From owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Sat Jun 5 21:21:58 2004 Received: from smoe.org (ident-user@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i561Lvs5012022 for ; Sat, 5 Jun 2004 21:21:57 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10/Submit) id i561Lvmn012021 for jewel-news-outgoing; Sat, 5 Jun 2004 21:21:57 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <200406060121.i561Lvmn012021@smoe.org> X-Authentication-Warning: smoe.org: majordom set sender to owner-jewel-news@smoe.org using -f From: GAMGRIFF@aol.com Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2004 20:42:10 EDT Subject: Jewel-News: interesting story on the tour To: jewel@smoe.org Sender: owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.3.2 (smoe.org [127.0.0.1]); Sat, 05 Jun 2004 21:21:58 -0400 (EDT) This is a interesting story on the tour. ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. About a year ago, Richmond singer-songwriter Susan Greenbaum won a contest. Not a little contest, mind you. A rather big one. After more than 100,000 votes were cast, Greenbaum emerged the national winner in the band category of the Soul City Cafe Music Quest. The idea for Soul City stemmed from Jewel, who wanted a place for talented up-and-comers to be heard. The winner of the contest was slated to open for her on her fall 2003 tour. A couple of weeks before that tour, Jewel's bass player died. The tour was off, though Jewel later went on the road alone. With the cancellation, Greenbaum's hopes faded. No big tour for Jewel and her band equated to no opening slot for Greenbaum and her band - bassist Mike Drake, guitarist Ed Drake and drummer-new husband Chris Parker. Months of phone calls between Greenbaum and Jewel's management followed, and finally, earlier this spring, Greenbaum received the call she was waiting for. Ten Jewel concerts along the East Coast in May would feature Greenbaum as an opening act. However, since Jewel was still performing without a band, so would Greenbaum. The rules of the road were straightforward: Greenbaum would receive a small stipend for each show, but was responsible for her own transportation, food, lodging, gas and other amenities. She, Parker and two close friends rented a van to make the 3,000-mile round trip, which began in Atlantic City, N.J., on May 7. They visited Lowell, Mass., Albany, N.Y., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa., among other cities, before ending May 16 in Mashantucket, Conn. I spent the first day of the tour with her to witness the amount of glamour that accompanies a budding star. As you'll see, it's rather minuscule. 3 p.m. With six hours until showtime, Greenbaum sits in her hotel room at the Taj Mahal, rehearsing songs and timing them with a watch. She is granted only 15 minutes onstage - a blink for a performer used to engaging in small talk with her audience between tunes. There won't be much conversation from Greenbaum, so she works to squeeze as much music as she can into those 900 seconds. She'll start with the blues-tinged "Wake Up!", a showcase for her multi-range voice. Then comes the finger-snapping "I Got Me Some Friends," the new ballad "This Life" and her most popular song, the poppy "Everything but You." They time out to 17 minutes. Greenbaum figures she'll cut a verse from "Friends." 4:30 p.m. Greenbaum and Parker head downstairs to the theater, assuming it will soon be time for a sound check. No one from Jewel's camp has contacted Greenbaum with a time for the pre-show ritual, so she takes her chances. After wandering around the theater with no answers, Wilma, the box office manager, steers Greenbaum to Jewel's sound man, who informs her that Jewel doesn't do a sound check and if Greenbaum wants to test her sound levels, this is her one chance. Lucky timing, apparently. Greenbaum notices Jewel's merchandise table in the venue lobby, including a Jewel-emblazoned thong. "That's what I need to sell! Thongs!" she says with a wicked grin. Greenbaum, Parker and their two friends wander around the hallways before they happen to bump into Jewel's public relations guru. Greenbaum is informed that she has a dressing room several halls away from Jewel's and is advised to please stay away from Jewel's area at all times because "she doesn't like people around before or after the show." At this point, the chances of a handshake with Jewel before the concert are slipping. She still hasn't landed in Philadelphia, about an hour's drive from Atlantic City. "I have no expectations of Jewel," Greenbaum says matter-of-factly. "This is her job, just like it's my job. For her, it's just another gig, and I understand she might not want to socialize." 6:30 p.m. The friends who are accompanying Greenbaum and Parker on the tour to help drive and sell merchandise discuss how much product to unload from the van. It's the first night of the tour, so they aren't expecting Jewel's audience to be clamoring for Greenbaum's CD and T-shirts. They thought wrong. 7:30 p.m. Back in her hotel room, Greenbaum is totally relaxed. She stands in front of an oval mirror, straightening her naturally wavy hair. Parker scoots down in a nearby chair, telling his new wife more than once how beautiful she looks. Greenbaum flashes an excited smile, then turns the conversation to a recent Richmond Forum, where she sang the national anthem and impressed speaker Thomas L. Friedman, the New York Times foreign affairs columnist, so much, he mentioned her twice in his address. The butterflies haven't arrived yet. 8:05 p.m. Greenbaum wants to return to the venue early to readjust her microphone stand. She fiddled with it at the sound check, but now she has heels on her 4-foot-10-inch frame, and wants to get the height perfect. At the box office, some Jewel fans congregate and study their tickets. "I'm so glad you got here early!" Greenbaum chirps to the unsuspecting patrons, patting one on the back as she breezes through a backstage door. The Jewel fans give her a confused look. Backstage, Parker whips a tiny flashlight out of his jeans pocket and illuminates the midnight path to the stage for Greenbaum to check her mic stand. "All these little things you have to think about," he says about preparing for the tour. The Taj Mahal stage manager, impressed with Greenbaum's voice at the sound check, is also apparently enamored of her friendly demeanor and the fact that she has already learned every crew member's name. He pulls her aside to tell her the Taj might want her to come back to open for Don Rickles or Steve and Edie Gorme sometime. Greenbaum retorts, "Hey, I'm Jewish, so that could work!" He then asks her to sign the "door of fame" leading to the backstage area. "It's something we recently started," he said, handing Greenbaum a silver marker. It's her first brush with fame for the tour. 8:30 p.m. The dressing room is actually the Chorus Room, but no worries. It's huge, with a wall-length mirror outlined in round, white lights - like something out of the backstage of a Bob Fosse musical. Parker sits in a nearby chair while Greenbaum gazes into the mirror. She has suddenly turned quiet, and her expression is one of deep contemplation. "Man, I gotta tell you. I'm getting a little nervous," she says, patting her stomach. Parker looks over at several small bottles of - what else? - Trump Ice standing on a nearby table and asks Greenbaum if she wants to take one onstage. "I only have 15 minutes up there. I won't have time to drink it," she says. 9 p.m. Greenbaum paces the backstage area in the dark, her acoustic guitar hanging from a small shoulder. She frets for a moment over whether she should cover her sleeveless blouse with a tight, black hooded zipper sweat shirt. The sweat shirt gives her a younger appearance, but Parker weighs in. "Sleeveless. It's sexier." Sexier wins. 9:05 p.m. The house lights dim. About three-quarters of the audience of 1,500 has arrived and responds with cheers, believing the person they came to see is now coming onstage. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Susan Greenbaum!" intones the stage manager. He forgets the detail that Greenbaum is the Soul City Cafe winner, but Greenbaum realizes it so she can mention it during her time onstage. Tepid applause greets her and the disappointed vibe that she isn't Jewel sweeps toward the stage. But Greenbaum isn't cowed. She rolls into "Wake Up!" and, about halfway through, that is precisely what the crowd does. It's almost as if someone flicked a switch marked: Pay Attention, Opening Act Is Actually Good. Before she finishes the tune, whoops and whistles can be heard. Greenbaum excitedly bounces and grins, launching into the a cappella "I Got Me Some Friends." The crowd begins clapping along to the singsong rhythm Greenbaum is tapping on the body of her guitar. So far, so good. Then it happens. The moment when an opener pulls out something so amazing, she suddenly seems familiar to those who have never heard her before. It is her new song, "This Life," written as a letter to her deceased brother, Ronnie. It's thoughtful and pensive, sweet and uplifting - and it doesn't leave a dry eye in the house. It is the song that audience members will quote back to her when they come to the merchandise table, asking where they can get a copy (it isn't recorded yet). It might even have eclipsed the insightful and insanely melodic "Everything but You," a song Greenbaum unleashes with touches of her soaring falsetto, as the favorite for the night. Parker leans over and whispers, "She really looks happy up there, doesn't she?" It's a generous statement from a partner who has to stand on the sidelines for this odyssey, but he's right. Greenbaum is glowing. 9:24 p.m. Greenbaum giddily thanks the crowd, who now cheers and claps for her. But her spirits nose-dive the moment she steps backstage. Jewel's tour manager - whom she hasn't met until now - pulls Greenbaum aside and asks if she took the stage five minutes late. Yes, it probably was about 9:05 when she was introduced, Greenbaum says. Why? "You played 18= minutes. You have 15. That's too long. You need to cut it back. It's in the itinerary," she is told. "Will I be getting an itinerary?" Greenbaum responds. In fact, she does finally receive an outline for the next 10 days, though it might have been helpful to have had it before she played her first show. 10 p.m. Jewel still isn't onstage (a second opener, newcomer Ryan Cabrera, performed for 20 minutes after Greenbaum), so several impressed audience members head to the lobby to Greenbaum's merchandise table. They compliment her voice, share stories of deceased loved ones and ask which CD contains certain songs. This first night, Greenbaum sells about 55 CDs - a healthy amount for an unknown opening act in an unfamiliar town who performed only four songs. And after tonight - and being chastised for playing three minutes too long - she cuts it back to three songs per show. By the end of the tour, after running out and recruiting a friend to ship more, she will move about 750 discs. Midnight After spending several hours chatting with new fans and signing autographs for teens and senior citizens alike - a trend that will repeat itself every night of the tour - Greenbaum heads upstairs with her gang for a few hours of sleep before leaving in the a.m. for another six-hour drive. Day 10, the final tour day Jewel has yet to surface in Greenbaum's presence - not to say hello, congratulations or boo. The only time Greenbaum sees her is onstage every night. Finally, after Greenbaum's last performance, she is granted a five-minute audience. Jewel, Greenbaum says, "couldn't have been nicer." They hugged, took pictures with Jewel and her little dog, George, and then it was off to the stage for the richer of the two. Jewel's parting statement to Greenbaum? "Let's keep in touch." Contact Melissa Ruggieri at (804) 649-6120 or mruggieri@timesdispatch.com This story can be found at: http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD _BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031775838228&path=!f lair!ae&s=1045855936372 From owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Sat Jun 5 21:22:26 2004 Received: from smoe.org (ident-user@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i561MPs5012042 for ; Sat, 5 Jun 2004 21:22:25 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10/Submit) id i561MPY3012041 for jewel-news-outgoing; Sat, 5 Jun 2004 21:22:25 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <200406060122.i561MPY3012041@smoe.org> X-Authentication-Warning: smoe.org: majordom set sender to owner-jewel-news@smoe.org using -f Date: Sat, 05 Jun 2004 17:42:50 +1000 From: "Stephen H." User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020826 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en To: jewel@smoe.org Subject: Jewel-News: Jewel goes ahead with selling live cds at shows!!!!! X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on jane.smoe.org X-Spam-Status: No, hits=3.6 required=5.0 tests=MONEY_MAKING,PLING_PLING autolearn=no version=2.63 X-Spam-Level: *** X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.3.2 (smoe.org [127.0.0.1]); Sat, 05 Jun 2004 21:22:26 -0400 (EDT) X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.3.2 (smoe.org [127.0.0.1]); Sat, 05 Jun 2004 03:48:28 -0400 (EDT) X-Greylist: Recipient e-mail whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.3.2 (smoe.org [199.201.145.78]); Sat, 05 Jun 2004 03:48:26 -0400 (EDT) X-Rcpt-To: Sender: owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Precedence: bulk A few months back Jewel announced in Billboard that she'd be making live recordings of her shows available for purchase after the show... then she said that her record company vetoed the idea. I guess Atlantic have backed off because Jewel has partnered with Instalive Concerts to produce the live copies of her shows. Go to http://www.instantliveconcerts.com for details, and here's what it says on their website: "Another New Tour! Instant Live is proud to announce that well be heading out on the road with Jewel! Starting June 10, well be offering our high-quality discs at Jewel shows across the U.S.!" Excellent news!!! We should have a huge number of high quality bootlegs from now on! Go Jewel! I'm really glad she's decided to do this. It's a great money making venture and it's good for the fans as well. From owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Tue Jun 22 05:06:09 2004 Received: from smoe.org (ident-user@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i5M968s5003056 for ; Tue, 22 Jun 2004 05:06:08 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10/Submit) id i5M968Ov003054 for jewel-news-outgoing; Tue, 22 Jun 2004 05:06:08 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <200406220906.i5M968Ov003054@smoe.org> X-Authentication-Warning: smoe.org: majordom set sender to owner-jewel-news@smoe.org using -f From: GAMGRIFF@aol.com Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 17:45:12 EDT Subject: Jewel-News: [EDA] Last nights review To: jewel@smoe.org X-Mailer: 9.0 for Windows sub 5032 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on jane.smoe.org X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.5 required=5.0 tests=HTML_FONT_BIG,HTML_MESSAGE, HTML_TAG_EXISTS_TBODY,NO_REAL_NAME autolearn=no version=2.63 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.2 (smoe.org [127.0.0.1]); Tue, 22 Jun 2004 05:06:09 -0400 (EDT) X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.2 (smoe.org [127.0.0.1]); Mon, 21 Jun 2004 17:50:38 -0400 (EDT) X-Greylist: Delayed for 00:05:05 by milter-greylist-1.5.2 (smoe.org [199.201.145.78]); Mon, 21 Jun 2004 17:50:34 -0400 (EDT) X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative by demime 0.97c-p1 X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain X-Rcpt-To: Sender: owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Another great review! I hope none are getting tired of reading these..........John SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/178829_jewel21qww.asp Jewel delivers a powerful, funny show at Ste. Michelle Monday, June 21, 2004 By GENE STOUT SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER POP MUSIC CRITIC Talk if you must during a Jewel concert, but do so at your own risk. REVIEW JEWEL WHEN: Sunday night WHERE: Chateau Ste. Michelle "OK, how about the people talking while I'm singing?" the singer-songwriter snapped at the crowd, interrupting the start of "Life Uncommon" amid sporadic chatter in the front rows Sunday night at Chateau Ste. Michelle. "I'm trying very hard for you. I don't have a band and I'm singing my little guts out for you. "If you're a guy and you're trying to talk to your date because you hope she likes you ... if she doesn't like you by now, it's too late, so just shut up." Jewel expects a lot of her audience and of herself, and when everything's just right, she's capable of a remarkable performance. Despite the unwelcome chit-chat during the show's opening moments, the good-natured singer-songwriter with the offbeat sense of humor offered a powerful and entertaining solo concert peppered with sassy commentary and comical storytelling, including a segment about TV ads for prescription drugs with side effects worse than the conditions being treated. Jewel's extraordinarily expressive vocals were the highlight of the evening. She sauntered out shortly after 8 p.m. for the opening concert of the 2004 season at the Woodinville winery. She wore a sun dress over faded jeans. The sparse stage featured only a small table topped with a vase or flowers. Singing in a girlish voice capable of soaring as high as the hot-air balloon that drifted overhead, Jewel opened her 90-minute show with the tender, romantic "Near You Always" and "Passing Time," a tune she wrote when she was 19 about the "delusional week" that followed a breakup with her boyfriend. The concert was recorded by a company called Instant Live, which sold a double live CD of the show for $25 a copy on site. Hundreds of concertgoers lined up afterward for the souvenir recording. "When I do a new song, don't sneeze," she instructed the crowd. "I'll come out and choke you if you ruin a good take." Among the most powerful songs in the show was the politically charged "The New Wild West," featuring the line, "What fun is power if you can't act like a rock star?" It was from her 2001 album, "This Way." Another standout was "Intuition" from last year's "0304" album. Jewel's is working on a new "lo-fi" album to be released early next year. It will include songs the folk-pop singer has played live for years but never recorded. But there could be new material as well. Jewel performed "Belong With You," a tender, melancholy love song that was written only a week ago. The set continued with "Foolish Games," "You Were Meant for Me" and the closing song, "Who Will Save Your Soul," which she wrote while hitchhiking through Mexico at age 16. "Every time I heard it on the radio I was so embarassed," she said, noting that her original warbling vocals reminded her of Kermit the Frog. Singer-songwriter Joe Firstman, the middle act in the show, joined Jewel for the encore. The two performed a powerful duet of a song they wrote together. Jewel concluded the concert with "Chime Bells," a showcase for the extraordinary yodeling she learned while growing up in Homer, Alaska. She added a humorous twist by speeding up her yodeling until the lyrics became unintelligible. During Firstman's earlier set, the North Carolina-bred singer-songwriter backed himself on guitar and piano, performing songs from his current album, "The War of Women." Among them was the rootsy rocker "Can't Stop Loving You," which he concluded with a powerful falsetto, and "Now You're Gorgeous, Now You're Gone." He also performed a Joni Mitchell song -- the enchantingly romantic "(I Could Drink) A Case of You" -- appropriate for a concert at a winery. Opening the concert was singer-songwriter Anne Heaton, who won a national competition sponsored by Jewel and her Soul City Cafe Web site. Her set included "Megan and Kevin," a humorous and poignant song dedicated to a girlfriend who had found the perfect spouse. ) 1998-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer From owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Wed Jun 23 21:14:20 2004 Received: from smoe.org (ident-user@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i5O1EKs5026321 for ; Wed, 23 Jun 2004 21:14:20 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10/Submit) id i5O1EKoS026320 for jewel-news-outgoing; Wed, 23 Jun 2004 21:14:20 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <200406240114.i5O1EKoS026320@smoe.org> X-Authentication-Warning: smoe.org: majordom set sender to owner-jewel-news@smoe.org using -f From: GAMGRIFF@aol.com Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 16:33:41 EDT Subject: Jewel-News: Seattle concert review To: jewel@smoe.org X-Mailer: 9.0 for Windows sub 5032 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on jane.smoe.org X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.4 required=5.0 tests=HTML_FONT_BIG,HTML_MESSAGE, NO_REAL_NAME autolearn=no version=2.63 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.2 (smoe.org [127.0.0.1]); Wed, 23 Jun 2004 21:14:20 -0400 (EDT) X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.2 (smoe.org [127.0.0.1]); Tue, 22 Jun 2004 16:33:58 -0400 (EDT) X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.2 (smoe.org [199.201.145.78]); Tue, 22 Jun 2004 16:33:55 -0400 (EDT) X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative by demime 0.97c-p1 X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain X-Rcpt-To: Sender: owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Tuesday, June 22, 2004, 12:00 A.M. Pacific Concert Review Jewel shines with simplicity When folk-pop singer Jewel released her latest collection of songs, "0304," last year, the merits of the music were, at least initially, eclipsed by the buzz that surrounded the singer's "new" look b one that was overtly sexy and stylized. Some shuddered to think that the ethereal and intellectual Jewel stooped to the lowest common denominator of contemporary pop music with her tight designer clothes and glossy lips. As if to put an end to any lingering questions of her credibility as an artist, Jewel returns to her roots on her current tour, which brought her to Chateau Ste. Michelle Sunday night. Jewel played solo-acoustic for a sold-out, sun-drenched crowd at the first of the summer concerts at the Woodinville winery. It was a stripped down, raw and breezy performance with no flashy costumes, no dazzling light displays b just Jewel. The singer-songwriter-cum-poet-actress (and renowned yodeler) opened her 90-minute piece with the poignant, though relatively obscure, "Near You Always," from her debut release, "Pieces of You." The song set the mood and pace of the singer's set. Lesser-known and new cuts occupied the first half and her most popular songs (such as "Who Will Save Your Soul") were the foundation of Act 2. Armed with a pair of guitars, Jewel, sporting a golden tan and stick-straight super-blond locks, was dressed appropriately for the balmy conditions with a mini-sun dress over blue jeans. The show spotlighted the singer's best asset b her voice, baby-doll breathy and bold and bluesy by turns. Though she was a bit raspy on the high notes in the beginning, the capacity-crowd didn't mind; they lapped up her music with the same fervor as they did her frequent in-between-song banter and playful barbs. Case in point: A few lines into "Life Uncommon," Jewel stopped to mildly chastise those who were chatting during the performance, and the audience quickly got the hint. With Jewel, each song is a neatly wrapped short story about issues of the heart that are often messy and complicated. Particularly powerful was an achingly beautiful "Foolish Games," and a fine take on one of her biggest hits, "You Were Meant For Me." Concert-goers warmly embraced the pathos of "Hands," the grit of "Life Uncommon" and a fluid, mixed-up arrangement of "Down So Long," all from "Spirted." They were dancing in their seats and on the grass when Jewel launched the catchy "Intuition," a satirical take on image and commercialism. While Jewel's catalog of music is densely lyrical and poetic, it can be a bit repetitive, so it was refreshing that she broke up the monotony with conversations and ramblings, such as a bit about her shyness when doing preconcert meet-and-greets. A pair of rising singer-songwriters opened the show. First off was folksy indie artist Anne Heaton, accompanied only by a keyboard and a soaring, rich voice. Though her set was short, clocking in under 20 minutes, Heaton is a natural performer whose songs, like Jewel's, encapsulate various slice-of-life moments. Charismatic singer Joe Firstman followed, turning out sensual and engaging music with a tenderness reminiscent of Jeff Buckley. Tina Potterf: 206-464-8214 or tpotterf@seattletimes.com From owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Wed Jun 23 21:34:23 2004 Received: from smoe.org (ident-user@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i5O1YNs5027326 for ; Wed, 23 Jun 2004 21:34:23 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10/Submit) id i5O1YNdw027325 for jewel-news-outgoing; Wed, 23 Jun 2004 21:34:23 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <200406240134.i5O1YNdw027325@smoe.org> X-Authentication-Warning: smoe.org: majordom set sender to owner-jewel-news@smoe.org using -f From: GAMGRIFF@aol.com Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 19:12:23 EDT Subject: Jewel-News: Truth! To: jewel@smoe.org X-Mailer: 9.0 for Windows sub 5032 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on jane.smoe.org X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.6 required=5.0 tests=HTML_FONTCOLOR_RED, HTML_FONTCOLOR_UNSAFE,HTML_FONT_BIG,HTML_MESSAGE,NO_REAL_NAME autolearn=no version=2.63 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.2 (smoe.org [127.0.0.1]); Wed, 23 Jun 2004 21:34:23 -0400 (EDT) X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.2 (smoe.org [127.0.0.1]); Wed, 23 Jun 2004 19:17:40 -0400 (EDT) X-Greylist: Delayed for 00:05:05 by milter-greylist-1.5.2 (smoe.org [199.201.145.78]); Wed, 23 Jun 2004 19:17:38 -0400 (EDT) X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative by demime 0.97c-p1 X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain X-Rcpt-To: Sender: owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Hey, Sarah got it right! Fire and Ice Jewel gave a warm performance on a cold night at the Mountain Winery By Sarah Quelland ALL THAT NOISE about Jewel having a meltdown at the Hampton Beach Ballroom Casino in New Hampshire was hogwash, if her solo acoustic appearance at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga last Thursday (June 17) was any indication. Though Jewel's set lists vary from show to show, the stories she tells are pretty much the same every night. While that rowdy casino crowd didn't understand her humor and took her words out of context, the Winery fans were delighted as she regaled them with bizarre tales of her hitchhiking escapades, run-ins with stalker dentists and superfreaks, and her fascination with commercials for social-anxiety drugs. It was a bracingly cold night in the mountains, and Jewel's fans, a mix of families, couples and single men, were huddled in blankets and bundled in winter clothes. Jewel stepped out wearing body-hugging blue jeans, a casual blazer over her shirt and athletic shoes. She immediately began "Near You Always." "OK, it's really cold," she laughed at the end, strumming her guitar. "Are any of you in tank tops?" she asked sympathetically. "You deserve an extra drink!" Throughout the night, Jewel proved to be affable, witty, sarcastic and melodramatic. She's an entertaining comedian and a dramatic storyteller. In addition to highlights from her studio albums ("Hands," "Standing Still," "Intuition," "Foolish Games," "You Were Meant for Me"), Jewel played a number of unrecorded gems. Informing the crowd that the night was being recorded both for Instant Live (where for $25 fans can take home a CD of the concert they just saw) and for her next album, she playfully threatened, "No sneezing during new songs, or I will choke you." After sending "Passing Time" out to "All my homey stalkers, yo," Jewel asked the crowd, "What else do you feel like hearing?" A barrage of song requests flew toward the stage and one guy screamed out "Inspiration!" "Inspiration?" Jewel asked. "I don't think I wrote a song called 'Inspiration.' You might want to check with your wife or girlfriend, 'cause I think it's called 'Intuition'!" she yelled with mock rage. Following the heartsick "Everything Breaks," she asked the crowd, "You like country music at all?" Rewarded with whoops and hollers, she jokingly replied, "I hate it." She then played "So Close to Heaven," which she said she intended to shop to country singer Trisha Yearwood. When a hot drink was delivered from backstage after "Little Sister," Jewel picked it up gratefully. "You're jealous of my tea, aren't you?" she asked, taking a loud sip. When someone called out, "What's in that tea?" she replied "Heat is in this tea, if you must ask. My fingers are getting numb. I'm playing clumsily." Despite the shivering cold, Jewel's voice was in top form and full of power and finesse. She showed off her range from sweet to brassy on "Down So Long," and during one incredible section, she coaxed a vocoder effect from her voice, au naturel. "What else?" she said, bouncing from the cold. "You wanna hear a brand-new song?" she asked. "I just wrote this about a week ago, and I haven't played it very much, so I need to practice." She proceeded to play one of the most intimate and revealing numbers of the night, a song about the illusion and emptiness of fame. On the aching and autobiographical tune, she sang, "There is a difference between dreaming and pretending / I did not find paradise / It was only a reflection of my lonely mind searching for what was missing in my life." Now 30, Jewel seems to be re-evaluating her priorities. She bowed out of Wave, a movie she was set to produce and star in. She's had second thoughts about releasing her book of love poems. Mostly, she seems content right now to focus on her music and to spend her free time with her boyfriend, retired rodeo champion Ty Murray. As the brand-new song suggested, "I crave reality." Jewel seemed perfectly sound at Winery, and she played a generous 16-song set that ended with a dazzling rendition of "Who Will Save Your Soul." After exiting the stage, she quickly returned. "OK, I'm doing a fast encore, 'cause we're all freezing," she announced, breaking into "Chime Bells," which showcased her yodeling ability. "I love you! Have a good night!" she said with a wave, taking her tea and walking backstage. Send a letter to the editor about this story to letters@metronews.com. From owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Sat Jun 26 22:44:05 2004 Received: from smoe.org (ident-user@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i5R2i4s5007802 for ; Sat, 26 Jun 2004 22:44:04 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10/Submit) id i5R2i4Yf007801 for jewel-news-outgoing; Sat, 26 Jun 2004 22:44:04 -0400 (EDT) X-Authentication-Warning: smoe.org: majordom set sender to owner-jewel-news@smoe.org using -f From: GAMGRIFF@aol.com Message-ID: <1f0.2416cd3c.2e0f83ab@aol.com> Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2004 21:58:03 EDT Subject: Jewel-News: Instant Live To: jewel-digest@smoe.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: 9.0 for Windows sub 5032 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on jane.smoe.org X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.3 required=5.0 tests=HTML_MESSAGE,NO_REAL_NAME autolearn=no version=2.63 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.2 (smoe.org [127.0.0.1]); Sat, 26 Jun 2004 22:44:05 -0400 (EDT) X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.2 (smoe.org [199.201.145.78]); Sat, 26 Jun 2004 21:58:12 -0400 (EDT) X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative by demime 0.97c-p1 X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain Sender: owner-jewel-news@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Jewel Signs on to Instant Live CD Program Sat Jun 26, 2004 05:54 PM ET By Ray Waddell NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Instant Live, Clear Channel Entertainment's live concert CD program, has signed its first major-label artist. Billboard has learned that Atlantic Records artist Jewel will sell live CDs at select dates on her summer tour. The company also has nailed down a series of dates to record and sell CDs on the summer tours of Kiss, Peter Frampton, the Allman Brothers Band and the Cowboy Junkies. And on June 28 Instant Live will announce expanded retail availability of a series of concert CDs through an agreement with Newbury Comics' Toothface Distribution unit. Participating retail chains include Virgin and FYE. Internet sales sites include newburycomics.com, amazon.com and cdbaby.com. The company says it is close to announcing a new agreement with a leading online music distributor whereby Instant Live recordings will be available as MP3 files, with a share of the profits from digital downloads passed on to the artists. "We're trying to create a new revenue stream for artists and a new way for them to connect with their fan base," Instant Live director Steve Simon says. Instant Live creates master stereo recordings of concert performances, burns them at the venue and delivers them on-site minutes after the show ends. Prices range from $10 for a recorded club performance to $20 to $25 for multi-CD Digipaks. In basic terms, Instant Live is a new concept in concert merchandise that can add $6 to $8 per unit to an artist's revenue each night. "Some artists will only want to participate in that aspect of the program," Simon says. "But others may want to take advantage of a fully fleshed-out menu that includes after-market retail, digital download and sponsorship opportunities," he continues. "This is a full-service proposition with a lot of add-ons, but at its core it's a new merchandise revenue stream." Participation from a major-label act is a milestone for the program. Previous participants either run their own labels or are signed to small indies. "For the labels, it's a way to create revenue, with no additional investment, from concert merchandise," Simon says. So how is the pie sliced? "In a general sense, the artist and label combined will make more than we do, and that's fine," Simon says. The Allman Brothers Band participated in a "handful" of shows last year, Simon says, and will increase that number in 2004. He adds that about 19% of ticket buyers purchased concert CDs. Taking Allman Brother concert CDs to retail was a logical extension after seeing Allman Brothers Instant Live CDs on eBay, Simon says. "Allmans fans know how to tape, burn and rip, yet these original-issue CD Live three-CD sets were going for $350 on eBay," he says. "That's when the light bulb goes off that there's an after-market for these things." Artists participating in the program include moe., Michael Franti & Spearhead, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Dickey Betts & Great Southern, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, the Smithereens and many others. DiscLive, the biggest competitor to Instant Live in the concert CD market, counts the Pixies, Billy Idol, Kim Deal, Newsboys and Doors of the 21st Century among its clients. Other bands, including the Dead and the Who, have their own live concert CD programs. "All the more power to them," Simon says. "Their model is different; they deliver by mail order several weeks after the shows." For Kiss, no stranger to creative merchandising, Instant Live is working well on the band's Rock the Nation tour. "This is something that we've never done before, and we don't know if and when will be back," Kiss manager Doc McGhee tells Billboard. McGhee says roughly 20% of Kiss fans are buying CDs at the concerts, but it's still too early to tell if showgoers are moving dollars from other purchases to buy the CDs. "The jury is still out as to whether it will impact other sales," he says. Reuters/Billboard