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AM Fan Letter • 1998

04-27-98

************************************************************************ TOUR DATES: (NEW DATES MARKED WITH A **) May 2- Salisbury State College, Salisbury, MD (O,P) ONLY STUDENTS MAY BUY TIX TO THE SALISBURY SHOW May 3- 99X Stage@Music Midtown, Atlanta, GA (O,P) May 9 - WestFest, Charles Ives Center, W. Connecticut U., Danbury, CT gates open at noon (O,P,T) May 15- 8:15 pm, Chocolate Fest, FestGrounds, Hwy 36 N. Burlington, WI (O,P,T) May 16- U. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (O,P) May 17- Spring Fest, Pensacola, FL (O,P) May 22- New Rock Music Fest/WLUM, Milwaukee, WI (O) May 30- Drexel University Festival, Philadelphia, PA (O)** 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. ************************************************************************ The Quote Of The Day: Run skip jump play my little boy is happy -From I'm Free PLEASE send your VF quotes to ************************************************************************ WHO/WHERE Going to a VF concert? Want to know if anyone else on the list also going? Check here first! Salisbury, MD ------------- Atlanta, GA ----------- Burlington, WI -------------- Pensacola, FL ------------- Milwaukee, WI ------------- ************************************************************************ ALL CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS LETTER SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO ************************************************************************ 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: Atlanta Info The Charlotte Show The Charlotte Show Reggie White RE: The Moshing Thread ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Atlanta Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the person who needed show time in Atlanta @ Music Midtown... 6:15 pm at the 99 X Stage corner of Peachtree and 10th Street. Go here for the map: http://www.accessatlanta.com/musicmidtown/map.html -ddearry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Charlotte Show ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OHHHH PAT! I just got home. I'm in heaven and love. It was so awesome!! Here's the story: After all the bull with my brother not taking me is worked out, my friend Chrystal comes and gets me. We went and got a friend named Laine. We got there and found stage one ASAP. We walked by a shirt stand and I bought the shirt I'd been looking for (Sez Violent Femmes then has a pic then says "Why can't I get just one fuck?". I had a black sharpie marker stuck in my jeans pocket for the boys to sign my shirt (my other shirt actually..but since I got a femmes shirt, I figured I'd let em sign it instead..hehe). I started off 3 rows back. When the boys first came out, Gordon had on a black leather jacket, black jeans, boots, and a bluish shirt. Guy a gray shirt and jeans. Brian a pinkish ponchoish weird thing with these odd yellow glasses. Country Death Song started it off. That's the first song Gordon looked at me during. I got up to the very front by shoving this stupid drunk idiot out of the way (go me..hehe). I was directly in front of Gordon and up front the WHOLE show. I could see him spitting. His eyes are so crystal blue. He played all my fav songs-American Music, Country Death Song, Lies, BITS, Old Mother Reagan, Prove my Love, I hate the TV, Add it up, Kiss off, etc. Also Derigidleblues (or whatever), I'm nothing, a few songs I did not recognize, FREAK MAGNET (to which I screamed "Interscope sucks"), Black Girls (featuring the Horns Of Dilemma) and I'm sure a few songs I am missing...like Dance Mother Fucker Dance, Just Like my Father, Gone Daddy Gone, Waiting for the Bus, 36-24-36. The ppl worry..what are they worrying about today song, Color Me Once, Out the Window, Jesus Walking on the Water. The crowd surfers were awful. Gordon looked kinda disappointed towards the end. I got bopped in the head many many times and Gordon tried not to watch. I had yelled for them to play Prove my Love (which they did the next song). Then I cheered for I held her in my arms and when it finally came on, I started jumping up and down screaming and singing. Gordon looked at me and smiled really big. Then when he started playing Freak Magnet, I flipped and was yelling n smiling and he got this HUGE grin on his face when he looked at me. During I think Add it Up (or mebe it was I hate the TV), Gordon looked at me and sang while I sang back at him..I swear we were making the same face! After they came back out and started Kiss off, I began crying. Both Gordon and Brian looked at me and kinda gave me whistful smiles. I think Gordon was pleased to see how much fun I'd been having. Everytime Gordon looked at me, I was singing to him. Many of the lyrics I was singing str8 back to him...what an experience. I wish SOOOO bad that I had gotten to talk to him. I think he'd of commented. This girl next to me's fiancess had written a note and put it on one of the amps or sumtin and we kept trying to get Gordon to pick it up. Finally Brian did a song right in front of us and I yelled at him to get it. he picked it up, acted like he was reading it and was talking about how it said that we wanted Jerry Lee Lewis and not the femmes (with me screaming the whole time that we loved the Femmes and that's who we wanted). Then he read it for real and that's when he started the Dance Mother Fucker Dance song. The note asked for him to say something to Connie and he did (laf). Well, after the concert, I stood there with a huge grin screaming for the Femmes to come back and not leave. I stood at the front of the stage, noticed that the pics had been taken off of Gordon's mike and I asked a Roadie for one. He kinda grinned at me like I was crazy. Then he got me one!! I had to practically jump the security fence to reach it. I was so happy. I thanked the roadie and he just grinned at me real big like "yeah..whos' the man" We walked over by a fence where ppl were coming in and out at and where the bus was. Brian walked by and we snagged him. 3 of us asked for autographs and I had mine done on my shirt. He said he didn't have a pen and I whipped out my Sharpie. He asked me if he could borrow it for a bit to sign other ppl's and I was like 'uh huh, sure..whatever you'd like" He had me come around to the fence opening to sign my shirt!!!!! I got touched by him! Laf. I asked about Gordon coming around and he said to just wait there and him and Guy would be around. 4 securty ppl asked me if I was leaving soon and I explained to them that "brian said so". Then some stupid fucking mean ass cop comes around and is like "got to go, got to go" I politely explained to her that "BRIAN sed we could stay". She goes "I don't even know who Brian Ritchie is...you gotta go" I was liike 'Umm.. only the basist for Femmes" she's like "well, you gotta go..I still don't know that that's who he is" I was SOOOOOOO mad. So, I went home with one of Gordon's 7 pics, a used pen by Brian Ritchie and his autograph on the shirt I've wanted forever. I will NEVER EVER forget this experience. Gordon looked at ME! Laf. Oh my..the perils of being starstruck!! It was sooo fun. I my voice is very very scratchy and I would sit and scream for them the rest of my life if I had to. God what an experience of a lifetime. I cried when the show started too. I cried at a few songs during also...so happy to be there..so happy that the man who needed to see my tears saw em!! -------------------------------------------------------------- I forgot FAITH and Bad (i'm not sure if that's the song title) and 4 seasons... Dahmer is Dead and I can't remember if I said Good feeling or not...I THINK that's it...sigh...I am already missing it. I have a huge bruise on my knee from them boppping into the security gate and the undersides of BOTH of my arms are SOOOO sore from having them over the rails.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Charlotte Show ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Charlotte NC has redeemed itself! I'm so glad I gave the city a second chance! I met Amber and her friend Rebecca - who BTW has the coolest Mom (except for you, of course, Pat) in the whole world (her mom introduced her to the Femmes) - on the way up. And then we met Jesse and Addie in Charlotte. Jerry Lee was a no show, which was disappointing, but the guys covered one of the songs he performs (BR played the 1 string bass!) to appease the crowd - I guess. They weren't able to do a sound check or set the stage at all before they went on so it was a slower start than normal but things definitely heated up when Gordon brought out the fiddle for Jesus Walking on the Water!!!!! Oh man! It was SO beautiful! Brian introduced the song by saying that we were in for a special treat and that we didn't know how lucky we were but WE (the 5 of us) did! It was just, absolutely, beautiful. I've loved the song for years but I'll always think of it differently now. Gordon seemed to be in a particularly good vibe. He also did Good Feeling slower and with more emotion than I've ever heard it before - very powerful performance. Other highlights were - Just Like my Father, Lies, Bad, Rejoice, Freak Magnet, AND More Money Tonight (yeah! John I heard it!)- the encore, Didg (BR's feet were just a tappin') and Kiss Off. We also enjoyed a full complement of Dilemma - Ray&Carl on trombones, BOTH Dom's on trumpets (Placco Jr. & Sr.) & two guests on sax'. My FAVORITE new part of the show now , though, is when Johnny joins Guy at the end of Black Girls!! I LOVE it!! Johnny sits at the kit while Guy stands and plays.It KICKS ASS!! Guy gets SO *into* it! It's LOUD and HEAVY and it ROCKS! I truly hope they keep it in permanently! The other thing I'm enjoying immensely this year is Brian playing the Shukahachi (spelling?) at the end of Confessions/Black Girls. It has such a hauntingly beautiful tone. I'm captivated by it! However, it never fails; toward the end of his solo some stupid girl squeals at the top of her lungs and I'm always jolted out of my trance! Dammit! I was really surprised by how many people around me seemed to know Freak Magnet when they started playing it. Not many sang along (I can't, much, yet either) but people really did seem to know what it was! I think that's extremely positive! Well that's about all of the details I can think of now but I am sure my fellow Freaks can add a thing or twenty! I am certainly envious of everyone who went to Peoria!! How wonderful to hear a brand new song. Thanks for sharing it with the rest of us! Later -Deana ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reggie White ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <> <> The Green Bay Packers are the Femmes favorite team, and Gordon paid ode to Mr. Reggie White and the comments that he made. What a controversial thing to side with. I guess that is what makes the Femmes so great. (Just wondering, was the song fully in support of what White said? I still cant believe it) Da Beef -Pat. Says: Could someone please tell those of us who are totally clueless what Reggie White said? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RE: The Moshing Thread ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is directed to Tori: I agree with you completely. I misunderstood your last post. 1djek3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~