Lisa Loeb – the way it really is

by Joshua Maloni
April 4, 2005

Lisa Loeb is equal parts control freak and self-help guide.

During a recent phone interview, she breaks away twice to give orders to workers remodeling her Los Angeles home. In between trips, she offers this writer pearls of wisdom like “you have power in your life” and “don’t just let your life pass you by.”

Listen to her new CD, “The Way It Really Is,” and on paper it would be easy to see why she seeks order and self-motivation. After all, she recently broke up with boyfriend and collaborator Dweezil Zappa; she is on her second new record label in as many albums; and her Food Network show received a lukewarm reception before being relegated to its current 4 a.m. timeslot.

But the way it really seems is not the way it really is. Her songs, which came before her breakup, are not necessarily about her. In fact, she’s just as likely to find inspiration from a movie or at a coffee shop.

“To me, there’s a theme,” she says. “It’s not always about my life – but there’s experiences there. The theme throughout, is that you have to experience life.”

If there is in fact a theme to her music, if not her personally, a way to describe her multi-tasking ways or explain her need to be in control, it is a desire to experience life. The singer/songwriter/actress/voice-over artist/cook is constantly working, and has input on each project.

“I’m very involved with everything,” she says.

And yet, no matter where she goes or what she does, she strives to create a harmonious setting for herself and those she cares about.

“It’s important to me to always find connections,” she says.

“My life is about keeping it real,” she says, laughing.

That she seeks to control her image and products is evident. Her bread and butter remains singing, but in recent years she has abandoned traditional big time industry backing in favor of autonomous labels Artemis and Rounder/Zoë records.

“I like working with a major label … that is small,” she says. “I like to do things on a more independent basis.”

So too, so has devoted more time to acting, voicing the character of Mary Jane on MTV’s animated “Spider-Man” series and working roles in “Serial Killing 4 Dummies” and “House on Haunted Hill.” Even as singers like Kelly Clarkson, Mariah Carey and Christina Milian have bombed out on the big screen, she does it because she says, “I really like all of it.”

“It’s fun to perform live; it’s fun to go into the studio,” Loeb says. “It’s fun to do a little acting here and there.

“Creative people are creative people.”

She has also devoted more time to becoming something of a professional food connoisseur, going so far as to bake pies on stage in recent years.

She breaks away from talking about her tour to ask yours truly questions about where to eat in Western New York, and jots down the particulars while asking about the menu.

So too, there was that television show, which despite a crummy timeslot and difference of opinion with Food Network programmers, she seems to have enjoyed.

“They wanted it to be more entertainment,” she says of the big cheese. “We would have liked to have more education.”

But, in keeping with her “glass is half-full” mentality, she says, “We got to meet some great chefs. It was a great way to enhance my life.”

Lisa Loeb headlines a show at the Tralf, 622 Main St., Buffalo, on Thursday, April 14, at 8 p.m.