Memories #27

Jenny Lewis - The Voyager

Did you know that Jenny Lewis was a child actor during the eighties and nineties in a bunch of lousy family films and a few interesting indie flicks. Most notable of all these films was the movie, Foxfire, which is notable because it was one of the early films in Angelina Jolie's career, when she was starting to get recognition as a presence. In the movie, Lewis plays a high school girl who is being sexually harassed (assaulted?) by a creepy teacher and even though she seems to be this quiet, meek type, Jolie's rebel character helps her stand up to the guy. The movie is pretty decent but I totally remember her in the film, especially because she was the cutest of the bunch. I had no idea that she would soon form a band that would become one of my favorite artists for much of the aughts. Rilo Kiley blew me away in 2004 with their album, More Adventurous, especially the song, It's A Hit. I became one of those rabid fans for a couple of years and enjoyed all of her side projects, even seeing the very first Postal Service show ever, here at the Casbah in San Diego. It's been an interesting ride with many ups and downs; her collaboration with the Watson Twins got me hooked on them, while her collaboration with Johnathan Rice made me lose all hope in her future endeavors. Well, here we are in 2014 with her second solo effort, The Voyager, and it reminds me a lot of the old Rilo Kiley stuff that I always loved. Songs that evoke a story or a place that doesn't quite touch the earth. It's wonderful to journey on with an artist that captured my youthful heart so long ago.