From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V7 #73 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Monday, April 14 2003 Volume 07 : Number 073 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- Re: Friday in Lowell [meredith ] Re: Friday in Lowell ["Ron Rosen" ] Re: Friday in Lowell [PBCoustic@aol.com] Re: Friday in Lowell [meredith ] Re: Friday in Lowell [HAK Music ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 11:52:50 -0400 From: meredith Subject: Re: Friday in Lowell Hi, Peggy delurked: >Well I haven't posted here in a while but I've been scanning the messages. >I some how managed to miss the fact that Kellie Lin Knott was opening for >Susan last night. What a wonderful surprise ... Kellie rocked!!! Seeing her open for Susan made for, as expected, a very special evening. So many singer/songwriters these days are just producing wallpaper -- nice, not too complicated acoustic guitar sounds covered by well-crafted, yet instantly forgettable lyrics sung in a listenably lovely voice. It's the musical equivalent of meringue -- tasty and fluffy for a moment, but then gone a second later. Kellie is *not* one of these. She's a great guitarist, and writes music that takes considerable skill to play. Her lyrics tell a good story, and carry you along to a satisfying conclusion. Her songs are the ones that tend to stick in your head for days afterwards. And her voice ... sweet and powerful and able to convey a range of emotions. Not to mention she's got a great stage presence, with funny stories to tell between songs. I know from talking to the people sitting around us that she won over a lot of people Friday night. I get the rare feeling when watching her play that she's the real deal. If only everyone getting airplay on the WFUV's and WUMB's of this world were that good. (All this could also apply to someone else whose music we all know and love, yes? :) The best part is, Kellie is still young -- she's good now, but as she gets more experience and "matures" (I put that in quotes because I know my very use of that word just made Kel laugh ;) she's just going to continue to get better and better. I'm sure it won't be long before we're seeing someone else open for her at places like Capo's. >Tom and I absolutely love her voice and her songs. I told her after that >when you see openers a few grab you but not many. This is all too true. A good opener needs to get the crowd ready for the "meat and potatoes", to borrow Kellie's term. She did a great job of that. >Susan was as usual in fine form. We enjoyed the newer songs but I was >particularly happy to hear an old favourite "Gotta see the body". That was a nice surprise!! >Her new song with the line "I'm your country at war" was a nice surprise. >I think she got her message across well. I thoroughly enjoyed that one. That was a good one, as well. I wonder if it was inspired by the recent anti-war protests in Chicago. There was another great new song, a blues number (complete with slide guitar solo in the middle!) about "I've got my red dress on for you" that ends with a killer punchline. I'm glad I wasn't ingesting anything when it came around, or the result wouldn't have been pretty. :} The final encore was a stunning version of John Lennon's "Imagine", done on the guitar as only Susan can. Few people can deconstruct a song like that and still have it be successful. >We arrived early (feeling a little silly being the first ones there) and >claimed a seat up front. Where were you sitting? woj and I were sitting at the table in front just on the corner of stage right. (Thanks again, Mosh, for saving it for us! :) There were two women sitting at the table between ours and the wall, whom we chatted with in between sets. Neither of them had heard a note of Susan's music before the show. One of them had been there to see Eleni Kalakos (a statuesque Greek-American singer/songwriter from L.A.) back in the fall, who exhorted everyone from the stage to put April 11 on their calendar so they wouldn't miss Susan Werner. This woman thought, "Wow, she really must be good" and did just that. She brought a friend with her, and both of them were blown away. They really liked Kellie, too. I didn't get a chance to see if they bought any CDs on the way out, but if Susan ever comes back to Lowell I'm sure they'll be back to see her again. So if any believers get a chance to see Eleni Kalakos, at least you know you have something to chat about after the show. (I saw her at a showcase at NERFA a few years ago, and she was pretty good, but I haven't had a chance to see her do a full show.) I really liked Capo's. It's quite reminiscent of the Iron Horse. I heard they are going to build a performance space up on the second floor, so in future you will eat downstairs and then go upstairs to see the show. That should be great -- that way you won't have any of the kitchen/food serving distractions. Though I was impressed that they seem to be making an effort to minimize those now -- the cappuccino machine only ran in between songs, and I only saw the servers coming around in between songs as well. The menu does clearly state that this is primarily a listening environment, so they're on the right track. I hope they find success -- gods know there can never be too many good folk clubs! I'm sure we'll be making the trek back up there at some point. =============================================== Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth =============================================== Live At The House O'Muzak House Concert Series http://muzak.smoe.org NEXT UP: Sloan Wainwright, 4/13 =============================================== 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: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 09:28:38 -0700 From: "Ron Rosen" Subject: Re: Friday in Lowell > Kellie rocked!!! Seeing her open for Susan made for, as expected, a very > special evening. Kellie Rocks!! > So many singer/songwriters these days are just producing wallpaper -- nice, > not too complicated acoustic guitar sounds covered by well-crafted, yet > instantly forgettable lyrics sung in a listenably lovely voice. It's the > musical equivalent of meringue -- tasty and fluffy for a moment, but then > gone a second later. Let's do a CD of those. ;-) > >Her new song with the line "I'm your country at war" was a nice surprise. > >I think she got her message across well. I thoroughly enjoyed that one. Anyone remember any lines or ideas from this one? > There was another great new song, a blues number (complete with slide > guitar solo in the middle!) about "I've got my red dress on for you" that > ends with a killer punchline. I'm glad I wasn't ingesting anything when it > came around, or the result wouldn't have been pretty. :} This was the one that she did with Keb Mo on mouth harp in LA. 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: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 12:34:07 EDT From: PBCoustic@aol.com Subject: Re: Friday in Lowell Good review, Meth... Congrats, Kellie, sounds like a great night!!! I had prodded Susan about "See the Body" earlier this year when the Houston court case was finishing up, since she was about to swing through Texas -- she replied that it was perhaps "a little TOO topical right now ", but she pulled it out anyway, and found excellent reception to it... adding mid-song vamping about "I SWEAR I wrote it four years ago.... " thus, another "comic feather" in her cap... Paul 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: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 12:47:45 -0400 From: meredith Subject: Re: Friday in Lowell Hi, >I had prodded Susan about "See the Body" earlier this year when the Houston >court case was finishing up, since she was about to swing through Texas -- >she replied that it was perhaps "a little TOO topical right now ", I didn't understand this the other night, and I still don't ... what court case? Ron: the new song had a verse about seeing a homeless guy on the street dressed in nothing but the flag, then another verse about seeing a veteran on the street wondering why we're back at war. Beautiful song. =============================================== Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth =============================================== Live At The House O'Muzak House Concert Series http://muzak.smoe.org NEXT UP: Sloan Wainwright, 4/13 =============================================== 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: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:49:36 -0400 From: HAK Music Subject: Re: Friday in Lowell Hi, First, let me say I also very much enjoyed Kellie's performance. I thought she did a fantastic job. The new song about the war was a wonderful statement of Susan's view on the current state of the nation. On WBUR she talked about how Dylan was able to show us things rather than telling us, and how he used a series of details to illustrate and get across his meaning. She did that with this new song. ************ *******Spoiler warning** If you don't want to know what she says, including the punch line, don't read ahead. I don't want to ruin it for anyone******** *************** It starts with a description of a stranger on the corner, naked except wrapped in a flag, "drinking his bible from a brown paper bag," yelling wildly at all that passed by. A very easily image to understand, yet meaningful at a deeper level. She then thinks that there is something familiar about this crazy homeless man, like she knows him from somewhere. As she keeps watching him, she sees a certain nobility underneath, she sees spacious skies in his blue eyes hidden under his drunken shouting. Then she realizes that she does recognize this stranger, "its my country at war." and the whole image makes wonderful sense. Very powerful. - - Harry ________________________________________________________________ Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today Only $9.95 per month! Visit www.juno.com 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 #73 ****************************** --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- 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