Paul's story

Here's my story. I've been a big Liz Phair fan for years, ever since I got a free copy of Whip-Smart (i had a girlfriend in college who worked as marketing director at the college alternative radio station, I used to get free CDs all of the time, if it wasn't for her - she's now long gone - I never would have stumbled across Liz to begin with). Anyway, I never bought any additional Liz Phair stuff, not even Guyville, until the release of WCSE, which I bought right away. Somehow getting the new album re-triggered the passion that I had for Liz, and since then I have become admittedly a little obsessed. I had never scene Liz live before. I had tried to get tickets for one of her shows at the Vic in Chgo back in Oct 98, but failed. It sold out much quicker than I had suspected (duh!) and then I didn't realize that a third show was added until later. So then comes the news that Liz is going to play a show at Lounge Ax on March 14th. This is very exciting news. I'm originally from Chgo (but living in Cincinnati now) so I know that Lounge Ax is about the coolest venue I could think of for seeing her play. The only problem is that the tickets are only going to be sold at the bar, starting at 9 PM on a Thurs night. I decided it was important enough, so I took off early from work on Thurs and drove from Cincinnati to Chgo as fast as I could, getting to Lounge Ax about 2 hours before the tickets are supposed to go on sale. Already there is a huge line that has formed on the street. I get in line and they pass out numbered tickets you can use to redeem 2 tickets. It turns out I'm number 93. I have a beer at the bar, get my two tickets, and head to my parents, very happy, for the weekend (they still live in Chgo, we went to the auto show the next day so that was cool, too).

The weekend of the show finally comes. I head up to Chgo and stay with one of my best friend's from college. Saturday night - big party, hollyfield fight, heavy drinking. Sunday - hurt, mexican for breakfast (huevos con chorizo, you just can't get good mexican food in Cincinnati), some shopping (I got some cool big shoes), do some song writing, eat some noodles, and then head to Lounge Ax.

We didn't get there early at all, just before Sally Timms is going to start. Some guy is set up just in front of the sound board with a mic, a shitty little mixer, and a recorder. Apparently my friend recognizes this guy because he's at a lot of Chgo shows making bootleg recordings. My friend is still bitter because the dude wouldn't give him a copy of Yo La Tengo show he was at and he begins plotting on how to sabotage the dude's recording. We try to move up closer to the stage, but it's already packed and it's too hot, and I didn't leave my coat in the car like I planned and I'm too fucking short to see over all of teh tall people that decided to show. So, we migrate to the back of the club were I get a place on a ledge so I can actually see all the way up to the stage (thankfully I remebered my glasses otherwise I would have been screwed) and it's much cooler. There I stay and enjoy the show immensely. I don't get real excited about shows these days like I used to, but this was exciting and this was cool. Between seeing Kraftwerk in Chgo last Fall (first US tour since early 80s) and now seeing Liz at Lounge Ax, I don't think there's much left that could really get me excited. The heavy presence of Guyville material was great. I'm glad she's not distancing hersefl from that stuff. Her WCSE selections were exactly what I wanted to hear. And the inclusion of a girlysound selection (wild thing) was a great treat. My only disappoint was the almost total neglect of Whip-Smart material. Now I have tickets to see her in Columbus, so I will see her with a full band for the first time (I assume).

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