Lizz King

Wednesday, I started out addled by boredom and longing.

I ran into a friend who was walking his dog. We talked. He was about to tour with his band. Then we went to his house for a pizza party. However, my mind was spiraling out of control. I was antsy and I could not wait for the other guests to arrive.

One of his band mates came with a rough black curly-haired dog. This made for a little humorous fun. I watched my friend’s horny mutt futilely hump the spayed bitch, and meanwhile a cat was jumping around.

This amplified my own spring fever. When his band mate’s dog shit on the floor and the spinach-like odor of animal waste assailed my nose, I became even more oppressed by a vague longing like that of waiting for a friend to return from abroad.

Then I noticed in the newspaper that Lizz King was playing the Talking Head with the Degenerettes and an Italian noise band, Trouble vs. Glue. I figured that a show would relieve some tension and force me to be social and meet new people. So I went. The Degenerettes, a trio including Chrissy Howland, songwriter of Scout and an amazing bassist, did not fail to impress with a trebly garage rock.

I spoke briefly to an artist friend who rode her bike there. Then Lizz came over and excitedly mentioned to me that she was playing with a live drummer, Kevin of Video Hippos.

My longing and nervousness were still like awkward dogs and a jumping cat.

I felt worn out. Thus I left the show with no intention of returning. I apologized to Lizz, saying that I hoped to catch another show soon. 

I felt bad. But then, as I was driving away, my spirit renewed itself, and I thought, “Don't feel down.”

Lizz’s music is all about being strong. So I drove back.

Lizz King played a set that was uncannily intimate, and her voice was like a separate body: a lone woman full of love but under rain without an umbrella. She first sat down in the center of the room on the dirty floor with a banjo. Both the cover song and the original, pertaining to lovemaking, were terrific. Then her voice exhibited a deeper sense of the blues as she launched into a fun laptop electronica number.

When she picked up her guitar and Kevin joined her on drums, the magic truly unfolded. It was powerful in being raw. They were like bluegrass musicians from an earlier time! 

Her sensuous southern folk playing soared above his pattering drumsticks like a lark. She kept the set really short and it benefited from that brevity. At the end she said that the stuff she was recording now with Kevin was more about sex than love. She said she was ready to bury some of her older songs, making room for new nuggets of gold. I was glad to have come back for her show. It calmed my nerves and strengthened me.