So how did everyone like the final episode of The Sopranos series, as we know it? I enjoyed it, even though I probably missed about 2/3 of the dialogue (thank god for dvd-rw). I paid the final tribute by spending the season finale at Satin Dolls, and dinner at Cha Cha's in Boca Al Lupo Café. Being at da Bing (Satin Dolls) was a blast. Viewing the show with over 100 die hard fans (I’m guessing on how many people were there) is something every fan should experience one in their life time (too late now). When the show came on, the crowd cheered, when Phil Leotardo met his demise, the crowd was chanting Yes! Yes! (when you think about this, it really is funny how we react to a vicious murder) and when the scene came on showing the interior of Satin Dolls, everyone cheered. It was a fun and upbeat night, even if it is the last time we may see a new episode of The Sopranos. I don't have a problem with how David Chase ended the show (and yes the crowd went nuts, management of Satin Dolls, thought they lost their cable feed).

Looking at the reactions of the crowd, I feel that the sign of a good program, is the reaction the viewer gets for seeing it (What the F%$k?). If it had ended with everything wrapped up in a neat little package (just like the brown paper package Tony Soprano gave his neighbor Mr. Cusimano to hold), we really would have walked away from “this thing of ours” with nothing. You have to be somewhat happy about the ending because, had we seen Tony Soprano dying at the end of the show, it really would have been truly the end. We can always, “don’t stop believing” that something special is waiting for us in the future. Spend some time, reflecting on some of the great moments from the show.

We’ve have already endured two year waits between seasons, so as fans, we are old pros at the waiting game. We may not have The Sopranos, but we will always have New Jersey.

And speaking of the future of the show, David Chase has spoken about the possibility of a movie in the future.

Continue reading "Sopranos: Tuesday Morning Quarterback" »

I had to share with you what my dear friend Irish Mafia contributed to me, its precious

The Luppertazzi Family is saddened to announce the untimely passing of Phillip Leotardo (nee Leonardo) from lead poisoning this Sunday night. Mr. Leotardo, known to his friends as “The Shah of Iran,” had been in the advanced stages of this highly contagious disease for the past few months, despite some promise of recovery following his coronary last year. It seems that Mr. Leotardo had developed a malignant vendetta arising from his inability to compromise, no matter how many grilled cheese sandwiches and tissues he had in prison. Last week, the vendetta grew irregular around the margins and is said to have been linked to similar strains of lead poisoning affecting his business associates Robert “Bobby Baccala” Baccalieri and Silvio Dante, both of New Jersey . Mr. Leotardo's final words were privately directed to members of a “glorified crew,” perhaps some angels he envisioned at the end.

Mr. Leotardo was an avid student of history and art, (having recently attended the gala opening of the genre film Cleaver), starring Daniel Baldwin . He was well-known for his lectures to his family about the importance of symbolism (gun and sword on the table) and his wry references to his own genitals. His wife Patty Leotardo (Vice President of Vice President of Concerned Catholic Mothers) shared his social views and is herself is famous for her recently literary criticism of the works of novelist Dan Brown. Never a champion of human rights, Mr. Leotardo frequently earned the ire of the gay community. Indeed, he also lost the support of the billiard-playing community for unsportsmanlike behavior.

Mr. Leotardo is survived by several goons, a toothless henchman, some bratty kids, a clueless wife, and Nancy Sinatra. Thankfully, he is also survived by the fine actor Frank Vincent who stayed loyal to him until the end. Mr. Vincent, a man that Martin Scorcese calls “someone I can count on to deliver,” is the author of A Guy's Guide to Being a Man's Man. Mr. Leotardo was an infrequent communicant at Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrows Church. Funeral services will be held at an undisclosed location. Donations in memory of Mr. Leotardo should be sent to the Ellis Island Foundation.

A very special thanks to Irish Mafia, to read more of her spins on "This Thing of Ours" check out her website, NJWriters.

Now to turn back into a frog....

- Soprano Sue

This it it, the last weekend we have to look forward to Sunday night. Now it’s back to the thing normal people do, just looking forward to Friday. I am really looking forward to Sunday. I have faith after seeing the finales for such HBO shows, as “Sex in the City” and “Six Feet Under” that the finale for The Sopranos will be of the same caliber of quality.

Happy Birthday wishes are extended today to Juliana Marguiles. Juliana played the character of Juliana Skiff.

First Irish Mafia was late with her spin on Sunday’s show, “The Blue Comet" (something about the dog eating her homework) and then I overlooked the fact that I had her stuff. To read her spin on trains spinning out of control, click here. Speaking of the infamous Blue Comet, Newsweek has an article about the location used for the train store. It’s a real train store located in Long Island.

John Ciarcia who plays the character of Albie Cianflone, part of the Phil Leotardo's New York crew on The Sopranos is now helming a theatrical production based on the life & music of legendary American songstress Kate Smith. The planned Off Broadway production, titled “Kathryn……The Original American Idol”, will star Ciarcia’s wife, actress/singer Karen King and is being directed by entertainment veteran Vincent Scarza. The opening date of this play has not been announced as of yet.

We have some goodies for today. Lou Martini, Jr. who plays the character of Anthony Infante, will be a guest on Maxim Radio on Sirius Satellite Radio, channel 108 today at 1 pm. This is a repeat of a previously aired program, but that in no way means it isn’t good. Steven R. Schirripa (Bobby Bacala) and Vincent Curatola (Johnny Sack), will be guests on the Rachel Ray Show check for television guide for channel and time. This is a repeat of a previously aired show.

Weekend events and festivities:

This is a very special event that everyone can participate in (and have lots of fun at the same time). The United Cerebral Palsy Research and Education Foundation in collaboration with Six Flags Theme Parks of America will present a “Hope through Research Day” at various parks through out the country. On June 10 at the Jackson, New Jersey facility, a percentage of ticket sales will go to this foundation. They have chosen, Robert Funaro (Eugene Pontecorvo) from The Sopranos as their celebrity ambassador. The goal is to fill the park to capacity, and to use proceeds to enable children through out the world, to walk. Tickets for admission are normally 45.99 but as part of this promotion, you can purchase park tickets for $29.50 if you use the promotional code, “HOPE”. This is a very important event, which will help many children, so please by all means, try to participate at one of the parks which has events for the United Cerebral Palsy organization, planned in your area.

Sopranos Finale Parties, I have two that am attending this Sunday night. The first fan party I am attending is being held at Cha Cha's in Boca Al Lupo Café (just call it Cha Cha's), at 113 Mulberry Street, (between Canal & Hester Streets) in New York City. Cha Cha (John Ciarcia) plays the character of Albie Cianflone, part of the Phile Leotardo's New York crew on The Sopranos. The food is always great there and Cha Cha’s is the the only place in New York’s Little Italy that has an intimate outside courtyard where you can enjoy your meal. The place is also well known as having the best gelato in all the 5 boroughs of New York City. Rumor (maybe I just know something that I am not saying) has it that some Sopranos actors may be stopping by to see their friend, Chach. The phone number is 1-212-431-9755. The café’ is located on Mulberry closer to Canal Street end of the block.

From there I will be traveling over to New Jersey for my last pole dance at Satin Dolls (aka Bada Bing) in Lodi, New Jersey. I figure by spending my Sunday this way, I am paying homage to both the New York and New Jersey crews. It’s going to be a lot of fun!

- Soprano Sue

You know some stories in life are so precious. Yesterday, I had to met someone at a location from the opening credits, Pizzaland. Pizzaland is located on Route 7 westbound, near the intersection of Kearny Avenue and Ridge Road in North Arlington. The place is really easy to spot, because it is next door to a bar that is so small, they serve you a beer in a shot glass… Anyway, when I arrived, there was a paper sign on the door, which says, “Closed due to The Sopranos.” Okay, I know they are not filming and I am thinking maybe I should give a call over to the Sopranos Production office and ask them what did they do to this guy, to force him to close (maybe the guy was a little late with payment for trash pick up, I have no idea). So, I met up with my friend and at one point, the worker who was inside comes out, and I’m like “Why are you guys closed?” Here’s the scoop;

Apparently the search engine Yahoo, featured Pizzaland on their opening page, and they got swamped (you see everything Sopranos always circles back to the Meadowlands) with orders (they ship pizza nationwide) and they had to close to focus on filling the orders they received. They were a little upset to say the least, because they are unable to fulfill the commitments to their regular customers.

I tried getting a free pizza out of them (it falls under the if its free its for me category), I explained that I am affiliated with AOL…… You can never say I didn’t try.

Continue reading "For my Sopranos finale parties, I am covering all my bases" »

We start today off with a birthday salute to Max Casella. Max plays a very special character on the show, Benny Fazio (terminator 2), who we can always count on to wack someone on the show.

Monday morning, on the JJ & Lynne Show which broadcasts on 94.7 WCSX in Detroit, got the chance to speak with Little Steven (Silvio Dante). This morning, I discovered the transcripts of the discussion, rolled up in my morning paper. Here is what it said.

Little Steven tells JJ and Lynne about being shot as Silvio

Lynne - “When they shot you in the car, how did they get those blood things to go off perfectly?”

Little Steven - “You know it’s funny, I don’t want to ruin it for people when they watch these things too much. Cause I really hate those tell it all sort of, tell all explanations you always see about movies and things. But there are a bunch of these things that explode on your body and glass and things. There are blanks being fired. I was surprised at how scientific it wasn’t. Those kinds of things are really quite wild still. You know with blanks ricocheting all over the place and explosions happening all over the place.”

JJ - “Does that help you put your head in the right place to pretend being shot?”

Little Steven - “To some extent it does. To some extent you have to really, really concentrate to not think about it. Or else you're gonna flinch at the wrong time and things like that. Same thing when that guy got killed across from me at the table a few shows ago. Remember that really cool slow motion thing? The scene is you’re talking very casually to somebody and somebody is about to be blown away three feet away. The blood is gonna splatter from his explosion onto your face and you can’t flinch. Just try that sometime. Have a friend of yours with a glass of water about to throw it in your face. And don’t flinch when it happens.”

Little Steven talks about the upcoming series finale.

Lynne - “So it’s a trust issue that no one tells anybody anything?”

Little Steven - “With a few of us, I think yeah. I’ve known pretty much all year. I'm not saying its advertised to everybody that’s ever done the show. But the few of us who have been there from the beginning, we can obviously be trusted. Yeah, so we know.”

JJ - “Are you personally surprised by how it ends?”

Little Steven - “It’s one of those things where everyone you talk to would have a different ending. So, it’s gonna be somewhat controversial I’m sure. There’s gonna be plenty of discussions about. Let’s put it that way.”

A very special thank to b for sharing this with me.

Tonight the "live" airing of Vincent Pastore's Wise Guy Show airs on Sirius Radio on Raw Dog 104 between 6 & 9 pm. To see who tonight's guests are, go to Cha Cha's Web Site.

USA Today, talks about the rising body count on The Sopranos and we have an explanation of who exactly was killed, in the botched attempt on Phil Leotardo, read it you might be surprised.

James Gandolfini, speaks about his character on the show, and how he is ready to let go of Tony Soprano.

Lorraine Bracco (Dr. Jennifer Melfi) will be at the Las Olas River House, in Southern Florida, to host a tasting of her wines on June 12. The time to be there is between 6 & 9 pm. I am not exactly sure where this place is, from the article I read, so if someone out there knows, please email me so I can share this information with the fans who are interested in attending this event.

Someone needs some help and Sopranos fans have always been willing to help, so here it goes. Kim Predham, from the Ocean County Observer, is looking for a Soprano watching party in South Jersey, and also some local fans to talk to. If anyone could help her, she promised to join me at the Bada Bing, for that last pole dance…. Kim can be reached at this email address

Speaking of the Bing, Reuters reports from Satin Dolls, the establishment in Lodi, New Jersey (Route 17 south next to the Party Box), about what is crazy glued to the bar, and the Sopranos Bus Tour (lots of fun). To see some video from da tour, click here.

The Daily News has the results of some polls they conducted on favorite scenes and characters. They also have some nice goodies, like video and photos to enjoy.

Television alert! Tomorrow on the ABC Network, “The View”, Lorraine Bracco will be the guest co host. And on Friday, Robert Iler (AJ Soprano) will be a guest (not a co host).

Have a wonderful day!

- Soprano Sue

Busy, busy day yesterday. And for those who saw the News 12 piece, yup I have all those cool Sopranos toys, years of collecting.

I guess when death knocks at your door, it sometimes has a different face, David Chase. It’s going to be a short update today (I am working diligently on some really good stuff for the end of the week/early next week), so I found a whole bunch of Associated Press videos on The Sopranos, this should keep you busy for a while.

Salon has a spin on last night’s episode. The Associated Press Television writer, Frazier Moore, has put his spin on the show, “The Blue Comet”

I still am out whether that was a David Chase cameo in the scene when Bobby Bacala met up with the big locomotive in the sky, but apparently the New York Jets coach, Eric Mangini, had a cameo in Sunday night’s show.

- Soprano Sue

Great episode last night, the episode name was “The Blue Comet” but to me, it was more like that U 2 song, “Sunday, Bloody, Sunday.” We all know it was a matter of time before everything started coming to a head with Phil Leotardo and Tony Soprano. The big question is how much time do these two characters have left (my guess, less than 59 minutes next Sunday). Interesting, when Silvio shot at Adriana La Cuerva, we never knew whether she died, now Silvio gets shot, and we don’t really know for sure, whether he dies. Great photography at the train shop, and was that another cameo of David Chase in the store with the kids?

Keep reading I have something good for everyone.

Continue reading "Sunday, Bloody, Sunday" »

In less than 2 weeks, "this thing of ours will be over". I think back sometimes on "what a long strange trip it has been". I remember years ago I would see The Sopranos filming, I never stopped. Working in Hudson County, you see film production crews all the time, who ever stopped? Lately I have been trying to clear out all the Sopranos stuff I have accumulated over the years, I have so much it actually has taken over a room in my house. I never got involved with E Bay, maybe it's time I did.

A special thanks to Richard Linnet (the original author of the Penthouse article linking the similarities of The Soprano crime family and the life of the North Jersey Mobster ‘Tony Boy’ Boiardo and the Ruggiero Crime Family, which has been rewritten and basically copied in publications world wide) for sending me this tribute to The Sopranos, which appears in New Yorker Magazine. Well written piece.

The Journal News in the Lower Hudson Valley is looking for people who are having a ‘Sopranos finale viewing party’, which I think it is more like a repast. So, if you’re having one, they’d like to speak with you.

Throw this in the Sopranos trivia box, but someone noticed that Bob Vila made an appearance in the season 5 episode, “Where’s Junior?”

Forbes has an interesting piece, besides the 18 Emmy wins, the show also was nominated 96 times (wow). They also have an estimate for the amount of money the primary cast members bankrolled for the last two seasons (nowhere near what I was paid for working 5 days as an background extra). I remember back then, sitting in holding trying to figure out how many extras were there, how many were SAG, how many days, trying just to figure a dollar number of just what all these background people were costing production. That alone was a staggering figure, and I have no idea if we were even close to a correct figure.

Continue reading "The Sopranos Motherload On Ebay?" »

Everyone noticed Carmela’s ‘Lincoln log’ delicacies, but how many people noticed a commercial for Rozerem (interesting how they have a video on the web site featuring a character that looks exactly like Abe Lincoln), a sleep medication, when he was in the mental facility? The Los Angeles Times is predicting that the recital of the Yeat’s poem which the episode was named, “The Second Coming” has a lot to do with how The Sopranos will end.

It’s that time of the year again; I just received my primary ballot so that I can vote in the upcoming election. Little Steven (Silvio Dante) in his weekly column for Billboard Magazine touches on what songs different canidates should choose for their campaign songs.

Continue reading "Poetic Justice?" »

If you didn’t have a reason to go to the Hoboken International Film Festival, you have one now. I just received something about the premiere of the Kenneth Del Vecchio film, “Polycarp.” Somewhere in that film we will see the one and only Baked Ziti, who learned yesterday to watch how close he stands next to the roadway in Newark when I am driving through. The date is June 1 at 8:00 pm and this is a FREE event. So if you’d like to see a wonderful film with the New York City as a back drop the place to be is Pier A Park, located at Frank Sinatra Drive and First Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. This location is easily accessible from the Hoboken train station for NJ Transit and the Path trains.

Last week’s Sopranos took the top cable ranking spot according to the Associated Press. That title isn’t going to last much longer….

What is with these Lincoln Log Sandwiches? The Wichita Eagle is looking for folks who have unusual food memories from their childhood. I guess they are talking about those potato chip and ketchup sandwiches I always enjoyed.

I’d be a little nervous about calling a hotel and asking for the “Soprano rate plan”, but if you are looking for something special to do for the finale, the Westin New York Hotel in New York’s Times Square is asking you do just that. No word whether the 32 inch LCD HD television, was from the load Tony and the boys unloaded in back of the Bada Bing. Me, I’m going traditional, by taking the Sopranos location tour.

I wish everyone an enjoyable and safe holiday weekend. There will be no airing of The Sopranos Sunday night.

- Soprano Sue