From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V7 #6 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Tuesday, January 14 2003 Volume 07 : Number 006 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- Susan in A2 [ImSerius2@aol.com] Susan in Kalamazoo [ImSerius2@aol.com] Re: Susan in Kalamazoo ["Chuck Ellingson" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 17:09:56 EST From: ImSerius2@aol.com Subject: Susan in A2 Susan Werner/wsg Grey Eye Glances The Ark Ann Arbor, MI 1/11/2003 Set list Time Between Trains Shade of Grey Little Yellow House St Mary's of Regrets Misery Mercy in the Sky Barbed Wire Boys Big Big Car I'd Be Good For You Maybe If I Sang Cole Porter No One Needs to Know Light Sleeper Let's Regret This In Advance Much At All So Nice Seeing You Again I Can't Be New E1 - May I Suggest E2 - Waiting in Vain (Bob Marley) IMHO, Grey Eye Glances was just sort of blah. Not awful, but not great either. I guess perhaps I had sort of an Eddie From Ohio expectation from them. I expected a LOT more energy, for no real reason. Anyway, I didn't care for 'em all that much. And they did a loooooooooong set; always frustrating when you're waiting for Susan. Susan was pretty much all business. For those of you who care (and I'm quite self conscious about even saying anything after seeing the DVD ) she was wearing black slacks and a red/white/black striped blouse and dangly, sparkly earrings. She didn't really talk/banter all that much. She did talk briefly about going appliance shopping for the first time, and queried the audience as to whether we agreed that she was 'Jenn Air', and how some women can just be pinpointed as 'Sub Zero'. Later in the show some guy yelled out a request for 'Without Him'. ?? Susan stepped to the edge of the stage and peered out, and was puzzled, and rightly so - and eventually just shrugged and said 'he must be KitchenAid' and carried on. She dedicated 'Misery' to all those nice midwestern Michiganian couples in the audience, and did the usual comment about Happiness also looking down your shirt, but waiting till you weren't looking before he did so. Before commencing the piano portion, she announced that it was pretty much gonna be all piano from here on out, so if you didn't like that you could leave now. She did speak of the new project, and Susie Chanteusey, and ranted gently about Diana Krall and Norah Jones ('they have BUSES'), and spoke of Patricia Barber, and that she and Patricia were going to form a tour and call it Chanteusapalooza. She was apparently going to do one tune then switched at the last minute, based, she said, on something that was on the news that day, and proceeded to do Mary Gauthier's 'Mercy in the Sky' after saying she hoped she remembered the words, leading us to believe, I guess, that she was talking about the Illinois governor's commuting of all the death sentences. This also was in direct violation of her earlier announcement that she was going to do all songs that she had written. Her final encore was a song I was not familiar with - it wasn't till the following night in Kalamazoo that I was able to find out whose it was, cuz I was pretty sure it wasn't Susan's. Her cover was incredible. But I haven't a clue what Bob Marley's version sounds like, so I can't say much more than that. But I sure loved her interpretation. Next up, Susan in Kalamazoo, MI on 1/12 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: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 17:41:41 EST From: ImSerius2@aol.com Subject: Susan in Kalamazoo Susan at the Kraftbrau Brewery, Kalamazoo MI, 1/12/03 Always an adventure to see Susan somewhere other than the Ark, and the Kraftbrau did not disappoint! A very cool small venue, a microbrewery, www.kraftbraubrewery.com,. a sort of long narrow room with a bar at one end and the stage at the other and tables/chairs and long tables/benches throughout. Waaaaaaaay too much beer from which to choose (more on that later). Openers Bill Jones and John Campos were okay, but not really my cuppa tea. Their thing was that they had tried many gimmicks and had settled on 'slow' as their style (not making this up). And I found their presentation to be rather blah, for lack of a better word, and having just used it to describe Susan's previous opener, Grey Eye Glances, I figured I'd use it again. They did dedicate a nice little instrumental to Susan, which she seemed touched by. The show started right at 8, and Susan didn't begin until 9 pm, not good news to those of us in attendance from 90 miles away, but whaddya gonna do? The wardrobe - dark (shade of) grey slacks and a black McGonigels' (Houston) t-shirt. The set list: Time Between Trains Shade of Grey Little Yellow House St Mary's of Regrets (and here was when I was a little disappointed, cuz so far the show was JUST like Ann Arbor'sb&but I shoulda known better, because, not unlike Misery, Susan never disappoints) Someone in the audience dropped a glass/spilled a beer, and Susan began playing 'Roll Out the Barrel' on her guitar, which was pretty funny. She then did 'Some Other Town', then went into a talk about how the show in A2 had been quite structured and planned with 'songs that would overwhelm you with talent and intensity - those people in Ann Arbor seem to need that there', and then declared that tonight she just was gonna drink beer and sing odd songs. And ripped into 'All of the Above', which was a blast. She then said she was originally from Iowa, which we could probably tell from looking at her, to which someone yelled 'you don't look like Greg Brown, who she then said used to live above the shoe store in her home town. She was intro-ing the next song as if it was Iowa-related, and I was sure it was gonna be Barbed Wire Boys, but it was "Like Bonsai" instead. And after that she said 'it's time for beer!' and requested 'one of those six-thingys' - referring to a 6-glass sampler 'platter' of the brewery's finest, which was quickly delivered by the owner, whose name I can't recall, along with a sheet of paper telling her which was which. She then honored a request I'd made, via Jeff W., for 'Three Quarter Moon'. She prefaced it with a long hilarious rant about Hart and Hammerstein, and how the song was inspired by a revue she'd seen of their music, and of all the differences between the two writers, saying that Hart was 'as queer as a three dollar bill', and Hammerstein was 'SQUARE'. She demo'ed their differences vocally, doing brief sultry versions of 'Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered' and 'My Romance' a la Hart, then belting out 'Oklahoma' and 'Some Enchanted Evening' a la Hammerstein. She said Hart's music hit below the belt, and Hammerstein, the family man with 8 kids, was definitely above the belt, and that of course Hart's music was for a Democratic administration and Hammerstein was definitely Republican. Anyway - the song was great, and it was wonderful to be able to finally hear it after just reading about it thus far. (any chance the lyrics will be on the lyrics page any time soon?) The next song was dedicated to all those who know what hog futures are, as well as having been requested by someone in the audience - 'Barbed Wire Boys. She then began the intro to 'Everybody's Talkin' - only to look up and see a WHOLE lotta people leaving the bar. She stopped and went over to the side of the stage and watched 'em all leave, then some folks came in, and she greeted them, and this woman stopped and started talking to Susan, saying 'oh, I saw you at thus-and-such place blah blah blah' and Susan chatted with her. It was hilarious. She then came back to center stage and resumed the song. She asked what Kalamazoo was famous for, and when someone yelled out 'Gibson Guitars' she made a funny face/body language move and guiltily covered the neck of her guitar. Also Checker Cabs and Rogaine were yelled out as as original Kalamazoo offerings. She then said 'this is for all of you who came here tonight expecting to see a waif'b&and ripped into 'Big Big Car'. Then she adjourned to the keyboard for 'I'd Be Good For You' and 'Light Sleeper'. She really seemed to be having fun by this point. Then to guitar briefly for 'Let's Regret This in Advance', and then keyboard again for 'Stay on Your Side of Town, 'So Nice Seeing You Again' and 'I Can't Be New'. She spoke of how Jane had supplied the title of the song. She tried one of the dark beers on her beer 'palette' and made the most expressive face of distaste, then took one of the lighter ales, saying 'is this the girl beer?' and spoke of how she thought girl beer was a good idea. The owner spoke up about their 'Lawnmower' brew they produce in the summer - good for guzzling after a hot day of lawn mowing, which prompted Susan to talk about the worst movie she'd ever seen, 'Lawnmower Man'. Her only encore was John Lennon's 'Starting Over'. I heard someone behind me say 'My God, it's Lennon'. It was great to meet Jeff, and to see Susan in a smaller, more casual setting. She really seemed to be having fun, and said she'd definitely be back, as Kalamazoo is so convenient to Chicago. Got to chat with her after the show. I tried to take pictures but my digi-cam batteries were dead. I'll let Jeff post what he found written on the blackboard in the men's room. Well worth the late night drive and bleary eyes at work on Monday morning! In 8 years and I don't know how many shows, though, this was the absolute first time I did NOT hear Susan perform 'Maybe if I Sang Cole Porter' live. Not complaining a bit - it's just sort of a milestone! Here's hoping I don't have to wait 8 months to see her again! Suzie Tee 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: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 16:58:56 -0600 From: "Chuck Ellingson" Subject: Re: Susan in Kalamazoo What a blast! Wish I'd been there! Great reviews, Suze! Chuck Ellingson (who is ALMOST as queer as Hart... lol) "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." The Beatles _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus 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 V7 #6 ***************************** --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- 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