CHERISH - Opens June 7 at the Shattuck Cinemas

Robin Tunney stars as Zoe, a 20-something, love-starved animator who spends countless hours listening to KXCH "Cherish" radio, losing herself in a syrupy romantic fantasy of '70s and '80s pop songs. After a mysterious car accident in which a policeman is killed, Zoe is unfairly charged with the crime. Incarcerated in the electronic bracelet program Zoe repeatedly tries to escape her apartment, each attempt bringing another visit from her parole officer (Tim Blake Nelson). Ironically, this relationship allows both of them to grow as they fall in love. Songs from Hall and Oates, Human League and Soft Cell imbue fantasy and crime scenes with humor and irony.

Filmmaker Finn Taylor will speak to audiences at the early evening show on June 8 in Berkeley and the Embarcadero Center Cinema in SF on opening weekend June 7 & 8.

[By the way, Liz Phair makes her film debut in this movie.]

5-27-2002 Hello--I have been busy over the past few months recording like a nutty nut---I went out to cornwall,england to record a record with Tori Amos--then went to new york for a week with producer Bob Powers we recorded a record with a girl named bonnie---then I went to la to record 5 tracks for a band called lifehouse--stayed in LA to record with a new artist named Van Hunt and Liz Phair--pheww! Now I am home and ready to finish my record which will hopefully be done in the next couple of months----HeeeHawww!

[In case you were wondering, Matt Chamberlain is a drummer who has worked with the likes of Tori Amos.]

"I did meet Finn Taylor at the closing press conference (at the San Francisco Film Festival). He was a judge for the Skyy Vodka prize for best first film."

"I told Taylor that there was a lot of discussion of the film on this list and people who had seen it at festivals had posted reviews of it."

"He said he saw Liz a few weeks ago when she came in to do ADR (additional dialogue recording). He does think she is interested in doing more acting. He said she was nervous and didn't think she would do a good job, but ended up liking her performance."

"He said music was an important part of the film, so it was good to have her in it. And that the Whip-smart stuff was an inside joke."

Liz's video for "Down" was an entry in the SXSW 2002 Film Festival. The video was screened on Saturday, March 9th, and Friday, March 15th. Click here for more details.

Liz is featured prominently in a new book called MOUTHING OFF - A Book Of Rock & Roll Quotes, compiled by Rolling Stone / Billboard contributor John D. Luerssen. The book comes out in June.

New Liz Phair Songs to Surface on Soundtrack

1993 request to be your blowjob queen inexplicably retracted

Will Bryant reports:

Liz Phair has recorded three new songs for the soundtrack to Julie Johnson, the Sundance Film Festival fave starring Lili Taylor as a New Jersey housewife who dumps her husband, studies theoretical physics and shacks up with Courtney Love (Good Will Hunting meets Thelma and Louise?). The new songs are "Appletree", "Faded", and "She's Gone". "Uncle Alvarez", from 1998's whitechocolatespaceegg, is also used in the film, which will be released later this year by Universal Focus, the "independent" arm of Vivendi Universal responsible for Billy Elliot. The soundtrack is expected to be released by Shooting Gallery's own actually-independent label.

Liz has also just wrapped a role in another independent film (does she shack up with Courtney Love?) entitled Cherish. She is also either putting the finishing touches on, or scrapping the master tapes and re-recording, her long-awaited fourth album with producer Michael Penn, who was pretty funny as the soulless hair-metal producer in Boogie Nights. You can even check out the video for a new song called "Down" at The Directors Bureau (created by digital filmmaker Rodney Ascher, who also created Sparklehorse's "Piano Fire" clip).

Sidenote: More recently, Universal Focus released the David Lynch film Mullholland Drive.

The good people at the Knitting Factory label have announced plans for an upcoming tribute album to the one and only Declan MacManus, known to friends as Elvis Costello. While the lineup of contributors is nowhere near finalized, Knitting Factory's Camille Sciara confirms that Throwing Muses' Kristin Hersh has signed on for the project, as well as Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo. Sciara has also contacted the management teams for such groovy acts as Wilco, Elliott Smith, and Herbie Hancock (seriously) to consider paying homage to the bespectacled rock hero. Lou Reed, Patti Smith, and Liz Phair are among the other names that have been bandied about... While no release date has been scheduled for the tribute album, Sciara tentatively reports that the record could see the light of day in January 2003.

Courtney Love's latest film, Julie Johnson, will close this year's London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival on April 17. The soundtrack includes four songs by Liz Phair.

MANAGEMENT NEWS: Scott McGhee Leaves Ovitz's AMG
Posted: Tue., Mar. 05, 2002 04:15:35 PM MST

Manager Scott McGhee has left Michael Ovitz's AMG / Artists Management Group company, rejoining his brother Doc at McGhee Management. Scott manages Blues Traveler, Dragpipe and Liz Phair.

Launch or Rollingstone.com reported that Liz co-wrote "Soak Up The Sun", but I haven't been able to confirm this. To view that particular story, click here.

New Sheryl Crow Album - April 9

The brand new Sheryl Crow album, titled C'mon, C'mon, is scheduled to be released on April 9th!! The album's first single, "Soak Up The Sun", features backing vocals by Liz Phair and will be hitting radio airwaves across the country and the world over the next couple of weeks!

[posted 2/4/2002 U.S.A.]

The single "Soak Up The Sun", featuring Liz, has a scheduled release date of March 25th.

I've also been told that there is a video for "Soak Up The Sun", which features a Liz cameo, where she is playing basketball.

"Hello all and a belated happy holidays. Believe it or not, things are progressing on the web site but it will still be a while. As you know I am producing the new Liz Phair album which is going great and will be out later this year. I think we will be finished in a couple of months and then... well I don't know. I will either start my next record or I might take another production or soundtrack before beginning but I promise it won't be too long."

.....The stars of Cherish - Orland Park native Robin Tunney, Tim Blake Nelson and Jason Priestly - attended their Sunday night screening and the mobbed after-party. Alas, cast member and former Chicagoan Liz Phair was a no-show; Tunney said she's currently cutting an album in L.A.

New Sheryl Crow Album Coming Soon!

All of Sheryl Crow's collaborating over the last couple of years apparently gave the singer some ideas for her fourth studio album.

The as-yet-untitled follow-up to 1998's The Globe Sessions, due in late March, will include contributions from several big-name artists, including Stevie Nicks, Don Henley, Lenny Kravitz and the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines. "Soak up the Sun", the album's first single, is due in February and features additional vocals by fellow female rocker Liz Phair.

Nicks, who appeared on Crow's 1999 live album, Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live From Central Park, sings on "You're Not the One". Crow and Nicks recently collaborated on Nicks' Trouble in Shangri-La (2001), sharing vocals on "It's Only Love". Crow also produced several tracks on Nicks' record.

Eagles singer Henley, who's among the artists Crow sang backup for early on in her career, appears on the track "It's So Easy". Kravitz sings on "You're an Original", and Maines adds her signature twang to "Abilene". Crow and Maines performed several songs together at a breast cancer benefit in Los Angles last fall, including Crow's "It Don't Hurt". Maines' Dixie Chicks also appear on Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live From Central Park.

Other guests on the upcoming album are folk and country veteran Emmylou Harris ("Weather Channel") and blues guitarist Doyle Bramhall II ("Steve McQueen", "Over You").

Since the release of The Globe Sessions, which featured the single "My Favorite Mistake", Crow has recorded with an array of artists, from Tony Bennett to Kid Rock.

While recording in New York last summer, Crow played several high-profile club shows that included many of the guests on her album along with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.

Tentative track list for Sheryl Crow's upcoming album:
"Steve McQueen"
"Soak up the Sun"
"You're an Original"
"It's So Easy"
"Over You"
"It's Only Love"
"Weather Channel"
"You're Not the One"
"Missing"
"Abilene"
"Slave"
"Safe and Sound"

Sheryl Crow Gets More Friends

The track listing for Sheryl Crow's follow-up to 1998's The Globe Sessions has been firmed up, and the album is now slated for March. Crow spent time in New York City last year working on the record, popping up for star-studded surprise gigs that included appearances by the likes of Keith Richards, Stevie Nicks, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kid Rock. And while Rock and Paltrow were initially rumored to be singing on the upcoming album, Nicks is the only one from those performances confirmed for the album. Nicks lends backing vocals to "You're Not the One".0

But Crow has enlisted a number of other guests to offer up vocals. Liz Phair contributes to "Soak Up the Sun", while Lenny Kravitz and Don Henley chip in on "You're an Original" and "It's So Easy", respectively. Doyle Bramhall II pops up as a guest vocalist on a pair of tracks, "Steve McQueen" and "Over You", while Crow also tapped country music friends, Emmylou Harris ("Weather Channel") and Dixie Chick Natalie Maines ("Abilene"), for guest spots. The Dixie Chicks appeared on Crow's Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live From Central Park, and Crow played accordion during the Chicks' performance on the television program, Sessions at West 54th.

The first single from the album will be "Soak Up the Sun", which will go to radio next month. In an audio message to fans on her Web site, Crow said she expects 2002 to be "a really busy year, and we're going to be doing a lot of touring".

Crow also recently contributed a cover of the Beatles' "Mother Nature's Son" to the Fab Four-centric soundtrack to I Am Sam.

The new album's track listing:
Steve McQueen
Soak Up the Sun
You're an Original
It's So Easy
Over You
It's Only Love
Weather Channel
You're Not the One
Missing
Abilene
Slave
Safe and Sound

ANDREW DANSBY

Courtney Love Is 'Funny & Affecting' In Forthcoming Julie Johnson

Jan 2, 2002, 11:05 am PT

Courtney Love is affecting and funny in at least one of her upcoming film roles, co-starring opposite Lili Taylor in the romantic comedy Julie Johnson. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival last January and has been turning up at film festivals in the U.S. and overseas ever since. And that’s the only place you'll be able to see the romantic comedy —- for now.

The film's distributor, the Shooting Gallery, declared bankruptcy in June, which left the movie in receivership limbo, and the film's director, Bob Gosse, says he still doesn't know when the film will have a theatrical release. But it is expected to screen again in Charlotte, N.C., and Brussels this January, and London and Sydney in April.

Julie Johnson's story concerns a dissatisfied Hoboken housewife (Taylor), who, in the interest of self-improvement, kicks her husband out of the house, starts taking computer classes, and ends up having an affair with her best friend (Love). The role gives Love the chance to show off her acting chops in a variety of situations. She’s expectedly sassy and smart-talking (especially when dealing with Taylor's kids), but thrown for an emotional loop by her friend’s romantic interest in her.

The tension between Love and Taylor is heightened by their having to hide their relationship, with Love the more uncertain of the two. In addition to her well-honed comedic skills, Love proves effective at conveying the discomfort of a person caught up in something she doesn’t fully understand.

Gosse tells us that Love studied with a dialect coach to sound authentically "Jersey", and observed the locals at malls in Trenton to get a feel for her character. "She's very smart," says Gosse about working with Love, "And really quick off the mark. And intuitive."

Those expecting a big love scene —- as in sex —- will be disappointed; the physical interaction between the two leads is discreet. But Love's performance was powerful enough to net her a Best Actress award when the film played Outfest, L.A.'s gay film festival (the film's played a mix of gay and non-gay film fests, with gay fests having the edge).

The film’s soundtrack, which is also not currently set for release, features a score by Twin Peaks vet Angelo Badalamenti, and four new songs by Liz Phair -- "Apple Tree", "Uncle Alvarez", "Faded", and "She's Gone".

-- Ann Miller