From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V6 #192 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Wednesday, October 30 2002 Volume 06 : Number 192 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- Chuck's Reviews [Laura Burgess ] OK, lets try this again... ["Chuck Ellingson" ] punctuation ["Chuck Ellingson" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 12:57:41 -0600 (Central Standard Time) From: Laura Burgess Subject: Chuck's Reviews <> Oh, bummer! Don't you just HATE when that happens? At least it wasn't a term paper (been there, done that myself!) I look forward to your reviews once you regain enough patience to sit down and do them again....:) Laura in TN HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 00:04:29 -0600 From: "Chuck Ellingson" Subject: OK, lets try this again... Due to some confusion about the starting time of Susans gig at Rockford, ILs Memorial Hall this past Saturday, I arrived late. I later found out from Susan that she had opened the show with Time Between Trains. As I climbed the stairs to the balcony, I was thrilled to hear the strains of Little Yellow House as they reverberated from floor to floor... and floor to ceiling, filling the theatre with Susans glorious timbre. As I made my way down to the front row of the balcony, I took in the sights, as well as the sounds. Susan was attired in black slacks and a red, white, black and gold striped blouse. St. Marys of Regret was the second SW number I heard that evening, with Susan commenting that the song could be considered either Catholic or Episopal... depending on where you grew up. Noting that she had begun the religious portion of the evening, Susan broke into Sorry About Jesus. She then stated that the audience was very quiet and attentive, unlike the crowd she had entertained the night before at Fitzgeralds in Chicago, which she compared to playing at a Blackhawks game. Apparently she caught flack for not performing the evening's next song, Misery and Happiness, at Fitzgeralds. (C'est la vie, Chicago. Be more attentive, next time!) Barbed Wire Boys followed, leading into a story about how Susans older, wiser sister (Barb) had told Susan that no major life decisions should be made after 9 p.m. This segued into a story about a one-legged sandpiper in Santa Monica... or San Diego... or some other saintedly Spanish-sounding California burg. Along with the advice against late night decisions, Barb had thrown another little gem at her little sis: Why Borrow Worry? Susan dedicated the next song to Senator Paul Wellstone of MN. She couldnt recall his state, guessing maybe Rhode Island... and her hailing from Iowa and all! Tsk tsk... LOL (As long as Im off on a tangent, my pastor also spoke of Sen. Wellstone in his sermon this past Sunday. He also spoke of fellow reformers Martin Luther and Harry Hay, who, not unlike the senator, had recently perished. (If you dont know who Harry Hay was, I might suggest you do a little research when you have a spare moment or two... and if you wonder why a Lutheran pastor would mention Harry Hay in a sermon, please feel free to query me off-list. Ill be happy to tell you all about it.) Susan closed the first half of the concert with her first attempt at penning a waltz: Three-Quarter Moon. One of my fave new SW tunes, it metaphorically compares love to the heavenly body of the songs title. A joyously witty little number, it speaks of being driven bonkers by Post-Its, lists of yet-to-be accomplished chores and of sunny-side-up aphorisms like half-full glasses. At intermission, I was joined by Jude, who lives down the street from a certain little yellow house with too many rooms where a certain someones sisters baby boy has learned to say that certain someones name. (Whew!) Jude and I had met two weeks previously in Madison when Susan performed (wonderfully) at Cafe Montmartre, where I first was enchanted by Three-Quarter Moon (and where a very lovely and generous woman named Pat treated Tony, Isla, fellow Milwaukeeans Bill,Yogi and me to dinner. Thanks again, Pat! Tony, a.k.a. Tony(a)/Tonya, and I had arranged to meet up before the concert, and it was fantastic getting to meet these believers from New Jersey and New Zealand! I also met up with fellow FOK (friend of Kellie Lin Knott), Heidi, at the cafe (though I didnt see Kel herself until two weeks later, the night before Susans Rockford gig, when I journeyed to Madison once again to see Kellie Lin and her friend Jocelyn, who performed that evening.) I feel very lucky and blessed to have my life filled with so many believers, music-lovers and generally wonderful people! After intermission, Susan sat down to the keyboard and launched the romantic song cycle with Id Be Good for You, Maybe If I Sang Cole Porter and No One Needs to Know. Susie Chanteusie then grabbed the instrument with which she had accompanied herself for the entire first half of the concert, the guitar (well, one of the two guitars she had with her, anyway) and broke into my new favorite song, Im Not Sure. (Is this love? Well, Im not sure.) Susan masterfully stroked the strings a la maestro Christopher Parkening, in a Brazilian style that was so deft and so beautiful, I find myself at a loss for words to describe how it enchanted me (and the rest of the audience, Im sure). Not since hearing Much At All for the first time have I been so touched by a piece of music. Before moving back to the keyboard, Susans tryst tune, Lets Regret This in Advance (complete with air trumpet) preceded her recommendation: writing a song about having an affair is so much more advisable (and much less time-consuming) than doing the actual adulterous deed. The conflict portion of the romance cycle continued with (My Baby Is a) Light Sleeper. The song almost became eligible for the yet-to-be-compiled covers CD (any news on that project, John...? Anyone...?) when Susan broke into Get back, honky cat! Much At All and So Nice Seeing You Again Again filled out the romantic song cycle. Susan then decided to have some fun with the audience, claiming to know more about the city of Rockford than the audience members... one in particular, of whom she remarked, Youre probably one of those smart alecks who drove down from Madison. (And no, she wasnt talking to Jude.) Susan then complimented Memorial Hall, saying that it was the kind of venue a performer dreams about performing in... as opposed to some of the chicken wire places shes played. This witty repartee was completed (as was the romantic song cycle, and presumably Susans upcoming release) with I Cant Be New. After departing the stage and receiving a well-deserved ovation, Susan came back out and spoke about how we would gain an hour because of daylight savings time that night. She also told us about the brilliant sunset she had experienced driving westward from Chicago to Rockford and proceeded into Late in the Time Zone with You, with lyrics about kissing in the twilight and other romantic acts. Susan kept her guitar with her and used it to accompany herself on her last number of the evening, one I had heard her perform LIVE only once before (and at that same venue), La Vie en Rose, after which she received her second (mostly standing) ovation of the evening. After the concert, I made my way down to the main floor of the theatre and met up with Jude, Susan (not SW), Jane, and Marcie. After having made introductions and plans for after-concert drinks, we joined Susan (SW) so that I could tell her how much I loved Three-Quarter Moon and Im Not Sure and have her sign a CD for my friend Julie, who was sick and couldnt attend the performance. Susan then introduced me to Earl Higgins (another former collegemate) and the three of us had our photo taken together. (Aside: Kel, two songs from Carmen Jones just played on the Internet radio! Anyone who isnt familiar with Carmen Jones, I suggest you run out and rent the videotape posthaste!) Well, I made it back to Milwaukee VERY early (or late, depending on your POV) in the morning, despite the time change, after a wonderful evening with fantabulous friends. If any of you are ever in or near Rockford when Susans performing there, I urge you to make every effort to attend the show. (After all, how often do you hear Susan perform La Vie en Rose?) Peace, all! Chuck Ellingson "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." The Beatles _________________________________________________________________ Get a speedy connection with MSN Broadband. Join now! http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/freeactivation.asp HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 00:10:09 -0600 From: "Chuck Ellingson" Subject: punctuation Believe it or not, I do know how to use apostrophes and quotation marks... and I did! Somehow, though, they were all deleted! Oh well! At least it wasn't the whole review this time! Peace, Chuck "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." The Beatles _________________________________________________________________ Get a speedy connection with MSN Broadband. Join now! http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/freeactivation.asp HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ End of believers-digest V6 #192 ******************************* --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- 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