A new (old) volley into the Gaffa wars

[Wieland Willker <willker@chemie.uni-bremen.de>]

Subject: Lovehounds -the history, Gaffa -the TRUTH: 2 theories

Repost from the archive:

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THEORY 1:
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Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1991 12:01:32 -0700 
From: aurs01!aurxc3!whitcomb@mcnc.org (Jonathan Whitcomb) 
Subject: A little history... 

>1. Is this group JUST for Kate? It appears to be totally obsessed with
 her. 

Actually when this group was founded 72 years ago in Sri Lanka it was
originally intended for afficianados of hunting dogs and other canines
pressed into manual labor. The orignal name of the group was "Amos Canis
Woofis", and was written on dried leaves and spread from town to town by
passing merchants. Occasionally, some of the written passages were so
controversial that readers would burn the leaves in anger, leading to the
modern term "flaming". Many found that inhaling the smoke of the burning
leaves caused a hallucanatory effect, and thus smoking leaves became more
popular than reading them in some areas.

Traffic on the group was light, but started to pick up in the 60's when
some of the free love fringe mistook the title (by then "Hound-Lovers") to
imply more intimate relationships between man and his best friend. The name
was then changed to "Love-Hounds" to avoid any further confusion.
By 1986, the group was an entirely electronic media, and the release of
Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love" album brought so much traffic to discuss this
album and the artist that the original hard core group of hunting dog fans
split off to form another group, the well known and highly read
rec.pooches.kill.bad.deer.yeah. Since that time the Kate Bush crowd has
dominated the group, although lately it seems that a religious cult based
around holy relics created, used, or discarded by the recording artist is
gaining favor.

>2. Where did the group creators get the word "gaffa" and what does it
    mean? 

"Gaffa" (as has been explained ad nauseum in this forum) is another Sri
Lankan word referring to the mental state achieved by those smoking too
many of the leaves this group was originally printed on.

>3. I'm more into the Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance etc. Is this the place
    for me or should I get lost? 

As long as you make the occasional kowtow to the Bush crowd and say the
appropriate holy words and use lots of initials to refer to albums and song
titles, welcome. You may find after a few days reading this group that
getting lost was the safer option, however. Of course, we try to be open to
new thoughts and ideas, so if you do indeed *want* to get lost, don't feel
anyone here is pressuring you to do otherwise. It's just that we don't want
everyone to get lost together, because then invariably someone will know
where they are and the whole excersize would be pointless. But do what you
want.

>4. Is Kate on the 4AD label? Just what IS the 4AD label anyway, and who is
    on it beside the above two groups? 

Kate is not on the 4AD label. The 4AD label originally started many years
before 4 A.D., and was responsible for such works as the Rosetta Stone and
the Shroud of Turyn. They continue publishing artifacts by little known or
dead societies for the amusement of archeologists and necrophiliacs. Other
well known acts include "Thrown Mooses", "Clone of Xerox" and "The Picked
Seeds". 

>Thanks for any answers! 

We are here to inform and entertain (as well as occasionally inflame and 
irritate). 

>Ben Discoe, radical ecologist, computer scientist, geometer, amigoid 

Jonathan Whitcomb, racial egotist, commuter psychic, geometry, ohmygod 


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THEORY 2:
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Date: Fri, 1 Nov 1991 05:12:53 -0800 
From: MasterMind <VNOZICK@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU> 
Subject: Proof that she really is! 

The first book of KaTe commonly called The KreaTion: 

In the beginning KaTe kreated the big sky and the earth. ("Hello, earth!")
The earth was without form and void, and there was no deeper understanding
to be found; and the Spirit of KaTe was moving under the ice. 

And KaTe said, "Let there be music"; and there was music. And KaTe saw
that the music was good; and KaTe separated the bailaikas from the
uiellian pipes. KaTe called the music Gaffa, and the darkness she called
Baghdad. And there was a night of the swallow and there was the morning
fog. 

And KaTe said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the love-hounds,
and let it separate the love from the anger." And KaTe made the firmament
and separated the love which was under the ivy from the anger which was
under the leaves and the trees. And it was so. And KaTe called the
firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second
day. 

And KaTe said, "Let the seven waves under the heavens be gathered together
into one place, and let the homeground appear." And it was so. KaTe called
the dry land a "sensual world", and the waves that were gathered together
she called snow. And KaTe saw that it was good. And KaTe said, "Let put
forth musical instruments, keyboards yielding notes, and bulgarian trios
bearing background vocals in which is their seed, each according to its
kind, upon the world." And it was so. And there was evening and there was
morning, a third day. 

 And KaTe said, "Let there be little lights shining in the firmament of the
heavens to separate the warm from the soothing; and let them be for
shivers and for quivers and for moans and sighs, and let them be reactions
in the hearts of the believers to give light upon the earth." And it was
so. And KaTe made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night; she made her rare flowers also.
And KaTe set them in the firmament of the records to give light upon the
earth, to rule over the mind and the soul, and to separate the light from
the darkness. And KaTe saw that it was good. And there was evening and
there was morning, a fourth day. 

 And KaTe said, "Let the waves bring forth swarms of live tours, and let
dances pass through the air across the front of the stage." So KaTe
kreated the great musical performances and every poem that accompanies,
with which the images flew, according to their kinds, and every
interpretation according to its kind. And KaTe saw that it was good. And
KaTe blessed them, saying "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the
amphitheaters in the countries, and let concerts multiply on the earth."
And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. 

 And KaTe said, "Let the earth bring forth videos according to their kinds:
rain-makers and dunce caps and chain mail bikinis according to their
kinds." And it was so. And KaTe made the demons of the experiments
according to their kinds and the celtic images according to their kinds,
and everything that breathes within the womb according to its kind. And
KaTe saw that it was good. 

 Then KaTe said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let
them have dominion over the terminals of the network, and over the flame
wars, and over the explanations of 'gaffa', and over the inaudible lyrics
in the background, and over every note that creeps upon the song." So KaTe
kreated love-hounds in her own image, in the image of KaTe she kreated
them; lurker and regular she kreated them. And KaTe blessed them, and KaTe
said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it;
and have dominion over the newsgroups." And KaTe said, "Behold, I have
given you every song yielding beauty which is upon the face of all the
earth, and every video with seed in its fruit." And it was so. And KaTe saw
everything that she had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was
evening and there was morning, a sixth day. 

 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day KaTe finished her work which she had done, and she
rested for four years from all her work which she had done. So KaTe
blessed the long waits and hallowed it, because on it KaTe rested from all
her work which she had done in kreation. (Valerie Nozick)

------END-OF-QUOTES-----------

So, make up your minds! What is the truth? I think, only |>oug or Stev0
can give further details.

Best wishes
    Wieland