More on Those Poptarts:

Meegan Voss

--Guitar, vocals-She founded and named the band when some guy said that girls who hung around with punk bands are a bunch of tarts -- she said, "No, they're Poptarts!" Thus is history made. Meegan made anorexia into a religion: she once ate nothing but red licorice and cheese corn for weeks.

Gael McGear

--Lead vocals, occasional guitar-All the guys thought I was 6 feet tall because I'm 5 ft. 7 and the other Tarts were 4ft. 11 to 5ft. 1! Plus with 5-inch heels and big red hair, no one messed with me! Also known as "The Enforcer" for dealing with drunks and hecklers. Originally in a band with Cathy called the Ball Turret Gunners (we were, of course, English majors!) that never played out. Idols: Paul McCartney, Billie Holiday, Dusty Springfield.

Cathy Kensington

--Guitar-A girl from the Blue Ridge Mountains with the soul of Patti Smith. Played a way cool red mini-Rickenbacker. Loved: Monty Python. Hated: Guys in Cowboy hats.

Margie Shears

--Terrified on stage, she made her stage-fright into an aura of total cool. Smoked long, black European cigarettes so she never had to talk.

Susan Mersey

--Drums-The tiniest Tart, she knew no fear. Played out after having her drums less than a week. Once, when her drums fell apart (!), she got up and "danced" the entire set (she was a trained ballet dancer) -- it was wild. Sometimes known as the "Bumble Bee" because of the way her bopping while she played.

We played Toga Parties (it was "Animal House" time!) and Cowboy Bars (it was also "Urban Cowboy" time, not to mention Disco Time!).

We took mini-skirts and girls with guitars were no girls had gone before. We played an army base (just like Spinal Tap) and a topless place (we didn't know until we got there and set up).

We were on a TV talk show, along with Daddy Brady (Robert Reed)!

We were shopping for groceries at Price Chopper at about 3:00 a.m. and heard OURSELVES over the piped-in radio. Of course, we began screaming and jumping up and down! The manager ran over and threatened to have us arrested if we didn't shut up, so we sang him "The Poptart Theme"! Then he threatened to have us arrested again!

We hung out with the Ramones, the Dead Boys, the Romantics, the Flashcubes, the Dead Ducks, the Yachts, the Tearjerkers, and the Records. At BOMP! Night in New York at Hurrah's! both Greg Shaw and Cheetah Chrome checked us out.

We gave Bobcat Goldthwait and Tomcat Kenny their first on-stage job: They opened for us as "The Squished Worms" at the Firebarn in Syracuse, doing a kind of warped Smothers Brothers act! Later, Bobcat roadied for us at a couple of jobs -- he worked for the free band beer because we had no money to pay him!

We got requests for "Free Bird" so many times we actually thought about adding it to our set.

We wrote all our own material.

We played our own instruments. We carried our own amps. We were a real band!

We also got no respect from most of the other (male) bands, who usually either thought we were a gimmick or groupies, but we didn't care. We still don't!

We were The Poptarts! Yeah Yeah!