Back to Dreaming E. MisK
[Be careful, several things in this part are gossip! Don't take everything too serious! --WIE]
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 85 15:46:22 edt
From: Doug Alan <nessus>
Subject: Re: Kate's Age
> How old is Kate Bush? It seems like she's been around for so long, yet I've heard she's relatively young.
She turned 27 on July 30. "Passing Through Air", the B-side to "Army Dreamers" was recorded when she was 15!
"Passing through air, you mix the stars with your arms
Walking through here, the doom of eternity balms"
Doug
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 85 13:46:43 edt
From: Doug Alan <nessus>
Subject: Killing Joke
Random trivia: Kate likes punk and the Sex Pistols (see "Blow Away"). She said very recently (within the last month) that the worst day of her life was when Killing Joke (a punk group) broke up. (I think she was exagerating a little....) Killing Joke was her favorite band of 1984, and her favorite song was "Eighties" by Killing Joke. Someone from Killing Joke plays guitar on "Hounds of Love".
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 85 11:02:32 pdt
From: Jordan Hayes <jordan%ucbarpa@Berkeley>
Subject: Killing Joke
Hmmm... Killing Joke was a really excellent band. However, "Eighties" was written when they needed some cash... very flashy video, and not enough power to catch me... also, it was done AFTER their bassist left and went to iceland to start a two basist, no guitarist band -- they turned out really well, but, alas, broke up shortly thereafter...
I saw Killing Joke at an outdoor concert in Toronto about 3 summers ago, and they blew me away... someone had a sound pressure meter and the band was clocked at 140+ db! The acoustics at that concert were also, by the way, far and away the best I've ever heard. It was billed as a "Police Picnic" with the terrible threesome headlining, but featured some TERRIFIC opening bands... Nash the Slash, Oingo Boingo, Iggy Pop, The Go-Go's (before anyone knew who they were) and the SPECIALS <-- only other band (besides the Police, of course) that was allowed an encore... One of the greatest performances of my life! They were astounding! I was so strung out after they finished that I slept through most of the Police. Ho hum.
/jordan
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 85 01:39:01 edt
From: Doug Alan <nessus>
Subject: Re: Killing Joke
I really like "Eighties"! It's definitely not my favorite song of '84, though, and I haven't seen the video. It's pretty strange that it's Kate's favorite. She has a very diverse set of tastes in music: from Captain Beefheart to Stevie Wonder ("Sat In Your Lap" was inspired by a Stevie Wonder concert) to Irish jigs to punk to sea chantees to John Lennon to voodoo chants to Steely Dan to David Bowie to The Eagles. I wouldn't have expected Killing Joke to be at the top of the list, though...
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 85 10:10:33 edt
From: Doug Alan <nessus>
Subject: Kate Bush and the working class
....
I recently talked via telephone to a record collector who specializes in (among others) Kate Bush. Every now and then, he goes to England to search through record stores. He said that in all the time he's been doing this, he's never met a Kate Bush fan working in a record store. He said that sometimes people even get quite antagonistic when he mentions Kate Bush.
He feels that this has something to do with the more stratified class structure that exists in England. Someone who works in a record store is probably of the working class, and Kate Bush was born into a rich landed family. This and the fact that she was basically *handed* a record contract when she was sixteen with the help of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and that she was immediately incredibly successful (her first single went to number one and stayed there for four weeks) without having to struggle at all, cause many to see her as someone who has never had to work a day in her life.
Of course, in reality, she works very hard.
"Some say that knowledge is ho ho ho"
Doug
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 85 19:26:22 PDT
From: allegra!ihnp4!uw-beaver!entropy!fetrow (David Fetrow)
Subject: Pre-Raphaelites
The Smithsonian magazine had a feature on these guys. They were fond of a painting style that died out as Raphael came to prominence and claimed to emulate that style. They were quite fond of this one, stunning, model and they all painted her many times over the years. I suppose it is possible this model was KB in a previous incarnation.
-Dave "Kludgemaster" Fetrow
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 85 16:33:15 EDT
From: Susanne E Trowbridge <ins aset@jhunix>
Subject: Kate Facts
One of my British pen pals sent me some KB articles from the magazines "Smash Hits" and "Record Mirror." Here are some KB facts that were new to me...
* Kate collects earrings.
* Kate has received several proposals of marriage from fans, but she always writes kind, but firm, letters back. (Does KB in fact have an SO - sig-nificant other? Anyone heard anything about her love life? Just curious.)
* One fan offered to skin himself and roll in salt in exchange for a gift from her.
* Kate can't write songs unless she's done all the dirty dishes in the sink and cleaned up her house - she likes doing her own housework!
* Kate has been offered roles in a couple of vampire films.
* She's a chocolate addict - see, KB and I have something in common!
* One wall of her dance room is covered in mirrors, the other features a huge, gruesome painting of a baby doll, its head cracked open, half-submerged in a pool of water.
* "Army Dreamers" is Kate's favorite of her videos.
* Kate doesn't listen to contemporary music - she didn't know who Madonna was until Live Aid.
-Sue
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 85 01:52:22 edt
From: Doug Alan <nessus>
Subject: Bath water
> * One fan offered to skin himself and roll in salt in exchange for a gift from her.
This is from a letter to Record Mirror in 1978 that said
You, yes you, reading this letter, buy Kate Bush's single. God she's ace. I'd crawl a million miles backwards over broken glass to gargle with her bathwater. I'd peel off my skin and jump in a bag of salt for a pair of her panties. Print a quadruple poster of her in the nude please.
This was at the time when the original huge KB publicity poster was posted all over London and on busses, etc. This is *quite* some poster -- it is *not* a safe poster to see.... the photographer who took this, sure understood how to manipulate men's minds....
> * Kate doesn't listen to contemporary music - she didn't know who Madonna was until Live Aid.
Kate refuses to insult anyone. Whenever anyone asks her "What do you think of Foo?" she always says "I think Foo's great!" I bet she knew perfectly well who Madonna is (she says she watches lots of videos, so how could she not?), but just couldn't bring herself to say something good about her.
[Roy Harper]
His records are *very* difficult to find! You might be able to find his latest album "Whatever Happened To Jugula?" though, because it is being carried in lots of record stores because Jimmy Page's name is in big writing on the cover. It is also his best album. Other great albums include "The Unknown Soldier" (1980) and "Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith" (1967). Kate does a duet with Roy on "The Unknown Soldier" and in the runoff groove is scratched "To Kate with love Roy". Roy does a very interesting and original brand of folk-rock, and his songs range from extremely tender love songs, to intense erotica, to craziness, to vicious and powerful attacks on the things he does not like.
Doug
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 85 9:29:38 EDT
From: Laura Frank Clifford <lcliffor@bbnccm.ARPA>
Subject: Klaus Kinski
I read an interview with Kate in an imported English magazine (forget the name) this past weekend. Kate was asked about sex symbols and answered "Ooh - Klaus Kinski", MY FAVORITE actor! Seems Kate's into film, also.
From: think!harvard!bu-cs!sam
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 16:16:47 EST
Subject: Kate believes WHAT?
Peel me off the ceiling...
Kate believes in UFO's? You mean like that the little lights in the night sky are green men in flying saucers? Don't get me wrong...I certainly believe there is life on other planets...but I don't think they've visited earth. She does? (really, now.)
And astral projection? Somebody (Oh DOUUUUUGGGGG????) wanna elaborate on what it really means and in what capacity she "believes" in it?
--Shelli
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 23:13:47 est
From: nessus (Doug Alan)
Subject: Re: Kate believes WHAT?
Well, I dunno about little green men, but yeah, she believes in all the mystical stuff that one loved to believe in as a little kid, but unfortunately didn't anymore upon growing up, cynical, and realistic: UFO's, ghosts, reincarnation, astrology, the Loch Ness Monster, ESP, precognition, orgone accumulators, synchronicity, ... the works.
> And astral projection? Somebody (Oh DOUUUUUGGGGG????) wanna elaborate on what it really means and in what capacity she "believes" in it?
Yeah, astral projection. Listen to "Watching You Without Me" and "Hello Earth". She's admited to believing in most of these things at some point or another, but doesn't seemed to be particularly obsessed with any of them. For example, she says that astrology has been used for such a long time that there must be something to it. But only "real" astrology -- not the "rubbish" that's in the newspapers. She however, says that she doesn't follow astrology.
"I've been told, when I get older
That I'll understand it all,
But I'm not sure if I want to"
Doug
P.S. I have an interview on tape where Kate talks about her religious beliefs. If anyone cares enough to want to hear it, just drop by sometime...
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 86 15:20:12 est
From: nessus (Doug Alan)
Subject: Junk from new fanzine
I just received issue two of "Under The Ivy", yet another Kate Bush fanzine (British). It says that "Hounds of Love" is being released as a single in England on Feb 24th and the B-side is "Jig Of Life". (I guess this means we don't get a new song from Kate. Oh well! Maybe on the next single....)
It also contains some pieces of trivia:
Did you know that Kate was invited to be a presenter at the recent Fashion Aid show at the Royal Albert Hall?
Did you know that Paddy Bush writes music for "Take Hart" on T.V.?
Do any of our British correspondants know anything about this show?
Did you know that in circulation there is a Dutch mispressing of "Running Up That Hill" with Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" on the B-side?
Did you know that when asked recently what was her favourite track, Kate replied "Infant Kiss"?
Did you know that Kate backed No. 1 singer Whitney Houston on German Top Of The Pops last week?
Anyone know who Whitney Houston is?
Did you know that Kate was a guest at the wedding of Kate St. John of Dream Acadamy fame?
Did you know that Kate has donated the "Wedding List" to the new Prince's Trust L.P.?
Did you know that Fish of Marrillion has said that the person he would most like to work with is Kate?
Oh, boy!
Did you know that Kate was 10th in a poll of producers recently produced by Music Week?
Well, wasn't that stuff exciting?
-Doug
From: seismo!nbs-amrf!oskard
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 87 05:01:47 EST
Subject: Kate
Provoking random thought: Kate Bush is really a highly evolved life form from another planet.
Date: Tue, 09 Jun 87 13:21 PDT
From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu
Subject: Kate and the Beatles
To Neil Calton:
Unfortunately, Kate said in a recent interview that she hadn't really become too aware of the Beatles' music until a few years ago. Of course this doesn't preclude the possibility that Hounds of Love was influenced by Sgt. Pepper, but it's unlikely that the link between the Beatles' records and Kate's earlier creations is very close.
[I don't know how much Kate was affected by The Beatles prior to *The Dreaming*, but I KNOW she was very strongly influenced by John Lennon. I have a radio show that was done inbetween *Never for Ever* and *The Dreaming* where Kate is sort of the guest DJ. In this show she says that Lennon's "Number Nine Dream" is her favourite song of all time and that she just loves the stuff he did with backwards vocals.
Kate was also very affected by the murder of Lennon. Shortly after his murder, she became very depressed. She installed a camera security system in her flat in London with a remote mechanism for opening the door and has an aversion to city living ever since. There are several allusions to the effect that Lennon's murder had on her in the lyrics on *The Dreaming*. "Now when they ring, I get my machine to let them in," and "My door was never locked/ Until one day a trigger come --cocking," for example. -- |>oug ]
Date: Mon, 07 Dec 87 14:33 PST
From: IED0DXM@OAC.UCLA.EDU
Subject: Khristmas Thoughts
Upon careful consideration, IED has come to the conclusion that Kate Bush is not merely a higher form of life. Kate Bush is, after all, God.
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 87 10:58:39 EST
From: FULIGIN%UMASS.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (Peter E. Lee)
Subject: Kate has lost her American record deal
According to the latest (or at least a quite recent) issue of the College Media Journal, Kate has lost her American record deal! Apparently, in the merger of EMI with Manhattan records (this is from memory), several groups were dropped from the EMI roster, including the divine Ms. Bush.
I find it hard to believe, given the sales of her recent material, especially "Hounds Of Love", that she won't be snapped up by some other major US label, but I thought you might all like to know. It came as quite a shock to me...
-Peter "XTC are gods too" Lee
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 87 14:23:01 EST
From: nessus (Doug Alan)
Subject: KonTract info
I talked to a contact at Capitol Records today to find out more about EMI-America allegedly dropping Kate Bush. According to Capitol, that is not the case. It is true, however, that Kate's US record contract is up in the air at the moment. As some of you may know, EMI-America (a subsidiary of Capitol) has merged with Manhattan Records and is now called EMI-Manhattan. From now on, they are supposedly going to concentrate on the east coast scene. In the mean time, while all this was going on, Kate's contract with EMI-America expired and in the shuffle both EMI-America and Kate were apparently too busy to notice. Capitol wants Kate back, but she hasn't decided yet what she wants to do. According to Capitol, she says she isn't necessarily going to renew her contract with Capitol.
|>oug
From: dasys1!jzitt@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joe Zitt)
Date: 23 Jan 88 23:20:43 GMT
Subject: Kate on Columbia
According to the latest issue of Rolling Stone, Kate has signed with Columbia Records.
[Oh, no! Has Kate made a deal with Satan?! ... I wonder if Columbia will still be evil now that Sony owns them.... -- |>oug ]
Date: Wed, 13 Apr 88 23:39 PDT
From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Kate's speaking voice
Hearing these very recent interviews after a long spell of listening to some of the earlier interviews, it occurs to IED again that Kate has become an even more articulate and eloquent speaker than she was a decade ago. She has also radically reduced both the expressive range of her speaking voice and the "South London" accent which she used to assume in interview situations. For years it has seemed to IED that the now-forsaken "popular" accent which Kate used to sport during her public appearances was affected rather than ingrained, because no other members of Kate's family spoke with such an accent, and because its intensity seemed to vary depending upon the social and topical context in which she was speaking. Her present accent, which more closely approximates "U" diction, and which she has used with a new consistency over the past three years or so, is very likely another more or less calculated element in her promotional campaign for the post- Dreaming work, since it reinforces the seriousness and sobriety of thought and feeling which Kate has tried to communicate in her tone and choice of words since 1985, in a clear effort to correct her undeserved image as a naive and overly effusive flower-child.
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Fri, 20 May 88 22:25:46 CDT
From: crclarke@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu
Subject: in Welling
While in England a few months ago, I FINALLY made a pilgrimage to Welling-East Wickham (home of Our Lady of Song, or at least her parents). Not wishing to be an obnoxious geek fan, a clicked off a few shots of East Wickham Farm, then walked around Fanny-on-the-Hill, Plumstead Cemetary, and Bostall Woods.
When I got off the train at Welling, a woman and a girl also got off. By their relative ages, I assumed the girl was the woman's granddaughter. Maybe it was my state-of-mind, but the woman looked like Hannah Bush, Kate's mum. I've only seen a couple of pictures of her, but this looked like her. But I couldn't place the girl.
So here's the question: Are Jay or Paddy married?
[ I don't think Paddy is married. John is married and has children. -- |>oug ]
It had never occurred to me before, but they're certainly old enough.
Christopher R. Clarke K 10236
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 88 15:59 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Welling
The surrounding community is not particularly charming. Welling is at first sight a decidedly ordinary suburb. The Wimpy's is small and makeshift Formica. A laundromat, a sleepy post office. The Welling Woolworth's stocks one or two of her albums, but the display in the window advertises Rick Astley.
Moving past that modest centre of town, you pass under the railroad bridge on your way toward Mecca (Tibet or Jedda). There, in the shadow of the bridge, crookedly stands an aging phonebooth: fire-engine red, the refuge of a large, slow old spider. On the right begins a long train of identikit houses, on the left the occasional secreterial supply shop and tea-house.
Finally you come upon The Intersection: Wickham Street looms on the left. Now that's more like it: the hum of mopeds and milk-lorries fades right away, and you're left alone in the shadowy stillness of East Wickham Farm. No other structures share this block, so far as you can see. Lining the length of the street is a plain wooden fence which just manages to contain a dense overgrowth of trees and ivy. Seen with difficulty through this is the peak of a Tudor roof: you have arrived.
The quiet is complete once you pull the gate shut behind you; in front now, at the end of a short tunnel of pathway hewn out of the riot of autumny vines, you see a surprisingly small cottage. The windows are small and mullioned, the door and its bell sweetly atilt. This is an old structure, so certified by the Ministry of Historical Buildings.
Mr. John Carder Bush is there to greet you with a quiet, chocolaty voice and a zen calm that seem fully part of the house. With a politeness as though to confirm the sanctity of Idea he draws you into the tiny suite of front rooms. Before you climbs a darkly gleaming staircase, to the right some sort of parlor, but you can't see more for your host has led you to the left, where The Spinet holds silently forth over electric-heater-filled hearth and doilied couches. One pleasantly threadworn Isfahan carpet keeps company with an unthreatening lionskin at your feet. And on the low mantle you can see some family snapshots: a couple of grandchildren, mom and dad, God Incarnate at age 12 or so...
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 88 12:59 PST
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Abba and Kate
The only report of any collaboration between Kate and Abba came in 1979, when Kate went to Switzerland to film (tape) two lip-synchs for a pair of projected Abba TV specials (the Abba Easter Special and the Winter Snowtime Special) for UK TV. For the first, she did a performance of Wow, which was later aired on the Easter special. For the second, she did a performance of Wuthering Heights barefoot in the Alpine snow. A photo was printed in a U.K. music paper showing Kate on location. Unfortunately that performance was never aired, but was replaced at the last moment by a lip-synch of December Will Be Magic Again.
There is no record of any actual contact between Kate and the members of Abba, however. She simply appeared, solo, on their shows.
Date: Fri, 02 Dec 88 12:58 PST
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: starting a family?
This is a rumour heard fourth-hand, which reportedly originates with Armando Gallo, the photographer who is rumoured to be a "close friend" of Kate. (Hmmm...) The rumour: "Kate is thinking of starting a family, which would end all possibility of a second tour." Draw your own conclusions.
Date: Fri, 05 May 89 11:35 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: N. Kennedy
Ken Stuart writes:
> And a bonus for Love-Hounds (amazingly missed by pv04+) is that there is a nice sized picture of Kate Bush. I think he missed it because it is in... the classical music section. She's clutching a fab British classical violinist named Kennedy (the actual subject of the article).
IED doesn't know about pv04+, but IED didn't miss it. Phil Verdieck, incidentally, already reported on the Peter Gabriel piece in Q a while ago, and IED owes his ownership of that issue (with its photo of Kate and N. Kennedy) to another early report by a Love-Hound whose name IED regrets escapes him at present. Many thanks. Also, Kate is not "clutching" Kennedy in the photo. Rather, she is being clutched by Kennedy, and (as usual) heroically maintaining her composure. It's a nice photo, though a bit blurry.
An inquiry was made about the photo's date: it is from Kate's last appearance at the BPI's, in 1987. No reason to assume otherwise, since Kate is dressed exactly as she was for the '87 BPIs and had already worked with Kennedy by that time, on both the X4 recording and the Wogan Show lip-synch for it.
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Thu, 18 May 89 09:04 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Windham Hill
Kate herself actually was introduced to the Windham Hill label back in 1983 (long before there was even a genre known as New Age music) when two well-known Kate fans (not on this computer group) from the midwest sent her what was then the entire W.H. catalogue. She liked it very much, and mentioned Windham Hill in a couple of interviews, calling it "very beautiful music".
Of course that was not only before the rise of "New Age music". At that time both the genre and the label were still quite new and much less well-known and defined than now. They were also far less overtly commercial than they often are now. There were very few artists and albums in the W.H. catalogue back then, so it actually meant something when Kate said she liked the whole label. Now, of course, there is a much wider variety of styles and an extensive Windham Hill catalogue, so it's far less likely that Kate's present view of the label is the same as it originally was.
It is possible that the choice of placing the photo of Kate with Bonnie and Clyde (from the front cover of HoL ) in the center of the album's cover, on a plain white field, was influenced by the affection she had at that time for the first wave of Windham Hill albums, which she had seen for the first time all at once.
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 89 01:12 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: KT
> Why is KaTe referred to as KT instead of KB??
KT is what it sounds like: "Katey", a diminutive form of Kate's name, Catherine. It comes from the name of Kate's first band, The KT Bush Band; and Kate was also aware from early on of the KT symbol's appearance in early English history, as the monogram of the Knights Templar.
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 89 01:12 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: barefoot
> "Take my shoes off" -HoL
> Does Kate enjoy being barefoot, as this lyric suggests? My favorite photograph of Kate clearly shows her to be shoeless.
Actually, she does enjoy being barefoot. Most photos of her sans footwear are shots of her either performing in concert during the Tour of Life (she has always preferred dancing barefoot to wearing dance slippers of any kind), or of rehearsing for video routines. But there are also a couple of snaps of her unshod around the house.
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 13:33 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: her cats
Twice in the past the question of Kate's diet-policies in relation to her cats has been raised (by our Pseudo-Moderator :>oug). It was contended that Kate's willingness to feed fish to her cats might constitute a hypocritical act, since it apparently flew in the face of her avowed vegetarian convictions. The first time IED promptly disagreed, both because Kate's own diet shouldn't be confused with her cats' diet; and because cats, unlike humans, are not ominvorous animals, but are by nature carnivores. This response apparently made little impression on :>oug, since he recently raised the issue again, and implied the same criticism of Kate which he had made the first time.
The question was raised in the Science Times section of the New York Times a couple of weeks ago. Here is the excerpt in its entirety:
Q.: Could a healthy vegetarian diet be devised for cats?
A.: "Definitely not," said Prof. James Morris of the Department of Physiological Science at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of California at Davis.
A vegetable-based diet could be devised, he said, but only if some chemical reagents and animal fats were added to it. That is because cats cannot synthesize some of the essential fatty acids found in animal fat.
"For example, plants have virtually none of an amino acid called taurine," he said. "Taurine deficiency results in blindness and loss of hearing, dilated cardiomyopathy, grave retardation in kittens and the birth of kittens with developmental abnormalities."
Let's hope that puts an end once and for all to the aspursions which :>oug has cast on Kate's policy regarding Pye and Co.'s diet of "fishy-wishy".
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 89 13:28 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: her believes
Mark Anderson asks whether it is true that Kate "believes in" astral projection, and quotes :>oug's reply of months ago:
> Yeah, astral projection. Listen to "Watching You Without Me" and "Hello Earth". She's admited to believing in most of these things at some point or another, but doesn't seemed to be particularly obsessed with any of them.
:>oug's reply above is false and misleading. Kate Bush has never actually said that she "believed" in any supernatural phenomena outright. Even in the early interviews, when she was far more vocal and innocent in her enthusiasm for the paranormal (and everything else) than she is these days, she did not say "Yes, I believe in super-natural phenomena." And although she did come close to saying as much in some of the very early interviews (ca. 1978-79), she certainly doesn't say any such thing these days. In fact, she goes out of her way to answer, in most situations, that she finds the idea of these phenomena very interesting ("fascinating" is her usual word). Her position has always been that supernatural phenomena might exist, and that her mind remains completely open to the possibility. She does not, however, say that she "believes" that such phenomena actually exist. Note a typical example above, in the quote IED includes above about sensory deprivation ("the whole thing of sensory deprivation...And I just found the whole idea fascinating.")
Also, remember the line from her own song of 1978, Them Heavy People, which she has described as a kind of personal anthem: "Don't need no crystal ball/No need for a magic wand/We humans got it all/We perform the miracles."
From: jsd@gaffa.MIT.EDU (Jon Drukman)
Date: 4 Aug 89 19:47:39 GMT
Subject: Barbara Bush: Kate fan on the sly?
This just in. Barbara Bush, wife of President Of The United States George "The Enforcer" Bush is actually a secret fan of what we here at Gaffa HQ now suspect to be her LONG LOST NIECE... none other than Britain's sultan of song, princess of piano, bellatrix of ballads and otherwise Notorious Pop Figure KATE BUSH. This information is gleaned from SPY Magazine, August 1989 issue, page 27.
A LITTLE LITERACY IS A DANGEROUS THING
Barbara Bush on Her Fight Against Illiteracy: "I always loved to read... As I grew older, I loved any book written by Emily Bronte." A Complete Catalog Of Emily Bronte's Novels: Wuthering Heights. The First Lady's Other Favorite Emily Bronte Books, According to the First Lady's Spokeswoman: Jane Eyre. - Joe Mastrianni
So, as you can see, it is clearly the awesome inspiration of what we now suspect to be Kate's AUNTIE BARBARA that provided the initial impetus for "Little Katie" (as Auntie Barbara no doubt referred to her) to write that number one pop sensation, propelling her on her way to Fame and Fortune.
Remember, LOVE-HOUNDS: We call 'em the way we see 'em, and if we don't see 'em, we make 'em up.
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 89 11:48 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: KT's irish background
Well, Nolan, you've got it almost right. Kate's father is English through and through (or at least a ways back--for a thorough and rather boring recap of both parents' ancestry see Vermorel's scummy book The Secret History of Kate Bush ).
Kate's mother Hannah, however, is indeed 100% Irish. She grew up in Ireland, and was in fact a skilled dancer of Irish folk-dance, so Kate has told us. The musical influence from Ireland is due in part, therefore, to Hannah's background, but perhaps more directly it stems from the deep interest in Irish folk music which Kate's brothers Paddy and John Carder Bush had when they were in their teens and Kate still a little girl. (Paddy has, of course, gone on to become a scholar and maker of ancient musical instruments, including many Celtic instruments which are rare or even extinct today.)
Both brothers belonged to folk-influenced groups for a time during the late '60s-early '70s, and Kate has spoken often of night in her youth, spent round the hearth of their sitting room at East Wickham Farm when her brothers, uncles and aunts would play and sing Irish music till late at night. Kate considers those experiences to have been among the most important formative influences on her art.
-- Andrew Marvick
From: tracyr@uunet.uu.net (jane smallberries)
Date: Thu, 09 Nov 89 10:44:06 PST
Subject: family doctor
a chap from our london office, sunil, just came to santa cruz to work here for a few months. he grew up in welling, and said his family doctor was who else but KaTe's dad, Doctor Bush. he remembers dr. bush saying things like, "my daughter's really into music", but they never thought much of the comments at the time.
-tracy,
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 89 12:22 PST
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: re family doctor
> a chap from our london office, sunil, just came to santa cruz to work here for a few months. he grew up in welling, and said his family doctor was who else but KaTe's dad, Doctor Bush. he remembers dr. bush saying things like, "my daughter's really into music", but they never thought much of the comments at the time. -- tracy
TRACY! This is an extremely fortuitous circumstance. Can you not wheedle more specific, detailed recollections from your English friend? IED is dying for gossip of more tangible sort about Dr. Bush's practice, and anything else KT-related--though it shames him to admit it!
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 90 06:32:41 CST
From: Jorn Barger <barger@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu>
Subject: Lindsay Kemp
Just recently I rented the video of "The Wicker Man" (British c1973) and was surprised to see Lindsay Kemp's name in the opening credits. The story is about a police detective who visits an island community off the English coast after getting a complaint that a girl may have been sacrificed to the local gods. The island has gone pagan under the leadership of the local gentry, and the movie presents a fairly sympathetic picture of a culture where sexuality is openly reverenced.
Kemp plays the local innkeeper, whose daughter (Britt Ecklund) is a kind of 'temple prostitute' who initiates young men into sexual experience. Kemp does no dancing, but does join in a bawdy song about his daughter.
But later in the film, at the Mayday festival, he is supposed to take the role of the Fool ....
Which put me in mind of a certain song about a homosexual actor who they give a part to, but he has to play the fool... (I have no idea if Kemp is gay, but I've read that his great theatrical success was in drag-- I forget the name of the play...)
(And I don't find any other listing for him in the actors index of my video guide...)
Any hypotheses or refutations?
--jorn
From: Doug Alan <nessus@athena.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 08 Feb 90 12:05:59 EST
Subject: Re: Lindsay Kemp
This is indeed quite interesting. Lindsay Kemp is indeed gay. Rumour says that Kate had a crush on Lindsay Kemp and that "Moving" is a love song to him. (Lindsay only had eyes for David Bowie.) Whether or not Kate had Lindsay Kemp in mind when she wrote "Wow", I know not, but this new piece of information about Lindsay Kemp playing the Fool, sure seems like more than mere coincidence.
|>oug
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 90 11:15 PST
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Kemp
Jorn Barger's observations about The Wicker Man are much appreciated by IED. It does sound like a likely source for the subject matter of Kate's song Wow. IED recalls how years went by before someone asked Kate whether the line "Put out the light/Then put out the light" in Blow Away wasn't a reference to Othello, where upon she admitted happily that, sure enough, it was. How many such "hidden" subjects, highly specific but never volunteered by Kate, still wait to be unearthed by fans?
As for :>oug's allusion to a "rumor" that Kate "had a crush" on Lindsay Kemp, IED wonders where our Pseudo-Moderator comes up with this kind of irrelevant and frivolous crap? It's the first IED has ever heard of such a "rumor", and he hopes the last, barring the presentation of any actual evidence.
From: Doug Alan <nessus@athena.mit.edu>
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 90 15:49:43 EST
Subject: Rumours re Moving
It hardly seems to me that discussing the possible subject matter of "Moving" is either frivolous or irrelevant. I don't know where the rumour re Lindsay Kemp comes from, but I would guess it merely comes from the fact that Kate *has* said that "Moving" was inspired by Lindsay Kemp, and the song appears to be a love song of sorts. If you know that Lindsay Kemp is gay and a dance/mime artist, the song makes a lot of sense if read as a love letter to him. The dear reader can make up his or her own mind on the issue.
|>oug
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 90 07:14:53 -0500
From: sco!scol!declann@uunet.uu.net
Subject: Kate and Irish Music
There was a brief clip of Kate on the BBC TV programme "Rapido" (hosted by that virtually unintelligibly frenchman, Antione de Caunes) last night. The programme ran a feature on music from Ireland and its major influence on popular music today, and so naturally included a few comments from Herself. She mentioned the fact that her mother was Irish, and the huge influence Irish music had on her, especially when she was growing up. She also spoke of her association with Irish musicians.
The weird thing was that they also showed a clip from "Cloudbusting" which has absolutely nothing to do with Irish music ! I mean the obvious thing would have been to play The Sensual World, yeah ?
From: nbc%INF.RL.AC.UK@mitvma.mit.edu
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 90 12:27:35 BST
Subject: Rapdio
This is what Kate said in her spot during the profile of Irish influences on musicians in Rapido on BBC 2 (21st and 25th Feb).
"Irish music has had a very big influence on me for a long time - since I was a kid really. My mother is Irish - sort of in my blood and it was always being played in the house when I was a kid and I think gradually through the albums I've explored more and more the use of the Irish music. And the more I work with the people in Ireland, the more we seem to be able to work better."
Kate's piece was recorded during the same interview which was broadcast on Rapido last year at the time the album was released.
From: sre017%CCK.COV.AC.UK@mitvma.mit.edu
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 90 10:45:26 GMT
Subject: Nigel Kennedy & Kate on "This Is Your Life"!!
For all you people stateside "This Is Your Life" is a tribute programme to the "stars"; last Wednesday's show was on Nigel Kennedy. Apparently he's 34, even older than Kate!! Well Kate appeared about halfway through the show, paying a tribute to Nigel's Violin playing, and Nigel being a nice friend!! I don't want to appear ageist, but Kate looked ancient, people much older looked younger than her. This was due to the fact, that she wasn't wearing any makeup!! All the best to all Bushettes!!
Andy Semple
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 90 09:20:24 -0400
From: katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Kansas City)
Subject: Katepoems
IED, I'm confused. In PK's book, the other "Form II" poems are titled "I Have Seem Him" and "Call Me". Where did "A Tear and a Raindrop Met" appear?
Vickie
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 90 11:55 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: re Katepoems
> IED, I'm confused. In PK's book, the other "Form II" poems are titled "I Have Seem Him" and "Call Me". Where did "A Tear and a Raindrop Met" appear?
IED has not seen the poem itself, but it is listed by Mayes and Cann in their Kate Bush: A Visual Documentary book. Since they went to the trouble of checking out the magazines from the school's library themselves (and taking a picture of them), IED assumes they are correct about titles.
From: Andrew Semple <sre017%cck.cov.ac.uk@mitvma.mit.edu>
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 90 11:35:13 -0100
Subject: October's Q magazine
In the October issue of Q, there is a free photo supplement about musicians in their early years. A photo of Kate from her K.T.Bush band era, at the Rose Of Lee pub in Lewisham is included. Also an article in the magazine about parents includes Kate; the photo of kate with her mother,brothers and dogs is included.
Andy Semple
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 90 22:28:32 PDT
From: ed@das.llnl.gov (Edward Suranyi)
Subject: Kate picture in Q booklet
As someone has already posted, the Oct. issue of Q magazine comes with a booklet full of pictures of bands and performers in their early days. One of them is a picture of the KT Bush Band, "starring the 19-year-old Kate Bush, appearing at the Rose of Lee in Lewisham, in 1977."
All you fanatics (and you know who you are) simply *have to* get this picture. I've never seen any others of her with the KT Bush Band. In fact, I've never seen any others of her in this period at all! Kate's standing with the mike in front of her face, mouth open. She looks about 15. She's standing in front of a drum with the band's name on it. You can also see the drummer and a guitar or bass player (I can never tell the instruments apart by sight), who could conceivably by Del Palmer. In the hand not holding the microphone, Kate appears to be holding something else, but I'm not sure what.
Ed
Date: Fri, 5 Oct 90 07:49:00 EDT
From: <CARROLLJ%ALCBAN@KRDC.INT.Alcan.CA>
Subject: Q
HI, The guy in the photo of the KT Bush band is playing a Gibson Les-Paul (real one too, by the look of it) - theres a sign on the wall and you can just make out the words 'NO DANCING' on it, if you squint hard.
Jem.
From: E Welsh <ecwu59@castle.ed.ac.uk>
Date: 29 Oct 90 11:47:56 GMT
Subject: from NME
While I'm here I might as well transcribe this little piece from NME 27/10/90:
AT HOME WITH THE BUSHS
(SCENE: A softly-lit conservatory, in a leafy backwater of Surrey. Dr Bush sucking on his stout briar, grapples with The Lancet crossword. Mrs Bush weaves an elaborate tapestry on her hand loom. Brother Paddy sits on the floor, picking his nose and eating it. Kate Bush enters wearing a Victorian smock, her arms flailing wildly).
KATE: Mummy! Daddy! Look! I'm a tree!
DR BUSH: Well done, Kate.
MRS BUSH: Yes, what purity of expression.
PADDY: Look, dad, I've made a galleon out of toothpicks.
DR BUSH: Shut up Paddy. Now then, Kate. How was your day at the Syd Barret Convent For Winsome & Gifted Young Women?
KATE: Wow! We did Winnie The Pooh in drama and movement class! I was Kanga and everyone said I was the best.
DR BUSH: Well done, Kate. Come here and give your old daddy a cuddle.
PADDY: I've been accepted at the Sorbonne. Not bad for an 11-year old, eh?
KATE: Yawno! Look at this picture I've drawn
MRS BUSH: That's very good, Kate. What is it?
KATE: It's our house on fire and me saving everybody in it!
DR BUSH: Well done, Kate! Yes, I see now. Look, there's me and mummy.
PADDY: Where am I?
KATE: You burned to death! Ha! Ha!
DR BUSH: Yes. Ha! Ha! Kate
PADDY: I split the atom on my way home from rugger.
KATE: I'll split your lip in a minute you boring old fart. (Kate grabs for her mother's loom and stuns Paddy with it.)
DR BUSH: Well done, Kate.
MRS BUSH: Herbal tea, anyone?
This is me again...
There is a 3"x4" piccy of Kate looking winsome & gifted, poking her head out from between two trees to accompany this interesting little composition. If you feel sorry for Paddy, just remember Jay doesn't even get a mention. The author is not specified, although the page is edited by Stuart Maconie. It's a collection of titbits about various personalities.
Hope you found it amusing...
Evan...
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 90 04:38:28 -0500
From: katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)
Subject: Mary Poppins
Chris here,
A bit from Andy's transcription of the Q & A session...
"This is a Mary Poppins bag, isn't it? Goes up onto the stage and gets out a giraffe..."
...reminded me of the wonderful (but unfortunately short-lived) fanzine "For The Love of Kate". It was produced by Gillian Garr and friends of Seattle, and we have four issues.
As they didn't have any actual information about Kate or her activities, they just made it all up. The result is some of the funniest, and in some ways truest, stuff ever written about Kate. Here is the bit I was reminded of ...
The Poppins Connection
It's a fact that Kate was born, and grew up, living the life of a fairly normal child. But even at a tender age, she was reaching out, learning to grow. Check her early performance as "Jane" in the film 'Mary Poppins'. Such play acting was not just a job to her. Kate went on to adopt Mary Poppins as her mentor, and threw herself into Poppins' way of life.
Mary Poppins was a dedicated lady, who took her job very seriously. Suffering no nonsense from anybody, many thought her strict and hard. However, she delt with herself in an equally firm manner, setting higher standards for herself than she ever expected from anyone else. As a result, she did become "practically perfect in every way." Besides learning how to succeed in a tough, competitive world, Poppins also developed several skills that served her well; singing, flying, and telekinesis. Following this example, Kate also developed these skills.
...sure it's absolute nonsense but what the hell! It goes on to describe that every one of Kate songs is autobiographical. I'd type more in, but text alone cannot do it justice; a typical page might have 2 or 3 small pictures with strange captions like a photo of "Divine" with the caption "'The Dreaming' captured many new fans for Kate" or a photo of Paul McCartney with the caption "I had my picture taken with Kate Bush once, and since then I've had several hit records!"
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 90 04:38:28 -0500
From: katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)
Subject: Nightflight
NF: Complete the following: "Hi, I'm Kate Bush and what I like best
in a man is..."
KB: (pause and a pained expression) Do I have to say it like that?
NF: No, you can say it however you like.
KB: Ok....Hi, I'm Kate Bush and the kind of man I like best... is a
gently-spoken Englishman... can I go now?
From: nbc%inf.rl.ac.uk@mitvma.mit.edu
Date: Mon, 10 Dec 90 13:09:00 BST
Subject: Prisoners of Conscience
Just for the record - the two people who Kate spoke on behalf of in the Prisoners of Conscience spot last Thursday on BBC 2 were both South Koreans imprisoned by their government for supposedly collaborating with the North. Kate described their work, the reasons why they had been imprisoned and their current condition (as far as it was known).
They were Hong Song-Dam a woodcut artist and Chang Ui-gyun a poet. Both had been jailed under feeble contexts and tortured. I have no information as to whether Kate chose these people herself from a list offered by Amnesty International or whether she offered her services for whoever they wanted to select.
Neil
From: nbc%inf.rl.ac.uk@mitvma.mit.edu
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 90 10:30:51 BST
Subject: Prisoners of Conscience
Kate spoke directly to camera during both programmes which as I said earlier were each only 5 minutes in duration. Kate was seated and seen in either head and shoulder shots or from the waist up. Kate spoke for the entire programme and there were intercuts of photos of the two men and their families and, in the case of the artist, photos of some of his work.
Kate spoke in a very formal, pronounced style; almost certainly from an autocue. The script gave quite detailed accounts of the two men, their work, and their treatment by the state. I would say it was highly unlikely that Kate wrote it. The programmes did not have any credits at the end to indicate who had been involved in their making (someone within Amnesty International almost certainly). There was no music during the programmes but each one (there were 2 such programmes each day for a fortnight) began and ended with a piece of music which sounded like a Peter Gabriel tune (perhaps some other UK Lovehound knows what this was?)
Neil
[It sounded like Sting to me. --Someone]
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 90 01:01 CST
From: Chris Williams <gatech!chinet.chi.il.us!katefans@EDDIE.MIT.EDU>
Subject: KT
Chris Ridd also asked:
> About a week or so ago, someone posted the (intriguing) suggestion that Kate borrowed the 'KT' symbol from the Knights Templars.
Kate has claimed that she and one of her brothers "found the symbol on the wall of an old house" and she just liked it and appropriated it for her own use.
This may or may not be true. Kate sometimes makes things up if she dosn't want to bother to explain a complex situation. In mortals this behavior is called "lying".
Kate has mentioned that her reading preferences tend to non-fiction. We don't know if she has read any of the books you mention, but it is possible. We also don't know if the history of the Knights is taught in British convent schools. Probably not, and if not the illicit nature of a secret order that pushed the Church around before finally being slaughtered at the order of a Pope might be quite intriguing to a bright, imaginative person going through an adolescent "crisis of faith".
Jorn Barger lent me a book called "The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail" that you might want to check out.
We don't even know why "KT" as in "The KT Bush Band". "KT" would be "Katey" rather than "Kate" and she has never been known as "Katey". Before her birth certificate appeared in a book, supporting her claim of not having a middle name I was certain that it had to be "Teresa" I know its a silly supposition but Catholic girls named Catherine have the middle name Teresa as often as Catholic boys named Francis have the middle name Xavier.
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 90 01:01 CST
From: Chris Williams <gatech!chinet.chi.il.us!katefans@EDDIE.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Night Flight interview
I'm putting together a file of exceptionally stupid questions Kate has been asked. Another in the .sig below.
We were sitting in the control room when this interview was being filmed. We were biting our lips to keep from shouting out corrections and gritting our teeth as the best explanation of "Cloudbusting" was ruined by an incompetent sound-man who had duct-taped (gaffa, if you insist) Kate's big floppy bow-tie to her jacket rather than moving the mike to the other side. An additional funny bit of the interview was pointed out to us by Kris and Peter when we showed this piece to them. Here is the bit...
Stupid Interviewer from Night Flight (SI)
Our Heroine (KT)
SI: There's another song "Hounds of Love" called "Big Sky" (sp) I think, where you used a couple of back-up singers...
KT: uhm...
SI: ...do you use back-up singers on this album?..
KT: ..no, I don't think, on that track, no.
SI: let me see........I think so....
KT: Do I? Oh? Who?
SI: Well who..who..who were the back-up singers on this album?
KT: On that particular pratt...pratt (embarrassed chuckle) uh, track I don't there were any singers at all other than my brother Paddy doing one verse, and myself doing backing vocals...
... Kris and Peter and their friends hooted rather loudly at that, and explained that the term "pratt" was roughly equivilent to "dipshit" and how irritated Kate obviously had to have been to make a slip like that.
Chris Williams
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 91 16:47:08 CST
From: barger@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Jorn Barger)
Subject: "Prats" 'n'stuff
Oddly enough, the slang expression "prat" came up in conversation at Homeground central after the Con last November... We were watching an unedited tape of Kate's interview in NYC when HoL was just out (Chris & Vickie were in the studio at the time, but I don't think they were responsible for getting the tape out). The woman interviewer was just astoundingly ill-informed and unimaginative, and we could watch Kate's patience growing thin as the hour (or more) ran on. At one point she misspoke, saying "prat" for I-forget-what, and the Brits in the room burst out laughing, explaining that "prat" is the female equivalent of calling someone a dick...
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 91 16:44:29 EST
From: Andrew B Marvick <abm4@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu>
Subject: KT Bush Band
There are undoubtedly some live recordings of Kate and the KT Bush Band's pub performances--in the possession of the Bush family, alas! IED has never heard even a hint that any such recordings have started making the underground rounds. But then, there was no real hope of getting any circa-'73 home demo recordings before 1988, either...
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 91 10:42:13 CST
From: barger@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Jorn Barger)
Subject: sponsoring
> I am not suggesting that KaTe would be sponsered by anyone, in fact, a banner over the stage at a KaTe concert would be pretty weird looking; nor do I think that KaTe is the type of artist that would "go corporate" anyway. But, I am curious to see what y'all think about this topic.
The joke at Homeground when this question came up was, Cadbury chocolates...
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 91 12:50:44 PDT
From: ed@das.llnl.gov (Edward J. Suranyi)
Subject: Where she lives
In Kent, actually. As a child she lived near Welling in a place called East Wickham Farm. She now lives closer to London near a place called Black Heath, or something like that. Peter Fitzgerald-Morris of Homeground drove a bunch of us to within a few hundred feet of her house once.
Ed
On to Kate Tidbits/Gossip Pt. 2
written by Love-Hounds
compiled and edited
by
Wieland Willker
Sept 1995 June 1996