12-03-99

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The Quote Of The Day:

Cause if you get, really, really, fat
you might just want me to come back….
-From Fat
-Submitted by C1J2M3Com

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

Dec 4- Grosse Freiheit 36, Hamburg, GER (P,O)
Dec 12- Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH (P)
Dec 27- Australia Anniversary Park, Perth, Western Aus, AUS (O)
Dec 31- Falls Festival, Lorne, AUS (P,O)
Mar 20- Babylon, Munich, GER (P)
Mar 21- Longhorn, Stuttgart, GER (P)
Mar 22- Hugenottenhalle, Neu-Isenburg, GER (P)
Mar 23- Hirsch, Nuremburg, GER (P)
Mar 24- Kesselhaus, Berlin, GER (P)
Mar 26- Live Music Hall, Cologne, GER (P)
Mar 27- PC 69, Bielefeld, GER (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

To book a show, contact Hornblow USA at: hbgusa
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!

Columbus, OH
————
steindnw (Nevin)

Lorne, AUS
———-
cmc688 (Chris)

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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/

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

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

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

Guitar: http://www.smug.adelaide.edu.au/~therapy/femmes/
http://www.angelfire.com/hi/VFemmes

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:

Thessaloniki Review
Dublin Concert
Violent Femmes London
Femmes in WI?
I Hope, You Get….Fat
Late Late..Viva WI
Bumbershoot Live on the Net
All Sorts of Happy Things
Viva Wisconsin and Live Femmes…..
Anybody Willing to Trade?
“Viva Wisconsin” Review
Femmes Article at CDnow
The Blessed Faustina
The Blessed Faustina
Behind the Music
RE: Voting

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Thessaloniki Review
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hello everybody !

i had really bad luck the last months ,so it was very good to see the
femmes play.It s the 4th (after 92,94 and 96) time in greece,but i fear
that it was the last because to the shows in athens went only 800
people the first day and 400 the second day. (comparing with the 6000
fans in 92).Maybe it has to do with the fact that viva wisconsin is not
out here in greece.Anyway here are the songs from the thessaloniki
show(of course like a true femmes fan i was 1st row):
prove my love
blister in the sun
kiss of
add it up
confessions
good feeling
gone daddy gone
promise
hallowed ground
country death song
black girls
im nothing
mirror mirror
sleepwalking
freak magnet
i can change
dance motherfucker dance
gimme the car
out the window
american music
color me once

gordon was reading a greek poem from kabafis,and 1 and a half hour was
not enough for me.

billybye
sapountz

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Dublin Concert
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Hello all,

Just some thoughs/questions about a Femmes’ concert.

I come back from Dublin where I saw the Femmes.
It was the first concert in Ireland in the history of the Femmes.

It was not “American Music since 1981” but a sort of heraldic blason
with the date 1848 (smth hapenned in Wisconsin?) with the sentence “E
Pleribus Unum” (Latin for “From several, (make) only one”). Was it
already present in past concerts?
Gordon spoke about the birthday of his father -it was the 29 or 30
November, he did not remember-. He told us that “I Held Her in my
Arms” was the favourite song of his father. (true?) And not of her
mother because “I held her in my arms and it wasn’t you”.
Besides Freak Magnet, they played two songs I did not know (from
Freak Magnet ?). One contains smth like that (my English and my
memory are not too good): “Am I bad or good” and “I can change”. Any
indications?

Bye,

Alexandre
adobly

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Violent Femmes London
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I have just recovered from last nights VF show in London, I have heard
it said before that they just get better and better and I can confirm
that this is indeed the case.

Last nights show was the third that I have been to and the performance
was the best so far. I had to drag my wife ‘kicking and screaming’ to
the concert but when we returned to our car it was her and not me who
put on the Viva Wisconsin CD, she also said that she woke up this
morning and started singing American Music.

Back to the concert though, Brian Ritchie once again confirmed that
the next CD would be out in Feb 2000 and stated that All I Want would
be one of the songs featured on the album. One of the things that made
the show extra special was the crowds participation singing the songs
etc and the fact that they seemed to be true VF fans. I would just like
to thank any members of amusic who attended and of course the band for
a fantastic early xmas present and once again cannot wait for their next
visit.

P.S. I have noticed that VF have put on some dates in Germany next year
(March), has any one got any details of any shows they may be doing
anywhere else in europe.

Harry
NFLHWB

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Femmes in WI?
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How come the Femmes do so many european tours and very rarely ever
come to the Milwaukee area? It seems that the only time they ever come
is for Summerfest ,and I would like to see them more often within
driving distance. Could you addresss this in one of your issues?

Thanks for your time,

Melanie Larson
mlarson

-Pat. Says: I think the reason may be that none of the band members
presently live in WI. Brian and Gordon are apparently in
NY, thus the frequent East Coast shows.

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I Hope, You Get….Fat
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“Cause if I get, really, really, fat, you might just want me to come
back….”

After Viewing the Femmes on the Late Late Show, it appears that Gordon
and Brian are being stuffed for love if the lyrics for “Fat” prove
true. Every time I see them they get a little more. It was Brian that
had gained some pounds over the years, but I was really suprised to see
Gordon with at least 20 extra pounds on the Late Late Show. Maybe
their weight is an allusion as they play along next to a drummer
skinnier than Slim Jim Phantom on Phen Phen.

Is it me, or was something off on that show? (Late Late Show) After
watching it, it hit me for the first time that there is something
missing. If it could be measured, I would probably give it a 33.33
percent loss in the form of a drummer named Victor. The cool
Milwaukee based ex – BoDean allure is beginning to rub off and it’s
time for the original trio to dig out the raw and glorious creative
melodies of the past, or have Gordon and Brian create someting new.

This is the greatest band of my generation and given the fact that they
are still young and cynical, the future can still look bright.

C1J2M3Com

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Late Late..Viva WI
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Regarding the Late Late Show appearance last Friday and Viva
Wisconsin…

When I saw the Femmes on the Kilbourn Show (as I call it…”Late Late
Show” reminds me of sad ol’ Tom Snyder), I was kind of disappointed.
It’s a put off seeing them play an ancient, well known Femmes song like
“Blister…” being played by VF mark 2. I’d seen them last March when
they played Kutztown University here in PA, and so I was completely
aware of how they looked and sounded as of now, but just the same…
“Blister…” is a big disappointment these days. It’s limp, not fast
enough, and Gordon’s voice is no longer as nervous and whiney as it was
in the ’80s. If it wasn’t their best known song, I imagine they’d
probably shy away from playing it.

Same comments go for the version on Viva Wisconsin. The rest of that
disc, though, is damn good! I can’t say I really care for the sound
quality (very pristine, but disgusting as the acoustic guitars are,
apparently, plugged via piezo pickups and don’t seem to be EQ’d
particularly well…this is particularly annoying on Brian’s bass
-where’s that lo-fi rumble and rattle we know and love???). And I don’t
care for “Blister…”, as I’ve said before. But everything else…
WOW!!! I’m especially surprised at how nicely “Black Girls” (my
favorite Femmes song to hear live) translated to an acoustic rendition.
It’s also nice hearing some of the more recent material (i.e. “Life is
an Adventure” and “Dahmer is Dead”)…when I saw them in March, they
mainly went for a “greatest hits” set, playing the songs from the Add
It Up compilation disc.

All around, Viva Wisconsin is a great disc. Finally, an honest,
official live document of the Femmes…mark 2, no less! Goes to show
that, for the most part, they can still do it.

One question: Brian’s credited as playing a theremin. Odd seeing a
weirdo electronic instrument in an “acoustic” album’s credits. Does
anyone know where it’s used? I love theremins, but I haven’t figured
out where it’s used just yet (only listened to the disc approximately
2.5 times so far).

-Ian Keiser
daykarak

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Bumbershoot Live on the Net
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Hey everybody,
Real.com will be airing the Femmes performance at Bumbershoot ’99 on
Sunday, December 5th at 10 pm ET. The URL is:

http://realguide.real.com/music/?s=bumber

Also at real.com you can listent to the KROQ Acoustic Christmas CD in
all it’s glory. OH YEAH… anyway the Femmes are the last song on the
cd. So those of you can’t get enough of Blister. go on and listen.

http://realguide.real.com/music/?s=kroq

That’s it.
Kathryn

PS oh before I forget to mention you get to hear about 5 seconds of the
song before it becomes all garbled in some anti pirating noise. IT’s
probably a waste of time but I’m sure some people might enjoy it.

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All Sorts of Happy Things
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Wow, today rocked. I was buying cds, and found the new David Bowie and
Rage Against the Machine right away. Normally, either one of those
would have made me really happy. But then, when I did my usual check
of the Femmes selection, I found out that Viva Wisconsin was out!! I
hadn’t realized that, and it pretty much made my day 🙂

After that, I come home to find the new edition of American Music
(which would have told me that Viva was out, had I received it a few
hours earlier)….and learned that the Femmes are finally doing another
show in Columbus!!! I’m so excited. Every time I try to see them, it
gets fucked up for some reason, but the Newport is pretty reliable and
I don’t have any worries. Ok, I have to find a friend to drive me from
college (an hour and a half away) the day before final exams start, but
I won’t let that stop me. No way. You can put me on the list of
people who are going Pat.

Anyway, my first impressions of Viva Wisconsin:
It’s a good album. A lot of the songs were better in the studio, and
I won’t start any arguments by trying to decide which ones those are
(especially after only hearing most of the songs once). BUT…whether
or not the songs as a whole are always the best versions, the music is
really well-done. It has the raw emotional feeling of their first
album, combined with the skilled folk/acoustical abilities they display
on “3”, and topped off with the strong confidence they have in “Freak
Magnet”. (Wow, I really feel like a pretentious reviewer now.) Some
songs, like Good Feelings and Dahmer is Dead, are just wonderful…all
have at least something that makes them worth listening to (the “count
to 7” in Country Death Song almost made chills run down my spine, and
when Gordon talked about touching her all over her body in Gimme the
Car, he really sounded disturbed…) I’m Nothing did a good job of
finding a happy median between the New Times and Freak Magnet versions,
but the only song that they really seemed to change too much was Black
Girls.

I’ll stop now, because I’m sure there are a dozen other reviews along
with mine. So I’ll just say that everyone on this list needs to buy
Viva Wisconsin. Hopefully I’ll see some of you on December 12.

Nevin
steindnw

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Viva Wisconsin and Live Femmes…..
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I bought Viva Wisconsin, yesterday. Its awsome, I love it.
Listening to them live reminds me of the last two concerts i saw in
1996 and this summer, 1999. Gordon sings the classics differently than
he did in the early days, but with the same spunk. His singing is
consistent though, and on most of the cd tracks he sounds just like he
did in the concerts I saw.
If Gordon reads this message (i wish) I’d like to ask him to PLEASE
crank up his guitar louder next time he’s in NH. I love his playing
style, his solos are awsome, but he just didn’t turn up loud enough
this summer. Maybe he was feeling mellow that night. No disrespect
intended.

shipyard21

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Anybody Willing to Trade?
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I have an extra copy of Freak Magnet that I would be willing to trade
for an official copy of Viva Wisconsin, if anybody is interested. I
originally picked it up to sell on ebay, however I decided that I
would not try to gouge my fellow femmes fans, so I never did anything
with it. I just ran across it the other day, and being that I am poor
(woe is the life of a college student) I have not yet picked up a copy
of VW. If anyone is interested, let me know, and if not that is ok
too. Please e-mail me at:

staley

Thanks,
Chris Staley

Zonge Engineering and Research Organization
http://www.zonge.com
3322 E. Ft. Lowell Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85716
(520) 327-5501
Fax: (520) 325-1588

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“Viva Wisconsin” Review
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Here’s the first review I’ve read of “Viva Wisconsin.” This is from
the December issue of “Details.” The reviews are divided into “Don’t
Miss” and “Don’t Bother,” with the Femmes’ new album falling in the
latter category:

“1993’s sampler ‘Add It Up’ (with live tracks) makes this album not
only superfluous but unnecessary and redundant.”

Ouch!

chrishatch

-Pat. Says: Ignore them. Buy the album, and listen to Sweet Worlds
of Angels full blast.

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Femmes Article at CDnow
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hey everyone, just wanted to tell you about a small Femmes article on
Viva Wisconsin. This one’s at CDnow and here’s the URL:

http://p01.com/t.d?QkDkoOje=/cdnow.com/allstararticle/fid=157248

enjoy!

ryan
rcbarbato

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The Blessed Faustina
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Wow this album is great. I haven’t heard anything that I really
enjoyed listening to this much in a long time. Victor has grown leaps
and bounds since he released Pancake Day. The album has this other
worldly original sound to it. It would be really hard to compare it to
anything else but for those of you who absolutely need something to
base it off of, this would kind of be like a cross between Pink Floyd’s
“The Division Bell” and “Pet Sounds” by the Beach Boys with a modern
feel. But even then that’s not a really good comparison. It’s hard
because this is a really unique album. My favorite tracks so far would
have to be “Pagan Driftwood” and “Forever”. Here’s the title of the
tracks:

Crazy as a Stick
Observatory
Pagan DriftwoodWhistle
Baby Jesus
Hoeing
Spring Diet for a Nervous Man
She’s a Resin
It’s a bearutiful Machine
too late to wonder
Mr Wilsons’ Safari
Frail pagans
Forever
She Tried to find Heaven
Seems a were getting a lot of good stuff from the drummers of this
group. First Guy and his side work with Absinthe and now Victor with
The Blessed Faustina. I highly recommend picking it up if you get the
chance.

Kathryn
Kittricken

I think it is a really cool and it sounds really good. Victor did a
fine work. He’s a really talented architect of sound. One of the best
feature of the album, is that there is kind of a sense of unity among
the song, if we compare with the other solos he did.
It’s a flowing album.

Get it, you must…

Frank
ffrenet

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Behind the Music
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I have just written to VH1 to ask them to come up with a Violent Femmes
“Behind the Music” episode. I would like to urge ALL-ALL-ALL members of
the AM list to do the same.

http://www.vh1.com/tools/email

P.S. last week I put up a VF message board at:
http://www.insidetheweb.com/messageboard/mbs.cgi?acct=mb870757&TL=

opkutech

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RE: Voting
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iN REPLY TO CATHERINES LETTER ON VOTING, I DID GO AND VOTE ON THE
VIOLENT FEMMES FOR YOU, BUT AS I WAS LOOKING AT THE OTHER BANDS I SAW
THEY HAD THE OPTION OF TMBG AND I CANT UNDERSTAND WHY NOBAODY WOULD
HAVE VOTED FOR THEM IT REALLY SEEMS STRANGE KNOWING MYSELF I WOULD HAVE
RATHER VOTED FOR THEM THAN THE FEMMES THOUGH I DO LIKE THE MUSIC OF THE
FEMMES MORE THAN TMBG, THE FEMMES ARE GETTING OLD AND THEIR NOT AS
ENTHUSIASTIC AT THEIR CONCERTS AS WHEN THEY WERE YOUNGER YET TMBG STILL
YOUNG THROW REALLY REALLY GOOD SHOWS. BUT THIS IS MY OPINION IF YOU
DONT AGREE ID RATHER NOT HERE ABOUT IT BUT IF ONLY IT COULD BE A BACK
TO BACK CONCERT FEMMES/TMBG….. SO ANYWAYS I WAS JUST A LITTLE
SUPRISED THAT TMBG DIDNT HAVE ANY VOTES.

NICK PARR
PARR

Pat. Says: Although I agree with you completely that TMBG is always
worthy of several votes, the fact is that the Johns became
friends in high school in the mid-70’s. This makes them
contemporaries of Brian and Gordon, and also of your
friendly moderator who, if you have not heretofore noticed,
is becoming increasingly touchy about her age.
BTW, I would highly recommend a sight of Brian with his
theramin before bemoaning the lack of enthusiasm during VF
shows.

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