News
Hori Smoku in The Chicago Tribune
10/16/09
The Chicago Tribune
Early inkTrailblazing tattoo artist Norman Collins (better known as Sailor Jerry) was a larger-than-life, Honolulu-based ex-Navy man who was so tough, he allegedly used a chopstick and a hammer to knock out his own teeth. Until his death in 1973, his clients were primarily drunken sailors, onto whom he inked many a buxom maiden (Ed Hardy was a protege). A new documentary about the man, "Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry," screens Tuesday at Metro. Both a prankster and a right-wing libertarian, he was an early proponent of sterilized instruments and one of the first to incorporate Japanese imagery in his tattoos. (Chicago's Taylor Street Tattoo and Body Piercing makes a cameo appearance.) The screening includes a Q&A with filmmaker Erich Weiss. For more info, go to horismokumovie.com/chicago _screening.
