Lisa Loeb on The Time Machine

Lisa Loeb interview and performance on the Time Machine check it out here

Concert review: Chris Isaak Did a Good Good Thing

Concert review: Chris Isaak Did a Good Good Thing Chris Isaak's a conundrum- decidedly retro in his music and personal style, but with a winking modern rat-a-tat-tat in the delivery. He hasn't had a big chart hit since the late 1990s re-rerelease of "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing," but he keeps touring and selling tickets. He's goofy without being corny. It shouldn't work, but it does, beautifully and entertainingly, as it did Sunday night at Pompano Beach Amphitheatre. The place was, disappointingly, only about half full, but shiny-suited Chris and Silvertone, his solid band of merry and talented men, played like the thing was packed. This was my eleventy-third Chris Isaak show...OK, at least my sixth. I've lost count. But they're always similar - Chris comes out in a shiny suit ("You see a guy dressed like this who's not ice skating, there's a pretty good chance he's a hillbilly"), and plays the droll showboat to his band, who mostly function as the straight men. Songs of wistfulness ("San Francisco Days"), acoustic heartbreak ("Forever Blue"), upbeat heartbreak ("Lonely With A Broken Heart"), and sexy, throaty heartbreak with a dash of menace ("Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing") are sung. Goofy dances ensue. Women swoon and guys clap along, because maybe their women dragged them there but they realize that they don't actually hate it. Tributes to the leading lights of '50s rockabilly excellence are brought forth, and Isaak presides over all of it like the swinging Grand Poobah, but without the big water buffalo hat. Although if he wore one, it'd be totally hot. And, likely, sequined. Having been a semi-regular participant in the Chris Isaak circus for more than a decade, when the theme never changes, might seem boring unless you've seen Chris Isaak. And no, it's not just that he's pretty, although he is, something he makes fun of — He jokingly accused ladies in the audience of treating bass player Roly Salley as a cheap sexual object, "and that's not right, because I'm the cheap sexual object here.") It's that he and his band are just so good - the friend I took with me, who was perviously only familiar with two of his songs and was in elementary and missle school when they were released, marveled at how Isaak, Salley, drummer Kenny Dale Johnson and guitarist Hershel Yatovitz are so tight, even when they admittedly winged the last part of the show. That's because the core of the band has been together more than 20 years. It's sort of like Weird Al Yankovic - if he weren't a great singer and vocal mimic and a blisteringly clever writer with an astonishing ear, he'd just be some hideous goofball who makes fun of popular songs. But he's brilliant. And Isaak would be just a cheeser in a sparkly suit if he wasn't an incredible singer with an impressive range, a charismatic showman (he serenaded the throng of press photographers with "Love Me Tender," and even those cynical folks couldn't help smiling) and a genuinely affectionate interpreter of the past (his "Only The Lonely," with Johnson's mournful brushed drums keeping the beat, was both a tribute to Isaak's late friend and former tourmate Roy Orbison and a textbook lesson on how to do retro that's not karaoke.) Isaak's opening act, bespectacled charmer Lisa Loeb, was just as compelling with just herself, her acoustic guitar, and backup singer Daru Oda. She did her big hits "I Do," my favorite song ever about shaking yourself out of a bad relationship, and "Stay (I Missed You)", which could be about the part of that same bad relationship when you haven't yet figured out it was bad enough to leave. And then there were the adorable songs from her new album "Camp Lisa," whose proceeds help pay for kids to go to summer camp. She ended on a round of "Make New Friends," that likely had any former Girl Scouts in the audience singing along and possibly tearing up a little. I know this one was. I must also note that Lisa Loeb is a dead ringer for Palm Beach Post fashion editor Staci Sturrock. They really should meet, because Lisa's got a great voice and Staci's got Lucille Ball screwball comic timing. That's a show I would watch - "Staci and Lisa's Cocktail Hour." At the end of their sets, both Isaak and Loeb signed autographs in the merchandise area, and even though their handlers had people circulate through briskly, you got the feeling that they were genuinely excited to be there, even after playing. That's probably the secret to my Chris Isaak fandom - he just seems like a fun guy who also happens to be able to play and sing beautifully. And that's always worth my time. Posted by Leslie Streeter at September 8, 2008 6:58 AM Original Source

Lisa Loeb's Back in Town to Sing That Awesome Song from Meatballs

Surely I’ve mentioned that Lisa Loeb and I were cast mates in a Hockaday School production of The Pajama Game back in, oh, 1984, I think it was. (The school was low on public-school boys, I guess, and I had the only non-singing role, courtesy my sweet-talking Hockadaisy girlfriend, Amy Sanders.) Also, maybe I’ve noted in the past that Lisa’s dad, Pete, is my mom’s gastroenterologist -- name of my first book, nailed it. So, yeah, I’ve always had a soft spot for Lisa -- hence, this posting concerning her homecoming tomorrow and Saturday to promote her new kids’ album, Camp Lisa , featuring the likes of Jill Sobule, Veruca Salt’s Nina Gordon and (yes, that) Steve Martin and currently available solely through Barnes & Noble . Oddly enough, that’s just where she’s performing Saturday at 2 p.m. -- at the Lincoln Park location across Northwest Highway from NorthPark Center. Later that night, when the kiddies are asleep, she’ll be at Bend Studio. (Not cheap at $35, but you pay for the intimacy.) But not before she makes the local-TV rounds tomorrow in the a.m. on both Good Day Dallas and Good Morning Texas . After the jump, a video from the making of Camp Lisa -- included, really, because you can’t get enough of the late, great Elmer Bernstein’s contribution to Meatballs, “Are You Ready for the Summer?” Damn right I am. --Robert Wilonsky Source: The Dallas Observer

Lisa on The View From The Bay.

Lisa appeared on The View From The Bayfor the release of Camp Lisa. Check out her interview with Janelle and Spencer.

"When it Rains" to be featured as USA Today's Wednesday Weather Song!

Everyone check out this Wednesday's edition of Wednesday Weather Song where Bob the weatherman will feature "When it Rains":