Dreadfully Overdue Sara News, 15 Jun 2000
Dear Kitty-Cats of the World!
Hello from the blessed soil of Austin, Texas, where I am currently enjoying
mommydom with my firstborn and my darling husband! And putting my swollen
feet up on a pillow
in my hammock while the wind gently rocks me back and forth... Being a
pregnant, touring woman is a fun challenge, especially on the ankles!!!
Thank you to all the kitties who came to the most recent shows in Philly,
Anapolis (I think I spelled that wrong--poo!), Bethesda; Arlington, VA; New
York and Boston!
Some of the highlights:
In Arlington at the IOTA: First of all, let me just say that the food at
this place is completely 16 stars!!! After a couple of meals on the road (i.e.,
ARBY's, etc), performers are grateful for clubs with superb restaurants attached at
the hip!
(NOTE: I hate to interrupt myself here, but I sense that I am going to continue
to lose my grip on the correct spelling of words, so please know that I am
aware of it, but, allegedly, it is one of the charming aspects of the
later portion of pregnancy! Thank you for your patience. And now, back to our
regularly scheduled newsletter...)
Carey Colvin opened the show for us...she and her husband were wonderful. Her
voice is rich and pretty, and it was a treat to hear her AND eat the yummy food!
Magda Lynn Seymour came out with 2,714 of her best friends, and their
enthusiasm was infectious! Also, every man in that club was winking at Kristin
(and, occassionally, at me! I had to keep asking Kristin if I was seeing things)...
So Kristin and I dubbed The Iota the land of enchanted men with naughty
(yet seemingly harmless and happy) intentions. We felt like the high school
hotties, if just for the night!
The sound man (sorry, I forgot his name---another poo!) was EXCELLENT!
When I said, "MAKE US ROCK, MAN!" he pulled out all the stops.
For our encore we sang THE NATIONAL ANTHEM (being so close to the capitol and all).
We give the crowd and the Iota a STANDING OVATION! And thanks to Suzanne
for coming out and volunteering to sell CDS...you were AWESOME!
Next night we performed in PHILADEPHIA at the always wonderful TIN ANGEL!
Irene Kelly, who drove 600 miles from Nashville!!!, opened for us.
Wow! She was terrific! I hate to do this, but her voice was a more mature
version of Kelly Willis, and all her original songs were really catchy...we traded CDs.
I hate to be redundant, but let me just point out that the food downstairs
at Serrano's was ALSO beyond the great yum! I had these HUGE raviolis stuffed
with all kinds of stuff that made me feel satisfied but not stuffed.
My cousin, Celeste, and her partner, Charlie, came...my mom's friend of
30 years, Martha Huggins, came...so you know there was lots of hugging
going on...Plus, the highlight was a 10 year old boy whose parents were
bringing him to his FIRST CONCERT EVER!!! I felt so honored! It made me remember my
first concert...David Cassidy...!!! Front row, dead center, my best friend
on one side and my ma on the other...I think I was 8...? Anyway, the little boy,
who was very self-assured and quite funny, sat next to my left and we got
into a discussion about Marilyn Manson that was realllllllly good. The
audience loved it when we starting dissecting Mr. Manson...that was a lot of fun!
Thanks to Theresa for coming out and volunteering to sell CDS!!! You
totally rock! We give the audience and the Tin Angel a STANDING OVATION!!!
We also had the opportunity to go over to WXPN and perform on "World Cafe"
with David Dyer (who we LOVE!!!)...we will let you know when that will be
airing...it is national, so hopefully everyone will have a chance to grab a cuppa
tea and relax with Kristin and me!
Then, the next morning, after a harrowing night at a Red Roof Inn of gangsters
congregating outside our hotel window with a dog who shat all over our sidewalk,
we drove on to:
Anapolis, MD to the RAM'S HEAD to open for Jeffrey Gaines!!!
Ok...let me just say this. Wow. The Ram's Head is like being inside
Architectural Digest...such a beautiful interior...beautiful orange and
crimson wall murals...linen covered tables, lighting, carpeting, bathrooms
with a hint of sophistication...and YUMMY FOOD! (Am I sounding pregnant, too?)
BIG PLUS! A real, live DRESSING ROOM with a small TV to watch bad
made for TV movies with Jeffrey and his girlfriend...in this case, we
watched Tatum O'Neil go to jail for a murder she didn't commit...and
she had an interesting hair color change...we were all glued to the set!!!
Until Jeffrey messed up the stations and we lost the channel for about
fifteen minutes!! The most IMPORTANT fifteen minutes of the worst
part of it all! Aaaargh! Whew. Then he fixed it, but it was time for him
to go on, so he missed the end...
Kristin and I opened to a packed crowd, and it was fun because I think
perhaps one person had ever heard of me (and she was elated when
we sang, "I Wear the Crown"!!! God bless her! She hollered a nice "Yea!!!"
when we rolled into it!) As we started out, half the room was listening,
and half the room was having a drinky-poo, so after about the third
song I thanked the side of the room who was paying attention and that
made the drinkers become thinkers and then EVERYONE was listening!
Whee! It was waaaaay fun!
We give the RAM'S HEAD another STANDING OVATION! We give the
crowd a huge thank you hug for embracing a young upstart, and
we give the food 16 Yums!!! Oh, my!
Then we rolled outta town the next day and went to BETHESDA, MD to do
a private house concert! Now, let me just say this....we went from
a nightclub that looked like some place Martha Stewart meets Georgia
O'Keefe to a private home that looked like Pee Wee's Playhouse
meets Contemporary Museum of Art and it was SUPER! We also stayed
the night in their home...Kristin had the boys' room and I had the teenage
girl's room which had the coolest collection of stuffed toys and a purple
lamp made out of paper...I also finished ANGELA'S ASHES and watched
WAITING FOR GUFFMAN after our show...yes!
I'd guess about fifty or sixty people came to the concert...all wonderful
patent lawyers...and I ended up sitting on the floor with Kristin behind me
on a chair...it was a whole lotta fun and even had some people singing along
on "We Are Each Other's ANgels" in HARMONY...oh, lovliness!!!
We stayed up and chatted with everyone, and once again, the food was
stellar...catered BBQ (I know, I know...what happened to my vegetarianism?!)
and homemade gooey chocolate brownies...mmm....
We give this house concert a STANDING OVATION!! We give the home
a giant OOH and AAH! We give the host and hostess and big hooray,
and we give the flora and fauna of Bethesda a huge green thumbs up!!!
Monday morning...we're off to NEW YORK CITY!!! We had two days off to rest
and shop and EAT MORE FOOD!!! Kristin went to play with her cousin and
his fiance, I hung out with my daughter's fairy god-mother, Amiti,
and we ate Thai Food, went to a Chinese market, saw "The Vagina Monologues"
with Claire Daanes, Jennifer Lewis and Mary McDonnell...and let me say,
I place that performance in my TOP TEN LIST OF ALL TIME...oh, wow!
If ANY of you go to NYC soon, please please please go see this hilarious,
moving, revealing piece...it is BRILLIANT!!! I now have the desire to
become an actress just so I can perform in this show!!!
Wednesday rolls around and we performed at THE MERCURY LOUNGE! one of my
fave places in NYC. Everyone from the label (Shanachie) came out...even
the president (!!) which I didn't know until after the show...thank you to
them!...and Jim K. (I can't remember how to spell his last name) opened
with his entire band and let me just say, you will be hearing from this
guy. Totally electrifying...a sort of Jeff Buckley meets the Beach Boys
meets Elliot Smith...only completely positive songs, even some gospel
type numbers thrown in among the pop. I will find out the correct spelling
of his last name and let you know. So many people from Texas came!
Friends from all over, Robert P. and Howard T. and Kenny and Leslie (sorry I
couldn't really chat during soundcheck!) and Amiti and Brantley and
even one of my oldest pals, GRETCHEN PHILLIPS!!!, she came out and
surprised me...thank you, one and all.
We give the Mercury Lounge audience a STANDING OVATION, the club
a BIG HOORAY (altho the dressing room is waaaaaay down in a basement
next to a bunch of boxes of beer and the toilet was broken and we
had no snacks (!!) but we did get bunches and bunches of FLOWERS!
thanks to Marc and Kenny and I, assume, the marvelous Jim Dunlap!)
and there was no food, so no review on that...
By now, we were missing home/family very much, even though everyone on our
journey had been incredibly kind...but we only had one more night to go...and
that was in:
BOSTON...at CLUB PASSIM...after we performed at WUMB ( I think I got the call
letters correct)...we sang, even though my guitars had gone terribly outta
tune (ugh..my worst nightmare)...but we had a great time on the show...
loved our DJ, David...then we had to scoot back to the club and perform...
LOVED IT! Club Passim...oh, yes yes yes! Twinkly lights, you walk down into
a little slice of heaven, AWESOME audience, no dressing room but you don't
even care cuz everyone was in a great mood and Winker (the merriest man
of the south) flew up to Boston JUST TO SELL my CDS and hang out and
the club owners were SUPER (thank you, Martha, for the wind up bunny/
carrot!) and Matt the sound man...wowowow...I wish you ran sound for us
every night!!! One of my ex-honeys, Brad H. , came out and it was so
great to see him...so great to see Meg Schrull...she is about 11 (?) and I
met her back when I was touring with Nanci Griffith...Meg's a sweetie pie and
a smart human being, to boot! I don't recall the gentleman's name who gave
me the yummy bag of cookies...but Winker had a great idea (after I ate one
of the cookies!) to give away a free CD with the purchase of every cookie!!!
So, we sold the cookies for $15 and gave away all the CDS!!!
Had a SPECTACULAR time...thank you to everyone: the club, the audience,
Ellis Paul for putting us up in a his grrrrooovy bachelor pad, Winker,
the cookie man, all the UT Alumni who came out...it was a swingin' way
to end our tour! And special thanks to Kevin Wommack for putting it all
together (flights, hotels, rental car) and Davis McLarty for booking it all.
SPECIAL EXTRA THANKS to Kristin de Witt for making this tour such a joy
because not only is she beautiful inside and out, but she is a great friend
and a very good driver in a hard rain.
We love you all, and thank you from the tops to the bottoms of our hearts for
all your enthusiasm, encouragement and singing along!
NOW...some more exciting news!
KGSR of Austin has added my music to their rotation...the song they have
chosen is "Woman Waiting to Happen"!!! This is very exciting because other stations
across the country respond to what KGSR does...
If you get a chance (and I apologize in advance for asking this of you, but,
hey, if they play my songs on the radio more, I can come visit you more
often! AND I do windows!)
please call KGSR and thank JODY DENBERG (or anyone who picks up the phone at
the station)...their number is 512-390-KGSR..
or you can visit their webpage at KGSR.com and see my song listed as a new
add to their station (thank you, God!!), scroll down the page and send an
email to Jody himself directly...
HILL COUNTRY YOUTH RANCH news...
Curtis Nichols, a wonderful soul, has kindly offered up a guitar to be auctioned off
to raise more funds for the Hill Country Youth Ranch...I borrowed the guitar
from him and had SHAWN COLVIN, JIMMY DALE GILMORE, JOE ELY, ARLO GUTHRIE, and
many others sign it (ok, I placed my John Hancock on there, too, and I 'm
going to paint the guitar case all groovy like)...to find out more about the
guitar, contact Gary Priour at the HCYR for when the auction will be...www.youth-ranch.org
MILLION MOM MARCH and MOTHERS' MILK BANK BENEFIT/ Austin, Tx
May 14 (Mothers' Day) I'' be doing my last performance before the baby comes...
starting at one p.m. I'll be at the state capitol in honor of the local
Million Mom March to raise more awareness about the gun issues in our country...
Then at 3:00 pm I'll be at WATERLOO PARK with Shawn Colvin and Joe McDermott
to celebrate the MOTHERS' MILK BANK of Austin...to find out more about either,
feel free to visit my webpage and link to their sites...
Both events are free! Both are great causes! Come celebrate your mother!
Well, my friends, thank you, again for your support...it has been fun getting
to spend time with all of you, singing new and old songs...I'm going on 7 1/2
months of pregnant, and the baby is due June 22...so after Colorado (next
week I play Tres Hombres in Colorado Springs on May 5....May 6 I play
Swallowhill in Denver), I'll be hanging out at home with my family, getting
the baby room ready, playing in my garden with my firstborn, listening to my
husband sing songs and thinking fondly of the joy you
have brought into my world...
God bless you all, and much love to each of you,
Sara
