03-22-99

Best viewed with Courier size 10 maximized screen *********************************************************************** The Quote Of The Day: I danced before I had two feet Sang before I had a tongue I laughed before I had two eyes Loved before my heart was young... -From I Danced -Submitted by Jeffrey_Wilson *********************************************************************** TOUR DATES (NEW TOUR DATES MARKED WITH **): March 22- Chantilly's, Manchester, NH (P,O) March 24- 8 p.m., The Silo at Riveredge, Reading, $20 (T,O,P) (This is a 21+ show) March 26- Rodeo's, Jackson, MS (P) March 27- Ohio Northern Univ., Ada, OH (O,P) CANCELLED!! March 30- Shrover Auditorium, Bozeman, MT (O) March 31- MSU Ballroom, Missoula, MT (O) April 1- Snow King Resort, Jackson Hole, WY (P) April 2- Doubletree Ballroom, Boise, ID (O) April 3- The Rock, Pocatello, ID (O) April 4- 7 p.m., Mount Baker Theatre, Bellingham, WA (T,O,P) April 6- 8 p.m., Emu Ballroom, U of Oregon, Eugene, OR, $25 (O,P) April 9- 7 p.m., Univ. of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OH (P,T) (W/George Clinton) **April 16- Robins Center, Univ. of Richmond, Richmond, VA (P,T)** (w/Pat McGee Band) April 17- Shepherd's College, Shepherdstown, WV (P) **April 18- 6.30 p.m., Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH (T)** (Pre-concert party, price includes preferred seating and hotdog/chips, price does NOT include concert) **April 18- 7 p.m., Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH (T)** April 21- 8 p.m., Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, MI (T) April 23- Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA (P) **May 1- Harvard, Cambridge, MA (O) OR **May 1- Johnson and Wales College, Providence, RI (P)** May 4- Le Batacian, Paris, France (P) May 5- Forum, London, England (P) May 6- Student's Festival, Lisbon, Portugal (P) May 8- Oporto Festival, Oporto, Portugal (P) May 10- E-Werk, Cologne, Germany (P) ______________________________________________________________________ ABSINTHE DATES (W/ GUY HOFFMAN): Apr 20- Northern Auditorium, Minneapolis, MN (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 Monterey Peninsula Artists. Serious inquiries only. ************************************************************************ WHO/WHERE Going to a VF concert? Want to know if anyone else on the list also going? Check here first! Manchester, NH -------------- ViolntPhem (Melissa) Reading, PA ----------- Kittricken (Kathryn) Jackson, MS ----------- mdixon (Mike) Pocatello, ID ------------- ANGEL34TA [Bellingham WA] for an Easter Sunday (4/4) performance. This 57 year old Femmes freak has 6th row seats along with two of his adult sons. Put me on the list of attendees please. The show is at a classic old theatre. There will be no seat removal for a mosh pit. Will hopefully be a concert where the music can be enjoyed without fear of bodily harm. I hope that they sing most of their religious songs in honor of the occasion. Bob BurrResear Eugene, OR ---------- chzbooger Ann Arbor, MI ------------- alexa135 (Andrea) Cambridge, MA ------------- thenewkid (Drew) potatoe482 (Em) *********************************************************************** ALL CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS LETTER SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO AMUSIC *********************************************************************** In Today's Issue: SHIT!!! Eugene Lupos Show Reading, Frank Zappa quote, RE:Topic Starters, other meaningless babble RE: Homepage Picture Re:Sweatin' to the Femmes Balkan Falcon Hitting the Ground Is that a recorder in your pants or are you just happy to see me? Random Thought for the Day ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SHIT!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ohio Northern just cancelled the Femmes concert!!! Apparently they weren't able to sell enough advanced tickets. Maybe next time they'll announce the concert more than two weeks in advance. Idiots. Nevin steindnw ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eugene ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm gonna go to the April 6 show at Emu Ballroom @ University of Oregon in Eugene!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will be show #6 for me. Anyone else going? Any how I wanted to share my excitement and enthusiasm with all of you. A very happy girl, :) chzbooger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lupos Show ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alright! I saw my first show EVER! It was so rad! It was SO rad! I am so psyched, you have no idea! It was at Lupos which is a shitty dive. the place was disgusting. Tumor Girl and I pushed our way up to the front of the place. We were right behind these kids on the rail with long shaggy hair. They looked like Dave Grohl. One of them met Brian before the show and showed him his tattoo of the Add it Up cover on his back and told him how he plays bass too, so he got backstage passes and got to jam with them on Faith while Brian played some baby drum set. It was so much fun! They are such a fun band! Let's see. A guy named "Carmaig de Forrest" openned for them. He sounded a bit like Glenn Gano. He played the ukulele and kept stepping on a desk bell that he had taped to the floor. He sang songs about little indian girls doing the nasty. He was great! Hahahha, I really liked him in a weird way. Then after he left the band took another hour to get onstage. It was such a long wait. Upfront we were pretty packed in there but not unbearable. Then right before the band came on two fat punks in spiked leather came up behind us. The girl was such a pain in the ass, she kept trying to get closer by slamming her fat ass against me. She put her cigarette out on my wrist and kept slamming myself and Tumor Girl in the head with her spikes. This one fat ass set off the whole crowd. Everyone started pushing and throwing elbows and just 3 or 4 songs in we pulled out of the back. Stupid bitch. I was really pissed off. It was so much easier to get to the back ot the crowd than it was to get up to the front. I pulled out of the crowd like a weary soldier. We both were having wicked bad heart palpatations. My blue sweatjacket was hanging lifelessly from my elbows. My gelled spikes of black hair were flattened. I couldn't stand up straight. It was alright though. We ended up in the balcony sitting on the floor right by the railing. It was still like just 30 feet from the band. It was a small place. I hope my pictures came out. Ok, enough about myself and Tumor Girl, sorry this is so long. THE BAND. Gordon was very long haired. I think it is awesome. I think it looked so good back in '84 and I've been dying for it to come back. They played Bad, Rejoice and Be Happy, and Stop Talking about My Music, which were all new to me. When that kid jammed with them on Faith Gordon had a copy of the Rhode Island State song which he attempted to sing. It was very funny. He started then was like, yeah right, and threw all the pages out except the last one and finished up singing about how it is great and small. It was really hilarious. I did a little faith dance that I made up. Some older fans were laughing at me. I don't care, I thought it was a great dance. I have a picture of me doing it. I have finally seen the theramin, the sakushaki, the conch (which brian couldn't break), the one string japanese bass, and the trancephone which I don't think Guy used at all. That is such a nice washtub, if I was him I would cover every drum with a washtub. I met Guy actually afterwards very briefly. I found him to be very curt and I was very put out. Of course I have no vagina, so maybe that has to do with it. I am not sure. I tried to joke with him and said that I write them all the time and Brian never writes back. I told him how I was asking for jew's harp tabs and got no love. Some dumb girl next to him was like, "Did you check olga?" I wanted to smack her. He was very serious about all this which pissed me off. He could have at least smiled a bit and been like, "Ok, hahhaha, goodbye now." Prick. He signed my ticket. I was impressed by Confessions. And all their jamming was really good. Brian put the theramin on his head and danced around. It was great. Gordon played this white space-age violin of his. Guy played the trumpet. No one I knew played with the Horns of Dillema. I actually met one of them before hand and asked who was playing tonight. He was a 50 year old guy in an orange Fubu shirt. I laughed at that. He was hanging out with Wyatt Earp. Wyatt was nice. Gordon had a neat Ramone's shirt on. Brian had a great Sun Ra shirt (with no sleeves of course) and these wicked funny blue striped pants. Brian lost some weight. His hair is funny. i am going. Goodbye. -Drew -thenewkid ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reading, Frank Zappa quote, RE:Topic Starters, other meaningless babble ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OK, I'm psyched for this Reading show because this will be the first time I've gone with someone who actually knows the words to more than BITS. Yes! I'm going with one of the bartenders I USED to work with, I finally flipped out and quit my bar job. Working in a bar is OK unless you're working were I used to. Which is about as much fun as slipping naked (hey I worked naked into my post cool) down a ten foot long, greased razor blade. (Suckin' muchly.) Anyway, I've asked her to go to the past few shows but my ex-boss, being the bastard that he is, frowns upon anything that would even remotely considered fun and wouldn't give her any of the days off. She hasn't really listened to VF since she was in high school so I brought in all my VF CD's for her to take home and listen to and she returned all of them except first one and New Times so things are looking pretty good here. I'm really curious to see if this show will be any different from the other shows I've been to since it's going to be a 21+ show. There was a little paragraph in the PA Musician this month about the show and a small quote from Brian about how the band is always trying to expand their sound. That's about it except for the ad on the next page. (PA Musician is an absolutely horrible magazine covering the local music scenes put together by various DJ's from around the state. It brings to mind a Frank Zappa quote: "Rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read." Yup that about covers most of locals on my half of the state. Makes me kind of happy I'm not from here.) Topic starters: 1. What is your favorite femmes song? It used to be This Island Life, but now that I've had Rock!!!!! for a while Sweet Worlds of Angels is my new favorite. This is really one of those sappy "Why I like this song stories" so bear with me. I had a pretty rough childhood. We weren't poor or anything we just moved around a lot and I never had what you would really consider a normal childhood. When I was 15 my parents divorced and I had to decide between living with my father or living with my mother. I chose to live with my father and he and I moved to PA, while my mother and two younger brothers stayed in Vermont. It was pretty much hell for us both. A 35 year old man suddenly raising his 15 year old daughter pretty much on his own. (and I think all of us girls can attest to the fact that happens to be one of the most turbulent times in a young woman's development and probably a complete mystery to any man). Needless to say we were not connecting very well, (and that's putting it mildly). For the next three years I was deeply depressed and pretty much a pain in the ass to my father, who I now know was doing his very best, even though at the time I thought he was an Ogre. I was having mood swings on a regular basis and pretty much keeping to myself. (I still call him "my ogre" sometimes, although affectionately and never to his face.) When I was a senior in high school I had a complete nervous breakdown and was sent to the guidance office to receive "guidance." Well, I was babbling forth everything that was wrong with my life and my counselor asked me if I had ever tried to kill myself and I said yes. I had tried to commit suicide earlier that year by throwing myself off an eighth floor balcony. (Which now that I think about it was pretty moronic that's not very far up and I probably wouldn't have killed myself, just really fucked myself up.) Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for anyone who dislikes me) one of my friends had noticed that I was having one of my mood swings again and had that good sense to keep an eye on me that night. School policy where I graduated from is to alert parents if they found out that a student was thinking about hurting themselves or someone else. They called my father at work and told him the whole story. At first my dad didn't say anything. He came to pick me up at school and drove me home and then went back to work. All I could think "Was great now I'm going to get it when he gets home. This is none of his business." My dad came home later that night and didn't say anything at first. Then after a half hour of uncomfortable silence he just looked at me and said "Was it something I did? Are you mad at me for something?" That is the only time I have ever seen my father cry. At first all I could think about was "Where does he get off thinking this has anything to do with him?" Then I realized it had everything to do with him. For three years I had been so incredibly selfish and boo hooing over everything I felt was terrible unfair to me and taking it out on the innocent by standers around me. I have never been so ashamed in my life as I was at that moment. I'm still ashamed to even think that I could be that way towards someone who had loved unwaveringly my entire life. (Although I'm sure there were days when he wanted to knock my lights out.) All I could say was "No" That was the day I started to take a really long, hard, honest look at myself. Which is not as easy as it sounds, self reflection takes a lot of really harsh honest towards ones self not to mention diving into the really ugly side of ones personality and trying to figure out how one became wretchedly miserable without entirely placing the blame on other parties. Sweet Worlds of Angels really symbolizes that whole process of digging myself out of that whole mess of a human being that I was. I know some people find this kind of emotional slobbering kind of embarrassing, but I don't anymore. OK I'm done sharing. 2. What is your favorite Femmes album? New Times without a doubt. 3. What is your funniest memory of a femmes concert? Probably the stripping, tripping, dancing bisexual chicks that were making out and molesting my friend Mikey at the Cleveland show last year. Josh, if you're still out there somewhere, do you remember them? 4. Have you ever not worn underwear to a femmes concert? Ummm... no but, as long as we are on the subject of not wearing underwear I would like to know at what age does a man reach the decision that underwear is no longer a necessity. I swear in my year of working at the bar I saw more cases of plumbers crack then I thought was humanly possible. I'm going to need a few years of therapy to get over it. Say no to crack and yes to Hanes, or at least wear a belt. PLLEEAAASEE people. signing off, Kathryn Kittricken ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RE: Homepage Picture ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ < Oh btw, check out the new picture on the official home page.> When I visited the home page yesterday I saw the new picture. Cute. A question though......... It looks like Guy has something in his hand. Can anyone tell what he is holding? I couldn't figure it out. But, I believe Gordon's holding a cigar. And Brian seems to be holding on to himself(smile). Anyway, just curious. Peace, Tammy LTJENX13 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Re:Sweatin' to the Femmes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hey do you think Mr. Snopek and his big fish hat would be in this video. He could stand in the back row and Richard could say, "COME ON SIGGY! Burn that fat!" and then Snopek can tell him to "Fuck off!!" That would be really funny. I'd by the video just for that. Kathryn Kittricken ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Balkan Falcon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I just bought Machine and am listening to "Balkan Falcon". Does anybody know what that song is all about? The lyric "Fuck all the women, kill all the children" is a bit disturbing. I think it may be sarcasm or it may be satirical in some way (at least I hope it is). The song also in the beginning talks about the prophet Elija. I don't know much about the Bible. Could someone who does possibly give a brief explanation of Elija. I am confused...... 1djek3 dkubiak ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hitting the Ground ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Did anyone else check out the movie "Hitting the Ground" (1995) early this morning (March 20)? The Sundance Channel aired it at midnight Central time. It was a pretty strange movie. The plot revolves around a photographer for a college newspaper who happens to capture on film the suicide of a woman jumping out of her college dorm window ("Hitting the Ground," get it?) and his subsequent mental anguish about what he has seen. He refuses to release the film to his aggressive editor who insists that it be published in the college newspaper. It was actually pretty good. On first viewing, I'd give it 3 stars out of 4. Of course, the only reason I watched it was because Gordon Gano wrote all of the music for the film. There is even a They Might Be Giants/ Gordon Gano song! Unfortunately, there is only one song presented in its entirety, luckily by Gordon himself: the title track, which plays over the closing credits. IT KICKS ASS. It's classic high-energy Gordon stuff. Here's a list of the songs in the movie, as listed during the end titles: "Catch 'Em in the Act" (by Gordon Gano and Lou Reed), performed by Lou Reed "Make It Happen" (Gano), performed by Gordon Gano "It's Money" (Gano), performed by Vivian Williams "Merry Christmas" (Gano), performed by Cynthia Gayneau "Allison" (Gano), performed by They Might Be Giants with vocals by Gordon Gano "Oh Wonder" (Gano), performed by Mary Lou Lord (unsure of that last name) "Don't Pretend" (Gano), performed by John Cale "Run" (Gano), performed by Frank Black "So It Goes" (Gano), performed by Linda Perry "Hitting the Ground" (Gano), performed by Gordon Gano with guitar by P.J. Harvey Unfortunately, there has been no soundtrack released to the film, but wouldn't it be great if there was one? "Hitting the Ground" (the song) is really terrific. I can't stop listening to it! I recorded the movie on a good tape, and I'm going to try to convert it into WAV or MP3 format. Did anyone else catch this movie? I'd be interested in other comments on it. (It aired twice earlier this month, but this was its last showing on the Sundance Channel.) Chris chrishatch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Is that a recorder in your pants or are you just happy to see me? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, with all the talk about the pros and cons of wearing underwear (or anything at all) let me tell you about a time I was glad I was wearing some (Deana insists you would want to know). At Summerfest last year I wore a really neat dress I have (well, I like it anyway), but it left me with not many options when it came time to hide my cassette recorder. We were standing outside the gates wondering what to do, when suddenly I dragged Deana over to the port-a-toilet(which probably had some cutesy name like "Royal Flush" or "Honey Pot" that I don't care to remember). I went inside and got fairly personal with my recorder (Let me make it completely clear it was not inserted anywhere --it's a fairly large recorder and well, that's really all I have to say about it!). After coming out and passing a cursory inspection by Deana, I walked V*E*R*Y C*A*R*E*F*U*L*L*Y to the gate, being extremely thankful I had on real underwear and not g-strings. The recording of that night's show was a little fast. (it made Gordon sound like a chipmunk. Ok, anyone want to take the shot on that one?) We joked that the recorder was still a little excited from its "adventure" ;) ***amber amberlace -Pat. Says: Apparently, Amber sent a post last month or so. It's lost in cyberspace. Someday no doubt, future archaeologists will come across it, and it will take years to decipher. When they finally do, they will put it in a prominent place at the British Museum, and billions of tourists will flock to see it. Tourists of one nationality (which shall remain nameless so as not to offend) will push to the front, giving way only to others of the same nationality, and making it impossible for others to see. There they will complain loudly that it was not translated into THEIR language. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Random Thought for the Day ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As I was driving to work today and listening to WDBS I had this random thought ... Isn't it ironic that the man wrote wrote - "read read read read read read read everything you can read and learn learn learn learn learn learn learn everything you can learn cause there is no tomorrow like today and there is no today like tomorrow" - is a computer phobe? Deana ddearry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~