11-21-97

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

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The Quote Of The Day:

I’m an old man
I got an old man’s pain
Will the morning
Will the morning ever come again
-From Don’t Start Me on the Liquor

send your VF quotes to

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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/
TAB DIGEST:

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In Today’s Issue:

Happy Birthday!
Why is Dale Leaving?
Missing Dale
Missing Dale…RE: VF on Hiatus
Web Page Secrets
New Album Rumor
RE: The New Orleans Show
RE: Lots of Stuff
RE: Moshing
RE: Moshing
RE: Moshing..Musical Tastes
RE: Lobsters
RE: Lobsters
RE: Lobsters
Where Do They Live?
A Story

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Happy Birthday!
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happy birthday to brian ritchie!! ps come to alabama and play for
us…we love u!

-Pat. says: OK everybody sing along, grab your kazoos, mouth harps and
spoons. Ready? Here goes:

Happy Birthday to YOU
Happy Birthday to YOU
Happy Birthday Dear BRRRRIIIIIIAAAAAANNNN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!

Maybe if we all sing it loudly enough at the same time,
he’ll hear us.

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Why is Dale Leaving?
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Does anyone know why Dale is leaving the Horns of Dilema?

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Missing Dale
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I have gotten to know Dale fairly well through e-mail contacts and talking
to him about Charm School Records.

I will miss him at every VF show I attend here on out. He was a great
trombone player and always had fun on Gone Daddy Gone bass guitar.

THANKS DALE!!!
MBlack

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Missing Dale…RE: VF on Hiatus
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Okay now I am sad :o(! In the same issue I find out my favorite HOD is
leaving AND that there may be no more VF shows this year… This is a
black day!

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Web Page Secrets
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I’m sure some of you slick webbers have found this one out. But to those
of you who haven’t had time to fall into the Femmes page, go down on
Gordon’s legs or to brian’s (looks like he’s packed on a few lbs) and they
have a cookbook link. Go down to Gordo’s feet and it has his literature
selections. I knew Gordon was short. But, I didn’t know he was only my
height!! And also, I knew that the Femmes had played Gimme the Car at
like graduation or some other school function or church thing and got in
trouble..but did anyone realize that Gordon was only 17 when he started
producing the music we love?

-Pat. Says: I clicked all over the picture on the homepage, and here’s
what I found: Click anywhere on any of the members’ heads or
upper torsos to get their respective bios. Click anywhere on
Brian’s or Gordon’s lower halves to get the cookbook. Click
on Brian’s feet to get his cigar primer. Click on Gordon’s
feet to get his literature guide. Click on Guy’s hands to get
his wine guide. Click on the black space between the intro
letter and BITS to get the Guy Hoffman interview. Wonder when
the other interviews will show up; we were promised one a
month. And while we’re at it, it’d be nice to update the
What’s happening and Letters sections too. All in all tho,
it’s turning into a real neat page…

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New Album Rumor
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i heard a rumor that the new Femmes album is gonna be released on st.
patricks day, i think i also read that on the official webpage but i’m
not sure. that sucks that the Femmes arn’t gonna be touring for a year
….but they tour a lot, i guess us fans are just spoiled with non-stop
touring 🙂
i am a dork goodbye

-socks “kara” the newsie

p.s. i know this is really off the topic but i am really curious. would
any of you happen to like the movie “newsies”. i know it is pretty cheesy
but i still love it. e-mail me if ya do cause i wouldn’t want to be
clogging up am with my senseless chatter. hmmm maybe i already have done
that. anyway bye.

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RE: The New Orleans Show
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I also caught the Femmes at the New Orleans show and I didn’t think they
were energetic at all. They didn’t seem to enjoy themselves at all. They
played only half of “Blister in the Sun” and shook their heads at the
audience. Maybe they thought we were all just “Blister in the Sun” fans.
There were a lot of kids there that didn’t know the majority of the songs
but there were also alot of us crazy, die-hard fans. But, at their worst
they’re still the best. They are an unbelievable band to hear live and I
guess I’ll just wait out their vacation time.

Beth

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RE: Lots of Stuff
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okay, this is beky…i haven’t written for a while (which im sure caused
several people a period of great joy) but i have a couple of things that
i want to say.

numero uno (whoa, i can speak spanish…kinda) regarding the name of the
femmes.
in highschool the boys were called femmes, also known as wusses (i’ll say
that cause it’s more polite), so when they formed their band they thought
it might be kinda funny to call themselves the violent femmes (the
violent wusses).

nummer zwei (see…i can speak german…i take that) the man…Brian
Richie. Brian is not gay… not that there would be anything wrong with
him if he were, but he’s not. His nephew and I go to school together
(well… we did last year and we will next year) and he told me that his
uncle is definitely NOT gay. enough said.

number three (english… wow, my language skills never cease to amaze
me) using big people to avoid mosh pits. that’s pretty funny… i was
at the waukesha county fair show (i’m 5’7″ and although i can fight,
im pretty weak) and that show got mildly rough after awhile (i was up
against the barrier with a friend and there was a huge fight behind us
during dance motherfucker dance and when the police dude jumped over the
barrier (which we were like up against almost center) his hip back
thing, which may i add is quite heavy, landed on my shoulder -yep, that
hurt a bit) but the thing was you could go and stand in the exact middle
of the mosh pit and you wouldn’t get hurt, there was like this little
spot in the middle where no one went… and if you stood there you
wouldnt get hit. i would have gone in the mosh pit just for kicks, but
the friend i was with pulled me out after the police dude incident so
i wouldnt get killed. then i had to go to the bathroom and i ended up
missing one of my favorite songs. y’know one time i told a guy that
one of my favorite femmes songs was gimme the car and he looked at me
and his mouth like dropped open… it was funny. anyways, i dont think
it’s weird for a girl to like that song. i listen to L7 they say stuff
much cruder than that, so does the bloodhound gang. i guess it’s probably
that old thought that girls are disgusted by perverted things… which i
think wrong, because i have guy friends who arent nearly as perverted as
some of my friends who are girls.

whoa i just wrote a mini novel.
okay im done.
-beky

p.s. pardon any grammar errors, i royally suck at all things grammar
related. except maybe spelling but i dont think that’s grammar… or
is it… i dont know…im rambling.. im done…bye.

-Pat. Says: I had hoped my use of other languages in this letter would
honor and compliment our subscribers for whom English is not
the native tongue, and maybe convince more of them to write.
Apparently it just appeared I was showing off. Sorry about
that, folks. That was not the intent.

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RE: Moshing
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Both femmes concerts i’ve been to had mosh pits, and the femmes didnt
seem to mind, or at least they never said anything. i was in the mosh pit
at one of the concerts, but i was elbowed and stepped on until my friend
threw the person that was doing it across the moshpit. since then i only
go in mosh pits at TMBG concerts, cuz there they can hardly even be called
mosh pits, so much as “very energetic but extremely polite dancing” pits.
my sister has broken her ribs and gotten concussions in mosh pits, so i
much prefer to enjoy the concert off to the side a bit, and not get
injured.

Juliana Boiarski 😉

“This ain’t a song about that…this is a song about THIS ain’t a song
about that…this is a song about THIS ain’t a song about that…this is
a song about THIS…”

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RE: Moshing
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> If any of you ever have a problem with moshers again, get a REALLY big
>boyfriend OR girlfriend to stand close to you when there is a mosh goin
>on.

i would just like to say that this is wonderful advice and exactly what
i do. i’m 5’1″ and 110 pounds, and i can really get tossed around when a
bunch of big guys start moshing. my boyfriend is that big, (at least
nowhere near 6’7″) but anyone who’s bigger than you can help. -Rebecca

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RE: Moshing..Musical Tastes
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since the thread on moshing never seems to really die, i’ll throw in my
two cents. i never realized what a problem it was until recently when i
went to an offspring concert in witchita. i know i was asking for it.
the thing was, you couldn’t avoid it, you had to practically leave the
building. quick inventory of moshing related injuries that i procured:
head, bruised when hit against the barrier, shoulder, pulled muscle by
other concert goers, and bruised tail bone, from being thrown to the
ground. injuries from crowd surfers were much worse, but all the same.
those damn people with combat boots. anyway, yeah, a problem.

fav. bands
VF
Offspring
Everclear
Beastie Boys–try not to laugh
Mazzy Star

-Jess

“Misery is baptismal, if it’s someone else’s”
-Author Unknown

silly goose!!! oh and yes you can but them to sleep….1)put on back
2)rub tummy till you hear the zzzz’s….i’m a lobster boy…i lived
in maine….i do not know of such a toxic discharge

-Pat. Says: Kyle also included a bunch of helpful hints in his post
which, while so off topic I can’t print them, would
nonetheless give Heloise a run for her money…call it
Klews from Kyle.

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RE: Lobsters
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if you stand a lobster on it’s head, it will fall asleep. oh, lobsters
don’t scream, either because they don’t have vocal cords. little tip
from maine, the lobster capital.

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RE: Lobsters
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Ahem… I am not saying lobsters don’t release any toxins (I don’t know)
but I *do* know there is an actual dish where the tail of the lobster
is removed, prepared, and then served in the shell of the tail turned
upside down and juxtapositioned next to the remainder of the lobster
which yes, is still alive and moving. Very surreal meal, I might add.

Yrs truly….
Jack

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Where Do They Live?
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Hey. Do any of you know if any of the Femmes live in Racine, WI? I did a
search on Victor Delorenzo and there was one in Racine. But, no Gordons
in WI or Brians or Guys for that matter. Just wondering

“Just about ready to cut it up she says wait a minute honey gonna
add it up”
(and if that quote is a few words off, get over it you know what I mean)

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A Story
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Hey, what’s going on everyone. This is my 2nd time writing to this
newsletter i think, i guess i’ve never really had much to say because
i’ve kinda drifted away from the femmes’ music. I really haven’t heard
any of their new stuff, except i did hear the end of Blister 2000 in
Abercrombie and Fitch once, but i still absolutely love the old stuff,
even though most of my friends don’t so i usually end up listening to
them by myself, in my opinion this is the best time to listen to them
unless you’re at a show.
Pat, i think you’re doing a really nice job with the newsletter though,
it seems like you put a lot of effort into every issue. I thought i’d
write some thoughts about the femmes, although i don’t have much to say
about “fake fans” or “is band member X a homosexual” or whatever, i don’t
know, i guess that stuff isn’t as relevant to me as how great a trio these
guys are.
So, since i can’t think of anything to say about that, here’s a kind of
stupid story that i thought would make you guys laugh.
I was in 6th grade. In my theater class, I had to do a lipsynch to a
song (the student got to pick the song he/she wanted to use), and I
wanted to pick something different from all the mainstream songs that my
peers were choosing. I came home from school and heard my older brother
listening to “Why do Birds Sing?” in his room. I stood outside the door
and listened. “American Music” came on, and i loved it. The twanginess
of the guitar, the obvious enthusiasm and spirit in the voices of the
singers, and the interesting lyrics (“every time i look at that ugly moon
it reminds me of you”) captivated my interest. I decided that “American
Music” would be my song to lipsing to. I put on a ratty flannel shirt
and tucked my hair into a baseball hat to look like a guy (which i’m not)
to add furthur effect to my act. I must have looked ridiculous,
strumming my Prince tennis racket and running around the stage pretending
to be Gordon Gano. What else is really weird is that i acted out the
parts of 2 lead singers, because what i thought was 2 lead vocals was
actually Gordon’s fabulous vocal range. Well, that was a long time ago,
and i thought you guys would laugh. But the good part is that i was
inspired so much by the femmes that I consumed their music and every fact
about them that i could, and they were my favorite band for a
wicked long time. I still listen to them occasionally now, and i still
think they’re awesome, but i find myself listening to many different
bands these days as opposed to one. But the femmes find their way into
my cd player once in a while.
Well, i hope you guys liked my story! Oh, i just had an idea. How
about everyone sends in a stupid story like mine about something
femmes-related (ex. the first time you heard them, something idiotic you
said when you met them, etc.) to the newsletter. That would be awesome,
guys, come on! Well, i gots to go.

Adios—–Lisa

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