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Really-From: Stephen Thomas <spt1@ukc.ac.uk>

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From: spt1@ukc.ac.uk (Stephen Thomas)
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Subject: The Convention - A Report
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Date: 18 Nov 90 14:13:21 GMT
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Yesterday, I had one of the most special days of my life, as
did some 1200 other people.  I refer, of course, to the
KBC/Homeground 1990 Kate Bush Convention at Le Palais in
London, and I would like to tell you all about it.  Doubtless,
there will be things I shall miss, but other Love-Hounds will
be able to fill in the gaps.

Myself and a couple of friends, Claire and Liam, drove from
Canterbury into London, arriving after a fairly uneventful
journey at about 10:30.  Parking the car and finding Le Palais
took another 20 minutes or so.  At Le Palais there was a long
queue, all of whom were very obviously other Katefans.  At
about 11:20 we got in.

Le Palais itself is a rather swish nightclub - you could tell
this by the fact that the place was very dark, with occasional
islands of neon light.  The exception to the gloom was the
stage area to the front of the dancefloor, which was very
brightly lit.  This was set up for some live music (hopes
raised!!!) whilst hanging above and behind the stage was
a multi-screen bank of TV's, on which were shown videos and
stuff.  All around the stage were large, recent pictures of
Kate - the TSW cover photo, and the Sand Through The Fingers
photo.  Kate's music was blaring, and I do mean blaring, through
the house PA system.  I actually did not like the volume it
was being played at all - it seemed loud enough to make my
skin hurt!  Ho hum.

Whilst people were still arriving, I searched for and managed
to find the other Love-Hounds.  At last, I have met Andrew
Marvick, Ed Suryani (sp?), Vickie'n'Chris, Meredith Tarr,
Niel Calton, Phil Smyth, and others.  Andrew had brought a
bunch of white roses and Phil was going round with a card
which we could sign.  The intent was to give the card and
the flowers to Kate when she came on stage.  Andrew also had
these rather natty stick-on badges with the KT-fem. symbol (we
are going to have to think of a better name for that!) and
"Love-Hounds" on it.  Andrew had also gone to the trouble of
putting our names on the stickers, one for each person on
V'n'C's list, I presume.  Andrew, that was very nice and I
thank you for it.  I really did not expect that.

Anyway, when everyone was inside, David from Homeground, who
was the MC for the day, got onto the stage and welcomed
everyone to the Convention.  Also on the stage were Peter and
Krys (also from Homeground) and Lisa from KBC.  David gave
us a run-down on what was going to be happening during the
day.  There was going to be live music and performances from
fans (ah!), the showing of a special video presentation called
"This Woman's Work", which was made by Homeground and was
a chronological compilation of rare and not-so-rare performances,
interviews, etc.  There was going to be a raffle, the prize
for which was one of Kate's suits, with a photograph of Kate
wearing the suit, which would be signed by Kate to the winner.
The proceeds of the raffle, of the entire day in fact, would
go to the Terrence Higgins Trust, which is Kate's favourite
charity.  There was going to be the quiz, and spot-prizes all
through the day.  Then, towards the end, Kate herself would come
on and answer questions from the audience!  In order to stop that
from becoming a farce, what we did was write our questions (with
our names) on a piece of paper throughout the day, and then
Kate would select a few to answer before she came on.  More
on this later.

The live performances were very good on the whole, and were very
professional.  The video was shown in three parts and was
impressive and fascinating.  At the end was a video-montage
made for "Reaching Out" by Homeground which was actually very
well done.

There were two surprises.  Del Palmer was introduced without
warning, and he auctioned his stage passes for The Tour Of Life
(which went for 90 pounds, as I recall) and his photo-pass for
one of the German performances, which went for about 60 pounds,
I think.  He also spoke a few words about Al Murphy and Gary
Hurst, saying that they were very difficult to replace and they
were much missed.  For the raffle, Paddy Bush appeared to pick the
winning ticket.

Unfortunately, none of the Love-Hounds teams won the quiz, but
I would like to congratulate the winners (whose team name I
cannot remember, I'm sorry!).  Their prize was very special;
each of them received an album Boxed Set, individually signed
to each member.  I saw them after they had collected their
prizes, and they were obviously very moved by meeting Kate.

Then, when the video was finished, all the live acts were over,
the spot-prizes done, David introduced Kate onto the stage
with the simple words "and here's Kate!" and no other warning
at all.  A short setee was quickly rushed to the front of
the stage and Kate appeared from backstage and made herself
comfortable.  She was wearing all-grey tracksuit affair and
looked really casual - not glamourous or pop-starish, just
herself.

Of course, people rushed to the front, but David asked people
to sit down and be sensible about it, and people were.  For the
following hour or so she answered some of the questions people
had submitted throughout the day.  What she did was very nice;
she had the pieces of paper with her, but she just read out
the person's name and they would ask the question themselves.
David and especially Lisa did a sterling job of running
around and getting microphones to people.

I cannot remember all of the questions that were asked, and
I cannot remember the exact words that Kate answered with,
but I can remember some of them.  They ranged from questions
about her work, about her home and about her attitude towards
her fans.

She was very moved by one question.  Someone asked, "How do you
feel knowing that no matter what you do we will all love and
support you?"  Of course, there was a huge spontaneous cheer
at this point, before she could answer, and I think she was
overwhelmed and humbled by this.  She tried to make light of it -
"Don't, missus. You've got me all of a-fluster!" - but I think
one of the things she said in answer to the question was that
she didn't feel she deserved such devotion.  I think opinions
may differ on this!

Another question was, "What are you like when you go shopping,
or don't you?"  This caused a large laugh from the fans, and
Del, who was standing at the back of the stage, was making
"It's *me* who does the shopping!" gestures, and when the
fans had quietened down he was heard to say "Tell the truth!".
As it turns out, Kate *hates* supermarkets - in her words,
"They really freak me out."  She was rather comforted to find
it wasn't just her, though.  Apparently, she has a friend who
is just like that, who collects a large basket of shopping
before it gets too much and they run out, leaving it behind!

Another funny anecote came when someone asked if she had played
two pubs when she was going round with the KT Bush Band.
On a certain number she used to dance slowly off the stage
and through the audience.  One time, though she was doing this
and met a friend, who said "Hello Kate!", and Kate responded
with, "Oh, hello!" and they stood nattering until Kate realised
that she had go back on stage soon, so she danced back to the
stage!

Two questions were about her acting.  She was asked how she
had found working with the Comic Strip.  She responded that
she enjoyed it immensely, but missed having total control.
She was asked to comment on the rumour that she had been asked
to play Cathy Earnshaw in a remake of Wuthering Heights.  She
said that she had heard it - as a rumour, nothing more - she
knew as much as we did.  She asked us (!) whether we thought it
would be a good idea and 1200 people shouted "YES!!"
very loudly.  "Oh!  Do you really think so?", she said, taken
aback.  "YES!!!!" came the response.  "Oh, I shall seriously
consider it then, if I'm asked!"

These questions really sum up how Kate was at the Convention.
It was not a pop-star talking at adoring fans, rather it Kate
Bush meeting her friends and having a chat with them.  Her
personality was totally unaffected and very endearing.  Now
when people say "she really is", I know what they mean.

Now, there was one question that when she came to it, she said
"I'll save this till the end".  Well, the end came and she
got that person to ask their question.  The question was
something about her attitude towards touring, and she had
saved it until the end because she had a major announcement
to make.

KATE INTENDS TO TOUR AT THE END OF NEXT YEAR!!!

Well, let me qualify that.  She said that if things go as planned,
she will be putting on a few shows towards the end of next
year, although they would probably be announced in January,
but she wanted us to be the first to know!  That made us all
feel very special, of course.  Thanks Kate!  Obviously,
there will be more details from "official" sources later.

After the questions had all be done, Kate asked for a few minutes
silence while we considered the memory of Al Murphy and Gary
Hurst, to whom the day was dedicated.  As we were all quiet,
she quickly took a piece of paper which she had stuffed into
the top of one of her socks, and sang!  It wasn't very
long, but she had put some new lyrics to "My Lagan Love",
which thanked us for coming and how special we all were to
her.  This was very moving.

Then she said thanks to everyone who had arranged the day - David,
Krys, Peter, Lisa and everyone else.  We thought it would be over
then, but it wasn't.  Steve Davies of EMI presented her with
a Platinum Disc for The Sensual World, which everyone was
very pleased about, not the least being Kate.

And that was the day!  Kate was, of course, lovely, but I also
treasure the day because I got chance to meet some of the other
Love-Hounds I have read so much of.  I would like to thank
Andrew, Vickie'n'Chris, Meredith, Ed, Niel, Phil and anyone
else who was there for helping make the day a treasured one.

I would like to thank the Homeground team - Peter, Krys, David
and Sharon - and Lisa of the KBC for putting in so much effort
to make the day work, and work it did!

I want to thank the people who performed live for us, and all
those who ran around on the day organising the raffle and selling
merchandise.

And of course, I want to thank Paddy, Del and Kate for being there.

Stephen
-- 
| "You've been having a nightmare.  | Stephen Thomas -------------------------|
|  And it's not over yet."          | Email: spt1@ukc.ac.uk; Smail: Computing |
|   -- Roger Waters, "The Pros and  | Lab, University of Kent, CT2 7NZ, UK;   |
|      Cons of Hitchhiking"         | Tel: +44 (0)227 764000 x 3824           |