Interview conducted by Josh Horowitz
January 21, 2004
Have you ever wanted to follow your favorite singer/songwriter on the road as they sample their favorite eats from Atlanta to Los Angeles? Finally, The Food Network has come up with the realization of this unfulfilled dream of millions.
Ok, perhaps this wasn’t something you felt you needed in your life but trust me, DWEEZIL AND LISA, is a thoroughly entertaining show, a sort of hybrid reality/cooking show starring Dweezil Zappa and Lisa Loeb. And I assure you; you’ll feel less hollow inside than you did after you watched the last AVERAGE JOE.
Loeb is best known as the cat eye glasses-wearing singer who became the first and only unsigned artist to have a number one single with STAY. Dweezil, the son of legendary musician Frank Zappa, has followed in dad’s footsteps, making his career in music, in addition to some acting (PRETTY IN PINK) here and there. Together, this couple is cute as a button as they drop in on friends across the country and sample the high and low end cuisines each town has to offer.
I chatted with Lisa Loeb recently as she was putting the finishing touches on her latest album.
Josh Horowitz: My apologies first of all. I don’t know if they told you what this is. This is MoviePoopShoot.com, which is an actual reputable web-site, I assure you.
Lisa Loeb: I know. Why are you apologizing?
JH: I just feel that the poopshoot names scares people sometimes.
LL: Oh, don’t be afraid. I’m not afraid.
JH: Ok cool. According to your web-site, you were supposed to be finishing the last track for your new album today? Am I interrupting?
LL: No. I finished yesterday at 6pm. I’m making a record that’s half stripped down acoustic which is the way I perform a lot and half of it is very produced. It’s really hard to keep music simple but I was trying to keep it simple and focus on one or two instruments and vocals. So the track we did yesterday was a piano based track which I normally don’t do and a lot of harmonies, like an old Elton John song or David Bowie from the HUNKY DORY era. It was really exciting to show some restraint and finish the record without putting too many instruments on all the tracks.
JH: So when is this set for release?
LL: Probably March. We’re still figuring it out. There are a lot of variables on that.
JH: And a tour to coincide with that?
LL: Yes, actually Dweezil and I are going on tour with the band probably starting in the middle of February for a month probably playing a few songs from my new record and then I’ll continue on after that tour.
JH: So turning to the new show. I watched the first episode this morning and enjoyed it. I’ve always felt like there are two kinds of people; those that are planning their next meal while they’re eating their current one and the rest of those freaks. I take it you’re the former?
LL: (LAUGHS) I am. I was raised that way. I have many memories of waking up to eat breakfast that my mother carefully prepared for us and her saying, “what do y’all want for lunch” and as we’re eating lunch, “what do y’all want for dinner?” It’s always about the next meal.
JH: People need to realize if you’re going to eat grilled cheese for lunch you’re not going to want it for dinner and so you have to map out your day. It’s important.
LL: Exactly. Or if you are going to have it for dinner, you’re going to want to know that that’s what you’re doing on purpose. And for me it’s all about balance as well. If I’m going to have a grilled cheese for lunch I’m probably going to look for some kind of spinach salad or some kind of vegetable item. Or if I’m going to go heavy on the chocolate cake for dessert then I need to probably go with the grilled fish, maybe mac and cheese and some steamed broccoli to balance it out.
JH: It’s like a chain reaction of food events.
LL: Right or if you’re going to have pancakes, French toast and waffles for breakfast, you’re probably going to want a salad for lunch and maybe something more normal for dinner and if you skip the bread at dinner, you get the popcorn while you’re watching the reruns on TV.
JH: You’re not saying you’re having all three of those for breakfast?
LL: Sometimes I might.
JH: Ok, no judgements here.
LL: My nutritionist always said to eat whatever you want. I said, “what about good foods and bad foods?” and he said, “the foods that you like are good foods. The foods you don’t are bad foods.
JH: I want that nutritionist! Give me that number when we’re done.
LL: I will.
JH: So whose idea was this show?
LL: The show was at the end of a chain of events. I put a record out called CAKE AND PIE in 2002 which was partially inspired by my feeling that you can really eat whatever you want. Why say cake or pie? Why not cake and pie? It’s also philosophy. You should try to get what you want in life and try not to be limited. Anyway, to promote the record,
Dweezil and I decided to invite our friend Mark Tarbell, who is a chef in Arizona, to make pies with us on stage. So it was a combination of a serious food demo and playing music. The audience got to smell the pie being baked and taste it at the end so it was a full sensory experience. It was kind of funny but serious at the same time. Anyway, we’re obsessed with Food Network. We watch it all the time. So we thought we should go to Food Network and see if they might have a place for a mention on one of their other programs. And in that conversation, through our enthusiasm for food, they thought we might want to think about having our own show. So Dweezil and I came up with a few concepts and we came up with a show.
JH: So why not LISA AND DWEEZIL? Was this a coin flip or the decision of scores of focus groups?
LL: Neither Dweezil nor I cared which came first. I think it’s some kind of thing where alphabetically they want the earlier letter first for some reason.
JH: Where do you and Dweezil’s tastes in food differ most? I know you don’t eat meat…
LL: I think that’s mainly it. Actually that was something that brought us together was that we both have a definite of knowledge of nutrition and exercise and health but we’ve also found that the way we feel most healthy and enjoy life most is when you eat what you want. We both love sweets. We both love doughnuts and coconut cake and banana cream pie but at the same time we have a voice in the back our head saying it’s good to eat some things that are healthy too. And we both will go to restaurants from a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant to a Denny’s if we have to because that’s all that’s open, to a really fancy restaurant. We can enjoy things on a lot of different levels.
JH: Do you have an ultimate guilty pleasure of a food?
LL: I never really feel guilty. I’ve learned from dieting and not dieting that literally the thing that works best for me is that if I think of it, I better go ahead and have it. If I’m thinking of potato chips, instead of thinking, “no no don’t eat potato chips, they’re not good for you. Don’t eat them”, I just buy some and eat them. So I’m like, ok I just had some potato chips, that was really good.
JH: Now what other food can I obsess about?
LL: I know. What’s next? Oh, chocolate would be good. I have some dark chocolate in my chocolate drawer. I have a chocolate drawer as one of my baking drawers. You just have it and then you don’t have to think about it.
JH: Your hometown, Dallas, was just named the third fattest city according to Men’s Fitness magazine. Did you hear about this?
LL: Oh really? That’s hilarious.
JH: Would you care to rebut the findings or would you like to hang your head in shame?
LL: You know I don’t know if that’s true or not. It has a certain Los Angeles element where a lot of people are very into their health and eating good food so I don’t really have any official stance on the subject.
JH: Very diplomatic of you. I know you are very big into baking. Did you ever have that Ez bake oven?
LL: I did! We went on the Isaac Mizrahi show and he actually had an Ez bake oven and we tried to back a cake in it. In fact I remember when I was little I had an Ez bake oven and I used to make Ez bake cakes and then I would cut them into pieces and I remember serving my dad a piece of the Ez bake cake. A piece of the Ez back cake is less than a forkful!
JH: You were always about portion control…
LL: Yeah, that was out of control. Out of portion control.
JH: I myself can’t cook but just recently my girlfriend and I got the George Foreman grill.
LL: That is great!
JH: So I’m taking baby steps. Any helpful first steps for the grill or in general how I can get to cooking nirvana?
LL: Well first of all, the George Foreman grill is a very good first step
because you can just throw a piece of chicken in there and grill it. You can marinate the chicken in a bottle of vinaigrette and throw it on the grill. That’s really good. I think it’s like learning to play guitar. When people ask me about playing guitar, I say, well first get a guitar. So you’ve got to get some cooking things. Then you’ve got to get the easiest possible guitar books and you try to do something that you love. If you love a Beatles song, play a Beatles song. You’ll actually want to do it. So do the same for food, whatever your favorite foods are. On the simple side, maybe a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s good for sandwiches.
JH: So I shouldn’t go straight to soufflés? You can’t do a soufflé on the George Foreman?
LL: No. Don’t do a soufflé on the George Foreman grill unless you want like a matzoh soufflé. It’ll be a very flat soufflé. I would say try something that you like. Also the other thing is to get somebody you know to teach you something. That’s something Dweezil and I learned on the road. Sometimes the best way to learn is directly from a person, not from a recipe. You need to see how brown the sandwich needs to be or whatever.
JH: Ok, here’s a serious sort of SOPHIE’S CHOICE question for you. Would you rather lose your ability to taste foods or a finger?
LL: (LONG PAUSE) I would probably lose a finger.
JH: Two fingers?
LL: Um…
JH: Where does it end? What’s it going to take?
PP: Probably my left hand pinky and…yeah I probably would [lose two fingers]. You can still do a lot with eight fingers.
JH: Do you eat before shows? I’d hate to think of a performer having to go to the bathroom in the middle of a show.
LL: Yeah, that’s unfortunate when that happens. Sometimes you have to take a longer encore than you’re expected to. Food wise, I’ve been known to leave and eat and come back on stage. I try to eat enough before I sing so I don’t pass out on stage or something like that. I eat a lot of cheese and crackers or pizza, something with some protein in it. Also I try not to eat so close to the show. A lot of singers could tell you this, that you can strategically burp on stage but you have to plan it perfectly in the phrasing of your song.
JH: Have you perfected strategic burping at this stage of your career?
LL: I have perfected it. You’ll notice the next time you see me play. Actually you won’t even notice it. It’s very lady like.
JH: Any plans for you and Dweezil to get married Britney-style?
LL: (LAUGHS) I don’t think we have much planned to do Britney-style.
JH: Do you ever get the impulse to serenade Dweezil with the Don Johnson hit HEARTBEAT. After all who can forget Dweezil from the video?
LL: Oh my God. I wish I knew that song so I could serenade him with it. Sometimes I do wear a mean’s coat jacket and roll up the sleeves just to give him some memories.
JH: This is moviepoopshoot so by law I have to ask you about movies. You did THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. I know you do a lot of voice over stuff. Any plans to continue acting?
LL: I do. I just finished doing the voice of Mary Jane for SPIDERMAN and the DVD is coming out for that. The food show was pretty time consuming and we’re also writing all of the music for the score of the show and I’ve also been finishing my album so it hasn’t left a lot of time for auditioning. But it would be fun to do more.
JH: Before we end this, I have to come clean. As anyone who knows me would attest, you, Lisa Loeb, have been my designated celebrity crush for many years.
LL: Oh…
JH: And I think my girlfriend is secretly happy we’re doing this over the phone.
LL: (LAUGHS) Yeah, we’ll have to meet your girlfriend next time we’re in New York.
JH: Be honest, could you detect my reverence for you in the first part of this conversation?
LL: No, you were very professional.
JH: Really?!?
LL: I appreciate that. It’s very nice.
JH: Well, best of luck on the show. Plans for New York anytime soon?
LL: We are planning something. Like I said, probably sometime between mid-February and mid-March so check it out.
DWEEZIL AND LISA airs Friday nights at 10p.m. on The Food Network.
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