This week, the crow learned it’s hard to write the same story twice. What did you learn?

What are you up to tonight?
I’m hanging out with a myriad of people—my leather community, my fur community, my “fet” community… I identify as a cat. Also, it’s “boots and buzz-cuts” night.

You’re giving buzz-cuts at a club?
I’m not personally doing cuts, but I happen to be the secretary for Seattle Men in Leather, and members of my club are doing buzz-cuts and straight-razor shaves. I’m having a great time.

So, is there a “Men in Pleather” or “Men in Leatherette” for any vegan leather daddies?
I don’t think there are a lot of vegans in the leather community. Personally, I don’t tend to eat a lot of meat—I’m more of a pescatarian. For most of the vegan people I know, it’s about the ingestion of meat, and not the wearing of it.

Do you have a favorite kind of cat?
I like black panthers, mostly. Continue reading →

OK, so no on the Tasmanian Devil tattoo — but how about a CHS Crow?

Is Lucky the name on your driver’s license?
No, it’s a nickname that was given to me in my early 20s for having the world’s worst luck.

Your luck has changed, I hope?
It has. My life has changed dramatically since I earned the nickname.

What do you do for a living?
I’m a tattoo artist here [at Artful Dodger Tattoo & Comics on Olive Way].

How long have you been a tattoo artist?
It was 15 years in July.

What drew you to this line of work?
I wanted to be a comic book artist as a kid, and I ended up getting a job at a place called Bud Plant Comic Art, and two guys came in and saw me doodling, and asked if I wanted to apprentice as a tattoo artist and help them build their shop. It was a crazy ride, and I fell in love with it. Now, I don’t know how to do anything else.

How many tattoos do you do per day?
Two or three. I stay booked out about two or three months in advance. I’m at the point in my career when I don’t do a lot of tattoos any more that I don’t want to do.

So, if I come in and want a Tasmanian Devil tattoo, you’re not the artist for me?
You will get your Tasmanian Devil, but it probably won’t be from me.

Continue reading →

This week, the crow learned that there’s still time for vacation. What did you learn?

What are you up to this evening?
I’m sweating my tits off behind the bar (at Tin Table). There’s this thing called “swamp ass,” and I have a case of “swamp boobs.” I think I’m gonna lose a cup size tonight!

What was the hardest order you had tonight?
Two mojitos.

Do those take a long time to make?
Only because I’m a perfectionist, so I like to do them right. It takes a while to crush the ice, and pick out the best leaves of mint to make it look good.

What do you think is the sexiest drink?
Whatever drink you’re having with a friend.

Continue reading →

Psst. Want a CHS Crow tattoo? You know you do.

What are you up to tonight?
I’m just hanging out with friends.

Do you live on the Hill?
No, I’m actually from Reno, Nevada.

“The Biggest Little City in the World”?
More like, “The Biggest Little Shithole in the World.”

So, I assume your life is just like on that show “Reno 911”?
Yes, only we don’t have palm trees. You’ll notice on the show, there are palm trees, because it’s actually filmed in L.A. or wherever.

What brought you to Seattle?
My best friend and life partner. Continue reading →

This week, the crow learned where to score good vegan food up north.

What did you learn?

What are you up to tonight?
I’m with my friend shopping, and I’m going to go to the show upstairs [The Highline on Broadway]. I’m one of the promoters here.

Do you have any good shows coming up?
On July 7, I have this show at Barboza, which is below Neumos. There are six bands on the bill and only $8, or $10 at the door.

Spoken like a true promoter! Are you a Seattle native?
No, I’m from Miami, Florida. I live on the North End now.

Do you hang out on the Hill very often?
I do, as much as I can.

Other than promoting shows, what line of work are you in?
I was selling cars for a while, but I really love booking shows. I love helping musicians.

What was the hardest part about being a car salesmen?
Convincing people that I wasn’t an asshole or dishonest. It was hard because I was young, too.

Are you a musician yourself?
I was in a punk band for a long time, but now I’m solo.

What are some of your influences?
A.F.I., Incubus, Misfits, Glenn Danzig. I’m also a huge fan of Davey Havok because he’s straight edge and vegan and doesn’t consume any animal products. I really look up to that.

Are you straight edge?
I was for seven years, then something happened to me and I broke edge, but I want to go back to it. I’ve been vegetarian for ten years. In Seattle they support that a lot—there are a lot of vegan and vegetarian restaurants.

Continue reading →

The crow will have to try out this whole wrapped rock thing.

What are you up to today?
I’m wrapping rocks and selling them for food and money and other things.

Are you a native Seattleite?
No, I was selling magazines across country, and Washington was beautiful, so I stayed.

Selling magazines across the country—how does that work?
It’s like a door-to-door salesman. You walk up to somebody, and you ask them how they are, and if they’re nice and friendly, you sell them a magazine.

So, it’s like interviewing random strangers—only, I promise not to sell you any magazines. How did you get into wrapping rocks [to make jewelry]?
It’s a hobby. It calms you down. It wasn’t really for profit, but I got told that it could be for profit. I figure if you can make money for it, why not.

Where are you from originally?
From Montana. Missoula, Montana. Continue reading →

This week, the CHS crow memorialized a few things. You?

What are you up to today?
My friends are in from D.C., and they have a garden there, so I’m showing them my garden.

What are you planting this year?
Everything. Two of the cooler things we have is an artichoke plant and a kiwi.

This may be my gardening ignorance talking, but I always think of kiwi as a tropical thing.
It’s what I think of, too. These are a little different from the ones you see in the store, you just bite into them, and you don’t have to peel them. Ours are mate dyed, and I don’t know which ones we have, male or female.

Um, I hate to admit this, but I have no idea what “mate dyed” plants are. Could you explain that?
Well, you need male and female to produce fruit. Kind of like humans…

This is new to me. I went to a public schools in the South, so I think teachers were forbidden to talk about fruit & vegetable sex. Do you have to go down to Babeland to get stuff to help them out?
Hey, there’s an idea!

And you play some Barry White for the kiwi?
Yeah, they weren’t feeling it before that.

How long have you had this garden?
About three years. This space used to be a parking lot. I wasn’t the original planter, but I was involved early on.

Have you had other city gardens before this one?
No, it’s my first one.

Continue reading →