random silliness

[THE OLIVE-LOAF VIGILANTE <METH@delphi.com>]

Hi!

It must be the season for Tori-bashing on the Net -- I've also received random
personal e-mail slamming her for no apparent reason in the not too distant
past.  <scratches head, shrugs, ignores it and goes on>

Anyway, I thought it was time to resuscitate my How I Found Kate story, since
people seem to be doing that and it's been about a year since the last time,
I reckon. :)  I probably saw her SNL performance as a wee one and didn't
realize what it was, since I used to sneak downstairs and hide behind my dad's
chair to watch SNL every week around that time.  I was in England when WH was
first released too, and probably saw the posters and/or heard it on the radio,
but I was really little and not much was sinking in in those days.

No, my first exposure to KaTe was the "Sat In Your Lap" video, which was aired
on MTV back in the days when a 7th-grader could really enjoy every music-filled
moment (and believe it or not, back in 1983 eMpTV *actually showed videos*).
I was visiting my sister at the time, and she had cable, which was a Big Deal
for this hick kid from Maine.  I was channel-surfing and came upon this
utterly bizarre rhythmic music, a small woman in a KKK costume roller-skating
in between a Minotaur and a jester from Hell, and several other increasingly
weird shots.  A few seconds later my sister told me to turn it off before it
gave me weird dreams, so I never got to see who it was.  I did have weird
dreams for weeks afterward -- Klan members on roller skates chasing me, the
whole bit.  Every once in a while I'd get a recollection of it and idly wonder
what the hell it was, but generally I forgot about it completely.

Fast-forward to senior year of high school.  A guy I've had a crush on since
third grade tells me about this British singer he's besottedly obsessed with
named Kate Bush, and the trouble he's going through trying to find her stuff
in Maine.  I figure if it's good enough for him it's got to be good enough for
me, and I find a tape of _The Whole Story_ shortly thereafter.  One listen and
I'm hooked for life.

<details of spiraling trail into obsession omitted to protect the guilty>

Fast-forward again, this time to sophomore year in college.  I'm visiting a
friend for the weekend, and we decide to rent some videos.  I discover that
the rental store has a copy of The Whole Story video collection, and snap it
up, since I've never seen a Kate video before.  I'm sure you can all imagine
my reaction when the SIYL video comes on!  "My god!  Kate gave me nightmares
in junior high and I never knew it!!!"

:)  I always meant to somehow tell Kate that story some day, but I don't think
she'd be amused.  Besides, when I met Kate it was all I could do to remember
to breathe and keep my heart beating, never mind actually say anything...

Finally, here's the sampler tape I made for myself years ago to listen to when
I couldn't figure out which album to put on.  It's pre-TRS, but to be honest
Iprobably wouldn't put anything from that on a sampler tape anyway.  This is
almost identical to the sampler tapes I made for friends in high school and
college (all of whom, I am proud to say, quickly became KaTefans :).

SIDE A                                     SIDE B
------                                     ------
(Party side)                               (After the party side ;)

Sat In Your Lap                            Moving
Babooshka                                  The Saxophone Song
James & The Cold Gun                       Feel It
Be Kind To My Mistakes                     L'Amour Looks Something Like You
Cloudbusting                               In Search of Peter Pan
The Big Sky                                Under The Ivy
Running Up That Hill (12" mix)             Passing Through Air
Jig of Life                                Playing Canasta (in cold rooms)
Hounds of Love (Alternative)               Night of the Swallow
Ken                                        Ne T'En Fui Pas
Love And Anger                             Never Be Mine
                                           This Woman's Work
                                           The Sensual World
                                           One Last Look Around The House 
                                            Before We Go...

Wow... it's been literally years since I've listened to that tape.  Have to do
something about that this evening. :)

Yours in KaTe,

Meredith
meth@delphi.com

"I've always really been into words as a form of communication." - Kate Bush