Backstage with Damian Lewis

The King and I 🙂

I told you that my reports from the second leg of Damian Lewis’ ‘Mission Creep’ UK Tour would be threefold. I started with Damian sitting with me for a relaxed and insightful interview about his music followed by all I could remember from the four gigs I attended. And, now, ladies and gentlemen, I am thrilled to give you a fun backstage report from the tour! Continue reading “Backstage with Damian Lewis”

Throwback Thursday to Ride4Hugo in Memory of Hugo and Helen

L-R: Damian, his sister Amanda Yaxley, his brother Gareth Lewis, and brother in-law Charles Yaxley during the bike ride in memory of Hugo and Helen in June 2022

I find it beyond impressive when families turn their tragic losses into good for many others in memory of the loved ones they lost. Ride4Hugo, a campaign Damian’s family run in memory of Hugo Yaxley, Damian and Helen’s nephew, who tragically died in a car accident in November 2020, and also in memory of Helen, who passed away only 5 months after Hugo’s accident, is an extraordinary effort aimed to do good for so many people.

source: @yaxleymumma Instagram

And Hugo’s older brother Josh running the London Marathon last weekend in memory of Hugo and to raise funds for Place2Be, a mental health charity for children and young people, inspires me to re-visit the family’s Ride4Hugo campaign. Well done, Josh.

Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Ride4Hugo in Memory of Hugo and Helen”

Happy Shakespeare Day with Damian Lewis!

source: dailymail.co.uk
source: dailymail.co.uk

Happy Shakespeare Day! We are celebrating the great man’s life and influence on English language today.

If you wanna have your own personal Shakespeare party, I highly recommend you to download The Love Book App and have Damian Lewis read Sonnet 130: My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun directly to your ears! Or if you want to party with us here then let’s travel back to a special Shakespeare party kicked off by a certain Damian Lewis!

Better yet, get the app and party with us, too 😀

April 23, 2014 Wednesday. I have  to sit in front of my computer all day at work so I just let myself indulged in everything Shakespeare for occasional procrastination, from finding out about words that we owe to him, e.g. bedazzled, fashionable, pageantry to New York Public Theater’s celebration tweets with favorite Shakespeare quotes and verses, and to a extremely special birthday party at Guildhall Library — Complete Reading of Shakespeare’s Sonnets — kicked off by a certain someone 🙂 Continue reading “Happy Shakespeare Day with Damian Lewis!”

Remembering Nicholas Brody and His Muslim Faith

“You live in despair for eight years; you can turn to religion, too. And the King James Bible was not available.” – Nicholas Brody

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

I was born and raised in a secular family in Turkey, a country that is predominantly Muslim. That is, even though I am not religious myself, I am very familiar with the Islamic traditions, rituals and norms. I am obviously coming out of the culture and have been shaped by it in ways that I am probably not aware of 🙂 Thus, I thought it would be neat to talk about Nicholas Brody, my most favorite fictional character ever on small screen, and his Muslim faith, in celebration of Ramadan!

Now, I am not an expert, not even close, about Muslim characters on TV shows; however, even if there had been a popular Muslim character on TV before Brody came along, I just don’t think there is any way she or he could beat him on any popularity scale. Continue reading “Remembering Nicholas Brody and His Muslim Faith”

The Best Week Ever: Following Damian Lewis on his UK Tour Part II

‘We loved playing for all of you over the last few weeks. So much fun so much chat so many sweets so much love so many DLous so many burrito wraps so good so beautiful so long…..” —Damian Lewis

Damian has recently taken to Instagram to reflected on the second leg of his Mission Creep tour as above. And now that I reflect on my week long trip to the UK to follow Damian and the band from Stroud to Poole to Norwich to Cambridge, it was so many train rides, so many hotel rooms, so much gloomy British weather, so little sleep, and a lost passport for God’s sake! But it was all WORTH IT for the fantastic music, fun chats, much love and big laughs with people I adore! IT WAS THE BEST WEEK EVER! And this post is my way of saying thank you to Damian, Dave, Will, Kitty, Joe, Phil, Jamie, Amelie, Jack, Steve, Vicky and my old friends Tsvete and Monique and new friend Mel for making it a dream trip! And special thanks go to the U.S. Embassy in London for helping me.

Continue reading “The Best Week Ever: Following Damian Lewis on his UK Tour Part II”