From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest) To: support-system-digest@smoe.org Subject: support-system-digest V6 #237 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 Wednesday, September 3 2003 Volume 06 : Number 237 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [support-system] Detroit review (typically long-winded) [Jase ] Re: [support-system] World Cafe [Emil Breton ] [support-system] "Extraordinary" - the next single [Kenneth Lee ] [support-system] bash / slack \ ["over pavema" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 03:37:40 -0400 From: Jase Subject: [support-system] Detroit review (typically long-winded) I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write a review of the Toronto show for the list, but I guess it's better late than never. We also met Liz briefly both before and after the show, but I'm going to save that for a separate post, maybe after Dan MacDonald posts his review of the show. I've been lucky enough to have seen Liz a few times now, but last Monday's show in Detroit may have been the best one yet. The Lounge Ax show will always have a special place in my heart, but that had as much to do with all the great people I met from the list, our interactions with Liz afterwards and Katie Brown kicking some serious ass when she got to sing "Flower" with Liz, as it did with the performance itself. One-offs like the Lounge Ax show are more geared to the diehards like us, anyway. It wasn't part of a tour and there was no record to promote, which gave Liz the freedom to play songs that wouldn't normally make it onto the setlist, like "Wild Thing" and "Girls' Room." The Detroit show was even more amazing, though. Within the confines of being a full-band show (limiting the set to songs the band knows), promoting the new album and a setlist that skewed more to her better-known songs, Liz gave one of the most remarkable performances I can recall seeing in a long time. I was a little bit apprehensive about the show, after reading the few reviews of the Chicago shows that had been posted by the time I left Monday morning for Windsor. As it turns out, I need not have worried; I had thought Liz's show in Toronto on the WCSE tour was incredible for someone who used to suffer from stage fright, but this time she looked more comfortable on stage than I could have imagined. She's come a long way. I was at the show with fellow list member Dan MacDonald and we both agreed afterwards how good it had been; as longtime fans who each hadn't seen Liz live in four years, though, it may have been possible that we were cutting her some slack. Dan's boyfriend and three of his friends were there as well, each with a varying degree of fandom/familiarity with Liz's work, and they seemed to enjoy the show as much as we did, so it wasn't just us. As a whole, Liz's vocals were strong and confident. The higher parts in some of the new songs, like "Why Can't I," didn't seem strained at all -- she made the transition between high and low parts more gracefully than on some of her recent television appearances. My only quibble is that Liz's mic could have been turned up a little louder at times. I was kind of disappointed that Liz only played one song from _Whip-Smart_ ("Supernova"), but overall it was a great mix of old and new material. Quite a few people shouted out for "Jealousy" and "May Queen," but none of the requests were acknowledged. Both Dan, myself and at least one other person shouted out requests for "Friend of Mine" at the same time people were yelling for "Stratford-on-Guy." Our requests weren't acknowledged either, but Liz did give in and play "Stratford" sans band and it was one of the highlights of the show. I think "Stratford" also demonstrated that Liz's guitar playing is in fine form. It's a shame she didn't play more on the new record; I personally think her playing was a lot stronger than it was during the shows on the WCSE tour. I know one of the complaints then had been that she had simplified her own guitar parts and left the more difficult stuff for Buddy Judge to play. That wasn't the case as much with the new band. For example, Liz's parts during "Supernova" were closer to the arrangement she used during the '95 solo electric tour than the more basic one from the WCSE shows. There were only two songs she didn't play on at all during the entire show, "Rock Me" and "Favorite." Instead, she seemed to put all her effort into her vocals, creating almost perfect renditions of the album versions. Although neither are among my favorites on the new album, I have to admit both sounded good and were fun to hear live. When Dan and I had talked about the new album earlier in the day, we each admitted we didn't care much for "Favorite," so when the band started playing it, he gave me this look and said, "Here we go," but it ended up not being bad at all. Honestly, all of the new songs sounded great. "Red Light Fever" was one of the highlights of the entire show for me, and while "Little Digger" seemed like an odd choice to start the encore with, it was a stunning version as well. It was also good hearing a lot of old favorites, like "Help Me, Mary" and "Divorce Song." I know the consensus here about the new band seems to be divided, but I think they did the songs justice. I'm still a little surprised that Liz's sets have been so _Exile_-heavy and wonder if it's just because she knows those songs are crowd pleasers, but her performances didn't seem perfunctory to me. Another thing I noticed is that it didn't take Liz a couple of songs to get warmed up like it often does; she started out really strong with confident versions of "6'1" and "Polyester Bride," which set the tone for the evening. It did seem, though, like it was going to be a banter-free evening early on; it wasn't until after the first few songs that Liz addressed the crowd at all. She talked a little more as the show progressed, but the banter was still minimal. I think the crowd was very receptive and enthusiastic, all things considered. Sure, there wasn't a lot of dancing or anything, but it seemed like everyone around me was having a good time and was into Liz's performance. There were also a lot of people singing along throughout the show, particularly during "Perfect World" and "Fuck and Run." I think the audience was as lively as they could be, given the circumstances. The heat really was unbearable -- I'm just thankful for my few bottles of water and having the barricade to lean up against. I know J. Alan Doak already mentioned that he got one of Liz's guitar picks when they were disassembling the stage after the show. Dan and I were both lucky and each got one of Liz's picks as well. It was also great meeting the list members who were there for the show. J. Alan Doak, I have some setlists and information about bootlegs that I'm going to compile as soon as I have a chance so you can add them to your site. Hope you have a good time on your trip. Nicole, it was nice meeting you, although I wish it hadn't been so brief and I'd had more of a chance to talk to you. Chris, same thing, I wish I'd had longer to talk to you. Or, at least, that you'd caught me before my post-show high, which left me less articulate than usual. ;) It would've been cool to have had a chance to talk to you about non-Liz music, since you've shared some great stuff with me in the past. Liz, I still can't get over the fact that you remembered me from the Toronto show way back on the WCSE tour! It was nice meeting you again and I'm glad you made your way up front to where we were. I know this is starting to sound like an acceptance speech or something, but I also want to say how cool it was to meet Dan and all of his friends, and thank him for his hospitality. I had an amazing time and can't begin to thank you enough. I can't wait to do it all again when Liz plays Toronto in November. Jase ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 04:43:03 -0400 From: Catherine Molanphy Subject: [support-system] NYC radio, 104.3 (classic rock station) Thanks to whoever gave the heads-up to the Sunday night program "Out of the Box" on 104.3 FM... Not that it was earth-shattering or anything, but it just makes me feel nice to hear Liz even name-checked on an NYC radio station. Granted this was a "new music" program, but I've always felt that Liz's music would mesh well with the classic rock format if only the people who program/listen to those stations would get over their penis prejudices... I mean tell me a song like, say... oh, Neil Young's "Southern Man" wouldn't segue beautifully into "Mesmerizing" or even "Friend of Mine". Anyway, I should've taped it but I didn't and I'm sorry. Basically, the host of the program had interviewed Liz backstage at the Roseland gig, but wasn't able to air the interview until now because of the blackout. Segments of the taped interview were interspersed with songs from the album. Typical Liz interview... at times she sounds incredibly boring and you wonder how such a person could possibly make such music (like when she talks about how much better she is at the music business now, she sounds like her jaw has strings attached to it... blahblah fishcakes). Then at other times it's like someone hit the "On" button and she turns into the highly relatable human being you always suspected/hoped she would be. Like when he asked her about H.W.C. ... he stumbles around trying to raise the question delicately without saying words like spunk or cum or jizz or manjuice or babybatter or whathaveyou. And she responds with... well, I'll concoct a paraphrase here: " :giggles: It's so funny how people react to that song. They're all like... uhhh... do you put in your *hair*, or what? But women know what I mean... when you first start going with a guy, you'll just be walking around and people will say, 'Wow! You look great... what are using in your hair?' or 'Are you on some kind of diet?' but seriously, women know what I'm talking about. I remember once I was away from my boyfriend for a long time and I'd call him up and tell him he had to get home soon, because... you know... I *missed* it... I looked terrible. It's true!" Yeah, long paraphrase, I know, but I think I got the essence of what she said. I loves me some Liz. Oh, and then he apologized that they probably weren't going to be allowed to play H.W.C. on the broadcast (indeed, they did not play it. suck.), and she sort of half-assedly argued that technically, there's nothing censor-worthy about it, and she starts to say that there's no f-word, and he really quickly corrects her that yes, there is ONE f-word, and she's all "okay, well bleep that f-word and it'll be fine!" but no dice. I wonder if the FCC has any documentation on the word "cum". Whutevah... (tm liam lynch) Anyway, his song selection was relatively inspired: "it's sweet" (however, her explanation of what the song was about was dum-dum boring) "red light fever", and ummm... let me think. Oh yeah! "Firewalker" and "Extraordinary". I think that's it. Firewalker-- she said she wrote this when she was on vacation with her parents. She said that when you're with your parents, you automatically regress back to that mindset of frustrated rebellion. She mentioned that they were in this woodsy place (camping, perhaps? and maybe that's where the fire metaphor came in?), but the lyrics are actually addressed towards a guy she was dating at the time, whom she felt was pigeonholing her and she was trying to break free from that. I think she also said that people always assumed it was her talking to the fans and the music critics, but that it was really just her having a dialogue with this guy. I dunno, my memory's a little fuzzy on that particular point. Extraordinary-- she said it's about a situation we've all experienced, where you have a crush on someone but they just won't value you and it's so frustrating because you're just like "talk to me! I'm cool!" but they won't. Or something like that. In retrospect, I'm very glad the guy didn't do the boring, obvious thing and play "Little Digger" and ask the boring, obvious question of what it's like being a mother and dating and blah-zee-blah poop poop, how will you explain your songs to him when he grows up... snore. Well, he did bring up her son, but just briefly at the end I think. I guess I just got the sense that the interviewer was an actual *fan* of her music and brought his own personal preferences to the table instead of the usual where the interviewer is just going for the soundbytes and it sounds like they're bringing up songs that were listed on the pressguide, you know, phoning it in. I like that. - --Catherine ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 08:13:04 EDT From: TitleTK@aol.com Subject: [support-system] Comeandgetit Did anyone ever manage to copy the EP to a cd? Thanks, james ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 09:25:28 -0500 From: "kimberly ann" Subject: Re: [support-system] Comeandgetit This email beat me to the punch. If anybody did I am dying to get my hands on a copy. I can't get the enhanced cd to work on my apple, and I would gladly b&p for a copy. Thanks, kim >From: TitleTK@aol.com >To: support-system@smoe.org >Subject: [support-system] Comeandgetit >Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 08:13:04 EDT > >Did anyone ever manage to copy the EP to a cd? > >Thanks, > >james _________________________________________________________________ Get MSN 8 and help protect your children with advanced parental controls. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/parental ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 11:38:04 -0700 (PDT) From: Emil Breton Subject: Re: [support-system] NYC radio, 104.3 (classic rock station) Catherine writes: <> Egggsactly. Thanks for the recap, girl, and be sure to listen to the World Cafe on the 12th. That's NPR. It's available live on the web, and I imagine they have an archive there as well. Anyway, the host is David Dye, and he's this wizened old man with a white beard, but he KNOWS Liz's music like we know it, and he asks all the right ?s. His interview with her four years ago was one of the best; he made her play the opening from "Polyester" and said "This is a great rock and roll riff!" (as part of his spiel about how she gets no respect for her musicianship). Emil __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 14:54:50 -0400 From: Catherine Molanphy Subject: [support-system] Re: Comeandgetit Yeah... my brother managed to do it for me, I think on a PC at his office (we're both home mac users). And he added "Insanity" to the end of it... so it's 6 tracks in all. Perhaps we could do it as a tree? Depends on how many people need/want it... Though... hrmm... didn't someone make the tracks available as mp3s? That might be a more efficient way to do it... - --Catherine p.s. Now that I think of it, *that's* how he burned the CD for me. With MP3's.... hrmm... the FTP site is down now. > From: "kimberly ann" > Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 09:25:28 -0500 > To: support-system@smoe.org > Subject: Re: [support-system] Comeandgetit > > This email beat me to the punch. If anybody did I am dying to get my hands > on a copy. I can't get the enhanced cd to work on my apple, and I would > gladly b&p for a copy. > > Thanks, > kim > > >> From: TitleTK@aol.com >> To: support-system@smoe.org >> Subject: [support-system] Comeandgetit >> Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 08:13:04 EDT >> >> Did anyone ever manage to copy the EP to a cd? >> >> Thanks, >> >> james > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get MSN 8 and help protect your children with advanced parental controls. > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/parental ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 15:45:43 -0400 From: Catherine Molanphy Subject: [support-system] World Cafe Emil Breton wrote: > Egggsactly. Thanks for the recap, girl, and be sure to > listen to the World Cafe on the 12th. That's NPR. It's > available live on the web, and I imagine they have an > archive there as well. Anyway, the host is David Dye, Hey, I'm browsing the World Cafe website ( http://www.worldcafe.org/ ) right now, and I can't even find a reference to Liz! Where'd you hear about it? BTW, it's actually PRI apparently, not NPR. (I know, same diff...) thanks for the heads up! - --Catherine ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 20:03:55 +0000 From: "Mike KATSOULIS" Subject: [support-system] re: backslash <> maybe it was a typo. liz doesnt strike me as dumb. mike _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8: Get 6 months for $9.95/month http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 13:56:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Emil Breton Subject: Re: [support-system] World Cafe Liz's World Cafe interview is listed on the website (www.lizphair.com) as a recent news item. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 15:04:10 -0700 From: Kenneth Lee Subject: [support-system] "Extraordinary" - the next single Hi folks, "Extraordinary" will follow up "Why Can't I?" as the next single from Liz Phair. From MTV.com: "'Extraordinary' speaks to me because I feel like in my life I've always struggled against being kind of the girl-next-door to people, and always wanting people to see me as maybe having more depth," Phair explained. "And fans are like, 'What are you talking about? We think you're extraordinary.' But in my life, I don't walk around as 'Liz Phair', I walk around as myself. And you know, people either respect me or they don't, but I'm looking for recognition for being able to be pleasant, nice, cute, and yet still deep, intelligent, whatever." Here is the direct link: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1477719/20030828/phair_liz.jhtml?headlines=true If you missed Emil's post, I've been adding lots of articles, as well as pictures, to the site. Enjoy! - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 17:27:21 -0500 From: John-Paul Finger Subject: [support-system] WCI? On DVD It looks like Liz's video will be on DVD this December 19. From http://dvd.ign.com/articles/435/435633p1.html (DVD: How To Deal Drops on 12/9) : "There will also be four deleted scenes with optional commentary, the Skye Sweetnam music video Billy S. and the Liz Phair music video Why Can't I? The DVD-ROM content includes the Script-To-Screen screenplay feature, a link to the film's original website and a photo gallery." Just a heads-up for the completists out there =). John-Paul Austin, TX NP: Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Sep 2003 05:10:48 +0000 From: "over pavema" Subject: [support-system] bash / slack \ i am declining the opportunity to comment on liz's sudden lack of coherence in her interviews anymore. the whole backslash thing? golly, that's hard to resist, but i'm doing it. on the plus side, her explanation for how she came to work w/the matrix -- no more money from the label unless she worked with a production team on a label-supplied list -- is the best, most sensible explanation i've seen yet. hard to say which of the many explanations is the truth, but i'll take this one. there is a long history of labels making artists work with a producer who's either already on the payroll (think beatles) or believed to be capable of delivering the goods. the best case, of course, was todd rundgren's production of that old xtc album, 'skylarking', where the band *hated* todd to death, but had to admit, years later, that he had given them their best production job ever. much as it hurt to admit. summer is over, so i'm not convinced that releasing 'extraordinary' now will have the impact it might've had a month ago. 'extraordinary' is a good song, but only people who live in l.a. would believe that autumn is the time to release it. but liz does seem to be dropping some hints about going indie as an economic step for herself, so it'll be interesting to see what happens if 'LP' doesn't go platinum. might be the best thing for her entrepreneurial side. does anyone know the total sales to date? i would think if she's hovering around #100 on the charts, then she's selling maybe 17,000 copies a week at this point? or am i way off the mark? so, some people on here have been going on about guster. and i'm checking ben kweller's website to see if he has a new cd scheduled to come out (he doesn't, that i can tell, but they do have the video for the song, 'commerce, tx' on there, and i think if you look up the word 'guileless' in the dictionary, his picture would be there...the video is amateur-in-the-extreme, but there's not a hint of irony or any attempt to be cool. certain works or people just seem so under-rated (the the's "Dusk" is an amazingly great record that no one will ever hear unless they go see 'the secret lives of dentists'), and ben kweller is one of those people; y'know i'm always wondering who will pick up where pavement left off being the best band in the world for a few minutes, right after the release of 'brighten the corners' and well before the release of 'terror twilight', even if that IS one of the most presciently-titled albums we'll ever see, and i think ben kweller is in the neighborhood, though he lacks the malkmus touch for inscrutable lyrics inside of riddles inside of an enigma). and i see there's a picture of ben on his site, writing songs with guster. so, then i remember that ben was semi-discovered (in his post-radish era, after the break up of his band from when he was 12 or 13) by juliana hatfield, who is releasing a new record with her new band, some girls, in a week or two. some girls features juliana, freda love (also from blake babies -- don't get me started on how great they are), and heidi gluck from the pieces, who i saw at black cat when they opened for evan dando, who is so, so great and who is touring again in the u.s., and who had, when i saw him, a band that featured juliana hatfield and chris brokaw, formerly of the come, who, to one degree or another, discovered liz phair, who lives in the house that jack built. but, seriously, keep an eye and an ear out for some girls and for evan dando if he's touring nearby. there is no better, more unpredictable, impossible to like and more impossible to ignore or dislike performer than evan dando. o _________________________________________________________________ Help protect your PC: Get a free online virus scan at McAfee.com. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 ------------------------------ End of support-system-digest V6 #237 ************************************