From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V11 #114 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Thursday, June 5 2008 Volume 11 : Number 114 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- SW in Atlanta a few weeks ago... ["Tracy Wells" ] Re: SW in Atlanta a few weeks ago... [jfvavrek@comcast.net] SW mentioned on the OTHER All Saints' blog... ["Tracy Wells" Subject: SW in Atlanta a few weeks ago... Hi, Believers. Life has been a bit hectic for me, so I haven't had a chance yet to report in about Susan's trip South a few weeks ago... My first time seeing her in concert since I moved to Atlanta a year ago - she played Eddie's Attic in Decatur on Friday, May 16 and then did another show in Atlanta on Sunday, May 18 that I HELPED ARRANGE - at All Saints' Episcopal Church - one of the churches where I work part-time (as webmaster). She also had a gig in the upstate Georgia mountains on Saturday, May 17 - and my sister Ashley (who drove down from Columbia, SC for the weekend for these shows) and I seriously considered driving up there to catch the Saturday show as well, but Ashley wound up getting bogged down in a photoshoot for her upcoming album (see www.ashleywells.com and http://www.myspace.com/ashleywellsmusic for some of the results!) on Saturday afternoon and so we didn't make it up there. Let me just say that Susan was HOT on Friday at Eddie's. It was an AWESOME show - very high-energy, very fun, very entertaining. Of course, we expect nothing less from the Suze, but she was really on her game extra-special that night. It was also the first time since I've known her that I've seen her stand up to perform for an entire show (except the piano pieces, obviously). I only discovered her in 2005, but every time I've seen her I'm pretty sure she's always sat for the whole show. It never ceases to amaze me how Susan on a stage by herself can fill a room just as well as if she had an entire ensemble playing with her (which she didn't in Atlanta). Highlights of the show included a couple sitting right close to the stage who stated very matter-of-factly that they were absolutely sure about the existence of a heaven, when she launched into her "so I'm not sure - does anybody know???" routine after singing "After All of This." This man insisted he knew there was a heaven - she kept prodding him as to HOW ("do you have a canceled stamp or something?") and then he comes out with, "I'm gonna get there ahead of you" - he was an older gentleman and was joking about the fact that he'd die sooner cause he was older, but Susan at first took it as a "I'm getting in and you're not" thing - she was like, "Oh, ok, I get it, cause you're older. See, at first I thought you meant you were gonna get picked first. You know, like in dodgeball when you were a kid, you know what I mean? You were gonna get picked first cause you were stronger" or whatever. She asked what he thought it would be like, and he said, "you'll be singing." To which she burst out laughing, coming back with, "After THIS kind of material? I don't know! Oh, no, they don't want me. They want like, Al Green or something. I'll be singing in the subway." She then proceeded to launch into "Probably Not," after an entirely spastic intro that wasn't even really an intro - noodling around with a bunch of blues guitary playing and then saying, "Oh, no, that's another project. Come back in two years, I'll have that one for you." Then she BELTS out the first note of Probably Not, with a completely overdone powerful vibrato: "Well, Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii've..............." and just stops completely and stands there in silence. The audience cracks up. "That's my Gospel singer moment," she quips. "That's my inner Mavis Staples coming out." She then brought Meg Hutchinson, who had opened the show for her, on the stage to sing back-up on Did Trouble Me, but not without first asking Meg about her own spiritual proclivities, telling her that "you write like some kind of atheist." Also, throughout the entire night, she kept spontaneously launching into a Neil Diamond impersonation that had the audience in stitches. Then an audience member told her that the song "Cracklin' Rosie" is actually about a bottle of wine, to which Susan reacted in utter horror: "Are you kidding???? That takes all the fun out of that song!!" And best new joke (since I've heard her) was this: "The church is a permanent part of the American landscape. It's as permanent a part as the Grand Canyon. And like the Grand Canyon, the church can inspire us with its beauty and power. And it can also draw a few of us to go... over the edge." Her encore was a new song, a GOREGOUS new piano ballad that I assume will be called "Happiness"... wonderful, breathtaking... lyrics talk about how "happiness is a language I intend to speak.... happiness is a state where I intend to live..." etc... Perhaps the best lyrics from the song: "happiness is a mountain I intend to climb / but someone said it's not a mountain anyhow / someone said it's all about the here and the now..." The Sunday night show at All Saints' was a lot of fun, too - especially for me, in introducing Susan's music to an audience of folks who mostly hadn't heard of her before. I even got to introduce her on stage before the show. It was so great to be in the room with people hearing SW staples like "Movie of My Life" for the first time and watching them DIE laughing. It was a big weekend for me, too - the Saturday of that weekend I got my decision from the discernment committee I have been meeting with for nine months now here in Atlanta -- and I was approved to continue on in the process toward the priesthood in the Episcopal Church! I won't get my OFFICIAL stamp of approval until I meet with the bishop in the fall, but this was a major milestone for me to cross, one that took this whole ordination thing out of the "I don't know, maybe" category into a "most probably this is going to happen" category. I was hanging out with Susan and Jane before the show at All Saints, and Jane was commenting that she'd try not to break or steal anything at this gig in case "some priest might get upset," to which Susan responded, "hey, you've already got one here in the room with you!" And then she quipped that they were going to keep hanging out with me so I could get them into heaven - to which my response was, tongue-in-cheek, "you know, 'that's simply not my call'...... ;o)" The All Saints' folks all loved Susan and are already scheming about ways to get her back here... which of course, is good news for me! More free Susie shows (I get in free to All Saints' events as a staff member. ;o) Hope the rest of you are doing well out there! Stay cool - I dunno about where you are but it's quite toasty these days here in GAWWWW-gia. Grace and peace, Tracy 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: Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:49:28 +0000 From: jfvavrek@comcast.net Subject: Re: SW in Atlanta a few weeks ago... Thanks for the great review. But mostly, congrats on the priesthood! Vav (back in Portand) -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Tracy Wells" > Hi, Believers. > Life has been a bit hectic for me, so I haven't had a chance yet to report > in about Susan's trip South a few weeks ago... > > My first time seeing her in concert since I moved to Atlanta a year ago - > she played Eddie's Attic in Decatur on Friday, May 16 and then did another > show in Atlanta on Sunday, May 18 that I HELPED ARRANGE - at All Saints' > Episcopal Church - one of the churches where I work part-time (as > webmaster). She also had a gig in the upstate Georgia mountains on Saturday, > May 17 - and my sister Ashley (who drove down from Columbia, SC for the > weekend for these shows) and I seriously considered driving up there to > catch the Saturday show as well, but Ashley wound up getting bogged down in > a photoshoot for her upcoming album (see www.ashleywells.com and > http://www.myspace.com/ashleywellsmusic for some of the results!) on > Saturday afternoon and so we didn't make it up there. > > Let me just say that Susan was HOT on Friday at Eddie's. It was an AWESOME > show - very high-energy, very fun, very entertaining. Of course, we expect > nothing less from the Suze, but she was really on her game extra-special > that night. It was also the first time since I've known her that I've seen > her stand up to perform for an entire show (except the piano pieces, > obviously). I only discovered her in 2005, but every time I've seen her I'm > pretty sure she's always sat for the whole show. It never ceases to amaze me > how Susan on a stage by herself can fill a room just as well as if she had > an entire ensemble playing with her (which she didn't in Atlanta). > > Highlights of the show included a couple sitting right close to the stage > who stated very matter-of-factly that they were absolutely sure about the > existence of a heaven, when she launched into her "so I'm not sure - does > anybody know???" routine after singing "After All of This." This man > insisted he knew there was a heaven - she kept prodding him as to HOW ("do > you have a canceled stamp or something?") and then he comes out with, "I'm > gonna get there ahead of you" - he was an older gentleman and was joking > about the fact that he'd die sooner cause he was older, but Susan at first > took it as a "I'm getting in and you're not" thing - she was like, "Oh, ok, > I get it, cause you're older. See, at first I thought you meant you were > gonna get picked first. You know, like in dodgeball when you were a kid, you > know what I mean? You were gonna get picked first cause you were stronger" > or whatever. She asked what he thought it would be like, and he said, > "you'll be singing." To which she burst out laughing, coming back with, > "After THIS kind of material? I don't know! Oh, no, they don't want me. They > want like, Al Green or something. I'll be singing in the subway." > > She then proceeded to launch into "Probably Not," after an entirely spastic > intro that wasn't even really an intro - noodling around with a bunch of > blues guitary playing and then saying, "Oh, no, that's another project. Come > back in two years, I'll have that one for you." Then she BELTS out the first > note of Probably Not, with a completely overdone powerful vibrato: "Well, > Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii've..............." and just stops > completely and stands there in silence. The audience cracks up. "That's my > Gospel singer moment," she quips. "That's my inner Mavis Staples coming > out." > > She then brought Meg Hutchinson, who had opened the show for her, on the > stage to sing back-up on Did Trouble Me, but not without first asking Meg > about her own spiritual proclivities, telling her that "you write like some > kind of atheist." > > Also, throughout the entire night, she kept spontaneously launching into a > Neil Diamond impersonation that had the audience in stitches. Then an > audience member told her that the song "Cracklin' Rosie" is actually about a > bottle of wine, to which Susan reacted in utter horror: "Are you kidding???? > That takes all the fun out of that song!!" > > And best new joke (since I've heard her) was this: > "The church is a permanent part of the American landscape. It's as permanent > a part as the Grand Canyon. And like the Grand Canyon, the church can > inspire us with its beauty and power. And it can also draw a few of us to > go... over the edge." > > Her encore was a new song, a GOREGOUS new piano ballad that I assume will be > called "Happiness"... wonderful, breathtaking... lyrics talk about how > "happiness is a language I intend to speak.... happiness is a state where I > intend to live..." etc... Perhaps the best lyrics from the song: "happiness > is a mountain I intend to climb / but someone said it's not a mountain > anyhow / someone said it's all about the here and the now..." > > > > The Sunday night show at All Saints' was a lot of fun, too - especially for > me, in introducing Susan's music to an audience of folks who mostly hadn't > heard of her before. I even got to introduce her on stage before the show. > It was so great to be in the room with people hearing SW staples like "Movie > of My Life" for the first time and watching them DIE laughing. > > It was a big weekend for me, too - the Saturday of that weekend I got my > decision from the discernment committee I have been meeting with for nine > months now here in Atlanta -- and I was approved to continue on in the > process toward the priesthood in the Episcopal Church! I won't get my > OFFICIAL stamp of approval until I meet with the bishop in the fall, but > this was a major milestone for me to cross, one that took this whole > ordination thing out of the "I don't know, maybe" category into a "most > probably this is going to happen" category. I was hanging out with Susan and > Jane before the show at All Saints, and Jane was commenting that she'd try > not to break or steal anything at this gig in case "some priest might get > upset," to which Susan responded, "hey, you've already got one here in the > room with you!" And then she quipped that they were going to keep hanging > out with me so I could get them into heaven - to which my response was, > tongue-in-cheek, "you know, 'that's simply not my call'...... ;o)" > > The All Saints' folks all loved Susan and are already scheming about ways to > get her back here... which of course, is good news for me! More free Susie > shows (I get in free to All Saints' events as a staff member. ;o) > > Hope the rest of you are doing well out there! Stay cool - I dunno about > where you are but it's quite toasty these days here in GAWWWW-gia. > > Grace and peace, > Tracy > > 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 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: Thu, 5 Jun 2008 00:21:39 -0400 From: "Tracy Wells" Subject: SW mentioned on the OTHER All Saints' blog... So the Thursday before she came to Atlanta, Susan played a gig at ANOTHER All Saints' Episcopal Church - this one in Mobile, Alabama. On my Google news/blog alert that I have set for Susan's name, this piece of musing just came through, from the rector of that church, who is apparently still thinking about Susan's comments from the show... :O) http://allsaintsrector.blogspot.com/2008/06/rectors-blog-june-1-2008-third-sunday.html (too bad either he doesn't know how to use his return key or it's broken or something - this is one big jumbled up paragraph - kinda hard to read...) 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 #114 ******************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- -------------------------- 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