TEMPORARY TATTOO

Change of scene. As the sometime kid entertainment director, I took Ellie to the ever-popular City Museum yesterday. El made a beeline for an air brush temporary tattoo station. She took a long time deciding among the many designs. She will show it proudly until time makes it fade.                 

KEEP ST. LOUIS FREAKY

Seen in the Audience at Artica yesterday afternoon. Who says this is boring Midwestern fly-over country?

The big burn is tonight. Lots more to come.                

The Couple At The Next Table

The scene: Longman & Eagle, a very hip bar and restaurant with a mini hotel upstairs (where I was staying) in Logan Square, Chicago. My son and I were at dinner. A couple sat down next to us who were, let's say, attention getting.

Now, I can talk to just about anyone who is receptive. I made a comment about how cool the man's tattoo was. (Actually, I hate tattoos but that attitude wouldn't open any doors.) He was friendly and open to having me take some pictures of his hand. I offered to send him photos and gave him my card. (That's another pick-up line for photographers. Almost no one gets back to you.) Then there was his date, who must have had modeling experience. She sure knew how to pose.                   

Chacun A Son Goût

This Pagan Picnic that I mentioned a couple of days ago isn't a real big deal. People who have generally out of the mainstream religious views show up with various mystics, tarot card readers, spiritual travelers and those trying to sell them something. Many are deliberately strange. The small gathering can be a bit sad but it's good that The Lou is diverse enough to have the affair.

There were an awful lot of tattoos, not surprisingly. Readers of this blog know my attitude about them but, hey, your skin belongs to you. Still, it's hard for me to understand why someone would want that on the back of their leg. Each to their own taste.

Any troublemakers might have a hard time taking the agent below seriously. How about a little gravitas?                                

Classic

An afternoon baseball game, dinner at STL's favorite (and possibly only) Nepalese restaurant, and then what? This temptation was directly across the street from where we ate. What would look good on my forearm? I'm thinking an optical diagram of a Canon 24-105 mm L USM IS lens. Or maybe a small reproduction of Botticelli's The Birth of Venus (lots of solid lines). 

Madeleine Monday

The tyke has now been to three Cardinals games in less than six weeks on this planet. She hasn't shown any enthusiasm so far. But then they don't begin to smile until about two months. Maybe if we get her to a World Series game.                       

Tattoo You

Ethnic festivals in St. Louis not only have entertainment and food, they also have marketing. Anyone who wants to sell something to the attendees and can pay for a booth might be there. The Hispanic Festival had people trying to sell newspaper subscriptions, cellular phone service and home remodeling. This mannequin with all-over tattoos was trying to draw people's attention.

Tattoos seem to be a generational thing in the US. I'm in my late 50s and middle class. No one I know in my category has any. My 30 year old daughter has a bunch of them and my 27 year old son says he is giving it serious consideration. I find them unattractive and disfiguring. A good-looking human body is fine the way it was delivered. Obviously many people feel quite the opposite. It's one thing to have a tattoo on a young, fit body but quite another thing 30 years later. What's your attitude about tattoos?