Featured Image Credit: Mat Hayward/WireImage/Getty
Topics: Film and TV, Music, Art
William Morgan
It's never too late to make a major change in your personal appearance, at least, that's what John Stamos proved this week when he got his first ever tattoo at the age of 62. And some people think it's made him into a 'baddie'.
"Guess who got his first tattoo?" The Full House actor said as he shared the large piece of ink that now takes up most of his right shoulder, with the artwork symbolizing something that is both deeply personal to him and rooted deep in American culture.
The tattoo depicts a Native American on horseback with his arms turned upwards, beseeching the Great Spirit of their belief system. But while this might seem an odd choice for an actor of Greek descent, its meaning is deeply entwined in Stamos' past.
Sharing a video of Oskar Jordan of Dark Arts Tattoo studio inking his skin, Stamos wrote: "The Beach Boys placed this image: 'Appeal to the Great Spirit' over Brother Records as a symbol of artistic freedom and trust in a higher creative path."
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But while it might seem like an odd choice for the General Hospital star to make his first tattoo a reference to a Beach Boys album cover, that is itself referencing a 1908 statue that stands outside Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, his new ink speaks to Stamos' varied career.
That's because Stamos managed to convert his daytime TV fame into a friendship with the seminal American surf rock group. Which, in 1985, led to them inviting the actor to play the drums for them at a 1985 July 4 celebration, for an audience of 1.5 million.
While for most people this would be a story about being humiliated in front of their idols, the Beach Boys were so impressed by Stamos' penchant for percussion that he was actually invited to go on tour and record with them repeatedly over the ensuing decades.
So this 'Appeal to the Great Spirit' ink references his own deep ties to a cornerstone of modern music, with the native person's posture also appealing to Stamos' growing artistic sensibility in his seventh decade.
And fans largely agreed, with one commenting 'this is the coolest thing you’ve ever done' and another simply saying: "What a baddie."
The actor went on to explain what the tattoo means to him, saying: "Lately I’ve felt that same pull in my own life. Stepping into this new chapter of my career, taking bigger swings, following the work wherever it leads.
"The timing felt right, so I put that Great Spirit on my arm as a reminder to stay brave, stay open, and trust the direction the art is taking me."
And he could not have got the tattoo at a better time, as Stamos is set to pick up his drumsticks once again this weekend to perform once more alongside his idols-turned-bandmates.
Though, the gig is at SeaWorld, so Stamos and the band have also come under fire from animal rights campaigners for performing at the contentious venue. PETA have even issued a statement.
PETA President Tracy Reiman said: “God only knows what The Beach Boys and John Stamos are thinking playing at this cruel abusement park, where complex marine mammals are condemned to a lifetime of misery in a dismal concrete tank.
“PETA is calling on the band to stick to Key Largo or Montego for tour stops and stop promoting cruel confinement of animals at SeaWorld until it releases these long-suffering animals to seaside sanctuaries.”