Burn My Body: Carson Honors a Difficult Decision

Needless to say, I was amazed.

Our paths intersected at 23rd and 7th around Noon. He had neck work and a sleeve, and an incredible lighthouse tattooed on the back of his left leg (for his fiancée, he later explained), but I didn't think I'd catch him. He was walking faster than me, and had earbuds in. I generally don't like to a) interrupt people listening to music and, b) chase them.

But I happened to be walking the same direction and, when I noticed he had stopped to look into the windows of Dan's Chelsea Guitars, condition "b" was no longer a factor.

I approached him, distracted him from his ear buds, and introduced myself. I forgave myself the interruption because his work was so well done.

As I always do, when speaking with folks with multiple tattoos, I asked him which meant the most, which piece I could feature here on Tattoosday. He acknowledged that he had a chest piece which was "in progress". Did he mind showing me on the street? As the photo above indicates, not at all.

Excuse my manners. I didn't introduce our host properly. The guy on the sidewalk displaying has tattoos just downstairs from the Hotel Chelsea was Carson James.

Carson is a Brooklynite that plays bass in a band called Tombs (click to hear some of their stuff on their MySpace page).

And when he pulled his shirt off, I was expecting a great chest piece, but nothing like what scrolled across his body.

Carson confirmed, the words were the complete lyrics to a song, "Burn My Body" by William Eliot Whitmore.


"What," I asked, "is the significance of this song that made you want to preserve it forever on you like this?"

He told me how, about two years ago, his younger brother, Trevor Lorne James, was killed in a motorcycle accident in New Jersey. His parents were understanably distraught over such a devastating event, and the decision fell to Carson - his brother's body was cremated.

Here are the lyrics to "Burn My Body":

Burn My Body

Burn my body in the northern field
and let the wind blow the ashes around
Then you will know that my wounds have been healed
'cause Lord I'll be homeward bound

Let the flames warm your hands
let the glow light your way
These gifts to you I bestow
No one's listening don't bother to pray
if you do I'll never know
Up and up the smoke will roll
like a cloud of frightened crows
carry my not so immortal soul
up between the rows

Some words that are said can cut like a saw
and my ears nearly bled at the sound
I can't help prepare for the springtime thaw
'cause Lord I'll be homeward bound
When frost turns to flowers and they all start to bloom
and there's nothing left to hold
tip one back and sing me a tune
and never let the fire grow cold

You can see a video of Whitmore performing the song here.

We talked about cremation and I asked if he had ever heard the poem "Cremation" by Robinson Jeffers (read it here). I promised to e-mail it to him later.

This piece, and most of Carson's work was inked by Thomas Hooper, an incredible tattooer who worked out of Frith Street Tattoo and Piercing in London, and now works out of New York Adorned's Brooklyn shop. You can see more of Hooper's amazing work on his web site here. The quality of Hooper's tattooing is truly awesome.


Carson also gave me some more background on his other work (which I did not photograph). His right arm is sleeved with a depiction of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and, as mentioned earlier, the lighthouse is for his fiancée.

It should also be noted that this is another first for Tattoosday, as Carson is the host here whose face is visible in a tattoo shot. Understandable (and appreciated) due to the size of the featured work.

Thanks so much to Carson for sharing his ink with us here at Tattoosday!

Shiver Me Timbers!

Or something. Wonderful tattoo-with-tattoos pirate girl by, again, Aaron Bell.

Haven't I Seen You Before?

This Elvgren interpretation done by Aaron Bell. See about five posts back for Mike De Vries version of the same woman.

Sun Tattoos

The sun plays in an important role in many cultures. Several prominent early civilizations were involved in worshiping the Sun - such as the Romans, the Egyptians, the Aztecs and the Incas. While other cultures also paid homage to the sun, in these specific areas, the Sun was their highest god.

In Rome, the sun god was Apollo. He was thought to bring the sun each morning in a chariot across the sky. He also was considered to be the god of healing and arts.

In Egypt, the god Ra was in charge of the sun. Ancient Egyptians believed that Ra went through various transformations throughout the day, just as the sun did. He was the most important of all of the Egyptian gods, and pharohs from the fifth dynasty forward took the title "Son of Ra".

In Aztec culture, Huitzilopochtli was the god of sun and war. The patron deity of the Aztecs, it was said that he was supposed to guide the Aztecs to a promised land in the south. Human sacrifices were at one time made to this god in hopes of winning wars.

The rich mythology surrounding the sun means there is a wealth of different tattoo styles that can be found depicting its image. Many choose to get the sun and moon depicted together, as they are complimentary and, in some cultures, symbolize male and female power.

Others choose the blocky, tribal style of Aztec suns. The sun can also be a symbol of rebirth, so some people choose to combine it with other imagery such as Celtic Knots and Stars. The light and dark, good and evil symbolism are also a reason that people are so drawn to these tattoos.

3rd Tattoo Event

Immortal Nite @ Chillies - 3rd Event !! Enjoy it !!

Starting off..

Closer to the End..

Highlights...

Last touchups...

That you see, Ladies and Gentlemen is a work done in 1 hr.

And what happens when you finish your job faster than expected? Well, You will start clowning around !! Welcome to my world !!

Rock on and suck on my boots !! Well, don't we all have "duties"?

This what happens when someone tries to imitate you. Haha !! And STOP looking at his crotch !!

Showing off the tattoo aren't you, Kim? Haha !! ( Thats the girl who got tattooed in my 2nd Event of Immortal Nite )

Well that's right. We are bunch of CamWhores - Representing Immortal Tattoos , Singapore!!

Signing Off - As we all are gettin ready to be wasted !! Or are we really? Hehehe !!

The Squid and the Elephant

A seriously long line at the Post Office cut into my outside time at lunch, which adversely affected my tattoo-spotting on Wednesday.

However, I took advantage of the long line at the Philatelic Window and introduced myself to Barrett, who offered up the tattoo above.

He has four tattoos, but this was the only one visible. It was inked about 13 years ago in his home in Colorado by a free-lance artist named Bryan Saren.

Mr. Saren is mentioned in several Durango, Colorado newspaper articles as a local artist and sculptor. I will assume its the same guy.

Barrett designed this piece himself and, although he acknowledges that it resembles the "tribal" category, he doesn't consider it a tribal tattoo.

He was just playing with the design and liked the end result, which is comprised of a melding of a squid and an elephant.

Look again:


The squid is at the tail end, or top of the piece. And the elephant is at the front. A closer look shows the center axis is comprised of the elephantine trunk, surrounded by two shorter, curving tusks.

No special significance to squid and elephant, just part of the design elements.

Thanks to Barrett for sharing his work with us here at Tattoosday!

Vintage stuff!

Mike De Vries does black and grey in this Vintage pin-up