Fire of Truth

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After taking a long break, I finally return! In this 6 part series, I have a very deep and emotional conversation with my sister Olivia, where we talk about everything that happened to us when we were children growing up in Hoopa, a Native American Reservation in very rural Northern California. This series is us showing all of our scars and bringing light to the darkness that we have kept hidden for most of our lives. Our hope with these episodes is that someone who needs to hear this does, and learns that they...

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After taking a long break, I finally return! In this 6 part series, I have a very deep and emotional conversation with my sister Olivia, where we talk about everything that happened to us when we were children growing up in Hoopa, a Native American Reservation in very rural Northern California. This series is us showing all of our scars and bringing light to the darkness that we have kept hidden for most of our lives. Our hope with these episodes is that someone who needs to hear this does, and learns that they...

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The next 6 episodes are going to be quite a ride! I chat with my sister about our childhood...

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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I'm taking a couple of months off to focus on other things. I am in the process of coming out with new content soon.

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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One of the questions I’ve been repeatedly asking tattoo artists on this podcast is what their journey to becoming a tattoo artist was like. In general, I hear a lot of stories of how “tattooing saved my life”. I’ve even seen shirts at tattoo conventions worn by tattoo artists that have that line printed on the front. When sitting down with Maiah Kiana of NorCal Tattoo, the topic of Mental Health and its changing landscape in the tattoo industry became the main theme of the conversation.

follow Maiah on instagra...

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One of the questions I’ve been repeatedly asking tattoo artists on this podcast is what their journey to becoming a tattoo artist was like. In general, I hear a lot of stories of how “tattooing saved my life”. I’ve even seen shirts at tattoo conventions worn by tattoo artists that have that line printed on the front. When sitting down with Maiah Kiana of NorCal Tattoo, the topic of Mental Health and its changing landscape in the tattoo industry became the main theme of the conversation.

give Maiah a follow o...

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One of the things that stood out for me in the conversation I had with Dre Meza was the fact that I had no idea really how to run a business or what success felt like. In fact, looking back on it now there was a lot of fear surrounding that and the identity I adopted as a “boss” was one that tended to fluctuate between extremes of being standoffish or overbearing. There was no conversation really in my life surrounding the idea of the influence of adverse childhood experiences on running a busi...

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In these episodes, I have an amazing conversation with Dre Meza. He is a long time friend and colleague of mine whose journey as a tattoo artist is one filled with many ups and downs. He even spent time working with me at my shop, Ink Addiction Tattoo, back in the early to late 2000’s. We both have found ourselves working together again at NorCal Tattoo in Arcata, and he also works part time at his own shop, Lullaby Lounge. It was awesome hearing his perspective on the chaos that went down at my...

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In these episodes, I have an amazing conversation with Dre Meza. He is a long time friend and colleague of mine whose journey as a tattoo artist is one filled with many ups and downs. He even spent time working with me at my shop, Ink Addiction Tattoo, back in the early to late 2000’s. We both have found ourselves working together again at NorCal Tattoo in Arcata, and he also works part time at his own shop, Lullaby Lounge. It was awesome hearing his perspective on the chaos that went down at my...

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In these episodes, I have an amazing conversation with Dre Meza. He is a long time friend and colleague of mine whose journey as a tattoo artist is one filled with many ups and downs. He even spent time working with me at my shop, Ink Addiction Tattoo, back in the early to late 2000’s. We both have found ourselves working together again at NorCal Tattoo in Arcata, and he also works part time at his own shop, Lullaby Lounge. It was awesome hearing his perspective on the chaos that went down at my...

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I get pumped to talk about one of my experiences growing up on the Reservation of Hoopa, in California. The conversation with Roxy “drummed” up (pun intended) a lot of old feelings of being left out and a longing for the experience of connection with nature, my peers and my ancestors. This is the perspective that I bring into the shop when tattooing people.

find me on instagram: @captainkerr707

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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Our conversation with Roxanne continues as we take a deep dive into various traditional histories of tattooing and what it means for us to be a part of it. We talk about the importance of our connections to our ancestors and to each other. 

find her on instagram here: @tlanextic.tattoos

all music written and produced by James Kerr

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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The conversation I had with NorCal Tattoo’s own Roxanne Andrade was a great one. We started by getting some background of her journey to the tattoo industry. We then had an awesome chat about her Mexican Native roots, and how she uses dance to connect with them. Her unique take on tattooing is refreshing and reminded me of my reasons for tattooing as well.

find her on instagram here: @tlanextic.tattoos

all music written and produced by James Kerr

If you'd like to reach out to me...

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I reflect on my conversation with Cassie “M’Kay” Johnson. I talk about how essential having a beginner’s mindset is to art and to life and death.

music written by James Kerr

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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We continue to have the conversation of how M’Kay convinced the crew of NorCal Tattoo to apprentice her with bribes of baked goods. Then, we dive deep into being thrown off balance in a huge way with the loss of her father right at the beginning of her apprenticeship and how she is learning to balance her dreams with her ongoing grief.

follow her on instagram @chowder_tattoo

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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We have a deep conversation with Alex Marks’ apprentice, Cassandra “M’Kay” Johnson of NorCal Tattoo about life as an apprentice. We get a bit of insight on what she’s learned so far and how her expectations clashed with the reality of life as a tattoo apprentice a bit. We get a little insight into her background and what brought her to the tattoo industry.

follow her on instagram @chowder_tattoo

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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One of the types of trauma I didn’t realize existed is religious trauma. This was brought to my attention while studying more about trauma and trauma recovery. The conversation I had with Abbie and Charlie of NorCal Tattoo sparked this video’s topic and I also talk a bit about my bullying triggers.

all music written and produced by James Kerr

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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In this episode the conversation with Charlie Darling and Abbie Rosales of NorCal Tattoo continues as we go into detail on their brushes with death and experiences of connection with the world around them. Realizations of this can be brought about through psychedelics or simply the beauty of nature. We dig a little deeper on their experiences in the tattoo industry. 

Find them on instagram! @charliedarlingxoxo and @stabbieabbie22

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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We have an awesome conversation with Tattoo artist, Charlie Darling and Piercer, Abbie Rosales both of NorCal Tattoo. Our conversation starts with stories of where they lived and what brought them to Humboldt County, and eventually to NorCal Tattoo. Then the conversation turns to talking about brushes with death and goes into spirituality. We also cover the broad topic of coming out as gay after growing up religious and inclusiveness in the tattoo community of LGBTQ+ people.

Find them on instagram! @charliedarlingxoxo and @stabbieabbie22

music written...

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I review my conversation with Alex Marks and expand on my own experiences with watching my father struggle in his life. I also go into detail about having panic attacks while driving back to the place I grew up and how I eventually overcame them. 

all music written and produced by James Kerr

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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Our conversation with Alex Marks continues. We continue our chat about apprenticeships and the changing landscape of our industry in tattooing. We then touch on the story of “Chili Pepper Knuckle.”

Music written and produced by James Kerr

Find Alex Marks on instagram: @alexamarks

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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We have an awesome chat with NorCal Tattoo’s own Alex Marks, son of Ted and Amy Marks. We get a little bit of his version of the story of their family’s adventures in Las Vegas, Nevada during Ted’s apprenticeship. We talk about how his apprenticeship started when he was very young. We also go into the changing landscape of apprenticeships in general and how that is a reflection of the changes happening in the tattoo industry at large. We pepper the conversation with moments of reliving some traumatic stuff as well a...

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I reflect on my main takeaways from my conversation with my friend Ted Marks. One of the main points I believe is that we often go through dark times and can’t always see how its all working to our favor until we are able to look back on the whole experience with a bit of hindsight and wisdom. It is then we can see the pattern of how all the dark times lead us to where we are now living a life of fullness. Even though it is understandably difficult to see wh...

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This final installment we talk about a wild night in the history of our friendship before either of us had anything to do with being an apprentice in the tattoo industry. Something involving a show with Kid Rock back in 2002.

All music written and produced by James Kerr

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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In the third installment of our conversation with tattoo veteran Ted Marks, we go into who his major inspiration and influences in the tattoo industry are and how they were part of the beginnings of his tattoo convention known as Inked Hearts that happens every year. We also talk about the birth of his tattoo shop, Nor Cal Tattoo.

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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This is the second part of the 4 part series with my good friend and veteran tattoo artist, Ted Marks of Nor Cal Tattoo. We take a deep dive into his journey into becoming a tattoo apprentice and the sacrifices he and his family had to make in order to make it happen.

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com

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I interview my good friend and co worker, Ted Marks. I ask him about his journey to becoming a tattoo artist and bringing his family into the business by establishing his shop, NorCal Tattoo. 

It is quite the story that starts with being poisoned at his job as a car painter, then with his medical condition and no other opportunities for work, goes all in for a tattoo apprenticeship in the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, risking everything.

This tale talks about the hardships and traumas one may have t...

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In this episode, I take a deep dive into my experiences with therapy and therapists in general. My first experience with this was my school counselor, when I was 12, informing me that I had been abused and was most likely going to continue the cycle of abuse if I didn’t do something about it. I continue the story about my abuse of methamphetamines that lead me to overdoses and inevitably getting a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Years later, when my wife was pregnant I ended up finding out that the diagnosis of schizophrenia wa...

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I talk a bit about what this podcast is about, and a little bit of my history with trauma and trauma recovery. I show a clip of my father talking to me over the phone during the pandemic about what he went through as a child as well.

If you'd like to reach out to me, go to www.captainkerrart.com