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Liz Phair Headlines


06-30-10: LIZ TO ATTEND MATADOR RECORDS 21ST BIRTHDAY BASH?
From Gibson:

The Robert Pollard-fronted alt-rock band Guided By Voices is planning to reunite for Matador Records' 21st Birthday in Las Vegas. The indie label is hosting a three-day festival at the Palms Casino and Resort to celebrate its long-running success.

In addition to the reunited GBV (performing their first show since 2004), the lineup reads like a who's who of '90s and '00s indie music. The reunited Pavement, Sonic Youth, Liz Phair , Superchunk, Belle and Sebastian, Yo La Tengo, Cat Power, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Spoon and the New Pornographers are all on the bill. More acts could be announced soon.

Ticket information will be released on Monday, July 5 on Matador’s website, www.matadorrecords.com.

[Thanks to Bryan Wawzenek / Gibson for the report and XRay from the Liz Phair Forum for passing along the info.]


06-16-10: ONE MORE LIZ / IN PLAIN SIGHT INTERVIEW
TotallyHer.com has interviewed Liz about her musical involvement with In Plain Sight. Here is an excerpt:

How has your life changed now that you're working behind-the-scenes and less in the public eye?

Liz Phair: I'm fine with that. I love some of the glamour of being a recording artist and I'm sure I will again engage in that sort of environment. It's fun to do but my – I always was a studio musician. I think there are two kinds of artists, there are performers and studio geeks. I sort of always was the latter.

For me what I get all itchy and excited about – I remember when we first got hired on In Plain Sight we would listen and we would read the scripts and stuff, but we were really sort of pawing at the ground going like, "When can we make music? When can we make music? When can we make music?" Because we just love to do it so it really works for me.

Read the rest of the interview here.

[Thanks to Sarah Eve / TotallyHer.com for the interview.]


05-21-10: LIZ ON EXILE ON MAIN STREET AND GUYVILLE
With the re-release of The Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street, Liz sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss Exile On Main Street and Exile In Guyville.

[Thanks to XRay from the Liz Phair Forum for passing along the link.]


05-12-10: LIZ TALKS EXILE ON MAIN STREET
With the impending re-release of The Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street, NPR asked Liz to pick a favorite from the album:

[About "Rocks Off"] I had this huge crush on this guy in the music scene, and he and I had a couple interactions, but nothing really serious. But I invented this idea of him as Mick's character on Exile on Main Street. So whenever I listened to that album, I felt like I was listening to this guy talking to me. And then I sort of wrote back to him, vis-a-vis the Stones, on Exile in Guyville. You think about "Rocks Off": He's coming home from this one-night stand and he runs into some girl he knows, who's sort of like, "Where have you been?" And he's like, "Look, I just can't deal with you right now" and walks off. So I put myself in the shoes of that girl he meets on the street, and that's how I wrote "6'1". In Exile, there's a whole range of emotions and characteristics and personal traits and ambitions, and I used them all.

[Thanks to NPR for the quote.]


05-12-10: MORE LIZ / IN PLAIN SIGHT TALK
I'm not certain if these are the same (I haven't read through them yet), but here are the links:

Here are some excerpts from the Starpulse.com interview:

[Regarding her novel]: It's sitting right in front of me. I got an intervention from one of my scoring partners. I handed him like a chapter here and there and he really likes it, but it's taking me forever to finish. He literally staged an intervention. I'll leave out the swear words but he’s like, 'Just finish it. I'm so tired of hearing like, it'll be done in eight weeks.' My hair is dirty, I'm in sweats, and when I'm not working on scoring I'm trying to finish this darn thing.

[Regarding the new album]: I'm writing a new record and it's interesting how scoring and writing facilitate each other. Scoring teaches me to pare down my melodic ideas and really focus on emotional shifts in music. That sort of enhances my ability to put the right musical moments underneath the lyric. I think it's actually improving my songwriting, although it complicates it in my mind. It's interesting. They both enhance each other.

[Regarding touring]: I hope so. I really have just started to feel like I want to get out there and play some more. I think maybe end of summer, early fall, sounds nice to me.

[Thanks to Stephanie Nolasco / Starpulse.com for the quotes.]


04-27-10: LIZ ATTENDS FONOGENIC PARTY
Liz attended a party at Fotogenic Studios in Van Nuys, California on Saturday, April 24th.

From LA Music Blog:

Rami Jaffee: "Last time, my friend Pete Yorn’s band has a side project where they do a live Beatles karaoke band, so people signed up and they played Beatles songs to the T. It was killer. They were on the stage all trippy, disco-ed out, and we played Beatles movies on this big screen, and that was pretty wacky. A lot of people signed up. Liz Phair was here. She did it, and Pete and everybody got into it."

[Thanks to Liz Phair NEWS for the info and links.]


04-21-10: LIZ TALKS MUSIC OF IN PLAIN SIGHT
MovieWeb.com has an interview with Liz about the music of In Plain Sight. It might be the same interview(s) posted earlier.


04-18-10: LIZ SPEAKS! CONTINUED / BIRTHDAY GREETINGS
The Pop Culture Passionistas interview with Liz continues over at Suite101.

In case you forgot, Happy Birthday, Liz!

[Thanks to Amy Harrington of Pop Culture Passionistas for the interview and link.]


04-15-10: LIZ SPEAKS!
Pop Culture Passionistas interview with Liz is now available. Apparently there will be a second part to it, so stay tuned...

However, Fanbolt.com has an interview with Liz as well, but it might be the same interview as the Pop Culture Passionistas one. Whatever the case may be, go check it out.

The Deadbolt also has a Liz interview.

[Thanks to Pop Culture Passionistas, Fanbolt.com and The Deadbolt for the Liz interviews and chocoholicfemme and marcos from the Liz Phair Forum for passing along the links.]


04-10-10: ASK LIZ A QUESTION COURTESY OF POP CULTURE FASHIONISTAS
Pop Culture Passionistas will be interviewing Liz on Monday, April 12th, and they are soliciting questions from fans on Facebook to ask Liz. If you have anything you want to ask Liz, go to this link and click on "Just Fans".

[Thanks to XRay from the Liz Phair Forum for passing along the info.]


03-30-10: AND WHAT ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM?
From Eric Deggans, St. Petersburg Times TV/Media Critic:

She's working on a new record deal, which she hopes to see come together soon....

[Thanks to Eric Deggans for the info and BB2 from the Liz Phair Forum for asking the question.]


In Plain Sight
USA Network's In Plain Sight

03-29-10: LIZ SPEAKS ABOUT IN PLAIN SIGHT / WRITING TV SCORES
From the St. Petersburg Times:

Ex-indie rock queen Liz Phair relishes current TV music scoring work
By Eric Deggans, Times TV/Media Critic

Once upon a time, Liz Phair was the embodiment of a musical rebellion; a beautiful, precocious product of Chicago's mostly male indie rock scene who burst onto the national stage with 1993's Exile in Guyville, a song-by-song retort to the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street.

So how did the brash indie rock queen who once wrote a song called "Fuck and Run", wind up composing background music for TV shows such as the CW's 90210 remake and USA Network's In Plain Sight?

"The whole music business -- you definitely have to spread out," said Phair, who has contributed to a kids music album and written a piece for the Atlantic Monthly all while creating background music for the show with two partners. "None of the lily pads are strong enough to support your full body weight. You have to have like five... You've got a foot on each lily pad to stay afloat."

It's not necessarily a new transition. Superstar producer Quincy Jones wrote the themes to Sanford and Son and Ironside; former Prince backing players Wendy & Lisa now write for Heroes and Nurse Jackie.

Phair's work for In Plain Sight is moody and often guitar-based, a more focused version of the kind of noodling musicians often indulge in downtime. Watch Wednesday's episode, and you'll see Mary McCormack's brash witness protection marshal Mary Shannon swaggering through the action, searching for the man who shot her last season like once swaggered through her own rock records.

"I like strong women, and I think they hired me partially for that," she said.

Here are some other highlights from our conversation.

Do you miss being a pop star?

"I loved my foray into that kind of culture... but you will be working your ass off to stay competitive.

What's the toughest part of this scoring gig?

You have to simplify. I like to sing and score the mental gymnastics going on in a scene sometimes... (But producers) want you to lay out and let the actors play the scene -- your music becomes too much of a voice in the scene. That is usually where I get "Thank you, try again."

Do you worry your fans might look down on your TV work?

Frankly, when I went pop, I didn't really think about what my audience would think, either. As perplexed as they are by my choices, I'm equally perplexed by their reactions.

Is it tough balancing so many different projects to stay afloat?

I don't mind the new environment -- I hate the lower money -- but I don't mind the model. I enjoy it better. I had trouble going through the old system where you would sign with a label and you'd be with the label for four records and every other year you'd go on tour, like a tour of duty. The machine was so big you had to fit to the machine. I think I prefer the a la carte way of doing things now.

What does it say that recording artists like you and Wendy & Lisa are moving into scoring work?

I think it means we love music, and we're a little bit more neutral than most on how it gets made or for what. I think there are some artists who are more performers and they're crazy about performing. You won't find those artists doing scoring. (But) for us, it's studio nerd age... Every day I go in to score I never know what I'm going to come out... Every day is a fresh snowfall.

[Thanks to Eric Deggans / St. Petersburg Times for the interview and XRay from the Liz Phair Forum for passing along the links.]


In Plain Sight
USA Network's In Plain Sight

03-28-10: ANOTHER LIZ / IN PLAIN SIGHT MENTION
From NewsOK.com:

"The show doesn't really feel different," [Mary] McCormack says. "John McNamara really joined our show, he didn't come in and try to reinvent it. And Liz Phair is composing our music now, which I think is going to make it feel really cool and maybe a bit edgier. Little things like that I think will add up to making it the same show but a little cooler looking."

In Plain Sight returns on Wednesday, March 31st on USA Network.

[Thanks to John Crook / NewsOK.com for the info.]


03-22-10: DOG NAMED JOHNNY SUNSHINE
While we're waiting for some real Liz news, here's an amusing item. From the Hackney Gazette:

Johnny Sunshine was named after one of singer Liz Phair's songs, about her ex boyfriend and Lynne [Cornwall] met one of Liz's old band mates at a gig at The Red Lion in Stoke Newington Church St..

"He met Johnny Sunshine and said he had all the characteristics of the guy the song was named after - I was very pleased about that," said Lynne.

[Thanks to the Hackney Gazette for the story.]


Singer Liz Phair attends The Hollywood Reporter's Nominees' Night Prelude to Oscar presented by Bing and MSN at the Mayor's Residence on Thursday, March 4, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.  (Photo by Craig Barritt / Getty Images)
Singer Liz Phair attends The Hollywood Reporter's Nominees'
Night Prelude to Oscar presented by Bing and MSN at the
Mayor's Residence on Thursday, March 4, 2010 in Los Angeles,
California. (Photo by Craig Barritt / Getty Images)

03-05-10: LIZ PHAIR AT A PRE-OSCAR PARTY
Liz attended The Hollywood Reporter Nominees Night Prelude to Oscar (presented by Bing and MSN) at the LA Mayor's Residence in Los Angeles, California on March 4, 2010.

Here are some links featuring photos of Liz (showing of her legs):

Chelsea Lauren / Michael Kovac / Craig Barritt / Getty Images

Chelsea Lauren / WireImage

Kathy Hutchins / Hutchins Photo

David Edwards / DailyCeleb.com / Hollywood.com

[Thanks to XRay from the Liz Phair Forum for passing along the links.]


02-22-10: LIZ IS A "CELEB WHO IS AWSOME IN PERSON"
Liz made The Frisky's list of "20 Celebs Who Are Awesome In Person":

"Liz Phairand I had a 15-minute phone conversation booked, and she stayed on for an hour and a half and told me we were like 'sisters'. (Uh, grain of salt.) She is surprisingly girly -- as in, she wants to talk about hair and makeup and clothes. She's also a total beauty product junkie.".

[Thanks to Kate Torgovnick / The Frisky for the info.]


In Plain Sight
USA Network's In Plain Sight

02-18-10: MORE ON LIZ / IN PLAIN SIGHT
From TVbytheNumbers.com:

...Two-time Grammy winner Liz Phair (90210, Swingtown) brings a whole new artistic element to an already strong creative team as the hit show's music composer. The singer/songwriter's debut album, Exile in Guyville, was enthusiastically praised upon its 1993 release. Phair went on to release multiple award-winning albums including whitechocolatespaceegg, Whip-smart and the self-titled Liz Phair.

[Thanks to Robert Seidman / TVbytheNumbers for the info.]


In Plain Sight
USA Network's In Plain Sight

02-11-10: LIZ COMPOSER FOR IN PLAIN SIGHT
From The Ausiello Files at EW.com:

...Singer-songwriter Liz Phair has been tapped as the composer for the new season (of the USA Network series In Plain Sight) (debuting March 31). Liz previously served as a composer on 90210, Swingtown, and The Beautiful Life. Who knew? Not me.

[Thanks to Michael Ausiello / EW.com for the info.]


Liz Phair
Liz wearing her shades

02-09-10: LIZ ATTENDS NASCAR EVENT / ECO-CONSCIOUS DESIGN CONFERENCE IN PHOENIX
Liz drover her Toyota Prius to Phoenix, Arizona to attend the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 and the 2009 Greenbuild Expo. Liz wrote about her experience for The Atlantic (the March 2010 issue). To listen to Liz's road trip playlist and view her photo album from the trip, click here.

[Thanks to Tommy Craggs / Deadspin and Sam Smith / Jalopnik for the details.]




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Last Updated: November 25th, 2010