In 2017, Von D, whose legal name is Katherine Von Drachenberg, tattooed a likeness of an iconic photograph of jazz great Miles Davis onto a person.
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Two things:
About 40 years ago I decided I wanted the Colt Firearms emblem, the Rampant Colt, tattooed on the inside of my right forearm. I wrote Colt and asked permission, afraid that the artist wouldn't do it because it is copyrighted. They wrote me back and said, "Hell yeah, go for it. Send us a picture," in pretty much those exact words.
I went to a tattoo convention in San Francisco at the time Kat Von D was starring in that tattoo show on TV. It turns out she was supposed to be there, which I didn't know beforehand. I was there to see Lyle Tuttle.
She showed up to sign autographs for all her admiring fans, one of which wasn't me, although I happened to be bullshitting with the artist in a booth close by, so I got a good look at her.
The first thing I noticed was whoever does her makeup for the show must've been really, really good because that nice smooth complexion she had on TV wasn't all that smooth in real life, in fact, she was pretty acne scarred even though her makeup that day was caked on, and the second thing I noticed was she was dead drunk. I'm talking slurring her words drunk.
She hung out for about 15 minutes, signed a few autographs, and left.
