KT ramblings

[IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU]

Mainly to Doug in re KT video trade: I haven't heard
from you about my explanation of my KT video collection.
I think it's possible I forgot to send it
to you after writing it. This computer stuff
is really messing me up. If interested in
complete list, let me know. An edited version of the message
follows this one, just in case. I have "The Big
Sky" Meteorological Mix in front of me --
haven't listened to it yet, but my whole week
has just been made. This record feels to me
like the cornerstone of the album -- eight
months after the release of "RUTH", we have
finally got the last track in its entirety. This
whole Kate Bush 12" business is a great new
aspect to her music, I think, since she doesn't
just leave the re-mix to some Jellybean or other,
but ammends and enriches the original herself, or
with Del. The only thing like it before Hounds of
Love was "Dreamtime", and of course that bit of
video-tape of Kate rehearsing to an instrumental of "Sat
In Your Lap". By the way, I've found four earlier
recordings of "My Lagan Love" and two of "The Handsome
Cabin Boy", of which one of the latter includes two
verses not used in Kate's recording. Have you been
doing any such collecting?Old message follows:

Dear Doug,    I appreciate your interest in
getting a copy of the video I just had transferred.
I have been collecting Kate video for the past
three years now (it took me four years before
I discovered other people even had any Kate video).
Regarding the digital transfer I referred to, the
word, which conjures up images of crystal clear
pictures, is highly misleading in this case. I long
ago gave up any hope of collecting good copies of
Kate video, since every copy I've ever been able
to get hold of has been at least third generation.
In this case, although I was told the transfer
was done digitally, two things lead me to disbelieve
this myself. First, the price ($48.00 for about
40 minutes) was suspiciously low for digital
service; and second, the picture is not at all
sharp and seems compressed in a way similar to
(although not as severe as in) Cinimascope film
when projected from a normal 35mm projector.
On the other hand, previous optical transfers of mine
have a flicker which this copy does not have, so who knows?
On top of this, the original signal was not top
quality at all. Now out of these 40 minutes Kate
herself only appears in about ten (unless you
want to count the official videos which I'm sure
you already have in a better version, especially
if you got a copy of the Night Flight interview
show on Kate, in which "Cloudbusting" and "Hounds
of Love" appeared in their entirety, or the "Friday
Night Videos" broadcast just mentioned in Love-Hounds
Digest.) These ten
or so minutes consist of a lip-synch of RUTH from
TOTP which is extremely similar to that done on
the Wogan show, which, as you know, was shown many
times on MTV last October; and a brief (about 3 or
4 minute) interview with Kate on Whistle Test.
The remaining time is filled up with chart listings
from (I assume) TOTP and The Sky Channel -- these
include nothing really new or of great interest to
serious Kate fans. Now, I would be willing to make
a transfer of this, or of a larger collection of
rare Kate video edited by me (excising official
videos where they appear, etc.) providing you were
willing to send me blank tape and money for postage.
But it's more complicated than that, I'm afraid, because
all my video is on Beta, and I do not own a VHS machine.
I could make a transfer of a tape to VHS for you, but
it would mean more money for the rental of the VHS machine.
The main reason I mentioned the video was in order to find
out whether you or anyone else in Love-Hounds had equally
rare Kate video to trade. Making some minor profit in dollars
out of this doesn't interest me. I have been trying to get
a copy of Kate's appearance on Saturday Superstore andher
performance of "Army Dreamers" on Australian TV, among other
things, for more than a year, but have met with no success
as of yet. Above all, I am interested in acquiring a copy
of the famous "Dutch videos" which were done, I think, in 1978
or so. There were at least 8 done, and I know that a copy exists
somewhere in North America (Dale Somerville must have a
copy, for example), but thus far I have not even seen an
excerpt from them. If you are still interested, please
let me know what Kate video you have in your collection, and
I'll copy out a list of my stuff, too. As for the Vermorel
book, of course I've got it! I've had Kate on the brain
since March 1978, when I first heard "Wuthering Heights"
on Italian radio. No item of Kate-related ephemera with
which I've come in contact since then has gone without
my making a stab at acquiring it. But at this point,
the printed word, especially in the form of now-out-of-date
press releases, interests me least, since I too have so
many xeroxes and ratty old clippings from NMEs and Liverpool
newspapers, etc., that I don't know how to keep anything
in order anymore. The rarest printed thing I have-- or
at any rate the most precious to me -- is a yellowed and
dog-eared copy of Harry Dougherty's June 1978 piece on
Kate from MM or NME or Sounds (forget offhand), which was
the first Kate-related item I ever bought (aside from
records). There are now very few Kate Bush artifacts
which I still covet. One thing the convention taught me
is that one can NEVER have a "complete" collection -- you
saw how many dozens and dozens of badges there were there,
for example. So, unless you have a copy of thetour programme
to spare (ha ha), or extra Canadian mini-albums in colors
other than green, or unneeded copies of the "leather jacket"
or "kimono" posters, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to do
much trading of merchandise, especially since I've never collected
duplicates of anything Kate-related except for records.
Thanks for the old Kate writings, which
I have now read avidly. I have translated a recent French
interview (actually the only one she gave, as far as I know)
which must have been given directly following her return from
North America in late November, and just preceding her appearance
at the Romford convention. I mean to transfer it to Love-Hounds
as soon as time permits. As usual the interviewer is a moron,but
also as usual, this doesn't prevent Kate from making it a good
interview (witness that lame-brain Tony Myatt in the convention
interview). Incidentally, Homeground #22, being a glossy production
now, has been picked up by the inter-continental magazine
distributors here, and a pile of them showed up in the import
stores. I've been told that there has been a recent issue
of Break-Through published, but I've not been notified by
Dale about it. Have you any information?  As far as I can tell,
Doug, you and I are the only hard-core fans of Kate contributing to
Love-Hounds. I mean, Butthole Surfers and Foetus On Your
Breath? I have nothing against these bands, not being familiar
with their music, but why so little feedback on Kate Bush?