back then you could only really buy tattoo magazines in one place... i believe it was called the city news it was located on seneca .... it was pretty much a porn store that sold tattoo magazines so it was always an interesting crowd ... every month i would try to go there to get the latest tattoo rag.... one month i stopped in and ron was busy occupying the tattoo section.... this was very intimidating to me as i didnt really know how to approach him and thought that for sure he would not remember me and i sure didnt have the balls to approach him... conversely i didn't want to look like i was there shopping for porn mags... i remember anxiously walking around trying to find some middle ground to look at until he left.... while walking by the isle to see if he had left yet; he says to me... hey man come check this out...he held up this magazine and it was a tattoo that corey kruger had done of an ant farm... he said to me ... isnt this tattoo so bad ass...at the time i didnt really know what to do ... i just smiled and said yes not knowing really what else to say...i didnt really know what else to do so i tried to introduce myself thinking for sure he would not remember me from a year or two before ....he looked at me and said sure man i remember you before i even had a chance to finish... we looked at tattoo magazines for awhile and i was scared to death i would say something totally stupid .... we parted with pleasantries and i rember thinking was all that a dream... did that really happen .... was the best tattooer i had every met just super cool to me....? i couldnt believe it....keep in mind things were very different back then... there was only a hand full of tattooers in the whole state... you couldnt order supplies off the internet in fact there was no internet... you couldnt just call up a tattoo supply house you had to have a referal from another tattooer before they would sell to you... and even spaulding stuff you first had to have their number and send them money before you could even get a catalog.... it was a very private magical club
many things have happened in the tattoo world ,both locally and worldwide ,since then some good some bad ....but one thing that has remained the same locally is ron has always been the standard in wichita tattooing.... for years he has always remained a few steps ahead of everyone else.... constantly raising the bar.....i shutter to think what wichita tattooing would be had he not been here... i shutter to think what my tattoos would look like had i not realized what tattoos could be by seeing his work.....
now a days it seems everyone and their cousin does tattoos.... it seems the influx of mediocre tattooers that think they are rock stars run rampant....people that have not learned the basics of tattoos are in turn teaching others multiplying unmastered skills and dumbing down tattooing as a whole.... it seems many new comers dont care or understand where tattooing has come from and how it got to this place....to know the future you must know the past.... you are creating nothing new just more mistakes that have already been solved years ago .....although i do think this is true of wichita to an extent i feel there are more good than bad tattooers here...the more i travel the more i realize the tattoo public here has it pretty good... i know this is in large part due to rons influence over the past 20+ years...
change is an odd thing for me .... i find i struggle with it alot.... i have a hard time with computers and phones and the latest ways in which people choose to communicate....it seems there is always something being added to try to keep up with... just stopping by to say hello or hang out has been replaced with some digital mumbo jumbo....although i realize change can be a good thing ... often times i have learned change brings both good and bad at the same time...
