08-02-00

Best viewed with COURIER NEW size 10 maximized screen *********************************************************************** The Quote Of The Day: Your devil days are over and gone your weary days are dead and done -From Dating Days ************************************************************************ WEB PAGES: Official: http://www.vfemmes.com Unofficial: http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/bluenote/936/ 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: Dr. Kulasekera in the Times RE: Chinese Rocks RE: Chinese Rocks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Kulasekera in the Times ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This from today's issue of the New York Times: PUBLIC PROFILE Public Profile: Working Mosquito Surveillance, Rock Style By JOYCE WADLER ZOWIE! Are those some kind of sunglasses on the city's ace mosquito tracker or what? Retro-style Cutler & Gross, with rhinestones, that her rock 'n' roll husband bought her in London. Plus Versace jeans. Plus anaconda flats, from Bally. Dr. Varuni Kulasekera will not be wearing those flats when she goes mosquito hunting, she'll change into ankle boots, but her outfit still raises the question: Why? Why, Dr. Kulasekera (pronounced cool-uh-SAY-ker-uh), when your husband is Brian Ritchie, the bass player of the Violent Femmes and you may be shopping for designer duds in -- where was it you said you had been the past year? Greece? Australia? Europe? New Zealand? -- do you want to be out here in Wolfe's Pond Park, Staten Island, on a day like a sauna, slogging in brackish waters, bagging mosquitoes? A giggle from Dr. Kulasekera, who was raised in Sri Lanka and happens to be a serial giggler. "I love my work," she said. "There are over 3,500 species of mosquitoes. They are a 5 percent vector of disease." Vector means carrier. And what are the disgusting little bugs which are buzzing around us now? "Midges. They don't bite. They're related to mosquitoes in terms of evolution. Can you believe this is New York City? I can still be in nature and work in the city." The war against the West Nile virus and the mosquitoes that carry it continues. Staten Island will be sprayed with the pesticide Anvil tonight and early tomorrow, after 13 infected birds were found, as well as more mosquitoes. Where does the city get the data to decide to spray? In part -- the mosquito part -- from Dr. Kulasekera, 43, who has a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of Maryland. She heads the four-month-old Mosquito Surveillance Unit of the city's Health Department -- 22 students and 8 technicians. Dr. Kulasekera makes no recommendations about whether the city should spray; she did not even know the city was spraying Staten Island until a reporter told her. She simply tracks the mosquito population, and that's what she was doing Monday, overseeing a group of students taking samples of mosquito larvae in some woodsy stretches. The ponds had been treated with larvicide, and at the morning's sites, there were few living larvae. The city's program, Dr. Kulasekera insisted, was working. Last year at this time, she said, there had been thousands of dead birds; this year that number is dramatically down. She also says repeatedly that the public must be educated in mosquito control and alert the city to infestations. How -- a sociological question here -- did Dr. Kulasekera, a former researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, end up a rock wife? "I was in the audience at a concert, and we became friends and then dated." There is a gap in the data. "I had a CD I wanted to get autographed. One of the crew said, 'You are so polite.' I was not begging, not screaming. I'm an adult, why should I behave that way? I got to meet the band, and these guys were different. They didn't ask any stupid questions. They knew where Sri Lanka was." Down the forestlike path, now, comes one of those members of the public Dr. Kulasekera so likes to hear from: a Parks Department worker in a green T-shirt, perspiring heavily. Seeing the mosquito foot patrol, he unleashes his West Nile anxiety: He's dizzy, he's exhausted, he's sure he's running a fever, he's been getting bitten "a lot," the patrol is right now in a patch where there are loads of mosquitoes, there is an even worse infestation near the bus stop on the other side of the park where there is stagnant water and garbage. Dr. Kulasekera suggests that the employee, who does not want his name used, call a doctor, though she doesn't think she's seeing the first human case of West Nile this season. Then it's off to the reportedly afflicted spot, a small pond of water near the intersection of Luten Avenue and Hylan Boulevard. To the untrained eye it looks like mosquito breeding ground; there is garbage, an old tire and the students are enthusiastically scooping up samples. Dr. Kulasekera, zooming in for a close look, is skeptical. "This water has not been here long, it is not too organic right now." And to one of the foot soldiers: "Careful. This is poison ivy." The student says, "This is poison ivy?" The next day comes word that the city is spraying. A speedy call is placed to Dr. Kulasekera: What happened? Wasn't the mosquito population of Staten Island down? Dr. Kulasekera clarifies. Her teams does surveillance of both the larvae population and the adult. Last week they noticed the adult mosquitoes were at their "normal" population previous to spraying. The Parks Department worker, called for a follow-up, said he still felt ill and was making an appointment for a blood test. He also said he had noticed a rise in dead birds and squirrels in the park in the last few months, but never reported them. He just put them in plastic and threw them in the garbage. A spokesman for the Parks Department said this was a violation of procedure. Workers finding dead animals, he said, had been told to double-bag specimens, notify the Health Department and send the specimens to the Department of Environmental Conservation. War is hard. Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RE: Chinese Rocks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > The femmes cover another Ramones song. Acutally I think the Ramones > may be covering the song. But, it is definitely done the Ramones > way. Sort of like most of Rock!!!!. > > The song is called Chinese Rocks. Well, IIRC, the Ramones (Dee Dee Ramone specifically) wrote the song originally, and it didn't fit in with the earlier Ramones material. So he let someone else have it...I think it may have been ex-New York Doll Johnny Thunders. Damn, if only my parents hadn't chucked my copy of Please Kill Me, I could go check on this!!! Anyway, the Ramones wound up doing the song and laying it down at a much later date. -nick reffuse DAYKARAK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RE: Chinese Rocks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have the Machine single as well and I think Gordan is playing Chinese Rock on a harpsicord. It`s quite comical and I can`t recall right now what year it was recorded. Does anyone know if the Femmes are coming to Japan? I`m in Fukuymam for a year and saw they might be in Australia. Anyone know if their tour has an Asian leg? Thanks, Jason weeezer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~