Pix from Lilith Fair in San Francisco

Mercurynews.com has posted a bunch of pix from the July  5th Lilith Fair. Click on the picture to go to the gallery.

Ann Wilson, July 5th 2010,

Heart (review from spinningplatters.com) click here for more pictures

Heart aren’t given enough respect by the feminist movement. More than any riot grrl band (not to devalue the importance of riot grrl), they opened the rock world to women in a huge way. They were the first rock band where the women were the songwriters and also took control of the leads. Nancy Wilson is the kind of guitarist that could show Jimmy Page a thing or two, and at this show, they made sure to keep this set as metal as they could. The whole set was devoted to the edgier, heavier Heart. Only in the middle of the set, where they played a few decent songs off their upcoming record, Red Velvet Car, did things mellow. Nancy took lead vocals from her sister on the strongest of the new songs, “Hey You,” and then played a powerful reading “Alone,” with the stage bare aside from the Wilson sisters and keyboardist Debbie Shair (Ironically, this was the only time all day that only women were on stage).

Ann Wilson’s voice has only improved with time, with a soulful richness that is incomparable in any genre of music. They closed the main set with the near-perfect closer of “Crazy On You” and “Barracuda,” which is still one of the greatest riffs in musical history. They managed to avoid any of their sappier stuff like “These Dreams” and “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You.” In fact, my only complaint about their set was the encore, which was a cover of Led Zepplin’s “What Is and What Should Never Be,” which left the majority of the crowd kind of confused, aside from the handful of people that recognized the song. It’s a weird song, and kind of took the energy away from the set, which would have been better served by “Magic Man,” or even a slightly more intense Zeppelin cover, like “Rock & Roll” or “Battle Of Evermore,” both of which Heart have been known to cover in the past.

Meanwhile, Sue Ennis tweets…

Sue Ennis

…some very interested messages about “Hey You” and Ann’s BDAY!

• New single “Hey You” will be most added record at AC radio next week. What year is this again?
• Wish my original b-day song were the best gift last night but, hands down, it was the life-sized, silver plated barracuda from Chp Trik.
• Fun h.b. vid segments from Cheap Trick, the Journey guys and Alice guys. Elton’s appearance and sweet message just brought the house down.

Follow Sue Ennis on Twitter. Thank you Sue :) (and thanx to Harry Grillo for the poke :)

from FMQB.com

Ann Wilson gives it her Heart

Ann Wilson

What woman out there does not remember belting out the lyrics of the song “Alone” somewhere at some time in their lives and for some reason?  I know I did, a lot.  From “Magic Man” to “These Dreams” to all of those rock and roll tunes that Heart singer Ann Wilson belted out over the span of the band’s career, rivaling anyone in rock with their passionate,  gut wrenching, heart pumping sound.

With a voice that is par-excellence, Ann Wilson turned 60 this past weekend.  She paved the way for female rockers to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any male musician on the scene.  Yet Ann and Nancy Wilson always stayed in their truth as females in exile from the stereotypical female genre of the fallen angel.  Heart brought you into their songs, telling you they understand, letting you feel the lyrics like “try to understand, he’s a magic man.” You want to know who he is. You want to know why she needs him.

More from this article at Goldmine Magazine

ANN WILSON IS 60 TODAY!

Queen of Rock Ann Wilson turns 60 today. She sings and looks better than ever before! Congratulations to Ann Wilson and also on Red Velvet Car!

Barracuda: just Ann’s 1977 studio vocals

Thanx Carl!

Ann Wilson addresses the class of 2010

Ann Wilson

Dear class of 2010,

On the morning of June 7, 1968 I was a confused kid. I was seventeen, and the day before I had stood with my graduating class at our commencement ceremony at the Seattle Opera House after narrowly achieving graduation with a 2.3 grade average. Life at Sammamish High School had been an academic and social battle for me so I was very happy and relieved in the moment.

Read the rest of this letter at the official website

Ann: Red Velvet Car beginning of fall

Ann

Question: So I hear you have an album in the works?
Answer: Yeah, it’s in the hands of the record guys now. They’re all sitting around in an office somewhere deciding when to put it out. It’ll probably be out in the beginning of the fall.
Q: You’re calling your new album “Red Velvet Car”?
A: There’s a song on the album by that name, and the red velvet car, as I see it, is like a soul ambulance, a friend who comes to save you when you’ve hit bottom. It’s the warm support car that you can get into when you’re standing in the rain.
Q: Did you sit down and talk about what kind of album you wanted to make?
A: We didn’t sit down and quantify it. We were writing all these songs and because of the life experiences we’d all been having the past several years, there seemed to be a thread that naturally wound through a lot of these songs. And that thread is travel and movement. It’s kind of a road album, but in a positive way. It isn’t one of those road albums that goes, “Oh, I’m so bummed out on the road.” (laughs) “Here I am . . . on the road again. And I’m really upset.”

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