ETA Music Mondays

December 14, 2009

Glen Watts & Sue Conway

Story and Photos by James Walker, Jr.

Normally, veteran vocalist Sue Conway performs the duty of co host at the monthly "Music Monday" set at ETA theater on the South side, but on December 14th, Sue took center stage as the headliner at their annual festive Christmas concert.

This affair was more than just a concert, it was a full fledged party with and abundance of food and an "open mic" jam session led by a few of Chicago's finest "unknown" talented vocalists. In addition, ETA's "A" house band of bassist Chuck Webb, drummer Khari Parker, and keyboardist Mike Logan, provided more than adequate support for Sue and the others. All of these guys perform not only locally, but often with national acts.

They opened the set with "White Christmas", and Bill Withers "Just the Two of Us". Before Sue could even take the stage, Khari had whipped the capacity crowd into a frenzy with a rapid fire "drum lesson" that hadn't been seen in this room for quite some time. Khari usually performs these duties with Boz Scaggs, but whenever he's in Chicago, he never neglects his ETA fans.

Sue's segment was comprised of both Christmas and Classic numbers with her version of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" a highlight as she performed this number with only Logan's accompaniment . This song was vocalized with with reverence and emotion as Sue reached back to her gospel training to touch the spirit of the audience. Again while only using Logan, on "Here's to Life", she received a warm round of applause from this festive audience. Sue closed out the set with "God is Good", again bringing to the forefront her spiritual background.

The second set began with Sue engaging the audience in "You Know How I Feel". Her rapport with the crowd was infectious as she solicited the crowd's assistance on this number.

The "open mic" session began with Barbara Kensy making her ETA debut with "The Christmas Song", followed by Glen Watts belting out another Bill Withers number, "Ain't No Sunshine When You're Gone"; Juanita Nave, on "The Christmas Song"; Ken Fobs', "My Favorite Things" ; and Bonita Maclin, intoxicating the crowd with a very sensuous version of "What Are You Doing On New Year's Eve"? The crowd loved it.

What an exciting night of food, song and fellowship. For details regarding future ETA music or theatrical performances , refer to their website at : http://www.etacreativearts.org.