how 'The Worlds of Kate Bush' touched my life. (fwd)

[Fred Dech <fred@virtual.me.uic.edu>]

hi folks.

you all seem sorta bored, so i thought i'd send you a little story i
sent to your pal Len a month or so ago.  it's all relatively true!

in case you forgot, The Worlds of Kate Bush is at:
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~cbullard/index.htm

--fred

p.s. i hate it when i paste <CR> stuff into a word-wrapping app@!
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From: fred (Fred Dech)
Subject: how 'The Worlds of Kate Bush' touched my life.
To: cbullard@hiwaay.net
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 16:23:23 -0600 (CST)

hi Len.

i really have to share this touching story with you..  i can still
almost not believe it.  in fact... i think i've modified it enough in my
mind since it happened that i probably shouldn't believe it.

anyway.  some time late last week i and a couple grad students that work
in the lab here went out to lunch.  one of these, a guy who calls
himself 'Swami' (no.  he isn't my swami), was lamenting that he was
supposed do a demo for some Japanese dudes on Saturday using the VRML
2.0 browser for the CAVE(tm) he was writing.  he didn't have a decent
2.0 world to show them (mine's not done yet!).  i told him that he
should show the 'The Worlds of Kate Bush.'  he said he hadn't seen it. 
i couldn't f**king believe it!! he's on the g*dda*m, f**king list.  what
is Swami's problem, anyway.  i digress.

anyway, Margaret, another grad student that was with us, say's, "Wow.
That's really cool!  This dude made a whole VRML world dedicated to Kate
Bush?!"  i said, "yes.  he did.  in fact, i sent him email about how
much i liked it, and asked him if Kate Bush was a porno-star.  the name
sounded familiar, but i couldn't quite place her."  Margaret was
appalled!  "I can't believe you f**king (my inflection) told him that!! 
She's a really good singer."  both Swami and i though this was pretty
funny.  Margaret couldn't believe i didn't know her music.  "What radio
station do you listen to, anyway?", she asked.  "oh, public radio and
college stations.", i said. then i proceeded to tell the funny store
about ZRD (www.imagescape.com/wzrd/) and their '100 WATTs of Power'
promo.

i kept making Kate Bush jokes every time i saw Margaret the rest of that
day.  she thought i was sad.

so a couple days later (i think it was Friday) i happen to be down in
the graphics lab chatting with Swami about his browser's Java EAI
(doesn't exist yet, but i told his boss that i needed it, pronto), when
who should walk up but Margaret.  she's holding two cassette tapes and
plops one into each of our hands@!!  "gosh!", i say, "Kate Bush.  how
thoughtful!"  Margaret *is* very thoughtful.

ok, now the *really* amazing part starts.  i'm kickin' back on saturday
wondering how Swami's demo is going, listening to some tunes and smoking
a stogie when i remember that tape in my briefcase.  so i slap that
puppie into my cassette deck (yech!).  she recorded it in Dolby(tm) C. 
i think to myself, "how f**king thoughtful!"

so i'm actually listening to Kate Bush!  her voice sounds familiar, but
i can't quite place her.  "who the hell does she sound like?", i'm
thinking.  "Patty Smith???  naw.  not really.  why am i thinking Patty
Smith?  this girl doesn't sound anything like Patty Smith!"  i wounder
that maybe she sounds alittle like Lori Anderson [i actually walked
right past Lori Anderson at SIGGRAPH this year.  but i didn't say
anything 'cause i'd blanked out on her name!!]?  nope.  "who the f**k
does she remind me of??!!"  then it came back to me...

back in college.  way back in 1980 or 1979 i moved into the second floor
of a brownstone 3-flat with 4 other strangers.  actually two of them
knew each other.  a few years later, two of them who were strangers,
Vicky and John, even end up getting married.  that whole year it seems
like Vicky is only repeatedly playing two f**king albums.  Patty Smith
(the one with her on the cover showing off her tits.  Horses?  i donno.)
and some other chick.  well what the f**k do you know!!  i'm thinking
about all this shit because of this chick i'm listening to on my
stereo!!  that second album was Kate Bush!@!!!!  it's gotta be.  don't
tell me it isn't so, Len.  what would that album have been?  1979 or
1980 or so?

i almost f**king died in that apartment!!  maybe Kate Bush would have
been the last thing i ever heard!!  one really cold night our apartment
filled up with carbon monoxide 'cause a a blocked flue(sp?).  the next
morning none of us could f**king walk without falling down@!!!  we were
all still alive, but barely.  we stumbled out into the sub-zero weather
and shivered with our f**king migrain headaches.  John came real close
to punching our slum-lord.  he was some Pakistani dude and was trying to
tell us that it was our fault.  John kept trying to hit him, but he
couldn't keep his balance long enough to strike a blow without falling
down into the snow first.

shit!  i was in a record store on sunday or saturday trying to recoup on
a scratched CD those m**thrf**kers had sold me a few weeks ago.  it was
WEEN's new CD of country tunes.  i was bummin'.  i sent my wife back
withit.   "duh.  i don't see no f**king scratch.", this dizzy b*t*h had
said tomy wife, but she took it back.  i could see that f**king scratch
from the other side of the room!!!  ha.  i bought it used, and
unblemmished at a reputable place for 4 or so dollars cheaper a week
later.  anyway.  while i'm in this stupid record store i decided to look
for Kate Bush.  unfortunately, she's not between Burl Ives and the
Butthole Surfers where she should be.  oh well.  i'll look for her some
other time...

thanks Len.  thanks for your Worlds of Kate Bush.

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