AndyRichardRocket

[jorn@chinet.chi.il.us (Jorn Barger)]

Always last to the love-in, ( ;^)  Richard Caldwell glowers:
> If you want to talk about Kate why not talk about some of her great
> work instead of something as subpar as "Rocket Man?"
> 
> In my opinion "Rocket Man" remains one of Kate's least impressive
> works, surpassed in mediocrity only by "Candle in the Wind."

(Oh, *please* can I flame him?  Ple-e-e-e-ease???  ;^)

Richard, when you see the video, you'll realize your mistake.  It 
confirms Andy to the N-tissimost!  (Anyone oblige, here?  America NEEDS 
the Rocketman video!  ;^))

Old business, nrc to abm:
> I've stated here that I do not agree with the PMRC's stickering
> effort.  My stance has been that they have a right to advocate
> their position and that their position should be judged on the
> facts  [...]  Further, it has been my position that
> voluntary self-stickering, however misguided, does not constitute
> censorship.

I've been withholding comment on this question, because I too see more
than one side to the problem.  Parents have rights too!  I notice my
"Pure Guava" has a *butt-ugly* parental advisory warning designed
right into the coverart (at a rakish angle!), and this offends me as
an artistic betrayal of their message.  (Not that the nastiest song,
"Flies on my D*ck", is any fave of mine...)

Why didn't they do it like GMRX on videoboxes, in diamondtype on the 
back?

Andy:
> IED couldn't disagree more.  But which sense of sadness and loneliness
> do we refer to here: the piercing, shocking, thrilling sense
> of a real emotion...

Video-adjective additions:

playful, enchanted, heartbreaking, tender, pained, loving...

Richard:
> Even the video that Kate has produced has been
> characterized as being humorous.

Ah, but it's the *New* *Blend*!!!

> [...] Since Andy does not acknowledge
> imperfections in Kate's work, does he have any choice but to say
> that the song does indeed conjure feelings compatible with those
> expressed by the lyrics?  Admitting otherwise would be
> acknowledging that Kate's performance is inconsistent with the
> lyric and might hint at something less than perfection.

This worries me too, in general.  (little known fact: last spring, I 
told Andy that *IED* would not be welcome on WarmRoom...  :^)

But here, the beauty of Andy's language contains plenty good proof.

(Amusing image!  re minor keys and tempo for sadness:)
>  the desired degree of despondence.

Andy:
>    What is the use in conforming to the well-defined limitations of
> tired, empty genres?  Is this what Love-Hounds came together to 
celebrate?

(Jorn: NO-O-O-O!!!)

Richard:
> No, we came together to celebrate the genius of Kate Bush.

(*Smile* when you say that...)

Andy:
>    Shouldn't we rather be counting our lucky stars that there is still
> a Kate Bush out there who listened to Elton John's "Rocket Man" and
> heard instead Jamaican, Irish and Kazakh dance music (albeit dance music
> that stops and starts fitfully, confounding its own principles, as in
> the Kate Bush of _The_Dreaming_ and before), embellished with entirely
> new, multiple countermelodies, extended phrases, and even several
> basic changes to the main-vocal's melody-line?

(Go, go, go!)

Richard's procrustean punctuation-experiment:
[This _real_ Kate Bush fan nonsense has been used as a bludgeon       ]
[against those who would suggest that Kate is not perfect for entirely]
[too long.  It's not as popular as it once was, but I imagine that    ]
[would be too much to ask that we never hear it again.  It does, after]
[all, sound rather silly coming from someone who doesn't regularly    ]
[attend the electronic church of Kate in this age of cheap and easy   ]
[net access.                                                          ]

Sheee-it.  The electronic *parking-lot* of Kate...!  (And Andy's got big 
responsibilities, so remember him in yr prayers... :^)

Re "real fan" tho, yeah, again, I'm sick of it and I'd think Kate would 
find it rather burdensome.

Jorn brags (sorry (not :^)):
Last year this total miracle happened in my social life, where I moved 
to the neighborhood in Chicago where all the theaterpeople I most admire 
live (Wicker Park-- cosmic name)... and they accepted me totally as a 
friend and confidant!  It was a seriously cool mindf*ck...

But what I discovered was, *women artists especially* have *no* use for 
puppydog-starryeyers.  ("Jorn... *act normal*!")  And I got really self-
conscious for a while about lovehoundry in general, because I could go 
out to *breakfast* with Shu Shubat and Bryn Magnus, people so talented I 
really had to keep pinching myself... so Kate suddenly seemed like an 
*ordinary, everyday* genius, and to boot-- *far far far away*.

Richard on the demos:
> [...] As a mere passionate
> admirer I have been able to resist that bane of the "real Kate
> Bush fan", the uncontrollable urge to violate her right to control
> her own art, and therefore have never heard this song.

Well, if that's really the reason, I gotta admire your willpower, but 
your sanity has taken a serious beating, here!  ;^)

> [...]  I can only hope that the failure of
> _Rocket Man_ and _Candle in the Wind_ stems from Kate's inability
> to employ the full spectrum of her talents without scrapping the
> original songs entirely.  You may as well ask Rembrandt to paint
> by numbers.

I hear that Brian Ferry's been going thru a dry spell, and so released 
an album of covers.  And CitW I think *is* Rembrandt-by-numbers, but it 
still brought tears to my eyes...

Jorn