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The Quote Of The Day:

I fall down dead – never see the tears I cry
please please please do not go…

and y’know I could travel all over the whole world
please please please do not go…
-From Please Do Not Go
-Submitted by ddearry

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

June 30- 8 p.m., Hampton Beach Casino, Hampton Beach, NH (O,P,T)
With: Psychedelic Furs
Tix: $23.50

July 7- Summerfest, Miller Oasis Stage, Milwaukee, WI**
Oct 25-7 p.m., Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC, NY (T)

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:
in the US, contact Frank Riley at Monterey Peninsula Artists
in EU, contact Paul Boswell at Free Trade Agency
Serious inquiries only.

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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!

Hampton Beach, NH
—————–
gineryc (Eric and Jennifer)
hbedard (Holly)

Milwaukee, WI
————-
rhc75a (Rob)
vfpony (Bill)
jjwil90 (Julie)
Smashkin (Amber)

New York, NY
————
RatFink746 (Frank)

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WEB PAGES:

Official: http://www.vfemmes.com

Unofficial: http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/bluenote/936/
http://www.bigfoot.com/~planetblue
http://www.geocities.com/kittricken/
http://geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Show/6806/
http://www.violentfemmes.net
http://www.homestead.com/lucylittleland/vf.html
http://www.fortunecity.com/campus/bates/377/
http://www.geocities.com/thefemmeking/

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

Message Board:
http://www.insidetheweb.com/messageboard/mbs.cgi?acct=mb870757&TL=

Discussion Group: http://www.egroups.com/invite/vf2000
and click the “JOIN” button

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

Guitar: http://therapy.lost.net.au/femmes
http://www.angelfire.com/hi/VFemmes

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

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

Victor DeLorenzo’s Page: http://victordelorenzo.com

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

The Hampton beach show FREE TICKET
Hampton Beach
Bottle and Cork
Wanted: Boot
summerfest = tight security but good french fries
Meeting the V.F’s
An Article

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The Hampton beach show FREE TICKET
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Hey, I have 2 tickets to see the femmes on friday at Hampton Beach.

Pat, could you please try to hook me up with somebody in the Maine/ NH
area, anyone who would like to see the femmes.
I’ll take anybody, and they can have the ticket for free…Its better
than going alone.

I was supposed to go with my girlfriend, but her grandad just died,
and now she has to be with her family. What a raw deal.

Please do what you can…. email me.

Thank You -James
shipyard21

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Hampton Beach
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Just wanted to let you all know that myself, along with my best friend
Martin, and my sister Lori will be at the Hampton Beach show this
weekend. We were there last year, and I just had a blast!!!!
We will be the ones in the front with the signs, like always!!
So, for all the fans that will be there, if you see us, please
introduce yourself. I think it’s so cool to meet people at the shows
and then hook up with them at later shows.
This will be concert #8 for me, so I’m racking them up, but I still
have a long way to go before I catch up with Ron!!! Or before I get
to play with them on stage, since I’m not musically inclined at all.
Hope to see ya all there!

hbedard

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Bottle and Cork
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hey all-
once again, life is completely UNFAIR!! I currently reside in
Orlando, FL, a place the femmes hardly visit–but I am ok with that.
Every year though, my parents and I take a vacation the Ocean City, MD.
Which is 2 beaches away from Dewey, and the bottle and cork, where the
femmes are playing!!! you can imagine how excited I was to find out I
would be in OC the same week they were playing!! so why am I so glum?
hmm, bottle and cork, kinda sounds like a bar, and my 21st bday isnt
for another 9 months!!!!!!! if anyone out there can help me at all…
please!!!! help!!!!I am still going to try to get tickets…maybe if i
cry and beg and promise not to drink at the bar…maybe they will let
me in! oh well.

—jen
brownj66

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Wanted: Boot
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IF anyone taped the Irving Plaza show in NYC, I have alot of shows that
i could trade you. And some that i taped. So email me.
Thanks

MIke
Oursy

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summerfest = tight security but good french fries
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just wanted to write a little response to Julie, who talked about
wanting to meet the band at summerfest…
actually, my experience in the past has been that the femmes —
especially gordon and brian — are VERY much into walking around
summerfest. I’ve seen them walking through crowds and checking out
other bands several times, including on days when they weren’t even
playing. so keep your eyes open all day, you never know when or where
you might bump into them.
Apart from that, and i hate to say this but you’re going to find out
soon anyway… my other experience has been that summerfest is a
terrible place to try and get autographs after a show. just because
the festival is so big and the logistics must be incredible to run
something like that, they are pretty good about kicking people out
right after the headliners are done. that and security to get
backstage is tighter than anywhere i’ve ever seen.

i’m not saying it can’t be done. actually, the first time i met guy
was at summerfest (he was guest drumming with a local project band),
so you certainly have a decent shot, but just be aware that security
is tight.

hope to see a lot of Milwaukee-AM’ers out at the fest next friday,
it’s gonna be a great one!
oh and if you can, by all means head back down the next night and
check out two of milwaukee’s finest up-and-comings, Pet Engine and
The Gufs on the rock stage starting at 8… these two are always
amazing!

i’m so excited that the big gig is finally here!!!

For those of you who aren’t lucky enough to be at Summerfest next
week, make sure to check this out…

Summerfest and the House of Blues are teaming up to cybercast a whole
bunch of shows from the Big Gig at
http://www.hob.com
You might want to head to hob.com early and check out the whole list
of webcasts, there are some more cool shows that are going to be
done…summerfest runs June 29 – July 9.

thought you all might like to know about that!

rob=)
rhc75a

-Pat. Says: Although the Violent Femmes were scheduled to be on this
cybercast, their name is no longer listed. Check out the
page often; you never know….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meeting the V.F’s
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I thought I would respond about meeting the Femmes and telling my
stories and giving a few tips to Julie and Nicole, who wrote in the
last newsletter about meeting the band.

Here are my stories of meeting the Violent Femmes. The first time that
I met them was in Decorah, Iowa at Luther College on April 18, 1997.
Actually, my brother and I only met Brian. It was awesome. We waited
outside around the tour bus after the show and about a half hour later
we saw Brian coming out. We got his autograph. My brother wanted to
let him know that I am a huge fan so he blurted out that I have a test
pressing vinyl of his first solo album, The Blend. Brian was suprised
and then he said that he might have something for me and dug out a
pick. It is neat with the New Times saw on one side. I guess that
Gordon and Guy were in a van next to the tour bus, but we didn’t get a
chance to meet them. We didn’t find that out until after they left. We
were talking to a couple of the people from Luther College that were
on the show crew and one of the ladies went to their dressing room and
brought out a package of Brian’s bass strings. That was cool.

The next time I saw them was April 21, 1997 only a few days later in
Madison, Wisconsin at the Barrymore Theatre. I never really met them,
though. We were in the front row both nights in front of Guy and he
must have recognized us and after the show was done he gave us his
drumsticks. That was awesome because I am a drummer and I collect
sticks from drummers so to get a stick from my favorite band was
unbelievable.

The next time that I saw them was at the Waukesha County fair near
Milwaukee on July 18, 1997. My brother and I got to the show and
there were already quite a few people sitting in front of the stage
so we took a seat next to a few people. We started chatting about
the Violent Femmes and one of the guys said that Gordon was walking
around so my brother and I took off to see if we could meet him. Well,
we didn’t see him so we went back to our seats and as we were sitting
there, I saw Gordon going behind the stage so I bolted off to try and
catch him. He was about 20 away when I called his name out. He turned
around and came over and talked with us. I asked him about the lyrics
for She Went To Germany. I am a German Major in college at the moment
and I could hear he was singing a few German words, but I wanted to
make sure. He then signed one of the shirts that I bought at the show.
All together I talked with him for about 10-15 minutes. The show was
great. It was a nice warm day and the show was outdoors. You couldn’t
ask for anything more. After the show we waited around to see if we
could meet them. We really try to meet bands and have been successful
in meeting many bands. Well, from other shows at a fairgrounds setting,
we knew it would be hard to meet them because there is no backdoor. We
were talking with a drunk girl and her boyfriend and they tried to get
us backstage, but security wouldn’t have it. Everyone has to have their
own pass. Well, after they were done, they gave us their passes.
Security didn’t care at this point because we were waiting patiently
and were repective of everyone. My brother’s pass was already
autographed by Gordon! We went backstage and started talking to Caleb.
I had him sign my shirt too and he was suprised that I wanted his
autograph. He played bass on Gone Daddy Gone that night. We then found
Gordon again and talked to him some more. We then talked with Brian
and he asked us if we were the twins from the Iowa show in April. I
can’t believe that he remembered us. I guess I haven’t stated that my
brother and I are twins, which helps out a lot with meeting bands. I
had him sign my shirt. We were trying to find Guy to thank him for the
sticks back in Madison, but we couldn’t find him. We talked with Caleb
again and then he found Guy for us. They were getting ready to leave
so we only had a few moments to talk to Guy. We thanked him for the
sticks back in April and then had him sign my shirt. This was the
first time that I met all of the guys and I was fired up.

I didn’t get a chance to see them again until October 1998 because I
spent a year in Germany. As soon as I heard they were playing six
shows in Wisconsin, I bought tickets to all of them. It had been too
long since I saw them live. The first show was in Madison at the
Barrymore Theatre. We were in the front row. We couldn’t meet them
because security is too tight there. That place stinks for trying to
meet bands. The next night was in Oshkosh at the Grand Theatre. My
brother and I were the first two people there hours before the show.
We walked around the block and around the area to see what would most
likely be where the band would be and where we would have the best
chance to meet them. We kept walking around and on the side we met
Darren. At the time we didn’t know who he was, but we figured he was
with the Femmes. He saw the shirt my brother was wearing. It was the
special tour one. We were talking and we told him that we had
tickets to all the shows. We talked for about 20 minutes and he said
that they would have passes for us at the La Crosse show since that
is where we are from. He told us to come early that day. Before the
show started the crew was setting up and one of the guy recognized
us. The show was great I even got one of Gordon’s picks form one of
the crew members. After the show we went out back and waited for the
band. We talked with Sigmund Snopek III for about a half hour or so.
He even had a new album out called, Beer. We bought copies and they
came with Beer Bottles. We then saw the Femmes. I had Gordon and Guy
sign my Rock cd which Brian had signed in 1997. That was finaly
complete. I told Gordon that I had Freak Magnet and he was suprised.
I had Guy and Sigmund sign the Beer cd. Guy plays on that record. We
talked with Caleb and Ray while they were packing the shirts up and
putting everything in the van. We decided it was time to head to
Wausau to see them the next night. We were lucky that our
grandparents live there so we had a place to stay. We almost died on
the way there because I was so tired and was snoozing off at the
wheel. I learned from that night about driving tired. We went to the
show and we had to walk around the block to get to the doors. I saw
Gordon and Guy sitting in the van and waved to them. They waved back.
We didn’t get to meet them that night, but that’s ok. The next day we
headed back home to La Crosse. It was sad that there wasn’t a show
that night, but we were glad because that meant we could get some rest
for the last leg of the tour.
Well, that Thursday night we went to the Hollywood Theatre early to
get our passes. Darren took us to the dressing room to put our stuff
away and then he gave us the passes. We talked with Caleb and he said
that at the Milwaukee show he would give each of us a shirt. We just
hung around while everyone else was lining up outside. We started
talking with Pyro, a DJ from the local radio station. I was telling
him about the first three shows and about how we were traveling to
them all. I told him about our passes and he asked me if I wanted to
go live on the radio and do an interview. I was hesitant, but agreed
to because I really wanted to make my tour with the Violent Femmes
something to remember. We did two interviews. We got up in the first
row. Our mom attended the show as well. That was her second Femmes
show. During the show Brian must have realize that she was with us
and while they were playing, he asked me if that was our mom. I
told him yes. After they were finished with the song, Brian starts
talking about parenting and how it is hard these days to raise kid
and he told our mom that she did a fine job raising us. Then Gordon
sticks the microphone in her face and asks her if she wants to say
something to the crowd. She says no and then they hit into Good
Friend. Gordon had three picks left after the show and gave one to
each of us. After the show we waited until Darren took us back. I
had Guy autograph the stick he gave me in 1997. I try to have the
drummer autograph the sticks I get from them. I then had Gordon
take a few moments to help me out with some of the lyrics of Freak
Magnet. I talked with Guy a bit. While I was with Gordon, my brother
and mom were talking to Guy. They told him that I was a drummer and
was always playing Femmes stuff. Guy asked them if I used brushes and
my bro said the same ones as you play. Guy even wrote down a little
drum lesson for them to give to me. That was pretty neat. The next
night they played in Eau Claire. We went to the show and while in
line we saw they were tearing the tickets in half. We told the ticket
taker that we collect our stubs and asked her if she could just tear
off the least amount that they needed. We talked to Ray of the road
crew before the show. The show itself was another great one. After
the show we talked with Ray again and he told us that we could go
back. That was great. We waited with about 50 other people. Brian
had a lot of relatives there that night. Most of these people were
his relatives. We talked with Guy and Gordon the most. Brian was
busy signing cd’s for his family. We talked with Gordon in German for
a few minutes. All three of us were rusty. We were there about a half
hour then we left. On the way out we talked with Sigmund again. The
last night of the tour was in Milwaukee. We got there and talked to
the crew on the way to our seats. While sitting there we saw Caleb
come to the front of the stage and he was looking for us. We were
about half way down the row and he spotted us and motioned for us
to come down to the stage. We picked up our shirts. Sigmund told us to
go to the hotel after the show for the party. We went there and met
two of the guys on the tour. One was named Dave. We went inside and
started talking to them. I sat next to Guy and we talked a bit. Dave’s
wife started talking to us and when she mentioned his studio, then I
realized I was talking to David Vartanian!! Gordon went to his room
because he was tired. I didn’t see Brian until we left and we waved to
him.

I hope this wasn’t too long. Here are some tips for Julie and Nicole
on what I would do to when meeting a band. These come from experience.

1. Always be polite.
2. If possible find out from friends or others in line if the venue is
friendly to fans meeting the band. (I refer to the Barrymore
Theatre example from my story)
3. As with the Barrymore Theatre deal, when security tells everyone to
leave, don’t be the first to leave. Sometime they might want to make
the group smaller. This still means you have to be polite and obey
their rules. If they really want people to leave, I don’t like be
the last one to leave either. I don’t like to be that pushy.
4. Scout the venue out before the show to find the enterence for the
band or where they most likey would come out. This gives you an
advantage at the end of the show.
5. When they’re signing your item ask a few simple questions or give a
few comments. Don’t be a hog. If there are other fans around let
them get an autograph and talk to them also. I saw Sonic Youth in
June and had a chance to meet the band. One guy that kept shouting
questions about a show with Pearl Jam ruined it. Even though the
band members came out one at a time, each time you could tell that
they were annoyed with him. They just headed for the bus before
signing for everyone.
7. Remember that they are humans like you. Treat them with respect and
say thanks. Show them that it really means alot. Remeber they don’t
have to sign for you.

Gordon is the most open of the three. He could even ask you questions
before you have a chance to ask him any. Guy and Brian are more
reserved. I think that is because we the fans know a lot about them
and they are meeting you for the first time and don’t know who you are
or what kind of a person you are. All three are great with autograph
requests. Don’t feel intimidated by them. They are easy going guys. I
hope these tips help out.

Jon
qween_madonna

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An Article
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was looking through a preview pullout section for Summerfest in The
Onion(the funniest thing you ever did read….and it’s free too!!
another great product of Wisconsin like the Femmes) and I saw a little
blurb about our boys. Here it is:

“Milwaukee’s most famous post-punk band crafted one of those songs
that will never die with “Blister in the Sun.” A series of respectable
albums followed, and Violent Femmes earned a reputation as a great live
band, often closing with, you guessed it, “Blister in the Sun.” A
sticker on its latest CD, “Freak Magnet,” proclaims the Femmes “The
Ulimate Party Band!” Some– perhaps the group members themselves–
would disagree with that statement, but a good show, an enthusiastic
crowd, and a rendition of “Blister in the Sun” are almost guarunteed.”

well, that’s it. take it for what it’s worth.

vfpony

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