08-25-97

THE ROCK!!!!! VIOLENT FEMMES MAILING LIST
currently run by Pat. Wary

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

September 1-Mill City Music Fest, Wharehouse District, (P,O)
Minneapolis, MN
September 12-Greening of Mackay, Montreal, QUE (P)
September 13-Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountainview, CA (O)
September 14-Doheny State Beach, Dana Point, CA
September 16-The Palace, Hollywood, CA (T,P)

**September 17-The Palace, Hollywood, CA (P)**

September 18-Canes, San Diego, CA (T,O)
September 19-The Glass House, Pomona, CA (T)
September 21-The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA (O)
September 22-Luther Burbank Center, Santa Rosa, CA (O)
September 23-The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA (O)
September 24-The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA (O) TENTATIVE
September 26-Carolina Music Fest, The World Mardi Gras,
Charlotte, NC (O,P)
for more info call 704-333-2263
September 27-Smokey Mountain Jamboree,Knoxville,TN
October 10-East Stroudsburg University, East Stroudsburg, PA (O)

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

ALSO: THE INSECT AND WESTERN PARTY

September 4- The Back Room, Flint, MI
September 5-Artspace, Windsor, Ontario
September 6-Zoot’s, Detroit, MI
September 8-JR’S Warehouse, Traverse City, MI
September 10-Lunar Cabaret, Chicago, IL

VICTOR SHOWS

August 29-The Globe, Milwaukee, WI
**August 29-9:30 pm, Maritime Days, Milwaukee, WI

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The Quote Of The Day:
I wanna see you again
I don’t care where and I don’t care when
I wanna see you again
Cause this beginning will have no end
Bring your whips, Bring your chains
We can exchange names…
-from I Wanna See You Again

send your quotes to
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WHO/WHERE
Mountainview, CA
———————

Charlotte, NC
———————
(?)

Knoxville, TN
———————

Santa Cruz, CA
———————

East Stroudsburg, PA
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ANY SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO IMPROVE THIS LETTER SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO

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WEB PAGES:

Official: http://www.vfemmes.com
Unofficial: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~mmerry2/femmes.html
Guitar: http://www.bucknell.edu/~wtorres/violent_femmes/

!!!NEW!!! Mat would like to start up a digest for people interested in
!!!NEW!!! trading info on tabs and chords. All interested parties
!!!NEW!!! should contact Mat at:
!!!NEW!!!
!!!NEW!!!

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In Today’s Issue:
RE: Victor VS. Guy
RE: Victor VS. Guy, San Diego?
RE: Victor VS. Guy
Bitter
Victor on August 29
What Victor is Doing
RE: Sick of BITS
Blister, Blister, Forever Annoying
RE: Sick of BITS
Blister2000
BITS on Video Question
RE: Poseurs
RE: Johnny
Santa Cruz
Chart Positions n Stuff
Boots
Mark Van Hecke Question

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REMEMBER TO VOTE!!!!SEND IN YOUR VOTE BY AUGUST 30 TO
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This is really a worn out subject, but I’ve never commented on it, so I
might as well.
The Femmes best album (you can’t possibly tell me any other one was
better), the debut, was played on by Victor. The drumming was sharp,
surprising, and really complemented Brian and Gordon. Guy is good, but
Victor, at his reasonably young age, was just more interesting and
inventive.
It doesn’t matter what kind of guy someone is, as long as their music
stands out. And Victor, much more than Guy, seemed to know the Femmes’
music enough to really put a lot into it.
There’s more, I guess, but that’s all I can think of right now.
—
Paul

—
“Aaah, fork!”

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Okay, first off, all this Guy vs. Victor crap is getting REALLY annoying.
They’re both in the bestest band in the world, they’re both good, so just
SHUT UP about it already. *sheesh* Anyway, I need more info on the SD
show, does anyone know anything more? E.G., is the venue all ages, or am
I going to have to get a scab ID? (Remember, I’m the 15 year old.) I
looked in the SD Reader, which is basically the authority on concerts and
everything else going on in America’s Finest City, and there was no
mention of it. And here’s an idea: Everyone who lives in San Diego, join
me in lobbying for free tickets! Call the Flash and 91X, and maybe we can
get them to give the Femmes some publicity! See y’all later….

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On why Guy is a better drummer. He is cuter! This is coming from a
21 year old who has seen Victor and Guy. I think that is grounds for him
being a better drummer! 🙂

Raylene

Hey Hum – careful man you’re spewin’ hot aura! I think Guy is better and
I could post plenty of specific examples however this discussion prompts
me to say – LIVE IN THE NOW MAN! Last time I checked it was Victor who
left the Femmes and the fans not the other way around. Now there’s
something Victor did that made me say Wow!
BTW if it’s just about the Music for ya enjoy it and just don’t buy the
T-shirts and crap! Oh and you might want to get rid of the liner for New
Times ’cause a drummer who shall remain nameless designed it :O !

James Schrader

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To append my last message, after reading coon’s, it may be possible that
victor is playing at maritime days AND playing at the globe before or
after that. The globe does feature many late night shows.

james

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Pat. says: This post is in response to a question I asked James. I’m
including it because I know that many of us are curious as to
Victor’s activities, post-Femme.

Victor is recording a new album
(due out late fall), and is occupied most of the time at his studio
(joe’s place) but he’s still got time for his family and everything and
frequently goes to his son’s things at school, and is quite involved in
helping out with his son’s band, the Moon Crickets.

This is starting to sound like a freakin’ PEOPLE Magazine. Maybe i’d
better stop … That’s about all I know anyways.

James

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I’ve been reading a lot of Blister in the Sun bashing. Do you realize
how many ppl start of Femmes by hearing Blister in the Sun? I think I
might of heard Blister in the Sun on the radio once or so before I heard
them on CD. I think that my best friend played Add it up, Kiss off, and
Waiting for the bus for me first. Then Blister in the Sun. When I heard
Blister in the Sun during the movie Grosse Point Blank in the movie
theatre, I stood up and started dancing. Honest. The members of the
band Skifdank (a Florida originated ska band) were in the movie too.
Every time I heard Blister in the Sun, I crank up the radio and belt that
song out. When I see Femmes on Sep. 26, if they don’t play Blister in the
Sun, I’ll be one pissed off puppy. Femmes is best known for Blister in the
Sun. The older ppl I work with even know who the Violent Femmes are
bcuz of Blister in the Sun. How many of you would know who the Femmes
are if you had never listened to Blister in the Sun? That’s how I got my
cousins and my brothers and my 6 (at the time) yr old sister into Violent
Femmes. However, if I HAVE to pic a fav fav fav song (other than Blister
in the Sun..which will remain my favorite of all time, Add it Up, and Kiss
Off) I’d say Lies (what an incredible song). I’ve spent soooo many hours
on this one trying to figure it out. Which leads me to a question.
What’s your favorite Femmes song? (If this is all allowable by
Pat), you can mail ME your answer and after a few weeks, I’ll tabulate
the results and see what came out on top. Oh, and you can include your
least favorite too (don’t forget to tell which is which)…

Beyz

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Well to be honest and all, I don’t think anyone who is a femmes fan can
say they’ve always dis liked blister. Personally when i got into the
femmes back in eighth grade that was the song that did it. A friend lent
me their first album and before that I didn’t even know their name. I
mis understood it when my friend said the Violent femmes I thought she
said the Violet Gems (or something like that) I rmember listening to that
album with my mom in the room man how embarrassing with gimme the car. I
kept on listening to blister. I just rmember it really effected me (or
affected I don’t know)in a very profound way. later for christmas the same
girl got me Add it up, and the rest is history. I’ll always respect
blister for doing what it did. My only qualms about it is that people
sometimes never listen to anything else. Right now I’m sick of it. When i
saw them live I was very dissapointed when they played. (unlike when me
and my brother snuck in to see Page and Plant, I respected them so much
due to the fact that they never played Stairway. Even though that’s all
the over weight drunken crowd wanted to hear.) I just want the femmes to
widen their music horizons as well as my friends. I get really annoyed
when I see my friends singing blister just because its on (the) My So
Called Life Soundtrack. Sure I’m gald they like it but they should get
some albums and really get into the femmes. I mean VF have songs just as
good as that if not better. and when someone says they’re into the femmes
I don’t want to ask them oh what albums do you have, and they either say
one of two things, one “oh I just like that song oh what’s it called with
‘I wanna go….’ bister yeah that’s it” or “Oh I just have Add it Up”
well if people like the little things they do hear from the femmes why
don’t they get more? Oh well, that’s my prblem , I don’t know if it’s with
the femmes or the kids that just like blister, the song itself, or me,
oh well.
(on second thought it’s the kids)

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Hello…I’d like to make a comment concerning the whole Blister2000
thing…..I own the Gross Point Blank Soundtrack which both the original
Blister in the Sun and Blister2000 are on. I must say that like Blister
the original way. It’s one of those songs that is fun to rock out to.
Blister2000 moves way to slow and pisses me off. That is my 2 bits

Hello,
I’ve seen a couple of people mention that they saw the new BITS
Video on 120 Minutes. I was wondering how often they play it on 120
Minutes because I haven’t seen it yet, or if they ever play in on
regular MTV videos? Thanks.

-Telisa

>I still think that a MAJORITY of the writers of this
>letter are more concerned about the IMAGE of liking bands like the
>Femmes

I’ve never really noticed that the “image” of liking the Femmes carried
all that much clout. If someone likes the band, why not let them be, eh?
Everyone’s idea of a “true” fan is bound to be different because we all
value different things. It really doesn’t make much sense to attack
each other over something like this.

this is only a rumor so i dont know if it is true or not. i heard the song
was about Gordon’s girlfriend(if so i don’t know why they wold use a guys
name) and she died somehow and so he wrote the song. but i really am not
sure, it’s only a rumor.

-kara

i just wanted to say thanks for posting all of those dates.
i’m so excited that they are coming to my town, santa cruz.
i’m going to buy tickets tonight.
and just for knowledge, the catalyst is quite possibly one of the best
venues for a show of any proportion. small night clubs make the shows
more memorable and much more entertaining. plus, if there are annoying
people there, the bouncers can kick ’em out. 🙂
dunno why i just told you that.
oh well.
thanks again
-kat (jet girl)

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jjjjjjj eee tttttt
jjjj tttt

Recently I E-mailed Record Research, a company that specializes in
“Billboard” chart data, concerning the Violent Femmes. The reply said
that the Femmes had never had a single chart on the “Hot 100,” the leading
barometer of popular music in America, but they did have several albums
chart on the corresponding “Top 200 Albums” chart, as follows (in
alphabetical order):

Peak Weeks
Album Title: Debut Chart Date Position Charted
1. 3 02/04/89 93 13
2. Add It Up (1981-1993) 10/02/93 146 3
3. New Times 06/04/94 90 4
4. The Blind Leading The Naked 02/15/86 84 24
5. Violent Femmes 08/03/91 171 7
6. Why Do Birds Sing? 05/18/91 141 5

For those who are interested, I have been a Femmes fan since 1988. I
have seen them twice, once at Lollapalooza in Dallas, TX, in August
1991, then at a college in Kirksville, MO, in September 1995. My
favorite Femmes song would have to be “Nightmares.” I own all of the
group’s CDs and sealed copies of many of their LP’s. I have two sets of
autographs of the original group (one of the “Violent Femmes” LP and one
of the “Hallowed Ground” LP), and one set of autographs from the
post-Victor femmes (a T-shirt I bought at the Missouri concert that
Gordon, Brian, and Guy signed). Other memorabilia I have collected
includes an 8×10 glossy photo dated 1988 with the Slash Records logo, a
few posters, several T-shirts, a bumper sticker, a recording of the
infamous “Sabrina” episode, several import CD’s (including the European
version of “The Blind Leading the Naked” with Victor’s “World Without
Mercy,” unavailable on CD in the U.S.), several 12-inch singles, the
promotional “3 on 3” interview LP, one Victor solo album, one Brian solo
album, a bootleg cassette tape titled “Violent Femmes Live in Chicago,”
and copies of every Femmes video that I know of: “Gone Daddy Gone,”
“Children of the Revolution” (an official Warner Bros. copy),
“Nightmares,” “Breakin’ Up,” and “Blister 2000”. My most prized item of
Femmes memorabilia would have to be the promotional 12-inch single of
“Nightmares” — clear vinyl. It’s great.

Chris Hatch

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Howdy! First of all i’m glad to see this list finally getting a regular
distribution which stimulates some interesting discussions. Keep it
coming!

I’m always interested in trading bootlegs of the boys. I’ve got about 8
or so tapes of them now and am looking for more. Email me your list and
i’ll email you mine and we can work something out.

On a related note, does anyone know if the Femmes care about taping
shows? Have they ever said in an interview that they are against taping?
Or has anyone had any experience taping them? Do they mind mic stands or
do you have to stealth it? I’ve always been disappointed that they
aren’t taped more as they are, IMHO, one of the best live bands around.
I was going to tape the show i saw here in Denver a couple months ago but
at a show just a couple days before someone spilled coke on my deck.
Then after getting it cleaned up it was stolen! Argh!

Anyway, lets try to spread the music around! Thanks!

Greg

What ever happened to Mark Van Hecke??? He did such a
wonderful job on the production of the first 2 records????

humdrum