Answer to Intergalactic Garage

[katefans@chinet.chinet.chi.il (Chris n Vickie)]

Vickie and Chris here. This is *long*.


> From: allan@bsbbs.columbus.oh.us (Allan Balliett)
> Subject: Garage Bashing

> Hi! I'm Allan from Intergalactic Garage. (*** **** *************, **
> ***** (***) ***-****)

> Without going into a long story, I can assure everyone that both
> Maura and myself are KATE FANS and have been KATE FANS  since TKI
> first met our ears, all those years ago. As far as 'thinking Kate
> Fans are weird', well, I'm a little weird myself, so I doubt that
> would ever be something that I would notice, or complain about -
> even if an opinion like that was relevant to anything anyway.

   Ok, here it is...about eight years ago, a very good friend of ours 
(Frank Maiale, who traveled to New York with us to meet Kate in 1985)
called IG about some other artists. He was chatting with a guy at IG 
(you, Allan, we assume) about the catalog, and the other artists in it, 
but he hadn't mentioned Kate. So he asked "...so what's all this 'Kate 
Bush' stuff, anyway" and received a rant on how weird these "Kate Bush 
fans" were, and how you could charge almost any price you wanted, and 
they would pay it. Frank assumed that the fellow knew he was speaking 
to a Kate fan, but obviously not. Frank called us right away (because we 
had planned on ordering from IG) and that was the beginning of our being
suspicious of Intergalactic Garage. True, this is heresay, but Frank had 
no reason to lie to us. We could tell that Frank was shocked, and we were
too.


> I would, however,  really like to hear what the basis is for this
> old line the pops up about once a year that 'they are not Kate
> fans.'

   Another friend of ours, John Reimers, managed to obtain an unedited,
second generation videotape of a rare (at the time) Kate interview. He, 
for some reason*, asked John Carder Bush, a friend of his, if it was
ok to make copies of it. JCB, of course, said no. More specifically,
JCB said "We'd rather you didn't." So JR didn't. 

The guy from IG (once again, we assume it was you, Allan) learned that 
our friend had this tape and asked for a copy. John Reimers refused, and 
the guy from IG proceeded to berate him, by name, in the IG catalog
in an attempt to embarrass him into giving it up. If our memory serves,
this tirade was on the front page of the catalog.

We felt that this wasn't the action of a fan, this was the action of a 
greedy businessman who wanted a copy to sell.  We no longer have, or can 
find, our photocopy of this issue of the IG newsletter, but it exists.
Various Love-Hounds might even have a copy. If Allan Balliett denies that
this exists, knowing full well that it's in his archives and was sent out
to numerous people then on the Intergalactic Garage mailing list, then
we will be more than happy to hunt high and low for a copy and post it 
to the net to jog his memory. 

IED sure remembers it, perhaps he still has his copy. John Reimers 
himself, who now lives in Los Angeles and works for Tori Amos's 
management company, might still have a copy. The whole episode
upset John greatly. He was berated in public for respecting Kate's
brother's wishes.


* For more specific details, this was the unedited "Night Flight" interview.
John Reimers had obtained a copy from Cynthia Friedland, then producer
for Night Flight.  This interview was *not* the property of the Bush family
and JCB really had no say in the decision of giving dubs to other people.
JR asked, just to be nice, or just to see what JCB would say, though he
should have known in advance that JCB would say no. We don't mean to brush
off JCB's opinions on these matters, but JR didn't really *have* to ask.

The interview *was* the property of Night Flight, and Cynthia *did* freely
give a copy to John Reimers, because they knew each other and because
John was present at the interview.

John Reimers, Frank Maiale, Mike Weaver, and the two of us were *IN THE
CONTROL ROOM* of the Night Flight studios, along with John Carder Bush and
others in the Kate entourage during the live interview. We were all 
*invited* to be in the control room by Cynthia Friedland herself the day
before. 

Those of us in the control room were privy to a scene that very few fans
have access to: a complete, live, unedited interview with Kate.
It was quite fun and fascinating. John asked Cynthia for a copy of the
interview because he thought it would be a nice memory of the day. He
did not press or hassle Cynthia, she agreed right away and cheerfully
sent it along. Cynthia did *not* intend or expect John to make dubs for
other people who might sell the video to Kate Bush fans.

IG's *public* pressure for John to give up a dub of the videotape was, 
to us, despicable behavior and remains, to this day, the main reason we
continue our "anti-IG" campaign.

   IG is one of the reasons that we no longer trade tapes; the fear
that material from our collection will appear in the IG mailing list as:

  KATE - 1979 Christmas Special - Quality VG++ - 48 min. - $75.00

  ...the thought is nauseating. 

> This sort of ungrounded 'black balling' comes from the same part of
> the brainstem RACISM emerges from. (They're not like us, they don't
> like us, don't do business with them, They're not like us, ad
> nauseum) Even if I and other KATE FANS were not negatively effected
> by it, I would resent it. Of course, under the circumstances, I'm 
> really smoking. :-) (Hey! Tom! Did you put them up to this? :-) )

  This is total nonsense. This is completely over-the-top ranting. You
certainly have a right to ask us why we feel the way we do, but to 
equate our opinion with racism is *deeply* offensive to us. 

"Black-balling" indicates that we're trying to keep talk of IG off the
net, and trying to prevent people from buying from IG. All we ever do,
whenever IG is brought up, is to state our opinion (and we *have* given
details as to why we feel this way before, though not this last time)
and let fans know that there are dissenting opinions out there.

You're throwing around some pretty heavy, offensive buzzwords. Are you 
on the *George* Bush campaign staff, by any chance?

How are "other KATE FANS" affected in any way, aside from learning that
not everyone is happy with Intergalactic Garage?

  BTW, we haven't talked to Tom in _months_, and, since we're not really
collectors, have never even bought anything from Tom though we would
buy from him if the need/desire arose.


> OK, Vickie, et al, lets let the bad air out and lets hear the
> 'crimes' that Allan and Maura of Intergalactic Garage have committed
> while they have been serving to the best of their ability all the 
> KATE FANS on this continent for almost a decade.

You look through the archives and if you find *ANYWHERE* where we
accused IG of "crimes" then we'll vote Republican, send a letter of
support to Dan Quayle, attend a Scientology retreat, contribute money to 
Pat Robertson and Pat Buchanan, design and build anti-abortion signs,
and sit through the entire "Earnest Goes To..." film festival. We'll also
buy Intergalactic Garage's most expensive item, whatever that may be.

Get real. We may not like your operation, but we never accused you of
crimes. Putting the word in convenient "quotes" doesn't change the fact 
that you're trying to put buzzwords into the minds of the Kate fans who 
are interested (or bored) enough to read this debate.

   How have they been "serving" Kate Fans anyway? Before the appearance
of IG, many different Goldmine ads had Kate items. Then IG launched it's
attempt to corner the Kate market. IG started running larger and more
Kate-oriented ads in one section of Goldmine, and offers to buy any and
all Kate items from other dealers in another area. Prices for Kate items
increased, and availability from competitive sources decreased. Kate is
over-priced compared to other artists of similar rarity and popularity.

   Bunker and Lamar Hunt bought a lot of silver at high prices for a long 
time in their quest to corner that market. 

> (Jeez, have I got a thankless task, or what!)

   Yeah. You have some nice things, but no thanks.

> Hey, tell me the one again about 'they are only in it for the
> money.' HAR! HAR! HAR! Hey, if I didn't believe in what we are doing
> here so much, I would have quit it a long time ago and got a job 
> that PAID MONEY - meanwhile, I just have to depend on the respect 
> and appreciation of the wonderfully humanistic community I serve. 
> :-)

Well fine, but our respect and appreciation goes to Tom at C-Side. 

> Come on, get this crap out on the table and, if all the parts are
> there, I'll try to make some sense out of it for you.

You do that. 

> This sort of Bush-esque (GEORGE BUSH, not our beloved Kate)
> mudslinging always generates lots of re-assuring private NetMail for
> us. I'd appreciate it if a few of the many that we have served (AND
> INFORMED!!!) for nearly a decade now would post here about the GOOD 
> that IGG has done for them, for Kate, and, hence, for the world as a
> whole (by getting Kate into the hands-ears-and-hearts of many many
> people who would have had to wait for a VERY long time to find Kate
> at their mall stores.)

   We were able to survive _quite_ well without the "help" of IG. We
have never bought anything from IG, nor do we ever intend to. 

Note: many of our friends *have* bought from IG, and we certainly have
nothing against anyone who does business with IG. We will continue,
however, to urge people to check out Tom at C-Side first and then go
to IG if Tom doesn't have what they want. It's our opinion, and we
don't force anybody to do or not do anything.

> I think it will be fun to hunt for the "little shard of truth"
> behind this anti-Intergalactic Garage viciousness. I think that in
> the process we can shed a little light on the dark, erroneous
> functionings of the brain behind it.

   Viciousness? All we said was "don't buy from this guy, he isn't a Kate
Bush fan." You asked us why we feel this way, and we just told you. 

Perhaps you actually are a Kate fan. In that case, fine.

Btw, I don't recall you ever apologising to John Reimers.

> Let it come down.....;-)

You bet.

> PS Tom a C-Side is a friend of mine, so I certainly have nothing bad
> to say about him. I do, however, feel strongly that Kate Fans should 
> judge the market on its own merits and not on the base-less 
> accusations of individuals who have their own private agendas. 

  What do you claim our agenda is? _Our_ agenda is only to keep Kate Fans
from being ripped off. We don't consider ourselves "collectors" at all.
We consider ourselves "gatherers." In the 10+ years we have been
together, we buy things we come across if we have the money at the time
and if it's something that's interesting to us. We don't have problems
with people who do actively collect Kate items, and we just want those
fans to get the best possible service, at the best possible price, and
from people we feel who truly like Kate *and her fans*.

> Incidentally, Intergalactic was serving Kate to Kate fans for YEARS 
> before there was a remote possibility of it being 'profitable.'

Kate rarities were being bought and sold within weeks of "Wuthering
Heights" being released. It was "profitable" from the beginning.
  
> We did it for the love of Kate and the belief that if enough good music 
> by humanistic performers can get out there into the world, the world 
> will change for the better.

That's a nice sentiment, and one that we agree with. I (Vickie) have been
producing and programming a radio show for 4 1/2 years in Kansas City, and
over 2 years in Chicago, and I've never gotten paid a penny for it. It's
strictly for love of music. Over the years I've sent out many dozens of 
tapes full of music by female artists to people who expressed interest in
this music. I've never charged money for these tapes, I just want to spread
the music.

Kate-wise, we've been trading Kate stuff for years, never with a thought
to making a profit. We even had Kate Video Presentations (documented in
Break-through) for charity.

But then, we're not in a business to make money, so there's still a price 
tag involved on your side. Fine, free enterprise and all that, but by all
appearances (prices) it would seem to be plenty profitable for you now. 

Btw, the last time I saw an IG catalog, you were selling copies of _Vo'cl_
for $15.00. This newspaper featured an interview with Kate, and a wonderful
full page photo of Kate on the cover. Two other interesting items: the
interview was done by John Reimers, and the paper was a *FREE* givaway in 
St. Louis. Chris and I had about 50 of these ourselves and we've been
*giving* them away over the years. We got them for free, just as you did.
Prices, they do go up, huh? Free enterprise (by Kate fans?) at it's finest.


> We are currently distributing Happy, Laureena, Sarah, and, of course,
> Tori, as well as many, many other Singer/Songwriters (well, sorry, THAT
> ONE is a singer/songwriter also ;-)  ) As far as I know, we are the last
> place in the US where you can buy a Tori Crucify ltd box for $14.99 or
> Silent All These Years ltd digi w/ 2 non-lp + 1 live for $12.00. Take
> Care friends!

   Well, Chris bought a Tori Crucify ldt box for $11.99 from a record store
in Boulder, Co. last week, so that's not much in IG's defense. By the way,
it's Loreena. 

I'll be the first to admit that IG carries a lot of merchandise that
people will be interested in, though much of that merchandise *is*
available elsewhere at cheaper prices.

Vickie & Chris
katefans@chinet.chi.il.us