In the meantime, I could use your help. We're filming a segment for a new show on MPTV called "Around the corner with John McGivern" that features Bay View's Tonic Tavern and our rich music community. How can you help? Come be in the audience! The show is next Tuesday night, July 26th starting at 7:30pm.

The schedule for the night will be me starting things off, playing a short set, then you'll be entertained by the musical stylings of Christopher Porterfield (of Conrad Plymouth) as I do a short interview. Then Chris and I will play out the rest of the night.

We definitely need folks to fill out the room. And it's a FREE show! Please come out! We'll see you there!

Tonic Tavern
2335 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53207

October, October, where have you gone? Next week is November and we still have so much to do. Candy corn to be consumed, costumes to be sewn and an awesome Halloween show at Tonic Tavern to attend. 

I’m always humbled by the talent I am privileged to share the stage with, but I must say that the moment is always sweeter when that talent is my friend Heidi Spencer. We’ll be at Tonic Tavern this Sunday night celebrating Halloween with fellow troubadour, Jeremiah Nelson. This show is free of charge and there will be candy involved.

If you are in the Midwest, I hope you have something steady to cling to in this wild wind.  And I hope you will allow yourself to be swept in the direction of Bay View Sunday night.

Love,

Lisa

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SHOWS!

Sunday, October 31st, 2010
@ Tonic - 9:00 PM
Tonic Tavern
2335 S. KK
Milwaukee, WI 53207
Price: FREE

w/ Heidi Spencer & Jeremiah Nelson
It's Fall! It's Free! It's the return of the Singer-Songwriter series at Tonic! 

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MY FAVORITE… 

… Song: Flightless Bird, American Mouth (Iron & Wine)
… Album: More of the Monkees (The Monkees)
… Food: Sushi. Always.
… Trick or Treat Candy: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
… Movie: Blue Valentine
… Person: My brother, Tomzilla
… Superpower I already posses: Invisibility (most prevalent when trying to order a drink in a crowded bar)
… Halloween Costume I ever wore: Debbie Gibson. I’m pretty sure I just drew a smiley face on my knee and called it a day.

Fall flipped a switch at the beginning of September, and after the hottest and most humid summer I can remember, we are experiencing the most beautiful fall in Wisconsin. I also caught a cold, but luckily it’s being categorized as a fall cold and not a summer cold. Summer colds are the worst.

I have two very important shows this month and I hope you’ll be able to join me this weekend and the next. As you know, September in Wisconsin always plays host to AIDS Walk Wisconsin. I’m proud to be walking again this year in memory of my Uncle Scott, a brilliant musician, lost too soon. This Sunday, we’ll gather at Von Trier to raise a little extra money for the AIDS Walk. The show is free, but please throw a few dollars in the jar to help someone in need. To say thank you, you’ll enjoy free performances from some of my songwriter friends.

The following weekend there’s going to be a whole lot of Gatewoods up in the Bay View Brew Haus, so check that out as well.

As always, keep listening.

Love,
Lisa

MY FAVORITE....

... Song: Nashville Parthenon (Casiotone for the Painfully Alone)

... Album: Ultimatum (The Long Winters)

... Cold Medicine: Zicam

... Person: All of the folks traveling far distances to reach WI next week (Jeff, Kevin, Uncle Jim, Linda and Lindsay)

... Etsy Shop: theblueballoon (http://www.etsy.com/shop/theblueballoon)

Tomorrow afternoon I make my Summerfest debut with my Borrowed Band. Needless to say, it's downright peachy to be asked to play at the world's largest music festival and I've been vacillating between excitement and barfing for weeks over the opportunity. I hope you'll stop down to the US Cellular stage tomorrow if you're at the fest. Conrad Plymouth plays at 12:30 (Totally awesome) and then we start at 1:45. A great day for local music at the Summerfest Grounds.

After the fest I'll be running off the grounds to get to another fest: PBR Fest in Bay View. If I don't get a chance to say hi to you at summerfest pop down to Burnhearts and say hi. I should be playing around 4:30 or 5. And then later that night-- MUCCA PAZZA! Which, if you haven't seen, is life-changing.

Hope to see you at some of these July shows.
Stay cool. Wear your sunscreen. And don't go changing to try and please me.

love,
Lisa

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My Favorite...
.... New instrument to play: Saxophone
.... Instrument on my album: Glockenspiel
.... Technology: Netflix streaming to my Nintendo Wii... I mean, what the what?!?!
.... Song: Trouble by Cat Stevens
.... Movie: The first 20 min of Momento. I'm sure the rest of it is great too, but that's when I fell asleep.

I’m in the studio again recording with Todd Richards. Although this isn’t the album I had anticipated creating and releasing this year, I believe it is the right one.

Songwriter, Ben Cervenka and I will be playing an early show tomorrow night at Circle A in Riverwest– check the listing below for details. We’re really excited to be back there. The show will include a couple duets and even a special appearance from one of those aforementioned "great jazz players". There is nothing like a Friday night ALIVE AT 8 show at Circle A. We really hope you’ll join us.

Lots of outdoor shows in July– keep an eye on the SHOWS page on the website. We’ll see you soon.

Love,
Lisa

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My Favorite...

Song: The Subway Home (Casiotone for the Painfully Alone)
Album: Leave Ruin (Strand of Oaks)
Show I'm seeing this weekend: BRAZAVILLE, Saturday 6/12 @ The Cactus Club. Be there. Do it.
New totally ridiculous waste of time: Stupid poker application on Facebook that keeps me from sleeping. P.S. I'm terrible at poker.

It’s Monday night and after working a 10 ½ hour day on 2 ½ hours of sleep, I’m eating leftover pasta out of the pan, because it’s all I have the wherewithal to do. March came in like a lamb, I think. Yesterday I opened my balcony door to air out the winter and let in the spring and today I walked all over downtown running errands without a coat on for the first time since fall. But in other parts of the world, there are signs that the earth is trying to shake us off like parasites. But I digress because I’m exhausted and delirious and it seems that all I do lately is try to trace fault lines with my fingertips.  

I’m playing at Linneman’s Thursday night and I hope you will be there. I’ll be joined by two great songwriters, Jonathan Burks & Quinn Scharber. And thanks to the Onion’s AV CLUB for making this show their pick for Thursday night! Come out of your winter hiding places and remind me what you look like.

Love,  
Lisa

My Favorite...

...Song: TAKING ALCATRAZ (Conrad Plymouth)
...Album: LEAVE RUIN (Strand of Oaks) ...Book: I’ve been rediscovering RAISE HIGH THE ROOF BEAM CARPENTERS by Salinger.
...Food: Rosemary potatoes with garlic aioli dipping sauce
...Person: Richard & Jeff for buying me brunch on Sunday, and Heidi for lots of reasons.
...Ingredient to cook with: Balsamic Vinegar
...Robot: All robots.

My dearest folks and folkettes,

I’ve been putting off writing my newsletter because… I don’t know… It’s too cold?  The Days are still too short?  All I want to do is sleep and watch episodes of The West Wing?  Who knows, but I’m writing now because I have to tell you about a show tomorrow night. That’s right, tomorrow. As in 1 day from now. Friday, January 8^th. I’ll be playing Circle A’s Alive @ 8 Series (which, appropriately, starts at 8pm and goes until 10). I’m looking forward to sharing the bill with my good friend and fellow songwriter Ben Cervenka.

Here are the reasons you should come to the show tomorrow:

1)       Relatively speaking, it’s an early show. Come to Circle A from 8-10pm to see me and Ben (we’ll each play an hour, show starts PROMPTLY at 8pm) and you’ll still have time to do whatever you want afterwards.

2)       Ben is one of my favorite songwriters.  If you didn’t see him open for me a couple years ago at the Bremen (and even if you did), you should come out to this show.

3)       There are duets. Ben and I each wrote brand new pieces to be performed as duets at this show. These are two never-before-heard songs.

4)       Circle A is a very intimate venue. It’ll be a relaxed show with good friends, stiff drinks and snow flying around outside. Isn’t that the way you always imagined your grown-up life to be?

Hope to see you at the Circle A tomorrow. Details are below.  And happy New Year.  I, for one, am hoping 2010 and I can reach some sort of agreement.  We seem to want different things.

Love,

Lisa

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My favorite:

… Song: “Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie” (Joanna Newsom)
… Album: Life of the World to Come (The Mountain Goats)
… TV Show: The West Wing (I know, I’m a little late)
… Month: Not January

Watch the videos (filmed live in the WMSE studios!), download the songs, print out Dwellephant's original CD artwork and, voila, you've got yourself a pretty cool gift to give your friends, family and strangers!

Check out all the music and goodies here: http://thirdcoastdigest.com/2009/12/12-songs-holiday-project/

Watch my video directly on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHfTouAGHks

And don't forget to thank ThirdCoast Digest and WMSE for putting together such a fun project!

Monday morning I was driving to work, there was a dusting of snow on the ground and for the first time this year I wore the coat I didn’t love because it was cold enough to justify it. I was listening to WMSE and Grant was on the air playing his regular mix of Monday morning alternative songs that propel you from your bed, to your shower, to your car, to your desk, to the rest of your week, whatever that may hold.

There are unexpected moments when everything in your life lines up for a brief moment. This was one of them. I had been out too late the night before sitting at the Tonic Tavern listening to Conrad Plymouth, one of my absolute favorite songwriters, play to a quiet room and then sit next to me at the bar to talk about the paths our lives may someday take. This Monday morning was hazy, sleepy and slow. Then Grant played a song I’d never heard before, "Genesis 30:3" by The Mountain Goats. Go to your iTunes, buy this song and you’ll know what I mean. It’s a hazy, sleepy, slow, gray slush, contemplative, beginning of winter, end of the decade, soft inside song. And for a brief moment I felt like this year was complete. That despite failed attempts at love and happiness and security, I had somehow wound up exactly where I was supposed to be. I had never felt so calm and so safe as I did at that stoplight on the corner where 1^st Street splits off and KK begins to head over the river.

It lasted only those three minutes and twenty-six seconds, but it was good. I hope as this decade comes to a close you all find moments like that, whether they come from a song or somewhere within. When this decade began, I was 17. I had no idea what I had yet to accomplish or what I had yet to lose. In the scheme of things, 10 years is nothing, but these have been quite something.

I can’t wait to say goodbye to them with you as we kick off the holiday festivities this weekend at the Cactus Club. See you there. Also stay tuned for an announcement about a special holiday project I’m a part of. More details coming soon.  

Happy holidays and happy new year. 
Love
Lisa 
 

My Favorite....

Album: The Life of the World to Come (The Mountain Goats)
Runner up for favorite album: Strict Joy (Swell Season)
Song: Genesis 30:3 (The Mountain Goats)
Runner up for favorite song: I Have Loved You Wrong (Swell Season)
Christmas Tradition: Mistletoe
Christmas movie: "Elf"
Person: My brother, Tom, who will be home next week!
New Year’s Resolution: To accept the things I cannot change. And to stop drinking milk out of the carton. I’m a grown woman, for crying out loud.

I’ve been listening to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and various Christmas carols in heavy rotation for weeks now. I’m preparing for a month of performances in which I will perform none of my own material (which is unfortunate because that’s the only material I don’t have to rehearse). If I really wanted to, I could cut a little time off my research by listening to Bob Dylan’s new Christmas album (two birds, one stone). Say what you want about it, but I heard a few selections from it on Bob Reitman’s show and I didn’t think it was terrible. I mean, it’s Bob Dylan feeling the magic of the holiday season. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with a little holiday spirit.

Besides, if Jethro Tull can have a Christmas Album, so can Dylan.

I’m going to keep this short because I have a lot of song-learnin’ to do. You know the drill, the show info is below. Stay tuned for info on my December projects including a show at the Cactus Club and a special holiday project with Third Coast Digest.

Xoxo,
Lisa

My Favorite...

... Song: "I Need a Miracle" (Buffalo Gospel)
... Album: "I and Love and You" (The Avett Brothers)
... Christmas Carol: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
... Book: "How to Run a Successful Capital Campaign"... oh wait, I hate that book.
... Thing about the holidays: Guilt-Free Vacation Days

My Least Favorite...

... Thing to find in the sink: An unidentifiable, scary looking, tiny lobster-bug
... Thing to do at night: Laundry.... my basement is scary.
... Thing about the holidays: Commercials about families make me cry
... Thing that happened at work last month: I accidentally drank mold.