But what they got instead of glitz was a collection of hard- grizzled life stories.

These two inky shows give viewers a glimpse at bizarre lives that most never lead or follow. And there is some respect being demanded. The Miami Ink tattoo artists could be working elsewhere as graphic illustrators or in fantasy comics. But they're where they belong, or shown to be so.Still, the customers seem more Miami Ink camera-worthy than the workers. A 22-year-old named Erin Kelly hires tattoo artist Chris Nunez to cram 23 words from a Red Hot Chili Peppers song onto her foot. Kelly says she's doing this to honor her dead brother, who killed himself. Nunez reveals that his dad killed himself. Violins swell.

"I got it on my left foot, because that's what side my heart's on," Kelly says of her new Miami Ink body art. As if a counterbalance of sexuality were required to steer things back to an upbeat track, another 22-year-old woman flashes her left butt cheek in her quest to have a Christian-cross tattoo covered by a new Miami Ink tattoo. Her butt reads, "I Will Succeed Thru Him."

The heartstring-pulling in "Inked" comes from manager Thomas Pendleton. He says his ex is the one who gives their son the kind of stability he never had as a kid. But for the sake of "Inked," father Pendleton and young son sit in their hoodie sweatshirts for a spell. "He's not gonna be an artist, that's for sure," a weary Pendleton says, eyes drooping, clearly hoping to keep his kid out of his path. But his namesake rebels: "I'm gonna be an artist, AND I'm gonna ride a motorcycle. LIKE YOU!" Neither show's debut delves into the touristy host cities. There are no shots in strip clubs or clubs on the Strip, although the first half-hour installment of "Inked" does reveal a well-endowed Vegas mom, who lets her daughter watch as she gets the youngster's name, Kaylee, drawn on an arm. In the absence of the wild-on party nature of Miami and Vegas, both shows remain hooked on frowns. The second half-hour installment of "Inked" includes a moment when an apprentice named Dizzle merrily spanks a beer-bottled female customer. But Dizzle is also a motherless child of a sort. "It was not a good place for my brother and my little sister to be in. So we woke up at 6 one morning and got on a bus and kind of got shipped here like a package."

Miami ink tattoo picture arm tattoo and face paint

Sad-sack stories keep on rolling. A Vegas customer, an Oakland rapper named AP 9, drops this story: "My brother took one bullet. I took 12. I'm still here," he says. "I grew up in the projects, man. Ain't nothin' but killin' and sellin' dope. ... My mom got murdered when I was 9 years old. Her boyfriend killed her in front of me. ... She's in a better place than this right here. It's hell right here, you know what I'm sayin'?"

It's not odd to hear a rapper proclaim that hell is life on Earth for a lot of people. But his statement serves as a theme for both "Inked" and "Miami Ink," and that begs a question. Is it commendable that show-makers wanted to dive more than skin deep into the lives of their grizzled subjects? Or were they just looking for good quotes?
Doug Elfman will report from the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles this week.

Author Doug Elfman Copyright The Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

 

                  
Miami Ink