Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Singer Werner to perform intimate gig in Chicago
NUNN ON ONE: MUSIC
by Jerry Nunn, Windy City Times
2011-09-21

This article shared 2621 times since Wed Sep 21, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Susan Werner is a singer/songwriter with a contemporary folk bend to her music. This industrious pioneer came to Chicago from Iowa. Her music has crossed barriers from jazz to religious with an agnostic's point of view. Her latest album, Kicking the Beehive, brings the performer to play at the Auditorium Theatre. Windy City Times talked with her before the show.

Windy City Times: Hello, Susan. How are you on this beautiful day?

Susan Werner: It is a beautiful day. I think I will ride my bike down to the lake on the Northerly Island. There is a path that, for about a quarter mile, you have the city to yourself.

Windy City Times: What area of the city do you live in?

Susan Werner: We live right downtown in Streeterville.

Windy City Times: How long have you lived in Chicago?

Susan Werner: Eleven years. Before that I lived in Philadelphia for about 15 years. I grew up in Iowa. I always wanted to get back within driving distance of my family and Iowa. This really feels like home to me. I think it is the same for many people from the Midwest.

Windy City Times: You tour a lot, from what I read.

Susan Werner: I am gone a lot. I thank God for Southwest Airlines because I can get everywhere that I need to get to. The bad news it is a small plane and everyone is packed in now.

Windy City Times: This show at the Auditorium Theatre should be intimate.

Susan Werner: I have played this particular kind of show two or three times now. When I tell people in town that I am playing the Auditorium they nearly fall over. They think I have 3,000 fans in one place! [Laughs]

For this show we put the table and chairs on the stage so it is cabaret seating. Our little stage is at the lip of the big stage. So you are sitting onstage looking back toward the seats. To sit there and experience the glamorous view that famous people like Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix had—now, you can get it too.

Windy City Times: It is 1940s style.

Susan Werner: Yes, it is tables with table clothes and two bars. By the time we start you can be well-lubricated.

Windy City Times: What other venues have you played in town?

Susan Werner: I have played Old Town School of Folk Music, and Schubas is where I really started playing in Chicago. I have played Space in Evanston a couple of times. That is a really nice new venue up there. There is not a bad seat in the house. It's a nightclub for grownups.

Windy City Times: I have heard great things about it.

Susan Werner: One the things that make the Auditorium show great is that I will have my band with me. Trina Hamlin is probably one of the world's best harmonica players. She brings the house down plus she plays the drum kit at the same time. She is a one-woman hurricane. I will also have Natalia Zuckerman, who plays bass. It is a virtual wall of women.

Windy City Times: How is the new album different from the others?

Susan Werner: I try to make every project different from the one that came before. There is great energy in doing something new. For me that is the carrot, to find a new style and master it. I did a Cole Porter project in 2007. I did a gospel project for agnostics. In 2009 I did chamber music. This last one came from a trip I took down the blues highway. It was from Memphis to Mississippi. I was hanging out there and soaking in the music. It made the blues real to me. I would recommend that to any fan of music. I think you need to see the landscape. Have you done it?

Windy City Times: Well, I am from Tennessee.

Susan Werner: Dude! This record was made in Nashville. It was produced by Rodney Crowell. Vince Gill came in and sat in. He is the honorary mayor of Nashville.

Windy City Times: I just heard how supportive Vince is from LeAnn Rimes.

Susan Werner: He is all about the music. He just wants people to make good music. Keb Mo came in and sat in also. If you make it into this inner circle in Nashville everyone gathers around you and wants to make something wonderful. Good music is the religion that everyone agrees on in Nashville. It has the largest bible producing area and home of the largest adult bookstore.

Windy City Times: [Both laugh.] Don't you love that?

Susan Werner: It is fantastic.

Windy City Times: I grew up in that, in the closet.

Susan Werner: You were lost like a rocket, friend. It is opening up like much of Tennessee. I have a friend who is head of the LGBT network in Memphis. The South is changing. Those of us that grew up in a conservative space came out with momentum. Hopefully we aim that toward a lot of other people. My favorite places to play are blues towns and red states.

Windy City Times: You can make a difference in places like that.

Susan Werner: You feel very useful. Some of things I say can be confirming when someone is a minority. Eureka Springs, Ark., has a Christian theme park up on the hill. A giant Jesus statues looks down over the valley. But the valley is an arts community and has the largest gay-pride parade in Arkansas. It is fabulous!

Windy City Times: How do you feel about other out musicians, such as Melissa Etheridge or Indigo Girls?

Susan Werner: They are the pioneers, anyone that went through the windshield. They were a hero and changed the road for everybody else. Someone that is very important to me is Joan Armatrading. I did two tours with her. She played the hell out of a guitar before any woman had done that. She is so deeply musical.

Purchase your tickets at www.auditoriumtheatre.org or call 800-982-2787 for the Saturday, Sept. 24, show at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy.

ed the hell out of a guitar before any woman had done that. She is so deeply musical.

Purchase your tickets at www.auditoriumtheatre.org or call 800-982-2787 for the Saturday, Sept. 24, show at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy.

Also please see related 2009 story, Susan Werner reveals her classic B-side, at the link:

www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php


This article shared 2621 times since Wed Sep 21, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

'Rumors' performers create alternative drag playground 2024-03-24
- At first glance, Dorian's Through The Record Shop (1939 W. North Ave.) looks like a brightly-lit shop with a handful of records on the wall, but there's a secret world behind those unassuming shelves. Visitors are ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21
- Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

THEATER Chicago's City Lit has anxiety on tap with 'Two Hours in a Bar' 2024-03-21
- Two Hours in a Bar Waiting for Tina Meyer by Kristine Thatcher with material by Larry Shue Text Me by Kingsley Day (Book, Music and Lyrics). At: City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.. Tickets: ...


Gay News

Lollapalooza announces lineup; SZA, Skrillex among headliners 2024-03-19
- Lollapalooza has released its line-up for the event that's taking place Aug. 1-4 at Grant Park. Headliners include SZA, Blink-182, Skrillex, The Killers, Hozier, Melanie Martinez and Stray Kids, among others. Some of the other acts ...


Gay News

Jamie Barton brings nuances of identity to her Lyric Opera 'Aida' performance 2024-03-18
- Chicago's Lyric Opera is currently featuring a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida starring Michelle Bradley as Aida, Jamie Barton as Amneris and Russell Thomas as Radamès. The opera runs through April 7, 2024, with Francesca Zambello ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15
- Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

House-music festival on Aug. 30-Sept. 1; icons, Idris Elba to be part of it 2024-03-13
- The ARC Music Festival—an event celebrating house music—will take place Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Chicago's Union Park, per WGN-TV. This will mark the fourth year that the festival will celebrate the genre at Union Park—less than ...


Gay News

COBRAH slithers into Chicago and brings Feminine Energy 2024-03-08
- COBRAH snaked her way into Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport St., for two nights March 7 and 8 for her Succubus Tour. This Swedish-born talent has a way with naughty words and ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08
- Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez is set to slay at The Big Gay Cabaret 2024-03-05
- Out and proud performer Jai Rodriguez is set to play at The Big Gay Cabaret this March for three days. Presented by RuPaul Drag Racer Ginger Minj, this monthly series highlights the wide world of cabaret ...


Gay News

THEATER 'R & J' puts a female, queer spin on Shakespeare 2024-03-05
- Romeo and Juliet is the theatrical gift that keeps on giving. It's been reworked for the masses numerous times, whether in direct adaptations or musicals such as West Side Story. Shakespeare's plotline points have even inspired ...


Gay News

THEATER When growth is paramount: Jim Corti helps fuel Aurora theater expansion 2024-03-01
- Out actor/director/choreographer Jim Corti made his Broadway debut in 1974, in the ensemble of Leonard Bernstein's musical Candide. Director Harold Prince's acclaimed Tony Award-winning revival is often cited as a ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01
- Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

'Always Olivia' celebrates Olivia Newton-John at Raue Center 2024-02-26
- From a press release: Always Olivia, a tribute to one of the most celebrated and beloved pop culture icons of all time, the late Olivia Newton-John comes to Raue Center in Crystal Lake on Saturday, May ...


Gay News

Samuel Savoir-Faire Williams's violin stylings help COH mark Black History Month 2024-02-23
- As part of its celebration of Black History Month, Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., presented a solo jazz performance by violinist Samuel Savoir-Faire Williams on Feb. 21. The two-hour long performance presented a showcase ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.