“If you come across something that don’t make you miserable, enjoy it.”
Dayton Callie as Wane Unser
Last night we were drawn deeper in the turmoil swirling around the members of (and those touched by) SAMCRO. Clay’s arthritis is getting worse, he & Jax are butting heads more and more, Tara’s life is almost becoming divided by her relationship with Jax (doctor vs. “old lady”), Gemma’s torment, Unser’s struggle with doing the right thing, Opie’s drifting allegiance and then there’s Tig (“Assault and indecent exposure inside a livestock transport”)…
The good (and a LOT of it):
Tara’s epiphany
Gemma pulling the gun
Clay vs. Jax
seeing Unser’s strengths for a change while trying to take care of Gemma
the rescue (gotta love Piney!)
seeing the Oregon chapter of SoA
the humanization of AJ Weston
the chilling exchange between Clay & Jax
The bad (not a whole lot!):
Gemma’s weakness once again exposed: her compassion for the parent/child bond (and this is bad mainly for the sheer frustration of it all). I really wanted to see her put one in the back of Weston’s head!
Sons of Anarchy: Eureka
Did anyone out there watch the HBO show “Deadwood”? Is it me or do you also have a hard time distinguishing Dayton Callie’s Wayne Unser from his character Charlie Utter? I think I have a brain wire crossed somewhere…
Sons of Anarchy news
It’s a been a pretty slow news week around here.
Ratings
Eureka was the 2nd highest in ratings after the season premier. Beat networks in 18-49 men. Nice job!
Kurt Sutter’s request to The Boss falls through.
There was a particular Bruce Springsteen song that he wanted to use for the season finale of the show but the Boss’ legal team kept swatting him down.
Kurt Sutter
From Sutter’s blog:
So some of you have been aware of my tweets about the Springsteen song I wanted for the finale. I won’t mention the song, suffice to say it’s one of Bruce’s more obscure rockers.
Because of the accelerated pace of our production schedule we were initially declined. Bruce is on tour and they needed a bigger window to get his approval. Someone at FX has a direct line to his manager so we were able to cut through to someone who can make a decision. I made that call yesterday. Here’s the problem, Bruce does not allow commercial covers of his songs. Part of our musical signature on Sons is to use obscure songs from little known bands and to do covers of classic 60′s and 70′s tunes. Partly because the costs for masters of iconic music is astronomical. To get the master cover from Sony for the Bruce song I wanted would have been upwards of $75,000 for one use. That’s my music budget for three shows.
So alas, we won’t be using the Bruce song in the finale. But what’s been true for the tenure of SOA holds firm in this situation as well. We didn’t get the song because there is a better choice out there.
Special Effects
Here’s a behind the scene look at how they crafted last week’s explosion of the house meth lab.
Next week: Episode 2.5 “Smite” While Jax and Clay lock horns (and line up support) over how to deal with Zobelle, Tara finds herself ensnared in Gemma’s emotional struggle in the aftermath of her attack. Meanwhile, SAMCRO gets help from an unlikely source.
Harley-Davidson just released a new video featuring the 2010 models, with music by Rocco DeLuca and the Burden (I don’t know who they are but the song isn’t half bad). You watch it here or their YouTube channel.
It’s a free country
Also, they’re giving enthusiasts a chance to raise their voice on riding and living free. Visit http://www.h-d.com/freecountry to make your statement and see nearly 6,000 others. Using your message and an image of a 2010 Harley-Davidson motorcycle of your choice, you can create a custom banner ad that can then be shared on social media sites and turned into a wallpaper.
This is a cool way to get H-D enthusiasts engaged not only with the brand, but with the new line of 2010′s. Here’s my banner! Isn’t it inspiring?
If you’re daily online haunts and television viewing habits are like mine, then you undoubtedly have been exposed to the countless online banner ads and tv commercials that have been pimping out National Geographic Channel‘s new show “Rescue Ink Unleashed.”And hopefully you tuned in to the first show, “It’s a Cruel, Cruel World” this past Friday night at 10pm on NatGeo. I am a big fan of these dudes and couldn’t be happier for them.
By now there have been countless articles and blog posts written about Rescue Ink, but in case you haven’t been introduced to them, they are a group of tattooed, biker-types who were all friends that banded together to form they’re own animal rescue group.
Because they are not affiliated with any other organizations they do not get any kind of state funding, therefore they rely heavily on donations (and many times end up reaching into their own pockets). They answer only to themselves and because of that they are not tied to any kind of bureaucratic policy. Basically, when they show up to deal with a situation, they get results by any means necessary (within the law, of course). And chances are they don’t need to show up again.
With the whirlwind of a media blitz for Rescue Ink that happened last week, I had the pleasure of being able to interview Joe Panz, Big Ant and G.
Joe Panz from Rescue Ink
[RK]: I assume people make some snap judgments about you guys as being scary biker dudes. I’m wondering, what is their reaction when they find out that you rescue animals?
J. Panz: We are scary guys; we just rescue animals. You can’t judge a book by its cover. Right, Ant?
Big Ant: Yeah, that’s right. We’re tough guys and we’re showing that tough guys can do a good thing.
G : Our image works. It does the job; it gets the job done.
J. Panz: Listen, when we show up at your house, we give you a moment of pause. We make you think. You don’t know who brought us there, you just know we’re there and you know we’re there for a reason. The reason is there’s a problem with you and an animal. So you’re going to listen to us and you don’t want us to come back. You’ll never know who called us, so you’ll know somebody’s always watching.
Big Ant: After we fix the situation, I might say, we usually never get invited back for some reason.
G: After we educate them, right?
J. Panz: Yeah, we never had to show up for a second time, not yet. But we do check up.
[RK]: Obviously Rescue Ink relies heavily on donations from the public, and the motorcycle community as a whole is known for being very generous and supporting a lot of these different causes. Have you guys ever tapped the community for fund-raising, like in the form of a bike raffle or benefit rides?
Big Ant: We have our own. We try to do fundraisers on our own.
J. Panz : We try to do fundraisers as much as possible but I tell you the truth, lately we’ve been going to everybody’s fundraisers, raising everybody [else] money and neglecting ourselves. That’s why we’re trying to send newsletters out now and telling everybody exactly what we’re doing trying to raise money for specific animals that need help and medical attention right away. We’ve just been running ourselves ragged trying to help everybody because right now with the economic times being the way they are, everybody’s crying for help. We’re just spread very, very thin trying to help everybody out. Quite frankly, we hope the TV show promotes awareness and people will start to donate so we could do more for the communities, and more for the animals and more for the other rescue groups.
[RK]: It makes me wonder now that you guys have your own television show, whether this national exposure will encourage the biker community to step up and organize some rides to help you out.
Big Ant: Yeah, I’m very well known in the biker community so I get a lot of feedback that everybody’s behind us. Like Joe was saying, the money’s tough but we do have good backing and hopefully it just gets better.
G: The thing is now we’re the ones that get called on to help and now the helpers need help. So we hope that everybody will go to our donation page and help donate, and help us so we can help others. We don’t want to stop here. We’ve got a long way to go.
J. Panz: There’s a lot of animals out there and a lot of people that need help. No shortage of that.
Big Ant from Rescue Ink
[RK]: Does it surprise you when people you show up to help turn violent on you when you’re just there trying to do the right thing (like in the 1st episode-the guy who was shooting feral cats with a pellet gun)?
J. Panz: You can’t fix stupid. People react however they’re gonna react. We negotiated with the guy but he decided to do something else when we left. We came back and we tried to help him out and tried to do the right thing, and he didn’t want to do it. So we let it be known to him that if he continues this course of action, we’re gonna have a problem and it’s gonna escalate real quick.
Big Ant: We gotta feeling that every time he picks up a pellet gun, he probably has us in mind.
J. Panz: Yeah, I just want to say the thing that sets us apart from other rescue groups, anybody can take an animal out of an abusive situation. The person abusing an animal could just get another animal. What we do is we address the problem at its source. We talk to the person abusing the animal. They’ll go from an animal, which can’t defend himself, and can’t talk and lives in the moment. What we do is we nip it at the source.
Big Ant: That’s why we stop it where it starts.
[RK]: So because of that approach, do you feel like your organization is more effective than say other rescue organizations?
J. Panz: We do whatever is necessary. We don’t leave a note on your door. We don’t give you a ticket.
G: We don’t go through the red tape.
Big Ant: We don’t sit and just talk about it. We go and do it.
[RK]:I’m sure you guys have seen a lot of really horrible situations on the calls that you’ve gone out on, and I’m wondering if there’s any particular situation that has stuck in you head over all this time that you could share.
Big Ant: The worst was the 180 cats, right? Yeah, we had a house with 180 cats and we had to actually catch every cat to get them spayed, neutered, and that one pretty much still sticks in me.
[This is the case that I heard of earlier this year that enlighteded me to the existence of Rescue Ink. Read the original post here.]
J. Panz: It’s still going. It’s an ongoing thing. I think there’s like 40 cats left and we’re down to adopting them out.
Big Ant: But we were at one point, if we’re doing adoption events every weekend, we got them out. With that case, these people called all the rescue groups and as soon as they heard 180, they hung up on them and said, “Well get back to you.” That’s the difference with us again. They called us. We showed up at their door. They were surprised. They were like, “I can’t believe that you’re here.”
J. Panz: And we didn’t have the money. We didn’t know how we were gonna do it; we just did it. We still owe people money probably. I don’t want to talk about it. It was a Cat-tastrophy!
G from Rescue Ink
[RK]: I assume this is your full time job that’s going on, rescuing the animals. How are you guys supporting your families?
J. Panz : [It's]…very, very difficult.
Big Ant: Yeah, we’re trying to do our work as much as we can, but if something comes in, we’ve gotta go. That’s it. Money, yeah, we need the money and everything but suffering and suffering has to stop. You know?
[RK]: You guys are actually still trying to juggle your jobs and rescuing?
J. Panz: Well it’s not really juggling anymore; it’s trying to pick it up from off the floor.
G: Trying not to lose it.
J. Panz: Yeah, which we’re all struggling. We’re all struggling. You know what the problem is? Everybody sees a TV show and everybody sees this and they think we’ve got millions of dollars. That’s not the case. It’s not the case at all. We struggle with every single time we go out on a rescue. We struggle; you’ll see it on the TV show.
We get money to pool out of our pocket to get gas. We pool our money to eat. We go to rescue some horses and we’ve got to come up with $500, but you know, who’s got $20? Who’s got $7? Who’s got $100? We come up with the money and then we’re like, “I can’t believe we just spent our gas money. How are we gonna get home?”
Big Ant: And believe me, we write a lot of IOUs.
J. Panz: Yeah, we write them on ice cubes, on nothing that sticks! [laughs] No, we pay all our bills. You’ve got to give us time and we pay everybody.
Big Ant: Yeah, in time we’ll catch up but with donations, it would make it a lot easier. We could go into the situation a lot happier, and then we could go do what we’ve gotta do and not worry about the money. Let’s worry about the animal.
J. Panz: Yeah, you know what it is? Every single time there’s a phone call, every single time there’s an e-mail, there’s money attached to it. When a rescuer calls and says, “Listen, there’s an abusive situation over here. A guy let the dog out. He ran across the street. He got hit by a car and the dog’s been crying for three weeks now and the guy’s telling us get the hell out of here. He says he doesn’t have the money to fix the dog and he’s not letting anybody else help him, and this, that, and the other thing.”
We have to go in there and talk to this guy and get the dog out of there and get him medical attention. That’s gonna cost $1,500 to $2,000. We find ourselves putting out an e-mail blast to try to raise the money and we’re already gone on the rescue. We don’t wait for it; we’re just hoping it comes. Then by the time we get back, we’re like, “Okay, how much are we in the hole now?”
The other rescue groups, they do whatever they can too. They say, “Thank you.” We say, “You’re welcome.” But the plain, simple fact is we’re not a city organization. We don’t get funding from the city. We get funding from no one. We get donations, that’s it. This is what people have to realize.
[RK]: At least your money is actually going to help animals and it’s not towards an advertising budget that sends direct mail pieces to people who are just going to throw them away. I hate when I get those in the mail.
J. Panz: One guy came in and goes, “What are you gonna do? I’ll sue you.” We’re that guy’s nightmare. Sue me? Go ahead, go ahead, sue me. That’s why it doesn’t matter. We’re there to take care of a situation by any means necessary, within the means of the law. I have to keep on throwing that in there because the lawyer will get mad at me if I don’t. It’s the way things are. You don’t send a boy scout after a bad guy. We never said we were angels. We’re just there to help and we’re on your side.
G: By us showing how much we’re struggling, we’re telling other people that no matter what situation you’re in, somebody’s out there worse off than you and that’s what we do. We know we’re all struggling but we make sure we make the rescues. We make sure we go try to save a pet’s life or an animal’s life.
J. Panz: And people too.
J. Panz: There’s a lot of times we go into a situation where there’s abuse, but the abuse isn’t really the fault of the owner due to the fact that they don’t have enough money to feed the animal. They don’t have enough money to feed themselves. Remember that old woman?
Big Ant: We went to her house and the dog bowl was full. The cat’s dish was full. She actually had a couple of rabbits. Everybody was fine. We were like, “This is fine. I don’t know what’s going on.” The refrigerator happened to open and there’s nothing in there. We went through her cabinets. She had nothing to eat so she was feeding the animals, but she had nothing to eat.
So of course, what’s the next thing we have to do? We all pool as much as we had in our pockets and went to the store and we had to get this lady food. We said, “What did you eat today?” She said, “I ate some cereal this morning.” We help everybody and everything that needs help.
[RK]: Okay so I have a totally silly question for our last question. I have a lot of girlfriends now that are seriously crushing on all of you guys and I’m wondering, are you going to appreciate all of that additional female attention?
J. Panz: Well, it’s always appreciated, the female attention.
G: We got a couple chick magnets on our team.
J. Panz: The only person you’ve got to watch out for is G. Everybody gravitates towards G.
G: Yeah, okay.
Big Ant: All I’ve got is bill collectors and stalkers after me. That’s all I have.
J. Panz: It’s nice to have people appreciate you.
Big Ant: That’s right.
Rescue Ink airs Friday nights at 10pm on the National Geographic Channel. The official Rescue Ink website (which just got a shiny new make-over) can be found at rescueink.org (where you can make donations online) and you can follow them on Twitter @rescueink or get updates from the National Geographic Channel @NatGeoChannel.
Seminole Hard Rock Roadhouse Announces Events for Biketoberfest 2009
The Seminole Hard Rock Roadhouse will return to the Doghouse Bar and Grill on Main Street in Daytona [Biketoberfest is from October 15th-October 18th]. The Seminole Hard Rock Roadhouse is also going to be a part of the brand new Irongate Biker Bar located right next to the Doghouse, be sure to stop by and see the newest addition to Main Street Daytona. In keeping with The Doghouses’ reputation as “the place to party in Daytona,” this year’s Seminole Hard Rock Roadhouse line-up will feature some of the industry’s best custom bikes, builders, and special events.
Bikertoberfest 2009
In addition the Doghouse main stage will feature live music from bikers favorite southern rock bands Rebel Son and DB Bryant on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. Friday and Saturday night will also feature, the Betty Bangs bikini contest. Sure to be a crowd favorite, Betty Bangs brings a crew of the hottest models from South Beach and adorns them with her limited edition bikinis. Prepare to be BANGED by Betty and her crew of stunning South Beach models!
Friday night will be a Military Tribute for active duty service members and veterans. You can also party at the Doghouse with Phil Pitzer and Sheree Wilson from the movie “Easyriders The Ride Back” along with their bikes. Biketoberfest at the
Seminole Hard Rock Roadhouse wouldn’t be complete without bike builders and their bikes. Industry giants Dave Perewitz and Eddie Trotta along with relative new-comers Lefty Brother Cycles will all have motorcycles on display at the Seminole Hard Rock Roadhouse.
With over 30 years experience building and customizing bikes, Dave Perewitz is truly an industry legend and leader. His custom-fabricated motorcycles are a delicate blend of engineering, design, power, performance and beauty. A self-taught designer, mechanic, painter and fabricator Perewitz’s creations have been featured on a number of magazine covers and television programs. He has also built for an array of celebrities including Hulk Hogan and Tony Stewart.
Custom bike builder, Eddie Trotta has been designing and building custom motorcycles for over 30 years and in so has created the Thunder Cycle Design Legacy. He has quickly become one of the planet’s pre-eminent custom motorcycle designers. His personal touch, imagination and craftsmanship have awarded Trotta a long list of honors including V-Twin Magazines’ Bike Builder of the Year and the Biker Picaso Award at the Discovery Channel’s Ultimate Chop Awards Show. He is currently working with Lorenzo Lamas to produce a limited number of custom motorcycles unlike any ther production custom out there.
Founded in 2005, Lefty Brothers Cycles has taken the motorcycle industry by storm. Izzy and his crew, all active duty military soldiers, are passionate about creating unique rides that ride as good as they look. Lefty Brothers Cycles have established a presence in the industry by producing quality custom one off bikes and their one of a kind creations have been featured in several national magazines.
"ROMY" by Lefty Bros. Cycles
[Additional information that I wanted to share about this bike from the Lefty Bros. Cycles website: "This bike is being dedicated to a very very dear friend. A friend who has always been considered "family"...Romulo was shot in the neck while in a gunfight fighting the war on terrorism. The gunshot caused severe damage to his vertebrate. Romulo is now facing another fight. A fight to regain the use of his body!"]
“Biketoberfest is always a great time because it’s a chance to get a little more sun before Winter sets in,” said Carrie Repp, event coordinator for the Roadhouse and owner of R&R Promotions. “This year with Rebel Son playing every night, the hot girls of the Betty Banged Bikini contest and the three great builders we have on display it’s sure to be perfect place to fill up on fun before Winter.”
Last night’s episode was a definite set-up to further some drama and tensions for what we will see as the season progresses. Gemma’s ordeal is clearly taking a toll, not only on her, but also on her marriage. Clay is about as understanding as Clay can be…but a man has needs, as we can clearly toward the end of the episode. Tara & Jax: are they doomed lovebirds? How much can she take of seeing the world that he lives in? (And is it only me or do these two totally lack onscreen chemistry? I feel like every scene is forced.) Ethan Zobelle continues to be a meddlesome meddler and, of course, got Deputy Hale eating out of his hand.
The good:
Bobby singing “Hava Nagila” as Elvis
Gemma mentoring Tara about the ways of the club & how to keep her man
The mounting strain between Gemma & Clay, resulting in a smashed window
Opie’s blatant disregard for self-preservation
More of Charlie Hunnam’s butt!
Tara’s expression when she & Jax were “caught” in the act
The not-so good:
Mr. Rollins was absent this week
Sons of Anarchy news
Ratings:
Well it would appear that there was a 19% slippage for the second week, which is a little more than one usually likes to see after a premiere, although it was seen by 3.7 million viewers, 3 million of which were adults 18-49. Among total viewers, the show held up slightly better, dropping 14%. Those are still great numbers for FX and remember, the premiere was up 95% over last year.
TV Squad recently visited the set of SoA during some final writing sessions for the second season. While they didn’t learn anything telling, they do hint that the show so closely follows Shakespeare’s Hamlet that each season will almost mirror each act of the play. Now although I’m a little rusty on my Shakespeare (although I did love it in high school), I’m pretty sure that I remember the final act of Hamlet being a blood bath. They don’t call them tragedies for nuthin’.
Monsters & Critics has a refreshing interview with supporting actor Kim Coates, who plays Tig, the resident psycho and loyal follower of Clay. When asked about how season two was shaping up for “Sons of Anarchy,” and especially Tig, Coates noted his conversation with Kurt Sutter.
“Kurt pulled me aside before we started shooting,” Kim said. “He told me that it was going to be a funny year for him, that he had kind of lost his ‘mojo’ and was in a bad place over the thing with Donna.”
Initially, you know, (Ron) Perlman and I were late cast additions to the series, and the shaping of Tig was a process, I had to trust Kurt that, well, I am very careful with my bad boys, and I wanted to strike the right balance of humor with his tough as nails attitude, he’s a psychopath! A lot of the stuff he does is sick, but interesting to watch. But I wanted Tig to also have heart, but the Donna thing of course was wrong on so many levels, and Tig this season really has a hard time with it…he’s lost his way a little.”
Season 2 finale is in the can!
The filming of the final episode of SoA wrapped this week and Kurt Sutter is now in post-production. Some of his tweets (@sutterink) from this week are very telling of how things went and a hint of the carnage we’ll likely see in the finale:
another huge day. lots of gunplay and blood. 8:37 AM Sep 14th
day 5 of 8 (9?). HUGE fucking episode. who wrote this monster? i’m shooting pretty damn efficiently and still dropping scenes everyday. 8:32 AM Sep 15th
i directed the finale last year, but this one is way more proactive. a 90 minute indi-thriller. every scene is pretty much an action beat. 9:56 AM Sep 17th
day 8 of 9. starting late, finishing later. it’s gonna be a very bloody day. in front and behind the cameras. 12:06 PM Sep 18th
last day of shooting. good morning. on sked. just wrapped HR for the season. 1:14 PM Sep 21st
been trying to get use rights for a springsteen song for the finale. keep getting shot down by their legal team. need a line to bruce. about 12:30 PM Sept 23
post 212. the script is not a fucking blueprint. every word serves a specific purpose. dropping lines and adlibs drives me fucking nuts. 9:50 PM Sept 23
Here’s a peek into next week: Episode 2.4 “Eureka”
When SAMCRO heads north to Eureka on a “charity” club run, they find more than just bike trouble when they cross state lines. The need to act fast causes the tension between Clay and Jax to rise. And with Samcro out of Charming, Gemma’s left in a tight position with The League.
Lucky Winner Receives Sucker Punch Sally’s Custom Motorcycle in CAO Cigar La Traviata Debut Giveaway
Scottsdale, ARIZ (September 17, 2009) The CAO La Traviata custom bike, fashioned by renowned bike builder, Sucker Punch Sally’s in conjunction with CAO Cigars, was awarded to one lucky cigar distributor at the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers’ Association Convention and International Trade Show held August 8-12 in New Orleans, LA.
CAO Cigars, one of the foremost premium cigar companies in the world partnered with old-school custom bike builder, Sucker Punch Sally’s to create and give away a one-of-a-kind CAO custom bike to commemorate the unveiling of their new La Traviata brand of cigars.
In order to qualify for the giveaway, retailers had to order a certain amount of cigars from CAO. A little over 100 CAO Retailers were in the final drawing held at the 77th Annual IPCPR Trade Show heralded as the most important event of the year for tobacconists. The winner was selected and the bike was recently awarded to Denis Reed, owner of Pars and Cigars of Des Moines, IA.
Winner of Sucker Punch Sally's CAO La Traviata custom motorcycle
“I’m amazed and thrilled that I won!” exclaimed Reed after winning the custom bike.
“It’s such an honor. Thank you so much to CAO and Sucker Punch Sally’s for making this possible. I can’t wait to get out there and ride it now!”
“The bike that we constructed for the La Traviata brand unveiling was shockingly good,” says Sucker Punch Sally’s owner, Christian Clatyon. “We had a lot of fun building the bike and working with CAO It turned out great.”
Created to commemorate the debut of CAO’s La Traviata brand of cigars, the bike giveaway was only available to cigar retailers. CAO La Traviata is a full-bodied, full-flavored cigar that combines an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper with a Cameroon binder and incorporates two different ligero filler tobaccos from the Pueblo Nuevo farm in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
“The modernized old school aesthetic of the Sucker Punch style is a perfect match for our approach toward making cigars,” commented CAO Senior Vice President of Marketing Mike Conder.
“We really wanted to reward our retailers with a fully custom motorcycle. CAO is very fortunate to work with such a number of prestigious retailers throughout the country. This is our way of saying thank you.” Explains CAO Director is Lifestyle Marketing, Jon Huber.
Founded in 2002, Sucker Punch Sally’s continues to stay true to their traditional biker values by providing the best stripped-down bobbers and choppers at the most reasonable prices. The old school no-nonsense style of bikes that started Sucker Punch Sally’s are the bikes they still build today, only now with the convenience of modern manufacturing practices. The Traditional and the 66 Bobber both received industry awards in 2007 and are the two models that the company was founded on. They have the capacity to build 100 bikes a month at their manufacturing facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., including the widely anticipated Swinger. Their model line has been built up to six different models, with the additions of the stealthy Slim and the retro-styled Hot Rod. Sucker Punch Sally’s continuously growing dealer network throughout the U.S. showcases the wide variety of bikes they have available, all of which exude SPS style.
“Unraveling the matriarch will destabilize them. They’re all little boys who need a strong mommy.”
A lot of Twitter feedback from last’s episode was that it was “boring.” I disagree. The thing that everyone has to keep in mind with Sons of Anarchy is that the writing is very sophisticated (despite the subject matter) and there’s more happening in the show then following a group of lawless, badly-behaved bikers. There’s a lot of stuff going on that you have to pay full attention to, a lot of it very subtle, and if you don’t you can get a bit lost.
Gemma stole the show in episode 2 "Small Tears"
Cultural Learnings wrote a fantastic post about last night’s show. It’s more than a typical episode recap. I highly recommend giving it a read. Do not read it if you didn’t see the episode as it would SPOIL your viewing.
See? I said SPOIL as in, possible SPOILERS ahead!
Highlights:
One word: Gemma. I don’t think I have to say anything more.
Seeing show creator, Kurt Sutter back as jailbound Otto
the uncomfortable scene of Tig & Opie being “pals”-made my skin crawl
great Sopranos reference
Lowlights:
Crashing that sweet Cadillac
Tom Arnold. He’s sleazy, but not sleazy enough as a porn mogul
Sons of Anarchy news
The season premier sets a ratings record:
The second season premiere of Sons of Anarchy on FX debuted to a series high Sept. 8. Anarchy drew 4.29 million total viewers, including 3.03 million P18-49. The program grew 95% over its series premiere in the key 18-49 demo, the largest increase ever for the second season premiere of an FX series.
Screen Rant has some tid bits to share about the show
When SoA premiered, it drew in 1.5 million viewers, despite going up against a Sarah Palin speech. These numbers were the highest since Rescue Me premiere for the network.
Clay (Ron Perlman) is based on King Claudius & Jax on Hamlet. It’s not quite Hamlet, but it would seem to be the guiding force of inspiration for the series.
Before Sons of Anarchy, Ron Perlman had never been on a motorcycle.
Monsters & Critics interviewed Henry Rollins recently. Here’s an excerpt describing his physical transformation for the role of AJ Weston.
M&C: Your physical transformation is noted…you had a more lithe, yoga lean physique that you previously shared was due to a more vegan diet you adopted the past ten years. Tell me what your training and changes entailed when you signed on for this role?
Henry Rollins: I was asked if I could put on some more muscle for the part. I upped the daily caloric intake and lifting poundage. Hopefully I got the size they were looking for. I don’t train like that anymore, it’s hard on the frame and I don’t really need the mass.
M&C: At the TCA’s, you shared that the cast and crew were exceedingly kind and talented. Whose performances within this series have impressed you the most, and which particular scenes were the hardest for you to shoot personally in this complex second season?
Henry Rollins: I think that all of the cast are very talented. Charlie Hunnam and Ryan Hurst stand out in my mind as being exceptionally impressive. The hardest scene for me was the assault scene in episode one. It was very important to the plot, but it was a relief when it was behind me.
It was not an enjoyable experience.
Rollins at the premiere for SoA
M&C: Will your character have more curt power struggle exchanges or face-offs with Darby, the reigning Charming supremacist?
Henry Rollins: Darby and Weston don’t like each other and it’s a small town, so there may be some future friction, you never know. M&C: The tattoos you have, which are yours, and which are transfers applied by the makeup department? The one on your lower neck, what does it symbolize?
Henry Rollins: Only one tattoo is applied to me for the part.
Charlie Hunnam promises a major showdown between Clay and Jax TV Guide reveals their take on season 2 and bits of an interview with Charlie Hunnam:
“There’s going to have to be a reckoning at some point, and Jax tries to do it in a way that’s the least damaging to the club,” Hunnam says. “But it builds and it builds and it builds to this violent confrontation. It’s a pretty hairy sequence, but I think it’s worth the wait.”
Isn’t it great to have something to look forward to every week?
Back in May was when I first heard about Ride with the 40. Someone who was involved in planning the ride contacted me and told me what it was all about, which I found inspiring and promptly wrote about.
http://www.ridewiththe40.org
Over the weekend I was wondering how that ride turned out. I was excited today when I found this article from the San Diego Source:
Fight 93 victims remembered in San Francisco
By JASON DEAREN, The Associated Press
Friday, September 11, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — About a dozen Harley-Davidson motorcycles ridden by relatives and friends of United Flight 93 passengers and crew members roared into San Francisco International Airport on Friday, ending an eight-day journey that mirrored the doomed plane’s intended path.
The 40 people on Flight 93 died on Sept. 11, 2001, after the aircraft crashed in a western Pennsylvania field after being commandeered by terrorists. They were hailed as heroes in tributes for their bravery in confronting the hijackers.
The motorcyclists, led by Ken and Dale Nacke, whose brother Louis “Joey” Nacke was on the plane, left Newark Liberty International Airport on Sept. 3. They pulled into San Francisco just after 11 a.m. Friday, the same time the plane was supposed to have arrived eight years ago.
Jack Grandcolas watched quietly as the motorcycles rumbled in. His three-months pregnant wife, Lauren Catuzzi-Grandcolas, was on Flight 93.
She had called him from the plane after the hijackers took control, leaving a message on his answering machine that there was a problem. It was the last time he heard her voice.
“This is an inspiration to me,” he said, his voice quivering. “The symbolism of this, it finishes the trip Louis and my wife Lauren never got to finish.”
The gruff-looking bikers dismounted their “hogs” and immediately hugged, tearing up as the engines were turned off.
“We made it,” said Ken Nacke, wearing a black leather vest and a doo-rag. “The flight of 40 are home.”
The motorcycles were tailed by a U-Haul truck carrying a replica of the makeshift memorial that sprung up near the crash site in Shanksville, Pa. The memorial was a plain, wooden fence adorned with signed T-shirts, hardhats, plaques and written notes.
The ride also raised money for construction of the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville. The $58 million memorial is scheduled to open on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Linda White, Louis Nacke’s cousin, stood near the mini-memorial with tears in her eyes, her head covered in an “Easyriders” doo-rag.
White rode on the back of her husband David White’s motorcycle on the last leg of the trip, and was overwhelmed with emotion as they pulled into their final stop.
“I was overcome with the feeling of the 40 people as we came in. They were giving us a big thumbs up for this and a thank you for finishing the journey,” she said.
I actually teared up while reading this article and I’m glad they saw support from others during the ride. The Ride with the 40 website also posted this update:
The ride concluded when the core riders, accompanied by a group of local riders, reached the Western Terminus of the Lincoln Hiway in San Fransisco, CA. The total distance from Newark International Airport to the Western Terminus of the Lincoln Hiway is 3,250.7 miles. Special thanks to all those who showed their support throughout the Journey.
Stay tuned for more updates including pictures, videos, and information on T-Shirts.
I shall do that. Again, if you’re interested in making a donation to the memorial you can do so on the website.
Now it looks like Mr. James is expanding his empire by introducing a new line of heavy-duty industrial workgear that is available in a Wal-Mart near you. He revealed today via Twitter that he has ditched and donated all of his Dickies for his new line of workgear.
The New JJIWW Industry pants Rule. More Comfortable!, Deeper pockets, Bigger belt loops and thicker material.Not wearing anything else!
Well that’s that! I just clear’d my closet and gave 37 pairs of Dickies to the LB homeless shelter.
Well if that’s not a testament to the quality of the product then I don’t know what is! (kidding)
Jesse James Industrial Work Wear
Hell, I’m just a girl who doesn’t even wear workgear (but I like men who do!) but now you can go to your local Wal-Mart or check what they’re offering online (there’s even some positive reviews to read) to see for yourself. The prices looks very reasonable and if the clothing is as durable as claimed, then it sounds like a viable option over those over-priced-but-cool Dickies.
