Way back in days of yore (2006), I was helping run a community website for users of the T-Mobile Sidekick and other hiptop devices. So when an image of a Sidekick back tattoo went viral, I knew I had to talk to the owner.
Here's my original interview with Matt Burke (archived version of the website).
I thought it would be fun to track down Matt and get an update, 13 years later! Here's my interview with him (conducted via Twitter; lightly edited for formatting):
Matt: I will never escape that tattoo and the Internet infamy it commands haha. I’m up for some questions! Hit me with em!
Mike: I guess the first question is how is the tattoo holding up? Fading a bit, or did you have it inked over into something else like a weird bird?
Matt: It still looks surprisingly good hah. I haven’t covered it or touched it up, just left it the way it was when I got it!
I’ll try to get you an updated photo later!
Great! What’s the reaction of most people when they see it now? Do they even know what it is?
People that were around during that time are almost ALWAYS like ‘oh my god THATS YOU?!? I’ve seen this tattoo all over the Internet for years!’ and similar thoughts hah.
It’s been listed on a few sites as ‘dumbest tattoos ever’ and also Worst Tattoo on a Female which was an honor for me to win since I’m nowhere close to a woman haha
Did all that Internet Fame at the time ever bring anything good and/or interesting into your life?
Nope, nothing at all haha. Oddly enough, though, I got a lot of threats via MySpace at the time, which never made any sense, but people would go on & on about how stupid it is and if I ever show up in their town that they were going to ‘beat me up’ hah. That was a really wild time back then
Have you gotten any other tech tattoos since then & what is your current phone?
Nope, no other tech tattoos, I just got the IPhone 11 max pro or whatever it’s called
Ok, well thanks so much for your time! Is there anything else you’d like to add for the Danger team?
Of course, thanks for reaching out!
No other words I can add other than thanks for the killer phone back in the day! Still have nothing but the fondest of memories of those Sidekicks 🙏🏼
you can find Matt on Twitter - @mattburkephoto
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