"The kids are gone but the souls remain"

Last weekend my friend Suzy was in town, one of the few hip people at my staight-laced corporate day job.  Like me, she began her career in the music industry. The last time she was in New York, we went to the Brooklyn Soul Festival and discovered The Sweet Divines (see post).  I knew live music was on the agenda for the weekend, but I didn't expect that it would be Suzanne Vega or that I would get a chance to meet her.  I also didn't expect that, like the warmth of good friendship, Vega's music would be so relevant and familiar today.  Despite knowing her first two albums by heart, the songs felt more mature than I remembered; the meanings of the lyrics clearer than ever. I connected to them more now than when I was younger. 


    

Suzy's friend Virginie got us our tickets.  The two worked with Vega in Paris when they were at A&M records, Vega's early label.  The concert was at the Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, known as 'The Kate,' in Old Saybrook, CT. Suzy and I rented a car Saturday afternoon in NYC and made our way through traffic to arrive at the theater just as Vega took the stage.  The theater was small and the audience looked to be older than us, with a lot of bald heads and grey hair.  We sat down and got quick hugs from Virginie who was a row behind us with her two daughters. Vega, in  her classic black blazer with the cuffs rolled back, walked on  stage, picked up an acoustic guitar and immediately launched into “Marlene on the Wall,” one of my favorites.  

For those unfamiliar with Suzanne Vega, she’s a folk singer-songwriter in the tradition of Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez. Vega had two major hits in the late 1980's.  In 1987 “Luka” made it to #3 on the Billboard charts.  You couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing, “My name is Luka.  I live on the second floor...”  It was a catchy tune, but about child abuse which is an unusual subject for a top 40 song.  Her other hit, if you can really call it a hit, was the a cappella “Tom’s Diner,” which never charted. It’s a simple song about sitting in a diner and people watching. The diner is on the Upper West Side of NYC and was used in the intro to the TV show "Seinfeld" with a bright blue and pink neon ‘Restaurant’ sign. The catchiness of the chorus made it a great song for sampling. The British group DNA, whose remix made it a club favorite, covered it first.  Eventually, enough people covered the tune that Vega released an entire album in 1991 called “Tom’s Diner” featuring remixes and covers by DNA and others. 

Vega sang both of these songs at ‘The Kate’. When she launched into “Tom’s Diner” at the end of her set, I was disappointed that the audience didn’t join in to clap and keep the beat. I think it had to do with all those bald and greying heads. 


Vega was accompanied by Gerry Leonard on electric guitar. The mix of acoustic and electric filled out the majority of the songs, although she did some tunes purely on her acoustic.  She would have been just as mesmerizing had she done an entirely acoustic set, but I liked the layers and beat that the electric guitar added.  As I sat back to enjoy the show, I realized how well I knew these songs.  The lyrics and melodies in “Small Blue Thing,” “Caramel” and “Ironbound” almost brought me to tears.  


Vega shared wonderful backstories about several of the songs. The concert, just like her songs, felt like an intimate conversation. 


“Gypsy,” another of my favorites, was written on a napkin and given to a camp counselor from England whom Vega said she dated when she was 18. She taught young campers to sing folk songs in upstate New York. Apparently the campers preferred John Denver to Leonard Cohen, despite Vega's attempts to teach them Cohen's songs.  She took the camp counselor job after two disastrous days as an Avon Lady.  Even today,  Vega doesn’t wear much make-up. She looks great, even up close, and young for her 51 years.

My other favorite, “Marlene on the Wall” sounds like a simple love song, but the lyrics take so many twists and turns you wonder if maybe it's not a love song at all.  According to Vega, the song is a love song but written from the perspective of a Marlene Dietrich poster that Vega had. What would Marlene’s perspective be about what went on in that room? The song begins with "Even if I am in love with you," but Marlene "records the rise and fall of every man who's been here."   


Vega’s singing voice is smooth, but sometimes sounds like she's speaking.  She can hit beautiful high notes and lilt effortlessly through an expanse of emotions.  Vega is petite and although the theater was small, holding only 250 seats, the stage seemed large. There were moments when Vega sang alone with her acoustic guitar that it struck me just how vulnerable a singer-songwriter is on stage.  Singing your own songs to an audience must be pretty close to standing naked in front of strangers.  Her songs felt as true and honest as when I first heard them.  Her voice sounded like it did 20 years ago as she hit the high notes with her soothing warm sound.  

Photo by Suzy T.

Watching this vulnerability, I envied and admired Vega. While some former hit-makers spend their lives just singing the same songs they wrote 20 years earlier, Vega has recorded seven albums and is currently working on a one woman play about the author Carson McCullers.  She sang three of the songs from the play during the concert. All with interesting lyrics, including a particularly funny song offering McCullers' perspective on, "To Kill A Mocking Bird" author, Harper Lee. The songs and Vega's stories about McCullers made me want to see the play when it opens off-Broadway in May.  


Vega is an artist who continues to grow and evolve.  Seeing people who have committed to their craft over time always makes me think about what I’ve been doing for the past 20 years.  I’ve made my way in the corporate world, rather successfully, but deep down I know that I’m not being completely honest about who I am and what I really want to be doing with my life. It may be that I still don’t know what it is I want to do. It may be that I've been too scared to take any steps towards really committing to something that would require me to be vulnerable.

Vega has recently re-recorded some of her songs on her own label.  The first album Close-Up Vol 1, Love Songs was released in February 2010 and Vol 2, People & Places in October 2010. She mentioned a Vol 3 coming out in May of this year. The arrangements are different from the originals so the albums are worth checking out.  The songs are pared down and mainly acoustic, much like her live show, although her classic “Tom's Diner” has some violins and an electric guitar providing a back-beat reminiscent of the DNA remix.  She does an amazing cover of Sparklehorse's “The Man Who Played God” which she also sang live at "The Kate.'  I bought both of the new albums and have been listening to them as well as her first two albums; Solitude Standing and Suzanne Vega. I'm enjoying these songs again, they remind me of the past and even the songs that seem sad, are comforting.  Whether she’s telling an epic balled-like tale as with “The Queen And The Soldier” or the story of “Calypso” from Homer’s “Odyssey,” Vega shares underlying truths about life and love. The songs are comforting because she brings us into these unique stories, but somehow reminds us that we’ve all been there.

Cool shoes hanging out after the show. 

After the show, Suzy and I hung out with Virginie and her beautiful daughters, who, at ages 9 and 11, were out long past their bedtimes.  We were pleased that Vega had closed with "In Liverpool." Virginie and Suzy had been shouting for it throughout the show. Lulu, age 9, recently had Virginie add the song to her iPod. She was also happy that she got to hear it live.  With her pixie hair cut, pink Dr. Martin's, bright blue coat and fuzzy scarf, Virginie was not the Connecticut soccer mom I had anticipated.  It was wonderful to see she and Suzy reconnect and reminisce. We all spoke French and I began to feel like I had known them both for years. Vega came out after the show to say hello. She chatted with us and took some photos before she went to sign autographs. I noticed that she stayed until everyone left, chatting comfortably with her fans. She was down to earth and clearly passionate about her work. Her tour manager, the guitarist, and everyone who worked with her seemed to genuinely enjoy what they were doing and all took time to talk with us. I exchanged emails with Sonia, who manned the merchandise table and was interested in talking more about women in music.

Suzy and I spent the night at Virginie's farmhouse. The next morning the three of us drank coffee and ate pain au chocolate in her kitchen.  We had all worked in the music industry at one time and led very different lives than the ones we lived now. Whether it was career, marriage or children these things changed us but in some ways we remained the same. Listening to Vega, I felt more connected to my past. I sometimes worry that I have lost myself and sold out to the machine that is corporate America, yet, there's a piece of me that still goes to see music and writes about it, occasionally with some vulnerability. Perhaps, like Vega's lyrics from the song “Zepher & I,” the kids are gone but our souls have remained.