Anyone who already knows The Dirty Grind knows that it is one of the most extraordinary stages and a place for all kinds of art in SL. It is an independent artist community for artists and art lovers. The program that is offered there and the artists who come there are mixed up and that's what makes this place so special and so suitable for the concert that evening. The best place, if you don't really want to dance, is a place on one of the comfortable sofas or if you are lucky you can get a free spot in the scratching post. A very cozy place, in the living room style, in which one can, surrounded by art, listen to the wonderful Suzen Juel concert that were on the program that Friday. Suzen is a SL and RL artist in the truest sense of the word. She is a painter, draftsman, photographer, designer, folk and blues singer and songwriter. Their originals were played on the radio and some SL musicians sing their songs. She lives and works in Minnesota USA and is one of the very first SL musicians. That evening she sang covers like, Sweet dreams by Eurythmics, Walk the Line by Johnny Cash, Paint it black by the Rolling Stones and Everytime I see you falling by Donna Lewis. Her way of interpreting is so authentic and honest and you get a direct feeling for what music and especially the words mean to her. She brings these covered songs into “shape” to become Suzen's songs and it is a real pleasure to listen to her and her wonderfully expressive voice. However, she shows the true art in her innumerable originals, of which she was only able to present a small extract to us that evening. Sometimes she uses a looper and mixes dreamy tones such as Rain, pearls and wind to their playing on the guitar, which almost reminded me of meditation music. Her lyric is dreamy, demanding, earthy, lustful. She draws her words in our head, tells us stories that shape them and frames them with beautiful, almost mystical meditative sounds. She changes from singing to spoken chant and thereby underlines her artistic lyric that is in her songs. She shakes us up, whispers and in the next moment she strokes our soul with her blues voice. She just does her thing without a raised finger-wagging but with a lot of soul and naturalness. It is very exciting and at the same time calming to listen to her, but it is definitely touching. If you like Lyric and are open to that special music and art experience, you should definitely visit one of their concerts. I am enthusiastic and inspired by Suzen and her art and very happy that you can meet such special people in SL. I will definitely see her again. **translated from German**
