---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===-- Note: The file below may have several references to old addresses for the //Skyway\\. The new, correct addresses are: ** Skyway listserver: majordomo@novia.net ** Skyway submissions, to write to Matt: skyway@novia.net --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- / // The \kyway \\ / Sweltering Hot Summer 1995 -- Issue #29 August 22th, 1995 (c) 1995 Bastards of Young (BOY/BetaOmegaYamma) Productions --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- ** Subscriptions, comments, contributions, anything you want to read: ** --> skyway@phoenix.creighton.edu <-- ** Manager: ** skyway@phoenix.creighton.edu (Matthew Tomich) --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- The manager of this list, Matthew Tomich, and the school's facilities that this list is produced from, Creighton University of Omaha, Nebraska, are not responsible for the contents of the following mailing except for that which they themselves have originally contributed. --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- SEND ALL COMMANDS IN THE BODY OF A LETTER TO: "lists@phoenix.creighton.edu" ** To subscribe to the //Skyway\\: subscribe skyway ** To unsubscribe from the //Skyway\\: unsubscribe skyway * To get a listing of //Skyway\\ files available: index skyway * To get a description of available files: get skyway !readme * To get a file: get skyway ---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===-- Back from paradise and now I'm mowing lawns. -------------------------------------------- * New people sayin' hi: Mikey, Dave Murrow, Steve Marino * NEWS ON THE NEW WESTERBERG! (Heather Chakiris) * Newest Guitar World: "The Rise of Minneapolis Punk" (Brad Casemore) * What's with all the changing words of "Can't Hardly Wait"? * Westerberg look-alike hooligan fan club in Minneapolis (Stu Khan) * NAH story (Amy Hacksaw) * Wanted: chords for Answering Machine/Can't Hardly Wait/Bastards of Young (Larry Jarvis/Nate Saeger) * "The Replacements" listing in the Trouser Press Music Guide (Bryce Glass) * 1985 Rolling Stone review of "Tim" (Charles Ford) * Northern Exposure/somebody horked my copy of Shit Shower & Shave! (Amy) * A review of a Bleeding Hearts show (W. Abelson) * The story behind Sadly Beautiful (Duck) * Hey, why aren't there lyrics in Replacements albums? (Ken Rose) * Discography note: b/w of "Kiss Me on the Bus" (Elizabeth Stuck) * Westerberg interview in BAM (July 30th, 1993) * Old 'Mats radio interviews snippits (Nick Rozakis) * Bootleg (+ broken leg) experience (Duncan deGraffenreid) * Review of Chris Mars's _Tenterhooks_ (Charles Ford) * A letter from Chris Mars to BAM (Duck) * More Chris stuff! (W. Abelson) * Heather Chakiris's Chris Mars interview * Excerpts from the AOL chat with Tommy Stinson (Charles Ford/Jen) * Call for papers! (Art Jipson) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- BASTARDS OF YOUNG (blah blah blah) ----------------- I. BACK FROM TROPICAL PARADISE AND SUNBURN-LAND (or "Lo siento senor, la rubia es no por se vende.") Thanks to everybody for holding on and sending stuff in while the Skyway was absent this summer! As you probably read before, I was in Costa Rica for three months. How was it? Paradise! For five weeks, I was part of a program with the University of New Orleans where I was placed with a family and went to two classes. My Spanish class kicked my ass (I was supposed to have two years of Spanish instead of my one), but with luck, stress, and a little begging, I came out alive. I also had this other class in Political Science Studies of Central America which every day generally went like this: "Jose Luis shot the president, took over, nationalized the banks, so America intervened, kicked Jose out, installed a puppet dictator, who was going to be overthrown by disgruntled peasants who weren't happy that their land was reallocated except America sent troops and made sure that American business interests were preserved. Meanwhile, the United Fruit Company paid off everybody in the government, took the best land for their banana planations and, made everybody work for pennies an hour. A hundred years later, the IMF came in and imposed austerity measures to control runaway inflation which was putting a real dent in the loans from the World Bank, which just made everybody poorer. Whenever somebody had a socialist idea, the CIA threw their butt out. Everybody else got malaria or shot during the revolution." It's that sort of sterotypical ammo-belt-bandito image of Central America that doesn't hold true for this paradise that makes Costa Rica so different. It's a democracy with social policies that have made it almost uniformly middle class. They disbanded their army in 1948. Nobody can be a police officer for more than three years as to keep a cap on police corruption. And the Costa Rican people, "Ticos", are the >nicest< people in the world! Selfless, friendly, and eager-to-please, they're like those warm fuzzies in those Toons-for-Tots cartoons! After five weeks of school, I was free to roam. I went to the beach for a week, saw monkeys, rain forests, crabs, parrots, waterfalls, rainbows, coffee plantations, coconuts, lizards, volcanoes, a waterslide, and a child molester. I wandered around, hopped on buses when I didn't know where they were going and when nightfall came, I'd figure out where to sleep. I was adopted by two other families, learned how to milk cows, attended a huge rally of a teacher strike (which is still going on after a month I hear), and almost learned how to dance. When I left after three months, I had friends, families, hang-outs, and everything else that makes the place feel like home. But I think when you travel you learn more about your own country than the one you're in, and you realize that there's some things about you that are definitely American no matter where you go. And yeah, I missed my e-mail too. But in a year or two, I'll be going back and yer all invited to come with. (Y si, mi espanol es mejor que antes.) And nobody's heard of the Replacements in Costa Rica and these salsa- listening Ticos thought that my Superchunk tape was just dreadfully awful! II. GRADUATION AND THE FUTURE A week after I got off the plane in New Orleans, I was on the stage at my graduation sayin' adios to college. I'm done with that for quite a while. However, this account that the Skyway is being run on is not related to the university I graduated from, so I won't be losing this account and the Skyway will continue just a before! Right now I'm mowing office parks in Omaha for 40+ hours a week, the same job I had two summers ago, except I'm getting paid more than I ever thought I would be for such labor. It's pretty much the only job that I could get outside of temping) for such a short period of time while I'm preparing to move to Durham/Chapel Hill, NC in Rocktober. Hey, it beats pickin' cotton and waitin' to be forgotten! III. FUTURE SKYWAY STUFF! First off, the address "i261%nemomus@academic.nemostate.edu" will be zapped soon. Currently everything from there is automagically being forwarded to this account, but when the computer administration there wises up and realizes that I've graduated, that account will be ka-putz...so if you were a fan of typing out that long monster, lo siento! Second, in the next couple of days, you'll be receiving a big letter about the upcoming Swinging Party in Minneapolis, MN during September. The weekend hasn't been set yet, but currently Ron Thums and I are working out the details and will submitting a call for ideas, suggestions, your favorite weekend for the event, blah blah blah. Definitely part of the whole shebang will be tape trading, old stories, and good old fashioned Minneapolis-style partying (hic). And breakfast at the C.C. Club (beer or eggs and toast or both...your choice.) We'll see what's playing at First Ave. and the Uptown too... Third, you already got the letter about the gopher/listserver updates. I'll drop a line to everybody when this is done. Currently all available files are up to the first issue at the beginning of the year. Fourth, there is a VERY-WELL done 'Mats FAQ that has been made and will be sent this week or next. More on that later... Hey, it's good to be back! And oh yeah, at least two people in this issue talk about their 'Mats CD's, boots, whatever being stolen! Hey! That's not cool! So don't be stealin' anybody else's Replacements shit because that just causes a deficiency and makes them run along and steal somebody else's shit. We're talkin' about the threat of creatin' a Replacements Gap here. So don't be stealin' nothin'! ...and if Man or Astroman comes to your town, go see them at all costs!!! It was the best concert I've seen in a LONG time! Coco the Amazing Electronic Monkey Wizard will rock your world (and Birdstuff probably tear apart the club again to boot!) - M@ P.S. Special thanks to Mr. Duncan deGraffenreid for all his forwards from the best of the stuff that's been going through alt.music.replacements! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 22:58:06 -0400 From: Mikey568@aol.com Subject: Pleased to Meet...You Damn. I've been looking for this for a long time. I've spent the last two years that I've been online trying to find a group of like-minded individuals to talk about the Mats. Most of the people I know have little if any familiarity with the Mats. What usually happens if I mention them is that I'll get a blank stare. Then I'll be stuck giving some lame description that starts out "You know that guy on the Singles soundtrack..." Anyway, my introduction to the Mats didn't happen until I was in college. Prior to that time I was familiar with them by reputation only. The first song I heard was "Can't Hardly Wait" on Sire's Just Say Yes sampler. I loved the song and went out and bought Pleased to Meet Me. It's kind of ironic that the song that turned me on to the Replacements isn't even one of my favorite Replacements songs, now. That just shows how good they really are. Anyway I played PTMM, constantly during my sophomore year of college. My roommate got really sick of it. Next I bought Tim, then Let It Be, then Stink, then Sorry Ma. Then, as they came out, I got Don't Tell a Soul and All Shook Down. To be honest I rarely listen to either of those or to Stink, but the rest of those albums I love. My musical tastes have changed a lot in the seven years since I first heard the Mats, but to this day nothing does it for me like their stuff does. I got to see them twice. Once in 1989 and once during the final tour. I also got to see Paul in DC's dingy 9:30 club at one of the small shows he did before his tour. Highlights: he played If Only You Were Lonely and forgot the last verse, and my girlfriend stole the promo poster for the show for me as I played lookout. It's on my wall now in fact. Also I turned my girlfriend on to the music of Paul and the Replacements at that show. Anyway that's my rambling.... I've also been looking for a long time for bootlegs of shows, but up to this point have had no luck. I just figured that there weren't too many available. I now see that I'm wrong and I look forward to getting hold of some in the future. I have one right now (CBGBs 12/9/84). If anyone would like to trade for it or would like to get a copy of it even if you have nothing to trade, e-mail me. I also have Inconcerated (at least I think it is. It's a promo I got from my college radio station when I worked there, but It doesn't list the title as Inconcerated anywhere on it.) Anyway, I guess this message is kind of long, so I'll stop now. If you made it this far, color me impressed. - Mike ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 03 Aug 95 15:56:00 CET From: David_Murrow@ahold.nl Subject: Paul is Alive (?) Hi everyone. My name's Dave Murrow, a 30-something loooongtime fan of Paul & Co since the early days of Sorry Ma. I'm wondering if anyone knows the status of Paul's new recording plans -- last I heard he was going into the studio in August. Is it happening? Where is he recording? Would love to hear from someone on this. Many thanks to John Loughney for dubbing a couple of old Mats recordings from 1981 in Minneapolis and 1986 show from Dingwalls in London for me this summer. They've made great companions the past few weeks. I'll drop you an email when I find your new email address again (is it @ Nokia or something?) My memories are like everyone else's -- great shows in the early 80s in Chicago (at Tut's, Exit, Cubby Bear, etc) and a few road trips to Madison -- Bob in dresses, Paul a killer frontman, Tommmy so cool, and Chris so, hmmm, not sure, so Chris?? Probably my ultimate young man highlight and watershed of American guitar pop hero-dom -- July 6, 1984 in Chicago -- REM and Dream Syndicate at the Aragon Ballroom for an early evening show, and Replacements and those guys from Boston -- Geez, I'm drawing a blank on their name -- on the same night at the Cubby Bear. Pete Buck and Michael Stipe showed up at the club gig (of course everyone expecting Pete to play with the Mats on Let it Be, which didn't happen), my friend and I chatting with Dream Syndicate's drummer on the merits of The Medicine Show vs. Days of Wine and Roses, and great atmosphere throughout the whole club. Cool night! Another memorable evening -- arriving early to the Cubby Bear (again) on another night of Replacements heaven (circa 1983-1984), and watching the band absolutely RIP through a sound check. I was one of four or five people there! Unfortunately, I then began buying scotches for Paul, talking about Black Diamond and other great Kiss songs, sharing our Gene Simmons spits blood concert experiences, and more. Tommy joined us for a beer for a while. Needless, to say, I wasn't the only one drinking, and unfortunately, when the show started later that night, guess who was souzed?? Yes, me to an extent, but I just had to cheer on the Mats. Paul was the one who had to perform. Anyway, long story long, the soundcheck was FAR better than the performance later....oh well. Lastly -- on the Mats last tour in '91, I was living in London, and their two nights at the famed Marquee Club coincided with my 30th birthday, and there was something very poignant about turning 30 and knowing that the Mats were too growing up, and it would soon be over. Incredible tunes both nights (I still have the playlists!) and a song Paul sang about "thank the Lord for the land that we live on" or something. A gorgeous song, I thought, which didn't show up on 14 songs, natch! DOES ANYONE HAVE THE RECORDINGS OF THESE SHOWS (April 15/16, 1991 Marquee Club, London)?? If you do, please email me privately; I'd love to hear these shows again. That's it for now. Thanks for allowing me to indulge. I've also got great Mats articles from British music press (MM, NME, Sounds, etc) during this time (1989-1991), if anyone's interested. ******************************************************************* David Murrow "I'm waiting for the day, waiting for david.murrow@corp.ahold.nl the day, when she comes my way...." ******************************************************************* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Aug 95 09:01:25 PDT From: Steve Marino Subject: Hey Hello fellow Replacements people. I just got on this list and figured I'd send something in to let you know about me. I've been reading the back issues a little trying to get a feel for this mailing list. It feels pretty cool, so I am gonna let this go for a little. As I read more of the back issues, I will probably have more to say. I am Steve Marino, live in St. Charles IL. I am originally from Chicago, I actually lived at about 9700S almost directly under the famed Chicago Skyway. It actually crossed our street a few blocks away. I moved out west when I was hired by Arthur Andersen about 8 years ago. Oh yeah, I'm 29 (will be 30 this year) so I can say I lived through the 80's with the Mats and everything. I first heard of them from some friends who went away to college. I remember hearing Let it Be and loving Unsatisfied from the start. I will try to get the dates correct, but I will check ticket stubs and give accurate dates if I can find them. I think (going back this far is a little hazy) during the summer of '85, I saw the Replacements for the first time at the Cabaret Metro right after Tim was released. I still did not have a Replacements album, although after that concert I did buy both Tim and Let it Be. Anyway, it was $9 to get in ($7 if you had advance tickets) and they were great. They were drunk (always were back then) but not so drunk cause they played very well. I remember them doing covers of "Nowhere Man" and "Jumpin Jack Flash". Tommy looked so young (he was only like 16) and looked just like one of my friends. Bob was loaded, he had empty Heineken bottles all along his amp. Westerberg was takin requests from the girls in front, one was "Sixteen Blue". Chris Mars just played great (with that one crash cymbal) and stared into space as he usually did. A great evening by a great band. Anyone happen to be at that show? After that I started buying the records and low and behold, they came to Chicago again. This time at the Vic in '86, I went with some other friends (others were back at college) and we actually had a table and a waitress (although when the Mats played we went up closer and stood up).. This time I knew a lot of the older songs, Customer, Careless, Johnny's Gonna Die etc. Bob played in his underwear and they were great again. Soon after that Bob was out of the band and we were wondering what would happen. Well, Pleased to Meet me happened and they came to Chicago two times that summer (first time sold out). These dates were at the Riviera and Slim was playing now. They came out drunk and doing cart wheels and tackling each other, then played a great set, a cover of Honky Tonk Women and Battleship Chains were covers I remember. A couple months later, they came back to the Riv, and had another great set, a cover of Gimme Shelter and Gary's got a Boner were highlights. My wife (girlfriend at the time) was lucky enough to attend these two shows as well as the last time we seen them after the Don't Tell a Soul release. That show was at the Aragon and would be the last time I seen them. I refused to go after All Shook Down since they kicked Chris out of the band. In retrospect I wish I went. I also missed them at the last show 4th of July 1991 at Taste of Chicago (my wife was on bed rest pregnant with our first child). I did record it off the radio though and wished I was there. A few friends of mine did attend. A was a short little set ending with Hootenany and roadies playing (that's what they said). As Westerberg said "It's a hootenany, for the last fucking time ever" during the song, I guessed the band was through. I did not see Westerberg solo when he came through Chicago, as I did not like 14 Songs at first, although I grew to like it and a lot now. I now wish I went to see him solo. If anyone happened to see these shows, please comment or hopefully I'll see evidence in the past issues. Other things of note, a friend of mine had a copy of The Shit Hits the Fans, I heard it once. He lost it at college (or it was stolen). I cannot find it anywhere, would someone care to dupe it for me? I have a bootleg live Mats double album (I bought it in London on my honeymoon) called Live and Drunk, supposedly recorded at CBGBs. They pretty much hack their own songs and do some goofy covers (Green Acres theme, If I Only Had a Brain, etc.). I will tape that if someone tapes The Shit Hits the Fans for me. Maybe that bootleg is already out there though. I'd love a live concert video if any are available. Can someone point me to the correct back issue for those? I'd better get back to work, I have more to say, but will do so after I catch up on the rest of the list. Take care and hopefully hear from everyone soon. ------------------------------------- Steve Marino smarino@aaped.com ------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 08:27:48 -0400 From: "Heather L. Chakiris" Subject: Stain Yer Blood, Paul? Hi, Matt! This might be old news to everybody, but it was new to me. Copied w/o permission from Addicted to Noise's _Music News of the World_ (8/3/95 edition): Brendan O'Brien may be good enough for Pearl Jam and Neil Young, but as far as Paul Westerberg is concerned, he just doesn't cut it. Westerberg recently spent two weeks with O'Brien in an Atlanta recording studio, laying down tracks for a solo album due out early next year. The trouble was that Westerberg liked very little of what was recorded during the sessions. So he fired O'Brien, complaining to intimates that "if I wanted the record to sound like a Replacements' record I would have hired the Replacements to play on it." What did survive the aborted sessions is a track entitled "Stain Yer Blood" that will be on the soundtrack for the NBC TV show, Friends. Westerberg went back to Minneapolis, and back to the drawing board, hiring Husker Du and Goo Goo Dolls engineer Lou Giorando to help him finish the record, his follow-up to the excellent 14 Songs that was released in 1993. Meanwhile, BAM Editor Bill Holdship ran into Tommy Stinson, the former bass player in the Replacements, the other day, and asked him why the Replacements just don't get back together, and tour--and make all the money that they didn't earn the first time around. Stinson laughed and said, "How lame would that be. We'd lose all the respect we ever gained. On top of that we both hate Chris' fucking guts." Stinson also told Holdship that he could see getting together with Westerberg again, but not under the rubric of The Replacements. The two still remain friendly. Westerberg contributed backing vocals on Stinson's solo album Bash On Pop [sic] a couple of years back, and he just asked Stinson to play some bass on the new record. **end** Heather ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: (fwd) The History of Minneapolis Punk (fwd) Newsgroups: alt.music.replacements From: Brad Casemore (bkc@inforamp.net) Subject: The History of Minneapolis Punk Date: Mon, 14 Aug 1995 02:18:02 GMT As some of you may know, the August edition of Guitar World features a lengthy article on what the author, Marc Weingarten, calls "Minneapolis punk." The actual title of the piece is "Left of the Dial, and the author focuses primarily on the Replacements, Husker Du, and, to a less extent, Soul Asylum. Two photographs of the Mats are featured -- one taken in the Stinsons' basement in 1984, the other at a concert the same year. In the latter, Bob is wearing fishnet stockings. I think many of you would find this article absorbing, especially since it contains a lot of choice quotes from Westerberg, Dunlap, and Mars, as well as from Bob Mould and even Peter Jesperson of TwinTone. One notable revelation comes from Jesperson, who says that Westerberg always wrote quieter material, even during the early days when the band didn't play any. Also, Mars reports that Bob Stinson became a scapegoat for the collective excesses of the band, not just his own. "The band was getting screwed up with cocaine and Bob was a scapegoat," Mars says. He also says that the tour with Tom Petty was "terrible," but that is hardly news. Slim Dunlap offers several humorous remarks, and he reveals that he was a reluctant Replacement. On the whole, the article is a good read. It's a reasonably detailed chronicle of the rise and fall (and posthumous rise) of the Replacements, Husker Du, and others. -- Brad Casemore (bkc@inforamp.net) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: (fwd) Re: Paul's Ever-changing Lyrics (fwd) In <3ohpt1$9sl@solaris.cc.vt.edu> leedyjq@vt.edu (Jeff Leedy) writes: >On a somewhat related topic, I have a couple of bootlegs with >Can't Hardly Wait on them, and on each Paul sings radically different >lyrics. I can't remember and/or can't decipher most of them, but the >beginnings go something like: > >"I can't wait for hours, I can't wait for years", or >"I can't wait past an hour" in place of the opening line of the >Pleased to Meet Me version. Both bootlegs continue with alternate >lyrics, but Paul is not known for his impeccable enunciation. > >Anyone know any of the rest of these? Those bootlegs contain the ORIGINAL version of the song which Paul rewrote for PTMM. ''I Can't Wait,'' as most people called it, was a Mats live show standard for many years. Paul claims to have rewritten it because he was sick of it. Perhaps so, but I wonder if he just thought that two suicide songs on one album might have been too much. Peter Jesperson has contended that Paul weakened the song when he stripped away the suicide element and even though the recorded version is one of my all time favorites, I tend to agree. When I first heard the live version on The Shit Hits the Fans, I was stunned. Since then, I've collected many live versions and two demos versions. The acoustic demo, reportedly recorded in an elevator shaft or a ventilating shaft (and hence called ''the airshaft version''), is just plain gorgeous, one of my choices for the best thing Westerberg's ever done. It's about jumping off a watertower and going to heaven, and it's the only time a suicide song has made me smile. Many central images --- ashtray floors, flashing lights and Jesus riding beside him --- are there in the PTMM version, but, off the top of my head, here are some omitted lyics --- I'll be there in an hour Take least a week to get there on foot. .... watertower Climb to the top Scream all alone if I could I'll be sad in heaven You won't visit me there ... I'll be there in an hour If there's a hole in the gate Climb to the top of this crummy watertower Screaming -- I can't hardly wait [Note: the full lyrics to this version are in the "misclyrc.txt" file from the Skyway gopher or listserv. Directions how to access these are at the very beginning of this newsletter after the title. -- M@] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 13 May 1995 17:17:15 +1000 (EST) From: STU KHAN Subject: mistaken identity? There is a really cool band in sydney australia called "YOU AM I" They are heavily influenced by the replacements (so check 'em out!). The singer/guitarist Tim Rogers told me a funny story about a visit to some club in Minneapolis. Apparently he went there to see some band late last year, dressed (as usual) in a similar manner to how Paul Westerberg might. Also his hair is kinda similar to Paul's. Anyhow during the gig some guys aproached him and asked "Are you Paul?, Are you Paul Westerberg?". Tim replied no he was not Paul Westerberg and the guys went away. A while later this happened again and Tim mentioned it to a friend who explained that there are a group of people in Minneapolis who look for people that dress similarly to Paul and might (in their dreams) 'think' that they are Paul Westerberg. If they answer "yeah I'm Paul Westerberg" then they are asked outside for an autograph and subsequently beaten up! Is there any truth to this story? Does anyone know of this happening? I would be interested to hear! Long live Paul Westerberg(s) Hi Marky na-na Stu Khan. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 13 May 1995 20:24:58 -0700 From: AHacksaw@eworld.com ... I figured I'd regale you with the story of how Westerberg's music/lyrics publishing company got its name, in case you hadn't heard this one already. (We were just talking about American Music Club's publishing name over on that list, which is what made me think of it. Their publishing company is I Failed in Life Music, which I think is brilliant.) Anyway...the Mats and Peter Jesperson were all sitting around trying to come up with names. Someone would toss out a suggestion, they'd think about it for a minute, and then someone else would say, "Nah..." Eventually, it became clear that "Nah" was the obvious choice for a name. And so it was. Have fun in Costa Rica! --Amy ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 May 1995 18:06:19 -0400 From: WESTY14@aol.com Subject: ANSWERING MACHINE......? I was wondering if anyone out there knows the chords or has the tab for ANSWERING MACHINE? I have always had trouble figuring this one out...... please send private E-mail to -------- WESTY14@aol.com thanks...... Nate Saeger -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 22 Jul 1995 12:58:47 -0400 From: Larry Jarvis Hi guys, Just discovered your great web page. But was a little disappointed not to see the chord progressions for Can't Hardly Wait and Bastards of Young. I was wondering if you might have these lying around somewhere and could send them my way. I would be most grateful. Thanks. Larry Jarvis [Hey Lar'...the //Skyway\\ doesn't have an official web page yet, so you must've been accessing somebody else's. If somebody out there has a Web page and they call it the //Skyway\\ web page, please let me know so I can give you more files and advertise it in the files! -- M@] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: (fwd) Trouser Press Record Guide Review, 1989 (VERY LONG) (fwd) From: balang@bgnet.bgsu.edu (Bryce A. Glass) Newsgroups: alt.music.replacements Date: 29 Jul 1995 04:21:21 GMT I noticed some people asking for various reviews from Rolling Stone; I don't have any old issues lying around, but I do have a copy of the Third Edition of the Trouser Press Record Guide. (A friend found a stack of them at some book store for a buck apiece.) In case you're not familiar with it, the Guide, according to its own preface "originated in 1982 as an almost-succesful attempt to review all of the significant albums with a direct connection to new wave music -- records that either led to or resulted from the 1976-7 upheaval spearheaded by the Sex Pistols, Clash, Ramones, Television, Blondie, etc." So it's basically a guide to alternative music back when there really was such a thing as alternative music. I think it's a fairly credible source for musical opinions. This review isn't the most _passionate_ one I've read, but it does give a good overview of the Mats' early catalog. Please note that I went with their spelling of Slim _Dunlop_, over Dunlap. Is this an error on their part, or did Slim change the spelling at some point? [It's an error. - M@] ----------------------------- REPLACEMENTS Folks say that Minneapolis' Replacements are the best rock'n'roll band in the world, and when it all clicks -- volume, rawness, speed (pace _and_ ingested substances), energy and passion -- they're right. But lots of times, when the band can't be bothered to play their own songs or finish whatever they're in the midst of, when they really just want to be difficult, they're possibly the worst. The original foursome got written off a lot as sloppy, but only by those who chose not to see beyond the chaos. Chris Mars drums like he's possessed; Tommy Stinson is a spoiled teen (he was 12 when the band started) but thumps a mean bassline; buffoonish original guitarist Bob Stinson might wear a dress (or less) onstage but can alternate between ripping metal leads and achingly tender melody lines that prove he's got a heart (if not a brain.) And Paul Westerberg -- too terrified to sing his soft songs -- hides behind the band's noise. The Mats (short for Placemats) are one of those classic rock'n'roll combos whose music, looks and personalities fit together perfectly, the stuff of which legends are made. The lore surrounding them is already pretty thick. The musical evidence of their creative importance was already there on the first album, 18 songs following the usual loud/fast rules with titles like "Shut Up," "Kick Your Door Down" and "Shiftless When Idle." But they showed depth on a slow, bluesy ode to J. Thunders, "Johnny's Gonna Die." The _Stink_ EP went for pure driving thrash and produced some gems, including "Dope Smokin' Moron," "Kids Don't Follow" and "God Damn Job." But it landed them in the hardcore bins, even thought the music and lyrics are much sharper than most, mixing equal parts arrogance and self-deprecating humor. When _Hootennany_ combined blues, power pop, folk, country, straight-ahead rock, surf (or, more accurately, ski) and punk in a way that few hardcore bands could even imagine, people started taking notice. _Stink_'s "Fuck School" gave way to "Color Me Impressed," a soaring rock number about drunkenness and trendenista parties, proving a wisdom beyond their years, and sounding pretty incongruous next to "Run It," a paean to beating red lights. Westerberg reached into his agf solo heartstoppers for a naked (yet never sappy) confession of loneliness, "Within Your Reach." With _Let It Be_, the Mats became "stars," at least on the independant club/college radio circuit. The LP is more focused than anything else they'd done, boldly carrying out what they'd only tried on _Hootennany_. They blended rock-pop and country shuffle on "I Will Dare" and raved-up on novelty rockers like the lyrical verite of "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out" and "Gary's Got a Boner." Westerberg's loneliness gave way to total emptiness on the harrowing "Unsatisfied." Critics trampled each other in a rush to claim discovery rights. Sire signed them and Twin/Tone celebrated with a cassette-only live tape -- stolen from some kid bootlegging an Oklahoma show -- which showed the feckless Mats at their most messed-up, playing (at least starting to play) a motley collection of their favorite covers, from R.E.M. to the Stones, Thin Lizzy to X. Although there's no consensus on the issue, the Replacements made the transition to major-labeldom with their artistic integrity intact. It looked for a while as if Alex Chilton would get the nod, but ex-Ramone Tommy Erdelyi ended up producing _Tim_ (great title, that), retaining all of the raggedness and devil-may-care rock'n'roll spirit that make the Replacements great. Westerberg's tunes here are among his best ever, from a melancholy bar ballad ("Here Comes a Regular") to an obnoxiously mean-spirited anti-stewardess slur, "Waitress in the Sky." His raging insecurity shines through on "Hold My Life" ("because I just might lose it . . .") and the anthemic "Bastards of Young." "Left of the Dial" celebrates alternative radio, while "Kiss Me on the Bus" considers the romantic possibilities of public transportation. A stupendous record. _Boink!!_ is an eight-song UK condensation of their pre-_Let It Be_ catalogue, with the added bonus of an otherwise unreleased Chilton-produced cut, "Nowhere Is My Home." When it became apparent that Bob Stinson was in danger of succumbing permanently to the band's treacherous lifestyle, the Mats fired him and proceeded to record the incredible _Pleased To Meet Me_ as a trio. With Jim Dickinson producing and Westerberg doing all the guitar work, the group stirred up another batch of their patented blend: virile, witty rockers ("Valentine," Red Red Wine," "I.O.U."), tender ballads ("Nightclub Jitters," "Skyway"). There's a rollicking number about "Alex Chilton," a bizzare but fabulous stab at commercial radio acceptance ("Can't Hardly Wait") in which the Memphis Horns echo a deliciously nagging guitar riff over a wicked backbeat, and "The Ledge," a tense suicide vignette musically rewritten from _Hootennany_'s "Willpower." On tour following the LP's release, the group unveiled a new guitarist, Slim Dunlop (ex-Curtiss A), and a far less obstreperous onstage attitude. Although four Replacements albums are out on CD, not one of them includes a bonus track. Bastards. --Elizabeth Phillip/Ira Robbins ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: (fwd) Tim Review (fwd) From: cford@VNET.IBM.COM Date: Sat, 29 Jul 95 13:24:09 EDT Subject: Tim Review Here it is... Rolling Stone Review of Tim By Tim Holmes - 11/21/85 (Mark Knopfler on the cover) (Copied without permission.) In this era of synthetic sound and increased emphasis on the cosmetics of media geniality, the Replacements are probably too true to be good. While they haven't exactly reinvented the fourman guitars-bass-drum lineup, they have dramatically reaffirmed its primal essence without pandering to any old-fogy revivalist tendencies or formulaic banalities. They jolt the nervous system with the disturbing CORRECTNESS of their sound -- a nose-thumbing energy that plugs in and out of professionalism -- and grab the heart with the compassionate yet bratty conviction of their songs. If the Replacements have a theme, it has to do with the necessary failure of fun and the equally necessary drive to have it. The band has a reputation for being boozy and erratic, but they never back off from the truth. Tim is simultaneously mature and adolescent. Lead singer Paul Westerberg has developed an authorial voice capable of collapsing complex contradictions into a single phrase. On "Waitress in the Sky," a seemingly harmless countrified ditty about a stewardess, the band constructs a paean to the profession before slagging the poor dame for believing in the euphemism "flight attendant." "Little Mascara" is a greasy teardrop running down the cheek of marital disappointment. Tim's themes are most eloquently expressed in the closing songs on each of the sides. In "Swinging Party," life's a lilting series of ultimately empty, but nonetheless compulsory, soirees. The record closes with "Here Comes a Regular," a resigned and dissolute salute to the salt of the earth from the rim of a shot glass. "Here Comes a Regular" is the realistic flip side of Springsteen's "Glory Days" sung from the point of view of a man in his twenties who's capable of looking neither forward nor backward but only downward at the melting ice cubes clanking in his drink. The Replacements are no mere vehicle for Paul Westerberg's moving and emotionally intricate songwriting and singing (any more than the Velvet Underground was a vehicle for Lou Reed). They are the real thing, a true band produced with insurrectionary fervor by Tommy Erdelyi, the original Ramones drummer. Guitarist Bob Stinson heaves thick chunks of metal and dinky skewed melodic fills against Westerberg's chordal structures. Little brother Tommy Stinson adroitly moves from bass grunge to harmonic filigree, and through it all, Chris Mars maintains an eloquent heartbeat that never misses the mark. While threatening to careen off center, the music always coalesces into the proverbial greater whole. Tim, the Replacements most focused and consistent album (and first for a major label) sounds as if it were made by the last real band in the world. Charles ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 08 Aug 95 13:37:21 CDT From: Pixie Hey everybody Welcome back Kotters. How was summer break? My Shit Shower and Shave boot got ripped off. Grrr. On a lighter note, I don't know if anyone has ever mentioned this before but Westerberg showed up on tv -- via his songs. In the episode of Northern Exposure where Ed gets a terrible agent and Shelley goes into the forest to meet mother nature and Medea, Dice Behind Your Shades is playing on Ed's stereo while he tries to sell his script to the evil agent guy. (Breathe!) Saw Lollapalooza this summer, interviewed Pavement for the student paper here. They are the coolest band. The gave us journalist-wannabes free beer. Of course, they said they had the best tour rider ever right now. Anyway, later... Amy (if anyone want to sell a cd copy of shit shower and shave, let me know) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Aug 95 21:36:18 EDT From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: (fwd) Re: Bob Stinson (fwd) From: brilund@delphi.com Newsgroups: alt.music.replacements Subject: Re: Bob Stinson Date: Tue, 8 Aug 95 00:46:32 -0500 I saw Smokin' Bob at the 7th street entry a couple of years ago his band was the Bleeding Hearts - The show was comical to say the least, Stinson's guitar strap kept falling off and he kept dropping his pick - it got to a point in which the singer told the audience "we're going to play 3 piece for awhile." Folks in the front row kept screaming "turn your ass around" (he wasn't wearing as belt). This continued throught the whole show until the last song - at the very end everything stopped and Bob raked off this absolutely amazing lick - I mean AWESOME everyone was waiting for him to fuck it up but it came out (God knows from where) unbelieveably - too bad it didn't save the show - you had to be there to understand how bad the show really was. He did no Mats covers and was dressed like a slob. Good bye Bob we all miss you! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: (fwd) Re: ASD Kicks Shit out of DTS (fwd) From: duck5@ix.netcom.com (Duck) Newsgroups: alt.music.replacements Subject: Re: ASD Kicks Shit out of DTS Date: 8 May 1995 15:29:19 GMT In <3ok59n$atk@agate.berkeley.edu> weiland@uclink2.berkeley.edu (Troy McClure) writes: >>Duck (duck5@ix.netcom.com) wrote: >> >> >>I think the theme to "Sadly Beatiful", about the sadness of giving up >> a baby for adoption, is incredibly heartfelt and touching.<< >> That's the theme?! I've heard the proto versions from 1989 live >> shows and, of course, the recorded version, but I would never have guessed >> this was the theme. What's your source of this one? Do you have some >> inside info? Please share! > >Actually, I heard in Paul's '91 CBC interview that the song is about >singer Marianne Faithfull. Unfortunately, I don't know anything more >about her or that song. From what I've read and heard in interviews, it doesn't seem that Paul wrote the song >about< Marianne Faithfull, although he wrote the song >for< her. Of course, this doesn't necessarily negate the possibility of some thematic tie-in with a child. After runing off with Mick Jagger way back when, Marianne did lose custody of her son, but she didn't give him up for adoption. All I know is that Paul has said in interviews that >sadly beautiful< were the words he came up with to describe Marianne. I'm gonna go back and listen to the early versions from 89 live shows. Those are much different from the recorded version. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Duncan deGraffenreid From: kenrose@ix.netcom.com (Kenneth Rosenberger ) Newsgroups: alt.music.replacements Date: 20 Jul 1995 03:52:57 GMT [Q: Why doesn't Paul print the lyrics to his songs in the albums?] I read an interview with Paul in which he was asked why he doesn't and he replied that song lyrics aren't poetry much as some people would like to think they are. So if you've got a lyrics sheet, someone's always trying to compare you to TS Eliot or That Welsh guy, Dylan Something-or-other, or Rilke, say. And that's ridiculous. These are words chosen for convenience to comply with the strictures of three chords from hell and a fuckin' 8.9 Richter Backbeat, and without those accoutrements they're just kinda silly words. These are Paul's words, mind you, not mine. After he dies--God forbid that's within 20 albums of right now--I'm going to make a fortune on a book of his best couplets: The Wit and Wisdom of Paul le Mat. Cool? Ken ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 00:07:29 -0500 From: estuck Subject: FYI and kudos The b-side of my 7" of Kiss Me on the Bus is Little Mascara. It's Sire 925 330-1, if you want to know. Another gap filled in the discography from my file of treasures... Elizabeth S. estuck@mindspring.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jul 95 21:45:30 EDT From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: From alt.music.relacements... ================================================= ON & OFF THE 'MATS WITH PAUL WESTERBERG by Bill Holdship from BAM #413 - July 30, 1993 If Paul Westerberg is, indeed, the victim of bad timing, he doesn't seem to mind a whole lot. Never Mind Indeed. Westerberg recently took time to talk before leaving for Boston to prepare for a tour that began in Europe the following week and which brought him to California earlier this month. (Westerberg was joined on this tour by former Raindog Darren Hill on bass, Dave Minehan of the Neighborhoods on guitar, and 20 year old Josh Freese on drums). The former Replacements frontman talked about the past ("I think we were a great little garage band - and that's what I want to be remembered for); a present that centers around a terrific solo LP called _14 Songs_; and his own role as the archetypal alternative hero. BAM: This is the first time you're going on the road with a new band. How does that feel? PW: Well, we'll see what it actually is because you know what people are like. You think you know someone until you live with them for six months in a bus [laughs]. But I mean, so far so good. Everybody has kind of the right attitude, and everybody's fairly easy going with a sense of humor. And that, as we know, is high on the list of things. They're all good guys, so that helps right off the bat. But it's a lot of pressure on them; I mean for me too. But for them to suddenly learn like 30 tunes, it'll probably be two weeks solid rehearsal. That's a lot of songs to know - seeing as how they didn't really play on the record or anything. So we're going to go with the ones that sound and feel the best. We're just getting to that phase now where we're sort of dicking around a little and bashing around on covers - and that poses a little bit of a problem with Josh being 20 years old and all. He wasn't born when we were buying records. So, just for the hell of it, we started playing "Substitute" the other day, and we were waiting for him to crash in. He just sat there, 'cause he had never heard the song. I thought, "Whoa, This is a different kind of thing here. BAM: Are you comfortable doing any of the anthem songs identified with the Replacements, like "Left of The Dial" or "Bastards of Young"? PW: Yes and No. One of those. None of them are taboo, but there's a handful that I don't want to do.I particularly don't want to do "Bastards of Young". And I'll probably stay away from "Alex Chilton". But stuff like "Left of The Dial" which was really me speaking - my personal experience - I'll probably play that, pull that one out, see if the new guys like it or whatever. BAM: I really love the new album, but what's really weird is that it first hit me on a musical level. The music spoke to me before the lyrics. PW: That's a good sign. The lyrics, I think, are deceptively simple this time. Or maybe there's no deception at all, they are just simple. Like at first listen, you might think, "Oh well, he didn't think too long on these" and that's a fact. I didn't think too long. It's like I was clear in my thinking and I just wrote what I felt rather than trying to convolute something and come up with little twists and turns and use the thesarus. I've done that in the past, and there's really none of that this time. It's all kind of straightforward stuff. BAM: The turn of phrases are so good, it's almost Dylanesque. People are going to wonder, "Geez, was he taking LSD when he wrote some of this stuff?" PW: Nothing could be farther from the truth. But I'm no longer afraid to dip into that sort of style. I mean, I like to write a song that someone understands, but if I want to throw in a phrase that makes sense only to me, I'll do that. I'm not doing it to tease or to confuse. "World Class Fad" has a couple of them, and you can take them as you want. I'm already hearing that the line "I believe these starts are starting to shoot" is about junk. It's like, well you know, I didn't even think about it. It was just a line that came to me. It's like it grabbed me, and I don't know what the hell it meant. So I do that a lot and end up having to explain what it is that I meant. And I didn't even have a meaning when I wrote it. BAM: You used to always prefer the songs to speak for themselves. Does it still bother you when people ask "Gee, what did you mean by that?" PW: Well, I guess it doesn't bother me. It sort of goes along with the territory. If you don't ask about that, then they're going to ask about whatever rock 'n roll excess from the past. And if they don't ask about that, there's not much to say other than, "Well, we're going to be doing this song, and we're going to be in your town" and all that show-biz-y stuff so it's only natural you'd want to ask a guy who writes words about them. But I stand with the old adage that you can find more than one meaning in a lot of these, and it's true that some of these have even changed their meaning for me. From writing them to playing them and now to listening to them. I listen to them like a fan now. Like "Runaway Wind" has different meaning for me know than when I actually was writing the words down at the piano a year and a half ago. And to me, that's a good sign. The thing has life, it's alive, it's changing, it's growing and stuff. But yeah, if you want me to nail it. I mean, some things I can nail down. "Silver Naked Ladies" is about mud-flap ornaments, essentially. But I think much more to the point, rather than me taking LSD, it's probably that I've listened to more Bob Dylan in the last two years. I can't say that I specifically did, because, you know, I've always listened to Dylan. But spending a couple of years away from a band and clubs, I was listening to more intimate music along with jazz and other things. Not a lot of real raucous rock and roll. So I'm sure some of that has seeped in once again. BAM: There's a lot more anger being expressed on _14 Songs_ as opposed to the depression that came across on _All Shook Down_. I don't mean anger in the punk rock sort of way. But it seems you're overwhelmed with the media overload and all the celebrity bullshit. PW: Yeah, I wish we could find a different word for "anger", 'cause I was never upset with anyone or anytin But I guess I'm full of life, and I was out of gas by the time of _All Shook Down_. I've recharged, though, and what you get, I guess, with my voice and the way I write is... It comes across as pissed off and "Don't cross me or you're going to get your ass kicked!" You know me, I'm not that kind of person. But it tends to come across like that, whereas it might be exhuberant and full of life. "Knockin' on Mine" probably has the most anger of anything. And that's geared toward my disgust and hate toward news programs, newspapers, the sort of "Hard Copy" style journalism that America seems to be overloaded with at the moment. And the fact that you can see violence and stuff all the time on television, which kids are weaned on. People open the paper every morning, and that's what sells. That's what makes money is someone elses tragedy on the front page. That just makes me mad. I don't read the newspaper anymore; I rarely watch the news. I'll watch who won the game and what the weather's like. But that's as mad as I am on this record, that song. BAM: You've always had an artistic temperament in that your moods swing both up and down. But since you've given up drinking and kind of straightened your life around, do you still have as much of a problem with that? PW: No. I would say all the same problems are there. I just don't dwell on them anymore, and it's easier for me not to get pulled down by all that bad fodder, a depressive mood. You tend to wallow in it when you're a drinker or whatever and accept that as part of your life like, "Well I guess we blew that." And then you worry and think about it. If something goes wrong now, it's like "Yeah, you can get around it," but the trick is to drop it as quick as you can. And that's what I try to do, and then move on. BAM: It always seemed that the Replacements were the 80's essence of that Elvis-like "loser as hero" rock model. Do you still feel like that's part of your role. PW: No. It's so hard for me to analyze what we were 'cause we had no idea what we were when we were doing it. To look back, it's like it was someone else who did it. No, I think that all that shit was overshadowed by the drinking and everything that we did. The fact remains that we were a good little rock and roll band. And if we weren't good, we wouldn't have gone as far as we did. All the drinking, and all the breaking, and all the destruction and all the crap that went along with us got all the attention. But the fact, I think, is we were a great little garage band- and that's what I want to be remembered for. That's, to me, the essence and what I'm most proud of. BAM: More for the music than the image. PW: I don't even know if it was the music. It was the fact that the four of us could make a noise--whether it as music or not. We could hold a stage and make a noise as good as the Stooges or Gene Vincent or the Dolls made a noise. We were a classic little rock 'n roll band and no one will take that away. BAM: So how do you feel about all these bands that the Replacements have "influenced"? PW: It feels good. Three or four years ago, when we were still a group, and trying to figure out where we were going, it hurt a little bit because we felt like other people were taking what we'd done and getting further with it. And we were thinking like "Gee, were we truly ahead of our time? Or were we just behind the times enough where we might have had a chance to be hip?" It doesn't bother me at all now. I mean, I'll stick to the other viewpoint, which no one is talking about -- which is that the Ramones probably spawned two or three times as many bands as we ever did. Every single, solitary, fucking band that played a guitar that we ever heard owed a debt to the Ramones. And I don't think that our influence reaches that far yet. But no, it's flattering, It's not like I'm offended by it or anything. BAM: Well, it's sort of the Velvet Underground/New York Dolls thing. So the 'Mats'll get back together after you go into the Hall of Fame and make a million dollars, right? PW: Well [laughs]...no. I don't know. I don't know what we would do. But you can imagine if the 'Mats ever did get back together, it would be a very 'Mats type thing and we would probably play in someone's living room and not let anyone see it. BAM: That reminds me. It seems the 'Mats were always in trouble with manage- ment and the record company for doing the things you guys did. I remember the famous KROQ interview after which the DJ broke a copy of _Pleased to Meet Me_ on the air. But these days, management and record companies would encourage you to do these things for image sake. PW: Yeah. The only way to keep touching on that is to bring up examples of, well the Replacements did this back then, and it's true that we were sort of naturally snotty. And a lot of things that we did, we were reprimanded for, and it's encouraged now. The whole alternative thing has blossomed into the mainstream. You know, who knows? Maybe if that had been encouraged, we wouldn't have been the way we were. I think a lot was just the fact that we wanted to buck against what was hip at the time. But I don't know what I'm saying other than, "Yes." When we did it, we weren't supposed to, and that's what made it fun. And now that it's encouraged, I think if we were together, we wouldn't. We would probably act like perfect gentlemen just to piss them off. But it doesn't bother me. It's a big old world, and anybody who wants to take those three fucking chords to the top is welcome if they can do it. We couldn't do it. I'm not going to say, "Oh man,we could have, we could have, if we'd just waited." Bullshit! We could not. We tried; we failed. But we didn't really fail. I think we spawned all these other bands and stuff. Of all these popular groups, let's see how many of them last 11 years. I think that will tell the tale. BAM: "World Class Fad." You mentioned that song earlier, and so many people have interpreted that as being about Nirvana or the mainstream "alternative" things out there. The Gen X kids... PW: The song is about me. It's just a rock and roll song that people are reading a much deeper meaning into. The whole crux of it is just remember to leave a trail of crumbs. And it's like, I did leave a trail of crumbs, and I went all the way to the edge and couldn't go any further. It's more of a reflection of what I went through and probably am still faced with going through now. It's like if you want that bad, if you want to go all the way, remember where you started from and remember where you're going to end up again. And yeah, if it offends anyone, great! But it absolutely is about me. I don't know if I've mellowed that much, but I'm not at the point where I just want to give young bands shit. It's like, I'll give you some shit but I can take it too, so ...No, I mean, that's pretty fuckin' small to think that I'd write it about a popular band. BAM: "Things" is the most personal song you've ever written. It's beautiful but sad. Were you uncomfortable with that at all? PW: Yes I was, and I'm not now. Yeah, it's sad but it's true [laughs]--as we used to say. It is. I came to grips with just like, am I going to keep one of the best songs I've ever written off the record because it's too sad? And that answered my question. If I'm going to do this, I've got to do it and put the "A" stuff on. The song says a lot about what I am, and essentially says that what I do is the most important thing in my life. And no matter who you are, you can be in second place, but you're never going to replace my first love. BAM: A lot of people would interpret "Things"-- and I did the first time I heard it -- as a farewell to your marriage. PW: Yeah, but it really wasn't. Which only makes it more difficult, because well, then who is it about? It's about after the marriage had already broken up, and it was basically the next person that I met. It was a way of trying to deal with that by saying I've been through it big time once before "Don't expect me to just jump right in this." But, as always, it's a song that can have more than one person, and there's two or three different people floating through that song. BAM: "First Glimmer" is a really romantic song that anybody can identify with as far as falling in love for the first time is concerned. PW: Yeah. I think so. What can I say? I was just in mortal fear that it might sound like the "Night Moves" of the 90's [laughs]. At least I didn't put a date in there. BAM: Yeah, how old are you supposed to be in that song? PW: I don't know. You see, it goes back to the leaves burning in the street, and I remember that as a child in the Midwest, and they stopped doing that in 1969. BAM: Is there something in there about safety pins? Somebody interpreted that as being about punk rock. PW: Viola! Yeah, it's set in like 1979. BAM: Did you write a lot of this album on the piano? PW: About half of it, I'd say. Well, not even that. Maybe five of them. You can kind of hear the ones, like "Runaway Wind." There's two or three that didn't make the record. I wrote a lot first on the piano. I didn't move to the guitar until six months into writing. BAM: Gee, you must have lied to me a few years ago when you said "Androgynous" was the only piano part you can play. PW: Well, that was a few years ago [laughs]. I couldn't play the sax a few years ago either. I can't play it now! But yeah, I've actually spent a few years playing the piano, and it's like now I've spent six months not playing it so now I'm back where I started. But I was very much into just making music and not writing, and playing the piano and listening to music, and that's when the writing started with a lot of stuff. BAM: Did you write "Mannequin Shop" about some of the time you've spent here in Hollywood? PW: Actually, I wrote it about a _People_ magazine article. But then being out in L.A., and flipping through all the magazines, and all the ads for reduction this and supplement this--yeah, it's kind of scary. It's like all the little things you wouldn't see an ad for anywhere else in the country, there it's breast implants and stuff. And it's happening so young there. Which is weird. It's not like it's all women who were once considered beautiful and are now aging. It's like teenage girls, and their breasts aren't big enough. BAM: Some people are predicting stardom. When we first talked, you said you were really afraid of being famous. You didn't even want to be as famous as R.E.M. was at that particular point. PW: I still don't. BAM: You have that fear still? PW: [Laughs] I'd like to be as famous as Mike Mills. BAM: Are you worried about being on the road again? I remember Lou Reed didn't tour for years after he sobered up 'cause he was afraid he'd get back into his old habits. PW: Nah, It was trial by fire on the last 'Mats tour, and I've lasted fine. I'm really glad I did it last time, because it would probably be a little frightening now to do it. But, no, Slim did it with me, so it was good. And the band I got now--they're not party-types or anything like that, so it's going to be cool. BAM: Did you bum when Tom Petty stole your line about a "rebel without a clue"? PW: I was bummed when nobody realized it. Same thing with these interviews that gave me a hard time. It isn't the interview that ever affects me or the fact that somebody lifts from me. It's the fact that a band won't come for- ward and say we were an influence on them. Or someone won't defend us. Or someone won't say, "Yeah, I took the line from him." In any of those cases it would be fine, but it was the fact that it goes without reference or without anyone saying anything. That irritates me a little. BAM: When you were interviewed in SPIN magazine, you made that quote about Elvis Presley. Did you really mean that? PW: What did I say? BAM: They asked what you thought of Elvis and you said, "All he ever did was change people's hair style." And I was bummed because I remember you loved Elvis Presley. PW: [laughs] Of course! I still do. That's the nature of this whole fucking thing. Half the time I spend just having a conversation like we all do, and there's a guy on the other end with a tape recorder. Then it's written. I mean, that's a conversation we might have had about Iggy, saying all he ever did was show us how to use peanut butter. And it's like, no, of course, it isn't true. BAM: You have an identifiable guitar style at this point. It's Paul Westerberg's guitar sound--"The Ledge" being the archetypal example. Are you aware of that? PW: Yeah, I am. I'm aware of it. I don't know if I'm proud of it [laughs]. BAM: It's great. I love your guitar playing. PW: I like it, too. It's limited, but Johnny Thunders is the root there -- which is to, like, take a chance and take a dare. And if you fall on your face, you're better off crying that way than to play the safe route. BAM: So you don't have to sit down anymore to play your solos like you did on _Pleased to Meet Me_? PW: Oh, no,no no. In fact I play better standing up. It's better when you can barely reach the guitar. You tend to play more with your body than with your fingers. BAM: So how comfortable are you with the terms, "Songwriter of a Generation", "Godfather of Grunge", and "The Elder Statesman"? PW: I would prefer "Greatest Guitar Player on My Block." That's the only one I know for a fact is true. ========= Reprinted Without Permission. ARR etc. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: (fwd) A few radio interviews I remember (fwd) From: Nick Rozakis (nrozakis@getty.edu) Newsgroups: alt.music.replacements Subject: A few radio interviews I remember Date: 14 Jul 1995 18:51:15 GMT Organization: The J. Paul Getty Trust Paul was on KROQ radio in L.A. in 1989. The Mats were in town. It was a quick and kind of downbeat interview with Paul. Here's a quick transcript: KROQ: "Paul, now that you're in town here in sunny L.A., what are you going to do while you're here for the next few days" PAUL: "I dunno. Hang out, watch some tube" KROQ: "Are there any bands that you really don't like. That really get on your nerves?" PAUL: (Pauses) "Bob Mould?" KROQ: "So you don't like Bob Mould, huh? What bands are you listening to?" PAUL" "Well, I really like a band from Boston called Big Dipper" 1991 KROQ interview (from what I remember, much more upbeat) KROQ: "Whenever I hear "Unsatisfied", it makes me wanna cry" PAUL: "Makes me wanna dry when I play it" KROQ: "I don't think "Unsatisfied" is a word" PAUL: "Well, I guess I'm unliterate!" That's all I recall. Just a few quotes for fun. -- THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS POST ARE SOLELY MINE AND NOT OF THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST OR OTHER GETTY ENTITY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 95 12:26:15 EDT From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: Discovering More Mats Stuff Until last winter my only Mats experiences were their official releases (including Shit Hits the Fans) and three concerts (all Slim), plus a glimpse of their SNL appearance. Then last winter I wandered into a comics shop where they were playing Shit Shower and Shave -- my first bootleg experience! A week later I collared my own copy and I was in heaven. This was a time when I had put the Mats albums away for awhile. A few months later I read a post on alt.music.alternative that referred to the Skyway mailing list. A year before I'd heard of it and sent a registration email, with no effect, so I thought it was dead -- made sense, the Mats were long gone. But after the post, I tried again and here I am. Matt sent me a couple recent issues, and I gophered over to his site to pick up the rest. Revelations! Wow, all these boots and videos! Lotsa Mats songs I'd never heard! But how to get into this? First, I wrote my intro Mats story for the Skyway. Next I prowled all the D.C. area music stores for boots, EPs, whatever -- no dice. Then, I went to a record convention, where at the first table I saw I found 10 different tapes of various sows and materials. Based on what I had read in various Skyways, I recognized some of the recordings as being dupes off things like Don't Buy Or Sell, It's Crap. Mostly these were shows from different times: 84, 87, 89, the last show, and a Westerberg show (Gravel Pit). Since I got the tapes for $6 apiece, and the sound was resonably good, I consider this quite a find. There was little else at the show except for videos (I got a poor dupe), and a couple CDs for ridiculous money. Meanwhile, Matt published the last (#28) Skyway, and a few days later a nice lady named Kathy emailed me an offer to dupe some stuff to a tape I'd send her (esp. If Only You Were Lonely, a big gap in my experiences). So I sent her a tape. Then a couple days days later while bicycling home from work I hit some wet leaves and really crushed my leg. I broke the top of my right femur into 3 pieces. They had to plate me together. In the hospital (my home for a week) my Mats boot tapes brought enough relief to minimize the pain medication and got me moving the leg. June 2 I came home, where Kathy's incredible tape work waited -- I can't overstate how much it helped (nor can I thank Kathy enough). The tape: the acoustic old version of Can't Hardly Wait; two versions of If Only...; Nowhere Is My Home; several othe unknown (to me) tunes; lots of live versions I hadn't heard; better copies of Satellite. It was a chance for renewed appreciation of a great band. I tell ya, in 25 years I've never heard a band as consistently great as the Mats. Oh yeah, you all also turned me onto Bash N Pop ... Tommy did a damn fine album. With all this stuff, Tommy Keene's Real Underground, All the Husker Du and Sugar albums alt.music.alternative turned me onto, and the Richard Thompson tribute album Beat The Retreat, plus some other stuff. I've never been so swamped with music to listen to. So thanks to all you good people out there. I'm prowling alt.music. replacements too, so I'll keep clipping and forwarding stuff I see there. And hit a few more record cons... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: (fwd) Tenterhooks (fwd) Our compatriot Charles Ford posted the following review to alt.music.replacements. > From: cford@VNET.IBM.COM > Date: Thu, 15 Jun 95 15:48:22 EDT > Newsgroups: alt.music.replacements > > Well, I finally picked up the new Chris Mars CD, "Tenterhooks." (What > the hell is a "tenterhook" anyway?) For those of you who have not > heard it I'll offer my opinion.. > > Some of the songs are pleasant, in a breezy sort of way, but overall > I'd call it musically thin. At times I wonder how Chris can maintain > a record deal with this material while Tommy flounders in LA. It's not > a cd that will spend much time on my player.. But, I have to hand it to > the guy for being the most prolific of the ex-Mats, even if he does > refuse to tour. He also covers a wide range of styles on this record. > From rap (yes, rap!) on "White Patty Rap" to jazz on "New Day" with a surf > instrumental and a couple of ballads in between. Westerberg, who accused > Mars of being a one-trick-pony in the Replacements days, is probably > scratching his head... > > I've heard some critism of the production of this cd, and it does have > sort of a crude sound to it. Also the vocals are generally disguised with > some sort of special effect. But, I can't help but think this might be > exactly the result he was after.. "Low-Fi" seems to be in this year as > evidenced by Guided By Voices. > > I'd still call "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" Mars's best album. > "Tenterhooks" might be comparable to "75% Less Fat," but there is nothing > on "Tenterhooks" as good as "Car Camping" from "Fat." (everybody's entitled > to liking one weird song..) > > Charles ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: (fwd) Chris Mars letter from BAM '93 (longish) (fwd) From: duck5@ix.netcom.com (Duck) Newsgroups: alt.music.replacements Subject: Chris Mars letter from BAM '93 (longish) Date: 12 Jul 1995 17:31:10 GMT The following is a letter signed by Chris Mars and printed in BAM, SoCal's Music Magazine, Issue 413, July 30, 1993. reprinted without permission ..AND ONE MORE PERSPECTIVE You want to know about the end of the 'Mats? Well, I remember it well. You see, we were all such closely knit, tight friends -- we were like quadruplets hatched from the same egg. We read each others' minds, you know, like twins do --- but we were four. We didn't even have to talk toward the end. We would just sit on the tour bus and stare blankly, our thoughts swirled and connected. We discussed in-depth the path we were on and how this dynamic Four would be the model of models for all bands: the First Four, including Bob Stinson; the Second Four with Slim; and the Third Four with Steve Foley -- who, I understand, possessed the same psychic ability. Just amazing! I should add here that one day, I accidentally spilled rat poison in my tuna salad. I unknowingly ate it. Slight coma ensued. The inner cranial damage was mild, but just enough to impair my psychic link with the other three. I guess they could no longer deal with not being able to communicate to me without physically talking. So one of them made a little sign, written in Magic Marker. They held it up, and it said: ''Your Fiered'' (spelling wasn't our strong point). It was such a sad day for me, because I cried and cried. Then I blew my nose and wept a little more, and reached for another tissue and dried my tears. But, you know, I was also happy, because I knew Steve Foley could fill my shoes, and the greatest, most special band ever would go on. And they did. And the whole world rejoiced...for about another year, that is. You see, what I heard was, during the last year at many Replacements shows, people unfortunately started dying in the front rows from the sheer electricity the band emitted. So I guess the band had one more of its little, nonverbal huddles where they all concluded that it just wasn't worth another fan dying for, and called it quits. Thus, the most wonderful band of all time ended. I still, from time to time, try to reconnect the psychic flow to the other members, but I come up with plain old nothing. I guess that old rat poison did me in. But I can rest easy just knowing they're somewhere in the world, sleeping under the same moon as I am. Hey! Maybe they could even be reading this...I'd better say, ''Hello!'' Hey, you guys, remember the night at that one club where Carton bumped his head, we got real drunk, we played real loud, and then I think we broke something? Man, that was some night. Well, so long for now! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Duncan deGraffenreid Subject: (fwd) Mars: The Re(a)d 'Mat (fwd) From: "W. Abelson" Newsgroups: alt.music.replacements Subject: Mars: The Re(a)d 'Mat Date: Wed, 12 Jul 1995 10:32:21 -0700 Well, as one of those knee-deep in quicksand Mars fans, let me tumble out a jumble of thoughts inspired by recent posts. I've read my share of Mats articles over the years. The criticism of Chris I've seen from Paul is that while he was the perfect (no pun there) drummer for the 'Mats in '85, his style wasn't good enough for Paul's tunes by the latter Mats era. (Not sure I buy that--I love All Shook Down, but is it really so complex or subtle?) Anyway, that's why Paul only let Chris play on a few cuts on it. When Bash & Pop's album came out Tommy said (I think in Pulse) that Chris 1) showed his lousy 'team' attitude by getting resentful he was asked to step aside for other drummers on All Shook Down and 2) that Chris 'lost the spirit of what we were doing a long time ago' (not musically, but, I guess, that indie-rock/allforone-oneforall spirit). Personally I think it's perfectly reasonable for an original, decade-long member of a band to go ballistic if asked to step aside for other musicians. Maybe not for one special song, but if the leader says you're not good enough to play most of his new stuff -- seems like just cause to feel betrayed to me. I don't know enough about the 'Mats personalities to know why else people would be outraged at him. I suspect Paul loyalists are pissed because they feel Mars' first two albums are full of hate songs toward Paul. I think that's a questionable assumption. "Egomaniac" is clearly about Mars himself; some of them may be about other 'Mats, and "No Bands" seems bitter, but couldn't lots of them just be about jerks Chris knew in school? Who knows, maybe "Popular Creeps" is about Husker Du. Or whoever... OTHER MATTERS... Name ONE great song Mars has written? Okay: "Get Out of My Life," "Last Drop," "Don't You See It," "Outer Limits" from Horseshoes. "Whining Horse" and "Stuck in Rewind" from 75%. "Mary" from Tenterhooks. Plus tons of very good cuts on Horseshoes (really the whole album except "Egomaniac"), tons of solid rockers on 75%, and (ahem) about 3 good cuts on the new one. I certainly agree Tenterhooks is a letdown--it doesn't seem like he put any effort into the vocals, unlike the previous albums, and the efforts at interesting arrangements don't compensate for the lessened strength of the material (exception: "New Day"). But 2 out of 3 ain't bad, as some musical genius once sang... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Aug 1995 08:38:09 -0400 From: "Heather L. Chakiris" Subject: Chris Mars interview (uncut) [Matt, here is the Chris Mars interview I told you about. I phoned him on June 3, and we yakked for about an hour. He was great -- just as friendly as ever. This had to be cut drastically for print in the paper I write for, but I thought some of the Skyway folks would like to read the whole thing. -- Heather] Johnny says to his mom, "I want to be a drummer when I grow up." Mom says, "But Johnny, you can't do both." Chris Mars is a funny guy. His lack of pretense and posturing is mind-boggling, considering he co-founded perhaps the greatest rock-and-roll band of all time -- The Replacements -- before he was even 18. Now 33, and six years out of the now-defunct band, Mars has released three well-received solo albums -- Horseshoes and Hand Grenades (Smash); 75% Less Fat (Smash); and the brand-new Tenterhooks (Bar None). He's earned an admirable following in the art world, and is the proud proprietor of a recording studio currently located somewhere between his living room and basement. Some might point out that's more than can be said for his former bandmates. We spoke on a Friday night in early June about a little bit of everything. Me: How was camping? CM: (laughing) It was great. Me: Were you car camping? CM: Yep, yep. Me and my brother went out for a few days. Me: Where did you go? CM: We went to a lake not far from the Mississippi River. It's just beautiful there -- the water is so clean. Not at all like the Mississippi. Me: I have a camping-tolerance threshold of one night. Otherwise, unless there's a hotel in those woods, I won't be there. CM: (laughing) I'm a pretty big wienie about it, which is why I go car camping. Me: Did you take the dogs? CM: Not this time. They were happy to see me when I got home yesterday. Now I'm cutting the grass. Me: Well, you've gotta be really anxious to get back out there, so we'll get started. Do you spend any time on the Internet? CM: No, I don't, but I have a computer and I've thought about it. Is it worth it? Me: Well, it opens up a whole new information source, that's for sure. And I've actually met a lot of great people through the Internet. CM: I caught something on TV about a woman who wrote a book and got all of the information for it from the Internet. Me: I believe it. I kind of limit the time I spend on-line because I can't stand sitting in front of a computer for that long. Doing it all day at work is enough. I want to go outside, watch bad TV, talk to friends -- that sort of thing. CM: Yeah, me, too. I don't want to get sucked into something like that. Me: Did you know, then, that Chuck Whitney was on-line fielding questions about Tenterhooks a few months back? CM: Chuck's a computer technician, so he's into that stuff. I don't think he's doing it much anymore, though, for basically the reasons we just talked about. Me: Okay. Now I've gotta ask -- were you in traction a few months ago? CM: Traction? Uh... Me: I got your most recent newsletter, and -- CM: -- Oh! (much laughter) That was a joke. Me: I thought so. You had me going until the part where you talk about the old man from next door coming over three times a day to check up on you while your wife went out of town. CM: (still laughing) Yeah, I started off serious and then just got more outrageous as the letter went on. Me: I got a pretty big kick out of it. ... Well, I guess I should probably start talking about the new record, huh. CM: Sure, whatever. Me: I crack up when I listen to "Water Biscuits." That little disco sound effect you have running through it is hysterical. CM: Yeah, that was a lot of fun. Me: "New Day" is pretty cool, too. I put that on and just kind of bop around my office. CM: That's my Vince Guaraldi tribute. Actually, someone told me it was more like a Chicago tribute because of the horns. Me: (mortified) Chicago? No way. Vince Guaraldi is much closer, I think. I bet having that studio in your house gave you a lot more freedom. You didn't have to watch the clock. CM: Right. With the first two records I was on someone else's time, and with this record I was able to relax more. I had to learn how to use everything first, but that was actually part of the fun. Me: Do you kind of work in spurts, or is there a method to your madness? CM: I work better when I keep it in my head and live with it until it's done. Me: I'm looking at Tenterhooks, and I really love the sketch you did for the cover. CM: Thanks. Me: I have a print of the 75% Less Fat cover hanging in my office. CM: (somewhat surprised) Really? Me: It's quite the conversation piece. CM: (laughing) It's one of my family members. Me: Well then we must have very similar relatives. (Mars continues to laugh.) Do you illustrate the covers after each record is finished, or do you select artwork from paintings you've already done? CM: For Tenterhooks, I drew the artwork after the fact. On Horseshoes and 75% Less Fat, I picked the covers from paintings I'd already done. I've got a pretty big selection to pick from. Me: I bet. Let's talk for a minute about the exhibits. CM: Okay. I've had a couple of exhibits in Los Angeles, and they went well. Me: Did it compare at all with being on the road? In both cases you're kind of putting yourself out there for people to judge your work. CM: I'd have to say doing the exhibits is more like meeting people backstage than the actual performance. I just kind of hang out and talk to people. Me: Do you have plans for an East Coast exhibit? CM: Hopefully New York City. But I don't limit myself to big cities. I'm interested in doing exhibits all over. I prefer getting my name out by word of mouth, because I don't really like the wine and cheese scene. But I'm open to different things. Me: Sorry for dwelling so much on the artwork, but I'm really interested in it. CM: That's okay. I don't get to talk about my artwork very much. Thanks. Me: Have you, or would you, do an album cover for another band? CM: Actually, I have. I did the cover for a Big Head Todd & the Monsters record. Me: You did? I didn't know that. CM: Yeah, it's an early one. Me: I also heard that you were going to incorporate your artwork into the video for "White Paddy Rap." CM: Well, there was talk of that, but I'm actually doing something else. Me: You're directing it? CM: Yeah. It's very low budget. I shot it with some friends of mine, and I play a few different roles in the video. (laughing) You'll never see it on eMpTV. Me: Yeah, well they never played Replacements videos on eMpTV, either. You know, what really gets me is how they said they wouldn't play the video for "The Ledge" because of the subject content [a young man who's standing on the ledge of a building and subsequently jumps off]. But today you can get away with just about anything. CM: I know. They [eMpTV] basically used the subject content of "The Ledge" as an excuse because they didn't like the video. Me: I thought it was a hilarious video [the four band members sitting on a couch, smoking and drinking, occasionally walking around]. Getting back to working with other people, would you ever produce someone else's record? CM: Oh yeah! In fact I'm kind of investigating that right now with a kid who contacted me after hearing the record. He plays all of his own instruments, like me, so I'm interested. I think I'd have to stay with someone like that instead of an entire band because it's what I know. Me: Steering back to Tenterhooks, the reason I'm supposed to be calling believe it or not -- CM: (laughs) Me: It's a much looser record than the others. You can tell you're really experimenting, especially with getting noises out of different inanimate objects. Is there anything you haven't tried yet that you'd like to? CM: I'm always on the lookout. I think it's great to record a noise and use it in a song and have people say, "What the fuck is that?" I really like the idea of sampling. Me: Hearing that, and then listening to "White Paddy Rap," where you poke fun at the White hip-hop kids from the suburbs, do you tend to listen to a lot of rap/hip-hop? CM: I listen to a lot of different stuff. I like rap, and I also like people like Juliana Hatfield -- I really like her last album -- and Beck. Me: Speaking of sampling ... CM: Exactly. I also like a lot of music from the forties and twenties. Me: Me, too! My parents are older, and so I grew up listening to big band music -- people like Duke Ellington and Sarah Vaughan and the Ink Spots. CM: Same here. I'm the youngest in a pretty big family -- Me: -- Me, too. CM: Really? How many? Me: Seven. CM: Me, too! How many brothers and sisters do you have? Me: I have three brothers and three sisters. CM: I have four brothers and two sisters. My oldest brother is old enough to be my father. Me: My oldest sister is old enough to be my mother -- and, quite frankly, she thinks she is my mother. CM: (laughing) I know what you mean. Me: I think there's something to being the youngest in the family and having a creative slant to your personality. CM: I agree. I'm not sure why that is, but I think when you're the youngest you're exposed to so many different things -- Me: -- you've gotta have an outlet for all you're ingesting. CM: Right. Me: Plus the youngest are always the best looking. CM: (much laughter) Me: Boy, we're all over the place here. What were we talking about? CM: Music. I also like Prince a lot. I had the chance to see him in a small-club setting, and it was incredible. Me: I'm jealous! My favorite Prince material starts with Controversy and ends with Around the World in a Day. CM: Pretty much the same for me. Me: I don't get the whole symbol thing, though. CM: (laughing) Me, neither. Me: But I guess it doesn't really matter whether I get it or not, since the man can buy and sell me. Do you listen to your first two records? CM: Sometimes I listen to them for a frame of reference. Me: I know sometimes you hear singer/songwriters talking about being embarrassed by their first records, and trying to disassociate themselves from them. CM: I'm not embarrassed at all. Me: Two of my favorite songs by you are on Horseshoes -- "Reverse Status" and "Last Drop." How do you feel about the record some four years later? CM: When I listen to Horseshoes I hear things that don't bother me like they used to. I also hear things I didn't hear before. Me: I know you don't like to tour. You did it pretty regularly for ten years, so I can't say that I blame you. CM: I fall into a catatonic state even on short car trips. I know it's from touring. We'd just play, pack up, and drive; play, pack up, and drive. Endless strip malls and fast food restaurants. Me: God bless America. CM: (laughing) Really. I just got tired of everything looking the same and not knowing where I was. Me: I read that the Wallmen were going to play your songs on tour, and that you were going to stay home and phone in the vocals. CM: Well, that had been discussed, yeah. I'm not sure if they're doing it at every show, but I know at some they're doing a set of my stuff. For their kick-off show, they were wrapped in promo posters of me. Me: (laughing) I love it. ... Time check. I don't want to keep you on the phone all night, but I was wondering if maybe I could ask a question or two about The Replacements before we signed off. No personality issues, I promise. CM: It's okay. Me: I was just wondering what your favorite Mats record is. CM: (thinking) Boy ... that's hard. I'd say Hootenanny was a great time for the band, and I think that comes across on record. I also like Let It Be. I don't like Tim very much; it wasn't really a good time in the band, which might have something to do with it. I thought Pleased to Meet Me was a good record. It was kind of a crest for us in our popularity. Me: I can't pick a favorite; it depends on my mood. CM: I'd have to say the same. Me: Who was your favorite opening band? CM: Wow. Good question. ... I'd have to say the Young Fresh Fellows were a favorite of mine. They were a lot of fun. Me: I noticed a distinct change in your live shows as time went on. When Bob was there -- CM: -- The ultimate time in the band was with Bob. That was the real band. Me: I absolutely agree with you, and I'm glad you brought it up. The thing about Bob was that he was incredibly genuine. He was out of his mind, but he was genuine. CM: (laughing) He was definitely out of his mind. He was a great guy -- crazy in a good way. Me: When I saw him for the first time I just said, "Oh my God. This is what it's all about." And I saw the Mats several times over the years, but -- CM: -- Really? We've probably met. Me: Oh, we've definitely met. Many times. Don't ask me what the hell we said to each other -- it was an embarrassingly foggy period in my life. CM: (laughing) I know what you mean. Me: Someone will ask me a question about those years, and I just kind of shrug and say, "Well, I vaguely remember New Haven, Connecticut." CM: (much laughter) A friend of mine mentioned something recently about one of our crazier shows, and if he hadn't brought it up, I wouldn't have remembered it. Me: I can't believe I survived it. The Don't Tell a Soul tour was the worst for me. It was the first time I'd seen you guys open for another band -- Tom Petty -- and it was horrible. CM: That was a bad time for the band, and it was a really bad time to try and back another band. Me: With all of the history you've had with the Mats, are you able to appreciate and understand the scope of what the band did? CM: Definitely. Me: I am so happy to hear that. CM: Yeah? Me: Well, The Replacements were a major part of some pretty heavy times in my life. It's still my favorite band ten years later. If you'd said it didn't mean anything at all to you, that would've sucked. Especially when you listen to the music that's out today and so much of it is what you were doing fifteen years ago. CM: Yes! Thank-you for saying that. That appreciation we're talking about really comes out when I'm listening to current bands. They've definitely been listening to The Replacements. **end** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [At least two people (Charles Ford and 'Jen') submitted edited versions of the America Online chat with Tommy Stinson. This is Charles Ford's transcript with some additions from the version sent in by Jen. -- M@] Date: Tue, 30 May 95 13:28:40 EDT From: cford@VNET.IBM.COM Edited version on the AOL Tommy Stinson chat... OnlineHost: TStinson1 has entered the room. DFKGURL: hi Tommy!!! TStinson1: Hi Zelig 1: can i call you tommy? Boooha: Thomas would be proper TStinson1: You can call me anything you like... Boooha: Hey shithead Boooha: Just kidding JasAdL: Tommy, how's LA going these days for you? Tomsmart: Did you like Forrest Gump? TStinson1: HOT...we just got A/C...next week will be better TStinson1: Yes...I liked Gump Boooha: Tommy did you take typing in school? Jim Christ: How about Pulp Fiction? TStinson1: No...but Anthony (CptAntneil ) did Zelig 1: did you go to school? TStinson1: Some of the time...Pulp fiction...never read any. Boooha: Why did you change the name of your band Tom? Sboo: Tommy, why did you bag Bash for the new band? TStinson1: That's Tommy...and I changed the name because the new stuff doesnt fit with the old stuff.... TStinson1: The didifference between writing on acoustic and electric guitar Tomsmart: How's that? TStinson1: Have a band now, didn't then... Boooha: who's in the band? Tomsmart: So you wrote most of "Friday Night" then got the bAND? TStinson1: Gersh/drums, Mark Roberts/bass, Mark Solom/guit, me/guit/vox Zelig 1: hey tommy, what do you think of "tenterhooks?" Boooha: Are they from LA? TStinson1: I wrote Friday night, and never achieved a band, thats why I changed the name! TStinson1: From LA....the tender who? Boooha: Who'sThe Captain? Sboo: When can we expect your next album and do you have any plans to tour? TStinson1: Capttain...well, lets just say "Love will keep us together" TStinson1: Album....dont know yet, but will let you know as soon as I know JasAdL: What bands are you listening to these days? CopperBlu1: Got a record deal yet? TStinson1: Flaming Lips Wilco, Cpt Beefheart, Frank Black TStinson1: Not a good one (record deal) Jim Christ: Flaming lips....YES! CopperBlu1: Problems with Sire? Boooha: How's your head these days FEELIN OK? TStinson1: No problems, no NOTHING! Thats the problem! Tomsmart: Tommy, Bash & Pop seemed REALLY pissed off on Letterman. Was it because you had to play w/ Paul [Schafer]? TStinson1: Feel's fine, and yours? Zelig 1: yeah, and is it true about the guitar player and kathy lee or whoever was on letterman? TStiso1: The problem is ,I didnt know HOW to play with Paul Tomsmart: What did he do to Kathy Lee? TStinson1: Fell in Love! Zelig 1: so it wasn't a rumor? Jim Christ: Shaeffer is a yuts. you should have beat him up with your guitar. Zelig 1: isn't she married? TStinson1: Not yet Goatbuoy: yeah to Regis TStinson1: Yeah to Kathy Lee ya Putz Tomsmart: Tommy, replacements songs have appeared in such flicks as "My Chaueffer" and "Hot to trot." Explain. TStinson1: You'll have to ask Paul about soundtracks TStinson1: Hey Jim...any relation? Jim Christ: Yeah he's my older brother Boooha: Tommy loved the Clerks thing TStinson1: Booha, youd have to ask Paul about this one Sboo: Sorry, Do you mean you moved to LA because you fell in love? This can get confusing TStinson1: LA/in love Boooha: HUH? Sboo: Do you have a favorite song from Friday Night? I'm still trying to decypher lyrics. PAFUMI: Tommy, would you impart some BnP lyrical info? TStinson1: First Step Jim Christ: Tommy...O.J: Innocent or guilty? TStinson1: PAUFUM...shoot TStinson1: Orange Juice has lots of Vitamin C PiTuLa: and guilt ain't no fun TStinson1: No shit Boooha: Tommy I dont get it...Why should I ask Paul about Clerks? TStinson1: Youd have to ask Paul about that too Boooha: HUh? PAFUMI: "Tiny Pieces" (by the way, probably one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard)...chorus.. PAFUMI: "Something something shouldn't waste time..." TStinson1: Blessed and Frayed, I shouldnt waste time, lick it shut before I lose my guts Tomsmart: Do you ever see Lemmy in LA? TStinson1: cant remember the rest TStinson1: Only his mole Tomsmart: Which one? TStinson1: The big one Zelig 1: Tommy, what's your favorite movie? JasAdL: Besides Tom Petty, which band that you have played with was your favorite? Tomsmart: Tom Petty ripped you guys off. You should kick his ass. TStinson1: He wasn't my favorite in the first place....and I haven't yet. Boooha: Tommy do you play a P bass now? or a Rick or what? TStinson1: Face in The crowd with Andy Griffith...excellent movie, must see Tomsmart: Elia Kazan Sboo: More lyric help, please-- on Fast & Hard "You're a restless malcontent and something something" Jim Christ: Face in the Crowd...isnt that a Tom Petty song? TStinson1: Youd have to ask Paul Booha....(I play guitar) Dadouglas: Tommy - When you guys played Letterman, why didn't you guys do Friday Night? TStinson1: Elia Kazan....COMMIE! TStinson1: slow down folks Dadouglas: I liked Fast and Hard, but Friday night was a signature type song Boooha: Tom Is Paul Paul or is he your bass player? TStinson1: I havent the slightest about Face in The Crowd TStinson1: You know answer Booha...ask him Boooha: I am confused TStinson1: He wasnt in the Beatles CopperBlu1: Rim shot, Tommy. TStinson1: ok..I'm cought up Boooha: No Tomsmart: What do you think of this "punk?" revival? TStinson1: Creedence Clearwater, huh? Jim Christ: did you ever get pissed off and kick Paul's ass? TStinson1: You know the answer Jim. Tomsmart: I hear the kids like this "punk stuff." TStinson1: Youd have to ask Paul about that one Tom.. Funslacks: Tommy, what do you think of the word "ennui?" TStinson1: Never heArd of em... TStinson1: What does it mean in one word Tomsmart: Self-indulgent boredom Boooha: Tommy thanks for the Louis Jordan, Wynonnie Harris Lyndale107: boredom Funslacks: i would have to say weary, in a spiritual sense TStinson1: Details, or Jacks Booha... Boooha: HUH? Dadouglas: What label will Perfect be out on? TStinson1: Fuck the stupid word. Jim Christ: Hey Tommy you wouldn't happen to want a cat, would you? TStinson1: Dont know about the label...Youll have to ask...well you know Lyndale107: now there's a pertinent question -- forget this music stuff --- tommy, do you like cats? TStinson1: Nope... Lyndale107: how about dogs? Funslacks: Tommy, how do I keep my souffles from falling? TStinson1: Nope TStinson1: Like dogs Boooha: Tommy did you break you're old bass? TStinson1: Follow the directions (soufles) Boooha: The Green one Sboo: Have you ever thought about writing a book? You've done and seen so much in a relatively short time TStinson1: I have never been strong enough to actually break one. TStinson1: No book...just an afterschool special Funslacks: Tommy, what is rack and pinion steering? Zelig 1: tommy, i don't know if i can ask this, but what's your favorite mats song/album? PiTuLa: afterschool special... sounds wholesome TStinson1: Is that a board game? Tomsmart: Does Rolling STone piss you off? TStinson1: Lot of favorites songs, Tim the best record Zelig 1: were you happy with the production on tim? TStinson1: Is that that stupid cartoon TStinson1: I like the Rolling Stones DFNavarret: So who'd you want to star as you in the inevitable movie? Tomsmart: The magazine, I mean. TStinson1: The Stones have a magazine? Jim Christ: Tom, will you be cross-dressing in any more videos in the future? TStinson1: No, Andy Griffith should star Funslacks: Tommy, what 2 songs do you think best typify the Bnp/Perfect sound? TStinson1: Havent written them yet... Dadouglas: TS - Do you know who John Doe 2 is? TStinson1: Ive never been to Oklahama, I swear Dadouglas: Floyd The Barber Rocks! DFNavarret: Ernest T! TStinson1: OTIS Zelig 1: tommy, where you there when paul and tom waits recorded (i guess you were for "church) and how was it? TStinson1: You know more than youre allowed Zelig Funslacks: doesn't that kind of frighten you? Tomsmart: Tommy, do you sing the opening verse to "I Won't"? TStinson1: No... Jim Christ: have you ever met Joel Hodgson from TV's Mystery Science Theater 3000? TStinson1: Nope, never met Joel, but I heard about it Funslacks: ever shot a man in reno just to shoot a man in reno? Dadouglas: Anybody catch Sly and the Family Stone on Don Kirshjners last night (VH1)? TStinson1: Not yet, you from Reno? TStinson1: I MISSED IT! AND IM BUMMED! Dadouglas: They had the Raspberries on the other night, along with Steve Miller DFKGURL: what's the best thing you ever got from a fan? Zelig 1: tommy, how many songs on all shook down do you play on? and is that you on upright bass on "the last? TStinson1: Anyone with a tape of the Raspberrys section...e-mail me TStinson1: HATE MAIL (best from fan) TStinson1: More than half, no on upright Zelig 1: can you read music? TStinson1: no cant read Boooha: How do you write? TStinson1: CtAntneil does it for me Boooha: Ct Writes? TStinson1: With a pen anyway Zelig 1: tommy, maybe this is off limits--but is that paul playing that great bassline on "black eyed susan?" TStinson1: Youd have to ask Paul about this one PiTuLa: Who is this Paul guy anyway? Jennbird: Tommy,why did you decide to come on AOL and reveal yourself? TStinson1: ennui Boooha: Tommy, Do you know Keith? TStinson1: Morris? TStinson1: or Partridge? Boooha: RIchards TStinson1: Im going home now. See ya in a month! Mike 21370: Hey Anthony TStinson1: Not Anthony...Tommy Jennbird: thanks, why do we deserve this TStinson1: You dont Jim Christ: I feel blessed Boooha: You only spent $2.50 TStinson1: But Boooha was robbed. TStinson1: Bye ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 21 May 1995 17:17:45 -0500 From: Jipson Art Subject: Sessions on Popular Music Please forward and pass on to any interested folks... Call for Papers and Presentations on Any Aspect of Popular Music and the Recording Industry at the 22nd Annual Conference of the Midwest Popular Culture and American Culture Conference Association Meetings, November 3-5, 1995 This year the MWPC/ACA is meeting at the Ramada Suites on the Circle in downtown Indianapolis. There's lots of interesting attractions in the downtown area alone, many museums, theatres, concert halls, shops, restaurants, the works. Send any papers or abstracts that deal with the nature, organization, genre, content or performance of popular music and workings of the recording industry to the session organizer. Please note that the session organizer needs your name, affiliation, address, presentation title, contact information (phone, e-mail, fax), and your a/v needs. In past conferences papers and presentations have examined several different topics: the oligopolistic nature of the recording industry, punk, country, union and labor related music, popular music and the Internet, and white supremacist/hate music. If you have an idea or a paper, contact the session organizer Session organizer: Art Jipson Sociology and Anthropology Department Upham Hall Miami University Oxford, Ohio 45056 jipson_art@msmail.muohio.edu 513-529-2637 (o) 513-529-3841 (f) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- fin. --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Matthew Tomich The //Skyway\\: The Replacements Mailing List 857 Loveland Drive ---------------------------------------------- Omaha, NE 68114-5339 To subscribe, send "subscribe skyway" in the (402)-397-2100 body of a letter to lists@phoenix.creighton.edu --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- "A man may travel the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." -- George Moore