The Tour

[nbc@informatics.rutherford.ac.uk]

>From: richard%EPISTEMI.ED.AC.UK@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Richard Cooper)
>Subject:      Re: Sun raster files...  in Britain?
>> That was me, for one.  The image of Kate that is on the cover of TWS can
>> be retrieved via anonymous ftp from umn-cs.cs.umn.edu (128.101.224.1)
>> in the directory pub/kb.
>Are these available from `the other side' of the Atlantic (in Britain/Europe)?

I believe I am right in saying that DARPA ftp and UK ftp are incompatible
and that UK Lovehounds cannot get these files unless soemone mails them.


>From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
>Subject: Kate Tour issues considered
>     It's about time we considered what we're going to do about a
>Kate Bush tour.
>     it might just be worthwhile going to England
>to see the shows. (Which is not to imply that England isn't worth going
>to without a KT tour, of course.)

    Indeed, of course!! 

>    IED knows there are at least a
>few rather extreme North American KT fans who would go to England
>for a tour even if Kate did intend to bring it to the U.S. later.
>So this means it might be seriously worth our while chartering a
>plane to London for U.S. and Canadian Kate fans.

	I am tempted to suggest that if Kate tours again then there
will be plenty of flying pigs around for everyone to hitch a lift on 8-)

>     The other issue concerns getting tickets for the concert(s).
>Being stuck here in the U.S., we are not in a great position to
>buy a block of tickets for London (or other UK-city) concert-tickets
>before they sell out. It's quite possible that most or all of Kate's
>concerts could sell out within a matter of a couple of days, and
>if that happened, North American fans would be out of luck. Two
>possible solutions suggest themselves: first, we could solicit the
>good will and stamina of one or more UK-based Love-Hounds, asking
>that they buy a block of tickets for us; 

I am sure there would be UK Love-Hounds (like myself) willing to assist 
their less privileged US cousins to obtain tickets. The only problem
(as always) is a financial one. UK Love-hounds are likely to permanently
short of filthy lucre and might be wary of forking out for 50 or 60
tickets with the possibility that some of the intended purchasers might 
drop out. Since IED is probably correct in his premise that the
tour would sell out very quickly there would
not be time for the US fans to send their dollars to the purchaser in
advance. However, it is possible that the tour may be announced a short while
before the venues have printed the tickets, which might be sufficient
interval to send some money to a UK Love-Hound. This assumes that people
in the US are willing to send money to strangers (and they don't come much
stranger than us folks over here!).

However, I would have thought that since the tour is bound to be in large
venues, that all the box offices would take major credit cards so that if
the box office numbers were posted to Lovehounds by sharp-eyed UK members
then overseas fans could just telephone and make a booking.

>second, we could try to
>make deposits for a block with the theatres themselves, by dealing
>with them directly, well in advance of any ticket-sales announcements.
>If we try the latter alternative, now might already be a good time
>to open communications with the theatres. Perhaps we could secure
>a limited number of tickets to a concert or two some time before they
>officially go on sale, by explaining our situation and paying a
>substantial deposit.

I would think there is very little chance of this scheme working. British
theatres have enough trouble just selling tickets for concerts they know
about without trying to cope with things that may or may not transpire.
Take it from me that UK venues will not have the staff or technology to
cope with this kind of idea. Besides, which theatres would you contact?
Sorry, this (IMHO) is a non-starter. If you really want to have a fund of
money ready to grab tickets quickly then it would be better to have an
acount in (or accessible from) a British bank that someone in the UK
can also access in order to buy the tickets. Of course, you leave yourselves
open to getting ripped off or dramatic currency fluctuations etc. and there
is still the question of how much tickets are likely to be.

If a tour begins to look a possibility then US Lovehounds should start
thinking about whether they want to rely on credit card bookings, or to
send money to a UK fan, or to set up a joint fund ready to be accessed by
someone in the UK (who will then have a wonderful holiday in Rio - oops,
what a giveaway!).

Whatever, assuming I am still on the Net I will offer whatever help I can.
And with other UK Love-Hounds scattered across the country we should be able
to cover most of the likely venues.

Be seeing you (on the tour)
    Neil