Suzanne Paris: Paris Press

The ever-changing part on her full head of hair often looks like a question mark, but local songbird Suzanne Paris is nothing but focused these days. As a Gemini, which to that sign means multi-faceted, but confused to the rest of us, Paris is finally fully fixated on her music - folk rock with cool vocals. She will record a live album with a little help from her friends Saturday night at her favorite local venue, Zoey's in Ventura. The place is named for a
title of a J.D. Salinger book, the singer is named for the place in that country where many red state folks felt John Kerry would make a fine president.

Paris is from Texas by way of Ohio and Colorado and has been singing
locally for about six years now. She has this steamy voice that could evaculate a monastery, incline the bishop to kick out a stained glass window and generally make testosterone boil within a three block radius. In addition to being able to sing better than everybody else, Paris is also an accomplished guitar player. She's toured with Michael Bolton, sang ``My Girl'' with the Temptations and sang with Rock `n' Roll Hall of Famer Dave Mason
among other memorable musical moments.

Paris has been working hard of late, writing new songs - well, it isn't like she has a job or anything. Musician Princess isn't really a viable job description, but it seems to be working out for her lately. This recording will be her first since ``Pink Lipstick'' from 2001.

Despite having a bunch of watches, Paris and punctuality remain complete strangers and to quote one of her lyrics, ``Time is just a magazine...'' Yes and no - still, showtime is set for 8-ish. It'll be worth the drive to hear some of her cool new songs such as ``About A Man,'' ``Spend Some Time'' and ``Summer of Fire.'' Paris also does some cool covers by cool artists such as the Old 97's and Kathleen Wilhoite. She discussed the latest during a recent phoner - at the last minute.

So what's the story on this gig?

It's going to be organic. Organic...bootleg type...very simple, live. The thing that's gonna make the magic is the people I'm playing with.

And they are?

Jo (CQ)Pusateri is a top studio drummer from Chicago. He's Jeff Baxter's drummer - he's played with The Who, Dave Mason - tons of people. I've known Jo since 1988. People used to think we were brother and sister - we looked a lot alike then. We used to dress similarly - Jo used to wear a lot of crazy, fun outfits. The other guy is Kenny Edwards - a very well known, amazing guitar player.

How did you find him?

Kenny produced my writing partner, David Holster's album in the '70s and he also backed up many of the successful and talented female singers of the '70s. He started the Stone Ponys which was Linda Rondstadt's first band. He produced all of Karla Bonoff's albums - he has his own album out now. He's just a fabulous player. He's very fiery and spontaneous - and Jo is also and I am also. It makes for an interesting combination. The three of us feel very comfortable together - there's a lot of passion and spontaneity, rather than things being planned out. There's something magical about it.

There seems to be more passion in your music lately or am I just
hallucinating again?

No, there is. That's because I'm more inspired than I ever was before and I'm getting to play with everyone I ever wanted to play with. Basically, all my dreams are happening - everything I've always wanted to do, I'm getting to do and it's all just opening up more and more and more.

So is this going to be all new songs or what?

I'm going to do some new songs - songs a lot of people have never heard and some that I just rediscovered and maybe a couple of songs from ``Pink Lipstick.'' It'll be a normal two and half hour gig. Then I'm going to go over it all, clean it up and make it sound pretty and press a few of them and sell them. I may add a bass player later or just leave it raw - I'll have to listen to it. It's not going to happen before Christmas, but probably by February.

Why is it cool to see a live recording?

Because of the spontaniety of the show - different versions of the songs they've heard and new songs they haven't heard.

How many Suz songs are there?
In the world? I have no idea. A least a couple hundred.
How does the songwriting process work for you?

A lot of the time they come from phrases that I hear from conversations. I'll write down a phrase and it'll spark a whole story. I'm always taking notes on what people say, what they do, what they look like - things that look peculiar to me - things that make me laugh or look funny to me. Often, just sitting and playing, I'll come up with a phrase on a guitar, so it happens
that way, too. ``Spend Some Time,'' for instance, just completely fell into my lap. It's like it's being given to you and your job is to be the empath and
just pick up what's being told to you.

So sometimes lyrics first or other times, music first?

Both. It doesn't come from a mental place. There's two voics inside you - one is the creative muse where it's being given to you and it's magical. And then there's another voice inside that's the editor that's editting everything
and you have to shut that editor up because it gets in the way of the genius part. It's a gift coming down from something bigger. At least in my case, that's what it feels like.

Does bad love make for good songs?

It makes for songs with a lot of anger in them, or passion, but I wouldn't say it makes for good songs totally. ``Spend Some Time,'' for example, is not
a bad love song - it's more about ``Hey, let's hang out and enjoy life while we're alive.'' That's very much what I'm about, and I don't really write songs about bad love, but bad love usually evokes the strongest emotions among people.

When did you know you could do this?

Since when I was little, five - right away. My mom and dad had a small apartment and there wasn't a lot of room and my crib was in the living room next to the stereo. My dad was always playing music. I just thought of something. My mother told me the first song I ever sang was ``Jingle Bells'' when I was six months old.

Six months? Guess you're doing the right thing then?

Definitely.

Is it ever not the right thing?

Yes. Every single gig that's in the daytime. When the sun's shining - you can't just make a lot of mystery happen in the broad daylight. I just prefer dusk and after that for shows.

So solo acoustic chick and rock `n' roll chick fronting a band - does this appeal to your Gemini nature?

Absolutely, but I've always been both. Before I ever moved here, I was in bands and I played electric guitar only, never acoustic. I had a really nice guitar - it was a really old, beat-up 1958 Telecaster. In 1991, somebody stole it out of a recording studio. I never got another one and I figured I'd start
playing my acoustic again. Back then, I was living in Malibu right on the beach, writing a lot of songs and it was just time for the acoustic guitar again. So I just got really into my Martin again and I've just been staying on it. Lately I've been venturing out playing an electric baritone and doing some
recording at home with my...

What about a girl and a guitar album?

I'm going to do a solo album, too. I have some other stuff - some songs with Tom Petty's bass player and drummer that are great. I'll be popping out some albums in the coming year, for sure.

What's your connection with Zoey's?

When I first moved here, I used to go to Zoey's when it first opened. The very first person who played there was Robert Boyd, who played classical guitar. I just loved that courtyard - the feeling back there is very European. It was only a teahouse, nothing else. I made friends with the girls that
worked there - Jennifer - she and Fran started the place. I told Jennifer, ``You really should have music here, and I should play. I'm perfect.'' So I did and it started a thing. Back then, you sat outside - you were playing under the stars. There was this beautiful tree and all these fairy lights - there was just something magical about it. It started a thing and then that
upper room became available and they just went for it.

What do you think of the local scene?

It's a small place and there's a little scene happening, but I don't think it's ever been a big thing. It's nice. It's cute. It's sweet and all that but there's nothing that's really thrilling or amazing to me. It takes a lot more than that to get me really excited. But if you go to New York and look in the
paper, there's every kind of thing playing every night and you can take a cab and get there in ten minutes. That's exciting to me. I like it here for other reasons - it's small and you can walk around. I live right downtown and I can
walk to all my little downtown gigs and that's really fun, but the exciting thing for me is to go away and play different places.

Who knocks you out this week?

Switchfoot - I love that band. They have really great messages and they deliver it in a contemporary rock way which reminds me of all the music love.

Which is?

Led Zepellin. The Beatles. The Who. Nick Drake - all that British rock and all that music from the '70s. For current stuff, I like Gavin DeGraw - he's cool, and the other guys I totally love - and I just met them - is Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Locally of course,

You don't do many covers, but the ones you do are mighty cool - John Prine,the Old 97s, Kathleen Wilhoite. How do you decide to cover a tune?

It has to inspire me. They have to inspire me with what they're talking about and it has to be entertaining to me musically. It has to be a tight little arrangement - I tend to like pop songs or pop rock. I just like a well written song that's not boring.

What do you like the most about your night job?

The best thing is that I'm a night person. I'm fully awake for it. I always wake up at night - I was born at night.

What about your alleged day job?

Pilates? Pilates is a mind/body exercise, similar to yoga - it centers you and really brings you into your body. It just makes you feel better inside your body. I've been doing it five years now and I'm an instructor, but I play music way more than I teach pilates. Pilates is something I do for myself and I teach it to selected friends and family but it's not really a day job -music is my job.

Tell me about the f-word?

What are you talking about?

Focus.

I'll tell you what's helped me focus a lot and that's pilates. Pilates has improved my focus 1000% because now I'm much more aware of my body and living
in my body. For me, physical activity really helps with focus in the rest of my life. Pilates just makes you focus on your body - the place where you live
while you're alive. A lot of people are out of touch with their bodies -they're just a big brain walking around.

She's a tall Texan with no accent and no tan, but plenty of hair, good songs and an unforgettable voice. The Texan in question is none other than Suzanne Paris who will serenade the Poinsettia City locals twice this weekend
during a couple of free shows. Friday night Paris will appear solo at Zoey's Cafe in Ventura, then Saturday fronting a trio at Wine Lovers.

Zoey's, located in the far end of the El Jardin patio in Downtown Ventura,
is well known for great salads and sandwiches, not to mention a supply of spirited spirits. Musicially, it's a low budget production featuring Paris on
a chair with her guitar. Wine Lovers is just what you'd think - wino nirvana, but with beer and food as well. Inside, there's a bar and also a bunch of comfy chairs and couches with a torch lit patio outside. Paris will be joined
by her husband David Holster and percussionist Marty Van Loan for this gig.

Paris discovered her musical genes long ago when her significant parental unit played the right kind of music at the right time. And it was probably
vastly different than what Marilyn Manson heard as a youngster.

``When I was a little girl, my dad, who was my favorite person to hang out with, used to play Beatles records, and also Stan Getz, Dave Brubeck and Peter, Paul & Mary. I remember the Beatles because immediately, I could hear everything they were doing, and I was singing along with them and doing all the harmonies when I was 5-years-old.

Since Paris' father was a petroleum engineer, the pursuit of the black goo took the family from Alaska to New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and Ohio. While in the Buckeye State, Paris enrolled at Bowling Green, taking design and
photography and still singing on the side. While attending a seminar in Rochester, New York, Paris happened to open a show for Michael Bolton. A week later, he called her back and hired the 19-year-old to be his backup singer
for a summer tour.

``Michael was just great - he never drank or took drugs - he was into meditating. On that same tour I met Johnny Winter who played with us a couple of times. He wanted me to be in his band, but he was too scary for me. After
that summer, I never went back to school, and even though I never learned to read music, I was always getting hired to sing somewhere.''

When her father was reassigned to Denver, Paris landed in nearly Boulder, and eventually, Aspen. She kept her night job doing solo gigs, band gigs, and all the while hanging out with famous rock stars.
``I just started playing music everywhere with different people. I opened for Dan Fogelberg, Stephen Stills, Richie Havens and once, the Temptations. I sang with them on stage, and I danced with the Temptations - I was in the middle. I sang `My Girl' with David Ruffin, like to each other. I had a great
time in Aspen, and made good money. Since Aspen is such a small town, anytime any famous musicians came through, they'd hang out with us.''

After moving to L.A., Paris returned to Aspen for a two week vacation, but her watch stopped and she ended up staying seven years, but she hooked up with
one of the local rock gods.

``I teamed up with David Holster, a great songwriter well known in Aspen, who had written songs for John Denver, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Three Dog Night. We decided his songs and my voice would work.''

All that singing and moving eventually landed Paris in Ventura about a year ago where she since has become one of the mainstays on the local scene at Cafe Voltaire along with Jimmy Adams (another Texan), Leslie Merical, Jonathan McEuen, Hippie Mark and all the others. As to the future, the musician's tense of choice, Paris has plans.

``David and I are doing an album together, then a solo album each. They should be out in the next couple of months. There's a wonderful group of musicians here in Ventura, very talented and extremely inspiring.''

Paris, always laughing about who knows what as if she gets the joke we haven't heard yet, has a voice that often transcends her songs. Two notable exceptions happen to be covers - John Prine's ``Angel From Montgomery'' and her show-stopper ``Wish We Never Met'' by actress/singer Kathleen Wilhoite.

``I think I sound like Dusty Springfield, Joni Mitchell with Stephen Stills' guitar style with some blues in there somewhere. I'm just a singer/songwriter that does mostly my own songs. I just want to play music, have fun, and hopefully, make people happy, and be an uplifting force and
deliver some good medicine to the world.''

Reviewer: Josh Michaels (production director of KSPN)
We at KSPN have been playing Suzanne's Pink Lipstick album for about a year on our Colorado Homegrown feature, where her music has become a frequent request. From what I hear Suzanne has a new album on the horizon and I'm anxious to hear her new material and share it with our listeners. Suzanne combines folk rock with pop and tops it off with a calm and soothing voice. She sounds just as good live as she does on her album. I enjoyed interviewing her on our program and she's always welcome back.

Giving Pink Floyd, the Pink Panther and even ``the pink moment'' of Ojai some temporary competition on the spectrum will be an orgy of pink planned for
Saturday night at Zoey's in Ventura when singer/songwriter Suzanne Paris will be hosting a CD release party for her latest, ``Pink Lipstick.'' The friendly
Texan with enough hair for two women, should be happier than is allowable by law over her just completed album.

Recorded on a miniscule budget in what amounted to a tool shed in Oxnard, the album compares favorably with one of the higher priced efforts by famous rock stars that are backed by rich record labels. Budgetary constraints aside, Paris has that special gift that money can't buy, her voice. She sings better than everyone which is always a good way to hold down that night job. ``Pink
Lipstick'' will find favor with fans of folk rock, featuring half a dozen
Paris originals, with three penned by her partner David Holster, and one co-written by both of them.

While musicians may lack many skills incidental to the real world of a real job, there is one indispensable character trait they exude with real religious fervor - cooperation. Paris will be yet another player to get a little help
from her friends, or in this case, a lot of help from her solid backup band assembled for this very gig.

Jeffrey ``Skunk'' Baxter, formerly of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, will play Saturday after seriously upgrading the CD with his deft but economical guitar work. Another guitar hero, Randy Cobb, who has played with Delbert McClinton and Bonnie Raitt, will also play. Jo Pusateri, a much in demand session player, will beat those drums for this show.

Loren Evans of Hyperplush (and Blimp before that) will add some cello to ``Bells,'' and Ojai-based singer/songwriter/painter Wendy MaHarry (CQ) will add backup vocals to the same song. Best friend Leslie Merical of Left of
Memphis will sing backup vocals on several other songs. So pretty much, all the local rock stars that aren't playing elsewhere will be at this gig, either playing or rubber necking.

Although a Gemini, Paris did manage to make one of life's important decisions early on, deciding she wanted to become a singer while singing along
to Beatles' songs at the ripe old age of five. Since her father was a
petroleum engineer, the family moved around a lot and Paris spent time in Texas, Alaska, Ohio and Colorado. She has been singing pretty much her whole
life, making her professional debut at the Red Dog Saloon in Lafayette, Louisiana at the age of 15, doing her own songs plus covers of tunes by Nick Drake, the Beatles and Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Later settling in Colorado, Paris met songwriter Holster, and together they decided that his songs and her voice could take them higher up the musical food chain. While in Boulder and Aspen, Paris played in a number of bands, usually with her voice transcending the material, and frequently jamming with the touring rock stars. In 1998, she moved to California to expand her musical horizons. Saturday is showtime.

Zoey's is located in downtown Ventura at the back of the historic El Jardin Patio. It's a tiny hole in the wall place, known for its eclectic menu and great sandwiches. Even the weatherman is cooperating with a weekend forecast of sunny and warmer. Tables, chairs and candles will be arranged all the way down to the long hallway to Main Street, the whole scene festooned with pink
balloons, pink lights, and hopefully, a sea of pink clad music fans.

Zoey's offers music three or four nights a week these days and Paris was one of the first musicians to ever perform there almost two years ago. So the
singer will get to sing her favorite songs at her favorite place.

According to the singer herself, ``My whole goal in moving to California was to record an album, and now I finally have one that represents my own style. I produced the album with David and played almost all of the parts
myself. It's a true representation of my musical style. This will be a very pleasant musical event - it's going to be magical.''