Nov. 19 - Dec. 18, 2009 Jeff Teegarden | Editor

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ultureCStereotypes blasted with tongue-in-cheek humorSo a black guy and a jewish guy walk into a room...

Lindsey TreffryThe Communicator

They’ve held performances at numerous colleges such as Purdue, Penn State, along with parts of the U.K. and now SFCC. Ron Jones and Larry Jay Tish come together to create Black Jew Dialogues, a comedic experience addressing the longstanding conflict of racism. The Black Jew Dialogues, which took place at SFCC on Nov. 9, are compiled of music, dance, short video and comedic skits, along with audience involve-ment. Tish, of Jewish decent, and Jones, of African Ameri-can decent, took SFCC through the history of racism, dressing up as various characters, such as Grandmother’s Esther and Mable Featherstone. They also had audience interactive games like, “Jew or Not A Jew”. “The show was hilarious, incredibly in-sightful and made me think about things I had never considered,” said Amanda Burr, an art major at SFCC. Jones and Tish met while doing improv at a audition in Boston, as Pirates for a

multimedia, furniture store feature. They both were hired and became friends. After about five years Tish was tossing the title “Black Jew Dialogues” around in his head. Tish knew he wanted to write something that brought people together, so he called Jones and pitched him the idea. It took a while, separate hours at a time, but they finally found it was easier to meet in a hotel room, away from family, where they finally finished the show. Their performance premiered at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival located in Scot-land: the biggest arts festival in the world. They performed for 27 straight nights, where Black Jew Dialogues finally began to take shape. Jones said, “Audiences kept asking us to

bring the show to various non-theater places.” Unlike regular theater perfor-mances, Jones said, college performances “resonate well with students, and re-ally opens them up.”

A lot of bigotry, hatred, and racism is due to what Jones describes as, “fear and stereotypes in the name of comfort.” In an after-performance discussion, the audience was asked what created these stereotypes or “feareotypes” as Jones and Tish call them. Jones shared a history of his family from Virginia, where his grandmother had never had a white friend. She had once said white people will, “take everything you

have and kill you.” Feareotypes, accord-ing to the audience are also created from media, bad experiences, fear and possibly most important Tish said was, “lack of knowledge.” This show has not only personally af-fected students like Burr, but Jones and Tish themselves. Tish said the show has “helped me grow

as a human, with working with Ron and keeping a show moving.” He continued the show is like, “climbing a mountain that keeps getting higher. I’ve learned from the students I’ve met, and regained love for (the U.S.).” “(The show is like) our child that we’re trying to raise,” Jones said. “This child has great potential to learn and make itself better.”

Mark of the dragon

The hum of a buzzing tattoo gun is im-mediately heard upon entering the Jade Dragon. Pixies and dragons, crosses and Celtic designs, clowns and skulls; these drawings and more hang to the left of the doorway. A pool table stands in the middle of the shop’s foyer. Near the couches in the upper left cor-ner of the store are kids games, coloring books and children’s DVDs. Many artists have families of their own, so a family friendly atmosphere is what the shop is going for. Jade dragon is home to artists that can make a tattoo look like a picture. Jade Dragon is a custom tattoo parlor in the Spokane community, but with artists like Nathan Menke and David Ohler, the shop’s anonymity to the public’s eye is baffling. David Ohler, the owner of Jade Dragon, has been an artist most of his life and has been tattooing for 9 years. Ohler recieved his Bachelor degree in fine arts in 2000, with a minor in studio art and business. Boris Vellejo is one of Ohler’s favorite art-ists, with his detailed mythical paintings of centaurs, scantily clad warrior women and most anything else in the realm of

fantasy. Menke and Ohler both were appren-tices for other tattoo artists, however, as of right now, no certification or appren-ticeship is required in Washington state, just a business license. This, according to Menke, is quickly going to change to a state-wide test and certification. Menke has been a tattoo artist for over 4 years. Graffiti art in Southern California were the stomping grounds for Menke, however, due to possible legal repercus-sions of graffiti, tattoo art quickly became a substitute that would pose no problems. Comic book drawing is another muse for Menke. He said Michael Turner’s comic book art is his favorite. “I draw a lot from comic book art just because it’s so out there and they can get away with so much,” Menke said. Looking online at Menke’s myspace page www.myspace.com/FrequencyInk, one can see that inspiration is drawn from forms of art, like the sensual, Gothic feel of Luis Royo’s paintings of women and mechanical life forms. The shop itself will start to become more than just a parlor, “Coffee Shack” is an idea the shop has been trying to pull off for quite sometime. Originally the store was going to be a partnership to make the shop a tattoo parlor/internet cafe. “We have a biker barista,” Menke said. “If you come for no other reason, come see a biker make your coffee.”

Flesh and ink become one at Jade Dragon

Spenser KrotjeThe Communicator

Jeff Teegarden| The Communicator

Jade Dragon tattoo artist Shane Gustafson begins the ground work for Rachel Clifton’s first tattoo in over two years.

Joshua Pearce| The Communicator

Larry Jay Tish and Ron Jones take on stereotypes with humor in The Black Jew Dialogues.

“(The show is like) our child that we’re trying to raise.”

-Ron JonesComedian