Jewel bounces back

Fame and fortune have their advantages. For many Hollywood residents, having endless amounts of money and fans is the epitome of a wonderful life. For singer-songwriter Jewel, fame and fortune have taken on a whole new meaning.\nSuccess hasn't always been at the singer's fingertips. Growing up in Homer, Alaska, Jewel lived in a Volkswagen van with her mother before being discovered while singing in coffee houses. Now, Jewel takes her fame, fortune and knowledge of talent and turns it into a chance for other artists like her.\n"It feels great," Jewel says. "I was living in a car and was trying to get something and a person saw something in me that maybe I didn't see in myself. It makes sense for me to be able to do that for someone else."\nThis past summer, Jewel launched the Soul City Café project, designed to encourage and develop new talent in a variety of artistic media. The artists are hand picked by Jewel and have been performing on her current tour. \nThe next endeavor for the Soul City is lining up talent to accompany Jewel on her summer tour in 2003. Artists will compete for open slots in hopes of landing a spot on Jewel's tour and maybe catching the eye of record companies. \nBefore Jewel's kicks off her summer 2003 tour, she'll continue with her Wild West Tour, which stops in Bloomington Nov. 21. "I love playing on college campuses," Jewel says. "There are things you can do in those shows that you just can't do in other venues."\nStudents alike are awaiting Jewel's arrival in Bloomington. Fans of her folkloric sound are anxious for the Alaska native to take over IU Auditorium for an evening.\n"I'm really excited about Jewel's performance," says Ginger Riecken, a junior. "She's got a great sound and it'll be something different for IU students to see. I think it's going to be a great show."\nStraying from the crowd, other students who aren't as familiar with Jewel are also looking at the show to expand their musical repertoire. Todd Petelle, a senior, says he is going to the show with friends and never had an interest in Jewel until she was slated to make an appearance at IU.\n"I didn't really think of going until some friends asked me to go," Petelle says, "but I've listened to her stuff and it should be pretty good."\nEntering the spotlight after a break last year, This Way is the follow-up album to 1998's Spirit. But the album almost didn't happen. Jewel says she took a long break and didn't know if she would have the energy to come back to performing. \n"I lost my fire for it," Jewel says. "I can't go through the motions when I'm not feeling it. I think you grow in confidence over the years, and I think this record shows that confidence."\nJewel says because of her time off and her age, making This Way gave her a new perspective and taught her a lot about the business. Jewel says she learned more about the studio and how she wanted to make the record sound, but she says she didn't have that kind of freedom in previous records.\n"Hopefully with every record I make, my only criteria is that it's honest, that's it's a genuine," she says.\nComing back from the rest caused Jewel another break last April, but not the break she was looking for. Jewel broke her collarbone and a rib when she was thrown from a horse at her boyfriend's ranch. Her doctors restricted her from playing guitar and performing, but she returned to the stage in May and only canceled two dates on her European tour.\nLiving with the injury didn't break Jewel's spirit, as she sucked up the pain and continued to work despite the trouble of singing with a broken rib. \n"I'm fully recovered now," Jewel says. "When it happened I didn't want to cancel on fans. Plus pain isn't fun, but it's pain. I didn't feel like I wanted to stop, I don't do well with being hurt and I wasn't going to dwell on it."\nJewel's latest business is furthering her movie career, both as a musician and actress. The musician in Jewel lent her voice to Reese Witherspoon's newest romantic comedy, "Sweet Home Alabama." For the movie, Jewel remade the classic Lynyrd Skynyrd song. \nAs for her movie career, Jewel made her big-screen debt in Ang Lee's 1999 acclaimed civil war drama, "Ride with the Devil." Her newest movie prospect is yet to be titled and in the very primitive stages.\n"I play a romantic interest in the movie," Jewel says. "This isn't a movie that I carry. Right now it's all developing. It's been a wave, of getting cast and getting a director." \nWhether it be riding a wave or riding horses, Jewel has bounced back from falls stronger, more mature in her latest album and ready to nurture future singers along the way.\n"Ultimately all I ever think about is talent (which) will ultimately speak for itself at the end of a career," she says. "That's all I think about. I don't actually pay attention to what's happening"