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The Quote Of The Day:

Did he, did he, did he, die upon that cross?
And did he, did he, did he, come back across?
-From Jesus Walking On The Water
-Submitted by thehappycyclops

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

June 4- 9 p.m., Toad’s Place, New Haven, CT, 21+ SHOW, $25 (T,P)
June 5- Pier 6 Concert Hall, Baltimore, MD (P,O)
June 6- Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ (P,O)
June 7- Tramp, NY, NY (O)
June 16- Marlboro Festival, Pittsburgh, PA (O)
June 17- Marlboro Festival, Detroit, MI (O)
June 18- Marlboro Festival, Chicago, IL (O)
June 30- Marlboro Festival, St. Louis, MO (O)
July 1- Marlboro Festival, Boston, MA (O)
July 2- Marlboro Festival, Atlanta, GA (O)
July 3- IC Amphitheatre, Pittsburgh, PA (O,P)
July 17- LoDo Festival, Denver, CO (P,O)
July 21- Marlboro Festival, Portland, OR (O)
July 22- Marlboro Festival, NY (O)
July 23- The Vogue, Vancouver, British Columbia, CA (O,P)
July 25- Calgary Folk Music Fest, Calgary, Alberta, CA (O)
July 28- Marlboro Festival, Philadelphia, PA (O)
July 29- Marlboro Festival, NY, NY (O)
July 30- 8 p.m., Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, Hampton Beach, NY
18+ show, Internet onsale May 22 (T)
July 31- Barnstable Co. Fairground, Hyannis, MA (P,O)
August 14- Historic Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA (P)
August 15- 7:30 p.m., Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, CA (T,P)
Sept 5- Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle, WA (P)
Sept 6- Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle, WA (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

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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!

Baltimore, MD
————-
vanallen (Bobby)
stacey (Stacey)
kerrinross (Kerri)
Gluegirl (Danica)

Denver, CO
———-
truman (Emily)
lmjacobs (Laurie)

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WEB PAGES:

Official: http://www.vfemmes.com

Unofficial: http://vf.lasvegasweekly.com/
http://www.bigfoot.com/~planetblue
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/6918
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Theater/6571/index.html
VF Message
Board: http://red.cscwc.pima.edu/~cstaley/femmes/board.html

Yahoo Chat: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/newtimesviolentfemmesclub

Past Tour Dates:
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Lounge/1725/femmes/femmes.html

Guitar: http://www.smug.adelaide.edu.au/~therapy/femmes/
Note: above url has been changed, and it has been
*IMPROVED*!!
http://www.angelfire.com/hi/VFemmes

MP3’s http://members.tripod.com/~GasolineFumes/music.html

Glenn Gano’s Page: http://www.alaska.net/~ggano

Charm Records: http://www.charmrec.com

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ALL CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS LETTER SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO
AMUSIC
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In Today’s Issue:

I Went to Germany
Re: Ebay Robberies
I’m Bigger than You Are!
Brian Ritchie Solos

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I Went to Germany
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After years of waiting, disappointment and canceled tours, I finally
got to see the Femmes in Cologne on May 10. It was worth the wait.

To set the scene, Cologne is a city built on the Rhine in north-western
Germany, famous for its cathedral (it took 625 years to build), after-
shave lotion (really), beer, culture and night life.

The show was held in E-Werk, an old church that’s been converted into
a concert hall – an apt setting given the Femmes interest in religious
issues. With standing room only and a balcony running around two
thirds of the hall, it’s a great venue. Everybody’s got a good view of
the stage.

I arrived early before the doors opened so I sat outside in the
sunshine and watched the crowd gather. What struck me was the mix of
people, from grungy students to older, more serious-looking characters.
Everyone seemed good-humoured and enthusiastic – one girl had a
beaten-up old tape recorder bashing out the Femmes and the mood was
building nicely.

Inside, the next pleasant surprise was the support act, especially
because none was advertised. When the lights dimmed, a girl began
singing and playing the guitar. I didn’t recognize her and she didn’t
introduce herself but I thought to myself, she’s good. Turns out it was
the girl who did a duet with Michael Stipe recently (Rosie something,
anybody know?). Though the crowd didn’t seem to recognize her, they
gave her a good reception. I’d say she played six or seven songs before
saying she hoped everyone enjoyed the Femmes.

The lights went up and the place had really filled up. There was a
building air of expectation as the roadies prepared the stage. When one
gave a few drums rolls for the sound check as his pal tuned Brian’s
bass, the crowd began whistling and screaming and generally getting
pumped up. I always enjoy the moments before the band arrives when the
excitement surges through the crowd as the crew does the final checks.

Anyway, the lights went down and the Femmes took the stage, blasting
straight into I’m nothing, Out the Window, It’s gonna rain, Jesus
Walking on the Water, Prove my Love and Country Death Song. The crowd
was really into it, singing and dancing all the way. The band continued
playing most of the songs from the first two albums. I was thinking,
hey this is great stuff but don’t they say anything. Maybe they think
the audience won’t understand English. Then Brian stepped forward,
motioned for quiet and struck a JFK pose: “Ich bin ein …
scheissstrudel (I think this translates to shithead or something but
my German’s not too good). The crowd cracked up and Brian continued:
“Ich bin ein scheissstrudel und mein head ist kapot, zo … When
I say dance, you best dance, motherfucker.”

The whole show really took off from there. The Femmes played for
nearly two hours I’d say. I enjoyed the whole thing but there were a
few highlights, probably familiar to US people, but please bear with
me:

During Country Death Song, all lights dimmed except for a single soft
red spotlight on Gordon. Sporting a loud shirt, an evil grin and a
wayward hair style, he reminded me of Jack Nicholson in Witches of
Eastwick.

During Good Feeling, instead of the violin solo, Brian played it on his
bass instead. The guy is not only talented, but he must be strong as a
horse to cart that thing around the stage.

American Music really got the crowd singing and the band smiling.
Gordon seemed to light up during this number.

For Gone Daddy Gone, the roadie who had tuned Brian’s bass came on
while Brian played the xylophone. Brilliant.

During Black Girls, all the guys who has been setting up the stage came
on playing various instruments (are these the Horns of Dilemma – I
couldn’t catch their names). Then the guy who had been doing the drum
rolls before the concern sat behind Guy’s drum kit while Brian stood
beside him playing the snare and together they did a fantastic duet.
The hairs on the back of my neck rose for that one.

During Kiss Off, Gordon was fooling around and delayed starting the
“I took one, one…” count. A few guys at the front couldn’t wait and
started before him. Gordon stood in mock surprise with his hands on his
hips and said in German, “Nice attempt guys but a little amateurish.”
The place cracked up.

For the encore, Gordon came out alone with his guitar. He sang what
sounded like a really corny German folk song (to my ears anyway).
Again, the crowd loved it. At the end of the show, everyone was smiling
and having a laugh – I hope the Femmes don’t wait another six years
before coming back.

By the way, I remember when Pat took over the newsletter there were all
sorts of arguments about the title. For me the Femmes settled it the
other night. The banner behind the stage read:

Violent Femmes
American Music since 1981

Auf wiedersehen
scrawbzy

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Re: Ebay Robberies
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Re: $20 for Rock on Ebay. . .

I paid $50 for it in a store here in Chicago about two years ago –
before the $12.50 offer – …. and it’s worth every penny. Rock!!! is
an exceptionally hard cd to find. In my mind, it makes fine sense to
pay what ever you can for a cd you really want.

john #3
DidacticCP

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I’m Bigger than You Are!
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<< Maybe I am just a bigger femmes fan than Nick is ! >>

Lets not start th “I’m a bigger fan” arguement. I think it’s pretty
fair to say we on the list are some of the biggest fans anywhere. I
fought with a friend a while back about who was a bigger fan. Not fun.
We should just be fans together. Maybe I’m over reacting, but I just
wanted to stop it before it started.

Joel
TeamEnos

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Brian Ritchie Solos
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I have a few of Brian’s solo work, an album called The Blend and 2 45lp
singles of nuclear war, a song from that album, and a cd single of
Sun-Ra, The Man from Outerspace, an album called Sonic Temple & court
of Babylon and the cd I see a noise. I enjoy all of them a lot. Does
any one know any more of Brian’s album titles?

Although I love Gordon’s voice a lot I would enjoy to hear Brian sing a
few more of the Violent Femmes’ songs.

Emily
truman

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