KT Secret Concert in S.F. 1989

[kln@a.crl.com]

Of course I'm prejudiced, but I think the <very best> concert Kate ever did was 
the nearly unknown Loma Prieta concert of 1989, one month after the earthquake 
and the release of TSW.  Kate flew in with little advance press, to play a free 
concert just to cheer us up!  Of course with almost no publicity other than in 
the fan network, Slim's in San Francisco was packed to the rafters with Love 
Hounds and BushHeads -- which was exactly the idea.

Kate graciously played two sets, the first with a local band called Borderline 
who specialize in Kate's work, and our own bay area Bulgarian choir, Kitka, 
supplied three singers to stand in for the Trio.  Kate played a wide range of 
her work, including a terrific and unexpected Night of the Swallow.

The second set was just Kate and a piano (Tori was still in grade school that 
year, so comparisons were irrelevant) and she played many of her early songs, 
including two of the infamous Cathy Demos songs!  My rather worn tape of that 
evening, supplied by a friend backstage who taped the event for Kate's archives, 
is my most cherised treasure -- This Woman's Work had the whole room crying.

And who can forget the finale! The band came back out for a brief medley from 
the Ninth Wave including a full-length Jig of Life, followed by a soaring 
rendition of "Rocket's Tail" which had everyone in the audience singing along 
"look at me I'm a rocket ON FIRE!" at the top of their lungs.  Kate had the most 
amazing huge grin on her face as the music EEEEEeeeeeeeeee'd to a halt, then 
thanked US for coming to see her, and wished us luck in recovering from the 
earthquake.  Just then a nice little aftershock jolted the building, about a 
4.8, enough to set the stones and the timbers to squeaking, and when we looked 
up, Kate had gone.

;> Karen  kln@a.crl.com