tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84902058037357234872024-02-19T07:12:55.990-08:00Sadista SistersSadista Sistershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341293389392367879noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8490205803735723487.post-42064860050362958892011-08-28T15:06:00.000-07:002011-08-28T15:06:27.790-07:00Punk Before Punk 1977<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">Somewhere in Berlin ... </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz2uP8bheQw6M91bABkusNDvVIXxdbg8F04eTzT0MUXQu7D5t0_VDjdaJjboGUM6hoFuL_g2c6WkmafXTCxfArEt_aFNNHxaiT8le6ITEjrl2YO_s4wVJLNEt2872iM1Ibpe5CwPh_r6w/s1600/jude.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz2uP8bheQw6M91bABkusNDvVIXxdbg8F04eTzT0MUXQu7D5t0_VDjdaJjboGUM6hoFuL_g2c6WkmafXTCxfArEt_aFNNHxaiT8le6ITEjrl2YO_s4wVJLNEt2872iM1Ibpe5CwPh_r6w/s400/jude.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">After Teresa d'Abreu left the band, we descended into Gothic.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">L to R Jacky Tayler, Jude Alderson, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">Linda Marlowe with the bald head on a stick and bass player John Knox. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"> Dave Stewart, later of the Eurythmics, is lurking somewhere..</span></div>Sadista Sistershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341293389392367879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8490205803735723487.post-73620778940195861532011-07-02T00:50:00.000-07:002011-08-07T12:47:41.159-07:00The Thatcher Years, DUCHESS<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: black; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgA0AkwcTQCOFWNlSceqgQswXCFuzsG4nde0UzOVEFclpVJ-2-JJtYb8ecyxZHV6Ngft4m1BZaQ79wo3CGVfkbFP1uTy77dDbzrEswaoIyIJF8YpmfQ60afFddWjLbAugvDCYy34ctH0k/s1600/scan0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgA0AkwcTQCOFWNlSceqgQswXCFuzsG4nde0UzOVEFclpVJ-2-JJtYb8ecyxZHV6Ngft4m1BZaQ79wo3CGVfkbFP1uTy77dDbzrEswaoIyIJF8YpmfQ60afFddWjLbAugvDCYy34ctH0k/s320/scan0003.jpg" width="215px" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"></span></div><br />
<div class="s2" style="line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="s7" style="color: black; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;"><b>Barbara Spitz</b> was in the Sadista Sisters from 1977-79. Thirty years later we tracked each other down and had lunch in Marine Ices in Chalk Farm, London. Marine Ices, for the un-initiated, is the Ice cream parlour and pasta place. Opposite is the Round House where Barbara and I and half a dozen other ‘Sisters’ had originally gigged together. This line-up also gigged at The Kings Head, Islington, the Speakeasy, toured the UK and played numerous times in Berlin. I interviewed her in October 2009. Barbara now lives and works in Vienna as an actress, singer and musician.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s8" style="color: black; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">JUDE</span></span><span style="padding-left: 17px;"></span><span class="s8" style="color: black; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;"></span></span><span class="s9" style="color: purple; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;"></span></span><span class="s8" style="color: black; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">London was good in those days for cheap or free places to rehearse. Lets talk about that place in Euston where we rehearsed. And tell us something about your experiences when you first joined the band?</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s8" style="color: black; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">BARBARA </span></span><span style="padding-left: 33px;"></span><span class="s8" style="color: black; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">The rehearsal room – it was some kind of factory. I remember it being above some kind of strudel factory because I think we had to walk through part of it to get to the rehearsal room.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s8" style="color: black; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">I joined at the same time as Susie Hendrix (Tinline) and she played a bass: a Les Paul. I vaguely knew about her from ‘Painted Lady’ before it became ‘Girl School’. The Sadistas job was quite overwhelming. First of all I didn’t expect to get the job because I couldn’t play very well– but I looked good and I think that’s why I got it.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">JUDE</span></span><span style="padding-left: 17px;"></span><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">I would say that was definitely part of why you were employed. You were beautiful in a wretched waif-like kind of way and had a lot of attitude. I assumed you could go onstage and be a good performer because of how you carried yourself. You also looked pretty cool in that Cunning Stunts T-shirt. Was there so much work for you guys? I always assumed the musicians had an easy time of it and I did all the work! You used to go onstage with a bottle of vodka, I remember being jealous of that.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">BARBARA </span></span><span style="padding-left: 33px;"></span><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">Hell no! I remember being overwhelmed by the workload – I had a week to learn the entire show, and not being a professional – not being a proficient musician that was tough. And the music was quite complicated. There were lots of chords; most of them were jazz chords.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">JUDE I suppose I was from a background where I was playing the piano , listening and being influenced by jazz and classical music, that stuff isn’t so easy to play on guitar. Not really ”Learn three chords and join a band” stuff.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">BARBARA</span></span><span class="s11" style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;"> </span></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">I came from a pop rock punk background, so yes the music was hard for me at first.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">JUDE</span></span><span style="padding-left: 17px;"></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">We were a bit punkish weren’t we? Punk before punk, even?</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">BARBARA</span></span><span style="padding-left: 2px;"></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;"> A crazy mix. I think the collision of styles was inspiring as well as the non-intellectual approach. It gave Sadistas a unique quality and sense</span></span><span class="s12" style="color: maroon; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;"> </span></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">of excitement. There was also such a mixture of people when I joined. A team, of ten musician/performers - all women - in the band. </span></span><span style="padding-left: 33px;"></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;"> </span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">It was extraordinary to suddenly land in a world that was new territory for me on every level, musically, theatricality, socially politically, everything.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">JUDE</span></span><span style="padding-left: 53px;"></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">That was a conscious decision for me, for us to operate as an all female concern. I found it very shocking that the record company (in 1975) had replaced our fabulously anarchic female musicians with slick male session players, who were quite boring (sorry guys) and certainly had nothing to add theatrically. Plus it wasn’t the original ethos of the band, which Teresa and I had created, and it spoiled a lot of things. Teresa and I, however naively, wanted to make something all female. We had spent our quite short professional careers doing male-dominated stuff. (We were in our early 20’s) Some of that work had been classy (Steven Berkoff, Rumbelow) but basically all about the way men carried on, and we wanted this to be virgin territory.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">In retrospect, bringing men into the band was a kind of disaster, because there was a sense of alienation and some personally very damaging stuff. I certainly felt put down by it although I couldn’t really express it at the time.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">What was it like coming into a set-up that already existed, rather than being there from the beginning? Was that hard?</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">BARBARA </span></span><span style="padding-left: 33px;"></span><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">Yes it was hard to come into something. You were very well known, what was required, to stand up and stand out – first baptism by fire. If you’re a new girl – well, it felt like a pecking order. Pretty chaotic, in retrospect. But it somehow worked, although I didn’t see so much of you, Jude, because you were always busy doing twenty things. I enjoyed working at the Kings Head enormously –with Linda Hall, Marelene Van Renen (front-liners with Jude) and in the band were Marilyn Taylor (piano and keyboards) on bass Bernadette, Angele on sax, yes she had been brought in by Deirdre and Bernadette.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">By the time we went to Berlin, Marilyn couldn’t come and so Lucy Finch( now Skeaping ) came in and played violin. Denise Dufort replaced Susie Webb.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">JUDE</span></span><span style="padding-left: 53px;"></span><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">Linda Hall, what an amazing voice! And maybe only nineteen years old. And Lucy Finch was adorable. High maintenance posh girl, I liked her, she had lots of ideas. </span></span><span style="padding-left: 25px;"></span><span style="padding-left: 25px;"></span><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;"> </span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">What sort effect did being in the Sadista Sisters have on you?</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">BARBARA </span></span><span style="padding-left: 33px;"></span><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">Totally formative. I remember loving watching the scenes, fascinated by them and jumping in there like anything, even though I was very much the band, the backing band doing vocals.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">What I do remember when we got to Berlin, when I got over my initial fear of knowing the technically complicated cues, which changed sometimes in the middle for chorus, was the whole show was sophisticated.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">JUDE</span></span><span style="padding-left: 53px;"></span><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">At that particular time I felt surprisingly supported by those around me. I met a couple of young female journalists and one of them became a life-long friend, Gudrun Brug. Also Berlin was refreshingly different from London.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">BARBARA </span></span><span style="padding-left: 33px;"></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">The group was very big cheese there. We sold out for three weeks.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">JUDE</span></span><span style="padding-left: 53px;"></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">When we played in the Quartier Latin in Berlin, it was extraordinary for me to see how immensely popular we were. We were hugely in demand. And that the style of the band, where the lyrics and music was progressive and demanding was taken on board.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">Was there a connection for you, being Jewish and involved with political cabaret theatre in Berlin? Did it give you more consciousness of that too?</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">BARBARA</span></span><span class="s13" style="color: black; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;"> </span></span><span style="padding-left: 32px;"></span><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">No, the Jewish thing, that kicked in much later. When I got to Vienna, when I realised what an endangered species we are.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">I had spent my school life going to demos and anti-apartheid marches, and that continued into the Thatcher years, that was a given. But what I got from Sadistas? I felt comfortable being gay. It was a mixture and that felt comfortable.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">JUDE</span></span><span style="padding-left: 53px;"></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">I liked the non-conformity of the gay/straight/racial mix thing too. I was definitely the only straight in the village for a while.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">BARBARA </span></span><span style="padding-left: 33px;"></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">Berlin was good: We were stars in Berlin. I remember being amazed at how full the Quartier Latin was</span></span><span class="s14" style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">. </span></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">It was a huge stage compared to the Kings Head, we were spilt on two sides and the piano down on the floor and Jude walked all over the tables.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s8" style="color: black; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">This was our fourth trip to Berlin. We had a real cult following of women. Women lying on the stage and jumping up onstage. I remember constantly being invited to go to people’s houses.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s8" style="color: black; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">That theatre on the Potsdammerstrasse, has been recently, renovated and restored to its former glory as cabaret space, by Andre Heller.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s10" style="color: black; font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">Back in London I remember important gig in London Speakeasy where Sid Vicious got up to join us and plugged in the bass stack and fell over right into the drum kit. And there was a guy called Sean there from a band called Raped (then turned into Cuddly Toys) a bit like the New York Dolls -and Sean - I held his hand (after a riot, The mob who were fighting onstage. That was the gig when Sid showed I think.</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">JUDE</span></span><span style="padding-left: 53px;"></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">One way to earn an honest crust. Did we make a difference, d’you think?</span></span></div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="s2" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;">BARBARA</span></span><span style="padding-left: 2px;"></span><span class="s6" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="font-size: 1.5em;"> God I hope we did.</span></span></div>Sadista Sistershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341293389392367879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8490205803735723487.post-20303913742294196712011-04-21T11:40:00.000-07:002011-04-21T15:40:51.423-07:00Beginnings<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYHwqsr9spDTSWyCH-086_0SiPoNwD9ugYlPMc9_qd6KAVJXPVGkwSzWBRWq-Th5EDxw89Z0shGwuSUNM6KyKR-Xzqx89SAbriMo0zS3AxVLlClOuShhbgtO7qeca4vrSb6_wvKWv0EQ8/s1600/Cello+Sadistas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYHwqsr9spDTSWyCH-086_0SiPoNwD9ugYlPMc9_qd6KAVJXPVGkwSzWBRWq-Th5EDxw89Z0shGwuSUNM6KyKR-Xzqx89SAbriMo0zS3AxVLlClOuShhbgtO7qeca4vrSb6_wvKWv0EQ8/s400/Cello+Sadistas.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">(photo by </span><a href="http://www.davidsibleyphotography.co.uk/" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">David Sibley</a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">) </span></span></div><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Sadista Sisters</b> was originally formed as a direct response to the male-dominated establishment theatre of the early 1970’s. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We wanted to make it colourful and rock n roll, comic, political and funny. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The two founder members: <b>Jude Alderson</b> and <b>Teresa d’Abreu</b>.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This company aimed to explode myths about the female psyche and challenged the notion that women are there to serve as ciphers for male protagonists in theatre. This music/theatre company – eclectic, savage funny tender and populist exploited everything from performance art to punk – </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">and carried on in many incarnations for 14 years. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It was a marriage of many styles.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Teresa and I borrowed my Aunts damp cottage in Llangenith </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">and began to invent and write a show. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It was grandiose, and ambitious, a few months later we played the Hard Rock in Green park in a couple of glittery cat suits and kitchen utensils as props. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Within a year we had two other Sisters, a record deal, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">plus a show in the West End, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">followed by a season at <b>Ronnie Scott’s</b>, the year: <b>1975</b>. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">1981-1983</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We went to see Paul Raymond – I’d known his lawyer from my acrobatic days. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">He was interested in the show <b>’Red Door Without a Bolt</b>’ and Paul – </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">or Mr Raymond as we had to call him (although I think I refused!) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">who wanted ‘to go respectable’ planned to put us on in the <b>Boulevard Theatre</b> in Soho. The show had previously been on at the <b>Half Moon</b>, and the <b>Tricycle</b> and had been at the <b>Edinburgh Festival</b> and toured a bit. (Vienna, Germany etc). We had played in a theatre that had been in the heart of the <i>Reeperbahn</i> in Hamburg. But this kind of respectability was closer to home.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Raymond wanted us. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We sealed the deal with a toast: ‘Champagne for the Feminist’. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And consequently after the show I would regularly have champagne delivered to the dressing room. He paid us well. It was an uneasy marriage. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But as you entered his theatre you’d walk past rude, or crude or just plain sad photographs of women in a state of coy semi-undress. At the time I saw playing at this theatre a triumph. This odd creepy hugely successful man was paying us to make feminist rock n roll theatre.<span style="color: #993300;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #993300;"> </span>The songs and the show exposed and condemned that kind of exploitation, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">but we were housed in his building, with his rules. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">‘Champagne for the feminist? Who was I kidding?</span></span></div>Sadista Sistershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341293389392367879noreply@blogger.com2