| * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * AMERICAN MUSIC - July 13, 2003 * * * THE VIOLENT FEMMES Email List * * * * * * * * * * List archive online at http://www.oocities.org/violentfemmeslist ************************************************************************* TOUR DATES (*=New Dates) Thursday 8/21/03 Anaheim CA House of Blues Anaheim Friday 8/22/03 Las Vegas NV Skin Pool Lounge (Palms Hotel) Saturday 8/23/03 Del Mar CA Thoroughbred Club *Sunday 8/24/03 Ventura CA Ventura Theatre *Saturday 9/20/03 San Bernardino CA Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavillon *************************************************************************** IN THIS ISSUE: New August/September West Coast Tour Dates RE:Mud in Memphis Femmes in the Philly theater? RE:Mud in Memphis RE:Mud in Memphis Femme heaven VF in St Louis VF at the Metro Sydney RE: Mud in Memphis **************************************************************************** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RE: Mud in Memphis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I don't know if you want to put it in but here is the whole article from memphis. Is it for real? Anyone? No more Femmes music? The Violent Femmes age, but their fan base doesn't Donnie Snow Scripps Howard News Service The Violent Femmes, a classic American "up-yours" band from Milwaukee, produced a whacked, infectious punk-folk in the vein of Velvet Underground that unnerved hair-metal and Phil Collins fans alike. The Femmes have collected fans from among the disenfranchised and disaffected since releasing their self-titled debut in 1983. "It's a strange phenomenon how our crowd basically maintains the same kind of demographic while we continue to age," bassist Brian Ritchie said. "This is reminiscent of '(The) Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde. It was certainly not possible at our inception to predict the band and the music would continue to appeal to a young crowd. I consider the Femmes lucky to retain youth appeal into our third decade where others have been relegated to oldies circuits." Its catalog includes a few all-time teen-angst anthems, namely "Blister In The Sun," "Kiss Off" and "Add It Up," but the members, and many fans, are well beyond teenage. "Playing (those songs) is not a problem because I simply produce ingenious and erotic bass lines every night and Victor DeLorenzo supplies jazzy and improvisational drum patterns. The singer Gordon Gano has to cope with singing 'C'mon dad gimme the car' and 'why can't I get just one (expletive)' repeatedly and sometimes he suffers middle-aged angst repeating teen angst ad infinitum. But we jam a lot and stretch things in concert to keep everybody fresh and focused," Ritchie said. Aging is just one hurdle though, since the dissimilar music pulls fans from the fringes that eventually age into the mainstream. "To be honest I don't think we ever had an overwhelmingly outlaw reputation or audience. There are a lot of fans who want to hear Blister in the Sun and others. They're the ones falling into the mainstream," he said. "But serious fans that like all our records tend to be highly individualistic and unpredictable. A nice thing about being in this band is meeting a lot of odd people." Ritchie met his wife, a mosquito scientist from Sri Lanka, at a show. "Hardly a typical rock fan." Which follows, as the Femmes are hardly typical rock icons. "To attain rock star status one must be overexposed in mainstream media, which means playing the game and brown-nosing jive industry knobs. Nobody got into heavy rotation on MTV being a real rebel," he said. Ritchie said last year's "Violent Femmes" commemorative re-release could be the band's last. "Gordon announced to me and Victor he doesn't want to record new material with the Femmes ever again. However, he is more unstable than the Middle East, so who knows how long he will hold on to this attitude?" The Femmes never saw the success of the first album repeated, but did have later hits such as "American Music," and "Girl Trouble." as well as covers of T. Rex's "Children Of The Revolution" and Culture Club's "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" (Contact Donnie Snow of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., at http://www.gomemphis.com.) Saul Salzane1983@hotmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hands Across Veronica ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I haven't seen the play but I read this in the Philadelphia weekly today. "You have to love a play that combines the Violent Femmes and artificial limbs in a rollicking musical number. But that's just one of the many delights found in the Eternal Spiral Project's production of Gin Hobbs' new play Hands Across Veronica. So I gues the femmes are onstage in Philly in a different way. Steven sjcobbs@jcvu.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RE: Mud in Memphis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What the fuck? Im still curiuos why VF didnt plat summerest this year and now this bullshit about no more albums. Even is Gordon did say that why would Brian repeat it? I mean its not like we are reaching for reasons to stay fans enough already. what do they just think they have us in the bag? bloody fuckin hell. but there are still tourdates? so what does that mean? and another thing while i'm on the roll. i saw them in chicago which makes the fourth time with victor and they still didnt play anything from any of the guy albums. so we are good enough to buy tickets but they think we are stupid enough to keep buying when there only selling the 80's?????? maybe i am a stupid midwester but i know enough to say i think i am being ripped by my favorite band. Eric wisconsinsane13@hotmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RE: Mud in Memphis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>>However, he is more unstable than the Middle East, so who >>> knows how long he will hold onto this attitude?" I don't write in very often but this is really funny! A friend of mine in the city knows some lady friends of Gordon's and says this is very true. That Gordon is really unstable. Quite the manic, idiot-savant type. I guess it's not nice to dish but I just couldn't help it. Besides if it's true then that means Gordon doesn't really give a shit about VF anyway and then it's all fair game. Ha. More unstable than the middle east. Good one Brian! Claudia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Femme heaven ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh there is a heaven, Violent femmes in both Baltimore and DC two days apart. And guess what, both shows are for free. Let me repeat that. FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .......Anybody that is anywhere near the area best get off their rear and makt it to these shows. the baltimore one is less than a mile from my house and they're playing at powerplant live, which is an area composed of about 11 bars/clubs/restaurants. It's a fun place to see a concert. and then you'll have some places to go afterwards. and you can always stay at my house. Bobby vanallen@jhu.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VF in St Louis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was front and center at the Femmes' free concert in St. Louis on July 4th. The music was great, although they stuck to the early stuff -- nothing later than 1991's "Why Do Birds Sing?" material, and nothing from the "3" album. Gordon was wearing a cast on his left leg due to an injury suffered in Australia -- he tore his Achilles' tendon playing tennis. He emerged hobbling with a cane, and performed sitting on a stool. Brian showed his versatility as a musician by playing a variety of instruments throughout the show, such as a recorder (like a flute) and a didgeridoo. He periodically threw personalized guitar picks into the crowd, and I managed to snag one. Victor was full of energy and was obviously really enjoying himself, and it was great to have him back in the fold -- the three originals! After the show, Gordon immediately got on the bus (understandble, considering his injury) and wouldn't come out for any reason. Victor could be seen milling around inside the bus having a post-show snack. Brian, however, was standing near the small crowd gathered in front of the bus, signing autographs and talking to several teenage girls. He was quite approachable and gladly signed my two solo Ritchie CD covers. A fireworks display under the St. Louis Arch, only about a hundred yards away, began right after the show, and Brian sat down on a ledge near the street and watched the display with his throng of teenage girls in tow. Meanwhile, Victor exited the bus and greeted some nearby fans. He was extremely friendly and seemed genuinely glad that the fans wanted to meet him. He signed two solo CD covers for me and shook my hand, then posed for a photograph with two girls I met hanging around the bus. He offered to take my Gordon Gano solo CD cover back to Gordon on the bus and have him sign it. He did, and came back with Gordon's signature on the cover. He was constantly smiling and seemed like the friendliest member of the group. I went back to the ledge near where Brian was sitting, and asked him a few more questions, such as the status of Guy Hoffman (whether he was officially out of the group). He confirmed that Victor was in for good. I asked about a black woman I spotted on their bus, whom Brian said was "Mrs. Gano" (thereby confirming the rumor that Gordon "digs black girls," like the 1984 song). My last question concerned new music from the reunited trio. Unfortunately, Brian said that they would "probably not" ever put out another album, because one of them was against it (this apparently is Gordon, after reading another post from the July 6 AMERICAN MUSIC). He seemed disappointed about this. Hopefully Gordon will change his mind. Brian also mentioned that he will have two solo albums coming out soon, and to "check the website" for upcoming details. All in all, it was a great event, and after listening to the Femmes since 1988, I finally got to meet two of the members. Definitely a night I'll always remember. Chris Hatch chatch@swbell.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VF at the Metro Sydney ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I am Ned Kelly! Bullets can't hurt me!" cried Violent Femmes front man Gordon Gano midway through their sold-out concert at the Metro, as he stood with a metal bucket on his head. This improvised moment of mild identity crisis was about as elaborate as the stage show ever got. The Femmes are fully paid subscribers to the old adage of 'letting the music do the talking'.They played on a virtually bare stage, with no fancy light show and no decorations. They had no high tech sound effects and certainly no image consultants. Even their instruments were pared down to the bare necessities, with drummer Victor De Lorenzo playing the whole set whilst standing, slapping away on just a snare, high hat and bass drum. Gano writes lyrics that seem to imprint themselves permanently on your brain, urging you to sing along. "Blister in the Sun" was more of a karaoke moment than anything else, with Gano's distinctive voice barely detectable above the crowd."Kiss Off" and "Add it Up" were hyperactive highlights, the 3 Femmes joined onstage by a backing band featuring ex- Sydney Uni Theatresports keyboard star, Cameron Bruce. Bass player Brian Ritchie displayed his phenomenal musical prowess with bass solo after bass solo, switching to the xylophone for "Confessions" and even exploring the underrated musical potential of a conch shell at one stage. A highlight of the show was Gano's rendition of Slim Dusty's "Hello and Goodbye", the lyrics adapted specifically for the Sydney metro show. The majority of the set was made up of tracks from their self-titled 1982 album. In some ways there is something a little strange about seeing a middle-aged man in a paisley shirt (Gano turns 40 in June) sing lyrics he wrote over 20 years ago about schoolboy crushes and wanting to get laid. But Gano's lyrics are virtually timeless in their appeal: anyone who's ever been a teenager and wanted a bit of lovin' can relate. It's this universality that has made their songs 'modern day classics', and which makes seeing the Femmes live so exciting. The fact that the Femmes are so well established meant that the crowd fully appreciated the experience. As the guy behind me said, "I'm so excited, these guys have been my favourite band since I was about 10!".The Metro show was relaxed and spontaneous, the songs just tumbling out slapdash and unpredictable rather than being over-rehearsed. The Violent Femmes may not be young and pretty anymore, (Were they ever pretty?- Ed) but they write some rockin' songs and really, that's what it's all about. Sophie McNamara ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RE: Mud in Memphis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Is this really true? About the Femmes never recording again? What's the source of that quote? Sarah Damp sudamp@auburn.mail.edu ******************************************************************* To POST, SUBSCRIBE, or UNSUBSCRIBE send any kind of an email to: violentfemmeslist@yahoo.com or violentfemmeslist@ameritech.net ******************************************************************* |