SUUSI

Monday Night - WISHING CHAIR

"Engaging performances, haunting harmonies, poetic, political, stellar vocals." Curve Magazine

Multi-instrumentalist Miriam Davidson and songwriter/composer Kiya Heartwood have made an art of inspiring performances and award winning songs, seducing the listener with soulful confessions, political broadside and a wicked groove. Their songs combine a passionate mix of intelligent lyrics, spellbinding storytelling and breathtaking harmony over a full roots-and-roll sound.

Winning over audiences with their engaging performances, passionate activism and superb execution, they perform all over the country at venues such as The Kennedy Center, The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, The Bluebird Café, The National Women's Music Festival, The Kerrville Folk Festival, and The Philadelphia Folk Festival.

Taking any subject being fair game, they have earned high honors, receiving the 2008 Jane Schliessman Award for Outstanding Contributions to Women's Music, JP Folks (Best New Folk CD, Best Roots Song, 2006), OutMusic (Double Winner 2003, Finalist 2004), Kerrville Folk Festival (Political Songwriting Finalist 2005, 2003), The South Florida Folk Festival (Double Winner 2003), to The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (Emerging Artist Finalist 2002).

“Weave and Spin,” Kiya's song cycle for women's chorus, was premiered by the Denver Women's Chorus in 2005 and has subsequently been performed by MUSE, Cincinnati's Women's Choir, as well as selections by the Petrie School of Music Chamber Singers, in Spartanburg, SC. Her operetta for young people, “Lying to the Sea Gypsy” premiered this past spring. Kiya is the Music Director for the UU Church of Spartanburg. Miriam currently serves as Choral Director for the Greenville UU Fellowship and is working on a song cycle for children.

Whether it's a song about politics, true love, or Calamity Jane, Wishing Chair "has a passion about the truth, about being emotionally available to tell it." To hear Wishing Chair's music, visit them at wishingchair.com.

Tuesday Night - ELLEN BUKSTEL

Hailed by Michael Bolton as "an amazing artist and apirit,” Ellen is a multi-faceted, break-the-mold original, a consummate artist whose community activism and musical vibe harkens back to the 60s even as she addresses the world very much in present tense. Her award winning music videos nurture the causes she supports and routinely bring her audiences to laughter and tears...sometimes both simultaneously. From hilariously funny to moving compositions of love, remembrance, and social awareness, her songs always hit home.

This multifaceted, Florida based folk-fop, singer songwriter draws from her emotional roller coaster of a life to bring hope, laughter, tears, biting wit and inspiration to her irresistibly eclectic CD debut “Daddy's Little Girl.”

Ellen's powerful mix of hard-hitting songs and social activism has inspired and excited thousands of fans. A veteran to the stage since childhood, she is an award-winning singer and songwriter. This past year alone she placed first in three different nationally acclaimed song writing competitions. She has received awards for her music videos that are used to raise money for community organizations. To hear Ellen's music, visit her at ellenbukstel.com.

Wednesday Night - PAT WICTOR

In a remarkably short period of time, Pat Wictor has become the name that is being chatted about on the acoustic, blues, folk and Americana circuits. Steeped in American "roots" music, Pat is a contemporary songwriter and interpreter drawing on the rural country, gospel, and blues traditions of our nation. Pat took a convoluted path to roots music, working his way through rock, heavy metal and jazz on a variety of instruments. When he settled on fingerstyle and slide guitar, he brought all these elements to his craft.

His performances--part fireside chat, part meditation on matters earthly and transcendent--feature his originals. In addition to his own tunes, he is quick to offer up a newly-discovered lyric from another performer, or a fresh arrangement of a traditional song, delighting in introducing his audience to innovative material. With flowing red hair and zen-like calm, Pat embraces his audience with the sincerity of his music and the clarity of his voice, inviting them in.

Pat views his life and his music as a journey, populated with an ever-shifting landscape of people, places and emotions. It is a journey he is eager to share with others, knowing that it is the experiences along the way, not the arrival, that initiate the most profound changes.
In seven eventful years of touring, Pat has been a finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival and “Most Wanted” at Falcon Ridge, and was nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year by the Folk Alliance. To hear Pat's music, visit him at patwictor.com.