www.theshaggsonline.com
The Official Web Site of the Shaggs and Dot Wiggin
Our First Album, "Philosophy of the World"
(left to right) Betty, Helen, Dot Wiggin
We receive lots of emails asking, "where can I find the Shaggs music?" Our CDs are available on Amazon.com here.
Fan Club Members UPDATE- Don't
miss this announcement!
Note: April 2006
We have a new email address. You can write to Dot through this address, and I'll forward your email on to her.
She can reply from her new Gmail account.
I am trying to keep her new Gmail account unpublished on the internet, so it remains free of spam, so your first one goes through me.
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Dec 18, 2003
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Welcome to my site! I am glad you found it!
Due to problems with my email account, I did not receive messages from June 2003-Nov 2003. If you sent me something, please write again.
Love,
-Dot
Site Welcome
by Tom Jordan, (web page assistant and fan)
You may read many descriptions of The Shaggs, both on the Internet and in print. However, most stories focus only in the past. Actually, what we learned from The Shaggs (and from their father Austin Wiggin, Jr.) is just as true today. In garages everywhere - kids are writing songs and expressing themselves by stretching their talents. If you love music for its own sake, and perform what you believe in, you possess the noblest gift of music and art.
In the case of The Shaggs, this gift was a lucky, charming moment captured on audio tape.
Today we listen, have a few laughs and are grateful The Shaggs' music has survived somehow. But we also realize this snapshot of the Wiggin family captured the genuine soul of music.
Dot, Betty and Helen Wiggin transformed their own lives into lyrics while performing music as The Shaggs. Through music, they described hope, despite disappointment. They shared their beliefs and subsequently became role models of personal musical expression. We love The Shaggs because we share those feelings and hopes. Even though (most of the time) life is not so simple and honest, it is important to believe. They believed, and we desperately want to.
Today they still believe in themselves, their families, God, and many of the same ideals. This web site is Dot Wiggin's personal forum to continue expressing herself "unaffected by outside influences". It is a very good way for you to contact Dot with questions, requests, or your own story.
17 Jan 2003
Recently our fan club members received Christmas cards autographed by Dot, Helen, Betty and Annie (mom), with a litle surprise enclosed. I hope you enjoyed yours.
Here is a photo of Annie and Austin, Mom and Dad. Another exclusive image from the Shaggs personal collection for our fans. You won't find this anywhere else.
Austin and Annie Wiggin, 1960s (exact date unknown), New Hampshire
14 August 2000; MESSAGE FROM DOT:
Here we are in the year 2000, thirty years later. We thank all our awesome fans who are still listening to our music.
Thanks to all our new fans who have found us recently. And a big thanks to all our fans who attended our appearance in N.Y.C. with N.R.B.Q. celebrating their 30th year anniversary as a group. Thanks to N.R.B.Q. for inviting us to perform and be a part of their celebration. Loved seeing all of our fans enjoying our music and singing along with the lyrics with us.
Thanks again for standing by us and supporting us all these years. We love you guys.
Birthdays:
Helen: Dec. 17,1946
Dorothy ( Dot ) March 21,1948
Betty : Dec. 24,1950
Rachel : Dec. 15,1953
The Shaggs Philosophy Of Life:
Never judge others until you've walked a mile in their footsteps.
Do as Thumper's parents say: If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Live by the golden rule: Do unto others as you would like others to do unto you.
The Shaggs Pet Peeves:
Dot : Double standards; someone looking over my shoulder; tapping shoulder to get attention.
Helen : Rumors; Gossip; Snapping bubble gum.
Betty : Talking about and picking on others.
Whats happening:
We have signed a contract with Artisan Entertainment from N.Y. to do a motion picture on the life of The Shaggs. Artisans have hired a writer/director to write the script. Her name is Katherine Dieckmann from N.Y. She plans on meeting with the Shaggs and researching the town of Fremont in the next few months.
I would love to hear from our fans!
Do you have a question or a comment? Drop me an email message!
Our email addresses:
The Official SHAGGS WORLDWIDE FAN CLUB
The Official SHAGGS WORLDWIDE FAN CLUB is located only at this web site address (www.theshaggsonline.com).
Welcome to the SHAGGS WORLDWIDE FAN CLUB! My Shaggs' official fan service.
Here is everything you need to know to join:
You will receive special mesages from Dot Wiggins to her fans.
Membership package includes Exclusive "Philosophy of the World" photo (approx 4X6)- This is NOT the album cover! The photo you see on the Philosophy of the World album is a re-take! You will receive this one - The original setting, taken in July 1968. The album was recorded in March 1969 (under the direcion of Austin Wiggin, Jr.). The photo that appears ON THE ALBUM is actually years older.When you compare the album cover and your fan club photo - you will be thrilled!
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| Album Cover | The picture you will recieve |
Custom made Dot Wiggins' guitar pick, featuring Foot Foot!
(4) Cool adhesive-back Fan Club stickers (4 different designs)
Email service notification of future Shaggs news and exclusive discounts on fun Shagg's products.
Sound good? Then what are you waiting for? Fill out the form below and mail it along with check/money order (US dollars only, $20 U.S., $23 Foreign) payable to:
THESHAGGSONLINE.COM
2501 Johnson Drive
Mesquite, TX. 75181
*SHAGGSONLINE.COM reserves the right to limit or refuse membership. Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery
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Dowload our membership form (pdf format)
Don't have the Adobe pdf reader? Download it here, free.
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This web site, and the Fan club will provide a special relationship with the band and our fans. Things you JUST WON'T FIND anywhere else. How about an example?
Here is a photo that shows Helen, Dot, Betty, Rachel at Rye Beach. It was taken of us in 1972, at Rye Beach, NH. So, if you REALLY love the Shaggs, you'll want to know more about us and this is the place to do it!
Original Liner Notes To The CD Release of "The Shaggs"
By: John DeAngelis
When Austin Wiggin, Jr. and his teenage daughters Dorothy, Betty, and Helen drove from their home in Fremont, New Hampshire to a recording studio in Revere, Mass. one day in the late 1960s, none of the participants could have guessed at the events that were to transpire as a result of the music recorded that day. The girls hadn't been playing very long and were uncertain of their abilities. Upon hearing the three sisters play, the recording engineer suggested to Austin that perhaps the girls weren't quite ready to record. But Austin Wiggin, Jr., a true visionary, was intent on capturing the moment. "I want to get them while they're hot," he reportedly said.
The music recorded that day was indeed hot, and Austin paid a local entrepeneur to release Philosophy Of The World by the Shaggs on the Third World label. The "entrepeneur," however, dissapeared with Austin's money and most of the albums that had been manufactured. If ever a record was doomed to obscurity, this one seemed to be it.
What copies of Philosophy Of The World did survive miraculously found themselves into the right hands. WBCN-FM in Boston played selections from Philosophy several times; local musicians like Andy Paley discovered the record and began championing the Shaggs; someone at WBCN played Philosophy for Frank Zappa, who was quite taken with it; and finally tenor saxophonist and composed Keith Spring, then playing with the Whole Wheat Horns, an adjunct to the legendary adventurous NRBQ, played a tape of the Shaggs for the rest of NRBQ. Shortly thereafter arrangements were made to reissue Philosophy Of The World on NRBQ's own Red Rooster label, distributed by Rounder Records.
Perhaps no album, either prior to or since, has generated as intense a reaction as Philosophy Of The World did upon its reissue. Most critics loved it, although their reasons varied greatly. Some thought the Shaggs were a joke, or some elaborate hoax. Debra Rae Cohen in Rolling Stone (which cited the Shaggs as the Comeback of the Year band in their 1980 Rock and Roll Awards) said, "I'd call Philosophy Of The World a work of primitive American genius but I'm too busy rolling on the floor." Others took the Shaggs more seriously. Bruce D. Rhodewalt in L.A. Weekly said, "If we can judge music on the basis of its honesty, originality and impact, then the Shaggs' Philosophy Of The World is the greatest record ever recorded in the history of the universe." And OP magazine said, "The Shaggs integrity and purity of vision shine through like a 50,000-watt lighthouse on a stormy night. Listen to this record. It will change your life."
It's easy to see how someone could have been confounded by this wonderful music. Here were three teens playing instruments we've heard countless times, but this time with none of the familiar signposts--none of the standard rhythms or chord progressions we've come to recognize and, yes, even expect. On the other hand, listening to this music without perceptions or expectations reveals a refreshingly playful, yet decidedly structured sound with its own complex inner logic. "I have yet to play a Shaggs cut for a professional musician who didn't roll his eyes and whisper, 'Where can I get this record?'," said Dan Forte in The Record, and no wonder.
This compact disc, which collects all previously issued Shaggs material and two new items, offers the listener--whether familiar or new to this music--the best-ever opportunity to appreciate the Shaggs. For one thing, the music itself has never sounded as good as it does here. Not suprisingly, the original Third World release of Philosophy was neither mixed nor mastered in the most highly attentive fashion. And since the original master tapes were believed to have been stolen from the Wiggin residence, the Red Rooster/Rounder reissue had to be painstakingly transferred from a clean copy of the original release. Recently, however, Terry Adams of NRBQ was speaking to Dot Wiggin on the phone when she mentioned that she had come across some "big tapes" while going through a closet in her home. It was soon discovered that the "big tapes" included the original multitrack recordings of Philosophy Of The World.
Now newly mixed and mastered, with errors in pitch and speed finally corrected, and aided by the full-range, compression-free compact disc medium, this definitive version of Philosophy reveals a cleaner, yet wonderfully bracing quality that will suprise even those already familiar with its contents. Each instrument has a spatial and sonic heft to it, and there are other surprises as well. A bass guitar, omitted from the original mix of "That Little Sports Car," has been restored, adding a whole new dimension to that song. Also heard for the first time is a pre-take run-through of "Who Are Parents."
This CD will also give listeners another chance to evaluate the somewhat less-heralded Shaggs Own Thing, which contains material recorded after Philosophy that was compiled and released after that record's triumphant reissue. Perhaps both the slightly less abstract quality of these later compositions, and the fact that the Shaggs were presenting their own unique interpretations of other people's songs, confused those who were expecting a carbon copy of Philosophy. For me, Shaggs Own Thing reveals these remarkable youngsters, this time aided by youngest sister Rachel on bass (with guest appearances by brother Bob and Austin Wiggin, Jr.), relentlessly pursuing their refreshingly unaffected artistic vision with sincerity and creativity. Especially delightful is the mature, almost sensuous remake of "My Pal Foot Foot"; Dorothy Wiggin's exquisite adolescent reverie, "My Cutie"; and Betty Wiggin's only known composition, "Painful Memories," which Dorothy embellishes with some inspired whammy bar chording. And there's also a previously unreleased original composition, "Love At First Sight."
The Shaggs originated almost twenty years ago. As mass media increasingly permeates our society with a sameness that is frightening, it seems unlikely that another band of this kind of quality and originality will ever come along again. Or maybe in some distant country, as you read this, a proud father is giving his daughters (or sons) instruments and is exhorting them--in whatever language--to "do your own thing." Whatever the case, the Shaggs did their own thing and we have an eloquent reminder in these awe-inspiring recordings.
April 2000 Excerpt from Naples Daily News article
EPPING, N.H. — After all these years, Dot Wiggin can't shake The Shaggs.
This
is a Nov. 20, 1999, photo of The Shaggs shown during a sound check prior to
a concert at The Bowery Ballroom in New York. Betty Porter, left, her sister,
Dot Wiggin, right, are two thirds of The Shaggs. The third sister, Helen Wiggin,
was unable to make the concert, and drummer Tommy Ardolino, background, replaced
her. AP Photo/ Michael Hockanadel
Naples Daily News
By HOLLY RAMER, Associated Press
She's busy enough — at 51, she has two teen-age sons, makes a living cleaning houses and working at a day-care center, and tries to make it to church every week.
But 30 years ago, she was Dot Wiggin, lead singer of The Shaggs — a band driven more by her father's stubbornness than by musical talent. And that now-defunct band has been discovered.
Dot and her sisters Betty and Helen started with gigs at the Fremont Town Hall and a nearby nursing home. Today, they get fan mail from around the world, and their lawyers are negotiating a possible movie deal.
The story in between is like the band's music: sometimes sweet, sometimes painful, and always unforgettable. It's a story of three sisters, two records, a cat named Foot Foot and, finally, fame.
"It's almost like we lived two lives: That was then, this is now," Wiggin says. "Only the then is becoming the now."
The idea of The Shaggs is actually older than Wiggin and her sisters. When their father was young, his mother made three predictions: He'd marry a strawberry blonde, have two sons she would not live to see, and watch his daughters play in a band.
The first two parts of the fortune came true, and Austin Wiggin was determined to bring about the third. In the mid-1960s, he pulled his daughters out of school and bought them instruments. "I don't think we would've thought about it if he didn't come up with the idea first, but we thought it was a good idea," Wiggin said in a recent interview in Epping, where the three sisters now live. "We always liked music."
Aside from weekly trips to Manchester for music lessons, they rarely left the small town of Fremont. The next few years blurred into one long day: a few hours of schoolwork from a mail-order company, morning music practice, afternoon music practice, calisthenics. Sometimes they set up their instruments in the living room, but mostly they played in the concrete-walled, concrete-floored basement.
"Then when our father came home from work, we'd practice for him before supper, and sometimes after supper, depending on how it went," Wiggin said. "That pretty much took care of the night."
The routine changed in 1968 when Austin Wiggin arranged for the girls to play at the Fremont Town Hall every Saturday night. Their two brothers helped them lug their speakers and drum set up the stairs to the performance venue, where the Shaggs (named by their father for their long, shaggy hairstyles) played cover songs and their own arrangements.
"I remember those (nights) as fun," Wiggin said. "There were some kids who might poke fun or say mean things, but not a whole lot. We'd mingle during intermissions with some of the kids we knew from town."
The following year, they recorded their first album in a Revere, Mass., studio. The Shaggs, then ages 18 to 22, were reluctant, but their father was firm.
"I want to get them while they're hot," he reportedly told the sound engineer.
Betty, now Betty Porter and a 49-year-old widow who works at a kitchen equipment warehouse, said she and her sisters struggled during that long day at the studio.
"We didn't think we were ready to record anything," she said. "There was one song we had to keep going over and over and over again. ... I remember getting tired and thinking 'When are we gonna be done?'"
"It was like the practices night after night," Wiggin said. "You'd almost hope something would come up so you could get out of practicing for one night."
By the end of that day, they had recorded the 12 songs that would become "Philosophy of the World."
The songs' subjects (parents, a cat, Halloween) and lyrics ("I'm so happy when you're near/ I'm so sad when you're away") were simple enough. But the sound was something else. The girls plodded or raced through the songs, painfully out of tune and off beat, lurching from chord to chord with the drums rattling in the background.
Their hopes of stardom dwindled when the man who agreed to press and distribute 1,000 copies disappeared with 900 of them. The rest were circulated to New England radio stations, but attracted little attention.
Austin Wiggin was undeterred. The Shaggs were back in the studio a few years later to record a few more songs.
He was strict, but supportive, Wiggin said.
"He was old-fashioned. He knew what he wanted and there was no two ways about the way it was going to be," she said.
"He wanted the best for us and wanted to do everything possible," Porter said. They admit he had a temper, however. Helen eloped at 28, but lived at home for several months, afraid to tell her father what she had done. One of her husband's co-workers told on them before they could break the news, Wiggin said. Their father was furious, at first.
"He basically told Helen, 'You're married, go live with him,'" she said. "He kicked Helen out of the band, but we weren't really doing a whole lot then anyway."
Helen eventually rejoined the group, but it had already begun to deflate.
In 1975, their father died of a heart attack. The Shaggs died along with him.
But while the Wiggin sisters went on with their lives — got married, had children, moved to another small New Hampshire town — those 100 records slowly attracted a cult following.
A Boston radio station played a few of the songs in the 1970s. A band called NRBQ got its record label to re-release "Philosophy of the World" on vinyl in 1980. Eight years later, they combined tracks from both recording sessions on a CD called "The Shaggs."
Frank Zappa called the Shaggs "better than the Beatles." In 1996, Rolling Stone named the album one of the 100 "most influential alternative releases of all time."
Last year, RCA Victor re-released "Philosophy of the World." And in December, Tom Cruise's production company, Cruise/Wagner Productions, optioned a story about the band that had appeared in The New Yorker. A spokesman for the company said it's too early to talk about the negotiations.
Irwin Chusid, who produced the latest CD, devotes a chapter to the Shaggs in his book, "Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music." He praises the Shaggs for their "honest artistic expression of their musical impulses."
"It's aboriginal rock and roll. It's musical primitivism. It's three girls stumbling across the lost chords," he said. "There's a spastic magic in those grooves."
The Shaggs even showed up in a scholarly paper by Guy Capuzzo, a music theory professor at Penn State, written when he was a graduate student. He says he was drawn to the Shaggs because they remind him of what musicians sound like when they first start out.
"It's kind of like a balloon that's just about to burst. There's this enormous tension. ... Two of them will be playing at one tempo, the other one is playing at another tempo. You're waiting for the whole thing to fall apart, but it doesn't," he said.
"You start to think they're just going to train-wreck, but somehow they get it back together."
The Shaggs literally got back together in December, when their friends from NRBQ persuaded them to do two shows in New York — their first in 30 years and their first ever outside New Hampshire. Helen, who suffers from depression, decided not to attend.
"It was $100 a week to rent two guitars, and we really couldn't afford more than that. So we just said we'll take the week and do the best we can," Wiggin said. "We couldn't play 'em like we played 'em then. I really don't know how I wrote them, never mind play them."
"We winged our way through it," Porter said. "We weren't ready the first time, and we weren't ready this time."
Both were amazed to meet fans who could sing along with all their songs. One woman showed up wearing a T-shirt printed with a drawing of Foot Foot, the cat they sing about in "My Pal Foot Foot."
"I'm glad we did it," Wiggin said. "Not so much for what we did, but for the fans."
But The Shaggs also have their critics.
"Shock therapy and all the Prozac in the world would never stop the haunting sounds of these banshees," one reviewer wrote on a music Web site.
"We see a lot of the garbage on the Internet," Wiggin said. She laughs at the attacks, but admits she has toyed with the idea of creating her own site to defend herself. On it, she would explain her philosophy of life, which she boils down to two rules. First, don't judge others until you've walked a mile in their shoes. Second, from the Disney movie "Bambi":
"Just like Bambi's mother always told Bambi, if you can't say anything nice, don't say nothing at all," she said. "Everyone is entitled to their true opinion, but some of them could be a little nicer in how they say it."
The Shaggs don't spend much time dreaming about what might have happened if they had continued performing. They realize that part of their allure lies in the brevity of their careers.
"I'd almost dare to say that we wouldn't be as popular now if we had kept going," Wiggin said. "I don't know if we ever would've got big enough to go on tours. I just don't know."
"Let's face it," Porter cuts in. "As we got going we would've gotten better, and it seems as though people don't want it better."
More soon!
-Dot