Am I Suspended In Gaffa? You betcha! :-)

[katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)]

Vickie here.
It was fantastic that Ed was here to hear my very first Chicago Suspended
In Gaffa show. It really just sort of fell in my lap. I had called a DJ
at the only true alternative station in Chicago (WZRD) to gently chide
him about the fact that I'd been listening for hours and hadn't heard one
female voice. I was very nice, I just said that I could really use a female
voice and would he please play something. He put on a Siouxsie album and
just let the entire thing play. My kind of station! I called back after
he'd gone and another DJ took his place. That DJ came on and said " That was
Siouxsie & the Banshees. I guess we got a call earlier, probably from a
female, someone who wanted to hear a female voice. One of those feminist
things I guess." As soon as he started up another song I called him to ask
1) why wanting to hear female voices would necessarily be a "feminist" thing.
2) why he would assume that it was a female who called to request it.
At first he was almost defensive until I got him to realize that I wasn't
one of those radical feminists ready to come down and torch the station. I
told him about my show in Kansas City and that I did it live, now I'm
taping and sending it down blahblahblah...and that most of my listeners
were male. When I told him my format he said that he'd been very influenced
by...Kate Bush! I said "You'll never guess what the name of my show is!"
I told him and he was delighted. He asked me to send him a tape. I asked
why and he said that he'd put it on the air. I asked how he had the
authority to say that and he re-introduced himself as the station manager!
OK by me, but didn't I have to be a student (of Northeastern University)?
Well, if I wanted to be on live, yes. But since the station is 100% free-form
(no CMJ charts for this cool station!) they could play anything they wanted
so if I were to bring a tape down....they'd play it! That was Saturday.
On Monday Ed came to town, Tuesday night I taped the show and after work on
Wednesday I took the tape to the station. Tony hadn't specified when he
wanted the tape so I didn't know how he'd take being handed a tape in person.
He was very happy to receive it and asked a woman who was going into the
studio what time she went on "7:00", "Would you mind playing this?" "What
is it?" "It's an hour-long tape of music featuring female vocals" "Yeah! I'd
be happy to!" Then he turned to me and said "How about Wednesdays at 7:00pm?"
Taking note of the "s" on the end of Wednesday, I asked "From now ON?" with
my eyes wide and my jaw to the floor. "Yeah"  YAY! It was about 20
minutes till 7 so I quickly called Chris to tell him to turn the radio
on and get a tape in the tape player. I guess Ed walked in the door just
before the show started so he was able to hear it as it aired. I left the
station to catch a bus but found that while on the bus reception was lousy
on my Walkman so when I got to my transfer point I sat at the bus stop and
listened to the show. I just HAD to hear the first one as it aired, knowing
that this was a completely new thing, that nothing like it had ever aired
on Chicago radio before! My Kate, I was so happy and proud! 
 
And that my friends, is the story. It fell into my lap with a phone call
requesting female vocals! Is this luck or what?
 



                       Suspended in Gaffa C1
                          (WZRD-Chicago)
                        Playlist for 8-29-90

  
* Artist *             * Album *                * Song *

Kate Bush              The Dreaming              Suspended In Gaffa
Jane Siberry           No Borders Here           Map of the World Pt. 1
Le Mystere...          Vol.1                     Svatba
The Cocteau Twins      Treasure                  Cicely
Anne Pigalle           Everything...             The 1000 Colours Waltz
Victoria Williams      Swing The Statue          Vieux Amis
Hetch Hetchy           Swollen                   Mango Weinie
Siouxsie & Banshees    Hyaena                    We Hunger
Aster Aweke            Aster                     Y'shebellu
Agnes Buen Garnas      Rosensfole                Innferd/Rosensfole
Sheila Chandra         Nada Brahma               Raqs
Happy Rhodes           Rhodes Vol. 1             Oh the Drears
Blackgirls             Procedure                 Moonflower
Bel Canto              White-Out Conditions      Capio/Agissiz


     -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

                       Suspended In Gaffa C2
                        Playlist for 9-5-90


West India Company    Music from New Demons      Alaap-Shankara
West India Company      "    "    "    "         My Shooting Star
Dead Can Dance        Spleen And Ideal           Mesmerism
Chaba Zahouania       Nights Without Sleeping    Goulou Limma
Caterwaul             Pin and Web                Barnacle
Edith Piaf            Very Best Of...            Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien   
A.C. Marias           One Of Our Girls...        To Sleep
Darnell~Andrea                              Aux Funestes Douleurs Automne...
Gothic Voices         Feather on the Breath of God    O Ecclesia
Marta Sebestyen       Muzsikas                   Vettetam Violet


     -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Quick notes on a few of the artists played:

Anne Pigalle-Everything Could Be So Perfect
 This album is from 1985. Bob Davis turned me onto this (on the same tape
with all of Happy Rhodes' "Ecto" and Diamanda Galas' "Wild Women With
Steak Knives") a couple of years ago. I only had 4 songs on tape until a
month ago, when I found the CD. I assume she's probably French because
her accent is very thick, though she could be from Quebec. She sings in
French and English and the music is intelligent pop. Interesting lyrics
and arrangements. I like every song on the album and a few of them are
absolutely brilliant. Good luck though, the CD I found is a Japanese
import. Does anyone know anything about her?

Gothic Voices-A Feather On The Breath Of God

This choral group perform the music of the Abbess Hildegard on Bingen.
She was a playwrite, poetess, naturalist, visionary and composer. She
was the first woman to have her music published. She died in 1178, I think.
I loaned out my CD the other day so I'm not sure. The booklet in the CD is
great and tells all about her life. She was a fascinating person and if
you get the chance, look for this CD and also a book called "The Visions
of Hildegard."

Chaba Zahouania-Nights Without Sleeping
She appeared on the album "Rai Rebels" and this album is more of the same.
I like this much better than Chaba Fadela's album, even though we saw 
Fadela in concert and had the most wonderful time. Rai music gets old very
quickly but some songs are so good that I'll never get tired of them. Most
of those songs are on Chaba Zahouania's album. Rai music is the "rebel"
music of Algeria and the lyrics are often quite frank about subjects such
as sex and alcohol. Not that I understand them--I'm quoting from the CD
booklet. Zahouania is the "mystery" woman of Rai. Her family refuse to let
her tour or even be photographed.

Edith Piaf-Very Best Of...
I won't believe that no one has ever heard of Edith but I haven't seen
her name mentioned on the net since we've been participating. French
street and cabaret music from the 40s and 50s. Edith has a rough, emotional
voice that will send chills up your spine. She was a big influence on Kate
Bush (along with Lotte Lenya and Billie Holiday) and was probably the most
beloved performer France has ever known. Edith was literally a child of the
streets (she was born in a doorway) and sang songs that directly spoke to
"the commoner". Many of her songs told stories too. She wasn't content to
always just sing love/lack of love songs but when she did those she poured
every ounce of her considerable passion into them. Since I can't understand
French I just listen to her voice as an instrument. A powerful one it is.
She died in 1963 and over 40,000 people attended her funeral.


All the other artists I played have been discussed before on the net. 

Doing this show is so much fun. The only drawback is that the station is
so very tiny. It's only 100 watts and it doesn't even broadcast in stereo!
Can you imagine how Jane's Map of the World Pt. 1 sounded? I don't like
thinking about it. But beggars can't be choosers and WZRD is very respected
for being one of the last truly alternative radio stations in the country.
A holdout from the days when money meant nothing except for the bare minimum
it took to stay on the air, when charts and preset playlists were considered
Commercial Crap and the DJs had free and complete reign to do, play and say
anything they wanted (within the FCC guidelines, of course) and I'm very
happy to be part of such a station. The area the signal covers includes a
goodly chunk of Chicago proper & Evanston and Dave Datta says he's able to
receive it up on the Wisconson border. That's not too shabby. 

Btw I am still taping a show and sending it to Kansas City every week. I've
been very lax about keeping up with my playlists, but it is still going on.
It's honestly not very much fun anymore because when I was live got so
spoiled! I could play music two hours straight without a break (except for
the ones the FCC requires, and to backannounce) and now I have to play by
different rules. Three songs-break/three songs-break. YUCK! I've cheated a
couple of times but I do have to be very careful. There are people at KKFI
who would LOVE to see me kicked off the air. They've been lobbying to have
my show yanked because it's not local. My friend Sue is keeping me on the
air by threatening to quit if I'm pulled. See, she does the second hour and
is only doing it because of me--for me, because she wants to see SIG con-
tinue. The people at the station like the format (no one else is doing it-
no one else wants to do it-no one else has the resources to do it) and they
know that if I go and Sue quits, they'll lose that format altogether. They
want to see me dropped and Sue do the entire two hours, not understanding
that Sue has absolutely no desire to take over the spot, she's only there
because she's my friend. She even does volunteer work for me! She's a truly
wonderful person and I don't know what I'd do without her.
Anyway, about the breaks--I just can't stand them being so close together.
There's no time to get into any kind of musical groove or continuity. It
feels just like being on commercial radio. DOUBLE YUCK!! I'm having to change
my whole style of programming and it's a very rough transition. 
On WZRD I can go for a half-hour or 45 minutes without saying a word and
it isn't a problem. I've begun putting 20-30 seconds of each song I play
onto audio tape and then when I backannounce after a long set I play the
tape and talk about the song/artist/album over the music, so listeners can
be reminded of what song I'm talking about. Suits me fine. 
Goals for the immediate future: A two hour spot! Taking classes (when we
can afford it) so I can go live. Getting the word out to people that the
show exists and building up a following for the format.

First-Kansas City KKFI 90.3fm...
then-Chicago WZRD 88.3fm...
next-Minneapolis KFAI 90.3 (that's up in the air but looks good!)
so who knows what will happen next? It's a very exciting time and I'll
keep interested parties informed of what's happening. My calling in life
has turned out to be to spread the "gospel" of the beauty of female voices.
(I just wish I were more articulate in print about what music sounds like
so I could do that on the net. I'm much better at saying "Here, listen to
this" than I am at saying "This music sounds like.....")
I may never make a cent at doing it and actually, I'd really rather not get
paid. Hearing someone say "What a great song" or, even better, "Thanks for
turning me onto that artist/group," is payment enough for me. That, and the
fact that I'm getting to hear and pass on to others some of the best music
around! 

And, I'm having a great time!!!!

Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)
katefans@world.std.com