Copy Link

Add to Bookmark

Report

Purr Snickety issue

eZine lover (@eZine)

Published in

Smashing Pumpkins

· 2 Mar 2024

Smashing Pumpkins e-zine
vol. 2 April 1995
Purr Snickety issue

hi. I was kinda surprised at, well, the popularity of the first issue.

Since most of you encouraged another issue, here it is!

In this edition

Corrections To Last Issue
Yet Another Book
WWW Sites
Transcription of MTV Interview, 10/31/93 (part 1)
Ken & Glynis
A Review of the 2/27 Double Door Show

As usual, send all your comments, news, interviews, basically anything (I love getting mail), to me (baird321@halcyon.com -or- allisonbai@aol.com. If you would like to receive this directly, just write to me, and be sure to include your email address somewhere in your letter. Please do the same if you would like to be removed from the list. Thanks, and enjoy

Corrections To Last Issue

I had a few corrections to make to the last issue. I posted them most everywhere I had posted the zine, but in case you missed it, here they are (with a couple new additions).

The song list should be:
Stumbeline, Lily (coincidentally {or is it a coincidence at all?}, Lily is the name of the black cat Billy "won custody of" from Courtney Love...), Towers of Rabble, Country Girl, Meladori Magpie, Take Me Down, God, Zero, Love (which isn't the same as the old demo song), Here is No Why, Cupidde Locke, Fuck You, Porcelina of the Vast Oceans, Galapagos, Speed, Jellybelly, By Starlight, Muzzle, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Thirty-Three, Ugly, Jupiter's Lament, Ode To No One, and Set The Ray To Jerry. of course, there are always my little typos, I guess I should spell check this before I post it.

Also, the transcription of the Fox News Chicago interview last issue was one by Craig. I accidentally lost his name so I couldn't give him the credit he deserved. Sorry, Ill try to keep that from happening in the future.

Yet Another Book

In addition to the Nick Wise book and the Jim Stapleton book mentioned last issue, there's yet another one. This one is just a pull-out poster book with some text on the backs of the pictures, though. I didn't buy it, so I can't tell you if it's any good or not, but it seemed to just be all the stuff most everybody knows rehashed. Let's just say that I didn't think it was worth $12. Good if you want some nice pictures, but not something that I would expect to learn a whole lot from. I don't remember the publisher (it was an English import), and there was no author listed on the cover.

WWW Sites

Since everyone seems to want a list of pumpkins stuff on the web, here are some worthwhile places I've found. If I forgot something, or you would like to make an addition, let me know.

home pages

http://pyramid.res.wpi.edu/sp/index.html discography, lyrics, news, etc. (note: vol. 1 of the SP ezine can be found here!)
http://www.rpi.edu/~staymj/index.html .gifs and JPEGs, sound clips, etc.
http://alfred.u.washington.edu:8080/~uffda/pumpkins.html pics, lyrics
http://web.cps.msu.edu/~tiensivu tabs, lyrics, etc.
http://miavx1.acs.muohio.edu/~carmance/smashing_pumpkins.html interviews, pictures, etc.
http://www.engr.wisc.edu/~agnew/pumpkin.html lots of lyrics (very well organized), links to other stuff (along with the ezine!). Still under development I'm told

ftp stuff

ftp://paranoia.com/~sandoz/pumpkin lyrics, .gifs & JPEGs, tabs, you name it...
ftp://ftp.uwp.edu same as above
ftp://ftp.nevada.edu also same as above
ftp://www.wit.com/music/pictures/s/smashing.pumpkins lots of pictures from live performances

MTV Interview 10/31/93, pt. 1

This is a transcription of the interview on MTV's 120 Minutes on October 31, 1993. Billy was the only one interviewed, and the other half will be in he next issue. b = Billy, l = Lewis Largent (the guy who interviewed him). Transcribed by yours truly. My thanks to Kelly for the tape

l: So, on Halloween night, we have Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins
b: Let's avoid all the Halloween stuff
l: OK. I'm sorry. I won't say anything else.
b: This is like a yearly trauma for me
l: Really?
b: The whole Halloween thing
l: You did Saturday Night Live specifically because of that, too. Right?
b: No, not at...no. Actually, we didn't want to do it around Halloween, but they said well, it's Halloween or nothing. And 20 million Pumpkins fans can't be wrong.
l: Well, merry Christmas everybody and welcome back to 120 Minutes. Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins is here. And so the album is finally out. There were intense, like, expectations on this album. Expectations were real high on this album.
b: From who though, I don't know
l: um...From the record industry, from the...
b: all...all hundred of 'em
l: All hundred of 'em. Well, the expectations were high just because you had come up with a great debut album. It seemed like you guys were just on the brink of going the distance.
b: We are, we're still...
l: No pressure on this album at all? It was easy to make and all?
b: (avoiding the question) Somebody told me yesterday we're the next Pearl Jam.
l: oh no
b: We've graduated now from "the next Jane's Addiction" to "the next
Nirvana", now we're "the next Pearl Jam."
l: Well, if you play your cards right, you might be the...uh...
b: Next Stone Temple Pilots
l: Next Stone Temple Pilots! You never know. That could be in your future. So, was this an easy album to make for you, no problems, or was it difficult? Easier than the first, harder than the first?
b: It was like a swan taking flight.
l: It was.
b: No, there was a lot of traumas and we yelled and screamed and...but it's groovy and the kids like it and I'm happy it's out and I'm coming to your town to rock you, wherever you are.
l: That's right, all you kids out there. So, uh...I...Do you get misquoted in the press a lot?
b: Yeah. But it's not even misquoted. I think I tend to give lengthy answers, and they tend to chop out certain parts of my answer so things that
I say get taken out of context.
l: 'Cause I was about to ask you...um...if the band almost broke up, which I read. And I don't even know if it's true or not. If you get misquoted, then that might be the case.
b: About as close as you could come to breaking up. It ended in my head at some point, maybe I didn't tell anybody about it, but at some point I just gave up on the idea that there was ever gonna be another album, and this and would just fizzle and become a footnote in the annals of rock, but like a phoenix, rising from the ashes! A swan! (laughs) We rose! We're back and we're here to rock you.
l: You're so philosophical and grandiose.
b: Well, I'm on tour, Lewis, I can't help it. I become very simple and very...you know, Al Sharpton-like. There's a cultural reference for you.
l: So we're going to be looking right now at Cherub Rock, the first "hit video" from the LP
b: You mean the first nightmare (Lewis laughs)...of my post-Siamese Dream era? Here it is!
l: We're gonna talk about this, you watch the video, and we're gonna come back and talk about this on 120 Minutes.

{show Cherub Rock video; then Regrets by Flop, which they forgot to show the week before}

l: Well, last week, I actually said "there was Flop," and there wasn't Flop, due to technical difficulties.
b: I saw that.
l: And I looked like a total idiot.
b: I understand.
l: Which is nothing that uncommon here at 120 Minutes, but for some reason we've been cursed here lately and we missed a Violent Femmes performance, we...uh, what else happened? We missed a Suede performance
b: Look at the bad luck Dave Kendall {former host of 120 Minutes} had. You've managed to miss a lot of the bad Dave Kendall...
l: And thank the Lord for that. So, uh, this is Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins and um...you talked earlier about Cherub Rock, your, uh, your nightmarish experience that you experienced
b: Well, (pause) I wanted to make this video and got talked into making another kind of video and I said ok, and then we're on top of this mountain in San Francisco and it's raining and freezing and the whole video is all screwy-looking and you can't even tell I'm on top of a mountain and in the rain and it's completely not what I wanted.
l: What did you want it to be?
b: I kinda had this idea of us playing in this theater and there'd be angels swinging around on ropes and there would be these, like, kids who were like metal kids and they would come into the show...See, already it sounds better than, than... like, I have this, like, I look like Jason {from Friday the 13th horror movies} at some point in the video, and... you know,
l: How did you get talked into that ?!?
b: Let me tell you something. You buy a bad shirt, you can throw it in the garbage, but a video, you know, you get into that 80 to 100 thousand dollar mistake range, you just gotta live with it, let me tell you

Ken & Glynis

Now for a sad story (non-fiction) about Ken and Glynis... this was kindly contributed by Chris Hanis. Please do support this, it is a very good cause, one worthy of your attention and support. Even if you do not contract the disease or know someone who has it, AIDS still affects you in some way or another at some point in your life. Too many lives have been taken away prematurely, do help to make the lives of those with AIDS better, so that they will not have died in vain.

You see... Ken was in a Chicago band called Scarecrow back in the late 80's/early 90's. Ken had gone to high school with Kim Thayil of Soundgarden and SubPop co-founder Bruce Pavitt and had always been into music. By the time he got Scarecrow together, things were looking great for him. He was dating Glynis, who played in another Chicago band (Red, Red Meat, I believe, though Ken never mentioned her band's name), and they were making plans to move to Portland, Oregon to work on their music there. Sadly, their plans were never to materialize as tragedy stuck.

There's no way to be certain how they contracted HIV, but like many musicians they had engaged in some risky behaviors, be it unprotected sex or dabbling in drugs. The ugly truth began revealing itself first in Glynis, as she started getting sick and was forced, through lack of medical insurance, to return to her family to get access to medical treatment. This was an unfortunate situation, as they were fundamentalist Christians, and refused Ken access to her as her sickness became worse. Her family believed that her illness was due to her lack of faith, and that if she was to "accept Christ," she would recover. Unfortunately, Glynis never did recover, and Ken was never able to see her before she died.

Only after Glynis' death did Ken discover that she had died of AIDS complications. Only then did Ken learn, from an anonymous HIV antibody test, that he was HIV+. At this point, Ken moved from Chicago to Indianapolis. I can only speculate at his exact reasons, but certainly he was struggling with many difficult and emotional realities.

Ken found a job as a blacksmith at a historic preservation site called Conner Prairie, and there met Adam Marlowe, working as a potter. Adam was also a former Chicago resident, and had played bass briefly in The Service (Pravda Records, now known as The New Duncan Imperials). Ken and Adam put an ad in the local newsweekly for a drummer and guitar player. I had been playing with different people around town, but was looking to find a new outlet. I answered Ken and Adam's ad and immediately hit it off with them.

Ken occasionally made reference to his ex-girlfriend from Chicago, but never mentioned Glynis' death or his own HIV+ status. Adam and I were completely unaware that Ken was dying slowly before our eyes. The band played on, so to speak, and we started writing songs together. The match was made in heaven, as Adam had a great command of song structure, complemented by a knack for melodic counterpoint that I hadn't even known I had and Ken's rock solid rhythmn guitar playing and zen-like talent for natural, unassuming lyrics.

I knew something was really coming together after our third practice together. I had brought a tape recorder and we let the tape roll as we stroll ed through the half-written songs, making much of it up as we went along. The music gelled in a way that I had never experienced before. The whole had truly become more than a sum of the parts. After a few weekly practices, we had about 10 songs together that we were starting to feel really good about. Ken had written lyrics for about 5 or so and we were starting to talk about getting into a studio to record some proper demos. Unfortunately, our luck with drummers was not holding up, and after 2 or 3 who didn't work out, we started getting pretty frustrated.

Around this time, the No Alternative album was released, containing the Smashing Pumpkin's song, "Glynis." Adam and I knew that Ken had known Billy Corgan casually as part of the scene in Chicago, and the fact that his song mentioned both Glynis and Ken's former band, Scarecrow, was too much of a coincidence. Adam asked Ken about the song. Ken told Adam that the songwas indeed about his ex-girlfriend Glynis and that she had died of AIDS complications. Sadly, though, Ken didn't want us to know that he had been infected, going so far as to tell Adam that he had taken an HIV antibody test and had been HIV negative. Unfortunately, we were to learn the truth too soon.

As we struggled with getting a drummer to record with us, Ken's health started to deteriorate before our eyes. Ken had always been thin, but he started to become noticeably emaciated. After getting together one night to meet with a new drummer, Adam and I remarked to each other that Ken was looking quite sick. When we met with him that Sunday to practice, we asked him what was going on. Ken dodged the question, stating that he had been having some bad stomach problems and had been unable to keep food down for a while. He said that he had an appointment to see a doctor that week to get some medication and that he was going to be okay. We wanted to believe him so much that we didn't make the obvious connections. Our friend who we shared so many laughs and good times together was dying right before our yes and we kept participating in the denial.

A couple weeks went by. Ken had been away from work for a week or so, and Adam and I were under the assumption that he was recuperating from his stomach illness. Life went on as usual for us. Easter weekend came. I went down to Bloomington, Indiana to be with my girlfriend for the weekend and, ironically, went to see the movie Philadelphia. Even while watching Tom Hanks die of AIDS right there on the big screen, I couldn't make the connection. I was really struck by the film, but glad that AIDS was still only an abstraction in my life. Little did I know how close the disease was to me.

That Monday night I returned to Indianapolis and started getting ready for my night shift job. Adam came by and told me, very matter of factly, that Ken had gone down to Florida to see his parents over the weekend and that he wouldn't be back. "What!" I asked. "He's quitting the band!?!?" If only it had been that simple! Ken had been returning from Florida that Saturday, Adam explained, and died in a motel room that night. His family had informed him that he had been suffering from AIDS, and that they were sorry that we had to find out about it like this. We were devastated.

Adam and I laid the band to rest after Ken's death. We both knew that it couldn't exist without Ken's presence. All that would remain were the rough demos that we recorded together. It's unfortunate that we were never able to make it into the studio to properly record the songs that we had written together. In fact, only two songs were ever recorded with Ken's lyrics. One of those having been improvised on the spot, recorded only so we wouldn't forget the riff that I had just stumbled upon. These demos will have to do, though, as they're the last things Ken ever recorded.

In the memory of Ken and Glynis, I'm making these songs available. It's sad that Ken was never able to find the audience that so many of his contempories did, but I believed in him and in the band, and I want the music to be heard! I've worked up a prototype version, complete with cover art, on cassette. Ken was a SERIOUS record collector, and I'm working on getting it pressed up as a 7" record in memory of that. I'm hoping to have it all ready for general release within the next couple of months.

ANY AND ALL PROCEEDS FROM THESE RECORDINGS WILL BE DONATED TO ORGANIZATIONS HELPING PEOPLE WHO ARE LIVING WITH HIV!

Ken's family told us that he was very grateful for the care that the AIDS organization gave him in his final months, and we want to give back to the organizations that helped him in his time of need.

Chris Hanis
cmhanis@teleport.com

{note: Chris tells me that the tape is scheduled to be reviewed in the May issue of Alternative Press}

Concert Review: February 27, 1995, the Double Door, Chicago, by Dave

note: the song titles and other notes by me are in { }. thank you to Dave and Jay

My friend Jay and I had the fortunate opportunity to go see the Smashing Pumpkins play their third (2/27) of four shows at The Double Door in Chicago.

I kept writing down what I could as far as a play list was concerned and also wrote down some lyrics. This show, from what I heard form people who attended the first two shows, had a little rougher crowd. A raging pit made it extremely difficult for me to be too detailed, but I'm sure my run down of the show will suffice. The show started around 8:45 P.M. with James alone taking the stage.

-Song 1- {Take Me Down} James solo and acoustic. This song was average at best, James needs to work on his vocals a lot. This song was also very slow (ala Soothe). I have no idea what the name was.

-Song 2- {Country Girl} James solo and acoustic again. This song was a lot better than the first tune, it was also a slow song. No Idea on the name. At this point Billy joined James on the stage. James moved from center stage to his usual position on the right side of the stage, and Billy took center stage. James put down his acoustic guitar and picked up a Fender electric guitar. Billy picked up an acoustic guitar. The songs were as follows.

-Song 3- {Meladori Magpie} Billy on an acoustic guitar and James on an electric guitar using a slide. Billy said the name was "Melidori Magpie," it was a slow tune. The lyrics that stood out were 'Remain true to the game, remain true to the name.' James left the stage after "Melidori Magpie" and left Billy alone to play some solo acoustic songs.

-Song 4- {Ugly} Billy solo and acoustic. A very slow song that Billy said was called "Ugly."

-Song 5- {Stumbeline} Billy solo and acoustic. Another slow song that Billy said was 'Superquiet.' I don't know if that is the song title or just an adjective he used to describe the song. I remember him repeating 'Superqueen" several times, I think "Superqueen" is the title.

After "Superqueen" the rest of the band joined Billy on stage, and that was the last of the acoustic songs. The remaining songs are all electric with the whole band on stage. James has begun to grow his hair out again, and the other three members are sporting very short haircuts. Billy used a music stand for the whole show which held sheets of paper with the lyrics to the new songs to remind him of the words. Anyway, back to the songs.

-Song 6- {Tonight Tonight} A very fast song, no idea on the name.

-Song 7- {Fuck You} A very fast song with an awesome guitar solo by Billy.

This song had a "Siva" flavor to it. This comparison was especially true when the band stopped playing and Billy screamed, "Coil my tongue around a bumblebee's mouth," then there was complete silence. After a few seconds of silence they started rocking again, it totally reminded me of the break of silence in "Siva." No idea on the name.

-Song 8- {Love}A very fast song with an awesome guitar solo by James. No idea on the name. {it is not the same as the old demo song}

-Song 9- {Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans} No idea on the name for this one either. The song started out slow and then got fast, it did this three or four times. It reminded me of "Soma."

-Song 10- {Speed} A very fast song, no idea on the name. I remember Billy screaming more than once, "Can't escape you all!"

-Song 11- {Cupid de Locke}A medium fast song, kinda slow but not really. No idea on the name. I remember Billy saying, "Stay stay" or "Say stay" several times. It was really short in length too.

After rocking through several tunes Billy took the time to speak to the crowd.

He basically told the crowd to be charitable and about which organizations were benefitting from the proceeds {Chicago House, Western Dupage Special Recreation Association, and The Clear Brook Center}. He also started playing "Rocket" teasingly after someone shouted the song name from the crowd. Billy also recalled that he and James had gotten in a fight over the "Rocket" video. It appears that James wanted to be flying in the rocket ship towards the end of the video. Billy and James just didn't see eye to eye. If you've seen the video you know the outcome of the argument. Nuff said, back to the songs.

-Song 12- {Galapagos} Billy said of this song, 'It's very slow and sad.'

Billy also said the song was called "Galapogos." Repeated often lyrics include, 'No, I won't deny the pain.' This song reminded me a lot of "Disarm," not only musically but emotionally.

-Song 13- {God} A very fast song. Billy said the title, but I'm not sure if I heard him correctly. It sounded like the title was "God?" Billy, more than once, screamed "God knows I'm helpless."

-Song 14- {Here Is No Why} A very fast song, no idea on the name. It did feature a scorching guitar solo by Billy, though.

-Song 15- {Muzzle} A very fast song titled "Muzzle." Lyrics included, "I knew the distance to the sun."

-Song 16- {Bullet With Butterfly Wings} A medium fast song, no idea on the name. Lyrics included,"Despite all the rage, I'm still a rat in a cage."

-Song 17-A very fast song called "Zero." This song kicked ass, easily the first single off the forthcoming album. People who attended the first two shows were actually requesting this tune since it stood out so much at the first two shows.

-Song 18- {Set The Ray To Jerry}This was a medium fast song which Billy only sang on oddly. It was called "Set The Ray To Jerry." The interesting thing about this song is that it is very old. In the last Pumpkin fanclub newsletter (March 1993 it was listed as one of the tracks to appear on siamese dream when it would be released.

-Song 19- {Jellybelly} This was an up and down, fast and slow song. Billy called it, "Jelly Belly." That was it for the set list. The band left the stage for a couple of minutes and then came back for an encore.

-Song 20- {Lily}A medium fast song, no idea on the name.

-Song 21-"Frail and Bedazzled," nuff said.

-Song 22-"Pissant," besides seeing "Geek U.S.A." live, this was one of the finest displays of Jimmy's drumming that I have ever seen. The band left the stage again, only to come back for a second encore.

-Song 23-"Blew Away," with James on vocals!

-Song 24- "Never Let Me Down," unfortunately this song served as the crowd pleaser for a lot of the losers at the show.

-Song 25-"Hello Kitty Kat, " this song is so amazing live. It really was the essence of the Pumpkins live show and energy.

The end. The band left the stage and the place cleared out. The show was about two hours in length. It was something I know I will never forget, was within five feet of the band for the whole show. The main thing that came across to me was that the band plays better together now than they ever have. It appears that Billy no longer has to do all the work. Also, for those who know what I'm talking about, James had his Laser Tag gun and helmet on his amp all night but never used it? Go figure.

Conclusions

Well, that's about it for this issue. Your comments, corrections, news, hate mail, stories, etc. are welcome, just send 'em to me at baird321@halcyon.com -or- allisonbai@aol.com. The SP ezine can be found on the SP mailing ist, the newsgroup alt.music.smash-pumpkins, and Joe Vigneau's and Eric Agnew's SP home pages (see above www site list for the URLs). My thanks to Onica, Kelly, Jay, Dave, Craig, Chris, Joe Vigneau, Anton Prastowo and Eric Agnew (2 people with enough courage to HTMLize this), and everyone who wrote with comments or suggestions

Allison

"A million miles and a thousand smlies away"