Stale Urine FAQ

May 5, 1999

This HTML edition of the Stale Urine FAQ is the ``official'' version. An ASCII-only copy is always available via anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.ugcs.caltech.edu/pub/stale-urine/faq.txt.

Questions

  1. Are there any other resources on the Internet?
  2. Which Stale Urine album should I get?
  3. How do I type the symbolic name?
  4. Who have been members of Stale Urine?
  5. When's the new album coming out?
  6. How many times has SU performed live?
  7. Has SU ever been paid to perform live?
  8. What songs has Stale Urine played live but never released on an album?
  9. Has Stale Urine ever been played on a ``real'' radio station?
  10. Has Stale Urine ever been on national television?
  11. Who/what is Robert Cobb?
  12. Is Adam Villani bi/homosexual?
  13. Where can I buy SU albums?
  14. What is Apollonia's real name?
  15. How do I abbreviate ``Stale Urine''?
  16. What do Stale Urine fans like to be called?
  17. Where can I get Five Minutes To Automated Freedom?
  18. How do you pronounce ``KOHUEPT''?
  19. Are you guys software developers?
  20. Has Stale Urine merchandise ever been bought with prescription drugs?
  21. Which celebrities' deaths has Stale Urine prefigured in song?

Answers

1. Are there any other resources on the Internet?

 Yes. The Summary:

2. Which Stale Urine album should I get?

 Most fans will still say that Egon Is Watching You is the finest SU album. Our CD Embodiments of Craving and Aversion is probably the best introduction to the band, although it lacks the charming lo-fi quality of our earlier efforts.

3. How do I type the symbolic name?

There are many ways to type Prince's new name in ASCII. Unfortunately, we don't have an ``Official'' way to represent it, but the Prince Lyrics Transcription Team settled on the symbol: 
			O(+>
(cap-oh left-paren plus greater-than)

The alt.music.prince newsgroup FAQ suggests that this should be the defacto Internet standard way of typing the symbol. Regional dialects may vary.

An opinion poll was recently done by CleanSoul@aol.com with results that helps establish this notation as a defacto-standard: 

	#1	O(+>	47 'Votes'	48%
	#2	O{+>	18 'Votes'	18.5%
	#3	O+>	 6 'Votes'

4. Who have been members of Stale Urine?

 Stale Urine formed in the spring of 1992.

Members, in the order they joined the band:

Those who have jammed with the Urine, live or in the studio:

5. When is the new album coming out?

 Stale Urine In the Caves of Nuclear Fire has been mastered on CD and is available from Mike Radford (mrad@blorf.com).

6. How many times has SU performed live?

Here's a list. I count 28 times. ``*'' means a recording exists.

  • Drop Day, second term, 1993.
  • Prefrosh weekend, 1993.
  • BDR, 1993. *
  • Dabney Frosh ``Non-fire'', first term, 1993.
  • Drop Day, first term, 1993. *
  • Disco Drop Day, third term, 1995. *
  • BDRF, 1995. *
  • Independence Day, 1995. *
  • Caltech Ping Pong Room, July 13, 1995.
  • Dabney Courtyard, July 20, 1995. *
  • Williams, California, July 27, 1995 *
  • Grants Pass, Oregon, July 27, 1995 *
  • Wankers Corner General Store, Wankers Corner, Oregon, July 27, 1995. *
  • Aquatic Research Instruments, Seattle, July 29, 1995. *
  • Dabney Courtyard, August 17, 1995 *
  • Dabney House Lounge, October 1995 *
  • Drop Day, first term, November 17, 1995 *
  • Bothell, Washington, November 25, 1995 *
  • Moonlight Pop Fest, April 13, 1996 *
  • Winnett Center, May 23, 1996 *
  • BDR, 1996. *
  • BFP, June 1, 1996 *
  • Blue Moon Tavern, Seattle, Washington, October 19, 1996
  • Dabney Dress Dinner, November 14, 1996 *
  • Dabney Courtyard, February 23, 1997 *
  • Dabney Courtyard (Van Halen Tribute), June 15, 1997 *
  • Highwire Gallery, Philadelphia, December 26, 1997 *
  • Kun Punhongsaek, Koreatown, Los Angeles, August 9, 1998 *

7. Have SU ever been paid to perform live?

 Yes.

8. What songs has Stale Urine performed live but never released on an album?

 Here's the list. It will change as new albums come out.
  • The Mighty Quinn
  • Fairies Wear Boots
  • Strontium
  • Pendulum Music
  • John Cage Not Afraid To Die
  • X for Henry Flynt
  • Lamont and Fred
  • Sweet Jane
  • Waltzing Matilda
  • 1996
  • I've Got A Crush On You
  • Venus In Furs
  • Free Bird
  • Gimme Three Steps
  • Wonderful World
  • Land of the Lost
  • Fight For Your Right
  • Here Comes Your Man
  • (We're) Spies
  • Piano Piece for David Tudor
  • Arthur's Theme
  • You Dropped a Bomb On Me
  • Main Street Electrical Parade Theme Song
  • Nothing Compares 2 U
  • all of Cheap Trick's first album
  • California Love
  • Jump
  • Eruption
  • Jail Bait
  • Erotic City
  • Lamont and Fred
  • Halb und Halb
  • The Designated Hitter

9. Have Stale Urine ever been on a ``real'' radio station?

 Yes. Stations include:
  • WDUB, 91.1 FM--Granville, Ohio
  • WICB, 91.7 FM--Ithaca, New York
  • WTUL, 91.5 FM--New Orleans, Louisiana
  • WWVU, 91.7 FM--Morgantown, West Virginia
  • On ``Alphabeat,'' a weekly alternative radio show in Europe broadcast on the ``Radio Marabu'' network:
    • Radio Panik 105.4 FM--Brussels, Belgium
    • Alternative Radio Collective 99.4 FM--Dublin, Ireland
    • Radio Canal Sud 92.6 FM--Toulouse, France
    • Radio Polaris 87.9 FM--Viitasaari, Finland
    • Radio Telstar 99.4 FM--Nordspessart, Germany
    • Radio Freies Freudenstadt 100 FM--Freudenstadt, Germany
    • Radio Freies Freudenstadt 104.1 FM--Baiersbronn, Germany
    • Radio Cortina 103.8/102.0/95.75 FM--Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy
    • Radio Kauno Fonas--Kaunas, Lithuania
    • Echo Moscow 66.86 FM--Moscow, Russia
  • Free Radio Santa Cruz, 96.3 FM--Santa Cruz, California
  • Skurve Radio, ``99.1'' FM--Pasadena, California
  • Radio Galaxy, 100.5 FM--Romania

10. Have Stale Urine ever been on national television?

 Yes. They were featured in a PBS documentary in the ``Discovering Women'' series about Caltech alum Misha Mahowald. The program showed SU rehearsing ``Rob Cobb's Job'' in the Dabney Library.

There is a recording of the 50-second performance on Original Zydequarium I.

11. Who is Robert Cobb?

Robert ``Bob'' Cobb is a former Caltech administrator. He controlled the Coffeehouse, among other things. He is mentioned twice in Urine songs: as ``that theivin' Robert Cobb'' in ``Grill Monkey Blues'' (because he often came down to the Coffeehouse and bummed food), and in ``Rob Cobb's Job''.

12. Is Adam Villani bi/homosexual?

 Whenever this question comes up, a common answer is ``who cares?'' Most ``V-Man'' fans are entranced by the music, not the sexual orientation.

If one gives the matter some serious thought, though, the vast majority of his work is unmistakeably about heterosexual relationships (except where he plays with double meaning), and there have been no sightings of him with another man. His women, on the other hand, are known to be world-class beauties.

The man obviously doesn't mind if people think he's bisexual, and it's possible he is or was, but he's very much in the closet about it if so. Even if he's perfectly straight, his lyrics indicate that he would welcome any sexual orientation in the utopian ``Wax Man''. Most fans tend to believe he's simply androgynous: displaying characteristics of both genders.

13. Where can I buy SU albums?

Send lots and lots of annoying e-mail to benedett@ugcs.caltech.edu, and he'll sell you stuff.

14. What is Apollonia's real name?

 Patricia Apollonia Kotero.

15. How do I abbreviate ``Stale Urine''?

 ``SU'' is the commonly accepted abbreviation of the band's name. You may call them ``The Urine'', if you'd rather. Alan McConchie suggests ``Stu''.

16. What do Stale Urine fans like to be called?

 This question is far from settled.

In their days as a fictional band, the fans of SU were the ``Urinites''. As the creator of this name, I admit it sounds pretty stupid.

Many names have since been suggested. I like ``Jelly Pigs'' the best, although I'm not sure what it means.

17. Where can I get Five Minutes To Automated Freedom?

5MTAF, SU's Christmas 1993 EP, is no longer available. It is a rather poor album, even for SU.

We suggest you pirate a copy from a friend.

18. How do you pronounce ``KOHUEPT''?

``KOHUEPT'' is the Russian word for ``concert,'' and it is pronounced roughly like the English version of the word (approximately ``kon-syairt''). ``KOHUEPT'' is about the best approximation of the cyrillic letters that I can do.

19. Are you guys software developers?

 Of the ten present and past SU members, five have been employed in such a fashion.

20. Has Stale Urine merchandise ever been bought with prescription drugs?

Yes.

21. Which celebrities' deaths has Stale Urine prefigured in song?

  • Kurt Cobain--died April 5, 1994, death prefigured in "Dyslexia", recorded April 1, 1994
  • Sterling Morrison--died August 30, 1995, death prefigured in "Angels Soaring Past (I Realize It Now)", recorded April 8, 1994
  • John Denver--died October 12, 1997, death prefigured in "John Denver, Poet Laureate of Colorado", recorded November 24, 1995
  • Michael Hutchence--died November 22, 1997, death prefigured in "None Dare Call It Treason (Extended Jazz Mix)", recorded May 29, 1994
  • Tupac Amaru Shakur--died September 13, 1996, death prefigured in "I Dream of Dre", recorded June 14, 1996
  • Roger Troutman--died April 25, 1999, death prefigured in "California Love", recorded December 26, 1997

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