Re: anAmosity

["Stuart M. Castergine" <scasterg@cd.columbus.oh.us>]

On Wed, 24 Aug 1994, Douglas Alan wrote:

> In article <Pine.3.89.9408240733.B11975-0100000@cd> "Stuart
> M. Castergine" <scasterg@cd.columbus.oh.us> writes: 
> 
>    Clothing and hairstyle? That tousled, carrot-topped hippie who is so fond 
>    of old jeans and one-piece swimsuits? You gotta be kidding!
> 
> As opposed to the tousled, auburn-topped hippie who was so fond of old
> jeans and one-piece leotards?

Kate has never projected a very "hippyish" image to me. And she is rarely
tousled, compared to Tori. And while she may indeed wear old jeans a lot
in private, they are positively an on-stage uniform for Tori, which they
have never been for Kate. 

The whole leotard thing presented a *very* different image than the one 
Tori does.

The swimsuits I speak of she wore in lieu of tops in concert with 
bell-bottom jeans and a rope belt all through the Little Earthquakes 
tour. It projected an image of stark informality, like you were looking 
at a girl who just finished swimming in the creek out back, dried her 
hair and threw some jeans on, and then ran out on stage to perform.

Kate, on the other hand, in her videos and in Hammersmith, has stiven to
present an otherworldy image, neither formal nor informal but, um,
different. She presents characters. Everything is a production to Kate,
you're watching her play out her fantasies, and her clothes have always
been part of that. The styles of the two are *completely* different. 

Again, Tori's on-stage dress owes more to Robert Plant in his Zep years 
than it does to Kate bush! C'mon!

> 
>    Peformance demeanor? I *wish* I ever got to see Kate writhe on a piano 
>    bench like that! Kate behind a piano is very reserved, very
>    British.
> 
> That's the word that comes to mind when I see Kate performing "Hammer
> Horror": *reserved*.  Yeah.
> 

I *said* _behind_a_piano_. Read it right up there, eternally etched in
electrons. She *is* very reserved behind a piano.

My next paragraph, which you deleted, said that she did indeed writhe on
SNL, and, yes, I didn't mention, on Hammer Horror, too. I didn't mean she
ways *always* reserved! But again, like I said, it was very *different*
writhing. I don't think Tori *could* do the Hammer Horror bit! There are
lots of different kinds of writhing (Gawd). If you are saying every female
who ever writhed on MTV owes her style to Kate, that would be ... well, it
would be silly. 

Tori just can't move like Kate can. She doesn't have her grace, her
ability. Tori's onstage persona is glued to that bench. Kate just sits
down there for a rest from the gymnastics. Kate's elaborate performance
style -- what we see of it in productions where she truly has a hand in
determining how she will be displayed (meaning big benefits like the
Secret Policeman's ball wehere she is restricted to coming on stage, and
singing with no theatrical accoutrements) shows a marked tendency toward
the elaborate, the theatrical. Tori's two tours are the other extreme. No
props, no band, no peformers, singers, dancers, etc. She just sits at a
piano and sings (and writhes, of course). That's *not* Kate. How it could
be claimed her performance style comes from Kate. It's just ludicrous! 

Even in her videos, she doesn't attempt the same kind of physical 
presence that Kate does. Tori can't dance worth a lick, from the 
little I've seen.

Other than that stupid box, they truly are not very similar! There is no
Kate album that is like Little Earthquakes or Under the Pink. There are
few songs off either of their albums that would sound at home on the
other's albums. And I include the entirety of _The Dreaming_ including
_Get Out of My House_! It is not a very Tori-ish song, musically or
lyrically. And I can't think of a Tori song that I could imagine Kate
having written herself, or that she would perform in the same way Tori
does. That's just opinion of course, and doesn't prove anything one way or
the other, but I would lvoe to hear just which specific songs you all
think are so Kate-like. 


scasterg@cd.columbus.oh.us == Stuart Castergine            ---
"The night comes every day to my window.                    |/
The serious night, promising as always,                     |\
age and moderation. And I am frightened" -- Jack Gilbert