Blog
Ghost Town
Here we are in Berlin shooting the final live shows of the Voice season 10. It feels strange looking out the window remembering the most vibrant city in the world and now the streets are all empty. It's Saturday evening and it's not the Berlin I once fell in love with. Funny how we're already used to this and it feels like the new normal.
We were told yesterday that we won't have any audience at the semifinal & final and that's of course a downer. The live shows have always been the highlight of each season, but now we'll have to find the energy from somewhere else. This is no surprise of course and actually we're lucky that we get to do the season until the very end. There were some dark clouds above the whole production at some point, especially as I was carried out of the whole studio with positive corona in October, but now it looks all good. Fingers crossed. And it'll be super fun for sure. Tomorrow we have two brilliant semifinalists on stage with Rea. Wishing Paula and Matthias all the luck in the world. They have both fought really hard for the whole season and they definitely deserve their spotlights now. Both were amazing today at the final rehearsals and it feels good to switch the cameras on.
So I launched my own red wine last week. I have been dreaming about it for years, but I said it out loud for the first time a few years ago in Australia under a palm tree to my friend Tomi Björck. He's the coolest chef (and surfer) Finland ever had and he is one of the guys on this planet who just makes things happen. Together with his team they have opened two new restaurants in Helsinki after the pandemic started and they hired a lot of new staff in these starnge times. Respect for being brave. Through the years we've spent time in his restaurants, on Australian beaches, on combat tatamis, and also at The Voice Of Germany season 3. He made a dinner for me and my friend Mikko (who sold his house for the first SA album in the beginning) in Helsinki and the Voice cameras were there. If you're ever in Helsinki, try his restaurants. I visit them too often according to my accountant and my belt. Their new place "Lily Lee" has a "Samu Haber's Table" on the coolest spot of the restaurant. Of course that feels pretty cool. You can try to book it when you're in Helsinki.
Anyways, Tomi called me from his home in Australia in April and reminded me of that wine chat we had in Sydney. He was in his nice swimming pool sweating his ass off and I was in + 4 degrees Helsinki ... That call started a processes that we can all taste in our wine glasses today.
One of the great things about publishing the book was that I was able to learn so many new things on the way. I never thought about the meaning of paper thickness or cover gluing methods, but now I got to explore it all and I know how it works. To be very honest, I didn't know what all the editors do before a book is ready to be printed. I just never thought about it. Now I know. The same goes for the wine. I didn't know that by harvesting parts of the vine, you give the minerals and water to the remaining wine grapes and that makes the taste. And also how controlled it all is what you can say on the label and advertising, especially in Finland. It's also cool that a wine is somehow always exclusive and limited as you only have limited amount of harvest each year. It's already clear that this one will be sold out sooner than later and I hope they don't miss my personal big order. Would be a long and sad winter without my own bottles. I'm not gonna make "Samu's #drinkingchallenge with it..." although the thought crossed my mind.
Thank you Bodegas Nekeas and Tomi & gang for helping me out. And thank you Weinfreunde and Alexander Herrmann for spreading the word.
Like every other evening, I will sink into the Soho House sofa now and escape into the world of Netflix. I think we're the only customers here with manager Mikko. Everything is closed, gym, restaurants, the bar, like everywhere else too. It's like living in aÂ-bit-scary strange movie.
Be safe and stay healthy everyone. And wish our super stars and all talents luck tomorrow on stage. It's great to have a long shooting day and some real action again. Covid test number 32, I can't wait to have you in my system tomorrow morning...;)
Big big hugs,
Samu