and a man named Michael Swinyard. Rose says the detective mentioned that other names have been coming up as well. Rose was out of town on December 27 when an alarm at the shop was triggered; there was broken glass and what appears to be a bullet hole in the frame of a shop window. “The police can’t defi nitively say anything, but it was two hours before the shootings took place, and Lyndon called my shop twice,” Rose says. “The detective told me, ‘All I’m going to say is that you are very lucky you weren’t in town that day.’” On January 16, tattoo shops across Denver held fundraisers to share art and memories of the victims. “The tattoo community is so close,” says Stevi Miller of Modifi ed Madness acknowledge we are vulnerable humans who should prioritize our mental health. As a community, we can hold each other and ourselves accountable, which hopefully will prevent something so horrendous from happening again.” Ullerich, who took over Emporium of Design when his father died in 2011 and later merged it with his own shop, Kool Kats, still misses the “rugged individuality” of the ’80s.“There was mad respect in the industry back then,” he says. “Now there are so many people who don’t know each other or their history. When we talk about the tattoo com- munity being a tight-knit group, that’s true to an extent, but there’s a big element out there that doesn’t keep in contact with each other. The roots on the tree have spread out as it’s gotten bigger.” But even he notes positive changes, in- Larry Romano (left) and Peter Poulos were titans of the tattoo industry. Tattoo, who organized the benefi t. “We’re enemies, but we’re not enemies. You don’t want your client going somewhere else, but when something like this happens, we come together.” Indeed, the tattooing community has come together like never before. “We have to,” Slaughter says. “It happened at King Soopers. I don’t think it’s a tattoo thing; it’s some fucking psycho asshole who came in and murdered innocent people. You could be buying groceries, you could be pumping gas, and that’s the scary thing. I tell everyone don’t be afraid, because we can’t live life paranoid. If it’s going to happen, it’s our time, I believe, and there’s nothing we can do. But we can’t hide in our houses.” “I hope to see the tattoo community as a whole coming together as a united front as opposed to the unnecessary and unhealthy competitive nature it was born in,” adds Rose. “I feel this really opened our eyes to something I’ve felt in our creative commu- nity for a long time, and that’s mental health and hate. I hope in the future as artists, we cluding the quality of the artwork. “An old famous tattooer from San Francisco would say, ‘Tattooing is old as time and as new as tomorrow,’” he recounts. “And that’s really the way it’s evolved.” Says Rose: “There is room for everyone. I think it’s important that as artists we all respect one another and acknowledge how our industry didn’t set us up for success in regard to working alongside each other in the industry. However, we can change. We’re all artists; we’re feelers. We’ve all dedicated our lives to enrich happiness, visually and spiritually.” “The tattoo world has always been a re- ally strong, tight-knit community. Even if we don’t like each other, we still know that each other are there. … All we can do is just move on and try to be good people and try to treat people with respect,” Slaughter concludes. “And try to love ourselves, too. If we can do that, then we can manage everything else.” Email the author at emily.ferguson@ westword.com. 13 westword.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | WESTWORD JANUARY 20-26, 2022 COURTESY OF RYANE ROSE
