Re: Convention summary

[woj@remus.rutgers.edu (lasagna breeze)]

kudos to peter for keeping such meticulous notes and recapping them
here.  even if i had though of scribbling down the happenings, i doubt
i would get around to summarizing them until, oh, sometime after KaTe's
next album was released. ;)

some comments on his comments:

>       Following those videos, the first live performance took place.  This 
>was an interpretive dance for MoP by Marcus Echo, from France.  [...] I found 
>it teetering between precious and very affecting, with the latter prevailing 
>in the end because of the dancer's real attunement to the song.

i agree. initially, i thought it this was a bit corny. i'm not a dance
critic but i felt that much of the choreography was either blatantly
obvious or didn't express the senitment of the lyrics; his habit of
mouthing the words also detracted from the performance. however, in the
last part of the performance, he picked up a candle everytime KaTe
mentioned a name and extinguished the flame when he put it back down.
as peter said, this was particularly affecting.

>       This was followed by a 40 minute compilation of rare (some not so 
>rare) videos:  [...] a fascinating live "Room for the Life" from the 
>camera that was following Kate at the Hammersmith show, using what looked 
>like the big stage `egg' familiar from "Them Heavy People," except seen from 
>the other side, where it was lined with red satin, with Kate reclining in it 
>as though in bed; 

or as though a womb. as ied and i discussed afterwards, this (or a
similar video) has made an appearance in the "live in germany" video
clips. ied felt that this was a different clip but i think that it is
identical to the one that i have. i haven't had a chance to go back and
compare though.

>       Live music returned with Phil and Barbie--"Lonely Planet"--doing two 
>songs; my notes only record "The Big Sky," with the comment "phrasing ok."  

i was very impressed with lonely planet. the arrangement of their
covers were strikingly different from the originals even when you
accounted for only one electric guitar providing the instrumentation.

>       There was a short lull.  Then the Top Forty from the Homeground poll 
>of Convention ticket buyers, each of whom were asked to name their top ten 
>all time favorate KB tunes, was announced.  [...] Suffice to say that, 
>considering just the Top Ten, 4 come from HoL, and 2 each from TKI, TSW, and 
>TRS.

what i found interesting was that the top five were all *singles*.
granted, this can be understood but i was disappointed that there were
not more album tracks up there in the stellar reaches of the top ten.

>Anyway, the next Event was the appearance of Paddy Bush 
>about 5:50, raised up by the center stage lift, playing a soulful line on a 
>huge wooden recorder-like instrument that must have been ten feet tall.  He 
>set that aside, took up a rectangular guitar that someone said was Madagaskar 
>and sang "The Rain," communicating a joy that gave me deep insight into where 
>Kate Bush isoming from.  

i'm fairly certain that the guitar that pad was playing was a kabossy
which erudite love-hounds will recognize as being a key instrument in
"eat the music." the tune that he played thereon had many similarities
to "the red shoes" and almost seemed to be an inspiration for that
song.  dunno exactly what the woodwind instrument he played is though;
it had the appearance of a primitive bassoon and did not sound unlike
that either.

>       There followed the full unedited tape of an interview Kate did for 
>Canadian TV, where the interviewer was a little inarticulate but Kate gave 
>him the benefit of the doubt and had more to say than in any of the other 
>interviews I've read from the TRS release promo appearances.  

you'll note that this interview was conducted by someone from musique
plus, quebec's version of much music. i think that explains why his
english wasn't exactly perfect. surprisingly, this seemed to help the
interview more than not as some of his questions, if phrased by a
native english-speaker, might not have yielded the same answers.

woj