04-17-01

Best viewed with COURIER NEW size 10 maximized screen *********************************************************************** The Quote Of The Day: Hey sister, have you heard? Some people stand like trees, without a word and what that means is that some people don't talk. -From Never Tell -Submitted by neilg ************************************************************************ TOUR DATES (** means new tourdate): T=Ticketmaster O=Official homepage P=Pollstar **Thr, 04/19/01 - Brown University, Providence, RI (O)** w/TMBG and Doughty **Sun, 04/22/01 - 8 pm, Foellinger Auditorium, University Of Illinois, Champaign, IL, $18 for students (student only show?) doors open at 7 pm, (O,P)** **Mon, 04/23/01 - 8:30 pm, Otto's, De Kalb, IL, $18 (T,O,P)** doors open at 7 pm, 21+ show **Tue, 04/24/01 - 7:30 pm, Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, SD (T,O,P)** $20-$25, w/Mason Jennings **Thu, 04/26/01 - 7:30 pm, Midwest Wireless Center, Mankato, MN, $20, w/Mason Jennings (T,O,P)** **Fri, 04/27/01 - Univ. Of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND w/Mason Jennings **Sat, 04/28/01 - 8 pm, Duluth Ent. Conv. Ctr. Auditorium, Duluth, MN, $21-$24, w/Harmony Riley (T,O,P)** **Mon, 04/30/01 - 8 pm, Irving Plaza, New York, NY, $26.50, $30 at door, 16 to enter; 21 to drink (T,O,P)** ************************************************************************ WHO/WHERE It feels great to resume this section. If any of you are going to any upcoming shows, and would like to meet fellow subscribers who are also going, send your name and what show you will be attending, and I will put it here. ************************************************************************ WEB PAGES: Official: http://www.vfemmes.com Unofficial: http://www.townserver.com/planetblue -or- http://townserver.com/planetblue http://www.bigfoot.com/~planetblue http://geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Show/6806/ http://www.violentfemmes.net http://www.homestead.com/lucylittleland/vf.html http://www.fortunecity.com/campus/bates/377/ http://www.geocities.com/thefemmeking/ Yahoo Chat: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/newtimesviolentfemmesclub Message Board: http://www.insidetheweb.com/messageboard/mbs.cgi?acct=mb870757&TL= Discussion Group: http://www.egroups.com/invite/vf2000 and click the "JOIN" button Past Tour Dates: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Lounge/1725/femmes/femmes.html Guitar: http://therapy.lost.net.au/femmes http://www.angelfire.com/hi/VFemmes Glenn Gano's Page: http://www.alaska.net/~ggano Charm Records: http://www.charmrec.com Victor DeLorenzo's Page: http://victordelorenzo.com *********************************************************************** ALL CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS LETTER SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO AMUSIC *********************************************************************** In Today's Issue: More Femmes in 2001!!! Poster for Sale Question Chart Attack Article MP3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And just what means this sudden flurry of tourdates, dear readers? I'm just as much in the dark about it as you. Perhaps a sudden change in attitude, the twentieth anniversary of the Violent Femmes formation, or any number of reasons unfathomable by us mere mortals. At any rate, thank you, Violent Femmes, wherever you are, for adding new dates! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More Femmes in 2001!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My eyes always light up when I see an email from American Music. These days, with an eerie quiet concerning the Femmes, I look forward to any news about my favorite band and often this newsletter is my only connection with the band. I am thrilled to hear that they are playing tonite for New Years Eve as although I live on the wet coast of Canada, far from the Femmes tonite, it gives me hope that at least they are still playing together and have not broke up as some rumours suggested a few months ago. Does anyone know what the bands plans are? Will we see them tour this year? Are they still together? Solo efforts? Anything? I also want to apologize to Erik for mistakenly sending him a "supervisor training" video instead of the femmes compilation video. It was an honest mistake as they looked alike and I didnt appreciate the email full of profanity and hatred that followed. I'll be more careful next time if any other Canadians want a copy. There is very poor distribution in Canada for both Freak Magnet and Viva Wisconsin. Although I bought mine when they came out, I have rarely seen them since. Add It Up is still the most common cd in stores. Poor cd sales should not be blamed on fans but instead on the promoter or distributor. Viva Wisconsin is a brilliant cd in my eyes and its a shame that its so hard to find. Glenn pwnordic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Poster for Sale ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello to everyone who loves the VF. I bought their first album - vinyl) in 1981 when it first came out and LOVED it. I am probably the oldest subscriber to this list (I saw Hendrix twice and the Doors several times) but I love the VF and have seen them many times...at least a dozen times. They always do a great show. Anyway, I have a VF poster if anyone is interested. This is a framed Blind Leading the Naked poster. It is from Germany so all the text is in German. It must be a collector's item - but some subscriber probably knows more about it than I do. Plus, I can't remember where I got it. If anyone wants to buy it let me know. Price? I don't know. The frame cost me around $80 bucks. Email me with an offer. I will accept a fair price - I really don't need the money but I thought a VF fan should enjoy it as much as I have. Email - Gene4 PS: I have a bunch of brand new Oingo Boing T-shirts too (cause I saw them 30 times).. if anyone is interested. Gene Gene4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Question ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is a dead link on the Femmes home page: Viva Wisonsonson Song Facts (http://www.vfemmes.com/viva.html) Did anyone happen to copy the info down, and if so, could you email (neilg) it to me? Thanks. neilg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chart Attack Article ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.chartattack.com/DAMN/2000/05/2401.cfm Brian Ritchie: Violent Femme Fatale Wednesday May 24, 2000 @ 09:00 AM By: Hanna Guy Brian Ritchie has finally found his Waterloo; The bagpipes. It sounds harmless enough, but for the Violent Femmes bassist, it was a rare challengeto find an instrument he couldn't master immediately. So he ditched them. "I said, 'This is not worth it'," he admits. After a few attempts, Ritchie gave up and acknowledged his defeat, laying down the tartan instrument. "I'm used to just picking up instruments and playing them the first time, so that was frustrating for me." Ritchie is seated in a Toronto hotel bar with a glass of whiskey, while his harried record label representative takes panicked phone calls. Gordon Gano, guitarist and vocalist for the Violent Femmes, is still in New York, temporarily stranded due to miserable weather conditions. This makes it difficult for the band to get on with a schedule that includes a performance on Open Mike and a concert later in the evening. Ritchie seems unaffected by the frenzied activity. After all, this is routine when you've been playing with a band for 18 years. "When we started, we were younger than the audience and now we're older than the audience," he laughs. "I think it's pretty strange." Since the Violent Femmes emerged in the early '80s, Ritchie admits that they've seen just about every musical trend go shooting by. And the latest trends, he says, have ended the last century on a sour note. "Now you turn on the radio and you hear nothing but crap," he says. "Maybe 10 per cent of the music is worth listening to. I consider that a bad era." This, I discover, is Brian Ritchie's personal soapbox. For Ritchie, a lot of popular music is worthless crap, especially with nu-metal, rap and bubblegum pop dominating the American music industry. "It's not a healthy way to approach music, you know?" he says. "Someone who just listens to rap is like someone who eats nothing but French fries. Someone who just listens to death metal is like someone who eats nothing but corn flakes, you know?" A major weakness in the music industry, he says, is how music has been going down the same road as fashion, and turning to retro influences. "It's best when new healthy styles of music are being developed all the time. Like if you look at the '60s, you know, every couple months they came out with something new and different, but that was also good. Now the biggest thing is a combination of rap and metal, which are two of the worst genres available. So it's like, is this good? Is this progress? Or is this, like, a marriage made in hell?" And for the Violent Femmes, who describe their music as rock and roll with jazz, country and blues thrown in, it's tantamount to the death of their genre. "I think rock 'n' roll is kinda going away. I mean, rock 'n' roll as I define it," he admits. "People understand that we have quality and basically I'm not particularly worried about our survival, but the style of music we play is definitely on its way out." Ritchie grudgingly admits that some of the problems are due to technology's greater role in the music industry. But, he argues, for every ninth person who heads to the drum and sampling machines, there is one person who returns to the musical mothership of acoustic instruments. "Music can't die off just because of technology taking over," he insists. But while Ritchie supports the growing MP3 phenomena that has irked some of his fellow veteran musicians, he staunchly refuses to let the Violent Femmes accommodate popular musical trends. And the audiences seem to appreciate it, although Ritchie expresses concerns over possible language barriers between the band and the fans. "Some of the language we use; maybe they don't know anymore, but I don't know," he laughs. "Like, for example we have a song that uses the word 'cunt.' And I don't think they know what that word means anymore, do they? Do you? O.K., well, they don't respond to it the way they used to. So maybe they think that we're being vulgar. In the past they thought it was funny." Despite everything, the Violent Femmes are still pushing forward with their latest release, Freak Magnet, an album Ritchie describes as "hard-driving, aggressive, neurotic." "Ever since we started we've been different from any other band and this is our way of saying, 'Here's a unique way of looking at music. It's our way. Enjoy'." And while nothing is ever concrete, Ritchie doesn't expect the Femme phenomena to dissipate any time soon. "It's just an artistic perspective that we have, you know? I think we cover a lot of ground musically and lyrically, but there's a certain kind of black humour that envelopes the whole thing and that's what makes us the Violent Femmes." ddearry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MP3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's something I found that I think you'd definitely enjoy. At emusic.com (the mp3 pay-download site) there is a new Violent Femmes song called "Something's Wrong" - it sounds kinda like "All I Want" but just Gordon singing and playing guitar. The best part is that the song is free! I read on vfemmes.com that they are planning to put out some sort of online album with emusic in the near future. Hope you can get the tune. Josh Katz heyzeus http://www.geocities.com/heyzeus212/begin.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~