You pierced what?

The things young people do to themselves...

It was a normal Saturday night at the Riverboat. I was there to see my son play and sing. I also handled his mailing list and did whatever I could do to make things go smoother.  The audience was primarily college kids who were full of unpredictability. 

The Riverboat Bar and Grill was located on Dauphin Street in Mobile, Alabama. Only about 4 doors down from this bar, there was a late night tattoo parlor that also offered piercings of all kinds. Unfortunately sometimes these young people would have just a little to drink and then make choices they may not otherwise have made. Often they would bet one another to get a certain tattoo or get  something pierced. It was more of a game than anything else.

Those days at Riverboat were wild, crazy and memorable. One night a young couple decided to get their tongues pierced. I love them both (and they are still great friends), but I begged them not to get their tongues pierced. They returned to the bar, proudly sporting those pierced tongues and talking very strangely, “tha ms wanewa, lookmy tung, kewl, huh?” They laughed and partied with the crowd and I could see them frequently opening their mouths wide to show off this new piece of jewelry poking through their tongues.

One night a young lady from Bayou LaBatre that I had known for a couple of years, decided she wanted to get her nipples pierced. I said “Oh please, please do not do that!” Did she listen?....No. When she returned she ran straight to my table and asked all of us to come to the ladies room to see her newly pierced nipples. I declined but the other young ladies jumped to their feet and eagerly followed her in the direction of the restrooms. I watched as they rushed across the room, each trying to keep up so as not to miss anything.

When they returned from the pierced nipple viewing in the restroom, some of them were pale with fearful looks on their faces. Others were all excited, almost bouncing up and down and saying, “I want to do that!” I offered not a word of advice, as I knew my words would have fallen to the floor and never reached those young ears. 

I will always remember one absolutely beautiful young lady who smiled as she showed us her new work of art.  It was a spider tattoo, and it looked so real as it was perched on her neck. I am not sure what message she was offering with this distinctive tattoo, but it was pretty scary to me. I also saw one girl showing off her new tattoo of  her boyfriend’s name on her chest just above her heart. That’s never a good idea as relationships at that age come and go like a thief in the night.

Decisions are difficult for college age people, and if you add liquor to the mix, common sense flies right out the window.

I enjoyed the music and I enjoyed the show put on by the audience as they left with clear skin and returned with all sorts of things inked into their skin. Or as they returned with holes in them that were not there earlier and metal was pertruding from these new holes. I realized they were only expressing themselves and their freedom to be who they are; but it was amusing as I made every effort to decide what it was they were trying to express...

Oh to be young again....