Adventures In Rubber
Taexalia back in the day
This is a picture of me when I was around 16 years old and going through my Lost Boys gypsy phase. Those were the sexiest boots I had ever owned and I wore them until they could not be worn any more. I broke one of the heels and had it fixed three or four times - it was never the same after the first time but I wobbled on thinking I was *it*.
This was before the days of actual It Girls. It was also a wee while before the next incarnation of the sexy booted one who walked for a time in black velvet thigh boots. The black velvet thigh boots were usually coupled with a little black dress, and once or twice the dress was black rubber.
Thankfully (I think) I do not have a photograph of the rubber dress escapades - so this photo will have to do.
The rubber dress was given to me by the girlfriend of the guitar player of the band who had just recruited me to be one of their dancers. It fit perfectly after a talcum powder party followed by furniture polish and a duster. Yes - the band was entirely male and soon after the first performance I became the girlfriend of the bass player. I can't imagine what attracted him to me - but at least there was evidence he was good with cleaning products.
Looking back I do wonder how exactly a burgeoning feminist wound up wiggling about in rubber in the pubs and clubs of Aberdeen. (There were some who said I was the only reason they would come to watch the Ramjet Rubber Company, there were some who said even I did not make it bearable...)
I cannot honestly lay claim to the idea that I did not know about feminism or equality or misogyny or women knowing they are worth more than trading on their curves or whatever. I recall years earlier challenging the infamous Physics teacher Nugent when he would utter his world famous legends about women needing to remain behind the kitchen sink. I was 12. In fact I remember one day his head nearly exploded when I was the one who solved a challenge he set us that had come from a 5th year exam paper. Girls, you see, should not have brains.
But I digress... at some point the burgeoning feminist young woman stepped into a rubber dress and a pair of black thigh-high boots and worked (I did actually get paid on two occasions!) as a dancer titillating men, basically. Metaphorically speaking the boots were bright red you understand.
I think it was the attraction of *being a dancer* since I had to give up ballet training after a knee injury. Somehow my vivid imagination believed that shooglin in the Pelican Club to a cover version of Boys by Sabrina, whilst some bloke got carried away and sprayed beer over me, was going to catapult me to superstardom.
There is so much wrong with that paragraph it hurts!
Not least the fact that a bunch of aging male (ex)punks who had a massive knowledge of Good Music chose that song to cover. Honestly, I couldn't even remember the singer's name until a minute ago - but hooray for the internet because here she is!
In the aging punks' defense, I recall their version was "nae bad" - and in my defense I wore a helluva lot more than Sabrina did and most importantly I was a Much Better Dancer.
I was going to write about Celtic mermaids today, but I figure it's best to get this off my chest first - maybe no-one will notice.
![[del.icio.us]](http://taexalia.me/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Facebook]](http://taexalia.me/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Reddit]](http://taexalia.me/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://taexalia.me/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](http://taexalia.me/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Twitter]](http://taexalia.me/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
Tags: aberdeen, dancing, dodgy career moves, memories, music, red shoes
Posted on July 10, 2007 in Memories.
I Always Cry...
great pic! Were you wedging yourself between those two walls or were you sitting on something?
I think you danced for the band for the excitement of it. What girl wouldn’t? It had to be a lot of fun and gave you access to the world of music as it was at that time. The artist in you had to love that rubber dress.
I think you are right – I remember that I used to be terrified before I went on and beyond pure exhileration when I came off
I loved the dress and what amazes me is that the girl who wore that dress had so many negative thoughts about the way she looked!
In the pic I was sitting on a desk although it would be nice to think I could wedge myself like that!
You’ve got some guts, admitting that you took up with the base palyer. For me it was a drummer and I was way old enough to know better. Had a lot of fun, though.
hee hee well I was his girlfriend and lived with him for something like three years, so it’s not really a secret. He wasn’t really that great with cleaning products tho…
I can only do what Junior Misssy does when she thinks somebody looks good:
“Weeety Wooo-ooo!”
(I think she’s trying to wolf whistle…)