Skull Me, Redux

I posted recently about my hunt for a really cool skull ring.

Surprisingly hard to find, actually. You wouldn’t think so, but almost to a one, they’re all ugly, with a garish “let’s make it scary” look. All I want is a ring that really looks like a skull.

This is made worse by the fact that Iggy Pop recently released an album called Skull Ring. So any web search tends to lead to Iggy.

I found some good ones, finally. Still not that Clapton one, and damn SeriousSilver for going out of business. But some really good ones.

First, there’s the Fate Ball from Mick Ralsey (The site is kind of fucked up, but the jewelry is cool). That ones rules but it’s not quite what I had in mind.

Then there’s Crazy Pig, who make this ring and many other cool ones. But they’re in the UK, and don’t sell on line, and are a little hard to reach (though if anyone out there lives in London and wants to help me out with getting one after the holidays, let’s talk). I’m dying to go to their store, though, so I’m suddenly planning a trip to europe in the back of my head.

But that brings me to Tony Creed .

Tony’s site has some technical problems. I think it was designed to an IE standard; it does not display right on Mozilla or Safari and I won’t run IE. But that’s not his fault, and I’m getting that feedback to his web designer. Basically the text is just really hard to read because it displays over images instead of over the background.

But here is the ring I want. That’s it. The ‘13‘ got me. I’m either getting this after the holidays or it’s on order now (fingers crossed). I don’t like all of Tony’s work, but I like the spirit, the energy, the fuck you attitude it has.

Tony’s a true character. He used to play guitar for Surf Punks, and he’s a true baddass. I’ve been talking to him in email and he’s telling me stories I’d love to share here about the Sunset Strip music scene in the late 60’s, about hauling guitars for other bands, about meeting people like Jim Morrison.

I’m hoping to get down to So Cal after the holidays to check out this cat’s store and just to hang with him, he’s someone I can see writing a book about, or using as a character basis in a story. If he’s anywhere near as entertaining in person as he is in writing, I’m reasonably sure he’s going to turn up someplace in my writing.

So I think I’ve found my skull ring, or at least my first one. Though I have a feeling I’ll still be shopping for them. I don’t suppose one is enough.