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On January 7th, 2001 I went to the Gladstone Theatre to see Oliver Schroer opening for Oh Susanna. Like, literally, as in: I was there to see Oliver Schroer, who was opening for Oh Susanna.
This show occurred about six weeks after a concert that I had booked and promoted starring Canadian acoustic guitar phenom Don Ross. I believe it was Don that suggested Oliver Schroer (1956-2008) as the opening act and if so, I’m glad he did. The long, tall funky-looking solo fiddle player wowed the crowd (myself included) and in addition to putting in an amazing set Oliver was kind enough to deliver an impromptu lecture in the Contemporary Improvisation course I was directing at Carleton University the following morning. So I knew Schroer to be both a great musician, a superb instructor, and a heck of a guy besides.
Oliver was such a nice guy that I assume he comped me tickets to this show with Oh Susanna. And if so, I’m glad he did. First off, back then I had pretty much no money, and every dollar saved was extremely important (of course, looking at my concert history during this era you’d think I was a millionaire playboy scuttling from town to town on his superyacht). Secondly, it was a Sunday afternoon show at a theatre I had never been to featuring sublime, extremely thoughtful solo fiddle improvisations, and though I don’t remember the show per se I’m confident I really enjoyed it. Thirdly, I was dating a fiddle player at the time and I would have been pleased to take her to something so perfectly up her alley. And finally, I have it marked in my ticket book that we left during Oh Susanna’s set, so like I say, I really hope (and strongly suspect) that I didn’t pay for the tickets.
I did, however, stick around long enough to tell you this: Oh Susanna was the stage name for a female singer/songwriter based out of Toronto. Wikipedia tells me that she has since dropped the Oh Susanna moniker and currently tours under her actual name, which is Suzie Ungerleider. I suspect she finally got around to reading Stephen Foster’s original lyrics to her namesake song, which brought the house down during mid-1800’s blackface minstrel shows but would get you arrested and/or beat up nowadays.
And if so, I’m glad she did.
Todd Man Out 