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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Biggest regret in 2008: Not publishing this Wendy and Lisa interview by Eric Deggans

For a serious Prince fan like me, it was the perfect interview.

I had secured some talk time with Lisa Coleman, the keyboard-playing half of the songwriting and performing duo Wendy and Lisa -- two proteges of the Purple Genius himself.
I was such a fan that back in college, when I was playing drums in a band that had a record deal with Motown, I wrote them a letter offering to be their drummer -- like a kid asking for Santa Claus to swing by his house for milk and cookies (I got back a publicity photo with a hastily scribbled signature).

I got Stuck in the '80s guru Steve Spears to let me conduct the interview in the podcast studio, so we had an excellent recording of it and it went amazingly well. Turns out, she and partner Wendy Melvoin, who joined the conversation from afar, washing dishes or something in the background, had done some studio work with a friend who was the guitarist in that Motown band I talked about, and Coleman talked candidly about everything from the breakup of her and Melvoin's 20-year romantic relationship to their work scoring TV shows such as Heroes and Crossing Jordan (the one question she wouldn't answer: Who's crazier -- Prince or Me'shell Ndege Ocello?)

To read more, please click here: http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/2008/12/my-biggest-regr.html

(site last visited May 17, 2009)

Thursday, December 18, 2008

5 Reasons Why I Love Wendy & Lisa (The HiveMind)

One of my brothers recently told me, “You know what? I believe you liked Wendy and Lisa more than you did Prince back in the day.” I merely smiled and laughed. I then said, “You’re probably right.”

I have special memories of Wendy and Lisa while growing up, and I have my own reasons why I love the super duo. Here’s a few:

1. Girl Rockers Rule…Especially if You’ve Never Seen Any Before

As I kid growing up the 80s, I wasn’t exposed to many “girl rockers” in the beginning. I didn’t have MTV at the time, so I caught music videos on some generic local channel that played videos sometimes. Other than Joan Jett, I didn’t see any other female rockers playing instruments…until I spotted Lisa in Prince’s “1999″ video playing keyboards. While I was fascinated by all of the members in Prince’s pre-Revolution band, Lisa drew my attention the most. She sung on the record; she played keyboards; she dressed in “cool clothes,” and she rocked! Of course, I didn’t understand why the “blond looking Madonna chick” was dancing up close to Lisa while she played keyboards, but I remember always watching out for Lisa every time that video or “Little Red Corvette” came on.

To read more, please click here: http://www.writetilt.com/2008/12/18/5-reasons-why-i-love-wendy-lisa/

(site last visited May 17, 2009)