“Mystery”

Susan sings “Mystery” in the Earth Mass at the Cathedral of St John the Divine NYC.

I received the story below from a friend of Susan’s at the time of her first foray in the Northwest. It describes the possible first contact with the music of Paul Winter. I pass it on here along with a video (obviously a work in progress but all I have) of Susan performing ‘Mystery’ in the Earth Mass with the Consort. It was written by her friend Jeremy Geffen who met her busking in NYC. Jeremy went on to become a cancer doctor, wrote ‘The Journey Through Cancer’, and died too young after helping many people. She is accompanied by Jim Scott guitar, Eugene Friesen cello, and John Clark on french horn. The Consort will again be performing a solstice concert at the Cathedral this Saturday if you happen to be in New York and can get up for a 4:30 am concert. (You can lie on a mat).

Solstice blessings to Jeremy and Susan.

-david D

And this from David Michael continuing the memoir:

I met Susan Osborn in 1973 at an open mic in Tacoma, Washington at the Court CCoffeehouse. I was a student at the Evergreen State College in Olympia and was just at the onset of experimenting with performing my singer/songwriter material in public. Susan and I had a bit of a mutual admiration thing going on. I was completely enamored with her voice, and she loved my guitar playing and songs. Sometimes when I was performing, she would be sitting in the back of the room providing impromptu accompaniment on a violin or harmonizing with her voice. For the next couple of years, we were both regulars at that open mic. 

I believe her home was in Steilacoom during that time. On a number of occasions, she would drive down to Olympia to visit and share songs with me and my housemates, who all played in a band with me called Rainbow Alley.

I also witnessed her busking in the Pike Place market in Seattle one day and had never seen a more successful busker. The money would just rain in, and people would even give her jewelry and other gifts. She opened my eyes to the possibilities of making some good money as a street musician. In subsequent years, I became a professional busker. Not as a singer, of course, but playing the Celtic Harp in the walking streets of Scandinavia and the ferryboats on the Salish Sea. But I digress…

In 1974, the Paul Winter Consort came to the Evergreen State College and offered the music students a workshop in free-form improvisation which I attended, and then that evening gave an absolutely amazing performance for the student body. They had 500 people captivated, chanting om, howling like wolves. What an inspiration! People were walking around campus, howling like wolves for about a week after that. It was a life-changing event for me and steered the music I was creating in a completely new direction. Our band, Rainbow Alley started incorporating freeform instrumental improvisations into our set lists.

Shortly after that, Susan made another trip down to Olympia to spend the day hanging out and singing songs with me. I happened to have a bootleg tape of the concert that Paul Winter had given at Evergreen, and I excitedly played it for her. She was enthralled! So I am honored to say that I’m the person who exposed Susan to Paul Winter’s music for the first time in 1974.

Sometime shortly after that, Susan told me she was moving back to Minneapolis to be a nurse. I told her that I did not believe for one minute that anything other than a spectacular career in music awaited her. But she did move away, and we stopped communicating for a time.

Fast-forward a few years and I was living in Seattle. I saw a brand-new record from the Paul Winter Consort called Common Ground at the record store, and of course, purchased it. Immediately after arriving home, I took a few tokes and laid down on the carpet with my eyes closed to listen. A little ways into the second side, a hauntingly familiar voice captivated me. I instantly recognized it as Susan! The song was Lay Down Your Burden. It brought tears to my eyes. Way to go Susan, I thought. I knew that big things awaited you. 

For a number of subsequent years, I went to every concert that Paul Winter gave in Seattle and also in San Francisco. I always made a point to go backstage afterwards and give Susan a hug. 

More years passed and Susan got settled on Orcas Island. We stayed in touch all the while and occasionally swapped albums. The last time I saw her was when she invited me to give a concert at her Living Room venue in Eastsound on Orcas Island. We didn’t really get much of a chance to visit and catch up at the time, and that was the last time I saw her in person. She was truly one of those great souls who touched my life in a deep way and I feel privileged to have known her.

David Michael