Tomas Pendleton Is About To Become A TV Star Again

May 28th, 2009 · No Comments

O.C. Man Hits Road For New Show ‘Tattoo Highway.’
By Richard Chang
Published : May 26, 2009

On his right hand, he’s got the letters T-R-U-E tattooed on his fingers.

On his left hand, he’s got L-O-V-E.

When he clutches his fingers together, other letters spell D-I-S-C-I-P-L-E.

Thomas Pendelton is a tattoo artist. He’s been in the business for 15 years. Tatted from face to toe, he’s kind of a walking billboard for his chosen trade. Yet for him, tattoos are more than just a trade; they’re a deeply personal – even spiritual – experience.

“I think I’m an artist at heart,” he says. “What I look like and who I am are two different things.”

The Newport Beach resident (and longtime citizen of Huntington Beach) wanted to bring the intimate experience of getting an image etched permanently on one’s skin straight to his clientele’s doorstep.

So he pitched his idea to TV producers of doing tats across the country, bought a 1970s-era tour bus and took his show on the road. Television execs for cable network A&E liked what they saw.

Pendelton’s adventures have been documented in the reality series, “Tattoo Highway,” which premieres tonight at 10 on A&E. A camera crew followed him for about six weeks as he, his wife and two fellow tattoo artists journeyed to Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Texas and throughout California.

“We hooked up with a lot of people who wouldn’t actually go into a tattoo parlor,” said Pendelton, 38, who starred in a previous A&E reality show called “Inked.”

“The fact that we could roll through their town made a huge difference.”

In “Tattoo Highway,” which comprises 13 half-hour episodes, Pendelton and Co. stock his bus with top-of-the-line tattoo equipment and, like a rock band, hit the interstates and lonely country roads. His customers find him through Craigslist and Myspace.com.

The series captures Pendelton as he provides a memorial tattoo for a mother who, at 16, gave her newborn up for adoption. He tattoos prostitutes outside a well-known brothel in Nevada. For a man grieving the recent loss of his wife, he mixes her cremated ashes into black ink and uses that ink in a portrait tattooed on the widower’s chest. The experience brings Pendelton to tears.

“For me, it’s more personal than business. I’ve talked people out of getting tattoos,” says the native of Orange. “For me, it’s not about the money. These guys are gonna have a tattoo on them forever. So I’m not going to put something on them that they’ll regret soon.”

Pendelton’s business is called Ministry of Ink, which he operates with his wife Monica and friend Eddie Kist. “Ministry of Ink” is stenciled artfully on his tour bus, which he bought for $30,000 from a gospel singing group in Arkansas.

The unscripted TV series also takes the tattooist back through some difficult moments of personal history. The bus rolls into Las Vegas, where he once lived and experienced problems with booze and pills. His group makes a stop at his high school in Reno, where he dropped out when he was a sophomore. His lingering anger and frustration are obvious, and all he can do is curse and throw snowballs at the main entrance.

“I wasn’t a big high school fan,” he said. “I got my (butt) kicked a lot by the jocks. I was a skinny little nerdy kid. I look like a bully now, but I was bullied back then.”

Over the years, Pendelton has tattooed many celebrities, from basketball star LeBron James to Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe to a host of rappers. He has also done moms, teenage daughters and granddads.

The tattoo expert has noticed trends, such as bonding symbols that young women or gang members get, as well as the return of traditional pinups, daggers, dice and military insignia.

“Some kind of tattooing is trendy, like haircuts of the 1980s, and you gotta be careful with that,” he said. “Now that original, traditional stuff is the big-time trend now. It has exploded into the mainstream. Before, nobody would even walk in and look at that stuff on the walls. And now it’s overtaken the industry.”

Memorial tattoos remembering a lost loved one have also become very popular, he said.

In addition to being a tattooist, he’s also a philosopher, a T-shirt designer, a businessman and a father of five. He’s got three girls and two sons – including 3-year-old twin girls, one 2-year-old boy and a 4-month-old girl. So far, none have tattoos.

“I’m a family man. I don’t do anything that doesn’t benefit my family.”

At the same time, he sees himself as a kind of spiritual pilgrim. As his fingers attest, he’s a disciple of various faiths, including Christianity and Theravada Buddhism. He’s got “ohm” in Sanskrit tattooed under his left eye, and an upside down cross etched under his right. That’s a reminder of humility – not anything satanic or anti-Christian, as some might assume.

“I believe in a higher power than myself,” he said. “I’m huge into religion, spirituality and stuff. My personal opinion is, the answer is somewhere in all of it. So I like to hear as much as I can, and I like to hear as many different perspectives.”

Every tattoo tells a story, he believes, and he wants to capture that story in each tattoo he sears into skin.

“He goes from artwork on canvas, sculpture, tattooing and then anything on the computer,” says his friend Kist, 43, who has known Pendleton since childhood. “He never ceases to amaze me.”

While he’s respected in his field, he knows firsthand that tattoos are still associated with gangs, criminal behavior, drugs and disease.

“They call ‘em ‘job stoppers’ for a reason,” he laughs. “I’ve tried to rent buildings, tried to rent apartments, and was totally unsuccessful. They’ve turned me away.”

Still, Pendleton views earning people’s respect as a challenge. “There is that wall. It’s up to me to break that wall down.”

As tattoos grow more and more mainstream, he has seen attitudes change. He hopes to open a shop in Newport Beach, and has been in talks with J.C. Penney to sell a line of clothing with his designs.

J.C. Penney?

“I’d rather be King of the Nerds than one of the cool guys. There’s so much ego involved in everything, right down to who’s got the best car. I would rather be known by everyday guys than some cool celebrities.”

Source : The Orange County Register