Paradise Tattoo Gathering- a thank you

If you missed out on being there, you missed out on the next evolutionary step of where tattooing is going. Thank you Gabe for providing the best tattooers, location, seminars, forums and convention I have ever attended. The thing about the Paradise Tattoo Gathering wasnt that it was just you had the vision to do it but you worked your ass off to make it come to fruition Everyone who was there left with nothing but positive things to say and experiences to take home and draw from for their own artistic careers. Im glad I had the pleasure to work at it and take part in all of it. it was like summer camp for tattooers. Hopefully the rest of the people that were there felt the same way [and just from over hearing the numerous conversations- it seems they did], and even more so I hope it grows bigger next year. So, Gabe, I just wanted to say thank you publicly, as well as these others who helped it go off without a hitch: Durb and Tony and Hell City Kim Mary and Susie Jiminy Peaks staff Mike the Uploader Khalil [this guy worked his fucking ass off] Steve [ditto] Joe, Darrin, Health Educators, Carson, Cecil, Big Gus, Jack and everyone else who spoke at the discussion panels [i know im forgetting a ton of people here] Pulse and all the artists who showed up with no egos [oh and anyone else im forgetting] thank you. again.

Agreed. Coolest show I've been to and I've been to a lot.

I couldn't have been happier with how the weekend went! Being Gabe's right hand gal, I personally saw how hard this man worked everyday for the past year. So a huge thank you to all the staff that came out and helped Gabe and the rest of us run such a great show! Everyone worked so hard, but I still think you could add what all of us did multiply it times 10 and it still wouldn't touch how much Gabe put into this! Also, without Durb and Tony, this certainly wouldn't have been possible. In many ways they helped this go on without a hitch. So many more to thank, I could go on for days, but big big thank you to the staff, supporters, artists, vendors, Jiminy Peak, the company that makes airborne and emergen-C for keeping us alive, caffeine... you're also a great friend. It was a blast. We absolutely can't wait for next year!!

Yes, a big thank you is owed to Gabe and everyone else who picthed in for this weekend. It was definately the best vacation I have ever taken. Thank you to everyone involved in bringing this show together, I really hope the wife and I can make it again next year.

Best convention EVER. Seminars were great, people were great, and most importantly (to me) my new tattoo is beyond awesome. Thanks for having it, hope to see you all there again next year!

just wanted to say it was a great time and i left with a couple great new tattoos! hope to be able to attend next year!

ohmy, i had such agreat time...so did my sister and niece...girls only weekend...everyone was soooo nice and helpful, we got stunning tattoos too..Gabe is so awesome, what a sweetheart!! and HUGE KUDOS to Mary for remembering me.......... Mary is AWESOME!!!!!

Great convention....this is how they should all be....in a great place with a fantastic atmosphere. Not the same old same old tatty con. Good Job !!

A big thank you to Gabe, Durb, Tony and the rest of the support staff for putting together a great weekend for all. This was the start of what should become Thee Convention of the Year. Jiminy Peak and their staff where great and the time of year was beautiful with autumn in full swing, providing an awesome backdrop for the weekend. Thanks for letting me be a part of it all and especially for choosing me to take part in some of the discussion panels, it was a blast. See you all next year, Larry Brogan

Hey, thanks for the kind words, because of everyones positive energy and hard work we were able to accomplish a lot for the first year of a show. The overwhelming support for the show has insured that we will do it again next year and hopefully kick it up a notch. Without everyone talking about the show and traveling from afar, we wouldnt have the opportunity to do it again. But you folks came out and the show will happen again without doubt. Cant thank you enough, but Ill try, ha. Ok, form letter to follow: Wow, where to start. The Paradise Tattoo Gathering was a near complete success. The focus on responsible education for tattoo artists, the quality of personable artists tattooing and attending the show, the quality of tattoo collector getting tattooed, and the resort location itself all came together to create a unique weekend of tattooing that hopefully wont be forgotten too soon. It hit me half way through the weekend that not only were people learning tips, tricks, and all about what tattooing has to offer, they were also learning that giving back responsibly is how we all get ahead together. From the feedback we have received, nearly everyone had a great time and is eager to do it again. Indeed, each success is really just a new start and we are happy to take any constructive criticism or ideas about what you would like to see in the future, and we are excited to work hard to kick it up a notch at least one more time. We are settling dates as we speak. We have a few pages of notes of things to improve, feel free to send more! If you have any photos or digital videos, or any sort of documentation of the gathering, please contact us. Keep checking back for dates, the resort sold out pretty fast last year, and rooms will go quicker next time. The website will be updated a few times a week with new tattoos, news, and videos. The online tattoo gathering is 24/7! Rumors of a DVD have been heard too, we will know more next week. So, we thanked everyone before the event, now that the gathering has been a success, one more round are deserved. Thanks to everyone at Jiminy Peak, they were awesome, very helpful, and we cant thank them enough for hosting everyone. The smoothness of the event was insured by Durb and Tony of Hell City fame, Mike, Steve, and Khalil fixed the problems throughout the weekend, Jeff Solin for being on the mic and competitions, Mary for the smooth checkin and admissions process, all the working artists were simply amazing and the collectors, fellow artists, and health department had nothing but nice things to say about the professionalism of the working artists. Special thanks to the artists who took part in the discussion panels, taught seminars, critiqued work (Extra thanks to Joe and Durb!!!), and to the machine builders for their workshops. Joe created a great witch and Brett from Pulse did a great job on the design direction which made everything look great. Thanks to the artists who came from all over to learn - in doing so you insured the events success. We are happy to be able to work hard for you guys and gals next year. Thanks to Skin Deep and Total Tattoo from the UK, and to Tattoo Savage and Prick Magazine for coming out and covering the event. Thanks to Allysa Burnelli for taking photos for the gathering. Thanks to my wife and kid who were able to share my time with a zillion other people after not seeing me for a week and pulled a few running shifts themselves (thanks!!!), Mike the Uploader for uploading photos throughout the weekend (and before and after!), Louie and Shad, Rachel, Susie, Sandi, all the others who covered for a day and those who offered to help even though things were all set (please come back next year, we might need ya!). And to our very patient TattooNOW clients, we're hammering through our list as we speak, we cant thank you enough either. Ok, theres a server calling my name, once we button a few things up we will be announcing more about next year. Thanks again, see ya at Hell City. gabe

So, any word on the DVD?

yeah, there are tons of hours of tapes to get through! It looks great, we have most of the panels, joe caps seminar, and so many other tapes it will take weeks just to get through them all! But, it looks good and sounds good enough that we will have something good out next year. Probably one for collectors, and one for artists... Hey we just posted yer tattoo in the galleries, how did it heal up?

It healed out great. It still has that last layer of dead skin peeling off, but it should be all good to go in the next few days. They are actually having a tattoo competition out here, sponsored by Skin and Ink no less, lol. I am going to enter it and the werewolf; we will see how it goes. If nothing else, I will get some healed pictures of it. Definitely keep us updated on the DVDs, I know I want one.