From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest) To: support-system-digest@smoe.org Subject: support-system-digest V6 #214 Reply-To: support-system@smoe.org Sender: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk support-system-digest Monday, August 11 2003 Volume 06 : Number 214 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [support-system] Liz in New Jersey [Catherine Molanphy ] [support-system] Re: support-system-digest V6 #213 [Al Madrid ] [support-system] that kind of fan [Catherine Molanphy Subject: [support-system] Liz in New Jersey I hate the Garden State! :^P Suffice it to say, I got to "Vintage Vinyl" a half hour late due to my directional incompetence, a lack of preparation, and the general obnoxiousness of Route 1 in New Jersey, land of a thousand shopping plazas. Here's the good news: I got there in time to hear her play about four songs, tell a couple of stories, and to get an autograph on my "Comeandgetit" EP as well as a photo, very grudgingly taken for me by the security goon standing next to the table where Liz was sitting. Here is a link to said photograph: http://www.angelfire.com/folk/superlungs/me_n_liz.jpg Guess which one is me... :^P Matt can tell you more about the show, as he was right up front and got there way early. A few observations: * Emil, I hate you I really do. Because when you got the opportunity to talk to Liz you actually had a friggin' conversation... I'm always intimidated by the goons, afraid of being told to shut up, so I just mumble and rush on. When I presented the EP for her to sign, I couldn't even register that she was making a lame joke about the initials "EP"... she even wrote "EP" on the paper and then wrote "Elizabeth Phair" downwards underneath the letters, emphasizing that those happened to be her initials.... I figured it out afterwards, though. I pointed to the track listing, to the last two tracks, Hurricane & Shallow Opportunities and said "I really like these two..." but she didn't seem to notice. Then I took the picture, mostly to avoid any awkwardness. Someday I'm going to strap on a pair, really I am. * Yes, she's very blonde now. She looked exactly like she does in the pictures and on film. How can she give the impression of being so tall when she's only... what? Someone said 5'1 once, but that can't be true... can it? In person I was impressed by her lazy-dog eyes, something I'd noticed in pictures before but noticed even more strongly when I saw her in the flesh. * She sings! Every single time I see her on Leno or Letterman or whatever, I always come away from it thinking, "Wow... her singing really does suck, doesn't it?" Maybe it's the adrenaline of seeing a live performance that made me think this, but she's quite good. She's an ambitious vocalist... on "Why Can't I?" she switched flawlessly to a super-high register on the lyric, "High enough for you to make me wonder..." and then flawlessly back down again. * She closed with "Supernova"... it didn't do much for me. That's one song that I prefer with all the studio pyrotechnics intact... wa-wa pedal, searing guitar solo, etc. Standing at the back, the only time I sang along was during that song, so as to supply my own contrapuntal backing vocals, ("Solar! Angel!" etc.) * Someone in the audience who is obviously a more dedicated fan than I am yelled out for her to tell the story about "her grandmother's gravy" and she complied. It was a cute story about her senile "nana" forgetting to rinse the dishwashing liquid out of the gravy boat at Thanksgiving dinner, and consequently serving up a dish of suds'n'sauce for the family. Paraphrase: "You have to understand what kind of family I come from... it's just... be polite at all costs... which is probably why I am the way I am... why I take a Tourette's approach to everything I do, just blurting out the nastiest things I think of. So my Mom was all like, 'Eat it! Just eat it!'" :^D * I screamed out for "White Bird of Texas" at one point but of course nobody heard. * Today reminded me how going to almost any concert makes me feel like a nobody... all of a sudden this really intimate thing that I've been experiencing for years, just me and my stereo, is negated by the impersonality of the public forum. I'm not sure if I feel like going to Bowery Ballroom now, much as I relish the challenge of scrounging up a ticket on the sidewalk. Though, what Lani said about the benefits of the venue did sound tempting. I'll see how I feel after work tomorrow. - --Catherine ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 11:10:38 -0400 From: "Stephanie" Subject: [support-system] Re: support-system-digest V6 #213 Good morning! I was on this list back in 1999 and have decided to rejoin! I live in Boston and was wondering how many people on this list are planning on catching Liz at Avalon on the 17th. Talk to you soon! Stephanie ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 14:46:41 -0400 From: Jase Subject: [support-system] Liz Phair and Jen Trynin Two quick things, both gleaned from the Michael Penn list. First, for anyone who's curious, Liz's "Insanity" was produced by Penn. Secondly, I feel vindicated, after singing the praises of Jen Trynin for so long on this list in the past. From the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (page 77, the "If you like..." section): "If you like the hooky, literate ambivalence of Liz Phair's self-titled latest, consider the woefully underrated _Cockamamie_ and _Gun Shy Trigger Happy_ by Jen Trynin." Nice to see Jen get some (belated) credit. Better than nothing, Jase ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 11:52:55 -0700 (PDT) From: Al Madrid Subject: [support-system] Re: support-system-digest V6 #213 For anyone in L.A., in the L.A. Times, says that Liz Phair will be playing at Avalon (formerly the Palace) Sept. 17. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 14:24:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Emil Breton Subject: Re: [support-system] Liz Phair and Jen Trynin Yeah, I also noticed the EW blurb today, whilst sipping my morning tea at the breakfast table: > "If you like the hooky, literate ambivalence of Liz > Phair's self-titled > latest, consider the woefully underrated > _Cockamamie_ and _Gun Shy Trigger > Happy_ Ha ha ha ha ha. "Literate." Ha ha ha ha. Oh, EW... Also, there's a full page ad in the latest Jane, for the album Liz Phair, with this funnily bizarre paragraph that "extols the virtues" of Ms. Phair to uninitiated young girls but -- even more awkwardly -- also makes subtle reference to the decade of work she has behind her. My girlfriend can't get over the strangeness of this whole makeover, it's funny. OH! Heads up, Ken Lee -- if you don't already know about it: Liz is the cover story of the new Amplifier. Emil P.S. Catherine Molanphy: *you* are The Shit. You have there a lovely little photo of yourself and Liz, and now I'm the envious one. I guess to have a convo with her you really have to be "crazed" and willing to risk coming off as one of "those fans"... __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 17:31:28 -0400 From: "Chris DeLisle" Subject: [support-system] WNBA advertisement just trolled the television for a while today and saw an ad for the WNBA in which they used Liz's "Extraordinary." oddly enough, no mention of them being "everyday sane/psycho super goddesses," however. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 15:44:57 -0700 From: Kenneth Lee Subject: [support-system] Liz in Amplifier Emil Breton wrote: >OH! Heads up, Ken Lee -- if you don't already know >about it: Liz is the cover story of the new Amplifier. Talk about timing! I have the magazine (thanks to Chris D.). The scans have been uploaded to the gallery -- the transcription will hopefully be ready by tomorrow. Enjoy! - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 21:50:52 -0400 From: Catherine Molanphy Subject: [support-system] that kind of fan Emil-- Yeah, I know. I guess that's part of it... I'm afraid she'll think I'm a stalker or something. But it's next to impossible to convey one's sanity in the 30 seconds or so that you get on an autograph line... Right now I'm sitting here listening to GirlySound (disc 2) and all those questions that escaped me as I was standing on that line are rushing back to me... of course. What did she mean by "I figure two more years and I'll go back to queers"?? Why doesn't she bring back "Hello, Sailor" to her live act, since the same war got fought again since she first wrote it, and it would now be quite relevant? Why did she ever stop doing that insane high note in Soap Star Joe? ("They say HE SPRUNG from the skull of Athena... etc.") Would she consider doing an interview for the Support System list? And on and on and on... As I type this, she's playing the Bowery Ballroom. I'm a little bummed that I'm not there, but not too much. The chances that she would play an impromptu "Do You Love Me?" or "Sometimes A Dream" are very slim indeed. Not that I don't like a lot of the new stuff... I do like it. But I've niched myself too deeply into her fanbase... I just don't feel like it's worth the money to hear her play "Supernova" or even "Flower"... I've been there, done that. My dream concert would be one in a tiny venue, before an audience of only hardcore fans where she knew she didn't *have* to play the hits, where she could play even songs we'd never heard before, not even on boots. Does anyone know of any artist that's done that for their fans? Played a diehards-only show? I wonder... it makes me think of Monty Python... when you see that live show they did at the Hollywood Bowl, and the audience is filled completely with freaks, some of them are even wearing Gumby handkercheif hats, and they're reciting all the sketches along with them. That's what I want... a room filled with losers like me. You know what I mean... :^) - --Catherine ------------------------------ End of support-system-digest V6 #214 ************************************