News
Feb 15, 2009 • Father Panik gets officially excommunicated •
Part 1 - I am doomed to go to Catholic hell.
I got screamed at by a monseigneur, a pastor, saying that he finds me and my creations I was selling at an artist market deeply offensive, and that I must pack up and leave. The pastor has decided that I am marketing violence with my designs, although that is not at all my intentions.
This msgr, having such a narrow religious mind, refused to even hear a word of my defense and my point of view. I am deeply offended, that he, a man of god in such a high place, has judged me so, completely unfairly.
I don’t mind so much that my designs offended the pastor, nor the fact he wanted me off of his property. After all, the designer's market rents the space from his church, and we do sell "Excommunicate Rosaries". I don’t expect everybody to like my work. It would have been nice even, if he tried to talk some sense into me or tried to convert me to Catholicism, if he thought I was so violent and evil in nature. Aren’t pastors/priests supposed to help guide people out of the darkness and to see the light? Or if he at least listened to my point of view, and then nicely ask to leave because what I sell are against his beliefs, instead of spewing venom at me, like he was the devil himself, and then have his henchmen stare me down and guard over me.
“Judge not, lest ye be judged” (Mathew 7:1-5) The bible condemns hypocritical judgment, does it not?
I don’t judge a Catholic priest because of the history of conduct of some Roman Catholic priests against some 11,000 children. I don’t judge a Muslim believer because of the terrorists involved in 9-11 were Muslims. I certainly wouldn’t judge a hottie wearing a gun necklace to be a violent whore. Ok, I maybe guilty of judging the guests on Jerry Springer Show for looking and acting the way they do, but I never claimed to be holy nor perfect, and I do appreciate the value of a good trashy entertainment.
Some of my T-shirt and jewelry designs have image/s of weapons as symbols of self-empowerment and fighting spirit for self-preservation. I hope our designs reach those recovering Catholic choir boys, who were mistreated by these supposed holy men, to regain self respect and continue to fight through their lives for their spiritual freedom and justice.
Christ does not teach persecution either, last time I checked. I’m a Buddhist, but I know the basics of the teachings of the Bible. Shouldn’t a msgr of the Old Church of St. Patrick?
I wish I didn't remain so calm during this ordeal. I'm fairly accustomed to being yelled at growing up in Japan, and we are trained not to react emotionally in public. I really should've reacted like that asian woman who missed her flight in Hong Kong . I wonder what would've happened then.
I don't like to tell people what art is, and what it means. It should be what you want it to mean. But this is what the rosaries mean to me personally. When I make the excommunicate rosaries, I put my own prayers into it, just not of any religious kind. When I work with broken antique rosaries, I think of resurrecting a discarded and forgotten rosary, and give it a new home for another 50 yrs or so. I especially like them, because it's a piece of history you can wear: it carries the energy of faith and prayers that helped over come fear, broken hearts, despairs, and hardships of people of past generations. We may put weapons on our rosaries, but the symbolisms and meaning still remains the same. I think the wearer of our rosaries have faith in their own inner strength, to overcome all obstacles in life. We break down the borders of religious differences.
A girl who bought one of our knux rosary later told me, how it makes her feel protected. If a necklace can give somebody that kind of faith, how bad can it be?
I am still planning on going to Buddhist heaven.
-Mika
Part 2 - Catholic Hell
So the first thing the priest saw that he found offensive were the rosaries with brassknuckles and guns. Then he saw our Cross of Thorns and said “You must take this swastika off of the table immediately along with your rosaries, or you can pack everything up and leave! These are deeply offensive!”
Yes, our Cross of Thorns vaguely forms a swastika. Scott designed it based on the crosses he saw in the Vatican museum. The idea that the form of the swastika used as the symbol of Nazi Germany is evil, is a modern fiction that is not known before about 1932. Swastika is one of the most ancient and widespread of all forms used as a decorative and symbolic ornament in both hemispheres. Swastika is a word derived from Sanskrit “Svastika”, which literally translate to “conducive to well being”, and it is used as a symbol for prosperity and good fortune.
So I tried to explain this to the monseigneur by starting with “But it’s based on the crosses in the Vatican musem…” This, was like adding oil to fire, the pastor escalated his screaming at the top of his lungs “ THERE IS NOT BUT WHEN IT COMES TO SWASTIKA! I THINK NOT!!!”
I wonder if Monseigneur Donald Sakano has ever been to the Vatican museum or traveled to Asia? When seeing swastika adorned temples, would he scream at the Buddhist monks in their saffron robes?
In my further research, I have even found a Cathedral in France that's famous for it's Swastikas on its floors, the Cathedral of Our Lady Amiens. Now, you really need to get out more, Monseigneur!
-Mika
Feb 02, 2009
Hey, Scott wrote a piece for Daredevil Michelle's www.DevilCityPress.com. It's about getting tattoo'd in '89 when it was illegal in NYC, back when getting a tattoo was like buying a bag of dope.
THE MARKET NYC
We're also back at the Market NYC, on Mulberry St. on Saturdays & Sundays.
We'll be back at the Hudson Street location on Saturdays starting in March.
Sat & Sun 11am-7pm : Mulberry St. between Houston and Prince.
More info about The NYC Market click here
It's time for Bust Holiday Craftacular!
THE MARKET NYC
Sat 12/13/08, Noon-6:30pm : 490 Hudson Street, NYC between Christopher & Grove
Sat 12/20/08 : Noon-6:30pm : 490 Hudson Street, NYC between Christopher & Grove
Sun 12/21/08, 11am-7pm : Mulberry St. between Houston and Prince
More info about The NYC Market click here
Coming up: we will be hitting the road like a bunch of carnies and bringing our whole store to...
Father Panik will be handing out swag bags at this event. Don't miss it!
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8th Annual Kustom Kills & Hot-Rod Thrills
August, 23 2008
Location: Under the BQE by Union Pool
L train to Lorimer
Come check out the Rumblers car show this sat from about 10am to when ever. It's a day thing.
http://rumblersnyc.f-n-b.net/indexFrameset.htm
If you have'nt seen it before it's pretty darn cool.
Tons of car clubs, bikers, tattoos and dirtbags.
Under the BQE at Union Pool, dirty, grimy
and smells like burning rubber.
Smells like victory.
We'll be there hustling our swag.
at UNION POOL: RUMBLERS CAR SHOW W/PSYCHO CHARGER/THE WRETCHED ONES/TURBO A.C.’s/STIGMA + MORE
484 Union Ave. @ Meeker Ave., Brooklyn, New York 11211
Cost : $15
Doors @ 3:30 PsychoCharger 4:30-5:15pm The Wretched Ones 5:30-6:15pm Turbo A.C.’s 6:30-7:15pm Stigma 7:30-8:15pm Sasquatch & The Sickabillies 8:30-9:30pm & Three Blue Teradrops 9:45-10:45/11pm
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July 16th, 2008
Father Panik gets his ass jinxed proof with the Devil City Press.
Click Here to read.
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Crash/Burn at the Philly Tattoo Convention
Father Panik Industries asked for a writing assignment and for our sins,
we were given one.
Read about it on Needled.com
http://www.needled.com/blog/?p=2449
Bangkok Tattoo
Here's a link to a piece Father Panik wrote for www.needled.com(high brow for the underground. Tattoo couture)
about life and tattooing in Bangkok Thailand. Read.
