From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest)
To: support-system-digest@smoe.org
Subject: support-system-digest V8 #88
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support-system-digest    Wednesday, August 3 2005    Volume 08 : Number 088



                               Today's Subjects:
                               -----------------
  [support-system] Liz in Tuesday's New York Times           [BobDsn@aol.com]
  [support-system] Liz in NYTimes   [Gabriel Peterson <gapeterson@yahoo.com>]
  [support-system] Re: support-system-digest V8 #87  [Tom Conlon <tjconlon@g]
  [support-system] Philly 7/30 Review  ["Eric Ginsburg" <ericginsburg@hotmai]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 09:39:08 EDT
From: BobDsn@aol.com
Subject: [support-system] Liz in Tuesday's New York Times

I thought I'd simply cut and paste the New York Times article that ran today
(8/2/2005) and spare everyone the trouble of creating a NYT account and
password. In summary Liz sticks by her "Exile was me in 1993 and Somebody's
Miracle
is me in 2005. If you don't like my new music, don't buy the CD" comments.

Bob K.


August 2, 2005

The Independence of Liz Phair

By DAVID CARR


Liz Phair, former crown princess of indie music, has news for all those who
wish she would go back to opening up a vein so listeners can feel her pain.

She does not feel theirs.

"I don't remember that time as fun or happy," she said, recalling the days in
1993 after she released "Exile in Guyville," a gender-bent song-for-song
retort to the 1972 Rolling Stones album, "Exile on Main Street." The CD was
hailed
as a revelation, but since then, she has steadfastly refused to live down or
up to her early reputation as the coolest girl at the party. Ms. Phair has
made four CD's since "Exile," and the latest, "Somebody's Miracle" - due out
in
October - will do nothing to quiet critics and fans who suggest she traded
mesmerizing musical idiosyncrasy for a more common, commercial sound.

"If you are an old fan and it doesn't fit what you need, don't buy the disc,"
she said with firmness, but no rancor. "People hang their hopes on you
fitting into their CD collection in way that they have made a space for, but
I'm
playing a longer game than that."

Ms. Phair, 38, who has spent the past few years as a piqata for critics, is
nonetheless in a very sunny mood. She is in the midst of a lo-fi, nine-city
tour with her boyfriend and accompanist, Dino Meneghin. Sitting on Pier 25 in
Lower Manhattan on Sunday afternoon before playing at Joe's Pub last night and
tonight, she had to be persuaded to sit down at a picnic table rather than hop
in a nearby kayak and paddle into the Hudson. The duo is doing three songs a
night from the new record and then mostly winging it, grabbing requests
shouted
from the audience and playing B-sides and oldies as whimsy indicates.

"Every night we play a challenge song, which is one we might have rehearsed
and then one hack job where we just do our best," she said. With its acoustic
setting and reach-back into her oeuvre, the tour should be a crowd pleaser,
which is something Ms. Phair has not been spending much career time on. Her
last
record, self-titled, but radio ready, drew particularly visceral criticism.

 "Hating, I can understand," she said. "I hate stuff too. I can get with
that. But some of it is personal and weird. I don't like being approached by
people who look at me too intensely, who needed something from me that I
didn't
have. I don't represent anything. I am just like you and everyone else. I am
trying to live my life as best I can."

Ms. Phair is a fickle cult figure, who was surprised by the adoration when it
was forthcoming and seemed mystified by the disappointment that came behind
it.

She jumped up to take pictures of passing boats and sipped on a half-caf iced
soy latte - "I tamper with everything, including coffee," she said - seeming
relatively self-aware, if not as self-involved in a way that made for
compelling songwriting in the past.

 "Am I coasting on some early success? Yeah," she said. "It was a good lucky
break for me. But I would rather earn my way back again than simply conform to
what people are expecting."

 In the one version of Ms. Phair's career, she took all her early promise and
squandered it on her last album with a production team that confected Avril
Lavigne. She pointed out that the record did pretty well, not huge, but enough
to keep her and hers - she has an 8-year-old-son - in food and shelter.

 Ms. Phair said the record's singles, a particular genre of music, required
plenty of compromises. "I would argue with the producers and listen and then
say, 'Yeah, take my guitar off the record, because you know you want to.' I
fought for the songs I wanted and cared about and tried to piece it back
together
in a way that was meaningful to me."

Her label, Capitol, put major juice and money behind the singles, and she
trudged from morning show to morning show, plugging it with whatever wacky
guys
happened to be sitting in front of the mics. But it was not a strictly
commercial undertaking, she added. The mostly nude cover art and a one-song
ode to the
health effects of semen meant Wal-Mart and Starbucks were not much interested
in "Liz Phair" by Liz Phair. The fact that the project was self-titled only
doubled the rejection.

 Ms. Phair pointed out that she never signed with a major label to begin with
and has tried to make the most of what has happened: Matador, the indie label
she signed with, made a deal with Atlantic, and a later deal with Capitol
Records, and so on.

 "I figured if I was going to float, I would have to find a way to navigate
these waters and still maintain what I like to do," Ms. Phair said. "I like
doing the photo shoots, the interviews, the videos, but the bottom line is
that I
like to sit in my bedroom and write these little songs. I am still making
records and still have a measure of control over my music, and that is not
easy
to come by."

But, she added, "I think what I do is still pretty identifiable. I think I
have a quirkiness and a melodic sense that you won't confuse with anyone
else."

Tiny, with a bustier framed by an overlay of white blouse and a skirt that
demonstrates motherhood has not changed her penchant for showing some casual
leg, Ms. Phair would be hard to mistake for someone else. Her do-me feminism
and
frank sexual lyrics may be part of what put the mostly-male rock criticism
community in a tizzy to begin with.

Ms. Phair has lived her life in opposition to whatever has been placed in
front of her. "Exile" was a bitter, compelling retort to both the Rolling
Stones
and all the snotty girls in her suburban neighborhood.

The gesture of "Somebody's Miracle" is more complicated. Conceived as another
song-by-song response - this time to Stevie Wonder's 1976 album, "Songs in
the Key of Life" - it tacked away from that concept to become an album that
gives solace to whoever shows up. There are singles, throwaways and full-on
confessionals - enough to satisfy or embitter various parts of her fan base,
depending.

Which is just about pleasing to Ms. Phair, who might be seen as a diva
without portfolio or a sly genius, depending.

 "After all, I'm not sitting in an office telling someone that their
insurance policy doesn't cover their chemotherapy," she said. "Theoretically,
I am
trying to make a piece of music come to life, to try and bring joy and meaning
to
people's lives. That's a pretty good deal."


Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 06:54:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gabriel Peterson <gapeterson@yahoo.com>
Subject: [support-system] Liz in NYTimes

Maybe it's the fact that she's had to justify herself
a thousand times now but she articulates it better
here than I've heard before
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/02/arts/music/02phai.html?th&emc=th>

Oh, I forgot to mention it before but when I saw Liz
in Boston, it absolutely paid to be on the left side
of the club.  Liz sat on the right side (her left) and
faced Dino and the left side of the club almost
exclusively.  Maybe she switches sides for different
shows but, all else equal, I recommend you sit on the
left side for the show.

Gabe
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 14:33:32 -0400
From: Tom Conlon <tjconlon@gmail.com>
Subject: [support-system] Re: support-system-digest V8 #87

There is a good article in the August 2nd New York Times about Liz (I think
it is good because David Carr seems sympathetic to Liz's career growth and I
agree with him). NYT I believe is still a free subscription site, but you
shouldn't let that stop you (there are enough ways on the internet to find a
logon without actually registering). Here is the link for the article: [
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/02/arts/music/02phai.html?ei=5070&en=f43ad2bf2
27df92d&ex=1123646400&emc=eta1&pagewanted=print]
(print friendly) or [
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/02/arts/music/02phai.html?ex=1123646400&en=f43
ad2bf227df92d&ei=5070&emc=eta1].
And there is a stunning little pic of Liz at the top of the column.

To Ray Murphy - I came back with the same sort of high / exuberance from the
Boston show as I detect in your message to the list. The crowd was
rambunctious in Boston -- Liz never needed to ask for suggestions. (At one
point she told us "alright, now you've named everything in my catalog" (did
I already post this?)). Seeing Liz three times makes you a lucky guy, not a
loser. I'd do the same if she swung by again. And I do the same for other
artists, not just Liz.

- --
"Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together." - Red Green

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2005 22:30:04 -0400
From: "Eric Ginsburg" <ericginsburg@hotmail.com>
Subject: [support-system] Philly 7/30 Review

Ah yes, another consumate review.  This time, Philadelphia, July 30th, 2005 
at XPN Live.

If you don't want to see a setlist, read no further.

WXPN is a Philly-based public radio station that plays nothing but new and 
interesting -- singer/songwriters, indepedent, international, and certainly 
your favorite well known artists including Liz.  You may have heard the 
nationally broadcast program "The World Cafe" with David Dye, which is 
produced at XPN.  They recently renovated a large old building downtown and 
created a radio studio with a recording studio, bar/cafe venue, and larger 
dinner-theater. It's quite nice.  Liz played in the larger theater.  See 
www.xpn.org for more info. We are lucky to have this radio station and venue 
here, in Philly.

So, on with the review.  The room was a large dinner-theater, as I call it.  
Maybe....250 people or so at long tables, a few at the bar, with a small 
mezaanine.  Cary Brothers opened, solo, and folks enjoyed him.  So all of a 
sudden, Liz walks out.  Silence. Until everyone realized it was her, and 
went nuts.  They place is so intimate, I think folks were surprised there 
was no fanfare, no intro, just out she came.  For those who haven't seen a 
show this tour, it is Liz and Dino on two stools, two accoustic guitars and 
two folding electric-like guitars and that's all.  Right about now, I'm 
kicking myself for being in the mezzanine because Liz is wearing (can a 
review not mention what liz wears?) a *short*, *short*, denim skirt and some 
sort of...help me girls... a tight, shoulderless top with spaghetti straps 
and like...built in cups.  And sandals which were quickly kicked off.  Girls 
and guys agreed, on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of Liz hottness, it was 12.

Set List.

- -Table for One
- -Polyester Bride
- -Never Said (Dino added a country feeling to this one)
- -Baby Got Going
- -Extraordinary
- -Uncle Alvarez (liz got confused with the lyics, said dammit, and laughed 
about it)
- -Mesmerizing
- -Somebody's Miracle
- -New One (went "new gutcuit do i see theys I do closer to you" Sorry, it was 
dark and my notes- were scribbled and not good)
- -Wild Thing (Girlysound... They called this the "hack song" of the night)
- -Rock Me
- -Soap Star Joe
- -6'1"
- -Everything to Me
- -Headache
- -Divorce Song (Dino had a nice solo)
- -Supernova
- -The one about Jeremy Engle
- -Why Can't I
- -Flower
- -Fuck and Run

Various comments:  Liz asked the crowd if they knew Girlysound, which she 
called "silly, but great."  They tried to see the Liberty Bell, but it was 
closed. Liz explained she actually had to call Jeremy Engle and say 
"yeah...remember how you never spoke to me in college...yeah...uh huh...I 
wrote a song about you.

I've seen Liz a bunch of times, and this one was great, number 2, right 
there below Cinco de Mayo '99 at Crowbar, to which I owe a bit of hearing 
damage.  And yes, it was worth it.

Ginz

------------------------------

End of support-system-digest V8 #88
***********************************