Have you ever had a day in your life that was so beautiful that you got pissed at yourself for ever bitching about anything?  A day that made you know no matter how fucked up you think you are or your situation is that there is beauty on this planet that supersedes all of your worries, fears, anger and pettiness, and makes you believe there is absolute purpose to this living thing and that heaven does exist and maybe sometimes it’s RIGHT HERE? 

That’s what the Concert in the Country this past Saturday afternoon was like for me.  No - not because I played at the concert and I think I’m some kind a fine rock star like Justin Beber…but because I did have fun performing with 5 incredible musicians that kicked their own asses for me and because three other bands, played as well (Noelle Hampton, Brennen Leigh, and Mando Saenz) and watching all of them perform outside on a beautiful spring day on my friends’ Clare and Bill Johnson’s farm was so fine I had to pinch myself with my capo (a guitar player’s gadget that is good for pinching, too)  to make sure I was really there! 

On top of that, the audience consisted of about 150 people who brought picnics, beer and wine, kids, dogs and blankets and spread out on the green lawn in front of the Johnson’s house.  Kids were throwing Frisbees and footballs.  Two of my closest girl friends from high school showed up with their four teenage boys.  After those boys wore themselves out running like fiends I walked to their little camp out to find them all faced down and snoozing on the lawn.  One of them had his head snuggled up against a large pot of spaghetti.  I laughed my ass off with their moms – who only had sisters growing up and who, like me even though I had brothers, are absolutely intrigued by the male species.  We were flabbergasted as to how a person passes out in the middle of the day with his face in the grass and his head plastered up to a pot of pasta unless he are drunk off his ass!  Mystery is delightful!

Friendship and music sustain me.  They have since my first memories. My sweet friends Clare and Bill came up with this idea to do an outdoor concert at their country home that would be free to music lovers and honor songwriters and musicians.  Their very kind friends Karen Shouse and Dennis Dunn pitched in as sponsors.  Many more of my friends and their friends and the musician’s friends and families came to this event.  Noelle’s parents and her 96-year-old grandmother came!  (The first time I met Noelle’s grandmother was about two years ago at around 10 pm in an Austin live music joint. Don’t be telling this lady that you are too old to go to clubbing – she’ll club you in the head!)

Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.”  I’d like to edit that a little and say, “Without friendship and music, life would be a mistake.” Last Saturday was heaven on earth for me.  Thank you so much to all of you who came out!  We are going to make this an annual event so if you missed it don’t worry – just come next year and bring your friends with their big fat friend and music loving hearts!  Let’s make a little more heaven on earth…

Hi friends

To prepare for tomorrow’s rehearsal with “my band” that consists of 5 ridiculously brilliant musicians, I’ve been sitting in a dark hotel bar drinking bloody Mary’s, eating potato chips and repeatedly listening through head phones to the songs we are going to work on tomorrow. No matter that I wrote or co-wrote every song and have sung them a shit-pile of times in public – I am paranoid that I’ll walk into rehearsal and not remember one damned word. (If I drink anymore of this bloody Mary brew that will definitely happen.) I’ll suck and the musicians will pack up and haul ass.

People tell me I look relaxed on stage. That observation does not at all correlate with what is going on inside my gut and head. I once read that John Lennon threw up right before and every time he went on stage. I guess if fear, paranoia, and insecurity are good enough for John Lennon they are good enough for me!

So a little about the concert on Saturday…

I open at 3:00. Noelle Hampton www.noellehampton.com follows at 4:00. (She will also be playing with me – she is the conductor of “my band.”) Her singing and songwriting are mind blasting! The girl has opened for Bob Dylan. Need I say more?

Next is Brennen Leigh www.brennenleigh.net at 5:00. Brennen’s CD came to me through Tommy Detamore who owns Cherry Ridge Recording Studio where I recorded and he engineered my CD, Lovers’ Moon www.cherryridgestudio.com . Tommy suggested I listen to his prodigy and when I did I freaked out and sent it to my brother Frank at Carnival Music in Nashville www.carnivalmusic.net . Frank flipped and is using one of Brennen’s songs on a record he is currently producing.

Then it turns out that Brennen and Noelle who both live in Austin are buddies, which I didn’t know before asking both of them to perform at this concert, so Noelle will also be playing with Brennen!

Finally, at 6:00 Mando Saenz www.mandosaenz.com will perform. I met Mando when I recorded Lovers’ Moon through my producer John Egan. John got Mando to sing on my record at Tommy Detamore’s Cherry Ridge studio, and then he gave me a copy of Mando’s record that he had also produced at Cherry Ridge. I freaked out and sent that record to Frank who in turned flipped out and signed Mando to be a writer for Carnival publishing company. (My brother, Frank, and I do a lot of freaking and flipping.)

So the long of the short is that this gig is all in the family! And Frank is going to be there because he in Texas for Easter!

You have to come to Texas for Easter…everything’s bigger in Texas: watermelon sized Easter eggs, bunny rabbits and baby chicks. The rabbits wear cowboy hats and the chicks wear cowboy boots.

More tomorrow about "my band" and our rehearsal...

Lise Liddell

Hi friends

Two days ago I attended a Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre DWDT.org board meeting (yes, I’m on the board of this cutting-edge Houston dance company even I own no “business attire,” I drive a 13 year-old Jeep Cherokee, I sing in dive bars and my two most oft used words have only four letters in them and start with an “s” and an “f,”)…when two fellow board members informed me that they had SIGNED UP FOR MY BLOG!

"What blog?” I asked.

“The one on your website - you dingbat.” They replied in unison – each with their own favorite synonym for “dingbat.”

Serendipitously, the next day I had a meeting with my website manager, Kenneth Finch Finch Creative

“So what’s up with this blog shit?” I asked him.

You’re gonna write one,” he said. “You’re good at yakking your head off. Stick it on the internet. It’s the way the world works now - you dingbat.” His wife and artist Wendy Wagner (Hunting Art prize winner) was there and concurred that I should put my fat mouth into text and bug y’all with it.

So here my fat mouth goes…more tomorrow about my upcoming rehearsal in Austin and gig in Brenham Tx. this coming Saturday.

Concert in the Country Live Music by Four Texas Bands: Lise Liddell, Noelle Hampton, Brennan Leigh, and Mando Saenz

Concert in the Country Live Music by Six Texas Talents: Lise Liddell, Singer/Songwriter with John Egan, Teresa Kolo, Marina Rocks, Lance Smith & Mike Stinson

Lise Liddell will be live on the radio today KPFT (90.1FM) with Roark Smith on his show, "Wide Open Spaces," on Wednesday, July 27th at Noon. KPFT.org

CD Release Party, Lise Liddell, Singer/Songwriter releasing her newest album "LACED" with Full Band, orchestrated by Mark Hallman, producer of "LACED" with Noelle Hampton, Andre Morgan, David Webb, Andy Carroll, and John Egan at Mucky Duck on July 28th 2011, 7:30pm which is located at 2425 Norfolk, Houston TX 77098 - 713.528.5999. $15.00 Cover Charge - if you buy tickets on line ahead of time here at the Mucky Duck ticket link (click here) Mucky Duck's Ticket Link or $16.00 at the show.

I'm very excited to introduce my 4th CD, LACED. Here are a few thoughts about the title and content of my latest production. 

 We are laced into our DNA, environment, families of origin, friends and lovers, all of mankind, the unfathomable mystery of being. Life is both a conscious and unconscious lacing of the heart, mind, and body to people, places, rituals, philosophies, and objects. Ultimately the lacing impresses upon the soul, even as it remains pure in its original form. When we believe we are undoing the laces, even severing them, there are knots that will withstand not only our singular will, but also eternity. And what we perceive as "good" is always laced with what we perceive as "bad." Beauty is laced with pain. Our pain is laced with grace.

Please join me for my CD release party at Mucky Duck, July 28th 2011, 7:30pm located at 2425 Norfolk, Houston TX 77098 - 713.528.5999.

Hey there everyone! As you've noticed, I updated my web site LiseLiddell.com

My roadies over at Finch Creative came in and set up the stage so that you could easily see what I've done and what's to come. I'm excited to let you know I also have a new online store where you can easily find my music as well as other little suprises I have in store. Hope to see you at a show soon!

Fly over to Finch Creative's studio in mid-town Houston, they are awesome!