November 19, 2004
Event: Singer-songwriter SONiA makes her return to The Blue Moon Coffeehouse, accompanied by singer-songwriter Ember Swift
Date: Nov. 20 (Saturday)
Time: Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and the show starts at 8:00 p.m.
Location: The Blue Moon Coffeehouse, located in the Memorial Center’s Main Lounge, 104 E. University St., Bloomington.
Admission: Free and open to the public. IWU students, staff, and faculty may reserve seats by contacting bluemoon@titan.iwu.edu by 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday before the performance.
Background: Singer-songwriter SONiA returns to IWU to perform songs from her new album, No Bomb Is Smart. Noted by many people as a “protest singer,” SONiA sings about 9/11 and the Iraq War. SONiA also has three other solo albums, Almost Chocolate, Live at the Dawn Home, and Me, Too. Critics say SONiA delivers her songs with a "powerful angst and passion that moves people to dance, to smile, or to cry."
No Bomb Is Smart features recordings with members of the Dixie Chicks’ band and the fiddler from the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? It was recorded in Nashville, and contains a little more country twang than her 2001 album, Me, Too.
SONiA started out in Baltimore and has since performed around the world, from Australia, to New Zealand, to Fiji. She has won numerous awards, including the GLAMA award for Best Female Artist of the Year (1999) and Best Acoustic Album (2001), as well as the GLAAD Media Award for Best Album (1994). Her songs have also been featured in a number of different films.
Singer-songwriter Ember Swift has been performing since the age of 10, and performed her own original work at the age of 13. She has always been interested in activism, just like SONiA, and has carried this into her songs. Swift went to college in Canada, where she continued with her passion for music and performing, and soon put together a band. After college she started touring, and has been traveling and performing ever since. Among other numerous awards, Swift was nominated for outstanding Songwriter of the year at the 2003 OUTMusic Awards in New York City.
Contact: For more information, contact the Blue Moon Coffeehouse information line at (309) 556-3815, or check out their site at http://titan.iwu.edu/~bluemoon/
