---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===-- 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 \\ / Winter 1995 -- Issue #26 February 28th, 1995 (c) 1995 Bastards of Young (BOY/BetaOmegaYamma) Productions --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- ** Subscriptions, comments, contributions, anything you want to read: ** --> skyway@phoenix.creighton.edu <-- ** Manager: ** i261%nemomus@academic.nemostate.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. --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- ** 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 SEND ALL COMMANDS IN THE BODY OF A LETTER TO: "lists@phoenix.creighton.edu" ---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===-- Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 19:41:08 CST From: "M@" To: skyway@phoenix.creighton.edu ROCK N' ROLL GHOST I can't believe all the stuff that poured in about Bob Stinson's death. You gotta see it all... Extra big thanks to two people in particular: Ron Thums and Dean Roe (both Minneapolis denziens). Ron typed in every available article about Bob in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, and Dean kicked butt big time by totally overhauling the Replacements discography. (The revised version is in this issue, but it'll take me a few weeks to getting time to put it into the gopher and the listserver...but you can write to the list and I can manually forward it to you, like always.) As for myself, I just wish Bob would've been around long enough to have a release that would've reputiated his reputation as an M.I.A. in the music world. You know, one last tune that just totally rocked like a quarry and made people go, "Shit, he's still got it." Guess we'll have to wait 20 years for the reincarnation to show up at First Ave. Sorry this intro is so brief. I've behind in all my classes...I'm trying to get everything set for graduating and leaving this country for this summer...but I wanted to get this out ASAP. For everybody who wrote to me asking when I'd be in London, here's the scoop: I'll be there (probably) Sunday, March 5th to Friday or Saturday, March 10th. I might be at (071)-370-4646, but you never know. If I'm not there I'm either at the Tower Records in London next to the Dunkin Doughnuts or the local youth hostle. My only plans that remain at this point are to straighten shit out between me and my girlfriend, which could take 5 minutes or 5 days. Other than that, I'd be happy to go bounce around and get lost! (If you call, ask for "Katie's friend Matt". If you see a 5'5" guy with a washed out leather jacket with an 'A' on it (stands for Arnheim, Holland...I traded with a Dutch friend) looking lost, that's me. Come up and say hi.) I'll tell yah how it was when I get back. Fuck school, -- /\/\@. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 00:24:46 -0500 From: SWCoupe@aol.com Subject: Bob in Pioneer Press The following article appeared on page 1 of the February 20, 1995 St. Paul Pioneer Press: Head: Replacements' 'lunatic guitarist,' Bob Stinson, dies Sub: Unconventional musician struggled with drug abuse By Jim Walsh, Staff Writer St. Paul Pioneer Press Bob Stinson, who gained national notoriety as the madman guitarist for the seminal Minneapolis-based rock 'n' roll band, the Replacements, was found dead Saturday in his Uptown (Minneapolis) apartment. Stinson's body was found about 7 p.m. by a friend. A syringe was found next to the couch in the apartment. The cause of death has not yet been determined, Hennepin County officials said Sunday. Stinson's struggle with drug and alcohol abuse led to his ouster from the Replacements in 1986 as well as estrangement from his wife, Carleen, and his 6-year-old son, Joey. Stinson, 35, was diagnosed as suffering from a manic-depressive disorder last year and was taking medication to combat intense mood swings, his mother, Anita Stinson Kurth, said. "He had been going through a real hard time these last couple weeks with his depression," she said. "He was down about it. But he did say that he was taking steps to get with a psychiatrist on that. Other than that, he was Bob." Despite his recent battles with depression, Stinson Kurth said she was convinced her son's death was not a suicide. "I think it was accidental; I really believe that," she said. "I don't think it was intentional." News of Stinson's death yesterday elicited shock and sadness - but not surprise - from his friends, family and former bandmates. "We all knew that it was coming, but that didn't soften the blow one bit," said singer/songwriter Paul Westerberg, who joined Stinson, his brother Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars in 1979 in the first incarnation of the Replacements. "We knew that Bob led the lifestyle he did. But it hurt as much as if he'd been hit by a truck." Westerberg got word of Stinson's death late Saturday, when Tommy Stinson called him from his home in Los Angeles. "Tommy was shook up," Westerberg said on Sunday. "I was stronger on the phone, and then when I got off the horn, that's when the tears started to flow. Tommy sounded a little more together this morning; I have a feeling as soon as I see him, it'll be all over again." With the Replacements, Bob Stinson made six recordings: "Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash" (1981); "The Replacements Stink" EP (1982), "Hootenanny" (1983); "Let It Be" (1984), which was named one of the best 100 records of all time by Rolling Stone magazine; "The S--- Hits The Fans" cassette tape (1985); and"Tim" (1985). Over the years, Stinson developed a reputation as a lightning-wristed, wholly unconventional lead guitar player, inspired by his six-string heroes Steve Howe, Johnny Winter and Prince. "It certainly was one of the most unintellectual musicalities that I've ever experienced," said Peter Jesperson, former manager of the Replacements, who remembered Stinson as a "gentle giant." "I mean, what he played just came from somewhere else. It was instinctual, more than most people that I've ever experienced. He just played a weird amalgamation of things that he admired, filtered through the weird Bob Stinson brain." As a performer, Stinson took to playing gigs in skirts, make-up and the buff. As one observer once wrote, Stinson was, for many, "the lunatic guitarist for the only American band that ever mattered." But that reputation became a burden, and toward the end of his time with the Replacements, the band persuaded Stinson to seek treatment for his drug and alcohol problem. "We paid for him to go into treatment, and he got out and scored some drugs that day," Westerberg said. "It was obvious he didn't want to quit, or wouldn't. But we were no angels at the time, either. I think the spectacle sort of took over the band, and we forgot about playing music." When Stinson left, the Replacements filled the lead guitar slot with Bob "Slim" Dunlap. The group disbanded in 1990. Stinson went on to play with various local outfits, including Sonny Vincent, Static Taxi, Dog 994, and, most recently, the Bleeding Hearts. The last year of his life was relatively inactive musically. But his legacy will always be as founder of the Replacements. "I started that band, and I ended that band when I left," he said in an interview with the Pioneer Press last year. "In the Replacements, we all knew our positions. "When the Replacements broke up, everybody went out and tried to be a lead singer and a frontman. I'm a guitar player. I don't have the ego . . . to do that. I'd rather be a guitar player lost in a band. I have a gas playing the guitar." That much was evident at Lee's Liquor Bar a few months ago, when Stinson got up on stage and joined the local countryswing band Trailer Trash for an impromptu version of Lefty Frissell's "Lil' Ol' Wine Drinker Me." Stinson became a regular at the Trailer Trash shows because he was drawn to one thing: the music. "He'd come for the escapism of the scene," says Nate Dungan, leader of Trailer Trash. "When the music was right and the big mirror ball was spinnin' around, that little room would kind of take you away from the big city. And I think that's why he was there, though I couldn't really figure it, because Bob is as punk as they come. He was the true spirit of punk rock." "He was one in a million; I haven't met his equal yet," added Westerberg with a laugh, after recounting some of Stinson's more inspired antics. "He didn't have much education, but he would say things sometimes that were utterly poetic. He wasn't dumb. You would think he was at times, and then he'd come up with something that was just brilliant." Stinson is survived by his son, Joey of Minneapolis, his mother, Anita Stinson Kurth of Minneapolis; his father, Neil Stinson of Mound, his brother, Tommy of Los Angeles, and two sisters, Lonnie of Monticello and Lisa of Big Lake. Visitation is Tuesday at McDivitt Hauge funeral home. Funeral services are Wednesday. -30- (Reprinted without permission of the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 09:24:26 -0500 (EST) From: "Richard Wallace (GD 1999)" Subject: Bummer about Bob Hi Matthew -- I'm a lurker, I'll admit, I've been receiving Skyway since last year, and keep meaning to write some sort of a hello letter, but haven't yet de-lurked. Not to be morbid about de-lurking, but I thought you'd like to see the obituary in today's N.Y. Times for Bob Stinson. I hadn't heard that he'd died, so it was a surprise (tho' I guess not a shock). I'll still write sometime about Mats experiences, etc., but right now I'm studying for my doctoral qualifying exams and need to get back to the books. I send you the Times obit for the next issue of Skyway and FYI. Cheers, Rich Wallace ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From The New York Times, Friday, February 24, 1995: Bob Stinson, Rock Guitarist, is Dead at 35 Bob Stinson, who played lead guitar in the influential 1980s rock band the Replacements, was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment on Saturday. He was 35. The cause was an unintentional overdose of a substance that has not yet been identified, said his mother, Anita Stinson Kurth. Mr. Stinson was born in Waconia, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis. He began playing music when he was 11, after he received a guitar as a Christmas present. With Chris Mars on drums and his 12-year-old brother Tommy on bass, he formed a group called Dogbreath in 1978. After Paul Westerberg joined the band on vocals and guitar, the group performed in place of a band that failed to show up at a concert. Shortly afterward, it changed its name to the Replacements. In 1981, it released its first album, a boisterous punk exercise called "Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash." Over the years, on such albums as "Let it Be" and "Tim," the band started blending its punk sound with pop, blues, and folk music and mixing its sloppy, sardonic songs with dark confessional ones. Mr. Stinson's fast-paced life eventually put him at odds with the rest of the band members, and he was dismissed in 1986. He went on to perform with several groups, including the Bleeding Hearts, Static Taxi, Sonny Vincent, and Dog 994, none of which ever released an album with Mr. Stinson. Last year, his medical condition was diagnosed as manic- depressive, and he was put on medication for his mood swings. In addition to his mother, he is survived by a son, Joey, and two sisters, Lonnie and Lisa, all of Minneapolis, and a brother, Tommy, of Los Angeles. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 04:59:55 -0500 From: SWCoupe@aol.com Subject: Bob Stinson/Strib (inspiration...huh?) The following article appeared on the front of the Variety section of the 3/23/95 Minneapolis Star Tribune. (Note: The byline of Strib rock crit Jon Bream should stand as a warning to all those with critical faculties intact. Outside of content snafus -- and a headline I STILL cannot figure out -- the article is accompanied by a single, large onstage photo -- of an unidentified Paul Westerberg in checkered shirt and vertically striped pants. Just another mark of Star Tribune editorial accuracy.) Head: The Replacements' Bob Stinson's death is loss of inspiration By Jon Bream and David Chanen Staff Writers It took the Replacements only 30 seconds to get discovered. Peter Jesperson was working at Oarfolkjokeopus, a record store in south Minneapolis, when singer Paul Westerberg handed him a demo tape. Jesperson, cofounder of the influential Twin/Tone Records, didn't even make it through the flrst song before he realized this band was "it." R.E.M. certainly sold more records, and Guns N' Roses was more famous. But no American band born in the 1980s was more important than those punky garage-rockers Jesperson discovered in 30 seconds. "The Replacements were about as good as any American band there has been," said Bill Flanagan, editor of Musician magazine. "Their music didn't recognize barriers that trendier bands following them now do." "The Replacements were the link between the '60s creative explosion of the Who and the Beatles and the whole renaissance of the '90s with Nirvana and Pearl Jam," said Los Angeles Times critic Robert Hilburn, who is on the nominating committee for the Rock 'n' Roli Hall of Fame. "They'll never get to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame because they didn't sell enough records, but creatively they deserve to be there." >From 1979 to 1991, the Replacements made eight albums, performed on TV"s "Saturday Night Live," received a Grammy nomination, played at Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards' birthday Party, toured with Tom Petty and R.E.M. and inspired hundreds of youngsters to pick up guitars and play aggressive rock with pop sensibilities. Musical models for today's hit makers These underdogs from Minneapolis influenced countless bands, from the Wallflowers (featuring Bob Dylan's son Jakob) to today's alternative rock sensations Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Hole, Green Day and Minneapolis' Soul Asylum. Crash Test Dummies, the Grammy-nominated folk-rockers from Winnipeg, recorded a Replacements tune on their debut album, and They Might Be Giants, an eclectic duo from Brooklyn, recorded a song about the Replacements as a tribute. On the surface, the Replacements were loud, fast proto-punks churning out inebriated anarchy and cynical teen anthems. Underneath the chaos there was wit, sentimentality and a sensitive soul yearning to be understood. The death late last week of the band's founder, 35-year-old guitarist Bob Stinson, may seem like another rock 'n' roll tragedy involving a misunderstood soul. Stinson and singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg were considered the architects of the band's sound. As with many celebrated rock bands, it took the magical chemistry between two unlikely forces to make it work. Westerberg was a poetic punk with a;record collection that ran from Kiss to Frank Sinatra to HankWilliams, and an appreciation for the craftsmanship of songwriting. Stinson was a smash-mouth guitarist with an attitude of, "Let's just scream through it." Throw in Stinson's bass-playing brother Tommy - who wasn't even old enough to drive a car, let alone get into the bars'where the Replacements played - and steady drummer Mars, and it was an intoxicating mix. Jesperson, who became the Replacements' manager, recalled his first meeting with the band at what was supposed to be a "chemical-free coffeehouse." Some of the musicians were caught with pills and liquor, and the gig was immediately canceled. Bob Stinson played with the Replacements in this 1987 photo taken during the "Pleased to Meet Me" era. The band, whlch broke up In 1991, is credited for influenclng many of the young bands now popular. On the critics' pedestal Fueled by alcohol and youthful enthusiasm, the Replacements made their first album for Twin/Tone- "Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out the Trash"-in 1981. From the beginning, critics adored the group, which Westerberg said was a "curse of death" for bands. The 'Mats, as their fans called them, released three more albums for Twin/Tone: "Stink," "Hootenanny" and "Let It Be." With the latter's release in 1984, "It was evident that a truly monumental rock 'n' roll band had arrived," according to Tom Sinclair in "The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock 'n' Roll." The Replacements' performances were often unforgettable: daring and exciting or anarchic and frustrating, depending on your perspective and sense of fun. Sometimes the 'Mats would become an attitude band, playing only songs - or snippets of songs -by other groups and none of their own material. On other occasions they played it straight, like a great rock 'n' roll band with a taste for punk, rock, blues, country, pop and folk. The Replacements reached their pinnacle with the 1985 album "Tim" on Sire Records, home of Talking Heads and Madonna. The Los Angeles Times called it the album of the year. "Tim was a modern-day Tommy, " Times critic Hilburn said this week, referring to how the 'Mats captured the isolation and uncertainty of youth in much the same way the Who's classic "Tommy" had in 1969. "No one in American rock chronicled the insecurities and desires of youth more convincingly in the '80s than Paul Westerberg." After Bob Stinson "Tim" marked the lasttime Bob Stinson would play with the Replacements. He was booted out for living a life of drugs and drink. "Obviously the whole band was a mess, in a storm of turmoil," said drummer Mars, who would leave the band himself shortly after it made a final album in 1990. "But it wasn't like we had to save the band by having Bob leave." In 1986 veteran Minneapolis guitarist Slim Dunlap replaced Stinson, and the 'Mats moved on. Their next album, "Pleased to Meet Me," has been the band's best seller at 282,000 copies, but the group was becoming more of a showcase for Westerberg and his growing talents as a songwriter. The Replacements were everything punk was supposed to be, a working-class band that anybody could imagine playing with," said Rolling Stone senior writer Chris Mundy. There would be two more albums, "Don't Tell a Soul" and "All Shook Down," which was nominated for a Grammy for best alternative recording. The Replacements disintegrated onstage in Chicago in July 1991. The band never made it big, partly because radio never embraced the Mats in a big way. "They had all the quality and heart of the Beatles, Stones and the Who, but they came along at a time when radio was geared toward adult sensibilities," said Hilburn. "Rock radio thought they were too crude, rude or bratty. Their sound was a reaction against '70s rock slickness, and it blurred the songwriting excellence of the band." "I think during the course of the band it was easy for us to find scapegoats and point fingers at the record company or other bands or the fans, and that's all crap," Westerberg said in 1993 interview with the Star Tribune. "You could list a hundred reasons, but the bottom line is we didn't go for it hard enough." Post 'Mats Since the band's breakup, Westerberg made a solo album in 1993 and has contributed songs to the soundtracks for the movie "Singles," which was set amid Seattle's grunge culture, and TV's Melrose Place." Bob Stinson played in a number of local rock bands, including Static Taxi, the Bleeding Hearts and Sonny Vincent. Two years ago Tommy Stinson formed a group called Bash and Pop, made an album for Warner Bros. and moved to Los Angeles. Mars has released two solo albums and exhibited his visual art at galleries in California and Minnesota. Dunlap released a solo album on Twin/Tone in 1993. As soloists, none of the Replacements has made it bigger than the Mats themselves, who never made it bigger than America's biggest cult band. "We did what we were supposed to do," Westerberg told the Star Tribune in 1993 "which is live to tell the tale and influence a few other bands. For every 100 people who saw us, five of them formed a band." -30- SIDEBAR: To listen to music of the Replacements, call 673-9067 (through Saturday). Then select one of the these four-digit numbers to hear a 45-second sample of the song: "I Hate Music" 4460 "God Damn Job" 4461 "Color Me Impressed" 4462 "I Will Dare" 4463 "Unsatisfied" 4464 "Bastards of Young" 4465 "Here Comes a Regular" 4466 "I'll Be You" 4467 "When It Began" 4468 (Reprinted without permission of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 04:59:43 -0500 From: SWCoupe@aol.com Subject: Bob Stinson/Strib (tragic) The following article appeared on the front page of the Metro section of the Feb. 23, 1995 Minneapolis Star Tribune: Hed: Guitarist Stinson's friends recount full, but tragic, life By David Chanen and Neal Justin Staff Writers The day before he died, Bob Stinson had to borrow a broom from his ex-wife to clean his apartment. The founder of the influential rock band known as the Replacements had no phone, no health insurance and hardly any cash, except for the $5 daily allowance his girlfriend would shell out for beer. When his body was found Saturday night, three days after he died, a syringe was near the couch. At first glance, Stinson's life and death may read like the standard rock 'n' roll tragedy, a pop star whose appetite for booze and drugs spun out of control. But Stinson never was a pop star. By the time the Minneapolis-based Replacements had gained national prominence, guitarist Stinson already had been kicked out of the band. Friends say he never regretted not becoming a major star, and he seemed content jamming with no-name bar bands. "He lived and glamorized the rock 'n' roll lifestyle and found it romantic," said Paul Stark, owner of Twin/Tone, the band's first record label. Chris Mars, the Replacements' drummer, who cried the moment he heard about Stinson's death, described his former bandmate as a tragic character, but said he never stopped loving him. "What I remember is that he had a presence like nobody else I've ever played with," Mars said. Mars and Stark were among more than 250 people who gathered at McDivitt-Hauge Bradshaw Funeral Home in south Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon to swap lighthearted stories, share a few tears and listen to classics by Louis Armstrong and the Replacements on a portable tape player. With an acoustic guitar leaning against the open casket, one speaker after another told stories about Stinson living life to the fullest - and then some. >From the way he scarfed down fast food hamburgers to his no-holds barred guitar playing, Stinson did more than dance on the edge. He wanted to hang over the cliff by his fingernails. There was the time Stinson was sitting around a piano at 4 a. m. in a Radisson Hotel lobby singing "Imagine" with a few friends, when suddenly he spit on the carpet. "The manager came over and said, 'Did you just spit on the floor?' " remembered Ray Reigstad, who was in the band Static Taxi, a post-Replacements band, with Stinson. "Bob said, 'Yeah, but not belligerently.' " There was the time he wrote to Carleen Stinson, his wife at the time, telling her "I could lead a simple life if I was a simple man, but it's getting to my head.... You can't change what you can't change." "That was right before he threatened to throw me out a window," Carleen Stinson said with a half smile. Jim Walsh, longtime friend and St. Paul Pioneer Press music critic, said the guitarist made everyone feel like it was Stinson and them against the world. "He was the third-base coach, waving us all in, jumping up wildly - in a dress," Walsh said in his eulogy to mourners, including all the Replacements and dozens of musicians such as Lori Barbero of Babes in Toyland and Chris Osgood of Suicide Commandos. "He would have laughed at us in our suits today, the pomp and circumstance. He would have wanted to know where the beer was." Medical problems also may have contributed to Stinson's erratic lifestyle. Although Stinson last year received a diagnosis of bipolar depression, a severe mood-altering illness, family members think he had been suffering from it for years. He had tried different medications and recently had made an appointment with doctors to find a more effective one, said his sister Lonnie Stinson. "I was fearful something might happen, but we had plans to have an intervention to get him to a clinic for his mental problems," she said. Then there was the drinking. He had been in and out of the hospital for the past two years because of alcohol abuse, Stark said. Friends say he was trying to get straight and apparently had been off hard drugs for several months. Family members suspect an overdose killed him, but the Hennepin County medical examiner's office has not released what specific drugs may have contributed to his death. The day before he died, Carleen Stinson said her ex-husband "begged me to help him find a way to have a normal life." If he had, Stinson may have lived longer than 35 years. It's doubtful that he would have lived "more." -30- (This story was reprinted without permission of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 04:59:37 -0500 From: SWCoupe@aol.com Subject: Bob Stinson/TC Reader The following appeared in the February 22, 1995 issue of the Twin Cities Reader, an alternative news and culture weekly in Minneapolis/St. Paul: Head: There Goes a Regular - Bob Stinson, 1959-1995 By Burl Gilyard Former Replacements guitarist Bob Stinson was one of a rare breed -- the select group of heretics who never fear wearing a diaper onstage. News that the 35-year-old Stinson was found dead Saturday, February 18, in his Uptown apartment from an apparent drug overdose hits closer to home than the death of Kurt Cobain. Any time you corner a veteran of the Minneapolis rock scene, you're likely to hear a shopworn story about how the Replacements "just weren't the same" without Stinson on lead guitar. Over the years, the hackneyed cliche proved truer than anyone first suspected. Stinson neither wrote songs nor sang - unless you count his inimitable rendition of the Revillos' "Yeah Yeah," a one-word goof ideally suited to his limited vocal range. Singer Paul Westerberg was the genius songwriter of the group, but something about the band shifted after Stinson's 1986 departure. Without Stinson's "hotter than a urinary infection" leads - as billed in the liner notes to the group's first album, "Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash," the band's ragged edges got smoothed over. Stinson's leads were untutored. but elemental. He fused the '70s hard rock of his youth with the unruly loud-and-fast ethic of the early '80s to detonate solos that sounded like explosions - simultaneously taut and chaotic. In retrospect, maybe his playing was a function of his manic depression. His style often skewered and parodied guitar-solo pretensions, but he could also play with startling tenderness on the ballads that were emerging before he left the band. Ultimately, he proved he couldn't be replaced. (Reprinted without permission of the Twin Cities Reader, MCP Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 04:59:31 -0500 From: SWCoupe@aol.com Subject: Bob Stinson/City Pages This from the end of a music column in the February 22, 1995 issue of City Pages (a Minneapolis/St. Paul alternative news weekly): By Jim Meyers Bob Stinson -- 1959-1995: Just hours after completing this column, I learned that Replacements' guitarist Bob Stinson was found dead in his uptown apartment Saturday night, of a suspected drug overdose. Though he'd been musically inactive recently, he was often seen at the Uptown Bar socializing with tables full of friends and fans. Stinson's struggle with substance abuse was no secret among his admirers, but seeing him out and about, and looking relatively serene of late, gave many of us hope that he would find peace and happiness again, whether in or out of music. The news of his death puts an end to that hope, and ends the ordeal of a man who possessed an extraordinary musical talent, and endured an unenviable personal torment. Stinson's passing makes us remember his inspiring work and vital role in the Replacements, one of the greatest rock bands of our era, if not rock history. Our condolences go out to family, friends and fans. (Reprinted without permission of City Pages Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 13:52:05 -0600 (CST) From: KYKYRI Matt- I went to both the wake and the funeral. The funeral home is in a working-class neighborhood of southeast Minneapolis. I'd never been in the neighborhood before, and wandering around Tuesday night, on foot, alone, in the dark was kinda creepy. It's not the greatest part of town by a long shot. So I found it, and went in. It was about 7:30 pm, and there were maybe 15-20 people in the chapel itself, which is where Bob was. As I walked in, "Androgynous" was playing... I sat down alone, and prayed a bit. Then I went up to the front and looked at some collages of pictures of Bob that his family had made. I left the chapel part of the home and went outside into a hallway where I'd hung up my coat. There were some people milling around, shooting the shit, and comforting each other. Then I went down some stairs into the smoking lounge, which is where the bathrooms are. As I walked down the stairs, I wasn't thinking much about who was or wasn't there until I looked up and saw Tommy staring at me. I kinda stood around a bit, listening to him and his (wife? girlfriend?) lady friend talk to people. Then I went back upstairs, got my coat, and left. I saw Tommy, Chris and his wife, and a few other Minneapolis rock gods and assorted people that night. No Paul, but I may have missed him since I was only there for maybe 45 minutes. The next day I came back for the funeral itself. I got there at 2:30 and sat down behind some guys who turned out to be journalists. I think they were from Spin, but I could be wrong. Slim sat behind me and looked like death warmed over, but doesn't he always? The place filled up pretty quickly... without Paul. The service was very simple and beautiful. Jim Walsh did the eulogy, which was sad and funny and everything all at once. Then Bob's sister, Lonnie, played a song for Bob, which was really emotional. Lisa and Tommy had to leave halfway through it because they were just crying so hard. After the song, Lori Barbero read Psalm 23, and got through "I shall not want" before she broke down. Then there was sort of an open mike... people spoke and told their favorite Bob stories, which were all really funny. I can tell you some of them if you'd like. A lot of very different people spoke, but all of them spoke of Bob's love for life and pure joy in living and music. There were a lot of tears and laughs, usually all at once. After everyone was done, they played "What a Wonderful World," the Louis Armstrong song, and that was the end. I left as soon as they started to play that, because I really didn't want to see the coffin closed and carried out. The crowd was a healthy mix of hipsters and hicks, everyone was really moved by all the stories, and more tears were shed than we'll ever know. I'm really struck by the amount of recognition the 'mats are getting now that this has happened... articles in the paper about their significance every day. It was really hard for me to go to these by myself, but I'm really glad that I went. There's a real sense of closure along with the sadness. I can't believe, though, that Paul wasn't there. I'm just amazed, and more than a little pissed off at him. I just hope that there's some sort of good explanation behind it, like he was having major back surgery that couldn't be rescheduled or something. I hope that I just didn't see him.... Okay, Bob stories: One time, Bob was tripping with his bandmates from Static Taxi. It was like 3 or 4 am and they went to the Radisson in downtown St. Paul, which is really swanky, because there's a big piano in the lobby. They were playing John Lennon's "imagine" over and over when Bob started spitting on the floor. The manager came over and said "Uh, excuse me, sir, did you just spit on the carpet?" Bob looked up at him and said, "Not belligerently." Chris and Bob had just gotten together to form Dog's Breath when they realized that they didn't know anybody who played bass. So Bob ran outside and found Tommy, who was running around playing with his friends, 12 years old! He grabbed him, picked him up and carried him into the house where he made him play bass for them. Bob and some friends had just left a keg party one winter in a big old Monte Carlo that was covered with all different colors of graffiti when they hit some ice, fishtailed, and smacked into a parked car. They didn't know what to do, and when Bob said "Let's get outa here!" they drove away to a friend's garage all the way across town. They then spent the entire night repainting the Monte Carlo yellow. Lori Barbero was at the Uptown, talking to a friend, when Bob came up to her and started tugging insistently on the hem of her shirt. Finally she turned to him, annoyed, and asked him what he wanted. "A hug." Bob and his roommate came home and raced to the fridge to get the last beer. The roommate won, but forgot about the pizza that was in there, so once he left the kitchen Bob took it. 1/2 an hour later, Bob came up to him and said "All right, you can have half the pizza if you help me find it." (They found it on the couch under a pile of magazines.) Two guys were at a 'mats show and picked up a huge garbage can and rolled it onstage. It came to a rest perfectly by Paul, but Bob picked it up and got in it, playing all the while. It fell over ("almost in slow motion" said the guy who told the story), but they knew Bob was okay because he never missed a note. All kinds of nasty shit fell out... empty beer bottles, cans, cigarette butts... and finally, Bob, naked from the waist down-- he'd lost his skirt in the garbage can. I gotta run, but thanks for caring. Honestly. And I'm looking forward to the next Skyway... -Leah -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 26 Feb 1995 03:15:22 GMT From: SW_Coupe@bitstream.mpls.mn.us Subject: Bob in CAKE - found it Matt -- I located the CAKE piece. As I thought, it's run previously in Skyway, but given the times, it's certainly ripe for a rerun, yes? I've attached it...hope it sticks. Let me know if it doesn't, okay? Our show last night -- which included a six-song, all boot tribute to Bob -- went swimmingly. I really should inflict a tape or two of Jean's (and mine) show on you one of these days. (Explicit threat.) Well, dinner's on -- later, guy. Ron This article appeared in CAKE magazine, issue #10 -- (September - October, 1992). CAKE is a monthly music and culture mag in the Twin Cities. This piece has appeared previously in //Skyway\\. Hed: BOB STINSON INTERVIEWS HIMSELF Bob Stinson, former guitar wizard for Minneapolis' garage rockers, the Replacements, spoke to CAKE at 1:30 p.m., Thursday September 3rd, 1992. The meeting place: the world famous C.C. Club, where Minneapolis' musical elite smoke, drink Jagermeister and Summit Pale Ale, play pool, and piss, in that order. The topic of conversation: tour stories... plus a few other things Bob wanted to get off his chest. Recorded and deciphered by T. Trent Gegax "Every day weird shit happened on the road. Usually we had three weeks on, couple weeks off, three weeks on, record, fuck around, not look at each other for a week. Tommy (Stinson), Paul (Westerburg), and Chris (Mars) could all shack up in the same hotel room -- I couldn't deal with any of them. I stayed with Bill Sullivan -- he works for Soul Asylum now. Bill did all our stuff: guitars, got us drinks. Couldn't get us a girl worth a shit. So we got him one -- it was a guy, but he still liked her, ah, him. Every time I tried to stay in a room with (Tommy, Paul and Chris) I had to turn the T.V. on 'cause I couldn't deal with it, it was just dead silence. None of the three, except maybe Chris and I, could go to a bar and have a beer. I think the only thing we had in common was playing in a band. I was always out on my own, doing something ridiculous: pissing in somebody's shoe or something gross. But I could play guitar, at least I thought I could. I love touring America, but I don't like Boston, probably because it don't like me, either. I mean, I love everybody there, the girls are nice, but it's, I don't know, weird. Boston's not like Seattle, Washington, it's like coming off four hits of acid: you just want to go hide behind a dumpster -- that's what Boston's like. L.A.'s where all the wanderlusts live. We played the Roxy, but before that Chris stopped at a trick shop and bought a bottle of that stuff that smells really bad. Instead of sprinkling a couple drops on the audience, Paul just threw the whole bottle out into the crowd. The whole place stunk. We got a kick out of it, I don't know what our audience thought of that. It was '86 and we were doing "Saturday Night Live," staying at the Birkshire Hotel. I caused all the trouble on that one: I broke the phones, put a hole in the door, threw an ashtray out the window. Lorne Michaels put food and flower baskets in our rooms, free bar tabs -- we went to town. I think I'd have to say I abused it more than anybody. They swore no band from Warner Bros. would play on that show again unless we paid the tab on the $1,000 worth of supposed "damage" we did. We were picked up to go to the studio at 10 in the morning in a limousine stocked with booze, and from 10 to five you couldn't leave that floor. Anything you want they'd send for. Before we played we were completely just out of it. Harry Dean Stanton was in there drinking booze with Tommy. They were all fucked up. I was in the bathroom getting high. I had no idea those three had switched clothes, I didn't even know until I saw the playback -- didn't even occur to me. I was wearing something Lori, ah, Mrs. Westerburg, gave me. It was something like "I Dream of Jeanie" would wear: stripes, big bell- bottoms. But on stage I bent over when we were playing and Paul stepped back from the mike and said "fuck you." As long as it isn't audible they couldn't do a damn thing. Lorne Micheals was pretty pissed about that. We played "Kiss Me on the Butt, er, Bus" and "Bastards of Young." That was the original name of it: "Kiss Me on the Butt," but we changed it to "bus," or Paul did -- take your pick. As soon as we went to commercial Lorne Michaels came to us and said "that was a cheap shot." We had to sign like a $20,000 agreement not to swear on national T.V. The cheap way around it is to mumble. It was like our record contract: it never said we had to be in the videos we made, so we just had Paul's shoe and a cigarette in one of 'em. It just seemed the harder we tried to piss off everybody the more they liked us; I'd have to blame that on our demise, on what led us to walking away from each another (sic), anyway. I'm different. I'm very individual. I don't contour to society in any way and that scares the hell out of everybody. I mean, you can call me a social outcast and I'll be damned proud to admit to those words. You gotta be able to stand out on your own to make a difference, right or wrong. Lately it's been wrong. But when I'm on, watch out. What comes around goes around. We didn't listen to anything anybody told us. I mean, if they said the tape is rolling Paul would just put a cigarette out on the wall and say "fuck you," or "I'm going to take a drink," "go piss," ah, "I'll let YOU know when we're ready to go" -- whatever they told us we couldn't do, we did. I guess I instigated that. But I still talk to Paul, Chris is good, Tommy's okay. The Bleeding Hearts -- me and Mike Leonard, my roommate and the guy I like to spit at all the time -- we might do something soon. People are afraid of who I really am: a nice guy, very open, very honest, silly sometimes, willing to take a big risk for nothing. That's pretty important because a lot of people misjudge me. I've been having a lot of problems with people who kinda' get close and think they know you and then discard you. It's not right; I've never done it to anyone I know of, but I've had it done to me. One's in, one's out, one's half way there. People get misconceptions by reading by reading too many fucking papers. I mean, if you want to know somebody -- and this is important to me -- ask them, don't believe what you read or what other people say. A lot of people have done that to me, they've called me completely insane to almost a saint. I'm in there somewhere in between, I don't know where but, I mean, I'm vulnerable like anybody else, so treat me like I'm human. People just believe what they hear too much. I mean, look what happened to John Lennon. He more than any other, more than any of the other fellas could've ruined the (the Beatles') reputation with that one sentence. When in fact, he was just misquoted when he said, "We're bigger than God." And everybody accused him of being into acid and all that. That was bullshit, he was into heroin. If you want to know somebody, ask them, and I do that to anybody. I wouldn't say "what's this girl like?" or "what's this fella like here?" "Does he got a big knob?" or "Does she have nice tits?" I'd just go up and ask her, ah, well, as long as I don't get hit, anyway. Half the people in this town have written me off, saying "there he goes again, he's way over his head; he's on the edge, stay away," because they don't know me. There's only three people in this town I'd spill my guts to. People don't think I'm responsible. Sorry, pals, but rock 'n' roll people aren't responsible anyway. I guess I've been thrown to the masses again, so it's like I'm being judged. It kinda sucks. I don't like it. I get /some/ (royalties) -- a big /some/. /Enough/ some. I wish people would tell me if they were jealous of that, I'd lend them some money if they wanted it, if they'd quit giving me a bad rap. -30- (Reprinted without permission of CAKE magazine, Minneapolis, Minn.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 00:44:13 -0500 (EST) From: Bryan Shelly Subject: Goddamn. This letter's probably not going to be a whole lot different than the rest your going to get about the topic, but here goes.. Bob's dead. Shit. I'm tired of and stressed about school, and now I hear this. Of course, living/studying in Boston, the first news I got about his death was through //Skyway\\. This newsletter's terrific, but I'd sacrifice it in a minute if it would bring Bob back. First Mark Foo, and now this-my heros have taken a beating this month. Just for kicks, here's a line from the conclusion of an album review I wrote on Nova Mob, Grant Heart's new band, on November 22 for "The Tufts Daily" "As pop music continues to spin and, yes, eat itself, the work of men like Hart and Bob Stinson will be forgotten." As 'Mats fans, let's do all we can to make sure that Bob's legacy and musical talent lives on with us if nowhere else. B.S. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 01:20:48 -0500 (EST) From: "Michael C. Shannon" Subject: and then there were three this is an article i'm putting in the next issue of an emory publication, the phoenix. give me your reactions so i can revise and refine it. casey "There Ain't No Replacing" Today the music world is a little darker. On Monday, February 20, Bob Stimson was found dead in his apartment in Minneapolis. He formed, along with Paul Westerberg, (his brother) Tommy Stimson, and Chris Mars, the college music giants, the Replacements. Bob, playing lead guitar on their first four albums and the spirit of the legendary group, was starting his life over with a band called Bleeding Hearts when his life came to a sad and unfortunate end. He was kicked out of the band for his failure to curb his drug and alcohol habits that stereotyped him and his bandmates early on. He had been known to come on stage in dresses (now, something not too uncommon) or wearing nothing at all. He, according to legend, once went so far as to relieve himself behind an amp during a show. One can only hope that his past wasn't the cause of his final demise, as the cause of death is still unknown. The Replacements were one of the greatest bands of the '80's, maybe of all time. They are looked upon as great influences of bands like Nirvana, Soul Asylum, Green Day, and countless others. The albums Let It Be and Tim are constantly rated as albums essential in any collection. Tim, in fact, was rated the seventh best album of the eighties by Rolling Stone. And if imitation is the greatest form of flattery, then the Replacements should be proud that Criminal Records' ad in the latest Creative Loafing was a copy of the Let It Be cover. His ferocious guitar sound fueled the fierce post-punk sound the 'Mats exuded on songs like "Color Me Impressed" and "Bastards of Young." There are clear influences of the Sex Pistols, New York Dolls, and Big Star in his fluid yet overpowering style. Trying to find solace in this tragedy is hard, but his music lives on in the tunes of his former bandmates and in those who emulate his style. One frequently mentioned, J Mascis of Dinosaur jr., has already and will continue the guitar wizardry Bob displayed in his all too short life. I can't help but think of their song "Johnny's Gonna Die" in relation to Bob now. "Johnny needs something he ain't got ... There's one sure way, Johnny, you can make your mark. Johnny's gonna die." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 03:49:00 -0600 (CST) From: Matthew B Johnson Subject: bob Hi Well, here's my first letter to Skyway, this seems as good a time as any. I just got back from the Cows show, and was thinking about Bob. I thought I'd write a short note about the last time I saw him, not that I ever knew him or anything, but since I live in Mpls and frequent the same liquor stores and bars, I saw him more than other readers might. So. The last time I saw Bob, I was drinking with a friend at the C.C. Club some weekday afternoon and he came in with a friend. He sat in the booth next to me. I never said anything to Bob when I saw him, because here (and maybe everywhere else in the US) its just not the coolest thing to bother people like that when all they want to do is get a drink with friends, or buy a 6-pack of Special Ex tall boys (a fav of Bob's, my friend at Chicago-Lake Liquor says). Anyway, Bob said "We'll take a pitcher of rum and cokes. Haha, just kidding, give us a couple of beers." Well, we all thought it was funny, maybe you had to be there. The point is it wasn't too long ago, and seeing Bob all the time at the bar, you just took it for granted I guess. But really, you Minneapolitans, how often do you see any original Mats around? Not very much, except for Bob. Bob was the Replacement for the people. I know Tommy's gone. I hear Paul lives in Mpls somewhere, but hell if I know where to find him. I know, he doesn't drink anymore, I think, but other local legends play shows, say, bi-yearly (Bob Mould), or more often (Grant Hart). Don't get me wrong, I'd just like to see Paul play more shows. This was just supposed to be about Bob anyway. The man with the "lead hotter than a urinary infection." What more could be said. Well, probably lots, but not by me. Matt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 08:39:03 -0500 From: hlc2@psu.edu Subject: The Morning After Matt and fellow Matsheads ... I finally feel like I can write this. Lord knows it's one of the painfully few places I know I can write it and have people understand, or at least not laugh too hard. Everybody knows about Bob by now, I guess. I came into work yesterday morning (Monday, 2/20) to find 15 messages awaiting me on E-mail, all with the same blaring subject header: BOB STINSON IS DEAD. One second I was making a mental note to buy milk on the way home, the next I was pushed suddenly forward into some surreal vortex/autopilot fog that lasted well into the night ... and today has settled itself into a mental and physical numbness. Having had what I consider to be the honor of hanging out with Bob on several occasions prior to his removal from the band, I saw a very sweet man with an air of great sadness about him ... but an innately kind and gentle man above all. For the last 24 hours, I've been unable to shake questions from my mind -- questions like "Did Bob die thinking nobody gave a shit about him?" "Did he die thinking there weren't people 'out there' pulling for him and waiting anxiously for him to release a Stinson nugget that would have, at the very least, vindicated him?" All questions I will process with time ... but still questions that ache between Point A and B. High on my "things to do" list that I've kept for when I finally make it to Minneapolis was "Find Bob." I hate like hell that it's not gonna happen. So ... wherever you are, Bob, people gave a shit. And if I don't see you again, for a long, long while ... I'll try to find you, left of the dial. Heather -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Feb 95 13:53:58 EST From: jp_jones@prenhall.com Subject: Bob Bob is dead. I can't believe that my first letter to Skyway is about how insanely RIDICULOUS this news is. How can Bob be dead? Goddamn him! I just cannot believe it! Please, Paul, no fucking tribute songs, okay? And Tommy: DON'T END UP LIKE YOUR BROTHER. Slim: Baby please don't go. Chris: You should write a tribute song to Bob. And finally to Jesperson: Now what the hell is it gonna take to get a Replacements box set in motion? For Paul to die, too?!???!!!?? The whole fucking world should know that the Replacements were one of the greatest bands ever to walk this earth, and Bob--for all of his faults and fuck- ups--was a major force (and divine inspiration) in the band. Rest in pieces, motherfucker. J.P. Jones, Smoke-7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Feb 95 14:08:09 EST From: Eduardo Taboada Subject: I can't believe you're gone To say that Bob's passing has got me shook up would be one hell of an understatement...hell I don't even know what to say....shit, I feel like all of us, the band and the fans, are just one big family. It's a feeling like I have for nothing else and this one really hurts...it hurts 'cause Bob was a victim of the situation...it hurts because we all knew this was gonna happen sooner or later and the fate was almost sealed...I always hoped that Bob would get himself under control...and I think he probably tried, but that he wasn't strong enough in the end to overcome it all... "...Maybe the time is right & promise me not to leave I'm looking inside your brain & christ it's a cluttered mess I love you, I must confess..." - Bob Pollard, GBV I just hope he knows, wherever he is, that we all cared... Bob, you were a crazy fucker but we still love you to death...not much else to say... Ed Taboada, (slave of the ...)Department of Biology University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. ed@bio01.bio.uottawa.ca ___________________________________________________________ | If you were a pill, I'd take a handful at my will | | and I'd knock you back with something sweet and strong... | | | | -Paul Westerberg | |___________________________________________________________| ["GBV" = Guided by Voices. The song is "Peephole" from _Bee Thousand_. - M@] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 18:33:45 -0700 (MST) From: Big Earl Sellar Subject: Dead Bob (Sorry - any excuse for a No Means No quote...) I've been lurking for a bit, and I just got to express my sadness and disbelief at Bob's death. Man, life just keeps getting weirder every year. EXACTLY this time of year about 8 years ago, one of my best friends nearly kicked off this globe. He had been diagnosed at a paranoid manic-depressive a few weeks earlier. He wanted out, bad. I saved him by cranking the Mats loud and got him drunk enough to swipe his crank and rigs from him. He loved the Mats, and that night, he vowed that he was gonna take up guitar just so he could play as good as Bob did on Let It Be. Spoke to him last night for the first time in years.... EEEEEEEE Big Earl Sellar | "I'll put it into simple words: EE splitred@freenet.edmoton.ab.ca | Working men are pissed!" EEEE mersh@tibalt.supernet.ab.ca | the minutemen EE bm665@freenet.carleton.ca | Deadman'stown, AB, Canada EEEEEEEE EEEEEEEE Big Earl Sellar | "I'll put it into simple words: EE splitred@freenet.edmoton.ab.ca | Working men are pissed!" EEEE mersh@tibalt.supernet.ab.ca | the minutemen EE bm665@freenet.carleton.ca | Deadman'stown, AB, Canada EEEEEEEE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 19:47:29 -0800 From: Steve Holtebeck To: skyway@phoenix.creighton.edu Subject: Fwd: Post to rec.music.rem This was posted to the R.E.M. newsgroup today ---- Begin Forwarded Message From: bskaught@nwrain.com Newsgroups: rec.music.rem Subject: R.I.P Bob Stinson Date: 22 Feb 1995 23:26:13 GMT Those who scour album liner notes will, no doubt, remember Peter Buck's appearance on the Replacements' brilliant LP "Let it Be." Sadly, ex-Replacement Bob Stinson died this week. The cause of death is still unknown, but it is very likely drug related. His participation in the Replacements was minimal in the years following "Let it Be" but he was, indeed, a talented musician who helped The Replacements forge a bold place in rock and roll history--creating, along with bands like REM, timeless music that stands as testimony to the vibrancy of rock and roll. So please give a quiet thought to Bob Stinson. He was, perhaps, the forgotten Replacement. Thank you. ---- End Forwarded Message -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 22 Feb 1995 13:36:31 -0500 From: Jipson Art Subject: Bob Stinson's Death I've always regarded Bob as an older brother. You know the one who drinks too much and does too many drugs but is a hell of a lot of fun to be around. I was always hoping he'd get his act together. I'd never thought I'd say this but I hope that they play the band YES in Heaven because Bob liked them so much. Love to all, Ann -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 11:18:06 -0500 From: Kathms@aol.com Subject: Hi Matt :) Hi all, Not much I can think of to say about Bob Stinson's death, other than it made me very sad when I heard, but it wasn't totally shocking either. I've seen alot of posts around the Net various places and the general feeling seems to be one of sadness that he's gone and hope that he's found some peace at last. And that pretty much sums up how I feel. He deserved a better life and alot more happiness and serenity than he had. I know that Bob has a son with some medical problems - if anyone on the list in the Twin Cities area hears anything about any type of fund been established for him, could you please let us know? Other business: Reply to Bob: >Everything you dream of >Is right in front of you >Another tearful lie I think the line is "your liberty...just a lie" - i think i read that story in Gina Arnolds book "Route 666". about the manager hearing that line and just going - "oh my god!" >And everything ain't O.K. >I might {die for my lady?} >That last part sounds like "I might die before >Monday". I always thought it was "I might drive home Monday" - like you know, I might not be on the bus Monday so kiss me now :) sorta the same. >Also, there's some stuff tackedonto the end with just Paul and an >acoustic guitar, at what sounds like a different locale. He sounds >bitter - "How long I been up here? Jesus." He does >"Lawdy Miss Clawdy", and "Take Me To The Hospital". That's (I think) Paul Solo Acoustic at First Ave circa 1982 Re Subject: New York Dolls I got a Johnny Thunders tape about a year ago ("So Alone") Of course I had always been curious about them since Paul referenced J. Thunders in "Johnny's Gonna Die" and "Dose of Thunder" but just never had the intiative to go invesitgate....someone made me of "So Alone" and when I listened to it, it was like "Ah ha..." it's very clear from even one listen that J Thunders was a big influence on the Mats and I gotta back Teddie James up on this and say you should listento the Dolls or some J Thunders - I particularly recommend "Can't Put Your Arm Around A Memory".... Have we all heard that Paul recorded a duet with Joan Jett for the "Tank Girl" soundtrack (forgive me if this was in the last <>, my memory is going.....I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that it's a Cole Porter song. Kathy <------"I've seen the future and it's a bald-headed man from New York!" - Albert Brooks --------> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 14:34:04 EST From: cford@VNET.IBM.COM Subject: Ramblings on Bob I felt a sense of loss when I heard of the death of Bob Stinson. Like many Replacements fans, I didn't catch on until about mid-way through their career (1986) and, therefore, never saw a show with Bob in action. The band was pretending to carry on merrily without him by the time I saw them in 1987. So, some people may be asking, 'what exactly have we lost?' Consider this fictitious scenario: It's 1979 and Bob Stinson has moved out of the house and found success with some Minneapolis, local-hero band such as the Suburbs (hmmm.. that might have been interesting..) On that fateful day when Paul Westerberg comes over to jam he encounters Tommy, Chris, and *some other guy* on lead guitar (Slim, maybe?). What happens next? My feeling is that a Bob-less configuration would have sank like a purposeless stone. What would Paul use for inspiration? What bond would hold them together? Who would have responsibility for a 12 year old Tommy? It just seems to me doubtful that a "Replacements" would have gotten off the ground. Paul would have eventually done something, but I doubt he would have been known outside his hometown. So, I think its clear how Bob contributed to the success of the band. I don't really need to detail the sense of fun and attitude that he brought to the stage or his influence on Westerberg. Unfortunately, in death--as in life--Bob may have trouble getting the respect he deserves. I found the following rather mean spirited (or maybe just the writer's clumsy attempt at humor) blurb in Austin's usually liberal news and entertainment weekly, The Chronicle: '...I assume there was a big 48-hour long Bob Stinson/Replacements tribute last weekend on MTV, but I stayed wasted all the way through it...' (reprinted without permission) I don't get it.. Charles Ford -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 19:40:14 -8:00 From: "barefoot@hooked.net" Reply to: barefoot@hooked.net Subject: Bob This is something I wrote for AOL, and I don't think I can improve on it . . . All apologies to those who have already read it on AOL, but this way it stays preserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sigh, I think it sucks, too. Though, I'm not suprised, natch. I'm reminded of something that Paul said about finding out about Kurt. It was something to the extent that his first thought was relief that it wasn't Tommy. I guess he didn't even have to add "or Bob." But it still speaks volumes, and maybe, just maybe if any good comes out of it, it might shock Tommy into reality. One more thing: The Rolling Stones were a different band after Brian Jones was kicked out, but they still made STICKY FINGERS and EXILE ON MAIN STREET. And the Replacements still made PLEASED TO MEET ME. Certainly not the same band, but not necessarily worse. I saw them with Bob and I saw them without Bob, and I loved them every time. Of course, I was drunk . . . And because of PLEASED TO MEET ME and the rock and roll balls of the post Bob shows I witness, I cannot join the knee-jerk "they were cooler with him" brigade. They were cool either way. We shouldn't lose sight of that because Bob was the first to succumb to the lifestyle many of us loved them for leading. I loved them cos they were me up there -- real, frail, wasted, human, and drawn to the power and beauty of rock and roll. Maybe Bob was the epitome of that -- if so, that also means something. That MY life was saved by rock and roll, I've never been in any doubt. Hell, my 'mats compilation tapes are titled "Why The Replacements Saved My Life." But sometimes I wonder if it was also ruined by rock and roll, that my attraction to its primal, steamy, seamy and brainless side is a bottomless hole I've dug for myself. You know, the one that Robert Pollard sings about in "I Am A Scientist." "I am a lost soul I shoot myself with rock and roll The hole I dig is bottomless but nothing else can set me free." That's me. I'll bet it was Bob. It might even be you. And every time I think about it real hard, all I want to do is turn the stereo up to "could you turn that down please" volumes and not worry. But sometimes I really wonder about it. --jim connelly | Q: "What is ironic?" barefoot@hooked.net | | A: "When you like, realize the component | of weirdness in a situation." | -- "My So-Called Life" I'm Alive! Bite Me! -- http://www.hooked.net/users/barefoot/ Now Playing: Pearl Jam -- VITALOGY [The aforementioned 'Bob Pollard' is the lead singer of Guided by Voices. That song, "I Am a Scientist" is off their album _Bee Thousand_, and a superior version exists on the _I Am a Scientist_ EP. - M@ ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Feb 1995 16:29:45 -0500 From: Kathms@aol.com Subject: Bob Hi Matt, Bob's ex-wife Carleen posted a very nice message in the Mats folder on AOL. I wrote her and asked her if it would be ok to re-post it on the //Skyway\\ so that people without AOL access could read it and she kindly agreed. Kathy ================================================== Subj: bOB'S mEMORIAL fUND Date: 95-02-25 14:59:32 EST From: MSCarleen Thanks to all for all the talk and feelings about Bob. He'd have a story or two to add himself, don't cha know! I'm am sitting here with three other people that meant a ton to Bob. We are trying to find the words. It just seems so out of place to tell about a memorial fund being set up. Money has been coming in and all is being given to Anita Stinson-Kurth @ 3204 22nd Ave So., MPLS, MN 55407. If any of you have questions, or want to know the REAL truth. Feel free to contact us at this address. or on the internet to mscarleen@aol.com We have been finding the lesson learned that you really CANT believe anything you read. We are constantly being updated with the facts and really do know the true story/stories! WE WERE THERE. Though we are still in shock, reality is setting in and plans are being made, tributes are being set in motion, and unfortunately the feeding frenzy has begun. One of the tributes is tentatively being scheduled for March 23rd @ First Avenue. There is something that Bob taught me that I am trying to live by, and that's not letting the world take over. He had a great way of stopping it and helping slow down the pace when things ran too fast. But as always, it's still running too fast. There won't be a place to go and remember Bob, flowers,etc on a stone marker, as Bob was smoked after the funeral. We did however get weird and make plaster casts of his hands. I think he dug hearing his fingers crack one last time. :( We'd like to get the city going on a memorial tree in his favorite "thinking" spot. A place in the Uptown where he'd fish and watch the trains go by. The days following the event....time stood still. The next day it went hour by hour. Now, almost 1/2 days. Soon, day by day. But always in our souls, he lives on. Sincerely, Carleen, AnnaNymittee, Adrienne, & Sunshine We were ALWAYS here for Bob. And he is here for us, still. PS- the "SYRINGE" was empty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!After talking further with the M.E., the syringe had no needle, or trace residue of any type, was not found next to the body, was insullin in type, and has no place in any of these stories. The Toxicoligy report will be in next week, that will tell the remainder of his final chapter. Though those that are close to him, already know that Bob had plans, and dying wasn't one of them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 17:20:37 PST From: Mccarthy.wbst311@xerox.com Subject: Bob, Liquor Giants Things about Bob: A friend and I were remarking how it always sucks when the "psycho" guys get thrown out of the band. I mean I know the 'Mats had legitimate reasons, but they had to know it wasn't gonna help, and since they hurriedly disintegrated without him, it always seemed like a waste to have him sacked. Another wacko thrown out of hip band recently: Pavement's drummer, Gary Young, but at least someone let him make a solo album. Another friend, a non-replacements fan (shudder) said he heard the news of Bob's death on our local "adult-alternative" station (Gin Blossoms, Couting Crows, etc..). Guess how may songs they play from Bob-era Replacements? Yep - ZERO. Some folks mentioned The Liquor Giants. This is the new band fromed by Ward Dotson, ex of Pontiac Brothers. A lot of people said the Pontiac Brothers sounded like The Replacements, too. Nope. Actually, I haven't heard The Liquor G's, supposedly they're better than The Pontiac B's. More Lyric possibilities: in "Left Of The Dial" > I headed up north, you headed north He really mumbles this part, but I was thinking maybe it's "But here up north, you'd never know it", reacting to the sweet Georgia breezes line. in "Sixteen Blue" >A girl and a woman, a boy and a man >Everything is such in vain How about "Everything is sexually vague"? A Different Bob -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 22:22:40 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Troutman I guess it can't be long now (if it hasn't happened already) before the "tribute album" light bulb goes on above some genius' head at Sire. ...which started a friend and me thinking, instead of the traditional tribute album, how about a tribute album comprised solely of bands covering Bob Stinson's solos i.e. each track would be about 10/15 seconds long or so? Think of all the trendy bands one could fit on such an album! I, for one, would definitely buy a used copy of such an album. So, how about it? Any of you moguls out there want to give it a shot? Has anything of this nature ever been attempted before? Michael Troutman thivai@arbornet.org [I can see it now...J. Mascis playing the lead from "Nowhere is My Home". -- M@] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 14:23:44 -0500 (EST) From: "Michael C. Shannon" Subject: paul's next album i just talked to a friend today who is pretty close to paul. he said that he is right now writing songs for the next album he's got about half of them done now. i guess that means it could be about a year before it comes out. to tide me over, i bought the boot "it ain't over till the fat roadies play." it's their last show, and is the best quality of any boot i've heard. there is apparently another of the same show called "hangin' it up" but my friend that sold it to me said hangin... doesn't have near as good quality. casey -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 14:49:04 GMT-0500 From: Mike Decoteau Subject: Can't Hardly Wait Question Does anyone know how to play the main riff from Can't Hardly Wait? Just haven't been able to get it to sound right! Thanks! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 12:18:35 -0800 (PST) From: Rohith Sood Subject: Greetings Hey everybody, its great to finally find the Mats list after a long time searching. I've been a 'Mats fan since around 1992, so am a relative newcomer. I really regret not ever seeing them live, and am on the prowl for live tapes of them. I also missed Paul on the 14 Songs tour because he "hurt his back" before coming to Seattle. However, his back seemed fine when he was on Saturady Night Live shortly afterwards! I did get to see Bash & Pop in a small club in Portland, and the show really kicked ass despite Tommy's complaints about the PA and the small attendance. The first album i got was All Shook Down, which probably sounds pretty strange to some of the older fans. I loved the songwriting, and Sadly Beautiful is still one of my favorite songs by any artist. I thought then that the Mats were a more bluesy REM. Needless to say, I found out what they were really like after buying all of the other albums. My favorite (if i had to choose) is Hootenanny, which to me is rock and roll how it should be played, but almost never is. The best article i have read on the Mats is the Musician cover story, and other good ones are the Spin articles from Dont Tell A Soul and the one about Paul's sobering up. I have never read the Spin cover article, but would like too. I guess that's enough rambling for now. Suffice it to say that I am hard pressed to find a better band anywhere, and I look forward to talking more in the future! Rohith -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 95 18:31:00 CST From: "Flynn, Daniel Patrick" hey this is dan from nmsu first of all, for the dude looking for weird phone conversations and stuff like that, he should check out Beck's album "stereophonic soulsuckers". there is all kinds of people with funny voices talking about really weird stuff if that's what you are looking for . the tracks have dates for titles, i think. my brother and his friend and i were listening to them and we kept cracking up. Also, Beck supposedly puts a lot of weird sound effects on the end of albums and calls it bonus noise. I know i've heard it on the Mellow Gold album. For the guy who said Geoge Wendt may be a Reps fan, I think it may be true. Remember how people talked about Replacement TV references, a few issues ago? Well, I saw tthe "Day by Day" episode. On that show, George Wendt guest starred as the dad'sold college buddy who comes to visit. The son, Ross, says to the George Wendt character, something like"Hey what kind of music do you listen to, and George Wendt says something like:"I like the Replacements" That's one of the few places I heard about the band before 1992. The Day by Day show was a Family Ties spinoff that was on the air about'88 or '89. Also, in one of the newest Rolling Stones, there's a picture of G.W. backstage with Bob Mould somewhere. in my journalism class about two weeks ago, my instructor started talking about her days in college, and said they made fun of some girls who wanted to go to stewardess school, and that "Waitress in the Sky was #1 on the jukebox. Then she started singing the song, and then I joined in. I thought it was kind of funny, but everyone else in the class seemed kind of bewildered. This week, I told her about Bob, and I don't think she was ever a huge fan, but she said that she always thaought Tommy was cute and that Paul was a babe in flannel. I like the idea about people interpeting lyrics for themselves. alot of times, people have disputed what i thought were the lyrics. Here's some of the stuff i thought they said: in "I.O.U.", I thought the chorus said"pawn it and buy it, i owe you nothing." In "Red Red Wine", there is a break in the song where Paul stops singing, and it sounds like Tommy is yelling out :"Where is my brother?" Here's a wierd one. in "Asking Me Lies", i always thought the song was a bout politicians esppecially in an election. the one verse sounds like this to me: Little boy's zoo, and the Wright Brothers helpful friends, Butterfly train never ends, never ends, At a Mexican bar mitvah, for 700 years, and a selfish prayer you're gonna drive right by Also, in "Darlin' One" , ther's one part in the end that sounds like this: Got my armss around you, and i swore you on fire, my tears fell through the dirt, as i hear the devil's cry. A lot of people have told me this one was wrong, but it is really what i thought i heard the first time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 12:37:00 -0500 (EST) From: Bryan Shelly Subject: Dark days for the 'Mats Well, it's been a shitty week. First Bob, and then I pick up a copy of Spin's tenth anniversary special. They named the Ten Most Influential Bands of the last ten years. For those of you who haven't seen it, 10. U2 9. Perry Farrell 8. Dr. Dre 7. Guns & Roses 6. HUSKER DU!!!!!!!!(yay) 5. Prince 4. R.E.M. 3. Public Enemy 2. Madonna 1. Nirvana For the most part, my feelings are represented below, but a disclaimer: I was a little tanked when I wrote it. I'm not implying that Husker Du shouldn't be on there,. What I'm saying is that you've got to make room for the "mats on the list. Spin probably felt like they needed a Minneapolis band (excluding Prince) to have any credibility. My point is, if they were looking for a token, they picked the wrong one. Oh well. Slighted again. I think I'll go get the Guided by Voices box set now. From: Bryan Shelly To: spinonline@aol.com You picked the wrong Minneapolis band. While I was surprised and delighted to see Husker Du among your Ten Most Influential Acts, to exclude the Replacements from such a list is really quite sad. The 'Mats defined all that was to become the independent scene in later years. They brought the attitude of punk and the emotion of balledeers together, and everyone who's now anyone in rock listened. Almost all of the ideas they championed are at the forefront of music today, from REM's use of a mandolin to DIY to the flannel shirts Kurt ripped right off of Paul's back. Hell, Nirvanna named "Nevermind" from the "Pleased to Meet Me" tune. What makes your exclusion of the Replacements even more galling is the recent death of Bob Stinson. I expect Bob and the boys to be slighted by most of the media, but from you I expect better. Bryan Shelly 131 Miller Hall Tufts University Medford, Ma 02155 617-627-7542 bshelly@emerald.tufts.edu ["spinonline@aol.com" is the e-mail address for Spin. If I still had my subscription, I'd write to cancel. Come on guys, you called Westerberg the Soul of Rock n' Roll and threw him on the cover, but it's like nobody out there is coppin' the 'Mats today. Yeah, gimmie a fuckin' break. -- M@ ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 09:05:14 -0600 (CST) From: Friends for a Non-Violent World Subject: seeing you Mr. Tomich ++ Last night I was listening to KFAI (the community radio station), and after hearing live, obscure Replacements songs... I realized that it was Ron and Jean's show. After several songs, they came on and Ron talked about his Replacement's thing -- and how he knew many people's lives were literally saved by the 'Mats -- and he knew this because a guy in Missouri, Matt Tomich, had this email thing going. Anyways, it was pretty great to hear your name on Minneapolis radio. So I called them up at the station and told them thanks for saying "Matt Tomich" on the radio. I tried to explain who I was, but I think I confused Jean pretty throughly. Well, I'm off to a Workshop now for work (how to avoid paying income taxes and not be nailed by the IRS), then I'm going to meet Marsha and those Kirksville Bob Mould groupies. [THANKS for the free advertising Ron!!! -- M@] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 12:36:47 EST From: fine@saturn.rowan.edu Subject: Bent all out of drapes.. Am I the only person on the Skyway who will admit to watching 90210??? Seems everyone who writes about seeing the Bash'n'Pop episode has to disclaim it by saying they really never watch the show..oh well guess there's some advantages to being over 30..ya just don't care what (most) people think and you can comfortably watch "brain candy" shows to calm down after a day with the rugrats (or when your prescription for prozac runs out) Speaking of Bash'n'Pop let's all talk Paul into singing the line "falling asleep with a Bash'n'Pop video On" during Alex Chilton during the next tour, wouldn't that be fun??? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 13:40:47 -0500 From: Briber8@aol.com Subject: Hello Hello, First time submitting to SKYWAY. First off, great to be on the mailing list and I appreciate the chance to hear the stories and opinions of all of you involved. My name is Bob, I've been a Replacements fan since somewhere between the releases of TIM and PLEASED TO MEET ME. I heard the band through a friend of mine at school and asked him to tape it for me, he gave me a dub of TIM and LET IT BE and I was hooked. The tape was pretty much the soundtrack to a year and a half of my life, it stayed in my car's tape deck nearly all of that time. Needless to say, these two albums are my favorites by the 'mats if not for content, at least for the experiences and emotions I've had and felt with the music as my ally. Sounds fairly dramatic, I know, but I'm sure there are a lot of you with similar thoughts. Anywho, at some point during this time, I bought PTMM when I heard that it was released, I loved it and they became my favorite band on earth. Soon after PTMM, I got a hold of the bands earlier realeases, SORRY MA and HOOTENANNY(I didn't get STINK for some time), and grew to love those as well. With the release of "I'll Be You" I had thought that this was it, the Replacments are going to be the big stars they deserved to be, of course my judgement was wrong. The DON"T TELL A SOUL album was a minor disapointment at the time, but still had the voice, the lyrics, and some of the music and soul, if not the spirit, I had expected of the band. When ALL SHOOK DOWN came around, I was half expecting an agonizing death of the band to come out of my speakers from the advance press on the release. I was quite surprised with the album though. Sure, the band was essentially not a band on the album, but the songs are definitely strong and the mood of despair and loss is as evident on this album as the mood of excitement and nothing to lose is on SORRY MA. The end of the band? Yeah, but the first and last by the Replacements make for a good summation of the whole thing that was the history of the band, I consider them as such, but have a feeling not many people hold that much regard for ALL SHOOK DOWN, fuck 'em. The tour for ALL SHOOK DOWN was my only time I saw the band live, it was in Iowa City at the Carver Hawkeye Arena and was kinda strange. The arena seats over 15,000 people, as an estimate, and of course there were about 1000 people at most there. I had been worried that it would sell out and my friends wouldn't get tickets at the door, shit, they ended up paying half price for tickets from scalpers trying to save their asses. Anywho, all this room and no one there, I was feeling shitty about it, and couldn't believe the best band ever was so little to most of the population. The show was sold as a seated concert, and there were rows and rows of aluminum chairs filling up half of the floor in front of the stage, I had bought my ticket early so I had a decent seat. Once the band hit the stage, the chairs went everywhere and so did the crowd, at last some sign that the band meant something. The 'mats were good, but lacking the energy I had expected. As the show went on they loosened up and by the time Paul did "Answering Machine" my faith in the band had been reaffirmed. The last half hour of the show was non stop "hits" as far as I was concerned, and Paul even fell into the crowd and got shuffled along back up to the stage, without ruining his mood. So the show was not quite what I expected, but it did give me a new perspective of my favorite band. I had a 2 hour drive after the show, so I went home, but my friends got to meet Paul and Tommy at a bar later and said they were suprisingly friendly. A freind of mine bought Paul a shot, he politlely declined. Later that year the band was over with, and I was hoping for the best. Sorry for all this, I was only going to introduce myself, but I don't get a chance to tell my Replacement memories to many people, nearly nobody I know anymore knows who they are. As far as after the 'mats, I like Chris Mars' records, HORESHOES is better than 75% LESS FAT, but they are both very surprising. Bash & Pop has a decent release, but I expected it to be more raucous and less controlled. Slim's is a little bluesier than I prefer, but a good record none the less. Paul, well my idol Paul's record is a little up and down, but I do think it is a very good record, I think the SINGLES songs are great. I got to see Paul and his band on the 14 SONGS tour, I was very happy to see him play with the energy and excitement that he obviously had, the end of the show couldn't have been better, with a string of songs from PTMM, two other highlithts from the show were "Hold My Life" which Paul said the band just learned in the hotel the prior night, and "Turning Japanese" by the Vipers, sung by David M., his guitarist. That is a bit about my thoughts on the Replacements. I had read in the last SKYWAY about someone wanting to know about 'mats like bands. I will list a few if you want to check them out, not necessarily sound alikes, but some of the idea and quality. -The Pontiac Brothers- Fuzzy Little Piece of the World - is a good bet, if you like this release, then check out their several other releases. -The Only Ones-(the originators of Another Girl, Another Planet of course) some say the 'mats owe a lot to this band, check them out in the cut out bins and decide for yourself. -Liquor Giants-here- the guitarist from the Pontiac Brothers on guitar/vocals. -Big Star- yeah I know you all know them- but somewhere, somebody doesen't -The Magnolias- a decent rockin' band from Minneapolis, worth checking out. Several releases to chose from. -The New York Dolls/Johnny Thunders- mix the dolls and big star together and that equals the early 'mats, me thinks. -Tackle Box-on- a good album of poppy rockin stuff, I feel it is a worthy mention, a little Paulish on "Party Doll" in my opinion. -Superchunk-No Pocky For Kitty- although I don't think this is a popular view, this release is Replacementesque at points. A good band anyway. -T. Rex- the 'mats covered them enough, so there must be something there, huh? there's a sampler of some bands that could be appreciated by the common man or woman inclined to good songs, geetars, and music, music, music. One more quick note, I collect any Replacemements / Ex-Replacements music, articles, newspaper press, anything. If anyone owns or knows how to get any press kit/bio's for any of the 'mats albums I'd love to know. thanks, Briber8 Hope there was a hole in the gate. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 26 Feb 95 19:41:25 CST From: Pixie Well, it's only been a short while that I've been a Replacements fan, but i think I'm catching up. I just picked up a double-disk bootleg of the Replacements entitled Goodbye Bozos that features the july 4 1991 finale, and also a 1989 show in Orlando. Seems like the July 4 show is the most famous -- my copy just consists of the radio transmission but that's no biggee. Does anyone have a boot with Valentine on it? Or Nevermind? I'm also looking for boots called In heaven there is no Beer, and It Ain't Over Til the Fat Roadies SIng -- which I think is another July 4 boot. I was sorry to hear about Bob Stinson -- so young, so sad, but to whoever made that quite obvious Cobain crack, I'm no opening the channels for more argument but if you can't tell someone how to live their life, you shouldn't think you can tell them how or when to die, either. I'm a 21 year old psuedo-entertainment journalist, and I'm trying to write a freelance piece on how rehab/cleaning the band up affect musicianship/staying together. If anyone can lend a hand, let me know. I'd be interested in interviewing Paul but I doubt now would be a good time for that subject. I hear the singer for Sunny Day Real Estate is going extremely christian -- wonder how that will affect their work. Heard a Minneapolis band called the Honeydogs the other day -- they wear their influences on their sleeve -- song called That's Me has real Westerbergian lyrics " Never use the word love for this thing that we've got going / You don't need a credo / just a healthy sized libido -- hey that's me." Of course in my review of it, my copy editor screwed it up by changing the 'Mats to the 'Ments. I love it when somebody else makes me look like I don't know my stuff. Well, enough ranting for one day. It was nice to finally voice myself after a year's subscription. Amy Kennebec c603122.mizzou1.missouri.edu I don't miss God but I sure miss Santa Claus. C. Love -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 14:50:44 -8:00 From: "barefoot@hooked.net" Reply to: barefoot@hooked.net One more thing -- in case anybody wants to know, the "Jim Connelly" who is quoted in the Village Voice's 21st or 22nd Annual Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll is me. I got to vote in it this year, and sent in some comments with my ballot, and according to Ranjit, they used some of my stuff. Being out here on the Left Coast, I haven't seen it yet, since my subscription is erratic at best, but I can't hardly wait. See ya! --jim -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Feb 1995 11:01:43 -0500 From: LynneMB@aol.com To: skyway@phoenix.creighton.edu I just wanted to let you all know that alt.music.replacements *exists*! Several people are working on a FAQ. I hope you will support this group. Ask your administrator to carry it if you don't have access. Lynne -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 20:58:03 -0500 From: ZABB@aol.com Subject: oh my god Hi, my name is Zach Bloom i'm 13 and the 'mats are almost a religion to me. I have loved your music ever since I saw you guys at Great Woods with Tom Petty (when I was 8). It is a real honor to be writing this. I was wondering since Bob has (very sadly) departed and (by rumor) Paul and Chris aren't on best terms, that there could be a 'mats reuinion with Paul, Tommy, Steve and maybe Slim. I have followed all of your music careers since the breakup. But out of all the solo careers I think that Paul's is most dominant. I read the interview with Paul in the hardbound edition, and I find it hard to believe that "Things" is not about his ex-wife, but I figured it was about another relationship. It was really great doing this and If Tommy read this (yeah right) tell Steve that he is my favorite drummer, those fills on "Never Aim To Please" are great. Your biggest 13 year-old fan, -Zach Bloom P.S. Paul why didn't you put "Seein' Her" on "14 Songs." I mean it would fit really well. Well I appreciate it if someone would write me back. If you need to do a completely new adress my adress is: ZABB@AOL.COM thanks. [WOW! 13! Hey, you're pretty precocious...seein' the 'Mats at -->8<--?!! Except, I think that you're thinkin' that this goes directly to Paul's rented house...if so, sorry...none other than us lonely fans... - M@] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 20:47:44 CST From: "M@" Subject: Unsatisfied I always thought the line was: "Everything you ever dreamed of is right in front of you And everything is a lie..." I'll spare yah from the explication, but I never questioned it because it seemed to fit. I've noticed that people generally don't get this song right off...but then they'll be listening to it one day and it'll "hit" them. I've played it for people and they're just like "Uhhh...so?",and then months later they'll be like, "Ohhh man, that song...it says so much..." It's just one of those things that doesn't make sense unless you're 'there', I guess. Kinda 'There', -- Matt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Feb 95 15:02:26 EST From: cford@VNET.IBM.COM To: skyway@phoenix.creighton.edu Subject: "Hootenanny"/Village Voice The following entry from the last SKYWAY suggests an error in the intro message which was written by me: >.........................................................I had heard OF >"Hootenanny", since I had a copy of the Village Voice Poll,and some people had >voted for it (but despite what the intro message to //skyway\\ says,it did NOT >win the poll,not even close. Michael Jackson's _Thriller_ was #1, and R.E.M.'s >_Murmur_ was #2. _Stink_ may have won the EP poll the year before, but I'm not I read *somewhere* (I think even more than one place) that "Hootenanny" had at least placed prominantly in this poll, but for the life of me I can't remember where I read it. Clearly, since Bob has the poll in hand, the Skyway intro message must contain mis-information. Has anybody else been mislead into thinking that this release had won a Village Voice poll? I think this rumour has been flying around for some time.. Charles Ford -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 09:51:01 -0500 From: hlc2@psu.edu Subject: Re: Liquor Giants Hi, everyone ... I feel like I just need to hang around the /Skyway/ today. On the subject of the Liquor Giants. Mark and Matt, you may have inadvertantly answered one of my most recent burning questions. A few weeks ago, while trying to get through month 4 of physical therapy, I was on one of the Biodex machines when a song came on the facility's piped-in music system -- it sounded A LOT like Bash & Pop. I immediately stopped what I was doing and listened to the lyrics -- VERY similar to Tommy's style (as well as Paul's, but the guy sounded almost exactly like Tommy). The next day, I immediately went back to the issue of /Skyway/ in which someone (sorry, I can't remember who) posted the lyrics to the B&P song from _Clerks_. I was surprised to find that the lyrics I heard didn't belong to the B&P track on _Clerks_. Now after reading Mark's post on the Liquor Giants, I'm wondering if this is the band I heard. Mark, you quoted the lyrics: >Did they tell you on the first day of your life > That someday you'd be somebody's wife Does the song also include something about drowning in water (or drowning in *something*)? It would be in the chorus -- or at least it was repeated a lot throughout the song. Feel free to post privately. The curiosity is killing me. Heather -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 09:25:38 -0500 From: hlc2@psu.edu Subject: Shtuff Hi, Matt ... You said about the Liquor Giants record: [in private correspondence, not on the //Skyway\\ -- M@] >I've never seen in a record store >and believe me, I looked. I called my friend Joe (music-buying guru for a local store) and he's got a copy in stock, so I'll pick it up this weekend. I, of course, got the third degree from him when I asked about it since he's been telling me for two months to buy it and I never remembered to. Well, it's Day 3 and I'm still processing the loss of Bob -- reason #24 of why life simply isn't fair. Last night I decided to go to a club downtown and catch the Love Spit Love show (for $6 and a 25-cent draft special, who needs the ABC primetime line-up?). After washing my fears down right with four roses and too many Killians, I settled in for the opening band, Solution A.D., out of Easton, PA. What I heard wasn't bad -- I really dug at least 15 seconds of every song -- so I decided to get a closer look. The lead singer was trying desperately to be Westerberg, in his paisley-print polyester shirt, whacked cowboy hat, beat-up low-cut canvas sneakers -- right down to the hole in the butt of his baggy workpants. He was really workin' his already-existant resemblance to Paul in a big way. Normally in these situations, I either start laughing hysterically or get up and walk out (depending on my mood that day) ... but last night, all it did was leave me feeling homesick. I wanted to see The Mats so bad it hurt ... and I would have given everything I owned for one trip back about ten years, to a small club in some nowhere town on the East Coast ... four drunken madmen stumbling and mumbling their way through a show in which a beer often lasted longer than a set. It's the only part of my life I would gladly live through again. I don't know if it's something you want to share with the rest of the class, but I just thought I'd share. Living in a town where most people think Green Day and Pavement had original ideas, there's not much of an audience for Mats stories. Thanks a lot for the //Skyway//. Heather -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 22:17:04 -0500 From: GBlaisd@aol.com matt, your skyway thing is great. kudos to you for getting this thing together. one thing that interested me was the letter re: liquor giants. their first record, You're Always Welcome, was a great way station for me between the Replacements demise and the solo Paul thing. Its a much better record than Here, referenced in the letter, and I consider it a minor masterpiece. It's a beautiful record, considered critically at the time as a sort of hommage to the Mats. Skyway subscribers should seek it out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 10:54:01 -0500 From: hlc2@psu.edu Subject: Petty Shmetty and Annette Me again, with my two dimes and a penny re: the recent Mats-tour-with-Petty stories. But first ... said Annette, minivan mom-o-rama: >And [in Bent Out of Shape] it is "Spacklin' another heartache" see the tea is >soothing or fixing yet another failed attempt at love [...] Thanks for the validation on that one. I agree totally. And next time you're in Pennsylvania, look for a blue GEO Storm with PA plates that read THE MATS and give a wave -- that's me. I have a feeling we were probably at some of the same Mats shows throughout 86 and 87 ... now if I could only remember even half of where I was during those years ... I distinctly remember Virginia at one point. Anyway, on to Petty ... Back in 1989, as I was wrapping up my final year here at good ol' Penn (you say "Joe-Pa," I say "Terno") State, I was busy juggling classes and work with following the boys all over God's creation on the _DTaS_ tour. I had no sooner recovered from the injuries I sustained after getting the snot beat out of me at a Mats show at the Syrian Mosque in Pittsburgh (a whole other story), when I got word that the guys would be opening for Petty. A date was finally released for Allentown in the early fall, and my friend George and I drove the three hours to the show. It was the first and only time I'd seen The Mats open for another band -- and it would definitely be my last. The show was held outdoors at the Allentown Fairgrounds, and the sprinkling of Mats fans clustered at the front of the stage was no match for the swarms of Petty fans on the track and up in the grandstand. Really, The Mats never had a prayer -- from the time they walked out, the crowd was horrible to them. To make matters worse, Petty (for some unknown and unforgiveable reason) decided to walk out onto the very edge of the side of the stage and wave at everyone right in the middle of a Mats song. Needless to say, things got worse for The Mats. In desperation, they stopped playing, Paul growled into the mike, "Is THIS what you want?", and then they ripped into a BLISTERING cover of "Gimme Shelter." One of my Holy Mats Grails is to find a copy of it -- it was INCREDIBLE. As I (and several other Mats fans) tried in vain to yell supportive words to the guys, the asshole standing next to me picked up a handful of pebbles from the dirt track and flung them on stage, hitting Paul in the face and head. Without thinking, I turned and punched the guy right in the face, then jumped on top of him and started wailing on him as his friends looked on -- no one dared do anything ... my friend George -- with his striking physical resemblance to Andre the Giant -- was reason enough to stay still. Afterward, Slim and Paul stormed off stage. Tommy stepped up to the mike and screeched "Fuck YOU, Allentown!", and Chris hurled his drum set into the crowd. They were on stage for 15 minutes total. I also agree with whoever originally brought it up -- Petty's use of "rebel without a clue" in "Out in the Great Wide Open," or whatever the hell it's called, is no coincidence. Heather -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- fin. --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- || Matthew Tomich || <<>> || || 1111 S. Mulanix #207 || ----> skyway@phoenix.creighton.edu <---- || || Kirksville, Missouri 63501 ||(administrative, contribution, all purpose)|| || (816)-785-4808 ||--==--==--==--==--==-*-==--==--==--==--==--|| || "You are not what you own." || ** Non-Skyway address: ** || || /\\/\\/\ - Fugazi /\\/\\/\\ || i261%nemomus@academic.nemostate.edu || --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- "It is my life It is my voice It is stupid It's my noise..." -- Superchunk