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From: ryan@alpha.ces.cwru.edu (Ryan McGuire)
Summary: My heart's all aflutter
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 90 17:00:04 GMT
At the convention I managed to slip backstage and have a small chat with - you guessed it - Her. Although I didn't think that anyone would be interested in the actual conversation that transpired, IED in particular and other Love Hounds in general nearly demanded a verbatim account.
Because I didn't have a tape recorder I can only do this from memory. So now begins my narrative...
Soon after the event organizers announced the end of the convention and that everyone should pack up, clean up and go home, I started my Kate quest. In the night club where the convention was held there is a restaurant over to the right of the stage on the top floor. As the windows were covered I figured this must be the high-security fortress where they were hiding Her Royal Kateness. I started up the left staircase only to be met by three fans from Liverpool (the Beatles-esque accent gave them away). As they were just relaxing on the stairs and not running around in a tizzy, I thought I had the wrong route.
After bidding them a farewell I made my way over the right-hand stairs. The top of the stairs were barricaded with a couple partitions and curtains. These didn't pose much of a physical barrier, but they did take away the I-didn't-know-I- wasn't-allowed-up-here excuse should I get caught. As soon as I got past the partitions I saw a pair of those gorillas-in-a-tux club bouncers heading my way. Much to my surprise they passed right by without even noticing me. I ventured into the restaurant and saw numerous convention staff personel. Still nobody gave me a second glance.
Then on the far side of the restaurant I saw Her standing next to a table of the flowers everyone had given her that evening. The white roses from the Love Hounds were over to one side. She was surrounded by about a half dozen fans and a couple convention staff. I arranged to take a picture of one fan with Her with his camera if he would do the same for me. Unfortunately he took the picture too soon and I look like just another goofy fan with Kate looking the wrong way. Lisa from the KBC was introducing a lady to Kate and that went something like this:
Lisa: Do you remember such-and-such band that did a cover of one of your songs?
Kate: No. [But She seemed sincerely interested anyways.]
Lisa: This is the mother of their keyboardist, Mrs. Whosit. She's a big fan of yours.
Kate: Very nice to meet you. [Shakes Mrs. Whosit's hand.]
Mrs. Whosit: [Babble incoherently with a few English words thrown in for effect]
By now most of the other fans have left and Lisa leaves with Mrs. Whosit, leaving only me and another fan there with Kate. He gets his autograph and leaves. Now it's my turn, the moment I've been waiting for, my time (almost) alone with Her.
Ryan: I see you got our flowers. [pointing to the roses.]
Kate: Oh yes, they're very pretty.
Ryan: You can guess what I'm up here for. [Holding out a pen and a CD booklet from Hounds of Love ]
Kate: Sure...here. [Reaching out for the stuff] What's your name?
R: Ryan....McGuire
K: R...
R: R Y A N
K: [sign sign sign] Where are you from? [handing the stuff back]
R: America ... Cleveland.
K: Well that's a nice accent.
R: I don't have an accent; you do.
K: [Smiling and nearly laughing] I guess it's all where you look at it from.
Then Lisa reappears looking very official.
Lisa: [to Kate] You ready?
K: [to Lisa] Oh...yes. [to me] It was very nice meeting you. [offers a hand to shake]
R: [shaking hands] Nice meeting you.
Her hand was slender and rather warm. My was a bit cooler but at least it wasn't all sweaty. I'm happy.
K: [heading off to an exit] Bye now.
R: I'll just stay here and faint now. [Faking the beginning of a faint]
K: [Smiling at that (very) little bit of humor].
As an addendum to this story I can relate how I thought I lost her autograph on the way back to the underground. Then again that may be too embarrassing.
From: **Love-Hound** <sre017%cck.cov.ac.uk@mitvma.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 22 Nov 90 15:16:19 WET
Subject: Photos etc
Regarding quiz question on Roy Harper duet,we got that one right,so more than one got it correct. The answer we put down was 'You (The Game Part II) the two halves in flight' which I'm sure is correct.
-- Andy Semple
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 90 16:23:18 CST
From: barger@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Jorn Barger)
Subject: More KateCon gossip
Chris and Vickie and I flew back (separately) yesterday, after a week of sightseeing, leaving only Larry keeping the Anne Elizabeth House warm. Some addenda:
The holdup for Kate's version of Rocketman is that it's for an allstar Elton tribute album, and they're only slowly accumulating enough mega-stars to fill the album.
We got some details on the CD-set's songlist from Peter and Dave: they themselves had been asked to do the first draft of all possible tracks to include, and they accidentally forgot the 7" version of Cloudbusting. (One down.) Kate scratched Dreamtime, The Confrontation, and one or two others (correct me if I'm getting things slightly wrong, here.) The duplication of "Walk Straight Down the Middle" (Andreas, that's what I was calling the hidden joke, for after the 2nd time the next song is "Be kind to my Mistakes) must have been due to carelessness and/or the economy of only making one master tape for LP's and CD's (and cassettes, which I saw in England but hadn't heard of before).
D&P told us that the only reason the TV version of "December" was released on the "It's Christmas" compilation was that the EMI guy who fetched it from the vault pulled the wrong tape-- lucky for us.
The CD set is selling for $200 in the UK, but I picked up an LP set for 68 pounds, minus 15% VAT makes it about $116! Vickie will be raving shortly about the Virgin Megastore...
The KateCon T-shirts are dark blue with a simple KT-fem symbol in red on the breast. There were matching buttons for sale, and a big thick red heart with a gold lion-profile on one side (lion-heart) which I assume is ancient but I'd never seen it before. I asked for one of everything at the souvenir booth, and it came to 49 pounds 50 (= $100). The new poster is a drawing by Debbi (?) of Kate in the TSW-video outfit, walking among dolphins and snow and leaves and stars and who knows what all, really very nice,
Kate told a funny story about one of the early band's first pub-gigs, where she danced down into the crowd (as she told the story, she did funny hullaballoo dance-moves to illustrate) where a schoolchum greeted her, and she realized the pretentiousness of her poses so she stopped and chatted, and then realized it was time to sing again so boogied back up on stage...
KATEFANS MUST BE THE NICEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!!!!! Peter and Krys and Pammy and Dave were so thoughtful and open and generous of their time and home, it was just too cool!!!
Yes, I won a video, and Kate signed it. Ron Hill and Cynthia Shaefer and Mark Semich and I were all sitting front and center (only a few yards from Kate when she appeared), and we took turns defending our space while the others went for drinks, etc. I asked Ron to buy me ten raffle tickets (one pound each) and he got five for himself, and handed me the batch that included the winning ticket. (Thanks again, Ron.) I kept hoping but didn't really think I stood a chance-- I heard later they'd raised 1300 pounds on the raffle, so my chances were one in 130, but then they gave at least three prizes, which improved the odds still more.
Only the people sitting near me heard me shout "That's me" when they called my number, but I clambered up on stage-- my hands were shaking-- and yelled "Jorn from Chicago" into Dave's mike, and shook Paddy's hand (he was grinning insanely), and Dave apologized that I wouldn't be able to play the PAL video on US equipment, and I said I'd treasure it anyway, and gave a raised-fist victory-salute as I left the stage (anyone got any photos of me on stage???).
I got to see the video the next day at Peter's: it's the TSW videos as they're about to be released (finally-- things really move slow over there) in England, which is prefaced by the entire VH-1 special, though my copy has the time-stamp thruout. Vickie convinced me to take it to Peter afterwards to get it signed, along with a SIG radio-show flyer, and then she called me a fool when I told her I'd just handed them to him, and hadn't pressed my way backstage with him, which probably would have been easy. As it turns out, Ryan was the only person we know of who actually met her that day-- even the quiz winners had to wait outside for their autographed boxes to be delivered.
By the way, it appears our teams didn't even finish 2nd in the quiz, for we missed the Roy Harper question as well as the KateCon-One convention-location question, and there were many 19-right results. Peter said they were VERY relieved that that one team got all 20, because they just didn't have time to do run-offs amoung such a big tie.
Kate's little reworking of Lagan Love was one of only about ten songs she's sung in public in the last ten years. As far as anyone could remember, it was her only a capella public performance ever.
She was very very nervous, it seemed to me. She told about her panic when she has to go to the grocery store check-out-- (Kate, I'll shop for you!). But Dave said that she was absolutely ecstatic afterwards at the warm warm warm warm warm reception she received. Yay Kate! Yay us! Yay concert tour! Ouch bank account!
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 90 17:23:58 CST
From: barger@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Jorn Barger)
Subject: More KateCon addenda
One of the original names of "Maybe"/"Davey" was "Humming"!?!? The names Maybe and Davey were both used too, changing at one point when the lyrics changed. This was part of Kate's answer to a question about the Gilmour demos.
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 90 02:27:56 -0500
From: katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)
Subject: Vickie's report (Extremely long-please forgive me!)
Vickie here. Chris & I got home very late last night (Thursday) and have spent the day resting and recurperating! What a long strange week it's been! We haven't completely caught up with reading Love-Hounds but I'm sure that the highlights have been gone over multiple times. I'll just start typing and see what happens.
Our trip to England was wonderful. We flew to Miami and our connecting flight was on time. A particularly wonderful thing about the second part of the flight was that the plane flew up the entire length of the eastern seaboard, just off the coast. I sat on the left side of the plane in a window seat so I was able to see and recognize most of the major cities we flew over. Washington, Baltimore, New York, Providence and Boston-at night too! Boston is especially beautiful from the air at night. I slept a little but not much. Chris didn't get any sleep at all. It was light when we were getting close to London and the clouds parted to let us see the beautiful countryside. We were overwhelmed at how GREEN it is. Seriously, we honestly didn't expect it to be so colorful this late in the year. We held hands as the plane began descent and kept sqeezing harder and harder the closer to the ground we got. When we touched down I started crying. England! (OH MY GOD I'M IN ENGLAND!!)
The first thing I bought when we got off the plane was a Kit-Kat (Kate's favorite snack) and I was suprised at the red packaging. If I'd known that they look different over there I'd have brought some American Kit-Kats with me to give to Kate. They taste the same though-yum!
We met up with Ed & Larry and rode the train into Victoria Station. On the way there we were joking about how EVERYTHING looked wonderful ("what a beautiful embankment" "what interesting brick" "what a fantastic ditch") even though we could see why Prince Charles is so pissed off about the ugly Bahaus architecture. :-)
At Victoria station Larry spotted a couple of Katefans who were on their way to the convention. The guy was from Manchester and the woman was from London. They both had tons of Kate buttons on.
We took the tube to Earl's Court and went to our place of abode for the next week, the Ann Elizabeth House. There we met Jorn, Phil, & Footah (aka Gregory Bossert). It's so GREAT to finally meet people whose names I'd been seeing for months now. We cleaned up and hopped on the tube to Hammersmith. It was raining lightly and the line was already long. We hadn't gone very far when we spotted other Hounds.
ANDY!! Yay! We hadn't seen each other for years! It was a very emotional moment for me to see Andy again but I didn't have time to let it get to me because then we were being introduced to lots of other Hounds. Meredith! Pablo! Graham! Justin! Mark! We met more inside (Jem! SO glad you were there! Neil! Stephen C.! Colin! Sakari! Thanks for the tape! Christer! Ryan! Chris Ridd! Stephen T.! Kimon!) and some of you I didn't meet until after the convention was over. Evan! I'm deeply, sincerly sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to you or even say good bye. Andy Semple-I agree with you about how great Kate gatherings are! I'm sure I missed meeting some of you altogether. Declan-were you there?? Michael Butler-were you there?? Walter Roberson-were you there?? I'm going to post my list again to update those people who did make it.
When we finally got inside and bought our tickets they were giving away free Kate posters (a shot from RUTH) and buttons. I spotted Peter Morris and had another very emotional moment. We've been friends for about 10 years and we finally got to meet in person! He was the first Katefan I was ever in contact with and has always been very special to me. I'm the first American Katefan he was ever in contact with so he says that makes me special to him too. He was very busy handing out programs so I let him get back to work.
I wandered over to the merchandise booth and stood in line for nearly an hour. The people working the booth were swamped but it was fantastic that no one was impatient, no one was upset or anything of the sort. Everyone was as nice as could be. The merchandise there was amazing! Stuff that I'd thought was rare and priceless was being sold for extremely reasonable prices. The original tour booklet sold for 3 pounds!!!! It wasn't complete (I have an original and it came with folded posters) but a collector could have sold it for a hundred times more. Posters, T-shirts, buttons, old KBC newsletters, all kinds of things were available and all very cheap. The most expensive thing was the T-shirts at 8 pounds. Well worth it! They definitely did a wonderful service to the fans.
Krys later told us that most of the people working the merchandise booth were not Katefans because they wouldn't be as likely to get into time-consuming conversations with the fans. Plus they wouldn't feel like they were missing everything by having to stay in the lobby while the program was going on.
I missed the first part of the program because I was still in the merchandise line but I heard David Cross say that there were fans here from all over the world, including America (lots of cheers at that!).
The three-part video presentation (put together totally by David Cross) was wonderful. The live performances I could have done without, except for a group of dancers who did a routine to This Woman's Work that was great. There were two breaks during the day that allowed people to talk and wander around without fear of missing anything. That was an especially nice touch. During the first break an announcement was made that all the Love-Hounds were in one place and we all cheered! That helped some people find us anyway.
I was worried about the giveaways when I found out that the "winners" had to answer a question before they got a prize. I was terrified that my number would be drawn and I'd get a question that my mind would go blank on. I shouldn't have worried because everyone was shouting out the answers anyway. I was SO happy that Jorn and Neil won prizes!! Good for them!!
Kate was (of course) the highlight and when she walked on stage I got goosebumps and tingles went up my spine. I was fairly close to the stage and I took as many photos as I could. I haven't had them developed yet. I have to make a confession. I had a recording walkman with me and it was all ready to go, but when she came out I was so excited and flustered that I completely forgot I had it! About halfway through the q&a session Chris reminded me and I turned it on. I feel so stupid! I just can't BELIEVE that I forgot all about it! I hope someone else was recording.
When Kate was asked about touring I could feel a collective groan because she's had to answer that question so often and you'd think Katefans would know enough to not even bring it up. Silly me. When she said they were hoping to do some dates at the end of next year the NOISE in that place probably shook the foundation!
It truly was a magic day and it was an indescribable feeling being with over a thousand other people who all felt the magic too.
When it was all over I found out that Jorn hadn't gotten the video he'd won signed. I told him to take it back to get signed and he started to walk away. Thinking that he'd actually get to meet Kate I gave him one of my Suspended In Gaffa flyers to give to her, not expecting to get it back. He didn't get to meet Kate but someone took the video and flyer backstage to Her. When Jorn got back his video it was signed and with it was my flyer--signed! She'd obviously read it because it says "Programmed by Vickie" and it was signed "To Vickie-Lots of Love-Kate Bush"! I'd just wanted her to have it. I'd never had the nerve to write her about my show. I'd always been afraid to tell her because I thought she'd disapprove of me using the name.
Well, now she knows about it and if she disapproved, I doubt that she would have signed the flyer and given it back. I'm so HAPPY!! We were also able to get Neil's prize signed. I guess none of the prize winners actually got to go back and meet Kate. Not even the quiz winners, because they were standing where Jorn, Neil, Justin & I were, waiting to get their signed Box Sets.
After the convention was over 21 of us went to eat at an Italian restaurant. Neil had to go back to Oxford but what happened to the rest of YOU??? Pablo? Steve Fagg? Chris Ridd? Stephen Thomas? Cynthia?
I'm sorry you couldn't stick with the rest of us. After eating there was a mix up, and half the group went to a pub while half of us were left standing outside the restaurant talking. Andy, Chris and Meredith were going to go to Peter & Krys' house but it didn't quite work out. It was too late and the trains were about to stop running. It's too bad because Andy and Meredith had to go leave the next day. I was going to stay with the Love-Hounds, but as it turned out most left to go home before we could meet up again. I didn't get to say goodbye to a lot of you. I feel so bad about that.
We then went to the hostel that Graham and Meredith were staying at and talked until the place closed. Those who had to make the last trains out left and the rest of us found a wonderful little restaurant where we were allowed to sit by ourselves downstairs and talk and eat and play Kate's music on my boom box. I don't even know what time we finally went to bed. It had been one of the very best days of my life and I'll never forget it.
The next day we got up and went to Peter & Krys' house. I'm glad we went but I'm sorry we missed seeing and saying goodbye to the Love-Hounds that left Sunday and Monday. Ed has already written about the visit but I wanted to add that Monday morning we did NOT get to go to the Farm, just in case some people are wondering. It was very nice of Peter & Krys to put us up for the night and we didn't want to put them in an awkward position of having to say no if we asked them to take us there.
We came back by train and later that evening met Krys, Peter and David in Leicester Square to see a movie. We saw Ghost, of all things, but it was interesting seeing it in such a HUGE theater (the Empire) and seeing the big differences between English and American movie theaters. For one thing, seats are reserved which is the strangest thing I've ever seen. Odd! Later that evening we went record shopping with KP&D. We spent nearly the last of our money buying a PAL version of The Whole Story in anticipation of the day when we'll get a PAL VCR.
Chris and I found a wonderful fish & chips shop in Leicester Square. I've become addicted to fish & chips-now I have to find a place in Chicago that makes them English style.
Tuesday Larry, Chris & I just went walking and walking and walking. A high-light was strolling alongside the Thames listening to Happy Rhodes. Later that evening we went back to the hostel and had the enormous pleasure of watching Episode 1.5 of Twin Peaks. Watching TP in England was definitely one of the major highlights of the trip! I'm certain that Kate watches it. It's exactly the kind of thing she would LOVE!!!!
Wednesday Larry, Jorn, Chris & I went walking. We went to Oxford Street and visited the most wonderful store in the Universe (almost)-the Virgin Megastore! I could have spent two days and very large amounts of money in there-if I'd had either. Jorn was very kind to us and lent us the money to buy three things we lusted after (One From the Heart soundtrack on CD and two Mary Coughlin CDs that I'd never seen before-Neil, I don't need those tapes now, thank you anyway). We hit a few more record stores and a bookstore that was very large. In one of the record stores we found cassettes of the Castaway soundtrack and Larry and Jorn bought the ones they had. Luckily, Chris and I had bought the album when it first came out. I'm very happy for Larry and Jorn. According to the guy at the shop the soundtrack is very rare now.
Jorn wanted to try to catch a very strange circus so we parted company. Since Jorn, Chris & I had to leave early Thursday morning the three of us decided to stay up all night so we'd be sure not to miss our flights. Larry was tired so he stayed at the hostel while Chris and I went to eat. We met up with Jorn on Waterloo Bridge at 11:30 and walked for hours. We walked from Waterloo to the City of London and across the Tower Bridge. We had to take a cab from there to Trafalgar Square and then a bus back to Earl's Court. We washed up, packed up and left. Larry went with us to Victoria Station. Our flight back was uneventful. It was nice to get back home but we'd go back in a second. Chris and I both fell in love with London and it's a shame we had to leave just as we were starting to figure it all out.
I'm sorry this is so long. I've edited it down quite a bit already so it could have been worse! I just had to get the major things down. We had a great time! Attending the convention and meeting the other Love-Hounds was a dream come true! I'm sorry I couldn't spend more time with all of you who were there. You're all very wonderful indeed.
To those who couldn't make it, I know most of you would have gone if you could have afforded it &/or had been able to get the time off work or school. You were in our hearts.
She Really Is!
Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 90 02:30:37 -0500
From: katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)
Subject: Why we were able to go...
Vickie here. One more thing. I never did tell the story about how Chris and I were able to go. In April, when we still lived in Kansas City, we flew up to Chicago to see the Bulgarian Chorus in concert. We had gotten one of those cheapie $33.00 round trip fares. On the way back we were scheduled for a Monday morning business flights. American had overbooked and asked for volunteers to give up their seats. We looked at each other and thought no, why should we. The airline got desperate and then offered a $400.00 travel voucher for those who would give up their seats. Then we were first in line to volunteer! Since moving to Chicago Chris had used up his voucher flying back to Kansas City and to Dallas but I hadn't used mine up at all.
When the convention was announced I thought about my voucher but there's no way I would have gone without Chris (we've been together 8 years and met because of Kate) so I dropped the idea. Then American announced a $180.00 one way fare and we tightened our belts for a few weeks to pay for Chris' ticket. In all, Chris and I both flew for under $400.00, including the initial $33.00 we paid in April!
All because we went to see the Bulgarian Female Radio and TV Choir!
Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)
From: think!ames!claris!portal!cup.portal.com!stuart@EDDIE.MIT.EDU
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 90 00:42:59 PST
Subject: Re: My chat with Kate
Thanks to Ryan McGuire for posting that. I always find that seemingly trivial information can say the most... I found Kate's reaction to the mundane aspects of real-world situations to be quite interesting, I find such things say more than one's opinion about world peace, etc.
According to Ryan's report, she seemed to be quite gracious about making small-talk with fans. I just wonder whether she would have been pleased or irritated if Ryan had asked something like "On your third album, what exactly did you mean by [...lyrics quote...] ?" or "Do you agree that the [such-and-such] screen on the Fairlight is more difficult to use than it need be?" ... has anyone heard about such questions being posed outside of a formal interview context?
Ken
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 90 16:28:16 EST
From: nrc@cbema.att.com (Neal R Caldwell, Ii)
Subject: bootleggers
I doubt that the Bush family consider it to be in there interest for anything to fall into the hands of bootleggers. Some of the remarks passed along from the convention, particularly those by Lisa, make it pretty evident that the Bush family does not welcome the attentions of bootleggers. We should all keep that in mind...
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 90 15:32:30 -0500
From: gb10@gte.com (Gregory Bossert)
Subject: con impressions
Well, I got back from distant lands Monday afternoon, and here it is on Friday and I'm finally posting my KonvenTion impressions. I think I missed some of the accounts, so I won't bore y'all with redundant info. Some general and personal observations:
LoveHounds: Given the drama of seeing KaTe, and the suprise and joy over her news, it may be seem odd to some that the most enjoyable aspect of the trip was meeting my fellow LoveHounds -- but this will only suprise those who have yet to meet these folks. It's nice to meet people that don't think you're nuts to travel across the Atlantic (or in Graham's case, across the world) to attend a fan convention; even nicer to find a group of people who share an interest in alternative music, female vocalists, computers, video, good food, etc.; and nicest of all to find a group of people who are all, well, nice people. Maybe it's because KaTe herself seems so nice (i.e. kind, concerned, intelligent, broadminded, etc. [whoops, I'm raving already...]).
KaTe: OK, so I'm sitting there being real cool. I mean, I've met famous people before (I once showed Robert Redford where my folks bathroom was, but that's another story for another time...), and heard other music idols speak (Brian Eno just a month ago...), so really, KaTe's appearance was no big deal, right? Uh huh. I dunno about you guys, but I actually got lightheaded, and I'm sure I had a rapturous smile plastered on my face for about an hour.... I mean, sure She's astoundingly friendly, wonderously well-spoken, stunningly beautiful, endearingly shy, and devastatingly talented; that accounts for a lot, but clearly the dizzying buzz was the result of her divine powers leaking out into the audience. That and the chorus of angels strumming Fairlights and digereedoos...
greg
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 90 04:38:28 -0500
From: katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)
Subject: Chris' stuff
Chris here,
Lisa (of the KBC) dropped by the Love-Hounds Central (a bunch of couches and chairs) to see how we were doing and what we thought of the convention. Andy suggested that it would be nice if she would sing, and Lisa replied that "Kate would love to sing, she really would, but you know it would be bootlegged". Now this seemed like a rather lame excuse, as that possibility exists any time she sings in public.
I replied "What's the harm in that?".
I mentioned that it seemed perfectly plain to me that bootlegs are something that only the most ardent fans buy after they have bought everything that they can legally buy, and that most bootleg material wouldn't be profitable for the record companies to release.
Lisa replied that "Well, it's a violation of trust, isn't it?" I believe I looked very skeptical as she changed her tack and said, "Well it's really the loss of control."
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 90 04:38:28 -0500
From: katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)
Subject: Chris' stuff
Chris here,
I'm not sure but our quiz team may have done better than we thought. The question about the location of the 85 convention may have been correct, I'll have to check the old newsletters to see if it was really moved. Talking to Peter and Kris the next day, it seems that there was a number of entries with an 19 or 20 correct answers, and they feared having to do a run-off, so that when the one with "You (The Game Part II...Two Halves In Flight)" came up they were relieved.
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 90 11:09:08 CST
From: barger@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Jorn Barger)
Subject: Re: Honky Avenger
One clip I found eye-opening in the video spectacular at the Kon was from a British comedy show (someone fill in the details?) where an incredibly obnoxious lout was shouting to someone offstage who he claimed was having carnal relations with Kate Bush... The offstage character replies that he's actually having sex with... [someone even more preposterous], and "just using Kate Bush as a contraceptive!"
I asked Dave and Peter after whether that mightn't be thought in poor taste, and they said, no, Kate herself had told them how funny she found it.
From: rhill@pnet01.cts.com (Ronald HiIl)
Date: 7 Dec 90 09:36:08 GMT
Subject: Hello Convention People
Hello everyone! I am Ronald Hill and I got my computer fixed after 2 months or so of being broke down. I first wanted to say hello to everybody I met at the convention. For those of you who don't remember my name I was the Blond Haired, very jet-lagged, backpack tooting, high pitched voice guy from San Diego.. I was also the guy who gave Del the "I love San Diego" T-shirt to give to Kate.
First off I would like to give a big "thank you" to everybody I met forgiving me such a good time. I expected to be there all alone but for the first couple of days I was with lots of people (which made the days I spent outside of London seem slightly lonely!!!). I especially want to thank:
Jorn Barger - for introducing me to everyone and for giving Peter my backback.
Chris 'n' Vickie of Chicago - since it was because of you that I got to meet Peter, Krystyna and spend a day (and a night as it turn out) at their house and see all of their stuff..
Richard (???) - I am sorry but I cannot remember your name even though you told it to me twice!! You were the person who had on the "Black Bart" shirt and I wanted to thank you for those tapes that you are sending me.
The computer that I am accessing only has 52 messages on it from Love-Hounds so I missed all the messages from before the 30th of November so I guess I missed everyones "Con Story". Here's mine. But before I tell it I wanted to again extend the offer to anyone wh was there that wants photos from the convention I have about 75 pictures including-
44 pictures of Kate - these were taken from the center about 3 people back right behind all the rude people who were standing up. I didn't have a close-up lens so they aren't close ups but kattakes up the middle third or so of the pictures. Her face is "whited out" on about a third since I guess it was the brighted thing there! On the rest you can see her face resonably well. I also hav pictures of the presenters,the crowd, the performers, paddy,del, and just about everything that happened!
I also have my favorite picture there which was of Del after the conntion when he was talking to a couple of fans. I asked him if I could get a picture of him smiling since I didn't have any pictures of him smiling. That BUSTED him up and the picture is of him making a happy face at the camera. I also have one of him signing autographs.
Aside from those I also have pictures around London, Beatle Pictures from Liverpool, and pictures from the place where the Prisoner Television show was filmed.
Oh, and for Jorn I have the picture of you climbing off the stage with your video in hand and a BIG ASS grin on your face. I wish I had remembered and taken a picture of you winning the video, but this is a really good picture.
Well heres my convention story. After spending a day and night with some love hounds at the editors of Homegrounds house (and finally officially suscribing to it in person) I wanted to spend a day in a small English town away from all the tourists. Since I also wanted to see "the farm" I of course choose Welli. I took the train and got off at the stop before Welling so I could walk around and see some of the country. I had been under the impression that Welling was more of farm area but it was really more like an upper-middle class town with houses everywhere. I walked around for about 4-5 hours getting destracted by all of the scenery and everything and stopping off at a couple of pubs.
The really weird thing about it was that I have a bad left leg on which I limp slightly and usually if I walk around for more than an hour it starts to hurt. And yet despite the fact that I got really really tired and was carrying around a (for me) heavy backback I didn't have even the slightest pain in my left leg. I don't know if it was the cold, the scenery, the exitement, the "bush vibes", or what. What was even weirder was that a couple of days after I got back from the trip my RIGHT leg started hurting really really bad. This was very strange as there is nothing really wrong with my right leg and yet it was hurting in almost exactly the same way as my left leg normally does. Anyways being able to walk around there (and the rest of England) like that was a really beautiful experience since its be years since I been able to walk much.
Anyways. ooops - I then decided to head towards the East Wickmen area. I saw someone taking pictures up on a hill and walked up there and met a woman who I talked to for about 15 minutes and who causually pointed out that over there is where Kate Bush was born! I walked over to the farm and on to the main street that it is on. I may be a little different then most fans in that I didn't want to "hang out" and wait for her to show up or anything. Actually I kinda felt like I was impossing myself just being on the street. So I had decided to just spend a minute there and get a picture of myself in front of the "east wickham farm" sign (which came out great considering I took it by holding the camerea in front of me. So after walking around the outside of the farm for about two minutes I left heading tards the pub at the end of the street.
As I was walking towards the pub, guess who drove by!!!! It was Del + Kate in a jeep. I only saw them for about 1 1/2 seconds and I doubt they saw me but it was really strange. Kate was wearing a sweater. Anyways I walked over to the pub and talked the barmaid (is that the right term) and she called me a "Kate Bush gazer". She said I was the first Kate Bush fan that she had met that seemed normal, which to me was a scarry thought!!!! A older guy there said he knew her when she was young (she came over to play with his daughter) and all he said about her was that she was VERY shy. He says that when he sees her now she just says hello quickly and keeps on walking..
Anyways from there I went to Liverpool to see all the Beatle sights and then went to wales to see all place where the Prisoner show was filmed. There is a Prisoner shop there (in the same room where the Prisoner stayed in the "village") and the guy said that Kate was there earlier in the year.
The best part of the 10 day trip was of course the convention though....
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 90 6:48:39 EST
From: the element of laughter <woiccare@pebbles.sct.clarkson.edu>
Subject: meredith's Kon reporT
anyways, as vickie guessed, meredith did tell her own tale of the KonvneTion and, knowing that she would approve, i'm going to turn myself into her for a number of paragraphs and relate her story as she told it to me. enjoy!
meredith here!
where to begin...i suppose you've gleaned every detail about the KonvenTion from love-hounds (and i'm sure either ied or c&v or both provided a very extensive report!), but i'll tell you my personal experience anyways, and if i'm redundant, tough shit! :) i got to london on friday afternoon, no problems - we were just in time to catch the next gatwick express train into victoria (which btw, takes you *right* past the factory/power plant (not sure which) from the cover to pink floyd's animals - sans pig, though! :)
at passport control i went to a counter manned by a guy who was at least 65-70 years old. "passport." "length of stay?" -until sunday afternoon. "why are you here?" -for a KaTe bush KonvenTion. he looks up with a completely incredulous look on his face. "the *singer*?!?" -yes. "well, jolly good that!" and stamps the passport. i almost died - it was absolutely *hysterical*!!! by this time it was 3:30pm (and already pitch-dark outside), and we made our way to the youth hostel. as we were checking in, another love-hound who was staying there noticed the KT button on my bag and introduced himself: graham from sydney. he was totally goofy, and *totally* australian, and totally cool. i'd never had an extended conversation with an aussie before!
he was on his way out to find used record shops at the time, but we saw plenty of each other the next day. that night, susan, teja and i went a'wandering: picadilly circus (tower records!!!); dinner from a take-out in chinatown; various pubs in soho and convent garden; jumping on random double-decker busses that were stopped at red lights just to see where they were going; getting lost in the theater district as a result; going out to westminster just in time to see and hear big ben bong ten (pix didn't come out though :( ); carving the KaTefemme symbol into the railing of a bridge crossing the thames with my swiss army knife; :) wandering soho in search of fish'n'chips for teja (the walking feedbag!) and kit-kat bars for us; (they're the *best* in england, their home :) and back since london shuts down at 11:00pm (pain!!!). it was a fun evening!
saturday morning, graham and i headed out to hammersmith early. at 10:00, there was already a line outside of le palais ("the most famous nightspot in the world" - i'd never heard of it!), and as we were standing there in the rain, i saw a man who *exzactly* fit the description of ied that some-one had given me. so i called out "andrew!" and it was him. he had made up nametags for all us love-hounds, with the KaTefemme symbol in red and "love-hounds" under our names. he also had a bouquet of flowers for KaTe, which we all signed the card for once we were together in our corner inside. it said, "to KaTe with love- love-hounds usa and the world," and once everyone had signed it there was a big space off to the right, so andrew gave me the pen and told me to do something, so i put a * over the "with love" and in the space put a "* and the utmost admiration and respect" for lack of more profound or intelligent (so now KaTe has my autograph, but i don't have hers! :) :( ).
back to the queue - when chris'n'vickie showed up, i was pleasantly surprised - they're *exactly* like sf fans! (must be something about the groupie mentality :) they had duct tape, so we all got "suspended in gaffa" with armbands & such, and they also had various ads for vickie's show and the tape of chris' phone conversation with KaTe (envyenvyenvyenvy*green*) and piKTures from their colleKTion & such. inside, we commandeered couches and chairs and made our "love-hound Korner", and i met ed suryani and jorn and phil smythe and evan walsh and a whole bunch of other folks, all of whom were really cool. after the KonvenTion was over, 23 of us decended upon a poor italian restaurant in earl's court - they gave us our own room and we amused them so much we even got free wine! :) then it was too late to go back to the pub, so most of the pack of love-hounds ended up in the common room of the youth hostel until rules kicked them out at midnight. i was really *bummed* i had to leave the next day - these were people i wanted to hang out with some more! exploring london with them would have been a *blast*. but alas, it wasn't to be.
so how did i like the KonvenTion itself? do the words "religious experience" mean anything to you? :) the "live fan entertainment" was so bad it was amusing (ied made an appearance at that point! :) and i'm not sure whether KaTe was listening to it in the back puking or rolling on the floor - could have gone either way! the "this woman's work" video was great - i finally got to see the snl appearance and the prince's trust strap-falling-down performance and even a little bit of les dogs ! chris' gripe about it was that they showed full versions of clips that everybody's alraedy seen, yet only showed a few seconds of other, extremely rare stuff - i agree that it was a bit annoying, but i was in heaven - me, the videoless!
the other fans were also quite amusing - some of them looked like they'd been heading for the monsters of rock, but took a wrong turn somewhere along the way. one dude even had the aspects picture tattooed on his arm! (chris got a piKTure of that i think :) another had a beautiful piKTure of KaTe painted on her leather jacket and another had spikes coming out of his head that made the KT symbol. i think the ones who were gathered under a banner that had a rune on it i think the KT might be based on (where *does* that come from anyway?) and looked like they hadn't seen the light of day in years were some of the people who worship her as a goddess incarnate. (*seriously* -not like we do :) i should've talked to a few of them to see what they were all about, but i was too freaked.
as the enclosed piKTures can't even begin to illustrate, KaTe is the most beautiful woman on the face of the planet. even her best photos do her *no* justice at all! "stunning!" can't even begin to describe her, but it'll have to do. i couldn't believe it. *and* she's hysterically funny. when she first came out, she was genuinely freaked that so many of us had come so far just to see her, and said "you must all be *mad*!" yep! :)
so...she's going to tour! if she decides not to blow of the u.s. again (which i can't see her doing - chris said she had *8* preliminary bookings in the u.s. after the dreaming and she's grown in popularity since then!). know anyone with connections? i'm considering somewhere in the first 10 rows (center!) to be a mission from god. *if* she plays new york when i can get there, that is. with my luck, she'll come smack dab in the middle of exam week or the night before my thesis is due. *or* she'll blow of the u.s. entirely and the love-hound pilgrimage to england will be exam week or christmas. **but aren't you psyched as hell?!?!?!?** heh! :)
meredith
------
ah. i'm woj again. that was bizarre. now i'm even more pissed that i didn't go. (not in the british sense ;) does anybody recall vickie saying way back when that nobody should miss this event if they could possible help it? well, i'm living proof of it - i kick myself periodically just to admonish myself some more. self-punishment? naaah... ;) (*slap*) (owwww!)
woj
From: spt1@ukc.ac.uk (Stephen Thomas)
Date: 21 Dec 90 12:18:42 GMT
Subject: Homeground odds'n'ends
The new Homeground, no. 40, popped through my door this morning. It contains some interesting stuff.
Of course, there is much space given over to the Convention. They run a story of how it was organised, written by Dave, and Krys wrote another article describes what went on behind the scenes. Much to my surprise, they also printed the article I posted to Love-Hounds (edited somewhat) giving my impressions of the day. I had sent a copy to them because I thought they might be interested. A strange feeling to be in print...
Date: Sun, 6 Jan 91 15:30:58 PST
From: ed@das.llnl.gov (Edward Suranyi)
Subject: The biggest Konvention camera screw up of them all!
I was just talking to Peter Fitzgerald-Morris (of Homeground ) on the telephone. Thanks to Neil, he now gets printouts of Love-Hounds. He said he was amused by our stories of cameras malfunctioning, but his own beats all of ours.
You see, someone did not connect something up correctly, so the official video of the Konvention did not come out at all! Peter said Kate was particularly annoyed because she wanted to see all the live acts.
Isn't that awful?
Ed Suranyi
From: Richard.Bollar@f110.n133.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Richard Bollar)
Subject: The biggest Konvention camera screw up of them all!
Date: 10 Jan 91 02:47:00 GMT
Not that I'm paranoid, but do you think that maybe a copy does exist, but to prevent what has to be the constant "can I get a copy?" requests, the official line is that a copy doesn't exist.
Yeah, I'm paranoid....
From: nbc%inf.rl.ac.uk@mitvma.mit.edu
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 91 18:12:55 GMT-0:00
Subject: February issue of Q Magazine
The February issue of Q Magazine has a small piece about the Convention.
"Sighs, swoons and hankies dabbing damp eyes at the Kate Bush fan convention when their heroine not only made a personal appearance on stage at the Hammersmith Palais but announced that she would be playing live dates in autumn this year - sensational news considering that her first tour, in 1979, has thus far looked like being her last. While the sanguine looks of record company personnel on hearing this suggested that a certain amount of "believe-when-see" should be included in the equation, the sweetheart of the suburbs is said to be progressing with unusual velocity on her new album and maybe this time wildest dreams will come true."
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 91 12:49:58 -0500
From: gb10@gte.com (Gregory Bossert)
Subject: KonvenTion
This does remind me of a KonvenTion story: when we woke up Sunday, Jorn asked us "what Kate Bush song are you thinking of?" I can't remember anyone else's answers -- for some reason the question really caught me off guard. Of course, we *were* all thinking of KT songs. I had been humming "I'm Still Waiting" without realizing it, and I suddenly got the feeling that the song had been central to some incredible dream that I couldn't remember. Last Sunday night I was checking the lyrics for the TWW booklets and, while listening to ISW, that feeling came back: the song was somehow vital to some thought or mood that I couldn't quite recall from dreamtime. I think Justin and Ron Hill were the other people Jorn asked (sorry if I'm confused about this): any of you remember your answers?
I'll just go be weirded out for a while... later!
footah!
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 91 17:47:17 EST
From: Andrew B Marvick <abm4@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu>
Subject: photos
Hi, Love-Hounds.
First, further congratulations to Ron Hill are in order for the splendid job he did with the photographic record of the KonvenTion. IED, like so many others who received copies of the photos, enjoyed them immensely. Particularly magical to IED was the photograph of Kate at the very moment when she held in her hands the official Love-Hounds bouquet (four dozen white roses with a big card saying "TO KATE FROM THE LOVE-HOUNDS--USA AND THE WORLD" on it)--in fact, Ron's shot perfectly conveys the moment when Kate must actually have been reading the card itself (she is looking at the card in the cellophane)--and to add to the magic, projected on the video-screens behind Kate is a view of the bouquet from another angle, on which can be read the letters "FROM THE LOVE-H--"! The shot also shows Dave Cross, who has just handed the flowers to Kate and explained who they were from! Just one of Love-Hounds' several small but not insignificant moments of glory, folks! And all you philocanines who were unfortunately unable to attend were in the thoughts of those who could be there. Thanks again, Ron, for the great pictures.
From: L-H@cup.portal.com
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 1991 18:18:23 -0800
Subject: KTISGOD license plate
Anyway, IED, and Steve Williams (who also caught the reference), yes I have received my KTISGOD license plate back from England finally. For the rest of you'all's information, I took my license plate with me when I attended the KonvenTion in London in November. I left it with Peter and Krystyna F-M, who gave it to Lisa of the KBC, who got it to Kate, who honoured my fervent hope and wish to autograph it. Well, she did it last January, and for various reasons it has taken until now to get it back. But it's here, thank Kate, in time for my party. I'd like to publicly thank Neil Calton and Ed Suranyi for their great help in this matter-they helped me not be a pest about it. Kate signed:
To Larry with love
Kate Bush
(then the fem/KT design underneath her name)
On the back, she wrote the same thing, except put an X in place of the design. Needless to say, I am quite eKTatic over this-it was the real reason I got the personalized plate to begin with-well, besides the fact that She really IS!
Larry
From: rhill@netlink.cts.com (Ron Hill)
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1992 21:54:17 -0800
Subject: Del
As far as Del being a lucky man. At the 1990 Kate Bush Convention I asked him what it was like to live with someone so attractive, and he said "Well, I've known her for so long, that it's just like looking at you." I've never been able to comprehend this! :-)
On to 1990 - Kate's Chat With Fans
written by Love-Hounds
compiled and edited
by
Wieland Willker
Sept 1995 June 1996