Mailbag

[chris@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Kansas City)]

Chris here, just following up on a number of postings.


>From: Doug Alan <nessus@athena.mit.edu> 
>
>> [Chris'n'Vickie on the "Love and Anger" video:]
>> She is handed the:
>> CROWN JEWELS
>>     {Not all the crown jewels, just the Orb and Septre, but definitely the
>> British Crown Jewels, symbolic of her Britishness.} 
>
>No, no, no.  The Orb is a vaginal symbol and the Sceptre is a phallic
>symbol.  Notice that when she is relieved of these symbols of "male"
>and "female", she is suddenly freed in the video to act more openly.
>This is obviously an allusion to how we are all tragically trapped
>within the stereotypes of what men and women are supoposed to be.

 I hope this was intended as sarcasam. Our analysis of the video was done
on a point-by-point basis in order to avoid inductive conclusions. When 
hunting for symbols, start at the obvious. The sole reason for the existence    
of the British Crown Jewels (crown, orb and septre) is as a symbol of the
British Empire (or what's left of it). Oh sure, the crown functions as a
hat, though, (from the look on the Queen's face), not a very comfortable one.
And the septre may have some traditional function, such as being used by 
her Royal Highness to bop the leader of the Loyal Opposition upside the
head if he gets uppity. But for the most part, you don't need most of the
pieces of the largest diamond ever found to make a hat and a club. If you
do, you must be trying to tell people something. We believe Kate had 
something similar in mind, though she left out the crown to avoid looking
like a margarine commercial. More comments welcome, a thesis is worthless
unless sucessfully defended.

>nrc@cbnews.ATT.COM (neal.r.caldwell..ii) wrote:
>At about 2 AM Eastern time MTV played a Kate Bush "Rock Block" consisting
>of "Love and Anger" and "The Big Sky" videos.  Frantic efforts to get my VCR
>ready (at the end of the VH1 interview) in hopes that they would play something
>I hadn't seen or didn't have on video were fruitless since I have "The Whole
>Story" video. 
>[deleted]  
> was more than a little disappointed since I wasn't aware that a "Rock
>Block" consisted of a mere two videos.
>
>(Hey does anyone have Kate images in something besides Sun raster format?)

We caught this and were supprised that they only showed two videos ourselves.
In the past we've found the best time to catch rare Kate videos on Empty-Vee
is during the guest VJ spots. Nick Rhodes and Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran
played _Sat In Your Lap_ and others played her (I can't remember who without
plowing through hundreds of tapes). About raster files of Kate: I have a 
color scanner that produces Targa format files at 32 bits and I can convert
them to 16-bit greyscale TIFF and TGA or 24-bit TGA, if you can use those.
I'm searching the net for conversion utilities, so send me info on the
format you use.

sharon@asylum.SF.CA.US (Sharon Fisher) wrote:
>In article <8912270726.AA02627@world.std.com> chris@world.std.COM (Chris'n'Vicki
>> She is a truly nice person. It is always a pleasant surprise when you meet
>> someone you admire and find them friendly as well. I've been a big fan of
>> Todd Rundgren for 16 years and on the "30 second" times I've met him I haven't
>> gotten a civil word out of him yet. I still love his music and admire him.
>> Damm shame he's an arrogant jerk, it really is.
>
>Gee, I wouldn't say he's an arrogant jerk at all.  He's been perfectly
>civil, although admittedly not tremendously talkative, during the
>times that I've met him.  On the other hand, I've met him on a
>semi-professional basis and it was about his computer stuff, not his
>music, so that might have something to do with it.

Well, I've met him only under the circumstances I've mentioned, and I wish
I could meet him under different ones. After a show on the Acapella tour
I talked to a number of the singers and Chris Anderson (his soundman) about
records and things. Two of the singers, Kate fans, were looking for
the marble copy of _Hounds_. Todd came out and one of the singers tried
to introduce me. Todd muttered, and dived into the limo. Fans don't "need"
to talk to performers, but not talking seems to give the message that the
artist considers himself above the fan. Kate (and most of the other artists
I've met) didn't give that impression. Maybe I'll meet him at SIGGRAPH next
year.


xmjschm@mbcrrb.harvard.EDU (Mike Schmelzer) asked:

>Has anybody heard the version of Sinhead's _Jump_In_The_River_ which
>features, er, "vocals" by Karen Finley?

Karen Finley is an alledged "performance artist" whose "art" consists, for
the most part, of screaming obcenities and shoving yams up her rectum.
Kinda fun for about five minutes until you realize that there is no talent
involved. Not being closed minded here, though. We like lots of artists
as disturbing, but much more talented (Diamanda Galas, Meredith Monk, etc.)

About "Madonna" (far to many comments to quote). Try to seperate the artist
from his/her publicity. I find Madonna's public persona irritating, but I 
don't let that get in the way of the music. Madonna's job is to make pop
music, and to maintain a personia to aid in selling that music. She has
succeeded. Most of her stuff is well crafted at worst, and she at least
seems to have creative control, unlike Stock, Aiken, Waterman drones like
Kylie etc. Occasionaly Madonna turns out a truly great song/video. "Live
to Tell" is perfect at the end of the film "At Close Range" and the video
for "Oh Father" is very moving. No shit, watch it with the lights out and
forget you ever heard of Madonna. Often great music comes from people you
had written off long ago, usually in the form of the "contractual obligation
album", when the artist, having nothing to lose, can forget his/her previous
career. Shawn Cassidy's "Wasp" with a killer cover of "Rebel,Rebel" or 
Donavan's "Cosmic Wheels" with songs like "The Intergalactic Laxative."
One evening on Empty-Vee's "120 Minutes" there was a news piece about John
Lydon firing his band by mail, and we thought "what an asshole!" We talked
about him for a bit and then after "120" was over they played PIL's "Rise."
We we're floored by it and agreed that, while he was still a creep, he could
write at least one brilliant song.


P.S. Let's assume Madonna _can_ dance; prior to her singing career she
     earned a living doing just that.

                                          Chris of
                                             Chris'n'Vickie of
                                                 Kansas City
                                                    chris@world.std.com