Jenny Lewis Opens up and Reaches out the AKRON BEACON JOURNAL Answer, but I Thought I’D Give It a Shot
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8E • SUNDAY, AUGUST 3, 2014OLIVING MAHA WORLD-HERALD TV Q AND A BY RICH HELDENFELS Q: I bet I already know the Jenny Lewis opens up and reaches out THE AKRON BEACON JOURNAL answer, but I thought I’d give it a shot. What has happened to Tench, a member of ToM Petty’s band, the Q: I have noticed that actor Scott “White Collar,” another one of my On ‘The Voyager,’ the singer Heartbreakers, who plays organ on “The Wolf is in two different TV series favorite shows? confronts old troubles, blending Voyager.” “You can’t mention her in town this year in a primary role. One is A: I do not know what you bet without getting a positive response.” “The Night Shift” and the other is on. But USA Network has ordered bruising introspection with a sly And yet mainstream stardom never “Perception.” How is that possible a sixth and fi nal season of the quite materialized, even as younger L.A. that this is even done? When a comedy-drama. It will consist of six sense of humor acts Lewis had clearly influenced — such vieweR is into a series the vieweR episodes wrapping up the show. I as Haim, whose Danielle Haim once gets bonded to the characters in have not seen an airdate yet. THE LOS ANGELES TIMES played guitar in Lewis’ live band — began that series, and it makes it difficult Q: The death of James GarneR LOS ANGELES — Jenny Lewis vowed catching on at Top 40 radio. to see that actor in another series started me thinking about his start she’d never return to the San Fernando At her house, Lewis dismissed the idea in the same season. Please explain on “Maverick.” I remember that the Valley, at least not to live. that she’d blazed some kind of trail for art- this to me. I realize that actors fi rst show began with Bret going The area was too closely linked to her ists eager to move beyond indie rock’s fa- need an income to survive, but I into a really grungy bar in dirty childhood in Van Nuys, California — to her mously disheveled vibe. She also seemed neveR saw this before. trail clothes. He asked foR a “man.” experience as a young actor (in late-’80s uncomfortable with the notion that “The A: Actors have long found ways Quickly the show moved into the artifacts like “Mr. Belvedere” and “Troop Voyager” represents her conscious bid for to work in more than one series at comedy fashion show that became Beverly Hills”) and to her complicated a larger audience. once, if the series want them. In so popular. In a similar vein, Brian relationship with her parents. And it was But there’s no denying the care she the ’70s, for example, Nancy Walker Keith (and a dog) had a show that too far from the Eastside neighborhoods put into the record. Some of the songs on co-starred on both “Rhoda” and opened the same way and that one where Lewis later established herself as “The Voyager,” she said, date back several “McMillan and Wife.” Also in the also transitioned into a comedy. an important fi gure in L.A.’s music scene, years to right after Rilo Kiley’s dissolution ’70s, Richard Anderson played the Am I correct in these memories? fi rst with her band Rilo Kiley and then on in 2011; she’d recorded “tons of versions” same character, Oscar Goldman, on A: Yes and no. In the series her own. in various settings but wasn’t satisfied both “The Bionic Woman” and “The premiere of “Maverick,” a dirty Bret Yet there she was on a recent afternoon, with the results. (During this time she was Six Million Dollar Man.” In the ’80s, (Garner’s character) enters a fancy sitting in the dining room of her hillside THE ASSOCIATED PRESS also suffering from what she called severe Heather Locklear worked on both hotel but gets a room after tricking home in Studio City, the place that lured Jenny Lewis performs at the Newport Folk insomnia, an experience she describes in “T.J. Hooker” and “Dynasty.” the clerk into thinking he is very rich her from Silver Lake a few years ago, as Festival in Rhode Island last month. the album’s opener, “Head Underwater.”) Wolf is now a regular on — promptly establishing Bret as a she and her boyfriend, singer-songwriter Finally, Lewis took up with Ryan Ad- “Perception,” but he was a guest bit of con man. And while we think Johnathan Rice, discussed options for there with the best,” said Lenny Waronker, ams, the alt-country singer-songwriter, at on “The Night Shift,” appearing in of Bret in his fancier wear, there are oysters on Ventura Boulevard. the veteran producer known for his work his Pax-Am Studio in Hollywood. There just four episodes. Still, TV logistics several episodes in which he looked “As soon as I bought it, I had a panic they remade the tunes, working quickly make it possible to work more scruffy while passing between with Randy Newman and James Taylor, attack,” she said of the house, a stylishly among others. As an A&R executive but attentively with a crew of top-notch often; a season of one show may towns. L.A. players in an effort to capture a wide- woodsy number fi lled with books, records at Lewis’ label, Warner Bros. Records, be brief (“Night Shift’s” fi rst was I can’t tell you about the opening and vintage musical gear. “I remember open quality that didn’t feel generic. Waronker helped oversee “The Voyager,” just eight episodes) and year-round of “The Westerner,” a 1960 series pitching an AeroBed in the living room “I needed an outside person to help me which to his ears sounds like a break- programming can also translate into with Brian Keith as a drifter with a and thinking, ‘This is the worst mistake get there,” Lewis said, in part because through. production spread across a TV year. dog. (The dog, by the way, was the I’ve ever made. I’m back in the Valley.’” (unlike her previous solo records) “The “This could be a record that reaches out Some other examples of crossing- same one that starred in the Disney It’s nerve-wracking, perhaps, but Voyager” had no clear-cut recording con- over actors: Alison Brie has been classic “Old Yeller.”) I have not seen confronting old troubles is precisely what to lots of kinds of people,” he said. cept. Rather than taking pains to differen- able to appear from time to time the series, which ran for just 13 Lewis, 38, does on her superb new solo Lewis built a devoted following almost tiate the music from Rilo Kiley, she was on “Mad Men” while working more episodes in spite of a production album, “The Voyager,” which came out immediately with Rilo Kiley, which she simply trying to “make the best possible often on “Community,” and Iain Glen team that included director Sam Tuesday to rave reviews. Failed romances, formed in the late ’90s with another for- record I could make.” And within minutes of “Game of Thrones” also had a Peckinpah. Written accounts of Rilo Kiley’s breakup, the death of her mer child actor, Blake Sennett. Beloved by at Pax-Am, she said, “I knew that this had recurring role on “Downton Abbey.” the show like the one in Garner estranged father — the singer addresses indie rock aesthetes for its crafty hooks that magic.” Q: I have been watching Simmons’ book “Peckinpah” refer them all in songs that blend bruising intro- and brainy lyrics, the band went on to “The Voyager” also contains two tracks “Shipping Wars” on A&E foR several to it blending comedy and drama spection with a sly sense of humor. release four albums and even toured with Lewis and Rice co-produced, as well years. A few weeks ago, the — and courting controversy, for But though the material can be heavy Coldplay. During breaks, though, Lewis as “Just One of the Guys,” which she truckers talked about Roy’s having instance with a premiere episode — “When I look at myself, all I can see/I’m dabbled with other musicians, singing on recorded with Beck. But even as the songs passed away. He was the one involving a young prostitute. In just another lady without a baby,” she the hit debut by the Postal Service and move through styles and tempos — from with long, gray hair who traveled an era of adult Westerns like sings in “Just One of the Guys” — the putting out her fi rst solo record, “Rabbit the soulful strut of “She’s Not Me” to the with his cat. Can you tell me what “Maverick” and “Gunsmoke,” “The music shimmers with weightless melodies Fur Coat,” in 2006. Her next one, 2008’s folky strumming of “Late Bloomer” — happened to him? Westerner” may have been too and grooves that recall classic California “Acid Tongue,” featured collaborations they hang together, united by beautifully A: Roy Garber died of a heart adult. pop by the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac. with Elvis Costello and Zooey Deschanel. detailed lyrics about growing uneasily into attack in January. He was 49. Contact the writer: [email protected] “Jenny’s songwriting skills are right up “Everybody loves Jenny,” said Benmont adulthood. *++%),#"*#%," ',//%+(" ,+(*(,.,+-" Bredfeldt, 61 years Swirzinski, 55 years Hurt-Henning Sand-Mundell Bonnie and Tom DeLong of Gretna, and Larry and Cindy Sand of Bellevue, are proud to announce the engagement and Dan and Lil Bredfeldt were united in marriage on August 8, Front row, l-r: Sophia, Ava, JoAnn, Camden, John Sr.