February is a magical month in Philadelphia! Yeah, yeah, there’s Valentine’s Day and all that crap for you romantics out there, but for my money, the best thing about February is the Philadelphia Tattoo Convention.
Held Feb. 4-6 at the Sheraton City Center Hotel at 17th and Race streets, it’s a three-day festival of body arts, tattoo contests and sideshow entertainment including burlesque, fire breathers, suspension artists and live music. It’s run by Tattooed Kingpin and Philadelphia Eddie’s and, if you’ve never been, you won’t believe what you’ve been missing.
Virtually every tattoo artist in the region will be there showcasing his/her work and doing work on the spot. If you’ve been looking for a good artist, this is the only way to meet this many artists and look through this many portfolios in one day.
Admission is $20 a day or $40 for the weekend and tickets are available only at the door. For more information, check out www.villainarts.com.
Best of all, each night of the weekend, The Bike Stop, 206 S. Quince St., will be absolutely packed with people from the convention: men, women, straight and gay. If you like tattoos, you’ll be in heaven!
One last thing: MC colors are not permitted at the convention.
Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend 2011
MAL was full of changes this year as it moved to a new host hotel near Capitol Hill. The contest and most events were held at the hotel, which was a brilliant move on the part of the organizers, Centaur MC. It made it easy for guests to get to the events, and even easier to change outfits 10 times a day!
Lots of people were griping about the new requirement to pay admission for the vendor mart, but if you ask me this was a no-brainer. Crowd control at the old hotel was a constant challenge, and there’s not much you can do when you let everyone in for free. IML has charged admission to its vendor mart for years, so there is a precedent. If anything, it makes you wonder what took MAL so long to do it.
The theme of the weekend this year was “Evolution,” which was appropriate not just because of the new venue. The crowd itself continues to evolve: Leather still dominates, but each year brings more guys in latex, rubber and sports gear.
There’s even a growing “furry” contingent (I’m not talking about bears). More power to them, but I just don’t get the connection between leather and dressing up like a sports mascot. Maybe one of them can drop me a line to connect the dots?
Oh, and there was a contest too! Doug Pamplin from Pittsburgh won this year. Way to go, Doug! He will compete in May in Chicago at the International Mr. Leather.
LOCAL CLUBS & EVENTS: — LIBERTY BEARS: Meetings from 7-8 p.m. and socials from 8 p.m.-midnight every first Saturday at The Bike Stop. Next meeting: Feb. 5; www.libertybears.net.
— KEYSTONE BOYS OF LEATHER: Meetings every third Thursday at The Bike Stop, 7:30 p.m. Next meetings: Feb. 17; www.keystoneboysofleather.org.
— PHILADELPHIANS MC: Meetings every first and third Monday at The Bike Stop, 7:30 p.m. Next meeting: Jan. 24, Feb. 7 and 21; www.philadelphiansmc.org.
— WOOF! PHILLY: Meetings Sunday at 5 p.m. at The Gold Club, 1416 Chancellor St.; www.woofphilly.com.
Questions? Comments? New Year’s resolutions you’ve already abandoned? Contact Jim at [email protected].