Magic

[gatech!chinet.chi.il.us!katefans@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Chris Williams)]

Vickie here. Chris has been out of town on business so we're (as usual)
far behind on posting.

This is likely to be long. I wanted to talk about the indescribable,
very hard-to-define thing I call "Musical magic" and, though this
post isn't just about Happy Rhodes, she is mentioned throughout.
I hope you people who've given up reading Happy posts give this a
scan, because there are thoughts that you should be able to identify
with and might be able to express in a more articulate way, should
this start a thread going.

Richard wrote:

> Vickie doesn't hedge one bit on her statement that Happy is NOT
> just another singer and that she has the same sort of *spirit*
  (Richard mistakenly wrote "style")
> and magic as Kate Bush. 
> "Generally" and "many" don't have anything to do with Happy, they 
> are applied to Katefans.  What she hedges on is her audience's
> ability to feel this magic, not it's existence.  To me it sounds 
> like she's saying that it IS there but not everybody is open enough
> to perceive it. 
> If this was not her intent then I was mistaken and I apologize. 

No need to apologize Richard. People are arguing about what I *really* 
meant and I was going to ignore it, just letting my words stand as written,
but I want to explain my intent a bit more. I have a double whammy of 
being off the net and not able to answer things immediately and also of
not being very articulate when I do get around to replying. I'll try to
be a bit clearer this time, though no guarantees. 

Trying to define "magic" and "spirit" would make a fascinating thread.
Obviously I'm not talking about rope tricks and ghosts here. What *IS*
it about Kate that elevates her to Goddess status among us? I know that
not everybody reading gaffa is a die-hard Kate fan, but I think that
most of us *would* list her as our favorite artist, we *would* say that
she possesses a certain something that make her so special to us.
If someone asked me "why is Kate your favorite artist?" I'd be able to
give all kinds of reasons off the top of my head. Great voice, brilliant
music, amazing lyrics, intelligent, interesting, innovative, independent,
nice person. Beyond those things, there's something else that's so very
hard to put into words. After all, you often hear people say things like
"I really like Kate but I'm not as big a fan as you all" or "I admire her
but there are other artists I like better" - along those lines. What *IS*
that "special something" that we feel? It's "magic" and I don't have a 
better word for it nor do I know how to define it but I do know it's there.
Sometimes people feel it right away (I felt it 30 seconds into my first
listen of "Wuthering Heights") and sometimes it takes months or even years.
I thought the "How I got into Kate" thread was fascinating because people
went beyond just the first contact and described when "the magic" actually
hit them. Even though we didn't use those words, "got into" means feeling
the magic and it was very clear that's what the thread was really about.
I love hearing that kind of stuff.

Keep this in mind if you intend to read further, just so you know where
I stand and what I believe. It worries me that some people, new readers
especially, might think that I'm a non or casual Katefan barging into the
group trying to convince them that Happy is "just as good as" Kate:

Kate *IS*! She really *IS*! Her magic is the Strongest and the Best. I've
been a Katefan for 10 years and she'll always be my ultimate favorite.

But...

To a lesser extent other artists can have a magic too. I may not feel it but
if other people do then it's there. If I feel it from someone but other
people don't, it's still there. Examples:

If I play Kate for someone and they just shrug their shoulders and say 
"I don't get it" then I would know that not only do they not "get it," 
they don't "feel it" either. The magic's still there though.

There are a lot of die-hard Joni Mitchell fans and some of them have 
wondered in the past why I'm not interested in her. They feel her magic.
I don't. I honestly respect and admire JM but her music and voice don't
interest me at all. Her lyrics *do* interest me, but I really doubt
that I'll ever become a fan. It's possible, but doubtful. However, just
because I don't feel her magic doesn't mean that I should say that it
doesn't exist.

I knew about Jane Siberry for many months before her magic captured
me. Chris felt it the first time he heard her. It would be wrong for
me to say that it didn't exist at all until I was ready to open myself
to it and it revealed itself to me.

>  What she hedges on is her audience's ability to feel this magic,
>  not it's existence.  To me it sounds like she's saying that it IS 
>  there but not everybody is open enough to perceive it.

That's exactly what I'm saying. I feel the magic of Happy Rhodes. So do
other people. Just because someone else might not doesn't mean that its
not there. Unfortunately, what I said makes it sound as if I would
ridicule or denegrate anyone who doesn't feel the magic. If I ever gave
anyone that impression I am so truly sorry. I *honestly* don't mean to
project a "holier-than-thou" attitude, as Ken put it. I certainly wouldn't
think less of anybody if they didn't feel the magic I feel. Why certain
artists are special to people is a very individual thing. It takes the right
person at the right time in the right place in the right mood hearing the
right song for the magic of any great artist to reveal itself. 
I understand that.

Even if magic is felt it might not "take hold" (I don't know how else to 
put it) and stay with a person. For example, I know that Mozart's music 
has magic. I felt it when I saw _Amadeus_ and for a few months I became a
Mozart fanatic. I still love the music but I just lost interest in keeping
up. Yet I know there are people who devote their entire lives to Mozart's
life and works. Obviously the magic has taken hold in a major way! The
other day I had an overpowering urge to listen to XTC. For some reason
the song "Dear God" popped into my head and wouldn't go away.
I went to my CD shelf and realized I only had *one* XTC CD, _Skylarking_.
We do have more on LP but I was kind of shocked. XTC has magic. I know it
and I feel it. But it's never hit me strong enough to go buy all the CDs.
Even when someone knows about or even feels the magic of an artist (or group)
there are varying degrees of intensity that it affects them.

This is all very "Doug's red chairish" but I really don't care about 
Doug's red chair. Said chair does not reveal its magic to me and has
no meaning or impact in my life.

I do care about Kate and Jane and Happy. I do feel their magic. These
artists are very important to me. Kate *most* especially, because being a
fan of her music changed my entire life. Honestly and without an ounce
of exaggeration, I would not be who I am or where I am if I had never
heard her music. Feeling her magic has affected my entire existence.

If I'd never heard Kate I would still be shy and withdrawn and lonely and
depressed. I would never have met Chris. I wouldn't have gotten interested
in female voices. I would never have gotten my radio shows. I wouldn't have
the music collection I have now. I would never have moved to Chicago. I 
would never have heard of Love-Hounds. I wouldn't be sitting here typing
this :-) On & on & on I could go but, simply put, nearly every single 
thing that's happened to me in the last ten years is a direct result of
hearing and feeling the magic of Kate Bush. That's pretty heavy!

Oh yeah, I also would never have heard of Jane Siberry or Happy Rhodes!

Kate's wasn't the first magic I felt. Seeing Genesis with Peter
Gabriel on Midnight Special in 1973 was the first time I felt the
overpowering wonder and amazement and awe and indescribable *power*
of musical magic. I grew up with music. I've always *loved* music. But
that was the first time music grabbed my soul and psyche, heart and
mind, and refused to let go. Since another Peter Gabriel fan sent me
the tape with Kate on it, it's really Peter who brought me to this point.
It's all his fault :-)

Because I happened to be at the right place at the right time in the
right mood, these songs revealed their artist's magic to me:

"Watcher of the Skies" by Genesis/Peter Gabriel
"Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush
"Map of the World, Pt. II" by Jane Siberry
"Off From Out From Under Me" by Happy Rhodes

Other people may have the same experience with different songs and different
artists. The key is feeling the magic that the songs and artists have
to offer. I don't mean that I do take every claim of magic seriously,
if someone says it then it must be true. If a 14-year old girl claimed 
to feel the "magic" of New Kids on the Block, I'd...well, I guess I'd choke
back my first response and remember back to when I was but a wee young
teenybopper myself, when I thought Davy Jones and David Cassidy were
Gods on High. I was obsessed, and I probably would have called it magic
too, but it was an illusion. Thankfully the Gods of Good Music and
Good Taste smiled on me and I was able to recognize the "real thing" years
later. I would hope that that 14-year old girl would be as lucky as I was.
I don't mean that she'd necessarily have to get into Kate (though that 
would be nice). There is so much magical music in the world and it really
wouldn't matter if she felt it from Bach or Bush or whoever. I just feel
really sorry for people who go through life never letting music touch them.
Most people don't. Most people treat music as background. You know, when
you ask someone what kind of music they like and they say "Oh I like all
kinds of music" and when you try to dig further you realize that they 
don't *really* like anything or anyone, beyond who's on the radio at the
moment. Their "favorites" come and go with the charts. Uugh!

I have no idea why certain people are open to musical magic and others 
aren't. I don't know why I sat in front of the TV that fateful night and
was mesmerized by Peter Gabriel in his batwings while the other people
in the room weren't. Comments ranged from "Weird" to "Cool" to "Stupid" to
"Oh my God, this is going to change my entire life!" (well, that's what
I would have said if I'd known! :-) I felt *different* afterwards though,
and I couldn't make anyone undertand why or how. I didn't understand it
myself) and I was the only one who followed up on the group, which led to...

...Hi everybody!

Turning my attention back to Happy Rhodes, I think I caused the most
problems for some people when I said the following:

1. > Happy has the *same sort of* magic and spirit as Kate Bush
and
2. > Happy is the closest thing we have to an American *"Kate Bush"*

which I still believe, but in a *figurative* way, which I didn't explain
fully enough. This is the hard part, because these are things I've always
felt, but never tried to put into words. When I foolishly did, with the
comments written above, I was jumped on by literal-minded Kate-clutchers.
I think it's unfortunate that some people took me *so* literally that when 
they listened to her music they unconsiously expected something as truly
mind-blowing as The Dreaming or The Ninth Wave. Of course those people
would be put off and say "What's the big deal?" and "yawn" etc. because
Happy's music is nothing like Kate's. For one thing, it's much simpler
and not anywhere near as advanced. She is truly her own artist, but if
I talk about Happy in Katian terms it doesn't have anything to do
with Kate herself, but rather the katian *experiences* I've had. 
That is, feeling a magic, feeling a spirit. When I say something like
"Happy's music is simple, like _The Kick Inside_ and _Lionheart_" I 
*don't* mean that her music *sounds* like the music on those albums, but
rather that it's simple, yet original. Modest yet somehow intricate.
Unaffected, unpretentious and pure, but timeless. Music that grows on
you (if you want it to and let it) and will stay with you for a lifetime.
Music you can listen to over and over again and never get tired of. If I
were not a Kate fan (what a horrible thought) I wouldn't have any reference
points to use. Since I am a Katefan I use what I know. That's all. I'm
sorry I didn't try to explain myself better. When I made the comment about
Happy being the closest thing to an American "Kate Bush" I was dictating 
over the phone, Jorn typing. I wasn't able to elaborate. Again, I didn't
mean that Happy is *like* Kate. Because I'm a Kate fan, I again used her as
a reference point. I meant that, in Happy, America has a rare solo female
singer/songwriter/lyricist/musician who is original and interesting and
independent. Are there others? Yes, I guess, but not for me. Some might say
Laurie Anderson or Meredith Monk, but though I like and admire those women,
I have some albums and have seen both in concert, I wouldn't say I'm a big
fan of either. They and others have magic, but I don't feel it in the same
way their real fans do. I do feel Happy's magic, and it's very near the
same kind of magic I feel with Kate. Kate is God though. There's no "danger"
of Happy pushing Kate aside and becoming my very favorite. Kate is the One.
She is inimitable. However, I am pleased that there are other solo female
singer/songwriter/lyricist/musicians who are original and interesting 
and independent and have magic I can feel. Personally, I'm talking about
Jane Siberry and Happy Rhodes. That doesn't make them "Kate-wanna-be's" or
"Kate-I-want-them-to-be's" (one of your more nonsensical argumental points
Richard), they are individual artists with their own musical points of view.
It just makes them an important part of my life. Women I can truly admire
and respect, in the same way I admire and respect Kate.  Women who make
music that I love, the same way I love Kate's music. Women I'm glad I found
and got into, the same way I'm glad I found and got into Kate. 

I don't expect everyone to feel the same way I do, and I have no problems
with anyone who doesn't. Again, there is so much musical magic out there
and the fact that we all found and recognized the cream d'la creme (Kate)
gives us a common bond that is truly special. 

That means a lot to me. 

Vickie (not one of Richard'n'Missy)
katefans@chinet.chi.il.us


"My ears are lucky to hear these glorious songs of inspiration"

                                           Happy Rhodes