Mailbag

[Andrew B Marvick <abm4@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu>]

   IED is gratified although a little unnerved as well to discover
that his mere presence in this group is enough to attract the
admirable (but alas fickle) Dave Hsu back to our midst. IED hopes Dave
will see that it is not IED's participation here that counts, but the
timeliness with which information about Kate--such as the news about a
London convention November 17--is made available.
   Neil Calton, our much appreciated Senior British KorrespondenT,
asks about the Babooshka demos which show up on the _If_You_Could_See_
_Me_Fly_ CD bootleg. No-one that IED has heard from knows anything for
certain about these tracks, Neil; but IED did hear (he forgets where,
now) once that about six or seven years ago Kate made a guest
appearance on a unique BBC radio programme in which some recording
artist each week came on to explain the genesis of one or more of
their better known recordings. I was told that Kate had been on and
played excerpts from demos of _Babooshka_ and _Sat_In_Your_Lap_ (not
necessarily on the same day). This would jibe well with the
incompleteness of the excerpts as they have come down to us on
bootlegs--if Kate only played part of each demo, the boot versions
would have to fade out early, as they do.  IED has more doubts about
the existence of a similar show featuring _Sat_In_Your_Lap_. It seems
more likely that someone simply mixed up the story of that song's
early incarnation as a demo; or that someone had in mind that bit of
soundtrack from the _Looking_Good,_ Feeling_Fit_ television programme,
which included the rhythm-track from _SIYL_, without instrumentation,
as accompaniment for Kate's dance rehearsal.
   
-- Andrew "WE'RE GOING TO THE KATE BUSH kONVENtION!" Marvick
   P.S.: Another praKTice quiz question (difficult): Name at
least thirteen images of flight associated with Kate.
   (birdsong in _Deeper_Understanding_ and _And_Dream_of_Sheep..._,
_Ne_T'enfuis_pas_; _Night_of_the_Swallow_; _Kite_; Harry the
Dragonfly; Kate's dove earrings; Kate as bat (back of _Never_For_
_Ever_); Kate as swan (_Delius_ video); references to "rolling
over on the great big cloud" and to Superman, the Wright brothers,
and astronauts in _The_Big_Sky_ (song and video); space travel
in _Hello_Earth_ and _Keeping_Me_Waiting_; rocket-flight in _Rocket's_
_Tail_; etc.)