She decided to go for it. She listened to records in Miller’s Prospect Heights apartment. People wanted her to record their songs. “A lot of it was sort of dramatic—somebody drives off a cliff or something,” says Miller. “She said that’s nice—just don’t bring it up again.”

Dangerous Game contains a remake of the Shangri-Las “Heaven Only Knows.” It didn’t make it on the CD, but she’s dusting off a cover of the deliciously ambiguous “Train From Kansas City” to perform live. She’s not so sure she wants to play “Leader of the Pack” again.

“I wanted to do a mix of new with old,” Weiss says. “Why walk into the studio to do old things? What’s the point?”

She has been encouraged by social-networking Website MySpace. “I did my page myself. I didn’t want anyone else to touch it. I talk to people every day, and I go in and look at what young people are listening to. And their tastes are so all over the place and so sophisticated. They’re grounded. They’re listening to stuff from the forties, really good stuff! I went ‘Whoa,’ and thought, There’s room for me. But I didn’t know that before MySpace.”

She will play a show at Austin indie-music fest South by Southwest, and another in Cleveland; her New York City homecoming has yet to be scheduled. “I’m taking it very slowly,” she says. “Small steps. No rush.

“I just want to have fun now. And I’m going to. People can take advantage of you in your youth,” says Weiss. “And they’re not going to do it again. There are benefits to being a grown-up.”

Related:

• Archive: “Music Features”
• Articles by Michael Martin
• Table of Contents: Mar 5, 2007 issue of New York | Subscribe!