Monday, October 9, 2006

By MIKE KERWICK
STAFF WRITER



We asked. How could we not ask? Twelve years, two albums and a few husbands later, people still remember that moment when Lisa Marie Presley locked lips with Michael Jackson onstage at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards.

So we asked. We asked if she still gets people approaching her, inquiring about the Kiss.


"No, I don't get asked about that," Presley said on a recent teleconference to promote her upcoming tour, which includes a stop tonight at B.B. King Blues Club and Grill in Manhattan. "I mean, it's just so [expletive] long ago; who gives a [expletive] anymore. ... It was ridiculous, and yeah, I can't really say that I'm proud of it, but it [expletive] happened. What are you going to do?"

Presley is an angry young woman, her vitriol spilling across the telephone wire as one topic after another sets her insides ablaze. She hates the pop charts ("I'm not going to do anything that is going to then sell my soul to get played on the radio when I don't even listen to the radio"), her label ("I'm not real anxious to give them another record") and the fact that the market for female singers and songwriters is as dry as a California riverbed.

"I know so many talented people who can't get people to look at them because they're not shallow," Presley said.

Oh, she could go on. That she was originally marketed as a pop act ... that people would rather she cover "Jailhouse Rock" or one of Dad's other hits ... that some people harp on the mistakes she made in her 20s.

But at the moment, Presley, 38, seems comfortable in her own skin.

"Professionally, in spite of the odds, I'm making my own way on my own," Presley said. "I'm not capitalizing on anything. I don't ride coattails. I didn't take an easy route. I didn't do pop ... I didn't do Elvis covers."

Unlike a few of her past tours, this one is not accompanied by a new album. Her latest release, 2005's "Now What," is an 11-track collection that offers a sampling of the anger she let loose on the conference call. It's no surprise she chose to cover "Dirty Laundry" ("Kick 'em when they're up/Kick 'em when they're down"). Presley thinks there is an edge to her lyrics, an edge that is missing in most songs you would find on Top 40 radio.

"It's hard right now to be true to yourself," Presley said.

She hazards a cynical guess as to why radio has got away from singers and songwriters.

"Money," Presley said. "I guess money. I've actually been trying to figure that out."

"I'll Figure It Out" happens to be the title of the first track on "Now What," and it may be the best selection on the disc. The chorus ("It took me all my life/To finally figure out/That I'm not in the mood/To be anything like you") is cryptic. Is she talking about Michael? Elvis? Someone else?

Maybe she's just trying to further distance herself from the center of the musical spectrum. On this upcoming tour, don't expect a laser-light show or any intricate choreography.

"Not a lot of bells and whistles," Presley said. "I don't dance, and I'm not going to be lip syncing. It's the record live with me standing there. I wish I could say I was going to be flying through the air, flying through the audience. It's not going to happen."

She's trying to be an original, even if that means allowing anger to bubble over the top and seep into her sessions.

E-mail: kerwick@northjersey.com

***
The next generation

It's no picnic being the son or daughter of a rock icon. Here's where some of the offspring of rock legends have landed:

LISA MARIE PRESLEY

Famous father: Elvis Presley.

Daughter's project: Solo artist.

FYI: Her daughter, Danielle Riley Keough, is a model.

tx_pixies,

Thank you for sharing this with us.

h.ell ya, tell 'em like it is Lisa, hehehe!

thnx for posting!

Ya'll are welcome!

I hear ya LISA!! U go GIRL!!

thanx for sharing! we all hear ya lisa

Thanks!!

Give em HELL BABY! Thats just the way WE like Her! Great article. Lisa telling them like it is..

That's what we all love about her - her big old brass things!!! Stupid **** - ask another stupid question that's already been asked 50,000 times!!

You are all welcome!