Coordinated Dreams

Vanity Fair Q&A by Michael D. AyersJenny Lewis has spent the last 10 years fronting successful indie-pop band Rilo Kiley, yet after four albums and countless tours with the L.A.–based quartet, she was restless and ready to work outside the confines of a band. She first branched out on her own with 2006’s Rabbit Fur Coat, an Americana-inspired collaboration with folk duet the Watson Twins. Then, she went full-on solo with 2008’s Acid Tongue, an album that saw her working with a host of musicians, including Elvis Costello, Zooey Deschanel, the Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson, and a young singer-songwriter named Jonathan Rice. Lewis and Rice were no strangers before Acid Tongue. As a solo artist, he’d opened for Rilo Kiley. On tour, their relationship evolved on both the professional and personal level—the two have been dating since 2005. Today marks the release of I’m Having Fun Now, the first proper collaboration between the two under the moniker Jenny and Johnny. It has elements of your favorite pop and singer-songwriter records, but feels more like an inspired, late-70s Elvis Costello- meets-the-Lemonheads, where drugs, knives , and snakes are as influential as they are dangerous. For Lewis, it’s her best work in years.For Rice, it’s his best work to date. Earlier this summer, VF Daily spoke with Jenny and Johnny at the Hotel Rivington on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. There seems to be a revived interest in the last few years in the duet format— She & Him, Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson have had recent success—what’s unique and fun about this approach? Jonathan Rice: To me, selfishly, I find it more interesting, than hearing just myself. Jenny Lewis: I never intended to set out and be a singer-songwriter. I just sort of became one, because I put out my own record. But it’s very difficult to do everything all on your own; to stand up there and sing all alone and having to field questions. It’s a lot easier when you’re part of a gang, or a duo. And we feel happy to be a part of the ampersand-band movement. Johnny: Although Jenny and Johnny have a strict “no ampersand policy.” It’s A-N-D. Jenny: I come from a duo, actually, quite literally. My parents are Linda and Eddie and they had an act in Vegas called “Love’s Way.” So it feels just right for me, to kind of get in that station wagon and drive to shows, and only splurge on one hotel room. Johnny: It’s recession friendly, certainly, to combine two bands into one. In order for this band to exist, it really had to be different. Did your voices click well, initially? Jenny: It started out in my living room and then we took it to the stage! [Together] we had been covering “Love Hurts” in my live show and that seemed to get the best reaction of the night. Which was a little off-putting, at first. I was like “wait, I didn’t write this great song.” I think everyone in the audience—if you have a male and female vocal—everyone can relate. That’s why we wanted to sing together on this one. When I hear my voice back, when it’s just me singing, I can’t relax. But for some reason when we sing together, I can listen back. Johnny: One of the most agonizing things of recording, is when you mute the music and it’s just your voice. Jenny: I think I’ve been trying to compensate in my own work, within the songs, with just the sound of my own voice. I’ve been writing all these dark things for so long to compensate for that. But with [Johnny], I feel like the sound is a fuller sound. Not that it’s any better, but it’s a different thing. It’s more laid back. When I was in the Postal Service, my job was to sing background [vocals]—and when we toured, I was the background singer, the guitar player, and keyboard player. I was able to do all of these things that I really enjoyed, but when that was over, I went back to my job as being the lead singer of a band. But I missed being the backup singer, sometimes. What were the early days like, when you first met each other? Johnny: I met Jenny in the East Village. In a stairwell. It was not clean. We didn’t really stay in touch or anything, but would see each other on the road and stuff like that. When I was finishing my first album [ 2005’s Trouble is Real] in Lincoln, Nebraska, Rilo Kiley was literally pulling into the parking lot to start More Adventurous. Prior to this record, you both got to work with Elvis Costello. He seems like he’s been enamored with you all. You must be really charming. Jenny: He is a very humble man. One of my heroes. Johnny: He knows there are new things to create, new things to learn. He knows how to bring out the best in a group of people. Basically, you could describe him as an anthropologist or a musicologist. His knowledge is so dense. He came soon after to sing a song for Jenny on Acid Tongue. And he uses this phrase, “here’s one I made earlier.” He always says that when he’s going to play a new song. I really love the way he was able to deliver those venomous, lyrically dense songs with such great pop backing. I listen to “Welcome to the Working Week” a lot when I go jogging. Musicians don’t talk about exercising much. Johnny: It’s a complete break from thinking about music. Most people I know that play music professionally, they tend to think about it obsessively. When you’re looking at sports, it’s not about you anymore. Jenny: For most of us, music was a hobby, but then it became our jobs. Then what do you do? One of the more confusing songs on I’m Having Fun Now is “New Yorker Cartoon.” Do those cartoons confuse you?    Johnny: That particular song is about an evening we had here, where it was a really momentous night. A bunch of us took psychedelics, and for me, things materialized in that sort of New Yorker animation. A lot of the things that happen in that song, literally happen. Our friend took off his shirt and threw it in the fireplace. Jenny: It was a little weird when he did that. I also noticed a lot of other allusions to knives, dreams, and snakes. Like on the song “Switchblade In Your Coat.” Have you ever owned a switchblade? Jenny: No, just one of those combs that pops out and looks like a switchblade. Johnny: When I lived in New York, I had one. I was really young and I kept it in my jacket. I was scared, I lived by myself. I don’t know if it was technically a switchblade. It was more like a butterfly knife. Jenny: These are the kind of discussions you have when you’re writing songs with someone. Jenny, this is your fourth album released in the past four years—does being in a band run its course, in your mind, as you get older? Jenny: Certainly it does. We often talk about the dynamic of a duo, in that there’s just two of us. There’s no one to gang up with. The White Stripes are like this perfect creation, because it’s just the two of them. When you’re in a band, inevitably, someone is siding with someone else and you’re fighting over something that happened in the band five years ago. But this is a very even dynamic and we went into it knowing that we were going to split the songs down the middle—write and sing together as much as possible. It’s very clear cut. But what it means to be a musician has certainly changed quite a lot in the last 10 years. Johnny: When [Rilo Kiley] first went out onto the road, it was like going into the abyss. Before there was social networking and stuff, they earned their fans by the basic human interaction. I have to believe what they built is sturdier than anything the Internet has built. Jenny: We had no fucking clue. We were just out there to play and get better at our instruments and hopefully write better songs. We certainly don’t deserve an award for it, but it makes me sad for bands coming up now. You have to sell something while you’re playing your show and you have to talk about your music more; you can’t just go out and play.Amoeba Music In-Store Performance on August 31stsoundcheckperformanceLOVE both of them. LOVE the new album. their amoeba performance was great! the fact that it was free made it even better. they played all songs from the new record except for “while men are dreaming.” i highly recommend the new album to everyone and look forward to seeing them again at the troubadour in october.those pics are pretty useless (should’ve brought an actual camera) but it’s just an excuse to say that bring up the fact that i saw jake gyllenhaal at their amoeba show! he slipped out about halfway through the set. he had the whole incognito beard and was hiding under a green baseball cap. he might have left because i kept staring at him for about two songs length to make sure it was really him… maybe he thought i was gonna point him out or something. idk. oh well. nice to see him there and that (i assume) they’re still friends… they used to date, right?Selections from their new album for those unaware album is in-stores NOW. get it. got it? good.sources: VF website + a really shitty camera phone tbh

Alana De La Garza
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Jenna Fischer
Eliza Dushku
Gael Garcia Bernal

Former Destiny?s Child bandmates Kelly Rowland and LeToya Luckett have well & truly buried the hatchet, once and for all. With Beyonce out of the picture, the girls have managed to spend more time together, most recently when they both sat down for a joint interview together.The pair seemed to get on like a house on fire as they discussed the past, the present and the future. LeToya made sure to congratulate Kelly on the success she?s been having internationally and her single ?Commander?, while Kelly gushed over LeToya?s starring role in The Preacher?s Kid. LeToya revealed that she?s scored a role in a new flick starring Taraji P. Henson, and that she?s working on her third studio album ? which she wants Kelly to collaborate with her on! LeToya even mentions that she?s been speaking to Michelle Williams, so it seems that all the girls are having fun hanging out together, well, except for you-know-who.source, videoI <3 DC! Michelle is my favorite. I <3 that Kelly has a tag! I pray nightly for a REUNION! TYFYT

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Two b-sides from mini’s latest single Girls Spirit.Baby babyDear Friend source

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Sigourney Weaver
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LISTEN HERE: http://twaud.io/F6X This is her second single off her sophmore album A Year Without RainThe music video premiers tomorrow on Disney Channel……unless it leaks later todaysource: http://twitter.com/eMileyHQ

Sandra Bullock
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The first clip from "Let Me In" (the remake of "Let The Right On In") was released on a viral site,enterunderpenaltyofdeath.comcan’t see the video?http://www.enterunderpenaltyofdeath.com/source

Jennifer Morrison
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Showing up for another day on the job, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, and Taylor Momsen were spotted in New York City today (September 2).
The CW cuties strolled around the lot in between filming scenes for their hit show ?Gossip Girl? as the nearby paparazzi looked on.
And if you ever wondered how Miss Meester keeps her hair so healthy look no further than Herbal Essences- she?s even their spokesperson.
She stated, ?I?m so happy to be working with Herbal Essences. It?s important for me that I partnered with a brand that I do use every day and I trust and I love?I use it personally and I want to spread the word about it. Herbal Essences takes great care of my hair.?

LeAnn Rimes
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Michelle Ryan