If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what everyday stuff famous people add to their carts — like hair spray or an electric toothbrush. We asked Lisa Loeb — who recently released a new children’s album with The Hollow Trees called That’s What It’s All About — about the Japanese notebook, resistance bands, and drugstore lipstick she can’t live without.
Sleep is neck and neck with family among the top priorities in my life. These earplugs are a way for me to control my surroundings and actually sleep when I need to, whether I’m on the road, sleeping in a hotel, sleeping on a tour bus, or even sleeping in my own house with different people on different bedtimes and wake-up times or naps. I’m a big fan of naps. I will pull into a parking lot, stick my earplugs in, cover my eyes, and take a nap.
This is a way for me to really block out sound and get sleep, and it makes my life so much better because when I am awake, I can think, I can feel, I can plan, I can create. I keep a box near my bed. I keep a box in my car. I keep a box in my purse. They’re reusable for a bit. They’re really easy to travel with, and it’s such a small thing that makes a huge difference in health and happiness. Also, they block out enough sound where you really can’t hear what’s going on around you, but say, when my kids were babies, if they were to cry or if somebody were to say, “Mom,” or the alarm went off in the house, or if there’s anything you need to hear, you will wake up. I also have custom-made earplugs that I wear to other people’s concerts, so if I have forgotten those, I usually have these in my purse. Also, my kids can use them if restaurants are too loud, so it’s a good tool for controlling your surroundings in a very low-profile way.
I first found out about gel pens when I would tour in Japan. I feel like they were ahead of their time as far as pens and stationery stores. I love these pens so much because I still write a lot, whether it’s songwriting, journal writing, just writing-writing, grocery-list writing, getting ideas down quickly — you can write really quickly with these pens. They are not too inky, so they don’t smear easily. I also really love doodling, and they make really good doodling pens. They have a really precise line. They’re smooth. You don’t get that scratchy sound that you might when pens are too pointy or fine. And I also like the ones with the clicky tops because you don’t lose the caps.
I also found these notebooks in Japan. The pages are very smooth. The pen doesn’t get stuck on them like it does on Moleskines. They have lines, but they’re faint. They’re strong enough so that when you’re writing in the lines, you feel like you’re achieving something, but when you’re not writing in the lines, it is not annoying. They sell them in different sizes, but I like the ones that are a little bit thinner. You can put them in your purse or backpack really easily, and that’s important. They’re easy to take on the go.
I use a few different ones, but this is the one that I like best. I like that it has zinc minerals. I like that it’s moisturizing. I like that it goes on so thin and smooth. You can put makeup on over it, but you don’t have to. It never burns my eyes. I use it on my kids as well, and you get really good coverage without it feeling thick or annoying. It’s just very clean- and clear-feeling. It also comes in a really good size, so you could travel with it on an airplane or throw it in your purse for multiple applications throughout the day.
This is a microphone that I really love. I record myself a lot. I have a daily radio show on SiriusXM, and I record that myself. I also do a lot of voice-overs and a lot of voice-over auditions. Also, putting down ideas for songwriting, doing a lot of projects, like when I recorded myself for a musical that my friends and I wrote during COVID. There were a hundred different Brown University alumni, and we put together a musical. I’ve used it in professional TV commercials on air. It’s really easy to travel with. I plug it right into my computer. I can even plug it into my phone, and it sounds professional. It’s a really good size, and like I said, it’s totally professional sounding. It is professional. And it comes with a really good, tiny carrying case, so that’s another bonus.
Oh my gosh, I love the Libby app. It’s one of my favorites on my phone. You can rent any book from the library, and magazines and other things too, like audiobooks. I love reading. I love reading actual-book books and supporting writers, but I also love the ease with which I can download them. I’ve read entire books on my phone through the Libby app, like books that I didn’t realize were 400 or 500 pages long because they were on my phone. Also, sometimes I’ll have a book both in my phone and on my Kindle, and I’ll also buy the hard copy so I can read it on the road and then read the hard copy at home and not have to travel with that.
Also, my kids read really great books for their schools, and I like reading the books that they’re reading in humanities and then discussing the books with them and hearing what they have to say about them. My kids are 12 and 14, but I’ve been reading along with them for years now. Libby is a really nice way to have way more books than a human should at one time on their person — and also to check them out, no pun intended. You can read samples, and it’s bizarrely no cost. You link the app to your local library account. I’ve loved libraries ever since I was a little kid. Another thing I like is doing a lot of research for the interviews I do with bands and musicians for my show, so I’ll read people’s autobiographies, like when I interviewed Belinda Carlisle. It’s a quick and easy way to get the materials you need. It’s really nice to be able to have that resource at your fingertips.
I’ve had this guitar since 1989. It’s a custom version of the 512c that I got made at Matt Umanov Guitars in New York City. Back when I was in college, my band Liz and Lisa — a singing duo that I started with my friend Liz — recorded a demo in New York City with a guy named John Gordon, who had played a lot with Suzanne Vega. We’d already made a couple of albums, but we were putting together sort of a next-level demo in New York, and he had this same guitar. It’s got a little bit of a thinner neck. It’s got gold tuners, which are kind of funny but also glamorous. But it’s a guitar that’s so easy to play. It’s so great to travel with. I play a lot of different guitars, but this one is just so easy to play. It’s traveled so much. I usually travel with it now in a soft case on the plane with me, but it always holds up and I love it. I’ve written so many songs on it. My song “Stay” was written on it, and I performed on it in the studio. It’s just my go-to guitar. I have a guitar tech down the road I go to when I need some help, but that’s the great thing about it: it’s such a reliable and beautiful-sounding guitar.
It’s weird: I was in Indianapolis on tour this summer, and someone accidentally left it up against the outside of the hotel where we were staying when we were checking out. We got to the next city like three hours away and realized we didn’t have the guitar. But a security camera caught someone walking off with it. Someone saw a social-media post about my lost guitar, and by the next morning, a business owner nearby who saw a guy walking around with a guitar had gotten my guitar back for me. A local guitar store, with the help of Taylor Guitars, shipped the guitar back to me. It survived a couple of nights living away.
[Editor’s note: Lisa Loeb’s exact model of guitar is discontinued, but the 512ce is similar.]
I’ve been doing strength training since I was about 17 years old. I don’t think people actually always did the things that they said they were doing for PE, but I really did learn to do strength training in high school. Along the way, I’ve worked with a lot of great trainers, including folks from the National Academy of Sports Medicine, the NASM. I have a trainer now who’s really great and also a physical therapist. I can completely vary my workout every single time I do it. I just do a full-body workout, often centered around the stretchy bands.
They have different components, so you can hook it onto a door or onto a door handle or a heavy piece of furniture. I just know how to do an entire workout with them, and they fit in a tiny little bag. I used to go on the road and I needed to have a gym nearby or at the hotel, and it was so complicated. But now I could probably do an entire workout at my seat on an airplane. I don’t do that, but if I’m stuck at an airport, I can find a little corner if I want to and do an entire workout with these bands. I just love strength training. I do it in a moderate way with a lot of focus on breathing, flexibility, and strength. And correct form is really important. I love these bands. The ones that I found most recently are pink. They’re really cute. There’s a variety of bands, so each band feels like a different weight depending on the resistance.
This was such a surprise because I like using a lot of different brands of makeup from Lancôme to Mac. But along the way, my friend Stephen Glickman was shooting a TV show, and I was one of his guests. I showed up, and the makeup artist had forgotten her professional kit at home, so she ran to the drugstore and bought a bunch of stuff, including this Wet n Wild lipstick. Now it’s actually one of my favorite lipsticks. It’s a matte lipstick, which lasts really well. It creates the illusion of whatever lip shape you want to create and then if you want to add gloss or other things on top of that to change the color slightly — to make it more pink or more beige, for example — you can do that. It’s a great neutral color you can use underneath other lipsticks. And it’s a drugstore lipstick, so it’s very inexpensive. It’s very relaxing for me to go to the drugstore. That’s one of the things I do. I try to meditate, but sometimes the best meditation is just wandering around a drugstore and looking at the shelves.
My Jura coffee maker is very high level. We got it for our wedding 15 years ago. The one I have is discontinued now, but this one is similar. I’m completely obsessed with drinking strong coffee in the morning and now also in the afternoon. Coffee is a thing that fuels all my creativity. It helps my life. I’ve been drinking it since I was a little kid. It just keeps me on my toes, helps me wake up, take care of the kids, do all the jobs, make things up, and be creative, and it just makes me very happy. I use 2 percent milk. I keep trying coconut sugar because it’s less refined, but I always go back to white sugar because I can use less and it dissolves faster. I went from having two teaspoons to one teaspoon. That’s a big change.
I love that it makes espresso. I like that my husband and I can each make coffee the way we want it at the touch of a button. When friends come over, it’s so fun and impressive to quickly make them coffee that tastes professional. I also have to steam milk when I do my coffee, but I honestly don’t use the machine for that because I don’t want to clean that part of the machine. I do two three-ounce shots of espresso, half a cup of steamed milk, and a teaspoon of sugar, which makes me a little difficult to deal with at coffee places when I order — or not, because I’m specific. I say, “What should I order if this is what I would like?” And I try to get the name of what that might be when I’m someplace else.
I have my own eyewear line, so, lucky me, I get to wear glasses I had a hand in designing. I have a professional designer who designs the frames, but I collaborate with them on the ideas and the look of the frames, so it’s kind of a dream come true to have my own frames from my own eyewear line. I really can’t see anything without glasses, so they’re very practical but also very cute. And I always try to have a little bit of a lift. Mine are cat-eye glasses, so that’s part of the style. But even in the frames that look more rectangular or more circular, I still try to make sure that they’re flattering and have a little bit of a lift. The one I love the most is called Cake and Pie. It’s one of the older frames. They’re all named after either albums or song titles.
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