Forwarded from Mike H <mikeh@bj-clark.demon.co.uk>

[Karen Newcombe <kln@staralliance.com>]

>Date: Thu, 3 Jul 1997 20:19:07 +0100
>To: Karen Newcombe <kln@staralliance.com>
>From: Mike H <mikeh@bj-clark.demon.co.uk>
>
>Hiya Karen,
>
>Sorry to be a nuisance & I don't want to make a habit of this sort of
>thing, but I'm finding it absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to get anything to
>appear in rec.music.gaffa - I used to be able to up until March (if
>briefly), and then no more - I would be most grateful if you could pass
>on the following for others to read, perhaps, if you would be so kind?
>
>Thanks in advance
>Mike H
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Greetings Kate worshippers,
>
>[**and if you've seen this before please excuse me for repeating
>myself**]
>
>(As someone quite rightly pointed out that's godDESS, please try to get
>the gender right chaps, though I know what you're trying to say.)
>
>I have been lurking on and off for a bit since my more recent messages
>seemed to fail to get through (they did work once upon a time. Maybe
>my software has forgotten how to do it properly) So this is also a test
>of sorts.
>
><SNIPPET>
>This year Kate's birthday falls on a Wednesday, at which point she will
>be 39 (eek!), although you can be sure she'll still look at least 8
>years younger & sexier than ever. (No chauvinism intended.)
></SNIPPET>
>
><MAIN>
>In response to the recent comparing of people's ages, it's worthy of
>note that where the KBC newsletter often carries new pen-pal
>announcements/introductions, the age of these persons (quoted in
>brackets) is invariably in the range of 17 - 25, while 30+ is
>comparatively rare.
>
>Myself being of an age where I had already started my second job when
>Kate first burst upon the scene I find this all very pleasantly
>surprising. Gosh, I mean to say there must be loads of you that have
>completely missed out on that initial first time ever experience, almost
>20 years ago, when out of nowhere we were suddenly & heavily saturated
>with KB (all down to EMI of course).
>
>I've been trying to remember who else was around at the time - in
>England at any rate - Gary Neumann, The Pretenders certainly, and
>Blondie of course (i.e. Debbie Harry), Gary Glitter was possibly still
>hanging on, and we'd not long seen the last of The Bay City Rollers.
>Punk was starting up. At this point however the UK charts were dominated
>by ABBA. ABBA were always in the top 10 and seemed to have something new
>every other week. They were never off the BBC's Top Of The Pops (this
>long-running programme was starting to show its age even then).
>
>THEN, late one dark and dismal British Autumn, Capital Radio (serving
>Greater London & surrounds, & still a very new station at that time)
>began playing Wuthering Heights (this was nearly 3 months before the
>actual release of the single in January '78). It was - baffling. Bizarre
>& quirky. Certainly got all our attention though. I never really took to
>it immediately, mainly because Capital were playing rather too often. In
>fact they were playing it to death. To be perfectly honest it was
>getting on all our nerves.
>
>Eventually of course we got to see it performed on TOTP. Baffled again.
>Personally I found the choreography embarrasing to watch at the time,
>although I had to admire her courage for doing it. (I'm older & wiser
>now & have learned to appreciate it more.) Best of all though she had
>finally knocked ABBA off their perch with this thing, which was
>generally appreciated by all.
>
>The one that did it for me though was The Man With The Child In His
>Eyes. I came home from work one evening & turned on Capital as usual. It
>came up and my jaw hit the floor. Rushed out for the album - the rest,
>as they say, is history...
>
>One lasting memory is watching her live on BBC's Saturday Night At The
>Mill - she did 3 songs from TKI, one of which was Rolling The Ball -
>captivating stuff. It would be nice to have kept a video of that, except
>of course in those days you couldn't get a VCR for less than 600 pounds
>(>2mths salary before taxes for the poor civil servant that I was then).
>
>I felt there was something of a hiccup in '83 with The Dreaming, which I
>didn't like at all, it was too different. Much later though I made a
>determined effort to get into it more & now it's one of my favourites,
>although it still helps if I'm in the right mood for it.
>
><SNIPPET>
>I'm glad I turned it around like that because it was a few years later
>when I found out that she had made herself quite ill while doing that
>album. She was doing it all by herself, except she hadn't got her own
>studio yet. Studio fees were anything up to 90 per hour (English pounds
>that is), and it was taking so long that she kept running out of the
>time booked for each one. At one point she could only get the use of one
>in the South of France. It must have been all very stressful. Each night
>she'd finally be thrown out of the studio at something like 11:30pm, but
>snatching the tapes first to take them home and fiddle with them some
>more until 3 or 4 in the morning, if not later. At the same time she was
>trying to survive on a diet of little more than chocolate. She is quoted
>as saying that it got to the point where she would wake up the next day
>and simply not be able to move. (I could be completely wrong but I get a
>strong feeling that something of this particular experience is hinted at
>in Walk Straight Down The Middle.)
>
>She finally went to see daddy, who used to be a doctor, & who was
>horrified to see the state she was in. He diagnosed nervous exhaustion.
>The album had long been finished but was not received well, & she also
>found she couldn't stand the noise & bustle of London any more & had to
>move out. Not least because EMI were also after her saying (about TD)
>"This isn't quite what we were expecting (i.e. it's crap); what else
>have you got?" (unfeeling swine!).
>
>Unfortunately for them she was in no fit state to do anything else for
>at least 6 months. EMI were forced to change their minds in the end
>though - the Americans loved TD. You still do, don't you?
></SNIPPET>
>
>I have been working on a short series of Windows desktop pictures if
>anyone is interested. More details shortly (give me about 2 weeks or
>so).
>
>I am attempting to send this message several different ways so if you
>see several other copies then ignore them.
></MAIN>
>
>-- 
>Mike H..
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