Portland Oregonian
June 23, 2000
Songwriters On The Same Stage, But Not By Accident
by Marty Hughley
Grant-Lee Phillips, formerly of the brilliant Rock/Americana band Grant Lee Buffalo, and British eccentric Robyn Hitchcock both are distinctive singer-songwriters with devout cult followings -- and they're friends whose performing paths have crossed often. So it's fitting that they would team up for a short tour together.
"We've wound up onstage together so many times by accident," Phillips said recently by phone. "It seemed high time to make it official."
Unofficially, what they're doing is exporting a little taste of one of America's hippest clubs. Largo, a small Los Angeles hotspot, has gained a reputation as an experimental haven where some of Pop's most creative figures (perhaps most notably the multi-talented Jon Brion, who's best known for producing Fiona Apple's latest) test-drive new material in a friendly, freewheeling atmosphere.
Phillips, a longtime regular, has taken part in impromptu music-making there with Hitchcock, Elliott Smith, Crowded House's Neil Finn and others.
"It's a comfortable room, because the people are sitting down, and those that want to talk and mingle are usually outside," he says (and he almost could be referring as well to the Aladdin Theater, where he'll play Friday). "But it's also a room that's filled other performers, so that kind of raises the bar. It's kind of a loose environment, and the folks who really blossom there are the ones who're willing to fly by the seat of their pants and just engage
the moment."
In this instance, he'll have to engage Hitchcock, too, as the two are learning some of each other's songs for the show. "Which is always interesting, because I have to check with Robyn," he notes. "I'll have to ask him, like: 'Are you singing "ice Cream pants"?' [Affects British accent] 'Oh, no. Ice cream hands.' 'Then you talk about the girl's legs?' 'No, no. Eggs, it's her eggs.' The path of least resistance may be entirely wrong in this case. I'm looking forward to it, though. It's always inspiring to move within Robyn's bubble."
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