Hard News: Rip It Up: A history of us, a history of me
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
It was usually Wun Loy, up on Hobson St, or the Mekong on Wellesley St, on the other side of the block the RIU building was in. Crucial part of deadline.
Usually dependent on how much cash from the Mail Order books came out of the PO Box at the end of the day - Duran Duran fans kept us fed!
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Usually dependent on how much cash from the Mail Order books came out of the PO Box at the end of the day – Duran Duran fans kept us fed!
Ha ha!
Which brings to mind the amazing letter from A Simon Le Bon Fan:
Angry Durannie
Your magazine is absolute crap. I will rip it up. don’t you worry! The only reason it’s free is because no one would buy it if it wasn’t. Talk about trash! Half of it is advertising and the rest is on useless Kiwi bands. New Zealand music is crap, except for Split Enz – the only good thing that ever came from NZ. The Mockers are absolute jerks and they couldn’t sing if they tried.
Now why can’t you print stories on Duran Duran or Big Country or even U2 9 Who the hell cares about Blam Blam Bloody Awful and friends? I want decent stories on decent music.
Speaking of decent, how do you get $9.50 for Duran Duran In Their Own Words ? It’s only worth $5.00. Where does the other $4 50 come from?
A Simon Le Bon Fan
There was quite the flood of indignant responses the following month.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Speaking of nostalgia.
and the above is the night after…
Check out that line up!
(if you click through the larger poster is vertical for ease of reading) -
Babs Baker, in reply to
Usually dependent on how much cash from the Mail Order books came out of the PO Box at the end of the day – Duran Duran fans kept us fed!
I remember Murray coming at me after mail runs to rattle the envelopes and see who’d sent cash instead of cheques. And I remember how sad I was a few times at Darby St to come in on a Monday and find you all there pretty much as I’d left you on Friday. You guys were troopers!
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If we are mentioning forthcoming events, Gareth Shute talks about his terrific Mapping Auckland's Historic Venues project on Wednesday at Auckland Library.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Great to hear from you Babs!
I remember Murray coming at me after mail runs to rattle the envelopes and see who’d sent cash instead of cheques.
Oh, now you mention it, so do I ...
And I remember how sad I was a few times at Darby St to come in on a Monday and find you all there pretty much as I’d left you on Friday. You guys were troopers!
Ian and Murray pulled longer shifts than me, but I don't really recall it as very onerous. Perhaps I've suppressed the memories ...
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Babs Baker, in reply to
Hi Russell, yeah, it was Murray and Ian I was mainly thinking of - in this digital age it's so weird to think back to how those poor guys had to manually lay out everything. But I know you did the hard yards too, writing all that great copy on a typewriter. My kids can't conceive what it's like not to be able to easily move text around at will. My stories of having to hand write university essays, then completely rewrite if you needed to insert a few sentences for length, add a new source or whatever, just sound like "10 miles in the snow" to them.
I don't get here as often as I'd like, but always enjoy it when I do. Loved your first RIU review - your talent was obvious! Wish I still had my first ever published review - of the Crocodiles playing Pakuranga College circa 1980.
Off to listen to that Kim Hill/Murray/Chris chat that someone kindly linked to.xx -
Russell Brown, in reply to
But I know you did the hard yards too, writing all that great copy on a typewriter.
The irony is that the first time we used a computer, it was a disaster, because our "expert" (aka Ngila's friend) somehow managed to delete the whole issue and I had to retype the next day, on deadline. That was quite a nightmare.
But yeah – I can't imagine writing without the ability to quickly and easily edit either. What a bizarre way to run things!
Off to listen to that Kim Hill/Murray/Chris chat that someone kindly linked to.xx
I got asked on Jesse Mulligan's show for a chat this week too :-)
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Sacha, in reply to
What a bizarre way to run things!
But the smell of gum!
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Alfie, in reply to
But the smell of gum!
Mmmmmm... cow gum.
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Sacha, in reply to
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Alfie, in reply to
I'm sure there's half a can stashed away somewhere in the back of my garage. I must be getting close because last week I found a box with dozens of Letraset sheets.
Knocking out headlines, one letter at a time.
And to round off the anachronism, they were stored inside a 15"x12" Agfa film box. It's making me feel very mid-century.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Stick It Up
Mmmmmm… cow gum.
I think it was mostly 'Bull Gum' in NZ
- here's a pic of my last remaining can- (kept with my waxers and Letraset in the "Just in case' box... where I still have a stack of blue-lined/gridded layout sheets and rolls of 'border tapes' of various weights and patterns.
Like you Alfie I covet those old sturdy film boxes, Letraset had some pretty neat storage boxes as well. There is one brand of modern printer paper that has something comparably robust - I really miss the large photographic paper and plate film boxes (A2 at least and bigger). -
I'm pretty sure my can is red & white, but that will remain a mystery for another day. While I know it's in a white shoe box with some BBC pens and other stuff, I just don't know its exact location. Getting old can be a bastard.
The Agfa box is getting a bit tacky, but hey... it's around 50 years old and still hasn't collapsed at the corners. Yet.
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Jeez... I didn't know I had so much of this stuff.
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What surprises me most is the smallest fonts. Sheet 190 is small but 194 looks like 8pt at best. I must have had eyes like an eagle to use this.
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Sacha, in reply to
and the steadiest of hands
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Sacha, in reply to
waxers
another nostalgic smell
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My Letraset days fell victim to technology when I moved to London in the early 80s. With my trusty Amstrad PC1512 (the upmarket one with twin 5.25" floppy discs) I could create a text file with a few embedded codes, save that to a floppy, post the disc to a typesetter in Sussex and within a week or ten days I'd have a crisp bromide to paste up.
Sure it was slow and any mistakes added another week to the process, but jeez it felt cutting edge after years of Letrasetting.
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Hilary Stace, in reply to
That Letraset brings back memories of doing layout for our rebellious Secondary School Students' Association newsletter calling for student democracy in high schools, the end of corporal punishment and uniforms, and marches on Parliament. Catherine Delahunty was our feerless teenage leader. My friend's father had a stationery importing business which was handy. Yesterday's student strikes reminded me of those days - the technology has certainly advanced but I recognise the energy and the urgency.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Secondary School Students’ Association
I remember those halcyon days, I was part of the Christchurch Secondary School Students’ Association (and Resistance Bookshop) - I think there was a national conference in the same year as the first Ngaruawahia Music Festival ('73), as I went to both in one trip.
But damned if i can recall if the conference was in Auckland or Wellington or inbetween - old neurons. -
Hilary Stace, in reply to
That was after my time, and there were some smart young students involved by then., including I think Simon Wilson? Time for a history of the SSSA.
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