The Story Behind My First Tattoo
By Tattoo Client Harley
I met Toby, the tattoo artist of my first tattoo, weeks after I had a raucous evening with his wife Nisha and their platonic life partner Ginger Rogers. The night abruptly ended when we all got kicked out of our neighborhood strip club. The Sandy Jug was just a few blocks from our respective homes, and this pivotal event happened only two weeks after I moved to Portland. Nisha and Ginger Rogers were busy working mommas that didn’t get out much, but our close mutual friend Charlene vouched for me as a fun and safe person to go out with. As the shenanigans developed over the evening, Toby was home watching the kids.
When I woke up the next morning, I was bummed. I was eager to make new friends in my new community, and I worried that I totally blew this new relationship. Since the night slid off the rails, I figured I might not ever see Nisha and Ginger again, nor meet Toby, who I heard was a great guy and a locally famous tattoo artist. It turned out that Toby was much more forgiving, and I would end up developing a friendship with the three of them, cemented by the bonds one normally creates when getting unfairly tossed from your neighborhood strip club.
Nisha and Toby often came to see me play my sax at the jazz jam at Clyde’s Prime Rib. It was at Clyde’s that I realized that Toby and I shared a deep connection to jazz, and in particular, jazz that stretches the boundaries of jazz. Toby would expand my horizons by sending me the latest track that inspired him. This road would lead to the eccentric inter-galactic artist Sun Ra, the leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra, which continues to play to this day. The Arkestra is currently led by the 95 year old saxophonist Marshall Allen.
At Clydes one night, I asked Nisha and Toby if I could get scheduled for my first tattoo by Toby at their bustling Tattoo 34 shop. At first I was thinking of something that represented my father or family in general, but when Toby introduced me to the Sun Ra album Space is the Place, I started having other ideas. Sun Ra is pretty out there, hard to describe, but can hit you on a deeper level. In the meantime, my saxophone was turning 100 years old, which I wanted to celebrate in some way, and I was transitioning to a permanent life on the road, which I started referring to as “living in the cloud.” I pitched the concept to Toby “Saxophone/Space is the Place,” Toby was into it.
Toby’s tattoo art is all freehand. His art is all original and he does not tattoo from existing artwork, although he uses some for inspiration. Through an extremely collaborative process, he drew the concept directly on my skin with a sharpie before bringing the needles out. We looked at art on the internet for inspiration: Sun Ra album covers, saxophone tattoos, representations of the Egyptian sun god. Usually a mutual visceral agreement birthed each concept. I remember the collective “yes!” when we saw the eye, which would become the centerpiece of the tattoo.
And then there was Saturn. There has to be Saturn, the planet where Sun Ra the musician is actually from, although some will insist he was born on Earth, in Birmingham, Alabama. Toby and I had a laugh when neither of us knew if Sun Ra was alive, and then agreed that his “death” on Earth doesn’t really matter because he is from Saturn, and is probably still alive and making music there. Toby came up with the beautiful idea of placing Saturn in the bell of the saxophone.
The saxophone is at an interesting angle, pointing straight at the viewer, causing many to take a second look before seeing it. The eye is the centerpiece, then comes the ankh, the symbol of life in Egyption mythology, which Sun Ra was deeply influenced by. And finally an explosion of color, stars and comets.
Once the design was set, Toby went to work. He would go for hours without a break if I didn’t ask for it. And we talked….about life, politics, family, dreams, goals, and things we were struggling with in life, as Sun Ra played in the background. Other tattoo artists would frequently visit, admiring Toby’s work, asking questions, discussing the design in detail. Nisha, Toby, and Ginger’s kids would also circle through after school at Tattoo 34, talk about their days and watch Toby work. At one point, Ginger’s girls came in to hang out and debated at what age they thought kids should be allowed to get tattooed without their parent’s permission.
The tattoo ended up taking 3 days over 5 months. In the end it was much bigger and more colorful than I expected. There is something very intimate about having someone create their art on your skin based on mutually inspired concepts, without knowing what it would look like. I absolutely love it, as do most people who see it, but fans of Sun Ra love it the most. I’ve since left Portland to live in the cloud, but a friendship has forever left its mark.
