To see a Site Map of the Shop, Click
Here
Hellay, hellay. Having made your
way here, you may now be asking yourself, "Where am I? What do these
buttons do? Where is my beautiful house? Where is my beautiful wife?"
and other such questions. I'll explain a bit, using the tried and
true (and annoying) FAQ method. You wouldn't believe how frequently
I am asked the following, utterly pertinent questions:
List of Frequently Asked Questions
(click on any question to go directly to the answer listed on
this page, or scroll down the page in a more casual fashion to read
the answers in any order you wish--keep in mind that the questions
in this initial list are not exactly identical in wording to the
corresponding questions below, though the answers apply regardless):
1. Who are you (i.e.,
what is your name)? Where are you? What if I want to talk to you
personally?
2. What's the deal
with this site?
3. Why did you create
this site?
4. Why should I
visit this site instead of another Genesis site (i.e., what do you
have to offer that's different than what other fan sites offer)?
5. How do I get
around in this site? Where do I go?
6. Do you have a site
map?
7. How do I get the
music listed in your live recordings section? Where do I go to get
answers to my bootleg-related questions?
8. Can you tell me
about yourself some more? Can you answer some other questions?
9. Why is the site
called "The Pet Shop (Which is Never Open)?"
10. Why does the
web address include the phrase "bluesnaggletooth12" in
it?
11. I've been wandering through your site and noticed
that you sometimes mention names of people I don't know ("Simon,"
"Hewitt") or phrases that don't make sense ("The
Movement," "a-z site," "FoF," "IMO").
What do these things mean?
1. Who are you, where do you come from, how can I talk to you to
ask you the questions that aren't listed in this shoddy FAQ?
My name is Steven Genzano.
I live in New Jersey, on the east coast of the United States of
America. I was born the same year the album ...And Then There
Were Three... was released (1978). For most of their recording/performing
career, I was not around to see Genesis live, but I found out about
them when I was young and have since become a huge fan of them and
their 70s ilk (progressive rock bands such as Yes and King Crimson).
If you would like to e-mail
me, try clicking on the first occurrence of the word "e-mail"
in this sentence.
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2. What's the deal with this site?
This is not in fact a place where you can purchase frozen mice over
the Internet (I know that's what you were thinking, but just put
your credit card away), but a fan site for the band Genesis. I would
describe it as "The last great adventure left to mankind," just
to be cute, but, well, it isn't. Over the years, after having collected
all of their official releases, I began to get the impression that
not too many people liked Genesis. Genesis seemed like this band
that had been popular, that had sold millions of records even, and
filled giant concert houses, all somehow without the benefit of
any fans. Genesis were the ultimate "uncool" band, the band that
even its fans were ashamed to bring up in conversation. Then I found
the then-new official web
site in the early 2000s (which has updated itself several times
since then, God bless it), and discovered a whole community of perfectly
enthusiastic fans, quietly strumming away. It was through that web
site that my slumbering fandom received an electric jumpstart. I
decided to collect the bootlegs I had been ignoring just because
I had the Archive box sets, and I met Genesis fans (possible nickname:
FoGs, acronym for "Fans of Genesis") who were all incredibly
kind and generous, willing to answer any question or provide music
free of any charge. And all of them were totally willing to admit
that they liked Genesis.
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3. Why did you go to the trouble of making your own site about Genesis
when there's already an official one that's much prettier?
I've put this site together for a few reasons. The first and
foremost was to karmically repay those Genesis fans who set me up
with my first few bootlegs by duplicating their generosity. This
means I'm open to freebie requests from new fans and generally having
an open hand with what music/video I've managed to collect. See
anything on my live recording pages that you like? Please e-mail
me, and whether you have something to trade or not, you'll probably
end up with what you want.
The second reason is simply to show
my Genesis Pride. It's time for Genesis Freaks to unite, as a very
old Friar's club ad proclaimed. Stand up and be counted, if only
to encourage Tony Banks, who seems awfully down lately.
The third reason is to have fun.
So have fun.
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4. Why should I visit your site instead of the millions upon millions
of other Genesis fan sites?
5. And how do I navigate the bewildering labyrinth of this confusing
realm?
My site boasts some interesting features, which you may have seen
cryptic descriptions of on the main page. The best way for me to
detail what these features are is to run through a description of
the site and what it contains. So there are eight main sections
to the site, all of which can be reached from the main, home page.
I also put the links to those eight sections at the top of nearly
every page of the site, so they are easy to get to from almost anywhere.
(The news page has a button for it on the main page, but is generally
not linked to anywhere else; also, this page you are on now can
only be reached from the main page--but a link to the main, or home,
page is easy to find anywhere on the site. Confused? go to question
6 and visit my Site Map!) Some of the larger sections are broken
up into subsections--if so, the links to those subsections will
have buttons set just below the buttons for the eight main sections,
at the top of the main section page. There is a lengthy introductory
paragraph for each section which should help explain what that section
is about, but just to be even lengthier and more explanatory, here
(as promised) is a run-through of the different sections of the
site:
The news page hopefully speaks
for itself. The bio page is my own rather strange humor writing,
related to the lives and personalities of the band members I love
so well--it happens to feature various pictures of the band members.
The live recordings section is gigantic--it's really the
core of the site, and details nearly everything I own, audio or
video, that is in any way related to the band Genesis (and also
one page related to utterly non-Genesis material). Recordings are
separated by media and/or tour, listed chronologically, and are
helpfully cross-linked to hopefully make it very easy and quick
to find whatever you may be looking for. If you have questions about
that particular section, simply click on the "Live Recordings"
button, which is located at the top of nearly every page on the
site (along with the buttons for the other seven of the eight main
sections), and the main page for that section should hopefully answer
any questions you may have.
The lists page is a collection
of lists related to Genesis, featuring my own rankings for a lot
of my favorite or least favorite things about the band. That section
also has a lot of interesting informational objective lists that
I'm rather proud of. You'll see comprehensive, painstakingly researched
lists of: all of the rare, non-album songs Genesis has composed
over the years; the Genesis songs that were most and least frequently
performed by the band; all the interesting medleys Genesis has played
over the years; a list of the Genesis songs written during Peter
Gabriel tenure that were performed live while Phil was lead singer;
a list of all the various line-ups and formations of the band from
its earliest origins in Charterhouse to the Ray Wilson years; and,
the list I'm most proud of: a comprehensive look at all set lists
from all of the major and minor Genesis tours. And there are
many more lists than just these, some humorous and some providing
interesting definitions of Genesis mythology and terminology that
I use elsewhere on the site.
Also included in the lists section
are a list of links to other Genesis and Genesis-related
sites, and a list of the sources used by me in putting together
the site and my collection of music and video. These sources helped
me to get information, pictures, and music.
The goodies page is a page
that catalogues some downloadable stuff that I've created that has
to do with Genesis: desktop images, Genesis logos, album covers
from official albums, album covers that I have created for live
shows, an insert I made for the Genesis Way We Walk DVD,
and a few small but rare mp3s. Also included are reviews of my experiences
going to see the fantastic Genesis cover band, The Musical Box,
and (eventually) reviews of the Turn It on Again tour shows
I attended.
The caption test page is
another humor section of the site, in which I exercise my ability
to write humorous captions to interesting photos of the band throughout
their history. Think of it as a unique photo gallery that's slightly
interactive and may produce a few chuckles.
The contest page is actually
an area where from time to time I hold contests wherein people can
enter and possibly win music/video from out of my large and still-growing
collection. Unfortunately, since running the contest is work-intensive
and time-consuming, I have hardly held any contests since the inception
of this site. When I do run a contest, I like to announce it in
a couple of obvious Genesis sites (such as the official site's discussion
forum and the genesis-trades Yahoo! mailing list), so that people
know to join in. I'll admit that I'm usually pretty lenient when
it comes to judging the contest, and usually a good five or six
people end up walking away with some music. The only problem is,
it could be years between contests!
Finally there's the mystery page,
which is a look into some of the Genesis folklore and more commonly
debated issues.
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6. Do you have a site map?
Well, I'm not entirely
sure if it follows the strict rules of site map construction, but
check this out.
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7. How do I get the music listed in your live recordings section?
Where do I go to get answers to my bootleg-related questions?
If you have any questions about my bootleg (AKA "live recording")
collection, including video or audio material, please visit the
main page of that section by clicking on the "live recording"
button at the top of this page (or at the top of nearly every other
page on this site). The "live recording" main page will
hopefully answer any of your questions. If not, feel free to ask
me directly through e-mail--though
I warn you that I may become inordinately irritated if you ask me
questions that are clearly answered on the web site! Don't let that
stop you, though.
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8. Can you provide me with other boring details about your life,
or answer the ridiculous questions at the beginning of this page?
Still have questions? Well, I don't know where your beautiful house
or wife are. My beautiful house is in the USA, New Jersey, Bruce
Springsteen country. My beautiful wife likes the first Genesis album
but thinks The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is "boring." I
have two cats who probably don't listen to music, a little girl
who is not choosy yet but will hopefully one day be a fan, and a
twin brother who was there with me the first time we listened to
Nursery Cryme (I was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich).
I also enjoy other nerdy things, like Doctor Who, Star Wars, the
Lord of the Rings, Radiohead, Miyazaki films, Apple Computers, indie
rock, King Crimson, the Velvet Underground, Bruce, most art history
but especially 20th century, Transformers, and making my own CD
inserts. I know how to play the opening notes of "That's All,"
"Mad Man Moon," and bits of "Cinema Show" and
"Firth of Fifth" on the keyboard.
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9. What is "The Pet Shop (Which is Never Open)?" And why the heck
would you give your web site such a stupid and misleading name?
In the live version of "Supper's Ready" which can be heard on
the third disc of Archive #1 (from the Rainbow Theatre show of 20
October '73), Pete tells a story which begins "Old Henry walked
past the pet shop which was never open, into the park, which was
never closed." This was in fact the beginning of his standard introduction
to the song.
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10. What is "bluesnaggletooth12" doing in your url?
I had to pick a user name when I got my web space on Yahoo!'s
Geocities server (though my site is no longer located on that server,
the name stuck when I got my own domain). The Blue Snaggletooth
is the most rare and valued Star Wars action figure. It was produced
only in the Mos Eisley Cantina action playset, which was sold only
at Sears department stores in the late '70s and early '80s. It is
also rare because Snaggletooth action figures sold on cards were
in fact red--not blue--and much shorter. They also did not sport
huge silver disco boots. (I now have a nearly mint condition copy
of this figure! Aren't you excited?) If you'd like to know more,
see the picture at the bottom of this page or go here.
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11. I've been wandering through
your site and noticed that you sometimes mention names of people
I don't know ("Simon," "Hewitt") or phrases
that don't make sense ("The Movement," "a-z site,"
"FoF," "IMO"). What do these things mean?
If you want to know what
this stuff means, or are confused by any other foreign phrases I
use in the course of the site, the best place to look for possible
definitions is Abbreviations part
of my Objective Lists page. Of course, if you still don't understand
something after consulting this list, feel free to ask
me about it personally.
I hope I answered most of the main
questions one might have upon visiting this place, and provided
what may not be an informative, but is at least a lengthy, introduction
to the site. I think I've said about all I can say for this section.
The only other thing I can think of for now is: Enjoy the site.
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