We realized that we’ve known Chad for four years now, and despite many interviews, fascinating dinner discussions and even some Bourbon Street revelry in New Orleans, we’d never managed to ask him how he decided to become an actor.

Chad: I was seventeen actually. I looked through the classifieds in my hometown newspaper one day, on a whim, and saw an open audition for kids eighteen and under. My mom took me down and I auditioned for Kid Biz, an agency in Seattle. They set me up the next day and I booked my first audition.

Lynn: That’s actually really weird, it doesn’t usually happen like that.

Chad: I know, it was – I booked my first audition. And it was for a movie, an actual film, Born to Be Wild. It was between my junior and senior year – I worked on the movie over the summer. And that’s how it all started.

Lynn: So no pounding the pavement?

Chad: No, not then, the hardships never came until I was in my late twenties. It got ugly later. I had to pay for that Karma.

Luckily for SPN fans, he soon got it back.

Kathy: So what’s new, what are you working on?

Chad: Expect the third installment of Sven the Uncool Vampire.

Note: Anyone who hasn’t seen Sven, check out his blogs on YouTube and Funnyordie. We haven’t loved a vampire this much since our Anne Rice phase. *ahem*

Chad: I shot this one like a pilot. It’s 25 minutes long, you can watch it like an actual episode of the Office. We shot it all documentary style, so it’s all over the shoulder, shot very dirty. We’ll be intercutting that with interviews so it should be pretty funny. So if people are looking for a two minute video, that won’t be the case – you’ll have to be able to sit down and watch this one like a tv show. Hopefully we can make it into a web series at some point.

Lynn: We love Sven – everyone seems to love Sven.

Chad: I love Sven! I forget it’s me when I’m watching him. He’s endearing.

Lynn: How did you make him up? Were you just goofing off one day?

Chad: It was like three Halloweens ago, and I was thinking all the vampires are cool and hot and sexy, and I was like, what if I did one that was not cool and not sexy and had a lisp and wore glasses, and then it was just an experiment one night in front of my camera. I put that up and it got a good response and the next year was when we amped it up and this year, we went all out.

We point out that Sven the Uncool Vampire is actually kind of cool.

Chad: He is cool, but he doesn’t know it. Which sort of makes him endearing. Vampires are always cool, hot, and sexy – not funny and realistic. Sven is domesticated. He’s got real problems. He’s every other human.

Vampires are, of course, timely – as is anything about the supernatural. We chatted for a while about the proliferation of television series of that genre.

Lynn (frowning): There are so many of them right now, and they always use the word “supernatural”, which makes my ears perk up because I think they’re talking about Show, but alas, no.

Chad: Sometimes it’s only hype – you have to have a quality show, like Supernatural.

Lynn (grinning again): Agreed! So are you working on anything else?

Chad: I start shooting a movie next week called Decoding Annie Parker. Great cast – Samantha Morton, Helen Hunt, Maggie Grace (also Rashida Jones and Corey Stoll). I have a small part, but a memorable one.

Us: Who do you play?

Chad: I play a guy who works at a funeral parlor, and I’ll leave it at that. (evil laugh) I can’t say much more. But…..You won’t miss me.

Us: That’s a nice little teaser.

The film is getting some good buzz, so keep an eye out for it!

We asked Chad for some advice about how to use Twitter, for a director friend of ours who has just started tweeting.

Chad: Be consistent. You can do it every day, every other day, once a week. You’re in control of what you say. Tweet what you have going on. Make jokes sometimes, be serious sometimes.

Twitter seems to work very well for people who are off-the-cuff witty, able to be funny on the spot. The people who are a little more serious aren’t always as effective, it seems to us – or popular.

Chad: You’ve gotta throw some jokes out there, you’ve gotta be weird a little bit on Twitter. I call Twitter half hour comedy hour. It becomes like a soapbox for funny comments.

Lynn: I’ve also seen you tweet such nice things about fans, thanking them for their support – like “best fandom in the world!”

Chad: When you can respond to a fan, it goes so far. If I get a response from someone I admire on Twitter, I’m like ”Ohhhh!!!!! They got back to me! That’s awesome!” It just goes a long way. It feels like the fans can touch you and have some part of what’s going on.

Kathy: Is there a down side?

Chad: Somebody hacked my account the other day with something about ‘for weight loss click on this link’. So I had to change my password and stuff. I left a message back saying, ‘whoever hacked my account, kiss my ass!’

Someone had tried to hack Jared Padalecki’s Twitter account around the same time. But Kathy could go them both one better, alas.

Kathy: I had a wiki for one of the classes I teach, and someone hacked it and put up links to porn sites. So I got this frantic email from the library (they were hosting the site) like, “uhhh, we shut down your website…” .

Some of our earliest interviews with Chad, over four years ago, were about Twitter, which was brand new at the time. There’s a chapter of our upcoming book on fandom that looks at the impact of Twitter on fan/celebrity interaction, especially on Supernatural – including many of Chad’s insights. One of the topics we tackle in the book is the evolution of Twitter as a celebrity and publicity vehicle.

Lynn: For the average person who doesn’t have any fans, you don’t necessarily have any followers either. Even my own children don’t follow me! I’m just a follower – I hear what the celebrities I follow say and say nothing back. Which is so not like me, as you know.

Chad: *nods diplomatically*

Kathy: I can’t tweet. I’m just paralyzed by the idea of having to say something witty in that few characters. I mean, I have to weigh every single – not even word, but every letter has to mean something!

Chad: I go thru twitterblock where I’m like, I’ve got nothing to say at all, what should I say?? And then I go on my rampages, but hopefully they’re interesting.

A lot more interesting than anything we might have to say, that’s for sure.

Chad: But the more followers you get, the more certain people start to hate you too. I always like to make a point of that too when it happens, like retweet those comments.

Lynn: That’s probably a good idea. It’s like old fashioned bullying, if nobody takes them on, they just keep doing it. When you reach a certain level of popularity, you attract haters. Do your other followers come to your defense?

Chad: Oh yeah. I mean, I have an army, so yeah. They’ll go after the person.

Kathy: It’s nice to know that many people have your back.

Chad: It’s true, I really can feel that. Twitter can be an avenue for people to pick on celebrities now, it’s that easy to do.

Kathy: You couldn’t do that before, except by a letter which would never get to you. But if you’re doing your own Twitter, you can see anything coming in. You have to remember these are anonymous people who don’t know you, just looking for someone to hate on.

Lynn: You were one of the first of the SPN gang to have Twitter.

Chad: I was, yeah. With Supernatural, it’s a rare thing, that everyone is gonna have that built in fan base. We have more followers than some really famous people!

Lynn (iz proud): SPN fans are more passionate.

Chad: You guys are following like the number one fanbase there is.

Kathy: We’ve been called the most passionate – unfortunately we’ve also been called the “scariest” and the most “batshit crazy”.

Chad: Scariest? Batshit crazy? Not at all! I just think they’re passionate.

We agree – after all, we just wrote three whole books about it. And speaking of passion….

Lynn: Are you coming to karaoke tonite? Because Richard and Matt (Speight and Cohen, that is) said that Toronto con karaoke was good, but that it’s ‘really not the same without Chad.’

Chad: Absolutely I’m coming! That’s my boys, they are so nice – Vancon was special, it’s true – we each bring our own little thing to it. It’s so nice to hear that, that’s cool.

Kathy: We did a whole blog post about that karaoke, it was such a special feeling that night

Chad: It was a rockstar event! I tweeted the videos of me crowdsurfing. I’ll do it again tonite. And I brought a costume, very seventies.

Lunch was over by then, and Chad was off to get his outfit ready for karaoke. Look for Chad at Creation’s Salute to Supernatural in LA in March!

And also….

Catch Sven the Uncool Vampire’s latest entry on YouTube, be on the lookout for Decoding Annie Parker, and check out the awesome documentary film My Big Break, starring Chad, Wes Bentley, and a few other struggling young actors right after they landed in Hollywood and began to experience their first taste of fame, now available on Amazon. More from the My Big Break filmmaker on Fangasm coming up soon, and next up – a chat with Misha Collins. Stay tuned!

Credit: mcmylius

Jared wasn’t the only one hot and flustered at the breakfast on Sunday morning.

Credit: mcmylius

Jared and Jensen conferring on stage during their Q&A, being careful not to give us any spoilers.

Credit: mcmylius

Jensen making a point!

Someone commented on Jared’s phenomenal hair. We’d certainly agree.

Jensen auctioning the rock salt used in episode 7:07 in support of Team Levi.

Thanks to Terri for this photo!

And the salt itself.

Jensen: Oh, long schlep here.

(Fan: Totally worth it…)

Jensen: I like Chicago. Actually my brother was born here. My dad worked at WGN as a technician. They had Josh and then they moved back to Texas right before they had me.

Jensen has the next few days off so he’s heading back to Dallas, where he’ll get the chance to sit in his house with his family and watch the game, something he says he rarely gets to do.

The next question was an interesting one, and gave us a chance to envision the tables turned from what we’re used to at a con – and to ‘see’ Jensen having a bit of a fanboy moment.

Fan: We come here from all over, we buy photo-ops and autographs and fangirl you….and we know that Jared fangirls Pearl Jam….so who do you fan over?

Jensen: (deadpans) Nobody.

Fans: (are laughing)

Jensen then proceeded to contradict his denial with an amusing story, most of it acted out so we could imagine it quite vividly. In all its amusing detail.

Jensen: I had this conversation with my wife Danneel yesterday. We were walking down the street, and there were a couple of those kind of reactions, you know, where someone walks by and they do the double take and then they go “Ohhhhh!!!!!” at me and then I’m like, “What??”

(This was acted out quite convincingly….)

Jensen: But when I do see famous people, like the other day Dustin Hoffmann was right in front of me getting coffee and I was like “oh” and that’s about the biggest reaction I actually have. Danneel actually though, she’s Miss Cool to me. She never gets really excited. But the other day I saw her kind of lose it. I was on a flight from Vancouver back to Los Angeles and Jared was on the flight with me and I recognized the guy who was sitting behind him. It’s funny, Jared and I fly back and forth so much, that we don’t sit with each other anymore. Because he likes the left side of the plane and I like the right side of the plane. It’s weird, you fly that much it’s like “No, I like 3F, that’s my seat,” And he’s like “I like 2A.” But we’ll talk, you know, anyway.

Fans (Imagining the hapless passengers stuck in between them….)

Jensen: So I kinda recognized the guy behind him and I was like “Oh wow” because I’ve been a big fan of his and I kind of geeked out. So as we were walking through the terminal I was like “Hold on Jared, I gotta do something” and I turned around and said “Hey man, I just wanted to say I’m a big fan, I hope you do another cowboy movie sometime soon. It was Luke Perry. “Eight Seconds” is one of my favorite movies. And he stopped, took his bag off his shoulder, and he was like, “It’s so nice to meet you, what’s your name?”

Jensen: (in the same voice we all respond with when he or Jared ask us that question) “Jensen.”

Luke Perry: “I recognize you, you do that Supernatural show. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Congratulations on all your success.”

Jensen: (not sounding anything like a fanboy….ahem….) And I said “You were amazing in 8 Seconds!”

Fans: (silently) I think I said something like that to Misha yesterday….

Jensen: And he said, “I’ll tell you what. If I find a good cowboy script, I might give you a call.” And then Jared went to go get coffee or something cause Gen was going to pick him up and Danneel was waiting for me downstairs – she was just across the street in the parking garage – and I’m walking out and I noticed that Luke walked out right next to me, and I was like “Hey, here we are again.” And we’re walking across the street to the parking lot and Danneel had gotten out [of the car] and as we walked up I could see, like all the blood drain out of her face. I’m saying “This is my wife Danneel” and he’s like nice to meet you and she’s like nice to meet you and he turns away and I looked at her and I just asked, “Are you OK?” And she was like “It’s Dylan!” I don’t think I’ve ever seen her lose her composure like that. And Jared fangirls over Pearl Jam, but it hasn’t happened to me. When it does, I’ll let you know.

Fans: (silently) Okay, sure. Because it didn’t happen at all there with Luke Perry.

We actually love hearing about the fannish moments of the people we fan. One of these days we’re sure someone is going to leave Jensen as flustered as his wife was by Mr. Perry.

Somehow, the Q & A went from fan encounters to firearms. Then again, both topics are SPN related, aren’t they? A fan recently deployed in Afghanistan, who happens to know her way around a weapon, wanted to know how the boys learned to clean and load and lock their weapons so well.

Jensen: Actually we have a friend of ours, he’s special forces, he’s done like seven tours of Iraq, who lives down in Washington state, just across the border. And Clif got in contact with him and we go down there – he has a three acre gun range in his front yard. I actually was there just two weeks ago. We were shooting all kinds of 1911’s, Glocks, fully automatic, really intense, teaching us how to clean our weapons and load, We’re definitely not nearly as pro as I’d like to be, but for what we do, for the movie magic it is, I can take apart my double barrel side by side shotgun and Sam’s Beretta. I can take them all apart without looking at them, while saying my lines. That was the biggest challenge. In fact, I’ll show you a little something here. This is a little video that Clif took of me, just a couple weeks ago. I was trying to do a stance…

Jensen proceeds to jump up and pull out his iPhone and motions us all to gather around so we can watch the videos.

Fans: (silently of course) Jensen shooting guns and looking nearly as badass as Dean? Twist my arm.

Jensen: We get to play around. I like to go down there whenever I can.

Fan: But when would Dean ever have to shoot something like that?

Jensen: (smirking) He wouldn’t.

Switching gears entirely and rather precipitously once again, a fan wanted to show Jensen a photo of a friend’s new baby, who happened to be named Jensen.

Jensen: You know what’s funny? I popped out with a full head of hair, just like that. I actually popped out with a full ‘fro. My dad was like “hummmmmm??” Then after six months I went like platinum blonde and I was blonde blonde until I was about twelve.

Fans: Awwww

Fan: You are a fantastic director from what we can see.

Jensen: I’m still learning.

Fan (continues): My favorite line from the episode you directed was the one about the wildebeest.

Jensen: (laughing) And the guy who’s talking, doing the voice over? That’s the real Bob Singer talking.

Fans: Awesome!

Seriously, those are the little touches that make the Show so special. And we love to know about them!

A fan asked who makes decisions about things like music, since she was happy to hear the GooGoo Dolls in that episode. Jensen explained that’s post production. He (as director) gives suggestions, and the editor will give him some options

Jensen: On the first cut they had an old Belle and Sebastian song and then I guess they couldn’t get clearance so they had to go down the line and eventually they got to the Goo Goo Dolls’ song.

Apparently the GooGoo Dolls weren’t quite as high on production’s list as they were on that fan’s.

Fan: Will you try anything different the next time you direct?

Jensen: You know, I really enjoy the action sequences. In “Weekend at Bobby’s” the wood chipper scene, which is basically a fight scene — I got a real rush out of directing the fight scene. I’ve always been attracted to, as an actor, when we get fight scenes. It’s almost like choreographing a dance. It’s like three left, three right, block, parry, shove. So it’s really this unique choreography that I like to do. I didn’t really get a good fight scene in “The Girl Next Door.” I had the kids, I had young Sam, had a little tussle with the boys outside the library. But those kids were not trained to fight, they had no experience with stage fighting or anything like that. So I just kind of had to hide the fact that they really didn’t know how to throw a punch. I’m not sure I knew how to throw a punch at that age either. But I hope that next time I get a bigger action sequence to direct. A car chase would be fun. Those kind of things would be exciting to direct because there’s so much going on, whereas just a scene with two people talking – you have to get really creative because you don’t want the audience to fall asleep while they’re listening. So I’d like to do more of that kind of stuff.

Fan: What’s your favorite season of Supernatural?

Jensen: I know my least favorite – last season. And that would be personal issues with workload and storyline and the character. In the beginning of last season I guess I felt a little lost. Sam was soulless, so I didn’t have my partner in crime. But my character wasn’t actually progressing, it was just all about the progression of Sam, so selfishly I was like, come on, I understand it’s Sam’s storyline, but it was Dean-centric, so that was kind of throwing me off. We got through it and Jared did a great job, but I was glad to be done with that storyline. As far as my favorite, I still love Season One, just because of the formula – it was simple, it was tight, we were still getting to know each other, the characters were starting to develop and I liked the fun nuances between the brothers. And I liked that simple formula – the monster of the week episodes. I understand that the show needs the mythology and I applaud Kripke for how he did that but I do like the monster of the week episodes.

Fan: What do you think about Dean’s story arc in Season Seven?

Jensen: It’s been a bit of a relaxed season so far, as far as my character goes. There’s a lot happening around us, and with Castiel gone, what it’s done is force the brothers to get back together and rely on each other. It feels a bit like going back to Season One. The two brothers against the world, and I do like that.

Fan: In the last episode, I was literally screaming at the screen “Just tell him!”

Other fans: (nodding vehemently)

Jensen: (laughing ) Yeah, it will happen soon.

Fans: Phew!

The next question was rather creative.

Fan: You seem horrified by the idea of doing Supernatural the Musical. Were you traumatized as a child by a musical?

Turns out Ackles doesn’t have a dark history of being victimized by musical theater. Quite the contrary in fact.

Jensen: Actually, I did a musical in high school. I’d never sung before anybody in my life, and the drama teacher said, I really want you to try out. Somehow she convinced me to do it my senior year. I was like, “It’s my senior year in high school, what do I have to lose, why not?” And she ended up giving me the lead in West Side Story. I played Tony.

Fans: Not exactly a small part!

Jensen: For someone who’s never sung before in front of people – yeah!

Apparently Ackles has always enjoyed a challenge.

Jensen: So baseball season had ended, we didn’t get picked to go to the playoffs, so I asked my coach and the coach was like “You’ve given me three years of your life, go do it. (Cause that’s all I did through high school was play baseball. ) Go get as much out of your high school experience as you can, I’ll support you.” And I was like, okay. And of course, the girl that got Maria was like this all state choir phenom but had never done any acting, and I’d had a drama class – just like an elective, cause you know you have to take an art class. And I can’t draw, but I thought, I can act like an idiot, so I’ll do that. So she helped me with singing and I helped her with the acting part and we made it happen. It wasn’t traumatizing, but I think the whole Supernatural Musical thing – I’ve always played Dean as someone who can’t sing very well. If somebody could figure out a way to do Supernatural as a musical and keep it true to the characters, I’m sure that there could be a hard look at it.

Hey, Ben Edlund did the puppets episode of Angel, right? Why not the musical version of Supernatural??

Fan: Is there ever a time when you read a script and you say to your character, “Dean! What are you thinking?”

Jensen: All the time. Seriously. Usually just certain lines, because we get new writers. I know that every year they have to take at least one outside submission, so basically someone who has never written for the show. They understand the show because their script got picked, and it’s a good script, but it’s just that sometimes the dialog isn’t really true to character. So I’ll either sit down and rewrite the lines to tailor it to Dean or just call Sera or Bob and say “Hey, this particular scene doesn’t sound like Dean at all. That’s happened maybe twice this year. There’s a scene between Jared and I, Sam and Dean, in fact I think it’s the next episode, it’s the end scene. We have like a falling out, an argument. And I kid you not, the scene was like straight out of a romantic comedy. It was like a break-up between a woman and a man. Right out of a romantic comedy.

Fans (silently) Wait, is this canon or fanfiction??

Jensen: And Jared and I were in the make-up trailer that morning and I hadn’t really read the scene before then, and I was like “Dude, we gotta change this!” So he and I sat there in the make-up trailer and rewrote the scene to make it closer to our characters. And we didn’t even tell the producer. And then it happened again two episodes later, there was another scene and we were like, “What is happening??” And that time we finally called Sera and said we’re changing the scene. But it all says the same stuff, it’s just the way of saying it. I think one of Jared’s lines was when I go to move toward Sam and he goes “Don’t! Just don’t! I can’t even look at you right now!”

Fans: (are hysterical)

Jensen: And we were like “No way! I’m not saying that!” So we made it a little bit more manly. So yes, there are times when we look at the script and change lines. The writers trust us enough to know, I mean, we love these characters. We want to protect them, we would never do anything to make them look worse.

The Q & A wrapped with a question about how you keep a television show that’s been on the air for seven seasons fresh and exciting.

Fan: After seven seasons, how can you keep things fresh for your characters and not just phone it in?

Jensen: Sometimes I do feel like that. Sometimes if I’m tired, or I’m grumpy or I’m sick. I can’t tell you how many days I’ve had to work while being sick. I’ve had over a 100 degree temperature and still worked a thirteen hour day, but like you also said, we’ve been doing it for so long, that the immediate connection that we have with those characters is there. The director says “Action” and I feel like I know this character so well I just go right into being Dean.

Fan: Do you and Jared prompt each other?

Jensen: Absolutely! Absolutely. He’ll come over and say “Hey, you’re missing that line.” We’re constantly watching each others’ backs. If I feel like he has a better take I’ll be like “Do another one, go again.” So quality control [goes on between the two of us]. Some days it’s tough — but we hope that you don’t see that.

You know what? Most of the time we don’t. Thanks for the hard work that makes it look easy, boys.

That’s all for now, folks. Check back for our chats from Chi Con with Chad Lindberg and Misha Collins soon!

Matt Cohen in Toronto

Richard: For a guest star these conventions are great. I did the show in Season Two, and conventions weren’t one of the things they talked about. It wasn’t like you auditioned and they said “If you get it, there’s a bunch of cons you can do!” You never expect that. I know a ton of actors and nobody I know has ever done a con.

Lucky for us, SPN is the exception 

Richard: I’m not a celebrity in the real world – only here with these people who love the show. In the rest of the world, I’m just an actor. So here I get questions and fans are excited, but it’s an isolated period of my life. So I expect it, and I enjoy it, and then I go home and go back to ‘No one gives a crap if I’m there.’ Like I was in LA last week and had drinks with Misha, Rob Benedict and Jason Manns, and my point is, Misha’s third rung here, but nobody cares in LA. It’s not Clooney and Pitt.

Lynn and Kathy: Wait, who? What were their roles on Supernatural? (just kidding, folks…)

While we were waiting in line for Starbucks (where you can find us alarmingly often), we asked fans what they wanted us to ask Richard. The consensus was everyone still wondered how he made the transition from the Trickster to Gabriel – probably because it was amazing!

Richard: So how did I decide to make the transition? Honestly I rehearsed the daylights out of that scene. By myself. It was such an extensive piece of material that I studied that scene like I was doing a play. It wasn’t like a normal TV scene where you can do a little work and then sort it out the day of the blocking. It was so intense and the change was so specific that I wanted to be sure that I hit all the beats I wanted to hit. I’ve done a lot of theatre in my life so I kinda dusted off that skill set. And I think in the process of doing that I made the decisions. It wasn’t like I said, “OK I want to use this voice for this guy and this voice for this guy.” In the formation of the scene there came a natural rhythm, to where one guy stopped and the other guy starts. And when you find that point it’s like letting the air out of a tire, because it takes a lot of energy to pretend to be someone else, so pretending to be the Trickster was exhausting (for Gabriel) – it’s not his persona, it’s a lie.

Lynn: So it’s like layer on top of layer of acting.

Richard: Right! And for me that was why the body changes and the voice changes – because he (Gabriel) just slumps down into “Well I’m not going to put effort into this because you’re not buying it anymore.” And that’s like the air coming out of the tire, or the wind gone from the sails. And it informed how the vocal delivery and the pattern of Gabriel talking was different. I get asked all the time about my favorite scene to shoot, and as much fun as it was watching women in bikinis flopping around a bed with Jensen, form an acting standpoint, in that scene I’m just in the auditorium watching. The dialog stuff we shot in thirty minutes and the rest of the two days was chain saws. So this was actual acting, and you don’t get to do that a lot in episodic TV. We didn’t do that scene in pieces. We did it in one long scene and it was really fun to do. And you know what? People do like that episode and I think they didn’t see that change coming. The writing was spot on, and everyone was really committed to it. I remember Jensen making a joke when we did the first rehearsal. I had the time to put into it so I’d been prepping this for a week, so we rehearsed the scene the first time (and now this is Jensen telling me this later) so I was at eighty percent that first time, laying the groundwork for what I planned to do, and Jensen was like “You did that and then we took a break, and Jared and I elbowed each other and we were like, We better learn this – he showed up to play ball, man,’” Not that they wouldn’t take it seriously anyway, but acting is like tennis man, I was the ball machine – I was firing at them, so they were like, oh, ok! And Jensen actually had to physicalize it with the side nudge and “Let’s go learn this in the trailer, Jared.” People asked me did they joke around in that scene, and they didn’t because it wasn’t that kind of scene. Sometimes the tension needs to be broken. When you’re doing a really gruesome scene, it’s great to have the break. But sometimes the break is distracting. And the one thing I know about these guys is they know the difference. They know exactly when it’s ok to make funny faces when you’re off camera and [when] they go “OK, this is an intense moment and we need to be present, not goofing around.” They’re veterans.

We talked about what it’s like to be a guest star on various shows, since Richard has had a lot of experience.

Richard: Any show you guest star on is trickle down. If the guys who are number one and two on the call sheet are assholes or goofballs, or don’t take it seriously, it’s going to be a long week. When you walk onto a new set, it doesn’t matter that I’m older than them, or how long I’ve been doing this, every day on a new job is still the first day. So I’m the quietest guy you ever met, I’m not going to speak unless spoken to. I keep to myself until they start joking with me, then I joke back. Plenty of shows never go there. They just want to get going. And some shows that are good shows, are miserable sets. I’m lucky this is the one I ended up on that does cons, because I like all the guys – we’re all buddies now because of the cons. That makes it fun. The fans always ask “Do you really like being here?” but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. If these things were a nightmare, or if the guys were assholes – life’s too short.

We love the reciprocity of fandom – fans get together at cons and bond, and the actors do the same! We caught up with Richard’s buddy Matt Cohen later that same day, and talked about the loyalty and protectiveness of SPN fans. A private picture of Matt and his grandfather had been leaked onto Tumblr, and Matt had asked that it please be taken down.

Matt: And within five minutes, there were a thousand responses, saying “Don’t worry, we’re on it”. Now you can’t even find the picture. My fans are always so good to me. Occasionally, every now and then someone says something negative like “You’re a bad actor,” and they don’t stand a chance. Fans are so nice until someone crosses a line then they’re like vampires.

Never underestimate the power of fandom!!

Both Matt and Richard were looking forward to another installment of the Dick and Matt Karaoke Kings that night – we were too. And more karaoke madness tonight, yay 

Matt: It’s all about the karaoke! We’ll rock the house tonight. This is my jacket (showing off garish 80’s looking jacket). Wait till you see the pants!

He refused to give us a preview so we could be properly surprised. We were. High waisted and quite tight. It’s a definitely a look. We’re not sure there are actually any BAD looks on Mr. Cohen, luckily.

Chad gave us a few hints about what he’ll be wearing for tonight’s karaoke at ChiCon, and we have to say – we can’t wait!

More from Chicago soon – right now it’s time to catch Chad’s Q&A and then get ready to watch tonight’s episode of Show with the lovely Mo Ryan of AolTv. The guest stars alone have us shivering with antici—pation!

Jared and Jensen at Breakfast

Jensen joined us with a cup of (apparently quite hot) coffee, asking us if we were awake yet.

Fans: (eyes most definitely open) We are now J

A fan kicked off the Q & A asking if Jensen would take anything from the set of Supernatural when the show is over.

Jensen: I don’t think it will ever be over!

Fans: YES!

Has he ever taken any ‘keepsakes’ from the various sets he’s worked on?

Jensen (looks shifty): A few things may have found their way to my bag. Bobby’s house got destroyed on Friday night, as you know, and that was our only standing set for the past six seasons. So when we filmed our last scene in there, Jared and I started looking around and taking stuff off the desk, little things that haven’t moved in six seasons and have always been in the background. And there have been some books I’ve taken from the set dec shelves – I like really old books, we have bookshelves in our house and I’ve just got old books there. So I went about it properly and asked if I could have them, there were some from the early 1900s. And the next day there was this big box of books in my trailer.

What about the ultimate prop?

Jensen: As far as the car goes, that’s probably something that’s gonna be a little more difficult — unless I just hop in and drive away. I will try to either sweet talk them or get it into my next contract though.

And that duster from the Western episode?

Jensen (looks shifty again): As far as wardrobe goes, I’m gonna plead the 5th on that. I mean, the duster was custom made for me, Diane our costume designer designed it and our tailors made it for me, so I can’t imagine why it shouldn’t go home with me.

Fans: Of course. Obviously.

Jensen: And over the years, it’s been oh, those jeans went missing, or oh those boots, so….yeah.

Dean’s leather jacket, unfortunately, really was stolen.

Jensen: That’s been one of the biggest mess-ups on our show. And they’ve tried to get others that looked like it and I’ll try them on but it’s like, this is not gonna work.

Apparently Mr. Ackles also has a pickaxe handle from My Bloody Valentine. Must be an interesting conversation piece in the living room….

Since Jensen had just completed his second episode of directing, many of the questions were about that episode. Fans wondered what was most challenging about this one.

Jensen: This was a much more challenging script, lots more going on. Weekend at Bobby’s was a day in the life, and it was a lot of dialogue and some great actors – I could just set the cameras and then let them go. This one was more flipping back and forth, flashbacks, new characters, so technically it was more difficult. I thought it would be easier the second time around, but last year ignorance was bliss. What I learned from last year’s experience made me think more about possibilities and technical aspects and I basically made it harder on myself. There was a lot they did post-production that I wasn’t aware of – I had my cut but then network and studio has it, and they took stuff out and I was like, awww, they took that out? There was a whole montage of me in the cabin with the broken leg just downing beers and swordfighting with my crutch, and they cut that out for time.

Fans: AWWWWWW.

Actually Jensen’s complaint about post-production edits made some of the things that bothered us about that episode a bit clearer. Fans felt cheated out of the three weeks during which Dean convalesced, and presumably worked on repressing his grief over the loss of Cas, and came to some decidedly unpopular (for fans at least) decisions about how to deal with it by charging ahead full force keeping the world safe by taking out sympathetic (for fans at least) monsters-of-the-week. They also took out what sounded like some awesome, albeit disgusting, shots.

Jensen: And in the end instead of Chet’s mouth opening up and you see the leviathan, I actually had the cheese poured on the guy’s head. It really sucks because that was my good friend Mike, who runs a bar in downtown Vancouver. He’s been a buddy of mine since Dark Angel, so I called him and said hey listen, it’s three scenes, but there’s a catch. I have to dump nacho cheese on your head. And he was like, well it’s a good thing I don’t have any hair. So he was a full-on trooper and the shot was amazing. It wasn’t actual nacho cheese, Special Effects came up with a vanilla yogurt that they thinned out with water and then they put in food coloring, and it was really good. So when we brought it on set I was like mmm, totally fine.

Jensen (licks his fingers)

Fans (are distracted)

Jensen: And then Mike was like (licks fingers more….) and he was like yeah, that’s pretty good. And it was just pouring down right over his eye and it like separated over his eye and he was screaming bloody murder, and ….they cut that out. But it wasn’t my call to make.

(It was his call to make to have Mike wear a Red Hood tee shirt and have a mention of My Bloody Valentine though, both of which were immediately noticed by our ever-observant fandom).

What was his favorite scene in that episode?

Jensen: My favorite scene, I really liked the kill scene at the end. Because we never do that – the way we kill, it’s quick and violent and bloody boom boom boom slash, and this was just a very subtle motion, and then laying her down, so I really liked that.

Actually we were among the fans who were rather unattractively gaping when we watched that scene. It’s been suggested in comments on the sites of our friends Alice at WFB and Mo Ryan on AOL.TV that the reaction to this scene splits along gender lines – men (Jensen, Jared and Dean included) saw the character as a monster who needed to be killed, women as a mother protecting her child. Jensen’s explanation makes Dean’s headspace a bit easier to understand – Dean, at least, saw it as a mercy killing, set apart from the way the Winchesters usually kill. We still feel jarred, but it’s helpful to have the ‘character’s’ point of view.

The next question was one we’d been wondering about – or at least the one who’s the psychologist.

Lynn: Is it hard to direct and to also be in it a lot as an actor? Because I’m having a hard time getting my head around how you could do that. Do you have to jump back and forth in psychological headspace in order to that?

Jensen: Yes, psychologically it was a nightmare. Because as an actor, and I never realized this until directing this episode, how clear my mind is when I’m acting, and how relaxed my thought process is. I’m not thinking about other things, just relaxing into that character and that scene, listening to the people I’m working with and reacting accordingly. And there’s a certain sense of calm that comes with it. And when I’m working as a director, it’s the complete opposite. In fact at one point I was sitting there and my head was spinning, I was thinking I’ve got this shot and then we’re gonna do a wide shot and then a steadicam shot, and my dolly grip Dave was like, I can hear you thinking, and I was like, don’t talk to me.

This must be one of those times when it’s great to work on a show like Supernatural, where everyone is like family and everyone has your back.

Jensen: I pulled aside Kevin Parks, our first AD – he would call action when I was acting – and I said, it might take me a couple of takes to get there, but keep an eye out and make sure that I’m in it, that I’m back to Dean and not still crazy director Jensen. And so he did, and a couple of times he was like, you’re not there yet and I was like, you’re right. So it would take a few extra takes just to kinda get my brain cleared and relax, so it was a challenge. I have newfound respect for Clint Eastwood.

Fans: Well, you did it well!

Jensen: Thank you. I think it’s something that I assume will get easier with time, the more you do – but going through it the first couple of times was not easy.

Fans: So are you gonna do it next year?

Jensen (laughing) I think so.

Ackles tends to be more critical of his skills than the rest of us – but then again, who doesn’t fall into that trap? When a fan shared that Jewel had raved about his directing, he was characteristically humble.

Jensen: A director’s job is easy with talent like that. I was fortunate to have them. Jewel’s like the zen master, she’s so calm and collected and then you yell ‘action’ and she’s like, Boom! I enjoyed directing kids too. Because with Jewel and Jim and Jared, they understand what to do, but with kids, they’re fresh faced and really wanting direction. So it was fun to work with Emma and Colin, and I thought they did a really good job.

Fan: Colin is getting so much older, it will be hard to do these flashbacks.

Jensen (laughing): Soon they’ll have to switch to the season one Sam!

A fan commented on the sepia tone used for the flashback scenes.

Jensen: I felt it was a little strong. I mean, this is me being critical, but I felt like the treatment was a little harsh, I wanted it more subtle, a little closer to the real so it’s just a very subtle change. I thought it was a bit too dramatic.

Fans: No! We loved it!

Jensen: Oh well, if you didn’t mind it, then okay J

The next question was a stumper – ‘What are five things we don’t know about you?’

Jensen (eyebrows at hairline): FIVE??

(ponders….)

Jensen: For some of you who’ve known me for a while, you probably know just about everything I’m willing to tell you.

Both Jensen and Jared take questions from fans quite seriously though, so Jensen was determined to answer.

Jensen: I hate to be late. But I’m rarely punctual.

Fans: ??

Jensen (deadpans): So I’m often upset.

He also shared that he has a fair amount of patience, which comes in handy when his wife takes a bit longer to get ready than he does.

Jensen: (still gamely struggling to come up with five bits of new info) So there’s two things right there! What else? Give me a category! Ummmm…. I sleep on the right side of the bed in Vancouver and the left side in LA.

Fans (silently) Wow, and we thought we shouldn’t ask about his sleeping habits….

Eventually a fan took pity on him and said that ‘someone’ wanted to know what aftershave Jensen wears, since at every con, ‘you smell fantastic.’

Jensen (perhaps blushing just a bit): Well, I haven’t actually shaved in about seven years. I just use the clippers, I haven’t straight razored my face since the show started so I don’t use aftershave, but I do use some colognes.

He couldn’t remember the name of any, though he did know that Matthew McConaghey advertised one.

Fan: Do you like the beard more?

Jensen: Yeah, I do, but more importantly, Danneel does. Also it’s a nice change from Dean when I grow the beard out and my hair is a little longer, I look more like Jensen. And I feel like that too. When I look in the mirror like this, I can pop right into Dean. I mean, obviously there’s a separation, but it feels like I’ve stepped away from the role.

Jensen also totally could have used his geek cred as another item on the something we didn’t know question. What cameras are used on Supernatural? Apparently season 1 and 2 used film, then 3 to 6 were on digital HD and something called 21D’s and now it’s all Alexa, which they shot Avatar on. (None of that means anything to us, but we kinda love it when Ackles geeks out….)

A fan commented that she missed Dean’s amulet.

Jensen: I don’t. It was heavy, and every time I’d jump or run or fall — I cannot believe that my teeth still are intact! It hit my teeth so many times, I’d be like (mimes spitting blood). In fact, it did chip this tooth right here. (helpfully demonstrates)

Fans (sheepish): Uhh, okay, now we don’t feel so bad about it being gone.

The amulet might not be returning any time soon, but some things in Season 7 are reminiscent of the first seasons of Supernatural. The new season started off with some incredible episodes, with the brothers growing closer, but not always on the same page. So, does Dean trust Sam?

Jensen: Dean is trusting of Sam. I think that he also understands that Sam is dealing with a very unique situation, so he keeps an eye out, but I think that Dean does think that Sam’s heart is in the right place even though his head is messed up. And this will affect their relationship for a couple episodes, but it will be resolved, and I think Sam understands that it (the last episode’s shocker) was a necessity as opposed to a stab in the back. Dean doesn’t tell Sam right away – he lives with it for a couple episodes. And then…..

Season Seven Sam - The Boys in Action!

Apparently the leviathans have a plan to expose Sam and Dean, which involves making them America’s Most Wanted. Luckily for Jared and Jensen that means robbing banks and crime sprees and generally having a lot of fun. Luckily for fandom that means evil!Sam and evil!Dean, i.e. lots of hotness.

It also plays into Dean’s attempts to keep secrets from Sam. You know that never goes well, Show!!

Fan: So Sam and Dean have to hole up like rabbits.

Jensen: That’s one of the themes this season – they’re backing us into a corner together and stripping away all their tools, from the lore, because there’s no lore on leviathans, to the car – they’re like listen, everyone knows you’re driving this car, you gotta switch it up. So it’s cool, they’re taking away everything that we’ve depended on. And it’s backing us into a corner together, which means that we have to rely on each other, but in a different way, without the tools, so we’re gonna have to rely on instinct and it’s like, I’m gonna need you to watch my back and I’ll watch yours. It kinda gets back to the original format of the show.

Which is, after all, the Show we fell in love with. We can’t wait!

We have to confess we usually don’t stay the entire time, but in Vancouver there was no way we were missing one single minute – the experience was like a physical enactment of everything we’d been writing about in Fangasm and Stalking Fandom. That ‘reciprocal relationship’ between fans and the creative side came to life as the boundaries between them came down – the chemistry was so contagious that nearly all the actors who were at the convention ended up onstage, along with the fans. Even Creation co-owner Adam got up onstage to belt out some Bee Gees! Chad and Sebastian showed off their crowd surfing skills, fans danced on chairs, Colin channeled Michael Jackson, and everyone channeled their inner Dancing Queen to Abba.

Kathy had lunch with Richard Speight the next day (while Lynn slept in to recover from too much karaoke……but hey, it was worth it!) – so we knew that Richard had a blast. Seems that Matt did too.

Matt: You show me another show – Star Trek, Vampire Diaries, Twilight – where they interact like that, where they want to be with the fans like we do. There’s no such thing.

Kathy: The actors throwing themselves into the crowd of fans last night, crowd surfing, it was like a metaphor for how much the actors trust the fans and vice versa.

Matt: It is, it’s unbelievable, everyone’s so cool. I did a convention for South of Nowhere in Manhattan at the Hard Rock and people were like ripping my watch off, ripping my shirt off, it was crazy. The Supernatural fandom is amazing.

Obviously, as anyone who reads this blog knows, we agree wholeheartedly.

Matt: This is a relationship, one that’s built partly through these conventions. And I can’t speak for everyone, but for Richard, myself, Chad, Misha, the boys, we give who we really are, and the respect back is so fantastic. The appreciation goes both ways 100%. I’m so grateful to the fans – very rarely is there a high profile celebrity who makes a career out of being hated. The greatest actors – Meryl Streep, Jonny Depp – fans love them.

We were struck by how much everyone, from fans to celebrities to Creation staff, wanted to be a part of the karaoke madness.

Matt: It turned into this thing, everyone wanted to be a part of it, every actor in this hotel wanted to be up there. Sebastian’s mind was just blown, he had no idea about this. I had just met him in Barcelona, and he’s a great guy, so real, and he gives 100%. I look up to him as an actor, he’s a major guy, and he just couldn’t wait to just get out there and be sweating with the fans. Last night he just fell in love with what we were doing, he completely gave himself to the fans.

(Literally – he did a freefall backwards into the arms of the waiting crowd with complete and utter trust that fandom wouldn’t drop him. We didn’t.)

We left the ballroom feeling pretty damn high, more from the emotion in the room than from the various alcoholic beverages we’d sampled – apparently the actors felt the same.

Matt: I felt the same thing – Richard and I had talked back in LA, we met up to go shopping to pick out our outfits, and we just wanted to make this an event. And last night we were all backstage after and we were so high on the moment, you should have seen us, everyone was soaking wet sweaty and just wrapping each other up in hugs. We felt like we’d just performed a rock show.

Fans felt the same. No wonder everyone talks about the Supernatural ‘family’ – fans were hugging, actors were hugging, fans and actors were hugging, and nobody gave a damn if we all looked a bit silly. How freeing is that?!

Matt: And that’s the goal, this was the launch of the Dick and Matt Karaoke Experience, and we want to continue to bring the actors up and the Creation crew and we’re gonna have fun stuff, tee shirts or something, make it so anybody can bring whoever they want to – me and Richard are gonna tweet ‘we dare you to bring five of your friends who’ve never heard of the show!’ I mean, Richard and me, we’re actors. Put us in costume and it’s the time of our lives. I just couldn’t wait to put those pants on that were six inches above my belly button.

(Only Matt could have made those pants look GOOD – and they did, in fact, look very fine. Yes, this is part of our reporting. What?)

Matt: Last night was EPIC. It got so loud at one point I found myself looking for earplugs. I’m seriously thinking about Dick and Matt earplugs to buy for 50 cents.

Hey, it’s a rock concert, why not?

Matt: I looked out last night and not only are Chad and Sebastian crowd surfing, but every single person was on a chair or singing or dancing, and I was in awe – I was so happy, because we wanted it to be that, a rock show.

Hopefully someone got some video of the entire stage and crowd waving their arms in unison to Abba when ‘Dancing Queen’ came on – we joined our good friend Alice, who runs the Winchester Family Business site, singing and swaying and just plain going crazy.

Matt: “Dancing Queen” comes on and the actors – all of us – our gay and straight sides collide in that moment, the song just takes you over, I find myself dancing and everyone’s dancing.

Video anyone?

We wondered how the other actors even knew that karaoke was happening.

Matt: I walk onto the plane yesterday and see Sebastian, who I’d just met, and we split a car, and I said we’re doing this karaoke thing tonight if you wanna come. And of course I call Chad, he’s like family to me now, he’s my guy, and he’s a key element in it, because he’s this weird presence, and he’s floating around with this cigarette hanging out of his mouth and walking on chairs.

Lynn: And that frees everyone not to censor themselves.

Matt: Yeah, he’s very easy, he’s in his sweaty tanktop, he’s just a normal guy. And there’s Sebastian who’s this bigger-than-life sexual type of personality, and he doesn’t want to hide it, and it works for him. I find it so endearing, he’s one of the most charming men I’ve ever met. And the other guy, Colin (Lawrence), who I’d never met until last night, had the fricken’ time of his life! He didn’t want it to end, he thought he was Michael Jackson last night, he was fantastic up there, his energy was perfect. And that’s what we need, we’re adamant that actors that come up with us can’t just stand there. Act foolish, be funny, the fans will accept us for who we are, they don’t care, they love the show and they wanna see who we are. I love sharing it, it’s so rewarding to be yourself in front of people, not fearful of being judged. To just be Matt Cohen and get to dress up and be a bad singer and dance bad and tell bad jokes.

Lynn: That’s a lot of what our books are about, how fandom can free you to be yourself, can be a place where you’re not so fearful of being judged. We have quite a few of your quotes in the book about that, and some from Jensen and Jared about that too.

Matt: I saw those boys last night for the first time in a while, because even though we’re at these cons together, they’re always on Sunday. So last night I went and grabbed a drink with them before karaoke. I hadn’t seen Misha for months, since before I was gonna go to Haiti. I saw Jensen at Nashville, but it’s just nice to see the guys – the whole family was there, I walked into the bar and every one of the cast was there. It’s like a family, it truly is a special thing. We’re just a bunch of friendly dudes with each other, and it’s like, if you need something, you’ve got it, it’s so easy.

Kathy: And that mirrors what happens with the fans when they come together in this space – they don’t necessarily know each other when they get here, and friendships form, and fans support each other.

Matt: And I see that too, I’ll walk around when they’re not noticing me and I’ll see people sitting together in circles and talking and it’s great, these cons are special, different. It’s like a movement in itself, a private little fraternity.

(Or sorority, as the case may be….)

Matt: It’s so rewarding, feels so good – everyone wants to be loved and feel liked, but to make it vice versa, to where I like the fans and love interacting with them, that’s what friendships are built on. We have these mini friendships and we see each other every couple of months, and it opens up both of our minds, the fans and the actors.

Lynn (sniffling a bit just thinking about it): Will you miss it, when it ends?

Matt: Absolutely. I’ve got three more this year, Toronto, Chicago and Birmingham all in October. I’m hoping the fans will want me to come back for next year’s run. Who knows how it’s gonna go, I mean, it was supposed to be over already, but it’s been so successful, I can see it going to an 8th or a 9th.

Lynn and Kathy: *crossing fingers and toes*

We asked Matt what the experience of shooting his recent short film, Trigger, was like.

Matt: Trigger was fantastic. We’re in theaters in LA because you can only be nominated for an Oscar if you’re in theaters for 3 days. It’s got a run time of 33 minutes, and we submitted it to festivals and there’s a lot of heat around it right now, so we’ll see if they want to develop it into a feature. If nothing else, I think it’s enough for me to send to any studio. I’ve never felt this way about my acting, even my work on Supernatural, if I had another chance, I’d do it differently, but Trigger was so well done and I so related to this dark character. I had fourteen guests at the screening and every one of them cried. You hope to hit the cry factor or the scary factor or the anger factor, and we hit all of them. I don’t ever feel anything for my own character, but I was feeling for him. There’s a scene where he has no money and he grabs a few things in a convenience store and I look in my wallet and I only have five bucks, and I grab 2 bananas and some ramen noodles and some lemonade and the clerk looks at me and goes now, and I take one banana off and he’s like no, and I take another off, and he’s like no, and I don’t even know what I did, but I was like holysmokes. It’s always touching when something happens and you didn’t know it happened. It’s my first time taking direction from someone younger than me, but it wasn’t weird when I saw him work and how he got in my face, and heavy stuff went down on that set. That’s the only way I can get to these certain points, it needs to be real to me, and he did it, he put me in that space and let me play and I’m forever grateful.

We’re all hoping SPN is on the air for a long time, but Matt told us he’d also love to be cast in Eric Kripke’s new venture, Deadman.

Matt: There’s a million actors who could play that role, but even though I’ve only met Kripke once or twice in casting sessions, I feel this strange connection to him because he wrote the character of my first film, and he gave me this crazy wonderful opportunity with Michael and young John Winchester. I was researching Deadman, and what a unique character he is – he was a circus trapeze guy who was killed and kinda has the ability to come back through other people’s souls, super kind of dark, and Kripke is gonna make this amazing, it’s so Kripke. I can’t wait to see what he does with it, he’s so talented.

We relayed Matt’s message to Mr. Kripke, so who knows. Fingers crossed!

Many of the Supernatural actors are thankful to Kripke (and successor Gamble) for the unprecedented opportunities the show offers to actors. (The fans are equally thankful, in case either of you are reading, Eric and Sera… especially for those scenes that let the guys stretch their acting chops. Or lose their shirts.)

Matt: We’re so lucky to be on Supernatural, when do you get to act two characters in one show? Supernatural is the luckiest thing that’s happened to me in my life and in my career. I did 90210 and it’s rewarding, but it’s not like Supernatural, where you’re playing different things and making up characters that haven’t been played before, creating a version of Michael or the Trickster or young John. It’s a playground for an actor – even for the boys, Jared and Jensen are dealing with angels and demons and body switching and being used as vessels. It’s an absolute playground.

We admitted to never having thought of it that way, from an actor’s perspective. We know what makes the Show incredible – and unprecedented – from a fannish standpoint. Nice to hear that, once again, actors and fans are in agreement.

Matt: I have a quote my dad sent me a few weeks ago: ‘Let the children play in your heart and you’ll never get old.’ That’s what happens on Supernatural, the writers sit down and write this stuff and the kids come out of their hearts and they put it down on the page, and it transfers right to the fans and the fans get to act foolish, make centerpieces, wear costumes or wings, and we’ve got giant rubber duckies in the front row, and it’s just – we all gather and we let our children come out.

That’s what fandom’s all about, isn’t it?

Matt: I mean, last night I made out with the inflatable Misha onstage.

And that seems like the perfect place to end our chat with Matt – we’re looking forward to letting our children come out in Toronto on the weekend. Hope some of you are joining us!

We had the pleasure of catching up with Jensen Ackles at his Q & A at the Vancouver Supernatural convention yesterday. The convention was one of the best we’ve attended, both fans and guests comfortable enough with each other to kick back and let loose. More on that in our next blog post, including the wild and crazy karaoke, which we couldn’t bear to leave before it was officially over, even though we’d had about an hour of sleep the night before. It was worth it!

The small group of fans at the Q & A was more laid back than usual too – in fact, when Jensen came in and said “What’s new?” he had to prod us into giving him a bit of a run down of what had been happening at the con, and then invite questions with a sincere “I’m at your disposal.”

Never one to turn down such an invitation, we asked how Jensen’s perception of fans had changed since we first interviewed him for our book back in December of 2008. At that time, we talked at length about fans’ perception of Jensen and his view of fans, and how those expectations don’t always reflect reality on either side. Had his perception changed over the past almost three years, and was anything about that evolution surprising?

Jensen: I think just the relationships that have formed. I come here now and it’s like “Hey, good to see you again”, there are all these familiar faces – and that wasn’t something I necessarily expected, and it’s a very happy result of this. On a lot of movies or shows, you don’t get this kind of consistent interaction. So I think the fact that I get to see all you people five or six times a year is a really unique thing. I think with that comes a degree of comfort.

It seemed Jensen was reading our minds, since we’d just been writing about the uniquely reciprocal relationship between fans and the creative side of Supernatural. When we think back to the first conventions in 2007, neither side was particularly comfortable. Fans were nervous; so were actors. No one knew quite where the boundaries were, and both sides worried about inadvertently crossing them. The level of comfort and familiarity now is striking – apparently both to us and to Jensen.

Some of our fellow fans came up to Vancouver early and trekked out to a location filming earlier this week. They stood for two entire days watching the boys and the Impala and some pretty exciting guest stars whose names we won’t divulge for the spoiler-phobes out there. At the end of the second day, director Phil Sgriccia said to the cast and crew, “Let’s turn the cameras on the fans!” And that’s exactly what they did, incorporating the real fandom right into the gag reel. The cast and crew applauded the fans; fans applauded back. Reciprocal relationship? Sure sounds like it.

The Q & A went on with a question that was right up Jensen’s alley: What are your favorite old western movies?

Jensen said he liked Hang ‘Em High and Appaloosa, because of the two main characters. One of his favorites is Once Upon a Time In the West, especially the scene where Charles Bronson is cornered by three horsemen. A train comes by and stops, and nobody gets off, and then when it moves off screen, there’s Bronson, and three guys on horses who’ve come to get him.

Horseman: “Looks like we didn’t bring you a horse.”

Bronson – okay, Jensen, doing his best Charles Bronson: “Looks like you brought two too many” – and then he’s like Boom Boom Boom! And it’s awesome.

The impromptu rendition certainly was!

While Jensen took a quick break for eyedrops (“Don’t want you to think I’m doing drugs….”), a fan said “This is a random question….”

There was a time when such an ominous preface would have made a guest look nervous, but Jensen gestured her on.

Fan: Why are you carrying an offensive weapon in your pocket?

(It should be noted that this is only a random question if you didn’t see Jensen suddenly whip out a rather substantial pocket knife in the middle of the breakfast stage appearance with Jared that morning, to the surprise of the audience. It was a bit like watching Jensen morph into a very badass Dean unexpectedly. Frankly, we weren’t complaining.)

Jensen explained that his granddad and his dad always carried a pocket knife, and that as a kid he had fond memories of looking up at his granddad at holidays and Christmas, and his granddad would hand the knife down to Jensen to open boxes, so he started carrying a Swiss army knife too. “A man always has a knife on him,” his granddad would say. Alas, airline regulations forced Jensen to give up on carrying Swiss army knives in his pocket when he started flying so much — so he just started stashing them everywhere instead — in LA, in Dallas, in Vancouver.

Jensen *grin*: And they got a little bigger….

Fans: *grin back*

Jensen: In fact, this one’s similar to the one that Dean carries on the show – it’s the same brand, a Kershaw. It’s a guy thing, Clif has one, Jared has one, and it’s not really for protection, but you’d be surprised how useful they can be. You know, I use it to open things . . .

Fans: *nodding far too seriously*

Jensen: . . . to get things out of my teeth . . .

The next question, though, actually was more serious. A fan asked what he was proud of, when he thought about his second time directing an episode of SPN.

Jensen: I was proud of – and this might sound weird – of my time management.

He explained that he had managed to get a few shooting days finished in under 12 hours, which for a television show is a rarity. As he has so many times before, Jensen talked about the significant influence that Kim Manners has had in his life, including his directing. The reverence with which Jensen and everyone else on the show speak about Kim never fails to bring tears to our eyes.

Jensen: Kim always said, if a director comes on and they shoot from every angle, they’re not directing – they’re guessing. They’re just hoping they get what they need. Kim knew every shot he cut together in his head. A camera operator or someone would sometimes say, “Do you wannna just take this shot tight now?” and Kim would go, “No – they’d be expecting that.” He was always prepared, and he inspired me to be prepared, to do my homework. If a shoot goes over, it costs the studio money, and studios don’t like to lose money.

Apparently WB exec Peter Roth phoned after Jensen’s second directorial stint, saying he was just calling to pat him on the back. Not too shabby!

So, speaking of directing…

Fan: Which will you focus on then, directing or acting?

Jensen: (without skipping a beat): Acting.

Another fan, overcome with curiosity: Because??

Jensen: Because I’m still new at it, I still get the jitters. And I have a crew who I know and trust thoroughly that surrounds me, they’ll do anything they can to help me, and that’s rare. If I was asked to direct an episode of Fringe, I’d freak. But if they asked me to guest star, I’d be like “Sweet!”

It’s clear that Ackles prefers the creative side.

Jensen: With actors, there’s a unique sensation, when a director calls “action,” it’s like in the movie For the Love of the Game, when the crowd just goes quiet, and it’s like, ‘clear the mechanism.’ I’m not thinking about anything else, just working with the other actor and being in the moment. And it’s really cool, I enjoy it. So I guess it’s good I do what I do for a living.

Fans: Agreed!

When asked if he’d thought about producing, Jensen said he didn’t have much desire to be a “situational problem solver,” that he loves the creative problem solving side instead. Like how can we tell this story the best way we can? How can we compose this shot? How do I motivate this actor to get him over there, in a way that makes sense to the audience? He added that Jared actually was much more of a technical problem solver, and would probably be a great producer.

As most fans know, Jensen struggled with his character’s storyline on Season 6, and came close to succumbing to burnout in the first half of the Sam-centric but Dean-heavy storyline. So when a fan asked what his favorite scene in S6 was, he groaned and said, “I just knew I was gonna get asked about Season 6!” He reiterated his struggle with the first half of the season, when the story was about Sam, without much real exploration of Dean’s character, yet told from Dean’s perspective, so Jensen was always working.

Jensen: So when Sam finally got his soul back? THAT was my favorite episode. I could get back to being Dean, with Sam and Dean.

Fans seemed to concur. And hey, that was one epic hug – almost worth waiting all that time for!

One of the more interesting questions was about how easy it is after seven seasons to “put Dean on in the morning and take him off at night”. Is it harder after all this time to let the character go?

Jensen: Actually it’s easier, which might be surprising. The longer I’ve played Dean, the more of a character he’s become. When I look at Season 1 and 2, I can see Jensen being Dean, whereas now when I watch Season 5 or 6, it’s just Dean. That toggle switch has become very easy to use.

Fan: Do you ever find yourself thinking oh, that thing I did just seemed like Dean?

Jensen (laughing): No, but Danneel does. She’ll say “You sounded just like Dean just then,” and I’ll be like, “Did I?” So it might be a bit of an unconscious thing. If I had to play an awful character, it might be different – but I like Dean as a character. I love playing him. I get to explore emotions with him, and humor with him. Dean makes me happy – so if I have to be him all day, it doesn’t change me.

Fans: Dean makes us happy too!

Ackles also gave us some insight into the mini backpack cameras they now use to get difficult shots, noting that before they had them, photographer Brad was sometimes crouching in the trunk of the impala with a full film camera, shooting up at Jensen and Jared. (This is not a crew who isn’t willing to do what it takes to get the job done, that’s for sure.) Jensen used some of the backpack camera shots for the episode he just directed.

Shortest Q & A exchange of the afternoon:

Fan: Will you sing again?

Jensen: No. Only on my couch.

Entire room: (silently) WAHHH!

Another interesting question was about the fight scenes that Ackles has had with his costar. Is it difficult to have such violent fight scenes with a good friend, like the one at the end of “Swan Song”?

Jensen: No, I prefer to have fight scenes with Jared, because I know he’s so good at it. He and I have been doing this so long, and this is gonna sound (like we’re) gay, but it’s like a dance partner, if you dance with that partner long enough you just know how to go along with their moves, and it’s kinda the same stage fighting with him. He sets himself this way, I’m prepared to take the hit this way, so it’s really more a dance. We prefer to work with each other because it’s so easy between the two of us.

Fans: Awwww

Jensen then increased the ‘awww’ factor by sharing that he got a call from his brother after the scene where “Jared was beating the piss outta me” aired.

Jensen: My brother called and was like, I’ve never gotten emotional with your show, and I was like, “Were you crying?” and he said no, I wanted to jump in the tv and help you. And I was like, “Okay, now I’m crying!”

Fans: *sniffle*

Jensen: And it’s a testament to Jared and how good he is.

Fans: Even MORE ‘awwww’

Jensen shared an amusing story from the meta episode, “The French Mistake”, saying he was glad he didn’t actually have to play himself, but could stay in character as Dean being mistaken for Jensen. When he saw the set trailer, he was like, “I want a trailer like this!” Then he spotted the helicopter, and was just reaching out to touch it when he was unceremoniously slapped on the hand and given strict instructions not to touch the $10,000 “toy”. We’re not sure he’s entirely over it yet.

The last question of the afternoon was, fittingly, about Jensen’s future plans. Any movies?

He answered no, but added that the desire was there, and that while he felt it was a bit weird to say it out loud, some film producers were aware of him. He had a meeting with Michael Bay’s company, and was assuming that of course he’d have to explain to them who the hell he was. Instead, when he walked in they all said “Hey congratulations, we love your show!”

Fans: Obviously producers with good taste.

So when Supernatural does end (which won’t be for a very long time….right??) there are people who are interested. As Supernatural and film producer McGee told Jensen, “You keep riding that wave, and as soon as it dissipates, I’ve got your back.”

Jensen: Hopefully it’s not just a bunch of industry bullshit.

Seems like the new CW president is actually a fan of the show and knows who its actors are, in stark contrast to the previous regime, so that bodes well. There are no guarantees, of course, but everyone seems to be anticipating a Season 8 – or at least hoping for it.

As Max the always empathic Creation volunteer had the thankless task of calling time on the Q & A, Jensen turned back to the room on his way out, and added a few thoughts of his own, with obvious emotion.

Jensen: I know I probably don’t say it enough, but it’s getting this kind of passionate feedback from people who are really interested in the Show and what we do . . . It’s very gratifying, and really means a lot. So thank you.

Supernatural and its fans: Reciprocal relationship? We think so. In fact, we’ve written two whole books about it. And we’re ridiculously excited to announce that our first book on Supernatural and its fans, Stalking Fandom, will be published in early 2012.

Stalking Fandom is all about the reciprocal relationship Jensen referred to – so we talked to both sides. Many of you have contributed your fannish insights and passionate feedback, and Supernatural’s showrunners and writers and actors have contributed their thoughtful insights about what it’s like to be on the other side of the fence. We hope you guys will find the view from both sides as interesting as we have — and enjoy the incredible photographs of Jared, Jensen and the rest of the gang as much as we do. Let us know!

More from Vancon to come…..

Photo by Lyssa Junek

Lynn (trying not to make a face): Let’s just tell ourselves that, shall we?

Kathy (trying to be helpful): When I was in Greece they just let us go into the kitchen and point at what looked good.

Matt: We started doing that after a while. We found this bakery not too far from our hotel, and we just started going in there. Their baked goods blow our baked goods out of the water.

Lynn: So how was the con itself? Was it different? Were the fans different?

Matt: It’s funny – the Brazilian fans – I don’t think one fan showed up without a gift for all three of us, me, Misha and Chad. It was really nice. The fans were amazing. The culture, it’s very kissy, so we were just kissing everybody. It was a great experience.

Lynn and Kathy (silently): Kissing everybody? Clearly a great experience for the fans as well…..

Matt: The crowd was small, under 500, so the three of us were really able to give them a lot. We were staying in the hotel with fans, we were eating breakfast with fans. It was a great experience – I would definitely go back.

Apparently Brazil has excellent taste in television too.

Matt: The following is huge! Like Misha got recognized on the street there more than he is here.

Lynn: It sounds like everyone was really welcoming.

Matt: So welcoming. During our autograph session they all had a gift, they all had a story. Chad never even sat down – he was on the other side of the table with every fan. That’s how we were the whole time. They gave us funny hats, we were acting foolish the whole time. We just gave into it. . . . During the convention Chad would just run out into the crowd, and you’d hear people screaming. Me and Chad would wake up and eat breakfast in the hotel and I had just met Chad. We had never worked together. You’ve gotta remember, I’ve only done two episodes.

One of the great things about conventions is that it’s not only the fans getting to know each other and making new friendships – it’s the actors too. We sometimes forget that most of them never actually worked on the same episodes of Supernatural, so conventions are the only times they see each other. In fact, we had just introduced Matt to a few of the other people who happened to be in the green room, forgetting to explain who they were.

Matt: The girl that I just met, was she an actress?

Kathy and Lynn: Danneel? That’s Jensen’s wife.

Matt: There you go! Everyone thinks we all know each other. I’ve only hung out with the boys a couple of times — and obviously me and Misha are trying to do some charity work together.

Lynn: Random Acts — tell us about that.

(Note: filming obligations prevented Matt from going to Haiti, but he remains passionate about the work. Misha and the other contributors have just returned from what sounds like an amazing effort).

Matt: I’m going to spend a week in Haiti building an orphanage. We’re building a 3,000-4,000 square foot orphanage on a 10,000 square foot lot.

Lynn: And you’re going to actually build it right? There’s nothing there?

Matt: Yeah, there’s nothing there. They broke ground and there’s a foundation, but that’s it. So I’m going to go there for a week. More than anything I’m doing it selfishly. I want to be changed, I want to be affected. I’m married now, and the things that are important to me have been important to me for the last couple of years, but now it’s like I don’t want to waste any more time. If there’s something that I can help with I want to be there. I’m so excited to go. I’m scared, but I’m excited to go. . . . Through Random Acts we worked with this website called Crowd Rise. People can create their own page and raise money and all the people who raised $5000 or more are coming with us. There’s going to be about thirty people. And a bunch of people who aren’t going but still raised $1000 or $2000. I think when fans see what we’re doing it’s just going to make it that much more worthwhile.

The reason Matt didn’t get to go is an exciting one – he’s filming a new movie, which sounds amazing – and challenging.

Matt: It’s called Fluid – it’s about three friends, one’s a young father with a newborn who had a get rich quick scheme that failed so the bank is taking his house, one is a trust-fund kid who’s been rich all his life who has a drug issue so his parents cut him off, and then there’s my character, who’s this womanizing, so-cool-with-everything, just wants to slide through life, he doesn’t want to work, he wants the easiest way. These three friends, two nights before Halloween, hear from someone they know in the mob that there will be a giant Halloween party cash transfer, so we have this moment of – you can solve your problems – and me, I’m like a cowboy – yeah, let’s do it! It’s nothing like me and it’s amazing to put a pistol in your hand and become a character. To put a pistol in somebody’s mouth is life changing. Matt Cohen can’t do that. So it’s surreal. There’s this scene where our buddy’s like, something is going to go wrong and the kid’s like “Don’t worry, I know this guy who’s got guns.” And the other guy is like – “You know somebody with guns?” These are three normal guys – picture me, Jared and Jensen sitting around a table — and I’m like “Listen, I know this guy with guns, there’s 12 million dollars, we won’t have to do anything.”

Lynn: Is it hard for you to act violent scenes, psychologically?

Matt: I’m not a completely method actor, but like 80-90%. So when we’re building up to the scene that we’re going to shoot Monday where I break in the office where all the stuff goes down, I take it home with me and I bring it to set with me. It affects my relationships. I can’t just (do it). I have to listen to the music my character would listen to, I have to brush my teeth a little bit differently, I have to do things that aren’t Matt Cohen to feel like my character Dave. A lot of actors don’t work like that. It’s more draining to do a horror movie – or so I think. With the horror movies I would get so sick. For Boogeyman II we shot this scene where I’m going back and forth between personalities. I didn’t eat for three days before, I drank nothing but coffee and smoked five packs of cigarettes. I was disgusting, I was gross, I was dirty, I was –

Kathy: Jittery.

Matt: Jittery! And the thing was, we wrapped and I was happy with the scene and now I watch it and there’s obviously things I would do differently, it was my first movie, but you have to give everything. Acting doesn’t come easily to me at all. I work really hard to be average enough to work and keep working. I’m far from where I want to be.

No wonder Matt fits in so well with the Supernatural cast – so many of them have the same work ethic when it comes to acting, and talk about their craft in the same thoughtful way.

We also discovered that Matt and Kathy have something in common – fear of flying.

Matt: It will never stop me, but I just hate being on a plane. I don’t know if it’s a control thing. Misha’s talked to me about a hypnotist. I have a ritual of things I do before every flight – certain jewelry, certain things that I wear, I’m right handed and I always switch my baggage to my left hand and touch the plane when I get on. I close my eyes and say “Take care of me.” And I will only sit in a seat where I can see the wing because when turbulence happens it feels more than what it is, so I have to look out at the wings to see it barely going like this [gestures to indicate there’s not much really happening]. You’ll see me on bad flights like this [mimes taking deep breaths with his eyes closed] because my heart racing and I get tunnel vision and I get dizzy. People are like “How was the flight” and I say “I’m alive, I’m talking to you. Perfect flight!”

Kathy: I look for babies on flights. If there’s a baby on the flight I’m ok.

Matt: You know what – I’m the same way. . . . I like to believe if there’s babies he’s going to let them live a little bit. If there’s a baby crying I’m like “Bring him, bring him! Sit him right next to me, I’ll hold him. If he throws up on me, I don’t care!”

Lynn and Kathy: (picturing Matt being the in-flight entertainment for the babies on board) Awwww.

A newlywed, Matt also inspired some ‘awwws’ when he talked about being married.

Matt: It’s such a great thing. I’ve been married mentally for three years, we’ve been engaged for three years, but we just haven’t had time or the money to have the wedding that we wanted to have and finally we were just like “Done! We’re doing it.” It literally is the happiest day of your life. I was never nervous. Never for a second. When I stood up there in front of a hundred people and I said what I said to her, there was nobody but her. I got really lucky. It was a perfect day. Pictures should be popping up soon. I haven’t even gotten them from the photographer because I just haven’t been home to get them. I also had a documentary film maker in New York, Samantha Farinella, a good friend of mine, shoot the whole wedding documentary style. I’m going to do the editing myself.

Kathy: You tweeted about the wedding and posted pictures for fans, right?

Matt: Whenever I have 20 minutes I just sit down and start answering questions. Even if it’s just to say “Hi!” It’s the least I can do. Obviously I only have 10,000 followers, so it’s different for someone like me as opposed to someone like Jared who just signed on and he’s got like 50,000. The fans I have now I think will be the fans I have for the rest of my career, so I make a point to answer. I give them Matt Cohen 100%. I don‘t sugar coat. Like when I’m onstage I’m kinda geeky, I can’t dance, I can’t sing, I just want to have fun.

Lynn (protesting): You do the Jerk.

Matt: [laughs] If you look up the real dance online, what I do is just a terrible, terrible misconception of what it’s supposed to look like.

Kathy (putting a positive spin on): It’s a . . . reinterpretation.

Matt: [skeptical] I like to consider it more a backwards skip than any kind of dance.

Lynn: Fans really appreciate the back and forth they have with you.

Matt: I try to do as much as I can with Twitter. I send greetings, I love to say happy birthday. It hurts my feelings if one fan dislikes me. I want to make the movies they want to see, I want it to be a conjunction of what I love and what they love – my career, that’s what I want it to be. If they say “You should play this character” I want to look to get cast in that kind of role. It’s such a small percentage of my energy to do that. If I can make 10,000 people happy, if someone asks me something and it’s within my power [I’ll do it]. If you’re not giving back, why should people pay you so much money to recite lines? I understand that acting is an art and it takes a lot out of you, it really does, but it’s the amount of rejection that you’re actually being paid for. The 500 times a year that people tell you “You suck!” you’re getting paid for that 501st time that somebody says “Okay, we can work with you.” And you just have to accept that. …. I know actors who can’t get an agent, can’t get an audition. So when I go on an audition I make it like a day of work. I wake up at six in the morning, I go to the gym, I get focused, I eat the best breakfast, I make it like my 9-5. . . .

Photo by Lyssa Junek

Matt: And I work out in the gym because it’s a necessary thing for a guy who’s my character type, I have to be fit. People don’t understand, I want to be healthy, but I work out as hard as I do because it’s my job. Anybody that tells you their body doesn’t sell their work is lying and number two that sex doesn’t sell is lying.

Lynn and Kathy (deadpan): You’ll like our book.

Matt: I can’t wait to read it. Truthfully I walk into an audition and it’s me and ten dudes who look like Jared and Jensen…..Before you even say a word of your audition, they’re already going in their mind “Not even close” and then you read your audition and they’re going “okay, thank you.” And you just know it. They’ve judged you before you’ve opened your mouth. It doesn’t matter how great you are, what you believe in, who your family is, none of that matters.

Kathy: We’ve talked to the other Supernatural actors about this too – how do you cope with that level of rejection?

Matt: Cookies! Binge eating Oreos. It hurts your stomach, but boy does it feel good.

Lynn (attempting a smooth journalistic transition…..sorta): Speaking of the way you look being part of how you sell yourself, what was it like doing that scene in Cowgirl Up? (If you haven’t checked out crossdressing Matt in soap suds covered shorts yet, please do – whew!)

Matt: Thank you guys for watching that! I don’t think I’m good in the character by any means, but I think it was one of the more courageous things I’ve done as an actor. As LA views me, I want them to see that, I want that to be the only thing on my acting reel. I just gave into it and it wasn’t that I was making fun of being transgender, it was more that I was giving in to what a crossdressing, transgender person would do and would be like. I shaved my legs! It took me like five hours! These legs [graciously shows us his legs] don’t shave easily! I’m like a wildebeest. And growing back – I’m telling you sleeping is not fun when your legs rub together and I wake up with rashes on my calves, among other places. It’s tough. I would just have to have some kind of surgery to never grow hair again if I were a lady.

Kathy (in another smooth journalistic transition): Have you seen Chad in drag?

Matt: No I haven’t.

Kathy: Watch The Velocity of Gary. (The rest of you – do the same!)

Matt: Let me tell you something about him. I had no idea who he was. When I saw him I said “Oh my god, it’s the guy from The Fast and the Furious!” We sat down and he is amazing. I’ve never seen him on Supernatural. I’ve seen his picture with the mullet but I wasn’t familiar with his work. I remember him being great in The Fast and the Furious, I remember feeling so genuinely hurt when he loses his car and the race. So I look up his work and I’m just like, I want to be him. I told him “Your whole energy is so great, you’re just a great actor.” Everything about him, who he is, the person he is to the fans, he’s amazing.

We happen to agree 100%. About Matt as well as Chad – and just about everyone else we’ve gotten to know who’s connected to Supernatural. Obviously we picked the perfect Show and fandom, as did the rest of you reading this blog!

More from Nashcon soon – including lunch with Matt’s new buddy Chad and Richard Speight Jr. and two big announcements from us at Fangasm!

We wanted to offer our belated but no less heart-felt congratulations to the Brian Buckley Band for their House of Blues competition win. You’ll be able to check them out in Los Angeles on July 12th. Full details at the House of Blues. And thanks to all the wonderful fans who made it happen!!

Coming soon – an interview with Matt Cohen on fans, charity work and his new film Fluid.

Jared and Brian in Nashville

Lynn: So tell us about the House of Blues contest.

Brian: It’s actually a really cool thing. They’re doing a pledge drive, so to speak – for what they call “New Music Nights”. What they do is – it’s not really new music, we’ve played there before – but they do a nationwide thing. And we got selected. Ten bands got selected.

Lynn: That’s a really big deal – of all the bands they could have picked, to be one of only ten.

Brian: Exactly! And all the bands are great. They selected ten great bands. And we went from last place to second place in no time at all.

(We’re happy to say that we helped get the word out about voting and the fans rose to the occasion – as we always do!)

Brian: Yeah! And if we win, at first we play Orange County, Anaheim , Vegas and San Diego House of Blues with two other bands who’ve won and then we have a chance to play nationwide at ALL the House of Blues – and there’s like thirty-something. So that would be amazing. We’ve had help from Creation and our management and our former label – everyone’s come out to help.

Lynn: That’s really, really cool. So where are you now? Last time I checked you were still at second place.

Brian: I think so. Yes, we’re in second place.

Kathy: When does the voting stop?

Brian: Voting ends on June 8th. And every single vote helps. Every little bit helps so much.

Brian’s close friend Jared has been a huge help too, as Brian told us.

Brian: And Jared helps so much.

Lynn: How?

Brian (laughing) So we were teasing Jared….

Apparently the conversation went something like this:

Brian: “You gotta get a Twitter”

Jared: “Do you have a Twitter?”

Brian: “Yeah, we have one for the band.”

Jared: “No, do you have a Twitter?”

Brian: “Umm….No.”

Jared: “So why do I need a Twitter?”

Brian: “To help us out!”

Brian went on to talk more about Jared’s support and friendship.

Jared and Brian fooling around after Brian's show at the Nashville SPN con

Brian: And he’s been amazing, obviously. He did it this morning.

(As most of you who read this blog know, we ended up a bit in the middle of the twitter will-he-or-won’t-he by breaking the news, which Brian alluded to next).

Brian: Which by the way, Dan (from the band) felt horrible about that.

Lynn: (laughing) I texted him back and said “Dude, we are in such trouble!”

Brain: What happened was Jared was going to go to Europe for the conventions and he was going to tweet from there, so Dan said, “Should I tell Lynn that he’s going to get one?” and I said “I’m pretty sure he’s going to get one.” And you put it perfectly – you said “Stay tuned.” And then instantly we were getting all these texts and stuff asking us what was happening. It was crazy! I told Jared about it last night over a beer. It was like a game of telephone – put it out there and see if it’s the same when it gets back.

Kathy: And of course it never is.

Brian: The best part is my manager or someone told me about what Clif said and so I went online and I don’t know anything about Twitter or how to do any of that retweet stuff – the band does it – So I saw Clif’s thing and I thought “Now we have to explain this to everybody!”

Lynn: No worries, we got in touch with Clif right away and explained. It’s all good. (Though for a while there it was pretty crazy….)

Kathy: So what other cons are you doing?

Brian: We’re doing Chicago, and New Jersey. In New Jersey it’s just going to be me and Mike because taking the full band there is just too hard for one night. We’re doing some other shows outside the cons in Chicago and New York.

Lynn: That will be a great opportunity for fans to see you in some other venues too. So was it supposed to be just you here?

Brian: It was actually just going to be a fun weekend away sort of thing and then Jared was like ‘You should play.’ And I was like ‘Ok, as long as it’s cool with Creation’. So I contacted them and they were amazing and totally welcoming.

To the benefit of all of us. Thank you, Creation – and Jared!

So what else is going on with Brian Buckley Band?

Brain: We have the new record coming out – Hysterical Blindness. We’re doing it independently with no label. We’re testing the waters to see how that goes. It’s less promotion, less distribution, less money, but creatively it’s amazing. It comes out on June 21st. And we’re doing a House of Blues show on July 12 for the competition. Save the dates, fandom!

Jared joined us for some of our chat with Brian, and also got onstage after the concert to ask the Supernatural fandom for our support with the band’s House of Blues votes. We’re sure most of you know what a great guy Mr. Padalecki is, but we thought we’d add a little tidbit from Fangasm the book to illustrate how we found out firsthand how supportive he can be.

The first time we visited the Supernatural set to interview Jared and Jensen, filming ran very late, as it often does on Fridays. It was close to midnight and Jared had a plane to catch, so we’d resigned ourselves to the fact that no interview was going to happen. Alas. However, we had seriously underestimated what a great guy Jared is. Instead of blowing off the interview, he wrapped and then came to find us.

PA: It’s too late, we can’t do the interview.

Lynn and Kathy: (sobbing on the inside) No problem, we totally understand.

Jared: Yes we can — Just follow me, we can do the interview on the run.

So off we went. On the run. Literally. Across the soundstage, leaping over cables and wires and assorted other stuff in the near-darkness. Jared, whose legs are twice the size of all of us, bounded along ahead, holding our recorder in one hand and answering the questions we yelled over to him as we trailed along behind. Across the lot we went, Jared still talking. Into the makeup trailer we went, Jared answering questions with amazing thoughtfulness and clarity as Jeannie scrubbed off Sam and brought back Jared. Then it was out of the makeup trailer, oops forgot the recorder, oh wait, Jared helpfully scooped it up for us! He was so efficient that we ended up with plenty of time once we finally got to his trailer, settling in for a fascinating conversation about everything from being an actor to having fans to keeping your real self sane in the midst of everything else. Sadie and Harley fell asleep on our feet and Jared made sure he answered every single one of our questions.

Pretty incredible guy. And his friends seem to be made of the same stuff, judging by guys like Jensen and Brian. So come on fandom, join Jared in supporting the amazingly talented Brian Buckley Band and send them across the country on the House of Blues tour so you can all get to hear them for yourself!

Vote here: http://www.newmusicnights.sonicbids.com Voting ends on June 8th!

Good luck, guys! We’ll keep you all posted!

More from Nashville soon with Matt, Richard and Chad….