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Date: Fri, 27 Jul 90 04:46:02 -0400
From: katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)
Subject: ******** ! KATE NEWS ! ******
Vickie here.
Peter Morris (aka Peter David Fitzgerald-Morris/"Mr Homeground") called me today and said that he'd just come back from The Bush home (Dr. & Mrs.) and was given the go-ahead to organize another Homeground/KBC Convention! The KBC is footing the bill and it should be one great party! The best thing of all is that ***Kate will be there***, as she was for the last one!!!!!
The date and venue are not set yet, but it will definitely be in October and will definitely be held in central London. Peter said they should have the date and venue firmed up by next week. I'll post more details as I learn of them. Kate will probably not be there very long, at the last one she was only there for a few minutes (IED, you can give the folks details about that) so no one should go expecting otherwise. There will be videos shown that only the Bush family own (at the last one, songs from the Hammer-smith, edited from the official videotape, were shown!) and goodness knows what else.
Peter wanted me to post this information on the net so people could start making tenative plans, if they wanted to go. Also, he is asking for ideas & suggestions for the Convention. What would people want to see? Do?
Date: hu, 26 Jul 90 18:04 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: KT NEWS !!!!!!!
That's right, KT NEWS! Two separate items, both courtesy of Peter FitzGerald-Morris (Editor of Homeground ), via the much-appreciated agency of Vickie Mapes:
1.) KATE BUSH CONVENTION! It will be in a central London venue,
and is scheduled tentatively for mid-October.
Kate is expected to attend.
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 90 16:23:56 EDT
From: Andrew B Marvick <abm4@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu>
Subject: IED returns to the group
IED was delighted to see how healthy Love-Hounds continues to be. The news of the boxed set of KT CDs (IED gathers the title is rumored to be "This Woman's Work"?) and, perhaps even more exciting, the plans for many U.S. fans to travel to England and attend the November 17 International Kate Bush Convention together, are certain to be stimulants to KT discourse in Love-Hounds for weeks to come.
IED is not certain yet, but he is making every effort to arrange to join the other Love-Hounds and Kate fans at large in London on the 17th November. He would hate to miss out on such a magical occasion. It would be really nice to meet Neil Calton, Love-Hounds's veteran Senior KorrespondenT in the UK; as it would be to re-meet Michael Butler, Vickie and Chris, Larry "Lionheart" Hernandez, and Ed Suranyi--great and sincere Kate fans all!
IED hopes that our Washington State KontingenT will somehow find a way to represent themselves at the Convention, and that even our much-too-busy-for- most-Kate-Bush-stuff Pseudo-Moderator, Douglas Alan, may conspire to stowaway or something in order to make a re-appearance on the KT Con Center Stage for a Trivia KonTest re-match. And Derek, what about you? Can you make it?
IED will be reading Love-Hounds with enthusiasm for news of other pilgrims. Meanwhile, he wishes you all the best.
-- Andrew Marvick
P.S.: Tracy, can you come too? Deb Wentorf, what about you? Tippi Chai, if you're still reading this, can you make it? Jon S. Drukman (see, IED is in such a good mood he even used your whole name, Jon), Joe Turner, have you bought your airline tickets yet? Etc., etc., all those whose names IED can't think of right now--hope you can make it!
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 90 14:18:58 EDT
From: Andrew B Marvick <abm4@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu>
Subject: KonvenTion plans
Hello, Love-Hounds.
IED will be joining the rest in London for the convention. It's more or less final now. He would love to join an American quiz team, should the need arise. One thing he won't do is compete as an individual, the way it was set up for the '85 convention--too nerve-wracking for this philo-canine.
From: spt1@ukc.ac.uk (Stephen Thomas)
Date: 18 Nov 90 14:13:21 GMT
Subject: The Convention - A Report
Yesterday, I had one of the most special days of my life, as did some 1200 other people. I refer, of course, to the KBC/Homeground 1990 Kate Bush Convention at Le Palais in London, and I would like to tell you all about it. Doubtless, there will be things I shall miss, but other Love-Hounds will be able to fill in the gaps.
Myself and a couple of friends, Claire and Liam, drove from Canterbury into London, arriving after a fairly uneventful journey at about 10:30. Parking the car and finding Le Palais took another 20 minutes or so. At Le Palais there was a long queue, all of whom were very obviously other Katefans. At about 11:20 we got in.
Le Palais itself is a rather swish nightclub - you could tell this by the fact that the place was very dark, with occasional islands of neon light. The exception to the gloom was the stage area to the front of the dancefloor, which was very brightly lit. This was set up for some live music (hopes raised!!!) whilst hanging above and behind the stage was a multi-screen bank of TV's, on which were shown videos and stuff. All around the stage were large, recent pictures of Kate - the TSW cover photo, and the Sand Through The Fingers photo. Kate's music was blaring, and I do mean blaring, through the house PA system. I actually did not like the volume it was being played at all - it seemed loud enough to make my skin hurt! Ho hum.
Whilst people were still arriving, I searched for and managed to find the other Love-Hounds. At last, I have met Andrew Marvick, Ed Suryani (sp?), Vickie'n'Chris, Meredith Tarr, Niel Calton, Phil Smyth, and others. Andrew had brought a bunch of white roses and Phil was going round with a card which we could sign. The intent was to give the card and the flowers to Kate when she came on stage. Andrew also had these rather natty stick-on badges with the KT-fem. symbol (we are going to have to think of a better name for that!) and "Love-Hounds" on it. Andrew had also gone to the trouble of putting our names on the stickers, one for each person on V'n'C's list, I presume. Andrew, that was very nice and I thank you for it. I really did not expect that.
Anyway, when everyone was inside, David from Homeground, who was the MC for the day, got onto the stage and welcomed everyone to the Convention. Also on the stage were Peter and Krys (also from Homeground) and Lisa from KBC. David gave us a run-down on what was going to be happening during the day. There was going to be live music and performances from fans (ah!), the showing of a special video presentation called "This Woman's Work", which was made by Homeground and was a chronological compilation of rare and not-so-rare performances, interviews, etc.
There was going to be a raffle, the prize for which was one of Kate's suits, with a photograph of Kate wearing the suit, which would be signed by Kate to the winner. The proceeds of the raffle, of the entire day in fact, would go to the Terrence Higgins Trust, which is Kate's favourite charity. There was going to be the quiz, and spot-prizes all through the day. Then, towards the end, Kate herself would come on and answer questions from the audience! In order to stop that from becoming a farce, what we did was write our questions (with our names) on a piece of paper throughout the day, and then Kate would select a few to answer before she came on. More on this later.
The live performances were very good on the whole, and were very professional. The video was shown in three parts and was impressive and fascinating. At the end was a video-montage made for "Reaching Out" by Homeground which was actually very well done.
There were two surprises. Del Palmer was introduced without warning, and he auctioned his stage passes for The Tour Of Life (which went for 90 pounds, as I recall) and his photo-pass for one of the German performances, which went for about 60 pounds, I think. He also spoke a few words about Al Murphy and Gary Hurst, saying that they were very difficult to replace and they were much missed. For the raffle, Paddy Bush appeared to pick the winning ticket.
Unfortunately, none of the Love-Hounds teams won the quiz, but I would like to congratulate the winners (whose team name I cannot remember, I'm sorry!). Their prize was very special; each of them received an album Boxed Set, individually signed to each member. I saw them after they had collected their prizes, and they were obviously very moved by meeting Kate.
Then, when the video was finished, all the live acts were over, the spot-prizes done, David introduced Kate onto the stage with the simple words "and here's Kate!" and no other warning at all. A short setee was quickly rushed to the front of the stage and Kate appeared from backstage and made herself comfortable. She was wearing all-grey tracksuit affair and looked really casual - not glamourous or pop-starish, just herself.
Of course, people rushed to the front, but David asked people to sit down and be sensible about it, and people were. For the following hour or so she answered some of the questions people had submitted throughout the day. What she did was very nice; she had the pieces of paper with her, but she just read out the person's name and they would ask the question themselves. David and especially Lisa did a sterling job of running around and getting microphones to people.
I cannot remember all of the questions that were asked, and I cannot remember the exact words that Kate answered with, but I can remember some of them. They ranged from questions about her work, about her home and about her attitude towards her fans.
She was very moved by one question. Someone asked, "How do you feel knowing that no matter what you do we will all love and support you?" Of course, there was a huge spontaneous cheer at this point, before she could answer, and I think she was overwhelmed and humbled by this. She tried to make light of it -"Don't, missus. You've got me all of a-fluster!" - but I think one of the things she said in answer to the question was that she didn't feel she deserved such devotion. I think opinions may differ on this!
Another question was, "What are you like when you go shopping, or don't you?" This caused a large laugh from the fans, and Del, who was standing at the back of the stage, was making "It's *me* who does the shopping!" gestures, and when the fans had quietened down he was heard to say "Tell the truth!". As it turns out, Kate *hates* supermarkets - in her words, "They really freak me out." She was rather comforted to find it wasn't just her, though. Apparently, she has a friend who is just like that, who collects a large basket of shopping before it gets too much and they run out, leaving it behind!
Another funny anecote came when someone asked if she had played two pubs when she was going round with the KT Bush Band. On a certain number she used to dance slowly off the stage and through the audience. One time, though she was doing this and met a friend, who said "Hello Kate!", and Kate responded with, "Oh, hello!" and they stood nattering until Kate realised that she had go back on stage soon, so she danced back to the stage!
Two questions were about her acting. She was asked how she had found working with the Comic Strip. She responded that she enjoyed it immensely, but missed having total control. She was asked to comment on the rumour that she had been asked to play Cathy Earnshaw in a remake of Wuthering Heights. She said that she had heard it - as a rumour, nothing more - she knew as much as we did. She asked us (!) whether we thought it would be a good idea and 1200 people shouted "YES!!" very loudly. "Oh! Do you really think so?", she said, taken aback. "YES!!!!" came the response. "Oh, I shall seriously consider it then, if I'm asked!"
These questions really sum up how Kate was at the Convention. It was not a pop-star talking at adoring fans, rather it Kate Bush meeting her friends and having a chat with them. Her personality was totally unaffected and very endearing. Now when people say "she really is", I know what they mean.
Now, there was one question that when she came to it, she said "I'll save this till the end". Well, the end came and she got that person to ask their question. The question was something about her attitude towards touring, and she had saved it until the end because she had a major announcement to make.
KATE INTENDS TO TOUR AT THE END OF NEXT YEAR!!!
Well, let me qualify that. She said that if things go as planned, she will be putting on a few shows towards the end of next year, although they would probably be announced in January, but she wanted us to be the first to know! That made us all feel very special, of course. Thanks Kate! Obviously, there will be more details from "official" sources later.
After the questions had all be done, Kate asked for a few minutes silence while we considered the memory of Al Murphy and Gary Hurst, to whom the day was dedicated. As we were all quiet, she quickly took a piece of paper which she had stuffed into the top of one of her socks, and sang! It wasn't very long, but she had put some new lyrics to "My Lagan Love", which thanked us for coming and how special we all were to her. This was very moving.
Then she said thanks to everyone who had arranged the day - David, Krys, Peter, Lisa and everyone else. We thought it would be over then, but it wasn't. Steve Davies of EMI presented her with a Platinum Disc for The Sensual World, which everyone was very pleased about, not the least being Kate.
And that was the day! Kate was, of course, lovely, but I also treasure the day because I got chance to meet some of the other Love-Hounds I have read so much of. I would like to thank Andrew, Vickie'n'Chris, Meredith, Ed, Niel, Phil and anyone else who was there for helping make the day a treasured one.
I would like to thank the Homeground team - Peter, Krys, David and Sharon - and Lisa of the KBC for putting in so much effort to make the day work, and work it did!
I want to thank the people who performed live for us, and all those who ran around on the day organising the raffle and selling merchandise.
And of course, I want to thank Paddy, Del and Kate for being there.
Stephen
Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 16:23:46 +0200
From: Sakari Jalovaara <sja@sirius.hut.fi>
Subject: Back from the Convention
I just came from the airport and haven't even unpacked my bags (except for opening CD the box set.) I'm sure there will be detailed reports later; just a couple of quick notes:
Kate was there for a bit longer than just to say "hi"; she sat on a couch on the stage for something like 45 minutes answering questions. It was GREAT! She sang too...
She'll tour next year.
She told, as she said earlier in the HMV "Q" magazine interview, that she has started writing for the next album. Of course it will take quite a lot of time to get from "started writing" to the release day.
There was pretty neat stuff for sale: a new T-shirt (dark blue with a red fem/KT symbol on the heart), programmes from her first tour, badges, posters, old KBC mags, ... And when you bought something you got it in a white plastic bag with a big black fem/KT symbol (here's to hoping it isn't bio-degradable :-)
There were a few (three?) live performances by Kate fans doing covers of Kate songs. Interesting but I think I prefer the originals :-)
There was a video documentary (who put it together? Peter Morris & the gang?) It was, something like 1 to 1.5 hours long and contained some commercially available videos, live TV performances, bits of TV interviews, less easily available videos, etc. It was shown in three parts on a big video wall (the wall was of marginal quality.) The tape is not available for copying :-(
I don't know how many people were there; someone said 1200, someone 1500. My ticket number was > 1100 (it's somewhere in the luggage) so there should be at least that many tickets sold.
There was also the quiz (the prize was an individually autographed box set for every member of the team!) and a raffle (1st prize: a performing costume of Kate's!! Everyone who was there: where has she used it?)
Well, the tour isn't quite certain yet. She's definitely planning live performances late next year but it's on planning stage and it might not end up being a big tour but "just a few shows." If things go smoothly, she'll announce the tour in January.
Pretty nice, huh?
++sja
From: csd@planet.bt.co.uk (Colin Davidson)
Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 16:36:05 GMT
Subject: Konvention news!!!
Well, here goes with a quick summary of the Konvention. I'm sure the rest of the people there will expand on what I say. Vickie taped the som of the interview so I should you'll get a pretty detailed account later.
The Konvention was at the Hammersmith Palais, which turned out to be a fairly spacious nightclub. There seemed to be no indication outside of the club that a Konvention was going on; in fact the whole thing seems to have received little advertising. Despite this, there was over 1200 people who attended the convention. It took about an hour before things really got started and by this time all of the Love-Hounds had congregated in one place. IED kindly supplied us all with Love Hound stickers so we could identify ourselves.
The Konvention was hosted by the Homeground people (possibly others; I'm not sure) and they told us the list of events. Basically it was to be 4 live bands and 3 sessions of videos, some of which contained rare material. The live bands on the whole were quite good. The videos were very interesting; although the picture was displayed on one of these multiple screen machines, rather than being projected. The videos covered her material from her very early days to present and showed part of TV footage she has done and much of her life performances. We also had spot prizes, a raffle and a quiz. We entered 3 teams in the quiz, one of which consisted of the UK love-hounds. Unfortunately, none of the love-hound teams one the prize, which is one of the suits she has been known to wear. Del Palmer and Paddy Bush also turned up and were greeted enthusiastically.
As time got neared to the great interview, many of us love-hounds drifted towards the front, by the stage. By the time Kate came on, I and many others were in the front row. The roar of the crowd made you feel there were more people than there actually were. Questions were done by people placing questions in a box earlier on and appraopriate questions being selected (by KaTe?). The people who's questions were selected were then passed the microphone to ask Kate the question.
Kate looked fairly relaxed, as she sat down on her couch on the stage. The crowd were enthusiastic, but well behaved and I think this helped put her at ease. I can't remember all of the questions, but it went on for about half an hour. The *big* news is that she's started work for a new album and that she's hoping to do some live gigs at the end of next year, possibly even a tour. This news brought tremendous applause and KaTe seemed to really appreciate this. She also said that her fans often helped her when she was down and that she was scared of supermarkets. (Big grocery stores basically). I'll leave it up to the rest of the love-hounds to fill in the details of the interview.
The best thing about it though was when she took a sheet of paper from her stocking and sang a goodbye song reading from the paper. Everybody was awestruck and it was a really great moment. After that she left, waving goodbye as she went. One plucky love-hound then managed to get her autograph by having the nerve to walk through to where she had gone. The rest of was were really jealous.
The whole thing lasted about 4 hours and was really enjoyable. Some of the love-hounds went to Earls Court where many of the love-hounds were staying. There we listened to some of the interview and talked and then listened to Chris's phone call from KaTe herself, which has been recorded a while back. This was quite funny as Chris had been quite naturally taken aback by being phoned up by KaTe. He must have said 'that's great' about 20 times as Kate said how much she liked the video he had made up for the Infant Kiss.
We all met up then, and went to an Italian restaurant. I had to leave after my meal so I don't know what happened after that.
From: Pablo Iglesias <pi>
Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 16:15:19 GMT
Subject: KonvenTion News
Well folks, I see that no one else has posted yet about the KonvenTion so I thought that I'd be the first; am I the only UK lovehound that bothers to show up to the office on a sunday?
Anyway the convention got started at around 12:20 in the Hammersmith Palais. This is a rather large and pretty cool looking dance place in London. ALl in all there were 1208 tickets sold and I can only guess that most people showed up. There were three main parts to the KonvenTion. I won't try to give a complete account of what happened. ALl in all we had the following:
LIVE PERFORMANCES:
No not by kate. The performances were by local artists who had written in to KaTe saying that they were performers etc. Most of them were pretty good but nothing too special. We must have had about 5 of these groups: one 4 piece band; 3 female soloists and one dance group who have an interpretation of "This Woman's Work". These were interspersed in the three parts of the konvention.
DOOR GIVEAWAYS; A RAFFLE and AN AUCTION
All tickets were numbered (mine was 1156) and these numbers were used to pick winners for small prizes. Typically either an autographed copy of TSW album or TSW poster. All the winners had to answer pretty basic KT trivia questions (eg. when is KaTemas) and although the questions go harder towards the end when the people stumbled the audience shouted out the correct answers so that they all got the prizes.
For the raffle they were selling tickets for 1.00 pound. There were 4 prizes: the main one was of one of KaTe's outfits with an autographed picture of Kate wearing the outfit. SOme English guy won this which made me curious as to what the heck this guy was going to do with this :-) Two of the lesser prizes (videos) were won by LoveHounds! Neil Calton got one of them (I forget who got the second)
The auction was conducted by Del Palmer. He brought out two of his passes from the Tour of Life. They fetched something like 80 pounds for his passes and 60 pounds for another pass. This as well as all the other money was to be donated to an Aids research charity.
QUIZ
There was the quiz competition of 20 hard KaTe faKTs. Well, I'm a recent convert to Kateness so I found them hard. The winning group of four got all 20 questions correctly so I guessed that they weren't that hard. The winners eached received a specially autographed copy of the record Box Set.
VIDEO
We had a long video history of KaTe's carreer. THis was divided into three parts. Again, I can't judge as to how rare the material was. It was all very interesting however.
DEL PALMER, PADDY BUSH and ..... KATE!!
Del Palmer came out early an auctioned the passes above; he was also around the people signing autographs. Paddy did the raffle drawing but otherwise didn't say anything or sign autographs.
Kate came out at 5:00. During the first part of the convention there had been a box on the stage where people could leave pieces of papers with questions for here to answer. When se came on stage they arranged a couch so she could sit and answer the questions. She would read the person's name and then the person was given an opportunity to ask the question to KaTe directly. These was all very well done. Kate seemed quite willing to answer all questions. I wish that I'd have a tape recorder or even a piece of paper to remind myself what the questions were.
The one question she left out and didn't answer until the end concerned the possibility that she might tour again. Well folks, according to KaTe herself she would like to tour towards the end of next year. More importantly she said that if things worked out right there would be an official announcement in January about it!!!!! No word on where she'd tour, but judging from her words and the tone it does sound like there is a good possiblity that it will go ahead.
Then KaTe thanked everyone for coming. She asked everyone to have a moment of silence for Gary Hurst and Alan Murphy. When she did this she took out a piece of paper with some words and she sang a small poem saying "thank you" She was then given a platinum record for sales of TSW at which point she left the stage.
Anyway, that is my short recollection of what happened at the convention. For more details you probably need a real Kate expert which I'm not. It was sure nice to see her. She seemed really down to earth; it was also nice to meet some love-hounds and to place a name beside the id's :-)
Pablo
From: nbc%inf.rl.ac.uk@mitvma.mit.edu
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 90 12:36:27 BST
Subject: SHE REALLY IS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Convention was great, fantastic, unbelievable .... I will post a full personal review in due course but there is some really hot news (which I am sure other UK hounds will also be posting but its worth repeating).
KATE IS GOING TO TOUR AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well - she said almost certainly if a few things work out. There should be a firm announcement in January.
She has also started work on the new album - looks like the 90s are going to be a great decade.
I am still recovering from the thrill of the Convention - it was great to see so many Love-hounds. Just hope all of you who vould not make it will be able to see the shows next year.
Be seeing you, Neil
From: ***SEMPSY*** <sre017%cck.cov.ac.uk@mitvma.mit.edu>
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 90 13:59:08 WET
Subject: Convention!!!!!!!
What is coming is my report of the convention:
1990 KB Convention or A Day In The Life Of A Love-Hound!!
It was an absolutely brilliant day,one which I'll never forget!! The doors opened at around 11.20, I headed straight for the merchandise desk. They were selling blue convention t-shirts with the new symbol, badges,KBC back issues, posters, Tour programmes, 1985 convention t-shirts etc!! They were also giving out posters and badges free (not bad eh?). Throughout the day they showed a compilation (called 'this woman's work') of foreign peformances, rare clips etc; this was shown in 3 parts. They showed the special Hitchcock 'Hounds Of Love' done for the last convention again, plus a video of the 1986 video party. At the end of 'This Womans work' they showed a new video set to the song 'Reaching Out', compiling different clips from over the years; this was absolutely stunning!!
Over the day various fans appeared doing their own versions of Kate's songs,all of them were very impressive (they certainly had guts!!). Del Palmer appeared in the afternoon to auction his stage passes and a photo card as well. Paddy picked out the raffle tickets, and one of our own love-hounds won a signed promo video (well done Neil!) All proceeds from the day went to the A.I.D.S charity 'Terence Higgins Trust'. The quiz was held in the afternoon (3.30 ish), 20 questions were set.I think it is fair to say that most teams got around 18/19 except for the winners who got 20. The question that stumped most was 'Who was the director of the Cloudbusting Video?', the answer being Julian Doyle. Then Evan Welsh, Colin Davidson and myself managed to get to the front of the stage. Then.................
Kate appeared to deafening applause. Earlier in the day we had been asked to write down questions with our names on paper. Kate then proceeded to pick them out of a box,read them out, the person who's question got picked,then had the chance to ask Kate themselves. I'll leaver it to someone else to remember the individual questions. Tho' one question no-one will forget,was one about touring
SHE MIGHT BE TOURING AT THE END OF NEXT YEAR!!!!!
If she does Kate says announcements will be made in January.............
LET'S KEEP OUR FINGERS CROSSED!!!!!!!!!
Then Kate asked for some silence for Al Murphy and Gary Hurst, and she sang a short new version of 'My Lagan Love' with new lyrics. I was that engrossed with her singing, I didn't get chance to copy down the lyrics, though basically they were about thanking the fans for their love and dediKation. The flowers from Love-Hounds reached Kate, I think she was certainly overwhelmed with the love by the fans. Thanks to all the organisers, though especially to Kate who made it all happen. I hope I see you all at the end of next year again, this time for the TOUR!!!!......I CAN't WAIT!!!!
It was very nice to see the following Love-Hounds at the convention (apologies if I missed your name on the following list, I couldn't remember everybody!): Evan Welsh, Neil Calton, Colin Davidson, Andrew Marvick, Vickie & Chris (I'm glad you liked the Q mag), Jorn Barger, Chris Ridd, Ed Suranyi (smaller than I had expected!!), Graham Dombkins, Meridith Tarr, Larry Hernandez, Stephen 'J' Carter, Jem Carroll, Greg Bossert and Rick (thanks for the directions!!!).
Andrew Semple
From: nbc%inf.rl.ac.uk@mitvma.mit.edu
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 90 15:14:46 BST
Subject: Convention experiences
Here are my memories of the Convention.
I arrive about 1130 outside Le Palais and was suprised to see a very long queue stretching down the street and had a moment's fear that there was some problem inside. However, the queue moved fairly quickly and I was inside by about 1150.
Once inside I was pleasantly surprised not to find a typical tatty British theatre or concert hall but rather a fairly plush, comfortable night club/dance hall type interior with foyer area, bars, seats, dance floor and stage. On the stage were several monitors, TSW posters and drum kit. Behind the stage was a large multi-screen video monitor (which turned out to be a bit of a pain later on).
Moving inside I met up with Justin (who thought I was |>oug - though he later changed his mind on our similarity - lucky for |>oug :-) ). We both set off in search of other Lovehounds. On my first walk round I failed to spot them but considering the number of people there (>1200) this was not surprising. Then I bumped into someone with a lapel badge with Lovehounds written on it. It was John Barger and he directed me to the area where Lovehounds were congregating. There I found Andrew Marvick who was generously handing out stick-on labels with people's name, the new KT symbol and Lovehounds on them. These proved to be extremely useful during the day as a way of spotting the names we have all seen in this forum and being able to put faces to them. Phil Smyth was also decorating people with pieces of gaffa tape as an extra means of identification.
Thanks to Andy's name badges I was also able to meet Andy Semple, Stephen Thomas, Colin Davidson, Ed Suranyi, Chris and Vickie, Evan Walsh, Meredith Tarr, Larry Hernandez, Jeff Dalton, and Jem. I was particularly pleased to see Jem not only because he was a new convert to KT'ism but also because he had agreed to buy my individual Kate CD's (at a very fair price - if I do say so myself!). I am sure Jem will have many happy hours of listening ahead of him. I then managed to spend most of this money on back issues of the KBC magazine and posters. There was an area selling merchandise at the front of the hall - and when you bought something you got it in a white plastic carrier bag with the new KT symbol.
Having met all these people there was unfortunately few spare moments to chat to them as Homeground and KBC had arranged a very full day. Dave from Homeground introduced himself, Peter and Krys (and later Sharon) from Homeground and Lisa from the KBC. The programme for the day consisted of a number of live acts performing versions of some of Kate's songs and sometimes their own songs, videos, spot prizes, a quiz, a raffle and an auction. We were also told that Kate would appear and would stay around for a reasonable time.
The live acts were a rock group; a girl called Kate Usher (almost the right name!) who played keyboards and sang; a girl who sang unaccompanied two of Kate's songs, a girl who sang to taped backing tracks; and a group of 6 dancers (3 male, 3 female) who did a dance routine to "This Woman's Work". Most were very good and much better than I had expected. They all got a very good reception from the crowd.
The video presentation was split into three sections and was entitled "This Woman's Work". It had been put together by the Homeground team and presented in roughly chronological order videos of Kate's performances, TV spots, interviews etc. This was really great though spoilt a bit by the multi-screen monitor which broke up the image and meant that the text subtitles giving the important dates in Kate's career, chart information about her album and single releases etc. was almost impossible to read. Nevertheless, it was a mammoth piece of work and was thoroughly enjoyed by the whole audience. Unfortunately, it cannot be made available commercially.
During the day there were spot prizes - numbers were drawn and people whose entry ticket had this number won a prize - which was a signed poster, or album usually. Actually, the person had to answer a question about Kate before getting the prize but since the audience shouted out the answers in most cases this was not too difficult. I don't think any Lovehounds were lucky enough to win these.
For the quiz people had to form into teams of four. Somehow I must have given the impression that I know quite a lot about Kate because I was asked to join both a UK and US Lovehounds team. Despite my protestations that I had a terrible memory for facts, Andy and Evan persuaded me to join the UK team along with Colin (I think they may have regretted this later!) Evan gave me a fright when he said we would have to go on stage to answer questions but in the end Peter of Homeground read out 20 questions which the team had to answer on paper and hand in for marking. IMHO the questions were *hard* though my colleagues managed to get most of them.
In the end none of the Lovehounds teams one - it was a team called the rebel rockers or something who all seemed to be girls which I thought was quite a nice touch. Their prizes were personally signed copies of the LP box set. I saw them with these afterwards and they looked great - naturally they were thrilled with them. I have an awful feeling that I will eat my words about the box set and end up getting the album set as well just for the larger booklet!
Del Palmer appeared in the afternoon and helped auction two stage passes and a photo pass. The former went for c. #80 and the latter for c. #60. All the money from this, the raffle, ticket sales and the sale of merchandise was going to the Terrence Higgins Trust (this was a popular choice with the audience). Soon after, Paddy Bush came on stage to draw the winning numbers in the raffle. First prize was one of Kate's suits she has worn for TV appearances plus a photo of Kate that she would sign personally. There were also some runners-up prizes and these included two preview copies of the new Sensual World video (to be officially released this week).
The first number was called and an American voice yelled yea, then the second number was called. Oh my God, it is mine! Somehow I make my way to the stage, scramble on and in a daze press a ticket into Dave's hand. Paddy Bush shakes my hand and hands me a copy of the video. Dave shoves a microphone in front of me and I splutter Neil from Oxford. As I turn to walk off, Dave announces "And here's Kate". There is a tremendous roar and Kate appears. Only later do I find out that the other winner of a video was John Barger. Two Lovehounds win - that's fantastic. And I'm on the same stage as Kate -will I make it off without having a heart attack.
Kate sits on a sofa in front of stage as a thousand flash bulbs go off. When the applause dies down she says how pleased she is to be there and how great she thinks her fans are. She then answers questions that had been selected from ones people had written down during the day. These cover a wide range of topics which I think is best to leave for another posting. As has alrady been said - the main points were the news about the tour and work on the new album.
While she was answering questions, Kate was presented with some art work by a couple of fans, and then Andrew Marvick took up a bunch of white roses and a card signed by all the Lovehounds. These were presented to Kate by Dave from Homeground with an announcement that they wer from Lovehounds. Kate said they were lovely and clearly appreciated the gesture. Well done Andrew! Then after asking for some silence for Gary and Al, Kate takes a sheet of paper from her sock and sings a short song to us all. There is then a surprise for Kate when she is presented with a platinum disc for sales of "The Sensual World". Then all too quickly she leaves to another tremendous ovation.
Still a bit shocked I wander over to the Lovehounds area and Vicky asks whether my video was signed. I say no, so she tells me to go and get it done. John and I go over to the stage and ask one of the helpers. He takes them up to Kate and a few minutes later I have in my hands a video signed with the words "To Neil with love Kate Bush". I was only just coming down to Earth after the birth of my daughter nine weeks ago and now this! I shall probably be in a permanent daze until the tour starts! Vicky also got one of her flyers for SIG signed and was also thrilled.
After the show many of the Lovehounds arranged to go out for a meal. As I was dependent on some fairly unreliable trains I sadly had to miss out on the chance to talk to them all. Though in my numbed state I would probably have rambled incoherently (so what's new). At the tube station Ryan appeared with a signed copy of the HOL CD booklet. He had wandered backstage and met Kate! As you can see some of us Lovehounds had a truely incredible day! I really hope that everone will be able to get to see one of the shows next year.
To sum up, the Convention really exceeded my expectations. Even without the tremendous thrill of winning the signed video it would have been a fantastic day. It is something I will always remember. Neil
P.S. SHE REALLY IS.
--Neil Calton
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 90 12:24:16 EST
From: Andrew B Marvick <abm4@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu>
Subject: KonvenTion
The subjeKT being so special, IED has been persuaded to allow Andrew Marvick to address the Love-Hounds personally. This will not happen again.
Hi, Love-Hounds and all fellow Kate fans!
Wasn't it BRILLIANT? AMAZING!
At this point there have already been quite a few wonderful accounts in Love-Hounds of the convention day, so there is very little for me to add. (I particularly loved Neil Calton's and Stephen Thomas's postings about the day--they really managed to communicate the sheer magic of the occasion. Thanks to all of you for your postings, they were delightful reading.) Even so, I just want to repeat, for my own satisfaKTion:
KATE WAS THERE!! KATE SANG TO US!! KATE IS (probably) GOING TO CONCERTIZE AT THE END OF NEXT YEAR!!
What better news could any Love-Hound hope to be able to post to the group than that, I ask you? INCREDIBLE.
It was great to meet so many Love-Hounds, and finally to be able to put faces to so many familiar names. It was wonderful to meet up with Californian Love-Hound buddies Ed Suranyi and Larry Hernandez again, and it was a particular joy to me to see my dear old friend Vickie Mapes after five long years of phone calls and e-mail messages. Great to see Chris Williams again, too!
Kate said she'd started dancing again, and I thought it showed. By the way, I hope, with the help of Vickie, to produce an accurate and as-complete-as-possible transKripTion of Kate's chat with the KonvenTioneers. As soon as it's ready I'll post it to Love-Hounds. I sympathize with all the fans who couldn't manage to attend the event, and I hope the transcription will be some KompensaTion.
Personal highlights? There were so many, but they included meeting (all too briefly) with Peter Fitzgerald-Morris again after five years; being received so warmly by Dave Cross (a fantastic Master of Ceremonies at both the conventions I was fortunate enough to attend--well done, Dave!); being treated so nicely and with such a spirit of friendship by Lisa of the KBC--thankyou, Lisa, for all your help amid so much seeming chaos; talking (again far too briefly) with Krystyna Fitzgerald on the phone afterward; getting the big bunch of white roses I'd picked out beforehand delivered straight into the lap of Kate--that was a real thrill, especially knowing that the bouquet contained a large card with the unmistakable imprint of LOVE-HOUNDS all over it; seeing Kate walk out on stage; seeing Kate genuinely moved by the love in the air; hearing Kate announce, in an intimate, almost confiding tone--as though she were telling her closest friends--that at long last she thought she would probably give some shows at the end of next year; and most of all, being present to witness Kate as she almost visibly conquered some personal demons and sang, in that special kind of electric silence only a large crowd of people sharing completely the same magic moment can make, that unforgettable little thankyou song to us all--my emotions got the better of me at that point, and tears came to my eyes...
It was a great joy to me to have been there. Here's hoping we can all experience similar magic together in about a year!
"I feel it all around me..."
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 90 13:06:00 EST
From: <CARROLLJ%ALCBAN@KRDC.INT.Alcan.CA>
Subject: A 'Conventional' reaction
Hiya all,
Everybody seems to be giving their personal reactions to the Con. So I guess i might as well :-)
I got to La Palais late (due to British Rail :-(...), and was quite surprised to see that it wasn't the dump I remember it to be - I saw The Cramps there a few years back. They've certainly brightened the place up a bit.
I came in during the first section of the video (that was sooo good. I want a copy!) and had a look round. Spotted a name-tag on somebodies arm (was it you Evan ?), and found everybody else. Met Cindy, Vickie, Ed (he IS shorter than you imagine! :->), IED and (please insert your name(s) here........) etc. Then Neil appears and I buy his CD's (yahoo!! - it WAS a fair price Neil!). Bought two T-shirts - they are *really* neat (prize possesions!)
There is no point in me describing the events of the day, that's been done, and will doubtless be done by people with more accurate descriptions than me.
I was quite worried (seriously) that I would be an 'outsider' to the Love-hounds, seeing as how I'm the 'new boy', as it were.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Everybody was warm, friendly, and so happy to be there. Imagine if you will, the atmosphere at the best party you've ever been to, squared, several times. Thats what it was like. :-)
The most startling thing about the whole convention - I say startling, because it really hit me like a ton of bricks - was Kate herself. She seemed so fantastically, incredibly, unbelievably - well, *normal*.
You know, you watch these videos, and listen to this incredible music, and find that it's not created by some 'super-being' or 'god', but by a human being!! I say that "She really ISN'T...", which is a far more wonderfull situation than "She really is.." - although some people will no doubt disagree :->>
I don't know. The last few weeks have been the most unusual and uplifting of my life. Its been so strange. From getting the 'head-rush' of awakening to Kates music, to attending the convention, and meeting all these incredible people - I feel a different person to what I did a month ago....
....and I love it.
Just my thoughts.
Love and thanx.
Jem xx
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 90 12:05:58 PST
From: ed@das.llnl.gov (Edward Suranyi)
Subject: Convention/Trip to Peter's house [LONG, but worth it!]
Hi! I'll try not to repeat too much of what's already been said, as the major news has already been posted.
Larry Hernandez, Chris'n'Vickie, and I had arranged to meet at Gatwick Airport on Saturday morning, as we were all supposed to arrive within an hour of each other. Despite the fact that we were all coming on different airlines, and connecting in differnt cities, we managed to meet pretty much as we had planned. We went straight to our hotel, where we stopped just long enough to meet Jorn Barger and some other people staying with him, including Ron from San Diego. (At this point I should mention that I have a terrible memory for names. If I say something that someone does something without mentioning a name, I've forgotten it, and I apologize. If you want to send me e-mail telling me who you are, I'd appreciate it.)
We dropped off our stuff and cleaned up a little, then headed over to Hammersmith. I was surprised at the length of the line, but with over 1200 people attending I should have expected it. In line I met Andy Marvick, Meredith Tarr, and some others.
Other posts have described the room. We Love-Hounds set up a meeting place near a couch, and we all signed the card that Andy got for the flowers we planned to give Kate.
In the following, I'll use the legend:
K: Kate
Q: Questioner from the audience
A: Shouts from the audience
WAC: wild applause and cheering. I have to use this one a lot!
At the beginning, the people from Homeground introduced themselves. David Cross (I think that's his last name -- I don't remember for sure!) said, "There are people all over the world here today. We have lots of Americans." A big cheer went up among the Americans. "I thought that would get a reaction from the Americans," he said. He described the program, then said, "And, yes, Kate will be here."
WAC.
"And she's not going to just say hello and leave. She's going to be here for quite awhile, answering questions from the audience. So don't worry."
Others have described the video presentation. Nobody yet has said that some of the things shown were stuff that I didn't imagine existed: especially, "Coffee Homeground" from the Hammersmith Odeon concert! As you know, this isn't on the officially released video. I was awestruck; it was incredible. I'll also just say that in the Rapido interview, Kate talks about her fans, and says, "I think they must be completely mad, and thank you very much!" This brought some cheers from the audience.
I was part of a quiz team consisting of Andy, Meredith, Graham from Australia, and me. Unfortunately, we didn't win. Also, it turns out that we were all wrong about the stumper question. The next day, Peter Fitzgerald-Morris of Homeground told us that the one question that only the winner got right was "What was the full name of the Roy Harper song that Kate sang backing vocals for." It turns out that "You (The Game, Part II)" is NOT the complete title! I'll tell more about my trip to Peter's house in Kent below.
We met Lisa, who runs the K.B.C. Chris asked her if Kate planned to perform at all, and she said, "Well, you know, Kate would really love to, but the problem is that it would be bootlegged." As you know, she sang a little anyway.
Most of the rest of the program has been discussed by others, so I'll just skip to the question and answer section. I will be paraphrasing here, and posting only what I remember, but I believe that some people managed to get this on tape. I think and hope that they will post the whole thing real soon!
David anounced Kate with the words, "And here's Kate!" Immediately there was a mad rush to the front. David said, "Sit down! Sit down, so everybody can see!" With Kate on stage, nobody wanted to disobey, so everyone sat down in short order. I was especially happy, since, as one other poster has discovered, I'm pretty short.
K: Hello! How are you? Are you having a good time?
A: Hello! Yes!, etc.
K: I just have a couple of things to say first of all. I want to thank you all for coming. I've started writing songs for the next album.
Immensely WAC.
K: Well, that's certainly an encouraging reaction! I've gone back to a simpler style, I think. I'm composing mostly on piano nowadays.
----
K: What a lovely accent. Is it Irish?
Q: No, actually, it's Californian, though some people think it's Canadian.
---
Q: How does it feel, knowing that no matter how hard your work seems, we'll always love you?
WAC.
K: Well, it's really encouraging. Sometimes, when I'm in the middle of an album, I don't think it'll ever be finished, and I get so frustrated.
---
[Kate had been asked about her first recording sessions with David Gilmour.]
K: One of the songs I recorded then was "Passing Through Air", which I think became a B-side later.
A: "Army Dreamers."
K: No, I didn't record "Army Dreamers" then.
A: No, we mean it was a B-side for "Army Dreamers."
K: Was it? Well, you would know!
---
Q: [unfurls a huge flag of Brazil] I'm too emotional.
With prodding from the audience and Kate, he says,
Q: Have you ever been to Brazil?
K: No. I've heard it's really a lovely place, though.
Q: Can I ask you one other thing?
K: Um, Yes.
Unfortunately, I've forgotten what the second question was, although I seem to remember that it was kind of neat. If anyone remembers, please post.
---
K: I thought I'd be really nervous, answering questions in front of a large crowd, but I'm actually quite relaxed now!
---
K: [looking at a question she just took out of the box] Hmm, I think I'll save this one till last.
Of course, we know what that last question was now!
---
Unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten most of the question and answer session. Kate was onstage for between 45 minutes and an hour, so lots of other questions were asked. I hope that within a couple of weeks someone will post a complete transcript. Failing that, could others post questions and answers that I didn't?
---
I do, of course, remember the LAST question:
K: And here's the last question, that I set aside earlier. [Reads name]
Q: Since it's been so long since your last tour, do you have any plans at all to tour in the foreseable future?
K: Well, actually, we've discussed this and now plan to have some live shows towards the end of next year.
Incredibly WAC, lasting several minutes!
K: A final decision will be made in January. I just wanted you to be the first to know.
Andy got a large bunch of roses. As the questioning went on, it appeared that he might have been forgotten. So Andy slowly made his way to the side of the stage. David saw him, and took the flowers. "These are from the Love-Hounds, the American fans," he said as he gave them to Kate. [Yes, I know it's not just Americans, but that's what he said.] "Oh, how lovely," she said.
Others have described how Kate pulled a piece of paper out of her sock, and sang My Lagan Love with new lyrics. Peter told us later that she hadn't decided whether to sing that until the very end, when she would see how she felt. That's why it was hidden until she pulled it out. Peter said she left feeling ecstatic -- which is kind of how we felt, too!
Riding the underground back to our hotel, I mentioned that when Kate announced the live shows, I really wanted to shout, "Please come to America this time!" Someone who I didn't know, who was standing near us and who had also just come from the convention, said, "I asked Del Palmer about that just now, and he said they definitely are planning to come to America, at least the major cities: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco. . ."
Pinch me, I must be dreaming!
About twenty of us went out for dinner to an Italian restaurant. Afterwards, we stared to break up.
The next day Chris'n'Vickie had been invited to Peter and Krys Fitzgerald-Morris' place in Kent. They were allowed to bring a few friends. I was lucky enough to be one. [Thanks, Vickie! If there's only one thing that you've done for me that I will never forget, this is it!] Others were Larry Hernandez, Jorn Barger, and Ron from San Diego (whose last name I've forgotten). Later, Graham from Australia showed up. Ron had given Del a t-shirt describing the many attractions of San Diego, hoping to convince Kate to go there.
It was about an hour's train ride from Victoria station to Rochester. We called Peter up, and he and David Cross showed up in two cars a few minutes later, and drove us to his house.
There, we met Krys, and a couple from Liverpool, Paul and Pammy. Chris'n'Vickie had brought a small 8mm video deck, which we set up so Peter et al could see some of the Japanese videos which hadn't made it to them yet. In return, Peter showed us some extremely rare video.
We asked how the question and answer session worked, and David said that Kate and Lisa went through all the submitted questions, and chose the ones that she would answer. As there were over 90 questions submitted, she couldn't possibly have time to answer them all. Anyway, about 30 of them were, "Are you going to go on tour?" Someone asked, "Would you come over to my house for some tea sometime?" So those questions had to be weeded out. He said that Kate definitely wanted to call on the guy from Brazil, because she wanted to speak to the person who had come such a long way.
David had to leave early in the evening. Later, some people went to bring back fish and chips for dinner. (Vickie really wanted to experience this English dish.)
We planned to go back by the very last train, so Peter called up British Rail and they told him there was a train at 23:54. When the time came, Paul and Peter drove us in two cars to the train station. Paul and Pammy had to go back to Liverpool, so they left us there. One of us looked at the schedule, and said, "Uh, oh". There was no 23:54 train listed on Sunday! We waited there twenty minutes until it was obvious that no such train existed. It was decided that we should go back to Peter's house to decide what to do. The only problem was, with Paul gone there was only one car! For awhile we tried to fit all eight of us in Peter's tiny European car. This led to some hilarious contortions (Ron took a picture; it should be interesting) until we decided that it was simply impossible.
Fortunately, there was a taxi at the train station, so half of us took that, and the others went in Peter's car.
Back at Peter's place it was decided that he would drive those of us who had to leave the next day all the way back to London; the others would spend the night there. As my plane left Monday afternoon, I went back to London with Peter.
The drive back was lots of fun, although we almost got lost a couple of times. We went right through Lewisham, and Peter said, "I don't think the pub that the KT Bush Band played at for the first time is on our route, but it's in this town and if we pass it I'll tell you."
Another time he said, "If you look between the buildings on the right side of the road, you'll see the area where Kate lives nowadays. It's about 200 yards away."
I guess I've gone on long enough. If I think of anything else to say later, I'll post it. I was very happy to meet everybody there --especially Graham, Meredith, Neil, Ron, and everybody else whose names have just slipped my mind.
Ed
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 90 17:54:09 PST
From: ed@das.llnl.gov (Edward Suranyi)
Subject: Re: Convention/Trip to Peter's house [LONG, but worth it!]
I wrote, a few hours ago: > Unfortunately, I've forgotten what the second question was, although I seem to remember that it was kind of neat. If anyone remembers, please post.
Well, now I remember the question! Here's the rest of this conversation:
Q: There's a bird native to Brazil that sounds just that the bird sounds at the end of "Walk Straight Down The Middle". Is that were they came from?
Kate says that it wasn't, that she just made it up while sitting around one day, but that others said it sounded like a peacock. Then she said: K: Let's see if I can do it right now.
And she did! She made the sound just like in the song! Much applause followed.
Ed
written by Love-Hounds
compiled and edited
by
Wieland Willker
Sept 1995 June 1996