With Jonathan's story, we represent multiculturalism not only in the U.S. but in countries such as Brazil and Mexico. In his road trip life story and multilingual journey, Jonathan embraces a diversity of cultures, nationalities, and religions which we also showcase in our international crew.

WHO IS THE SCAB VENDOR?

Maybe you only remember the name Jonathan Shaw as the infamous “tattoo artist to the stars” who opened Fun City, one of the first tattoo shops in New York, before tattooing was even legal over there. 

 

(Jonathan really liked cappuccinos, so why not?)

 

Or you may know him because he inked Johnny Depp - a close friend of over 30 years - who even channeled him as his role-model for Captain Jack the Pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

 

Or perhaps you have seen the magazine he founded back in the 90s, International Tattoo Art, at your local newsstand.

Maybe you caught him in the small screen, as the first tattoo artist to ever appear (more than once) on The Tonight Show with David Letterman. 

 

 

Or you might know his parents, the legendary Swing-era bandleader Artie Shaw and Film Noir starlet Doris Dowling.

 

(badass, no?)

 

Or… maybe you’ve never heard of Jonathan Shaw at all.

Let's assume that’s the case and tell you a little more about him. For many years, Jonathan was known as a world-renowned “celebrity” tattoo artist.

As an Influential Tattoo Man, his client list included names like Iggy Pop, Johnny Depp, The Cure, Shane MacGowan, Dee Dee Ramone, Marilyn Manson, Jim Jarmusch, Johnny Winter, Kate Moss, Orlando Bloom, Kathy Acker. The VIP list goes on and on. Even Vanilla Ice was lining up for an appointment - much to Jonathan's embarrassment.

 

But hey, it was the 90s, right?

 

(Jonathan and freshly tattooed Max Cavalera, from Sepultura, Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy)

 

A TALE OF REDEMPTION

At the height of his career, Jonathan chose to step away from the industry he helped form to fight his own demons - his addiction to narcotics and alcohol - and to reconnect with his elderly parents.

 

(Jonathan Shaw and 92-year-old Artie Shaw)

 

He is sixty-four now, over 17 years sober, and has found his redemption through writing. Jonathan has penned three novels and published two books of his vintage tattoo flash collection (yes, these are also perks!). He was even dubbed “the next Bukowski” by Rolling Stone magazine.

 

But this was only possible because of a passion for writing that he fostered since he was a teenager. This passion pushed him to escape from his life in Los Angeles at the age of 19 to explore the Latin American world and then encouraged him to repeat the same trip almost 30 years later. 

 

A TRAVELER OF THE SEVEN SEAS

 

Over the course of Jonathan's life, he has traveled the South American backlands by motorcycle, thumb and tramp freighter. He has lived in third world slums among notorious drug cartels, consorted with the rich and famous, mixed and mingled with witch doctors, criminals, wise men, and women – writing about those experiences and redeeming himself from a past life of addiction and anger. He called Brazil and Mexico his home and speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese. 

 

(Jonathan at age 24 in his cheap hotel room in Veracruz, Mexico)

(Jonathan in the same hotel room, age 47)

 

AND THAT'S HOW WE MET HIM

We have been working closely with Jonathan Shaw since 2015. Our first years were rough and very gorilla filmmaking, it was all about us and our little camera, following Jonathan around and going through over 5000 of his archives, including photos, letters, and some of his early drawings. 

 

(Jonathan Shaw and director Mariana Thome on set in Rio de Janeiro)

(from left to right: Director Lucas de Barros, sound mixer James Lefkowitz, producer Chris Jurgensen, director Mariana Thome, Jonathan Shaw and the Fun City crew)

 

We got to know him, his habits, his taste for great (and cheap) Thai and Mexican cuisine, and we...

 

MADE A MOVIE TOGETHER

Now we are drowning in footage, struggling in the cutting room.

 

 

Documentary filmmaking is hard. Thousands of hours of filming, countless amounts of archive material, and we even animated parts of Jonathan's life! 

 

 

And now we would love your support in taking Scab Vendor through the finishing line. We have got a lot of cool perks for you all and even convinced the retired tattoo artist to go back to the chair and do 40 tattoos for the campaign.

 

Here is a breakdown of what we need after we finish cutting the movie:

• We need to clear a vast amount of archive material, such as interviews that Jonathan gave to TV newscasters 
• We also need music licenses
• Composers, colorists, and sound designers! 
• Mostly, all of this needs to be seen on the big screen, so we must package the movie to send to film festivals. 

STRETCH GOALS

Our goal of $15,000 is the absolute minimum that we need to raise for post-production. But we are confident that with your help, we can even achieve our stretch goals! 

 

• If we raise $16,500 we'll be able to cover the costs of running our campaign

  If we raise $18,000 we'll be able to pay our dear friends who have done so many favors for us in the process of doing this documentary

  IT'S PARTY TIME. If we raise $20,000 we'll throw a party with Jonathan Shaw and invite all Seed&Spark contributors.

  If we raise $22,000 we'll be able to clear many of the songs that we're dying to use in the film, such as Iggy Pop's The Passenger (I know you can totally imagine this playing as Jonathan travels the world)

  If we raise $25,000 we'll throw a party in Los Angeles and one in New York and invite all Seed&Spark contributors. 

TIMELINE

We are hoping to premiere SCAB VENDOR in the fall of 2018, but we will only be able to achieve that if we have enough funds to finish our movie. If you can't make a pledge you can also help us by: 

 

Spreading the word! 

Use #scabvendor across all social media and follow us on Instagram

 

Let's HAVE FUN. This is a story about the 1950s Golden Age of Hollywood, the counterculture of the 1960s, the early-punk of 1970s, the Latin America of the 1980s, the art scene of Downtown Manhattan in late 1980s and early 1990s, furthermore, this is a dark, funny, story of who we like to call the Forrest Gump of the Underground.