While looking for ideas on Craigslist, radio producer Emily Hsiao finds a post from a man looking to remove a Swastika tattoo from his arm. Needing to find out the story behind the ad, she meets a man named Bruce. While the two of them sit in his truck, he looks back on a life spent in and out of prison, and he talks about the tattoo that represents his old life.
Emily Hsiao is a radio producer who recorded this story while at the Transom Story Workshop in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Its an 8 week intensive course for new producers.
HowSound is an extremely entertaining and educational podcast where we first heard this story. It's hosted by Rob Rosenthal who is the lead instructor of the Transom Workshops.
Bruce's Tattoo
For his whole life, Dave Ross always ran away from a fight. When he gets a job doing gags and sketches for a rock and roll radio station during the 2004 presidential election, he finds himself doing a live on-air stunt that has him boxing a muscle-bound former prison gangster, while wearing a John Kerry mask.
Dave Ross is a comedian and storyteller. He is a recent Moth Grand Slam winner, and can be seen the first Saturday of every month at his show, Two-Headed Beast, at Stories Books in Echo Park.
Dave Ross
Photo by Megan Baker
(Note: This program originally aired on February 22, 2013)