When Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville came out in 1993, many of the guys I knew loved Phair's cheerleader-prettiness and the record's brazen sexuality ("Dude, she said she wants to be a blow job queen, heh heh"). The women I knew loved the record for its power, its intelligent sexuality with lyrics that were honest and forthright, and how it expressed everything we all thought but weren't supposed to think, let alone say to a guy. Phair was in her 20s when Exile came out, and somehow she'd nailed how it often felt to be in a relationship with others, as well as oneself, in a way that was wise beyond her years.

Fast forward 17 years to Friday night at the 9:30 Club: Phair's audience was an interesting mixture of those same men and women, as well as women who weren't born when Exile came out. 43-year old Phair–who apparently has a painting next to Dorian Grey somewhere–ran the gamut through her musical catalogue, touching down mostly on tracks from Exile and her July release, Funstyle. Funstyle's material is a bit, um, different from Phair's usual style, but that's always been the neat thing about Phair: She's always done her own thing, even when it runs contrary to what everyone expects.

DC locals US Royalty opened. Royalty's 70s-style cock-rock-with-indie-melodies filled the 930 to its rafters.

See the other photos from each set here.

Friday

• Liz Phair, U.S. Royalty. 8 p.m. $25. 9:30 Club.
• Gene Wene, The Blackberry Belles. 9 p.m. $20. Black Cat.
• Free Lobster Buffet, Honey House, The Bourbon House (all sound delicious, all are just bands). 9:30 p.m. $8. Red Palace.
• Bellman Barker, Megan Jean and the Klay Family Band, Alma Tropicalia, Fort Washington Band. 9 p.m. $10. Rock & Roll Hotel.
• Preservation Hall Jazz Band: Creole Christmas. 9:30 p.m. $45. Kennedy Center.
• Nasar Abadey, James King, Allyn Johnson. 9 and 11 p.m. Also Dec 18. $15. Twins Jazz.
• The Roches Christmas show with Lucy Wainwright Roche. 7:30 p.m. $35. Birchmere.
• Tim Warfield's Jazzy Christmas. 8:30 p.m. $20/$25. Through Dec. 19. Bohemian Caverns.
• House and Home, Bake Sale. 9 p.m. $8. Velvet Lounge.
• Antonio Parker Quintet. 9 p.m. $15. HR-57.

• WPAS Men, Women and Children of the Gospel Choir. 6:00 p.m. Free. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.
• Beasts of No Nation, Police and Thieves, Give, The Regents. 8 p.m. $10. Rock and Roll Hotel.
• Alma Tropicalia, Watermelon, Coppertonic. 9 p.m. $8. Velvet Lounge.
• Ghostland Observatory, Dr. Jak. 8 p.m. Sold out. 9:30 Club.
• Drop Electric, Emily Wells, The Sweater Set. $10/$12. 9 p.m. Black Cat.
• O.A.R.  8:30 p.m. $69-$125. Music Center at Strathmore.
• Pieces of a Dream. 7:30 p.m. $35. Birchmere.
• A..J Parham. 9 p.m. $15. HR-57.

• Justin Townes Earle, Dawn Landes. 7 p.m. 9:30 Club.
• Kenny Rodgers' Christmas Hits. 5 p.m. $49.50-$77.50. Music Center at Strathmore.
• The Baltimore Consort. 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sold out. Mansion at Strathmore.
• Vandaveer, Johnathan Vassar and The Speckled Bird, Erin Lang. 8 p.m. $8. IOTA Club & Cafe.
• The Gay Blades, OK Corral, Prisms. 8:30 p.m. $8/$10. Red Palace.

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We assume that's a cigarette, not crack.

Hey all, here's a peak at the goings on at the Washington City Paper headquarters around 5 p.m. last night:

So, it was announced yesterday that Gil Scott-Heron canceled his scheduled appearances at Blues Alley, set to take place tonight through Sunday. "Health problems," the performer claimed. It put us in a real bind, because he was our City Lights pick, and we didn't find out until right around the time we put the paper to bed. Fortunately, my colleague Jonathan L. Fischer rocked out another pick in record time. But in case you're wondering how Steve Kiviat's original pick looked, here it is:

Between 1970 and 1982, Gil Scott-Heron released nine albums’ worth of deep-voiced poetry and singing over jazz and R&B rhythms, earning him the label as a godfather of rap. On innovative early tracks like “The Revolution Will Not be Televised,” he combined Langston Hughes-inspired wordplay with left-wing politics. Since 1982, the onetime D.C. resident has struggled with a crack problem, done prison time, been sampled by Kanye West, and released a mere two albums—1994’s Spirit and this year’s fine I’m New Here. On Here, producer Richard Russell layers Scott-Heron’s now-raspier vocals over minimalistic trip-hop beats. The soulful bard abandons politics, favoring instead original ruminations on life (“New York Is Killing Me,” “On Coming from a Broken Home”)mixed with a few covers of Robert Johnson, Brook Benton, and Bill Callahan that eerily reflect Scott-Heron’s own values and vices.

Fischer ended up selecting local band Alma Tropicalia, which covers tropicalia favorites by Os Mustantes and others. But he initially wanted to write about Liz Phair's show Friday at the 9:30 Club; it just didn't work out with our lineup. Phair spoke to WaPo about instructing people how to like Funstyle, her controversial latest release, as well as losing her management over the disc. Bad career move, anyone?

PopEater's got a nice interview with Michelle Williams, who just scored a Golden Globe nom for the upcoming film Blue Valentine. In it she talks about the obvious (the indie darling's heart was never in Dawson's Creek–big surprise) and well as the not-so-obvious (substitute words to use when you're trying not to swear around your children).

Photo: popsdineswithportman.blogspot.com

Speaking of Fringe, you should read Chris Klimek's cover story in this week's Washington City Paper on the topic. It starts with this quite sensory lede:

Three weeks before the opening night of the fifth Capital Fringe Festival, its headquarters retains the faint scent of urine.

* When pondering the new, rap-sprinkled, apparently conversation-starting Liz Phair record, only one question comes to mind: WTF? WaPo's heroic Click Track bloggers go one further, asking: Why? Allison Stewart and Aaron Leitko offer explanations, but David Malitz isn't having it. He writes: "Maybe she's just – not that good? She certainly wouldn't be the first artist to fizzle out after a career-defining debut."

* On Yoko Ono's Wishing Tree in the Hirshhorn sculpture garden.

* Hot-shit dance critic Sarah Kaufman reviews Godard's Breathless, whose new (and I hear, gorgeous) new print is showing at AFI Silver. Kaufman is impressed neither by Belmondo's apparent ability to hold a close-up, or Godard's treatment of Belmondo's physical talents:

Belmondo's face, magnificently planed and sloped as it is, tells us zilch in this movie. Newly restored and re-subtitled for its 50th anniversary, the story of a thug marooned in Paris that helped launch a new cinematic style is, in fact, an inadvertent ode not to Belmondo's looks, but to his body.

I say "inadvertent" because, tragically (eh oui, one cannot overdramatize when referring to a French film), director Jean-Luc Godard does not fully exploit Belmondo's gift of physical grace. "Breathless," which opens Friday for a weeklong run at the AFI Silver, loses air every time it opts for close-ups. But let Belmondo saunter downstairs while he's lighting one of his fat cigarettes, or swagger through a lobby, or shadowbox in his underwear, and the film hums with raw, freewheeling elegance.

On the first point, one famous critic—was it Pauline Kael?—said part of Belmondo's appeal in Breathless was his bratty, hypnotic sort of ugliness, so uncharacteristic for a leading man in 1960. Never has a Brando impression seemed so discordant and better for it.

Liz Phair began the live rendition of her 1993 debut, Exile in Guyville, by thanking the 9:30 Club's sold out crowd for its enthusiasm, which continued through the night. The 9:30's DJ had warmed the crowd with hits from Guyville contemporaries like Urge Overkill's "Positive Bleeding" and the Afghan Whigs' "Gentlemen," and expectations were high.

I'd first seen Phair on the original Guyville tour at Minneapolis' First Avenue, and while that show was far from bad, the 15 years since the legendary album's release have served Phair's stage abilities well. Foremost, she now holds the guitar on her hip in true gunslinger form. At First Avenue, it was clasped under her armpit like she feared it would make a break for the exit, and she did her best to blend in with her touring band. At the 9:30 Club show, however, Phair stood out in front and engaged the crowd, hopefully putting the tired stage fright story line to rest.

After a carbon copy of Guyville's third cut, "Glory," Phair answered the question of many an audience member:

"By the way, no one is going to miss Obama tonight. Not on my watch."

This led to wild applause, and then she ripped into "Dance of the Seven Veils." Aside from a slight slip at the start of "Soap Star Joe", the rest of the show was tight and professional. And Phair's voice is as strong as ever, evidenced by the high notes she hit in "Explain it to Me."

Guyville's bold and raw lyrical content is often cited as the reason for the album's greatness. I embrace that assertion, but it was always the album's music that drew me in. She rocked on Guyville, and from the basement no less. It was also a refreshing antidote to the grunge movement. The highlights of last night's show were "6'1"," "Never Said" (with her touring band hitting the backing vocals just right) and the foot-stomping charge of "Johnny Sunshine." The grooves on "Mesmerizing" were deeper than the album cut and came with double the swagger.

Two lucky fans were plucked from the audience to accompany Phair on the audacious "Flower". Much blushing and giggling ensued. My favorite cut from Guyville, "Divorce Song", however, lacked the recording's final tight jamming frenzy. Instead, Phair used the album's closer, "Strange Loop", for displaying her ax skills, dueling with her touring guitarist.