Nike Announces Liz Phair as Post-Race Performer for Inaugural Nike 26.2 Marathon & Runners to Receive Tiffany & Co. Necklace at Finish Line
Thursday September 2, 6:00 am ET
Runners Still Encouraged to Register for Race to Benefit Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The thousands of runners participating in the inaugural Nike 26.2 Marathon and Half Marathon for women may race a little more quickly knowing they have a Tiffany & Co. finisher necklace awaiting them at the finish line as well as a post-marathon concert with Liz Phair. It is the first time Tiffany & Co. has designed a commemorative necklace for a marathon.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990818/NIKELOGO)

Still open for registration at www.nikemarathon.com, the Nike 26.2 Marathon and Half Marathon for women will take place in San Francisco on Sunday, October 24 and is expected to raise millions of dollars for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The Nike 26.2 is inspired by the 20th anniversary of Joan Benoit Samuelson's historic win in 1984 in Los Angeles. Benoit Samuelson is serving as race ambassador and will participate in the marathon. This race will be an annual event and is the first Nike marathon in the United States for women runners and walkers of all ages.

"As if there weren't enough reasons to do the Nike 26.2 with it being in beautiful San Francisco and benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, we thought we'd add a few more incentives to really make the event unique," said, Kellie Leonard of Nike. "Liz Phair is an exciting addition to the activities surrounding the Nike 26.2 race weekend and runners will really be in the mood to celebrate their race finish at her concert."

"We also all knew that a little blue box from Tiffany's would create some excitement and probably help improve everyone's time as they race to the finish line to get their commemorative Nike 26.2 necklace," said Leonard.

The Nike 26.2 will be a weekend-long celebration. Events and activities include a race Expotique at Union Square featuring fitness consultations and demonstrations, Macy's fashion shows and complimentary spa services open to both registered runners and the general public.

Both the marathon and half marathon will start and finish on the Great Highway outside Golden Gate Park and will run through the city of San Francisco ending along Ocean Beach, allowing runners and walkers to enjoy both the city and the coast line during the race. Running legend Joan Benoit Samuelson and CSI: Miami actress Emily Procter will serve as ambassadors for the Nike 26.2 Marathon. Race sponsors include Jamba Juice, Macy's, PowerBar and The Beach Chalet/The Park Chalet.

Anyhow, "Red Light Fever" is their top choice at the moment, and they may ship it to Hot AC while they ship "Rock Me" to Pop markets.

[As an aside, that might be the reason why Liz has included "Red Light Fever" into her current setlist on the Chicks With Attitude tour.]

Got there early and saw people walking in and out of the venue. Guitarist Dino Meneghin was walking around outside talking on his cellphone. Charlotte Martin and her website journal writer Erin Russell strolled in later on. Then Nina Persson (of the Cardigans) and friend walked in. Then, Liz, Dino and company came walking out of the Fillmore, presumably to get dinner.

Doors opened around 8:15pm. The show began at 8:30 with Charlotte Martin -- just her and her piano -- and a glass of wine and a water bottle. Standing on the right side of the stage, I got a full view of her playing. She was wearing a red dress and jeans, for those of you keeping track of who's wearing what. A group of girls at the front of the stage gave her flowers, which she gave them a big hug.

Setlist (as best as I could make out):

• In Parentheses
  she talked about playing SF earlier at the Cafe Du Nord opening for Damien Rice
• Darkest Hour
• Every Time It Rains
• not sure of the title of this one, but she wrote it in a bathtub about a love interest
• I'm Normal Please Date Me
• On Your Shore (?)
• Wild Horses

Her set ended at 9:05pm.

Next up, Katy Rose at 9:15pm. I'm not familiar with any of Katy Rose's songs, so I don't have a setlist for her. She played eight songs, the fourth she did using Charlotte Martin's piano. That piano blocked her from where I was standing, so I only saw her from the waist up (she was wearing a black top, if you were wondering). Her set ended at 9:40pm.

The Cardigans were up at 10:00pm. Apparently, there was a huge Cardigans fan base there -- I was standing in front of a animated discussion between members of the Cardigans forum, and one had an all access backstage pass. They were there for the Cardigans alone -- they missed the opening acts and left before Liz came on. I didn't get the setlist for the Cardigans (just missed snatching it from the stage), but I'm sure you can get all of the details over at the Cardigans forum... :-) They played until 10:48pm (just as predicted by the Cardigans fans behind me).

Then began the long wait for the crew to get the stage ready for Liz and band. Liz finally got on stage at 11:20pm. Apologies to JeremyEngle/Steve/Emil/whatever the hell his name is these days ;-) for not knowing the models of Liz's guitars by now, but I've identified them somehow (in parentheses). The setlist:

• Flower (the band arrangement) (star)
• Johnny Feelgood (star)
• Polyester Bride (with false start, as Liz says, "Let's do the new intro" and they do, with a keyboard intro) (acoustic)
• Rock Me (Liz dances around guitarless)
  Liz talks about dirty dancing at home ("Am I the only one who dirty dances at home?") and she makes reference to Christina Milan's "Dip It Low" (to a muted reaction from the crowd)
• Extraordinary (star)
• Mesmerizing (red)
• Glory (mainly solo) (red)
  Audience member: "You rock!" Liz: "No, you rock!"
• Shitloads Of Money (acoustic) (prefaced by "You want an Irish drinking song?")
• Never Said (acoustic)
• Red Light Fever (brown)
• My Bionic Eyes (star)
  Mike the guitar guy doesn't come out with the right guitar, to which Liz says, "OK, I'll just play this song with this guitar."
• Hurricane Cindy (solo) (star) (which breaks down toward the end)
• Love / Hate (red)
• Favorite (Liz dances with red guitar on the stage floor)
  Liz to band: "Are you guys ready for the 7th inning stretch?" An audience member: "NO!" Liz: "Trust me, it's gonna be good!"
  Liz then recruits a bunch of females from the audience to dance to the next song
• Lights (a cover of the Journey tune) (the girls/ladies dance and Liz grabs Charlotte Martin, who was watching backstage right, onstage and dances with her) (Liz and Dino share lead vocals)
  Marco starts drumming the wrong song, to which Liz tells him, "No, 'Help Me Mary'."
• Help Me Mary (red)
• Divorce Song (red)
• Why Can't I? (acoustic)
• Supernova (star)
  Liz thanks the crowd, and the band leaves the stage at 12:30am.
  12:35am Liz and band return for an encore.
• Fuck And Run (star)
• H.W.C. (star) (Prefaced by Liz saying she hopes they play this song on the CMT channel!)
  The show ends at 12:45pm.

The band clearly has raised the stakes. Where past Jimmy albums were largely produced by the band on relative shoestring budgets, the new one was overseen by Gil Norton, a veteran with credits from the Pixies' influential albums to last year's major-label debut by Dashboard Confessional. The sound of this record is big and bold, a solid move into the modern-rock mainstream -- even featuring a guest vocal appearance by Liz Phair on the song "Work" and elegant orchestral touches from arranger David Campbell.

I was talking to a producer (name is anonymous) last night who is working on the film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow... AND he said that Liz recorded a song "especially for the film".

Unfortunately the producers didn't feel the same enthusiasm for the song. They turned it down flat.

This is just another "song" to add to the list of never heard film tracks..... Jersey Girl, Julie Johnson....

I also talked with singer-songwriter Liz Phair, and asked her what message she had for kids who wanted to get into politics. “I think a lot of kids today tend to see politics as something that doesn’t pertain to them,” Phair said. “What politics really is, is the sum total of a lot of little efforts that start at the neighborhood level... this is your country. Don’t forget that. It's our country. It belongs to us."

While we're on the subject of the Chicks With Attitude Tour, the Thursday, August 5th show at the Navy Pier in Chicago has been cancelled.

ROCK MOM

When Hillary [Clinton] and the other heavyweights left yesterday's Revolutionary Women event, so did most of the crowd. But not Liz Phair's mom, Nancy, who hung around to hear her daughter play. So what was it like watching her daughter follow Madeleine Albright? "If you're asking if I think she's wonderful," she said, "I do."

SILVERLAKE, Calif., July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- This isn't going to be your average bakesale! A group of 200 Silverlake bakers mix some politics in with the sugar: Kerry Kakes, Brownies of Mass Destruction, and "Nucular" Gum Drops will be sold at Halliburton prices to raise money for John Kerry. These dedicated neighbors (a varied group including artists, filmmakers, musicians, veterans, and activists) have raised nearly $10,000 in the past three months and pledge to double their total contribution in one single day.

EVENT:
"THE LAST CHANCE FOR KERRY $10,000 BAKESALE"
When: Saturday, July 17, 2004
10 AM -- 5 PM
When: 4326 Sunset Blvd. (the parking lot of MALO Restaurant, just east of Fountain)
Bands: Ok Go @3:30, Ofer Moses @2:30, The Actual @1:30, The Like @12:30
For more information: visit www.silverbake.org
(Bakesale Photos available on request.)

Carbo-Load for Kerry!

The July 17th sale is a finale for fundraising for Kerry before federal funding kicks in and the Silverbakers have stepped it up a notch-in addition to committing to their ambitious goal and recruiting over 200 bakers, this giant bakesale will include local rock bands playing acoustic sets, an auction, professional chef and restaurant tables, and bikini-clad hosts.

The Silverbakers History

In April, a group of 100 Silverlake baker-activists raised over $5000 selling cookies and cakes in the national BakeBack The White House Bake Sale sponsored by Moveon.org, a grassroots political organization with 1.7 million on-line members. The Silverlake Bakers raised the most money in California and were the second larges in the entire United States. Carrie Olson, Chief Operating Officer of MoveOn.org said, "I love Silverlake! The residents are fantastic organizers and spirited bakers with a true sense of humor. These volunteers have shown the true power of grassroots fundraising and thinking outside the box -- hurrah to them all!"

Invigorated by the great turnout of both bakers and attendees, the coordinators of the Silverlake group, director Charles Herman-Wurmfeld (Kissing Jessica Stein, Legally Blonde 2) and artist Shana Lutker, decided to stick together. They hosted two more sales in May and June, raising an additional $3500 for the cause. Celebrity bakers include Minnie Driver and Liz Phair, who are both hosting tables and are expected to attend.

The Future ...

The Silverlake Bakers have committed to continue to hold spirited bake sales until the November election with the goal of raising money and bringing together folks with a sweet tooth and a desire to defeat George W. Bush come November.

For slightly more details, check here.

Liz Phair kicked the night off at 7 p.m. on the West Main Stage.

She played some of her older material, as well as some newer songs, such as her current hit "Why Can't I".

When Phair started into the song, the crowd stood and began to dance. It was then very easy to see all of the different groups of people who were enjoying the music.

Music fans of all ages were up and dancing to Phair's Stevie Nicks-meets-Sheryl Crow style of music.

There was even several couples slow dancing on the lawn right down near the stage.

Phair did a great job of warming up the crowd with her mellow sound but did make one tiny mistake on stage: She apparently forgot where she was for a moment and referred to the city as Detroit.

The dancing bikers were sure to correct her.

But she made up for it when she treated the crowd to her very own rendition of the piano classic "Chopsticks" - complete with naughty lyrics.

"Why not, right?" Phair said as she started the song. "Why not mix it up a little?"

Liz Phair led off with a thirty-minute set that included such recent fare as "Extraordinary", "Why Can't I?" and "Rock Me", as well as older tunes like "Polyester Bride" and "Supernova". Though Phair worried that she was the only "not funny one" on the bill, she drew laughter with her impersonation of Britney Spears in Fahrenheit 9/11.

Singer Liz Phair admitted she was originally supportive of the President, as she put it, “like Britney Spears in Fahrenheit 9/11, thinking, ‘They must know something.’” She said that she actually used to jump on a trampoline in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s backyard (I didn't even want to know what that meant and assumed something innocent enough.) But now, she said, it’s very nice to, “finally have clarity,” seeing how bad the Bush administration is and that Kerry should win the next election. She then dedicated her song, “Extraordinary”, as an honorary John Edwards rallying cry (although one has to assume she meant the title only, because the lyrics launched right into a story about someone running naked through a park.)