From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V2 #200 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Tuesday, November 24 1998 Volume 02 : Number 200 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- FW: Report on Susan Werner (with Mike Sumler opening) live ["McCloud, Bil] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 12:36:57 -0600 From: "McCloud, Bill" Subject: FW: Report on Susan Werner (with Mike Sumler opening) live > ---------- > From: McCloud, Bill > Sent: Monday, November 23, 1998 11:59 AM > To: 'FOLK_MUSIC@nysernet.org' > Subject: Report on Susan Werner (with Mike Sumler opening) live > > On Friday night Susan Werner performed one long set at GoodFolk in > Fayetteville, Arkansas, and here's what she did during that hour and forty > minutes. She played the piano, played acoustic and electric guitars, sang > two songs from her series on embarrassment, sang Cole Porter acappella, > imitated brilliantly the sounds of brass instruments as back-ups for her > vocals, mimicked Barry White and James Brown as line judges at the U.S. > Tennis Open, sang scat, received a standing ovation, answered two encore > calls and also did something she has never done on stage before. (More on > that later.) > It was her first time ever in Arkansas ("the dirt around here is so > red") and also the first time she met Mike Sumler, who co-wrote with her > (long distance) "Can't Let You In," from her new cd Time Between Trains. > Sumler, another one of those great Texas songwriters, opened for her doing > eight songs, most of them off of his killer cd Rain (Rollin' Records). > Currently, my favorite song not written by Don Conoscenti is Sumler's > "Dreamland." He said he had just driven up from Houston and that he "ran > into a timeshift in Oklahoma and it took us forever to get through there." > Werner opened her show at the piano, with "The Last Go Around,", "a > love song for Long Beach Islanders." She said the song was "about bliss > and being blissed out on a romantic island. We're a long way from the > ocean here, but you have your own transcendent equivalent, right? ... > the Ozark Mountains." Immediately changing to a directly opposite topic, > as she intentionally frequently does, she literally jumped onto the stage, > stood at the microphone and sang a song about hitting a "certain speed > bump on the way to romance." > For her third number she brought out a small electric guitar, which > she said was "frightened to be here in the land of wooden guitars." Now > sitting on a stool, she introduced "Old Mistake", saying it is "one of a > series of songs on embarrassment." She then said she would sing "some of > my depressing, break-up songs later, but here's a break-up song that comes > from a different angle." It was about wanting to "see the body" of the > woman who had taken away her man, because surely she was a young > cheerleader, runway model, Baywatch baby, etc. She also said the song was > about "the lost art of the stake-out. But, things change - who's got > time anymore?" > She sang "Last of the Good Straight Girls," saying "it's about what > the life of a girl in the big, big city could be. I hope it's not." Next > she sang the Sumler song, "Can't Let You In," then said, "Isn't that like > a short film?" She told the crowd the song is on her new cd which was > produced by Darrell Scott, "who's pretty scary good." She said she "lives > in Philadelphia, or at least that's where my phone resides." It was in > that city that she got the inspiration to write the song about the band at > the "Society Ball," and doing it she imitated perfectly the sounds of a > muted trumpet. > Saying she had "nothing clever to say about 'l'affaire Lewinsky,'" > she did note that people in Arkansas must be "proud" that Bill Clinton is > from there, "but not proud. Like, how do you say, it's good, it's bad, > it's good. There's not a word for that, is there?" This served as the > introduction to "The Year of the Bad President," which she sang while > wearing a Pat Nixon button. It was about the resignation of Nixon and a > time when our heroes were Billy Jean King, Muhammed Ali and O.J. Simpson. > Introducing it as the "second song in the series on embarrassment," > she sang "Sorry About Jesus," saying it was "one side of an overheard > conversation. If you hear both sides you probably need to see a mental > health professional." Being a true "performer" in every good sense of > that word, it was her facial expressions that really brought this song to > life. > Next was "Ain't I Lonely Tonight?," which is about what sometimes > happens when you go through a program to try and improve your self concept > and discover it didn't work. She said that once she was singing that song > in Seattle and realized that she was "channelling Buck Owens." This led > her to sing part of the theme from Hee Haw, turning it into a crowd > sing-along. She said, "We can send people to the moon ... and then we > make Hee Haw." Getting serious she sang "Like Bonsai," about clipping > people's wings, to keep them in their proper place, in order to serve > someone else's purpose. > She then returned to a piano she obviously admired. "This piano > has songs left in it and even smells like cigarette smoke. People have > probably proposed around this piano ... proposed all sorts of things." > She sang "Maybe If I Sang Cole Porter," saying it was "for any of you who > have altered your behavior or appearance to try to gain the interest of > someone of the opposite sex." It was a big crowd-pleaser. Taking the > point of that song to its too-often inevitable conclusion, her next song > began "I like the sound of silence with my coffee," and ended "I guess > that I don't miss you much at all." > She then did her show-stopper "Movie of My Life," ending her set > with Dana Cooper's "Standing In My Own Way." Enjoying a standing ovation > from a music-savvy crowd (including people from the Kerrville office, The > Orphanage, Rollin' Records, Trout Fishing In America, etc.), she called on > host Mike Shirkey to join her for something "I've never done on stage > before." What she did was accompany Shirkey on guitar while he played > "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and "Turkey in the Straw" on his > mountain dulcimer. > With cries of "Lock the door!," she was not allowed to leave > without singing one more time and her final gift to the audience was an > acappella "I Only Have Eyes For You,' which really showed off her vocal > gymnastic ability. With that she was gone up the stairs, sending the > elated crowd out into what she had called "the romantic Fayetteville > night." > In one of the night's most telling moments, a woman paid for two of > Susan's cds with thirty hard-earned dollar bills that came from her > waitressing job. Bill McCloud > > "Lovers that we lose we never dare forget > we visit them in mourning in December and in May > in the graveyard of St. Mary's of Regret." S. Werner > > This is another in the Next Best Thing To Being There series of reports on > live performances by Bill McCloud. Still to come: reports on performances > by Cheryl Wheeler and Gillian Welch (with David Rawlings). > HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at songs.com ------------------------------ End of believers-digest V2 #200 ******************************* --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- This has been a posting from the Susan Werner believers-digest To unsubscribe send mail to Majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe believers-digest" in the body of the message