Maile sent in this shot of her late grandpa and his zipper tattoo, done by Rio at Hot Ink Tattoo in Vallejo. She explains, “he had a double bypass and wanted the zipper tattooed with a lock so they couldn’t open him up again.”
See more in “Miscellaneous Tattoos“ (Tattoos)
I don’t know the full story of this zipper tattoo and the apparently quite massive scar that it covers, but I love both scars and tattoos, so I’m totally into it.
For all the people who have attacked me, for not featuring enough man meat on Modblog, I am proud to present Brian (IAM: perk900).
After we had our initial conversation on Skype, we messaged back and forth a bit on IAM to finalize some things. When I asked him if there was any last minute information he wanted me to include he humbly replied :
“That my dick is huge and that you can see it from space.”
And that my friends, is good enough for me.
Sure, there are naked pictures on his IAM page, that would make his penis seem not quite visible by space, but until he post erect pictures we will have to assume he is indeed a grower and not a shower.
Little known fact, Brian is the Chuck Norris of BME.
On a serious note, Brian is amongst the nicest and most genuine people I have ever had the privilege of meeting. He has been a long time active BME member, and a top image contributor since 2003. He has also, busted his ass year after year putting on one of the most fun BME social events, Bowling With Weirdos.
Shawn Porter has this to say about Brian:
“Brian has been one of my best friends for going on a decade. The Dr. Gonzo to my Raoul Duke, if you will; the Ricky to my Lucy, the moral compass that always points to do it if it’s funny, don’t worry, well clean up the mess and more.”
For the full length, uncensored (and barely edited) look into the man behind the ballhair…. keep reading.
Sean: Let’s start basic, what got you into body mods in the first place?
Brian: There are multiple points to blame on that one. It mostly started in High School in the mid-90s. Piercing was just starting to make its way into the mainstream, and that is where I was first exposed to “abnormal” piercings. Then you can also credit the introduction of Punk rock into my life. Tattoos became a big fascination then as well.
Sean: I kind of assumed punk shows were a big influence on you. That was a large part of my introduction to piercing and tattoos as well.
Brian: It was a lot of things at that time that were playing together, that were introducing me to that world. You can also blame movies as well. I’m a big movie nerd and that was another place where the interest came from. And I’ll say it, one of the first times i’d really seen larger piercings and more extreme Body Mod stuff was STRANGELAND. I mean a lot of this stuff was really foreign in the world that I was living in.
Sean: How did you end up becoming involved with BME?
Brian: I first found BME while I was researching designs for my first tattoo, because it was the site that appeared in Google when you looked up Kanji tattoo. I found IAM months after that, when it turned out that my friend Kristen had an IAM page and she said it was a fun site. I’ve had an IAM account ever since April of 2001.
Brian: I didn’t get a “heavy mod” until I got my septum punched at 00g.Which, I might add was very close to the same time that you had your septum punched. Same guy, too. (Shane Munce)
Sean: Yes, it’s true we were damn near septum twins for a while. Except, I still haven’t ever gotten that damn double flared jewelry out that was originally put in mine!
Brian: Lucky for me, my septum is super stretchy and could take out the double flared jewelry almost immediately after getting it done. It wasn’t always a good idea, but I could do it. I don’t have to wear jewelry in it, and i can still fit about a 1/2″ piece of jewelry in.
Sean:..and speaking of putting things in places they don’t belong, let’s talk about your relationship with Shawn Porter.
Brian: Ha ha, let’s go there.
Sean: How did you first meet Shawn?
Brian: The first time I met Shawn was by complete accident on his part. I was going to my first IAM meet in Philly. 16 people signed up at the time and we were meeting at Market Street station. About 8 people showed up and we all just looked at each other and were like, “ok, what do we do now”. So we started heading towards a park and went walking through the Mall next to the station. Shawn, who happened to be shopping at the time, found himself in the middle of an IAM meet/ He followed us, and while going up the escalator looked at me and said, “Fuck you, you’re brian”.
Sean: Wow, that sure was random.
Brian: Very random. He knew who I was, because Shane had been talking about the first Weirdos event and how I was helping out. Shawn will still tell the story about how he told me to take over the event because the 15 year old girl who ran the Philly area IAM meet at the time, needed to be usurped.
Sean: Well she’s now merely known as “the 15 year old girl” and you sir are BME Royalty, so fine job usurping.
Brian: Ha. yup. But, in the grand scheme of things my royal status is mostly as the court jester, or the title I’ve grown more used to, Consigliere.
Sean: I still think of you more as security guard. You have played the role as sober bouncer at several events at my old place , but the role of security protecting the sanctity of the “champagne room” at Shawn’s old apartment is when many may have first met you.
Brian: I’ve been the Straight Edge, sober voice of reason for many years, and as Shawn would say, “Brian has forgotten more than you’ll know”. I am very much the behind the scenes man. The innocuous man who stands guard to a secret world.
Sean: It’s true, in fact you have been a part of some of the most exclusive body mod events in the world. Has this led to you getting any scarification or other heavier type mods done?
Brian: The heaviest work I have gotten was getting my septum punched to 00g and my nipples scalpeled to 2g. Other than that the work that i have gotten on myself has been pretty “plain” in comparison to my compadres.
Sean: I think that’s pretty awesome. Lot’s of people in your position would end up getting other heavier work just because they were around it so much and felt they pressured to get something.
Brian: Yeah, I stick to what I want to get, and am not easily swayed into getting something new just for the hell of it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t encourage others to do it, and convince them to let me take pictures. I did, however, take an interest in pulls and suspensions. Which the story of my first and only pull is a pretty funny one.
Sean: Was it the genital pull at my old house?
Brian: Yes, the 4 way genital pull would be the one.
Sean: Refresh my memory on that one? I think you were the only one actually pierced for that rather than using an existing hole?
Brian: Yes, I was the only one that took a fresh one that day. We did a frenum on the topside on me, while everyone else went through what they had. It was Me, Shawn Porter, Julie, and Michael. And to refresh your memory, Julie schooled all three of us.
Sean: ha ha I bet, she’s always been one tough cookie.
Brian: A destructive force that you just don’t see coming.
Sean: Not at all, the eeyore panties are misleading
Brian: Very misleading.
Sean: So tell us about your suspensions.
Brian: My first suspension was a couple days before my 25th birthday at an ROP event in Emrys backyard. It was a 2 point chest suspension. I was warned before hand that a chest suspension was probably a bad idea for suspension.The only problem is, I’m a little stubborn and there really was no talking me out of it.
Sean: That is gung ho for damn sure. How did it go?
Brian: It was like riding a bull. I was up for about 8 seconds, and ended up with 32 stitches.
Sean: Wow. But you did it and that is far more than most in the world, or even this community have attempted, myself included.
Brian: That’s right. I made it up and the only reason that i came down was because my chest started to open up like a zipper. I didn’t even realize it was happening.
Sean: If you have to come down early, that’s about as good of a reason as I can think of. Did you an to do any more suspensions in the future?
Brian: Yup, I did two more. My second suspension was in NYC at Brian Decker’s apartment, which was a 1 point suicide.
Sean: How was that?
Brian: This time the suspension went a little bit longer. I lasted halfway through a Minor Threat song, and ended up with only 5 stitches.
Sean: You’d think all that bacon in your diet would make your skin a bit more elastic.
Brian: You’d think that I would have stronger skin, but strong skin can’t over come bad ideas.
Sean: You definitely make for good quotes! So, how was the third suspension?
Brian: The last was the most successful. It was at the 2009 ROP suspension BBQ in Pittsfield. It was a 2 point Suicide with the new Gilson hooks.
Sean: No ripping I take it?
Brian: I lasted longer than anyone expected, and I didn’t tear one bit. It was great fun. I finally got to swing around and feel that sense of euphoria.
Sean: Awesome, that is what it’s all about man. You really are a shining example of why I got into wanting to suspend people.
Sean: I imagine a lot of the readers of this blog that know of you probably do so from your role as host of the annual Bowling With Weirdos event. Tell me how that all started.
Brian: The first Weirdo event was in September of 2002. It was inspired after I had gone to my first July 1st Canadian BBQ in Shannon and Rachel’s backyard. I had talked to Shane Munce about doing something in the Philly area because there wasn’t much going on at the time. There happened to be a park down the street from the shop that he was working in at the time. The idea was simple. Keep it cheap, Keep it simple, Keep it fun. The event was originally called, “Philly Area BME BBQ/Bowling Event”
Sean: It really has become one of the defining annual BME events. I remember the first year, and it has only gotten better through the years (at least the every other year I make it up for).
Brian: It’s one of the longest running consistent IAM events. It’s always a good time. It’s amazing looking at the pictures from the first year and then every year after that.
Sean: But it wasn’t that event that made you the legend you are, it was a sticker that read ballhair… why don’t you explain to the younger readers what that was all about.
Brian: Ahhh. The ballhair sticker. I had actually started getting those printed right before I joined IAM. It was a fun little experiment. There is a company out there called Sticker Guy. I always saw ads in punk rock zines about getting stickers printed and this guy would do 250 of them for $20 So, at the time I of course wanted to get something printed. My friends at the time were just in love with screaming out Ballhair (thanks to the classic Rob Schneider movie “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo”).
Sean: Very cool, kind of like the obey stickers, except with no redeeming social value.
Brian: It was very much inspired by the OBEY stickers. I used to see them all the time in Philly and wanted to do one that was a little less serious. I’ve done a LOT of prints of that sticker.
Sean: And then there was the sequel, what was it, cunthair?
Brian: No, it was Cuntbag. I only did one run of those.
Sean: Ooh limited edition, I think I still have one on a tool box too. That may be worth something after this interview gets posted!
Brian: It could definitely be. I still find handfuls of stickers here and there. When I do, I usually end up sending them to someone. I have probably printed thousands of them.
Sean: Aside from the Bowling event and the stickers the one thing that comes to mind when I think of you is food. Good, greasy, meaty food. What role exactly does food play in your life?
Brian: It’s a pretty large part. Almost every person in my family has worked in the restaurant industry in some part. Hell, my father even cooked for Reagan when he was still president. My mother was a photographer, my Dad was a chef, I think that pretty well explains me. I also have two food related tattoos.
Brian: I have my Sacred Bacon tattoo, but I also have a rib piece done by Dave of a beautiful scantily clad young lady wearing only an apron grilling with some script that says, “Daddy’s lil Grill”.
Sean: That’s right I forgot that amazing piece!
Brian: It came out great.
Sean: Anything you want to make sure gets included, that we didn’t already touch on?
Brian: Just tell anyone that meets me to ask for a story. Whether the infamous “Get It” story, the “Indestructable” story, or any other fun tale. At East Coast events we call it story time.
Sean: What’s the “indestructable” one I don’t know of that I do not believe.
Brian: Its the story of the misspelled tattoo across my chest, it makes me “a table that can’t be destroyed” Told correctly it will make you laugh, cry, and then probably put out.
And that, dear readers, is Brian in a nutshell.
Good Shabbos, ModBloggers! We all got such a kick out of Timmo‘s pimp-bee the other day that we figured, hey, it’s a mitzvah, right? Luckily, he had more work in his portfolio to provide us with the means for an appropriate celebration. L’chaim! After the jump? More of Timmo’s handiwork. Compton, stand up.
And that’s the week! What went down this time around?
– This father-daughter bonding made us all melt just a little bit.
– Everyone has their own methods for dealing with living in the bible belt.
– That’s one happy Dalai Lama.
– We didn’t really expect anybody to guess this “Guess What?” edition.
And there we have it. Weekend rules apply as usual. Next week? We’ll be on the scene for Tattoo Hollywood all week, so expect lots of goodies. Until then, have fun, stay safe and, of course, thank you for your continued support of BME.
Ahoy-hoy, folks! Let’s start our Wednesday with this series of shots presided over by Pete Sheringham at The Piercing Urge in Melbourne, Australia, who, with the aid of some surgical staples, affixed this zipper to the mouth of, hmm, who is that, The Gimp? Probably not. Either way, fun! After the jump, zipper-mouth speaks, or is at least given the opportunity.
See more in “Cheeks“ (Lip Piercing)
Oh holy shit, what is this? The actual Devil? It looks like some goddamn sea monster with a face that was created by letting one of those 1950s-era diving helmets soak in nuclear waste. I mean, it’s a great tattoo, but I don’t understand why c.A feels the need to haunt me by getting tattooed with Poseidon’s nightmares.
(Tattoo by Kris Roberts at Shipwreck Tattoos in Corpus Christi, Texas.)
And another week down. What happened this time around?
– A woman’s lovely tribute to her parents.
– A public service announcement … with GUITARRRRR
– We talked about adapting paintings into tattoos.
– Gothic Clark Kent showed up.
– We saw a brilliant Asian-inspired sleeve.
– Hey, zippers!
Anyway, we’ll be around this weekend. We’ll even have a new interview up at some point! Good times. Whatever you do, be safe. Have a great weekend, ModBlog, and, as always, thank you for your continued support of BME.
Editor’s note: Earlier this year, Helsinki played host to a truly amazing night of sideshow performances, featuring appearances by Maleficent Martini and Lucky Mladineo, Operafication, Pain Solution, The Saviours and Swing Shift Sideshow. This is an account of that evening, written by Lucky Mladineo, with accompanying photos by Riina Aarrekorpi and Tatu Blomqvist.
 |
On a chilly Saturday night in September, within the walls of famous rock venue Nosturi, sitting imposingly on the edge of the docks overlooking the Baltic Sea, the scene was set for the first Helsinki Sideshow Night. Before things got too hectic, I walked through the crowd. As with the general feel of Helsinki, diversity was present and every type, stereotype and non-stereotype you could pick was there to see what this Sideshow fuss was about.
As Jussi took some time to welcome the crowd and introduce the first act, behind the curtains everyone that was not a part of the Operafication performance left the stage. As the curtains opened, silence swept through the room. The Operafication show is not one you can really explain: it has that special quality that requires you to be there and experience it in the flesh. So all I can say is that the expression on the sea of faces in the crowd varied evenly between confusion, appreciation and awe, and in the end, applause was somewhat stifled by shock, as beauty and sadness were brought together with mainstream theatre story telling through a very abstract medium. In the end, an Opera star, on the most bizarre of stages, impressed the hell out of everyone, especially those sceptical, “What is this Opera shit” few. As the curtain closed for the 20-minute break, you could almost hear the collective deep breath out of everyone watching.
The break ended, and Miss Martini and I got ready to do the opening act we had come up with for the Sideshow extravaganza. I secured my fake beard, climbed into the prop-box and waited for the music to start and curtains to introduce us. Martini delicately stepped point-toe by toe onto the stage, while I was having a hard time pretending to be asleep in the box — I was so excited and wanted to watch! As I climbed out of the box, all our choreography went out the window but it didn’t really matter and it all came together when we got into a nice, old fashioned cat-fight. Some punches, ballet shoes and abuse was thrown back and forth, some hair was pulled, but in the end we reconciled, letting out a collective “Aw!” and fumbling our way through a dance routine to welcome everyone at the microphones, screaming together, “Welcome to the Helsinki Sideshow Night!”
 |
 |
I sat high up side stage for the best viewpoint to watch and take notes for the show, and I was also attempting to get some backstage footage. Spotting Jussi’s bunny ears above me, fumbling with my pen, notepad and camera, I leaned forward to make the artsy shot and just about fell onto the stage — oops. Eye on the job, not the Bunny!
Pain Solution took to the stage in their usual charming manner and got right down to some don’t-try-this-at-home instruction. A little glass eating from The Maniac and some comedic narration from The Headmaster (“Bling in your poo” — that was a good one, Håvve) and the crowd was up and clapping. Pain Solution’s stage presence and international appeal was evident within the first 10 minutes of their show, their re-creation of the all time classic Human Blockhead act into a Blues Brother’s dance-along is testament to their originality and style.
As I watched Håvve put out a giant torch in the trunk of his underwear, I wondered, was he born on stage? The smell of singed hair (or flesh?) floats in the air but the crowd didn’t seem to mind, and they were going wild. Applause and yelling quickly became screaming and downright vocal chaos, either from the half naked Headmaster with a torch down his pants, or at the introduction of Swing Shift Sideshow to the stage. Actually I think it was the latter, as I do remember hearing someone cry out “Las Vegas, FUCK YEAH!” from the middle rows at the mere mention of their name. But really, they had no idea what they were in for. Miss Kelvikta the Blade and Andrew decided to give them a little taste of the Swing Shift style, both swallowing flaming swords. And if the crowd thought it couldn’t get much better than swallowing flaming swords, the Headmaster proved them wrong, breathing fire onto the flames igniting massive fireballs and even more frenzied reactions. Everyone just started screaming maniacally and aesthetically a stage couldn’t really look any better — now the night had really begun!
The night was divided up seamlessly, and with an ease of flow that is not usual to first time events of this size. Pain Solution and Swing Shift commanded the stage interchangeably, to address, entertain and scare the hell out of the very enthusiastic audience. Both groups have pushed side show and showmanship creatively to larger than life status and both in somewhat different directions, but the two worked contagiously together. Bouncing from one to the other, stunt to stunt and having a total stranglehold on everyone’s attention by not giving them any kind of break and really setting the tone for madness. Each stunt had at least a few over-stimulated viewers covering their mouths and eyes, and many having to turn away completely more than once. The screams and Finnish cursing (e.g. “Vittu” = “Fuck,” “Ei Saatana…!” = “No fucking way…!”) were heard frequently from where I was sitting way up in the wings, and were definitely escalating as the night continued and the side show rolled on …
 |
 |
After all that excitement, it was time for a bit of a romantic interlude. Slow music hit the amplifiers as Helsinki boys, The Saviours, set up their stage of love. PooPoo the Bunny sat down at a table, looking his furry best, kicking back with a big bottle of liquor and pills, while Lassi, in his German-style get-on-it pants and ever so insinuating smile, casually tried to slip his arm around the uninterested though intoxicated bunny. The Saviours mimed their show and it translated effortlessly — you could feel the love from the crowd at their brand of dark, slightly romancing comedy, which is totally at home in Finland. Everyone knew just what was going on when Lassi took to his zipper and to a beer keg. As Foghat hit the chorus of “I just wanna make love to you” and the beat dropped in, Lassi dropped his balls to the sound of screaming fans. From my experience in Finland, people simply cannot get enough of Lassi and his penis. But perhaps PooPoo was a little disturbed by this gratuitous show of genitals, because a fight broke out between the two, and Headmaster Håvve had to come in and remove them, Lassi by the ear, PooPoo by the bunny ear.
 |
 |
Once order was regained, Headmaster set up his stage to start the audience on a journey to even more chaos. Håvve standing on swords and demanding at the audience, “So do you want blood?!” getting them ready for the next instalment of madness. When Andrew and Kelvikta re-appeared, the reaction was something like hysteria. Andrew S. took the microphone and once the small talk was laid out, he pulled out the big gun, or in his case, the big coil, and the excitement was unavoidable, Andrew never fails to impress within a few minutes of getting to know the audience. Again, I couldn’t decide what to watch, the show or the reactions of the crowd. Swing Shift were once again amazingly well received and this has a lot to do with Andrew’s much loveable stage presence, his very brave attempts at using Finnish under pressure, and of course, Miss Kelvikta is always a big crowd favourite. When she asked for a cigarette, she had a whole packet thrown at her. Are we sensing a theme here?
The feeling of “Oh my god!” had started to filter onto the stage by the second half of the show and exploded with Swing Shift’s first few death defying stunts. If there was a climax to this feeling being emitted from the audience, it was definitely with the 30-kilogram anvil eye lift. I just remember everyone screaming like murder victims as Andrew swayed the Acme-style anvil, and Kelvikta threw up the metal hand.
Shrieking, screaming, laughing and having to turn away completely, the audience were both entertained and a little tormented through the night, having their boundaries pushed and testing their limits and opinions of what’s shocking. More than a few found out the fun way at the first annual Helsinki Sideshow Night.
Photos by: Riina Aarrekorpi and Tatu Blomqvist
All photos are copyrighted. Full resolution versions and more photos are available. To obtain them, please contact the photographers via e-mail: [email protected] / [email protected].
Please consider buying a membership to BME so we can continue bringing you articles like this one.
A little bit of Photoshop fun courtesy of Alan..
I ran out of P’s 🙁
See more in “Tongue Splitting“ (Tongue Surgery) (members only)
Many, many thanks to Ely for sending in the story behind his double mastectomy..
“My big breasts grew when I was like ten years old, and I missed my flat chest badly. I always hated them, I even wore a waist trimmer and cardboard over my breasts in an attempt to flatten them. I had dreams about having my breasts removed in hospital. One dream I remember particularly vividly was one I had as a kid, in that dream I woke up with my flat chest sutured together with blue stitches. That dream became reality on November the 2nd 2005! I was very lucky to have a plastic surgeon perform my much wanted surgery.”
“I went to hospital at 5:30am with my mother and was taken to a room to be dressed in hospital robes, socks, and T.E.D. stockings.
The nurse questioned me and put all my details into her laptop. Soon after someone arrived with a stretcher, I was taken to pre-op room with other people who were waiting to be taken to the operating room. The anesthesiologist and nurses came and talked with me, they told me that they will be with me in the operating room and that I was due there at 8am. The nurse who was aiding the surgeon talked with me too and she told me that they knew exactly what I wanted and still remember the pictures I brought in and told me to not worry. The nurse then took me to the operating room on the second floor. I saw the door marked “O.R. 30″, for some reason I really liked that number! I was taken into the O.R. and they moved me from the stretcher to the table where the surgery would be performed, then they put an I.V. in my right hand. The last thing I remember was laughing, then I was out!
I woke up sometime later and saw that I was in the recovery room and asked for the time. I remember a voice telling me it 11:34am. I looked down at my chest and it was FLAT :)”
“My mother told me that my surgery was over by 10am and I was about to be taken to my room on sixth floor, when I got there I fell fast sleep for most of the day, I was woken up a few times by nurses coming in and checking my blood pressure to make sure I was doing okay and to empty my drain bulbs. A couple of times during my stay they give me a white pill with “512″ stamped on it, I still have no idea what they were! Around 5pm that day I decided to ask for a chicken pot pie and some pumpkin. I ate all of them!”
“The nurses thought I would throw up, but I didn’t :), I did feel a bother though because I had to call a nurse every time I wanted to use the toilet because of the I.V. and padded air things on my legs to prevent blood clots. Around 1am someone came and disconnected my I.V., then told me they would give me some antibiotics and that I could leave the hospital at 4am, I had some pancakes and more pumpkin pie to celebrate :). A little later my surgeon came in to check my incisions and said everything looked good. I couldn’t see any bruises at all, I was expecting my chest to be covered in them because I think I bruise somewhat easily. The surgeon then told me that it was time for me to go to home. My father came in to get me so I gingerly got back into the clothes I arrived in and prepared for home.
I’m so glad I wore the shirt with the zipper on the front, haha, I tried to put my black tank-top on and it was impossible, anyway, I got home fine and couldn’t stop smiling knowing that finally they had gone forever!
I still have some way to go (surgery-wise), but I’ve never been happier!”
Thanks for talking Ely, and I hope the future surgeries and T injections go just as smoothly!
I think this “zipperback” tattoo is a neat idea (my only nitpick is that I don’t think the spinal anatomy is quite right) — it was done by Ron Stoolfire at Munkehed Tatu in Newark, Ohio. Design-wise it could be continued down the arms I suppose and flow into another piece quite nicely on a design sense…
