Re: Why deify Kate?

[halley!tzone!dwelch@cs.utexas.edu (Dan Welch)]

In article <2770002@hp-vcd.HP.COM> Dave Neff writes:
>In this newsgroup it seems that Kate is more than a mortal, she is a
>venerated deity.  People testify of "how they found Kate" as if she
>were some sort of religious conversion.  Some of her music ("The Dreaming"
>in particular) is the "Platonic" ideal/archetypical album of which
>all other albums are but shadows of this ultimate reality.
>
I can't speak for anyone else, but this is my point of view.

For me, a lot of her music (and an especially good example of this is
_The_Ninth_Wave_) is very moving.  Listening to it provokes emotions and
thoughts within me that NO other musician (classical or otherwise) does --
a very intense, highly personal reaction.  "The Morning Fog" makes me cry
when I hear it, with sadness or joy depending upon what I am thinking of
at the time.  You might say that, yes, it is a religious experience.

Is this so hard to believe?  The tone of your paragraph above seems to
scoff at those to whom her music means so much, when "in reality" a "real"
religious experience is more important.  (Personally, I scoff at people
who claim to have had a "real" religious experience, but that is beside
the point here.)  But what defines "religious"?  Technically, I suppose,
it would mean "anything relating to a set of beliefs concerning a single
or a group of supernatural beings."  But "religion" has come to mean
anything which changes your life, or affirms it, or is central to the
core of self that defines who you are.

In this sense, Kate's music is very much a religious experience, for me.
She has a unique ability to write music that transcends the normal
boundaries of note and sound; to the extent where I don't even consider
a lot of it to be "songs".  When I hear her, I don't just hear music --
I see visions, and when I close my eyes, the music takes form in my
mind, sometimes soothing, sometimes beautiful, sometimes frightening,
but always real, immediate, and personal.  I don't participate much in
the debates over the meanings of her songs, or how tall she is, or 
her life's history.  These things are unimportant.  Kate is not God,
but her music is.

>I do think Kate is talented.  Her creativity is in the same league as
>people like Peter Gabriel and Bryan Ferry (and a few others I could
>list).  But she is but a talented, mortal artist.  In fact, I would
>doubt that even her works will be "immortal" (unlike those of the
>classical masters).  I doubt that 200 years from now anyone will be
>listening to Kate or Peter Gabriel, or most of our current rock greats.

This may be true, but that does not lessen the validity of any of it.
Rock music, by its very nature, probably will not survive intact into
succeeding centuries.  It is music for, and by, the young; iconoclastic,
rebellious, potent, but limited.  In contrast, "classical" music survives
not due to its superior content, but because it does not speak to one
ever-changing group, but to everyone, and each person hears it in his own
way.

Of course, I think that Kate's music WILL survive, for that very reason.

>But I don't venerate or deify any of these artists or their works.

Well, I don't think that anyone REALLY thinks Kate is the Almighty (except
maybe IED :^) ).  But it's just a convenient way of referring to her, one
that leaves no doubt to anyone of our opinions concerning her.

>Is there something about Kate being a woman (and an attractive one at
>that) which adds to this tendancy of some (generally men may I add) who
>venerate her person and material?  I just don't get is ...

Actually, and again just for me, this is backwards.  It is because of Kate
that I began to hold female artists in general in much higher regard than
male ones.  I didn't even see a really clear picture of her until I was
already in love with _The_Whole_Story_.  I guess the first glimpse I had of
her true sensuality was the _Lionheart_ cover.

Kate does not rule my life, but she does form an important piece of it.
Without beauty, ugliness, and emotion, life would be pretty dull.  Her gift
lies in the fact that she portrays the world as it is -- no prettying up, no
cheesy happy endings, and yet, it always comes through as "this is good,
this is right".  The world isn't perfect, but who wants it to be?


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Daniel Welch						     |         |
Tandem Computers, Inc.					      \       /
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halley!tzone!dwelch@cs.utexas.edu				  |
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