Long Live Tattoo Festival Debuts in Black Hawk With Top-Tier Artists and Major Draws

With all the competition on social media platforms, catching eyes is a must for today's tattooers. Getting noticed is equally important for the local events scene, which is as crowded with festivals and conventions as our mountain slopes are with skiers and hikers. That goes double during 4/20 weekend, which traditionally welcomes big hip-hop names and the long-running Mile High 420 Festival.

But all that hasn't deterred the Long Live Tattoo Festival, which makes its debut on Friday, April 19, and runs through Sunday, April 21, at the Ameristar Black Hawk Casino. The fest is determined to stand out both artistically and recreationally from the thick haze of things to do that weekend. Festival founders Ryland Early and Flipshades are confident that their new all-ages event will hold its own with art lovers and tattoo addicts, as well as those who might want to do something a little different for the annual weed weekend. To meet that goal, they're offering plenty of tattoo-convention staples (top-shelf talent from around the globe, art for sale, tattoo contests), but also experiences you definitely won't find anywhere else — such as simultaneously singing karaoke with a well-known musician while getting a tattoo.

"We have a friend that's a very popular musician, [who's] going to come and do karaoke with all the clients," says Flipshades, an artist, tattooer and co-owner of the La Alma neighborhood shop that shares the festival's name. He's not going to spoil the surprise, only sharing that the mystery musician will "walk around with a microphone and we'll play the songs...and literally let the clients do karaoke with this very famous singer while they're getting tattooed, which we just think is hilarious. We just want to see that."

Another uncommon offering, with an eye toward tattooing's past, comes courtesy of a Long Live friend creating tattoos using acetate stencils designed by tattooing legend Philadelphia Eddie. Acetate cut-outs are a tricky, vintage tattooing tool that was used before the days of modern stencil paper.

"Back in the day, they used to have to cut plastic stencils," Flipshades explains. "You would pick the thing, they would get it out of the drawer, put a powder on it, stick it to you and tattoo it." The method had distinct drawbacks, he notes: "The problem with that is, the powder dissolves and disappears within, like, five minutes. So you have five minutes to get that tattoo on there, or not. Not that many people can do it."

It's such a unique opportunity that he's planning to join the crowds and partake. "I'm very excited," he says. "I'm gonna be the first one in line. ... These are Philadelphia Eddie's original acetates, hand-cut by him in the ’60s and ’70s. This is some tattoo history."

That's just the tip of the liner for a schedule stacked with activities. Each day of the festival will crown the best tattoo, but there will also be competitions for best-healed tattoo as well as for best of show capping the weekend. There's even a contest for the worst tattoo on Sunday, in which entrants will be competing for services from festival sponsor Removery.
Festival tattoo artists will jump into the ring themselves for a talent show on Saturday. "Tattooers can do wild things, play weird instruments and do all kinds of strange stuff," says Flipshades. "I'm excited to see what happens in that. We have no idea yet." Although he's unsure which guests will be coaxed onto the stage, he knows that the group includes a sword swallower, a machete juggler and a bevy of talented musicians. The winner receives a free booth at next year's Long Live Tattoo Festival.

In addition to all that, there will be DJs spinning tunes, "exquisite corpse-style" live-painting and artist panels. Painting seminars are also planned, vendors will be installed throughout the festival spaces, and in celebration of the 4/20 holiday, there will be a "cigarette-rolling" demonstration from one of Long Live's artists who moonlights as a professional joint-roller. Flipshades and Early hope that the diverse slate of activities will attract an equally diverse crowd, but the focus is solidly on tattooing fellowship, craft and especially art.

"With the level of artists that we've brought in, with the live-painting...we're making it art-centered," says Early, who covers the fest's marketing and operations side. But they also "want it to be something [for] people that don't want to get tattoos but want to see what it's like, that they feel invited to it, too. And then obviously people who know anything about tattooing are going to see the lineup of artists we have and are going to be absolutely blown away," he says. "I'm sad that I have to run the event and be responsible and can't just be spending all my money getting tattooed all weekend."

"We're getting a lot of the artists that are coming to bring a lot of their actual art, their paintings," adds Flipshades. "We're hanging them all up throughout the entire event. So it's going to be like a large-scale art gallery where you can buy paintings, too. You don't have to get a tattoo; you can just buy a painting and check out the cool art from all these people."

A full list of artists attending the show can be found on the festival's website with contact info; the talented group encompasses every imaginable tattoo style, from neo-traditional to hyper-realistic and Japanese irezumi. Early advises attendees who are planning to get some ink to reach out to the artist they're interested in beforehand. "Some artists pre-book only, and then some artists will be taking walk-ins, too," he explains. "Everyone will take a pre-book, so the best thing to do is to look on our Instagram, and you can see the list of all the artists that are coming. Contacting the artist directly to find out their availability is the best thing to do."

"If you want to book an appointment with someone, look at their work and see what they do," adds Flipshades. "Find something that looks like what you want. ... Every single person there will tattoo anyone, no problem. Any level of melanin, anything. ... Just gotta figure out the right artist for the right person."

He backs up his partner's advice to pre-book, but says you can always take a chance day-of. "Come in and talk to ’em. Show up and roll the dice," he says. "It's a casino, so...you never know. Maybe the most famous artist might have someone that cancels, and you're just there at the right place at the right time."

The founders originally came together as artist (Flipshades) and client (Early). They have a shared love of tattooing, but otherwise come from distinctly contrasting artistic backgrounds. Early is a recently retired professional ballet dancer who has transitioned into running competitions and organizing events. Flipshades is a world-traveling tattooer with an impressive palette of styles. It only took one conversation to get the ball rolling for the current endeavor.

"I was getting tattooed by him and we started talking," recalls Early, who asked Flipshades: "'What if I wanted to do a convention? Would you want to consult? Would you want to maybe be a part of it?'"

The artist cut him off with an emphatic "No, let's do one right now!" Early continues. "And I was like, 'Oh, okay, sure!'"

Their own friendship set the tone for inviting artists and crafting the event. Tattooing "is still a little intimidating to some people, but every single artist that's coming...either [Flipshades] or one of our other business partners knows personally. So we know that everyone that's coming in is going to be super friendly and super nice and welcoming to the public. We want this to be a good introduction to people," Early says.

"If you've been thinking about getting tattooed, this is the place to figure it out," he concludes. "This is where you're going to find the best of the best, and it's going to be such a positive environment, where everyone's just enjoying the fact that we're all creating art there."

Long Live Tattoo Festival, Friday, April 19, through Sunday, April 21, Ameristar Black Hawk Casino, 111 Richman Street, Black Hawk. Admission is $30-$60 on eventbrite.