______________________________________________________________________________ // // The \\kyway \\ // skyway@novia.net Issue #58 May 7th, 1998 ______________________________________________________________________________ (c) 1998 Bastards of Young (BOY/BetaOmegaYamma) Productions list manager: Matthew Tomich (matt@novia.net) technical consultant and thanks to: Bob Fulkerson of Novia Networking ______________________________________________________________________________ SKYWAY SUBSCRIPTION/LISTSERVER INFORMATION Send all listserver commands in the body of a letter to "majordomo@novia.net" To subscribe to the //Skyway\\: subscribe skyway To unsubscribe from the //Skyway\\: unsubscribe skyway _______________________________________________________________________________ THE //SKYWAY\\ WEB PAGE Check here for back issues, lyrics, discography, and other files. http://www.novia.net/~matt/sky/skyway.html _______________________________________________________________________________ Send submissions to: skyway@novia.net _______________________________________________________________________________ 0. Hootenanny (m@.) 1/2. Announcements (Jim De Roche, Lori Dolqueist, Nitin Nayar from WHRB) I. Hi. (Jonathan, Clay, Matt Hardin, Brian from 'the black hole of Connecticut', Nate 'Buck Hill' Williams, Alan Art, Lynnster, Joe Nagy, Doug, Clare Bentley, Harold Welsh, Bill, Christopher Gatti) II. The 'Mats (Bart, Jeff Lake, Anders Wright) III. The Twin/Tone 'Mats Box Set (Paul Sorce, Dana Nordaune, Lori Dolqueist) IV. Five or Six Different Rumors About Tommy and Perfect (Ashmi, Lori Dolqueist, Robert Winder/Reina, Becky Blenkush) V. Slim! (Alan Crandall and Bart again) VI. The Rest Of The Stuff (Sarah Buckley, Shawn, Christian Brand, David Carroll, Jeremy) _______________________________________________________________________________ 0. Hootenanny I spent all of yesterday and today in the recording studio playing thirteen songs over and over. We've played these songs probably several hundred times, but it's improbable that the best version of any of these songs is going to be played this weekend while the tape machine is rolling and the engineer is awake. All day, I can't help to think that the versions of some of the standard favorite songs, like "Answering Machine" or "Hold My Life", aren't even likely the best versions that were ever played. The truth, is that the most raucous or intimate or perfect (sic) performances were lost forever, were doomed never performed anywhere near a tape deck, and were heard only by some perpetually irritated neighbors and the 'Mats themselves. (And hopefully the upcoming Jesperson-compiled Twin/Tone box set will prove my meandering muses wrong.) I saw The Replacements live for the first and last time days after my high school graduation in 1991. Every May, nostalgia kicks in for those few weeks of the feeling of unresolved and boundless potential of freedom from school and potentials of summer before humid summer ennui kicked in. The Bastard of the Month award goes to Josef Edwards of Goldsboro, NC who at the last minute ditched his previous administration-approved address for this high school commencement speech: "In a few months the class of 1998 is going to head off into one of three different directions. We're going to school. We're going to the military. We're going to work. We're going to become different people. After about five years we're going to be leading completely different lifestyles. We might send Christmas cards, but we won't exchange letters. We might meet each other in a bar, then run out of things to talk about in 15 minutes. We might become famous. We might die. But we will have shared a moment in time that is not erasable. We will have shared sweet, lovely, irresponsible youth. We will have shared a moment in time when words like algebra, chemistry, nugget day, pep rally, and course load meant something completely different than they'll ever mean at any time in our lives. We're going to lose that fire that makes us walk from party to party. That fire that makes us get shitfaced and laugh about it the next week when we're finally sober. We're going to slowly be pushed away from the immaturity that makes us who we are and enter the part of our life that lies somewhere between innocence and oblivion. We'll no longer get carded. As the 7 Seconds song goes "I want to stay young until I die." And I mean that. I know that it is completely impossible to do, and I would be scared of a 30 year old who acts like me. But I do. So I'm going to make a toast to my youth. I'm going to drink to my high school years. I'm going to offer the dying old boy a smoke. I'm going to sing him Irish Rebel Songs. I'm going to hold his hand as he is on life support and read Catcher in the Rye to him. I'm going to listen to him tell me what it's like to die. I'm going to go to his funeral, and lay flowers on his grave, and give the eulogy. And when it's all over, I'm going to drink to my dead youth. I'm going to get blind, stinking drunk until I can't remember my own name, until I forget that I've lost something. And when THAT'S all over, I am going to forget he ever existed. And wake up tomorrow, and go on. Here's to you, youth. You will be missed." When Joesph's a freshman in college six months from now, he'll realize that it ain't over until it's over. But I was moved for the same reasons that I love Replacements songs: that moment where you really pay attenton and hear the words for the first time and go: "Oh, hell yeah, I felt that way then too." - m@. _______________________________________________________________________________ 1/2. Hey! Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 20:19:39 +0100 From: Jim De Roche Subject: Byline Correction Please Thanks for including the article I sent in to the last issue of the Skyway. But you gave me credit for writing the article and it wasn't me, I just found it through my girlfriend. It is called "Rediscovering the Replacements" and it was written by a guy named Gerry Krochak for a newspaper in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada called the "Leader Post". So if you could mention that in the next issue that would be a great help in keeping the copyright hound off my heels. Merci JD Date: Thu, 07 May 1998 11:12:40 -0500 From: "Lori Dolqueist" Subject: Rock and Roll Road Trip It finally happened, after two years as a poor but righteous public interest lawyer I've decided to join a big firm. Fortunately, I was able to sell my soul at a high enough price to allow me to take off the month of August and travel. To celebrate/mourn my impending transformation into a corporate tool, a friend and I are planning a cross-country rock and roll road trip. The tentative (and perhaps overly ambitious) itinerary includes Chapel Hill, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis (of course), Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and places in between. A fondness for dive bars and rock clubs leads me to believe that we may not be well served by your average guidebook, so I'm asking for your help. I'd appreciate any tips on places to go, sights to see, bands to catch, bars/clubs to check out, spots for live music, etc. Thanks much, Lori dolqueil@law.georgetown.edu Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 16:58:11 -0400 (EDT) From: Nitin Hi, my name is Nitin Nayar, I'm a DJ at a Boston radio station and we're doing a tribute to the Replacements with Twin/Tone records. We were wondering whether you had copies of some of the outtakes - most importantly, the following: 1. "Sorry Ma, Forgot To... " outtakes (1980) 2. KFAI interview and demos/outtakes (1983) 3. "Hootenany" outtake 4. "Let It Be" outtakes (1984) The tribute is this Sunday, May 10, 7pm - midnight. If you have copies of anything, I'd be more than willing to pay express postage. Please reply!! Thanks, Nitin Nayar WHRB 95.3FM http://whrb.org _______________________________________________________________________________ I. People Who Say "Hi". From: CRFRUNDMADL@crf.cuis.edu Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 22:00:46 -0600 (CST) Hi folks, I just joined the list, and this is my first post. My name is Jonathan, and I live in Chicago. I discovered Westerberg and The Replacements in reverse. Paul's "14 Songs" won me over (it's one of my Top 5 albums of all time), and from there I worked my way back through the band's catalog. Maybe because I got to know the band backwards, I enjoy the sober, mature, "rabbits in my yard" Paul more than his Twin/Tone drunk days. Fave Paul-related songs: "Things" "Talent Show" "Love Untold" "Dyslexic Heart" "Even Here We Are" "Alex Chilton" Paul's a big inspiration to me, because my current vocation is full-time singer/songwriter. I drive all over the country playing solo acoustic in clubs, coffeehouses, colleges, etc. and sell my albums out of my trunk. Check out my website at http://www.mich.com/~tbberg/saltlady.html.) I look forward to hearing what the big discussions are on this list! -Jonathan Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 12:03:43 -0500 From: "John T. Smith" In Gainesville, Florida my friend owned a bar that later on became the Hardback Cafe. (If yer familiar with music in Gainesville, that's a household name; if yer not from Gainesville you've most likely never heard of the Hardback.) Regardless, it a dive bar that punk rock bands play at, general faulderall. It wasn't the Hardback then but same spirit. Well, on the bill one night is The Replacements. Everybody is stoked. They are legendary now, but this was 10 or 12 years ago maybe and seeing The Replacements in a little bar with only a small crowd of friends was actually possible. Well, the short of it was that they showed up, there was about 50 people there, and they all got totally drunk as hell. When it came time to play they could barely get through the songs and the night ended with them trashing the place, tearing things off the walls, knocking everything over, the whole gambit. Pretty amazing stuff. Nobody minded, everybody got to see The Replacements. Years later on tour with my own band we heard on a radio station in St. Louis that Bob Stinson had died. There was a picture of him on the inside of the van. We were bummed. We put on 'Pleased to Meet Me' and played 'Color Me Impressed' at our next show. They were a great band. That's all I've got to say about that. CLAY Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 19:33:06 -0600 (CST) From: hardinm3599@uni.edu Depending on what kind of mood I'm in I have a variety of stories about how I first discovered The Replacements. I'm one of the younger ones (21) so don't get offended when I say that it was around '93. It was most likely from Paul's stuff on the Singles soundtrack, or 14 Songs. I didn't really get into it at first, I bought Singles because of Pearl Jam or something. Then one day while I was browsing the local used CD racks I stumbled across Hootenanny and Don't Tell a Soul. I only had $8 so I went with Hootenanny just based on the song titles. I chose wisely and worked my way through the catalog over the next few years. I was getting sick of all the MTV bands with generic lyrics and little if any emotion. Songs like Treatment Bound and basically all of Stink really drew me in. The raw talent was just unbelievable. I saw Paul's show in Iowa City on the Eventually tour and was totally blown away. Everything was exactly the way I had hoped it would be, set list, people, etc. I was with the notorious band of bra and panty tossers (see the review on Kathy's page). No complaints outside of wishing it wouldn't have ended so early. I've only been able to get to Minneapolis once in my brief fandom, but its like visiting Mecca, walking on Hennepin, seeing the skyways, all this magnified by the fact that the Leinenkugels brewery is just an hours drive away. Growing up in this part of the country (Iowa) makes the music that much easier to identify with. Must be something in the water (actually, along this part of the Mississippi I can definitely say there's something in the water). Just wish I would have been born a few years earlier. My favorite song was Unsatisfied until I heard it in the movie Airheads (TV gets kind of dull around here late at night)...so I guess my only request to anyone who has been able to read this far in my babble is that if you ever make a really cheesy movie, don't use a 'Mats song. Out of respect for their integrity if for no other reason. Now the title of my favorite song rests intermittently on the shoulders of Achin' to Be and Nevermind. I only know one other person with substantial interest in the band so discovering this list was a godsend. I really identified with some of the comments in the last issue. This is a lot like some kind of subculture, with the music as the secret handshake. Nothing feels better than stumbling across other fans... Matt Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 16:50:46 -0500 From: karen pasacreta Salutations one and all fellow Mats fans! And especially to you Matt for the fine virtual gathering place named after one of my all time favorite songs. My name is Brian, I'm 32 and I live in that black hole of live musical performance better known as Connecticut. I'm an artist/ journalist, am married, and have a 13 month old baby daughter. I'm not much of a writer, so the following was recorded into a micro cassette while listening to the "Let It Be" album... I've loved the Replacements ever since I first heard them which was, um, 1986? When I first heard Alex Chilton on the radio and said "What is this?!!!" At the time I was into I guess what you would call progressive rock...bands like Rush and Yes and things like that. And then I heard that song on the radio and I said "THIS is what I've been looking for!" At the time, everything that you'd hear that was popular was this 80's Europop. All synthesizer type stuff. You know "Tainted Love" and "Depeche Mode." And really, the Replacements were the bridge between punk rock and alternative rock. They were the originators of alternative rock, in my opinion. And as far as their popularity goes, or lack there of, they really just came along too early. Their type of music became popular when groups like Nirvana and Pearl Jam hit it big in the early to mid 90's and they were already gone from the scene at that point. But you can't listen to "Alex Chilton," today, then, anytime!, and tell me that it wouldn't have been a HUGE hit if it had come out at the same time that Pearl Jam's first album came out or at the time "Nevermind" came out or any of those albums. That song is so much more commercially-viable than anything Kurt Cobain did, really... and I'm a huge fan of his, but... it just seems surprising to me that the Replacements stuff which really was accessible to people, really struck a chord with people, and was so very TUNEFUL, yet never made it successfully. The best show I ever saw was Paul Westerberg at the Marquee Theater in Norwalk (CT) on his 14 Songs tour. He was sober, which he wasn't when I saw him play with the Replacements. He played requests, he played covers, and it was like a bunch of friends hanging out together. You felt like him, and his band, and all of the people in the audience were just like a big group of friends. Like, you know, "Hey, what do you want me to play?" My favorite Replacements songs... gosh I love so much of their stuff! OK here I'm going through my collection. God I really love "Unsatisfied." I love playing that on my guitar. That's one of my favorites..."Sixteen Blue"...let's see what else..."I'm in Trouble"..."Hold My Life"...and, uh "Skyway". I like a lot of stuff off that new release...the "Nothing for All", the second disc of the release. I like the "Can't Hardly Wait" version from "Tim". I have that on an old bootleg of them playing it THAT way. I always wondered why they played it differently, and now I know! I like "We Know the Night." I like "Wake Up" an awful lot. I think it rocks! I love where they do "Another Girl, Another Planet" I've got that on a couple of different boots that are pretty good. I also like "If Only You Were Lonely" and a song called "Nowhere is My Home" which are both on the "Boink" record. Well that's it for me...live and unexpurgated. - Brian From: Nate Williams Subject: ...take it scotty Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 14:07:23 -0600 Howdy. I was catching up on my Skyway back issues while on lunch break. Thought I'd drop you a line regarding the insightful question as to who Westerberg's talking to when he says "Take it Scotty" in Treatment Bound. Here's my thesis: It's an Elvis Presley joke. The Scotty in question is Scotty Moore, the guitarist who played on Elvis Presley's Sun Records sessions and toured with the King for the rest of his career. He plays on the '68 comeback special if you ever see it rerun on VH-1. I've got no proof this; it just sounds like the kind of goofy, off-the-cuff in-joke that a person as well-versed in rock history as Paul Westerberg would make during a line break in a song they were recording. In fact, I watched said '68 Comeback Special last year when it was on _specifically so_ I could see if Elvis ever actually uttered those words. He didn't, but I'm still convinced that I'll eventually find a video or outtakes CD where a drunken, bloated Elvis calls out "Take it Scotty." It's Paul's tribute to the King. Q: Whatever happened to the genie outfit Bob Stinson wore on Saturday Night Live and why isn't it in a Hard Rock Cafe somewhere, recognized as the critical piece of rock history that it is. -- Nate From: Alan_Arlt@discovery.com Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 18:07:19 -0400 Subject: Replacements memories Alan Arlt@DCI 04/03/98 06:07 PM The Replacements. Brings back a ton of memories. My high school days in Minneapolis when I used to sneak into First Avenue and The 7th Street Entry to see my hometown boys. I knew The Replacements were something special when every other local Minneapolis band was in the crowd to watch these guys. I'll never forget Bobby Stinson playing a show in nothing but a trash bag and combat boots. Paul [Westerberg] may have been the creative force behind the band but Bobby gave the band the energy and soul that separated them from any other live band. Forget about the talk of The Replacements ever reuniting and touring. When Bobby died, The Replacements took their last breath. (Sorry Slim) It would be like The Beatles trying to tour without John Lennon. Ridiculous. The Replacements have been present during some of the best times in my life. Rocking out to "On the Bus" on the back of the school bus with my teammates, returning home in a snowstorm after a victory in the High School basketball region finals. Listening to "They're Blind" over and over as I drove the streets of Minneapolis with a bottle of Jack Daniels riding shotgun after my girlfriend dumped me. Playing pool with a beautiful girl I met at the bar while "Can't Hardly Wait" played on the jukebox. Flying over New York at night. "Swinging Party" playing in my headphones. Thanks Paul, Chris, Tommy, Bobby, and Slim. I have lived in New York for almost three years now, having moved out here after graduating from the University of Minnesota. I work in marketing for The Discovery Channel, but my main passion is writing. I hope to have my book completed and published by the end of year. The Replacements were a major influence for the book. Finally, I saw Paul play during his Eventually tour at Irving Plaza about 2 years ago here in New York. It was the first time I'd seen him since 1989. To say I was excited was an understatement. Paul took the stage with his new bandmates and my heart just sunk. It just didn't feel right without Chris, Bobby, Tommy, or Slim. Plus Paul took the stage with a bottle of f#*^^in Evian water in his hand!!! It just wasn't the same...maybe I've just grown up. Maybe Paul has too. But one thing I can't take away from Paul is his music which is still as strong as ever. I see a lot of local New York bands play at Coney Island High, The Continental, and CBGB's and you see these guys play and wonder why they haven't sold more records, until you see a Paul Westerberg and you're reminded what a separation there is with him and his band compared to the local New York acts. Thanks for this beautiful page!!! It's great that you've given a voice to so many Replacements fans like myself. God bless you. Take care my friends and I'll try to find you all...Left of the Dial. Alan Arlt Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 20:37:37 -0500 From: Lynnster Subject: Tina Plottel's "Going to the Mats" Well, I got kinda behind on my e-mail and just now got caught up on old issues, and read with interest the Tina Plottel article "Going To The Mats" submitted by Lee Taejoo in SKYWAY #56. She basically said that the 'Mats are a guy band and she never could get into 'em because of it, and felt "left out". Hmm. I don't really know what to think of this. I mean, I'm a chick, and I'm one of the more rabid 'Mats fans I know. There's a number of us 'Mats chicks who are regulars on alt.music.replacements... me, Amy Kennebec, Shannon Compton, Nicole Moreau, Dez, Kath of the definitive Paul website, Annette Fine, Patty "NahNahNah", Cathy Witalka, Carrie Shipp, the MIA but no doubt still rabid Estuck, probably more I'm not thinking of at the moment. While we're probably outnumbered by the guy regulars, the female regulars of the newsgroup carry their weight in postings and are just as rabid, if not more, about their 'Mats fetish than the guys are. So, I wonder, what is it that we chicks "got" about the 'Mats that this chick didn't? I'm assuming Plottel is about my age due to one particular reference she made: "while I was busy following New Wave acts from England, the boys in my school were identifying with Paul Westerberg. I much preferred Duran Duran's metaphysical lyrics of religion and alien visits to Paul's cranky complaints". Well, okay, I was busy following those same New Wave acts at the time, in high school and early college, too, and was one of the biggest Duran Duran fanatics in the Southeast, likely. But I was also following the 'Mats. And Husker Du. And Guadalcanal Diary. And a number of college radio acts at the time. The minute I first heard the "Let It Be" album I was hooked. In nearly fifteen years my answer to the question, "Who's your favorite songwriter, who do you think is the best in the world?" has never changed - Paul Westerberg, natch. Again, I'm wondering, what did I "get" that she never got? Heck, I was introduced to the 'Mats by another 'Mats fan chick, all those years ago. Granted, men have usually outnumbered women at the 'Mats and Paul shows I've attended... although I think it was the other way around at the Perfect show I attended last winter. But still, I always saw a fair amount of women at shows that didn't appear to be simply there hanging on their date's arms and there for nothing else. Plottel talks in her article about how guys always identified with the 'Mats, but she (and, more broadly, chicks in general) never could. I just plain disagree. I stated more than a year ago on the 'Mats page of my website (http://members.aol.com/lynseyb2/web/mats.html) that "I often have said Paul Westerberg, guitarist, lead singer, songwriter extraordinaire, wrote the soundtrack to my life. Even songs that are more geared towards a guy's point of view, it's easy to turn that around when you're a chick listener." I could toss up a hundred examples to this, probably, but for brevity's sake, I'll just note a few. Yes, I am a chick and cannot possibly *truly* identify with the teen-boy-angst of "Sixteen Blue"... but I can still appreciate the sentiment behind it, as well as nearly being driven to tears by Bob's guitar in the final strains of that cut. And I *certainly* can identify, even tho' I'm a chick, with songs like "Unsatisfied", "Here Comes A Regular", "Never Mind", "Within Your Reach", "Achin' to Be", "Valentine", "Don't Ask Why", "Nobody", many more. I can laugh, even tho' I'm a chick, at songs like "Lovelines" and "Waitress in the Sky" simply because they're damn funny. *And*, being a chick who's also been a musician a time or two, I can identify with tunes like "I Don't Know", "Talent Show", "Treatment Bound"... really I find Paul's writing more universal than so guy-based. "Sixteen Blue", yes, pretty much a guy's song. Most of the rest, nah, not really. I don't know. Are we, me and my sisters, the few, the proud, the 'Mats women? I think you either just "get" it, the 'Mats thing, or you don't - male or female, black or white, green or purple. And Plottel is just one of those who doesn't get it and never has gotten it. IMO, her loss. Philosophically, Lynn ******************************************************** Dare to enter The Lynnster Zone... http://members.aol.com/lynnstermc/web/index.html ******************************************************** Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 18:14:32 -0400 From: JOE NAGY Seems like a lot of young ones writing in, maybe they'd like to hear about what it was like in the beginning. Fall '81, Fall quarter at the U of Minnesota, went over to a friends house to drink some beer and such. He had the stereo on 11, and the lead singer was describing our late-night escapades through Minneapolis: "Lyndale, Garfield--RED LIGHT RED LIGHT RUN IT!" My buddy jammed the cover of Sorry Ma into my face, and my girlfriend piped up, "Oh yeah, that's Tracy's (not actual name) boyfriend Paul's band." My friend was delirious: "THESE GUYS ARE FUCKIN' GREAT! THEY'RE AT THE ENTRY WITH THE HUSKERS TONIGHT! WE'RE GOIN!" So after a courtesy spinning of Husker Du's Land Speed Record, we went. I'd barely ordered our beers at 7th Street, when I heard "Hey Paul! Come here!" from my girlfriend. He recognized her and came over. "How's Tracy, blah blah blah, Fine blah blah blah, This is my boyfriend Joe." He didn't look too thrilled to be there, so I thought I'd keep it short: "Just heard your album." "Whattya think?" "Good and loud. What do you listen to?" "Ramones and Johnny Cash." After we parted, the Entry transformed itself into the reckless sweaty sonic drunken body-crashing cave that only it could be, as first the Replacements then Husker Du took the stage. At the time, I never imagined that the gig would in later years be seen by a lot us as historically significant. We were just having a good time. In the years following I became jaded with the scene and all the "johnny come latelys." See, we were the "original fans." Then one day I remembered the Huskers' Bob Mould snarling, "You've seen it all before, you think it's passe . . . but you listen to the same fuckin records every single day!" So now there are 14-year-old 'Mats fans. Who'd a thunk it? I just wish they'd run a tape machine at that 7th Street Entry show. Joe "A Regular" nagyj@mail.martinagency.com From: DougWR Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 03:15:38 EDT Subject: The Mother Lode! Wholly shit! I just discovered the page and your newsletter by somehow linking from a Slim Dunlap page. I have been a Replacements fan for about two months. I heard about the band from a person online in Minnesota. I am from Oregon and have been living in cultural vacuum because I left the advertising business in New York City when I was 25 years old to come back West where I grew up. I was a visitor to CBGBs in the late 70s and saw the Ramones, Patti Smith, and a few others and many that I forget. One that I remember was Teenage Jesus which consisted of a bass player stroking one note over and over and one snare drummer who beat the exact same rim shot over and over with the bass note. A woman moaned terrible lyrics. The place was fun. Mick Jagger even dropped by one night and most people properly left him alone. I was at the very first show that the B-52s played outside of Georgia. The crowd was polite. As with most nights, they drank beer and mingled around the stage waiting and waiting for some kick ass rock act. When I got back to Oregon I became a workaholic and had kids and became an entrepreneur. I only listened to music occasionally except for the vast wasteland sanitized of overproduced pop on the FM stations. I was bored musically and sadly ignorant of what was going on in the underground of Minneapolis. I used to dust off my Sex Pistols and Ramones albums to impress and freak out Bee Gees and Barry Manilow fans and the occasional Neil Diamondized friend. Now, like Rip Van Winkle who awoke about 18 years too late, I discover the real sound, spirit and energy that I was searching for at CBGBs. The Replacements. I have bought every 'Mats CD and all of Paul's solo stuff. These people are so purely inspired and talented that I am totally amazed that they were not one of the largest selling bands of the era. I feel refreshed. This site of yours and the other sites I have discovered reassure me that true blue music and inspired art by genuine talent does get recognized and remembered. Your work is an important cultural effort preserving the history and legacy of the artists formerly known as the Replacements. I will stay in touch from time to time. From: Clare G Bentley <9705085b@student.gla.ac.uk> Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 13:22:33 +0000 Subject: silly words for skyway How do I say this? Music is such a huge part of my life, and such a huge part of me. It seems that often no one else really knows. sEven if you want to share a bit in a song which you couldn't love more, you can never explain. `Yeah, but isn't it AMAZING? That bit just there...' It reminds me who I am, I know that sounds really dumb. Maybe that's not what I really mean. I don't know. Sunday was one of the worst days I've ever lived through. I got home and locked my door. Put on `Don't Tell A Soul'. It helped so much. It helped because it reminded me of who I was when I first knew the record. And it helped in the instant, the songs as they existed, just as the notes and rhythms, just as songs. Association - does anyone else ever find that, when you remember something about yourself that you forgot? Kind of gives you strength, or something. I'm sorry this is so vague and crummy. I wanted to tell you this, because I've finally found all these anonymous, faceless people who know all the importance these songs do have. Like when you're trying to get someone else to really understand why some bit in a song is just so so amazing, the words on the Skyway mean nothing much to anyone, unless you understand what they're describing. They don't really describe, they summarise. They remind. Stuff that's come into my head, in no particular order; Why Suzie/Susan? 'Like on Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out', 'Trumpet Clip', the hidden track on 'When Squirrels...', 'Black Eyed Susan'...? See you have a pop culture section - I have an addition. 'I Will Dare' is on the film Feeling Minnesota. It plays in the car and Cameron Diaz and Keanu Reeves sing along to it. I have to admit I only got the film out because on the back I said it had Replacements music in it. But it's a crap film). There are a million trillion gazillion little bits in songs which get me every time I hear them but one I just noticed properly the other day was in 'Hide and Seekin', the bit where the flute (I think) plays the countermelody to Paul, in the background. It's such a sunny little tune, skewed in relation to the whole mood of the song, I'm never very good at explaining this kind of stuff. *clare. HELLO ANY OTHER SUBSCRIBERS FROM BRITAIN? From: "Harold Welsh" Subject: how I became a fan Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 23:49:14 -0700 Well it all started when I started going to college, I had discovered punk rock and had a hunger for the raw energy that it offered...one day while listening to KROQ (my favorite radio station) I heard a song call IOU. I thought, hey this song has energy, and I had to find out who it was... (to be honest, I also wanted the song on tape to help me stay awake for my 4 a.m. commute to the college hehe.... well about 2 hours later, I was at the local alternative record store looking for the album that had that song, and half an hour later I was walking out of the store with what I now consider one of the greatest albums of all time (Pleased To Meet Me). I stuck that tape in and listened to it... wow, I thought as I was listening to it, I was thinking hey I've heard this song before... this one too.... wow and this one too... seems as though almost half the album got some airplay on my station and they were all songs I liked, but it was the songs that I never heard before that really got me hooked... the song SKYWAY and NIGHTCLUB JITTERS and THE LEDGE... I was soon recommending this record to everyone and within a week, I was in the record store looking for everything I could find on the 'Mats. I was impressed with the range the band had... never before had I heard a band do such a wide variety... ballads, jazz, punk, rock, even a little country and they did it VERY good. I remember thinking when I heard songs such as Skyway and Aching To Be and Here Comes a Regular that "hey I'm not alone... here is someone singing songs about how I feel... songs that were genuinely from the soul." One of my regrets is that I never got to see the 'Mats live, BUT I did get to see Paul Westerberg live at the Whiskey in L.A. when he was touring for his 14 Songs album, and boy did he put on a great show. It wasn't long after listening to their records over and over that I was finally inspired to write poetry. This came as a shocker since before I wrote my first one, I had trouble even reading poetry BUT the second poem I ever wrote was actually published in a college textbook on morality. The poem was called "what to do what to say" and I have a small fan base (those I have let read my small collection.) Most are about alienation and depression, but I have some good love poems. Other bands I like a lot are Midnight Oil, Bad Religion, Rancid, Elastica, Toy Dolls, Social Distortion to name just a few... I currently live in Bullhead City, AZ, a small hick town just across the river from Laughlin, NV, a dead community for alternative music... I now have to rely on friends or the net to hear about what's out and then special order them... anyway, that is how I, Harold Welsh, became a 'Mats fan. Thanks. Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 18:57:02 -0700 From: Morpheus I've been meaning to subscribe to the Skyway for... oh... almost a year or two now I guess. Finally got my lazy ass around to doing it... So here is my introduction thing. My name is Bill, I'm 20 years old, living in Los Angeles, California. I am a musician and computer programmer. Well, lessee... I first heard the 'Mats round about my freshman year of high school. My sister (10 years older than I) sent me a copy of "Tim" for my birthday. The first songs that grabbed me were the more rocker songs (I was just coming out of my hard rock phase, so its understandable). I listened to the CD off and on for a while. After owning it for about 6 months it started to grow on me. Songs like Little Mascara, On the Bus, Left of the Dial, and Here Comes a Regular really struck me... they were so powerful, so true to life, and written straight from somewhere in between the gut and the soul. I had absolutely fallen in love. About a year later I had wound up with all the Replacements releases, and loved 'em all (well, "Sorry Ma" still kinda bugs me at times, but I dig it most of the time, heh). I never got a chance to see they boys live, though. Hoping to see Paul if he ever tours again. My most recent 'Mats acquisition was a 7" "Live Inconcerated" that I saw hanging on the wall of a record store in Pennsylvania while I was on vacation. Started drooling when I saw it. heh. Still haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet... if only I had a working record player. My other musical tastes range from experimental noise to musicals. Favorite groups include Replacements (of course), fIREHOSE, Skinny Puppy, Coil, Legendary Pink Dots, Aube, Chris Connelly, David Bowie, Gavin Friday, Virgin Prunes... hrm... I could go on... way too numerous to mention, so I'll refrain. Well, um I guess that's enough of an introduction... Ta! -Bill chemicalwire@earthlink.net From: "Gatti, Christopher" Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 16:20:19 -0500 Since it is custom to "drop a line and spill your guts", here goes: I just got on the internet for the first time (I am 29 years old and a little behind the times!!) a few days ago. It didn't take me too long before I stumbled upon The Skyway. Wow!!! I especially enjoyed the lyrics section. There have been many nights that I spent with my ear to the speaker and pen in my hand scratching down all of Westerberg's lyrics. The Replacements speak to me. Their tapes/CD's were my first choice when I was in pain, heart was hurt, or I was just down. Oddly enough, they were also my first selection when I was in a great mood or drinking with my friends. I was born in St. Paul, I still live and work in the Twin Cities. My favorite album is Tim with Let It Be a close second. As far as songs: Here Comes a Regular - Can't Hardly Wait - Swingin' Party - I Will Dare are a few of my all time favs. Since, I have tried to get my hands on every piece of post-breakup material out there (articles, solo stuff, imports etc...). Your back issues should provide me with many hours of enjoyable reading. Thanks! Christopher Gatti P.S.: I'm still stunned 14 Songs' "Things" wasn't a mega-top ten hit for months on end. _______________________________________________________________________________ II. The 'Mats From: Bart Date: 23 Apr 98 12:58 pm The Replacements All For Nothing/Nothing For All Reprise, 1997 It's been said many times before, but The Replacements truly were a remarkable rock-n-roll band, and this two-disc set only does them a partial justice. The importance of The Replacements can not be overestimated. They not only captured the loose, reckless, rock-n-roll spirit embodied in bands like The Faces and Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, but wrote songs on par with the best work of The Beatles and Big Star. They've influenced countless bands, including Nineties hit-makers Green Day and Everclear. Nirvana was never known to name-drop the band, but Nevermind plays so much like a Replacements album it would be shocking to learn that they weren't aware of the music on this collection. The best-of disc - All For Nothing - is a decent, democratic (four songs per album) sampling of their Sire/Reprise releases, but like Minneapolis contemporaries Husker Du, will never have a proper compilation of this sort since their career is divided (their first four albums were on an independent label, Twin Tone, while the remaining four albums were for a major). The sound quality is improved, though, giving songs like "Left Of The Dial," "Alex Chilton," and "Merry Go Round" a bit of a punch - a quality that was generally lacking in the standard CD issues. The outtakes and rarities disc - Nothing For All - plays like one of those legendary Replacements shows that were all over the place, but included moments of fun (the faux-gospel number, "Date To Church," with guest clergyman Tom Waits), and songs that found humor in a time of despair ("Like A Rolling Pin," the off-the-cuff version of Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" that was recorded at the tail-end of their recording career). The surprise cover versions are here, too (the aforementioned Dylan, plus "Cruella DeVille" from Disney's 101 Dalmatians and the Only Ones gem, "Another Girl, Another Planet"), as well as just plain surprise (the rollicking Chris Mars-penned and sung "All He Wants To Do Is Fish"). The embarrassing moments (the self-explanatory "Till Were Nude"), the flops (the messy "Portland"), and the brilliance (the superior, Bob Stinson-fueled version of "Can't Hardly Wait" that should have been on Tim) are all accounted for, but, ultimately, this set resembles one of those nights The Replacements just couldn't get it together. Every Replacements album did have its share of spirited, enjoyable "filler" material, but too much of Nothing For All is missing the spark and coherence-in-the-midst-of-chaos quality that made their records and the songs on All For Nothing so special. This is the inherent problem with All For Nothing/Nothing For All, as well as the similarly packaged Pixies collection, Death To The Pixies: The Replacements made great albums (you can't go wrong with Hootenanny, Let It Be, Tim, or Pleased To Meet Me), leaving hard-core fans to settle for a mediocre out-takes/rarities disc (it could have been better) and stuck paying for sixteen song they already have. Since The Replacements were never the type of band to rip-off their fans-when their early albums were being set for release on compact disc, they refused to allow the inclusion of CD-only "bonus tracks," and really did throw some of their master tapes into the Mississippi River to prevent this from happening (and it never did) - All For Nothing/Nothing For All ends up being a bit of a hindrance to the reputation of one of the greatest rock-n-roll bands. This is unfortunate, since, to quote the late Johnny Thunders, who was not only an influence, but also a fan: "The Replacements are irreplaceable." - Bart Bealmear Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 11:44:41 -0700 From: "Jeff Lake" Subject: Can't Hardly Wait, on film I heard that a film titled "Can't Hardly Wait" is going to be released on June 12th. Of course the song is on the soundtrack, along with some other flavor-of-the-month 90's bands. Just thought you might like to know, in case you didn't already. Thanks, Jeff Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 17:41:51 -0700 From: Anders Wright Subject: Wall of Sound article Hi there. Anders Wright here, from Wall of Sound, the online music magazine. We've just published an article about the Replacements that I think you'll dig, and that I hope you'll link to. Here's the URL: http://www.wallofsound.com/news/stories/2915index.html Thanks, and feel free to pass this URL on to any other Replacements fans you know. Anders Wright Wall of Sound _______________________________________________________________________________ III. The Twin/Tone 'Mats Box Set (no joke here) From: psorce@webworldinc.com Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 17:15:04 -0700 Subject: Fwd: Re: Mats Anthology fall, 1999 Forwarded From: sector7g@ix.netcom.com (Tyler Andersen) St. Paul Pioneer Press 4/10/98 Writer: Jim Walsh REPLACEMENTS ANTHOLOGY IS IN THE WORKS Fans disappointed by the Replacements "All for Nothing/Nothing for All" Sire/Warner Bros. compilation last year will be heartened to know that Twin Tone co-founder Pete Jesperson is working on an anthology that will chronicle the Mats' Twin Tone years. "I think a Replacements set needs to be understood, not overstated," said Jesperson from his [Medium Cool] Records office in Los Angeles. 'As of now, we're planning for it to be [at least] a three-CD set: A 'best of', a rarities and a live disc, and a healthy-sized booklet." Jesperson says he's taking his time with the project, which he says will see the light of day in Autumn of 1999 [at the earliest] - 20 years after the original four Replacements (Paul Westerberg, Chris Mars, Bob and Tommy Stinson) first got together. Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 13:28:23 -0500 From: Dana Nordaune Subject: Jesperson box set Manager Plans New Replacements Boxed Set Replacements fans who were disappointed by last year's double-CD retrospective of the band's Reprise recordings may have reason to celebrate sometime late next year. While details are still sketchy, former Replacements manager Peter Jesperson has begun sifting through tapes containing hundreds of unreleased tracks with an eye toward compiling a box-set of the band's four years on Twin/Tone. In past interviews, Jesperson has expressed reservations about tackling such a project, but he feels that now is the right time to begin. "I never thought I would do a compilation," Jesperson tells Wall of Sound. "I just thought the Reprise [set] was done a bit prematurely. I understand everything is accelerated in this Nineties world we're in, but I think sometimes we anthologize-and biograph-ize-too soon. Sometimes it's best to sit back and wait, and get the proper perspective." At the moment, says Jesperson, it looks as though the set will consist of three to five CDs that will feature a mix of rarities, alternate takes, live material, and, of course, previously unreleased songs. Two tracks long sought-after by fans - "If Only You Were Lonely" and the original, acoustic version of "Can't Hardly Wait" - are certain to be included; and alternate takes of "Within Your Reach" (from 1983's Hootenanny) and "Answering Machine" (from 1984's Let It Be) are prime candidates as well. Jesperson also says that, unlike the Reprise set, the Twin/Tone compilation might very well forego the inclusion of any previously released material. "That's undetermined at this point. I'm not sure a 'best of' is warranted. To me, there's an integrity to the four [Twin/Tone] albums that might be disturbed if you pull the quote, unquote best songs from each one and put them on a single disc. And also, the people who will buy this set already have those songs. Why would I want to make those folks buy them again?" -Russell Hall Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 13:25:02 -0500 From: "Lori Dolqueist" >From ATN New Set Of Old Replacements Marks 20th Anniversary Compilation could include private tapes that frontman Paul Westerberg never shared. Contributing Editor Colin Devenish reports: It's been almost 20 years since the Replacements first gathered in a basement in their Minneapolis hometown to create the cleverly sloppy and uneven rock songs that would make them one of the pioneers of '80s rock. With that anniversary a little more than a year away, the group's surviving members -- singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg, bassist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars (founding lead guitarist Bob Stinson died of a drug overdose [sic] in 1995) -- are proceeding with plans to release a multi-disc compilation that will focus on live performances, rehearsal material and outtakes of the Replacements' early work. "I talked to Paul, Tommy and Chris and so far we've agreed we don't want to do anything until the fall of '99 at the earliest," said Peter Jesperson, founder of the Twin/Tone label that signed the Replacements to their first record deal. "One of the reasons for that is I thought it would be poetic to have a Replacements anthology of the early years as a century closer and Paul agreed with that and said it would be 20 years since they first got together in Ma Stinson's basement." At this point, an estimated 25 of 150 cassettes have been transferred to DAT, and Jesperson said there will be a minimum of three discs in this anthology. Specifically, he cited the B-side "If Only You Were Lonely" as one of the tracks sure to land on the disc, along with some material that fans of the band's early work might not be expecting. "All the time the public was hearing songs like 'Fuck School' and 'God Damn Job,' Westerberg was slipping me these private tapes he was making that he wasn't even playing for the band," Jesperson said. "They were him just playing solo acoustic things, solo piano things. He was doing these amazing ballads. It was a funny dichotomy." With its emphasis on the band's early period, the new compilation will cover a time period not included in last year's Replacements set issued by Reprise, All For Nothing/Nothing For All. That compilation included a disc of outtakes and rarities from the group's later period and a second disc that was, for the most part, a greatest-hits set drawn from the Replacements' final four albums. Jesperson said at the time of that release that he was disappointed he had not been contacted by Reprise to work on a comprehensive retrospective, and that without the Twin/Tone material there was a "gaping" hole in the collection. The Twin/Tone era includes the album's Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, The Replacements Stink, Hootenanny and Let It Be -- which featured the tracks "Androgynous" (RealAudio excerpt) and "Answering Machine" (RealAudio excerpt). Kathy Shine of Boston, webmaster of Paul's Page, which pays homage to all things related to Westerberg and the Replacements, wrote in an e-mail that she's looking forward to the upcoming compilation and listed several of the tracks on her wish list for inclusion. "Without a doubt, the compilation has to include the original, acoustic, melancholy version of 'Can't Hardly Wait,' " Shine said. "This is one of Paul Westerberg's finest songs and it's a shame it isn't readily available. Other things I'd love to see included are 'If Only You Were Lonely,' 'Nowhere Is My Home' and some of the great covers from the Let It Be era -- 'Twentieth Century Boy,' 'Hey, Good Lookin,' and (my favorite) 'Temptation Eyes.'" Additional material that Jesperson pegged as likely to get picked for the album includes "Shape Up" and "Don't Turn Me Down" from the quartet's original four-song demo that helped convince him to sign the band. The group released eight full-length albums in its more than decade-long career. Jesperson said the majority of the material that he's unearthed thus far revolves around the time that the band was recording its third and most diverse LP, Hootenanny. "There's more unreleased songs from Hootenanny than any other," he said. "I remember somebody hearing an advance of it when it came out and they said 'Man, it sounds like a compilation album, but it's all by the same artist.'" _______________________________________________________________________________ IV. Tommy Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 04:09:29 -0500 From: Ashmi Subject: Tommy Stinson and Ryan Adams... In your latest issue, you reported the following: "According to Allstar online magazine, Tommy Stinson is writing songs and planning to record with Whiskeytown's Ryan Adams. Adams has often been compared to Paul Westerberg (as much for his drunken public persona as his great songs). The collaboration may or may not result in a complete album." I work at Outpost Recordings/Geffen Records and while in fact a collaboration has been in the works between Ryan and Tommy, no plans for a record exist at all. Ryan and Tommy spoke briefly about this while Whiskeytown were in California earlier this year, the idea of writing was tossed around, but with Tommy's schedule so full advancing his new (and AMAZING record) and Ryan's forthcoming tour and trip to Europe, it will likely be some time before they can even think about the collaboration. Thanks for not including the part about Scott Litt producing which Allstar reported, it is completely untrue. Best, Ashmi Outpost Rec/Geffen Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 14:18:38 -0500 From: "Lori Dolqueist" Subject: bad news for perfect fans >From ATN Music News of the World Restless Records will not release former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson's power-pop act Perfect's first full-length album on July 14 as previously planned. The untitled album has been shelved indefinitely and is being shopped to other labels by their Restless Records label. According to Peter Jesperson, head of Medium Cool Records (a division of Restless), a scheduled East Coast tour with former head Pixie Frank Black, slated to begin May 4, has been scrapped as well. From: Dr Robert J Winder Also Submitted By: Reina Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 08:12:06 +0100 (BST) Rocktropolis allstar daily music news: April 27, 1998 http://www.allstarmag.com GOSSIP It's beyond rumor that Tommy Stinson (ex-Replacements, currently in Perfect) has been rehearsing with Axl Rose at this point; however, he hasn't officially joined Guns N' Roses as their new bassist as of press time. Regardless, Babes in Toyland's Lori Barbero took it upon herself to announce to the crowd at the Minnesota Music Awards on Thursday (April 23) in Minneapolis (allstar, April 24) that "Tommy Stinson has joined Guns N' Roses." Apparently, music fans in Minneapolis don't get on the Web much -- where Stinson's involvement with GNR has been widely reported - because half of the audience was confused and a bit shocked, while the other half simply laughed it off as if Barbero had just cracked the funniest joke. At press time, however, publicists for GNR and for Stinson had not made any announcements. Meanwhile, Perfect laid down tracks in Los Angeles for a rock remix of Mase's "Will They Die 4 You?" from his Harlem World album on Sean "Puffy" Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment label. (Puff Daddy and Lil' Kim appear on the album version, and, we're sure you all recall, Stinson worked with Puff before on "It's All About the Benjamins."). It's not determined if the track will be used, pending Puff's approval. In other Perfect news, the band's recently completed album, 7 Days a Week, has been taken off the Medium Cool/Restless release schedule, where it was slated for a July 14 release, and their scheduled tour with Frank Black has been canceled. The official reason? According to Restless head Joe Regis, it's because "we weren't ready. It would've been rushing it. We didn't even have the artwork." Meanwhile, though, the album is being quietly shopped around, and some labels have already expressed interest, which would mean that the album may not be released via Restless at all... - Miss Truth all contents are the copyright (c)1996, 1997, 1998 of N2K Inc. any derivative works of this content must hyperlink to and credit: "Rocktropolis allstar News at http://allstarmag.com" Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 13:57:24 -0500 From: "Lori Dolqueist" From ATN: Perfect Fuel Up For Night Of Driving Rock Ex-Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson's band and Fuel churn out short but noisily sweet sets. Contributing Editor Teri vanHorn reports: LOS ANGELES -- The time was 11:15 p.m. It was Friday night in L.A. You'd think the noise would still be blasting. But it wasn't. "That's all they'll let us play," singer Tommy Stinson grumbled at the close of Perfect's set, before shrugging, "That's all we know." And though the set was short, the show's pairing was, well, perfect. There were the rock-hard sounds of Fuel, who are currently riding a radio-powered ascent with "Shimmer" (RealAudio excerpt), and the pleasingly pungent power-pop of Perfect, who are currently circling in a corporate holding pattern. Both different, both remarkable and both sharing the stage at the Troubadour. In one sense, this show seemed to be a matter of checking the box beside the Los Angeles date on the tour sheet. It was an exercise in minimalism -- play your set, make your point, call it a night. Or -- in Stinson's case -- hurry up and get to the Revered Horton Heat show across town. Yet a sense of equilibrium also pervaded this show. Fuel and Perfect played for about 40 minutes each. Perfect weren't the opener; they were just the band that played first. The foursome was neither overshadowed nor outdone by its counterpart, playing a raucous, and altogether grand set that carved its own noisy niche in the night. There was nothing mid-tempo in Perfect's set. The quartet crashed through its bashing pop with Stinson (former bassist for the seminal Minneapolis power-pop group The Replacements) at the wheel. Back on bass these days after a stint on guitar, Stinson looked a little like Sex Pistol's infamous punk icon Sid Vicious with his spiked hair and angular bone structure. "You're right, man. Red marker doesn't show up," Stinson said when he laid down his set list before kicking into the opener, "Turn It Up." As the band's set proceeded through songs such as the torrid "Alternative Monkey" (RealAudio excerpt) and the crunchy "Catch 'Em Where You're At," Perfect provided strong hints that their racket just might be ... a promising racket. But it might be a while before that promise is fulfilled. The band's label, Restless Records, recently shelved the group's full-length debut. There were surreptitious references to that bump in the road during Perfect's set. At one point, Stinson sarcastically remarked, "This is off our soon-to-be-released -- Bah!" and swung around to face the drum set. Earlier, he had mumbled something about a record company executive before playing "Did You Say Please," with its opening line, "The minute you were born they dropped you on the head." After the show, however, Stinson shrugged off the record's delayed release (his A&R rep was standing next to him at the time). "I'm not allowed to comment at the moment," he said in a mock-serious tone, and then added, "It will come out -- within the next six months." Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 08:04:07 -0500 From: "Lori Dolqueist" Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) April 28, 1998, Metro Edition Reports that Tommy Stinson, formerly of the Replacements and currently with Perfect, has joined Axl Rose's Guns N' Roses are inaccurate, said Peter Jesperson, head of Medium Cool Records, for which Perfect records. Stinson, who lives in Los Angeles, has been jamming with Rose three times a week for the past three weeks, said Jesperson, who also lives in L.A. He's getting paid for it. "This is not a permanent thing," said Jesperson, the former Replacements manager, who had dinner with Stinson Sunday night. "Tommy made it clear from the start that he's got his own band. If Tommy were available, maybe they'd make an offer. It's like someone asking him to do a session." Perfect has a new album, "Seven Days a Week," due this summer. It was produced by Jim Dickinson at Ardent Studios in Memphis. Stinson played bass on a couple of songs with Cracker, and he and Perfect did another Puff Daddy remix for a song by Mase. (Stinson and two of his bandmates previously did a remix of Puffy's "It's All About the Benjamins.") Said Jesperson of Stinson: "He's a musician. One day, he rehearsed with Perfect from 4 to 7 and with Guns 'N' Roses from 10 to 3:30 in the morning. Tommy is working; it's a joy to see." As for Jesperson, he has begun working on some sort of Replacements compilation from their years on Twin/ Tone Records. He predicts that it will be at least three CDs. He has studio recordings to review, as well as about 150 cassette recordings of gigs, basement rehearsals, Paul Westerberg doing songs solo, interviews and studio outtakes. "I'm not putting anything out that doesn't have their full approval," Jesperson said. "Paul is not interested in sitting down and listening to this stuff. He told me, 'I trust you.'" Jesperson said the earliest the 'Mats compilation would be released is fall of 1999. Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 08:49:40 +0100 (BST) From: Dr Robert J Winder [from an uncredited source:] Guns n' Roses these days (probably) are Axl Rose, lead guitarist Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails), Axl buddy guitarist Paul Huge, off-and-on former GnR keyboardist Dizzy Reed, and most likely drummer Josh Freese. There may even be a chance that Tommy Stinson will lay down some bass tracks. Stinson, formerly of the Replacements, has adamantly denied to press sources his ongoing involvement in the project but insiders confirm he's been hanging out in the studio. --- later rob Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 08:59:33 -0500 From: "Lori Dolqueist" Subject: Tommy and Telemarketing New Times Los Angeles April 16, 1998, Thursday Tommy Boy: Tommy Stinson escapes the shadow of the Replacements in Perfect By Steve Appleford See Tommy drink. Watch him grin. Hear him gush over the snapshot of his eight-year-old daughter, Ruby, who is far, far away. Observe the casual sips from his huge martini glass. The days of heavy drinking and drugging are behind him now. But Tommy sits happily tonight amid a great tobacco cloud, sharing this dark West L.A. tavern with scofflaws ignoring the state's new ban on smoking in bars. Fat cigars and slim cigarettes billow smoke into air already thick with the jukebox sounds of punk and swing and rockabilly. Tommy doesn't smoke, even if a cigarette comes free with every martini. He does get excited about the music blaring from a loudspeaker above his head, whether it's something by X or the Squirrel Nut Zippers. See Tommy run. Young Tommy Stinson isn't so young anymore. At 31, he's already a two-decade veteran of the rock and roll life, a witness to endless infamy and misfortune as a member of the Replacements, the group of Minneapolis post-punk miscreants who were supposed to save rock from the '80s. It turned out they couldn't save themselves from rock. At its peak, the band stumbled onto a major label; by the end of the decade, it crawled off, less a band than a legacy with a few bruised egos. Stinson wound up in Los Angeles, chasing a girl, then a dream. He wrote songs. He formed a band. Both the band and its slipshod album disappeared. Ends stopped meeting. Before long, the hedonist rocker found himself with a budding career in telemarketing and a 5 a.m. wake-up call. Stinson eventually quit the job, but he wouldn't quit music. Not yet. About two years ago, he formed his latest band. Always asking for trouble, he called it Perfect. And for probably the first time in his life, he's on the verge of putting it all together. Perfect has just finished recording its debut album, Seven Days a Week. It'll be out in July. And, like Perfect's frequent shows around town, it's damned good--basic, catchy, raucous pop songs. As if you'd expect anything else. "I've been doing music since I was 11," says Stinson, trim and in spiky brown hair. "What I grew up with, what I turned into and where my inspirations come from hasn't changed. I don't aspire to be a whole lot different from what I am." What he was with the Replacements was the bass player, the guitarist's little brother, the teenaged freakshow. His brother Bob might have lit fireballs of angst and reckless hilarity onstage, Tommy and drummer Chris Mars might have contributed equally to the band's hedonist legend, but it was singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg's songs of deep romantic yearning and youthful dissatisfaction that made the band's antics ring true. A bunch of drunk guys onstage pinching each other's asses doesn't mean much, but coupled with such songs as "Color Me Impressed" or "Here Comes a Regular" or "Unsatisfied" or dozens of others, the mischief played like passion, like every note might be the last. As ever, the hard living took its toll. Bob was kicked out in '87 when his bad habits became too much even for his bandmates. Westerberg's marriage eventually fell apart. So did Tommy's. And Westerberg's songs became contemplative, mellow, mature. The band's cult and legend had failed to turn into much commercial success; the broken expectations, the personal conflicts, and the lifestyle itself eventually caused the band to self-destruct in 1991. Tommy had spent his teenage years in a drunken rock cartoon, and, since he hadn't been the songwriter, had few tangibles to show for it--save the stories about stink bombs, trashed Winnebagos, pissing in ice machines, bouncer riots, and chemical intake. "We did all that, no doubt about it," Stinson says. "At one point we were actually laughing at the stories we were reading about Guns 'N Roses: 'You've got to be kidding! They're writing about this?' We were an emotionally fucked-up bunch of guys. We were a few fries short of a happy meal, for sure. "But I get really tired of people coming up and going, 'Man, you were guys were so great! I saw you when you guys couldn't even stand on stage!' But do you remember any of the songs?" When he got to Los Angeles in 1993, Stinson was a cult music hero who'd released only one of his own songs (a Replacements B-side); he set out to change that. Still under the Replacements' contract with Sire/Warner Bros., he recorded an album under the name Bash and Pop. The result, '93's Friday Night is Killing Me, was frantic and earnest, containing such well-written pop nuggets as the title track and "Aim to Please." But the singing was thin, the arrangements sloppy. He now regrets not having received more guidance from the label or more time to pull a working band together. "That record's raw," Stinson says happily. "It's just me and my guitar and my guts basically, and you can hear that. It's crappy in a good way to me. Because I don't mind growing up in public. I've been doing it all my life: Okay, here I am, my pants down to my ankles." The record came and went with little notice and less acclaim. Bash & Pop's membership became a revolving door, one that would eventually evolve into Perfect. But there were hurdles. His past had meant some career doors were open to him, and the crowded Los Angeles club scene offered a large talent pool to draw from. And yet he found too many possible collaborators attracted less to Stinson's music and more to the potential profitability of his reputation as a survivor of the mighty Replacements. His daughter Ruby remained with his ex-wife in Minneapolis. His brother Bob died in 1995. (He doesn't talk about it.) Tommy's money ran out. Reality hit: He took a job selling computer supplies over the phone. "For two months I felt like 'worm-boy,'" he says. "But then I got kind of good at it. As hard as it was getting up at five in the morning to do that gig, it's the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. It made everything make a lot more sense. It was the first job I ever had. It did a lot for me, and made me a lot stronger person." The job also took pressure off of Stinson to write songs with profits in mind. When he finally got Perfect together with drummer Gersh and guitarists Marc Solomon and Dave Philips, the difference was audible. You can hear it on Seven Days a Week, which reunited Stinson with producer Jim Dickinson at Ardent Studios in Memphis, where they had worked together on the Replacements' 1987 album Pleased to Meet Me: It's a collection of bristling, taunting pop rock. No ballads necessary. And Stinson sounds revitalized. "I have more invested in the Perfect record than I did in the 'Mats because I'm writing the songs," Stinson says. "I can understand what Paul felt a lot now, freakin' out a lot of the time from having his soul on the line, and having it just come back as a piece of coal." His own soul is up for grabs once again as Perfect gathers a few weeks later at Spaceland in Silver Lake. It's Oscar night all across town, but this is just another warm-up gig for the Stinson quartet, so he's working the crowd, greeting friends and acquaintances in a slick black suit, the collars of his silky shirt folded across the lapels. The show is already an hour behind schedule, and the opening band hasn't even plugged in yet, though one of its members tells the crowd: "We know you're here to see Tommy, so we'll play fast." Perfect is still wheeling its equipment on stage nearly an hour later when the club DJ spins a Black Sabbath track. Solomon plugs in his silver guitar and bangs out some appropriately edgy, sludgy riffs, and Stinson gives him a hug like a long-lost friend: "Hey, Marc! Howya doin'?" In minutes, the band is deep into its pure anthemic pop, tough and tender amid all the fuzzing and buzzing guitars. Stinson is almost wistful as he shouts: "Do you laugh, do you shove? There's so many ways to love/ Do you smother, leave them hanging? Are you abusive or demanding?" The voice is ragged but strong, bathed in energy and charm. Any cracks in the vocals are unintentional, or might as well be. Stinson's now retired from telemarketing, determined to get back into the music game full time, and he's discovered another way to pay the rent: performing his songs solo, with an acoustic. He's proven himself an unlikely and endearing presence alone with his guitar, standing beneath his pineapple haircut, the wallet-chain hanging against his thigh, and exposing himself in an altogether different way than he's used to. "I haven't been very good at it, but that's sorta why I keep doing it," says Stinson. "Damn it, one day I'm going to be all right at it, and it'll be fine. It's a challenge. It's more about the words and emotion. That's a hard bit." It sounds almost adult from a guy who's spent most of his life as the perennial youth. Some of the Replacements faithful still come to his every show, discuss his every career move across the Internet, and trade bootleg cassettes. But Restless Records, which will release Perfect's Seven Days a Week this summer, also plans to have a Stinson solo EP next year. Somehow, the teenage bassist from Fuckup, Minnesota, is turning into a thoughtful singer-songwriter. With perspective. "My band is the first priority," Stinson says, "but it doesn't take up the whole day either." Perfect performs Fri., April 24 at the Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. From: bblenkush@deltacg.com Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 11:35:22 -0500 Subject: Marc Solomon Interview Hey there! Just wanted to let you all know that my interview with Marc Solomon is finally up on Yap Yap. . .you can access it through a link on the Yap Yap home page or go directly to it at URL "http://www.yapyap.com/marc.htm". Thanks to everyone for helping me out on this one...I think it turned out pretty well, but I'd love to hear your reactions, so drop me a line sometime...and thanks again! Becky ________________________________________________________________________________ V. Slim! Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 20:56:29 -0800 From: floor13@valuserve.com (Alan Crandall) Subject: Slim Dunlap hits San Jose Well Skywegians, I finally got to join the ranks of the initiated last night by witnessing Slim's all-too short solo gig at the Agenda Lounge last night...here's the scoop: Let me start by saying true to everything I'd heard, Slim is a helluva nice guy. I saw him emerge through the crowd (he's unmistakable, being about a head taller and 30 pounds thinner than anyone else in the house) and make his way towards the back, so I immediately followed him. He finally noticed me tailing him and turned around, gave me a big smile, shook my hand. "I recognized you" I told him; "yeaaaah," he drawled, "I got one of them faces..." Up close he reminds me of some cartoon of Keith Richards; like a Keith Richards teddy bear... or maybe a sweet, good-natured Eddie Haskell (Eddie's long-lost good twin?). And he does love to talk. I immediately asked him about his encounter with Lightnin' Hopkins, and was rewarded with a great story. Of interest to all here will be his opinions on the Internet: he thinks it's the greatest thing that's ever happened for musicians, especially because it allows music fans from all over the world to meet and interact. He's a net-surfer himself and looks forward to the day when he will be able to distribute music over the Web. Already it's allowed him access to music he had only dreamed of ever owning. According to Slim, the other former Replacements are not computer-types and have never even seen the various Mats-related sites, but are aware of them and apparently displeased at the fact that bootleg material is traded and distributed via the `net. "They keep wantin' to shut `em down" he sez. He feels differently. "I keep telling them --- `guys these are really special people and they really just love your music, you should appreciate that.'" Meantime, the show: Slim took the stage with just one backup guy (alternating drums, bass and guitar) while he stuck to his acoustic and harmonica played through a little neck-rack thing (what ARE those called, anyway?). He did a couple of songs off his new one, "The Ballad of the Opening Band" (my favorite off of "Old New Me"), and a host of old country stuff ("Mind Your Own Business," "Honky Tonk Angels," "Jambalaya") and closed off with a couple gospel numbers(!) which he played "just in case --- ya don't wanna have nothin' but The Devil's music in your setlist." All this was tossed off casually with all manner of little asides and stories (including one about the joys of being stuck opening for Tom Petty). His stage manner is funny, folksy and self-deprecating but definitely in command. I doubt that more than a half-dozen people there (including myself) had any idea who this old guy was --- most of the crowd was mid-twenty-something alterna-fans who'd turned out for headliner Mary Lou Lord (who sat devotedly front-and-center for Slim's set) -- in fact only about half the hall made any noise when he mentioned The Replacements, but by the end of his forty-five minutes or so, he had everyone eating out of his hand and left the stage to a mini-ovation. Really I was glad I went. Slim's whole act was unassuming as hell but lots of fun, and I came away knowing a lot more about this mysterious ex-Mat than I'd ever thought possible --- I refuse to get into or start another Slim vs. Bob debate, but anyone who thinks that hiring Slim was a move toward commerciality is kidding themselves... Slim's about as UN-commercial as you can get and must have been downright weird for the MLL crowd. From: Bart Date: 23 Apr 98 12:58 pm Slim Dunlap Wilbert's, Cleveland OH December 9, 1997 I caught ex-Replacements' lead guitarist Slim Dunlap when he rolled into Cleveland on the last night of his solo acoustic tour in support of his recently released album, Times Like This. Having only seen him live as an ancillary member of The Replacements, I was interested to see how successfully he had stepped up to playing the part of the starring role. Accompanied only by acoustic guitar and harmonica, he opened the set with "Hate This Town," followed by a new song, "My Friend Steve." He then successfully-albeit surprisingly-engaged the audience in a sing-along to Hank Williams' "Mind Your Own Business." After the first few songs, it became apparent that Slim possessed a certain blend of modesty and affability capable of winning over the small crowd of approximately twenty, one half of whom appeared to be hangers on from happy hour. The rest of the set was a mixed bag of originals and mostly country covers. The originals, which were culled from his two post-Replacements solo albums, featured strong melodies and poignant, yet humorous lyrics. Slim introduced his songs with a short explanation of the inspiration behind writing each of them. He also offered some interesting stories connected to most of the covers he played. He described how "The Ballad Of The Opening Band" was based on the depressing experience of playing for indifferent and sometimes hostile crowds when The Replacements opened for Tom Petty on the Full Moon Fever tour, and how "Times Like This" was inspired by an incident when his band's van caught fire on a desolate highway, leaving them stranded, destroying the vehicle and all of their equipment along with it. The covers included Hank Williams' "There's A Tear In My Beer," a Jimmy Rodgers song, and a few I didn't recognize. Though a lead guitarist by trade, Slim seemed content just strumming the chords while singing in his typical low key vocal style, saving the solos for harmonica. Unfortunately, this prevented him from playing a request for "Partners In Crime," one of his best songs. Although he did apologize, explaining the musical disaster that resulted the last and only time on the tour he attempted it. Some of the songs could have benefited from some fleshing out by a full band, but likely at some cost to the intimacy afforded by the acoustic setting. All around, he was a gracious host, thanking a fan for requesting "Nowhere's Near" and apologizing for using his voice up on the rest of the tour, though it sounded fine to me. Before finishing, he explained that he liked to complete every tour with a couple of religious numbers and proceeded to play his last two songs. - Greg Olds To obtain a copy of the magazine in which these reviews appear (Spring, 1998 issue), send a check or money order for $4.50 to: Rebel Route P.O. Box 1740 Dearborn, MI 48120 bbeal@rebelroute.com www.rebelroute.com _______________________________________________________________________________ VI. T-shirts, live tapes, paternity suits Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 09:23:50 -0800 (PST) From: Sarah Buckley Subject: willing to trade immortal soul/firstborn for a 'mats t-shirt. ...well, maybe I'm not quite that itchy for one. If anybody's got Boink or Shit Hits the Fans or the coveted shirt, this is what I've got: - fairly decent show from '86 on cassette - the aptly titled Don't Buy or Sell It's Crap promo - the PTMM Westerberg interview platter - Beat Girl, a vaguely illegal-looking CD comp of the non-album tracks from Don't Sell or Buy, a few cuts that made it onto the Nothing For All disc, and some "b-sides and outtakes" - not so decent shows on tape I'll copy mine if you'll copy yours...and if you've really got that shirt, negotiations over my soul can begin whenever you're ready. I know I ain't got all that much, but what the hey...and shop around, you can't get a better deal on that first-born child anywhere else. Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 18:49:19 -0500 (EST) From: Dennis Shawn Pruitt Subject: 'Mats T-Shirt I recently purchased a "Pleased to Meet Me" t-shirt through "ArtRock T-Shirts." Their e-mail address is Artrock@sirius.com, telephone # 1-415-255-7390. If anyone out there knows how I can acquire "When the Shit Hits..." and/or "If Only You Were Lonely" please let me know (in addition to any other cool Mats stuff--i.e. boots, imports, etc.; I have 7 or 8 Mats and Westerberg shows, plus 4 videos). Last year I saw both Slim Dunlap and Perfect play in mINDYanapolis (as Slim called Indianapolis). Slim opened up for Chris Whitley, played before a very small crowd and did mostly covers (Hank Williams, among others). After he left the stage, I walked up to him as he was telling Replacement stories. He said that the soon to be released [at that time] Greatest Misses was a travesty. He said that he had a ton of songs-live that he recorded and some of Paul solo making up songs off-the-cuff (note: I began to salivate at this prospect) and that Paul told him at the time (circa Don't Tell A...) they were for SLIM ONLY. But Slim said that the songs were so good that he was tempted to get 'em out to the traders. Let's hope. Slim was quite affable and approachable, and unlike Tommy (who was frankly rude at the Perfect show I saw him at--esp. given the fact I was the only one of the 20 people in the audience who knew the damn Perfect songs, but I digress), he liked telling old Mats stories. He said that Paul & him had talked about a reunion--under the moniker the "Retirements" (I think he was kidding) and that Paul is almost manic depressive--esp. about his record situation (again this is pre-Capitol switch). He said Paul rides a bike when he's writing lyrics, and Slim always knows when a song is done 'cause Paul goes riding by his house real fast (I assume this is a bicycle). Tommy--don't ask him to play Satellite. Enough said. Best, Shawn From: CL BRAND Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1998 21:56:07 EDT Subject: Village Voice article I luv "Skyway". Anyway...in 'Mats articles I have, they always mention a "Hootenanny" or "Let It Be"-era article written by R.J. Smith (I think) of the VILLAGE VOICE in which they were somehow maligned. My question to you is, where can I find a transcript of this. I have, over the past year or so, looked over every issue of SKYWAY (I think), and I haven't seen it. Did I just miss it? If not, have you read it and what do you know about it? Thanks in advance. Christian [This infamous article has been referred to several times in Let It Be-era interviews where the band is unhappy that it was ever printed. If memory serves, a Village Voice writer spent a couple of days with the band and the resulting article isn't too friendly. - m@.] Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 19:26:27 -0500 (CDT) From: David Carroll I thought that you would like to post in the next issue that Kiss The Stone is back in business. They have Gravel Pit and Shit, Shower, and Shave for $17 a piece. Their address is www.kissthestone.com. See ya, Dave Carroll Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 02:52:20 -0400 From: Silent Bob Subject: New and Tapes I'm just new to this list and thought I'd say hi. I'm Jeremy Essig, 20, I attend Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem NC, originally from OH. Just picked up "All For Nothing" the other day. People were always talking about the band on another list I'm on and I always have liked Paul Westerberg, so I though I'd give it a listen. Awesome. Also, I heard that bootlegs from these guys are great. I've traded boots before and rather enjoy it. If anyone would want to help a newbie out, I'd love to get a few shows. Any help would be appreciated at essijg00@wfu.edu. Thanks alot! Jeremy fin. ________________________________________________________________________________ The //Skyway\\: The Replacements Mailing List (digest only) http://www.novia.net/~matt/sky/skyway.html The //Skyway\\ | c/o Matt Tomich | 311 S. LaSalle #43g | Durham NC 27705 | USA ________________________________________________________________________________ "Don't waste your youth growing up." - Lau Tzu