WARNING! THIS EPISODE CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS AND LOTS OF TATTOO TALK!
Jan 24, 2024
Eden Kendall and Amadeus
This episode pulls back the curtain on a world where skin becomes canvas, featuring everything from the stomach-turning spectacle of human suspension to the delightfully taboo dance of burlesque. With a fair warning for those with delicate sensibilities, we explore the adrenaline-fueled showcase of talent and creativity that propels this celebration far beyond a traditional convention.
We also weave through the intimate tapestries of tattoo collectors, whose inked epidermis tells stories of rebellion, remembrance, and rebirth. It's a symphony of personal narratives that transcends age, including those who've discovered the joy of tattoos in their golden years, shattering stereotypes along the way. The festival serves not only as a convergence for famed artists and eager skin art aficionados but also as a testament to the evolving social embrace of tattoos, evidenced by the unlikely reveal of Dolly Parton's discreet body art. So buckle up for an episode that vibrates with the pulse of tattoo culture, and who knows, you might just leave with an irresistible urge to etch your own tale into the living gallery of your skin.
This episode pulls back the curtain on a world where skin becomes canvas, featuring everything from the stomach-turning spectacle of human suspension to the delightfully taboo dance of burlesque. With a fair warning for those with delicate sensibilities, we explore the adrenaline-fueled showcase of talent and creativity that propels this celebration far beyond a traditional convention.
We also weave through the intimate tapestries of tattoo collectors, whose inked epidermis tells stories of rebellion, remembrance, and rebirth. It's a symphony of personal narratives that transcends age, including those who've discovered the joy of tattoos in their golden years, shattering stereotypes along the way. The festival serves not only as a convergence for famed artists and eager skin art aficionados but also as a testament to the evolving social embrace of tattoos, evidenced by the unlikely reveal of Dolly Parton's discreet body art. So buckle up for an episode that vibrates with the pulse of tattoo culture, and who knows, you might just leave with an irresistible urge to etch your own tale into the living gallery of your skin.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Adena Namadea podcast, and I'm starting this particularly for one good reason You're so used to hearing Namadea's voice. First, I wanted to grab your attention with a trigger warning, because you're going to need a trigger warning for this particular episode if the following or things are true about you, you're squeamish and just hearing about bodily punctures sets you off just anything, even just talking about that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:
Because it's going to get much worse than that.
Speaker 1:
It's going to get much worse than that If you feel that the word blasphemy is too blasphemous for you to hear because our guest's name is literally that. Or three, if you're just anti-ink like, if you're just a person who feels like tattoos are just not a part of the lifestyle that you live hey, we get it.
Speaker 2:
That's fine, you're not going to enjoy this. On the flip side of that, if you are a tattoo enthusiast and if suspension is a thing that is interesting to you or you're curious about, and if you're in Jacksonville and want to attend a hell of a festival that's coming up, you're going to love this.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, if you want to hear about the most painful sounding and also disturbing place on a body that somebody has had a tattoo, this is also your podcast. So when we first talked with the guy behind the scenes about who we would be interviewing today, he wanted to make sure we understood that Dr Blasphemy isn't a real doctor, to which I said, oh darn, I had a mole I wanted him to look at.
Speaker 2:
Obviously Dr Blasphemy is like a character name for this guy that emcees and tours with the Villain Arts Festival.
Speaker 1:
And without further ado. He's also a former radio guy, which you'll be able to tell instantly when you hear his voice. Please welcome Dr Blasphemy. Dr Blasphemy is coming to Florida, coming to Jacksonville, florida, to be more specific, and before we ask you some important questions about you and what you do, and maybe some of the strangest and most exciting moments of your career, tell everybody about the show that's coming our way.
Speaker 3:
Oh well, we've been down in Florida for a while now, in like Tampa and a few other cities, but we decided to come into Jacksonville with the biggest traveling tattoo festival on Earth. We're going to bring a few hundred artists from all around the world, including some of your friends from TV, from Gatemaster and BlackAin crew. Mix them in with some great vendors with artwork merchandise, throw out some shows for you with burlesque and sideshow and carnival entertainment. Do tattoo contests. You've got a party man. We've got everything to accessorize your tattoo lifestyle in one room for one weekend.
Speaker 1:
So you can come and get ink, of course, right Like you, obviously that some of the more well-known artists are going to get booked up immediately. Can people go ahead and schedule online now, or do you have to wait until you come to the venue? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:
You can go to villainartscom and you'll see a list of our shows. You just click on Jacksonville and there'll be a list of attending artists. You can click on the artist you like, look through their work. If you go to our event page, there's a link there to where you can talk with the artist about what your ideas are and such. But even the artists from TV don't book up for the whole weekend. They all leave open space. That way you can walk in the door, come on and get tattooed by somebody who would never get tattooed from before.
Speaker 2:
And that to me, that alone is worth going in there for the excitement of that and say, hey, guess who did my tattoo.
Speaker 3:
Dude. It's really a great atmosphere in there. I mean, we used to be called the villainarts tattoo conventions, but a few years back we're looking at what we're doing and we're like we're not a convention, we're not a bunch of old dudes with briefcases, this is a festival.
Speaker 3:
I mean, we got a girl breathing fire on stage. We got a girl hanging from hooks from the ceiling right now doing suspension. We've got the TV people over here. We got a Ringling Brothers performer. This is more of a festival for us and it's really a great feel.
Speaker 1:
Let's talk about that suspension, by the way.
Speaker 3:
Is she hanging off of things that she's got?
Speaker 1:
piercings of, or what's happening with that.
Speaker 3:
Well, um, actually, if you go to the villain arts social media or you can follow me as well as a dr Blasphemy, dr Blasphemy, um, I got plenty of reels and videos up of the suspensions. They take a big hooks like the ones you would fish for sharks.
Speaker 3:
Of course without the barbs on them. They pierce them through their skins, whether it be the shoulders that meet, caps, the elbows. I've actually just posted a video two days ago of somebody suspending from their face. Now we do this after 9 pm. We do it right about 9, 15, 9, 30 every night, because we want to. We want to keep a friendly atmosphere for the children, and most of the kids are gone by 9 and even if they're not, they can stand there and watch it, because it's not like blood dripping, it's just, it's suspension, it's an art form, it's people hanging from books and spinning the music. It's yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 2:
In my mind.
Speaker 3:
You know, I still stand there after 20 years of watching this stuff happen. I still stand there at times and be like oh my god, how do we do this?
Speaker 2:
you know, Okay in my mind I thought that the rings were already like in their back and then and then you just look like a rope through it. But they're actually putting the hooks and people as they go.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, yeah, sometimes they'll do it in front of everybody, like we're bringing out to the center of the floor. I'll be like okay, guys, here's how we do it. Now I've got um, and we have on villain arts a couple reels and videos up of the actual piercings for Suspension, which is kind of hard to watch.
Speaker 1:
But, um, if you want to know how it's done it there's a certain person out there that is very excited right now.
Speaker 3:
Well, there's a lot of people that are excited. I was really surprised at the amount of people that are into the suspensions. I mean, whether it be from the Native American traditional days, we all see the movie and they come in and they see it happen and they're like I want to try this Now. I've watched it happen. See a girl hanging from her knees to girl, with six folks in her stomach hanging from her, like her six back. Wow, I just look at me like yeah, I want to do that. But I gotta give a lot of Love and respect to the people that do this, because they really do put their body on the line. I've seen Accidents happen Shows not necessarily our shows, but at other shows where skins have ripped out.
Speaker 1:
You know, there was a time when I thought Hair hangers were the craziest people out there, like crazy. You know, in a way, that's the crazy, not the word. I'm looking for Different, unique Cuz. I don't want it to sound negative but like in the circus that would come around, there'd be whole families and they and I would ask them I would ask them. You know it's hanging from your hair, Is it? After a while you don't feel it anymore. And they said no, you feel it. You feel it every time.
Speaker 3:
Well, yeah, I fell in love with the girl when I was 15 years old from that tubes video. Remember that video. She's a beauty Hangin. It's spinning from her hair and her teeth. We do have other aerial performers to. It's not just suspension. We do have people come in and do the aerial performances like you're talking about, or on the hoop or on silk. Here in Philadelphia this weekend we have a lady by the name of Shannon Sexton. She does a silk performance where she's like 30 feet near spinning and flipping around, just silk.
Speaker 2:
Wow, it's truly an athletic it is. I love watching that feet, that thing like it, like it's Cirque, shows the whole silk thing. Just it's amazing it is, it's athletic and it's art and it's beautiful.
Speaker 1:
But but you did say that the suspension stuff's after nine. So let's get that out there right now, because there are some people listening right now that are gonna say Well, I Cuz you're there after nine and they see that that's on you and that's a decision you made as a parent, but like as far as the ink goes.
Speaker 3:
as far as the ink goes, you're on the hoop and you're on the hoop. Thank you. I want to look back in a day of pv, at nine pm you know, that's when they would say the the word dm on tb, or whatever time you're allowed to.
Speaker 3:
Kids were in bed, so we kind of go by that at its by nine pm and we give you plenty heads up, a reward or suspension in the back of people hanging from books bring the family. But if you watch, the kids are so desensitized to this. Now I think it's um, I don't sound old here, but I think it's the video games now you're right.
Speaker 2:
Video games when you went to run in america when you mentioned, kids were in bed. Uh, now they're in bed watching tiktok videos. By the way, this is all going on at the prime osborne convention center, february.
Speaker 1:
Second, uh, through the fourth and will repeat that again and again.
Speaker 3:
So in your line of work in your line of work.
Speaker 1:
I'm sorry no, no, I mean that you have stories. I'm sure that that go from incredibly moving and inspirational from people who want to think. We all know that it's. It's just great content to hear people's back stories, uh, but what is? Is there anything that's just outrageous that comes to mind that you've seen done at one of these shows? As far as the actual selection of the, okay uh, you're probably thinking about that. I don't know there's so many.
Speaker 3:
I mean the heart-touching ones for me, or the uh with my friend candy done bar. Uh it master caldomb are wife. She does uh permit cosmetics. A lot of stuff with burn patients are cancer patients, uh, a lot of ladies who have had a double. The second is on. They will have uh tattooing done there for like uh on the other, nipples on the other writer.
Speaker 3:
I lashes, so I should have a lot of work with angel faces. Uh, I think people crying over memorial tattoos and such like that for the grandparents, for their mother, the father lost child, which is just always heartbreaking yeah and then, um, if you go to youtube or google, baltimore tattoo, one of the most we uh, we you just say, do it from somebody else's computer not at work, yet it delete my search yet our bosses computer and do it yeah, baltimore tattoo, uh, paint tattoo or bomber tattoo, dimension paint tattoo and uh, it was a.
Speaker 3:
We had double blizzards in baltimore that year on. The shut down all the roads in baltimore and they show them a thursday night or show start on a friday so nobody could come in. Very few people made it to our show. So to keep an entertainer moving, I convinced the guy to get it pink tattoo and you got a milkshake and you can hear me commentate the whole thing.
Speaker 1:
It's your proudest moment as an emcee, I'm sure oh my god, I'm gonna shake.
Speaker 3:
Brought all the boys to the.
Speaker 1:
This is taking a complete turn. Love it now.
Speaker 3:
Granted, this is about 20 years ago, when things weren't so politically correct in our shows and everything else. But um, it was a lot of fun. And again, we were shut into a hotel for a weekend with back-to-back blizzards, so nobody could even drive.
Speaker 2:
I can't imagine anything being politically correct at one of your shows.
Speaker 3:
Even now, you'd be surprised we, um, we we go very, very hard at trying to create a family atmosphere and an inclusive, accepting atmosphere, regardless of who you are, what you believe in, what you identify, as it really doesn't matter. If you come into our Room with a smile, into our atmosphere and wanting to have fun, you're accepted with open arms. We just love you and we want you to be there and we should be part of our family.
Speaker 1:
Have you noticed an increase in older women getting their first tattoo at an age that's like, say, 50 plus? Have you noticed that has become more Common?
Speaker 3:
Oh yeah, you're talking about the Villanar's cougar club. Yes, no, no, we are, we do. We have a lot of older people. I mean the demographic used to be 18 to 35, 18 to 42 and you know that was really it. But with the TV shows like Ink Master and Ellie Ink and Black Ink crew and such, bringing tattooing into the living room, it made it. So it's not the bad guys in the movies anymore, bikers or villains or whatever. It became something like a family spectator sport. They were rooting for these people to win their shows or whatever. So it it opened up our age range. We go from 18 to Well. Dressers come out and they're in their 70s. Wow, the LaFlanca's come out. He's close to 70 as well. Pops, a guy who comes here to Philadelphia. He's 82 or 83 and he still gets tattooed. Now, credit tattooing that skin is not fun, but hey, we love them. They're collectors.
Speaker 2:
I got my first tattoo. I think I was right at 48 and my sister was 54 and she got hers. We got ours the same day together and, eden, I think you were in your house.
Speaker 1:
I was just in my early 50s. Yeah, we're old, we're oh geez.
Speaker 2:
So yeah, I was in my early, so we were both, you know, pretty up there, but I knew at age 12 what I wanted my first tattoo to be. I just waited two damn long to get it. I.
Speaker 3:
Got my first one at 14. Oh, I grew up in Baltimore. So you guys have seen the TV, you know what it's like. Yeah, I grew up in Baltimore and I think I had ran away from home and a friend of mine and I both put an Indian ink FTW on our arms, which was a big mistake, you know, and I was years later got it covered up. By the time I was 17. I was a prime as a tattoo power here as well. That's amazing. So I mean, I started earlier, but I grew up with a bunch of bikers and criminals. So I grew up reading easy Rider magazine.
Speaker 2:
We haven't met yet. Do you have any face tattoos?
Speaker 3:
No, no, I won't touch my face. I'm way too pretty for that. Perfect face for radio. So now I just I do. I do a lot of TV and stuff and I've got a lot of friends that have face tattoos. It's like the new thing. Hey, I want to get a face sleeve.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think that post Malone and jelly roller really kind of made it like almost. I actually saw a guy working at a local grocery store, Publix I'm not sure if you're familiar with Publix, which is pretty conservative. Yeah, he had a face and tattoos all around its ears and he had a shaved head and you don't see that at Publix and I was like wow, this company has really really gotten pretty liberal.
Speaker 3:
I Was in the work program when I was 15 at school, where you go to school half a day and you work half a day, and I couldn't get a job at McDonald's because I had a tattoo on my knuckles.
Speaker 1:
Oh, no doubt. Wow, sure Back in the age of 15.
Speaker 3:
Now, granted, this is the 80s, because I'm as old as you all are. Now I'm like 55. But you weren't allowed now to do that. But that's the way tattoos have become accepted in our society. It used to be one in eight people you knew had a tattoo, but now it's in one in every three or four people you know have a tattoo.
Speaker 1:
And people you don't think have them have them, you just don't know, you don't see them.
Speaker 3:
Right Legal professionals. Dolly Pardon, I mean, she's been famous for years for covering her tattoos up and not letting them be known, but she's got several tattoos. Amy Nicoletto from LA Inc has worked with her.
Speaker 1:
Oh, that's cool.
Speaker 2:
Interesting. Yeah, I love Dolly.
Speaker 3:
I've got my Dolly shirt on today. As a matter of fact, my St Dolly.
Speaker 2:
I love.
Speaker 3:
Dolly so much. How can you not I? Know, I know there's a lot of Dolly tattoos out there too.
Speaker 1:
I'm not surprised by that. If I was going to get anyone human tattooed on me, that'd probably be it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, she's a legend.
Speaker 3:
You know you're Mount Rushmore. You know kind of like Dolly Pardon, loretta Lin, patsy Klein, and I know she didn't sing, but I kind of won't put Betty White on there, because Betty White you should do the whole.
Speaker 2:
Golden Girls as a Mount Rushmore? That would be great. Oh my gosh, dr Blass, for me we we got to let you go because we got some other things we got to get to. But I want to remind everyone that the show is coming February 2nd through the 4th at the Prime Osborne Convention Center. It's the Villain Arts Tattoo Festival. We can't wait for you to be in town, especially because I'm going to get my second tattoo with you guys.
Speaker 1:
All right, we we warned you about everything you just heard.
Speaker 2:
Right.
Speaker 1:
At the very start of this.
Speaker 2:
And the reason this is a podcast is because that was not safe for radio.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely not. Nor would we just give it to you without a warning.
Speaker 2:
Exactly.
Speaker 1:
So we hope you enjoyed it. If you listened, and if you didn't enjoy it and you listened anyway, well, that's really on you, yeah absolutely, because we told you, we told you with me, my bad.
Speaker 2:
And if you want to see my new ink, it should be done, I think, by Friday afternoon on February 2nd, so we'll have it up on our Facebook and, I guess, all of our other social yeah absolutely Lots of it Speaking of which, do all those things that we ask you to do, and then some, and then we appreciate.