I'm one of your rewatchers, Keith, and... we wanted to do a different episode today, where we talk to some of the people that have been carrying on the torch of the Highlander Universe.
We're joined this week by three individuals. One has been cataloguing all the locations from the Highlander film and television series; the other has been intimately involved in bringing the Adrian Paul Sword Experiences to a city near you; and finally we talk to someone who has started, perhaps the biggest Adrian Paul fanclub in the world. So without further ado, we hope you enjoy hearing their stories.
Keith: Hey Andy! Thanks for joining us on Highlander Rewatched!
1:38 Andy: Well thanks for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.
Keith: Awesome, awesome! So, we've been talking to a lot of people that have been carrying the torch, and continuing the spirit of Highlander and, do you want to tell our listeners: in what kind of special way do YOU continue to carry the torch for the Highlander franchise?
1:54 Andy: Well for the most part, I seem to be the main one, at least recently anyway, who has taken it upon themself to try to pinpoint as many of the filming locations used in the movie--well, movies—and, uh, the TV show, but primarily the TV show, so that I can document them all, and share them with the fans when I have them in a more complete state.
Keith: That's busy. How did you get into kind of cataloging all those locations?
2:20 Andy: In about the spring 2012 is when I really kind of started in, and I had envisioned going to Vancouver and, you know, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the show later that fall, but, um, something happened, and I had to postpone my trip, so I had the extra year-and-a-half or so to prepare for it, as it turned out, and, uh, I just decided, "Hey, well, I'll just keep trekking along, here, and see how many I can find." You know, I didn't want to go there to Vancouver with just a half-a-dozen places; you know, I wanted to do it big, you know, if I was going to do it all. So, that's what I did. I just kept on and kept on, and I found a whole lot via Google Earth, and Google Maps and stuff like that. But Google Earth actually has been a great tool.
Keith: Awesome! Yeah, I was going to ask you. How, exactly, do you go about pinpointing these locations?
3:09 Andy: Well, I'll go, you know, episode by episode, scene by scene, and spend a great deal of time on some of the places, and, thankfully, once you find so many of them, you have a fair amount of area covered in Vancouver and its surrounding environment and then you kind of stumble upon others. You can begin to recognize certain areas, and you say, "Oh, that kind of looks like this part of town," or that part of town, or whatever. And, uh, in some cases, what they'll do is they'll have one particular filming location and then they'll turn the camera around and, lo and behold, you're magically in another place, when you're really, in reality, just turned around.
Keith: Right! *laughs*
Andy: Yeah.
Keith: So you're literally kind of just scouring Google Earth, trying to find the locations that match up with Highlander?
Andy: Basically.
Keith: Wow! That's an insane amount of work, I think, and not in a bad way! I didn't mean to say insane like uh, you know--
4:00 Andy: No, no, no, that's okay. Ken Gord actually said that I must be some kind of a rabid fan, you know--
Keith: *laughs*
Andy: --and I'm friends with Steve Geaghan, the Production Designer on the first four seasons for the Vancouver segments, and I've got him on video when I was in Vancouver last; he was telling the members of the tour that I led, he said that I knew the show better than he did, and I knew the locations better than he ever did. So that was kind of really nice to have him pay tribute.
Keith: Totally! That's awesome!
Andy: I'm sure you're aware of the Highlander World Wide Fan Club.
Keith: Mmhm!
4:31 Andy: Mmhm. Yes. The president, Carmel Macpherson, I approached her in the summer of 2013, with the notion of perhaps putting out another newsletter 'cause I noticed that they didn't have one for about two and a half years or so at that point, or maybe even longer; I can't recall off the top of my head. But at any rate, you know, I said, "So I'm doing all this filming-location scouting here and I think it would be neat if we could put some of these locations in a new edition of the newsletter." And she said, "Well, that's a great idea, and we're also in the process of revamping the website," which, still, unfortunately, hasn't come to pass. But, um, you know, she said that they wanted to do a segment where on each of the pages of the website that deal with individual episodes, where they talk about the filming locations and they wanted to use my work, and I also asked if I could be the Locations Master for the Highlander WorldWide Fan Club, and she said to consider myself so dubbed.
Keith: Awesome! Hahah. How did you get into Highlander? I feel like everyone I talk to has kind of a unique experience, including myself, of how they kind of were introduced to the mythology of Highlander.
5:34 Andy: Well, I had, apparently, watched a few episodes here and there, when it was on but never with any real regularity, so I didn't know a whole lot about what was going on, and it was--it must have been--you know, maybe I saw an episode or two from Season Two and Season Three, but I had no clue what was going on, because as I said, I didn't watch it with any regularity. And then in the Christmastime of 1998, I asked my parents to get the First Season on VHS for me from the Highlander Catalogue. As you know they had that going on.
Keith: Right.
6:04 Andy: And, uh, so they did and, and, you know, before I got that actually for Christmas, I'd gone to the video store and I'd rented the, you know, the three Highlander movies at that point, and then I watched the, uh, TV show when I got it for Christmas and I was immediately hooked. So, I just have been enjoying it profusely--*laughs*--since then!
Keith: *laughing* Right! Awesome! How long have you been doing tours of the Highlander locations?
6:27 Andy: Well, the first tour that I mentioned that I tried to go on was in October of '12, and as I said, I had to postpone it. So I ended up going for the first time towards the end of April of 2014, and, in the run-up to that, at least six months out, I was telling people, "Hey, I'm gonna go! Does anybody want to go with me?" And I just couldn't get any takers. I mean, there was one guy that said that he wanted to go, but then when I went and finally bought my tickets, he said, "Well, I didn't really think you were gonna go, so I didn't save enough money." So I was, "Okay!"
Keith: *laughs*
6:55 Andy: Well, I don’t know why he thought I wasn't going to go, but whatever. So, he, unfortunately, missed out on that. But, um, so I went in the last week of April of 2014, and then I went again in mid-September of 2015. And I had a few more people that time. I was actually able to take four other people. Well, my wife, and then three other people.
Keith: Awesome! What is it about visiting the locations that is important and special to you?
7:19 Andy: It's just incredible to see it. If, I mean, if you see the TV show and the segments, uh, specifically in Vancouver--'cuz that's all I've ever been to is, uh, for the Vancouver segments--but, uh, the locations, they look really interesting. They have a lot of, uh, unique architecture in some of the buildings in the downtown area and stuff like that. Well, the TV show just doesn't do it justice. If you actually go there, you can see all kinds of things: the colors, and the shapes, and the textures of everything--it's just really amazing, I've found.
Keith: Awesome. Why do you think the Highlander franchise has endured so long? It's now the Thirtieth Anniversary. What makes it so special?
7:57 Andy: Well, I think that there's pretty much something for just about everybody in it. You know, there's action, and the romance, and, you know, a fair bit of history, too. Sometimes they kind of flub it a little bit, but it's very good entertainment. And you have to be, uh, pretty astute, I think, to really get the most out of it; you gotta pay attention. There was a fan at one of the conventions that said, you know, that Highlander is intelligent television, and I really liked that quote, and I always found that that was a true statement.
Keith: With your location scouting, has there been any locations that have surprised you? Or, you know, astounded you in certain way? In a certain way? Either it being, uh, maybe not exactly what you'd expect to see, like the TV show maybe showed that location in a different light? Or, just something about the area was special?
8:41 Andy: Not necessarily. I mean, I was kind of surprised, sometimes, because like I mentioned before, you can turn around and you're in "another location". So, discovering that they did tricks like that was kind of interesting. Um, but... you know sometimes you would--I would notice that certain scenes were spliced together footage from areas that were, in reality, nowhere near close to one another. So that was... that was probably kind of the most surprising, if you will.
Keith: TV Magic!
Andy: Yeah, exactly!
9:09 Keith: We ask everyone who comes on our show this question. Would you ever want to be Immortal? And, if you were, what would you do?
Andy: Well, uh, sure. I think that would be kind of unique... an opportunity to have. And I think they do try to get that across in the show, too. Even though it does have its drawbacks, I would like to see, you know, how history unfolds, and the various changes that would transpire throughout history, and I would try to learn as much as I could about just all sorts of different things.
Keith: Definitely! So, do you have any upcoming tours?
9:39 Andy: Actually, yes. Um, I have a tour planned for next July [2017] and, unfortunately it's full, so I can't take anybody on right now, we have two p--
Keith: Oh, wow! That's amazing that it's full now!
9:50 Andy: Yeah, we have two people on standby, and last year I was able to coordinate it so that we could meet with about seven people that were associated with the show. And this year I'm going to try to shoot for ten people, and we'll see how that goes. I've already got several people that say that if their schedules will allow for it, they will meet with us when we come. And one of those has pretty much said he will set aside the time to make sure he gets to see us, so, we'll see how it goes!
Keith: Awesome! Well, in the future, keep us posted on your upcoming tour dates, and we'll make sure to let our listeners know!
Andy: Okay.
Keith: And we can pass along their info to you. Thanks so much, Andy, for joining us and talking a little bit about what you contribute to the Highlander Universe. If we have any location questions or, on our Facebook page, if there's ever a location that you know was in an episode, that you think is worth talking about, shoot us a message and we can put some details up from you! That'd be great! So yeah, thanks a lot!
10:40 Andy: Okay! Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Keith: Perfect. Alright! Awesome, Andy! Take care!
Andy: Thank you, you too! Bye!
Collin: Hey, good morning, guys.
Keith: Hey, Collin!
Eamon: Hey!
Keith: Welcome to Highlander Rewatched! How you doing, man?
Collin: *chuckles* I'm very well. How are you?
Keith: Pretty good!
Eamon: Good!
10:59 Collin: God. Philadelphia was just on my thought-process, recently. I was actually talking to Adrian and I hope to have some good news for you.
Eamon: Ohhh!
Keith: Oh! Perhaps a Sword-Experience coming our way?
Collin: Uh, maaaaybe!
Keith: That'd be great!
Eamon: Ooh! That's exciting! Yeah.
Keith: I'm sure he's... I think he would have a pretty good following in this area.
Eamon: Yeah!
Collin: I KNOW he does.
*laughter*
Eamon: Hi, Collin. My name's Eamon. I didn't introduce myself.
Collin: Hi, Eamon, nice to meet you.
Eamon: Nice to meet you, too. Thanks for coming on!
11:26 Collin: Yeah, definitely. It was interesting timing, too. Last night I had my sort-of first live-Tweet session with some of the Highlander fans, watching the first episode and, um, I realized how much I don't know about the show!
Keith: Wow!
Collin: So, it's kind of a fun opportunity to 90s throwback.
Eamon: Yeah! It is. It's like the ultimate 90s throwback.
Keith: So--
11:50 Collin: You know, the show itself feels a little bit timeless? As far as like it--it feels like it could happen at any point, but it's the MUsic, and some of the other acting choices and line choices, where you're like: "Oh man! Is this 90s!"
Keith: & Eamon: Yup! Absolutely!
Keith: So Collin, the reason why we wanted to have you on the show, obviously, is: Do you want to tell the listeners out there what kind of special relationship you have to the Highlander franchise?
12:14 Collin: Well, a couple years back--it was 2014, I had been working with a few different celebrities, and... my name had gotten passed around for... making a little bit of noise on social media, and the Internet, and Twitter and all that sort of thing. And Adrian has, as you are well aware, the PEACE Fund Organization, a charity for children solving global issues, be it water, or heart surgery, or... really, anything in the education realm. I was very connected, overall, to that kind of rising tide of good. The amount of celebrities he was connect to showed me that we could get the message out with a little bit of help, for an event called The Peace Fund Games. If you look it up on the Internet, it's #pfg14 because we were planning on having many more similar. And we've had other games. Poker, for instance. Peace Fund Poker we did two years in a row with Adrian raising a lot of money, putting wells in Africa #money4water I think was one year that we were working with the Peace Fund Organization. Up to sixty celebrities, we had about a hundred or so guests. Fans of the particular celebrities, fans of poker, celebrity poker players themselves, just all sort of contributing their time and energy and social media voice to their cause. We've raised thousands and thousands of dollars through this charity over the past couple of years with Adrian, and only recently did he come to me and say, "Hey, I had this idea about reaching into the Highlander community and seeing if I can connect with them on a more personal one-to-one level." And of course my mission, as a social media enthusiast, is to get people connected to their people. So, in the case of celebrities: connected to their fans and their audience; from the absolute fanatics that would just like anything signed and want to take pictures; to someone like me, who just appreciates his contribution to the artistic world; and to teach them a skill! So, it's not just like a hang-out session like, "Hey, do you remember that time, in that one episode, when you did that thing? Oh my God it was so great!" He probably doesn't remember that--**Keith: Right!**--because that was a MOMENT in a hundred and twelve episodes, in a large acting career, in just the one show. So, we gave both the audience and Adrian something to do other than talk about something that happened in the Nineties! It's not the Nineties anymore. **Keith: Yeah!** Though, you look at Adrian, you're like: "Seriously, are you immortal?"
Keith: Yeah! *laughs*
15:06 Collin: "Just say yes or no, it's fine. You can nod! I'll take a nod, if you don't, like... if you can't really reveal it. Just blink, or something at me." But, yeah. The guy doesn't age much. And uh, having been around him as much as I have over the past couple of years and, I mean... what you're seeing in Highlander is obviously really good acting--I don't know if you've watched sort of the behind-the-scenes footage or anything of Adrian....
Keith: Uh, yeah, sometimes, yeah.
15:31 Collin: So, you've seen the sort of playful, dry humor side of--I mean, he IS English, um... *Keith laughs* So, I get to see that a little bit more often. Um, he's really funny. Sometimes you don't see it coming at all. He is a very focused and motivated businessman, incredibly creative; just looking for any excuse to really connect to his following and provide them something that is not being provided to them, currently. I was amazed at how motivated he was to provide experiences in these social media endeavors that we did together for Peace Fun Games. It was very much "Let's take a Hunger Games approach," you know, so we throw a whole bunch of celebrities on the field, and they... and the sort of like last one to survive wins, but we allow--just like Hunger Games--fans to buy us lives, extra ammo, respawns, to put people back in the game, all just... all kinds of very, very interactive things that you can do, as a participant, to motivate your audience to keep you in the game longer; just like Hunger Games sort of did. We did have a lot fun, and it sort of highlighted how creative Adrian was: to create a really, really fun experience for fans. Not just "Here! You get to hang out with your celebrity," but you get to DO something with your celebrity. You can potentially save them in a firefight, you know, so have that brotherly combatant-in-arms connection; and THAT aspect of it was really, really entertaining. And the money that you're participating with is not going towards the celebrity, it's going towards children. Worldwide children. So, it made the whole experience really, really wonderful; and now that we have The Sword Experience it gives us a reason to be interacting with the fandom, with Highlander folks, on a regular basis because we never know what city we're going to be in next and--this has happened a lot recently--people will come to us and say, "Will you come to THIS city? I have thirty-five people who are ready to sign up. This is the venue I was thinking...." It makes it really easy for us, because that was the reason we did it in the first place! We want to connect to people in very unique locations, around the world, in their home facilities, or historical landmarks, or whatever the case may be so they can show their friends, "Hey, do you remember that show that I used to obsess over? Well, look what level I took it to, now! I look like a complete badass--" if you can excuse the expression. *Eamon chuckles* "--I have a sword, I'm hanging out with Adrian Paul, I survived because apparently there can be more than one--" **Eamon: Yeah! *laughs***--but that was what we were trying to do. I don't know if you guys got to see any footage recently. Adrian has customized his training bokken to have the handle. The white handle.
Eamon: Oh, that's really cool.
Keith: Yeah, it's pretty sweet! Uh, so yeah, you mentioned these upcoming events. So, we know Adrian just wrapped up in London and Stuttgart. Does he have any other Sword Experiences coming up? I think there's a couple in the States that maybe people might be interested in.
18:51 Collin: Yeah. We have, uh, Pensacola coming up next. And then we will be in Minneapolis. We haven't decided on the theme for Pensacola, to my knowledge, but Minneapolis we are probably going to do something in the horror genre; highlighting a major and awesome fandom; I will leave it to Adrian to say which one, or the page, depending on how he wants to do it. But it's going to be also very unique and very fun, connecting to pop culture, as we like to do. That's in Minneapolis. A small little horror convention, probably about five thousand people or something. And then we have one coming up in the California area, which I don't want to speak to directly, because that announcement hasn't been made yet. But I believe the Orange County, Los Angeles, and Southern California folks will be very, very happy to be a part of that one because A: we're probably going to have more than one Experience; B: you can get to it by public transportation; and there will be plenty of parking, though I cannot guarantee the price of the parking.
Eamon: *chuckles*
19:55 Keith: Right! So, connecting with Adrian is obviously important to a lot of OUR fans. Um, a lot of people that don't live in the L.A. area might not be aware that he has a weekly radio show--**Co: Yes!**--which is also, now, broadcast as a podcast so anybody all over the world can listen to it. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about how they can get that podcast? And exactly what it covers.
20:15 Collin: It's on Combat Radio, and it's called Peace Fund Radio. Typically it's on... 10:30, 11 o'clock, Pacific Standard Time, out of the LA Talk Radio Network. The best thing to do, usually, is go to laradio.com or Peace Fund Radio, and double-check the times and so forth. But it's usually every Wednesday. For those people who have not been in close to these cities, or have not been tuned into the radio show, it sort of gives them a highlight of what's going in the week; the most recent endeavors that we're doing to raise money for children; sometimes they talk about Highlander stories if it comes up. People can call in and ask questions. But they generally have a theme about what kind of message, or what kind of problem they want to bring in solutions to; provide energies, alternate solutions, donations; anything that can sort of bridge the educational gap in the children's community. Los Angeles has... not the greatest reputation for scholastic endeavors, so... teaming up with companies like Microsoft and getting several tablets donated... the Surface, to schools... we were able to activate a lot of social media awareness on Twitter and Facebook. We had a... not a contest, but more of a: "What would you do with YOUR free Tablet in your school." We had an online discussion and that translated into the Peace Fund Radio; for a few different weeks that was our topics. Um, and then we went to the schools WITH the iPads and that was a big mission and endeavor that we did, and we're looking to do more of those types of things. Partner major organizations that can part with a hundred pieces of a particular technology that can make less fortunate schools, and less fortunate students really rise up, because there's really no excuse for not educating our youth properly.
22:12 Keith: Definitely. That's tremendous work. So, uh, we just want to close out with asking you a question that we ask all the people on our show; which is: "Would you like to be immortal, and if you were, what would you do?"
22:22 Collin: Would I want to be an immortal? Yyyyyes... in that so long as I could keep my center, remain humble, and not be sort of like... not to sound too Jedi-ish, but persuaded onto the Dark Side, you know? And get greedy, or any of that?
22:39 Keith: Awesome! Well, Collin, I want to thank you so much on behalf of the Highlander Rewatched team for joining us, and talking to us about Adrian and your work with him, and your own personal journey. It's been really great. Uh, do you want to give us the websites again? For the Sword Experience, and the Peace Fund Radio, so our listeners can check those sources out?
22:56 Collin: For Sword Experience, you want to go to theswordexperience.com or swordexperience.com. You can find all the information that you could possibly want on our tour dates, the connections to our store, if there're bokkens that you want to find, or maybe just want to send us a message. Ah, for Peace Fund Radio, best to go to thepeacefund.org or latalkradio and search for Peace Fund Radio. It should be on Combat Radio. We also will post regularly on Adrian Paul's Peace Fund on Facebook, The Sword Experience on Facebook. They do have an active Twitter presence as well. We try to put up a couple of posts every now and then, on Sword Experience on Instagram as well, but most of the active engagement happens on The Sword Experience page, because we like to know what cities we should be in next. We pay attention to the comments. Your voice absolutely matters, on The Sword Experience, whether you're mentioning us on Facebook or Twitter. Talk to us on Facebook; that's generally where you get the best interaction. Adrian's usual pretty good at updating from his page on Facebook, and if there's anything that you feel that we need to cover as far as like cities, or experiences, definitely get in touch with us; talk to us online, both you as the Rewatchers and as fans out there, because it's really your experience. We're just sort of the facilitators.
24:26 Keith: Awesome. Well thank you so much, Collin, for joining us, and I know everyone out there is going to be following Adrian on Twitter and liking his Facebook page, and checking out the Sword Experience, and hopefully it's coming to a city near them. Thanks a lot for joining us, Collin, and giving us your unique perspective on the world of Highlander and Adrian Paul!
24:41 Collin: You're very welcome. Thanks for having me.
24:43 Keith: Alright, take care Collin, bye!
Eamon: Thank you, Collin!
Collin: Alright.
Eamon: Bye-bye.
Collin: Bye.
Rileah: Hellooo! ♪
Keith: Hi! Rileah?
Rileah: Hi! Uh, call me Riley.
Keith: Hi, Riley! This is Keith from Highlander Rewatched!
Rileah: Hi, Keith! How are you?
Keith: Good!
Eamon: And this is Eamon, here!
Rileah: Hi!
Keith: Uh, Riley! Do you want to tell our listeners who you are, and, I guess, your relationship to the Highlander Universe?
25:11 Rileah: Well, I'm Rileah 'Riley' Ringo. They call me Momma Angel. I am the owner of adriansangels.com as well as the Facebook Adrian's Angels group with over 900 members; and we also have a yahoo e-mail group, that's where we started, with over 500 members.
Keith: So, uh, do you want to tell our listeners who might not be familiar with your group what, exactly, is Adrian's Angels?
25:39 Rileah: Well you know, I'm not sure! *amused**laughs with Keith* We've been called the fluff of the universe, but... you know what? We're friends. We make friends. We all love Adrian Paul and Highlander, and we've come together from all over the world, and stuck together through thick and thin. We learn about each other and families, but yeah. We discuss Highlander; we talk about pictures, we do charity work, we do volunteer work; and we also run Adrian's Angels auctions, where Adrian Paul will sign items for me to put in the auction to sell, and raise money for his Peace Fund.
Keith: That's amazing! How long ago did you start this organization?
26:26 Rileah: I started it in 2000, with seven people, two have passed, and the other five are still with the group.
Keith: That's incredible that you've grown from seven people to over nine-hundred, now.
26:40 Rileah: *laughs* Yeah. Really, I was happy when we hit a hundred! *laugh together* And then it was two hundred! And then we moved to Facebook in 2007, and just grew exponentially after that.
Keith: That's awesome! How did you discover Adrian Paul and Highlander? Do you want to talk about how he first came to your attention?
27:02 Rileah: Late night, 1999, flipping channels. The commercial came on, I flipped the channel and WHOA! There was a guy in a trench coat with a sword! Now, I was a big Errol Flynn/Zorro type person and... to see a guy dressed in, you know, normal clothes, out there sword-fighting, was pretty shocking. So I flipped back to the other channel and, by the third day, I was watching Highlander. And got online. Computer was still new, back then. The Web was still fairly new, and I found a couple message boards, and I got brave. It took me a while, and I posted a question, and no one answered me. And so...
Keith: Do you remember what the question was?
27:47 Rileah: You know, it was all such strange language! You know, everybody was using acronyms for things. I didn't even know what LOL meant!
Eamon: Hah!
Rileah: Y'know, yeah--
Eamon: It's funny how you kind of have to figure out... I have to look stuff up every time I go online. Just to figure out what people are talking about, it seems.
28:09 Rileah: I have a huge section on the adriansangels.com in the Highlander section; there's a Highlander Fun Stuff area (http://www.members.tripod.com/rileah/id93.htm), that has ALL of those acronyms and funny little things about Highlander.
Eamon: So it's kind of your own little Highlander dictionary, or something.
28:30 Rileah: It's--yeah! Well I've put together over the years, that actually think I've copied off of someone else who didn't know either--*laugh together* So, uh, sometimes when I put, you know, JIMHO, you know, "Just in my humble opinion", people are like, "What IS that? What does that mean?" Also--
Eamon: Do you remember what message board you were on? ... Posting?
28:53 Rileah: Yeah, it was a Highlander message board... there were four... there were two or three that I looked at, and I was scared because you heard all the stories about the chatrooms and things back then. I asked about a convention, I heard they were talking about a Highlander convention. I had no idea what it was, and I wanted more information, but again they just bypassed me. The second time... I got two private messages, it took me three days to open them. *laugh together* I was afraid, you know, that there might be some link or something. The first one was by a lady named Leepeace. She was a 68-year old woman at that time, and claimed herself to be Adrian's oldest fan, and she wanted to live long enough to rock his children. She's the reason I actually started Adrian's Angels. But, within a few days I was within a group called SAPS. S-A-P-S. Send Amanda Packing Society. *laughs*
30:04 Eamon: Oh! I get it! *****
Keith: So tell us about that group a little bit!
30:06 Rileah: You know, I liked Amanda. But they were the only ones that talked to me! So... and they were all... there was a lot of them going up to Denver for G5--Gathering 5--and I... I said, "Gee, that's only a seven-hour drive! I can get to Denver!" So... three months later, I was at a convention. I dragged my friend with me, who just sat in a bar the whole because sh-she--*Eamon laughs with Rileah*--she just didn't get Adrian Paul, or the Highlander stuff at all! *laughing* I made friends there. I met Elaine Walch, and she's one of the first members, and she's been with me ever since! We go to a lot of cons together.
Keith: That's amazing! So, your group connects people from all over the world that love Adrian. Can you tell us some of the meaningful connections that you've made through your site?
31:00 Rileah: I've met some really dear people. I've--one lady in particular, or several people I've come to be friends over the years, have told me their stories. One lady was in bed for five years.
Keith: Wow!
31:13 Rileah: And she got up and de—and got on the computer and she found Adrian's Angels, and now she an integral part of us. She's a moderator, she's a--but, she just laid there and had nothing to do, and thought she was going to die! And, now you couldn't stop her! I've met dear friends... one of my friends just did The Sword Experience in London, AND in Stuttgart!
Keith: Wow, awesome! Double-dipping.
31:41 Rileah: Yeah *laughs* Yeah. It was her first time meeting Adrian; she was pretty excited, let me tell you. *Keith laughs* So, I've just met friends everywhere. I started going to as many Highlander conventions as I could, and I started building the website, which has over a hundred pages. We have a huge Highlander section with all of the Immortals, every weapon they've used, a big timeline area, all the series synopses... it's the most complete Highlander site out there right now.
Keith: Your group has obviously endured, and continues to endure all these years, even though Highlander is no longer on the air. Why do you think people love Highlander, and why do you think people love Adrian Paul so much?
32:27 Rileah: I think Highlander makes each of us look at our own mortality. And I think we all, at some point in our life, wish that we could be immortal, but as you watch the dilemmas and the struggles that Duncan MacLeod went through with his life; with his personal life, his loves, his losses; you begin to see that, gee... maybe your life isn't so bad, after all. I mean, there's nobody chasing YOU around with a sword.
Keith: *laughs* Right!
Eamon: *laughing with Rileah* I ho--You would hope not, anyway.
33:00 Rileah: You would hope not! Yeah! *moment* Actually, about ten years ago, they arrested some guy downtown here in Albuquerque, with a sword, right in the middle by the courthouse, was swinging the sword around... yelling he was gonna kill the Kurgan!
Eamon: What?! *Keith laughs*
22:18 Rileah: *world-weary voice* Oh, yeah.
Eamon: Maybe--
Rileah: It made all the news. It was crazy .
Eamon: Oh my goodness. Maybe he thought--
Rileah: And I chased a car home--almost home, one day. Their license plate said "The Kurgan!"
Keith: Hahah! Nice!
33:30 Rileah: *laughs* And, I saw him on the street and I'm like: "Wait, a Highlander fan! Oh no!" *laugh together* But I said "Oh, this is going to look really strange. I... I'm not that desperate for members." *laughing together*
Keith: So, as a followup, we ask everyone that's on our show this question: Would you want to be immortal? If you were immortal, what would you want to do?
33:56 Rileah: I would... want to... give back. I would want to find a way to help children; to... help others. I've had a deceased husband who suffered from uh... that was a veteran, and could've ended up on the street, homeless, at one point or another. And I support the veterans. We also... our group does something called the Huggy Bears.
Keith: You want to tell us about what that is?
34:28 Rileah: We... wanted to give back so, we tried to figure out amongst us how to do that, and I saw an article on New York, where people would bring stuffed animals to give to the police department, to put in the trunks of their cars. And in dire situations, stressful situations, where children are involved... handing them a small, stuffed bear or toy, creates a bond between the police officer and the child; calms them down, and lets them know that this person is not there to hurt them; and that that's a safe place where they can... you know, a safe place to be. So, we decided to start taking donations and, with the donations we would buy bags and bags of stuffed animals. We'd buy used--in really good shape, and we took them down to a very poor Indian Pueblo here, just south of Albuquerque, and we gave them to the police department and their fire department, and the Tribal Court. Been doing that since 2007. And...
Keith: Wow, that's amazing!
35:40 Rileah: We just want to give back, and that was the way to do it. There was a need, and we tried to fill it. So what--being immortal, I think that you would have a great opportunity to do that, if you could figure out how to keep recycling yourself, as Duncan did....
Keith: And so finally we have to ask you: Who's your favorite MacLeod?
36:00 Rileah: Yeah! *laughs*
Keith: *laughs too* It's a trick question, of course. Of course it's Duncan! It's everyone's favorite MacLeod!
36:08 Rileah: Do we REALLY need to answer that one? *men laugh* It's Duncan!
Keith: Of course!
36:12 Rileah: But I do have a soft spot for Connor. He started it all. If it wasn't for him, there would be no Duncan.
Keith: That's right! So, thank you so much, Riley, for joining us, and uh--
Rileah: You're welcome.
Keith: --people can join your group? I guess just search on Facebook, and find Adrian's Angels?
36:31 Rileah: It's facebook.com/groups/adriansangels All one word.
Keith: Okay, awesome. And, uh, are there any upcoming auctions or anything you'd like to talk about, or should people just join your group and they can, uh, they'll see the news when it pops up?
36:46 Rileah: We're getting ready, we're hoping to get it out, started by next week. I have a lot of autographed things by Adrian. We have some Highlander T-shirts--OLD t-shirts I mean, not WORN t-shirts.
Keith: Right! *laughing with Eamon*
Rileah: "I'm not using that one anymore, so... y'all can have it!" No, these are well-condition *laughing* These are all very well-taken-care-of shirts; barely worn, in fact, that Adrian has signed. He's signed a lot of photos. I have some Peace issues, which you can't find anymore. I have a very rare Highlander calendar: the cartoon calendar--
Keith: Wow!
Rileah: --with The Four Horsemen, and it's signed by Peter Wingfield, Valentine Pelka, and Richard Ridings.
Keith: Very cool! So yeah, all our listeners out there, if you're interested in a lot of this amazing, kind of hard-to-find Highlander merchandise, AND you want to, of course, help out a great cause--which is the Peace Fund, make sure to join the Adrian's Angels Facebook group and follow along with Riley as they celebrate all things Adrian Paul.
Thank you so much, Riley, for joining us! We really appreciate you taking time out of your Saturday to talk with us.
38:00 Rileah: No problem! I appreciate it, and thank you for doing what you do. I've been enjoying all of the podcasts.
Eamon: Thank you!
Keith: Oh great! Well thank you so much for listening!
Eamon: Thank you very much!
Keith: Have a great day, Riley!
38:11 Rileah: You too! Take care!
Keith: Bye!
Eamon: Bye Riley! Thank you!
38:14 Rileah: Peace!
Keith: Hey, Rewatchers! Keith here! We just want to thank you for joining us for this week's episode, and we also want to give a very special thanks to our three guests: Andy, Collin, and Rileah! Make sure to follow all of them on social media to keep up with what they are doing, and to be part of the movement that keeps carrying on the Highlander torch!
If you haven't already, head on over to iTunes, and give us a rating! We'd really, really appreciate it, and those ratings really help us get in front of more people that either love Highlander already, or will be introduced to it for the first time, and we hope to get a lot more people into the Highlander fold, as it is.
Also, Highlander Rewatched is about to turn one-year old! I can't believe it's already been about a year since we've started doing these chronicles and rewatching the entire Highlander franchise! So, we have something very special planned for the one-year anniversary, and we're going to keep everybody posted on our Facebook page. So, if you haven't already, head on over to Facebook, and like us so you can see all the upcoming news and events.
On behalf of the Highlander Rewatched crew, thanks again for joining us, and join us next week for another brand new episode! I've been one of your Rewatchers, Keith, bye!