Feb 2004

Well it's been a strange old year, and this page has been pretty obviously neglected these past months ... anyway please enjoy reading some rather old news below. Maybe one of these days we'll fill you in on 2004. Info on Lisa's live shows can be found on the LIVE page.

July 2004

Dec 2003

22 December 2003
Days 2 and 3 (part 1) of the Neil Young Tour Story now appear below! Hope you all had nice xmases and happy new years. See you in the Fitzroy Gardens on Friday Jan 16. It's free!

17 December 2003
God, nearly a month later and you're still waiting for the rest of the Neil Young story! It's coming, it's coming... sign up for the mailing list if you haven't already (we hardly ever bother you, promise) and we'll let you know when Days Two & Three go on.
In the meantime, a reminder about the Christmas show at the Corner this Saturday Dec 20. Special guests royalchord, some season-appropriate songs may be on the cards - last year it was Run Run Rudolph. Guaranteed to be Crazy Horse inspired (we'll drink lots of tequila) and rocking!

24 November 2003
Well, we just did the last of three incredible Neil Young shows. So many people have asked us what it was like, so we're putting together our diaries and we'll post it here in the coming days. Here at least is Day One:

19 November 2003
Got into Brisbane, checked into hotel, got something to eat down in Chinatown ... usual stuff, but with an air of great anticipation about what was about to happen.
Headed out to the venue. The Brisbane Entertainment Centre is way out of town, past the airport, out in the middle of the bush. Why? Guess they don't have any noise issues, at least not with humans. After some mobile phone negotiation, the security guy let us drive through the gate and into the enormous loading bay, where about half a dozen semi trailers were parked. Our gear was in one of them, tucked in a corner somewhere. We were led through a door into the backstage area, and rather than being bowled over by volume, we just gradually became aware that Neil & Crazy Horse were already up onstage soundchecking, playing Devil's Sidewalk. Then, cutting right through, we heard the "Green-dale" chorus - spines chilled! It was time to get out front. Took a few minutes to find our dressing room, get our laminates, shake a few hands, and then we were in the huge auditorium - thousands of empty seats, fully house-lit and Crazy Horse playing just for us. It was way louder front-of-house. Now they were doing Sun Green ("Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too..."). We crept a little closer, not knowing yet what the vibe was with these people - would they kick us out if we get too close? Neil was singing through a mike on his intricate stand hooked up to a little megaphone that rotated from side to side. Suddenly he stopped the song, and demanded to know from his guitar-tech Larry Cragg what was wrong with his amp (the little '59 Deluxe that is the heart of his sound)
"Well it should be exactly the same" protested Larry.
"Don't give me that bullshit - I know how it's supposed to sound, these guys (the band) know how it should sound, those guys (pointing up at the mixing desk) know how it should sound, and I'm telling you - this sounds like shit. (We thought it sounded incredible!) Just make it right!" and he stormed off the stage.

As Larry went to work on the Fender we looked at each uneasily, wondering if maybe we should skulk out of there - but this was too amazing to miss. This guy Larry - who has worked devotedly for Neil for 30 years or more, was being talked to like some local roadie. Obviously everything we'd ever heard about Neil's ruthless perfectionism was true. The rest of the Horse - Billy, Poncho and Ralph just stood around silently, so we waited too.

Larry put the amp back in place, re-attached "The Whizzer" (Neil devotees know what this is) and Neil reappeared. He plugged in Old Black, and blasted a few chords. The band must have sensed all was now well, because they immediately slammed into "Love And Only Love". While we couldn't say for sure that amp sounded any better than before, it sure as hell sounded good now. But Neil soon wrapped it up, and this time he started getting stuck into Billy Talbot, the bass player. Couldn't quite get what this was about, but we did overhear "Just one fucking note - how long you been playing this? One fucking note!" Neil walked over to side of stage, to where the Mountainettes stood - his 4 backing vocalists that include his wife Pegi. He picked up an acoustic, and they ran through some harmonies off-mike. Couple of minutes later, sound check was over. Priceless stuff.

Next up on stage was a bunch of spritely kids in loose-fitting clothing. The album recording of "Be The Rain" was pumped over the house system, and they did their choreographed moves. In the harsh light of the auditorium it all looked faintly ludicrous, but intriguing all the same.

Now it was Lisa's turn. We got our gear together, and climbed the ramp up to the stage. It was amazing to see Neil's incredible rig of ancient amps and effects at close hand. None of it was covered up or roped off. Of course we got right in close, checked it all out, and took lots of photos. On his crazy mike stand were a bunch of harps and his own hand-written lyrics to the Greendale songs, on Swedish hotel notepaper.

A bunch of people - including Elliot Roberts (Neil's (and Joni Mitchell's) manager since late Buffalo Springfield days), Ralph Molina and all 4 Mountainettes - came out to check out Lisa and the band running through their soundcheck. They seemed to enjoy it, because she got a big cheer at the end!

The rest of the night was all a bit of a blur. One thing that stands out is that Elliot Roberts came into the dressing room after the soundcheck and, holding her hands, said to Lisa "you're here because we wanted you". This is a guy with a fearsome reputation, and he was as nice and sweet as you could ask for. Hearing that from him was a big deal. We got to meet the Crazy Horse guys before the show - Ralph was particularly friendly - as well as quite a few of the crew. As they say in California, everyone was real nice. But no sign of Neil. At one point Michael Gudinski (well known to Australians as boss of Mushroom Music, and the promoter of this tour) flashed past and said "Have you met Neil yet? No? Don't worry - there's plenty of time for that!"

Next thing we knew, the show was underway. We watched from the side of the auditorium, so that night we saw pretty much the same show as anyone else. Needless to say it was incredible, and has been well covered in reviews you can find elsewhere. We really enjoyed the whole Greendale stage show, and when a bunch of people got on stage for the finale it looked like a whole lot of fun.

20 November 2003
Played a show at The Troubadour in Brisbane with Raoul labelmate Kelley Stoltz (buy his album, it's great - 5 star review in The Age last week! FIVE!). It was in pretty stark contrast to the arena of the night before - a funky little lounge bar. Nice joint, but getting asked to turn down half way through was a bit weird. Got a bit of a way to go in that town it seems....

21 November 2003
Sydney Entertainment Centre. Got there nice and early today so we wouldn't miss any of Neil's soundcheck. Shown to our dressing room - huge! More like football club rooms. Which is why we emptied a mineral water bottle and promptly commenced a goal-kicking competition. Headed out into the seating when it was time. Kelley Stoltz was with us, even though he lives in San Francisco and has seen Neil play live a dozen times, he was pretty excited about seeing this. The band came out and launched into pretty much the same songs they checked with in Brisbane. Sounded amazing of course. Neil seemed to be in a much more relaxed frame of mind, everybody else was more relaxed as well, and it all proceeded without incident. Much as we perversely enjoyed the antics in Brisbane, and this soundcheck was over all too soon, there was already a feeling this would be a better night. Then the Sydney dancers got up to do their crazy bit. It somehow makes more sense when you see a whole different troupe of kids in each city, can't really explain why....

Then we clambered back on the huge stage for Lisa's soundcheck. It's always weird when you do these tours, stand on the stage in different venues in different cities, but everything is just exactly the same as it was the previous night. It's like you haven't gone anywhere, and everything beyond the immediate surrounds of the stage is just an abstract entity. Kelley came up on the stage with us and was like a kid in a toy shop "Hey it's the big microphone from Rust never Sleeps! - gotta get me a photo next to that! .... Man, take a photo of me playing Neil's pump organ! .... Now I'll kneel down next to The Wizzer!". Lisa's soundcheck went well and things were shaping up well. Once again a posse of Neil's people came out to watch. Even bigger cheers from The Mountainettes, and a bunch of those dancing kids freestyled all over the auditorium to Lisa's music, which was pretty funny.
Back to the club rooms, and a big tray of sandwiches - yes, this was definitely going to be a good night. One of Neil's people came up to Lisa to introduce himself, and say he enjoyed hearing her play. His name was Russ Tamblyn; the name sounded familiar to us. Told us his background was as an actor, mainly in musicals, films like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and he played Riff, leader of the Jets in West Side Story, which sounded kind of cool. Russ told us he's known Neil for nearly 40 years and he's along to produce and direct the Greendale show. When he made to shake Lisa's hand he knocked her whisky clean onto the floor, in a move that we have since named The Tamblyn Manouvre. It was Kelley who picked the frame of reference we could all relate to - Russ was Doctor Jacoby in Twin Peaks! You know, the dude with the different coloured spectacle lenses and the beads, the hippy psychiatrist. Russ then told us, but Lisa specifically, that we should join the dance troupe for a session to learn the moves. We thought he was kidding, but he insisted we follow him into the dancer's rooms. Well why the hell not we thought as we made our way into a room full of teenagers in legwarmers dancing to Greendale songs cranked up really loud. We were intoduced to Marcy, who was conducting the rehearsal, and Lisa was informed that she should come and dance right up stage centre next to Neil for the finale. They insisted: Emmylou did it, Lucinda did it, so you gotta do it too! So we learned the moves. We were really starting to feel part of thic crazy caravan.

It was getting closer to showtime. Kelley and I wandered back out near the stage, and got talking to Larry Cragg, and a younger guy with long blonde hair with a familiar look about him. Larry spoke about his life's passion - old Fender amps (silverface - yechhh!). We realised by this time that long-suffering Larry also had to play the lead role of Grandpa in the Greendale show. The younger guy said his name was Zeke. Which of course we knew straight away meant he was Neil's son. Zeke was in charge of recording all the shows. He showed us around all the gear, told us how the platform boot on the pump organ used to be Elton John's, dates from the Tonight's The Night tour, stuff like that.

Lisa's set went really well, sounded much better (and louder) out front than the Brisbane show, but there was still something a bit odd in the first song. Turns out her guitar had been tuned with a drop D, which she annouced was a consequence of the Neil Young effect. Lisa's sets were pretty short - just a half hour - but by the time she and the band finished the Sydney Entertainment Centre was pretty full, and they went down really well.

Neil's show was even better tonight (although apparently he wasn't feeling well that day), there was definitely seemed to be a more palpatable air of excitement in the audience. As instructed we gathered at the rear of stage at the start of Sun Green (Hey Mr. Clean). We really felt like kids about to go on stage for the pantomime. Russ, who was dressed in a yellow anorak for his part as Capt. John Green, beckoned to Lisa to come join him at the front of the entourage. The final song (Be The Rain) commenced, we went through our just-learned moves, and next thing we knew we were filing onto the stage as Crazy Horse played! It sounded just fantastic. Shane, Kelley and I did our best to keep up with the moves as we were gathered around Poncho's Wurlitzer piano. He had some weird-looking girly pictures taped to the top of it that had been covered up earlier with a Navajo rug. Figure they were there just to freak people like us, or maybe he just enjoys looking at them while he performs. You could hear his keyboards much more clearly onstage than in the mix. (In fact you could hardly hear Poncho out front at all). Lisa seemed to be acquitting herself pretty well in the middle. There were a whole bunch of cops, reporters and dancing teenagers between us, even though it was just a few feet away. The song seemed to go forever, we kept doing our moves and catching glimpses through the crowd of Neil stomping on his board and playing one blistering refrain after another. It was really inspiring to hear that sound so close up, and straight out of his amazing amps. By the time it all ended and we came off the stage we felt the most amazing, largely natural, high. Any cynics in the audience who dismissed this show as an amateurish high school production would have quickly changed their minds if they'd got to experience it like we did.

Can't really remember a whole lot of what happened after this show - we talked to a whole lot of the cast and crew, especially to Russ, who was just a really friendly warm guy. He had some good David Lynch and Dennis Hopper stories. The Mountanette girls chatted at length to Lisa, and seemed really thrilled when Lisa gave them copies of the new album. Zeke was around, and mentioned that he'd been recording Lisa's sets as well as his old man's. And Elliot Roberts had some more kind words. All in all it was just a magic night, and it didn't seem possible that it could get much better than this..... but still no sign of Neil, other than fleeting appearances in the corridor.

21 November 2003
Back to Melbourne, and home to our houses for a bit. We decided to taxi in to the Bowl, as there's very little room out the back, especially with 6 semi-trailers parked there. We'd always assumed that this outdoor gig would be on a glorious November evening, but it was pissing down rain and was as cold as buggery. Apparently the trucks had got in late, the whole thing was running hours behind, and a soundcheck looked unlikely, both for Neil and Lisa. There was a faily edgy atmosphere backstage. Looking up at the hill, everything seemed dreary and empty, and it was hard to imagine that anyone was going to come out tonight in this weather. But at the appointed minute, a sea of heads appeared over the crest of the hill and began descending full-tilt down the slope. It was just like that scene in Zulu.

It was soon time for Lisa to go on. By now the hill was almost completely packed, and the rain seemed to have subsided at last. Through that giant, beautiul PA, and in the open air, she sounded absolutely glorious. The lack of a soundcheck didn't matter a bit. Once again the (home)crowd was really responsive - mind you we were in no illusions about who they'd come to see - and apart from one dickhead who yelled out "sit down" throughout the set in an incredibly loud voice, it was another really good performance. The highlight in the set that night was probably 'Eleven', which was just Lisa and Shane alone on stage. But it still sounded enormous, with huge bottom end and harmonics coming out of the acoustic guitar. It's going to be hard to go back to playing in small rooms after this. Lisa said later she was pretty rattled by the yeller, not being able to hear exactly what he was screaming out, she presumed it must have been something like "Get off, we want Neil". Either way, that guy is a wanker. if you know who he was, please report him to us so we can wreak some vengeance.

Within minutes of coming off stage, Zeke appeared with a DAT. As he'd told us last night he'd recorded all of Lisa's sets, now he'd mixed it on the fly and dumped it all down onto a single DAT, annotated with all the dates and cue times. He apologised for the fact that they hadn't brought out the whole 48-track mobile rig that they usually travel with, and it was just done with a 16-track digital. The best live recording we'd managed thus far was from plugging a mini-disc into the desk, which typically gives a pretty unbalanced, unflattering and drum-heavy sound. But this was all set up with seperate lines and ambient mics, specifically to record. Needless to say we were pretty knocked out that Neil Young's son had even been bothered to waste some tape on a virtually unknown support band in Australia. But this was so generous. Zeke, if you're reading this - you rock! Thanks so much. We've listened to it since, and it sounds great. We may at some point use some of this material to release (we have his blessing incidentally - he actually seemed pretty chuffed that we might print 'Recorded by Zeke Young' on the disc).

Despite the anxious mood of a few hours earlier, Neil's band seemed pretty relaxed, and were quite happy to chat with us right before they went on. Neil appeared, gathered everyone up and marched up the steps to the stage. We followed (respectably) close behind, wanting to get a taste of that roar from the crowd as they walked on. Darkness was just setting over the hill, the sky had cleared, and the atmosphere was unbelievable. The roar was enormous, the band launched right into Falling From Above, and straight away you could tell this was the best one yet. Compared to the sports arenas of the previous shows, the backstage area at the Bowl was really cramped, and it was all but impossible to watch the show from the side. We tried a few spots but it was pretty frustrating. Zeke must have noticed our dilemma, because he motioned us over to stand right behind the monitor desk - a pretty privileged position.

final part of day three coming soon......

13 november 2003

Melbourne launch of Version Originale at The Prince of Wales. Special guest Kelley Stoltz from San Francisco, his Australian debut performance. Appearing onstage with Lisa (in addition to the just-named VO5) will be Jen Anderson on viola, Rosie Westbrook on double bass, and the singer from that band You Am I.

5 november 2003
Sydney launch of Version Originale at The Basement.

25 October 2003
Version Originale is feature album of the week on the ABC's dig internet radio site right now. There's also - if you look around - some live video footage from the recent session at the Hi-Fi Bar for Radio National that you can stream. Better get that broadband connection installed first! Go to http://www.abc.net.au/dig/stories/s973176.htm There's also some video stuff at The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age/Fairfax site. That's at http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/music/index.html Looks like there's some live Prince footage there too - I'm gonna check that out now!

mid-August to mid-October 2003

The past few weeks have been a blur of record-releasing activity, and updating this page just kept getting pushed down the list of the things to do. In brief this is what has been happening:

Lisa appeared on 'The Panel' with Billy Bragg. They sang the Tim Hardin song "Reason To Believe". Lisa and Billy only met about 2 hours before it went to air, they ran through it a few times on set while the crew set up. Then we went off for a quick dinner and some amusing anecdotes from Mr. Bragg, returned for make-up - Lisa got this amazing holographic 3D lipstick. Then Lisa and Billy practised the song a few more times in the men's toilets until they got the call - they went directly from the dunny to the set, did the song live, and it was fantastic.

Did two shows at The Forum supporting Billy Bragg. The new songs sounded great, and folks seemed to like it a lot. First show for new bass player Douglas Lee Robertson (from Ice Cream Hands) - he did very well.

The new album was due to come out September 22, but all the discs got printed incorrectly and got sent back to the factory to get crunched. The release date was postponed to September 29.

The discs were printed correctly, but then it was realised that the wrong ones hadn't been sent back to get crunched yet, so there were no covers to put them in. The release date was postponed to October 6.

Version Originale was RRR album of the week - but it wasn't out.

October 5 - Version Originale in stores at last!

New album already getting some great reviews, including a 4 1/2 stars from The Age, and an 'umpteen' stars from Beat. We'll try and post some of those on the press page soon.

Opened this year's season of the (Famous) Spiegeltent on the evening of Friday Oct 10. First show since the album was out. Lisa had virtually lost her voice from a cold, but thanks to a miracle potion of various tonics was able to find it for the performance. She sounded great - a little husky, and restrained, but perfect for the occasion.

Lisa invited to be the opening act on the Neil Young Tour. We're actually all still a bit awe-struck about that one, a week later and it still hasn't sunk in, and probably won't until Lisa is on the stage of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. Just to prepare we've got our LP of Time Fades Away sitting up on the mantle-piece (it's the one with a shot of a huge crowd taken from the stage).

8 August 2003
Very pleased to hear that Car Tape got a spin on WWOZ in New Orleans last night. WWOZ is a fantastic radio station - listener-supported and volunteer-run like our own RRR or PBS - that specialises in the musical heritage of that amazing city. So it's really great to get a look-in there. Apparently some folk around the station like Lisa's album a lot. Couldn't think of a better town from which to launch our assault on North America!

ps When in New Orleans we always listen to WWOZ, and you can too, right now. They stream live on the net from http://www.wwoz.com

5 August 2003
While on the subject of those Billy Bragg shows, it looks likely that Lisa and Billy will be performing a song together on a certain national TV show. Can't say too much - we'll keep you posted.

3 Aug 2003
Lisa has been confirmed as the support to Billy Bragg's Melbourne shows at The Forum. It'll be great to see her again on that beautiful stage. Lisa last played at The Forum supporting Nick Cave back in 1999 .... or was it 1998?

1 August 2003
As we write, Lisa is in the studio working on final mixes for the new album. To be titled "Version Originale", it's sheduled for national release on September 22. As it's title suggests, this album contains 100% Lisa Miller compositions.

From the little bits that we have managed to smuggle through the tight veil of security surrounding Yikesville Studios, we can assure the readers that this is going to be another wonderful record. 11 tracks, some written before Car Tape, some written after. A definite highlight is the duet with Tim Rogers, a song called "I Can't Tell", which is surely going to be the biggest thing since Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes did "Up Where We Belong" .... I can't believe I just said that!

30 July 2003
Oh dear, well I really thought we'd be back sooner than this. We returned from Byron Bay to a rude shock - our plans to buy back the rights to Lisa's first 2 albums had seemingly come to nothing. The label that owns these recordings had decided to stick Lisa's first album "Quiet Girl With A Credit Card" back into distribution. This was after sitting on their asses with it out of print for nearly three years. Just when we had plans to repackage it, with bonus tracks, and at mid-price, they decided to respond to our offer by relisting it - at full price - at the very bottom of a poorly laid-out release sheet from their (current) distributor. And not a word about on their own website. Our anger at this turn of events has been such that we have not been able to bring ourselves to add to this page since - for fear that our vitriol might have spewed out even more than it is now.

While we are glad that this album is finally available again, it is a great disappointment to Lisa that it now seems unlikely that she will ever own the rights to her own work. Not to mention how insulting it has been to receive such shabby treatment. We certainly don't wish to discourage people from buying these records, but bear in mind that Lisa will almost certainly never see a cent from their sale. We thought this sort of practice died out in the 50s - obviously not.

Well, enough sour grapes! We're over it now, and we're just gonna get on with things.....

11 April 2003
Brisbanites: you shall be rewarded in a few days when Lisa breezes through your town. Wednesday April 16 at The Zoo. Lisa is supporting Tex Perkins but you will get the full band in all it's magnificent glory. Well five of them anyway. It's the first time Lisa has played in Brisbane in about 3 years - we still get emails from people who fondly remember that show, also at The Zoo.
The next night the band is on the Sunshine Coast, at Joe's Waterhole (?!) in Eumundi, near Noosa. They assure us it's actually quite a nice place.
Then it's on down to Byron for the big festival. All the info for that can be found at http://www.bluesfest.com.au/.

p.s. when we get a second, we'll tell you about how fantastic Lambchop were.....

10 March 2003
Lisa will be playing a couple of dates with the wonderful Lambchop on their Australian tour later this month! Best part of that is that it means Lisa will at last be playing in Sydney again very soon. Last time Kurt Wagner from Lambchop was here playing solo, it was one of the best shows we've ever seen. So while we're still not getting the full 11-12 piece Lamchop line-up, we're nonetheless very excited to be sharing a bill with at least 6 of them! Dates are Melbourne: Wed March 26 at The Corner, and Sydney: Fri March 28 at The Gaelic Club in Surry Hills. Also appearing is the rather legendary New Zealander Sir David Kilgour, from The Clean.

19 Feb 2003
Had a fantastic weekend. The gig in Fitzroy Gardens was beautiful - a thousand or so people spread over the lawns, huge trees, bats overhead, lots of kids, lots of well stocked hampers, lots of anti-war placards and badges, and a very peaceful, post-peace rally kind of vibe. The next day Lisa and Shane headed up to Mitchelton winery at Nagambie, where we were looked after extremely well, particularly in respect of the principal product of that particular establishment, if you get my drift. Thanks also to McGee Wines and Chateau Tahbilk for their outstanding generosity and service to grape-loving musicians.

Right now we're very lucky to be listening to the new Lucinda Williams album, which won't be released until April ...it sounds incredible.

See you on Sunday at Rockpool, Fitzroy Swimming Pool. Lisa's on at 1:30.

13 Feb 2003
Tomorrow is the Rally For Peace starting at 5pm at The State Library, and moving on to Federation Square at 6:15. Be in it. Then wander down to the Fitzroy Gardens, Lisa and the band are on at 7, it's a free concert, placards and burning effigies of Bush and Howard most welcome.

12 Feb 2003
It's official, Lisa is definitely performing at this year's East Coast Blues & Roots Festival, euphemistically referred to by all and sundry as simply "Byron". (As in: "youse goin' up to Byron this easter?") It's Lisa's third time on the bill. We're hoping to fit in a Brisbane show at least around then as well.

31 Jan 2003
Some radio to tune into: Next Tue morning on RRR (102.7FM, also online at http://www.rrr.org.au/index2.htm) Lisa is a guest on The Word, talking on the theme of 'summer songs' and spinning some favourite records. And on ABC 774 next Wednesday night about 7:45, Lisa will be chatting with Derek Guille and doing a song live on air.

30 Jan 2003
We're back! Whatever gizmo it was on our computer that enabled us to update this info disappeared, our 'webmaster' has been away, and we couldn't do much at all. Besides, it's been hot.

Well, the kids are back in school, we've found the missing gizmo, and we've got some catching up to do. We'll go back to where we left off, the show at The Corner on Dec 19. It was a great night, all 3 bands pulled out something special on the night. Disaster Plan were an absolute pleasure, delving into their vast 5 album back-catalogue as effortlessly as they swapped their instruments (...and they're doing another new album next month!). Those who got their money's worth and came early were amply rewarded, and the night was off to a happy start. Machine Translations delivered one killer song after another, and nearly all of them came off their fantastic new album 'Happy', one of the best records released by anyone, anywhere in 2002. And of course Lisa was sensational, capping off a great year with the band sounding better and better every time.

Not much has happened since (apart from a lot of swimming, and recording for the new album), but there's a bit of stuff coming up to tell you about:

On Sunday Feb 9 Lisa is playing on the main stage of the St Kilda Festival, at 1:30. Come and join the other 499,999 people who typically attend this event.

Then a few days later, on Valentine's Day no less, Lisa is playing another free show in the Fitzroy Gardens, as part of the 'Summer Fun In The Parks' programme.Come on, what could be more romantic than champagne on a rug in the gardens at twilight, listening to Lisa sing "We Love Each Other'? Go to www.thatsmelbourne.com.au for details.

The next day, Sat Feb 15, we're heading up to Nagambie in central Victoria for an acoustic show at the Mitchelton winery. Stay tuned for more details on this one.

Then on Sun Feb 23, Lisa and Shane are appearing at Rockpool, at the Fitzroy Pool. This is going to be great! A really good line-up this year, including Architecture in Helsinki, Music vs Physics, and Ninetynine performing poolside. And as if the music isn't enough, there's also (un)synchronised swimming, bomb and bellyflop comps (with actual prizes), and of course if it's hot you can watch the whole thing in the water - flotation devices are recommended, particularly if you've had a few. It starts at 11.00am and goes on until 7.30pm. It's cheap: entry is $3.50 /$2.10 concession /$2 children.

Then, let's see...oh yeah, Colliding Rhythms at Currawong Bush Park in Warrandyte on Sun March 9. This is going to be beautiful. Have a look at www.manningham.vic.gov.au/ to see what this park is about. Apparently there are koalas, over 85 bird species, kangaroos, and even platypus (platapi? platapussues?)...everywhere! As for the show, we'll have more info soon, but we are very pleased that the wonderful little band that is called Fricken will be supporting Lisa that evening. Fricken features our old friend Billy Baxter, who makes very rare appearances these days, so this will be a special night. Curiously, the park ranger is a huge Billy Baxter fan, to the extent of naming several of the features of the pack after songs of his, bands he has played in or been associated with, and even after Billy himself!

We're not kidding about the secure server business, It's nearly ready. Feel free to email us in the meantime if you're after copies of Car Tape, wherever you are.

18 Dec 2002
Car Tape is starting to appear in quite a few end of year polls. A notable one appeared in last Saturday's issue of The Weekend Australian. Iain Shedden opens his round up of the essential CDs of 2002: "Melbourne chanteuse Lisa Miller produced one of the surprise classics of this year with her covers album Car Tape. This was a loose collection of her favourite tracks from Lyle Lovett, Townes van Zandt and others, bound together by a voice and arrangements that were sultry, seductive, and highly original. With this method in mind, my own 2002 car tape has The Boy That Radiates That Charm and Better Days from that album on board."
We got a great email from someone who had been given a mix CD for Christmas that a friend had obviously gone to a lot of trouble to compile - they'd found all the original versions of the songs on Car Tape. Well, almost all - they could only find 51 seconds of the Karen Dalton song from her pretty damn rare second LP. Still, that's no easy task, and we're impressed. If anyone else out there has managed this we'd love to hear from you.