OK, a shot at me (or at least, guys like me) was taken on the latest edition of All Songs Considered. In their team review of the new Liz Phair record, it was stated that most of her fans are horny guys who think that Exile in Guyville was a smutty love letter to them, and that they don’t get the irony.
Speaking as a male fan since the EIG days (it came out while I was in Egypt, but the Rolling Stone cover story about her was so intriguing, my brother mailed me a copy of it from New York City), this is nonsense.
For starters, the female commentator (I didn’t catch her name, but she’s apparently a disc jockey on Sirius Radio, on their Outlaw Country channel, of all things) can’t have gone to that many concerts. The two I’ve attended in Los Angeles have been mostly women and gay men, neither of whom, presumably, thought that Liz was trying to sex them up on EIG.
Secondly, you’d have to be a moron to not get that “Divorce Song” and “Fuck and Run,” two of the high points of the record, are somehow happy about sex and relationships. “Divorce Song” is a tough listen, as you’re hearing the apparent penultimate conversation of a relationship, and “Fuck and Run,” in addition to its other baggage, implies she was sexually molested at age 12. Maybe there are guys who would interpret this as love letters to them, but I doubt they’re listening to her — they’re more likely having creepy salacious thoughts about Radio Disney.
For me, though, Liz is the musical equivalent of one of my many female friends. While her life doesn’t exactly mirror the life of Kris or Kathy or Denise or any of the others, it’s got elements that I suspect are familiar to all of them. Her first album is about a girl in college and just after dropping out, singing about the single life. Her second, Whip-Smart, is about her post-collegiate life, centering around the single “Supernova,” which boasts of the sexual prowess of her new boyfriend (who is favorably compared to an F-15 jet in the sack) whom she eventually marries.
whitechocolatespaceegg, her next full album, is about the married Liz, her husband and her new child. But marriage is obviously not all roses, and she has multiple songs about how marriage is real work. “Love is Nothing” is short for “love is nothing like they say,” and “Go On Ahead” talks about a married couple doing things apart so that the marriage will stay together. It’s a shockingly personal album, for all that it is layered with wild metaphors and imagery and psychodelic soundscapes.
The divorce happened, and the self-titled Liz Phair was her next album. Its open move towards a more slick and commercial sound is much-discussed, but it’s really a pretty obvious progression from the slick-sounding whitechocolatespaceegg and even many songs on Whip-Smart. She wasn’t going to always record her music on four-track recorders, folks. The highlight of the album — which talks about being single in her 30s and trying to figure out what comes next in her life — is “Little Digger,” a wincingly personal song about her young son showing a new boyfriend his toy cars, but telling him “this one is my favorite/this one you can’t have/I got it from my dad.”
And the new album, Somebody’s Miracle, carries Liz forward to her late 30s. It comes out in early October.
For me, to listen to Liz Phair albums is like catching up with one of my female friends, bitching about husbands and boyfriends or trying to figure out what the hell they’re going to do with their lives. I don’t think Jessica or Sarah are coming onto me by doing this, it’s about just sharing what’s going on in their lives when we catch up with one another.
I’m looking forward to catching up with her again next month.
LizPhair.com has a media player that includes two songs from Somebody’s Miracle and a music video, along with older tunes.
ABC News war correspondent Richard Gizbert is suing the network for firing him when he refused to go to Iraq.
Gizbert, who joined the network in 1993 and was assigned to its London bureau at the time he was dismissed, claims that he was axed because he refused an assignment to report from Iraq. Although he had previously reported from Chechnya and Bosnia-Herzegovina, he said he believed that the Iraq assignment was different since journalists had seemingly become targeted by both sides in that conflict.
In an interview last month with the Los Angeles Times, Gizbert said that he was told by Marcus Wilford, ABC’s London bureau chief: “‘We’ve decided to terminate you. ABC wants to replace you with a correspondent who will travel to war zones.’ I said, “You’re firing me because I won’t go to war zones?’ ‘No,’ he said, “we’re terminating you and replacing you with someone who will.’ And I said: “Isn’t that the same thing?'”
Under a code of practice that ABC News has signed, “assignments to war zones or hostile environments must be voluntary.”
Since the war began in March 2003, 66 reporters have been killed in the conflict, with many of them being specifically targeted by the insurgents.
Gizbert was interviewed about this in the September 16 edition of On the Media.
Well, it’s that time of year again. I’ve signed up for the Survivor Fantasy League, which always seems like it will be a lot of fun, but it’s hard to get too excited given how badly run the Web site for it is. Still, I’m playing with my in-laws, who are enormously into it, especially my father-in-law, who now has enough Survivor memorabilia to set up his own island here in the High Desert.
Scoring and such begins with tonight’s show. My picks at this point are Morgan, Margaret, Bobby Jon and Stephenie. The latter three are pretty much guaranteed a lot of camera time, and how can you go wrong with a magician’s assistant? (Don’t ask how I finished in last season’s league.)
Every year, I sit on the couch and tell Jenn how I could be on that show when I watch the first few episodes. Last week’s 11-mile overnight hike through the jungle seemed determined to shut people like me up. It worked.
(I could still do it, though!)
OK, I guess you can go wrong with a magician’s assistant … For next week, the question will be, how can you go wrong with an allegedly incognito former NFL quarterback who’s guaranteed a lot of camera time? (I have 30 points after this week.)
Well, Rock Star: INXS is going to be interesting even after the show ends, given that, in the end, the band picked the drama-creating J.D. as their new lead singer. His performance with them was fine (as was Marty’s), but I think his smoking arrangement of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” is likely what carried the day. Marty failed to show INXS anything new, which was a mistake, and I think he knew it before he stepped out on stage.
So, J.D. has got the musical and performance chops. We know that. I just think we’re looking at a very volatile, very “look at me” guy being added to a mix of people who are very comfortable together after all these years. It’ll be interesting to see if J.D. is their lead singer after this first album and tour. I could see him deciding he’s too big of a star and wanting a solo career before the tour is even over.
It’ll be interesting to see if Marty gets back together with his band, the Lovehammers, now. Depending on how the band feels about him — and they did hold parties for him every Tuesday night during the show at a local bar — this might be a great break for them.
Anyway, good show, and I’ll always have “Trees” on my iPod, whatever else happens.
In other news, I laughed myself sick at My Name is Earl, which is easily as good as its hype. It and Supernatural are the two big hits for me so far this season.
It appears Tyra Banks is already out of things to talk about on her new show. Either that, or talking about herself (more specifically, her breasts) is her favorite subject.
And finally, Locke is still the man.
I know, I know, you all sit around saying, “gee, if I can’t live in Hesperia near Beau, it sure would be nice if there was some computer wallpaper I could use that would be the next best thing.”
So, here you go.
The image is a photo I took earlier this year that originally appeared in the January 25, 2005 edition of the Hesperia Star. The snow on the mountain tops lasted until mid-summer.
It’s what I use on my machine at work.
