Thursday, March 13   9:00 p.m.
Stephen F's Bar   (701 Congress Ave)

  Lissie - On My Chest remix
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Lissie is a California indie rocker who's story starts with an expulsion, includes a command performance at a surreal celebrity wedding, and reveals a blithe spirit as experimental as she is committed – to community and her own fluid melody.

"I got expelled from high school in late February of my senior year,” Lissie says. "It’s a long story, but I always felt as if most of my teachers were trying to squash my spirit and put me in my place, mistaking my individualism and enthusiasm for bad behavior. " It took her three weeks to earn a degree at an alternative outreach center and then she promptly hit the road.

Lissie traveled solo around the country, stopping to visit friends and family and performed troubadour-style, singing wherever she happened to be. "I played a lot of open mics in the towns I visited. I would open for the traveling acts that came through town, like G. Love and Special Sauce and Ozomatli. I met DJ Harry, who was signed to the Sci Fidelity label, and he liked my voice. We wrote a song together and it ended up on his album, “Collision.” It was trip hop, different from the folksy acoustic songs I'd been writing and it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me." The song, "All My Life" received a good deal of college and AAA radio airplay, and placements in the TV shows, “The OC,” “Veronica Mars,” “House,” and “Wildfire,” as well as in the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

When Lissie moved to Los Angeles she quickly landed a gig at Genghis Cohen where she met Betsy Hammer, who introduced her to Brooks Arthur, legendary producer/engineer. Together, they took Lissie to Guy Oseary who introduced her to producer, Glen Ballard. Lissie's voice can be heard on the title track of the film “Dream It Out Loud” which Ballard scored. Oseary also invited her to perform during the clandestine wedding ceremony of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.

In 2007, Lissie produced an EP through her imprint label Lionboy Records. The four-song release has received airplay by Nic Harcourt on the nationally syndicated radio show "Morning Becomes Eclectic" originating from national public radio's flagship KCRW, as well as placements in a Romanian telephone commercial and the film "Wedding Daze" (starring Jason Biggs and Isla Fisher). In support of this EP, her solo tour included the South by Southwest music festival, and an opening slot for Badly Drawn Boy on his run of west coast dates.

Lissie also set up a weekly residency at Crane's Hollywood Tavern in Los Angeles, inviting her vast array of fellow friends and travelers to join and jam. The Beachwood Rockers were born, and the shifting collective has been a mainstay at Crane's for almost two years. Lissie also performs as the "Blue Jean Queen" in the "Denim Family Band" regularly at both Crane's and with frequent performances at the Hotel Cafe.

She's currently collaborating with DJ Morgan Page on original and reworked versions of her own compositions as well as with producers Paul Fox and Curt Schneider, writing and preparing to record an album that will be released in 2008 on a major record label.