Fresh Ink

So this happened.  Yesterday was Prince's birthday, so I figured it was a good time to express my longtime admiration for and nearly inexpressible thanks to the recently deceased music icon by getting inked, compliments of Christine Nelson (that's right, same surname as The Purple One!) at No Ka Oi Tiki Tattoo here in Philly. It's an old-school Love Symbol (black instead of purple, to indicate mourning) with a dove in the ring. (The Love Symbol is a symbol of unity, as it melds the traditional symbols of male and female to form a new, androgynous glyph.) This particular design is tweaked from the artwork of the original 45 sleeve of the "Take Me with U" single. I think of the dove--an incarnation of Prince--as escaping not only the confines of mortality but the social and creative confines this world repeatedly tried (and repeatedly failed) to impose on him. I hope u like it.