The Big Ink

There aren't too many big music festivals out there that you can leave with something colorfully permanent besides a few memories and some mosh-pit battle scars. Kat Von D, star of TLC's LA Ink , is hoping to change all that. This tattoo-buzzing femme fatale is bringing her first annual MusInk Tattoo and Music Festival this weekend to the usually kosher Orange County fairgrounds. But don't just count on getting your skin pierced, as your eardrums are going to share in the abuse as well, courtesy of high-voltage performances by bands such as the Used, Tiger Army and the flesh-peddling glam-rockers Metal Skool. More than 200 tattoo artists from around the world are tuning their needles for this three-day event, at which anything goes-from instructional seminars by LA Ink co-star Hannah Aitchison to a lesson in headbanging by Fireball Ministry. Leather, stud bracelets and platform shoes are sure to abound.
Fri., Feb. 22, 2 p.m.; Sat., Feb. 23, noon; Sun., Feb. 24, noon, 2008