A few Sonny thoughts and other things….

 

Ahhhh, our Sonny… Maurice Benard has been excellent in his scenes in the past month, but as a true blue S&Ber it has been quite difficult to watch. I can’t lie about it and blow some sunshine up your butts about the past 6 weeks. Since Brenda and our Vanessa left our screen, this fanbase has been floundering about wondering if we should watch or not watch.

First, we WANT to watch. S&Bers LOVE Sonny, even when he is being a jerk. We support Sonny as Sonny, not as a pod and not as part of another relationship. In our heads we understand TPTB want him to move on and bed someone else and have some “love” in his life. BUT, our hearts, the very S&B hearts that have LOVED this character for 18 years and helped him achieve his very popularity are crushed. So many of my girls try to watch, either live or on YT and wind up crying because of the hurt this story is causing to the very couple we love with all our hearts. It’s hard to see past the hurt.

It’s almost like Sonny let US go along with Brenda…. So, Brenda, we were with you and Alec (and Jax) on that plane and now live with you, Alec and hopefully Baby C in Rome. Hope your house has a lot of room for #Team! 😉

Second, we absolutely ADORE Maurice Benard. Not just love and eeeeeee or admire, we adore this man with beautiful dimples, sex appeal, charisma out the wazoo and think he’s the bomb! Nothing can change our minds on this. We will always support Maurice because he is the real deal and loves all of us, too. He is a very special human being who has so much love, compassion and amazing spirit to triumph thru his personal illness. So much to admire about Maurice and I feel blessed to have watched him since his very first day on AMC as Nico Kelly. Loved him then and love him now.

 

Above pic is from Maurice’s twitter: @MauriceBenardMB.. Follow him if you don’t already!

Each day I watch the show, yes I watch LIVE and daily; unless preempted or I have a family thing to do, I become a bit more disappointed in how this storyline is panning out. I know it is still early days but the constant bashing of Brenda, by Sonny because she left and then the lack of support, compassion and medical treatment for Sonny is heartbreaking. I wish watching was easier. I watched for 8 years without Brenda, suffered through Carly, Emily, Reese, Claire and God knows who else. I always hung in there because I knew she would come back.. Even after that INSULTING, stupid Peace Sign goodbye. UGH! That killed us 9 years ago.  It was so stupid considering S&B’s history. Now, we have a less than stellar exit by our heroine and constant bashing of our heroine by our hero. It’s so sad to watch. BUT, we try. A lot of us try to watch and chalk it up to the fact that Sonny is sick and needs to be on his meds.

It comes down to this, we don’t want to see Sonny being beaten up by ever Port Charles citizen everyday. We don’t want to hear about how bad he is by EVERYONE, especially by people who helped him achieve this mental state. We want him to get help, maybe Dr. Kevin Collins can come back and be Sonny’s therapist because who ever he’s been seeing is stinko at his/her job. We want him to get healthy and realize WHY Brenda left. We would like him to find that letter, tape that thing together and READ it. If not for him, then do it for us. We are so curious!! We want Sonny to have a friend, like Stone. Stone ALWAYS stood by Sonny, even when Sonny was a jerk. Stone was Sonny’s very best friend and brother in so many ways. There was unconditional love there. Sonny needs that more than he needs a bed warmer. He needs Mike to come home and be strong for Sonny where he wasn’t able to do so back when Sonny was a boy. We need some growth for Sonny as a character so it is compelling for us to watch everyday and look  forward to Sonny scenes.

We also need Carly to die. Seriously, there is not another character I have ever hated more than Carly! She is the black hole of SUCK , a hypocrite , a bitch, self-centered, selfish and screechy. At least Lily had the decency to die so we could be rid of that albatross for Sonny. I do find Carly worse, much worse for Sonny in every possible way. She enables his bad behavior and seeks him out to bid for his attention, help & schemes. She also just doesn’t die. BTW, she is NOT a heroine. There are no redeeming characteristics of this character what-so-ever.

I could go on about what I’m not really liking about the show for days and it won’t get me anywhere. I’m bored. Not with Sonny so much because I am interested in his journey, so let’s just get that out there. Even though it’s hard, I do want to watch so I can see for myself that Sonny can rediscover himself and begin to heal.. I am just plain bored with the show. Bored of Lucky in tears every 5 minutes. Not interested in the drugs. I love the Q’s and would like more of them but now with the tie in to Gino Solito & the mob from The City is zzzzzzzzzzz for  me. I wished we’d see less mob all together and deal more with issues, relationships, love and friendship. Maybe a tad bit of adventure, too… But it looks as if Garin Wolf has the same fascination with the mob as Guza had. That makes me sad. Yes, maybe there’s a little more balance on a daily basis but on a whole, not really.  

Anyway…. No matter how I feel about the show, with my frustrations on my sleeve and a broken heart I can see the shining star of amazing acting on my screen in Maurice. No matter the material, no matter how I feel about the current situation or how I see my friends cry and complain, I see how truly gifted Maurice is. He is so wonderful, honest and raw with his emotions as Sonny. You can not only SEE his hurt but, as a fan, you can FEEL it. I can feel how lost and confused he is in the clouded, muddy recesses of his mind. In Sonny losing his soul mate, true first love and forever love, Maurice lost his acting soul mate, trusted friend and you can see he misses Vanessa.

Sonny will heal. It will take time, a love interest or 2 and then his mind will clear, the crowd in the room will part and there will be Brenda, waiting for him to come back to her/find her and make things right. In their split, they both made some really bad choices but the rift can be fixed and we can, eventually have our beloved Sonny and Brenda back again.

I just hope that during this arc and what is coming for Sonny in the future, we can all band together, support our dimpled guy and have some fun along the way. We have been told S&B are endgame. Hold on to that, follow Sonny’s journey back to himself and hopefully to Brenda. We have bumps before we hit that open road again. Grab a seat, open up some clips, maybe watch the show or YT Sonny scenes. If for nothing else but because you love Maurice. As hard as this all is for us, it must be hard for him, too.

TTFN xoxo~Ro

I loved a Hair Band from the ’80’s..

No, not a joke.. Just a short break from my usual Blogging with Ro, S&B style for a moment.

I’m 40 years old. I grew up in NJ and fell in love with rock n’ roll, heavy metal and in particular, hair metal bands. I  have loved Posion, Def Leopard, Whitesnake, Ratt, Slaughter, Great White, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Extreme and many more but none captured my heart like Warrant did.

Warrant grabbed me in a way the others just didn’t. Not sure why, but I fell hard for them. I feel head over heels for their frontman, Jani Lane. He had long blond hair, big blue, gorgeous eyes and a voice made of magic. I’m sure the first song I heard was Heaven. The power ballad.

I’ve got a picture of your house
and you’re standing by the door.
It’s black and white and faded,
it’s looking pretty worn.
See the factory that i worked
silhouetted in the back.
Memories are grey, but man they’re really coming back.

The first time I saw Warrant live was when they opened for Motley Crue in Philly back in 1989. They were amazing and blew me away. I was so hooked on this band! I saw them as much as possible after that one night. I listened to my Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinkin’ Rich tape until I wore it out. It was impossible to get into my car without listening to Down Boys, Heaven, In the Sticks or 32 Pennies.

I planned a trip to Florida to visit my cousin, Tobi with my friend, Christine. We drove down in my cute CRX. The morning after we arrived we went down to the beach in Ft. Lauderdale to get some sun. It was February and right around Valentine’s day. We happened to look behind us at the strip and noticed Warrant was playing this really small, tiny mind you, venue. They also happened to be sold out. I can’t tell you how bummed we were that we missed out on such an awesome opportunity to see them in a place that only held 500 people. Anyway, we went back to my cousins’ house and told her about the band, venue and whatnot. Tobi told me to grab the tape from the car with the liner notes. I brought it in to her and she had a fantastic idea which was kinda a scam of sorts. I can’t give you all the info on how we pulled it off.. hehe… We called the publicist and arranged an interview & press/photo pass for the show. Unfortunately, I was left without a ticket to get in. So, we had to work some more details out. Christine interviewed Joey Allen and Jerry Dixon over the phone, I believe the day of the concert.

Anyway, I bet you’re all wondering how, I, the curly Ro made it into the show…

A few other friends from Jersey happened to travel down to Florida at the same time as we did. They were Lance, Shawn and Rob.. Cool guys, hung out with them a bunch at The Fastlane, and I apologize for getting off topic.. We all met up at this club, in which I cannot for the LIFE of me remember its name… It was Valentine’s Day and as it turned out, Risque (now referred to as Slammin’ Gladys) was playing. We had no idea they were the opening act for Warrant on this mini East Coast tour. The club was doing a Warrant Ticket give away that night. 3 sets of 2 tickets…. Can I just tell you all my little group of 5 people won 2 sets of those 3 sets of tickets?? OMG!  Holy shit, it was meant to be! To travel from NJ to Florida just for a quick, off the cuff vacation, meet up with some friends and all get to go to the show… PLUS a meet and greet! SQUEEEEEEE!!! Can I just say that I was BEYOND, beyond excited?

Christine did her, hehe, interview hehe and we went to the club for the meet and greet. There we realized that e saw the opening band the night before & they were really good friends with the guys in Warrant, in particular, Jani. Finally, after quite some time admiring him from afar, I got to meet Jani! It was amazing to be able to be close to him, see those bright blue eyes up close, touch his hair and just be close to him. He made my heart skip a beat.  My palms were sweaty and I thought I would die on the spot! I was unsure what to say (first time meeting someone famous) and was blown away by his kindness toward everyone and his patience with fans like me who became tongue-tied like me. He even signed a drum snare I had brought with me. I actually have it somewhere at my parents.. The whole band signed it.

Seeing them play and in particular see Jani sing in such a small venue really cemented my love for him and the band. They had fun with playing and entertaining us. They sounded tight, Jani’s voice was spot on and they were a powerful unit of brothers at that stage in their career.

 

We found out after the show everyone was heading to The Button South in Miami for an after-show party. Of course we went. I think somehow we fangled our way in to the list. But however it was, we got there and had a blast. Skid Row was there, playing pool after a long day of recording their second album, Slave to the Grind. We chatted with them, along with Lance, Shawn and Rob and then went off on our own to meet the band again and we had a little flirting with a couple of guys from Risque.

 

Needless to say, we had a blast. We met the band, we had a huge adventure and kicked off a huge time in my life and Christine’s that may never have been if we didn’t have that amazing experience in Florida.

We wound up traveling back to NJ with our friends and wound up seeing the band at Maguire Airforce Base (don’t ask, we scammed our way on tho the base. hehe). They played an amazing concert for the troops heading off to Desert Storm. It was such a fantastic thing for them to do. The concert was free and there were like 300 people there. That was the first time we saw Jani with Bobbie Brown and gosh, were they a gorgeous couple! (Yes, I had a pang of jealousy but she was so nice!)

Then our time with Warrant & Risque ended with a show at The Limelight in Manhattan. We were put on the list by Dave and Steven from Risque and were supposed to have VIP passes to the off-limits area. The guy at that door wouldn’t let us in and most likely didn’t believe us that we were ok to go back. So, off the cuff I decided I’d give him my purse and made a deal that I’d find Steve and bring him back to ok us being back there. He agreed and I disappeared into the back area. I found my drummer friend (with a chick on his lap and when he saw me, he stood up, chick fell off his lap and he took off with me with the girl was still on the floor. LOL) and he went with me to get Christine. He brought us back and we hung out with our new friends and rock stars. We had such a freaking blast!!

We became friendly obviously with the guys from Risque and the roadies from Warrant. While yes, I’d love to tell you all I hung out with Jani and he was awesome, I can’t. Bobbie was there (Yes, the Cherry Pie girl) and they were all busy with their friends, which was ok. Christine and I were having an amazing time at a concert with amazing people! Who would have thought 2 weeks ago when we were on our way to Florida we’d end up 2 weeks later at the Limelight, backstage and VIPs?

The show was amazing and if you had never made it to The Limelight, it was an old church converted into a club. Everything was still quite church-like inside, missing the pews and containg a stage where the pulpit would have been. There were 2-3 stories to the club, too all looking down at the first floor and the stage. The place was incredible & everyone had a view of the band while they played. We stayed until the very end, watching Warrant play with the members of Risque. After the show we said good night to our new friends, the roadies from Warrant & to Warrant themselves, then we were on our way out on to the dark streets of Manhattan.

It was around 3am when we got outside that we found out my car had been towed! We were SCREWED! We were unsure what to do and walked around a bit, trying to figure things out. We got lucky because 2 undercover cops, in a taxi, saw us & asked us some questions. We told them what happened and there was no way for us to come up with the $325 it would cost for us to get our car back (my cute CRX) and we’d have to wait until the morning when we could get to the bank. They asked us if we had someplace to go and we remembered the guys from Risque told us where they were staying. The cops took us to their hotel, I believe they were staying at the Milford Plaza with all the road crew. We arrived inside the hotel at the same time as Risque & Warrant’s road crew. They knew us and the cops felt ok leaving us. We told them what happened and the guys from Risque, namely Steve and Dave tried to get us some money. But, they couldn’t get money from the front desk (this was before ATMs) and now we were stuck. So… They put us up for the night and told us in the am if we couldn’t get our car back, to come back to them and the Warrant road crew would drop us off at home in Jersey. LOL This was right before Warrant was traveling to Japan for the beginning of the Cherry Pie tour. Luckily, we got the $$ from the bank and got my car back.

**** All pictures were taken by Tobi Bruner, except for the very first band picture.****

Our adventure was CRAZY FUN and such an imprinted memory on my heart. I saw Warrant several other times after, met them a couple of other times and again Jani was gracious and so nice. I never had another adventure with them or much time to really spend with them, Jani in particular my love for him never wavered. He was the long hair of my dreams and I was always on the hunt for my own Jani Lane.

Fast forward 20 years later, Warrant still had a place in my heart and Jani Lane still owned a big chunk of it. In recent years I had hoped to see him live again and tell him in person, thank you for being an amazing human and writing songs that still touch my heart and bring me fantastic memories, but now it looks as if I will never have that chance. But, I had emailed with him a few times about 3 or 4 years ago on Myspace. He was so nice and kind-hearted in the emails, I wish I had kept them. I never in my heart thought he’d actually die. I knew there was a possibility in my head but my heart couldn’t go there. 

This past week broke my heart in a very profund way. My 19 year old, whole life in front of me, heart was broken last Friday morning. I was suddenly brought back to my teenage feelings for a man I’ve met only a few times and had dreamt about many, many times since I first saw his picture and heard his magical voice. No matter how many times I listen to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Bed of Roses, I Saw Red, Mr. Rainmaker, Bitter pill, Stronger Now and so many others, I am transported back in time to a time where we were all young, having fun, fresh faced and amazing futures ahead of us. Jani was more than the “Cherry Pie Guy,” he was a dad, brother, son and  friend who happened to write one of the catchiest songs ever written. No matter what, most everyone knows that song… and it was written off the cuff in 15 minutes. Jani was amazing and I will miss his presence in this world. He was my “perfect” yet, flawed long hair.

Jani Lane passed away on August 11, 2011. He was 47 years young, had crazy demons in his life, an awful addiction and just wanted to be loved like everyone else. He leaves behind 2 daughters, his family and dear friends. He will be missed by so many in the industry and by his true and loyal fans.

Jani was a hugely talented and hugely underrated musician, songwriter and singer. He wrote hundreds of songs, helped out many fledgling bands and was kind to his fans. He deserved better than what he experienced in recent years. I hope he’s found the peace he’d been looking for. I hope his spirit is free to soar and that he finally found that Heaven is not too far away.

Heaven isnt too far away
Closer to it everyday
And no matter what your friends might say
We’ll find our way

Now the lights are going out,
along the boulevard
Memories come rushing back and makes it pretty hard
I’ve got nowhere left to go
And no one really cares
I don’t know what to do
But im never giving up on you.

 RIP Jani Lane, you have been loved by not only me but thousands of fans along the way. Your music and memory will live thru us and your family left behind. Sing with the angels and know your legacy will live on.

Here’s to The Song and Dance Man:

TTFN xoxo~Ro

Sonny and Brenda Tee Shirts for a GREAT cause!

Sylvia came up with a fab idea a few weeks ago to make herself a Vanessa and Maurice tee-shirt. She showed me and a few others what she made and suddenly people decided they wanted one, too. So an idea was born!

Syl and Amanda approached me with a fantastic idea to fundraise for our new friend, Suzanne Whang and create tee shirts, mostly S&B related and donate all monies to Suzanne to help with treatment for her stage 4 cancer, which has spread to her bones. We thank Nikki for helping Sylvia come up with the great logo for some of our tee-shirts! All profits will go to Suzanne Whang.

 

First, we will offer shirts in sizes  XS,S ,M, L,  XL, XXL. Please specify your preferred size in your order. We offer regular tee-shirts and tank tops. (I hope to have tank top pictures, soon.) You pick which images or the above Live, laugh, Love logo you’d like on your shirt. Each shirt is $25. That includes shipping and handling.

The shirts in the pictures are all in size medium.

Choice #1

Have you ever kissed passion on the lips

Choice #2

MoNessa from GaGoo Bash!

Choice #3

Old school and recent SnB

#4 a simple Live Laugh Love logo top (shown as tank. Pls specifiy if you’d like tee or tank)

#5 is Old School S&B

#6 is a Vanessa by herself — coming soon

#7 is Maurice by himself— coming soon

#8 Mr. & Mrs. Corinthos

You can place your order here:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=EEJKDQUW723PS

Each shirt is $25. Includes shipping and handling & is for a very good cause! After you go to PayPal, please email

RescuetheChesticles@gmail.com

Be sure to state which shirt you’d like, the size and a description. Also, be sure to say if you’d like a tee or tank top. Please include both your address and phone number. Also, include your comfirmation number from PayPal, please so we can match up the orders.

Support not only your love for Sonny and Brenda, Vanessa and Maurice BUT Suzanne Whang, who needs our help.

Thank you and check back in the next few weeks to see if we are offering more options!

P.S. We will be running this special fundraiser until October 31, 2011. Please order asap so you can get your tee-shirt and support an awesome cause!

If you’d like to donate directly to Suzanne Whang or attend the event on September 24 please either see: https://snbgallery.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/suzanne-whangs-rescue-the-chesticles-roast/ or  http://www.suzannewhang.com/sept-24th-fundraiser/for more details.

TTFN xoxo~Ro & #TeamChesticleSavers

Suzanne Whang’s Rescue the Chesticles Roast!

As you all know, Suzanne Whang is “releasing” stage 4 cancer and Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo is throwing a Roast for her on September 24.

Details of the roast are as follows:

•  Ticket prices are $100 (regular seating), $500 (sit with Vanessa and crew), $1000 (seating with a specific person)
• 8:00 to 10:30pm is the show and from 10:30 to Midnight is the after-party.
• The roast will be held at a private estate in the Hollywood Hills. Only until after the tickets are purchased will the exact location and the rest of the details be given to you.
• If you attended last months Sojourn fundraiser (GaGoo Bash), you will receive a discount on this charity event. VMG decided to give a percentage of $ made to go to Suzanne. 🙂
• Attendees, performers and/or supporters* of the cause will be: Marianne Williamson, Vanessa MG, George Eads, Josh Duhamel, Lorainne Newman, Kelly Carlin, Bryan Callen, Jillian Michaels, Nancy Lee Grahn, Maurice Benard, Judd Nelson, Tom Bergeron EMCEEING, and Eric Schwartz. (*List may be subject to change at anytime)
• Dress code is “nice casual.” Be yourself and be comfortable!
• If you wish to purchase a ticket(s) please email http://www.suzannewhang.com/sept-24th-fundraiser/ for further details for this exclusive, once in a lifetime event!

 

 

If you are unable to attend, you can still donate. Suzanne’s web page where you can go to make a donation: http://www.suzannewhang.com/

An easy way to support this cause would be to add a Twibbon to your Twitter profile. It’s simple, easy and supportive of the Chesticle cause! http://twibbon.com/join/Rescue-the-Chesticles

You may also tweet any questions to @KathyJane1101 or to @VanessaMarcilG

TTFN xoxo~Ro

She Came Back…

One year ago….. Blissful and hopeful the S&Bers patiently waited until the end of GH to see our gorgeous Brenda walk out on to a stage in Rome to be the recipient of an award on behalf of ASEC. It was to kick off an amazing storyline where Brenda was the target of a child-trafficking ring because of her intervention in protecting orphaned children in Africa. Unfortunately, that never really fleshed out and it was more like Guza wrote as he went. There were many started and dropped storylines along the way and we were stuck with The Balkan and the ridiculous tale that was told.

Guza had Brenda spending too much time in Rome, to be frank and honest. It was 3 months of wasted time with imo, very little insight into Brenda’s last 8 years out of Port Charles and in the world. She had a boyfriend, turned fiance, named Murphy but as a viewer, I couldn’t quite figure out why Brenda was with him. He was a cookie cutter Ken Doll who loved our Brenda but didn’t quite “get” her. He was handsome but quite bland. Even Jax, who I don’t care for, could be exciting, adventurous and romantic with Brenda. But Murphy…. Well, I guess he was just filler and again, pointless in the long run.

Now, on the other hand, if Guza had brought on Jagger to be Brenda’s love interest with his little boy, Stone…. With those two together, some crazy, sexy sparks would fly! There would have been some PC connection, some passion, friendship, bonding and history. There would have been some excitement and anticipation! We would have been much more invested in Rome and the implications of Sonny randomly showing up & for Brenda’s unresolved feelings to come bubbling up with an actual third party we cared about. Jagger could have still been with the FBI or CIA, whatever his gig was on GH-Night Shift and we could have seen Brenda in a mother-type role to prepare us for the future.

Then Sonny could have shown up, protected Brenda and saved her from The Balkan’s men and they could have reconnected while Jagger would be searching for his lady-love. So many missed, history laden stories could have been told. Even with the change of ONE character. It also would have made Brenda a little less secluded in Rome. Jason still could have arrived to protect Brenda for sure. Jagger could have been away for a few days and Suzanne could have still called in Jason. Then we could have had Brenda with her old friends Jason and Jagger. History again, folks!! They were all friends in high school! Ties that bind and make us care!! Jagger & little Stone could even have joined Brenda and Jason in Port Charles and slowly we could have seen S&B work their way together and maybe, Jagger could have given Patrick a real run for his money by reconnecting with Robin (especially after her Ghost Stone experience last September– tie in!!) and maybe falling in love. All the while we see Brenda and Jagger trying to figure out where and who they belong with.  There, 3 stories all tied together to tell a tale and, The Balkan still could have been involved but the premis of her return would have been deeper & longer lasting with fallout.

I could go on for days about what could have been different and what I would have changed but it would get us nowhere.

Finally, Brenda, Jason and Suzanne made it to Port Charles and Brenda was so skittish. Brenda lacked the spark and zest for life she always had. It almost seemed she was abused by someone along the way. Again, that angle was dropped and it was shown that Dante and Brenda shared some insane connection. For whatever reason, Guza was obsessed in trying to tell a tale of a woman with an unknown father and son sexual connection. It was a sick, empty story that Guza whipped up that was just not plausible.  Guza has always had an infatuation with the twisted, sick & disgusting! There was always that undertone, especially with all the “Sonny can never know” junk. Sorry, but it was the past, Dante really wasn’t Brenda’s type and the whole storyline was stupid but all the S&Bers were a little weirded out by it and plainly hated the story. It was off track and not compelling for most of us. We wanted more. We wanted Brenda to come out of her shell and reconnect with old friends, like Robin, Mike and to reconnect with Sonny. We wanted scenes like Vent Day and we wanted passion to flow through our screens. Not shoot-outs and insane people called The Balkan and The Balkan’s men. We wanted heart and soul to come back in the frame of Brenda Barrett, someone who could be wise, spontaneous, full of love and friendship. She could embody all that our beloved Lila Quartermaine held dear and make it work, even with her fiestiness…. But, we really didn’t see that “Old Brenda” under Guza’s pen. He butchered an easy-peasy comeback from start to finish.

High Points:

• Rome Reunion between Sonny and Brenda. The elevator scene was adorable & great montage when S&B’s eyes met, Sonny protecting Brenda with no hesitation, their near kisses in the safe house and in the rain.
• Jason and Brenda going to the charity event was hysterical!
• Brenda and Robin reconnecting at the hospital.
• Brenda meeting Spinelli was cute and funny.
• Brenda and Sonny reconnecting as a couple was beautiful and wonderful. Loved their first make-out and their first dinner date. I just loved that blue dress Brenda wore! Vanessa looked amazing in those scenes.
• Sonny and Brenda’s first time making love in 13 years!
• Sonny bringing Brenda to the Castle in the Air house in the woods. So beautiful, such a surprise for us and an amazing gift… Too bad it was taken away from us and from Brenda.
• First Christmas, ever for Sonny and Brenda. The Christmas tree was amazing and S&B were so happy!
• Sonny’s proposal to Brenda at Luke and Tracy’s wedding was sweet, touching romantic and beautiful under the crisp, winter starry sky. The sky was like diamonds dancing across S&B’s love.
• Sonny’s ring proposal at CITA. Past, present and future. The rings were gorgeous, very much Brenda and those scenes were out of this world. Vanessa and Maurice’s connection is so genuine and solid. You could see their love for each other quite clearly in those scenes.
• Brenda, Sonny and The Wedding Planner, Carol. <—– Fantastic to see Sonny uncomfortable and Carol’s immediate dislike for Sonny. It was wonderful!
• Sonny and Brenda’s wedding, February 18, 2011 was one of the very best days ever in the life of a S&Ber. That whole week embodied love, trust, compassion, passion, deep sorrow and huge relief. It was beautiful (we could have done without the stupid limo blowing up/Old Lily Clink-Boom scene) and very much the way I have pictured a S&B wedding. Next wedding though, I’d like S&B to be at the beach at dusk, with Alec and the S&B baby we are hoping for, with a minister and have them married by themselves, as a family with no outside influences. Just full of love and grace.

After those points, I don’t have much else to work with from the year. It seemed to me after the wedding all points of the story were dropped except now came that paranoia, insecurity, the lack of trust and unbelievable lack of scenes. The honeymoon was cut when it should have aired to balance out the Jake/Joss storyline.

As a group, the S&Bers were devastated and dumbfounded after the ratings shot up for the wedding BECAUSE of Sonny and Brenda as to why in the world wonderful scenes would be cut and left on the editing room floor. It wasn’t fair and after that point, we got nothing much there after. Just a handful of piecemeal scenes that had to do with Lucian/Alec/Carly/Jax/lies/Suzanne/Diane and just a whole lot of nothing! And, to top it off, Sonny sold CITA.. What a slap in the face for all of us S&BERS!!

So, Vanessa was leaving. We don’t know what went on backstage and sure sometimes we like to speculate on they why’s but we really don’t know and we shouldn’t know. Some things are better left unsaid. HOWEVER….. The ending and leading up to the ending could have and should have been much, much better. Too much Carly & Jax, not enough Sonny and Brenda. There should have been plenty of happy, fun scenes. Get-togethers and maybe a dinner out with Robin and Patrick. Things could have been tense at home but a front put on in public if TPTB really had to head down this road. Build up the scenes and have us on edge until the final blow was struck, and our couple cracked in two. Give us a reason, let us see if S&B work together cohabitating as husband and wife. Have him share details of things he just wouldn’t share with a girlfriend, let her into that dark area and then have her second guess herself and LET US SEE IT HAPPEN & UNRAVEL for us to understand better!

Sure both really screwed up along the way but nothing was that bad that it was unfixable. Why couldn’t the end of this year be full of love, devotion, amazing, kick ass scenes with joy and friendship? Why couldn’t there be an accident and Brenda be in a coma (Hey, Michael was in a coma and life went on), she could have been pregnant but no one told Sonny as she could have been whisked away to Switzerland and he was left behind to care for Alec, with little hope for Brenda’s recovery. Kate even could have figured in with wanting to help Sonny through his pain and with caring for Alec. It would have been a strong set-up for a storyline to come down the road when Brenda comes back to reclaim her family. Sonny could still have a breakdown and not take his pills out of grief for what he lost all the while trying to figure out how to be a single dad to a little boy he didn’t know he wanted.

Creativity was not used this year and it was disappointing to see but one thing that is never disappointing, was Vanessa and Maurice. Ok, so that’s two.  They were bright and shiny while together on-screen. Their beautiful connection sang to our hearts and danced on our souls and for that, we are forever grateful. We are S&Bers. Our road is never straight nor easy, its full of twists, turns, bumps and Carly’s but never, ever boring or predictable. It is always exciting, passionate and amazing… All that is due to Vanessa and Maurice and their ability to make magic out of mediocre.

I’m interested in seeing Garin Wolf spin Sonny out of darkness and find himself again. I hope the road leads him back to Brenda, while entertaining whore’s and Kate in the process. I just hope that Sonny drops the hateful words about Brenda soon and realizes why she did what she did and it wasn’t out of not loving him. I know that will take some time and that I have right now. I have time and soon another time will come and Brenda/Vanessa will come back. When she does, S&B will reconnect and rescue each other from the dark nights and bring themselves back into the light of day. As they do that, they will bring all the S&Bers out of hiding (watching YT clips and reading amazing fanfic) and we will all EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE again. You’ll see!

I had to add in this beautiful mvid Shelby made. She worked long and hard on this and it is amazing and gorgeous.. I hope everyone loves it as I do.. Hell, it made me cry and I still have tears sliding down my cheeks!

The mvid won’t play here but click on watch on YouTube when it comes up. 🙂

I love you all very much and thank you for hanging with me this past year! No matter the ride with Sonny and Brenda, as long as we are all on the bus, we’ll be fantastic & together!!

TTFN xoxo~Ro

1 year ago…

Last August 10, we at the Sonny and Brenda Forum were so excited! A year ahead full of promise, intrigue, passion, adventure and love. We had it all as a fanbase last year and we were so excited! From the very first promos, media net images and the Brenda filled GH episodes aired in anticipation of her return; we were on cloud 9.

How do you describe one of your fondest wishes coming true? How do you articulate the feeling of euphoria when it was let out that Brenda was coming back to be with Sonny? As a fan base, all we could do was EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I know it isn’t a word but we have made it into our favorite Brenda squeal that we use when we are very excited!

At this time last year we could barely contain ourselves… We posted pics everywhere, along with YT vids where ever we could. We did the daily countdown to Brenda along with ABC. We had huge hopes but a black rain cloud was hanging over our heads, called Guza. So, we took everything with a grain of salt, and enjoyed what we were given.

We spent the majority of last summer so excited and most of us (I included!!) wished the summer away so it could be August 11 already! It did fly by and soon it was the eve of the episode we were long waiting for.

So, tomorrow, on the anniversary of our girl’s comeback, I’ll blog about her return and maybe touch upon some of the high points on Vanessa’s visit.

TTFN xoxox~Ro

 

A Simple Twist of the Pen

Bob Guza made a huge mess of things for S&B. He made such a mess, we couldn’t imagine what or how the repair could be or happen. Thank goodness that Guza is gone because instead of a recovery story, we’d have Sonny sleeping with Carly and, or every other available female, all the while not caring about Brenda. While this is painful and full of hurt, we know now, without a shadow of a doubt that Sonny loves Brenda with all of his being and that’s all thanks to the twist of Garin Wolf’s pen. He was a God-send for this destructive storyline started in April.

Yesterday and today clued Sonny and Brenda fans into the fact Sonny has been off of his meds for 3 months. Sonny trashed their bedroom and smashed their wedding picture. That happened to be around the time Robin had stopped by to see Sonny and drop off Brenda’s note. Sonny was none too pleased to see her & he had it out with her. She remained calm and tried to talk to him. She explained why Brenda left and that Jax was her friend, too… Then Sonny asked her to choose.. Jax or him.

After commercial, we came back to them and it turned even more serious if you can believe it when Robin found his full bottle of pills, unopened from 3 months ago. She became Dr. Robin for a moment and advised him to take his meds again and to get help. Then she left.

 Those were quite powerful scenes yesterday. They made some of us cry because we all love Sonny and he is hurting. He doesn’t understand WHY Brenda left because his head is clouded in illness and jealously, along with a huge dash of hurt. This isn’t one of the only times where Sonny has been destroyed by loss, but this time is quite significant. Because this is a loss of his own making.

It started 3 months ago was when Lucian came to live with Sonny and Brenda. Things were still good, Brenda came first for Sonny, not Carly and her daughter but his wife. He was happy and content… Probably happy and content enough to stop taking the pills. It was a mistake. His demeanor changed, we knew he loved Brenda but his passion for her changed slightly. We noticed a difference and that was around the time we saw Brenda detaching herself from Sonny. She was detaching because she sensed something was wrong with Sonny, she even called him out on it a time or two. But, Brenda didn’t have knowledge of the depth of Sonny’s illness. She wasn’t aware of the warning signs.. Honestly, neither were we. We were just as hurt and blindsided as Brenda was with Sonny’s behavior.

Today, Jason stopped by to see Sonny. He brought up Brenda and Sonny called her a “Bitch.” He also asked Jason to not mention her again. He spoke about his hurt, how much he loved her and how his life was meaningless without her. Sonny ranted about how Brenda left with Jax and how they were together. Jason stepped up to the plate and told him, “No Sonny, you may not want to hear this but, Brenda did not leave with Jax… She just left.”

Jason also realized that Sonny was having an episode and needed his meds. Jason advised Sonny to get back on track, take your meds and it’s over. The threat of Anthony Zaccara is looming in on Sonny’s business and he will use Sonny’s illness and a weakness and go in for the kill. Sonny is very vulnerable right now. Such a bad spot! Jason was so kind a patient with him. It was beautiful to see the two friends together. Even though Sonny wasn’t quite receptive to Jason’s help, the fact Jason could sit through Sonny’s painful, destructive behavior and remain calm, caring and his friend… was amazing to see. Most powerful Sonny and Jason scene in a long time.

After Jason left, Sonny looked at Brenda’s envelope and considered it for a moment.. Then he tore it up & threw it away. He then took a pill with a bottle of water & left the bedroom.

Sonny’s true love left him. Brenda is gone, in Rome with her little boy. The move she made was out of love both for her son and her husband. If she sensed there was something wrong, her instinct would tell her to run. She left because she was put last & wasn’t allowed in to Sonny’s life. He allowed her in until April. She knew that the business is dangerous. That was not a shock but the fact that Sonny dismissed her fears until the end and chose power over love was it for Brenda. Brenda was fuming over what Sonny did to Jax and Sonny choosing Carly instead of their marriage. Again, Brenda was not always right. She allowed her fears and insecurity to get the better of her. This allowed the rest to manifest itself & for distrust on both sides to grow.

Now is that hard part for Sonny, Sonny fans and SnBers… Sonny has to hit rock bottom and then scrape himself off the floor and help himself. It will take more than today’s start of taking his meds. He needs to get treatment and discover about himself why he felt Brenda’s love could cure him of this illness. Love can’t heal anything but its a start. Let’s hope Sonny learns to love himself and accept he needs the help of meds to balance him before he decides to love anyone else, including Brenda. If he doesn’t love and respect himself, he can’t have love and respect in a relationship.

The road for our Sonny and Brenda has never been easy. There is ALWAYS a curve ball. But, now we have an explaination to help us through. Our next hurdle after we start Sonny’s recovery process, which should take some time, will be Kate. I believe she’ll be a bump in the road and nothing more. Brenda has Jax as her friend and Sonny, well… he will have Kate. She will help restore Sonny and help him to be better, better for himself and better for Brenda. We just have to get through it without throwing up. hehe We can do it… It’s what SnBers do. We remain positive and look for rainbows in the storm.

TTFN xoxo Ro

Hang in there!

 

Vanessa’s benefit for Suzanne Whang

Hey everyone!

Details about Vanessa’s benefit for Suzanne Whang– More like a roast of Suzanne are coming out and I thought I’d gather everything here for you…

 First, if you don’t know, Suzanne has stage 4 cancer. She is doing great, as she told us at Vanessa’s GaGoo Bash.

The benefit will be on September 24 and ticket prices are $100 (regular seating), $500 (sit with Vanessa and crew), $1000 (seating with a specific person).

Vanessa updated today (Aug. 10) with this tweet:

VanessaMarcilGVanessa Marcil G

by SonnyandBrenda

 

OK…you’ve been asking so here it is SUZANNEWHANGFUNDRAISER@GMAIL.COM sept 24th at a private estate in hllywd hills. a night of comedy 4 SW

IF U WERE AT OUR SOJOURN FUNDRAISER U WILL RECEIVE A DISCOUNT ON SW CHARITY EVENT AS WE DECIDED TO GIVE A PERCENTAGE OF $ MADE TO HELP SUZ!

ONLY after you have purchased a tkt will the exact location and rest of the details be given out to you. Thanx for understanding.LUV TO ALL

 

So, the Roast will be at a private estate in the Hollywood Hills on September 24 @ 8pm. You will have to email

suzannewhangfundraiser@gmail.com for further details. Especially considering this will be at a private estate.

 

Vanessa tweeted this:

“$500 for a table with us and $1000 to sit with a specific person. $100 regular seating.”

 

I’ve gathered the info from Vanessa’s Twitter page:

 

“HERE’s who we have suppprting with their presence, their heart or their personal filmed roast to suzanne 4 the 24th. Marianne Williamson, Vanessa MG, George Eads, Josh Duhamel, Lorainne Newman, Kelly Carlin, Bryan Callen, Jillian Michaels, Nancy lee grahn, Maurice Benard…..Judd Nelson, Tom Bergeron EMCEEING, Eric schwartz performing.

 

A beautiful stand up comedian who has worked in our industry for 20 years and now has stage 4 cancer and needs our support. Come laugh

three ways to come see BRAVE stand up. tweet @KathyJane1101or log on to SUZANNEWHANG.COM and leave your info or make a donation

if you can’t make Suzanne’s charity roast then donate on Suzanne whang.com and if you do. I will call you to thank you…naked…and cuss

Tweet @KathyJane1101 know if you went to our july event or tried our organic lotion and u will get a discount on your tkt for sept 24th..”

 

So, lots of awesome people are already taking part in this event and Vanessa is going all out to help her friend, whom she loves dearly.

 

Cancer has touched each and every part of our lives at some point. It is a vicious disease who destroys all in its path. There are so many lucky ones, like my friend April, who also had stage 4 breast cancer. She had a double mastectomy and came through wonderfully. April was diagnosed at 34. But then we have unlucky ones like, Vanessa’s Aunt Sally Ann who just recently passed and there’s my friend, Ken, who had amazing spirit and amazing humor. He died of cancer in June of 2010. He was 37.

 

If you can’t afford to fly out and be a part of an amazing benefit and very good cause, please see if you can donate. It doesn’t have to be much if you can’t do it. A few dollars does go a long way and it is needed.

 

Please follow @VanessaMarcilG @SuzanneWhang for more details and I will update and republish the blog as more details become available.

 

Suzanne’s web page where you can go to make a donation: http://www.suzannewhang.com/

 

TTFN xoxo ~Ro