10-01-97 pt 2 -

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

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In Today’s Issue:

Charlotte and Knoxville
Charlotte and Knoxville
MountainView Show
Lisle, IL..Beavis and Butthead
Hats Off to Travis
VF Experiences
Come to the East Coast

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Charlotte and Knoxville
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Boy, two years goes by so fast!:) I can’t believe I’m writing again
already, but I just have to share this joy before I go nuts! That was
one hell of a weekend I just had! My best friend Shakira and I drove to
Charlotte Friday to see the Femmes play there. I turned her on to the
Femmes three years ago when we met down here at college, and now she’s
moving to Alaska in a few days so it was truly fitting and wonderful
that our last great road-tripping adventure was to a Femmes concert.
The crowd was a little rough right up front for the show, but man they
were so good! (Still doesn’t top the first time I saw them but they
played for two hours that night and on Friday they only played about an
hour–just long enough to hit most of the bigger favorites but I enjoy
hearing the extended set list so much more.) After the show, I drove
back to college in Bristol, VA, and then left Saturday morning to drive
to Knoxville. Again, I got right up front and waited through the two
opening bands. I thought this was even a better show than the previous
night’s had been. (How about anyone else who did both shows? Agree or
disagree?) I think it’s because the crowd was a little more contained.
There were a lot of crowd-surfers getting passed over my head but it was
much easier trying to duck them than it was trying to breathe in the
press of Friday night’s crowd. All of the guys did such an amazing
job. Gordan is the quintessential story-teller. He has this gift of
making it seem as if he is singing to you and you alone and that is a
part of what makes a live Femmes show such an experience. When he sang
“Breakin’ Hearts” it felt like he was performing just for me. Wow. I
don’t know how he does that. When the song was over and he looked at me
I mouthed the words “thank you” and he smiled and nodded. Wow again.
So I thought my night couldn’t possibly get much better, right? I still
can’t get over this, but I caught one of Guy’s drumsticks. I left with
my precious piece of wood when they were done because at that point I
wasn’t even interested in finding out who “Widespread Panic” was and why
the Femmes opened for them instead of the other way around. So, my
thanks to everyone on this list who helped me get ticket info and I’m
sorry I didn’t set anything up to meet any of you but I kindof wanted to
keep the Charlotte trip just me and Shak since she’s leaving and I was
slightly burdened with another *friend* of mine in Knoxville (I’m too
nice sometimes is my main problem!). But hey, I love to drive and I’m
known for just taking off and traveling great interstate distances to do
crazy little things
so. . .if there’s a show anyone in my area (Bristol VA) wants to see
and you think it could be at all feasible (sorry, CA is out of the
question!) don’t hesitate to email and maybe we could work something
out. Love to all–Amber

They were ok shows, by VF standards. Musically, the Charlotte show was
a lot better than Knoxville. I still keep hoping that someday they will
play Add it Up FIRST and play Life is an Adventure as an encore. I keep
hoping.

The crowd in Charlotte did suck pretty hard. I am not sure why the
Violent Femmes don’t do something about it. They did warn the crowd to
keep the pushing down to a minimum because the barracade broke.
However, they won’t just stop and go home. I think of VF as non-mosh
group. Maybe, they invision themselves differently, maybe they don’t.

I think that the bottom line is, they are not appreciated in the US.
Maybe in Australia they appreciated more. Maybe, there they like to
listen to the music. There are a lot of “Maybe”‘s here. I wish there
was something we could do about it…..but, my hopes run low at this
point.

In any case, I will enjoy seeing the Violent Femmes whenever they are
around. I think at this point I have seen them about 10 times. As long
as they keep touring the U.S., I will keep seeing them, no matter what
they play or what the crowd is like.

Good news is: MAYBE, they will play the Capitol Ball Room again!!!!!

Jesse

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MountainView Show
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Did anyone see the Violent Femmes at the Kamp KOME 2 show in Mtn. View,
CA? They scheduled Social Distortion and Smash Mouth to play AFTER the
Femmes. To me that was totally absurd. My boyfriend and I left the
show after the Femmes played because we felt like it couldn’t get any
better than that. How could any band follow the Violent Femmes,
especially those two bands? I mean, no offense but I can’t imagine
those other bands being any better. I actually feel sorry for Social
Distortion and Smash Mouth. You all know how it is when you’re
at a VF show. Everyone is totally into the show, they’re AWESOME! I
can’t wait until they come back to the Bay Area!

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Lisle, IL..Beavis and Butthead
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Hello again. I just wanted to let everyone know that I talked one of my
friends into going to the Oct. 9th show. Maybe we’ll have a new
subscriber after the concert. Hopefully. Also, did anyone catch the
Beavis and Butthead (I was just flipping through, I swear) episode on
Tuesday? The “Breaking Up” video was on it. I new that show was worth
something.

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Hats Off to Travis
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Hi fellow Femmesfans!

I just wanted everyone to know that Travis(one of the guys in this
newsletter) is worth every Christmas card he gets, cause he’s the
best! He just sent me a copy of Gordon’s “The Mercy Seat”. To me
that’s about the nicest thing anyone could do, seeing that I live
in Sweden and have no possibility to get a hold of it.

Later,

Erik

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VF Experiences
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i just want to give everyone on the list a huge cyberhug. i was just
reading all the great femme show stories and i just got this huge smile
on my face.
i know exactly how it is when you get to go to one of their shows. all
the excitement and everything. it was great hearing about all the stuff
that happened to all you out there. just thought id let you know. : ) and
im really feeling empathy for the person who didnt get the ride to got to
the femmes show. i remember so fondly my first VF show. it was last
november. i remember being all happy and excited and going nuts when ‘i
see a damsel’ was played. it was one of the best times ive ever had
anywhere. i hope the experiences keep coming to all of you. 🙂

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Come to the East Coast
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Hey! Okay, I’m really wondering if the Femmes are going to be
playing any east coast (preferably boston area) shows anytime soon.
Also, if they’re going to be at any all age shows. Every time they
come around here they only seem to play 18+ clubs and i have another
9 months until i reach that age. They went to my brothers college
last year (Colgate University, Hamilton NY) but he neglected to let
me know so I missed out on that show. If you have any info, even if
it is 18+, please let me know, i can always try to sneak in or get a
fake. Thanx.
HeavensDevil

-Pat. Says: Did you miss the Newport show this past August?
At any rate, I’ll list dates as soon as I find out about
them.

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