IED's latest maunderings and launderings

[IED0DXM@OAC.UCLA.EDU]

L-Hs Mailbag:

~~~~~~ Thanks to |>oug for the info re Kate's EMI-Manhattan contract.
Sounds like no big deal, and IED guesses Kate's only consideration in
choosing the label for her future U.S. releases will be the extent to
which competing labels will seem willing to promote her. Let's hope
this scares EMI-Manhattan enough to improve over EMI-America's spotty
record in that area.

Now, about the following from |>oug:

> Now, on to a random question for KT fans.  Has anyone else noticed
> that the costumes worn in "The Dreaming" video are "still suits"
> from *Dune*?  This makes perfect sense, considering that the video
> and the song take place in the desert.  But I've never seen any
> interview with Kate where she ever mentioned *Dune*.  The video was
> made long before the movie, so she couldn't have gotten the idea
> from the movie.  Has anyone heard anything about Kate being a *Dune*
> fan?

     IED is relatively certain that you are under a misapprehension
concerning the "Dreaming" costumes, |>oug.  First, the "still-suits"
in _Dune_ (IED assumes this is the name of the Arrakis
body-liquid-conservation outfits) are similar but not at all
identical. There are a number of seams in the design of the _Dune_
costumes that are quite different, in particular the ribbing and
waist-cinching. Also, the colour and the material are completely
different. Furthermore, of course, _Dune_ was, as you noted, not yet a
figment in Di Laurentiis's or Lynch's mind in 1982, and it seems very
unlikely to IED that the costume designer of _Dune_ took his/her ideas
from Kate's video.

	[ IED, I was refering to the book *Dune*, not the movie.
	  Clearly Kate could not of gotten the idea from the movie,
	  since at the time, the existence of the movie was years in
	  the future!  If the she had gotten the idea from the book,
	  there would obviously be many differences in design between
	  Kate's still-suit and Di Laurentis's still-suit, since the
	  book does not describe them in that much detail.  -- |>oug ]

Finally, IED has already mentioned in Love-Hounds (possibly more than
once) that the costumes used in "The Dreaming" were actually
_identical_ to those used for scenes from Nicholas Roeg's 1976 film
_The Man Who Fell to Earth_.  Take a look and you'll see the very same
costumes in the scenes of the Bowie character's family, who are dying
of thirst on their doomed planet. Now it _is_ possible -- likely, even
-- that the designers for _Dune_ were aware of the costumes from _The
Man Who Fell to Earth_, especially since the function of both the
_MWFtE_ costumes and the _Dune_ costumes -- the conservation and
recycling of body fluids -- was the same in both.

	[ It is even more likely that the designer of the costume for
	  *The Man Who Fell to Earth* had read *Dune*, and based the
	  costume on what he had read.  -- |>oug ]

Lastly, _TMWFtE_ was filmed partly in England, and since we know that
Kate's budgets for her videos were small enough for her to have to
make frequent compromises (cf. the Canadian _NewMusic_ interview),
it's not at all unlikely that she would borrow from an earlier film's
wardrobe, especially that of a film by one of her longtime favourite
directors.

>     Memo to IED re 3rd Ball video - I'll let you know when I track
> down a copy.  The CD music version of the event actually only has
> one extra track compared to the vinyl and it is not one of Kate's
> contributions (Third World Party or somesuch if I remember).

Thanks very much for the info, Neil. Too bad about the CD. If you hear
anything about the contents of the video version, IED'd love to know.
Meanwhile, there is definitely a bootleg seven-inch single circulating
in the U.K. which features both a different (read cheapo, no doubt)
recording of the Third Ball live "RUTH" _and_, on the b-side, the live
"Let It Be" from the Third Ball shows, as well. Unfortunately, this
disk has not yet shown up in the U.S., so far as IED has heard.

Joan, IED sympathizes with your mixed feelings re muzaK Tapes. He once
heard a canned version of "Wuthering Heights", surprisingly way back
in late 1978. The corporation's swift reaction to the hits of the day
were impressive.

Jon, your ire over the Madonna comparison in _HG_ is very
understandable. As IED recalls, that article was by Dave Cross, one of
the original editors of _HG_. He's a very nice guy, but, like a great
many of the fans who contribute to both the _KBC Newsletter_ and to
_HG_, he's a bit too accepting and openminded for IED's taste.  There
seems to be a healthy proportion of spacey, namby-pamby KT fans in the
world...IED is reminded of _Breakthrough_'s unfortunate insistence on
publishing its co-editor's soppy (and formulaic) drawings of unicorns
in every issue -- a phenomenon which will surely recur in Robyn's new
fanzine, _Still Breathing_. What is one to do? In some respects, such
innocent, airheaded attitudes are praiseworthy, no?  At least they
avoid the harsh personal attacks to which Love-Hounds, in their
unswerving perseverence towards the identification and analysis of the
Truth About Kate, too frequently fall prey. But the treacle does get a
little hard to take sometimes...

Dave, if you're headed out west, L.A. stores of note include Aron's
and Bleecker Bob's on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, Rhino Records
on Westwood Blvd. in West Los Angeles, and Poo-Bah's Records in
Pasadena. Meanwhile, if you have time while you're out here, you're
welcome to give IED a ring at (213) 474-5208. Maybe you'd care to
spend an hour or two in a typical Kate fanatic's shrine...Then again,
maybe you wouldn't. Whatever you choose is fine.

-- Andrew Marvick