THE Kate Bush Club

[rhill@pnet01.cts.com (Ronald Hill)]

        There's been some talk about the current state of the KBC.  Following
is the KBC entries from THE GARDEN'S fanzine list.  I have added in the
announcement from the latest issue of the KBC.  Also included is the
Homeground entry (with the price updated) and a list of all the KBCs produced
so far. 
        As far as I know, the leaflets mentioned in the RENEWALS announcement
haven't been produced (though Homeground more or less takes up the slack
there) and that issue was the last one anyone has gotten.  While I am
disappointed that the KBC hasn't produced more lately (an issue with a
transcription and pictures of the con would have been nice), they have been
up-front about the reasons why (in the announcement) and it seems to me to be
quite unfair the comment made in the current Little Light, "Appearances are
that the KBC is the 'corporate' Kate Bush Club, with no real function or
direction except taking people's money and giving them nothing in return." 
Does anybody actually know anybody who has sent in money and not gotten
anything in return, and if so does anybody believe that they won't, in Kate's
slow fashion, eventually get something (presumably the next album issue)?  And
does anybody believe that Kate's best friend (who runs the club), and for that
matter Kate and her family, are involved in "taking people's money and giving
them nothing in return"? 
        For newer fans who haven't seen any issue, I would very much recommend
that you subscribe.  You may have to wait a long time before getting anything,
but when you do the issues are definately worth the wait and are clearly (to
me) better than all the other fan mags that have come out between KBCs
combined!  This is mainly because most of the material comes straight from
Kate and her family and Del.  The Kate interviews/articles form the backbone
of Cloudbusting and any attempt  to examine Kate and her music.  It is my hope
that they will eventually go through with reprinting the back issues of the
KBC, perhaps is some bound format, as I am still missing about half of them. 
:-( 


1. The Kate Bush Club

     P.O. Box 120
     Welling
     Kent DA16 3DS
     ENGLAND

     Subscriptions are no longer offered. An announcement in the 1990 issue of
this official Kate Bush fan publication reads as follows:

RENEWALS

[the & represents the British Pound sign, I can't find it on my keyboard!]

        It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Club cannot continue to
function in it current format.  When Kate is busy writing for and creating an
album, it is impossible to produce a regular magazine as there is nothing new
to tell you about.  Understandably she does not like to talk about her work
before it is completed so we can only undertake to produce a magazine when an
album or some other creative project emerges.  For this reason we have tried
to thing up a way of keeping the Club together without accepting the usual
renewal money for magazines which will be very infrequent.

        The inland &4 joining fee only just covers the cost of your first
magazine, photo, badge, and card when you take into account envelopes,
postage, etc. so instead of increasing the subscription rates we intend to
keep the inland rate the same and reduce the overseas rates to: - &5.30 for
surface and &8.50 for Air Mail.  From now on the amount you pay on joining
covers only what you receive then, plus 1 or 2 interim swap/pen pal leaflets. 
In the event of an album magazine or whatever being produced we will send you
a note to let you know it is nearly ready and if you want to receive it you
will send us the relevant money.  This way you can order as many copies as you
want and we will know how many to have printed.

        In addition there would be a token renewal fee for the interim
leaflets: - 50p for inland/ &1 for overseas surface/ &1.50 for Air (Air Mail
is valid only for those OUTSIDE EUROPE - eg. Australia, Canada, U.S.A., Japan,
etc.)  These would probably not be more than a couple of pages and wouldn't
promise to contain any information from Kate etc. but as many people have made
very special friends via the swaps/pen pal is would be a shame to stop this
service.  We could also use it to transmit any other information available at
the time and eventually maybe to offer some back-issue magazines.  Please note
that our bank now charges us %5 for all non-sterling cheques, so please add
this to any US $ or other foreign currency cheque. 

        We would ask anyone who has overpaid in the past and has received a
Credit Note to send this when they renew, or if you do not wish to re-join we
will refund the relevant amount. 

        On joining, the back of you membership card is stamped with the expiry
date.  This is your reminder of when to renew so please keep your card in a
safe place or write the date in your diary.  We would prefer not to take up
space in the leaflets with a lengthy renewal table. 

>From now on there will be 2 renewal dates to receive interim leaflets: -
February and August.  Anyone whose expiry date was between August 1988 and
November 1989, your new renewal date is now February 1990.  There is no
desperate hurry for these (as long as they arrive by February), indeed we
would rather you didn't all send them immediately as the album is bound to
generate a lot of correspondence and the first renewal period will be massive!
 Would those whose renewal is due in May 1990, please amend your expiry date
to August 1990. 

        We have no wish to receive money for something we cannot promise to
provide and we hope this provides an acceptable compromise.  At least everyone
knows where they stand and if they are not happy with the idea they can opt
out.  The new format will be stated on future application forms so that people
can make the choice whether or not to join on that basis. 



2. Homeground  Peter and Krystyna FitzGerald-Morris and Dave Cross, editors

 Sharon May, Secretary
 P.O. Box 176
 Orpington
 Kent BR5 3NA
 ENGLAND
  Airmail subscription to U.S., one year: 12 Pounds, 10 Pence.

     Note: The Kate Bush Club asks for payment in U.K. (Sterling) money. They
prefer the money in the form of an International Sterling draft, but my
experience with those is that they can now cost as much as twenty dollars
extra, on top of the already extremely high conversion rate. My recommendation
is that payment be made in U.K. cash, which you can get at airports, or at
some banks and currency exchange offices. The commission is not much, and if
your envelope is carefully sealed and can't be seen through, it'll stand a
pretty good chance of getting there. U.S. dollars are frowned on by the KBC,
but they might work if you are very careful to pay at the current exchange
rate plus at least seven and a half percent extra to cover conversion costs.
(As you know, the Dollar is worth less and less these days.) Homeground will
accept foreign currency, but only at the going rate plus at least 7 1/2
percent.
     In strong contrast to the Kate Bush Club's publishing performance,
Homeground puts out at least four issues a year, every year, plus a little
update flier when there is some important news development. Homeground still
has the feeling of a homemade publication, but it's now quite professionally
printed in black and white on good paper. It's always interesting and has
become an indispensible record of KT fandom.
     The KBC Newsletter, on the other hand, is very luxurious but, as
explained above, far less frequent. Despite its slowness, it contains no more
pages than an issue of Homeground, and of course the Newsletter's infrequency
means that it can no longer be relied upon at all as a source of news. For all
that, when the club does come out with an issue, it is filled with a lot of
very fine and exclusive photography, most of it now in spectacular colour,
much of it the work of Kate's brother John Carder Bush. The Newsletter usually
features either an introductory letter, article or interview by/with Kate;
articles by John and/or Paddy, Kate's two brothers; an occasional note from
Del Palmer; a Pen Pals page and a Swaps page; Kate's own comic strip about the
misadventures of her cats, Zoodle and Pyewacket (this was my favourite
section, now sadly suspended, perhaps due to the sad news of Zoo's death; with
luck perhaps a new strip featuring the new kittens will appear in future
issues?); a puzzle/competitions page; news bits (usually out-of-date by the
time they reach subscribers); and one-off articles, art and/or comic strips by
fans. Lyrics of non-LP Kate Bush songs may appear first here, as well.
      For its part, Homeground features an exhaustive record of press, radio
and television coverage of Kate during the quarter preceding each issue,
called Medialogue; an immensely helpful ongoing series of facts, dates and
biographical information from the co-editor Peter FitzGerald-Morris, called
Five Years Ago; essays on Kate's music and related (and sometimes unrelated)
matters, by fans and the editors; comic strips; poetry; and a spot for
personal notices. Homeground, unlike the Newsletter, frequently publishes its
readers' comments and contributions.





 This is a list of all the KBCs as of April 1991.  This list first
appeared in Carriad Kate. 

NUMBER     DATE          COVER                                PAGES
------     ----          -----                                -----
        6 Mar  1979     Duplicated letter + signed photo 
1.     26  Apr 1979     Hi Lionhearts                           4
2.      ?  Aug 1979     Hello Everybody                         4
3.      ?  Oct 1979     Tour Issue                              8 
4.      18 Dec 1979     Christmas Newsletter                    12
5.      23 Apr 1980     With love from Kate                     8 
6.      11 Jul 1980     Convention was great                    8
7.      26 Sep 1980     Them Bats and Doves                     8
8.      22 Dec 1980     December will be Magic Again (cartoon)  12
9.      13 Apr 1981     Letter from Kate                        8
10.     12 Sep 1981     On Videos And Tapes                     8
11.     20 Dec 1981     Photo of Kate with snow in her hair     20
12.     15 Oct 1982     Photo of Kate & Dancers from Dreaming   20
13.     22 Apr 1983     Suspended in Gaffa Photo of Kate        20
14.     17 Oct 1983     Photo of Kate in a wooly hat            20 
15.     23 Dec 1983     Photo of Kate by a stream and a swallow 24
16.     25 Jun 1984     Photo of Kate wearing a white jumper    20
17.     20 Dec 1984     Photo of Kate singing into a microphone 28
18.     30 Sep 1985     Hounds of Love album issue              24 
19.     16 Apr 1986     Hounds of Love single sleeve cover      28 
20.     ?  Sep 1986     Photo of Kate from The Big Sky video    28 
21.     4  Mar 1987     Photo of Kate from the Experiment IV    32 
22.     23 Dec 1987     Photo of Kate with cropped hair & vest  28 
23.                     Sensual World Album Issue.  



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