From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V11 #38 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Tuesday, April 3 2007 Volume 11 : Number 038 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- SW in A2 Part Deux [capitoltee@comcast.net] RE: SW in A2 Part Deux ["Marsik, Theresa" ] listening to NPR [Kellie ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 12:34:08 +0000 From: capitoltee@comcast.net Subject: SW in A2 Part Deux Figured I'd better write this while it's fresh. Okay, I know it has nothing to do with anything, but Susan was just so BEAUTIFUL for this show! She was wearing kelly-green slacks, black sleeveless shirt, and black boots, dangly silver earrings, but it was her hair that was perfect - full, curly, and perfectly arranged without being stiff. Most women would kill for such a great hair day. ;-) But really, what made her shine had nothing to do with hair products or make-up or clothing, but rather her evident sheer JOY at being there, doing what she was doing! I have never seen her having so much fun! The Ark website had listed 'Susan Werner wsg/Trina Hamlin'. I am never happy when SW has an opening act, but I checked this person out and my first thought was 'wow, she's great' and my second thought was 'wow, her voice is so low and rich and powerful, I sure hope they sing together'. Well, Trina was NOT the opener - she was in the band. Yes, it's true, for the first time at the Ark, it wasn't just Susan on stage. With her were Greg Holt on bass, Trina Hamlin on vocals, percussion and harmonica, and Allison Bazarko on vocals and percussion. From the moment those two wonderful, anything-but-backup voices chimed in on '(Why is Your) Heaven So Small', I knew this was going to be an amazing night. They did two songs without pausing - the aforementioned opening number, then 'I Will Have My Portion'. Susan then paused to speak at length about the new project, reassuring those in the audience who might be worried about this new path she was on, and saying how she'd become 'passionate about her ambivalence'. They then led the crowd in a rousing 'Our Father', followed by the stunning 'Forgiveness'- gotta love that Steinway grand at the Ark. Then the one that's gaining on 'My Mother's Garden' for my all-time fave Suze song, 'Sunday Morning'...then 'After All of This'...then a fun rambling intro to 'Probably Not', wherein she spoke of all the various Bibles out there, including the 'Billie Jean King James' version. Up next, 'My Lord Did Trouble Me' - she spoke of how some folks might interpret this song as Jesus in the sky with a hammer, ready to bop you on the head when you did something wrong, but that she preferred to think of it as 'conscience', and that having a conscience is a very good thing indeed. They ended the set with a kick-ass, no-holds-barred 'Lost My Religion'. And before we could all catch our breath from all that brilliance, it was time for the second set. Not before the ever-serious Jane set things right, instrumentally. Susan opened the second set with 'Time Between Trains', with Trina and Greg accompanying her. Through the song, as I recall, Trina was just supplementing things nicely, but when Susan was done singing, and still playing, Trina just started building and building, soloing on her harmonica, and Susan kept playing softer and softer, shushing Greg with a finger over her lips, and finally Susan stopped playing all together, as did Greg, and they just sat there, grinning as Trina just ripped this amazing solo out. The 'train' sounds made Susan hoot with laughter. It was so clear they were all just having a BLAST. Then, the amazing 'Standing In My Own Way', which I hadn't heard live in ages - WOW. Susan commented on the fact that Dana Cooper was coming to the Ark in a little while, and that we should check him out. Trina also accompanied Susan on 'Barbed Wire Boys', which added SO much to an already brilliant song. It was beautiful. Having never heard Susan with anybody else playing with her, I have to say the addition of the bass on 'May I Suggest' was breathtaking. Made ME cry, that's for sure. Susan then went on her usual rant against the U of Michigan, as I mentioned in my previous post. I still am shaking my head over that one - both her mocking, dissonant presentation of the fight song, complete with totally disdainful facial expressions - and I know you all can SEE them - and her classically-infused, flamboyant minor-key version, blended with 'Movie of My Life' as if it's always been there. I am not sure if you can tell, but I worship this woman, and I think she's brilliant, and it's moments like these, where she's so obviously improvising, that just blow me away. Susan then switched to guitar, and accompanied Allison as Allison sang 'Stay on Your Side of Town' - WOW. WOW. WOW. This is a woman to check out. Susan then gave the stage over to Trina, who did her own composition, 'Down to the Hollow', an amazing bluesy piece on which Trina accompanied herself with tambourine and more killer harp. This woman is GREAT! Susan stayed on guitar for "I Can't Be New". Then it was time to raise the roof and bring the house down with 'Help Somebody'. Oh. My. The room exploded and shot to its feet as one at its conclusion. She had this crowd in the palm of her hand!! They didn't wait too long for the first encore, which was Susan and Greg on 'My Strange Nation'. I did notice that she changed the lyrics from 'seeking Phoenix' to 'seeking Tucson', and also changed 'but our election's fixed' to 'but Florida is fixed'. Brilliant as always, and, as always, VERY well received in Ann Arbor. Again, Greg on bass added such depth and richness to this song. Have I mentioned how very COOL it was to finally see Susan with a band? :-) They closed the show with 'Together'. I can't say enough good about this show. It really was Susan at her absolute best. I've never heard her sound so good, look so gorgeous, or getting such enjoyment out of it all. I hope more of you get to experience this new project this way!!!!! 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, 2 Apr 2007 08:25:46 -0500 From: "Marsik, Theresa" Subject: RE: SW in A2 Part Deux Gosh - what a great review, Suzie! Sorry we missed you - we had reserved seats for once and didn't stand in line. It was a great show, and as much as I love seeing Susan perform on her own, this band complimented her very well. The musicians all seemed to be having a good time, as were we all. It was nice to finally see Trina Hamlin, as I'd heard a lot about her through various music lists. I had not heard of Allison before, but man - what a voice! It was nice to see Jane again. When my husband and I went on the FR at Sea cruise in 2005, we spent a lovely half hour or so chatting with Susan and Jane in St. John, so it was nice to renew that acquaintance. It was great to talk with Susan after the show (although, I'm not sure if it was the wine with dinner or the cold I'm fighting, but I couldn't remember any of the questions I had been planning to ask!). Susan got a big kick out of the fact that we brought our baby's Godparents to see the show.... Theresa 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: Tue, 3 Apr 2007 00:53:07 -0500 From: Kellie Subject: listening to NPR hi all - i'm not able to get the NPR link to work. can anyone help? i'm running MAC OS 10.4 on a Macbook with 2 Ghz Intel Core Duo. thanks! kellie 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 V11 #38 ******************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- -------------------------- 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