Dean's Not Fine

Imagine if your life was as filled with sacrifice and, well, bad friggin' luck as the Winchesters'. I've always admired the way that the boys keep fighting, many times in the face of apparently insurmountable odds. So serious is their work ethic, their sense of responsibility, that even their foes have learned not to bet against them. Bruce Hornsby's song "Fortunate Son" is inspired by the story of a Marine named Lewis Puller , who was the son of another legendary Marine. He followed his dad into service, and war, and lost both legs in Vietnam. His autobiography won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992. He tragically committed suicide in 1994, at age 48. The story definitely carries parallels to John and Dean -- the good son, following his father into battle, and suffering the painful consequences. There's no glory to be found in this service, the hunting life. Just pain, heartbreak and sacrifice. Always the sacrifice.  Read Bruce's fascinating ac...

Ahhhh, life on the road. There have been many songs written about the grind of touring, from the musician's perspective. Less common is a song from the perspective of a dad. When Bruce Hornsby wrote "Sunlight Moon," he was an older dad of young twins. (Bruce is 63... Russell and Keith -- named after famous piano players -- are now 26.) It's a touching look at the moment of saying goodbye, and how hard it is when the kiddos are at that age when they don't understand why Dad's going away, again. Our favorite three dads have kids who are just that age. They work away from home -- and then spend most weekends away too, catering to us, a different kind of family, at conventions. From some of the bad behavior I've read about since I joined this fandom, I think it's important for us, as fans, to understand and appreciate what Jensen, Jared and Misha are sacrificing.  Nothing helps me remember that more than this song. The song is attached...

Sharing music with my son is one of the best parts of our relationship... he has a real mind for music, and he appreciates its complexity. I was surprised to learn that, independent of me, he had gotten interested in the progressive metal band Dream Theater, which I had listened to often in college.  Each song is dense and dreamlike, but this one, "Metropolis Part 1, the Miracle and the Sleeper," is particularly rich.  So, with my son's interest piqued, I went back for myself and listened after many years... and of course, the parallels to "Supernatural" popped out at me right away. Three different ideas came from the lyrics of this prog metal opera, from different phases of Dean's life.  The song is featured below. Block out a little bit of time... it's a long one! (Extra credit: Count the different time signatures. Knocking the rhythm senseless is kind of a specialty of theirs... one of their songs has 81 time changes! This one is only ...

My son is a big fan of the metal band Trivium, and we scored tickets to their show a few weeks back...  Taking the boy (he's 13) to his first real metal concert brought some trepidation for his dad and me... but we were quickly surprised -- both by the friendly, caring tone of the band and its frontman, Matt Heafy , and the fun-loving, diversely aged crowd.  My husband and I weren't the oldest people in attendance, and their were far younger kids in the audience than my son. In all it was a massively entertaining good time (we had industrial-strength ear protection), and Trivium gained a couple of ardent new fans. Their song "Beyond Oblivion" is about runaway technological advancement and the peril it could place on humanity, but the more I listened, the more it sounded to me like an excellent parallel to the end of Season 10, and the beginning of 11, when Sam Winchester unleashes the Darkness upon the world to free his brother from the Mark of Cain. Aga...

Well, we all know  how well I was dealing with Michael!Dean, through the waning months of Season 13 and all of Hellatus. I didn't like it. I didn't want it. It terrified me. And now that it's obvious that the other shoe still hasn't dropped, I'm more scared than ever.  But we did get Dean back. And now it feels like we can at least be with him through whatever comes next. The Bruce Hornsby song "Michael Raphael" centers on the "bad angel, good angel on your shoulder" concept... "Remember those cartoons..." Bruce sings at the start of the song. Our Raphael isn't the good guy that Bruce sings about, but his Michael rings pretty true. It inspired me to make this. The original song is embedded below. Headphones or earbuds work best.

I used to listen to music a lot more. All the time, actually. Eventually, my favorite artist pretty much took over all my listening time: Bruce Hornsby. I've seen him in concert about a dozen times over the years, the first time as a young lass in 1987 at Jones Beach, N.Y. Because his music is so eclectic, and has changed so much over the years, I didn't feel like I needed anything else.  And that's exactly how I feel about "Supernatural." Eclectic, always surprising, constantly evolving, it has shut out other shows for me and now consumes my watching world.  But I did get back into listening to Mr. Hornsby. And now, thanks to Show, his songs take on a completely different meaning. I hope you enjoy "Invisible," featuring a young Sam Winchester. (The original song is embedded below. Headphones or earbuds are best.)

Connecting the Dots: Vancouver, Part 5 A Supernatural convention travelogue by Axy  @Aaaahhhxy Read Part 1  here . Read Part 2  here . Read Part 3  here . Read Part 4 here . While Jess still had a couple of ops with Misha, I went back into the main theatre, where Rob was on his own. And had MAJOR flashbacks of The Real Ghostbusters, which made me laugh about it as much as Rob did, while trying to imagine how Chuck would come back, Matrix-like. But to be perfectly honest, and fair to Rob, I was starting to feel a little (ha, a lot) anxious about the damn books, for so many reasons that I don’t think I’ll ever fully grasp them all. Very few people actually know why I created the To Supernatural With Love project. What was the number one brick of this Great Wall Of Us. Funnily enough, besides my best friend, there’s, as of today, one other person that knows. And it’s Jared. I was fed up with the free rein of hate in this fandom, and some vitriolic messages hur...

Connecting the Dots: Vancouver, Part 4 A Supernatural convention travelogue by Axy  @Aaaahhhxy Read Part 1  here . Read Part 2  here . Read Part 3 here . J2. Oh, God. If you have to do ONE op at any con, pick this one. It’s the best damn thing. My first one was mind-blowing, since, it’s nothing but the Winchester brothers, right ? SAM AND DEAN WINCHESTER. It’s insane to have them both with you. But I wanted this one to be playful and different. At the last minute, as I was headed for a good old Winchester hug, I had this idea that could end up being one awesome op. Jared was kind of surprised, in a “um, I’m pretty sure you are one of mine so WTF are you doing ??” that I went straight for Jensen and hugged him, and I asked Jared not to like it. I knew Jared wouldn’t so much as doubt there was no ill agenda behind it and that I was and would forever remain a Sam girl, but I also knew that if they both played it the way I hoped they would, the result could be br...

Connecting the Dots: Vancouver, Part 3 A Supernatural convention travelogue by Axy @Aaaahhhxy Read Part 1 here . Read Part 2 here . While we were queueing for SNS, they gave us bracelets and lights… And I was immediately hit by the reference hidden behind tonight’s lights. At Birmingham, it looked like a little glowing whistle, but here, oh, it was the exact same candle light as the one that Jared has on his profile picture on Instagram. *That* one. The one from Comic-Con, the one that had so much importance. Bright lights in a dark world. It both felt strange and so, so right to finally have mine, and it paired very well with whatever was in the air during the whole weekend. Also, for reasons I cannot justify, it made me feel briefly closer to my hero. Little did I knew that it was for a very good reason… He was actually there, on the silent part of the story.  Now that I am acquainted with Louden Swain and the beauty of the SNS, I had bought glow...

Connecting the Dots: Vancouver, Part 2 A Supernatural convention travelogue by Axy @Aaaahhhxy Read Part 1 here . There are very few things more exciting than a pre-registration evening. When your casual PDF Gold pass becomes an actual badge, an actual wristband, and shit is getting real. Maybe you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy convention passes and that’s pretty much the same thing. G31. There’s my home for the weekend. With our proud badges still around our necks, the girls and I found a nice place to get some dinner, and a quiet walk up the hilly hill.  I’m pretty sure there’s a vodka-raspberry hidden somewhere in that picture.  Earlier on, I’d experienced watching an episode of Supernatural live, in the city where they film it, before a convention. Mind-blowing. The episode was heart-wrenching and had me in tears more than once (as. per. usual) but it also, once again, solidified my love for that show in ways I couldn’t fathom or ex...