Credit:
Chris Nieratko (writer),
Lionel Deluy (photographer)
As a shop owner yourself [of Cherry Bomb Tattoo in Chicago], what advice did you give Kat on running the shop? I am the worst shop owner on the planet. I opened a shop so I wouldn't have to work with anyone else and I wanted to make my own rules. But Kat is 25, she owns a shop, it's a huge undertaking. I think she's incredibly sensible and has good people helping her. As long as she is able to keep doing her art it will be good. The best thing she can do is have good people around her to handle the stuff that would stress her out otherwise.
Pixie Acia
If you didn't know any better, you'd think High Voltage's sassy shop manager, Pixie, was one of Hannah's pin-ups come to life. But don't underestimate her cute demeanor and good looks—she can probably lay you out. CN: When you lived in Minnesota did you get to see and/or wrestle Jesse ‘The Body' Ventura? Pixie Acia: Neither. Lucky for him because he'd have to pack a lunch. I was actually on the boy's wrestling team in junior high and high school. Swear to God. Sometimes they'd pin me in 15 seconds, sometimes I'd pin them. Sometimes the boys would talk shit to me and sometimes they'd be really sweet. Sometimes they wouldn't say a goddamned word.
Did any of the boys try and touch your parts while wrasslin'? No, I think they might have had that idea at the beginning of the match, but once we started and they realized I was strong and that they actually had to fight back, then they'd get nervous. Nobody wants to lose to a girl. The first year, though, I didn't win any. I lost every match. But I got better after that. I was a tomboy because my dad and brothers were wrestlers. I played Pop Warner football too, in junior high. I started out as a cheerleader and I was like, ‘This sucks. I want to do what the boys are doing. That looks like more fun.' You've listed burger slinger as an occupation on your MySpace page. I was a waitress at Swingers for a year and I absolutely loved it. We had a break between filming and I had a couple days off from the shop and I picked up some shifts. Those relationships are real. Those little 45-minute relationships you share with people are real—that's life.
As shop manager, what kind of bullshit do you have to deal with? Nothing crazy. Toilet floods and air conditioning leaks, maybe. But it's a tattoo shop and they're all adults and they all own their own tattoo shops so everything runs smoothly. It's not their first rodeo. For more on Pixie, go to myspace.com/cupcakeandpix
Related Links:
Kat Von D : http://www.katvond.net/
High Voltage Tattoo : http://www.highvoltagetattoo.com/
The Learning Channel : http://www.tlc.com/
Six Feet Under : http://www.sixfeetunder.com/
Hanna Haitchison : http://www.hannahaitchison.com/
Pixie On Myspace : http://www.myspace.com/cupcakeandpix
