The Tattoo Bus
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
This vendor caught my eye as we were setting up our camping chairs at ringside prior to the start of the wrestling show that was about to take place on the lawn under the screen at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater.
They were operating on a first come, first serve basis, and were limiting their work to the flash in their portfolio, but I've had an idea of something that I've wanted to get done for a few months now, and this was the perfect opportunity to make it happen.
One of my favorite snipes that the Mahoning plays on the screen prior to the first movie of any given night, whether it be for a paying crowd, the Patreon fans, or even the virtual screenings that we watch from home, is for Pic Mosquito Repelling Coils. It's usually one of the last things that you see before the movie hits the screen, and it's something that even a first-time visitor to the Mahoning is likely to associate with the place.
There is no shortage of folks on the lot on any given night who have a Mahoning tattoo. Some folks have the marquee. Others have Rico or Pepe from Rico's Nachos, or maybe ticket stubs, or a film reel, or a Jason mask for Camp Blood. You get the idea.
To the best of my knowledge, nobody has a Pic mosquito tattoo, so that was part of the draw for what I wanted to get done, but I mostly wanted it because I really like the overly dramatic mosquito at the end. My understanding is that those Pic mosquito coils don't actually kill mosquitos. They just keep them from flying near you in the first place, so this little guy at the end of the ad is really hamming it up with his pained "bye" before keeling over dead with a flower in his hand. I've probably seen it a hundred times and it still makes me chuckle every time it comes on the screen.
It's not a super complicated design, and Greg is an extremely cool artist who was willing to draw it up for a guy he just met who didn't even have an appointment. So...
My little dramatic mosquito friend is now immortalized on my wrists - living on the right and dead on the left, and it was inked while I sat in the shadow of the screen that he appears on every night that the drive-in is open for business.
I wasn't the only one who got some ink at Reel Rumble V. My wife has become very fond of the squirrels in our backyard since the start of the pandemic. She feeds them every morning and spends the day working at a desk in front of a window where she can watch them happily munching away at their squirrel food. So, in honor of her status as Squirrel Momma, she got a nice tattoo of an acorn. Kate and Carrie were also inspired to get some work done. They each got an Eye of Ra tattoo, so we now all have a nice memory of a fun day at the drive-in with our found family.
