Pete's Tribute to a Magical Grandfather

Last month, as I wandered despondently down my street, mourning the loss of my camera, I saw Pete standing on his stoop in the afternoon heat, without a shirt. He had a really cool tattoo and I talked to him about it, taking a picture with my BlackBerry.<br /><br />Alas, the image quality wasn't good enough, I thought, to post here, so I waited until I saw Pete again, almost a month later, when I had my new camera in hand.<br /><br />So here, without further delay, is Pete's tattoo:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjymsHkUfxpiYJilyFfJWd5TxTb9-PPZLYU-IqaUjbybqruS-x-75xjgUc8HVSIlqcvVGZ-Lc2BIIOUukwGNrDKpjfsCFQauAMpKs2AhRaMSE3MZoOVH4qgEQJIxMKk-RlW0oSlKy4-/s1600/Merlini+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjymsHkUfxpiYJilyFfJWd5TxTb9-PPZLYU-IqaUjbybqruS-x-75xjgUc8HVSIlqcvVGZ-Lc2BIIOUukwGNrDKpjfsCFQauAMpKs2AhRaMSE3MZoOVH4qgEQJIxMKk-RlW0oSlKy4-/s400/Merlini+1.jpg" width="373" /></a></div><br />Pete explained that this tattoo is a tribute to his grandfather, a magician who went by the name "The Great Merlini". The tattoo was designed by <a href="http://www.tattoosbylou.com/html/artists/KIKI/kiki_M.html">Kiki</a> at <a href="http://www.tattoosbylou.com/html/sobeach.html">Tattoos by Lou</a> in the South Beach section of Miami, Florida. Pete went to him and explained what he wanted and Kiki drew it up and inked it.<br /><br />On a sidebar, the Great Merlini wasn't just your run-of-the-mill magician. The man behind the persona was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Rawson">Clayton Rawson</a> (click name for full biography). Rawson wrote four mystery novels that featured the character also known as The Great Merlini. And as this YouTube clip shows, Merlini also was a noted illusionist:<br /><br /><object height="360" width="580"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/h1ffafaw46w&hl=en_US&fs=1?color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/h1ffafaw46w&hl=en_US&fs=1?color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object><br /><br />Thanks to Pete for sharing this magical tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Pete's Tribute to a Magical Grandfather

Last month, as I wandered despondently down my street, mourning the loss of my camera, I saw Pete standing on his stoop in the afternoon hea...

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