THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 15, 1994 TAG: 9408130032
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: The Gateway
SOURCE: BY LISA [Lise] OLSEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
TO BE A REAL groupie, you used to have to run screaming after cars. Or hang out in bars until the smoke smell would never wash completely out of your hair.
No more.
Now, frenetic fans can find out everything they want to know about their favorite rock stars right at home.
You, too, can be a newsgroup groupie.
Just log on to Internet, and you'll have access to the stars. There's something for everyone. Present yourself to Prince, Queen or Madonna. Bring color into your life with Pink Floyd and Deep Purple. Seek spiritual enlightenment from Amy Grant, or commune with the Beastie Boys and AC/DC (Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap).
Heavy metal and rock-n-roll newsgroups tend to hang out together under the alt.rock-n-roll entries. Others gather under the alt.music address.
Then there's those musicians who refuse to be lumped together with the others: Laurie Anderson fans will find her under ``alt.fan.laurie anderson'' - right next to Madonna.
You may never get an electronic autograph from a real musician - but then again, you might. And it's better than regular fan clubs: You can open the mail of other fans.
Here's some of the entries I spied recently:
In Madonna's mail:
A fan called ``Dita'' noted a bit of trivia for true devotees of the daring diva: Madonna's ``Maxi-Single'' had a labeling screw-up. The song ``Why's It so Hard'' was changed to ``Why It's so Hard,'' Dita wrote.
Thanks for the info, Dita. That'll go right in the scrapbook.
A fan wrote that a guy accused of following Madonna will be arraigned on Aug. 16. ``How's that for a lousy birthday present?'' the fan wrote. (You're supposed to know Aug. 16 is Madonna's birthday if you're reading her mail.)
Christian singer Amy Grant's mail was a little more newsy, less catty and, predictably, less profane than Madonna's.
It included an entry called ``Minutes from Amy Meeting.'' In her minutes, an earnest fan reported that the singer was making progress on the August newsletter and promised to include info about her new music videos. The entry also noted that Amy would be playing in a celebrity golf tournament and would be featured in a TV documentary called something like ``A Day in the Life of Amy.'' The insider confided that she was glad the documentary had been filmed on a busy day instead of last Sunday, when Amy ``played with the kids and loaded the dishwasher twice.''
In the Nine Inch Nails newsgroup, videos also figured big, especially for a fan named ``Fork.'' Fork was responding to an earlier message that suggested producing the ultimate anti-video video: a blank screen.
Fork figured MTV would never play that one. His alternative: Imitate an old Replacements video that featured a guy watching his stereo with a record playing, with a speaker thumping. ``Fork'' said MTV played that one once - maybe because of an ``action sequence:
``Well I think the guy kicks his speaker once, but I could be wrong,'' Fork recalled.
I wonder what Fork would think about a video of loading and reloading the dishwasher? by CNB