Action 1976 (Patreon)

Since we've been talking a lot about the legacy of the 1976 Houston Tattoo Convention this month, I thought y'all might like to check out some local Texas coverage of the event from Action Magazine's March 1976 issue. 

Action was the brainchild of Clarence S. Kindrick, called Samuel, a gonzo journalist who's chronicling of the emerging Outlaw Country music scene coming out of Texas in the 1970s represents some of the best "boots on the ground" reporting on luminaries like Willie Nelson, Kinky Friedman, Hondo Crouch and Jerry Jeff Walker that's essential for historians of the genre. 

"Kindrick recalls sitting in Willie Nelson’s car with a friend parked at the old Foxy Lady Saloon, a dive bar in San Antonio, and listening to a cassette mix of “Redheaded Stranger” from beginning to end. Willie wanted his opinion. Kindrick didn’t think it would sell. “None of us dreamed Willie would get so (expletive) big,” he added."

Kindrick had previously featured a local Texas tattoo artist in the pages of Action, so it was natural to attend and document the goings-on at the Downtown Houston Holiday Inn; documentation that included pics of "Gold Tickler Stud" Sid Diller, and Elizabeth Weinzirl. 

Said Sid to a gathered audience of convention goers and media:

"It’s a sex turn-on to me. And it turns on many women. This is an art known as piercing. The gold studs add extra sensitivity which was otherwise lost through circumcision” 

Sid, as always, couldn't pass up an opportunity to show the world his goods, flaunting his seven (seven!) genital piercings to an assembled crowd. 

A great piece of time/place documentation that shines a light on a moment in body art history who's significance is still relevant almost half a century later.

The full issue can be read here:

https://digital.library.txstate.edu/handle/10877/11378