the making of a Kate club

[n8344141@unicorn.wwu.edu (paul carpentier)]

Just thought I'd take a moment during this Katemas season to
introduce us Washingtonians.

I heard "Running Up that Hill" as a hit single.  My impression
was: "it's good, but it's probably as strange as she gets".  Upon
seeing the _Hounds of Love_ album cover, that impression didn't
change.

In early 1987, my former roommate and Love-Hound Zaphod Beeblebrox
told me he was getting into Kate Bush's music.  The second thing
of Kate's I heard was "Sat In Your Lap".  It scared me to think that
that garbage had found a record deal.  He told me that Dave Gilmour
had something to do with it (I am an avid Floyd fan).  I used to
hang out at his apartment, as did several other people, so we always
had to hear him play Kate ("Uggh", I must've thought).

On 25 Oct 87, I saw the Kate special on USA's Nightflight.  30
minutes of stuff I really didn't like very much.  Within half a
month, I couldn't get "Wuthering Heights" out of my head.  I woke
up one morning to myself saying "'Wuthering Heights' is the best
song ever written".

A few months and a lot of fanatacism later, I started, as a joke, the
Western Washington University Kate Bush Club.  I didn't know the
'KBC' name was already taken, and didn't change it because our
computer account name was KBC.  We were WWU's only music listening
club, and we had videos of all sorts of artists, songs from Sinead,
Jane Siberry, REM, and local bands, we went to Denny's all the time
and saw some shows (Sinead, Camper van Beethoven, Soul Asylum), had
an electronic newsletter, and mainly had a lot of people by the
end of the 87-88 school year.  Oh yeah, I forgot why they kept
coming--the club was not a front recording copyrighted materials 8)

We turned informal for a few months, after which another club member
reformed it (Spring 89) in time for the big Katemas party.  In this
incarnation, it wasn't the "Paul and 30 people he knows club", it
was and is an honest-to-goodness Kate Bush fan club.

Because we're at a university, only two of the original 6 founders
are still in town--three are at Microsoft!  But we're still in the
two-digit membership, and will be starting our fourth academic year
here pretty quickly.

Besides magnetic proselytism, our main accomplishments have been
two successful (last year's moreso) Katemas parties and a _TSW_
album release party.

Unfortunately, Bellingham is not the musical mainstay on the cutting
edge of art worshipping kind of place we'd like it to be.  Much of
our existence has been based around the use of computers (THANK YOU,
LOVE-HOUNDS!!!) and the consumption of Coca-Cola Classic.  No,
drinking Coke is not a requirement, it's just a carry over from the
old days--drinking Coke, playing Hack, and listening to the Ninth
Wave.

Please feel free to E-Mail me anything Kate-related for the club.
Also, in case of fire or other dire emergency 8)
our mailing address:

     Kate Bush Club
     Associated Students
     WWU - VU 202 - Box K9
     Bellingham, WA  98225

And anyone interested in dropping by is welcome to our meetings.
I think I'll even post details as they become available.


Paul M Carpentier
WWU-KBC Founder