Re: Anybody remember Break-Through?

[Chris Williams <chrisw@miso.wwa.com>]

>From: "Chris Beckwith" <beckwith@biddeford.com>
>Date: Sun, 7 Jul 1996 06:11:27 -0500
>Subject: Re: Anybody remember Break-Through?
>
>ttuerff@primenet.com (Tom Tuerff) wrote:
>
>> Back in the 80s there was a KB fanzine called Break-Through, published
>> out of Canada by a husband and wife team who eventually got divorced
>> when one of them (The Husband) found Jesus and decided Kate was 
>> evil.
>
>I don't think he came to believe she was *evil,* just not an
>appropriate idol for worship by a born-again Christian (Jesus has a
>way of crowding out all else when you're a Christian newbie.)  That
>said, Dale Somerville's "True Believer" stance became
>extraordinarily heavy-handed (IMHO) towards the end.  It's odd to
>listen to Kate's welcoming message to the Winnipeg Bush-Con thanking
>"Mr. Dale Somerville" for his efforts on her behalf with the benefit
>of hindsight.

   Personally, the end came when Robyn moved in. We knew Dale from
*before* Breakthrough when we called him after his ad in Rolling
Stone. We followed Breakthrough from the begining till the first
Robyn issue, the one with pictures of Robyn's late cats, and her
poetry. 

>The other factor in Break-Through's untimely demise that doesn't get
>as much play (because it's not as sexy as a spiritual
>transformation) is that the Somervilles lost thousands on the venture
>and would probably have ceased publication in any event.  I was sent
>the final issue gratis, which should tell you something about their
>business sense.  Generous to a fault, and not built to last.

   We didn't see a last issue, unless the one where the tag line changed
from "A Magazine Dedicated To Kate Bush" to "A Magazine Dedicated To
Kate Bush Fans".

   I don't know exactly how much of a financial strain it was...I believe
Dale inherited a very large wheat farm, and could afford to spend quite 
a bit on this hobby. Before Breakthrough, if I recall correctly, he
put a full page ad in the the various Canadian editions of TV Guide
urging Kate to tour. I doubt if she ever saw it, but he did get interviewed
about it.

>> This was a bad thing, because the magazine, published in tabloid
>> style, was quite good--I dare say better than Homeground at times. 
>
>Agreed!  While taking nothing away from the Homeground crew, the
>Somervilles had a great thing going for a while.  This was the
>Golden Age of KB fandom, and the articles were often extraordinarily
>well-written.  The last issue contained the entire Peter Swales
>interview that was excerpted in Musician and a super examination of
>Kate's duets up to that point.

   Yeah, it was something. The song-essay contest produced some great
writing.

   A couple of things about Dale...when we visited Winnipeg we found that
Dale had been as deep into Olivia Newton John a couple of years before.
It made me question how much of his obsession was with Kate's music and
how much was with her face and body. 

   That said, much good did come out of it...all the issues of the
fanzine, and Bush-Con. No offense intended to Krys, Peter and Dave,
but Bush-Con was much closer to my ideal fan convention than the 
last two Kate Conventions. The feel of it was like a SF fan convention
than the "event" feel that the official convention has. More chances
to actually talk and socialize with other fans. I look back on it fondly
now, but at the *time* I was stuck in the projection booth playing
videos for 12 hours...heh. That and the dinner and the boat cruise...
a piano and a whole bunch of drunk Kate fans screaming at the top
of their collective lungs to an inpromptu version of "Don't Push
Your Foot On The Heartbrake"...this may well have been the sound
Dr. Jerry Coe was looking for...