From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest) To: support-system-digest@smoe.org Subject: support-system-digest V6 #298 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 Saturday, November 8 2003 Volume 06 : Number 298 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [support-system] article from pitch.com [Emil Breton ] [support-system] article from pitch.com/Eleni Mandell/Suicide Girls article [Kate Stewart Subject: [support-system] article from pitch.com Someone posted this on the lizphair.com message board, and I thought I'd pass it along. It isn't often that a journalist *nails* it like this guy: http://pitch.com/issues/2003-10-30/interview.html/1/index.html Read it, folks! I had no idea Liz was so angry. Sounds like the whole major label thing ain't all it's cracked up to be. My god. Also, I was dishing with Chris Brokaw last night (he played a double-header with the stunningly seductive Rebecca Gates -- oh, yeah) and he said he's going to try to get in touch with Liz so he can release a cover of one of her EARLY songs, from one of the first tapes she sent him. He was going to play it last night but changed his mind after he started ranting about the Bush administration. Apparently those petty 'relationship' songs seem embarrassingly trite in comparison to real world issues -- whatever! I was going to ask him what song it was, or what it sounded like, because he made it sound like it was some unknown treasure, but I betcha it was just another GS tune that we all know & love. Would've liked to hear his rendition, at any rate. Oh, I also asked him what he thinks of the New Liz; maybe you can guess what he had to say. Snickers, Emil __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2003 13:26:02 -0800 (PST) From: Emil Breton Subject: [support-system] new interview Stumbled upon this one; seems really recent: http://suicidegirls.com/words/Liz+Phair/ Discuss, critique... - -Emil __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2003 16:10:12 -0800 (PST) From: Kate Stewart Subject: [support-system] article from pitch.com/Eleni Mandell/Suicide Girls article It was so funny to read that. It's painfully obvious sometimes how *spoiled* Liz is. So spoiled and "misunderstood" from her point of view. Of course she would think "That fucking bitch" about the O'Rourke review- when someone catches you doing something utterly stupid and points it out to the world, you'd be pretty pissed. She freaks out about the negative reviews, yet she pretends to not care. That review was so dead on, I thought it was the best one. Recently I've discovered Eleni Mendell, and I can't help but compare her to Liz- here's a part of a review from slate: "If Mandell has been overlooked by the industry, it's not because she's hiding out in the American heartland. She lives in Los Angeles and could actually be described either as an insider's outsider or an outsider's insider. Raised in the Sherman Oaks section of the San Fernando Valley, she started playing guitar when she was 15 and began performing publicly while a senior at UC-Berkeley. Soon she met Tom Waits and Chuck E. Weiss (musician, quintessential rock scenester, and subject of the Rickie Lee Jones classic "Chuck E.'s in Love"), and Weiss became an encouraging mentor. Twice she's been a finalist for top singer/songwriter honors from L.A. Weekly, losing both times to Beck. Several of her songs have popped up on television (Six Feet Under) and in films (Heavy). Her reviews-when she gets them-are glowing. Country for True Lovers ought to get Mandell some new attention-from the influential alt-country magazine No Depression, for example. But without an outsized gimmick or trendy "scene" or outrageous persona to boost her marketability, I doubt it's going to bring an offer for a huge, multirecord deal from Sony. But with the big labels foundering, this may not matter. Mandell used her own money to record and press her first CD, Wishbone, in 1998, a few years after finishing college. A fan in Toronto had the financial wherewithal to start what is essentially a one-artist label, Zedtone, which puts up money to record and helps with tour support and distribution. Since Wishbone, she's toured extensively in the United States and even Europe-generally losing money but hoping to build an audience. The film and TV licenses, record sales, and a publishing deal with Chrysalis (which has since lapsed) added up to enough to at least allow her to quit waitressing a year and a half ago." I ordered two CDs from her website and guess what- she mailed them HERSELF to me, handwritten-addressed envelope and a friggin' handwritten thank you note inside. I was so shocked, talk about getting in touch with your fans. Obviously she isn't a major label big star, but still. Why is it that she is (fairly) successful without a label? It can be done- she isn't some crazed anti-establishment hippie. I can't help but think that Liz is trapped into thinking she can't do it on her own, or she's too chicken or something. Or just LAY-Z. Or as other people have pointed out, she wants the rock star lifestyle more than she actually wants to write good music. And another thing that has recently been bothering me- Liz claims to be such a feminist, but why does she always work with men? Always a male producer (except for Lauren Christy, but I don't think that counts), she always picks male musicians. If she wants to "do something for women," she should WORK with other women, for crying out loud. She seems so subconsciously sexist sometimes. And by the way, Keith Daniels, it's OBERLIN, not Overland. Get a hearing aid. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree ------------------------------ End of support-system-digest V6 #298 ************************************