Renee Geyer from The Big Night In with John Foreman in December 2005.
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00:00Oh look we did face the band when you were singing. I did. Why was that do you think?
00:04Because I was, I know you won't believe this, but I was shy when I was a young girl.
00:08I can't picture you as a shy person. I was very shy but then when they started
00:12clapping really loud I started turning around because I figured I'd get more
00:16claps when I turn around. But it was just that I just sang to the band and thought
00:22that the band was the only the only important people to listen to me sing.
00:25And I know that you've always had a very strong rapport with the band.
00:28Interesting that you describe yourself as shy because I read that in one of the
00:32very first reviews you had, I think which was from Roger Davies, he described you
00:36as a Greek goddess. Did he? He was sweet. Lovely wasn't it? But you read that
00:42and said that you thought that that was different to how you perceived yourself
00:45and I wonder whether people do perceive you differently to how you perceive yourself.
00:48Yeah I was really sort of nervous and I just used to stand still and not have
00:52shoes on and just stand really still and other than when I was singing and so
00:58you know people would be thinking I was like meditating the great solos but I
01:02was going mmm I'm gonna have some bacon and eggs for breakfast. No I would just
01:10stand very still and I'm tall so I guess I just gave an impression of a very
01:15statuesque, short of herself person but I was a little schnooky inside.
01:20It's funny you mentioned bacon and eggs and schnooky in the same sentence there
01:24which I think is, well yes you talk about your Jewish background and I was
01:28actually wondering you know in terms of the you know the soulful sound that you
01:33have do you think in any way that could be attributed to you? I think it comes from, I have
01:37people in my family who are cantors and rabbis and I'm sure it must come from
01:41that because we don't know why else. My parents are still figuring it out
01:45they don't, my father keeps looking at my mother wondering if she did something
01:50to somebody long ago. I don't know, we just don't know and we don't really want to know
01:56because it's been good for me and let's not put our finger on a thing that
02:02should be fingerless. I don't know. What are you talking about? I don't think anyone should ever put a
02:08finger on it something that should be fingerless. You talk too much John. What do you mean I talk too much?
02:11I've been schnooky. Now it's interesting though you talk about your parents there
02:14they've obviously been a very big influence on you and and in your book
02:18you talk about your mother's sort of childhood and her experience during the
02:22war. She went through the Holocaust and was in concentration camps and lost her
02:26parents. It's a big thing. What seems to me interesting that you wrote about that in
02:30your book is it seems that maybe that's a story that you feel you want to keep
02:35alive. I don't, it's not something that I, it's part of my life and part of my
02:40heritage and I don't think it should ever be forgotten but I don't think it
02:43should be rammed in people's faces but I think if you've been through it and
02:46you're a second-generation Holocaust survivor I think it should be it should
02:51be mentioned in your life story and then it should never be forgotten. Do you
02:55think there's a lesson in that for today? It should be but I don't think it's
02:58working. Look at Rwanda and look at Serbia and look at you know what's going
03:03on in Albania or you know I mean it just it keeps happening you know it's all
03:08religion-based and it's silly with the Muslim thing and the you know the Western
03:13world I mean it's just um nobody seems to have learned any lessons but we
03:17didn't come here to talk about such a difficult thing. Oh we can talk about whatever, okay
03:20let's talk about the egg lady of Penang. Oh my god John, even Andrew Denton
03:28didn't ask me about that. Oh we go places Andrew Denton wouldn't dare. The egg lady
03:33of Penang, you don't want to, what's the time, what time are we? It's late at night you could talk about
03:39whatever you like. Well look I have incredible respect for the egg lady of
03:44Penang. I was about 18 years old and I did a tour for the Australian Army bases
03:49all around Southeast Asia. When we got to Penang the soldiers said come on we're
03:56going out partying and we're gonna go see the egg lady and well she was a
04:04really lovely lady and quite matronly and everything but she did things with
04:08eggs and her nether regions. Yes. Like she would lay an egg. Right. But she would
04:15lay it when she wanted to lay it she would go cluck cluck and an egg would
04:20appear and so she had this incredible control of that area. Yes indeed. But I'm
04:26sure the men were quite thinking imagine if I was in there I'd be in trouble. Yes.
04:30The Heimlich remover, a maneuver. Yes. But she did amazing things and the thing
04:37was that it was for her a show because I think her daughter then took it over
04:42and then her granddaughter you know. It's family tradition. Family tradition and there was no you
04:46know sex involved and you know with people or anything. This was a show. She
04:51had an amazing piece of an instrument that did amazing things in her body. Yes.
04:57And she was quite upset when people didn't clap at the end of each trick you
05:02know. You know she would do all sorts of things and the ending of which would be
05:06she would have a paintbrush there and she would with a paintbrush paint the
05:09end on a piece of paper with her thing. Her Nunu. Yes. And I found it extraordinary and I
05:17thought and you know I just thought wow. Yes. And I'm. Quite a trick. And I was 18
05:23and then I started showbiz. Well that's a wonderful story. I don't quite know how
05:30to segue from that to our next artist. There's nothing you can do. Look later on in the show we are
05:34going to have a little bit of a jam. Are we really? Would you be prepared to stick
05:37around for that? Maybe. We're going to do an Ike and Tina Turner song. Really? Can I be Ike? Sure.
05:43Alright. As long as I can be Ike. I like Ike. Okay well that'll be great. Please thank Renee Gay. She's going to join us later in the show singing a song from her album and also joining us for the jam. But now as always from Mackers we have a fresh band of the week. They are a fantastic
06:02ensemble. They're called True Live. The song is called Minton's. Please welcome our fresh
06:05band of the week. True Live.