03-16-98

AMERICAN MUSIC: THE VIOLENT FEMMES MAILING LIST
currently run by Pat. Wary

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TOUR DATES: (NEW DATES MARKED WITH A **)

Apr. 1- Salem State College, Salem, MA (O)
Apr. 2- 9 p.m. Brandeis Universtiy, Waltham, MA, $15/20 (O)
Apr. 4- 8:30 p.m. Timkin Gymnasium, Mt. Union College, Alliance, OH
$10 (P,O)
Apr. 5- 7.30 p.m. Elco Theatre, Elkhart, IN (T,O,P)
Apr. 6- 9 p.m. World Mardi Gras, Indianapolis, IN (T,O,P) 21+ SHOW
Apr. 7- Knight’s Hall, Bellarmine College, Louisville, KY, ~$17.50
(P,O)
Apr. 16- 7:30 p.m. Quandt Fieldhouse, University of Wisconsin,
Stevens Point, WI $19.50/21.50 (O)
Apr. 17- North Michigan University, Marquette, MI (O,P)
Apr. 18- 7:30 p.m. McGown Gym, Winona State University, Winona, MN
(P,O)
Apr. 19- Fargo Civic Auditorium, Fargo, ND (O,T,P)
Apr. 21- 7:30 p.m. Madison Theatre, Peoria, IL (O.T,P)
Apr. 24- Center CityFest ’98, Charlotte, NC (O,P)
Apr. 26- La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA (O) STUDENT ONLY SHOW
May 2- Salisbury State College, Salisbury, MD (O) TENTATIVE
May 3- 99X Stage@Music Midtown, Atlanta, GA (O,P)
May 15- Chocolate Fest, Burlington, WI (O,P)

NOTA BENE: ‘O’ stands for the Official homepage
‘P’ stands for Pollstar
‘T’ stands for Ticketmaster
‘I’ stands for Insider Info
All other references are subscribers

To book a show, contact Monterey Peninsula Artists.
Serious inquiries only.

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The Quote Of The Day:

I can’t go out no more
I just better stay at home
-From World We’re Living In

PLEASE send your VF quotes to
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WHO/WHERE
Going to a VF concert? Want to know if anyone
else on the list also going? Check here first!

Waltham, MA
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Alliance, OH
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Indianapolis, IN
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Louisville, KY
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Stevens Point, WI
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Winona, MN
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Peoria, IL
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Charlotte, NC
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Atlanta, GA
———–

Burlington, WI
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ALL CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS LETTER SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO

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WEB PAGES:

Official: http://www.vfemmes.com
Unofficial:http://vf.scopemag.com
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/6918
Past Tour
Dates: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Lounge/1725/femmes.html
Guitar: http://www.bucknell.edu/~wtorres/violent_femmes
http://www.olga.net
Une banane:Send in your top five faves each week to:

HERE I AM: Tell me where you live for the Here I Am list.

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In Today’s Issue:

RE: Peoria Info Needed
RE: Wants to Go to Philly
RE: Wants to Go to Philly
Brandeis Definite
UWSP Info
Salem State Definite
Summer Touring?
New Perspective
No Talking, Just Head
No Talking, Just Femmes
Good Gordon Hunting
RE: Top 10 Again
RE: Top 10 Again
RE: Top 10 Again

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RE: Peoria Info Needed
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As far as I know, the show is still tentative. However, I went to the
Peoria show last summer, and it rocked. IT was in the same theatre…
Madison Theatre. There’s parking right across the street from the
theatre, and it has a sign on it that says Madison Theatre, as I recall.
It looks like an old theatre, and that’s what it is. It probably holds
about 2000, I would assume, but I’m as good as Wesley Willis at crowd
estimations. It’s a nice intimate, aged theatre. Tix last time were
through Ticket Master and they were about $20+ all the fees. It takes
about 3 hours, I believe from Chicago to get there, and is pretty much
an interstate/backroad roadtrip. It’s a good time, but make sure you
have enough gas to get you through the real boring part about 80 miles
from Peoria (as if it all isn’t boring…). Madison Theatre is on
MADISON AVENUE (coincidentally, enough). I believe there are just a
bunch of streets with presidents, and it’s real easy to find, since the
actual city part of Peoria is about as big as my apartment. Well, I
guess that’s all the info I have now, email me if you have any further
questions or want to meet up, since I’ll be attending that show as well.

john #3

once i was in this situation…i went to the university bla bla
homepage and found a mess of student phone numbers and emails….every
student that mentioned monkey in their profile i called…first person
i talked to ended up mailing me tickets….that was desperate kyle in
action..you might want to give it a try….

kyle

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RE: Wants to Go to Philly
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hey, pat, did they happen to mention whether you have to be a student
to *attend*, or whether you just have to be a student to buy a ticket?
’cause if it’s the latter, there’ll be people scalping tickets (i don’t
mind so much when poor starving students are trying to make a couple
bucks on a sold out show . . .), which means it’d be worth my while
to drive up there.

-Pat. Says: I’ve rewritten Yvette Flanagan, and asked for clarification.
I hope she will write back with good news for you.

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Brandeis Definite
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In case you haven’t heard yet, or if it hasn’t been announced publicly
yet, the Brandeis show was announced to students on Wednesday. Tickets
go on sale March 20, I think $15 for students and $20 for others
(ticketmaster I want to say). Anyway, I picked up that info, it’ll be
April 2 in the gym starting at 9pm. Later!

Liz

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UWSP Info
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Got the info from Centertainment Productions yesterday.
Tickets go on sale Monday, March 23rd at 10:30am. People can call
1-800-838-3378 for tickets. The show is April 16 at 7:30pm in the
Quandt Fieldhouse. Tickets for non-students are $19.50 in advance
and $21.50 at the door. It also mentions a .50 service charge, but I’m
not sure which tickets that applies to. They will accept Visa and
Mastercard.
I will definitely be there!

Victoria

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Salem State Definite
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Just to let you know, I was at Strawberries’ today and they had the
Salem State show listed for upcoming concerts. I’m not sure the price
of the tickets, but it is definite.

Liz

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Summer Touring?
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Will the femmes continue touring this summer? I know they aren’t
planning to come down South so I will have to make my pilgrimage up
North if they continue.

-Guy Schaafs

-Pat. Says: Since the new album will be released in May, I’d guess
there’ll be a LOT of touring in support of that album. I
don’t know how far south you live, but there are the Atlanta
and Charlotte shows so far.

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New Perspective
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Just wondering how many people have FUN at the femmes concerts? I
realized after the show in DC, that I just didn’t enjoy myself. Why?
Because I was too concentrated on getting to the front of the stage,
too busy waiting for people to move. And the times when I do get there,
I’m too worried about crowd surfers, and the damn bouncers in front of
me so I can’t see. Not to mention obnoxious drunk people who shove their
heads, arms, and bodies right into me.
I thought about the show afterwards, and realized that I missed it.
I’m not really sure if it was a good show or not. Ideally I like to be
close so I can WATCH them play. So I can look into their eyes, and
guess what they are thinking, so I can LISTEN closely and become one
with the music like I do while listening to the albums. I realize now
that is not possible due to the hyperactive crowd. I used to put up
with it, but it just isn’t worth it anymore. The show was probably a
lot better for people who were on the balcony. OK, you can have your
say about me now.

-Pat. Says: There comes a time in every person’s life when he or she
realizes that he or she is simply too ‘old’ to deal with
the shit that goes on in the front row. It was fun, but now
it’s done. DC was particularly obnoxious for you I know, but
there does seem to be an disturbing trend going on here. You
might want to try getting in the front for the first few
songs, and then bugging out to a less crowded area. You
might find you are not only enjoying yourself more, but also
actually hearing the show better. If you want to see their
faces, it might be cool retro to bring opera glasses.

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No Talking, Just Head
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This is in response to Shannon. This may be old news to you, but there
is an album by the Heads (the Talking Heads minus David Byrne) called
“No Talking Just Head” Where several guest performers stand in and do
songs. Gordon Gano does a track called “Only the Lonely” I think. It’s
not quite a tribute album, but it does offer a nice blend of Talking
Head’esque music with a variety of cool musicians. (Blondie does a
couple of tracks as does Shaun Ryder–I’ve heard the name before, but
I’m not sure of who he is.Maybe “Black Grape”?–Gavin Friday and
Ed-what’s-his-name from “Live”) Anyway, like I said that may be old
news, but I hope it helps.

-Steven

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No Talking, Just Femmes
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I’m sure about 15 people will post a similar message, but in fact the
Femmes are linked to the Talking Heads. I think it was only Gordon that
did a song (called Only the Lonely, it’s of course pretty good) on last
year’s “No Talking, Just Head” album. I don’t know the particulars, but
some members of TH didn’t come back for the album so they did a
collaboration with various singers such as Gano.

I have a question too, though. I’ve heard that the tape version of
Blind Leading the Naked has a song that the cd version doesn’t have.
What is it? And since casettes are all but extinct, how could i get a
hold of it?

no sig file needed,
josh

-Pat. Says: World Without Mercy is on the cassette version. I don’t know
if the cassette version is still available new, but I’m sure
you can still find it used.

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Good Gordon Hunting
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Three things happened Friday night that I somehow connected in my head:
my beloved Siamese kitty disappeared (but the cat came back, the very
next day…!), I went to see “Good Will Hunting” (WOW! It better kick
Titanic’s ass for ALL the Oscars!), and my friend insulted the Femmes
(so I kicked HIS ass! Well, his chest actually. And ultimately he did
win because he’s got about 5 inches, twice my weight, and 89 gallons of
testosterone on me, but I tried damnit!) Here’s the story. While we
were getting ready to leave for the theater, my friend Cris said his
roomate had said the funniest thing about the Femmes. “Oh really!
What?!!” was my naive reply. “Well, we were listening to Marcy’s
Playground and Jared said, ‘Ya know, this is what the Violent Femmes
would sound like if they could actually PLAY their instruments!'” Cris
thought this was great, and I tried to stay calm, but I was really and
truly pissed so I threw a few good jabs at his chest, taking him
completely by surprise, before he overpowered me. (It’s not fair! When
I was 10 I could beat up any boy my age! What happened to the good ol’
days? That’s it I’m gonna take steroids. No really, I think hairy
breasts are attractive, you mean you don’t?) Now, I happen to like
Marcy’s Playground (but that’s tentatively based on ONE song, compared
to gee, how many songs I love by the Femmes?) but I have two arguments
against that statement (other than the obvious “It’s just wrong,
damnit!”) Number one: last time I checked, the Femmes play a hell of a
lot more and varied instruments then 99.9% of the bands out there. And
they CAN play!!! Now, Gordon was the first to admit in Fredericksburg
that he’s not the most amazing guitarist but HE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE! He
fucking writes and sings those songs we love, cut ‘im some slack!
There’ve been a ton of debates on this list over Guy vs. Victor, but
even the anti-Guy faction admitted he was a good drummer! Brian can’t
play? What??? I don’t even want to go into that one, I’d be here all
night. You understand anyway!!!! Number 2: to the casual listner,
what is probably the defining characteristic of the Femmes? I would
guess it is Gordon’s distinctive (Some have said “whiney” 🙂 voice.
Therefore, if someone wanted to make a shallow “This is what the Femmes
would sound like if…” comment, the point of attack should be Gordon’s
singing. (Who was the girl that asked if Gordon had gotten a voice for
Christmas? That was funny, but wrong!) So, here’s where the movie and
the cat come in. When I read my sister’s email from home that said my
cat was missing, I cried a bit wondering if I’d ever see her little face
with its crazy-striped whiskers again. Or her tail that is
disproportionately short for her body! Or her fat little tummy that
makes her just about as wide as she is tall! Or her little snaggle tooth
that sometimes drips drool down her chin! It’s the funny little things
about her I love the most! Later that night, in “Good Will Hunting”
Robin William’s character made a speech that echoed my earlier thoughts.
He said it’s the traits that are unique to us that make us lovable
individuals, “Some people call them imperfections, but they’re not!” So
here’s what I was musing the next day. When I first heard the Femmes,
did I immediately LOVE them? Surprisingly, I don’t think I did. But I
liked them enough, and found them interesting and intriguing enough to
listen some more. And the more I listened, and the more I really
thought about the music, the more I GREW to love them. (And here I am
now folks!) But they’re not quick fix ear pop, like a lot of IMMEDIATELY
popular songs are. (“I get KNOCKED DOWN, but I get up again. Ain’t never
gonna keep me down.” 😉 [ok, I like Tubthumping, it’s fun.] I love the
things that make the Femmes special, different, THEM. Part of that is
the instruments; part of that is Gordon’s voice. So the point is, Fuck
Jared for his dumb-ass comment; I’m glad my precious kitter-kat is home
safe and snuggly; go see “Good Will Hunting”; and keep lovin’ them
Femmes!
:)****amber
PS: here’s a good band name I just thought of when trying to help
someone write a paper–“Personable Youth”. I’m picturing a really
hard-core, thrash and trash, punk band! Feel free to use!

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RE: Top 10 Again
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OK, the next two people didn’t get a chance to see my request to let
this thread die for the time being. So I’ll put them in. But no more,
you understand? The rest of you will have your chance when this thread
resurfaces, probably in about 6 months.

The Rentals
R.E.M.
Bob Marley
Mustard Plug
Radiohead
Cornershop
Jimi Hendrix
The Doors
Ben Folds Five
Less than Jake

311
Sublime
Blind Melon
Nirvana
Pink Floyd
Arcwelder
Led Zeppelin
Tool
Chemical Brothers
Phish

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