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chelsanitys · 7 years ago

Text

anon post

for all 3 of my fans

i live for ur wit and sass

thx n same

Dont fuck with the best! Kate works hard to get the craziest anons to post in her yard, and I've got nothing but respect. There's no fan in the fandom as genuine and earnest as she is. Wishing her and her cats a long and healthy life!

lmao yall need to quit

you've probably answered this already but what do you think will give vm the best shot at the OG?

a good short dance + a good free dance + gui missing the catch-foot on his twizzle again

Are you taking the bar exam this summer?

no i just finished my first yr

I will cry if T&S end up together, They would be a horrible match. Surely I'm not the only one who sees this??

i am ashamed that this is the level of trollin i get. step up ur game!!

"i hope tessa marries semple so i can see all the shippers cry tbh" Poor Alex! Marrying him would probably restore his self confidence and prompt a return to the cfl! Still holding out hope!

honestly alex was the hottest of all her bfs. fedor is balding, has a dad bod n is wearing khakis on the beach now. and semple was always fug. also rl talk i didnt know canada had its own football league until this guy came around. thats so cute for canada

"i hope tessa marries semple so i can see all the shippers cry tbh" I want her with the Bitove guy. His family looks like the type that will post tons about them on sm afterward.

lmao yall know his grandfather started the toronto raptors?? i knew this brodie’s last name sounded familiar. also apparenty he and his fam golf at trump’s resort @ mar-a-lago VOM. tessa is 500% going to end up with a smarmy, filthy rich trust fund kid like him like its not even a question

Hey now. I want shippers to get overthemselves, too, but Tessa marrying Semple, god no. Basically, Tessa, open your eyes and save yourself.

lol i actually wish she was still dating him so all this mindless speculation rn would stop

Bitter and hateful is what I come here for. Anons should just fuck off and go to the Disney website if that's what they want.

vm fans are so damn soft n sensitive about everything lol, i rly wish some of yall would stop taking everything i say so seriously

Please come back, without your snark the fandom is controlled by the most delusional shippers.

i’ll post more when there r actually things 2 talk about. being around here when nothing is happening and ur all screaming into a vacuum about the same things over and over is like being institutionalized in a loony bin

why are you always up so late?

nhf for this east coast bias, it is a perfectly reasonable time in california

Which of the current/rising juniors do you see making tbe most impact next quad?

carreira/ponomarenko are going to win a olympic medal in 2022. even if the shibs, h/d and bock don’t retire, i see them easily rising through the pack - they just have the Look and aren’t without talent. i’m iffy on the rest - mcnamara/carpenter are too creepy and weird, parsons have no height difference and are siblings, both are coached by an unproven staff, everyone else are varying levels of mediocre. hawayek/baker will go to worlds 2018 if they’re lucky and prob never again if no one else retires.

i wouldn't take h/d's music choices as an indicator of what vm will have. they are the c team and vm are the a team in that camp. look at last season... h/d got stuck with marie-france's lame ass idea of the evolution of music and vm got prince.

true..... altho i think personal taste is important too. tessa would die b4 she ever approved an ‘evolution of dance’ sd

I want Tessa to steal Fedor back from Meryl. All that drama would be hilarious. Fedor lost his looks and is butt ugly now so he is exactly Tessa's type, even more so than in 2009.

i nvr thought he was that cute but he literally looks like he goes door to door selling pool cleaner now

I noticed that when Tessa shakes hands or kisses someone on the cheek (like during medal ceremony or interviews) Scott often puts a hand on her lower back even though there had not been any physical contact between the two of them before said handshake or kiss. It just always surprises me and I'm not sure I understand why he'd do this. What's your take on it ?

lmao ik u want me 2 say its bc his subconscious is screaming out in jealousy and he wants to covertly claim her and show the world she still belongs to him but i rly think they r just touchy ppl who like to touch. or hes makin sure she doesnt lose balance and fall off the podium as she’s leanin over

moulin rouge would've been a much cooler choice in 11/12 for their musical fd instead of funny face, but i don't see them doing it for their olympic fd. it's a bit tacky and overdone. i figure they'd want to do something that's a little bit more special and unique then that.

ia it wouldnt have been a bad filler fd for an off year. i just dont see it doing it for their Last Ever and for the olympics. its such a warhorse - what could they possibly say with it thats original? and its such a character piece - they r such overly emo, earnest ppl, i dont think they’d want to do something that different from themselves for their Last Ever.

huh what, vm don't stand a chance against moonlight sonata?? Pls... that would be a flop, such an overused piece of music everywhere, it's like Für Elise - hearing the first notes of it makes me vomit in my mouth a little

ya bc no one’s ever won a gold medal skating to a warhorse before

it sounds more believable to me than vm and moulin rouge tho

What interpretation? PC will just float around. They can do that in any key and judges will eat it up.

true, gui gui is a demon

No way. The judges will think they're watching Gordeeva/Grinkov again and just hand the gold to them immediately.

remember when pc said they didnt even know who torvill and dean and g/g were lmao

If scott doesn't cut his disgusting gutter frat boy hair I'm renouncing my Canadian citizenship and moving 2 Peru

was legit lookin @ pics from autumn classic n skate canada and i cant believe how short his hair was then, i can not believe i was complainin so much. i am honestly such a whiny bitch lmao this is my punishment

i have mixed feelings because Prince is the best short dance of VM's career so far but then Latch was one of the worst lol. It dragged in a lot of areas, especially the middle, and it never felt complete. I don't hate it by any means but considering we only had 2 free dances left and that was one of them... :| so I'm torn between trusting MF, and then thinking she's one misguided song choice away from ruining VM's swan song.

the thought of mf picking out the music for vm’s last ever fd makes me kind of sad. like yall have no ideas? at all?? ur relying on instagram suggestions and mf’s adult lite fm spotify playlists for inspiration? im surprised n disappointed tbh, like they arent kids anymore, i thought they would take more ownership of their careers.

but idk we’ll see. whenever i complain a lot, i usually like their material later lol

why do i feel like vm are gonna come out in their sd with despacito... the justin bieber version...

ok who is this person who keeps sending me despacito questions?? you sound like you want it to happen more than anyone else and are trying to will it into existence

It's funny because Tessa is SO cautious about everything she/they say, that she comes off/is rehearsed--I don't understand why she cares so much. They are not politicians or even super famous. Plus most people who watch (excluding Tumblr fans bc they're all extra) watch during high times like Worlds and Olympics. Most people don't watch interviews and press conferences. If they do watch one, it's usually only the fun "game" interviews or the mainstream ones like etalk which they are not tons of

idk what this is in reference to but ok lol. it prob matters to her bc its her life and she cares bc its happening to her? just spitballin here

Oh no what has Max Trankov said I'm scared to know now. If he's a Trump fan I might have to #nopeout lol he’s russian and a male chauvinist pig. he once said he wouldnt do a quad with tati until she had a baby for him...”and then maybe we try”

still gonna stan his trash ass to the end of time tho

Speaking of bad music cuts I could not stand the way HD's music was cut this year. Like I like all the songs they used individually but it just felt so weirdly put together like the songs didn't flow well into the next. The only part I liked was the last part with earned it.

really? i thought earned it was the part that seemed completely out of step with the first 2 pieces of music. the transition was way off and the tempo was so much faster than the other 2

The Facebook q&a is the first time I felt vm are actually compatible enough to be a couple.

should’ve published this steaming hot take when u sent it a month ago bc i have no idea what this is in reference to now

what do you look like?

tired mostly

haha funny how we went from vm are in a relationship to they hate each other.

dont ‘we’ me bitch i have nothing to do with this fandom’s daily emotional yo-yo-ing

Can you explain the Tessa/Kaitlyn Weaver friendship? Are they really friends? Kaitlyn seems like the kind of girl Tessa would make fun of behind her back.

more like kaitlyn weaver is tracy flick and is trying to bring down everyone in her path tbh

I get a bit of a superiority, cold vibe with Tessa, don't you?

no but i dont have self esteem issues

I think people who find Tessa cold and snobby do not get her at all. Yes, she is far from perfect and her feminism is all (...) but to call her cold and unfeeling means you haven't been paying attention at all. Like get off her dick and/or stop following her career.

i dont think shes cold either. standoffish maybe, but i dont feel like thats from superiority or aloofness. some ppl just want to mind their own business and chill?? not everyone’s a chatty cathy like scott

Music stresses me out. The only thing I've gathered from all of the various discussions is they should be exciting but not too exciting because it's an Olympic season. But they shouldn't also be too safe. Like I know you have mentioned various choices that would be good but what would be in your mind the ideal program, both SD and FD. It's their third Olympics, so how do they build on the past while still being fresh but also them. Or do they just not and give the audience what they want?

something original thats not a warhorse but is also audience friendly and is instantly musically palatable to a lot of ppl

so basically mahler

Which songs from moulin rouge should they use?

if they were doing mr (which i doubt), the orchestral score is 500x better than the cheesy ass nonsense from the soundtrack. like come what may with nicole kidman’s tremulous bird vocals and ewan mcgregor literally straining not to pop a vein would almost be too dramatic and Too Much. i think that kind of thing only works for a v specific kitschy, performative kind of team (a la russians) and wouldnt vibe with vm’s super earnest approach at all. but the orchestral score is genuinely moving and effective in a less garish way

but i dont think they’re doing moulin rouge lol

"the movies honestly made it hard 4 me to interpret hermione’s undying loyalty and devotion to harry as anything other than latent sexual attraction tbh lmao" Hahaha, pretty much. Plus, the whole Harry and Ginny thing, even more so in the movies, seemed to come out of nowhere and was cliche as fuck.

is bonnie wright still acting? i’ve seen dead fish more alive than her on screen

LMAO someone posted a clip from VM's show when they were having dinner with WP and they were talking about how WP live together and they ask VM how they deal with one another and LOL I stg I started loling cause their reactions were #priceless. S literally just had a WTF look on his face while he said something hella awkward & T looked like she wanted to slap him. Her follow up that she doesn't think they could ever spend all their time together just cements why they'll never date for me.

lmao that whole scene is so stupid. kaitlyn n andrew r such good friends i swear

Thanks for setting that anon straight. Set some boundaries so that they don't egg on shippers?? WTF. They're fine with doing what they're doing, and if they're dating others, those others are obviously fine with it too. Besides, it's not like they're filming porn or something. If you can't handle it, stop watching them.

idek what these r in reference to anymore but it sounds dumb as hell lmao

Wow I cannot believe that people actually think VM owe fans any explanation for their relationship/partnership. Like we don't know them, we're never going to know them or be friends with them? Why the fuck do they owe fans a detailed explanation of their personal business? I stg these shippers have lost their damn minds. As long as VM continue to put out good programs and do well I couldn't care less what they're doing off ice. Whatever it is it's clearly working for them. You do you VM.

the entitlement of some fans is insane. its STILL happening now with tessa’s ig now too. why dont yall just let her live n let her white-girl post to her hearts content. she is literally doing nothing differently to what every other skater does, idg this absurd criticism

Fr tho both of them have such nice teeth and I've never seen pics of them with braces, like how??!?!

tessa’s r so nice i cant believe she’s never had braces. and they r such a natural white? like u can tell w most skaters that they get it professionally whitened but hers dont have that artificial look at all

Are you in college? Your bio says 23 but it said that last year too.

i actually turned 24 a while ago im just 2 lazy to change it. im in law school currently

I just read an ancient interview with vm where they said Mahler was about getting married or something... WHAT

ya i cant remember if it was them that said or marina that said it tho. i remember a story about a guy who wrote them saying he and his gf were watching mahler at the olympics and once it was over, he was so moved he got down on one knee and proposed to her and marina was like ‘thats what that program is meant to do’ lol

Do you think Zach is a good skater and partner? I keep changing my mind on him.....

he is such a bland, wet noodle - no taste, no flavor, just empty white carbs. its up to madi to add any spark to the team bc she’s the real star, he just stands there and is tall and can lift her

Why the fuck are so many people freaking out because Tessa did not attend a wedding with Scott. 1. They are not dating so there are no reason for Scott to bring her. 2. She has people visiting 3. I bet they don't even hang out off ice 4. I think Scott has a secret girl in Ilderton. 5. TS not dating. I wish people would claim down.

this is so far back in my inbox i have no idea whats happening

I love it that whenever Tessa posts an IG story the fandom goes crazy analyzing and speculating about Scott what there even when he is clearly not Then there there are talks about TS wedding. WTF Soon it will be TS having babies. I am wondering if maybe the fandom (new fans) are mixing reality with those fanfics.

honestly no clue

I know this has been discussed before but I don't get how Scott and Jess even communicated. Jess could barely seem to understand English back then and Scott couldn't speak French. I wonder if them not being able to speak to each other is part of why they lasted so long actually

lol bryce davison actually learned french so he could communicate w/ her. not scott tho lol

I don't think T cares too much about fs friendships the way other skaters do. Of course she's friendly with a lot of them but she's not really close with anyone except her partner, which doesn't really count lol. She has her own friend group outside of skating and that's what she seems to stick to. It's funny you mention Meryl, Brooke, Tanith, and Lauren because they're all still really good friends.

honestly i think skating stressed (stresses?) her out so much back then that she really hated being in that world for too long. i dont blame her for wanting to disconnect and not having to hang out with skaters who just talk about other skaters and skating 24/7

I don't mean this in a mean way. Watching Avatar. If you paint Meryl's face blue she could be in the movie

it kills me when ppl say she looks like a disney princess? ya the ant queen from a bugs life maybe

I think Tessa sometimes forget that Scott is a huge part of why they are successful and she wouldn't have all of these deals w amazing brands if they weren't so strong+didn't win everything. it's easy to put her on the pedestal bc she's gorg and can dance, but he should get/deserves just as much credit-- i mean he is the one lifting her and she could not do any of this by herself. sometimes i get the vibe that she thinks she's too good for him. maybe he's not as fancy, but he has a heart of gold

i’ve literally never gotten that she thinks she’s too good for him...? they go out of their way to pay each other compliments all the time and dont even jokingly diss on each other. its actually kind of weird that after knowing each other so long their relationship isnt just one long roast section where they talk shit about each other bc thats what my relationship w/ all my lifelong friends r like....but then again im a flinty bitch and they’re super earnest and emo like all the time. like i bet they both cry during sex

i find it kinda gross, disturbing and a bit pathetic that so many people feel the need to write erotic fan fiction about Tessa and Scott--like they are real people not characters, and it's kinda creepy that people spend so much time writing and reading them. Also, i would pay a million dollars to have someone show TS what people write about them--they would literally die and so would i--some fans are kinda extreme crazy

u know how on graham norton when he’s always showing celebs really erotic fanfic and fanart of themselves and they’re just dying of embarrassment?? i would literally pay everything in my bank account (so like....twenty dollars) for someone to do that to vm

omg it's gonna be so awk when tessa and scott have to see klawes...poor klawes, she just could not hold a candle to tessa. still don't know why klawes still follows tessa's insta--like i would unfollow and would not wanna see some of the pics t posts of TS giving each other lovey looks/touchy regardless of whether ts are together or not. also, it's never like t and klawes would actually be friends bc they're polar opposites

v disappointed that the olympic summit did not deliver on this #drama

tessa and kl were real friends tho, i think its sweet. and its nice they still keep in touch even tho scott is a dog

Are you a fan of tessa's style? She wears so much expensive yet ugly shit in my opinion.

lmao no. i think some of her casual wear is cute, but she wears some of the most hideous high fashion shit ever when she’s going out. like that blue carpet jumpsuit? yall know wht im talking about. those hideous trousers??? also she wears an unbelievable amount of boring black dresses

also gf needs to do smth with her hair. tired of her high bun and slick pony. she looks way cuter w/ her hair down imo

Do you think Tessa pays for all the Adidas stuff she wears?

no she def gets it for free. i was a walk-on my freshman yr of college for half a second and even i got a bunch of free shit from nike

How do u as an ed sheeran unstanner feel about ts doing these songs their obviously using him for the sd next season and i wouldnt be suprised if they use him for the fd as well

reading this made my cholesterol go up

really hope they're exhausting all the ed sheeran options now so they won't actually use it for comps lol

ngl i do kind of dig that embarrassing white boy rapping galway girl song but that cld prob just be my girl saorise ronan hypnotizing me like she always does

Minus the horrific man bun, do you think Scott's hot? Also, do you think Tessa finds him attractive?

no and probably yes now that hes so fug

Do you think Scott's attractive?? Also, do you think Tessa being told she's beautiful constantly on sm has made her get a big head--she often comes across as a bit cold and stuck up prancing around in her $1000 + outfits? Love her and she's gorgeous but...

some of yall need to stop projecting your shit onto tessa for real

Power plays of the figure skating journalists. Inside Skating does a very literal interview and article with P/C which blows up and then they go to Jackie Wong so he can basically write up a damage control press release. Kind of fascinating to see both journalists doing their thing with the same content. Hard to believe Inside Skating didn't think their article would create a storm. Interesting.

speaking of jackie, skaters r really going to him for their exclusives now huh? dying that ashley gave him her big la la land fluff piece instead of tsl. pays 2 be nice and kiss ass

Doesn't look like KH/JLB will have much of a chance to advance cuzis so crowded with the current seniors not retiring and juniors moving up. KH/JLB needs to work on their twizzles, thier lines, skating skills, chemistry looks promising. Some of those junior and senior teams should consider representingif they want a chance at aCanada doesn't have any promising teams once VM-WP retire. I feel like CB, SS, HD ain't retiring till they win Wch or OG which may never with PC around.

hawayek/baker could prob skate for gb because jean-luc has citizenship and carreira/ponomarenko could prob skate for canada bc she’s from montreal but i doubt the us fed is letting either of them go. they’ve invested way too much at this point. i don’t think c/p need to move tho, i think they’re talented to rise organically through the ranks. i think they’re more likely to be us #1 instead of not tbh

I don't understand the whole David and Tessa affair; like some people say it happened after he was separated and others talk like it was a full blown affair. The only thing I do know is that her being called a "homewrecker" or anything else of that nature makes me want to punch something because it's disgusting, and it's society go-to response. Be cruel to the woman and basically give the man a free pass. But maybe he received shit, too? I just never heard about it.

i think he was basically separated but not divorced when it happened

Do you think if TS and Cappelini and Lanotte switched partners they would be a good team?

lol no. anna’s not a great skater and luca looks like he’s shorter than tessa

Wait is that Tessa's ex Semple in that photo you posted of her pre and post nose job? Cause if so damn does she lowball herself. Like she could have such better looking guys I do not understand. Girl is very pretty she needs someone to help her pick better guys.

~we accept the love we think we deserve~~

I think T is cringeworthy as a speaker bc she's sooo gd rehearsed. Not a things she says comes across like she didn't practice it in the bathroom mirror 75 times that morning. She would be pretty good if she could lose even half the pretension in her delivery and tossed out the eye rolly words she keeps littering the sentences with like privilege and journey.

they honestly both suck. she’s worse than he is, but they’re both super stiff. and they always do this forced banter bit at the start which just seems so awkward lol

That one anon pointing that some have denied the nose surgery - this is exactly what annoys me about those shipper blogs, not that they are shippers (you can want them two to be together- that by itself doesn't bother me), but their ways and how they always have to insist on vm's perfect image - they all get so upset and aggressive when you point some issue out, like why would you deny Tessa has done a nose job... so out of touch! vm are interesting exactly cause they're real people with flaws

i can not believe ppl r denying her nose job. like yo its right there. it does lend credence to my theory that all shipprs r just hallucinating n seeing things that arent there tho

If Tessa and Scott did hook up while officially with SOs I have a feeling they wouldn't consider it cheating.

ok lmao??? im sure something extremely profound i said provoked this

how rich do u think scott and tessa are???

prob millionaires by the time 2018 comes around if they get their sponsorships

i might do part 2 later if i can be bothered... but nothing really makes sense out of context lol, its like watching charlie kaufman do slam poetry

#Anonymous #vm #fs

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markwatkinsconsumerguide · 8 years ago

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Consumer Guide / No.39 / Suzie Ungerleider (Oh Susanna) with Mark Watkins.

MW: Suzie, why record and perform as Oh Susanna?

SU: When I started performing about 20 years ago, I was very shy about it. I felt like the name Oh Susanna could be like a costume I could dress in to become my musical alter-ego. If I were Oh Susanna, I could walk onstage, I belonged there. But just as Suzie Ungerleider, I felt awkward and shy and wrongfully placed. The musical part of myself was hidden for a very long time, it seemed like a separate identity that I only knew, so I decided to name it and bring it out into the world. I think it also gave clues as to how the music would sound: it would sound old, American, acoustic, and have a female voice.

MW: Thoughts on the traditional American standard, “Oh Susanna”, written by Stephen Foster? How about James Taylor's cover version?

SU: Stephen Foster's “Oh Susanna” is a song I learned as a kid and is still used in many toys that you can buy your kids. It is from the black minstrel tradition, where a white person would don a stereotyped idea of a black persona, and sing from that point of view. “Oh Susanna” is a song written in what Stephen Foster thought of as a “Black voice”. But, of course, there are all kinds of layers of misconception and stereotype contained in that song. When you are a kid you don’t realize this. It just seems like a nonsense song talking about “sun so hot, I froze to death” and other impossibilities. It is also a song of longing and reuniting of loved ones. So it is a powerful artifact which reveals the conflicts and complexities of identity, loathing and envy in the context of the history of American nation which was founded on racism and oppression. It is a very emotional song if interpreted that way.

Believe it or not, Mark, I am totally unfamiliar with James Taylor’s version. He was not someone I really listened to other than the big hits.

MW: Is there a thread that neatly sews together your output, from your first, Oh Susanna, e.p (1997), to your most recent, Name-dropper album (2014)?

SU: I think one of the main themes of my work is humans struggling with hard choices, and the search for redemption, or liberation. I studied a lot of classical literature and mythology way back when, and so the journey into the underworld as a means of gaining wisdom and eventual liberation and self-actualization is one I am quite obsessed with. I used that story to look at my own life because I have often felt trapped by my own fears and character traits. However, after going through cancer and really getting close to death, I think I am now looking less at such gloom. I saw the thing I feared and I realized I don’t need to write about it so much anymore. So, my latest record which is about to be released in Europe in the spring. A Girl in Teen City is a memoir of my teenaged years in 1980s Vancouver. It is a coming of age story.

MW: Share your personal memories of ‘The Scrappy Bitch Tour’?

SU: ‘The Scrappy Bitch Tour’ was a tour I co-created with my dear friends Veda Hille and Kinnie Starr. The first one was in 1997. It all came about because someone told us they heard a rumour we were going on tour together. So we decided, why not? Let’s make the rumour come true. Veda named the tour. I was asking her on the phone what should we call it and she said glibly, “Should we call it ‘The Scrappy Bitch Tour’, or something?” So the naming of the tour took about one minute. It was kind of a funny cheeky response to Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Lilith Fair’ imagery which was all Venus on the halfshell. Lilith was actually a terrifying creature from Hebrew mythology, a pre-Eve character who did not behave and so God started over and created Eve to replace her as the first woman.

I remember much of what it was like to be three strong willed, creative and bossy people on the road together. It was pretty much my first real tour and Veda was really the veteran. We all loved each other but had to deal with our competitive and envious side as well. The audience was usually all revved up and female and it was a really exciting time. It is funny I still have people who came to the tour telling me they were thinking, “I don’t like country music” and then seeing me and totally changing their minds. Not that I am country music but they thought I would be.

MW: What's it like working with Luke Doucet? Justin Rutledge? Jim Bryson?

SU: Mark - I have long, long friendships with these three talented songwriters. And I really like that. I like having history with people.

Luke Doucet and I started playing together in around 1998 when his band Veal and I went on tour together. They backed me up and they played their own set too. I was very green and so it was extremely exciting to have such a cool band to work with. After that, Luke became my guitar player on several albums and their subsequent tours. Luke is a brilliant and flashy guitar player so working with him was always so so musically exciting. He knows the guitar so well that he can improvise incredible melodies over and over again. It is really remarkable. I have him to thank for having me fall in love with loud, loud lead guitar while I am on stage. I love telling guitarists I work with to turn their amplifiers up. The cool thing is that I have also seen Luke evolve over the years with his own music and with his guitar playing. I think that Melissa McCLelland is an incredibly talented writer and singer and just a lovely person so he really is lucky to be able to work and have a life with her. He has really found his place with her and their duo Whitehorse.

Justin Rutledge is one of the most poetic writers in the Canadian music scene. He is also an incredibly caring human being. He has been my protector and confident on many occasion. I love singing with him. He is gentle and strong at the same time.

Jim Bryson is one of my dearest and best friends. We met on tour in around 2001 and we just clicked. We joke that we almost were boyfriend and girlfriend but fate intervened, we married other people, and so now we are brother and sister. He makes me laugh and pull my hair out just like a brother would. I feel incredibly lucky to have found a co-conspirator in Jim. He is a “heart on his sleeve” kind of person and that works for me. He loves to hold court and be silly but then he also has some darkness which suits me fine. I love his aesthetic…he is more modern and contemporary than I am so we complement each other. We just made our second record together called A Girl in Teen City. He produced it but I also have him to thank for telling me to write about my punk rock youth. The record sounds incredible thanks to his production, mixing, and also my friends who played on it.

MW: My favourite cut off the Oh Susanna album (2003) is “Little White Lies”. Give me the story behind the song?

SU: That song came out of me lying in a hotel in Cleveland by myself. I had done a lonely gig where no one came and then I called my pal Fred Eaglesmith for some comfort and camaraderie. Fred was saying how I was unique in this world because most girls my age were planning their weddings and here I was, a lonely troubadour on the road. The other inspiration to that song was that I met many a male musician who just couldn’t be faithful and so that became the character in the song. But at the same time I am talking about the loneliness that I felt by traveling alone on the road.

MW: My favourite cut off the Name-dropper album is 1955. Tell me about that song...

SU: Jay Harris, a dear friend, is a kick ass songwriter out of Kingston, Ontario in Canada. He doesn’t tour or play live much but he has two really incredible albums and has written countless songs. He gave that song to me to record on Name-dropper but he also has a version out there too. At first I loved it because I thought it referenced the 1950s, an era I was enamoured of since childhood. On closer listen you realize that it is the ages of the two protagonists in the song: 19 and 55. The old doll and her young guy. This makes the song even more delicious.

MW: How’s it all going with Kickstarter?

SU: Yes, I just ran a Kickstarter campaign for my new upcoming album which is called A Girl in Teen City - which features songs about my years as a teenager in 1980s Vancouver. I met my goal which is a relief because I am not sure how I would have paid for the album. It is exhilarating and exhausting running a Kickstarter, and I felt like a used car salesman, but I also believe in the project and that it is something I needed to make for my own personal expression, but also as a love letter to that city and the people I grew up with.

MW: Do you think "Americana" is now more (or entirely) absorbed into the music mainstream, or is the genre still distinctive and different enough?

SU: I really don't pay attention to the mainstream so I can't really comment on this. But I do know that the definition of “Americana” shifts depending upon where you live. In Europe, I am “Americana” but in the United States I am singer-songwriter.

I don’t like the idea of writing to get on the radio but I know that people do write this way. For example, CBC used to be more open in its format but now they seem to want to play a certain kind of song. So I see friends creating songs to fit that format. If the song feels authentic then it is ok but it sucks when you can feel the intention of sales behind a song.

MW: Let’s delve into some of your current music favourites by others...

SU: Abigail Lapell is a young singer-songwriter in Canada who has a pure voice and beautiful songs. I love her new record that just came out. I have been listening to her CD in the car.

Andy Shauf’s albums are in heavy rotation in our house. We bought the albums on itunes and play them from our phones.

I have been listening to Gregory Alan Isakov as well – I bought his The Weatherman album on itunes and I usually listen on my phone while riding the subway.

MW: Do you use Kindle? Current reading matter?

SU: I don't have a Kindle and I mostly read on paper. I have tried reading on my phone which I like because I can make the print bigger (I am at that age).

I am reading a book my mother gave me called Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis. She gave it to me because I recently got a dog and I spend a lot of time in the park, walking in the woods. The novel is partially set in the park that I walk in. The premise is Apollo and Hermes, whilst in a bar in Toronto, debate what would happen if dogs were as intelligent as humans…would they be as miserable as we are? So, Apollo grants human intelligence to a group of fifteen dogs and the novel tells what happens as a consequence.

MW: Have you embraced Hygge? If so, in what ways have you incorporated this cosy lifestyle into Toronto living?

SU: I had to look up what Hygge means to answer this but yes I do have a cozy house. Warm lighting, fireplace, blankets. I vow to light more candles this year.

MW: What are the best things about Toronto, Suzie?

SU: There is incredible food here. Music, Film, Theatre, Art and Dance are all incredibly strong here. Also debate and discussion - political and philosophical – happen here. There is an abundance here that is overwhelming. Never enough time to take in everything. NOW magazine is where I look to find out what is happening in the city.

https://nowtoronto.com/

MW: What's your schedule for 2017, and where can we find out more?

SU: I am releasing A Girl in Teen City in Europe in late March, Mark. I will be touring The Netherlands and the UK in April. Some of the UK shows are with Hannah Saunders and Ben Savage (with whom I did an artist retreat where we learned each other’s songs and sing together. It is pretty special and there are some videos on the internet of us singing together all around one microphone. We played at Kathleen Edwards cafe which was really special, Jim came up and made a guest appearance. We played in Toronto at an excellent and intimate venue called Burdock. At another show in Picton, Ontario, Justin Rutledge made a guest appearance as well).

https://youtu.be/rJcO6rDyY-Y

https://youtu.be/pvFf57pRehw

https://youtu.be/81-oOvEgFK4

Then releasing the album in North America. www.ohsusanna.com is where you can join the mailing list to find out what is happening with me. I am also on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter as OhSusannaMusic.

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