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

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

hi folks.

your Pal Len told me about this newsgroup after i sent him a story.
you guys seem bored.  hangin' around waiting for that next album to be
released, huh.

i mailed this yesterday, but somehow it got swallowed up in never, never
land.  the story you are about to read is *true*, at least for the most
part.  please excuse the messy carriage returns.  yesterday, before i
sent this, i went through it and cleaned it all up.  i can't go through
that again.  sorry.

incidentally.  The Worlds of Kate Bush can be found at:
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~cbullard/index.htm

here's my unbelievable story:

-----------------------------
Subject: how 'The Worlds of Kate Bush' touched my life.
To: cbullard@hiwaay.net
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 16:23:23 -0600 (CST)
Cc: fred@zenith (Fred Dech)

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
with
it.   "duh.  i don't see no f**king scratch.", this dizzy b*t*h had said
to
my 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.
-----------------------------------
--
  Fred Dech   fdech@uic.edu
  (312) 413-3619  Fax: (312) 413-0447