Another quick one...you might remember I mentioned I was interviewed as part of a feature about pirate radio for Manchester's Big Issue in the North a while back. Sean Smith (writer of that piece) has posted a longer version of it on his blog (here). So if you're interested that's where it is.
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Alchemy by Rae Spencer
6 hours ago
25 comments:
Interesting. Daisy and Havoc? I really like the idea of "all-girl DJ days" a lot.
Finally, will you be making a cameo appearance in the film?
Daisy & Havoc were both dolls I had as a child in the 1970s. Daisy was Mary Quant's doll (and very fashionable) - that was my friend's name. Havoc was a female James Bond type doll complete with underwater camera, skis, machine gun in a violin case and other accessories. Rather unsuitably perhaps...that was my name.
As for a film...if you ever make it over here I'll dig out videos of me back in that era. I'm not sure I could look like that again (very skinny!)...so I'd have to play someone else.
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And the all-girl DJ days were great - really varied musically. We got quite a lot of coverage in the press for it - I remember doing an interview with the Guardian's radio correspondent, amongst others. Think we were in the NME or Melody Maker too.
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What a glittering past, Rachel...bet the telling of it would make a great non-fiction book...(hint, hint ; )) You've got the title already: Daisy & Havoc...love it!
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You are too cool for school.
Happy Father's Day. We are off to make a treasure hunt for Dad, who is still working on the drains.
Now with added photo!
Referring to you as 'Fox' makes you sound like a big criminal or something. 'Rachel said,' might not be newspeak but it comes across friendlier. :)
Liz...my life story...there'd be so much I couldn't tell...plus Daisy & Havoc was two of us...I'd have to consult with Daisy. She has quite a lot she can't tell too.
Titus...did I send you the 'Crowded out' postcard? 'Even in the in-crowd I've always felt out...' I wasn't really ever cool...thank god. As for your drains...you're a bad girl! Good job our men are saints.
Ken - the thing is Sean knows me from way back and under another name... not Rachel (Rachel only came free with the poetry). It probably feels even weirder for him to call me Rachel...and he always did call me Foxy anyway.
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Thanks for the steer. Will have a decko as soon as I can find the time - in short supply just now.
Oh Dave, there are far more important things to read first! Put it to the back of the queue...
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I feel positively boring after reading that. :)
Then again, I'm the one who had to keep telling Mom,"No, your other two children are the normal ones. I'm the weird exception to the rule." [Meaning I did as I was told...I could spell "rebel" I just couldn't put it into play].
Thanks for a fascinating peek at your other self.
Oh yes, m'dear. All of us come to Radio 2 in the end.
Oh, it had its boring sides too, Hope!
I can't listen to all of R2 though SW. Steve Wright, for example...I could listen to him when I was pregnant but then when I got my brain back I couldn't stand it! I listen to evening stuff mainly but during the day whilst doing chores (using the listen again business).
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Photo priceless! You were not hard to spot. I'm afraid I was more of the kneeling blonde type back then. Didn't get a "Crowded Out" postcard but oh yes, dig those videos out.
And weird, it was only when the two youngest were born that I had to move from R4 to R2. It wasn't until Playgroup started that I was able to move back. Thank God.
Hm, BBC Radio 4...I'm certainly not a regular listener but I do find myself listening to more and more programmes on there I suppose (selected ones usually....and almost always after first broadcast). Cooking on Saturday I thought I would give it a random try and ended up with the best of Women's Hour that week or something...and a discussion about words to use when talking about female genitalia with small girls was part of it. Not a discussion you would get on many radio stations...in fact I'm not sure I can think of another one (certainly in the UK) where you would hear that topic on primetime. No conclusions were reached...and I laughed out loud when they talked, in such hushed tones, about the 'c word'. I mean, it was radio 4 after all....and people might have been having their teas.
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Yes, but that is the one big swear word English has got left. If we start hearing it on radio and television then it will lose its currency just like "fuck" has.
I can remember when "bloody" was really rude.
Yes, some feminists tried to reintroduce 'cunt' (there - I typed it!) as a word for general use in the '70s (so I believe) but it never really got going. It's been used too much in porn I think...plus used very aggressively as a swear word at times (though not always...in London, particularly, you hear guys shout it in the street at other drivers, for example, and it can be almost humorous...almost...sometimes...).
A poem about this whole linguistic stumble is on my list of 'to write's. Really. I think there are other subjects (to do with women) where such stumbles occur...the whole Miss/Ms/Mrs for a start...then woman/lady/girl...
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Did I mean 'reintroduce'...not sure I did...sort of fell out. It's a complicated one...
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Quite interesting (long) piece on the above here. For those who are interested...
I tend to think that in all these matters it is not so much what is said but how it is said/written. Intention and all that. Though I am sure I will think of exceptions if I try hard enough.
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Yes, as soon as you brought all this up I started thinking, "there's a poem in here". Will look at article, thanks. Should be working and you're diverting me admirably.
This is work...just different work.
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Read it, interesting and thorough (boy, was it thorough). Much food for thought! Thanks.
Yes. It was long...and in that odd, thin column of text. Was that phallic do you think?
I was interested to know who the author of it was and all I could see was that he's a journalist who lives in Thailand and who is very interested in anti-censorship. A lot of the article was stuff I had heard/read/known at one point or another (I read a fair amount of feminist theory etc. as a student...not that I was studying that...). But it was interesting to get reacquainted with some of it.
I've read quite a few articles and blogs about Iran too today...and the French burka business...not completely unrelated of course.
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The medusa/vagina dentata association I'd not read before, and the Pueblo India and Bhuddist myths new to me too.
Quite a heavy news day all in all then?
Yes, I think my brain may explode. Again.
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