Remembering Suzi Wollenberg

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Remembering Suzi Wollenberg

POSTED: Monday, August 10, 2009, 8:00 PM

Filed Under: In Memoriam | Music

Mourning the loss of a local roots DJ and a fixture on the local folk scene.

photo from wvud.org

Folk music has taken another blow. The long anticipated demise of Frank Malley let his colleagues at the Ceili Group begin to imagine keeping the music thriving without him.

Suzi Wollenberg, however,' left us without warning. Look at this list: the Green Willow Folk Club, WVUD radio, Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music, Delaware' Valley Bluegrass Festival -these organizations are all rocked by her sudden passing this last Saturday.

Suzi put in literal decades running the Green Willow. She picked up the task when another couldn't keep up with demands of running a Celtic music series in the Wilmington area. If memory of chats with agents for some of the best bands from Scotland, Ireland and Wales serves, Green Willow went from being a fill-in date to the early adopter, the organization willing to bring in the unusual, the anchor date for tours of new acts.' Celtic music from Spain like LLan de Cubel might never have been presented here if Suzi hadn't taken a chance on it.

Music needs to be heard by as many people as possible was her theory. If she believed in its quality it didn't matter who was presenting, her enthusiasm bubbled out in all possible directions.''
As recently as last week she sent out a e-blast reminding folks that fellow WVUD DJ and Green Willow board member Michelle McCann puts on a pretty good show with her band Slyte of Hand and not to miss them a free concert at Rockford Park. The setting and show were a trip across the waters to Brittany for a great number of us on stay-cations.
When Folk Alliance needed judges for showcase slots Suzi could always find time to listen to another pile of recordings and winnow out the top contenders, then spread the news to all her' colleagues. All this music work was in addition to another fulltime job.' Suzi was a counselor and if you asked her professional opinion of a situation, she'd take the time to share some of that training, gratis. Don't ask me how I know.

Years ago, when XPN had folk music every day of the week, Suzi led a busman's holiday to the old Spruce Street studios' from Newark's UDel station to compare notes. WVUD still has folk of one kind or another seven days.

Stand up and be counted folks. Who is willing to pick up a part of the burden Suzi has laid down? For sure it is the best way we can honor her memory.

Suzi's husband, John Lupton, says a memorial service for Suzi will be held on Thursday, August 13 at 1:00 pm at Gebhart Funeral Home, 3401 Philadelphia Pike, Claymont, DE.

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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