this monday at the hideout
I Heart Liz Phair, a 5-man band endeavor, featuring Liam Davis of Frisbie and Justin Roberts's group; Steve Dawson of Dolly Varden; John Abbey of the mean streets of Brooklyn; and Dan Leali of Liz Phair's road band. Everyone chose some songs to play (except John, whose lone selection was gunned down on grounds of poor taste) and the resulting list has songs from each of her records but is Exile-heavy. I think my favorite of hers, for reasons that are probably too personal to be strictly defensible, is Whitechocolatespaceegg. I'll be singing two of my faves from that one. Anyway, make sure not to show up with an I-hate-everything-after-the-first-record attitude, or I'll belt you. As I see it, Liz's willingness to traduce conventions (harmonic, structural, gender) is of a piece with her willingness to follow that principled hatchetwork with a silky-smooth pop record. The risk-taking makes the quality of her work inconsistent; it also, alongside particular, killing, one-of-a-kind payoffs like "Fuck and Run," earns her the title of "artist."
8 comments
Liz drops an F-bomb and gets called an artist. You drop an F-bomb, and you get get called an alt.country wiseacre with a kiss-off to Nashville. There ain't no justice, man!
Being the biggest Springsteen fan on the planet I scrutinized "Working on a Dream" for what should have the potential to be the biggest "single" from the record. To me it was "Queen of the Supermarket". However the last line of the song includes an F bomb. No radio play for you. At the same time the Steve Earle album "Washington Square Serenade" came out. The obvious hit single was "Steve's Hammer". No F bombs to prevent radio play - but no bass guitar. I guess I love artists who didn't give an F bomb about radio play.
Liz Phair is a crackerjack. If I was to request a song (or two) from each of the albums I have:
Whip Smart
Cinco De Mayo (Go West--which is what I did)
Exhile
Mesmerizing
Juvenilia
Jealousy
whitechocolatespaceegg
Baby Got Going on (Shitiloads of Money definitely there too)
Liz Phair
Its Sweet
Funstyle
Bang Bang (though Bollywood is right there)
I Still need to get Girlysounds. What I've listened to thus far I really like. I'm jealous of anyone who can go to this show. If you are close enough to go and don't, you missed the boat Sailor Jack.
Love you for many reasons, Robbie, but you breaking hipster convention and admitting a partiality to the PBR-fueled-reviled whitechocolatespaceegg is another check in the karma column. Don't know what your personal reasons are, but when that album came out a couple of our kids were tiny cute and crazy about those tunes, especially "Uncle Alvarez." Nothing like hearing your 4-year-old croon "Polyester Bride" and "Johnny Feelgood" from the backseat.
I always get her confused with Tori Amos. Or was it Alanis Morissette?
I heard when Liz Phair was here last month she did a career day at Schermer High.
No, srsly, FIX YOUR TOUR DATES page. I'd offer to do it for you but I'm a good critic, not a good administrator. And lazy on top of it. But tell the good people of Champaign Urbana that you will be at Rose Bowl Tavern, okay? Rose Bowl has a parking lot. Rose Bowl does not kick people out of the music room to have dancing and a DJ. Rose Bowl has the kind of stools old men could and do comfortably inhabit.
Tell us what day and what time, Robbie. Thanks in advance.
Dear Robbie, Hello! I just read what you wrote about my dear friend Kyle Woodring. Very beautiful and appropriate! I even felt compelled to write something. I can't believe it's been almost a year and a half since we lost him. As I stated, I had the priviledge of working with Kyle on his solo cd. I have Volume 2 in my possession. Not quite sure what I'll do with it yet. I loved Kyle dearly and miss him everyday. His date of birth is coming up in a few weeks. That will be hard. Thank God we have folks like you in the world. Maybe we'll meet one day. Thank you again for such a touching tribute to Kyle. Be well. Peace & Blessings!!!
Darla June Bear
Damn it, things like this make me really wish I hadn't moved away from Chicago. The couple of video clips I've found on YouTube are great. Does anybody have the full setlist?