It’s pretty darned hot these days here in Jersey, but not anywhere near the roasting temperatures my friends are experiencing in Texas or Oklahoma. With that said, everyone in these parts seems to be hitting the Jersey Shore or the local pool to cool off. Maybe I’m just noticing this now, but it seems like a lot more people have some sort of artwork or permanent message inscribed on their bodies in publicly visible areas (I know what you’re thinking, now don’t go there! Get your mind out of the gutter!) I’m not talking sailors, biker dudes, or millennials here — I’m talking grandmas in their 60’s too!

At a recent summer wedding, I saw one lady (well into the AARP demo) on the dance floor who had almost as many tattoo designs on her arm as rapper Chris Brown. I wonder, did all this ink & body art go mainstream back in the 70’s with that movie “Tattoo”? Or is it just a resurgence thanks to L.A. Ink’s Kat von D? I don’t know. Some of my closest friends have ink and it’s classy too (hat tip to Chris Renné). I even know of some old news media colleagues donning a little butterfly or rose. The bottom line is that people will look at other people’s body art. So, all of this ink has me thINKing, “There’s got to be a way to generate business here!” Let’s hold that thought for a moment…

Now back to the beach & the pools — just recently I saw one young dad with a very elaborate picture of his 2-year old daughter on his forearm; the attention to detail was incredible, it looked like an old sepia-style photograph, and I know it’s quality workmanship because the kid is now 5, and he seems like he’s happy with it. But not all that body art looks great; I saw a spine-shaped tattoo placed directly over a guy’s spinal column, which was pretty dumb, as are the misspellings “Granpa”, etc.

So, as I expand Malavé Media into the Social Media Content Management realm, I’ve been thinking of using body art too… what do you think of these?