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Subject: The European Tour, 1997, Part 2

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Editor: Unique212@aol.com


Subj: Four (fat) men and a dancing girl!!!
Date: 97-02-20 02:57:44 EST
From: FINELL@penger.helsinki.fi (Johan Finell)

February 19. Helsinki, old student house. 22:50

There I was, front row, middle. 1.5 meters away from suzanne. Amazing.
My gilrfriend, standing next to me, told me later that when Suzanne walked on stage and gave me/us her first warm smile I blushed. Talk about an intimate concert. At least for me it was just that, don't know about the rest of the crowd. I wasn't paying them that much attention...

Close to the end of the show Suzanne sang the Gypsy. I just came to think about how totally bizarre situation that must be for her. A song she wrote in a completely different time and place. Performing it here on the other side of the world, and people will sing along... We strangers know each other now as part of a whole design...

The band rocks! Yes it does. They just do it only on those moments they are allowed. Suzanne walks to the side of the stage dancing and they glow. Four (fat) men and a dancing girl!

The only thing that bothers me right now is that tonight there will be another magical evening and I don't have a ticket.

Well I suppose that's life -the best part is sold out. And I allready had my share. Tonight is some others turn to stand there and feel her presence.

To the rest of Europe, if she is coming to your direction and you don't have a ticket yet: GO! GO! GO!

Suzanne, it is snowing outside right now. That's good, you'll get to see the second best this part of the world has to offer, the best being the midnight sun in the summer. That means you'll have to come back, for who'd be satisfied with only the second best :)

Johan.


From: velpura@sci.fi (Veli-Matti Pura)
To: VegaNet@aol.com
Date: 97-02-21 08:52:39 EST

(I hope that this e-mail comes to right place, if it isnŠt could you who read this remail it to Suzanne Vega.)

To Suzanne Vega !

Thanks for the great concert 20.2.1997 in Helsinki Suzanne. Your concert was perfect but next time you come to Finland i hope you find a little better place.' Perhaps in Tampere hall where you was some 5 years ago. Your music is so good that it deserves good acoustics and a good stage. I want to thank you Suzanne, for the music you give us. Every song you made is like a fantastic painting.
(Sorry for my bad language !)
Your Veli-Matti Pura
(IŠm a old fan of your music from town call Tammela in Southern Finland)


Subj: Concert 20th February in Helsinki
Date: 97-02-21 06:03:35 EST
From: vesku@whiskey.yok.utu.fi (Vesa Siivola)

Hi everyone !

I was positively surprised by the concert, the show was relaxed, but by no means "worn out". Suzanne's stage presence was quite amazing and the voice... Wow!

As for the band, I really liked the way the drummer played. There was none of the usual "rock-beat", but he really played interesting backgrounds. I liked the bassist too, it seemed like he really enjoyed playing.

Bad points ? Well, the mix wasn't always perfect, the synths sometimes drowned out Suzanne's voice.

I couldn't help wondering, if they could do the songs on 99.9F without background tapes. I know, the "metallic edge" wouldn't be there, but I really would have liked to hear them that way. I guess there are a lot of people, who don't agree with me on this... Anyway, you can't have it all, I guess.

Anyway, if you have the possiblity to go to see the concert, do it. It's really worth it.

I joined this list a day after the concert. Too bad I didn't have a chance to talk to Suzanne...

- Vesa (The tall blonde guy on sixth row, was anyone else there ?) -


Subj: Helsinki concerts
Date: 97-02-21 13:37:45 EST
From: tmhesa@uta.fi (Heli)

SUZANNE VEGA, 19.2. & 20.2.97 at Vanha YO-talo, Helsinki

Hi! I'm just back from Helsinki and while everything (well, almost) is fresh in my mind, I'll type it for all of you to read.

I was lucky to see Suzanne on both nights she played Vanha in the center of Helsinki. Both shows were sold out. I got there early and got a front row place in the middle on both nights. The couple of hours went by quickly because I chatted with other fans. I was so close to the stage I was able to read Suzanne's setlist! I enjoyed both concerts very much! I haven't seen her live since 1990 when she played last time in Finland.

She told couple of stories; about her being an Avon Lady (before "Gypsy") and on the first night she told a story that had happened to her during this visit. She called it "Helsinki-story". I hope I can remember most of it. She started it by telling how she was having a massage at the hotel [actually what she said was went somenthing like this "I woke up this morning...naked...next to a Finnish man] when the guy said to her: "I have the first two of your albums". Suzanne replied: "Oh, that's nice". The man added: "On vinyl. I don't like the sound of CDs". Well, Suzanne didn't want to start arguing with that. The man asked maybe Suzanne could do something, talk to her record company maybe, about getting her albums released on vinyl. Suzanne replied that she didn't think the record company would be too delighted about the idea. Suzanne then asked if he'd like to come to her show and the man said: "No thank you, the sound sucks at Vanha". Suzanne said she draw the conclusion that Finnish men are very opinionated and the women, too! It was funnier when she told it :-) but you won't hear it again because she said she'll only tell it that one time.

On the second night she recognized a few familiar faces in the audience when she came on stage and gave a big smile. Me included :-)! Otherwise it was mostly different audience. She asked who was there last night and not too many hands rose. The second night went past very quickly and they did an extra number that wasn't on the setlist; (If You Were) In My Movie. Suzanne hadn't sung it for a long time so she had written lyrics on the back of a menu! Before she left the stage after 99.9F_ she gave three bows and a smile, me included (again!).

Me and my friend decided to wait for a while outside the venue to exchange a few words. It has started to snow but luckily it wasn't that cold. We thought we had missed her because one of the crew members said she had left 10 min ago. Well, after a while he said he was only joking... After some 40min (01.30 AM) Suzanne came out with her husband. I didn't first recognize because it was dark and I've never seen her in winter clothes. We exchanged a few words and she said she still doesn't a have new computer but asked me to say "hi" to all on the mailing list. So, "hi!" from Suzanne!

T: Matti

SUZANNE VEGA
19.2. & 20.2.97
at Vanha YO-talo, Helsinki
Showtime 22.45 / 00.30 the show ends

Stockings
Rock In This Pocket
Caramel
Thin Man
Casual Match
Small Blue Thing
Marlene On The Wall
Headshots
No Cheap Thrill
Fat Man
Neighborhood Girls
Gypsy (20.2.) / The Queen And The Soldier (19.2.)
World Before Columbus
Room Off The Street
Woman On The Tier
Blood Makes Noise
In Liverpool
Luka
Birth-day

Encores:
*******************
Tom's Diner
Men In A War
*******************
(If You Were) In My Movie (only 20.2.)
*******************
Gypsy (19.2.) / The Queen And The Soldier (20.2.)
*******************
99.9F

*Suzanne on Finnish-TV:

AJANKOHTAINEN KAKKONEN (current affairs program) 18.2.97, 7min -interview + liveclip with Suzanne filmed 17.2.97 in Stockholm

YLE'S LATE NIGHT NEWS 19.2.97, 2min -interview + soundcheck footage

JYRKI, MTV3, 20.2.97, 10min -interview (filmed at her hotel) + liveclips from 19.2. She said at the moment she would like to have a house where there is a room with a door just for her. She needs her privacy. She said she enjoyed her hotel's sauna where she was able to be in peace. By the way, according to Jyrki's report all the elevators at her hotel were out of order becuse the whole place seemed to be undergoing some sort of major repair!

*Merchandise available at the gig: Tour calender 50FIM/~$10 T-shirt 100FIM/~$20

T: Matti


Subj: Hannover Concert
Date: 97-02-23 14:19:29 EST
From: martin.schmidt@tu-bs.de (Martin Schmidt)

Hi everybody,

just a few impression about the concert in Hannover yesterday (22.2.) for those, who weren't able to join the show.
We had to wait a while, because Richard Julien started a bit early, so there was a 30 minutes break, before shecame. (Anyway -- don't things get better when you have to wait for them? :-)

She played a good mixture of "old"/new songs. I cannot recall the whole songlist, but it seemed to be similar to the Helsinki concert, mentioned earlier on this list. We had a very good time there in the first row (except for two always something ugly smoking nerds, who didn't seem to be too interested: "`YOU are a SV fan?" "`No -- do I look like..." -- Anyway)

BTW: It was very hard to follow her handclaps in "Room Off the Street", not only because of the difficult rythm, but also because of the _change_ between two. Nevertheless everybody tried to!

I was very impressed by her live performance -- I hadn't see her live yet -- especially by "`Birthday", my personal 9OoD favorite. After this she left -- a strong exit.

But everybody was cheering for encore, so she came back -- Three times! This time, whe she performed "Tom's Diner", the people seemed to have learned the lesson (see that mail from Belgium), that singing "da da dada da da dada" with her is welcome. Only when Suzanne hesitates for the last two line, the two nerds mentioned above tried to impress by shout out the text (or did Suzanne _really_ forget her lines? I don't believe so -- and her look at them told me the same...)

So, to whom it may concern: Go see her! (But...who on this list doesn't try to?)

Thanks Suzanne,

Martin --- Dipl.phys. Martin Schmidt Martin.schmidt@tu-bs.de
PGP public key on request (subject: PGP public key request)
fingerprint: 24 ff 2a c6 6d b1 52 0f d8 17 ac 72 7e c0 48 26
"Every science pretends to be the most important one. But with physics
it is different: physics is really the most important science!"
Unknown author


Subj: Re: Hannover Concert
Date: 97-02-23 18:41:17 EST
From: ms@dream.hb.north.de (Martin Schroeder)

"Martin Schmidt" writes: >Hi everybody,
>just a few impression about the concert in Hannover yesterday (22.2.) for
>those, who weren't able to join the show.

What amazed me (besides the encores ;-)) was her version of "`Caramel"' --
slower and infinitely more intense than the CD version.
It alone was worth the concert... :-)))))))

The sound was very mixed: Good when she was solo, but with the band her voice was much to silent. And they had very many basses -- a _good_ disco PA.

But IMHO the concert was too short:
- entrance at 19:15
- Richard from 19:45 till 20:15
- Suzanne from 20:55 till 22:00
- encores till 22:45

I think 1:50 is a bit short for a concert...

I can't wait for the next one! :-)

Best regards
Martin

Martin Schr"oder, MS@Dream.HB.North.DE
Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. (Oscar Wilde)


Subj: Suzanne in Hannover
Date: 97-02-24 08:11:34 EST
From: benkroll@metronet.de (Benjamin Kroll)

Hi all !

I just go back from Hannover 10 min. ago or so where I saw Suzanne last night I I'd like to tell you a little about the concert. Anyone who is bored of this kind of stories, please take my apologies.

Well, after arriving in Hannover about three hours after leaving Hamburg, I went to the CAPITOL where the concert took place. When I arrived at the Venue at 18.00 (concert started at 20.00 with Richard Julian as special guest : terrific performance indeed), there were just three people (me and my sister included) waiting in front of the doors. I walked over to SV's tourbus to maybe see her or anybody of the band to chat a little but there were only some sound engineers standing around there, who told me that she was already inside and doing the soundcheck.
So me and my sister waited one hour, and then the venue was open, and we went in.
After half an hour or so the Capitol was full of people (1700 maybe more maybe less) hanging around waiting for the concert to start. I was really nervous, standing in the middle left of first row waiting for the concert to start, because it was the first time ever I was going to see Suzanne live (also it was the fact I am just 17 and got hooked by Suzanne and her Music just about half a year before). It really knocked me out of my shoes, when she went onstage. She looked so beautiful and she was so nice and friendly, she gave a warm smile to the whole audience.
The concert was gorgeous, Suzanne, her band (especially Mitchell). She played about 1000 songs or so ;)(can't remember how many actually maybe 20 or more) and all of them were great, except that the mixing was bad sometimes.
She welcomed saying "Hallo Hannover !" and admitted that this was the extent of her German, except "Zwei Bier bitte!" (two beers please). So the whole evening was gorgeous and all Suzanne singing, dancing, telling anecdotes, jokes etc.

After "Fat man and dancing girl" where the whole audience was dancing around along with Suzanne, she told us : "I really appreciate it seeing all of you dancing around improving your dance steps. It's not easy to dance to my music anyway, ... I know that, because .... I tried it, you know."
Yeah, she was very funny that evening.
And we also had lots of fun singing "Tom's Diner" along with her, where the audience took the "Dib Dib De Dib -part" from the DNA remix. It was lots of fun this evening, and I think the whole audience enjoyed as much as I did.
So that was the impression I got from my first SV concert yesterday. So long !

Benjamin

P.S. If anybody reading this mail, has been there in HANNOVER too , please let me know it.


Subj: Re: Thanks for the concert in Helsinki 20.2.1997 !
Date: 97-02-24 09:49:38 EST
From: janvolkers@digitaal.nl (jan volkers)

This was sent round by Undertow, the Suzanne Vega newsgroup, and so I read it also. Just a little reaction from a guy in Holland, hope you don't mind

>I want to thank you Suzanne, for the music you give us. Every song you made
>is like a fantastic painting.
That is a fine way of putting it, i couldn't agree more

>(Sorry my bad language !)
It is a very clear message and funny too!

>Your Veli-Matti Pura
>(I'm a old fun of your music from town call Tammela in Southern Finland)
I think those are beautiful names, it's a bit like you are an Indian guru. They sound mystic to me

I am an admirer of Suzanne too. Have just listened to 'world before Columbus'. Suddenly the words really speak to me of a deeply felt love: -- those men who lust for land and for riches strange and new / they never will have you -- and they never know the gold or the copper in your hair, how could they weigh the worth of you so rare? This touches me: that in trying to be rich one can be blind to what really matters.

If Finland is only half as beautiful as I imagine, you must be a very lucky person living there

greetings, Jan


Subj: Re: Suzanne in Hannover
Date: 97-02-25 05:07:48 EST
From: martin.schmidt@tu-bs.de (Martin Schmidt)

Hi everybody,

On 24 Feb 97 at 14:02, Benjamin Kroll wrote:

[...] > that she was already inside and doing the soundcheck. So me and my sister
> waited one hour, and then the venue was open, and we went in. After half
> an hour or so the Capitol was full of people (1700 maybe more maybe less)

??? I had the feeling that the concert was _not_ sold out (at least when they opened the capitol, some people bought their tickets there). IMHO there were about 300 people?! Anyway.

> Benjamin
> P.S. If anybody reading this mail, has been there in HANNOVER too ,
> please let me know it.

ME TOO ;-))))

\begin{curiosity}
BTW: I saw some people with backstage passes. Anyone here on the list? How did you get one? What happened there?
\end{curiosity}

Martin


Subj: Re: Hannover Concert
Date: 97-02-24 11:21:04 EST
From: ripley@cs.tu-berlin.de (H. Eckert)

Martin Schmidt wrote:
>(except for two always something ugly smoking nerds, who didnŠt seem to be
>too interested: "YOU are a SV fan?" "No -- do I look like..."
>-- Anyway)

Thank heavens smoking isn't allowed at the HdK concert room. It was a great concert yesterday and although I came fairly late (I couldn't miss the last episode of Babylon 5 and had two phone calls before I could leave) I had quite a good place, fourth row on the rim.

Richard Julian was much better than the guests of the 99.9F tour... He said he went around the city during the day and visited Checkpoint Charlie and the Zoo.

Greetings,
Ripley

H. Eckert, 10777 Berlin, Germany, Europe
(intl) ripley@nostromo.in-berlin.de (UUCP on home machine)
Alternative: ripley@cs.tu-berlin.de (POP via university)


Subj: Suzanne in Berlin, Germany
Date: 97-02-24 22:35:42 EST
From: pischel@informatik.hu-berlin.de (Erik Pischel)

Hi gang,

Suzanne performed yesterday in the concert hall of the Institute of Arts (Hochschule der Kuenste). To put it in a nutshell: it was outstanding!!!

I arrived 7.30 pm, bought a tour programme/calendar (very nice, around $12, 2 more than in Helsinki but I think they prefer "round" prices [DM20] then 100% correct prices [would be about DM17.50]) and got a seat in 8th row or so. In Europe, most of venues are not seats (as Suzanne later said: "We've already got used to halls where people are standing") but this classical concert hall has them. The advantage of such a classical hall is that accoustics are quite good (in opposite to that in those former fabrique halls). The hall was filled up to the roof, maybe 3,000 people but I don't know exactly.

However, Richard Julian started at 8 pm. It's an one-man-one-guitar- performance. He plays the guitar mainly as percussive guitar, with finger positions I had never seen before... Sometimes he remind of the very early Bruce Springsteen, but only sometimes. His songs are rather lengthy, and if you can't follow the lyrics it might become a bit "boring", as someone said who reviewed Brussels. But nevertheless it was a nice performance.

After 45 minutes of RJ and and a 15-minutes interlude to set up the stage for Suzanne and her band, they began with "Stockings".

But before I begin speaking about the different songs, some words about the band. I think they've improved a lot since I saw them back in October. They are now so common with the songs that they have a lot of room to improvise. Best example is Mike Visceglia (the bass player) who throws in a additional riff high up the neck at times. Pete Thomas looks quite cool with his sunglasses but he treats his drums very well (hey, an 8th note bass drum on Luka!!). Steve Donnelly looks also very unmoved but pulls out great solos in the improvised/medley parts of the show. And Mr. Froom... couldn't think of a better keyboardist. And the best of it is that you can see they enjoy playing together - they have fun.

And Suzanne? Well, dressed in a light blue jacket she looked just fine. And her aura... well, incredible, indescribable...

So they started with "Stockings" (btw, it was a standard Gypsy-in-the-encore-set). It was the only song where the mixing was poor: her guitar and her voice was too low - or the band was too loud. But after this song the mixing was just fine.

Umm... actually before they began to play there was some kind of intro music from a background tape. It had percussions like that in the beginning of stockings and a keyboard melody. I think I've heard this melody before, either in a film or in another SV song. I'm not sure. I think I'll tell you later. Especially because MF played this melody in "Birth-Day" later in the show 3 times or so.

Well, after "Stockings" she became quite talkative. She told us that she had got used to not-seated venues. And that the disadvantage of seated venues were that she would be the only person dancing. Then she'd be very lonely. So she suggested to dance if we want to even if we hadn't much room.

Then they did "Rock in this pocket". During it, some people stood up. After the song a security guy asked them to sit down and Suzanne wanted to speak with him ("Wait a minute") but he went away - "I think the security guy is very shy!". She was a bit surprised that we had responded so quickly to her suggestion to dance. But we should feel free to do whatever we wanted to... to dance... to read (her words!)

"Caramel". "...and long for yoooouuuu".

"Thin Man" with its blues/jazz intro and ad lib solos by SD.

"Casual Match" with PT drum solo intro&outro! Very powerful! And witty: Pete ended the drum solo with a descending tom tom cascade (or whatever you call that) then he held his stick above the cymbal as if he would hit it - but he wouldn't and smiled instead. Imagine: bum bum bum bum bum bum (splaashhhhhh??) ;-)

"All people who want to dance to the next song... I wish the best luck in the world":
"Small Blue Thing". As beautiful as ever... as was "Marlene on the wall"

"Headshots". Groovy.

"Anyone plays poker here?" No. "It's a kind of gambling game. And this song is about the gambling and risk of romance".
"No Cheap Thrill".

"Fat Man and Dancing Girl" (+Medley). MF with his wind instrument. Suzanne dancing on the side of the stage (dancing girl). And all this was really long. Glad it made the way on my tape...

"Neighbourhood girls". This one didn't :(.
Before the song she told a variation of the rules-story. "I had a baby girl two years ago. And now our house is full of rules. No dancing. No kissing. No touching. No singing. These are rules for me and the little baby girl is very strict. So I enjoy coming out here tonight to sing and dance...".

"The queen and ..." / "World before Columbus": wonderful and epic

"Room off the street", "Woman on a tier", "Blood makes noise":
those numbers rocked. And MF on accordion on "Room off...".

"In Liverpool". Perfect pop.

"Luka". Classic and powerful.

"Birthday". That rocked.

"Tom's Diner". With audience (clapping and singing).

"Men in a war". Great.

"(if you were) in my movie". 'We're still trying this out...'
and finally:
"99.9F" the band already started but Suzanne wanted to tell us that 99.9F degree are 38C degree so had to do it during the intro...

So you see, it was really outstanding. It made my day, my week. I almost enjoyed the visit at the dentist today, can you imagine?

So long from Berlin,
Erik Pischel *** Berlin, Germany *** community service at a hospital
for more info see my room page at http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~pischel
Until it fits naturally into their lives,
people will have no use of the net.
Don Norman


Subj: Re: Suzanne in Berlin, Germany
Date: 97-02-25 10:06:37 EST
From: ripley@cs.tu-berlin.de (H. Eckert)

Erik Pischel wrote:
>Suzanne performed yesterday in the concert hall of the Institute of Arts
>(Hochschule der Kuenste). To put it in a nutshell: it was outstanding!!!

I second that.

>So they started with "Stockings" (btw, it was a standard
>gypsy-in-the-encore-set). It was the only song where the mixing was poor:
>her guitar and her voice was too low - or the band was too loud. But after
>this song mixing was just fine.

Except for "Woman on the Tier" where I could hardly hear her singing.

>Umm... actually before they began to play there was some kind of intro
>music from a background tape. It had percussions like that in the beginning
>of stockings and a keyboard melody. I think I've heard this melody before,
>either in a film or in another SV song. I'm not sure. I think I'll tell you
>later. Especially because MF played this melody in "Birth-Day" later in the
>show 3 times or so.

AFAIK it's a very classical sort of introduction theme. My school's jazz group used it too at one of their concerts...

>"Anyone plays poker here?" No. "It's a kind of gambling game. And this song
>is about the gambling and risk of romance".
>"No Cheap Thrill".

Yeah, and some stupid guys shoutin back "Skat" :-| As if poker wasn't known over here even if it might be much more popular in the US.

>"Fat Man and Dancing Girl" (+Medley). MF with his wind instrument. Suzanne
>dancing on the side of the stage (dancing girl). And all this was
>really long. Glad it made the way on my tape...

This wind instrument is really great.

While we're at that, I wondered a lot what sorts of devices Steve Donelly attached to his guitar at some times. They seemed to produce really strange sounds from the guitar's strings...

Greetings, Ripley

H. Eckert, 10777 Berlin, Germany, Europe
(intl) ripley@nostromo.in-berlin.de (UUCP on home machine)
Alternative: ripley@cs.tu-berlin.de (POP via university)


Subj: Suzanne 's show in Poland
Date: 97-02-25 19:55:45 EST
From: menios@polbox.com.pl (menios)

Well, so what am I supposed to write here ? It's been 24 hours since you gave a great performance in Warsaw's Sala Kongresowa (24.02) and I'm still "thinking of your voice". I would have lied saying that I know your every song by heart but your music had been sowed in my mind years ago and was hidden deep inside...until yesterday.
You came, black skirt on ,face hmm..? to descibe your face I would have to use the words my mind doesn't know so...anyway you were looking very nice (it sounds trivial doesn't it).
Although I sat quite close to the stage I suppose the hall was too big. Maybe that's why you were approching the edge of the stage trying to pierce the darkness with your eyes. I think the audience of fifty to eighty people would be most suitable.Unfortunately I don't live in New York so I am not able to catch you singing in some kind of club or stuff like that (by the way - Do you play in clubs ?- I really don't know that so I'm just guessing you do).In spite of this great number of people, I belive that everybody(the man in the first row or somebody sitting far away with binoculars to observe the stage) were feeling that you were singing only for them. Anyway that was how I felt. Your voice was that caused that feeling. Soothing my innerself, mild and delicate and sometimes sad.
It's a pity that time passes so quickly. One day here, another day somewhwere else and you forget.

I don't know if you come to Poland again .I don't know if I ever see you again. I don't dream you'll ever answer my e-mail -my dreams hardly ever come true (but whose come true,maybe the saints' dreams.No the saints don't dream- I forgot that.)
Ending this short note I'd like to wish you and your family all the best ,health and of course happiness
.

Bye
Piotr Kaldun
Skierniewice,Poland

[Note: The last time SV played in a club setting in New York City was about 1994/95 for a show called "In Their Own Words: A Bunch of Songwriters Sitting Around Singing" at the Bottom Line. The performance of Luka from that night, as well as a very amusing story about the real boy named Luka (who was not abused at all and now uses the song to pick up girls!) can be found on a CD called "In Their Own Words: Volume 2", Razor & Tie RT 2824-2. -- Ed.]


Subj: A Letter From Suzanne
Date: 97-02-26 16:58:08 EST
From: VegaNet@aol.com

Hi Gang!

We are all here in Prague (as you probably know.) My computer stopped working when we got to England a month ago (which you probably know as well!)

So I am missing all of last month's mail - I have no idea what you have been "talking" about.

So far we are all in good health (knock wood.) The worst moment of the tour so far was in Poland when we found out that the monitor man's baby had died from SIDS [Sudden Infant Death Syndrome] back in the U.S. We dropped 'World Before Columbus' from the set for that reason (temporarily.) He had gone home to be with his family.

I saw Hugo in Stockholm - I had not seen him in a while and I was glad he came. It was probably the show with the fewest people - Helsinki had the most and I met some 'Undertowers' in the snow after the gig.

I am sorry I have not been able to read what people have been saying about the shows!

We picked up a little troll in Norway and I keep him in my pocket to amuse Ruby - We were calling him "Matchee Fram" which was a mis-spelling of MF's name in a Polish paper - See you soon.

Affectionately yours,

Suzanne


Subj: Suzanne's Letter
Date: 97-02-27 08:42:17 EST
From: webbjn@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu (Jim Webb)

Hi gang,

I suppose those of you who've been on the Undertow for a while now take this sort of thing for granted, but I want you to know I was just THRILLED to see a post from our favorite singer. Let me tell you, I was grinning from ear to ear when I downloaded her post; I showed it to my kids, and even my teenage daughter (who is typically blase' about such things) was impressed. Yeah, I know it's silly -- even I thought so at the time, but I sure enjoyed it.

What a nice thing to do.

I'm so sorry about the family tragedy she mentioned; a close friend of mine lost her grown son in an accident last year, and I can't think of anything more horrible than losing a child. It kinda puts things (even music) in perspective.

Suzanne, I hope the rest of your tour goes smoothly -- I've got a feeling that Ruby will be getting a lot of trolls in the future (and were they the little plastic ones with the colored hair, or the literary kind in European folklore?). Ya'll have a safe trip and get back to the states soon!

---------------------------------------------------------
But the only soldier now is me
I'm fighting things I cannot see
I think it's called my destiny
That I am changing, changing, changing
-------------------------------------------------------
Jim in Music City


Subj: The little things that make your day
Date: 97-02-28 12:22:41 EST
From: Sarianna.Silvonen@trantex.fi (Sarianna Silvonen)

This is a nice little story...

Today I passed a record shop here in Helsinki and happened to see a small poster of the Nine Objects of Desire album cover in the window (the same picture, with Suzanne and the apple). I went in and asked if they had them for sale, and they said no but that there were some big (like 1 x 1 m) posters left over (that they'd had up to advertise when the album came out, I think), and they gave me one for free!!! Makes me believe there's still some goodness in the world . So now I'm the happy owner of a huge, beautiful SV poster (beats the hell out of Pamela Anderson and Brad Pitt anytime;-) and my only problem is finding some space on my tiny walls for it...

The moral of the story: The best things in life are free.

For anyone in Helsinki who's interested, the shop was Fazerin musiikki on Aleksanterinkatu, and it seemed to me that they had at least a couple more extra posters in the back room. (Of course, if there's a huge demand, they might start charging for them ;-)

Sarianna (who likes parentheses)


Subj: show in Budapest/Hungary
Date: 97-03-02 13:53:43 EST
From: pandor@mail.matav.hu (Attila Sandi)

Suzanne is wonderful no doubt and what a cool band! It was hard to find the ugliest place in the city but somehow they had managed to do it. Poor Suzanne.

andor


Subj: In Budapest 1/3/97
Date: 97-03-02 14:45:26 EST
From: ahalas@terminus.inext.hu (Halas Attila)

On the first day of spring Suzanne Vega came to my home city. I've been reading other people's stories of earlier SV shows in various places in Europe. You guys weren't kidding. I'm in love.

Although the place chosen for this special occasion is probably one of the ugliest sites in this city, not to mention the extremely poor sound quality of the hall, I was absolutely destroyed by the sight of Suzanne. The sound quality WAS poor, but I don't think there was a soul there that night who cared the least bit. It was one of the few perfect concerts I have ever seen and heard in my life.

I have to say, I'm not particularly interested in getting back the CD quality sound of songs I already know by heart, but rather always try to get a feel of the personality of the artist/band that I choose to see. Even if a show is superbly organized, produced and performed, the lack of real human presence on stage can really cause a great disappointment for me. Fortunately, this was far from being the case when Suzanne came on stage. Her personality radiated all around the room to every single person from the first moments and lasted for over two hours, even beyond that, as the show wasn't over by the band leaving the stage.

I can hardly recall the songs she played that night. All I did was stand in one place (approximately 3 meters from her) and look at her face during the whole of the show. Actually, 'show' isn't a good word for this, I'd rather call it a 'revelation'. Suzanne Vega appeared in Budapest to show us her beautiful self and lovely personality that was accompanied by her unique and most valuable talent. I did not dance, I hardly clapped, but looked at her eyes and felt extremely grateful for letting us in into her wonderful character. I felt like instead of listening to her songs performed on stage, I was having a beautiful conversation with a friend I had known for years and will love forever. It was really, really wonderful.

She kept looking at the audience as if looking for someone special, and every time she seemed to have found him/her, she gave that someone in the room a lovely smile, which made you feel like she really knew you and greeted you there. It made everyone feel right at home, as if we were the visitors and she was the beautiful hostess to her party that only we had been invited to.

After the 'show' we waited for her by the tour bus and when she arrived she told the 'guards' it was alright for the people waiting to go and talk to her, so we did. I told her it was a lovely evening and my girlfriend gave her a little troll-doll to give to Ruby (so that's at least two she has now). Suzanne and Mitchell Froom told us Ruby will really love the doll, so anyone can feel free to get her some more (I guess), so she'll have a collection of them to remind her of Europe. It was really nice to meet her personally, even if for a minute, but I think anyone going to see her in concert already has the experience to say that they've met her in person.

If you see a poster in your city with the words 'One Special Evening' with Suzanne Vega, you better believe it.

Love,

Attila


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