BrandiBlog

I recently met an amazing tattoo artist named Calli. While having a beer out on the patio of my cousin Derek’s house, Calli entertained me with stories. He told me about his wedding in Las Vegas officiated by Buddy Holly, 7 foot penis sculptures that shot flames out of the top at the Burning Man Festival, and some of the oddities of growing up LDS with a wild man trapped inside. His most inspiring and memorable story, however, detailed how he wound up living, working and loving life in Bend, Oregon and the first time that he met my cousin Derek. It all started with a Bloody Mary.

Calli was living in Durango, CO, doing his apprenticeship with a tattoo artist who wasn’t exactly a nice guy. Calli hated going to work every day–he felt unwelcome and unappreciated by his mentor. So one morning at around 9 am he went for breakfast. Since he didn’t have to work until 2 pm, he decided to order a Bloody Mary. He ate his breakfast, enjoyed his Bloody Mary, and then all hell broke loose. His mentor’s wife came walking through the restaurant. She then went back and told her husband that she had seen Calli drinking a Bloody Mary with his breakfast. The mentor flipped out! Rather than speaking to his apprentice face-to-face, one-on-one, he called him on his cell phone. The mentor refused to meet in person, instead engaging in a down and dirty verbal exchange on the phone. When all was said and done, Calli was without a job and mentor with only about a week left to go. He was screwed.

A few weeks later, Calli and his wife wound up in Bend. He had heard from a friend about an amazing tattoo artist who had a shop there. So he walked into Oxygen Tattoo, portfolio in hand, to inquire about a job. Derek, the shop owner and artist, grabbed the portfolio and quickly thumbed through it. With a reaction like that, Calli assumed that it was going to be a no-go. However, a few seconds later Derek invited him to join him for breakfast over at the D&D, a local dive-bar and restaurant. Calli hesitated for a minute, not sure of where this was all going. Derek said, “Oh man, you’ve gotta join me. I love your work and would love to see you work here. Plus, you can’t pass up the D&D–they have THE best Bloody Marys in the world.” That was it–a sign.

Calli now has a tattoo of a Bloody Mary, celery stalk and all. Some may find this strange, but to me it makes perfect sense. It’s inspiring, ironic and hilarious. It just goes to show that even our albatross can become our destiny. Pass me a Bloody Mary, please.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 7:26 am and is filed under Art, Family, Friends, Life. You can follow responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your site.