musings about the actor and the characters he brings to life
On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-guarded French coastline to fight the Nazis on the beaches of Normandy. Today, on the 80th anniversary of D-day, we are revisiting Band of Brothers Episode 2 “Day of Days” in honor and memory of all men and women who contributed to the victory in WWII. We are eternally grateful. Continue reading “On the 80th Anniversary of D-Day: Band of Brothers Episode 2 “Day of Days””
“A Damian Lewis live show contains fun. Rock’n’Roll. Good music. And an amazing band that I play with.” — Damian Lewis at Latitude Festival Press Day
Yes, sir! All those coupled with a truly engaged and energetic crowd at Boisdale of Canary Wharf made my 48 hour lightning trip to London more than worth it! And I am ready to tell all about it!
Firstly, I thank my brilliant friend Patrick (who happens to be the drummer Will’s dad) for convincing me to go! Believe it or not, I was on the fence since we are now used to going three or four gigs at a time on tours. The Boisdale gig is a one off and it is of course wonderful if you live in London, or somewhere in Europe (short and cheap flights) but you need to factor in a lot in your decision if you fly from the US like me. The good news is that I could get my ticket with miles and Patrick gets a table for us. I tell my friends that I’m going and when they check they find out that the venue does not sell single tickets. And here is my Whatsapp exchange with Patrick when I share this information with him! Continue reading “Well, I Did It Again: Damian Lewis at Boisdale of Canary Wharf”
The star-studded ensemble cast led by Damian Lewis and Mark Rylance completed the filming of Hilary Mantel’s third and final volume of Wolf Hall series “The Mirror and The Light” back in March. And as we can’t wait to see Damian wear the crown as Henry VIII one more time on our TVs later this year or early next year, here is the sweet story behind Damian’s “very own ‘Enry” from Knitting Witch UK! Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis’ “very own ‘Enry””
In each season of Billions, at least one episode has featured a song and t-shirt of a metal band that are Axe’s favorites. (Even an Axe-less Season 6 featured Mötley Crüe’s “Wild Side“.)
The writers of Billions make purposeful choices with music placement, so we know that these decisions are made to tell a story, shine a light on who the character is, or to set a tone. Gingersnap and I were holding out Season 7 will finally be the year of Iron Maiden but it was not to be. However, I do believe that somewhere out in the multiverse Bobby Axelrod is rocking a “Number of the Beast” t-shirt while listening to “Hallowed Be Thy Name” right before pulling the trigger on a billion dollar deal.
Now that the series in over, let’s take a look back at a man and his music.
Today is Memorial Day – a day of remembrance honoring all men and women that died in active military service. And it gives us a great opportunity to salute all war heroes, and in particular Major Dick Winters and Easy Company.
I know a thing or two about war. My day job is to study and understand war. I have written academic articles on war, I have taught on war… and even though I can write about war for pages and talk about it for hours as a scholar, the human cost of war is still incomprehensible to me.
Let me take a moment and look at my own family. My maternal grandmother never knew her father because he was a soldier in WWI in the Eastern Front in Turkey, and he literally froze because of the cold as he fought against the Russians. My paternal grandmother never knew her father, either; because he was also a soldier in WWI and was killed by a shrapnel in Gallipoli as he fought against the Anzacs. Continue reading “Let’s Salute Major Winters – the Rank and the Man – on Memorial Day”
