I’m originally from Canada … I was born there in 1980 … I moved to the states in 86 … And I’ve been in the Chicagoland area since then … Where in Canada … Calgary … When I was in Calgary … one of the last things I remember was watching the equivalent of music television … Canada’s MTV … it wasn’t … all music all the time just yet … it was still an hour long show just of videos … I think right before we left it was Madonnas Material Girl … and Culture Clubs Karma Chameleon … and Tears for Fears Everybody want’s to save the world … Those three videos were on and I remember thinking … well that’s just what America is like (laughter) … It’s not the case … There’s not really anything drastically different day to day life … and I’m much more acclimated to this then I am that now … There were a couple of different neighborhoods a year … at the beginning … which meant a couple of different schools … That was kind of weird … because your the new kid … but you’re also the new kid from a different country … that was interesting for the first couple … but after that it kind of smoothed out … Did it make my situation exotic because I was Canadian?… maybe … I don’t know … red hair … (laughter) I don’t think so … not much exotic about suburban Chicago … Western Springs in the late 80’s  … The club scene … I did that from the sidelines for a while … I was out in the burbs … I was married for a bit … had a day job as a Harley mechanic for a bit … and I would just kind of run down and do the city stuff at night … it wasn’t until about 2008 … 2009 that I moved down to the city and have been here since … As far as now … I manage nightclubs in the bar business in Chicago … I do security … at several of them … that’s been the bread and butter for the last decade or so … Metro … Eastroom … Debonair … Exit … almost 15 years at Neo’s … Friday and Saturday and Thursday weekend insanity was really cool … but the Sunday Wednesday quiet nights when random people would come in … where people you hadn’t seen in a while would come in … that was it’s own thing … there was an entire range of wild and crazy and weird … theres not one or three or ten things to pinpoint … for me it’s just one larger piece … from working at these places I’ve met both long time friends and nightclub friends … people you say hi and bye to for five seconds and they don’t know anything about you but also some of my best friends have come out to those places … When i’m not working … It depends on the day … I’m pretty nocturnal these days … so … if there’s noting going on anywhere I work … it’s pretty much just me time … gym time or the dog time … not being in a bar time … the places I like to go to … just being in the industry … I’ll go somewhere where I know someone working … whether I work there or work with them … If I’m really good friends with them and they happen to be working somewhere across town  … I’ll seek that out before I seek out a happy hour special or some kind of food item or some kind of gimmicky thing … I’ll seek out who’s working where before I fall into any kind of theme place or scene … I’m really just going to see my friends … As far as tattoo’s … I remember … the first person I saw covered in them … in my head … I’ve been covered in them since I was too young to really understand what they were … I just knew … that’s just going to be me one day … My dad has one from the sixties … he never got it touched up … he thought about getting it removed … but for the longest time … that was my tattoo experience … just my dads … but then there was … he was born in Scotland … and there was a Scottish wedding … and we went over for it … and I was maybe eleven for this … and the grooms friends were all fully covered Scottish bikers … this was in the early nineties … and I was just …just … blown away … wow … it is a thing … you can get them everywhere … and still … you know … maybe be looked at funny … but you can still go out and do things … it doesn’t seem to life altering … and it really hasn’t been … so that was the first time I saw it in the flesh … physically … when I was in Scotland … I was just floored by it … My very first tattoo … was a really small one underneath my belly button … I mean … I did little ones … on me … in high school … in detention … and what not … little …

Nine Inch Nails logos… little crosses … and little dumb shit … but those are all gone now … they’re all covered over … yeah … but they were all things I did myself … seemed like a good thing at the time … But … my first real one … I think … was right around the time … right after twenty I think … just underneath belly button … I got a small one … It’s been covered up since … I remember not enjoying it … during … but once it was over … it’s … well that’s done … I’ll never have to do that again … but … here we are (laughter) … at least I’ll never have to do that ribcage thing again … I’ve done the whole ribcage … so … I’ve been fortunate … I think there’s maybe fifteen different artists that have worked on me …  at least … they’ve all done a really good job of bumping them into each other … there’s not really anything that clashes … or doesn’t go … for me … there’s … there’s a bigger … not so much a story … it’s just so much … thing’s I’ve done … or places I’ve been … As far as the tattoo on my back … perhaps the largest … I really like traditional Japanese work … I was in the process of figuring out who I wanted to do it … I picked … I found … Dave Dylan over at Tattoo Factory right around the corner … and he did my sleeves … the foo dogs that I have … and I was so impressed … that it was like … well … it’s yours … we waited a couple of years but then we started on it … then that was it’s own project … finishing my back … it was about forty hours of tattooing … over probably two and a half … three years … Reactions to it? … Everything … it depends on the where and it depends on the when or what … People trying to grab you … people trying to touch it … People are into it … or they’re dragging their kids away from you … closing their blinds … locking their doors … Just depends … And at the same time … I can’t remember the last time that I was sized up on the train … you know … for my wallet … so it’s kind of beneficial … I know what I look like … It’s got me through some stuff … and it’s gotten me out of some stuff … It’s kind of a screen … Regrets? I don’t regret the tattoos I’ve gotten … I’ve gotten them for a reason … But … I regret some of the space … I could have put this there … I could have put that there … mostly on my legs … the little dumb ones … the little silly ones … I would have done my legs differently … not because what’s there … just the layout of it … Obviously … with cover ups … I mean … I don’t think you regret … with me anyways … I don’t regret what I got there … I just liked putting something else over it … better … And yeah … going over a tattoo is more painful … and I don’t know why (laughter) … It’s like white ink hurts more … I don’t know why … I think you just have to push harder … I’ve heard a couple of different things … but yeah touch ups … and going over stuff … and cover ups …they definitely hurt more … I think I’ve had my stomach touched up once … cause it was so terrible … I’m good … I don’t need it done (laughter) … I could see filling the space between the tattoos on my legs … above the neck … actually … My parents don’t really want to see that while they’re alive … so that’s … pretty (smile)… as far as everywhere … I don’t need the backs of my knees … I don’t need that … The back of the knees … That’s really the Everest of really bad ideas … I don’t know if I need my face done … I don’t know if I need the top of my feet done … Though …there’s not an area I wouldn’t tattoo … I don’t think that I’m done …  Interesting changes in my life since we first met … six … eight years ago? … Most of it … yeah … For the better? … Oh yeah … I don’t know if I am more content now then I was before … but … I know what content is … I have a better understanding of that then I did back then …

I’ve moved recently … So I have no plans for that … Work and hobbies keep my on the road … when it does … Vacations take care of the rest … That just kind of happens as it happens … I’m due to go back to Europe … I try to do that every five … so … that’s coming up … but … safari as travel … I wouldn’t mind trying somewhere new … But I do like London and Paris … those are my two … yeah …