I'm 50/50 on this... I love B.B.'s work, and when I moved to Smyrna a few years ago, I couldn't WAIT to get worked on there. I met the apprentice, John, (AWESOME ARTIST & INK SLINGER) told him of a special back piece that I wanted done. I have a kid brother doing Life Without Parole in Missouri. As kids, he grew up always wanting to be a cowboy, I grew up always wanting to be a biker. As it turned out, prior to my brother's arrest, he WAS a cowboy, he owned a ranch in Missouri. And, I am a biker... I explained the tattoo on my back would be David Mann's ""Ghost Rider"" painting with me on my Harley and my kid brother on his horse. I explained that it was a tribute to our parents who encouraged us both to fulfill our dreams. John introduced me to an artist, I believe his name was Chris. He sat down and I went over what I wanted. He told me that he would need photos of the bike, me, my brother & his horse. We downloaded a copy of ""Ghost Rider"". He made me leave a deposit and told me to come back in 3 weeks, he would have it drawn up for my review and we would get started. I COULDN'T WAIT... The longest 3 weeks EVER. I was gonna get my dream ink done in BRANDON BOND'S SHOP!!! After 3 weeks, I went in 1/2 hour before my appointment time, and Apprentice John met me at the door. Come to find out, the ""artist"" that I had an appointment with, took a walk-in that was gonna take a couple hours!! As if my appointment & deposit didn't mean a f*cking thing!! So, my lady-friend & I sat there for 2 hours waiting. Then, when he was done with the walk-in, he must've told Apprentice John to ""stall 'em"", because it was well over ANOTHER hour before I insisted that Apprentice John get the guy out front to meet with me. Now I was pretty pissed off. After another rant, John walked back and, after ANOTHER 30 minutes, Apprentice John came to the front of the shop with his head down... He started off with ""SPIDER, I'm sorry that you're upset... Remember, this is just a TEMPLATE for us to get an idea if we got it right..."" I could tell that he was ashamed. I insisted that he hand me the paper that he was hiding behind his back. Once I saw it, I understood why he was embarrassed. This ""artist"" forced John to walk out front and present to me, what looked like a poorly drawn cartoon of a motorcycle. Nothing at ALL like ""Ghost Rider"", no horse, nothing. He knew to stay in the back of the shop cowering. I was WAY BEYOND f*cking pissed. THEN, he made Apprentice John tell me that my deposit was NON-REFUNDABLE!! The jack-off didn't do a friggin' thing for the 3 weeks, and then tried to pull off this stunt after making me wait, even though I had an appointment, for what was now coming up on 3 hours!!! What an amazing prick this guy was!! I asked Apprentice John if it was my explanation? Maybe I didn't explain how important this piece was?? I was LIVID. I wanted to beat the LIVING SH!T outta this A$$HOLE. But, if you know Apprentice John, he had a way of just calming the situation and making you feel like he would make everything alright...LOL!! I walked away from AON that evening with a friend in John, and a bitter taste in my mouth for AON. Later that year, I went to a party that Brandon was throwing there, tried to get an audience with Brandon to tell him about my experience, but I wasn't able to get near him... I was told that he would see me, so I sat down & waited for about an hour. I finally gave up waiting. After all this, I STILL love to see Brandon's work. He's a BRILLIANT artist. As is John!! That's the reason for the 2 stars, BRANDON'S TALENT and the AWESOMENESS of Apprentice John! My opinion is that Brandon should keep better tabs on what goes on in his shop. Apprentice John made up the deposit I put down by just being a good friend & my back STILL doesn't have my dream tattoo on it.
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