“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”

- Margaret Mead

(CLICK PHOTOS TO ACCESS IAM PAGE) Kyle is an eighteen year old male from Barrie, Ontario, Canada. He currently lives at home with his parents and due to him recently relocating he is unemployed. He co-founded Skate-4-Cancer with his friend Rob Dyer in July 2003. He currently has four piercings (tongue, nipples, and his lobes stretched to 00 gauge). He has three tattoos: words on his stomach, Sailor Jerry flash on his back, and stars on his arms. The co-founder of the Skate-4-Cancer charity has stretched lobes, a nipple piercing, and multiple tattoos including a 3/4 sleeve in progress. Liz is a 35 year old female real estate broker who formerly worked in the music business for Capitol and Virgin Records in NYC. She graduated with a BA in Media studies and currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts, USA with her husband. Liz has approximately 60 hours of tattoo work, she has half sleeves, a nostril piercing, and a vertical hood piercing. Nick is a 45 year old male and living in New York City, New York, USA. He has a degree in Architecture from New York’s Cornell University and is currently a very successful and sought after architect. Considering Nick only started his journey into modification in 2003 he is heavily modified with 52 tattoos including full sleeves, and multiple piercings including a 0 ga Prince Albert, 0 ga labret (recently retired due to gum recession), and 3/4″ stretched lobes — When asked why he got his mods so late in life he replied, “It just felt right, and of course a lot of iam people inspired me! My parents were dead against it, so I waited till they were dead.”

This article is not here (only) to showcase these individuals. It’s here to say, “hey, maybe it’s fun to get involved in my comunity” — and more importantly, that it’ normal to be involved!

Communities tend to react to “aberration” with distrust and ostracism. This ostracism can result in an individual or group being perceived as responsible for the problems in the community, greedy consumption of charitable services they don’t need, behaving in a manner the majority of the community feels is unacceptable, and having an unacceptable appearance.

We in the body modification community have all experienced this ostracism for being “different”. People think we’re violent, mentally ill, unemployed, and addicted to all sorts of illicit drugs simply because of the modifications we’ve made to our bodies and how we dress. Our appearance seems to give those who don’t understand permission to label us with various negative and undeserved attributes.

Historically, while community service and volunteerism has always been a valued trait, actual practice has lagged in recent years, and organizations in need of volunteers often find themselves short-staffed and under-funded as a result. Since his inauguration, American President George W. Bush has issued repeated challenges to the American people to increase the amount of volunteer work being done in the country. Nothing much happened, although the events of 9/11/01 saw volunteerism rates peak for a few months and then slowly decline to the present.

People in the mainstream tend to expect the modified to be among the least likely people to provide any type of community service or volunteer work. However, a surprising number of people involved in body modification feel the motivation to give back to their communities; communities that to a large extent tend to discriminate against them. The people in this article go above and beyond to provide invaluable volunteer services in a variety of areas to the communities in which they live.

They have not only helped their communities but they have gone well beyond the expectations of others by founding a variety of charities and organizations and continuing to work in the non-profit or volunteer sector while maintaining active participation in the modified community. While non-profit work and volunteering isn’t for everyone it does strike a chord with these individuals. At the foundation of all of these people is a willingness and desire to help others through any means possible.

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BME: How did you originally get involved with non-profit volunteer work and what was your role in the groups you were with?

Kyle: I never really did much charity work, just the usual stuff they made me do at school: cleaning up roads, picking up litter, and so on. I went down to Toronto once for three days to help feed homeless people and help out at some shelters as well. Up until when Skate

4Cancer was started, I had never really done anything on my own time.

My friend, Rob Dyer, and I started Skate4Cancer together back in July of this year. He originally had the idea about two years ago, and actually tried to start it up but it never took off because he didn’t really have anyone helping him. He mentioned the idea to me during the summer, and I decided I really liked it and offered to help him out by building a website. From there, it just sort of progressed into what it is now.

Skate4Cancer is a charity that was started to raise youth awareness and fund for cancer research. Starting in March of 2004, we will be skateboarding from Los Angeles to Toronto. The entire trip is roughly 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) in length.

My role now is maintaining the website, and I continue to help plan what we will be doing and helping out as much as I can at fundraisers and various publicity events. Once we get started on the trip, I will principally be the bus driver and webmaster of the site.

Liz: In 1999 I co-founded a group called Fanseverywhere as a result of the rapes and sexual assaults that happened at Woodstock ’99. I still, to this day, answer email from young girls and women who have been sexually molested and raped at rock concerts.

“I was so offended by what was happening to the women at Woodstock ’99.”

The police weren’t any help and women (some as young as thirteen) were being assaulted while crowd surfing or sleeping in their tents. It was outrageous and these women needed somewhere to go to, someone to speak with. I was the Co-Founder and main contact for these women. I conducted letter writing campaigns to NOW and RAINN to alert them of the issues and to record labels and concert promoters urging them to be aware of what was going on at many shows.

Nick: I serve as a Board Member on the NYC City council, for community Board 9, I serve on the Landmarks committee for Manhattan, NYC District 9. I am completing my Police Officer Training, and will serve in the NYPD auxiliary program, walking a beat as a cop in Manhattan.

“I wanted to give to my community.”

BME: Have you been involved in other non-profit work other than what you described above?

Kyle: Honestly, I have never done anything like this before. I mean, I’ve given to food drives and donated some money before, but nothing really significant to a non-profit organization.

Liz: I started working with the Milarepa Group to help the Tibetans in 1996 working at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts in SanFrancisco, NYC and Washington DC. I moved on to help an agency called the Tibetan Refugee Health Care Project. I was motivated by my desire to help people in need. I know that I am lucky to have the things that I have and some aren’t so fortunate. I felt compelled to help out where I could.

I volunteered my time with the Milarepa Group from 1996-1998 and assisted with the development of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. I worked with the Tibetan Refugee Health Care Project from 1998-2000.

The Tibetan Refugee Health Care Project is a non-political organization funded entirely by private donations. It was created in response to the dire and growing need for public health care for the Tibetan community-in-exile, living both in resettlement camps in India, and throughout the world, and to be a support for The Tibetan Government-in-exile, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Department of Health. All projects are reported to them.

Its mission is to facilitate medical treatment of the Tibetan people as well as to educate them about disease prevention. One of the goals of the project is to encourage Tibetans to learn skills that enable them to help other Tibetans. This is done by training qualified Tibetans so that they may become practitioners, skilled laborers, or volunteers who go back to work in their communities. I volunteered my time to help with anything that needed to be done. I sat in protest of the Chinese government. I ran sound and lights for speeches. I coordinated email campaigns. Helped in the offices. Passed out flyers. For Milarepa, I donated my time to help coordinate other volunteers for the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. This came out to about fifteen hours a week.

BME: What originally prompted you to choose the groups you ultimately worked with?

Kyle: I chose to become involved with Skate4Cancer because I felt it was a worthy cause, and I believe that we can make a difference in the world. I decided early in my life that I would not just be one of those people who graduate high school, maybe go to college and then work a desk job for the rest of their lives. I feel that this might be something I could do for the rest of my life, and this will allow to wake up every morning believing that I have a purpose in my life and I ’m making a difference in other peoples lives.

Liz: Passion. Passion to try to make things better for someone other than yourself. Bring issues to the public eye.

Nick: My architectural background enable me to help the landmarks committee, and the community board, I really wanted to prove to myself that I could become a cop, and am just about complete with my training.

BME: Have you ever had any memorable reactions to your modifications during your volunteer work?

Kyle: Besides the, “Oh, cool tattoos!” comments that are fairly usual, I personally haven’t, but I know Rob (the co-founder of Skate4Cancer) has. I know he’s experienced some negative reactions to his tattoos and even the way he dresses.

Liz: Never anything negative. I would say it has been pretty neutral territory as far as my charity work has been concerned.

Nick: Well, the NYPD did ask me to remove a lot of the metal, but I was more than willing to do that! For my police training I keep the tatts generally covered as much as possible.

BME: Have you found that your modifications have helped or hindered you in this work?

Kyle: I think that they help more than they hinder, because we’ve found what’s key to making Skate4Cancer work is getting the kids to notice it, and then they tell their parents about it. Tattoos are noticed alot of the youth of today because they are ‘in’, most of the youth think they are cool, so they may notice us for our mods, then hear about what we are doing and really like the idea, then helping us spread the word. But on the other side, they have hindered us at times because for the most part, the older generation isn’t too keen on body modification, and thus they don’t think we are serious about it, making them reluctant to donate or preach to others about us.

Liz: Definitely helped for Fanseverywhere. The girls would see the tattoos and would feel comfortable because I was “one of them”

Nick: Neither really. I like trying to break though peoples perceptions of what a tattooed person should or shouldn’t do. But actually no, no problems at all. Everyone remembers me, and that might not be bad!

BME: Why do you donate your time, energy, and resources? What is the primary reason?

Kyle: The main reason I do this is to help myself feel good. As I mentioned before, I want to make a difference to people in my life, and I think this could be something that really changes people and makes them examine themselves.

Secondary to that, I believe that cancer is an epidemic that has to be stopped. SARS was made into such a big deal by the media, but it wasn’t as bad as they made it seem. I don’t want to make it seem like I’m belittling SARS, but on average 185 Canadians die of cancer each day. That’s just in Canada, just think of how many die worldwide. I don’t think many people realize how bad cancer really is.

Liz: I am fortunate in my life, and sometimes someone just has to show you the way up and out of a bad situation. I hope that I have offered that kind of assistance to just one person. Life is what you make of it.

Nick: I love to help others!

BME: What is one thing that stands out that you have learned from your volunteer work that has helped you in other aspects of your life?

Kyle: I’ve learned that no matter how bad my life seems, there is always someone who is worse off then me. I shouldn’t complain about the little things that don’t matter, when my little things are a life-or-death matter to someone else.

Liz: Compassion to others. You never know when your situation is going to become bad and you will need the help of kind strangers. Everyone deserves a chance.

Nick: That I’m a really fortunate guy!

BME: If you could create your own charitable organization what would it be?

Kyle: I haven’t thought about creating other charities at this point, one is enough work right now! but we have a couple ideas on how to expand Skate4Cancer after this initial run, and that should keep me and everyone else busy enough for a little while at least haha.

Liz: To provide inner city school children with all the resources they need to learn music and art. Those programs are being taken away and need to be given back to those who could benefit from them the most.

Nick: I would like to create a foundation to help people to decide to do the right thing, so they can have productive lives.

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The people we’ve talked to above are only a brief mentioning of the many volunteers we know that are also BME members. It seems despite the undeservedly grim and often outright bigoted opinions in many articles published in the mainstream media it seems that the modified are doing more than just volunteering in their communities; they are starting organizations to help others, extending their own resources to give others a chance.

They are most definitely not apathetic or “not playing the game of life” as has been suggested, but are instead giving back in ways the “average person” seems either unwilling or unable to do. The communities to which these individuals belong would do well to respect, admire, recognize and aspire to the shining example these people represent not only to their communities, not only to the modified, but to humanity in general.

[Ed note: This is an abridged version of this column; click here for the "director's cut"]

The fifth Lizardman Q & A — I knew it had to go at least this far — The Law of Fives. The Law of Fives is great, the more you look for it, the more it appears. Take a look at your hands — five digits on each. Of course, if you are polydactyl you may be experiencing the law of sixes or sevens…

For more on the Law of Fives, and other fun mumbo jumbo, consult the Principia Discordia by Malclypse the Younger.

For the latest Lizardman Q & A, just keep reading.

J.T: I know with being famous you get all sorts of attention, but do things like being part of a tabloid article that pretty much cast a negative tone to you and your being bother you? Also, I have read in your diaries about a few times people have used your image without permission. What course of action do you take to either stop them or gain compensation? Do you live and let live or do you aggressively go after them?

The tabloid article referred to here is the recent piece in the Weekly World News. Let me first take this opportunity to once again deny my fame. I’m not famous — I am recognizable and I draw attention. I think there is a subtle difference. I don’t think the short blurb in the tabloid was all that negative. Yes, they portrayed me as a freak — but I always take that as a compliment regardless of intent. I have three issues with the piece overall.

One, they used my given name and not The Lizardman. My deal with press is to always use my stage name because that’s how I present myself publicly and make my living as a performer.

Two, they inaccurately described my modifications — ‘fish scales’?!

Three, the images used came from a photo-shoot that was done expressly for another magazine article.

The last one is what leads me to the second part of your question. As much as I would like to live and let live, I cannot. If I do so, I risk losing what thin rights and legal recourse I do have concerning my image. The law requires that I aggressively pursue and defend my trademarks in order to maintain them. I usually start out by tracking down the source used by the offending publication or entity as well as contacting them to demand they demonstrate their rights to use (i.e. produce a valid release). I do this anytime I do not feel someone has the right to be using my likeness or I disagree with the context of its use.

In one recent case I emailed a magazine editor off their website to complain since a photo designated for promotional use associated with a recent event I had done ended up in their ‘grab bag’ commentary pages with a disparaging caption (no mention of the event it was taken at). As a result, the person who put the pic and caption in was reprimanded and lost the column assignment and I got a nice complimentary article in the next issue. That may seem harsh but keep in mind that had the person simply looked at the back of the photo they would have seen it was clearly marked as to how it could and could not be used — a standard practice. In other cases, including some pending, I end up seeking monetary awards.

Gravedigger’s Daughter: If given the chance (and the money to do it), would you ever consider putting together a DVD of performances with other performers in the ‘freak show?’

It would depend entirely on the content for the DVD. I would certainly be willing to work with any number of other performers and I have worked with many in the past — I’d love to a ‘battle of the monsters’ or such with Enigma. The idea of putting out a video is less appealing though. I will say now that unless a huge sum of money is involved there will never be a Lizardman show DVD. I do not want my show out on video for a number of reasons. Mainly because it tends to negatively affect ticket sales (many people foolishly think that seeing it on video is a substitute for the live experience) and it makes theft or imitation of material that much easier.

Meghan: Four ferrets? What the hell were you thinking?!?

“That oughta shut her up for awhile” - Nelson Munce

serpents: When you were on the game show with Stalking Cat and Beki B and a contortionist, you fell down a trapdoor when you lost. Did you really, or was it a camera trick?

The trapdoor on Russian Roulette is real. You fall a few feet onto a crash pad and then crawl a short way out from under the stage. I didn’t so much lose as I got randomly eliminated, dammit.

serpents: Actually, another, more serious question. Given the recent events with The Great Orbax, have you reassessed any of the acts you perform, or been given pause as to what you will attempt?

I don’t know all the details about Orbax’s accident, so it’s hard for me to comment on it. I do know he is a solid performer and I am glad he healed so well and quickly. I read a couple reports and saw the damage he suffered. But, the thing about doing these sorts of acts is that an accident for another performer — at least for me — has no effect whatsoever on what I do or how I do it. For any act I do I have already considered and accepted all the risks involved and worked out how I will deal with them. If I hadn’t then I shouldn’t be doing the act. If something happens to another person and it makes you wake up and realize there is something else you missed then it should really be a wake up call to you to stop completely. Performers most often get hurt when they get too relaxed or complacent — you should always be in a state of alert and concern for your own safety and that of everyone else present.

[Ed. note: A fire stunt recently backfired while The Great Orbax was performing; when preparing to have a flaming cinder block smashed on his chest, he became engulfed in a kerosene fire and suffered serious burns to his face and had to spent a week in the burn ward. Luckily he is very strong and a good healer, but it could have gone far worse.]

Goat: Since I can never post a serious question… Ya ever bounce a quarter off someone’s ass?

Actually bounced? I don’t think so. However, along the lines of other classic tasteless jokes and stunts like ‘touch your elbows behind your back’, I and the rest of the bar staff at a place I used to work would do a thing about bouncing a quarter off someone’s ass that ended up with them just getting spanked very hard.

Anaesthetise: Do you feel obligated to stick out your tongue whilst having your photo taken?

Pretty much. It often takes a conscious effort for me not to do it now — I managed to keep it in for our wedding shots. Most photos I take are souvenirs for other people and they really want the tongue to be out, so it just becomes second nature.

Nullius: Do you have health insurance?

Starting with the New Year I will have health insurance through Meghan’s job — my lovely new bride. It will be the first time in about five years that I have been covered. However, while I may have been ‘working without a net’ as concerns my own health, my show has always been covered — either through policies I have taken out or by the venue or promoters. Event coverage is something I think is a must for any performer — risk yourself, not the audience or venue. It amazes me when I get contacted by promoters who want to undercut my price by saying something like ‘Well, Bob here in town said he’ll breathe fire for half that’, and when I ask if Bob has over a decade of experience, and if he is insured they don’t think it matters. Well, when Bob burns himself, your stage, and the entire front row and you’re in court for the rest of your life you will be wishing you spent that extra money on me and my insurance policies!

CT: What is the most bizarre assumption that someone has made about you simply because of your mods?

That might be a hard one to narrow down. How about that I am Irish or a Jets fan? Those two kind of caught me off guard at the time. I am pretty sure the people making them thought it was paint and not tattoo at the time though.

Girl: What is the worst reaction you have ever had from a random member of the public? How did you respond?

A very large biker once walked by me, paused, turned and said. ‘You make me want to punch you in the face.’ I looked at him and said, ‘You gotta do what you gotta do’. We stared at each other for a second or two, then chuckled, and he decided, quote — “You’re alright.”

Since nothing actually bad happened (he just felt the need to ‘size me up’), I don’t know if that was the worst but it certainly had the potential to be far worse than anything else that has ever happened to me. He was not alone and I was.

The Eternal: I’ve heard you speak about student loans and why they’re not a good thing to get. I assume you had an awful experience with them in the past. What happened?

It’s a good thing this is online, because many forests could die supplying the necessary paper for me to list my grievances with the current university system in this country. But focusing on student loans:

When I decided to go for my doctorate in philosophy, I first tried to make it on savings and through tuition waivers and pay from teaching. That wasn’t nearly enough to cover the ‘mandatory’ costs, much less food and shelter. So, I took minimal subsidized loans to begin with. This still ended up with me having to go to my family for some support. So, the next year I took out larger loans (but still not the maximum they wanted to stick me in debt for). And so it went that in just six graduate semesters I had been effectively pushed into about $36,000 worth of debt, whereas I had entered with no debt at all. Keep in mind that I lived in horrid apartments for under $250 a month rent and kept my food budget around $100 a month so the rest of that money plus my teaching earnings all went to tuition, fees, books, and the like.

The current school pricing and loan system sets out to make people indentured servants to banks. In many cases it pushes people to get degrees and certifications that don’t hold a candle to real world experience but cost far in excess per school year of what the future job will pay annually. A better plan would be to work construction for two to three years at 18 and then use that money to get the degree you want — if you still think you need the degree after spending some time in the “real world”.

The only good thing I can say about my student loans is that they make me happy about the current poor state of the economy because the interests rates on them are staying low.

_Stigmata_: Are those really tattoos or do you have the wife paint them on the same exact way every time before you go out?

I only dignify this with a response because of the source, so: Same question right back to you Jon.

perk900: Say a small child drowns trying to emulate Spongebob Squarepants by trying to live under water in the backyard pool… Who do you blame??? The parents for not properly teaching their child to fear and respect that pool… Nickelodeon for not putting a proper warning before the show… or is the child just not fit enough to survive and this just a case of thinning the herd?

Some of this will depend on the age of the child but overall the parents need to be monitoring their child — especially around a pool or when there is access to the pool. If the kid is still trying to emulate cartoons in this manner after a certain age, then yeah — we probably didn’t lose a future NASA engineer. I wouldn’t blame Nickelodeon because a warning probably wouldn’t get through to a dumb or too young child and the parents wouldn’t act differently or probably even notice it anyway (not if they are the sort that lets their kid around the pool unsupervised). Also, I think some things are so basic as to defy the need for warnings and labels — if you can’t figure out fire=hot, then good riddance.

ServMe: Do you mentor other artists that are either working on a full body transformation, or want to make it in the same field as you have made it in? Would you consider teaching young people that are serious about it the “tricks of the trade” or give them guidelines in order to circumvent things you wished you’d have know in advance?

I don’t know about mentoring, but I have spoken with and given my advice as requested to many people. I do workshops with groups from time to time on various sideshow skills like fire manipulation and talk about different aspects of the business as it were. However, I am not at a point where I want that to be my focus and to do it right, it needs to be your primary focus. I try to be as open and helpful as I can, but in a responsible manner that won’t potentially hurt sideshow or the person interested.

My next non-interview column will actually be about things I have learned in the course of becoming a ‘professional freak’.

JuanKi: Were there any other “animals ideas” to turn yourself into before or competing with a “lizard”? Also, when will you be finishing your face ink? Finally, what does the Lizardman ride?

First, there were other ideas and concepts but not really other animals — gargoyle being the closest to an animal. The black markings on my back were originally designed as part of that concept and got held over into the reptilian theme.

On your second question, soon, I hope — as with the rest of my body. I’d really like to say in the next two years — but I keep getting busy with other things that make getting lots of sessions in difficult.

Finally, right now I’m driving a 1998 Geo Metro (sigh — good mileage and it gets me there). I could really use a nice Sportster or maybe a Buell, but other things come first.

kl3rk: Tongue splits — scalpel and suture or laser and suture?

Mine was done with laser and sutures but earlier this year I took a scalpel to it to remove a little scar tissue and add maybe an eighth of an inch to the depth.

Having now done minor scalpeling and looking at the results and experiences of others with a scalpel, I think that scalpeling may be a better alternative to the laser — if you don’t mind the blood. I do believe that sutures are very beneficial for shaping and for preventing re-growth. The problem being that suturing the tongue is very difficult and scalpel procedures are not often done by those who can do the proper suturing whereas laser surgery is almost exclusively done by doctors who can also offer the sutures.

ClashingDharma: I apologize if this question has already been asked but when you decided with what you were going to do with your body and such how did you approach your parents with it?

A very good question. A lot of people have asked how my parents reacted but your approach is much better and potentially informative. It took awhile before I really gave my parents the whole picture, but they did get to see it coming as things developed. I tattooed my hands with scales without letting them know until they saw them. While they were very supportive, there was also a little uneasiness. I was not positive how they would react to my facial tattooing. I told them in a phone message (or maybe email — I forget exactly) about what I was doing when I made that step and they came down to the tattoo shop. They got there after I was done with the session and in what is probably one of the best reassuring moments of my life they took it all in and told me they loved me.

That’s it for the Q & A for
awhile. In upcoming weeks and months I will be turning the tables and
asking the questions. So, in addition to my regular ramblings, you can
expect a number of surprise guest interviews.

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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 © 2003 BMEZINE.COM. Requests to republish must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published December 13th, 2003 by BMEZINE.COM in Tweed, Ontario, Canada.

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