Traveling Times: Niagra Falls Tattoo Expo

On Monday, July 31st, 2017, I headed to PA to work with the guys at Black Cat Collective in the downtown area of Perkasie in Northern PA on the way to the Niagra Falls Tattoo Expo. I say this like it was easy, but I barely made my flight out of Atlanta because Atlanta.. on a Monday morning... What. Was. I. Thinking. Regardless I did make my flight and made it to the busy tattoo shop where I worked for 3 days and slept on a couch for 3 days. Not a bad gig especially when your host supplies a low country boil on one nights during your stay.

Atlanta Tattoo Shop

On that Thursday we packed up a Ford Focus to the gills. Ploof, Teague and I headed to New York for the tattoo Expo. After 6 hours of driving and me crammed in the backseat with alllll the stuff we checked into a motel we booked on Air BnB. The motel owner is also an Uber driver- BONUS! Joe, friend and client of mine from Detroit, met up with us in Niagara. We kept it quiet and all went to the casino to play some poker and have some drinks.

EXPO BEGINS! So, on Friday set up our booth. I started to tattoo a Dimebag Darrell caricature on Joe with the thoughts of entering his tattoo in the Tattoo of the Day competition, but that didn't happen because as you can see the tattoo ended up being more detailed than planned. So we ended up finishing off the night back at the casino playing poker... where I lost... again.

Saturday at the Expo was better, but first we had a crappy lunch at Tony Romas. **Side Note...As with most places in Niagra the service is not good and the food options are limited. Anyway! The first tattoo of the day came off the flash sheet I made for the convention and same with the second tattoo. The third tattoo was a fun walk up. Most unusual tattoo of the day was won by my booth mate, Teauge, for this tattoo he did on a dudes TAINT! Yep, you read that right, on this dude's taint. (See said taint tattoo action below) I entered Joe's backpiece into the competition, but did not place. Closing the convention on Saturday we headed to a local bar name Players. This place had the cheapest drinks and beer in Niagra. We hung out with some artists from Vermont and ended the night at Denny's which is also the only place open after midnight..

Downtown Atlanta Tattoo Artist

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! We got up a bit earlier and went to DUN DUN DUUUUUNNN Niagara Falls! **Spoiler Alert** It's super wet there, like it's consistently raining. And finally on the last day of the expo we finally got a good meal from Mario's. Expensive, but good. **Also note that you get what you pay for in Niagara Falls. The expo was super slow for being the last day, so I tattooed on Joe's knee cap. We packed up early and headed back to PA. I was asleep on Ploof's couch back in PA by 3am.

Now this story wouldn't be complete without a twist. Ready?

I woke up on Monday morning to find out my flight back to Atlanta had been CANCELLED! Not a total twist, so I worked an extra day at Black Cat and was busy all day. More like a saving grace since the tattoo expo was slower on Sunday.

In typical form. Just like the beginning of the story.. I got a late start on the SEPTA (which is the PA train system, like our MARTA). I barely made my flight and because I was so late I was informed that my bags may or my not be in Atlanta when I arrived. So, I boarded the plane and prayed to that tattoo Gods that my bags made the flight.. got back to Atlanta and MY BAGS DID TOO!

Super shout out to the guys at Black Cat Collective. Make sure you check them out if you are ever going through PA.

You can find more out about the Niagra Falls Tattoo Expo HERE!

HERE is the link to the Air BnB we stayed out, you know, the one with owner as a Uber driver.

And if you want to check out the casino, HERE is that link.

Last but not least.. TSA gave me a little heads up for all you traveling tattooers out there. HERE is a link for a gun case for your tattoo machines that helps when going through security.

Next stop? Atlanta Tattoo Expo! Which I am currently taking appointments for! If you are interested in getting tattooed at the Expo contact me HERE! We hope to see you all August 18-20th!

-James

ATLANTA TATTOO SHOP