THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS ISSUE ARE JUST THAT. OPINIONS.
THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY BASED ON FACT. THEY COULD ALL BE FULL OF CRAP.
OH, AND PLEASE REMEMBER TO MAKE SURE YOUR POST HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH
THE VIOLENT FEMMES. THIS IS **NOT** THE REGGIE WHITE NEWSLETTER!
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TOUR DATES THIS WEEK:

May 9 – WestFest, Charles Ives Center, W. Connecticut U., Danbury, CT
gates open at noon (O,P,T)
DOES ANYBODY KNOW ANYTHING MORE ABOUT THIS SHOW???

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The Quote Of The Day:

on the motel TV
I dig the evangelist
he’ll tell you all about that
and then he tell you all about this
-From Lies
-Submitted by

PLEASE send your VF quotes to

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ALL CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS LETTER SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO

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WEB PAGES:

Official: http://www.vfemmes.com
Unofficial: http://vf.scopemag.com
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/6918
Past Tour
Dates: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Lounge/1725/femmes.html
Guitar: http://www.bucknell.edu/~wtorres/violent_femmes
http://www.olga.net
Une banane:Send in your top five faves each week to:

HERE I AM: Tell me where you live for the Here I Am list.

************************************************************************

In Today’s Issue:

Drexel Info
Was RE: Reggie White
RE: Freak Magnet Promo
RE: Freak Magnet Promo
I’ve Heard Freak Magnet!
Snopek News

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Drexel Info
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The Drexel University Campus Activities Board’s annual Spring Jam will
take place on May 30th at Buckley Field beginning at 3pm. Admission is
free to Drexel students and their friends (meaning you must be
accompanied by a DU student) The festival includes free food, giveaways,
and tons of free music, including the Drexel sidestage (bands including
drexel students) The line-up is as follows:

3pm – Green Eggs & Spam – Philly cover band that does 70’s tunes
4pm – Sneaky Rats (sidestage cover band)
4:30 – Flip Like Wilson – Philly’s best rock cover band
6pm – Forever 27 – sidestage band featuring all original tunes of great
funk.
6:30- To be determined – this will be the “opening act,” if you will
8pm- Seven – sidestage band that is up-and-coming in philly
8:30 – Yolk – Sextet from Binghamton NY that is influenced by rap,
rock, rhythm and more

and then

10pm – Violent Femmes

We are in the process of creating a web page (off of our main page)
with all of the details and links… the address is
http://cab.student-org.drexel.edu/springjam.html feel free to link to
this page – it will be set up by Friday morning…

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Was RE: Reggie White
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This is in response to the person who wrote in a few issues ago and
said that Gordon “swings both ways.” I was very angry after reading
that person’s letter. They slammed Reggie White for claiming that
homosexuality was wrong and then claimed that my friend Mr. Gano
might have or has had homosexual tendencies. First, Gordon is
happily married. He has a wife that he loves very much. Please let
me repeat that for you who do not understand, a wife, not a boyfriend
named brutus. Second you said that Gordon is “big on Jesus.” I
would go ever further then that after having had in depth
conversations with him and his brother about this subject; I would
claim that he is not only “big on Jesus” but rather that he is a
fully devoted follower of Christ. Now one must put aside their
feelings about the Christian faith when dealing with subject matter
like this. Whether you personally belive that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God is beside the point, because Gordon does and has believed
this, and any person familiar with basic Christian doctrine would
know that Christianity does not condone homosexuality. Now as for
songs that Gordon sings that have references to homosexual behavior I
would like to respond by telling you what Gordon said when
interviewed by a British music magazine. He claimed that his songs
although they may be written in such a manner are not always in the
first person. He writes about other people while still using
pronouns such as “I” Also He believes in the total depravity of man
and writes many of his songs in frustration or anger to his depraved
state, not necessarily having acted on these particular thoughts or
feelings but simply in need of an avenue by which he may express his
inner personal feelings. He may sing about certain things, but he
would still call them immoral.
Now that I have stated my opinion I do not want to be so
arrogant as to belive that I absolutely know that Gordon is not or
has never been Gay, however I would like to advise members of the
list not to make outlandish comments about band members sexuality
without deep investigation.

Travis

-Pat. Says: Travis, the person who wrote before only said that he
“thought” those things about Gordon. It was just an
impression he had, not based on any fact whatsoever. Now,
many of us have read the article Gordon wrote about his
marriage, and so since it is a matter of public record, we
can say that yes, he is married. Any other conjecture about
his personal life is, well, out of line. You are right, and
what the band members do in their private lives is frankly
NONE OF OUR BUSINESS. I can’t stress that enough.
I also have no idea what Gordon thinks of homosexuality,
but I do know that the band has come out in favor of gay
rights, and I seriously doubt Gordon would support something
he felt was immoral. As far as the Christian position on
homosexuality, I have heard that Jesus never said anything
condemning it. I’ve been reading to check on that, and
have yet to find anything. The Old Testament does cover it,
but Christians have had no problem ignoring many of the
400-odd commandments in the OT; I see no reason why they
can’t let this one go, especially in light of the increasing
evidence of biological causes for homosexuality.
What I do see in the New Testament is a plea for compassion,
understanding, and forgiveness, and I would like to believe
that Gordon follows THOSE preachings to the letter, as
should we all, Christian or no.

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RE: Freak Magnet Promo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m not sure I completely agree with you on the CD issue. If I received
a copy of FM (even a CD copy) from someone, it wouldn’t prevent me from
buying the album when it comes out. Of course, that’s just me, and I’m
sure there are other people who would just never buy the album.

But then, of course, what got most of us interested in the Femmes? For
me, it was a several-generations-copied version of the first album. I
made a copy and played it until it broke, then I made another copy. And
when I got older, I bought the album legitimately on tape (along with
every other Femmes album available at that time) … and when I got a
CD player, I bought them all again.

So, if “Freak Magnet” is a good album (which I’m sure it is), the rogue
copies of it will only increase the Femmes’ fan base.

Of course, all that could just be my elaborate justification for wanting
a copy of it as soon as possible. 🙂

Sort of on the same subject, I was thinking about which companies would
best fit the Femmes for the release of Freak Magnet and the next few
albums– and the best I can think of would be Ani DiFranco’s Righteous
Babe Records. They’d have her company’s built-in production and
distribution channels, but they could pay for a few more staff at RBR
to work for them and still get a larger percentage of the profits from
their albums and have more creative control. (Of course, all that would
hinge on whether Ms. DiFranco would want to share her label.)

Just a thought.

–James

# James Welborn (JW1560)
# Webmaster, Vegas Deluxe <http://www.vegasdeluxe.com/>
# Nevada’s Largest Website

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RE: Freak Magnet Promo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don’t mean to sound like an expert record exec., but I think the
Femmes’ current problems rest almost soley on the group. How many
labels has the group had anyways? I thought I had worked out a trade
with Kendra. I had sent her a boot and then I did not get any response
or any copy of Freak Magnet. Which is another thing. If I got a boot
tape of FM, I would still buy the CD version if it was ever released.
I don’t think boot tapes of FM are gonna send the group into the poor
house. And there wouldn’t be a demand for so many boots if the group
would stop making songs, and then not release them.

And the comment on the Official site under ‘What’s Happening’ asking for
someone else to release the album who can spare the money. How freaking
pretentious. Maybe the group should look into getting new management.

Well there is one person who isn’t going to waste any more effort or
money in getting FM or any other albums the group makes and eventually
releases. And if I get a boot of FM, I’m gonna make as many copies of
it as I can. And if I don’t get it, oh well.

Mike – Ft. Lauderdale

-Pat. Says: The band has not had as many US labels as you may think.
I have my original vinyls packed away safely, so I am
relying on the CD’s, but the first 6 full length releases
were all Slash (or Slash/WB). WDBS and AIU were Slash/
Reprise, and that is where I think the problems started.
Slash was absorbed by Reprise, and I’d imagine that was
accompanied by a changeover in management. At any rate, it
looks like things changed over there as a result, and so
New Times was released on Elektra (another Warner Co, BTW)
Now, you know New Times was not a great success, despite
the fact that there are truly some good songs on it. You
can’t count ROCK, because that was not an American Label.
It’s not uncommon for a band to have an American label for
American releases, a UK label for UK releases, etc. etc. I
think ROCK was just a way for them to record some great
stuff while they were shopping for an American label.
By all accounts, Freak Magnet has been postponed because
Interscope did not give the VF the support they needed to
make a success of a very good album, and so the band can
not be blamed for sticking to their creative guns. You know,
record companies in general have had a long history of
chewing up artists and spitting them out, and the major
complaint of most artists has been that they are not given
creative freedom. Hell, even the Beatles left Capitol to
start Apple.
OK, so we have two labels (three, but one change was due to
the merger) and then Interscope. Answer me this: in 17
years, how many different jobs do you expect you’ll have?
If your company was taken over by another, what do you think
your chances of remaining with that company would be?
As far as boots are concerned. I think we have an entirely
different situation with Freak Magnet, in that it is not
yet released, and there is no definite release date. In the
interim, there is a real risk of illegal copies being made
in bulk, and that could undercut the success of FM when it
is finally released. We are not stuck in the stone age of
mediocre quality cassettes here. True, every cassette I
have ever received I have bought in vinyl or CD if I liked
it well enough, but nowadays, CD recorders are easily
available, and scanners can reproduce covers and liner
notes. Anyone with a lack of scruples and access to both of
these machines could make a successful little business for
him or herself. While it is true that most of us on this
list are collectors, and will buy any and all versions of
an album as we find them, this is NOT TRUE for the majority
of record owners. I myself have a couple of illegal CD’s
(not of the VF), and you know what? I like them very much,
but have not bought the ‘legal’ release. What for? I already
have a high quality copy which will never wear down. OK, in
my defense, they are copies of KTS recordings, and so are
boots of boots. I got them for 10 bucks apiece, and KTS was
selling them for about 25.
Now, as far as Kendra is concerned, I hope that the two of
you will come to some other agreement. Nuff said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ve Heard Freak Magnet!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Something amazing happened today! I’ve been calling everyone I know
about the promo disk for about a month. I just wanted to HEAR it –
you know we’ve been waiting so long now… I have been resisting the
urge to email those folks who’ve said they already have it and ask for
a copy. It was so hard! I wanted one in the worst way, as I’m sure we
all do, BUT I have been forcing myself not to ask. Pat, I agree with
your post Monday! The last thing the band needs is hundreds of copies
floating around slowing sales when it IS released. We cannot do that!
Today was my lucky day! I think it was because I looked so pitiful (I
got Doc’d at the show in Atlanta Sunday and my lip looks just lovely).
Yesterday I went looking for the CMJ Liz told us about Monday (no luck)
but I started talking to this guy and ended up talking about Freak
Magnet and he got this kinda sympathetic look on his face and called
this wonderful, wonderful girl over named Karen. Karen had snagged the
stores’ PROMO copy the day it came in! She brought it in to work with
her today. I’ve heard it! Can you believe it?!
It is just incredible. I completely lost track of time and ended up
taking a 2 hour lunch (which my boss was none too thrilled about). One
song took my breath away – Requiem – I think I went back to it three
times. And there are two tracks with Pierre Henry – the last, called
Reckless Stones opens with the Didge I believe and I think I remember
the shakahachi (sp?) on Happiness Is. Positively 4th Street’s a fun
track as well as Mosh Pit. I mostly skipped thru Bad, Rejoice, Freak
Magnet, Nothin, & Wanna See Her Again as I have already heard them live.
So I mostly listened to the last 2/3’s of the CD. I was struck by the
full, heavy sound of this disk. I don’t know who engineered it but it’s
well done – strong vocals, very strong vocals, and crisp, clean, powerful
instrumentals. I think it was Requiem where Brian’s playing sitar (very
nice) but Gordon’s guitar comes in loud and clear in just the right
places. Eventually I had to give the disk back to Karen and go back to
work but I just wanted to share this with everyone and tell you that
it never hurts to call and ask. The only thing I can say at this point
is our boys seem to have cast their lots with a bunch of fools if
Interscope has held this disk for creative reasons. I don’t know what
else we can do to feel better except irritate the crap out of Interscope.
Cheryl’s right – their email seems to be up and running again but I
haven’t gotten a response. If anyone else knows of something we can do
to help please let us know. It is definitely worth the wait everyone!
Don’t lose faith! I’ll leave you with this
– hope I remembered it correctly.
from Happiness Is…
I don’t know what one means by happy…
I’m happy spasmodically…

Deana

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Snopek News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talk about fringe benefits… I work at a little subshop in Milwaukee,
just started about three weeks ago.
Today at work, Sigmund Snopek came in and dropped off a copy of his new
CD (which my boss helped sponsor) and I gave him a big fat sub and
chatted with him for awhile. Once again, I must say, Sigmund is a
really cool guy, and I think it’s sad that outside of Milwaukee he is
viewed mainly as a part time backup musician for the Femmes (although
that in itself is a fine accomplishment…).

Anyone who doesn’t know much about the guy should check out his
website:

http://www.charmrec.com/sig
He’s been around a long time and has done some really phenomonal stuff.

And anyone in the Milwuakee area who comes to Gold Coast subs on North
and Prospect (for all of you fans, it’s right across from the Oriental
Theatre, where the Femmes used to play outside of all the time… Look
at the pictures in the layout of “Add It Up”) when I am working (I have
a goatee and a shaved head. My name is Jack.) and mentions this list
will get a half priced sub…
—
Yrs Truly,
The Rev…

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