How I became a love hound

[pekowsky-larne@YALE.EDU (Larne Pekowsky)]

     Hi everyone!  I just thought I'd finally say hello, and wrote all
this by way of introduction.  I'm still a bit giddy over my 'discovery'
of Kate, so forgive me if I ramble...
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     It started a few weeks back, when a discussion of Kate and other music
popped up on the paganism mailing list.  Shortly after, the local record store
put a huge poster for "The Sensual World" in their window, and a local teenage-
runaway assistance center started using an excerpt from Kate's part of "Don't
Give Up" in their commercials.  (You pick up some email, you read a name,
you go out it turns up again and again...) I finally gave in, and on the
recommendation of many, picked up "Hounds of Love."

     When I finally had some free time, I popped it into the CD player.  "Hey,"
I thought to myself as RUTH started up "I know this song!  I didn't know this
was hers."  I had only heard it in passing five years ago, and never paid it a
lot of attention, but I had always liked it's slightly etheric quality.
"Nice," my thoughts continued, "but if this is typical I don't see what the
huge fuss is about.  Maybe her earlier stuff is more interesting."  I continued
to be not particularly impressed up until the end of the side, although I did
have video flashbacks of "Cloudbusting," which I had seen maybe once or twice,
and I remember being very taken by it's surreal quality.

     Of course, you all can probably guess what happened next, when The Ninth
Wave started up.  "And Dream of Sheep" had me thinking "Well, this is
different.  Much more interesting.  Could be some potential here after all."
And then "Under Ice" hit.  And hit is a good word for it.  It just cut _right_
through me.  It was well, indescribable, and I'm just as glad most of you have
experienced it yourselves and I don't need to describe it.  Needless to say
(but I'll say it anyway) I was profoundly affected by the rest of the side.

     As if that wasn't enough, that night I had a dream set to "Jig of Life."
This is the only time in my entire life I've had a dream set to music (and yes,
it was quite an interesting dream...)

     By the third time I heard the album, I loved all of it.  Generally,
my ultimate test for music is if I have a physical reaction to it, and at
various points during HOL I get goosebumps, get chills, my eyes moisten, the
whole bit.

     By that time I had discovered r.m.g, and what with all the discussion
on the versions of "Wuthering Heights" I figured my next purchase would be
whatever album contained it.  Again, words fail me - I loved almost all of it
almost immediately (this NEVER happens, I always have to hear something a few
times before I get really enthusiastic).

     Well, this was the point of no turning back.  I started FTPing all over
the place, getting pictures and what not.  I got a couple in sun raster format,
and spent the next two weeks of my spring break, putting off my research
completely, digging into the mysteries of GIF and trying to write a program to
do the conversion (I wasn't completely successful, and I gave up when I
realized it would be much easier to just write a sun raster viewer).  I would,
by the way, like to submit this as "Most work done by a new katefan in order to
satisfy his craving for katestuff," in case anyone's having a contest.

     Finally, I want to thank ll of you, without whom I might never have
discovered what I was missing.  Of course, as usual I come in late, when
the future of gaffa and love-hounds is in doubt.  Should it continue in 
some form or another, expect to see me around a fair bit in the future.  Thanks
again!

P.S  I recently started looking through the archives on gaffa.mit.edu, and
was quite amused to discover that my initial reaction to HOL pretty well 
paralleled everyone else's.

				Larne, no longer one of the 11,000 who read
                                       but don't post

pekowsky@yale.arpa
pekowsky@Yale-Sun3-Nebula
CIS: 73715.1552@compuserve.com