The last time brainy alt-rocking sexpot Liz Phair hit the highway on tour, the single mom got stuck on the bus from hell and found her way into the clutches of Paris Hilton. Will things improve when she leads a group of gals -- the Cardigans, Katy Rose and Charlotte Martin--on the Chicks with Attitude Tour, starting this August?

We squeeze Phair for the answer, then grill D12's Bizarre and three more warriors from the summer's hottest tours about the reality of the road. Heck, if things go right, maybe there'll be bedtime stories for everyone after the show.

So, your last tour didn't go so well.
God, it was so harsh. It was really bad. It wasn't the tour. It was the rain and the bus -- things rattled, the shocks were terrible, wheel axles cracked, the layout was horrible. It was almost impossible to sleep.

At least you got to hang out with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.
That was at Sundance. Everywhere I went, I knew that was the place to be, because there were Nicole and Paris. Sundance is just a clusterf--k of celebritydom. It's like one big stock-exchange floor of buyers and sellers, you know what I mean? So, it was perfect that they should be everywhere.

Was this after you had seen Paris' privates on the Internet?
It turned out that picture [a certain paparazzo shot of the elder Hilton sister exiting a limo sans underwear] was fake. But it was the greatest bikini wax I have ever seen. Hats off to whoever is the proud owner.

Do you keep plenty of Shrek 2 paraphernalia on the tour bus to keep your son Nick entertained?
I wish. He's kind of beyond all that. He's six, so he's really into computer games. Mostly what I do is try to be interested in what he's interested in, but sometimes it's hard. We read books together. Like, I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to him, and I had to skip all the scary parts. As far as he's concerned, the lion just fell asleep for a little bit and woke up again. I whip past whole chapters.

Is it hard leaving your real life behind when you're on the road?
No, I love it. I like both sides of my life. I wish they didn't have to be so extreme from each other. But, honestly, there's nothing better than coming home from hard work. There's that moment of "What now?" But I can quickly flip that and get all writerly. I've never been one who desperately needs the limelight, even though I sometimes look like it and act like it.