At BMEfest this year Philip Barbosa noticed that it resembled the word BME, and once he pointed that out I could see what he meant, sort of. They’re actualy a mixture of Maori design and North American tribe designs. I drew it when I was fifteen and just sat on them. I’m descended from Maori ancestry though my skin colour doesn’t show it at all.
ROO:	That’s one thing about you I didn’t know! Is your family tattooed?
PAULY:	Of the family I know personally none of them have any Maori tattoos at all. I’m really not sure how far back it was because most of my family older than my grandparents passed away a long while ago, so I didn’t have the chance to meet them or ask any questions. They were a far cry from how I look — I’m pretty pale but they were all very tanned with black hair and dark eyes. My dad is like that too, but not me.
ROO:	Apart from your mum who does your hair?
PAULY:	Just me…My ex did help me once, bless. The hair he helped me with was for BMEfest this year, it’s very hard to describe and was mildly ridiculous… basically I shaved two stripes down the top of my head, much like if you were going to start a mohawk and then decided to just leave all the hair on either side. It ended up looking like mullet with long fake side burns, and then a blonde strip dyed down the middle.At the moment I have a sort of fake rat-tail thing going on, I had to shave part of the back of my head for my new neck tattoo.Anyway, I talk too much.

ROO:	I know you’re gay because you’ve got a soft spot for me, but have you ever had sex with a ‘real’ woman?
PAULY:	Haha yeah, I have actually! I was in a threesome with my friend and his girlfriend. I guess basically she felt she needed to *“break the gay boy”* or something. That was the real first time, and I actually totally forgot about it for a while. Then I had another experience with a girl and started telling people about that instead. I’m a flake like that.
ROO:	You describe yourself as ‘Commie Scum’ — care to elaborate?
PAULY:	I hold socialist/communist political ideals. I believe in a government of the people, run by the people for the people. It’s just funny to refer to myself as “commie scum”, because in the hate mail I get I tend to get called that fairly often, so I chose to embrace it.That’s why I also refer to myself as a “faggot” on my IAM page. It takes the bite out of it for people.
ROO:	Is there anything in the world that could stop a Pauly?
PAULY:	I’ve been shot, stabbed, run over by cars, fallen out of high buildings, been set on fire, overdosed by accident, and on purpose. I’ve been flatlined by a drunk driver, comatose, beaten, maced, tasered, shot at with rubber bullets and was legally dead for eight minutes!Despite all that I’m still here, so I guess not.
ROO:	Does having flatlined change the way you see ritual at all?
PAULY:	I wouldnt say so, really… I mean, I am an atheist — a pretty hardcore one — but I do have a spiritual side. It’s just not the religious type. With me, rituals such as bloodletting and suspending and play piercing is a very spiritual thing, but it’s helping me to harness the energy that I have in me, and feed off of it and to put me in better touch with my mind and body and my surroundings and such. The fact that I have died and been brought back has really only strengthened that energy, but doesnt make me see it any other way. It definitely woke me up and changed my perception of a lot of things about life, and as morbid as it might sound, it made me a better person in my eyes. It sort of helped me to become who I am today, and I really love who I am today.
ROO:	Does the way you look help or hinder you in finding relationships?
PAULY:	A bit of both I suppose… I mean it obviously limits my dating circle somewhat, but my preference is geared more towards pretty tattooed boys anyway. My nostrils are what turn most people off, which is ok with me I suppose, although there is one person I wish didn’t mind so much, but that cant be helped.The thing that hinders my relationships most of all seems to be distance.

ROO:	Take a deep breath because now I’m going to ask you the question you most ‘dread’. During the planning of this interview you mentioned that you’d rather not talk about your nostrils, at least not make them the prime focus, which is understandable — does it bothers you that people see you as just “the guy with the giant nostrils?”
PAULY:	Well, it doesn’t bother me really. I would be very naive to think people wouldn’t notice giant fucking holes in my face! I’m quite aware that they’re much larger then anyone’s gone before, I’m not stupid and expect people to ask questions about it.Honestly, I don’t mind people being curious, I am a nice guy after all. If you are nice to me I’ll show you the same courtesy. For a while though I felt the focus was only on my nostrils — like they were a separate life force, they could have almost had their own fan club and its still sort of like that.For example if I post a picture on IAM or Myspace, I get like literally thirty messages asking me “*Are you nostrils smaller?”, “What happened”, “Are you giving up?” et cetera. It’s not that I think that’s bad, I’m just not used to so much attention. As funny as that may sound I’m a fairly reclusive person, even now. Until pretty recently I was in the shadows of BME, that’s how I felt anyway, then I finally got a good camera and it blew up! [ROO: I think Pauly’s referring to his popularity, not the camera, hehe.] Some will say I probably milk it a bit, after all I do post lots of pictures and bulletins on various sites these days, but it’s only to please the requests I get on a day to day basis. That said there’s still one picture I wont make public no matter how many times it’s requested, and that’s one with all my piercings taken out, sorry but it’s just not happening, hah! Anyway, back to the point, if there was one. The area I live at the moment is very conservative, so I don’t really venture out much, not on my own anyway. I do my grocery shopping at night because its utterly impossible for me to do it at like three or four in the afternoon, it would take me three hours just to find an amusingly shaped carrot because I get stopped every few minutes and so forth. I’ve had more exotic* piercings and tattooing for quite a while now so I’m quite used to being in public, and I don’t notice the staring and pointing at all. Unless they are blatantly rude and in my face I don’t see them or care in the slightest. It’s funny because it tends to be my friends that get pissed off with the attention when they walk around with me, because they’re not accustomed to it. I just have to tell them it’s part of my life and they’ll get used to it. It’s really not that big a deal and slowly but surely they’re becoming less emotional about things. Simply put I’m a pleasant person so when people ask questions I answer them to the best of my ability. I know if I saw someone wandering the streets looking like this I’d want to look and ask questions. If it’s done nicely and they aren’t rude or condescending I’ll quite happily sit with someone for half an hour or however long they want and talk to them about body art! Nice people I meet outside of the piercing and tattoo community make me feel warm inside, it also makes me happy there are still open minded people out there.

ROO:	You must admit they’re an impressive pair of stretched nostrils — I feel like I’m complimenting you on a fine set of breasts, hah. Do you find the size they are now affect nasal health, nose hair growth, or anything like that?
PAULY:	That’s a question I’m asked lots, also in comments I see regarding many of my photos. To put that baby to bed, so to speak: I’ve had no ill effects in regards to the size of my nostrils whatsoever, the insides are still healthy and nice and I breathe just fine through my nose.If anything I find breathing even easier with the plugs in, they just seems to open everything up for the lovely oxygen.
ROO:	I’m sure you understand that many people reading this article may well see you as a trend-setter or role model. Some of those people may also have followed your changes over the past few years, but not yet be of age to start themselves. What advice would you have for them?
PAULY:	I started really young. My lobes were pierced at age seven, and by the time I was eleven I was already stretching them. I pierced my septum and PA at that time too, so I can understand the drive. I would say if you want to get work done at a young age, I would have it done right first time.. doing it yourself in your bathroom with a safety pin will just hurt you in the long run.As far as the more advanced stuff goes, I really can’t comment. I have friends who are much younger than I am, I guess I might have had some part in inspiring them to start things larger, and I know and trust they can handle it so that doesn’t concern me in the slightest. I really don’t think it’s my place to tell anyone what they should and shouldn’t do with their body, as I don’t think anyone should. People are allowed to make their own mistakes. That’s how we learn.I also don’t believe it’s right to tell people they’ll regret things in the future. I live firmly in the present, not the future, the only sure thing is the past and the present. The future is what you make of it. Sure having stretched nostrils or ears will close a lot of doors for you but it doesn’t mean your life is ruined. If you want to make life grand you can, you just have to want it enough.I tattooed my face at age eighteen, in part because I wanted to make sure I did what I wanted to with my life. I used it as a tool to force myself to strive for my dreams, and not buckle into society’s standard of living, because I don’t agree with it, and don’t care to live that way in all honesty. I couldn’t be happier with my life as it is now. As far as being a trend-setter goes, I suppose that statement just makes me blush! I didn’t ever think it would matter that much to anyone what I did with my body. It’s not really something that crossed my mind, I just do these things because they make me happy. It’s just how I want to look, and how my mind told me I should look. Don’t get me wrong I am glad that people can see some stuff I have done, especially if it helps them to push themselves to do what they really want to do, because it’s a big step in our culture to choose to something so outside of the ’norm’. I don’t think of myself as a trend-setter or anything like that, I am just a regular person who’s doing what makes him feel pretty.
ROO:	Has there ever been a time when you’ve regretted your modifications?
PAULY:	The only thing I have ever regretted is not starting something bigger or not knowing enough about stretching lobes when I first began.. If I knew then what I know now I definitely wouldn’t have had my lobes pierced with a gun — I’d have had them pierced with a needle, and a lot higher too. That makes the process of stretching so much easier in the long-term.

ROO:	Finally, for this subject at least. How do feel about the changes you’ve made to your face?
PAULY:	I honestly couldn’t be happier with the route I’ve taken in life, the only thing I don’t like is I’m not done yet, but that’s half the fun, haha! It’s the same old story really, I grew up as ‘the fat kid’ and due to that I’ve been left with plenty of emotional scars and really had trouble feeling happy about my appearance.Because of tattooing and piercing and so on, I feel beautiful.I also feel stronger than I’ve ever felt, despite receiving death threats and hate mail on a daily basis. They don’t phase me anymore though. Instead I giggle because I’ve come so far in taking back my appearance from the one I hated growing up with to the one I now hold and the one that puts such a huge smile on my face when I look in the mirror every morning.
ROO:	We’re all dying to know.. How many crushes do you have? If you’re feeling brave you can name names!
PAULY:	I have a few, I make sure everone I crush knows about it, haha. You never know! [ROO: After a bit of gentle cajoling I managed to needle some names out of him.] Jay_Veganxxx, Vegan Jarret, oilchange&wifebeaters (of course), you Roo, loving devotee and miketheshoe… On second thoughts I don’t want to list everyone or play favorites. I’d hate to leave someone out and upset them!
ROO:	What’s the most exciting thing you’ve ever done? Favourite memory?
PAULY:	I don’t really have a particular favorite memory… Road trips across the country make me smile though, and living in Canada has it memories. There is so much much I miss about Canada.. it’s where I lost my virginity and my heart. And the parks and vegan restaurants are incredible! On thinking about it here are some of my favorite memories of my time in Canada……Hanging out at Buddhas [a vegan restaurant] after BMEfest, talking with Phil and Jason and then playing like twelve block games of grab ass!…Where it progressed so far Brandon was screaming so loud it was scaring people passing us in cars, haha….Electric butts with Ian, Howie, Efix and Oli and the rest of the Quebec city crew (no Howie, I wont have sex with this girl!) I think the fondest memory that will stick with me the longest was when I lived in Montreal with Nye, it was one of the best times in my life and I’ll never forget it. I miss it dearly sometimes.

ROO:	Tell me what being a member of IAM means to you, do you think you’d be the same person if you weren’t part of this community?
PAULY:	Well, IAM and BME has pretty much filled a void I had in my life! I have been into body art for as long as I can remember. When I tell people how I got started, they are like, “what, you pierced your penis at eleven?!”I didn’t know what I was doing it just seemed like it should have been there all along. For a long time I felt very alone, and still sort of do because there aren’t many people around me with the same interests. IAM definitely helped me feel like I could talk to people who understood, the friends I’ve made here are like family to me. It gives me a place to go and a place to talk freely about my interests and for the most part people are supportive and share the same sentiment, so it makes me feel at home and not so ’weird’.I am a strong person and really nothing anyone can say will make me change my mind or skip a beat in my life, but its still nice to have a community of people you can come to anytime you need to, and they always make you feel at one with them.
ROO:	It’s been lovely as always Pauly, thanks for taking the time to talk to me.I think I hear Maggie calling you from the bedroom. Run Pauly, Run!You wouldn’t want to suffer the wrath of the Iron Lady.
PAULY:	It was my pleasure!

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November 5, 2006

Features

Don’t read your press, weigh it. [The Association of Professional Piercers]

Written by

BME

“Don’t read your press, weigh it.” — Andy Warhol

Trigeminal Neuralgia and Tongue Piercing…
Pierce your tongue, be driven to suicide?

When I got into work on Friday, October 20^th, there was a fax waiting for me. It was a copy of a newspaper article from the San Francisco Daily with a headline that read, “Tongue Piercing Tied to Painful ‘Suicide Disease.’” I knew it was going to be a busy weekend.

And then the calls started. Had I seen the articles? Had I read them? What was I, as the Medical Liaison for the Association of Professional Piercers, going to do about them?

Since the article originated at the Associated Press, it was everywhere. (The AP news service is the oldest and largest news organization in the world. It supplies news to over 1,700 US newspapers daily, 5,000 TV and radio stations, and 8,500 international subscribers.) The piece was printed in dozens of newspapers, occasionally with different headlines over the same body provided by the Associated Press.

For those that haven’t seen the article, the gist of it is this:

A research letter written up in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and published on October 18^th, 2006,* was titled “Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia Associated With Tongue Piercing.” It outlines the case of an Italian woman who complained of face and head pain that started one month after she had her tongue pierced, and lasted for two months until she removed her jewelry. In the article, the pain was purported to come in episodes “described as ‘electric shocks’” which “lasted from 10 to 30 seconds, and recurred 20 to 30 times each day, increasing in frequency and severity in the latter weeks.” According to the authors, these episodes were consistent with the disorder known as trigeminal neuralgia.

Trigeminal neuralgia is a condition characterized by sudden attacks of pain involving different sections of the face. These attacks are severe, and are usually described as resembling electric shocks — the pain is intermittent, but intense. And, most importantly, the article goes on to describe several types of trigeminal neuralgia, the main two being typical trigeminal neuralgia, and atypical trigeminal neuralgia.

Typical trigeminal neuralgia is incredibly painful, and most often caused by an enlarged blood vessel putting pressure on the trigeminal nerve root (the trigeminal nerve is one of twelve cranial nerves serving the face and head). What results from this pressure is an extreme, electric shock-like pain that is completely debilitating for the sufferer. (The diagnosis of typical TN is based in part upon the sufferer’s description of his/her pain.)

Atypical trigeminal neuralgia is a less common form of the disorder and is characterized by less intense, constant, dull burning or aching pain, often with occasional electric shock-like stabs. Atypical TN is also not commonly treatable with medications used for typical TN, such as carbamazapine. (It should be noted that, in the JAMA article, the patient was treated with carbamazapine with little effect.)

The woman in the JAMA article was diagnosed with atypical trigeminal neuralgia, based on the descriptions of her pain (and her lack of reaction to the carbamazapine). After the failure of the medication, she took out her tongue piercing jewelry, and the symptoms disappeared completely within 48 hours. Though it was speculated that the tongue piercing was the cause of the TN, it was noted, “The symptom was probably secondary to a lingual metallic implant, and although findings indicate the involvement of the trigeminal system, the location of the piercing and implant should not have resulted in trigeminal injury.” It further references an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, where a 66 year-old woman was suffering from trigeminal neuralgia from a mercury-amalgam filling in one tooth coming in contact with a gold crown on the adjacent one.^† On the whole, the research letter in JAMA was informative, well written and, above all, objective. The same cannot be said about the Associated Press article.

The problem with the AP article was that it failed to differentiate between typical trigeminal neuralgia and atypical trigeminal neuralgia. It also was the first mention of TN’s most unfortunate nickname: the suicide disease. Because of the overwhelmingly intense pain, those suffering from typical TN have a very high incidence of suicide—the pain is so horrible that many feel this is the only way out. This is not true of atypical TN, which is a much more minor, and more manageable form of the disorder. The combination of these two pieces of the AP article—the lack of distinction between typical and atypical TN, and the inclusion of the phrase “suicide disease”—set the stage for the press that followed.

While the title of the AP article—“Tongue Piercing Linked To Pain”—was not especially inflammatory, things got worse each time the article was reprinted. Each news posting (print or web) provided their own headlines, and made decisions about how much of the article to reprint. (Many papers choose to edit the article for length, often leaving out the paragraph where Dr. Marcelo Galarza, an author of the original study, states, “Certainly, this was an isolated case, an extremely rare complication of this kind of piercing,”) This is where the incitive headlines appeared, such as the one MSNBC, which screamed “Teen’s Tongue Piercing Causes ‘Suicide Disease.’” [CACHE]

Strangely, the whole incident reminded me of The Simpsons. (Yes, the TV show.) On the first season’s DVD collection, if you listen to the writers’ commentary during the episodes, you hear them often mention the cheap shots and cruel jokes included at the expense of the old. This was because every week they were pitted against the Cosby show in their time bracket. And while The Simpsons led the ratings with the younger demographic, anyone over 40 that was watching TV at that time was watching Bill Cosby and his TV family. This gave the creative team at The Simpsons free rein to make the elderly the butt of any joke they wanted—there was simply no one watching who would complain to the network.

This is much the same way piercers and other body modification artists allow themselves to be portrayed by the mainstream media: We’re the whipping boy for traditional news services because not only are we a marginalized and unorganized group, but we’re simply not watching, and not insisting that news outlets are held accountable for misinformation and exaggerations that are printed about us and what we do.

So what was I going to do about the mess started by the Associated Press?

The first thing I did was to write a letter on behalf of the APP to the Associated Press writer, politely seeking to educate her on the situation, and explaining my interest as the APP’s Medical Liaison.

The next, more daunting, task was to attempt to send a letter to the editor of every news outlet that ran the AP article. After emailing out the first round of letters for the articles that were already sent me, I composed a letter to the APP membership asking for help in tracking down versions of the article in all media. This message was sent to every APP member via email asking each to forward me contact info for any paper they encountered which printed the AP story—which quite a few did. (I then sent out the letter to each news source.) This request was also posted on MySpace, and I saw the letter re-posted repeatedly in bulletins by over the course of several days.

The response to all this was amazing. I received emails from members (and non-members) from all over the country. These included about fifty links to outlets running the AP letter, from newspapers to TV stations to radio stations to Internet news groups. I spent a day modifying the letter template, and composing and sending a letter to each news editor. I posted on newspaper and newsgroup comment boards, and on larger papers that listed postal addresses, I had letters printed and sent from the APP office to each of the newspapers.

At times it did seem rather futile. How many of my letters to the editors did I think would actually get printed? It didn’t matter—I was simply determined to not let tongue piercing be the focus of yet another misinformed, sensationalistic attack on what we do, on what we hold to be most important.

And it must have worked. The last time I did a Google search with the words “tongue piercing suicide disease,” my letter came up #3, on the Chicago Tribune’s website [CACHE]. Not too bad.

And while we are still a long way, as an industry, from getting the respect that we deserve, we don’t have to be passive participants in the process. If we don’t like the way we’re being portrayed by the mainstream media, we have a responsibility to our industry and ourselves to try to do something about it. Change will be slow to come, but I believe that, unified and organized, we can make a difference.

     James Weber
     APP Medical Liaison (safepiercing.org)
     Infinite Body Piercing (infinitebody.com)

* Gazzari R, Merceri S, Galarza M. Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia Associated With Tongue Piercing. Journal of the American Medical Association. Vol. 296, No. 15, October 18, 2006.

^† Cheshire WP Jr. The Shocking Tooth About Trigeminal Neuralgia. New England Journal of Medicine. 2000;342:2003.

Started in California in 1994, the Association of Professional Piercers is an international non-profit organization that is committed to the dissemination of vital health and safety information about body piercing to the piercing community, health care professionals, legislators, and the general public. The APP holds its annual conference each year in Vas Vegas, Nevada in the first week in May.

Copyright © The Association of Professional Piercers. Reprinted on BMEzine.com with permission. Articles in this column are published simultaneously in The Point: The Quarterly Journal of the Association of Professional Piercers. Subscriptions are $10 for four issues and are available through the APP website at safepiercing.org.

James Weber is the current Medical Liaison for the Association of Professional Piercers. He has been piercing professionally since 1993 and has been actively involved at industry-wide level in legislative, educational, and public relations projects for much of that time. He is the co-owner of Infinite Body Piercing, which he has been operating in Philadelphia since 1995. He is also the editor of The Point: The Quarterly Journal of the Association of Professional Piercers. He can be reached at [email protected].

November 5, 2006

Features

The Next Big Thing? Microdermals and Surface Anchors

Written by

Shannon Larratt

The Next Big Thing?
Microdermals and Surface Anchors

Microdermals — or “surface anchors”, or simply “anchors” — are a design of body jewelry that allows for a “single point” piercing. That is, a piercing that has only one visible end or bead. So for example, it allows one to place a single gemstone in a third eye position, and because of its design, no invasive procedure is required to implant it — it does not have the complexity of implantation of a transdermal implant (although it may have some of the complexity of removal). In addition, its versatile nature makes it an excellent tool for unusual formations of piercings as of course any number may be placed.

“THIRD EYE” MICRODERMAL PLACEMENTS;
LEFT: IAM:PUREANGEL BY BRIAN DECKER, RIGHT: BY JOHN DURANTE (IAM:JAWN D)

Since their introduction as a prototype by Custom Steel at APP 2006, microdermals have been explosively popular with most users becoming convinced that these could be the next big thing in piercing, and arguably the first “new” idea in some time. That said, the technology has been around in other forms since the mid-nineties — Steve Haworth went through several designs of transdermal implant which heavily influenced their design, as did the single point pocketings first promoted by Jon Cobb, as well as dermal anchors (gallery) and other DIY-anchor techniques. In addition, surface bars, and especially the later punch-and-taper (or punch-and-elevate) procedures, involved related techniques and healing, which influenced the design and development of microdermals.

Since they’ve been growing in popularity now for a solid six months, I feel somewhat tardy waiting this long to talk on the public record with artists performing microdermals, but the good side of that is that now enough time has passed that people can reflect on healing and the ongoing development of microdermals and related procedures. Let me begin by introducing the people I talked to (in no particular order), a small cross-section of the piercers and jewellers performing this procedure and making these devices. Ask around to find more!

BASIC MICRODERMAL DESIGN — A SMALL BONE PLATE WITH HOLES FOR TISSUE INGROWTH, AND A THREADED POST FOR THE ATTACHMENT OF DECORATIVE ENDS.

Oh, and just so there’s no confusion — these interviews were conducted separately, so don’t read anything into any implied interactions between them!

	Bryan Thomas Mojo Studios, Peoria, IL iam:cellfire	Didier Suarez Enigma Professional Piercing, San Diego, CA iam:DidierS
	John Joyce Scarab Body Arts, Syracuse, NY iam:j_scarab	Steve “Travelling” iam:micro-wave
	James “Wizzer” Wisniewski Hollywood, CA iam:Wizzer	Brian Decker Pure Body Arts, Brooklyn, NY iam:xPUREx
	Pat Pruitt Custom Steel Body Jewelry iam:[email protected]	JLo (John Lopez) Slave to the Needle, Seattle, WA iam:JLo
	IME Integrity Body Jewelry iam:IME	Shannon Larratt BME iam:glider

How would you describe what a microdermal is?

BRIAN

The idea is to give the aesthetic look of a transdermal implant but with the simplicity and safety of a piercing.

DIDIER

A microdermal is a single-point surface piercing with a threaded changeable end.

JLO

I don’t call them “microdermals”. I called them single-point-piercings until Industrial Strength introduced their surface anchors — I like that name.

Eight or nine years ago I tried something like them, using 14g fishtail labret jewelry — which was a horrible disaster. Maybe a year and a half ago I saw somebody on IAM was using nostril screws and having some success. I tried some myself with not so good results — the results were 50/50 at best.

PAT	Sorry to say, but bending up nostril screws to be used as anchors is super-ultra ghetto if you ask me, and being a part of this industry, I hated to see something misused like that. There is enough talent in this industry to have stuff like this professionally made — hence the new microdermal.

JLO

A fellow piercer at Slave to the Needle, David, and I started drawing pictures and debating design ideas to create something similar to the transdermals in David’s scalp but much smaller. We wanted something that required standard piercing tools only — no surgical tools. Something any seasoned professional piercer should be able to do. Strangely enough, I got the call from Pat at Custom Steel that very week.

MICRODERMAL JEWELRY; LEFT: IME’S PROTOTYPES, RIGHT: IS SURFACE ANCHORS (ALMOST IDENTICAL TO CUSTOM STEEL MICRODERMALS), INSET: ANCHOR BY BRIAN DECKER

PAT

I started playing around with the idea about a year ago after seeing the dermal anchors being installed. I thought that piece of jewelry really sucked ass for that particular application (it was more or less a bent up nostril screw). I gave it a lot of thought before sending a CAD drawing to John Lopez to check out (because of his experience with dermal anchoring) and Phish (because of his experience with implants) to get some initial feedback in February of this year.

JOHN

When I first saw the dermal anchors, I knew they were a bad idea… but I thought it had potential. A few practitioners started doing variations of the “dermal anchor” with bent nostril screws, but I still wasn’t sold. The first true microdermals I heard of were Pat from Custom Steel’s pieces at APP 2006, machined out of solid titanium. This new design made far more sense to me. It had borrowed from transdermal design. It had little holes in the base that the skin could anchor in, but was small enough that it could be inserted easily, without the need for a scalpel, sutures, or elevators. JD from Industrial Strength had designed a very similar version, and offered me samples — I was amazed at how small they were. It was mind blowing! They came with a healing nub, very similar to transdermals, but any 14 gauge bead could screw onto them.

JLO

A few months after I talked to Pat, I was invited to visit JD at Industrial Strength. He flew me out to California and took me on a tour of his manufacturing facilities and showed me his version of the very same idea. He was calling them “surface anchors”. This is a great name because it doesn’t sound quite so “medical”. JD gave me a bunch to try out and I instantly knew these things were going to get big… and I still think they will.

PAT

Noah Babcock from Evolution Body Piercing in Albuquerque, who I would consider a master at surface piercing, guided me through potential installation procedures with such a small device, staying in the realm of common piercing instruments. The goal was to produce an implantable fixture, that could have interchangeable ends, that could be installed with no medical tools, but only common tools found in any shop — so no scalpels or punches… just piercing needles and tapers. The first prototype run debuted at APP 2006 and went out to a handful of clients on the down-low… they’re healing very nicely with no issues.

TYPICAL MICRODERMAL INSERTION — 1. ENTRY/EXIT POINT IS MADE USING A NEEDLE OR DERMAL PUNCH; 2. MICRODERMAL JEWELRY IS INSERTED INTO THIS HOLE AND USED TO ELEVATE A POCKET AS NEEDED; 3. JEWELERY IS SETTLED INTO PLACE.

BRYAN

After I saw pictures on Pat’s page I thought they were neat, and I tried one on myself.

STEVE

I started hearing about them this summer when several of my friends began talking about them and I got messages from manufacturers advertising them. At first I had a lot of fears and apprehensions regarding them, but my friends kept telling me of their successes with them. After I kept hearing positive things about microdermals, I did my first in August on a good friend of mine, a ‘third eye’ placement.

BRIAN

I actually began doing something similar about a year ago, but with a different design of jewelry that spiralled into the entrance. The piece had a central base point rather than the more common design which anchors itself mostly only on one side of the base. The idea, for me, came about quite a while ago, when I was searching for a more cost effective way of making transdermal implant pieces. The first one I did was, and still is, in the wrist of iam:Peck.

WIZZER

I also started working with the microdermal concept using hand-bent jewelry. I started using the microdermals produced by Industrial Strength a few months back and I am now working with prototypes made by IME of Integrity Body Jewelry. Overall, I’ve done over a hundred of these, every one being successful in both procedure and healing!

IME

I did a few with nostril screws in 1999, but ever since Pat from Custom Steel came out with them at APP this year I have had a ton of people asking me to come up with a design of my own. I have been prototyping them for a few months in my spare time and started doing them on friends, to make sure the design is stable.

MICRODERMAL PROCEDURE BY KEITH ROMAN (KYKLOP TATTOO, PITTSBURGH PA)

Does anyone specific deserve credit for developing the microdermal?

PAT	I think I can solidly hold claim to the latest design of the microdermal, hell, I even coined the term “microdermal”.

STEVE

I agree.

BRIAN

Yes, the pieces I make are based on Pat’s design. They’re much easier to insert than my older idea.

JLO	I think Pat and JD both were working on them at the same time, and IME at Integrity has come up with a variation that just might provide some specific solutions. I know that many piercers have been working on the idea for well over ten years.

WIZZER

I’m sure the idea of single-point microdermals or dermal anchors have been used by many people in shops never heard of, so I can’t give credit to anyone specific.

DIDIER

It seems the design was no more than a small bone plate with a 3/32” barbell post placed to one side. After the first prototype was made and we all started testing the prototypes, we’ve had three or four changes in the anchor since the beginning.

Why use a microdermal instead of a surface piercing, a transdermal, or even an older method like a dermal anchor (or single-point pocketing)?

BRYAN

Movement barely affects microdermals. Time will prove that statement, but I’ve seen microdermals be successful in places where surface bars would fail. The really great thing is the procedure — because they’re so tiny, there’s no need for an incision or sutures — it’s just a 14 gauge needle!

JLO

I’m not sure what the difference is between “microdermals” and “dermal anchors”. I’ll refer to the 14ga single-point jewelry as anchors from this point on. The main advantage of anchors over transdermal implants is they’re frickin’ tiny! The fact that a needle and a pair of hemostats are the only tools needed rocks! Anchors can be used to create odd number patterns that weren’t possible with surface piercings — they can be placed nearly anywhere you want. And of course, we can now “bedazzel” tattoos! Weeee!

JOHN	Microdermals should replace older methods like dermal anchors all together. I think there are some instances where a microdermal can replace a transdermal, but not in every instance.

BRIAN

A microdermal seems to be more stable in areas of movement than a surface bar is because of the reduce pressures, but I believe transdermal implants are a more permanent, sturdy, and stable procedure, mainly due to their size and centred bases, and less likely to tear or reject.

JOHN	I’m far more comfortable offering the microdermal to my clients, since it can be done without the surgical aspects that a transdermal requires, making it safer for myself and the client. A microdermal far easier to remove, with less scarring involved.

PAT

It’s a transdermal on a much smaller scale, but in comparison to the dermal anchor they’re one and the same — just a different base design with the interchangeability of decorative ends.

I’m sure there will still be a place for surface piercings on some individuals, but with the microdermal, it opens up the door for precision placement, less trauma, faster healing time, and almost zero migration issues. Compare that with the issues involved with surface piercings! I do believe this will replace surface piercings.

WIZZER

These microdermals will be giving surface piercings a good run for their money, but won’t replace them. It definitely opens many new placement opportunities, and healing times are drastically shorter, and longevity better, than with surface work from what I’ve seen. I’ve also been using these in replacement of standard navel piercings on clients who have a “true” or “outie” navels! Another use for these are lip or labret piercings, making the concern about tooth damage and gum erosion a thing of the past.

DIDIER

I’ve also done them for labrets, cheeks, and other oral piercings for prevention of gum recession, and they work great.

WIZZER

While working with these for the past six months, their popularity has been increasing rapidly. People who have no interest in piercing whatsoever seem to love the idea of having some “bling” off to the corner of one eye. A new door has definitely been opened.

DIDIER

Because microdermals are independent, it allows the skin to move, pull, and stretch freely. You still have to pay attention to the bodies folds and creases, but the free movement allows the body to heal with less scarring. Coming from the perspective of a service that could be offered to clients in a regular walk-in studio, I think it’s a less invasive modification than transdermals, and can offer some of the same desired looks.

JOHN

I kind of rate these new microdermals right along with surface piercings, but, to be honest, these microdermals in many instances are actually easier to do that some surface piercings. That said, most piercers don’t fully understand how surface piercings work, and most aren’t using the correct jewelry or placing them properly. I’m sure that many piercers won’t get how these new microdermals work. I only wish that practitioners that didn’t understand would ask someone who does, instead of trying to figure it out on their own by using clients as guinea pigs.

“FRANKENSTEIN” MICRODERMALS BY WIZZER

Do you consider it an implant or a piercing?

BRYAN

It’s easier to get done than a “normal” implant, since it doesn’t require minor surgery, but you are still putting something under the skin that may require some effort to get out. So it’s still an implant.

PAT	You’re using piercing-only techniques to install an implant — so it’s a hybrid.

BRIAN

Once healed into place, for removal the microdermal will need to be cut out. It still won’t be as difficult to remove as a transdermal, but the client most likely will have a very difficult time trying to remove them alone.

DIDIER

The tissue through the holes isn’t as strong as most would believe.

JLO	I think it’s a piercing. Definitely. In fact, I charge the same for an anchor as I do for a nostril piercing!

STEVE

It lies in the middle. Being that they can be inserted via traditional piercing techniques, they’re very accessible to artists who feel comfortable with doing piercings but not doing implants.

JOHN

It’s definitely closer to a piercing. One thing I love about these so much is they can be done with a piercing needle. In areas with strict regulations, where implants, or the use of scalpels, are prohibited, microdermals should be fine since the only thing you need to install them is a piercing needle.

DIDIER

I think it’s a piercing all the way.The anchor is like a one sided flat surface bar.

IME	It’s closer to a piercing in my opinion.

Do you mind describing the procedure you use to install them?

JLO	I pierce the skin using a 12 gauge needle, in a similar way to how I do surface piercings, but the needle only goes in the depth of the bevel and then comes right back out. Then I use a modified pair of hemostats to hold the anchor (with a mini disk screwed in), and do the insertion.

DIDIER

I’ve done over a hundred with needles. I used a 10 gauge at first, which I suggest for beginners, but I’m going between 12 gauge and 11 gauge right now. Some parts of the body require a small needle because of the thickness of the tissue.

BRIAN

I install microdermal pieces into pockets, fully in the subcutaneous layer of skin, through a 1.5mm punched hole. After punching out the entrance point, I use a small 2mm wide flattened elevating tool to make a pocket for the main, longer part of the microdermal piece. I turn the tool around and make a second, smaller pocket for the “heel” of the piece. With the jewelry threaded onto a 2mm taper, I insert the long section of the base into the larger pocket and push in and downward until the punched hole is stretched enough for the “heel” to snap down into place. Last, I unscrew the taper and thread on the chosen end piece to the base. Generally, the pieces I use have 3mm tall lifts, and are about 5 or 6mm long.

STEVE

My procedure was taught to me by Leo Ziebol of 5 Point Studios (iam:5point). To make the channel, I use a 1.5mm biopsy punch with a small silicon o-ring on it to control depth. I attach the microdermal to a threaded taper and slide the ‘foot’ of it under the tissue, using the ‘foot’ to elevate the skin and find a good area for the base to lie. The ones I’ve used have a smaller end on the other side of the base, and I massage and manipulate the skin to place this end at the same depth as the other side of the base. After making sure it is sitting well, I remove the taper and attach the end [bead] on top, lightly massaging the tissue afterwards to ensure it all sits properly.

IME	I use a needle. The microdermals that I have been making match the crescent shape a needle makes.

JOHN

I tried a couple with a 10 gauge needle. Everything went fine, but I found I like a 1.5mm dermal punch better since it is very similar to how I do surface piercings (using the “punch-and-taper method”). What I do first is clean the area with Technicare, and then mark where it is going to be. I pinch up the skin where the mark is, and insert the 1.5mm dermal punch straight down into the skin. Once that hole is there, there is no need to use a taper to elevate the skin like you would with a surface piercing — you can just use the leg of the microdermal to separate the tissue for itself. Using a pair of hemostats, I hold the microdermal by the healing nub, and place the long leg of the piece into the hole, lean it back, and pop the short leg into place. The whole procedure is very fast; faster than a surface piercing.

WIZZER

I use a 1.5mm dermal punch to create the initial hole for the base to be inserted through. I found that I get a better, more flush seating with the jewelry under the tissue using this method, as opposed to using a larger gauge needle. For easier insertion and better control, I use threaded tapers as a handle which screw into the base. Then it’s a simple pinch and push to seat the jewelry in the hole. The threaded taper then unscrews, and the desired threaded end is put in place. I only finger tighten my ends to prevent the base from rotating under the tissue when the ends are changed.

LEFT: BAT EYES TATTOO DECORATION BY KEYLAN LEVINE (IAM:XKEYX), RIGHT: TWO WEEK OLD CLEAVAGE ANCHOR BY DIDIER

How is the procedure from the client’s point of view? Is it something people want anaesthetics for, or is it no more traumatic than a piercing?

BRYAN

It’s on the same level as a surface piercing. Anaesthetics aren’t really necessary for doing them.

JLO	In certain parts of the body it can hurt quite a bit, but in other areas it’s just stupid-easy. Thicker skin such as the lower back creates a much more intense sensation, and thinner skin with a lot of elasticity such as the forehead or throat is easier.

DIDIER

I think the procedure is the easier than most piercings, if done right. Sometimes it can take a minute to make sure the anchor is sitting flat, but better then than later.

BRIAN

Anaesthetics are never necessary for installing microdermal pieces. The entrance punching is usually the most painful part of the procedure, and is very minimal. It takes less time to put in than a punch and elevated surface bar, and is even less intense than that. Installing a microdermal piece usually takes under a minute.

STEVE

The friends I’ve installed them on so far say it is a very light procedure — they have been quick, clean, and easy.

JOHN	Anaesthetics aren’t necessary at all. As I said earlier, it’s basically the same technique I’ve been using for surface piercings. The clients that I have done the procedure on have all said it was one of the easier procedures they have been through.

Have you done many?

BRYAN

Just the one on me.

JLO	Well over forty now I’m sure.

DIDIER

I’ve had the advantage of working with Industrial Strength from the first prototype. So, like I said before, I’ve done over a hundred, and I have a few projects that required multiple anchors.

STEVE

I have only done four — a ‘third eye’, and a set of three on a sternum. So far the third eye has healed without any incident, and the sternums, which at first were bothered by the person’s activities combined with the ends, are now doing well.

JOHN	At this point I’ve done a bit over a dozen of them, and have a few more lined up. All the ones I’ve done so far are still in, and have healed, or are healing fine. I’ve only removed one so far. That wasn’t due to any healing or irritation problems — the person needed it removed for her job.

BRIAN

I’ve done quite a few now, yes. They are growing more known and are a more stable option for a lot of areas than surface bars — but I only suggest them for clients who know they will not be as easy to remove as a surface bar.

How have they been healing, and what is your recommended aftercare?

BRYAN

Mine is about a month and a half old, and healing has been very, very easy. I’ve gotten a little crust out of it and that’s about it. I used the LITFA method along with H2Ocean five or six times — I’m really lazy when it comes to aftercare. So far, things are going well, and it’s been one of the easiest things to heal ever… much easier than a surface piercing.

JLO

Healing seems to be fairly consistent from person to person, and body part to body part. I’ve noticed that it takes longer than I suspected — about three months. At about six to eight weeks they often become quite “juicy” and a bit angry. Then within a couple weeks they settle back down and finish healing. I only suggest warm, moist compresses when they itch, swell, or otherwise need attention. Otherwise I suggest completely ignoring them.

STEVE

The aftercare I’ve suggested has been the same I suggest for a standard piercing — keeping the piece safe, free from stress, free from irritants, clean, dry, and just generally giving your body a good environment to heal in. The healing processes have been uneventful and comfortable for the wearers.

BRIAN

Thus far I don’t know of anyone that’s had problems with my microdermal pieces. Even in the center of iam:amnesiac’s lip, it appeared healed in only a week or so. The only real problem I had with one was Steve Truitt’s nape — the piece I was using from Industrial Strength only had a 2mm rise, and the tissue in his nape was much thicker. We only had a disk end piece at the time, which made for a much too tight fit.

The aftercare that I suggest is no different than with a surface bar — dry heat compresses and sterile saline washes is all I have my clients do for healing.

DIDIER

I’d have to say 98% success in healed healthy anchors. I’m suggesting cool saline pads for the first day or two, and after that I’m having my clients do warm compresses with saline. I’m asking that they not change the end for two or three months.

Wow, 98%? You think you’ll really get 98% success in the long run?

DIDIER

Time will tell. I think certain placements will do better long term.

IME	So far complete success. I recommend taping it for the first few days, keeping it dry, and leaving it alone — but I am a “leave it alone” kind of guy.

JOHN

Healing success so far has been great, and no problems have been reported. I’ve basically been telling people to leave them alone — keep all soaps, lotions, and everything else away from them. I do like the Simple Care Spray from Body Art Pro. The client can just spray it on once or twice a day — that way they feel like they are cleaning it, so I don’t have to worry about them trying something else that may irritate it!

WIZZER

My suggested aftercare for these is the same as any piercing I do: an inverted cup of warm saline solution, held to the piercing for five minutes, twice daily, followed by the area either air drying or being pat dried with a disposable, lint-free paper towel product or gauze. I usually dress the microdermals with a Tegaderm bandage after the procedure and provide two extra pieces for the clients to apply before sleep for the following two nights.

PROCEDURE ON IAM:CURSETHISMETALBODY BY IAM:MUTE-ONE

How robust are they? Do they hold up well to sleeping on them, impacts, bead changes, and stuff like that?

STEVE

Their relatively small size compared to transdermals, and some surface piercings, caused me to worry initially about how they would hold up to impacts and stress. So far, the wearers haven’t encountered any large amounts of stress on them, and I haven’t heard of it being a problem from my friends who install them. The bead changes I’ve done have been very simple and caused no irritation.

BRYAN

I’ve only snagged mine on clothes a few times, and it’s still in there! You need to be really gentle when changing the ends on them — it feels like you are going to pull it out. I’ve seen a few pictures of people who pulled them out while changing the ends on them.

JLO

Obviously, the longer they are healed, the more they can handle. After the body really grabs them they are quite resilient, but since they are so small, a good snag has the potential to rip them right out. One of my customers had to change her bedding completely because of the lace that constantly found a way to wrap around the disk!

The ones I have on my temples get banged and pulled daily by my one year old daughter. I’ve had them for about five months and I don’t even pay attention anymore. No pain, and no problems at all.

BRIAN

I don’t think microdermals, with the most recent jewelry designs, have been around long enough to know. I’ve done end changes with no problems, but as far as impact resistance, I still think a transdermal implant will be more stable — but a surface bar less.

JOHN

For how small the are, they are very robust. I’ve done a couple on wrists, which are notorious for giving surface piercings problems… yet these microdermals seem to be holding up fine. The initial healing nub can get knocked around a bit, especially while sleeping, but it doesn’t seem to cause long term damage like it does for many piercings.

LEFT: LOWER NAVEL BY BRIAN DECKER, RIGHT: CLEAVAGE BY WIZZER

How did you learn to do them?

DIDIER

I started with myself, and other piercers and counter staff. After a few months I contacted most of my regular clients and offered the service in exchange for information on the anchors.

STEVE

I took the time to think about the procedure, and talked to a couple friends who had done them before attempting one. Leo Ziebol told me his procedure and I adopted it.

JLO	I have great guinea pigs working the counter at Slave to the Needle — these people let me do anything to them if it’s free. LOL.

JOHN

I talked with a few practitioners that had already installed them. I found out what methods they were using, and what drawbacks they had come across from them. I had a lengthy talk with Tom Brazda about them at APP 2006, before I even knew they would be so readily available. After talking to so many practitioners that I respect and getting their input, and since I had been using the punch and taper method for so long, I was confident in my ability installing these pieces.

BRYAN

Just common sense and asking other piercers some questions.

BRIAN

Yes, nothing more than common sense and second nature, I think. I’ve been doing implants and punch and elevate surface style piercing long enough that it just made complete sense right away.

Are any skills on top of “good piercer” required to install a microdermal?

DIDIER

I think most skills can be applied from piercing. In my experience, the motion of the needle is like a “dip” when doing a surface piercing. The finger position is a little different, but varies depending on how difficult it is to pinch the tissue.

BRIAN

With the method of insertion I use, a good understanding of measuring and feeling for tissue depth is important. Otherwise the piece may not sit fully in the subcutaneous layer, and may pull an end piece down under the skin if placed too deeply, or facilitate rejection if done too shallowly. Anyone who understands punch and elevate surface technique should have no problem with these.

JLO	Being able to read the grain of the skin and visualizing the jewelry in the tissue helps a lot.

STEVE

I think any artist that devotes an appropriate amount time and effort into researching microdermals is capable of doing them. This means someone who knows how to install them with minimal trauma, what qualifies as appropriate placement and use, a good base of knowledge and experience regarding aftercare, a sense of preparation in case something goes wrong during the procedure or during healing, knowledge on their removal, knowledge on sterile procedures and cross-contamination, care for the wearer, and good intentions.

JOHN

Being a good piercer is a start. Having some experience in elevating the skin for surface piercings would help — that can be from punch and elevate or from pierce and elevate methods. Knowing how the skin elevates and separates makes it easier to grasp installing these. Confidence in yourself is important, but without arrogance — knowing when you’re not ready, and having the morals, ethics, and responsibility to admit it is important, and unfortunately that is something a lot of people in our industry don’t seem to understand.

IME	I found it to be really simple.

PAT	Here’s the scary part — with the finesse of the design, you don’t even have to be a good piercer to install these!

LEFT: TWO WEEKS OLD BY KEYLAN LEVINE (IAM:XKEYX), RIGHT: BY JOHN JOYCE

What advice would you have to other piercers who would like to start doing this procedure?

BRYAN

After some research, practise on yourself first — or at least on a really trusting friend.

PAT

Like with everything watch, learn, and do research here on BME… or practise on friends and family. These are so simple to install — it’s pretty amazing. But I’m not gonna be offering the jewelry to just anyone. Due to the number of hacks out there that are willing to do anything to make a buck, I’m keeping my clientele to a very short list.

JLO

They’re easy enough. All you need to do is do them in your mind first. The not-so-obvious problems seem to show themselves that way. Then be ready to improvise when you actually attempt them. If they don’t sit right, don’t be afraid to remove them the next day and massage the skin and immediately reinsert them. Play with them a little and you’ll find a technique that works for you. Sky Renfro (from propiercing.com) is working on setting up a class too! That’ll be so awesome to experience other piercers’ techniques as well!

DIDIER

I would suggest video taping what you are doing, and taking your time. Do a dozen in four months — not in four days. Watch your video and learn from your successes, as well as your failures. And if you take your time, your success rate will be higher.

BRIAN

Even if piercers are seasoned and have no problems with getting the pieces into the skin, they should limit them to clients who understand they will be difficult, and most likely painful, to remove.

STEVE

There are lots of very talented and friendly artists doing these procedures — talk to them and make sure you feel comfortable with every step of the procedure before attempting it. Understand everything from the purchasing of the jewelry, proper sterilization and installation, and long-term aftercare, and its possible removal.

JOHN

Ask for help. Ask someone you respect that you know has done these — find out how they did it. If you live near someone doing them, ask to watch them do one. Hell, ask them to do one on you! Then you get a firsthand experience of how they are done, and how they heal. This is all knowledge you can share with your clients.

PAT

The long-term degree of adherence of the microdermal to the underlying tissue is still unknown… Noah has the longest running microdermal of mine to date at six months. I have a feeling with the microdermal being implant grade titanium, these may have to be cut out and away from the tissue that bonds to the titanium. People should consider them permanent as long as healing and removal information on fully healed microdermals — one year plus — remains unknown.

IME	Look around as see what other people are doing. This is a newer item and a lot of people are doing different things — try and check them all out.

What advice would you have to clients looking to have one of these done that isn’t already a friend or regular of a piercer doing them?

DIDIER

If your regular piercer can’t do the procedure, ask for a referral. Do your homework — like for any other piercing.

STEVE

Make sure you feel safe and informed on the procedure. Also, these particular pieces are new inventions in our industry and we are still learning about them — keep that in mind.

JOHN	While they seem to be working our really well, their success can’t be guaranteed. Along the same lines though, no piercing can really be guaranteed…

JLO	Until anchors have been around for four or five years I think we must think of them as being in a trial phase.

BRYAN

I probably wouldn’t do one on a client — maybe on another piercer who knew the risks and such, but these things are still too new for me to be doing them on customers. Besides, removal will require some cuts…

BRIAN

Clients need to know these pieces are borderline permanent, with respect to ease of removal.

JOHN

Research it, and research the artist doing it — research everything. Make sure you want it and consider it a permanent choice. I know these aren’t as “permanent” as transdermals, but they are more permanent than your standard piercing. Even if the microdermal isn’t permanent, any scars left behind from it (or any piercing) can be.

LEFT: TEMPLE BY KEYLAN LEVINE (IAM:XKEYX), RIGHT: SELF DONE BY BRYAN

Does the design of the microdermal still need refinement, or do you consider the current design “mature”?

JOHN	It’s still new and in its testing phase as far as I’m concerned.

PAT	My original design had a lot of time and thought into it. Aside from the variables (number of holes and post length) there isn’t much room to improve upon. That said, I am working on some finer points to the microdermal that I’ll discuss and debut at a later date.

DIDIER

I can’t see what I would do different with the design. Anything to make the anchor less likely to reject or pull out would make it more difficult to insert or remove — I’ve been told that Industrial Strength is also working on different variations of the anchors.

STEVE

I’ve only had experience with one model of microdermal, and I thought it was very appropriate for its usage — but I won’t be surprised if we see better models out as the popularity of this jewelry rises.

BRIAN

For ease of insertion, I can’t think of a shape that would work better right now, but perhaps a design that doesn’t have permanent anchoring of skin through the jewelry would be a good idea. If the main section of the base looked more like a tuning fork with two “legs” rather than holes, the piece would still be able to anchor as scar tissue would build up in the gap, but removal would be much simpler.

WIZZER

I feel the Industrial Strength microdermals work really well — the only issue I have is the removal. With the healed microdermals, a small incision is needed to lift the “heel” of the jewelry out of the tissue. I’ve been using #11 scalpel to make this relief cut, but I’ve also heard of some practitioners using the side of a piercing needle. The other problem with the Industrial Strength microdermals is the rise on the base — all of which come in 3/32”, which I found a bit long for facial work.

JOHN	I’d like to be able to get the rise in a slightly longer length. I think in some areas an 1/8” rise is a better choice — being able to choose between the two would be great.

WIZZER

The prototypes I’m using now (made by IME of Integrity Body Jewelry) are available with as small as 3/64” rises, and in sizes ranging from 14 gauge to 10 gauge which work really well. This design also eliminates that “heel” which is found on the Industrial Strength microdermals and provides for a smoother insertion with a less invasive removal if removal is needed.

IME	I personally think that there is very little in the world that couldn’t use some refinement. Microdermals are no exception — just about everything can be improved on.

JLO	I am very happy with the Industrial Strength design — it’s certainly working well. I think Integrity’s design will probably work better in certain areas. IME is prototyping them, so we’ll have to wait and see.

LEFT: FOOT BY DIDIER, RIGHT: FINGERS BY KEYLAN LEVINE (IAM:XKEYX)

Do you think this has the potential to become a common or popular procedure?

JLO	Oh yes, I foresee them being as popular as nostril piercings at least.

BRYAN

They look awesome — I can see them being very popular! But I don’t feel that piercers should offer them to every customer that walks in the door — I don’t think the average customer is ready for something like this.

DIDIER

We’ve been trying to take our time working with these to assure they will be safe and effective for our industry. Things are just going so well with these that I see them being mainstream — even more than the surface bar. I see it staying as part of our list of standard procedures.

IME

I think so, for sure. It looks good on paper so far, but, it is a new thing — it’s going to take some time to see if they hold up. Personally I am very sceptical-slash-excited — as a piercer I’m just always making sure that what I’m doing is 100%, and a large part of that is the longevity of the end result.

STEVE

Microdermals definitely have the potential to become a popular procedure. I see more and more every day, but as their popularity rises I do fear low quality companies will start manufacturing shoddy representations of them without considerations for their usage. This has happened with virtually every type of jewelry so far, so I cannot imagine microdermals being exempt from it. Hand in hand, as they become more popular there will be a demand for low-cost procedures that might contribute to inexperienced — or uncaring — artists attempting them. Again, this has been true with virtually every new procedure we’ve seen. It seems inevitable, so I would urge everyone to make sure they feel comfortable and informed before allowing an artist to work on them — as you should with any procedure.

PAT

Yes, as you can clearly see, it will be popular. A week and a half from its debut at APP to a handful of people, Industrial Strength knocked off my design purely for the money and profit involved — they made insignificant changes, but, still, it was based on my original design. I was trying to test these out in a controlled fashion, put several out, get feedback, refine the design, do another test, and see if there are any issues with healing… But then Industrial Strength took this and ran straight into production, offering them to the masses, with no research, no development, and no testing. Because of this, several piercers are installing microdermals on a daily basis, making them commonplace, just like navel piercings. I guess time will tell on this.

…but, yes, these will be the “next big thing,” if they already aren’t already.

JOHN	Commonplace, yeah, sure… popular, eh, I don’t know… It’s not going to be the next navel or nostril, but it may be the next surface piercing!

Anything else you’d like to add?

DIDIER

This is the first new anything to come along for piercing in a long while. More information will be available soon. I’ve been ask to sit on a panel on Anchoring for APP 2007, and look for a class through Professional Piercing Systems as well.

JOHN	I just want to thank Pat and JD for pushing boundaries and working on this design.

IME

Pat Pruitt of Custom Steel was the first person to start making these things and I feel that he has received very little credit this year. We as a community of jewelry makers in my opinion come up with all kinds of different things to make, and rarely do we get things like patents, seemingly leaving it to the “goodwill” of the rest of the community to not steal our designs — or start making something that is so similar to the original design that it looks like nothing but theft.

PAT

Aside from my personal soreness with a Custom Steel original being knocked off in record time, I think a word of warning should be sent out. That would be the long term applications of installing microdermals. Let’s not fool ourselves… this is an implant!!! This is not a piece of jewelry. I feel that removal down the road is still an unknown, and with the ease of insertion any Joe Hack piercer can install these… but removal on the other hand will require some skill.

Shannon Larratt
BME.com

October 28, 2006

Features

Michelle, “The Pass Around Girl” [The Publisher’s Ring]

Written by

Shannon Larratt

WARNING: This article contains explicit photographs.

Michelle, “The Pass Around Girl”

Be not too liberal; it doth belong to dogs alone to fuck the whole day long." - Friedrich Nietzsche

After I posted photos of “Michelle, The Pass Around Girl” and her extremely direct and explicit tattoos on ModBlog, it generated a flurry of comments and debate about them. Were they part of a D/s relationship? Were they self-abuse or derogatory in some way? Michelle, an educated (she has a Masters Degree in English) and STD-free sex addict and cancer survivor, answered a few questions for us via email. You can also watch out for her in November when the interviews she did with Dr. Phil and Dr. Keith Ablow should air.

BME:	Tell me a little about yourself.
MICHELLE:	I am twenty-seven years old, five and a half feet tall and 135 pounds. I reside in Denver, Colorado. I am married to the adult actress, BisexualBritni and have been for almost eight years.
BME:	And tell me a little about your difficulties with sex addiction?
MICHELLE:	I have a huge problem with sex addiction and have been trying to shed light on the fact that women suffer from sex addiction as well as men. I have been fired from every job I have ever had for having sex on the job. I had affairs on my first husband to the point where he killed himself. I have had almost thirty affairs on Britni, and my marriage with her is in shambles.
	I will betray anyone, at any time, to have sex with men or women. When I tried to fight my addiction and not have sex with people, I got myself jailed three times for domestic assaults on Britni. I have been confined to mental institutions twice for my outbursts that stem from not acting on my addiction. I have desperately tried to get help for my addiction, but all the hospitals who treat sexual addictions only cater to men and have no facilities for women. I currently attend Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) meetings and am doing the best I can with my addiction.
BME:	When did the tattooing process begin?
MICHELLE:	I started the tattoo process during the time I was initially trying not to act out on my addiction. Since I was trying hard not to actually have sex with everyone I spoke to during a day, my sexual addiction came out in other ways. My mind could not, would not, and could not stop focusing on sex 24/7 — I was wet and turned on all day, every day. My pussy ached so bad for attention that I could barely function.

	I combated this, and in an attempt not to cheat on Britni again, I started tattooing what I was thinking on my body. The tattoo process — the pain — helped release the endorphins I live for, and when I looked in a mirror I could see what I was addicted to. Of course, being a sex addict, once I realized that the sexual tattoos made me feel better, I started doing a lot of them and I will be adding many more.
BME:	How did the tattoos progress?
MICHELLE:	I started with the “Cum Slut” tattoo and had no intentions of going further at that point. Then, while I was obsessing about sex, I would think of another tattoo and go have that done. Then, another and another. The words got more direct as the tattoos went on. By the time I was at “cum in me” and “fuck my whore ass”, I started to realize I was acting on my sexual addiction in a different way. I can barely go a day without having sex, and everything I do in my life is geared toward having sex. I can have four extramarital affairs a week and not break a sweat or feel any guilt — my body drives me toward sex to a degree most doctors have never heard of.
BME:	Do any of the tattoos show while you’re out in public?
MICHELLE:	The two girls kissing on my chest shows up daily in most everything I wear, and since I often wear bare midriff shirts, the “cum slut” and “cum in me” tattoos show up rather often. Plus, I have the lesbian tattoo on my lower left ankle and script that says “girls will do girls” — plenty of people see them, and plenty are offended by them I am sure. Though my wife is the adult actress, and I have posed for very few adult-type photos, the Internet’s reaction to the tattoos has been overwhelming — I was sort of surprised actually. BME is the first to publish my photos on an actual website.
BME:	What would you say to feminists that say the tattoos are negative toward women?
MICHELLE:	Feminists bother me. They decide what is good and bad for women in the same way men do. I will do what I please, when I please, and that is feminism. I will or will not get whatever tattoo I like.

BME:	Who did the tattoos? Was it hard to convince them?
MICHELLE:	In LA, the ink was done by Nathan’s Tattoo on Topanga Canyon Blvd, and in Denver, the work was done by Low Life Tattoo on Broadway. I have to stay with those shops as quite a few won’t do this sort of work. I was told “no thanks” several times before I found artists open minded enough to do what I asked them for. Nathan’s Tattoo in LA really enjoyed doing this sort of work. I think it was new and different to them, and a break from the same old stuff.
BME:	What do your partners think of the ink?
MICHELLE:	Men absolutely love the ink. They like to act out what my tattoos say — “fuck my whore pussy” and so on. Britni thinks they are hot, as do many other girls I have had sex with. People basically love the ink until I upset them, or say no to having sex with them — then they are easy targets for insults… “What kind of loser tattoos themselves with shit like that?” or “I bet your mom and dad are proud of you.”
BME:	Have doctors said anything about them?
MICHELLE:	A handful of doctors have seen them and said nothing. I can see it in their eyes when they read them, but to their credit, they say nothing. I did have one nurse in a mental hospital go down on me after asking a few questions about my tattoos. So the ink seems to have prompted at least one healthcare professional to act improperly. I was just surprised it was a woman that did it, and not a man.
BME:	Your ‘A’ is a Scarlet Letter reference I assume?
MICHELLE:	Yes, you’re right. It is a scarlet letter and brands me as the Adultress that I am. I don’t mean to have the affairs that I have, but I seem powerless to stop them. If someone pays attention to me, the only thing I can think about, until I have sex with them, is having sex with them.

BME:	When you call yourself “The Pass Around Girl”, is that literal, or is it a persona?
MICHELLE:	My last job was an $80,000 a year position as a supervisor for RTD in Denver — I was fired for having sex with the people I supervised. I found out I was known as the “pass around girl” by the bus drivers. It was not a term of endearment, I assure you. The term just sort of stuck, and that is often how I am referred to, and I often refer to myself as such.
BME:	Thank you! Finally, how can people get in touch with you?
MICHELLE:	I hope my story has been able to help people — I can be contacted at [email protected].

Shannon Larratt
BME.com

October 11, 2006

Features

Who owns my body? [The Publisher’s Ring]

Written by

Shannon Larratt

Who owns my body?

“Nothing is legal with body hacking — so what!?! Why should we respect laws made by people who still believe that man should be like god made him? Why should we respect laws made by people who want to take the control of our destiny?”

– Lukas Zpira

In a recent ModBlog entry I featured someone who’d had a skin removal scar done, which then keloided out of control, constricting his chest and negatively affecting mobility. Instead of going to a doctor or attempting non-surgical options, he chose to have two very experienced body modification practitioners cut off the keloids and stitch him back together (as seen in our scar repair gallery). From a risk point of view the procedure was arguably no more dangerous (perhaps even less, because of the wound closure) than a larger scarification project, let alone implants, tongue splitting, transscrotal piercings, and other common heavy modifications. To ensure healing went went, the practitioners stayed with the client (who was a practitioner himself) for a week afterwards, monitoring the process, and making sure he had full aftercare and treatment. As I write this the procedure is a success and the client is very happy with the results.

However, the two artists found themselves faced with enormous criticism accusing them of having irresponsibly “crossed the line” into medical territory, thereby endangering the client needlessly and putting others in the industry at risk should there be a legal snap-back if anything went wrong — which to me seems about as valid as telling gay men they can’t hold hands in public because it’ll freak out the heterosexuals, causing them to vote against gay marriage. Even though the reaction was likely a bit knee-jerk because the photos were quite graphic, there is some truth to the suggestion that the procedure may have been legally “medical” in nature because scar treatment is something doctors do and consider their territory. So even though in terms of difficulty or risk the procedure was less than almost all surgeries, it could have still caused a legal problem.

Depending on the nation it was done in, a wide range of charges could have been (and still could be) laid, including variations on practising medicine without a license and assault charges. Had the procedure been erotic in nature (subincision or castration for example), additional charges could be laid against media and websites posting photos and discussion of the procedure, including obscenity charges and record-keeping charges (for example, an American site has the legal obligation to share full identification information on the people in all photos of this type with the US government — thus BME is hosted outside of the US).

This all raises an interesting political question — why can’t I ask anyone to perform a “medical” procedure on me? Sure, I might be better off if I went to a doctor. But is it right to force me to go to a doctor? Do I not have the right to make the “wrong” decision? If not, why is it not my choice? It’s not as if I’m asking for the right to drunk drive or some other “wrong” decision that’s going to hurt others — I am asking only for the right of self-determination.

All human rights emerge from the belief that ultimately an individual has the right to choose their own destiny, and as such, all human rights and freedoms are built on the statement that we own ourselves. However, this runs contrary to the legal answer to the question I posed, because I can’t ask just anyone to do the procedure — I can only ask those who are approved by the government, and they usually have the legal obligation to refuse me if the procedure is in any way atypical.

“When there’s another person, if it’s a medical professional, you’re asking someone who is following the rules of the land to do something which, if it’s brand-new, has to be authorized by committee after committee after committee after committee and whatnot so he doesn’t get charged with manslaughter or assault and doesn’t lose his license.”

– Dr. Robert H. Stubbs, MD FRCSC FACS

So if I ask a doctor to do an atypical procedure, they are legally obligated to refuse (unless they’re willing to spend years justifying your case to their superiors). If I ask a friend to do it, they face a variety of criminal charges if they do it. If I do it myself, I risk medical imprisonment (psychiatric commitment, a process by which I can be permanently stripped of all my rights, and medicated against my consent to the point where I can’t defend myself). And if I do somehow get it done, and decide to talk about it publicly, I (or the hosting website that publishes my story and pictures) can be criminally charged for doing so. I think it should be very clear that there are broad limits as to our ownership of our own bodies, with the government determining what we are permitted to do and have done, and by whom.

In this sense, heavy body modification is an active form of political resistance against a system which seeks to make us prisoners under the guise of “protecting” us. Perhaps you agree that most of the time the government is right. Perhaps you are even correct most of the time. But that puts you in a position to help guide people, not to force them to submit to your opinion when it comes to their decisions about themselves. Forcing people under threat of prosecution and imprisonment to make decisions that “they’re better off” making is a slippery slope. Instead of arguing as to where to draw the line in terms of how much freedom the government should “give” people, what we should be arguing about is whether the government even has the right to draw a line telling us how much of ourselves we control and how much they control.

Actually, I’m not even willing to even have the debate — it’s black and white as far as I’m concerned. You can’t be “mostly free”. Mostly free equates to slavery. I’d rather make mistakes as free individual than be successful as a slave (that said, my intention is to be successful as a free individual!). Tell me that’s nonsensical all you want, or that maybe big brother knows better, but I’ve made lots of good decisions, and lots of bad decisions, and I value them all as a part of my life experience. I own myself, and I don’t need to be protected from myself. When I need help from the government, I’m comfortable asking for it. I’m not comfortable having it forced on me.

There are already many laws in place to protect us from the actions of others. A person who claims to be a doctor or otherwise misleads customers about their background can be charged. A person who abuses minors or engages in predatory behaviour (sexually, financially, or otherwise) can be charged. Negligence charges and many others can be used in the case of problematic or abusive practitioners. As far as I’m concerned the only laws in the realm of “practising medicine without a license” should have to do with people pretending to be doctors in name. The specifics of the procedure are irrelevant.

But when it comes down to it, the statement is quite simple:

I own myself. I can leave myself as I am, or I can improve myself as I see fit, or I can even choose to destroy myself. It’s my decision, and my decision alone. Any law that tells me that I don’t own myself, and can’t dictate what is done to by body and by whom, is fundamentally wrong and by definition a tool of those who would enslave others. Worse yet, it belies a flawed foundation upon which true human rights cannot be built.

Until society concedes total individual self ownership, freedom and rights are but a smokescreen.

Shannon Larratt
BME.com

June 27, 2006

Features

Mike “Jazzdemon” Jones Interview [The Lizardman]

Written by

BME

Mike “Jazzdemon” Jones
BY THE LIZARDMAN

The first time I got to see Penn & Teller live at the Rio in Las Vegas I was advised by my friend Todd Robbins, who had arranged the tickets for my wife and I, to arrive early because before the show they played live jazz and I ‘might just recognize the tall man playing bass’. I don’t think it will be spoiling anything for anyone to say that the tall man in question is Penn Jillette, who I immediately recognized. However, my eye was quickly drawn away from Penn and to the pianist he was playing with. I turned and whispered to Meghan, ‘I think the pianist has stretched lobes.’ with more than a little surprise.

The pianist, Mike Jones, did in fact have stretched lobes and a whole lot more as it turns out. It also turns out that Mike is not just any old jazz pianist. Now, when it comes to jazz I do not have a refined ear by any means but as the saying goes I may not know much but I know what I like. I greatly enjoyed the pre-show entertainment he and Penn provided (he also appears and plays during the show).

Later on, I googled Mr. Jones and discovered just how accomplished and respected he was in his field — visit www.jonesjazz.com for more on his music. After a recent return to once again see the show I noticed his tattoo work peeking out above his collar and below his sleeves and had the idea I should have gotten when I first met him: a BME interview. After finding a contact email on the P&T website I wrote and requested an interview, to which he graciously consented.

Penn and Teller's Jazz Pianist Mike Jones with The Lizardman

When did you first get interested in body modification and body art?

I first got interested in tattoos when I was a teenager. I would see someone on TV with tattoos and thought they were really beautiful. I talked about getting some in my twenties, but was worried about being able to work. I think I knew even then, that if I started, I wouldn’t want to stop!

In the mid nineties, I first started to see some stretched lobes, and facial piercing in New York, and I thought they were really cool. I started hanging around a tattoo and piercing studio in Salem NH — Masterpiece — and got to see some really amazing work up close, for the first time.

Could you describe your modifications (tattoos, piercings, and anything else) and who did them?

My first piercing was my left nipple, done at a place on 2nd Ave in NYC. I think my nose was next, and that, along with my tongue, ears, labret, PA, and nipples were all done by Rob Smith at Masterpiece in New Hampshire. I decided to move to Vegas in 1999 to work with a singer, and was given my first tattoo as a going away present by Dan Carroll, the owner of Masterpiece. It was a beautiful Celtic band around my left bicep, and I was hooked!

I moved to Vegas and found Dante, the owner of Dante’s Studio Tattoo in Henderson, Nevada. She did my first big piece, a half sleeve on my right arm. Her daughter Angela then did a full sleeve on my left arm. Dante then laid out the rest of my right sleeve, and Angie is currently coloring it in. She also did some ram horns on my head, some stars on my neck, and we’re working on a big chest piece with sparrows. I also have some Doc Marten boots tattooed on my feet, and legs. It’s a long project and a lot of black!

My friend Tony Fitzpatrick, a famous and amazing artist whose work hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in NY, and other galleries around the world, is designing a jungle piece for my back.

I remember talk of a deal with Doc Marten based on your boots tattoo — where does that stand?

I took some time off from the boots, but I’ll be finishing them up over the next few months. It’s a lot of black, and my poor artist was going crazy. When they’re done, I’ll have our agent go to Doc Marten and see what they say. Of course, I didn’t do it for that reason, but it would be funny.

Is there a theme or overall concept to your work?

I really don’t have an overall theme, although I have the traditional Japanese on one sleeve, and really colorful tribal on the other. I like big pieces where you have to stand back to get the whole idea. I waited a long time to get my first tattoo — I was 37 — so I made sure I knew what I wanted in terms of each piece. I like bigger pieces, rather than a lot of little ones.

How does your family feel about your modifications?

My Dad is a WWII vet, and to him I think tattoos are something way outside of the mainstream. He’s been pretty ok about it, but I think he’d rather I didn’t have any! Shortly before my mom died, I told her I was thinking about getting a tattoo, and she said she thought they were cute, but not to tell my dad!

As a musician you work in a highly creative field and jazz is often esteemed as being a particularly creative form of music. Do you see your modifications as an extension or another form of that creativity? Are they related in any specific way to your work in music?

Here’s where I get a little shallow! I create music every night, and I’m one of the most fortunate people on the planet. I work with two dear friends, whom I respect and admire, and I get to do pretty much whatever I want. I can also look however I want, and they think it’s great. I don’t attach any real meaning to any tattoo, other than to think it looks cool.

I know some people get ink for very serious and personal reasons, and I respect and admire that. With me, I just like the way it looks.

The stereotypical connection most people make between tattoos and music are rock and metal bands. Are tattoos and piercings common in the jazz world? How do your professional peers react to your modifications?

I love that most people think I play metal, and I love the look on their face when the find out I play music that’s fifty years old. When I was at Berklee College of Music, I’d wear almost nothing but Zeppelin and AC/DC shirts, and get filthy looks from the hardcore jazz guys, who all dressed like they were Miles Davis in 1963. They shut up when I played, and that was the end of that.

It makes me very happy to mess with peoples perceptions, but I think piercing and tattoos are becoming more popular in jazz just because they’re more popular everywhere. It’s 2006, and it’s just not that big a deal anymore.

Since you have public modifications (stretched piercings, scalp tattoos, and hand and neck tattoos) do you find a difference in the reactions of fans from before and after having these done?

I haven’t had any negative reactions from any fan at all. The most common thing I hear after the show is “I love your tattoos”! It’s weird. My wife tells me that people are staring at me once in a while, but I’m oblivious. I never mind it when someone asks me questions about mods, because, as far as I’m concerned, I’m a walking billboard for the tattoo and piercing industry!

Mike Jones, the Jazzdemon, is a horny jazz pianist

You mentioned early concerns about possible work related issues if you got tattoos (a very real and rationale concern) and then later talked about getting dirty looks and comments for your choice of dress only to “shut them up” with your ability to play. It seems that many times a person who wishes to explore body modification must overachieve in order to be accepted and gain respect. In a perfect world judgments and criticisms would be based solely on merit but in reality people’s prejudices often slip in. To what, if any, extent do you think that your choices of dress, modification, etc have affected your career?

Well, with P&T, my career has never been better. I believe I wouldn’t be able to get a gig at the Ritz Carleton again, but I made a deliberate decision a few years ago to not do that kind of work. When I play at a jazz club, I never have a problem. I really think that people are just getting more comfortable with body mods in general. The days of going into a small “redneck” town where they don’t accept you because you look different are disappearing. The one or two times that I’ve been nervous, or uncomfortable, going into a small town diner, I’m usually greeted with the same kind of interest and curiosity that I get anywhere else. It always ends up with people saying how cool it looks!

I’ve stood out in front of the P&T theater singing autographs and greeting people for over four years. That’s over a million people that I’ve connected with, for at least a second or two. One time, one person, out of those million, an older man came up to me and said, “Love the music, hate the tattoos”. I smiled and said the exact same thing I would say to anyone else, “Thanks for coming, have a great night!” So if only one in a million people doesn’t like my ink, I’m doing fine!

I noticed that the photos on jonesjazz.com don’t really show any of your modifications, nor are they mentioned there — is this by design or just happenstance? Have your modifications ever really factored in to your marketing as a performer and/or with dealing with labels and the like?

The website was put together before I started any visible mods, and when my next CD comes out, they’ll be there! I’ve always thought that having me look as I do would be a killer idea for marketing. Zeke (from our show) calls me the “jazzdemon” and I would like to exploit that. I haven’t even gotten far enough with a big label to address the issue of my appearance, but Chiaroscuro has no problems with how I look. The fact that I’m a reasonably good musician seems to be all they care about.

Per William Burroughs, any ‘words of advice for young people’?

My words of advice for the youngsters are only to do what you love. Life is too short to fuck around. You only get one chance, so make it count. These all sound like clichés, but, it’s all true, and so important.

Erik Sprague

because the world NEEDS freaks…

Former doctoral candidate and philosophy degree holder Erik Sprague, the Lizardman (iam), is known around the world for his amazing transformation from man to lizard as well as his modern sideshow performance art. Need I say more?

Copyright © 2006 BMEzine.com LLC and Erik Sprague / The Lizardman. Requests to republish must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published March 14th, 2006 by BMEzine.com LLC in Toronto, Canada.

May 10, 2006

Features

Oklahoma Lifts Body Art Ban! [Legal Link]

Written by

BME

Oklahoma Lifts Body Art Ban
By Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia

Oklahoma — the last US state to outlaw tattooing — will now lift its body art ban and a law legalizing and regulating tattooing will take effect November 1^st of this year. No longer will Oklahomans be relegated to their cousin’s kitchen table to get needled. No longer will police raid tattooists while the state makes the Top 15 in the nation for violent crime. And no longer will it be illegal to pay homage to Garth Brooks, Oklahoma’s homeboy, with a portrait tattoo tribute.

Tattoo of another musical icon, done “illegally” in Oklahoma

Today, the Governor of Oklahoma signed Senate Bill 806, which recently was passed in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and Senate. House Representative Al Lindley, who co-authored the bill with State Senator Frank Shurden, has tried for the past seven years to pass legislation to legalize tattooing. This year he succeeds.

Previous attempts to pass this legislation were been blocked by Republican legislators in Oklahoma on “moral grounds.” But perhaps this year they realized that having their constituents get tattooed in unregulated and unsanitary conditions, risking infection, is not only immoral, it is unjust. Then there’s the case challenging the ban filed by a tattooer arrested in a studio raid. A court ruling that the ban is illegal means that tattooing in the state may have been legalized with legislators having no say at all. This seems to have lit a fire under their pious butts.

Still, morality will figure prominently even if Bill 806 is passed. House amendments to the tattoo bill include a prohibition on body art business operating within 1,000 feet of a church, school or playground. In a state where there’s a church on every corner, this is no small restriction [Editor’s note: Jon from Fishing Fury points out that this is potentially a racist law due to the increase in church volume in African American communities in Oklahoma]. Evidently, legislators felt the need to protect Oklahoma’s youth from, say, tattooed lawyers like myself.

Even looking at this tattoo, done “illegally” in Oklahoma, can turn you to stone or worse!

Another obstacle for tattoo and piercing business owners is the requirement to post a surety bond of $100,000 in order to be licensed — an incredibly high amount. While tattoos may have become mainstream, most artists I know are not endowed with trust funds [Editor’s note: So the law is class-ist as well?].

Those operating without a license once the bill is passed will face stiffer penalties as well; instead of the current $500 fine, a penalty of $5,000 will be imposed. The possibility of up to 90 days in jail remains the same.

Despite the restrictions and high fines, the tattoo bill does do a lot of good by protecting tattoo lovers from the risk of infection and hepatitis. (An outbreak of hepatitis B in one Oklahoma county was tied directly to unsanitary home tattooing practices.) In order to be licensed, and therefore legal, tattooers will be required to obtain training in blood-borne pathogens, their work environment must conform to health and hygiene standards, equipment must be inspected, and procedures such as single-use needles and ink caps must be adhered to, among others. The new law will also prohibit artists from tattooing anyone under 18 or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Oh, but breaking the law was fun!

Properly trained tattooists already follow these standards so they shouldn’t be overly burdensome. The law will be heavy for kitchen table scratchers. While you can get a home tattoo kit off of eBay for cheap, autoclaves and other sterilization equipment are expensive. Tattoo artists that follow the rules have higher costs and, thus, their prices may be higher. With tattooing legalized, these artists will face less competition from bargain-rate amateurs who may charge less but at the cost of the client’s health.

At the First Oklahoma Convention

There’ll still be plenty of Oklahoma artists to choose from anyway. According to The OU Daily, 300 underground artists are already tattooing in the state with 14 tattoo studios openly doing business in the Oklahoma City area despite the ban. A tattoo convention in Tulsa even took place April 1 & 2^nd, drawing local and national artists to The Hive club, the only place willing to have the event. Interestingly, the police didn’t conduct one of their tattoo raids at the convention. The Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris told the Associated Press that tattoo law violations are a “low priority” compared with the load of homicide cases he faces.

Now police can catch real criminals instead of arresting artists.

Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia

This article was not intended as legal advice. It is intended for only general information purposes. This article does not create any attorney-client relationship.

Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia is a New York lawyer, writer, and muse (and now wife) of Daniel DiMattia of Calypso Tattoo, living in Liege, Belgium. She works undercover — or just covered up — as a corporate consultant: proof that tattoos and suits are not mutually exclusive. Her book “Tattoo Law”, an overview of US laws affecting the body modification community, is under way. IAM members can visit Marisa at iam:FREE. She is also the author of Needled.

Copyright © 2006 Marisa Kakoulas. Online presentation copyright © 2006 BMEzine.com LLC. Requests to republish must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published online May 10, 2006 by BMEzine.com LLC in Toronto, Canada.

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