Farewell, Supernatural

November, 19th 2020.

I know it is silly to dedicate a whole post to a TV show that ends tonight after being on air for 15 years, accompanying me on my way through 11 of those 15 years. And yet, for the impact it has had on my life, my friendships and memories, I can’t help saying Goodbye to the Winchester Brothers this way. And in a way, I am thankful Covid-19 has happened, because it delayed the end for 8 months – I am in a better mental state now that I would’ve been on May, 18th (thanks, person in China who thought it would be a good idea to eat a bat!). So, here goes.

Thanks to not being a person with a lot of friends, I joined an Online Forum for the TV Show “Prison Break” at the end of 2009, resulting in finding my former best friend, Lea, (who I’m grateful still today is a friend by my side despite the distance of 400km between us!) who introduced me to another TV show called “Supernatural”. I gave it a shot when it aired in Germany, watched the first 2 episodes in german on Pro7 and realized – it wasn’t for me. Something wasn’t clicking.

Fast forward a couple of months, the middle of 2010, when the same friend (knowing I adore Horror Movies) advised to me a movie called “My Bloody Valentine”, where a certain Mr. Jensen Ackles was playing the main character, a man who was – and still is up to this day – EXTREMELY hot to look at. I followed her advice, watched the movie, was totally in love with it and had my first Celebrity Crush in years. When I realized that the same man playing a crazy serial killer was also one half of the brothers in “Supernatural”, I decided to give it a 2nd shot, this time in OV/english.

Fast forward another couple of months, with night after night spent on tumblr with memes, gifs and quotes, bingewatching the entire seasons of “Supernatural” that were available at the time (how I kept up going to work every day with less than 6 hours every single night AND looking for a new job at the same time, I have no idea), I found myself at my first german “Supernatural” Convention in Mannheim – AECON2, hosted by Rogue Events (there’s a post somewhere far down the line of this blog, if you’d like a full description of the experience).

Though it hurts to think about that first one due to the friend I met on Facebook in the months upcoming to it, who was like the sister I always wished I had, who I instantly clicked with, who shared my craziness about the show and its Cast, who loved to make fun of certain things as much as I do, and who introduced me to the world of Musicals, which honestly changed me for the better. Thanks to that special person who loved “Supernatural” as much as me, I went on my first ever trip abroad at the age of 26 – to London, where I would fall in love with the West End and its shows, and one particular show without which I would have never have found three of the best, kindhearted, wonderful human beings that I am allowed to call my friends today – Sarah, Noor & Sigal. And it all hurts because that friend who made my very first ever Convention SO SO special and beautiful, is not my friend anymore because I made a stupid mistake and she wasn’t able to find enough love for me and our friendship in her heart anymore to forgive me and give our 9-year friendship another chance.

BUT there is also something wonderful, which might or might not have happened if I would’ve been alone at The Dorint Hotel in Mannheim on May, 20th 2011 – I met the most important person in my life, the human being closest to my heart than anybody else, despite living 1.182,55km away – Susie.

I met her in front of the door to the registration room (she was part of the Staff back then, just as the wonderful Jaynee, who quickly became a star that weekend with her “Hug the walls” shouting and at a later event, T-Shirt; though I’m barely in touch with her nowadays, back then, she was like a mum to me), where my former friend and I were very amused by a trash can full of empty Red Bull cans and chocolate bar wrappers, and the first thing she ever said to me was “Please don’t take a picture” when I took one of it because it was hilarious to see what already the first few hours of the event did to its Staff. We three talked and I instantly took a shine to her, because she was so easy going and smiley and nice, and she felt like someone I wanted to talk to all the time. Then the fateful sunday happened, where my former friend and I experienced the cattle herding of “Supernatural” fans into a hallway and a room where Jensen Ackles & Jared Padalecki – the two main actors who played the brothers Winchester – were being seated for taking Photo Ops with their fans. As we somehow lost track of time and the timetable of the event and therefor missed our first Photo Op appointment with them on Saturday (we both had booked two with Jensen Ackles, as we wanted to see him up close twice with different poses and clothes, paying 75€ per photo, how crazy were we???), it was ESSENTIAL we got both pictures together, with different poses at least. But due to the cattle herding feeling Rogue put us through, resulting in screaming “No poses! No touching!”, it was a desaster for me. I hate both of mine up to this day (though Jensen looks absolutely gorgeous, of course), and I remember sitting on the floor, bawling my eyes out on that last day of the event, looking up and spotting Susie coming my way. I stood up to tell her how unhappy I was about my photos, and because it was so expensive, I wanted the chance of a do over because the photographer didn’t say anything during the shoot, but she just bristled along, telling me Jensen had already gone to get on his flight back home, in quite an annoyed and pissed-off manner. I was so disappointed and angry I had estimated her character wrong that I complained about her on a Fan Forum that Rogue ran, without saying a name, needing to get it out how wrong I felt I had been treated. Long story short – Susie saw it, read it, apologized to me, explained what had happened that day, we started following each other on twitter, started talking in private messages and she asked for my number on February, 2nd 2012 – and ever since then, she has been the most important and dearest, caring friend I have ever had the honor to have in my life. And she gave me the chance to visit her in Scotland in 2015, which resulted in my falling head over heels for this beautiful place on earth, giving me the BEST birthday gift in 2017 with taking me to St. Abbs (where, knowing I am a massive Marvel fan, scenes from the last Avengers movie, “Avengers: Endgame” had been filmed,) and basically treating me like the most delicate and important person in the whole world that day, which nobody has ever done before.

So, “Supernatural” did give me a whole lot more than I ever signed up for, and though there are parts of this fandom that I will neither ever get nor can accept to be a thing, the past 11 years have given me so much more than I could’ve hoped for when I gave that TV show a 2nd shot in 2010. I met loads of Celebrities thanks to it, I have the most wonderful and hilarious (and in parts, painful) memories from the 3 Conventions hosted by Rogue Events that I will always keep close to my heart and in my memories, and, like some sort of snowballing system, my life is the way today because of that TV Show and everyone and everything working alongside it.

So THANK YOU, “Supernatural” – it’s been a pleasure being a fan, accompanying Dean and Sam Winchester on their journey to “Save People, Hunting Things, The Family Business”. And THANK YOU to Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, Alex Calvert, Sebastian Roché, Jim Beaver, Mark Sheppard, Mark Pellegrino, Samantha Smith, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Rob Benedict, Ruth Connell, Richard Speight Jr., Kim Rhodes, Katie Cassidy, Genevieve Padalecki, Felicia Day, Osric Chau, DJ Qualls, Ty Olsson, Rachel Miner, Brianna Buckmaster, Jake Abel, Julian Richings and all the other Cast members I can’t write down here.

And a special, massive THANK YOU goes out to the Show’s creators and directors – Eric Kripke & Robert Singer. You’ve created a whole world of monsters, demons, ghouls, wendigos, ghosts, witches and whatnot, that thanks to your amazing creative minds and Cast were brought to life for 15 years and created a space of 42mins every thursday to forget worries or problems one might have at that moment (and, very often, left the viewer with a smile or a loud laugh when Sam Winchester made a commercial for a haemorrhoid cream, or Dean Winchester shouting like a girlscout when a cat came out of a locker, or the countless times Castiel held his FBI insignia upside down).

And although I would’ve somehow loved it a bit more if the Winchesters had sacrificed themselves so the world could survive, I have to say, both of them riding into the Sunset in Dean’s 67′ Chevrolet Impala, just the two brothers and an endless Highway ahead of them, like it was in the beginning, holds some soft, fuzzy feelings for me, too.

THANK YOU.

The West End Life

A week ago, my 17th trip to London since 2012 was finally happening – 10 months after booking three tickets to three different, new shows on the West End. And it may have easily been one of the best trips I ever made down there, with each show outdoing the one before, and to me, personally, maybe the three best Casts that are currently working in theatre on the West End.

But let’s take things one at a time.

1. “Come From Away” – Phoenix Theatre 11.12.2019

Thankfully for me, I didn’t read anything about the storyline beforehand – the shock/surprise was bigger that way, which I love about theatre. Originally, I was under the impression that this show was about refugees stuck on an island after escaping some terror or something; but after about 15mins in, I realized it was actually a story about the day when 38 planes on their way into U.S. territory were diverted to the town of Gander, Newfoundland, on 11th of September 2001 – the day two terrorists flew two planes into the World Trade Center.
It’s hard to find words to describe this show – despite the obvious difficult subject, Christopher Ashley has managed to turn it into something equally heartwarming, touching and entertaining. The Cast is amazing, considering each of them has to play at least 2 or 3 different characters during the one and a half hours on stage (without any interval), the songs are chosen perfectly for all scenes (especially “Screech In” got me smiling from ear to ear and bobbing my foot up and down), and which was the most wonderful thing to me is that you can see throughout the entire show that every member of the Ensemble deeply enjoys this show, that they’re in it with all their heart, and that they have nothing but fun bringing this great piece of theatre and music to the audience. The Standing Ovations going on for several minutes, even as only the band was on stage after the actors left it are practically speaking for itself. So do its 4 Olivier Award wins, by the way.

2. “& Juliet” – Shaftesbury Theatre 12.12.2019

Now this show I was something I had been going completely blind into – if you ignore the fact I knew all the songs beforehand, as it’s a Jukebox Musical where existing songs are brought to the stage in new ways, enwrought into the storyline. I anticipated seeing the best (for me, personally) male voice on the West End again, Oliver Tompsett (William Shakespeare), after knowing there were Backstreet Boys songs in it, where also dancing was required. Sadly, a cold bug had taken hold of him and also the female lead, Miriam Teak-Lee (Juliet), so I got to see Ivan de Freitas and Grace Mouat instead – WHAT A TREAT!
How to describe this show…well, basically, if you’re looking for the best and most entertaining night out on the West End – THIS IS DEFINITELY IT. The story is simple – what if Juliet never killed herself together with Romeo, but instead, decided to live and take her life and future into her own hands? And all this with the unmistakable soundtrack of the 90’s and 00’s  and also some recent radio tracks added to the mix (Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Katy Perry & Demi Lovato, to only name some of them).
What comes out of that is a show that has the audience in fits of laughter, in bouts of tears, and mostly, dancing in their seats (and on their feet at the last track, “Can’t Stop The Feeling”!). The stage set is also one of the best and most beautiful I personally have seen anywhere recently, with a lot of love for detail, and the message – or rather, messageS – of the story are powerful and some of the best any theatre show could have come up with, picking up current issues in our society. And the Cast, you ask? They’re phenomenal in every regard – singing, acting AND dancing. Seeing them on stage, simply doing their everyday job, you can’t help smiling when they smile, feel sad when their situation seems hopeless, and feel relieved when everything is sorted out for everybody in the end.
This show DEFINITELY deserves to stay on the West End for a long, long time.

3. “Dear Evan Hansen – Noel Coward Theatre 13.12.2019

This show…it was the one thing I had been looking forward to for about one and a half years, ever since I first listened to its Broadway Cast Recording and read the news that it would actually come to the West End. Along with “Hamilton”, that show is the one on the Broadway that it is near impossible to get tickets to – at least not the affordable kind of tickets. The anticipation for me therefor was HUGE in every regard…and boy, did that one not disappoint.
Where to begin…the story, maybe. It’s about a teenager with social anxiety who, with the help of a family friend, makes up a story of being friends with a schoolmate who commits suicide and in doing that, helps the grieving parents coping with their loss and changes things at his school and out in the Social Media world for the better, even if only for a short time.
There are not many words one could use to describe how PHENOMENAL every aspect of the show is, starting with the simple stage set, the small Cast (only 8 actors/roles) or the powerful message behind it. So I’m just going to talk about one single Cast member here, representative of maybe the BEST Cast the West End has to offer these days.

Sam Tutty.

This young man playing Evan Hansen is pure GOLD. The role of the anxiety-ridden teenager is so challenging, as it just has to be convincing even in the very last rows of the theatre, but Sam just does it as easily as he may eat his muesli in the morning. Never in my life have I witnessed something more convincing on a stage; you watch him do his thing, and you just can’t help BELIEVING it. Believing that off stage, Sam suffers the exact same anxieties that Evan does, even though that isn’t the case, of course. Every mimic and gesture, however small or big, is on point with him, and especially the movements of his hands is just out of this world. And his voice? Indescribably perfect. And funny enough, he sounds almost exactly like Ben Platt, who originated the role of Evan on Broadway.
The music that I’ve constantly listened to for over a year, was also giving me all the emotions that I had hoped and prayed for. I laughed, I cried, I had goosebumps, I was singing along silently to every line. What the band (that is positioned in the top left corner of the stage, so you can see them all throughout the show) did with their instruments and the tunes given to them is such a wonderful piece of music that it’s no surprise they got a ton of applause at the end, too. This entire show and its phenomenal Cast are just breathtaking, and like I said – maybe the BEST Cast that’s currently employed on the West End.

Three days, three shows – and every single one of them surpassed my expectations and proved once again why the West End and musical theatre in general have become such a huge part of my life in the past 7 years, and I am beyond grateful I had the opportunity to witness such a perfection and beautiful entertainment on 3 stages last week.

Until next time, London!

Most underrated band…or just an undiscovered jewel?

If I say the name “Daughtry” – does that ring a bell for anyone of you? The only thing that probably comes to mind – at least when you’re a resident of the United States,- is the name of its lead singer, Chris Daughtry. In 2006, Chris was part of the 5th Season of “American Idol” – and dropped out of the contest as 4th place, something that still totally escapes my understanding to this day forward. Even before he took part in the contest, he had a band that mostly kept its original lineup, and currently, the members of “Daughtry” are:

– Chris Daughtry (Lead Vocals, Guitar)
– Josh Steely (Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals)
– Josh Paul (Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals)
– Brian Craddock (Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals)
– Robin Diaz (Drums, Percussion)
– Elvio Fernandes (Keyboard, Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals)

Now, I stumbled over this talented bunch by pure accident, while looking up a song on amazon that the Lead Singer of Nickelback, Chad Kroeger, did together with Santana a few years back (“Into The Night”). And bless the lovely people behind amazon. As some of you might know, whenever you’re searching something on there, just at the bottom of the page, they are giving you suggestions of things/books/music/movies/whatever that you might also like based on what you were just looking up. And that day, amazon suggested that I should take a look at Daughtry’s debut album, “Daughtry”. At that time, I was not too much into the rock genre, I have to admit, but the cover looked intriguing to me, so I clicked on the song samples.

And I was hooked from the Get Go.

The vocals that Chris Daughtry displays in every single song are the thing that probably will always give me the biggest goosebumps. The power that he has in his voice is absolutely mindblowing, without ever seeming to loose their strength or get annoying as time moves on (god knows that there are some voices you can really get tired of when you hear them over and over). His talent is absolutely out of this world. Plus, if you listen to the lyrics of every single song, you just have to admire the astonishing writing talent that this man has developed – or always had. Me, personally, I always have at least two or three songs on each album in which I find myself and my personal situation at that moment – and I have to say, no one else than this band has ever achieved that for me.

Which makes me love them the most, and above any other singer or band that I have ever listened to, is the fact that no matter how many albums they release, the quality never fades; just when you think they have set the bar too high to be reached by upcoming stuff, they reach that exact bar with the next album, just like that, and even exceed everything you have heard from them before. Constant high quality lyrics and songs – I don’t really know any band who has achieved that before. I know there are a few out there that people moan about every once in a while, saying that they have “changed their original style”, that they are not the band that “we fell in love with in the first place”. And hands down, you can’t possibly always be positive about the development a singer or band is going through (just going to throw Miley Cyrus in here – best example of how you can easily trash your amazing talent in a heartbeat by making the wrong choices). But this band…let me put it this way: the moment they release a new album and I have listened to every single song a couple of times, I already die for them to release the next album. This is how amazing they are.

And to me, Daughtry is just massively different from all the Mainstream singers and bands. By far.

I can’t even say which one of their songs I love the most; just when I think of a certain one, another one comes to my mind, and then another and another. I have my favourites, of course, but honestly, I do not prefer any of them over any of the others, because they all are beautiful and amazing in their own way. Every single ballad has its own emotions that touch you deep down, being able to bring tears to your eyes; every single “up-tempo”, rocking song makes you want to stand up and do some headbanging, singing with the lyrics at the top of your lungs. For me, the every single song has its own little story, and the way Chris tells these stories is absolutely breathtaking; he seems to have a song for every situation of life – may it be a break-up, the problems of violence in the world, being in helplessly in love with someone, discovering someone close to you has betrayed you, anti-war situations…his lyrics come from everyday’s life, and you can just hear that they are coming from his heart, that he puts all his passion in every single song he writes.

I have never been to any of their concerts, sadly, but I have decided that one day, I will. And I have decided that one day, in 1 year, in 5 years, or in 10 or 20 years, I will also finally meet Chris. It’s one of the few big dreams that I have had since the moment I first heard his voice, especially since I’ve seen him killing it when he sang the US National Anthem at the Super Bowl in 2006. From the first second his voice filled my ear and my heart, this wish has been inside of me, and one day, it will be fulfilled, I know it.

The only thing that kind of saddens me is that I only know three people who have ever heard of the band, two of them who live in Germany, one in the UK. I know everybody has his/her own taste in music, each to their own, I would never want to dictate anybody to like the things I like. I just wish there were more people (that I know of) that see this amazing band for who they are, who discover their breathtaking music and talent and give them even more support than they already have in the United States.

I know I will support them until the day I die. I own every single one of their albums, and I will own every single one of the ones yet to come. Nobody has ever touched me as deeply inside with their music as Chris Daughtry and his boys, with a talent that is absolutely out of this world and songs that have helped me in quite a few situations of my own life, and I will never get tired to listen to what they have to say with their music, because what they do, what they love to do, will never fail to reach something inside of me that no other singer or band has ever reached before.

And for that, I am beyond grateful.

Albums:

1. Daughtry (2006)

2. Leave This Town (2009)

3. Break The Spell (2011)

4. Baptized (2013)