***** Kate Bush Convention 1990 PART I ******

[rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)]

        For those who remember, today the 17th is the TWO (count em) 
year anniversey of the 1990 Kate Bush convention.  Following is the 
improved transcript of the convention, which I don't think has been 
posted here (the improvements, I mean). 

(PS. This is the last major interview about new subjects that Kate has 
given.  She did do another interview about HOUNDS OF LOVE in 1991 and 
then a short radio interview at the end of the year about ROCKET MAN). 


 
Really-From: Andrew B Marvick <abm4@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu> 
 
Hello, all Love-Hounds.  
   IED has finally finished transcribing Kate's part in the  
festivities at the Kate Bush Convention which took place at Le Palais, 
London on November 17, 1990. IED need not say that the forty-three 
minutes in which Kate was on stage were among the most magical 
forty-three minutes in his life. He hopes this transcription will 
reflect at least a little of that magic to those of you who could not 
attend in person. Happy reading! 
 
Kate Bush at Le Palais, London, November 17, 1990 
 
   "You must be mad!" 
   We are!  
   "More mad than me!" 
   We are! 
   "It's very nice to see you. I'm sorry that I can't talk to you all. 
You're too many!"  
   Aww! 
   "Um...I've brought some questions here from some of you. And, uh,  
let's have a go at this, shall we? The first question is from Pauline 
McKearney...Pauline McKearney..." 
   (Dave Cross:) Where are you, Pauline? Down here. 
   (Pauline:) (Inaudible.)  
   "I think um..." 
   What? What? 
   "The question is that uh, (laughs), why do I speak in interviews 
about the first two albums less favourably?" 
   Woah! Oh! 
   "Well, I think there's a lot of reasons for that. Um, a lot of it's 
to do with the fact that I didn't really feel that I had creative   
control over what I was doing for those first two albums. Although I'd 
written the songs, I wasn't really, uh, taking overall control and 
saying what should happen. I feel very much that the production of the 
songs has as much to do with the feeling as the words and the music.  
And by the third album I was starting to take that kind of control.  I 
went into co-production, and actually felt that I was working in a 
studio as someone that was in control of what they were doing.
     And also, I think that you feel, just naturally more fond of the 
stuff that you do more recently. It's just a human factor. You don't 
like to think that what you were doing ten years ago is better than 
what you're doing now (laughs). So that's a factor as well." 
   (Ron Hill:) We love them anyway! (Cheering.) 
   "Uh, this next one's from Marina Patterson." 
   (Dave:) Marina? 
   "Give us a wave, Marina!" 
   (Dave:) Oh, uh, good. 
   (Marina:) Uhm, uh, how did you like singing with Rowan Atkinson? 
   (Laughter.) 
   "Did you all hear the question?" 
   Yeah. 
   "Well, uh, I'm sure like most of you if not all of you, I'm a big 
fan of the comedy that's happening in Britain today. I think we've  
always been a leading voice in comedy _and_ music, and, um, it's so 
good to see young people actually charging us again with comedy that's 
also very educational. And, um, I was very honoured to take part in 
that whole Comic Relief event where Rowan Atkinson was performing. And 
I really believe that comedy has a lot to offer the world. It's very 
important. Sometimes you can say much heavier things through comedy 
than you could ever say seriously. So, uh,  I was knocked out to...to 
sing with Rowan and just to be involved in anything that they were 
doing. Uh...thank you."   
   (Applause. Kate mutters something while looking at the next question 
slip, and the audience cries out.) 
   "I'd just want to say that uh, it's from Fiona Mitchell. Fiona? 
Give us a wave?" 
   (Dave:) Fiona? You'll have to read it out...Oh! Oh, Lisa's off! 
   (Lisa, from balcony:) (Inaudible.) 
   "Uh, I'll read it out. It says, 'Will you ever feature a solo sax, 
such as "Saxophone Song" again?' Um, I don't know. (Laughs.)" 
   (Laughter.) 
   "The best I can say is that I think in some ways the Uileann pipe is 
almost like a Celtic saxophone. And, so we've used them a bit. 
   "Uh, the next one is from Emma Stace." 
   (Emma:) Hello! 
   "Hello!" 
   (Dave:) You'll have to read that one out. 
   "Uh...It's a lovely question, actually. It says, 'Does it comfort 
you when you're a bit down to know that whatever you do for us we will 
love and support you?'" 
   (Massive cheering and applause, lasting twenty seconds.) 
   "You've left me all afluster! Um...Particularly when I'm in the 
middle of making albums, when I don't know when I'm going to finish the 
project, and, uh, I don't know if I'm a songwriter or a singer, or what 
I am; and I get the odd letter that says, you know, 'We'll wait! 
(Laughs.) We'll wait for you till you've done your time! (Laughs.) And 
you're out in the free world again.' Um, it really means a lot, so 
thank you." 
   Thank you! (Massive cheering.) 
   "Um...Jonathan Houghton, Houghton?" 
   (Dave:) Jonathan! 
   (Jonathan:) 'Breathing' now seems more pertinent than ever. Has your 
view of human nature become more philosophical and emotional over the 
past ten years, even though the Sensual World still exists? 
   Woah!  
   "Well, I think that my emotional feelings...are as strong, if not 
stronger sometimes, but I think there is a philosophical side that is 
growing alongside that, and um, there are a lot of things about human 
beings that are extremely unpleasant. And, uh, perhaps my view is more 
that there are--not that it's good and evil--but there are opposites 
that have to exist, almost as a law of nature, and that for every 
positive action there will probably be a negative action somewhere 
else, and...I take great hope in the fact that the more young people I 
meet, they're so attentive and so aware of worldly issues. They care 
about the environment. It's uh, I think it's very heartening. Although 
the world is very sick, I think young people have a very healthy 
attitude. And, uh, that's who's going to save the world, isn't it? Is 
young people?" 
   (Applause.) 
   "This is from Liz Wil--Wilding?" 
   (Lisa finds Liz.) 
   "A quick round of applause for Lisa, for all the work..." 
   (Lisa:) Will you ever release your visual interpretation of the 
concept piece, "The Ninth Wave"? 
   "Did you all hear that?" 
   (Yeah!) 
   "Um...There was never a visual piece made to 'Then Ninth Wave', 
unfortunately. Um, it was something that I'd hoped to do, and, the um, 
the whole of that side had been made very much with a film in mind. Uh, 
I was too exhausted, really, by the time it came to  actually having a 
chance to make it, but I would very much like to make a film of some 
kind, um, one day. If it takes me longer than my albums I'm in big 
trouble, I think!"  
   (Laughter.) 
   "But, uh, I just uh, love the combination of film and music. I think 
when it works, it's so powerful. And uh, also it's nice working with 
big groups of people because when I make an album it's quite isolating, 
you really only deal with small numbers of people at a  time, and when 
you're making a video there's maybe up to forty  people, so it--it's 
very exciting for me. Uh, thank you.
    "Uh, this is from Neil Holbrook." 
   (Dave:) Where's Neil? 
   "Neil." 
   (Dave:) (Inaudible.) 
   (Neil:) "I find it really amazing that at such a young age, you were 
practically a schoolgirl, that you could be so creative. Um, I mean, 
looking back now, does that seem really odd to you?" 
   "Yes." 
   (Laughter.) 
   "I mean..." (Inaudible.) 
   "I'm sorry, say that last bit again?" 
   (Inaudible.)     
   "I'm not really sure. At the time it didn't strike me as being odd 
in any way at all. That was just what I had to do. This was it, this 
was my mission in life. And, actually, the older I get, the more I look 
back on it, I think how bizarre it was. Uh, I had such a feeling of 
time being incredibly important--that I shouldn't waste any time at 
all, and I was very impatient for the first album to be made and to 
come out...And, uh, maybe I was psychic (laughing) and I knew that  
in ten years it would be taking me four years to make an album." 
   (Laughter.) 
   "But, I did have an incredible sense of just...needing to do it. It 
was what I did. And I feel very lucky that I had something to actually 
focus on at such a young age. It, um, well it changed my life, 
eventually. I wouldn't be here today, now, if, you know. And, you find 
yourself in situations that you would never have imagined. You know, I 
think of myself back at school, and the first gig I ever saw was The 
Who. And, uh, they completely blew me away. And I could never have 
imagined that I would well, be here now. It's ridiculous, really. It 
is, it's ridiculous! (Laughing.)" 
   (Applause and cheering.) 
   "Uh, this is uh, Tom--Tom DiCarlo." 
   Sit down! 
   "Yeah, sit down (laughing)!" 
   (Inaudible.) 
   "You're from France?" 
   Yeah. 
   "Well, hi! Thanks for coming!" 
   (Laughter.) 
   "Thanks for coming! Tom DiCarlo, are you here?" 
   (Dave:) Tom?...She's over there, now. Lisa I think has become  
Anneke Rice. 
   (Laughter.) 
   "She should use a spotlight!" 
   (Dave:) Yeah! We haven't got any spots. 
   (Tom:) I have a question about having you produce new artists.  I 
didn't know if you've already done any, or if you're planning to  or 
wanted to. 
   "Oh, what a nice accent. Is that Irish? Or American?" 
   "No, it's California! I've been called Canadian before." 
   "Oh, well there's always a first." (Neither Kate nor Tom could 
really hear each other well here, which explains their  odd exchange of 
words.) 
   "Um, I haven't really produced any artists. It's something that  I 
think I'd be interested in, if the music was really something I   felt 
that I could contribute to. It's a very personal vision, music. And um, 
in some ways I pity the poor sod that had to put up with me for three 
years (laughing with the audience), if it takes them as long as it does 
me. I mean most people like their albums done in six months. I don't 
know. I don't know, who knows? At the moment it's more than I can 
handle just trying to look after myself.  Thank you. 
   "Um, now I'm going to leave this one till later. I'm not cheating, 
right?" 
   (Laughter.) 
   "David Kyle?" 
  (Dave Cross:) David? I've got him, Lisa. 
  (David Kyle:) Have you got any new ideas about the next LP,  any 
(inaudible), or any stories that you'd like to expose? 
   "Uhm, I have started writing for the next album." 
   (Massive, prolonged applause.) 
   "Uh, and uh, I--I've kind of been taking the approach where I go 
back to writing on the piano again, which was how I used to work when I 
started. And, uh, it was quite shocking for me to suddenly be left 
alone at the piano without all this  equipment, you know, where I could 
just press a button and I've suddenly got an orchestra...And I felt 
really, uh, really odd about the whole thing. But, uh, in some ways I 
think I'm trying to get back to a lot of things that were my roots. Uh,
I've started dancing again, which I never thought I'd manage." 
   (Massive applause.) 
   "And I think in some ways, um...Like we were saying earlier, when I 
started it was all like a sense of a mission, it was  something I had 
to do, I was, you know, working towards this. It--I kind of lost that a 
bit, and just found myself making album after album, and getting 
further away from the writing process too, so I think maybe with this 
album I want to...I  want to try and make it a little simpler, and 
hopefully...positive. But we'll see, won't we? But I'm really pleased, 
that's a lovely reaction, as I've only _started_ the album (laughing)!"
   (Laughter.) 
   "And I bet, you know, half way, could you give me a lift?" 
   (Laughter and applause.) 
   "Thank you very much...really sweet... 
   "Um...Robert Brown." 
   (Dave:) Robert Brown. 
   (Robert:) Hello, Kate. 
   "Hello!" 
   (Laughter.) 

---
rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)
NetRunner's Paradise BBS, San Diego CA