About four years ago one of my good friends was working at a tattoo shop in Brooklyn. I spent a lot of time there and the owner (who couldn't remember my name) kept calling me Wyoming Willie because of my resemblance to Willie Nelson. My buddy thought that would be a hilarious tattoo and drew it up. He said he would never tattoo me again if I didn't get it right then and there ... so I did.
My tattoo is also a self portrait, although it's commonly (and fittingly) mistaken for Willie Nelson. And honestly, what isn't there to love about Willie Nelson? He was just busted for pot possession – again! – and apparently with no real legal repercussions. His weed knocked Toby Keith and Johnny Knoxville on their asses. He declared bankruptcy while owing something like $1.5m to the IRS, then put out "The IRS Tapes". And with all proceeds going directly to the IRS the debt was payed off in three years! Amazing.
I've never met Willie but I've seen him play a handful of times, including last year in Wyoming. I sat at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar (where he played in the 70s) for a couple of hours hoping he'd come in for a beer. No such luck. I don't regret my tattoo at all, most tattoos I love started as the absolute worst ideas.
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