Philadelphia Eddies is one of the most respected conventions in this area, and one of the most widely attended. This year, celebrating their eighth anniversary, and their first year having the convention without Crazy Eddie being in charge, there were certainly sorrowful moments in opening the doors on Friday, but all was well.

Held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center the last weekend in July, the show brought hundreds of the most talented artists together.

When we attended the convention, the last competition of the weekend was taking place, and I had the opportunity to talk to some energetic and colorful individuals. One gentleman was in the US visiting his cousins, who were from New York, and had artwork that would have made for perfect feature opportunities, except for the fact that he was so excited that I was taking his picture that he couldn’t stand still long enough for much more than a snapshot here and there.

I then had the opportunity to talk with the artist of one of the individuals who was in the contest. But, judging from the amount of vodka that he was emitting, I really doubt that he’ll remember talking to me - if he even remembers being at the convention!

There was one woman sitting in front of the stage during the competition that was older than most of the other attendees. In talking to her, I found that she had been passionate about getting her ink long before it was acceptable for men to have tattoos, let alone for women to have them. She was often scorned, and has been through more persecution in showing her ink than our generation will ever know.

Many artists were present at the convention that had been influenced by Crazy Philadelphia Eddie at one point or another in their careers. Individuals like Troy Tipple, a staff member at Eddies that inked the large peacock on the back of Marla Perewitz that you’ll see in the following pictures.

So, with their first year without an industry legend at the helm of the show, the convention sailed into smooth waters to dock for another year. Check out the next show that will be taking place - the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention during the first weekend of February at the Wyndham at Franklin Plaza - more information about this show will be available soon at www.tattooedkingpin.com.