From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V11 #101 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Saturday, March 8 2008 Volume 11 : Number 101 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- SW & Co @ the Ark 3/6/08 [capitoltee@comcast.net] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 08 Mar 2008 02:42:18 +0000 From: capitoltee@comcast.net Subject: SW & Co @ the Ark 3/6/08 Hello, Saw Susan in the round with Cheryl Wheeler, John Gorka and Chris Smither last night at the Ark in Ann Arbor, MI. This was the kick-off concert of 'Dave's Final Fling', a weekend-long celebration for Dave Siglin, the Program Director of the Ark since (I think) 1969, who is retiring. In addition to the creation/publication of the 'Sigliniad', a vaguely Celtic piece featuring ALL 1900+ acts that have graced the stage of the Ark during Dave's tenure (in verse, no less) and special photographs on display throughout the venue, there will be an open house on Sunday March 8 to honor Dave and his wife Linda. Anyway, it was my understanding that Dave hand-selected the line-up, intended to feature some of his favorite acts, and, wow, what a way to start things off! It was worth standing in the 20-degree temps for 2 hours - not only did I get to chat with Susan when she went in early (for sound check, I assume), but I also snagged front row seats for my friends and I - on Susan's end of the stage, of course, near the piano. Dave himself did the intro - his trademark, succinct 'welcome to the stage of the Ark, - he's a man of few words, that's for sure. They filed in, smiling - Susan, John, Cheryl, then Chris. Chris rumbled 'Dave Siglin saved our collective asses more than once' and launched into 'Train Home', his trademark beat kept with his feet. If you've never seen Chris Smither, GO NOW. :-) Given the gossip that Susan's working on a blues project, I sort of hoped they might collaborate on something. At one point, she picked up her slide and seemed to be contemplating jumping in on one of his tunes, but she didn't. Anyway - next up, Cheryl, who grumbled 'now that they've seen what a beautiful creature I am', asked that her spotlight be toned down - and opened with her lovely 'Quarter Moon', after explaining that it was about some elderly neighbors in Swansea, MA, who were living at the time she wrote the song but were now dead - causing Gorka to intro his opening song with 'This one has a dead person in it, too!', and did 'The Sentinel'. They had a St. Francis theme going on thus far, and I thought Susan might counter with 'St Mary's of Regrets' but she spoke of the Catholic sisters who taught her guitar, and then opened with 'Our Father', which got the crowd singing along right away. Back to Chris for 'I'll Be Home Soon', and then Cheryl, with a brand-new song, perhaps called 'Pointing at the Sun', concerning her life-long fascination with the universe, atoms, molecules, and the idea that maybe we're all just tiny particles on a much bigger being. John followed with 'Like My Watch', written when he was 19, which Susan commented was more like half a song (ie: it's short). He retorted that he had tried to write a bridge once, but it was 'the bridge to nowhere', so he left it alone. Susan followed that with 'Time Between Trains', dedicated to all the single people in the audience. Somewhere in there, she said that she and Gorka would be touring together soon in Alaska, and that she'd heard that the men-to-women ratio is very high - but that also 'the odds are good - but the goods are odd'. (my friend Jean then whispered to me 'in Alaska, you don't break up with a guy, you just lose your place in line') Chris then did the brilliant 'Father's Day' - man, this guy can write. Before that, following the religion thread, he told the story of growing up in predominantly Catholic New Orleans with NO religious background/upbringing, but with mostly Catholic friends, and having to ask his dad what 'going to hell' meant. I thought for sure Cheryl would then do the obvious segue with '75 Septembers', written for her dad, but she opted for biting humor instead, and did 'Your God', keeping with the religious theme. Which Gorka kept up with 'Let Them In', on piano - what a beautiful song that is. Susan then did 'Barbed Wire Boys', and then it was time for intermission. After the break, Chris did the absolutely brilliant 'Origin of the Species', which was #42 in Rolling Stone's Top 100 songs of 2006. Amazing stuff. Cheryl then did another new song - which is odd for her, she admitted. She spoke a bit about not writing nearly as much as she used to, since when she was younger, it was easier to find song fodder, especially in relationships, and that she'd written so many sad, depressing songs that she really didn't want to write any more - but sometimes one just slips out, and then did one perhaps called 'Praise the Lord, Life is Grand'. John followed with the very poignant 'Writing in the Margins', and also somewhat belatedly announced that they all had product for sale in the lobby. Susan then surprised us with 'Barack Obama' to the tune of 'Get Happy' - whose YouTube recording was posted here a while back. It was a HUGE hit with everyone - it was so fun to watch the other artists' faces as they listened. Also, since I was sitting right in front of SW, it was fascinating to watch her watching the others. Neither Cheryl or Chris ever collaborated, but both SW and Gorka harmonized here and there, and Susan picked at her guitar numerous times during others' songs, and provided beautiful piano accompaniment on 'Gypsy Life' (Gorka). Once Chris was done laughing at "Barack Obama", he did 'Diplomacy', causing Cheryl to continue in the political vein with 'Dubya Dubya', her rant against GWBush to the tune of 'Wild Thing' - everybody sang along on that one, and Susan played along on her guitar. Her reference to 'splooge' (sp?) on a blue dress' (as in, even Clinton's involvement with an intern was better than Dubya) brought gales of laughter from Susan, who told Cheryl that it was too bad she couldn't have seen the looks on both John and Chris's faces when they heard that lyric. Somewhat inexplicably, Gorka then followed with 'Flying Red Horse' - not that I'm complaining, I LOVE that song. Susan then spoke of her Great American Songbook project, using a term I'd not heard before - that of herself channeling 'Cole Porter's smart-mouthed little sister' - and did 'I Can't Be New', on guitar. She spoke of how this song had always struck her as her '11 o-clock song' - that song in a musical that is the next-to-last number that sort of ties the whole story together. That's the first time I've heard her speak of this. There's always something new, huh? Chris then brought the house down with his fabulous 'No Love Today'. Cheryl, who was obviously not feeling all that great, struggled to tune and begin her next song, and she said if she couldn't hit the first note, she was going to stop and do something else - and nailed 'Arrow', in spite of her sore throat. John G then called Claudia Schmidt up to the stage, and they harmonized beautifully on 'The Gypsy Life', with Susan on piano. Susan then stayed at the piano to close the show with "May I Suggest". There was no encore - we all thought perhaps they'd do one number all together, but it was not to be. They did come out for one more collective bow, but that was it. But what a night! 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 #101 ******************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- -------------------------- 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