Convention experiences

[nbc%inf.rl.ac.uk@mitvma.mit.edu]

Here are my memories of the Convention.

I arrive about 1130 outside Le Palais and was suprised to see a very
long queue stretching down the street and had a moment's fear that there
was some problem inside. However, the queue moved fairly quickly and I
was inside by about 1150.

Once inside I was pleasantly surprised not to find a typical tatty British
theatre or concert hall but rather a fairly plush, comfortable night club/dance
hall type interior with foyer area, bars, seats, dance floor and stage. On
the stage were several monitors, TSW posters and drum kit. Behind the stage
was a large multi-screen video monitor (which turned out to be a bit of a
pain later on).

Moving inside I met up with Justin (who thought I was |>oug - though he later
changed his mind on our similarity - lucky for |>oug :-) ). We both set off
in search of other Lovehounds. On my first walk round I failed to spot them
but considering the number of people there (>1200) this was not surprising.
Then I bumped into someone with a lapel badge with Lovehounds written on it.
It was John Barger and he directed me to the area where Lovehounds were
congregating. There I found Andrew Marvick who was generously handing out
stick-on labels with people's name, the new KT symbol and Lovehounds on them.
These proved to be extremely useful during the day as a way of spotting the
names we have all seen in this forum and being able to put faces to them.
Phil Smyth was also decorating people with pieces of gaffa tape as an extra
means of identification. Thanks to Andy's name badges I was also able to meet
Andy Semple, Stephen Thomas, Colin Davidson, Ed Suranyi, Chris and Vickie,
Evan Walsh, Meredith Tarr, Larry Hernandez, Jeff Dalton, and Jem.
I was particularly pleased to see Jem not only because he was a new
convert to KT'ism but also because he had agreed to buy my individual
Kate CD's (at a very fair price - if I do say so myself!). I am sure
Jem will have many happy hours of listening ahead of him. I then managed to
spend most of this money on back issues of the KBC magazine and posters.
There was an area selling merchandise at the front of the hall - and when
you bought something you got it in a white plastic carrier bag with the
new KT symbol.

Having met all these people there was unfortunately few spare moments
to chat to them as Homeground and KBC had arranged a very full day.
Dave from Homeground introduced himself, Peter and Krys (and later Sharon)
from Homeground and Lisa from the KBC. The programme for the day
consisted of a number of live acts performing versions of some of Kate's
songs and sometimes their own songs, videos, spot prizes, a quiz, a raffle
and an auction. We were also told that Kate would appear and would stay
around for a reasonable time.

The live acts were a rock group; a girl called Kate Usher (almost the
right name!) who played keyboards and sang; a girl who sang unaccompanied
two of Kate's songs, a girl who sang to taped backing tracks; and
a group of 6 dancers (3 male, 3 female) who did a dance routine to "This
Woman's Work". Most were very good and much better than I had expected.
They all got a very good reception from the crowd.

The video presentation was split into three sections and was entitled
"This Woman's Work". It had been put together by the Homeground team
and presented in roughly chronological order videos of Kate's performances,
TV spots, interviews etc. This was really great though spoilt a bit by
the multi-screen monitor which broke up the image and meant that the
text subtitles giving the important dates in Kate's career, chart information
about her album and single releases etc. was almost impossible to read.
Nevertheless, it was a mammoth piece of work and was thoroughly enjoyed
by the whole audience. Unfortunately, it cannot be made available
commercially.

During the day there were spot prizes - numbers were drawn and people
whose entry ticket had this number won a prize - which was a signed poster,
or album usually. Actually, the person had to answer a question about Kate
before getting the prize but since the audience shouted out the answers
in most cases this was not too difficult. I don't think any Lovehounds
were lucky enough to win these.

For the quiz people had to form into teams of four. Somehow I must have
given the impression that I know quite a lot about Kate because I was
asked to join both a UK and US Lovehounds team. Despite my protestations
that I had a terrible memory for facts, Andy and Evan persuaded me to
join the UK team along with Colin (I think they may have regretted this later!)
Evan gave me a fright when he said we would have to go on stage to answer
questions but in the end Peter of Homeground read out 20 questions which the
team had to answer on paper and hand in for marking. IMHO the questions
were *hard* though my colleagues managed to get most of them. In the end
none of the Lovehounds teams one - it was a team called the rebel rockers
or something who all seemed to be girls which I thought was quite a nice
touch. Their prizes were personally signed copies of the LP box set. I saw
them with these afterwards and they looked great - naturally they were
thrilled with them. I have an awful feeling that I will eat my words about
the box set and end up getting the album set as well just for the larger
booklet!

Del Palmer appeared in the afternoon and helped auction two stage passes
and a photo pass. The former went for c. #80 and the latter for c. #60.
All the money from this, the raffle, ticket sales and the sale of merchandise
was going to the Terrence Higgins Trust (this was a popular choice with
the audience). Soon after, Paddy Bush came on stage to draw the winning
numbers in the raffle. First prize was one of Kate's suits she has worn
for TV appearances plus a photo of Kate that she would sign personally.
There were also some runners-up prizes and these included two preview
copies of the new Sensual World video (to be officially released this week).
The first number was called and an American voice yelled yea, then the second
number was called. Oh my God, it is mine! Somehow I make my way to the stage,
scramble on and in a daze press a ticket into Dave's hand. Paddy Bush
shakes my hand and hands me a copy of the video. Dave shoves a microphone
in front of me and I splutter Neil from Oxford. As I turn to walk off, Dave
announces "And here's Kate". There is a tremendous roar and Kate appears.
Only later do I find out that the other winner of a video was John Barger.
Two Lovehounds win - that's fantastic. And I'm on the same stage as Kate -
will I make it off without having a heart attack.

Kate sits on a sofa in front of stage as a thousand flash bulbs go off.
When the applause dies down she says how pleased she is to be there and
how great she thinks her fans are. She then answers questions that had
been selected from ones people had written down during the day. These
cover a wide range of topics which I think is best to leave for another
posting. As has alrady been said - the main points were the news about the
tour and work on the new album. While she was answering questions, Kate
was presented with some art work by a couple of fans, and then Andrew
Marvick took up a bunch of white roses and a card signed by all the
Lovehounds. These were presented to Kate by Dave from Homeground with
an announcement that they wer from Lovehounds. Kate said they were
lovely and clearly appreciated the gesture. Well done Andrew!
Then after asking for some silence for Gary and Al, Kate takes
a sheet of paper from her sock and sings a short song to us all.
There is then a surprise for Kate when she is presented with a platinum
disc for sales of "The Sensual World". Then all too quickly she leaves
to another tremendous ovation.

Still a bit shocked I wander over to the Lovehounds area and Vicky asks
whether my video was signed. I say no, so she tells me to go and get it
done. John and I go over to the stage and ask one of the helpers. He takes
them up to Kate and a few minutes later I have in my hands a video signed
with the words "To Neil with love Kate Bush". I was only just coming down
to Earth after the birth of my daughter nine weeks ago and now this! I
shall probably be in a permanent daze until the tour starts! Vicky also
got one of her flyers for SIG signed and was also thrilled.

After the show many of the Lovehounds arranged to go out for a meal.
As I was dependent on some fairly unreliable trains I sadly had to miss
out on the chance to talk to them all. Though in my numbed state I would
probably have rambled incoherently (so what's new). At the tube station Ryan
appeared with a signed copy of the HOL CD booklet. He had wandered
backstage and met Kate! As you can see some of us Lovehounds had a truely
incredible day! I really hope that everone will be able to get
to see one of the shows next year.

To sum up, the Convention really exceeded my expectations. Even without
the tremendous thrill of winning the signed video it would have been
a fantastic day. It is something I will always remember.
Neil

P.S. SHE REALLY IS.
--
Neil Calton                          UUCP:   ..!mcsun!ukc!rlinf!nbc
Informatics Department,              NSFNET: nbc%inf.rl.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory,      BITNET: nbc%inf.rl.ac.uk@ukacrl
Chilton, Didcot, Oxon,  OX11 0QX     JANET:     nbc@uk.ac.rl.inf
England                              Tel: (0235) 821900   ext 5740