Chapter 1 - Triple X Tattoo

Explicit

I had the idea for what was to become Tattoo the Earth at 3:45pm on November 18, 1998, at Triple X Tattoo in New York City. Sean Vasquez was finishing a tattoo on my calf that he’d started a few weeks earlier in New Orleans, and we were continuing a conversation about what I should do next with my life. My business career had just gone bust in spectacular fashion, and I wanted to do something unusual, something that had never been done before, something like the greatest freak show ever, like a giant S&M Woodstock, or a festival that combined tattooing and body art with rock bands.

“I’ll call it Tattoo the Earth,” I blurted out.