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From: robertsl@stolaf.UUCP (Laurence C. Roberts)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: violent femmes
Message-ID: <4567@stolaf.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 19-Jun-85 22:03:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: stolaf.4567
Posted: Wed Jun 19 22:03:17 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Jun-85 04:01:19 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: St. Olaf College, Northfield MN
Lines: 38

On Monday the 17th of June, I attended a concert by the _Violent_Femmes_ at
First Avenue, the nightclub made famous by *gasp* Prince.  I'd never before
caught the Femmes live, so I wanted to see them before they got even more 
famous.  I think I was too late, though.  The crowd was composed mainly of 
trendy kids from Edina who don't know how to slam correctly.

I thought the Femmes were rather bored with the whole thing.  In _Gimme_the_Car,
Gordon Gano added the verse
		"What's right/ What's wrong
		 Who cares/ When I hate this song".

I thought they did much too little new material.  They claim thet they will be
recording a third album soon.  I thought the best thing I hadn't heard before
was an anti-Reagan song.  They occasionally added a three-person horn line, 
including (I think) Jay McHale from local "jazz-punk-funkateers" _2i_ [That
descriptive phrase is lifted from a review of their new record _House_of_Nerves_
in a local music paper]  

In general, the show reinforced my conviction that becoming nationally famous is
a pointless goal.  Shows get caked with curiousity-seekers, and are no longer
fun.  There are several local bands which I would much rather see. I had loads
more fun the previous night seeing _Boiled_in_Lead_, even though (or maybe
because) they played accoustically and I was sitting down the whole time.
If the Violent Femmes come to your town, and they don't have much of a local
following, or there aren't too many nearby suburbs, I would reccomend seeing
them.  Otherwise, it's your risk.

p.s. If anyone out in netland beyond Minnesota reads this, could you mail me a 
note, please.  Our connections have been tenuous recently due to massive recent
downtime.  Thanks in reverse,

-- 
			Laurence Roberts
			...!ihnp4!stolaf!robertsl

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			| U.S. out of Edina |
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