Well when you’re friends with the Sinner Team, and your birthday rolls around, you know you’re going to be in for something special.

That young man up there is Serge, and he just turned 28.  So, in honor of his birthday he got to have a superman suspension, Sinner Team style.

Keep reading to see what happened next.

Read more…

So here I am with another “Happy Birthday” modblog post for someone who has made a major impact on the piercing industry and the body modification as a whole, the person I consider to be the “smartest man in body piercing”, Tom Brazda.

If you are not familar with Tom Brazda, the BME Wiki entry on him is a good place to start.  I, myself, learned of him the first day I  logged onto the internet. On excruciatingly slow dial up via AOL, my first search was “body piercing”. That search of course lead me to BME and very shortly thereafter I found these interviews with Tom and I was just blown away. The techniques he was using and the knowledge he was sharing totally blew me away. It was at that moment I realized there was so much more to the science aspect of body piercing than I had ever learned through my apprenticeship nor through my own (pre-internet use) research. While those interviews seem dated today, they were WAY ahead of their time when they were first published.

Tom continues to share his knowledge in the various IAM body piercing forums and through personal contact with lots of members of this industry. So take a moment out of your day to wish this piercing pioneer a happy birthday, then jump on google or BME and search “Tom Brazda” to absorb all of the piercing knowledge he shared in the past.

I just wanted to take a moment to wish Rob a very happy birthday!  Rob has been a big help since he took over writing the bulk of the ModBlog posts and he’s handled the slings and arrows of the job with grace and class.  Have a great day Rob and thanks for all the help!

Well in true ModBlog fashion, I’m posting a birthday announcement a day late.  So help me out by wishing BME’s own Sean Phillips a very happy (and belated) birthday!

This handsome devil has been writing for ModBlog since last December, but his contributions to the community go well beyond his posts here.  Recently Sean has taken his “What Would Sean Do?” act on the road and is taking questions from all comers.  So if you’ve ever found yourself stuck in a situation that you just can’t figure out the answer to, there’s really only one thing to ask yourself:  What would Sean do?

In fact, since Sean is in the spotlight today, why don’t we use the comments to not only wish Sean a happy 33rd birthday, but also ask him a question that needs answering.  I’m sure he’ll be happy to help out.

I know it seems I make a lot of modblog post wishing friends of mine happy birthday.  However, this isn’t facebook, I don’t wish every friend of mine a happy birthday on modblog, only those whom have made a significant impact on this community.

I am blessed to be able to be friends with people who have made such significant impacts on the industry and/or the community. One of the greatest things about the body modification community for me, is people I once considered heros, I now consider friends.

Phish (no relation to the hippy band) is a perfect example of one of those people.

Phish has been a respected piercer for as long as I have been using the internet. When I first became aware of him he was working for HTC under Steve Haworth.  During the old days of BME’s QOD (now askbme.com) he was the only person aside from Steve I would confidently recommend for subdermal implants, this was years before I even knew who Brian Decker was to put things in perspective. When surface bars first came into use, Phish quickly became one of the most experienced and knowledgeable piercings. In issue 25 of The APP’s publication, The Point, Phish wrote what was (at the time) the definitive guide to surface piercing techniques. His sharing of knowledge in this article as well as in other ways has helped many piercers get a grasp of advanced piercing techniques.

After several years of piercing, Phis suffered from the inevitable piercer burn out. He took some time off to pursue a career as a bail bondsman, like Dog the Bounty Hunter but with better tattoos and less ridiculous hair. However, his passion for piercing never died and he has now found a happy balance between piercing the good guys and catching the bad guys.

So happy birthday Phish, here’s to many more years of doing quality piercings and whooping a  little criminal ass.

Phish with his 200th capture.