Latest / Hey BigHead: The Vegas Local Podcast / Prison to Second Chances in Vegas | 368

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Prison to Second Chances in Vegas | 368 · Hey BigHead: The Vegas Local Podcast

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Julie, we got a full house today.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: We've never, I mean, I guess we have had a lot of people in the room before, but I don't think we've had this many on an episode, right?
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of like it.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I like the challenge.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, but before we introduce them, I want to talk, I want to talk to you about something personal with you.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_06: Oh god.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_06: We don't talk about your tattoos enough.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right, because I hide most of them.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you hide them?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of them were mistakes.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_06: Were they like names of ex-boyfriends?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I have had some initials tattooed on me of people in my life before, but then some of them were drunkenly letting my neighbors tattoo me in college during quarantine.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_06: That's that sounds about right.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_06: Was one of your neighbors uh Steed or one of the names you got Steed on tattooed on?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: No, it was not my preschool boyfriend.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_06: Read love Steed.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_06: Getting tattoos young.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_06: That's how Julie rolls.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_06: Well, today we have people that know a little bit more about tattoos than you and I combined together.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_06: We have Joshua Cole, Joshua Connolly, and Tara Lynn Cotter.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_06: Welcome to the show, folks.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you so much for being here.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_06: Uh so so for everybody that's at home, I'm gonna try to make sure I get the names right because we got Josh, uh Josh Cole.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_06: Yep.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_06: We got obviously Tara.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_06: Is it Tara or Tara Lynn?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_04: Tara's fine.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_04: Tara's fine, perfect.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_06: And then we have Josh C uh Josh Connolly.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_06: So though there'll be a lot of Joshes in this.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_06: And and Tara, if I if I call you Josh, I apologize.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_06: I sincerely.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_06: We got Grayson running around.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_06: What's up, little buddy?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_06: Um, so Josh Cole, you own work of art tattoo, right?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_06: Correct.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_06: How long have you been, how long has that shop been open?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_06: Going on six years now.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_06: Six years.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_06: Where at in Vegas is it?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_05: Corner Tropicana in Eastern.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, East Tropicana.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_05: So it's there's a chase right behind at an animal hospital, and then boom, we're right by subway.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_05: I love that.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_05: How long have you been tattooing for?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_05: 15 years.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_05: How old are you now?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_06: I am 43.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_06: You look good.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_06: You were you work out?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_06: I did.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_06: You did?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_06: Past tense.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_06: Not lying, yeah.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_06: Well, wasn't today.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_06: How many push-ups could you do right now?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_06: Probably 20.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_06: Well, that's not bad.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_06: Not bad.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_06: Probably 20.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_06: We'll save that for later.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_06: We'll save the push-up contest for later.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_05: How did you get started tattooing?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, so I went to prison.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, you get there and you just find a way to stay in your own lane real fast.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_05: So first thing they do is they check your paperwork.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_05: Once they figure out you're not a sex offender or a rapist or weirdo, uh, then they leave you alone pretty much.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_05: So at that point, I had to figure out how I was gonna get along with these people.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_05: So I drew, I was an artist.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_05: So I would sit there and I would draw cards from my own family, and then people saw that, and they would come over and ask for requests.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_05: That rapidly developed into, hey, we need a white tattoo artist.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_05: Would you be game?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_05: What's your what's your style of tattoo?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_05: Black and gray.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_05: I'm most experienced with black and gray because of the extensive prison experience.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_05: But since my uh apprenticeship, which I did at Interstate Inc.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_05: in LA, I've done all kinds of color, all that stuff.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_06: So, tattooing in jail, obviously, it's I I imagine being being sanitary and having all the tools just right out the window.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_06: It's a nightmare.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_06: How do you tattoo in jail?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_06: A doctor would be horrified.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_05: I used to laugh at my friends, like, you know, if if my my the guy that taught me could see me right now, he wouldn't just shake his head, he'd fire me, beat me up in the alley.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_05: Because there were times, you know, you you don't have a box of gloves.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_05: No, you have one set of gloves for that one person.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_05: You wash them, you but you use the same needle for a week.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_05: Resharpen it.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_05: I made everything by hand, but it was, you know, you make by with what you have and you do your best.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_05: You got rubber alcohol and stuff like that.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_05: But uh the process is an elaborate uh scavenger hunt of stolen goodies that you have to acquire from different ends of the spectrum.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_05: I need a I need two pieces of lead so we can pop that socket.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, I need another pencil.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_05: That's cost something.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_05: Now we need a tuna fish can, so we gotta get some tuna.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_05: Then we gotta put it tuna fish can.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you gotta put baby oil in the can so you can burn it and make the soot to get the ink.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you what, for all things considered, I need the spring out of that giant staple or the school.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Teachers.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, oh yeah.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_06: This is how you make the needles.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_06: Those people that are in jail that have have put together things like this, they're they're they've MacGyvered this, yeah, these tattoo tools.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_06: That's impressive.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_05: And they work reliably to a point.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you have to stiffen up the neck of the pen cap that attaches to the CD player motor.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_05: But uh that uh it that makes it where the needle won't change depth at will, which is terrible.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_05: That's like the whole thing.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_05: You gotta keep it at a certain depth.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, but after that, it's very reliable.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_05: Can I ask you what you went to jail for?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I mean, credit cards and fake IDs.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_06: Really?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_06: How long how long did you go away for?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, a total of five terms and 14 years.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_05: What does five terms mean?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_05: Five times in prison.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't learn my lesson.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_05: I came back, right?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_05: I drank the Kool-Aid and I was like, I found my home.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_06: These guys like me.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_06: Oh my gosh.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_06: So when you when you got caught, where did you go to is it jail or prison?
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_06: What's prison?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_06: Prison.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_06: Where did you go to prison?
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_06: First one was San Quentin.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_05: San Quentin.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, crash course.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_05: I was on probation for I had shoplifted an uh iPad pod, iPod.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_05: It's my first charge I ever got.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_05: My car got towed.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_05: I was working at Best Buy.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't know how to get the money for my car to get out of impound.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_05: It went up by like 300 bucks a day.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_05: So my mind was like, I'll just steal something and sell it.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't make it out the store, man.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_05: I in fact gave them a confession.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_05: They could my boss caught me.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_05: He was watching me on camera.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_05: He goes, Look, man, you look ridiculous.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_05: Come to the office.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_05: So I went in there and was just like, I'm sorry, here's the stuff.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_05: Don't call the cops.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_05: They called the cops.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_05: I got I went to prison for that.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_05: Wild.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_05: Wild.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_05: Gee.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_05: First offense.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_05: Granted, I smoked a lot of marijuana on probation, but still I caught no extra charges.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_05: What year was this?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_05: 25.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_05: 2005.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_05: 2005.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: I was 10.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_06: You were 10.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_06: So, Tara, are you you and Josh are together?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_06: No.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_06: We work together.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, you work together?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_06: Get get close to that, Mike.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_06: I don't want to miss the word of this.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_06: So you how did you and Josh uh start working together?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: I had just gotten out of rehab here because I hadn't finished my prison sentence.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I was in rehab with a girl named Brittany.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: And she was like my best friend.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: So she's like, oh hey, go to this shop.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: We know him.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: I guess they were around like same people and stuff.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I went and got pierced by his girlfriend, Katie.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: And she's done a lot of my piercings.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: And then I was going back and forth.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: I started getting tattoos from Josh.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: He did most of my left sleeve for me.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_04: Nice.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then I became friends with them pretty quickly.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: So Katie offered me an apprenticeship as a piercer.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: So she taught me how to pierce.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then I kind of left for a while and then worked at a different shop for a little bit.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then we decided that it would be better if I went back to work with them because the other shop I was working at didn't work out for me.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_06: So for everybody that's at home just listening, you have tat you have piercings all over your face.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: I do.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_06: How many piercings on your face do you have?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_06: Do you remember?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_06: Do you remember?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_06: No, I have to count.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_06: Are you able to get through a metal detector at the airport with no problem?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, fine.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Most of them they don't actually go off in metal detectors.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's a um a rumor.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: I have, I think, 26 piercings altogether.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_06: Good for you.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_06: I'll tell you what, Julie.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_06: Julie has her, is it your septum?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_06: Is it is that what you call it?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that is what that part of your body is called.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, well, I don't have my septum pierced.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_06: Do you want it pierced?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, I do.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_06: We could have done that on the show.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_06: Give me enough, give me enough tequila.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_06: I'll I'll get anything.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_06: With the stapler.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_06: You have a safety pin and a potato, I can do it for you.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: I did the majority of my own piercings when I was like 13 with a safety pin and a potato.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_05: Think about it if you pierce your ear, the needle's going towards the side of your neck.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_05: You'd catch it or something.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_05: Oh.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_05: But if you don't know what you're doing, if you do, you can just go through freehand.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_05: Do you guys have a pleasure for pain?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_05: Like, do you guys I don't.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_05: You don't?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: I do.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_05: I take tattoos like a child.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: I take it like a champ.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_05: Like I'm being electrocuted.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_05: You gotta stop moving.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_05: You gotta stop doing it.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_06: You gotta stop crying.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_06: But Josh, you and Josh are best friends.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_06: Can you share the story of how you guys met?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: So it's funny.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: We actually met in Ely Max.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Up in northern Nevada.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh What year was this?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: What this was 2017?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's just what you asked me before, yeah.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_06: In Maximum Security Prison?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_06: Maximum security section.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I was talking about death row.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_06: What the hell are you guys doing in maximum security prison?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_05: Much different reasons and also very good story.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_05: You can continue.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm up there because I'm extremely violent in prison.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Extremely extremely violent in prison?
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: You look like a sweetheart.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I said when he told me that.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, Josh, really?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: I've changed.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I like to do.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: But the reality is, is like prison will turn you into a whole different monster.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: When he did come to the unit, I pulled a knife on him because I didn't know if he was my enemy or not.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_05: So long hair, he's a skinner.
• 8:46
  unknown: No.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_05: Or was.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: And um he was just like, no, I'm just here.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: I like to tattoo him.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: So my guy, cool.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_06: Wait, so why did you pull a knife on him if he was just minding his own business?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_06: Or was he looking at you a certain way?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_06: Or what happened?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_06: I was still in handcuffs.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: So the reality is not fair.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: Is there is a war going on in prison, right?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if it's either I'm gonna get him before he gets me, type of thing, because I don't know who he is.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Amongst the white people.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Enemy, you know what I mean?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: So protect myself, I'm gonna strike first.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_06: What a mindset to have.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_06: I I like obviously being in and and being where you guys were, you have to have a mindset to survive.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_06: And I I'm talking out of my ass because I know nothing uh about this, but I'm I'm assuming that you really have to go to pretty great lengths and extent to survive and to you know get through whatever this whatever the issue is that we're gonna do.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_05: Just don't run your mouth too much.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_05: What's that carry that carried me for 14 years?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_05: Just don't run your mouth too much.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_05: Don't say anything you can't really bag up.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_05: I went through that whole time, honestly.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_05: If it didn't crack off around me, I didn't get any personal fights.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I'm just good at communicating with people, and I'm a pleasant person that does good business.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_05: So I I didn't have a lot of issues that followed me.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_05: You know what I mean?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_05: Do you have to find like a group early on to kind of align with, or is is that it's by it's by race at base.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_05: You come in, you're what?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_05: You eat with white people, you sit with white people, you do business with white people.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you can do business with other folks depending on the prison you're in and the state you're in.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_05: But uh yeah, it's you just kind of stay to your own within.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I had friends across all lines.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_05: I'm not racist, but you find you definitely find when you get in there that even though you might come into this with no racism in your heart, that yeah, other people don't like you at all.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so you might put your best foot forward and over your own uh Harry Potter, not Harry Potter, but uh Martha Stewart Fashion show up with like a crock pot, and they're like, nah, bro, get out of here.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_05: As you can see from my introduction.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_06: Wait, so he so Josh comes up to you with a knife in hand.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, in his shorts, in his shorts with another guy named Psycho.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_06: That was his celly.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_06: And so did you actually try to uh attack him, or he just kind of walked up to him and you know, kind of still in cuffs, mind you.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, still in cuffs.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Just question him.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah, and he said the right answer, whatever the right answer was at the time.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, wild.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, all right.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_06: So I have to know, obviously, you're not gonna be in maximum security prison stealing iPods, are you?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_06: You'd think not.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_05: So, okay, so when you get you do you good enough in prison, it's kind of like work release.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_05: You get to wear regular clothes, come and go, and work in the community.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so once you earn that level of freedom, there is a lot of stuff you can get into.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_05: You know what I mean?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_05: So I was working in Reno at the restitution center, which is where they let you come and go to work from.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_05: And over the course of eight months, I became an assistant manager at the shore room at the Renaissance Hotel.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_05: And I was training other people on how to, you know, make better tips and how to sell better.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_05: And I was, I was doing it, I was the excellence trainer, that's what I did.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_05: And so gradually I picked up a heroin habit, and then I started drinking, and then I was having sex with women in the rooms at the hotel.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_05: Then I was playing poker, calling myself in late to work, and then I walked in with a cigarette behind my ear and they drug tested me.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_05: Jeez, I was so loaded I forgot.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my gosh.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, all right.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_05: Well, then that's that's a hell of a story.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_05: So then when you get caught with phones and drugs and all these things, they take you from that type of load security and they put you in max.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_05: So I went from being a restaurant manager to serving death row in 24 hours.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_05: Holy shit.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_05: Do you feel like your life is over at that point?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_05: Oh yeah.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_05: I wasn't I was more concerned about what was gonna happen on the tier than I didn't have time to think about suicide.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they're gonna get you before the shower.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_05: So oh my god.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_06: All right, so then Josh, well, what are you doing there then?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_06: Uh hurting people.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_06: Hurt hurting people?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Kinda.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: I was robbing Mexican drug dealers for a while.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been to prison for that.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's a hobby, you gotta have hobbies.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_06: Um I love how you say that so so cat so casually.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_06: Like, yeah, I just robbed a Mexican drug dealer, it's no big deal.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, so when you I grew up around this, right?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like I come from your typical white trash trailer park family.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: All my uncles have been in and out of prison in California.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: So like this was just kind of normal for my life.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, I've been to prison for all kinds of things.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh some fraud, some stolen vehicles, possession of possession of guns, things like that.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Damn.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um But like him, no, no sex offenses, nothing like that.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure if you're not a sexual predator.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we know.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: We we don't know.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: I target them people.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_06: Do you?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, if you go in there and you and you're a sex offender or something like that, are you pretty much public enemy number one in this?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_05: People are putting in tickets to be get the first dibs on you.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_06: Really?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_06: I want him, I want them, I'm gonna do them, no, I'm gonna do them.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_06: What is it, what does it mean to them to be able to do them?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_06: Just just to badge of honor.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_06: Badge of honor.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean, yeah.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_05: Plus you're killing a pedophile.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, God, that's fucking crazy.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_05: It is fucking crazy.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_05: Here I'm I'm more your mindset than that mindset.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_05: So I was the guy, they used to call me hippie because I didn't want to stab anyone.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_05: So but I I definitely uh yeah, I relate to you a lot in that.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_05: So it was my behavior keeping me in that environment.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_05: The only good that came from it was I worked on my college degree by mail and I learned how to tattoo.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_06: I love that.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you're able to do something in there to better your life when you get out.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_06: Yep, that's great.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_06: Do you do you guys watch a lot of TV, a lot of movies?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, movies, yes, TV now.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_06: Are there any movies that kind of really nail what life is like in prison?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_06: Oh man, what's that?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_06: Shot collar.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_06: Shot collar.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_06: I was gonna about to say it.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_06: Yep.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_06: Shot collar.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_06: Shot collar is that a movie?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it is a movie.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_06: Julie, have you seen Shot Collar?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_06: I have not.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Who's on Amazon?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um so the guy who plays Jamie Lannister in the Game of Thrones, yeah, he is the main character in that movie.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_06: What's so accurate about that movie?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Everything.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, everything is about the acting hierarchies, the way the gangs talk.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: From the prison gangs that they use, like they're very accurate, to the kinds of beef that they have with who they have it in the prison with.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's it's a California-based prison, so it's their politics are very, very strict.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it that is probably the most accurate movie I've seen.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_06: We had um uh obviously election day just happened, and so we we had a few politicians, there were people running and campaigning.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_06: One of the guys that we had on was a uh he he he went to prison for money laundering, I think it was.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but one of his things that he was standing on was he really wanted to make it so if if you do go to prison and you get out, it doesn't feel like a lifelong sentence because you have this stigma or this cloud hanging over your head.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_06: For somebody uh you guys are doing a great job at all all of you are doing a great job at making uh a difference outside of uh you know your past experience.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_06: Can you kind of give any advice for somebody that is going through that and maybe doesn't have the right mindset to do that?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Don't let your past define you.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: 100%, right?
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think that's uh the problem with a lot of people, that's why a lot of people return to prison is because now they have this whole persona that they feel like that they have to live up to.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I remember when I first started sticking needles in my arm and I was shooting uh meth and heroin, I was told once a junkie, always a junkie, and like in my mind I believed that for a long time.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um I haven't stuck a needle in my arm in unless except for tattoo needles, maybe, but uh, I haven't injected methamphetamines or heroin into my body in over six years.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_06: Like what was the I mean, that's gotta be challenging to to begin with in the first place, but uh, how did you get past that?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_06: Did you have did you have a strong support system around you?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Did you have somebody that kind of Um In the beginning?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_06: It was just you, you just raw dogged it yourself.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, so like what happened was is instead of me going back to prison, like I caught a whole new case.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: X fell into possession of firearm, possession of stolen vehicle, all kinds of stuff.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I had a 15-year sentence hanging over my head.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: And uh instead of sending me back to prison, they suspended that sentence and put me in a drug court program.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, drug court changed my life.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because this is where like Josh and I started reconnecting after prison because we he was also in a program.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: I was in a program, our friend Mikey that he's done tattoos for cover-ups, he was in a program with him.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I think all of us were just sick and tired of being in prison.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we decided to like actually try this whole thing out.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, there was that that right there, and then like along the way, I've been able to build my own family in recovery.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: The reality is, is my own family, my flesh and blood, most of them are fucked off in Henderson somewhere doing doing stupid stuff.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't want that, right?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because for me, like if I do go back to prison, like I'm not getting out because I'm the person like when I go to prison, I make things worse for myself because I don't know how to act.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well said.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: Josh, what about you?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_06: Here's the question one more time.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_06: So how do you for somebody who maybe just be getting out of prison and they're trying to make they're they're trying to move forward with their lives and not have not feel like they have this stigma over their head of you know even though they serve time in prison, that's not who they are.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_06: So what advice would you be able to give somebody who'd maybe going through something like that?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_05: To pair off what he said, I think you also need to build a life you're too afraid to burn down.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_05: Because it's not enough just enough to get clean.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_05: You have to have something to live for now.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_05: Because life is gonna suck at first.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, but when the colors return and your endorphins return and you can eat breakfast and feel like a normal human being again, life will happen again.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_05: And your bike will get stunned.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, sure.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_05: Or your job will fire you, or you know, I mean your girlfriend will break up with you, but something will come down.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_05: And so it's important that you've done some other work to build something that you care about.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_05: So you put some things in front of each other and accumulated some work and made something for yourself, whether that's you like the tattoo or you want to wave signs for cars, you make your own little business out, whatever you love doing, chase that thing because that's gonna keep you sober more than I just need to stay clean and have something for.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_06: Well said.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_06: Tara, did did you mention that you were also in in prison as well?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, nothing even close to what they did, though.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_06: Not even close to what they did.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_06: Do you feel like uh first of all, how long were you away for?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: How long was I in prison for?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: I was in prison for two years.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and it was here.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I too was addicted to heroin and ended up doing a meth in heroin for a while.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: I was 19, uh, 20 when I started, and I had like a really bad ex-boyfriend that convinced me to try it.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: I ended up losing everything, all my jobs, my houses.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: I hadn't no, I wouldn't say a good family, but my family that I ran from.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: I ended up going to Reno and I was just tearing that town up.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: I was doing stupid things.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: I was like walking down Reno at night in booty shorts by myself, thinking everybody was my friend, using guys for money and doing a lot of bad things.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, I was in and out of jail a lot.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it finally got to the point where I was I had a bad past relationship, and he was a lot older than me, and he had done half his life in prison, and he was very abusive and just not someone I needed in my life.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: But I was in love with him and I wanted to get him out of prison and I wanted to run away with him.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: I ended up instead of doing the bad thing I was trying to set up, which was a robbery, I ended up getting into a car accident where I hit the back end of a public transit bus.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I ran because I was high and I was scared.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: So they take that seriously.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I didn't do something like majorly bad.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: I was just kind of ditzy and dumb.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: I wasn't like, I was a criminal, but I was just a stupid criminal.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: So they take that serious in Nevada.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I got a like a category B felony for uh hit and run with personal injury.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: So they got me, I ended up going to prison.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then when I got arrested and I was in jail, it was October of 2019.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: My grandma passed away when I was in jail.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then when I went to prison, I was still la la la, nothing serious.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then my mom died when I was in prison.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: So from that day, I kind of just decided I was like, none of this is worth it anymore.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I did my classes, I finished my sentence, I got out on parole, I ended up coming out here.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm from California, all my family's from California.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: But I came out here and I went to Westcare.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I talk very highly of Westcare because Westcare is what helped me save my life.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_06: Is Westcare a rehabilitation system?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: It is.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's a women and children's uh campus.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: So you can go there whether you're detoxing from like detox, you go there, they give you a 90-day blackout, you do your classes, you they help you with everything that you need.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: They give you counseling, and I met a lot of good people.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's where I met the majority of the people that this Josh, number two, knows his um ex-girlfriend.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm friends with her too.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, a lot, I've met a lot of good people through there.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I create I created my own support system in this town because I've never been here.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: I was just let out of prison here and I had to rebuild my life.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: So when I got out of rehab, I decided I was like, no, I'm gonna work.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: I work two jobs, fixed my credit, got my own apartment, got my own car, now I'm married and I'm his apprentice for tattooing.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm on the right path of what I've always wanted to do.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: All I have to tell people is that even if you don't have a good support system with you, you can create one.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: You can gain them.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: I have a lot of good friends that I'm kind of more of like a mean friend.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like if you fucking relapse, I'm gonna tie you up and put you in my car.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_05: Totally introduced.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_05: Those words, verbatim.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_05: She she actually tie you up.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_05: I can show you the text.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_06: I'll tie you up and take you to Josh if you relapse.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_06: She actually yelled at me before we started filming too.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I seem to me, but so I just kind of see it as um I'm willing to help people.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: If you're doing good, I'm there.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I will be there to support you.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: As soon as you're doing bad, I'm gonna respectfully step away and love you from a distance because I can't afford to put myself in that situation again.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um especially since last year my dad died from a fentanyl overdose.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I just have to say that if you really want to do better, you can.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's just it's all within you.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's not your surroundings, it's not what you're given, it's what you can do for yourself.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_06: I'm glad you're here.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_06: That's an incredible story.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_06: All three of you have phenomenal stories, and I'm so glad that all three have been.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_06: We aimed, please.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_06: Um, all right.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_06: So you're you're you're working with Josh.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_06: So Josh, you've you've had the tattoo shop for about six years now.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_06: What's the tattoo scene like here in Vegas?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_05: Excellent.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_06: Thriving.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_06: Is it is it very is it very much a community of like no?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_05: I, you know, I imagine that as you get further into the game, so keep in mind that I'm not from Vegas, I've only been here for about six years.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_05: So I don't know what the journey of other tattoo artists are like, besides my mentor and a couple of friends I have through their industry, but it doesn't seem like it's a real close-knit group.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_05: When you start doing the conventions, you definitely meet people and everyone's very open about the information we share with each other, and people want to help each other get better.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_05: So that's really cool.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_05: I know Joe Riley is starting a new uh thing.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_05: He wants to have a better convention for the artist where we can interact and have more of a community, and so I really uh I support that also.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_05: Good, I love that.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_05: So uh, but no, I don't have a great relationship knowing a bunch of shops.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_05: There's one on my block, actually, and me and him were great friends.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I bought him pizza the first time I moved in.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_05: I was like, no competition, bro.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_05: I got no customers.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_05: He was a body piercer primarily then too.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_05: And at that point, I didn't do that at all.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_05: But now I do.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but uh yeah, I mean, it's they're some of them very welcoming.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_05: As long as you're coming and asked for art information, I find tattoo artists to be the most friendly people in the world.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but if you come and ask for tattoos, sometimes they can be very standoffish.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_06: That's fair.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_06: So tell me about Second Chance Inc.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_06: This is something that's obviously very, very special to you and very important to you.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_06: Can you kind of share and elaborate a little bit more on what this is?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_06: Sure.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_05: So Second Chance Inc.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_05: is my gang cover-up initiative.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_05: Uh Josh is one of the people that received one of them.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, people that have anything that's palm size, right?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_05: I cover for free one or two of them a month.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_05: I cover the supplies, all that.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_05: You don't have to pay me anything.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_05: No tip is required, none of that.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_05: Uh if the tattoo is larger than a palm, then I offer if it's coverable, if it's something in my skill set I can do, if it's feasible.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_05: Because I just got a call from a couple that has they have a WP on his stomach and a big swastika, and they saw the work I did on someone else's swastika to get covered, and they asked about that.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_05: So I said, Yeah, I could do the swastika cover up for free, but you just have to pay for the WP, which is like a white power thing.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_05: So it's uh I guess his whole stomach's covered in it.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_06: But do you design over it or is it do you just black it out?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_06: Oh no, no, I design over it.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, you designed over it.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_05: The goal is to completely mask it or camouflage it with something much more attractive.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_06: I love that.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I put a woof over the last one I did, and it came out.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_05: It takes a couple sessions because you can't you don't oversaturate and you gotta let it heal and see exactly what settles where, and then up the contrast in your next session.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_06: But so how long would like a palm-sized tattoo take to get that fit?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_05: It would depend on if it was color, black and gray, but if it was black and gray and it was not a cover-up, it would take me about an hour.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_05: If you know, not too elaborate.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, consider this if we were doing a palm-sized portrait of your mother versus a palm sized Pac-Man, we're talking about two very different time lengths.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_05: So with that in mind, it will take around an hour per take, depending on quality of detail.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, if it was color, it could be two hours.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_05: Interesting.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_06: So, Josh, you uh were his first, I guess, testimonial of the game cover-ups, yeah.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_06: What did you what what did you get covered up?
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I had a big ol' swastika on the back of my hand.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_06: Uh would never have guessed that.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_06: Huge.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the whole back of my hand was a big old swastika.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_06: Wow.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_06: You did a phenomenal job.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_06: I appreciate that.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_06: I can't I wouldn't even be able to do that.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_06: We put a big Celtic symbol, Celtic or Viking symbol?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_05: Norse?
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_06: And so when when you're in prison, did I assume you got that in prison or did you get that before prison?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_06: No, in prison.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_06: In prison, yeah.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_06: Right before you got out.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_06: Did you really like the day before?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_06: I was like, bro.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_06: Why why was it right before?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_06: Committed.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_05: I was committed.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, well, he wasn't faking the funk, he was about that lifestyle in and out.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_06: Is it hard to to so uh let me back up?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_06: You got out the next day.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_06: When did you decide between then and when you got it covered up that you wanted to get it covered up?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_06: When Walmart said no.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_06: No.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: When I found recovery and realized that there was a way out and that I don't have to continue the bullshit cycle that my family has continued to be in for years and generations, so I've decided to break away.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_06: Was it hard to and this maybe sound like a silly question, but I'm I promise you it's not.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_06: Is it hard to break away from these guys that you spent so many years of your life with that you guys you've shared so many experiences with that it wasn't hard to do?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_05: It depends on how you go out the door, right?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: No, because a lot of these people I've got let's be let's be real engineers I did in prison, how many of those people were really there for me?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_06: Well it's not like that's interesting.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_06: That's a great way of looking at it.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, in hindsight, we're best friends, and I'm not a gang member.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_05: Never have been.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_06: So you you weren't in any gang at all when you were in there?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_05: You just like you said, just minded your business and yeah, I was actively recruited by other people just because they wanted another sword in the fight and because I was a good tattoo artist.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_05: Now, I will say this when his group came at me after they'd already pulled a knife on me, by then we were friends.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, these are my buddies.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_05: We spent every day, Max, together.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_05: That was my only network.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_05: So they were my friends, but I was very honest.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_05: I said, look, guys, I didn't come in here with that.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_05: I'm not racist.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_05: I feel like you would respect me less if all of a sudden I became one of the cloth.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_05: When you know what I mean, up till now I've been hippie.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_05: And I also that means I have to carry all the weapons on the tier, so I'm not stupid.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_06: That's that's fair.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna carry my weapon, I need that.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_06: I know, I know, right.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_05: Well, he wasn't like that, but you know what I mean.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I would have become the first one to have to put in work, the mule, and I was 35 at that point.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_06: So, how's the response been since you put out the second chance inc?
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_06: Which how long ago did you start this?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_06: Well, okay, so when I first started, it was gonna be called Erase the Hate.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_05: That was kind of the first thing that came to me.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_05: Erase the hate.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_05: And then over the years, I've had to build on my skill level and I realized that maybe I need to learn more about cover-ups because every customer that said they loved it.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't ever always love those pieces, so I went to art school, I got better, so I just shelved it for a minute.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_05: Plus, I don't have a huge network of gang-affiliated people anymore because I am in recovery and I don't associate like that.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_05: I don't it's different when you're forced into a room with 50 people and you have to know everyone.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_05: Of course.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_05: So, um, so that put a cap on it for a little bit.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and then I was doing my recovery work.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_05: I went through uh I went through a thing where I had relapsed, so I went back into detox, like she mentioned, got strong again, asked him to be my sponsor, and he gave me a bed in his sober living house.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_05: He runs a sober living house.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, he does?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, he really gives back.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_05: He's like a saint.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_06: Wow, you really do commit when you're when you're in in a scenario, whether it's good or bad, you're you're fully invested.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, God bless you.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_06: Um, that's incredible.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_06: That's great.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_06: So you only take one or two per month.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_05: Is that what so far?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_05: That I just opened it back up, and because I'm giving away in full free, I'm not asking for supply.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_05: I don't have any sponsors realistically with my schedule and the amount of work that goes into those.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_05: So I figured we'd start at one or two.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_05: Once I saw you know, community response.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_05: And like you asked, how has the response been?
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_05: Black and white, I gotta say, hit or miss.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_05: They either hate me because I'm I'm covering something and they think I'm a racist too, or it's all love.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_05: So I just put a post on Facebook, it got over a million views with the last one I did, and it is a very uh bipolar crowd, I guess you say, are diametrically opposed, which are very much on the opposite ends of the spectrum.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_05: They're either talking trash to the other races and each other and me, or they're like, We love you, man.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_05: You're killing it.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_05: That's right.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_05: So I I'm not gonna stop.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, no one's throwing a brick through my window.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_05: I hope they don't, please.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_05: Come on now.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think I'm cool or anything.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_05: I just want to help people change their lives.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_05: It's the guy that tattoos and pierces people.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_05: That's it, man.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you know, I because and I because I wasn't part of that, I don't think I'm gonna be no reprisals or anything.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_05: It's just people that come to me that wanna, you know, they've already done their thing with their people.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_05: They just came to me to get rid of the pain job.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_06: You know what's so funny is as you're speaking, you're very well spoken.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_06: And I I I can see how you stayed out of trouble in in prison because dancing in the game.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_05: They did it right, I'd just do this in the background.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_05: They thought I was doing something.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_05: What's he doing?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_05: He's here, what's it matter?
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_05: Doing the trouble.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_05: Doing the job.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_06: Looking for my knife.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_06: Look.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_06: So, how do people apply, or how do people get on on the list to be part of this?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_05: In a gang?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_05: Oh no.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, just kidding.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I put a thing online.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_05: I I have a website, workofarttattoo.com.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_05: There's a link on there for second chance ink.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_05: You can Google us, we're all on there.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_05: Or you can go to our Instagram at symbol work of art tattoo.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_05: All one word, no symbols, no hyphens, no periods.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, you can see the link and just DM me or call me.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_05: You know the number 725-224-1240.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_05: If you hate me, just text me.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_05: Save us both a drama.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_05: Exactly.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_05: I'll read it, you'll get the effect, but just let's not yell at each other.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_06: How would you how much would you cost, would you charge Julie to get her tattoo covered up?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_06: I gotta see it, Julie.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_06: Come over here and bust that thing out.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: All right, give me a second.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_06: Hold on, Julie's gonna come over and show us the tattoo that she had covered up that says steed on it.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_06: Julie doesn't say that.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_06: Her putting that on her preschool boyfriend that she got tattooed on.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_06: Did you write him?
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_06: Did you write him?
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_06: Did you write tattooed?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_06: Let's see.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_05: Steed is it does not say steed.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, it does not say steed.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_05: Neil, what do we so you want to cover all of that?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_05: One day.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_05: Or just get it removed.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_05: That's gonna take two sessions for sure.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_05: And the it's gonna, it's only palm size, really.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_05: It's a shame it's not a gang tattoo.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_05: I know.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_05: Come on to me for a gang tattoo, I'll give you a free cover-up.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_05: Boom.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_05: Boom.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_05: Win-win.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_05: That's how you beat the system.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_05: I am um realistically for that, because it is very dark, it would take probably three to four hour sessions, depending on the image.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but yeah, if it was a gang one, I would have done it for free.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_06: Julie, are you sure you're not in a gang?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_06: I'm sure of it.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_06: I'm recruiting, don't worry.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_05: We're all getting recruited.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_05: We're gonna start our own gang.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_05: You just gotta say the hunger games whistle and stand on one foot.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_05: No violence required.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_05: Hunger games.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_05: There are cupcakes.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_05: What kind of cupcakes are you taking?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_05: Refreshments, man.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_05: Costco.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_05: Good Kirkland ones.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_06: The big chocolate ones and blueberries.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_06: That's so funny.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_06: Well, guys, this was so much fun.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_06: I really do appreciate all three of you sharing your stories.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_06: I'm so glad to see all of you just killing it of life now.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_06: You guys have been through hell and back, and uh, you guys are thriving now.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_06: And and I I I'm excited to see the journey, not even just where you are now, but where you guys are going.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_06: I think it's gonna be such an inspiring thing.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_06: And hopefully your stories are able to inspire other people as well.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_06: One more time, Josh.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_06: Give people uh or tell people where they can find more of you.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_06: Sure.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_05: Work of arttattoo.com.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_05: You don't gotta put any spaces, no periods, no hyphens, all one word.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_05: Workofarttattoo.com.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_06: And what if I want to get my septum pierced?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_06: What do I do?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, you can call me at 725-224-1240, unless you hate me, just text me.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_06: Will Tara pierce my septum?
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: I would absolutely pierce your septum for you.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_02: How painful is that?
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: That is one of the easiest piercings you can get.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, your eyes will water, but that's a eyes will water, yes.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's very easy.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_06: What's the most painful tattoo I can get?
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: Tops of your feet, let's go.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_06: Tops of my feet?
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, those are my first tattoos.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_06: No, no, we're talking about piercings, right?
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_06: You just have something that tattooed tattoo.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, did I say tattoo?
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_06: Stop that.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_06: There's a lot going on over here.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_06: I'm getting tattooed, I'm getting pierced over here.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_06: Everything is going on.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: What is the most painful piercing you can get?
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_06: I mean that we know of, right?
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that we know.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: That I know of would probably be one that you cannot see.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: It would be your nipples, yes.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: Those are pretty pretty painful.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_06: I have very sensitive nipples.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think it hurts more for men because you guys don't have as much to pierce.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I believe that the um I've not pierced a man's nipples before.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_05: I've pierced many.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: But do you go a little bit behind?
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_05: No, it depends on the nipple size.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's the correct needle diameter and the correct jewelry size, but no, never behind.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_05: If they don't have enough nipples, it's a no.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the first time I did it, I just told him, like, hey, we're gonna have to pierce your areola, and he said, I want it.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_05: I said, Okay.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_05: Like so far back, it kept a line pressed into his skin.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_05: I was like, it looks weird, dude.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_05: Lord.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_05: So we took those out.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_06: So top of the feet are is where the most painful tattoo is then.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_06: Probably one of them.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_06: The center of your chest, top of your feet.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the sternum.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_05: That one sucks.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_05: Right here was a nightmare.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_05: Don't get it twisted.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_05: Really?
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, great.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_05: On the neck?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_05: Right on the Adam's apple.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_05: Mine wasn't that bad at all.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_06: Mine wasn't that bad.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_05: Mine, well, I don't take tattoos that well.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_05: That's we have covered this.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_06: Tara, where can people find more of you?
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I have an Instagram.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it is uh Mischief Modifies.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: That's where you can find me.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: Mischief modifies.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: Mischief modifies, yeah.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_02: Uh nope, just one word, mischief modifies um on Instagram.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm also on his website too.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: He put me on there since I'm working with them now.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: So you can find me there.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_06: Love that.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_06: And then Josh, even though you're Josh number two here, you're Josh number one in my heart.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_06: Where can people find more of you?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you can look up my sober living, halls of renewal.com.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_06: Halls of renewal.com.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: Halls of renewal.com.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: No spaces, no nothing, no nothing.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: One word.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_06: Can you actually share?
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_06: I want to talk a little bit about halls of renewal before we get out of here.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_06: Can you get and get your friend of that mic too?
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_06: But ta tell us a little about halls of renewal.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean it's uh self-pay sober living.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um where is it at?
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's right off of Decatur and Lake Mead area, kind of old by by the old Texas station where it used to be.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh got a nice little house over there, and I'm just there to help people.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: So if you are in need, give me a call.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: I have a ton of resources in this town for people that are looking for recovery.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I love this.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: You guys are fucking awesome.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I do manage a gas station too, as my main job.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_02: And um, we my boss has helped, and I've hired many people that come out of rehab just as like a starter job.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: So usually if people need help just out of rehab or just out of jail finding a new way, a new job, sometimes I can help with that too.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_06: Awesome.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: You guys are fucking awesome.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, sorry, Grace, for the language.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, he's fine.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: He can get to it.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty sure I've sent people to her to get hired.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: I've hired um a lot of my friends from rehab.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they needed jobs.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to hire one of my other friends right now.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, just people that I think it's like like four people I've hired that I was in rehab.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: Just because I have connections with other stores in this town.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not like the best job, it's a low-paying job, but it's a job.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_02: It gets you too.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_02: If I can start there and I can get to where I'm at now from that low-paying job, you guys can do anything.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: Quit bitching about the jobs you have.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_02: Get the jobs.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, facts, facts.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_06: Let me tell you, you guys, your stories again could have easily gone a whole different direction.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_06: But all three of you are here, and all three of you have just, you know, you I I know I know you're you're probably still battling, but you've conquered so much already.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and I I'd love to see it.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_06: So I'm so so happy for all the work you guys are putting in this community.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_06: Uh Julie, any more last questions before we get out here?
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_06: Maybe something about one of your tattoos.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_06: You want to get a new tattoo, maybe?
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, maybe one day, but again, doesn't pertain to second chance ink at all.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_06: Of course not.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_06: Of course not.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_06: Um, make sure we know she's not a gang member.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: Just doubling down on that.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_06: Big head is not a gang.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're just no, but I I do want to say that when I was reading the package that Josh Cole had sent over with his original email, it it's just like truly inspiring because while I was never a part of anything like that, I I did grow up with people in the Dallas area that certainly were at the time that I knew them or certainly are now and are very different than the version of them I knew when we were kids.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I think it's great that y'all are going the path of helping other people see that there's a different version of life that they can live.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just I'm grateful for that to be in the Vegas community.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_06: Love that.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_06: It's needed here for sure.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_06: Well said.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you, everybody.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you, all of you.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_06: And including you, Grayson.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you, little buddy.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, I don't know what he said, but I'm sure it was very sweet.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_06: Catch new episodes each week on Hey Big Head Tattoo.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_06: Hey Big Head Tattoo.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_06: I just said hey big head tattoo.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_06: Hey BigheadTattoo.com.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: The gang has started.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: The gang has started.