From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V7 #61 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Thursday, March 27 2003 Volume 07 : Number 061 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- FW: FAME Review: Susan Werner's "All Mapped Out: Life on the Road with Susan Werner" DVD ["Sherlyn Koo" Subject: FW: FAME Review: Susan Werner's "All Mapped Out: Life on the Road with Susan Werner" DVD Hey kids, This is forwarded from the folk-music list... - -sherlyn - ---begin forwarded message--- Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 20:16:15 -0500 To: folkmusic@grassyhill.org From: "David N. Pyles" Subject: [FM] FAME Review: Susan Werner's "All Mapped Out: Life on the Road with Susan Werner" DVD written by David Schultz All Mapped Out: Life on the Road with Susan Werner DVD Susan Werner (http://www.susanwerner.com) Produced by Harry Keates for HAKMusic Productions (http://www.hakmusic.com) Available from http://www.bulletproofstore.com/, phone: 413-527-3395, or fax: 413-527-2758 A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange By David Schultz (schultz@alum.mit.edu) "All Mapped Out" is Susan Werner's "Rattle and Hum." "Rattle and Hum" was the movie about the rock band U2 that showcased the band in a more personal, less serious light than their collective persona had become. The principal difference between "All Mapped Out" and "Rattle and Hum" is that Werner's funny side is no secret to her audience. As a result, this video is an opportunity to get more than one concert's worth of funny from Werner. This DVD shows Werner on the road, at home, and on the stage. We see her lifestyle on the road during a solo tour through New England: living out of hotel rooms, working out on in the hotel gym, and putting on makeup while getting ready for the evening's concert in the dressing room. We catch her talking about various topics: her road manager Jane Paul, dealing with fans, Starbuck's Coffee as a measure of one's politics, and the varying quality of soundmen and gigs around the country. Werner also presents some advice for budding songwriters on how the internet has affected her career, how to "make it" ("You get two chances: once because you are new and once because you are good."), how to minimize expenses while on tour by preparing oatmeal in your hotel room, dealing with inferior hotel-room coffee, and how to identify a successful song (HINT: it should be familiar sounding but not too unfamiliar sounding). At home in Chicago, Werner invites us to her home studio and office. One of the most enjoyable segments on the DVD is Werner goofing around on her various instruments (electric keyboard, stand-up electric bass, electric guitar), playing snippets of songs and having a good time. Next, we get inside Werner's head for a look at how she crafts songs. Werner still writes her lyrics on an electric typewriter because "I like the clickety clack, and . . . can rip it out on paper and if I don't like it I can chuck it in the trash". At one point she pieces together the concepts "no parking", "phenylketonurics", and "surgeon general," fishing for inspiration for a song. (Fortunately, perhaps, no song arises from those concepts.) The final segment of Werner at home is an enjoyable time-lapse of her in front of her typewriter working. While these looks into Werner's offstage activities have much to reveal, the music is the central focus of the DVD, allowing her to express herself through a variety of diverse musical styles: blues, jazz, classical, folk, and ragtime. The movie has 11 partial or complete performances in it from a number of famous venues including Club Passim, The Iron Horse, and The Bottom Line. Most of these songs are performed solo and are from her most recent album "New Nonfiction." Three songs performed at the Bottom Line are with a two-piece band (drums and bass). The DVD contains a bonus six-song "Mini-concert" including performances from 1994, 2001, and 2002. The DVD is directed by Harry Keates, who is building a reputation as THE folk-music videographer, having created music videos for the Nields, Tom Landa and the Paperboys, Lori McKenna, and Chris and Meredith Thompson. "All Mapped Out" opens with "If They Made a Movie of My Life," interspersed with archival footage of Susan growing up and of her early performances. The quality of the digital video is generally clear and crisp, with Keates identifying some interesting camera angles from which to shoot. Fades, graphics, and other video technical wizardry is kept to a minimum or are tastefully done. The video is quite professional looking. The sound quality on some segments can be poor, particularly during the concert footage at the Berkshire Museum which sounds tinny and the Bottom Line where her vocals are too subdued in the mix. Keates reassures me that, "The goal for the audio was to have it feel like you are there in the room---that it feels live rather than like a cleaner studio recording." Despite this minor complaint, I highly recommend this DVD for those who enjoy Werner's on-stage antics. As one of her fans interviewed for the DVD says, every performance is different. This DVD will show a really different side of Werner: revealing more about the artist than what she typically has time to show in an evening's concert. Track List: The movie: Introduction & the Marriott Club Passim (Shade of Grey) The Muse at the Gray Goose (Sorry About Jesus) WUMB radio station (Everybody's Talking - part 1) The South Church (Everybody's Talking - part 2, I Can't Be New) The Berkshire Museum (Misery and Happiness, Seeing You Again) Back home in Chicago The Iron Horse (Much At All) Another Marriott The Bottom Line (Yellow House, Big Car, Light Sleeper) Conclusion (May I Suggest) & credits Outtakes The Mini-Concert: Deep and Desperate Blue (1994) My Mother's Garden (1994/2002) All of the Above (2002) Some Other Town (2002) St. Mary's of Regret (2002) Maybe If I Sang Cole Porter (2001) Editors Note: links to the trailer for All Mapped Out are posted at http://www.susanwerner.com/html/albums/amo-dvd.html Edited by David N. Pyles (dnpyles@acousticmusic.com) Copyright 2003, Peterborough Folk Music Society and David Schultz.This review may be reprinted with prior permission and attribution. ================ David N. Pyles Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange HCR 33 Box 644 Nelson NH 03457 http://www.acousticmusic.com/frames http://www.acousticmusic.com/frames/fame.htm ===================== Let the inspections work! Regime change begins at home. "War is a coward's escape from the problems of peace." - Thomas Mann 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 #61 ****************************** --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- 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