A fan of Amanda Palmer's, Laszlo came in to see me with a great story about why he wanted his first tattoo. He says, "I've been thinking about getting a tattoo for quite some time. I had a few ideas, but none of them felt completely right. I'm also a fan of Amanda Palmer. Her last album, "There will be no intermission" deals with a lot of difficult things - abortion, abuse, death, grief. When she came to Portland at the end of her US tour, I went to the pre-show meeting at Music Millennium. At the end, Amanda did a quick signing, but I had nothing to get signed at that moment, so I asked her to sign my arm, which she did. Later that night, her show was deep and raw. She talked about the difficult things I mentioned before, and also about the idea of radical compassion. How we should forgive people who did us wrong, if we can. How is it possible to understand people who think very differently from us, or at least come closer to understanding. I wanted to remember this message, because I struggle with this kind of forgiveness. I also wanted to remember how difficult it can be to stand out and pour your heart and your deepest thoughts and be rejected by some. So the next day I decided to have Amanda's signature tattooed on my arm, to help me to remember these things. As it was to be my first one, I was a bit nervous, but luckily Victoria was very professional. She did an awesome job of turning the picture I took of the drawing into a design that gives back the look of being drawn by a Sharpie. I like to look at it, and remember the things that made me get it. I'm very happy with the way it turned out!"
Here are some pictures of the drawing and final tattoo.