Musician Monday: Meaghan Farrell

Over the past several years on Tattoosday, we've run into several musicians in our travels, many of whom have generously shared their tattoos with us. We've decided to post tattoos from these talented folks on the first day of the work week, and call them "Musician Mondays."

We got a sneak peek at our first Monday Musician yesterday, as we shared a couple of Meaghan Farrell's tattoos in recognition of mother's day. The tattoos she has honoring her grandmother (here) are truly wonderful.

I was fortunate to run into Meaghan, who loved sharing her ink with me. Her enthusiasm for body art was evident in her excitement. "My tattoos mean the world to me," she beamed, and added that "there is no greater commitment to art." Considering that a tattoo is a permanent installation on one's body, I totally understood what she meant.

Aside from the two of Meghan's tattoos we posted yesterday, she shared a couple of more. Here's a wonderful piece on her left wrist that symbolizes her craft:

Of course the central object in the tattoo is the old-style microphone. As a resident of Queens, she pointed out that the skyline of Manhattan that serves as the tattoo's background is inked from the perspective of her borough, looking west toward the city.

Meaghan also shared this stunning monarch butterfly:

Meaghan explained that the monarch represents her sister, who she spoke of with great admiration. She called her the "matriarch of the family" and acknowledged that she was a solid presence that, despite huge challenges (she was widowed, a single mother, and is now remarried to a man who is wheelchair-bound), she retains the strength and grace of a butterfly.

I love how the artist created the shadow below the monarch's wings:

Like the work we saw yesterday, the artist responsible for these tattoos is Mr. Beans, at Fat Cat Tattoos NYC in Astoria, Queens.

Meaghan is a singer and she shared her debut CD, "Waitress," with me and let me tell you, it's a wonderful album. She has a very distinct voice and her songs are well-written and catchy. You can visit her website here to listen to her songs and see where you can hear her perform. In fact, she has a show this coming Saturday, May 14th, at the UC Lounge in New York City.

Check out her video for "Lost in My Life":



Thanks again to Meaghan for sharing her music and tattoos with us here at Tattoosday!

~

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The Official Mid Winter Cabin Fever Is Killing Me Entry

Above- the view of my street after 14 inches of snow fell in Central New Jersey last night. It's only January and already it's made it to #6 snowiest winter of all time in the NYC Metro area

I used to kid my brother who now lives in northern Ohio about living in a snow belt, with lake effect snows and even days when it's so cold snow comes down with no clouds in the sky.

So I suppose there's some reverse karma at work right now....the New Brunswick area is starting to look like Ashtabula. But we were among the luckier ones; we never lost power (6,500 residents did) and my cousin in Clifton got socked with 19 inches of the white stuff.

Yesterday we had two separate storms, the first of which was 4 inches of wintry mix that began in the wee hours of Wednesday and ended in the early afternoon. Then it was the main event, a Nor'easter that had ripped through Florida early in the week and churned up the coast with warm air hitting cold air in the Mid-Atlantic, causing "thunder snow" (see previous post) and freezing rain that felt and sounded like a tropical storm, then a changeover to a heavy, wet snow that downed trees, powerlines, and made travel impossible in these parts. Central Park in New York recorded 19 inches of snow and passed the 30 inch mark for the month; this was the snowiest January in New York's recorded history.

And we've got two more months of winter to go.....Groundhog Day can't come fast enough. Please Phil, give us some good news!

Everyone who reads this blog regularly knows I'm no youngster....heck, I still own a SONY WALKMAN (and it still works). And I'm starting to feel the physical ravages of removing snow two and three times a week.

But I must admit....snow sure can be beautiful, even awe inspiring. And it's more aesthetically pleasing than gray skies, brown lawns, and bare trees.

Here's some pics from the first few minutes prior to the beginning of snow removal.

The back patio. Check out the picnic table

The deck in the back garden

The back door, freshly dug out!

The view from the top of the driveway before I started removing snow. At the end of the driveway is a five foot tall wall of snow, courtesy of a township snowplow.

The Old Homestead

Somewhere under that four foot pile of snow are daffodil bulbs hoping to make an appearance sometime in 2011.

Rudy Giuliani To Chris Christie- "They Elected You Governor.....They Expect You To Be There".

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared on Friday's edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, and guests Lesley Stahl and Donny Deutsch, and the onetime Republican presidential candidate had a constructive critique of his successor's handling of last week's blizzard, and also of the governor of New Jersey's disappearing act during the weather emergency.

Giuliani said that overall New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has done a good job as mayor, and shouldn't be judged by the poor snow removal performance in the city last week. A Marist poll has said that only 21% of New Yorkers thought that the mayor handled the situation well, while more than 70% thought he did a poor job.


But Giuliani's most pointed criticism was directed towards New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who went to Disney World on the day the blizzard hit, while his lieutenant governor was also vacationing. State Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat and third in command, was in charge while the Republican governor was in Florida. Rudy joins Republican stalwarts Pat Buchanan, Ed Rollins, and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman in tweaking the YouTube star Christie for his no show during a statewide emergency.

In the interview Mika Brzezinski asked.... "Was it (taking a vacation during an emergency) a mistake on Chris Christie's part?"

Giuliani- "Yeah. Chris should have come back. If he would have asked my advice I would have said, 'They elected you governor, they've got an emergency, they expect you to be there. You've got to be there if you are a governor, a mayor, or even a president if it's important'".

There's a famous YouTube video that might be responsible for putting Chris Christie in the public eye. In it, Christie tells a teacher at a town hall meeting that if she doesn't like the conditions in schools that she doesn't have to teach.

And turnaround being fair, if Chris Christie doesn't want to govern during a weather emergency, then he doesn't have to be governor.

But it is the business he has chosen.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Merry Christmas To All! Photos From A Recent Trip To New York

I just wanted to take a minute to thank all for your readership, support and friendship, and wish all the merriest of Christmases!

Below are a series of pictures taken in New York City last Sunday in Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Madison Square Garden, and from atop the Empire State Building. Even the worst Scrooge would have a hard to dispute there is no place like New York during the holidays.

Click the photo for the full sized view!

Take care, stay warm.....and be sure to use a designated driver.

Home Sweet Home for the Holidays

The saying is, "you can't take it with you," but there is a way to carry your home with you when you move somewhere else.

Take, Adam, for example, who I stopped on Seventh Avenue between 29th and 30th Streets.

He currently resides in Pittsburgh, but he has lived in Miami and New York City.

His tattoos are a work in progress and he has had about eight hours done so far.

Adam says he has lived all over the United States and he wants, ideally, to tattoo a "piece of everywhere I've lived".

Check this out:

The Statue of Liberty clearly represents New York, and the palm trees recall Miami. All the bridges and a few of the buildings are Pittsburgh landmarks, like PPG Place

and the Highmark Building.

The "Home Sweet Home" sentiment is anchored by the multiple locations, echoing the idea that home is where the heart is.

Adam's work is done by Michael Patrick at Jester's Court Tattoos in Pittsburgh.

Thanks to Adam for sharing his wonderful sleeve with us here on Tattoosday!

Dan Hosts Lady Liberty Like You've Never Seen Her

As a New Yorker, how could one not appreciate this dark take on our beloved Statue of Liberty?

This skeletal tattoo is worn by Dan on his inner right forearm. It is a collaboration between him and his cousin, Guido Baldini, aka Lost Cowboy, a tattoo artist who occasionally works Four Star Tattoo in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Dan was out West, visiting family, and this piece was done with a little bit of longing for the Big Apple in his heart.

He was paying homage to that "New York State of Mind".

Missing in the collage above is the great detail in the torch:

I did question the presence of the pentagram on the book that the statue is holding, only because I'm sure that comments might be made.

He clarified the design, noting that, to him, the pentagram represents power, and is not meant to symbolize anything evil.

Thanks to Dan for sharing this tattoo with attitude here on Tattoosday.

AP sources: Bomber trained at Pakistan terror camp | Political Headlines | Comcast.net

The story of the capture and arrest of Faisal Shahzad (above), the Pakistani born naturalized American citizen who allegedly tried to detonate a car bomb in Times Square in New York on Saturday just seems to keep changing a bit with every few minutes.

The link below will give you the latest, from the Associated Press and COMCAST as of 6:30 PM on May 4, 2010.

I'm going to refrain from any comments until there are some definitive statements made by the proper spokespersons.


READ MORE....from the Associated Press and Comcast.net

NYPD interviews registered owner of car bomb SUV | General Headlines | Comcast.net

I pride myself with staying current with what's going on in the outside world, but I didn't have any idea about the attempted bombing in Times Square until yesterday morning. Saturday night I was watching the White House Press Correspondents dinner on TV, and was shocked to see the news the following day.

The story is still unfolding as I type this. The one thing the NYPD and FBI do have is a lot of fingerprints, all over the interior of the vehicle and the bomb.

There are all sorts of angles and theories about who may be behind this, but I'll refrain from comment until there's something more concrete out there. Besides, there's a zillion smart people from the media who can tell you much more.

I know they're smart because they said they were....





Read More.....from General Headlines | Comcast.net

Two More Tattoos from Josh

Well, more than six months have passed since I posted Josh's amazing Verrazano Bridge tattoo, and I almost forgot he sent me some additional shots, including the clock from the old Penn Station on his inner bicep, which is interconnected with the bridge piece:


This is a fairly accurate homage to this bygone historical monument seen at the top of the photo below:


Josh, being in the military, also has this back piece:


This tattoo consists of a pair of variations on the caduceus, surrounding the insignias of the 44th and 30th Medical Brigades - the two units he was assigned to in Iraq.















Thanks again to Josh for sending along these pictures and if you haven't seen the Verrazano tattoo linked at the top of the post, you must go check it out.