Top 25 Things I’m Thankful For This Thanksgiving Day

Today is a day where we celebrate all the things we’re thankful for. We get together with family; over-eat a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal, and then watch some football, grab a quick nap — It’s a perfect day.

I am very grateful for the many blessings in my life, and wanted to take a few minutes to share the things I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving Day.

In no particular order, (except the first one).  I’m thankful….

1. that I was a little late to be my wife’s first, but glad we found each other and I want all of my lasts to be with you
2. when I hear the ringtone that lets me know my son is texting me
3. for the “Skip” button on YouTube ads
4. for Kona Coffee
5. for Frasier reruns
6. for my sisters laugh
7. for Netflix and Amazon Prime
8. for that first cup of coffee in the morning
9. for big greasy double-cheeseburgers served in restaurants whose cleanliness is so suspect that most in my posse would never eat there
10. for anytime I drive up to our house, and see the grand kids sitting out front
11. for the kind people who read my blog each day
12. for all the little things
13. for our cozy couch for watching TV
14. for our tradition of watching “The Polar Express” again every Christmas
15. for living in the Northwest
16. for all my guitars
17. for having such wonderful, loving, and just plain awesome parents
18. for being able to play musical instruments
19. for the trips with my Harley motorcycle brothers that we take together every year
20. for all the times my wife texts me a kiss emoji
21. for black t-shirts with logos on them
22. for the smell of coffee brewing
23. for having great life-long friends
24. for loving every minute with my family
25. for the men and women of our military (and thank you for your service!)

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

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Harley-Davidson Continues Sons Of Anarchy License Deals

Maisto “Sons of Anarchy” 1:18 Scale Bikes

There is now the Sons Of Anarchy collection of die-cast motorcycles.

Back in December, Maisto announced they worked closely with 20th Century Fox and Harley-Davidson to bring fans of the show 1:18 scale die-cast versions of the SOA motorcycles in association with the TV show characters: Jax, Clay, Opie and JT – the SOA Motorcycle Collection.

Not only can you now dress and ride like SOA outlaws, thanks to a flurry of licensing deals that includes everything from actual motorcycles at Bartel’s H-D to hats, games, stationary, jewelry, calendars, stickers, wall graphics and more.   Now while sitting in your work cube thinking about the winter cold you can have your very own die-cast outlaw motorcycle to stare at and think about how you can’t wait to ride in warmer weather!

The Maisto brand name was registered in 1990 by May Cheong, a vertically integrated manufacturer based in Hong Kong. The company has been manufacturing die cast replicas for over 40 years.  They have over 11,000 employees worldwide, and manufacturing facilities covering more than 2 Million square feet.

Sons Of Anarchy merchandise sales have grown 70% year-to-year since 2010.  This is not a U.S. only concept as the TV show is a hit in U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands.  And with the TV show committed through a seventh season merchandise sales will only increase.

Previous SOA/H-D license deals blog post HERE.

Photo courtesy of Maisto, 20th Century Fox and Harley-Davidson.

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Harley-Davidson Licensing Deal With Sons of Anarchy

Limited edition Son’s of Anarchy motorcycles

I called this back in 2009 with a post called Bottling Ideas.  UPDATE: Actually now that I’ve re-scanned the blog it was even earlier with a post in 2008 called Harley SAMCRO Limited Edition Motorcycle HERE.

I’m talking about the FX television series “Son’s of Anarchy (SOA)“, and a new deal with Harley-Davidson for custom motorcycles made by 20th Century Fox Consumer Products as part of a flurry of licensing deals for SOA that includes clothing, leather jackets, hats, t-shirts, games, calendars, stationary and much more.

Thanks to Bartels’ Harley-Davidson the bike maker will produce 100 limited edition Son’s of Anarchy motorcycles that will retail for about $25,000 each at Harley dealers this fall.   Now TV viewers can further tap into the motorcycle club fantasy… who doesn’t want to pretend to be a ‘clubber’ and ride a faux outlaw biker motorcycle, right?

I can’t think of another TV show that cuts across multiple gender identities, social boundaries, is a taboo breaker, a mainstream manufactured product for the rebellious and the dispossessed.  If ever there was a Harley-Davidson brand ambassador it would be Kurt Sutter’s (@sutterink), Son’s of Anarchy!

SOA is about to enter its fifth season, and is now the most-watched show in its history among total viewers 18-49. The most recent season the show averaged 5.5 million viewers per episode. It was also the number three DVD release among TV shows in 2011.  And after growing online merchandise sales for FX’s top-rated show about 70 percent year-to-year since 2010, Fox is shifting to brick and mortar retailers like Spencer Gifts, Transworld/FYE and Hastings.

I wouldn’t be honest if I failed to mention that this feels like a disaster for any person who rides to a rally thinking they’ll have instant club admiration.  However, it could be shrewd marketing of misbehavior and we’ll see a formal offering from the motor company every year!  Any of the “noise” generated in the press and blogosphere helps in terms of show profile, helps H-D reinforce how the middle finger of rebellion built the brand.  And isn’t that all that matters in the end?!

I don’t have a Kurt Sutter man-crush, but he does deserve a big shout-out for remaining true to the setting in the TV show without becoming stereotypical.  We know it’s hard work compared to the Laffing Devils crap the Discovery Channel is trying to pass off as good TV.

Here are some previous SOA blog posts made over the years: OMG New Media Darlings; Men of Mayhem; Bikes, Bullets & Brawls; Mail Room of Life; Bottling Ideas; Be Good & You’re Lonely; Sutter Shout Out; Season 3 Ideas; Working The SOA Trail

Photo courtesy of SOA and RatRodStudios.com.

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Inclusion

The Changing Faces Of Harley-Davidson Owners

Don’t you just like that word?!

You’re either out of the inner circle or working hard to remain firmly in the trusted seat.

Maybe you’re that guy who is tired of missing out on his friends’ weekend motorcycle trip because he doesn’t ride. Or maybe she’s the woman who has been a passenger for years and wants to ride her own ride. Maybe you’re that middle-aged guy who sees a kid on a dirt bike and remembers the happy riding days of his youth, and suddenly can’t recall why he ever stopped riding. Or the young woman who spots a sleek new “72” in the local Mall and suddenly decides, with absolute certainty and no warning, that she simply must have it and learn to ride it.

There are many different ways or reasons to get into motorcycling, but the common riding experience is inclusive for everyone.

And speaking of inclusion, last month I read how more and more businesses are looking to make sure they get their fair share of the black dollar and how H-D is no exception in making sure that this community is appreciated for helping strengthen their bottom line.  In fact,  there were reports of African-American reporters who were completely immersed (read wined and dined in Milwaukee on H-D’s dime) into the biker culture with the motor company for three days and pitched on the company attributes in hopes of them writing about the experience and then even more African-Americans coming over to participate in the H-D lifestyle.

If nothing else, Harley-Davidson, is showing how serious it is about broadening its reach.

I’ve often blogged, that if the motorcycle industry is to be reborn — and even the quickest scan of sales statistics is enough to know a rebirth is necessary — it will come from expansion into long-ignored niches, such as youth, women and minorities. We Boomers are quickly approaching our doddering years and will soon be trading up to trikes if we’re lucky or for walking sticks if not.

These days if you meander into any Harley dealer you’ll likely find: a pink-haired twenty-something white woman who could be a student to a bandana-ed Hispanic man that is a police officer and all nondescript types in between who ride. Oh sure there is the occasional tatted up true blue stereotype white male rock star trying to look gritty and the ever present old time long haired grey bearded biker.  But, Harley’s message is simple: They are no longer a niche brand. They are no longer focused on Boomers who hijacked the brand during the last decade. They are for everyone.

The claim is that no stereotypical Harley-Davidson rider exists anymore.  I say welcome to the family and a trusted seat in the inner circle!

Photo courtesy of Flickr

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It’s How We Roll

Five of a Kind At Grand Canyon

This is a shout out to an extraordinary posse.

Hardly the stereotypical, tatted-up, badass bikers portrayed in pop culture or do we ride the machines of American Chopper — slick and polished.

From the outside looking in you can’t understand it, but there are many benefits to riding a motorcycle with a group.  Aside from the obvious “wind in the face” to take your mind off daily troubles to the cool events that you visit from glitz to back-water destinations.   From the moment you mount the motorcycle the most important aspect from my vantage is the posse camaraderie.

Whether I’m with my family at home or the “family on the road,” the center piece of the posse is the Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Oh sure some lost their way for a time and rode other kinds of bikes, but these days the posse is like a mini-community based on a shared passion and a common interest around the Harley brand.  And while we defend the motor company we haven’t drank the Kool-aid!  We’re a demanding and very vocal enthusiast bunch when it comes to items the company needs to do to please it’s customers.

A Half-Dozen at HCMR

Has the posse always agreed on everything?  No.  We’ve had the typical debates about the merits of camping vs. checking in, riding with a large group or going solo, silence vs. Boom! Audio, up early vs. sleeping in, freeway speed or riding slow back-water roads and the more contentious item of planning way ahead or plan as you go.  We’ve tried them all and each has offered up some unique and fun adventures.  And no matter what the trip or the destination, all a good motorcycle ride needs is camaraderie and fun roads, right?

And speaking of roads, one common thread is that we all have plenty of time to ride.  That is to say, we make time to ride.  As much as we have in common, all of these accomplished riders is also entirely unique.  Each has his own set of experiences, his own philosophy of life and riding, and his own collection of interesting stories about life on the road.  I especially look forward to riding in the dry hot desert while others think a misty Highway 101 ride down the coast is “just perfect.”

I’ve been riding with this group for many years and everyone adjusts.  In fact, some of the members have history back to the coastal range and the dirt bike days at Lee’s Camp before a Harley-Davidson motorcycle stirred up any emotions.

The remainder of the posse at the CCA Ride

I’ll often get ask how we do it.  How do we handle riding all those miles.  I’ll typically just say that if you string a few 300 mile days together, one day at a time, then you’ve got a Posse Ride!

We’ve enjoyed following the “road less traveled” as so many other riders do.  It made us appreciate how divvied up this western part of the U.S. is, with dozens of valleys separated by mountain ranges, woven together by asphalt strips. These roads are really three-dimensional curves, and a rider will certainly get longer life out of the Dunlops, wearing out the sides as much as the middle.

As the years fade away — I’m reminded of winding our way along the back roads of the countryside – and it made me appreciate how rich the memories are of the years riding with an incredible group of friends.

Thank you all for the memories!

Photos taken by author

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Working The SOA Trail

They are an old school gang.  They are extremely violent.  Beatings and black eyes are standard.  The group has turf where they make their money with drug sales and other enterprises and while in pursuit of those sales they are very territorial with much of the violence being against adversarial clubs. No one knows that an undercover ATF agent infiltrated the organization and are about to “green-light” a takedown of the worst of the worst criminals.

If you didn’t now better you’d think I was referring to a seminal moment in American law enforcement history, illustrating the courage and determination to take down an outlaw motorcycle organization.  I’m not.  I’m talking about the FX television series “Son’s of Anarchy,”  which begins the third season tonight.  Creativity and careers means viewers will continue to tap into a fantasy… who doesn’t want to be a biker outlaw, right?

Open a refreshment and escape to the little Charming town sans cookie-cutter condos with foreclosure notices as the club bashes some heads into concrete and piles up the bodies.  The series isn’t your typical script where the writer-producer phoned it in and wrote a review saying so. I’ve never met writer Kurt Sutter (@sutterink), but media reports state he is arrogant, rants about authority, and was denied by Emmy.  I think he is a shrewd marketer of misbehavior.  Any “noise” he generates in the blogosphere helps in terms of show profile.  And isn’t that all that matters in the end?!

It’s more expensive than ever to create a hit that few people care about.  Last season “Son’s” drew an average of 4.5M total viewers (Nielsen Co.).  Clearly not insignificant, but in this overexposed wave of Idol insta-stardom it has a minor place atop the TV media pile.  Season 3 picks up with:  A member of the True IRA club who has stolen the infant son of Jax Teller in retribution for… I don’t remember now.  The same Irish dude also terminated Half-Sack in one of the episodes.  Then Gemma shot Polly for kidnapping her and enabling a rape and then… now I’m confused as the plot line has more turns than a day time soap opera.  Where is that URL to the Son’s Wikipedia page?

I hope Sutter remains true to the setting without becoming stereotypical in Season 3.  We know it’s hard work as you deal with everybody’s prediliections.  After all, Jesse James has taught us the all important lesson of keeping our infidelities to a manageable number and the OCC boyz have shown that the first step in turning your life around is to do the right thing for your family.

I don’t have a Kurt Sutter man-crush, but here are some previous SOA blog posts made over the last 2 years: OMG New Media Darlings: Men of Mayhem; Bikes, Bullets & Brawls; Mail Room of Life; Bottling Ideas; Be Good & You’re Lonely; Sutter Shout Out; Season 3 Ideas

Photo courtesy of FX/L.A. Times/Gary Friedman.

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