Re: Lone Star Lionhearts

[caen!bsbbs!nrc@harvard.harvard.edu (N. Richard Caldwell)]

What is this bizarre, universal instinct that leads fanzine
 editors to make such fools of themselves?  I'm not sure what
 Kevin hopes to gain with his attack.  I don't think he
 understands what Love-Hounds is all about.  If he did, he would
 be devoting more effort to joining Love-Hounds and less to
 insulting them.  

There is no question that many Love-Hounds want as much
 information about Kate Bush as they can get.  And nobody wants
 to pay more than they have to for anything.  Evidently Kevin
 feels the same way or he'd spend the money to access
 Love-Hounds himself rather than doing so through an emissary.

Kevin's attack was spurred by a single request made for the
 errata to the Kate Bush collectors book.  First of all, it is
 not even clear that Kevin or LSL owns the rights the
 information in question.  Word of the errata seemed to
 originate with Tom Richards.  Is this information being
 compiled by LSL or provided by Tom Richards?  If it is being
 provided by Tom Richards, has he promised LSL exclusive rights
 to the information? 

Kevin writes:
>      I suspect the authors and publishers of the KB collector's guide
> would hold similar opinions.  People who invest their money in making
> a product available are entitled to a fair return, and disseminating
> information _gratis_ is theft from Godwin and his publishing
> company--they lose sales, and if people can't sell Kate books, we
> cannot complain if, eventually, there are none made available to us.

What has this got to do with your complaint?  First of all,
 nobody is talking about reproducing the book.  Second, this may
 come as a shock to you but Goodwin and his publishers do not own
 this information, only the specific text they have written
 about it.  This information is readily available from a number
 of sources, including the voluminous collections of various
 Love-Hounds.

While you are pondering the feelings of Godwin and his publishers, 
 perhaps you would like to explain for us your routine use of
 copyrighted cartoons and illustrations.  Do you think that the
 copyrights of Gary Larson and his publishers are any less valid
 than those of Godwin and company?  And what of the host of other
 illustrations and photos that you use without permission or even
 credit?

> ...who would rather pirate
> information and circulate it privately rather than actively support
> the fanzines (i.e. subscribe themselves) that makes it so difficult
> for the established Katezines to remain economically viable.
 
I can`t say for certain but I suspect that the fanzine
 subscription rate among Love-Hounds is equal to or greater than
 that in the general Kate Bush fan community.  Missy and I have
 typically subscribed to two fanzines in spite of the fact that
 they offered relatively little information that had not already
 been reported in Love-Hounds.  

Kevin seems to feel that we are somehow dodging our responsibility 
 to support fanzines by "pirating" information from them and 
 circulating it here.  This is ludicrous.  The amount of 
 information that we get from US fanzines is minuscule. 

Virtually everything I have ever read in a fanzine I have
 learned through Love-Hounds well before any fanzine published
 it.  Most of this information has been gathered by Love-Hounds
 from a variety of sources.  These sources normally do not
 include fanzines since they publish too infrequently and too
 irregularly.   Some of the more urgent flashes have come from 
 the people at Homeground who, to their credit, seem to 
 recognize Love-Hounds as a tool for gathering and distributing
 information quickly rather than as a rival.

I would think that that's what fanzines are for: to share
 information with their interest group.  Sharing information and
 opinion among Kate Bush fans is what Love-Hounds is all about. 
 That information is not circulated "privately" as Kevin seems
 to think, but publicly.  Love-Hounds is available to anyone who
 cares enough to put the time, effort and money into getting
 access. 

Kevin seems to desperately need a scapegoat for the difficulties
 that he's evidently having keeping his fanzine afloat.  I would
 suggest that he forget about Love-Hounds and look no further
 than himself and his peers.  The Kate Bush fanzine arena is
 quite simply saturated.  There might be a market for one good
 North American Kate fanzine but there is certainly not a market
 for three or more.

It seems to me that one would run a fanzine for two basic
 reasons: first to distribute news information and opinion on
 the artist and second, to gratify your own ego by establishing
 yourself as "someone" within the fan community.  Every fanzine
 exists for some combination of those two reasons.  If your
 fanzine's primary reason for existence is to distribute
 information, news and opinion about Kate Bush then you should
 see Love-Hounds as a resource and a tool. 

> Many people
> are unable (or find it unnecessary) to invest in expensive
> computer/communications equipment, and those who can have no right
> to force their lifestyles or attitudes on others.

As others have pointed out, nobody is forcing anything on
 anyone.  We have something great to offer, whether or not you'd
 like to share it with us is up to you.  It must be noted,
 however, that your aversion to computers will inevitably have
 an adverse effect on your fanzine.  Some of your competitors
 are already using computers to make their fanzines better and
 their jobs easier.  By spurning this "lifestyle" you are
 hurting no one but yourself.

Kevin Hendryx has called Love Hounds, pirates, freeloaders and
 hypocrites.  Perhaps we can better understand these terms by
 using Kevin himself as a reference point.  

Not long after the Cathy demos surfaced Kevin Hendryx placed an
 ad in Goldmine hawking cassette tape dubs of the demos.  At $15
 a pop he was asking twice or perhaps three times his total
 cost. It's bad enough to share these demos against Kate's
 wishes (as some Love-Hounds have) but in my estimation selling 
 them at a profit makes Kevin Hendryx no better than a common 
 bootlegger.  That Kevin should do so and then accuse
 Love-Hounds of piracy, freeloading and hypocracy is the most
 hypocritical thing I've heard since...last month.


"Don't drive too slowly."         Richard Caldwell
                                  The Big Sky BBS (+1 614 864 1198)
                                  {n8emr|nstar}!bluemoon!bsbbs!nrc
                                  nrc@bsbbs.UUCP