lilymoayeri

New year! New podcast format!! This month marks the start of the fifth year of the Pictures of Lily Podcast. With that comes a slight change in format which we’re calling the “Vintage Edition" where I am sharing my experiences about specific interviews with the bonus of some soundbites from the artists in those interviews. This format is something my podcast partner @RGLSTNDRD has been trying to convince me to do from the start. @EddyboySimons of @theChemicalBrothers finally talked me around when he campaigned for it while we were at @CoronaCapital with them a couple of months ago. Best of all, it's Tom Chemical's birthday and this timing was entirely unplanned😍 The kickoff episode of the Pictures of Lily Podcast (Vintage Edition) is the very first interview I did with the Chemical Brothers (at the time called the Dust Brothers) in 1994. It was the first North American interview for the two. We did the interview at the infamous Ship pub in Soho in London and you can hear all the sounds of the place in the background, as well as my ‘90s hoarse voice and the Brothers’ young men voices. I have to hand it to @RGLSTNDRD for doing a beautiful job editing the audio and producing the episode, an 11-minute listen, in Reels or Linktree in bio. 2/ A snippet from the Chems episode all the way from 1994. 3/ @ Corona Capital in 2018. 4/ @SBBowl in 2023. 5/ Chems @ Corona Capital 2023. 6/ Me outside the Ship pub in 2019. #chemicalbrothers #podcast #podcasting #podcasters #podcastersofinstagram #classic #musicinterview

In 2019, around the dinner table @SallyAnneGross' house, I floated an idea I had about a story on making bootleg mixtapes in Iran after the Islamic Revolution. Everyone in the room was very enthusiastic and encouraging of the idea, which I took to @CraigMarks1 @LATimes. He liked the idea and wanted to bring it to the present day, which I did with the help of my friend of 40 years @DordanehB's (at the time) teenage daughter @CluelessSal and @Nazli_Ataaa's former student @ParsaNazeri, not to mention Nazli herself. This year, that LA Times article turned into a book chapter in the anthology, "The Life, Death, and Afterlife of the Record Store: A Global History." I spoke to current Iranian artists thanks to @NeginAtaeeyeh, a few family members, including @HaidehAdab and @SussanSafari to get a longer view picture on the topic, which became the chapter: "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, It Will Be Taped: Popular Music Acquisition in Pre- and Post-Revolution Tehran." It was excruciating to allow the trauma of living under the Islamic Republic to resurface. Researching historical facts in academic databases and reading about the events of the time in the non-biased, unemotional tone of those sources (which I love as a teacher librarian) made writing the chapter all that much more difficult. It made the pain I went through (and apparently am still feeling the effects of) seem unimportant, which it certainly is not. I cried a lot and avoided deadlines so I wouldn't have to revisit the trauma. But I got it done and I'm glad it's out there. It couldn't have been done without the support of @Laurence.Schroeder who is an amazing editor and my secret weapon and my rock. My editor, @Ginanarchy, who is also the person who brought me to the book project, elevated the chapter with her insights and her input. If you'd like to read excerpts from it, or purchase the book, the link is in my bio. First video: Seeing the book for the first time @Waterstone's in Manchester, UK Second video: Seeing the book for the second time @ RoughTradeEast on Brick Lane, London, UK with @JasonLaidback_LoveisaBassline 🎥 for both @RGLSTNDRD #iran #music #musicbook #recordstore

Wrapping up 2024 with a major highlight: @SPIN's December digital cover story with @FINNEAS, who is our artist of the year, rightfully so. I first interviewed FINNEAS almost exactly five years ago to the day and he blew me away with his enviable confidence and easy energy. Five years on, multiple Grammys and Oscars and oodles of other awards later, not to mention No. 1s with his sister @BillieEilish, FINNEAS is the same guy. He didn't become arrogant or distant or any of the other boring things that happen to superstars. The best part of this interview for me was sharing with FINNEAS how many of his girlfriend @ClaudiaSulewski's recommendations and habits I have adopted. Read all about it in the @Linktr.ee in my bio. Bug thanks to my editor Liza Lentini @thiswickedawesomelife and SPIN's creative director @DannyKleinMusic and #TeamFinneas Alex @BakerPR and Jamie Sward @fool_4_music. Also! FINNEAS was the premiere episode of the Pictures of Lily Podcast five years ago! This was before he had won any awards. Link to that episode in my bio as well. #finneas #billieeilish #artistoftheyear #forcryinoutloud #hitmehardandsoft #claudiasulewski #disclaimer #badsexjason

Spent Thanksgiving week in the UK visiting friends. As many of you know, the majority of my closest friends live there. This is partly because of how much time I spent the UK in the '90s writing about British bands in the Britpop era. These friends housed me and fed me and looked after me and listened to me and gave me excellent advice that I didn't understand until years after. My love for them is unshakeable and my gratitude for their wholehearted acceptance of me with all my flaws and quirks is immeasurable. Pictured is a very small fraction of the friends we saw. I still have to be reminded to take pictures "for the 'Gram." My experiences in the UK, and in the US with UK friends, came back in a tidal wave when writing "The Britpop Invasion of North America: A Second Coming for Anglophiles, Not So Much for Everyone Else" for Under the Radar Magazine's first '90s Issue. I spoke to a lot of musicians for this story including @TimBurgessOfficial @TheCharlatans Sice @BooRadleysOfficial, Alonza @KulaShakerOfficial Johnny @MenswearBandOffical Sonya @Echobelly_Official and by proxy Mick @MonkeybasketHQ @DannyGoffeyOfficial @SupergrassHQ. In addition to musicians, I spoke to my friends and colleagues who continue to support all music, particularly British music in North America including @Robby_Ess Mark @FenwayRecordings @PiperFerguson @Shalyce_B and @AaronAxelsen. The whole thing, plus a lot more excellent stories live inside the print edition of the magazine which is purchasable through the link in @UndertheRadarMag's bio. Three of my favorite quotes from the story in comments. #britpop #timburgess #supergrass #kulashaker #the90s

Eight years ago, I met @YoshikiOfficial in person for the first time, although I experienced his musical talent and his fans' reactions to him at least 10 years before, during a @GRAMMYMuseum performance, thanks to the insistence of @BigHassleKen. About six weeks ago, post neck surgery, Yoshiki and I conducted our third interview, this one about his documentary/concert film, "Under the Sky" for @SPINMag's "Watch Me" series. That story is out now, as is the film on DVD/Blu-ray, check the @Linktr.ee in my bio. Big thanks to Libby Coffey for her perseverance in making it happen and to Liza Lentini for giving it the space and support. Photo of me, Yoshiki and his buddy @GeneSimmons taken in Yoshiki's studio October 2016. #yoshiki #underthesky #xjapan #wearex #heavymetal #classicalpiano

The debut issue of @TheRootedJournal has arrived and it is a stunner. Very proud to have contributed a four-page feature on @MaggieMBaird's @SupportandFeed organization who do such good work. I spoke to Maggie via Zoom while I was in Sukhothai, Thailand. I was sitting outside and a crow attacked my head, more than once, as we began talking. It became alarming for all so I had to move the interview indoors in order to focus on what Maggie was saying. She is articulate and informed and in case you weren't aware, she is also mother to @BillieEilish and @Finneas. As far as The Rooted Journal, the content will publish on their site eventually, but in the meantime, try and grab a copy as it is worth the paper. So glad to have bumped into the editor-in-chief @DustinBeatty @TraderJoes in our neighborhood where he tapped me to pitch him ideas for The Rooted Journal. We worked together over 20 years ago during his days heading up Anthem Magazine and it's great to be back with him in publishing land. Big thanks to @BakerPR @fool_4_music @HighRisePR for their help getting this one over the finish line. Addendum! The story is now online, click the @Linktr.ee in my bio to read. #supportandfeed #billieeilish #finneas #maggiebaird #vegan #plantbased #plantbaseddiet #plantbasedfood #therootedjournal

Seeing @LowCutConnie live is an experience like no other, and the spectacle is now viewable in the comfort of your own home in the form of the documentary/concert film, "Art Dealers." At the end of September, I went to a screening of the film with Connie's Adam Weiner, followed by a Q&A with our own @WillmanChris and an acoustic two-song performance by Adam. The next day Adam met up with me to talk all things Connie for @SPINMag and last week, the live album, "Connie Live" was released. Yet another @RGLSTNDRD discovery, I'm so glad that he exposed me to the wonders of Low Cut. LCC is on the road now, make sure to catch them at a theatre or a club near you, to quote Adam, "We crush at that level." @Linktr.ee in my bio for my SPIN story. Graphics taken from LCC's Instagram. #lowcutconnie #adamweiner #artdealers #connielive

In a few hours @FIDLAR will play their hometown show in support of their latest album, "Surviving the Dream" @TheBellwetherLA. It's Halloween so I won't be there as my personal rule is I don't leave the house on this particular holiday. But, I have been a fan for years and it was a treat to hang out with the group's principal Zac @shredaloha Carper at his studio, which he shares with my wonderful friend @SuzyShinn, for a Mix Magazine feature. I expected detailed information about the recording of "Surviving the Dream," but I didn't expect to come away with a whole new outlook on discipline versus inspiration. Zac's honesty and ability to let things go was a revelation. My respect for him is immense and when I was leaving the studio, my main thought about him was, "I totally get it." My next thought was maybe I should get a Zac Carper special stick and poke FIDLAR tattoo like the one @PeetKwin has on his foot but I settled for a FIDLAR surfboard keychain made by Zac's mom. My FIDLAR feature is now readable in the digital edition of the November issue @MixOnlineIG via the @Linktr.ee in my bio. #fidlar #survivingthedream #mix #mixing #music #musicrecording #songwriting #zaccarper #shredaloha

Me in Iran circa 1984/85, very tan, very glossy makeup, very accessorized, although you can't see most of my bling in this crop., my gold cross is visible. And my biggest hair inspiration was @Limahl_Official. This was indoors under the cover of friends and family. Me in my version of hijab at Shemshak, one of Iran's destination ski resorts, just outside Tehran. This was right before I was stopped by the Khaharan e Zeinab (female paramilitary arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) aka morality police, for wearing clear pink, almost invisible, lip gloss. I wrote about that experience and another encounter with the morality police, who came into our house looking for me just one month before my family moved to Los Angeles permanently, in my story about free speech and the musicians in Iran titled, "The Land of the Not Free: In the US we take freedom of speech for granted. In Iran, it can get musicians imprisoned or killed" for @SPINMag's return-to-print issue. I was born in the US and the plan was always to move here once it was time to go to college. Most Iranians don't have that option, and many Iranian artists put their lives at risk by expressing themselves through their art. I use two of them: @ToomajOfficial and @Shervinine as tent poles for the story. But there are so many more, some of whom I name: @MehdiYarrahi @SamanYasinorg @Mehdi_Rajabian @AliPinkMusic @TechnoTehran_ofc, and even more Iranian artists living outside of Iran, including @ArashTarantisT of @TarantisT and @ParsaNazeri who are quoted in the story. These artists use their musical voices to speak for all Iranians for whom freedom of speech, or any expression, is nonexistent. "The Land of the Not Free" is now readable online (@Linktr.ee in my bio). Most grateful to @BobGuccioneJr and Liza Lentini (@thiswickedawesomelife) and the SPIN team for their support and space for freedom of speech. And big thanks to the SPIN social team for letting me borrow the wonderful graphics they made for the story. #iran #iranians #freeiran #womanlifefreedom #mahsaamini #jinamahsaamini #toomajsalehi #freetoomaj #shervinhajipour #baraye #freespeech #iranianmusicians #iranianartists

Definitely among the top three things I never imagined would happen in my life: going to Jackie Fox (@foxycmere) formerly of @TheRunawaysOfficial's house and playing her awesome board game, Rock Hard: 1977, published by @DevirGames. Before we got to Jackie's place, I did so much reading up on her that I kept forgetting what I was going over there for, that is, to experience Rock Hard: 1977 with its creator. Once we got there, Jackie was very welcoming, but kind of intimidating as she is one of those highly intelligent people who you automatically feel requires your A+ game (pun intended) to keep up with her. Plus, we wanted to max out on the game playing experience. Then I spilled food all over the floor and Jackie had to clean it up 🤦🏻‍♀️ but she was very gracious about it. Third pic is our player, Bernie "Bam Bam" Bernstein, fourth pic is Jackie's cool dice collection, fifth pic is her board game collection and sixth pic is the cover of Rock Hard: 1977. I wrote about the entire experience for @SPINMag, story in the @Linktr.ee in my bio Big thanks to my editor @TheDanielKohn for shepherding me through this one. Make sure you put Rock Hard: 1977 on your holiday shopping list, but hurry as this is a popular one in the gaming community. #jackiefox #rockhard1977 #devirgames #therunaways #bassplayer #bassist #rocknroll #boardgames #gaming #gamer #gamers #gamerlife #gamenight #workerplacementgame

Whenever I interview anyone I watched on "Top of the Pops" in the '80s, I feel like I am in a parallel universe. I could have never imagined having any actual contact with the otherworldly creatures who graced those stages, let alone having conversations with them--which are always amazing, and that's all down to how great they are as people, how far they've come and how much wisdom and acceptance they have. It's inspiring. @AlisonMoyetOfficial, whom I am pictured with here in 2013 in a photo taken by @Tuti505050, is one such otherworldly creature who occupies her own special place in the musician universe. I've interviewed Alison a few times and each time I come away a better person. This most recent time, which was for @SPINMag about her 40-year retrospective album of reworks, "Key," was no exception. Check it out in the Linktr.ee in my bio. #alisonmoyet #yaz #yazoo #key #dontgo #topofthepops #the80s #britishpopstars #vinceclarke

Last night I went to see @OGShelbyLynne talk about one of my favorite albums of this year, her masterpiece, "Consequences of the Crown" with my buddy @Willman.Chris @GrammyMuseum. Shelby made us laugh, she made us cry, at least I was crying the second she plucked the first notes of "Regular Man," one of the standouts from the album. Thanks to Liza Lentini (@thiswickedawesomelife) I spoke to Shelby for @SPIN this past summer and it was a conversation like none other. It felt like we knew each other for years and we talked with many overlapping reference points. I had to be in Shelby's real-life presence so @LukeBurland2 made it happen. Check out my SPIN feature on Shelby through the Linktr.ee in my bio and press play on "Consequences of the Crown" immediately. #shelbylynne #consequencesofthecrown #grammymuseum #grammys #grammy #grammywinner #bestnewartist #alabama #losangeles #nashville #alabamajimbeamdrinker