real talk
Tales of valor
Tattoo artists of ‘Hero Ink’ pay respect to first responders
By Joy Doonan
TV Media
Tales of valor: Prison Break
Tattoos in Houston, Texas, isn’t
just any tattoo studio. The artists
who work there are on a special
mission to connect with service-
men, servicewomen and first
responders, and to give them
body art that communicates and
honors their individual stories.
This year, A&E follows these
tattoo artists and captures the
emotional catharsis that occurs
when these officers, soldiers and
emergency responders see their
ink visions come to life on their
skin as healing reminders of
what they do and why they do it.
“Hero Ink” premieres Thursday,
June 6, on A&E.
Prison Break’s owner, Bryan
Klevens (also known as BK Klev),
opened the shop in 2013. He
spent 25 years as a police officer
for the Houston Police Depart-
ment, and his experiences on the
job inspired the shop’s theme.
Aside from a full and rewarding
law-enforcement career, Klevens
has also cultivated a lifelong pas-
sion for the arts, and he’s earned
degrees in both visual arts and
theater. Knowing that tattoo
parlors aren’t always welcoming
spaces for cops, BK wanted to
use his creative skill to offer not
only a safer environment, but a
place for other servicemen and
servicewomen to get ink that
would meaningfully memorialize
their experiences.
BK isn’t the only artist at
Prison Break who holds
the work of police
officers, firefight-
ers and armed
service members
close to
his heart;
each
20 | Screentime
of the studio’s employees has
their own connections with high-
risk, self-sacrificing occupations.
Rich Verdino served more than a
decade with the NYPD and Jan-
ice Danger is a military spouse.
Tony “4 Fingers” Stannard is a
former U.S. Marine, and Robbie
Carson is a current one, as well
as a firefighter.
Zoey Taylor had an experi-
ence being “rescued by police
as a child.” In an interview with
Time Out, Taylor summed up the
special relationship between the
tattoo artist and the customers
at Prison Break: “I reached this
period just shy of a year into tat-
tooing when I realized the huge
responsibility of connecting with
the person you’re tattooing, of
creating this thing that they’re
going to wear forever.”
This season on “Hero Ink,”
a police officer shares that he
“saw probably about every way
a person can die” during his stint
in a homicide department early
in his career. He gets a tattoo on
his chest: a scroll that bears the
message, “what lies underneath
here no man can take.” “Hero
Ink” aims to not only honor the
work of people in the line of duty,
but to help them heal through
body art. “My tattoo studio is
a place where all first respond-
ers can feel comfortable, get a
tattoo, and tell us an amazing
story,” Klevens said.
Catch back-to-back episodes
of “Hero Ink” when it premieres
Thursday, June 6, on A&E.
his steady formula of catching
corner-cutting entrepreneurs
red-handed, yelling until he
nearly bursts a blood vessel and
promptly whipping the whole
establishment into shape. If it
works for failing businesses, it
might just work for some strug-
gling relationships that need a
last-ditch attempt at resuscita-
tion. Taffer hosts “Marriage Res-
cue,” premiering Sunday, June 2,
on Paramount.
According to Deadline, Taffer
will be working with a wide
range of couples “ranging from
newlyweds to couples who have
been together for decades.” The
experienced reality TV show host
won’t shy away from anything,
using the same blunt, head-on
and usually loud coaching tactics
that he does in the fan-favorite
“Bar Rescue.” In the official
Season 1 trailer, Taffer explains
the premise: “I’ve invited couples
who have tried conventional
marriage therapy and failed to
a five-star resort.” There, the
couples are forced to confront
their issues with Taffer’s unique
style of encouragement. Throw-
ing caution to the wind in a final
attempt to work things out,
the spouses are challenged to
extreme activities like skydiving
and paintball and, of course, yell-
ing matches with each other and
their host.
The high-stakes challenge
of revitalizing bar establish-
ments, coupled with Taffer’s
no-nonsense approach, has kept
fans wanting more. “Marriage
On the rocks: Jon Taffer isn’t
Rescue” plans to up the stakes
satisfied with just saving strug-
to a delightfully absurd degree,
gling family-run bars anymore
testing out the couples’ issues
— he’s upgraded to saving peo-
in a pressure cooker to see if
ple’s marriages on the side. For
they reach a breaking point or
six seasons, Taffer’s show
stay united by the end of each
“Bar Rescue”
episode. “Because I’m not a
has kept fans
therapist, I don’t care what their
entranced
mother said to them when they
with
were five years old,” Taffer says,
selling the same tough-love
brand that’s earned him his pop-
ularity and ratings. “Marriage
Rescue” will air in six one-hour
installments. Watch the first one
when it premieres Sunday, June
2, on Paramount.
Robbie, Rich and Janice in
“Hero Ink”
June 5, 2019 | East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald
Late laughs
Conan
Last night was the final
episode of “Game of
Thrones” and people are
not happy about it. USA
Today was railing against it.
It was the angriest pie
chart I’ve ever seen.
That’s why I’m happy I’ve
put a lot of thought into
how our show is going to
end. It’s going to be Season
48, oh boy. I’m gonna burn
the whole set down and
then I’m gonna marry my
Aunt Louise.
The Tonight
Show With
Jimmy
Fallon
Everybody’s
talking about
last night’s episode of
“Game of Thrones.” Now, I
won’t give away any
spoilers — but I will say
they killed off the
Starbucks cup.
“Game of Thrones” might
be winding down, but “The
Bachelorette” is just
getting started. The season
premiere was tonight, and
you can tell they’re trying
to copy the success of
“Game of Thrones,”
because one of the
contestants is her brother.
I saw that the CEO of Bed
Bath & Beyond is stepping
down. He was supposed to
leave Bed Bath & Beyond
last month, but he kept
seeing things he needed.
Donald Trump Jr. agreed to
testify before a Senate
Committee, but only for a
maximum of four hours.
Apparently that’s as long as
Don Jr. can leave Eric
outside in the car.
The Late Late
Show With
James
Corden
Jimmy Kimmel Live
There’s another controversy
over who might be the new
Batman. It is rumored that
Robert Pattinson from the
Twilight movies might be
the next Batman. If you
think about it, it makes
sense. He was a vampire,
now he’s a bat.
This is the
first time two
brothers have played each
other in the Conference
finals — Steph and Seth
Curry. It’s great news for
NBA fans, terrible news for
anyone with a lisp.
In the (“Game of Thrones”
finale), Westeros was left
with a system of
government not unlike our
own. One in which a leader
is chosen not by birthright,
but by three women and 10
white guys.
An Australian man was
recently out walking his
dog when he found a gold
nugget worth $37,000.
Does anything ever go
wrong for Chris
Hemsworth?
Late Night With Seth
Meyers
The beer company Natural
Light is currently looking
for a paid intern to spend
their working days
sampling the company’s
beer. Well, they’re calling in
an internship; it’s really
more of a training course
for future divorced dads.
According to new research,
the back seat of a rideshare
vehicle has over 35,000
times more germs than the
average toilet seat. Yeah, I
know. They are definitely
losing at least half a star.
Rideshare seats are dirtier
and more dangerous than a
toilet seat. Plus, the toilet
seat won’t spend 20
minutes rambling about his
idea to make socks for
dogs.
According to the New York
Times, President Trump uses
more profanity in public
speeches, interviews and in
tweets than previous
presidents. OK, I’ll give you
public speeches and
interviews, but tweets
seems pretty unfair. Twitter
is 13 years old. No one’s
like, “Not Lincoln, that’s a
guy who could tweet!”
“Game of Thrones” will air
its final episode this
weekend. And if you’re
wondering who’s going to
die, my guess is HBO.
The NBA Draft Lottery was
last night, with the New
Orleans Pelicans getting the
top pick. Even though New
Orleans Pelicans sounds like
a fake team they would
mention in a movie so you
know it’s the future. “You
see that Pelicans game? The
whole space station’s
talkin’ about it!”