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Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1991 14:46:00 -0800
From:
IED0DXM%MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: party
IED is sincerely flattered by Jon Drukman's request that he provide the John Carder Bush narration from "Jig of Life" at Larry's party. He's rushing off to practise for the big performance now.
-- Andrew Marvick (IED), who'll never make the Sweeney...
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1991 17:41:51 -0800
From: ed@wente.llnl.gov (Ed
Suranyi)
Subject: A San Jose Katemas
A few weeks ago I became acquainted with Karen Newcombe, who is a huge Katefan, but who thought she was the only one in the Bay Area. (Note that this is NOT the person I met at that radio station survey I went to a while ago.) I was determined to show her that this was not the case. She lives in San Francisco, but has no car, so I offered to pick her up at a BART station and drive her to Larry's place in San Jose, so she could experience her first Katemas.
I had promised Larry that I would help set up, so I arrived about 10:30 am with lots of posters, records, magazines, etc. Andy Marvick (IED) had just arrived with his laserdisc player and his own enormous collection of stuff. A little later Larry Yaeger arrived with a couple more VCRs -- in the end there were five hooked up, as well as the disc player, so we had every combination of player and recorder.
People started showing up in large numbers around 1:00 pm. Nearly everyone, upon entering Larry's condo, reacted to the posters that covered nearly all the wall space. And we didn't even have room for most of Andy's posters! Another thing that drew the attention of people was Larry's KTISGOD license plate, now autographed by Kate! She wrote, on both sides of the plate, 'To Larry with love, Kate Bush."
Jon Drukman and John Relph showed up with a whole music store: a synthesiser, a drum machine, and a mandolin. They called themselves "They Might Be Midgets." We had to wait until Tracy Roberts arrived so she could be the lead vocalist. The first thing they did was "Jig of Life", with Tracy as Kate, Andy Marvick as Jon Carder Bush (reading the poem at the end), Jon on the keyboards and drum machine, and John on the mandolin, which sounded great as a substitute for the Irish strings. It sounded fantastic -- a lot better than I had expected. At the end they got a big round of applause. We wanted them to try something else, so Jon started playing around on the drum machine with the rhythm of "Running Up That Hill".
"How about that?" someone asked.
"Nah," said Jon. "I can't play the synthesiser and the drum machine at the same time." (In JoL, Jon played the synth during Kate's vocal, and the drum machine during the instrumental section.) "But I do have the drum track for 'Hounds Of Love' already programmed." So they did that song, with a trio of women as the vocalist, and the whole crowd (which numbered about 25 then) joining in for the barks and the chorus. I sure wish we had a tape recorder going because was an amazing event -- we were all SO into the song!
We called up the Boston party and tried to get them to listen, but each time something went wrong. For JoL the phone was not in a good place, so they couldn't here it. For HoL we had the phone right up to the speaker, but for some reason the line was dead when the song was over.
Jon then played a cassette of some stuff he recorded in years past. For Katemas two years ago he made a very bizarre version of RUTH, in which he used a device to "push his voice into the Minnie Mouse range," as someone put it at the time. He played Jenn Turney singing "The Sensual World" with the reconstructed original Joyce lyrics, and then Jenn singing (very nicely, I might add) "Under The Ivy."
Andy and I had a lot of door prizes to give away. They included such things as the "Love And Anger" US cassette single, Kate Convention programs, magazines with Kate interviews, and spare singles that Andy had lying around. In the end nearly everyone won something, so Andy felt sorry for the few people who hadn't. He scrounged around in his collection and eventually found stuff to give those people. What a guy!
Peter and Charlie Manchester had to leave in the afternoon, but Peter promised that he would be back later that evening to play show-and-tell.
Of course, all day we played lots and lots of videos, ranging from the ridiculous American interviews on VHS to the sublime music videos on laserdisc. We debated what the thing Kate wears on her arm in "Suspended in Gaffa" is -- we thought it might have to do with either archery or falconry. We held a mirror up to the TV screen in order to read some backward writing in "Cloudbusting." (We were wondering what Wilhelm Reich writes in his notebook. You can't see it well while he's writing, but a few seconds later he holds the paper up to the light and if you have a good freeze-frame you can see the backward writing through the paper. We think it says, "My final paper" or My last paper."
By stepping very slowly through "The Big Sky" we found the bright flashes during the scene when Kate is in a bright circle surrounded by points of light. These flashes take up only about one frame, so Andy said, "They can't serve any purpose except to be discovered by fans diligent enough to go through her videos frame by frame!"
Karen Newcombe made a contribution to Kate lore by making a good stab at explaining the last part of "There Goes A Tenner." She thinks the criminals are looking back at earlier times when they did simpler crimes. Remember, Kate has said that this song is about some crooks on their first major job. Karen supposes that they used to be pickpockets. Hence "pockets floating in the breeze" -- there were pockets everywhere, so it was an easy life. "When you would carry me" refers to the practice of pickpockets to help each other -- one would distract the mark while the other would perform the actual theft. "There goes a tenner" refers to the small amounts they'd take in these thefts. What do people think?
After dark Peter Manchester came back. He told us this fascinating story of how he came to write a letter to Kate back in 86 or so. He had set up his living room with piles of electronic gear and cables everywhere in order to pick up Kate videos from a channel he couldn't normally get; he called the room his "Kate Bush observatory". Someone asked him at the time, "Is there anyone else whom you love as much as you love Kate Bush?" "No," said Peter, apparently surprised that anyone would even bother to ask such a question. He says he's not quite as far gone nowadays. "Why don't you write to her," suggested the other person.
So he did. He told us all about how he decided what to say, how he put in a several paragraph hook at the beginning to draw Kate's attention, ("She undoubtedly gets dozens of these letters, and I wanted to put something in to grab her attention."), how he got the actual address where Kate was living at the time (to me this is REALLY amazing), and how he used Tibetan mysticism to "channel" the letter straight to her.
Only three weeks later he got an envelope in the mail from England. It felt stiff, so Peter thought it might contain an autographed photo. He opened it and inside was a card folded in two -- like you can buy at a Hallmark shop. He opened it and bang! The inside was covered with Kate's writing! Top to bottom, no margins! He showed it to us (this was the show-and-tell he referred to earlier). Kate thanked him for his ideas and was generally really nice, considering Peter had made an egregious error in his transcription of some of Kate's lyrics, something he now admits.
After that, Katemas started winding down, and around 1:00 am the last of us left.
Ed
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1991 00:16:00 -0800
From:
gatech!chinet.chi.il.us!katefans@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Chris Williams)
Subject:
Windy City Katemas
Vickie here.
I had a wonderful time Saturday!!! Thanks to everybody who came. I enjoyed meeting everybody and I hope you had a good time too.
Thanks to Larry on the West Coast and Gregory on the East Coast for calling. It was a bit confusing on our end (what with 3 phones off the hook, Chris frantically hooking up my microphone to relay the calls from the speakerphone to the living room speakers and us getting a call-waiting beep while talking to Boston--our front gate is wired to the phone system, plus we were expecting a phone call from Dave Cross in England that never came) but still, it was way fun and we all enjoyed the calls. Larry, Andy, Ed, Gregory, woj, Jessica, Doug...it was great to hear your voices.
Dave Datta, you left your TSW laser disc here. Jorn, you left Cloudbusting (big applause to Ron Hill!!!!) here.
GREAT hats Jorn!
David Gravender came all the way from Toronto and we enjoyed having him here. Ken Brownfield came from Champaign (did you get overwhelmed by all the stuff I showed you Sunday? :-) Jerry (? My memory is so bad, I can't remember your name. I should have had sign-up sheets) came from Lafayette, IN, Dave Datta came from Kenosha, Wis. and brought 2 wonderful friends with him. Thanks for the Area tape Dave! Everyone else was from the greater Chicago area. Thanks for coming!!!
Jeff Lueck & Mitch Pravitiner, good to meet you, Jorn and Mike Mendelson, always glad to see you two. Patrick, our old friend and a Kansas City Suspended In Gaffa listener, it was a treat that you could be here. Kirstin, thanks for the Katemas tree, Ivy and delicious chocolate cake! Jorn, thanks for the Waldorf salad! Jeff, thanks for the wonderful seedcake (the first time I've ever had it) and the lasagna. Ken, thanks for taking Chris to the airport Sunday. David, say hi! to Kim and the next time you come, please bring Jane Siberry and Mary Margaret O'Hara with you OK? :-) :-)
I hope I haven't forgotten any other Love-Hounds. Knowing my memory, I'm forgetting somebody. The other people who were here aren't on the net. Maybe we can fix that!
Till next year...
Happy Birthday Kate!
Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1991 05:51:10 -0800
From: Doug Krause <dkrause@orion.oac.uci.edu>
Subject: Arnoldmas?
Today is also Arnold Schwarzenegger's birthday. HB Arnie!
Douglas Krause
From: T1000 <tracyr@sco.COM>
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1991 15:25:29
-0800
Subject: Re: A San Jose Katemas
Ed Suranyi writes:
[ ... a whole bunch of good stuff about Larry's party ... ]
Yea, what Ed said! And a big Thank You to Larry for hosting such a festive event. It's always nice to get together with such zealous fans and go over those laser disk images frame-by-frame. Makes me feel like I *belong*.
Good to see all you west-coast fans again. See you at the next bash.
Tracy
"You mean I've been taking shit for all these years from *that*??"
-- Andrew Marvick (on Jon Drukman's youthful appearance)
"Andy's great! But he wasn't wearing all black."
-- Jon Drukman (on Andrew Marvick's mature appearance)
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1991 16:04:00 -0800
From: judi@coyote.datalog.com
(Judi McKernan)
Subject: How I spent KaTemas...
Hi! Since today is Her birthday, I decided to wear my KaTe "Ninth Wave" T-shirt to work, even tho we're not s'posed to wear T's at the office. Anyway, one of the fellows in our building who works in another office, who came up to use our Xerox, saw my T-shirt and he just about hit the ceiling. "OOH! Another Kate fan!" Needless to say, it was nice to discover someone else so close by who has the same excellent taste in music as I do...
I also listened to nothing but KaTe CD's at work today on my portable player... ah, bliss........!
All in all, it would been great if our power lines hadn't been hit by lightning and I hadn't gotten zapped when the surge came through the line just as I had BOTH hands on the terminal... yeah, I know, the surge protector should've handled it. Still, I got one heckuva jolt! My arms still hurt! Does this mean my KaTemas was truly "electrifying," ha ha????!!!
Hope everyone had a great day!
judi
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1991 19:01:00 -0800
From:
IED0DXM%MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Post-party note
Hello, Love-Hounds!
IED wanted to post a big thankyou note to Larry Hernandez for hosting what was for IED one of the best Katemas parties ever. IED had a terrific time from start to finish (it was more like three than one, Ed!) It was great to see some of the veteran Love-Hounds names in the flesh for the first time, and to discover (as IED had suspected all along, frankly) that Jon Drukman the man was not quite as caustic or prickly in person as in phosphor. A big thankyou to Peter Manchester (spelling, Peter?) for sharing some very personal and absolutely magical (divine?) information about Kate the KorrespondenT.
It was great to get together with old friends Larry, Ed and Tracy again, and to see so many other familiar faces, as well. And it was also a pleasure meeting the newcomers--Karen Newcombe in particular, whose expliKation de teKsTe for "TGaTenner" was a revelation. Thanks are due to Larry Yaeger (sp.?), too, for his wizardry and patience. And IED looks forward to seeing several old Kate interviews from the keyboard of Ron Hill, now that tapes of hitherto untranscribed radio shows have been transferred safely into his hands.
A huge round of applause for Larry, folks. And how 'bout those Kaps?! Beautiful, Jorn!
-- Andrew Marvick (IED)
From: Dances With Voles <jondr@sco.COM>
Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1991
10:27:29 -0800
Subject: Katemas in San Jose
Well, all I can say for those who didn't make it to the San Jose Katemas party is: "sorry." It was just amazing. Surrounded by posters, magazines, discs, videos, postcards, pictures, articles... and a whole bunch of really neat people that I am Damned Proud to have frittered away 10 hours of my life with. Of course, the salutary reception of They Might Be Midgets (me on technical jiggery pokery, John "The Amazing Relphster" Relph on heavenly mandolin, and Tracy "Love Goddess" Roberts on vocal orgasmatronics) was gratifying, and it was really cool to see the rest of the crowd barking their throats off on "Hounds Of Love." I just wish I wasn't so occupied trying to read the sheet music while they were all singing - it looked like they were having a lot of fun!
Naturally, I have to mention that after 5.5 years of philocanine involvement, I finally met my eloquent sparring partner, Mr. Andrew Marvick: the man, the legend, the god. Somehow I don't think he expected someone as young as I turned out to be, but we must all bear in mind that I started my career as a love-hound when I was but a tender lad of 18. Anyway, Andy was a delight, and his performance as a John Carder Bush stand-in (on "Jig Of Life") was First Rate. His willingness to listen and entertain any point of view, no matter how clearly insane, was wonderful. Obviously we have a classic Jekyll/Hyde dichotomy here between Andrew and IED. Then again, most people that know me in real life say the same thing.
From the point of view of my Kateological studies, the party was an unqualified smash. I finally got to see GLC and Les Dogs (both excellent) and the infamous Japanese videos, which are a scream. I am probably going to hang up my Kate parodying gloves after having seen what those Japanese folks did to "Them Heavy People." For those not blessed enough to have seen it... well, words hardly do it justice, but I'll give it a shot. Basically, imagine the Lawrence Welk orchestra playing a jazzed-up supermarket muzak version of Them Heavy People, with two outrageously goggle-eyed Japanese ladies (in the height of late 70's fashion) singing the words. Halfway through, Kate comes jogging onto a set, surrounded by a couple of bone-skinny Japanese guys wearing long scarves tied around their heads. They burst into a routine straight out of Solid Gold, with Kate contorting in some sub-standard MTV-ready aerobic dance moves. Unbelievable. It was just unbelievable. Truly the most amazing piece of video I've seen in ages. I loved every second of it, and the incredible brain-damage they foisted on Them Heavy People has made me rue the day I ever decided to put sound to tape in an attempt to "spice up" some classic KT songs. Yes folks, those wily Japanese have made even my Mangled Bloody Remix of Love and Anger seem totally normal. I'm going to retire and cut an album of nothing but waterfall noises accompanied by the shrieks of my pet cockatiel as I jab him with a knitting needle.
To all who attended, and all KT fans everywhere - happy Katemas!
Jon Drukman
Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1991 20:43:00 -0800
From: Peter Byrne Manchester <PMANCHESTER@ccmail.sunysb.edu>
Subject: Katemas in San Jose revisited
Arriving back from California late last night, jet-bedraggled if not strictly speaking jet-lagged, it was exciting to catch up on a week's worth of love-hounds digests, spanning Katemas and including Ed Suranyi's and Andrew Marvick's comments about the San Jose party at Larry Hernandez's place. Jon Drukman's initial observations came in today, and several short posts from others who were there have been arriving, but there remain a few notes I'd like to sound.
Absolutely, thanks to Larry Hernandez for putting not just his apartment but his LIFE on the line (you or me ever host a party for 25+, from noon hour till the wee ones, in a smallish four room apartment?!?). But thanks too to Ed and Andy, who were the core of the Party Engineering team, consulting with Larry H., drawing on wise heads like Larry Y. and the apparently limitless Ron Hill, and eliciting suggestions from all who had any, so that the day's calendar of music, video, interviews, performances, and events was neither a spectacle nor a ritual, but a celebration in which everyone could truly feel they shared.
The more I think of it, the more admiring I become. What would it be like, I wondered, as someone who had never met any of the love-hounds, much less gone to London for the convention, to be in a room with Andrew Marvick, Ed Suranyi, Ron Hill, Larry Hernandez, Jon Drukman, and all their gear and rarities? I mention only those well-known to me from the regularity of their postings. Doug Alan, Bill Wisner, Chris 'n' Vickie, Jorn Barger, Neal Caldwell--sure, there were some senior people missing or at other parties (and contact was made, as Ed recounted)--but I had to think that there was no other place on the face of the planet that day where so much enthusiasm for and expertise about Kate Bush was constellated. "Andy here probably knows more about Kate than anybody else in the world," someone commented mid-afternoon. "Probably more than she does," said Andy--something that IED would never profess in a million years with a straight face, proving that he doesn't always wear one.
What would it be like? Sweet and easy, natural and informative, not much different for me who knew something about these folk than it was for others who didn't. At 48 I was not the oldest, at 23.5 Dances With Voles was not the youngest. In fact, I've rarely been in a group with less 'ism': age-ism, sexism, in-ism, out-ism. It was Katemas, a hot and memorable day not far from Stevens Creek and Winchester in San Jose, within five miles of which my life had revolved from 1958 through 1973, but rarely on so sharp a point.
At one point that night Ron Hill said "Anybody taking notes?" Well, no, actually. No more than anybody thought to gear up to record They Might Be Midgets that afternoon. It wasn't like that--none of that self-consciousness. I figured we would all just help each other out, and in that spirit a couple of small corrections to Ed the Observer's preliminary report.
>Peter and Charlie Manchester had to leave in the afternoon, but Peter promised that he would be back later that evening to play show-and-tell.
Not quite: I came by that afternoon with my youngest brother Bill from Santa Cruz, who turned out already to know the estimable Tracy Roberts who sang lead with They Might Be Midgets. Charlie is not Charlie Manchester, but Charlie Cockey, proprietor of Fantasy, Etc., a sweet little bookstore at Larkin and O'Farrell in SF where Katefans will definitely get special attention. Charlie IS a brother, though, even if not child of my mother, both because we go way back, and because he is the one who turned me on to Kate in March 1985. I left the party around 6:30 to drive up to the City and haul Charlie back down with me, returning about 9:45.
> [About what TMBM would do after "JoL"] "But I do have the drum track for 'Hounds of Love' already programmed." So they did that song, with a trio of women as the vocalist, and the whole crowd (which numbered about 25 then) joining in for the barks and the chorus. ...
Actually, this was more amazing still. Jon said that he HAD made a drum track tape for HoL, but had accidentally erased it. Everybody was hungry for the song, though. So, in what was for me a particularly convincing display of heads-up command of his tools and real musicianship, he cobbled up a serviceable program on the spot in about 37 seconds.
Let the record show, by the way, that the craft and splendor of Jon-as-Kate-as-Madonna's performance of "Wuthering Heights" was not lost upon elements of the crowd. If IED has betimes been the love-hounds' numinous curmudgeon (Jorn Barger), Jon Drukman is its slamdancer. He's a prodigy and a sweet lad. Believe it. Just don't bank on it. Mr. Drukman can nail it down solid, and blow you away if you dance the fool.
> ... We held a mirror up to the TV screen in order to read some backward writing in "Cloudbusting." (We were wondering what Wilhelm Reich writes in his notebook. You can't see it well while he's writing, but a few seconds later he holds the paper up to the light and if you have a good freeze-frame you can see the backward writing through the paper. We think it says, "My final paper" or My last paper." By stepping
Not quite: the company couldn't decide between "My final paper" or "My final proposal." There may have been some uncertainly as between "final" and "last," but I recall a consensus for "final" and an open question between "paper" and "proposal." (I incline to the later.)
Thanks to Ed for recounting my uncorking that night about writing to Kate and getting a reply, and to Andy for his kind words about it. It WAS "absolutely magical" for me at the time, and I guess I've hungered ever since to be able to share that. As to "divine," I pass along Charlie's observation that IED backwards is DEI, "the gods," so it's his call.
Quite a trip to California, Katemas at the center of it. Thank you all again--also from Bill and Charlie, who have no net access, but now know what they're missing.
Peter Manchester
Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1991 13:24:02 -0800
From: Jeff Tucker <R3JMT%AKRONVM@vm1.cc.UAKRON.EDU>
Subject: from Little Light
The following appears in Little Light, Summer 1991, published by The American Association of Them Heavy People, PO Box 221, Cuyahoga Falls OH 44222-0221.
Replies are welcome, as are letters to the editor or other discussion.
FAN CONVENTION
The first AATHP sponsored Kate Bush Fan Convention was an interesting, informative, and enjoyable event, at least according to the people we talked to there. While the convention was an unmitigated success among the attendees, and our mailbag suffered from accolades, the convention was also a success for AATHP, and perhaps a not-so-wise business move for CD Connection, the fiscal sponsor.
The event was loosely scheduled; we allowed everybody to pretty much roam around as they pleased. One of the most interesting displays was Cappy Petri's collection of Kate stuff. Cappy's collection spanned all periods of Kate's career, and his table was very well received. The other main attraction was Scott Shepard's vendor table. While most people merely browsed, many were able to add to their Kate Bush collections. We also had displays from the National Geographic Society (on Aborigines, but we weren't able to use the display to its full effect) the Houdini Museum of Appleton, Wisconsin, and a few other scattered items of interest (such as the video collection). The Bronte Society wants to apologize for not making it to the convention, as they had some thing come up that morning which prevented their attendance.
One of the highlights of the convention was the auction, called by our very own Scott Shepard. He had the interest of everybody with a funny running dialogue about the incredible uses you could put the auction items to, if only somebody would buy them. At one point everybody was in stitches over his description of driving around town with a life-size Kate cardboard cutout in the front seat, and the effect that would have on your image. In the spirit of a fan convention, rather than a record convention, everything went for incredibly low prices- in one case an autographed Dreaming was let go for forty bucks. Much to our surprise, Marilyn Gardner, the Sony Music representative placed bids on several items and won bidding on the most expensive item on the block: a Kate stand-up promotional display from the early EMI days.
Also notable was Marilyn's ad lib presentation on the once and future promotion of Kate by Sony, in which she clarified many of the actions Sony took after the release of The Sensual World and expressed a desire to do an even more thorough job on the next album. She took questions from the attendees before leaving.
Earlier in the day Marilyn met for an hour or so with Jeff Medkeff, who was interested in doing some lobbying on behalf of Kate's American fans. As a result of their meeting, Sony promised to support AATHP and its local chapters in any way practical, most visibly by providing decorations and special giveaways for AATHP sponsored events. Sony will also be allowing us to put our members on their mailing list of people and companies they send promotional mailers to.
Video was an unexpected attraction at the convention, inspiring the upcoming AATHP video party. Everyone was fascinated by the unedited interviews and unusual TV performances, as most people hadn't had the opportunity to see them before.We went through our tapes (representing, foolishly, an incomplete collection) at least twice, and at one point Jeff Medkeff made the mistake of asking for requests. Naturally the first five were requests for things we didn't have.
Throughout the day there was all kinds of speculation about what the "Big Surprise" listed on the agenda was going to be. Attendees had to wait until the closing ceremonies to find out. Messages were sent by several of Kate's fan clubs and fanzines, as well as Rolling Stone, Nigel Kennedy, Roy Harper, the Trio Bulgarka, David Gilmour, and Peter Gabriel, (or their management or record company publicity departments on their behalf) giving greetings and thanks to the convention attendees. The message from Gabriel went over quite well, calling Kate a "great artist" and garnering a partial standing ovation from the crowd. A last minute surprize call from a publicist provided an unexpected message from Kate:
"I'm very pleased this is taking place here today. If some of you came from a long distance I hope you have found it worthwhile, and I want to say thank you to you all for being here. I'm in the studio starting to record my seventh album. It is due to be released later this year, but I cannot talk about it until it is properly recorded. I think this is wonderful and I'm very pleased you let me know about it. Love Kate Bush."
After closing the convention, several AATHP staffers had dinner with Richard and Melissa Caldwell, and Phil Smith and talked about everything Kate related we could think of. Jeff Medkeff was unfortunatly suffering from an acute lack of sleep by that time, and alas, it showed.
The next day featured a special breakfast with Dave Schreck, the farthest-traveled at tendee, and the long awaited Paddy Bush Impersonation Contest, which was won by default by Jeff (nobody else participated, but that's not to say Jeff's performance wasn't good for a laugh. For those unfamiliar, this involved impersonating Paddy's performance in Experiment IV.)
It was an enjoyable enough day that the staff was inclined to do it again, so we have scheduled another convention for August 1 of next year.
We'd like to thank everybody who attended for making our day enjoyable and one of the real highlights of the year thus far. We look forward to doing it again!
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1991 00:23:00 -0700
From:
gatech!chinet.chi.il.us!katefans@eddie (Chris n Vickie)
Subject:
Convention messages
Chris here,
The Ohio message followed by excerpts of the '84 Bush-Con message:
> I'm very pleased this is taking place here today. If some of you came from a long distance I hope you have found it worthwhile, and I want to say thank you to you all for being here. I'm in the studio starting to record my seventh album. It is due to be released later this year, but I cannot talk about it until it is properly recorded. I think this is wonderful and I'm very pleased you let me know about it. Love Kate Bush.
} Firstly, I think I should say that I am very honoured indeed that this event is taking place here to-night. I believe that some of you have come a long way, too, and that means a lot to me. I hope that none of you feel that you journeys been wasted.
(deleted)
I am talking to you from my studio and we've just started recording the next album. It's due to be released in the autumn and I'll be working throughout the summer to get it finished. It's almost impossible to talk about music before it's been recorded properly.
(deleted)
Make up your own mind if a recently fired CBS staffer fudged a message, if the folks at AATHP/LL fudged a message, or if Kate's creativity has deserted her to the extent of saying almost the same thing in two different messages 6 or 7 years apart.
Our friend Patrick pointed out that the Bush-Con message uses subjunctive tense in the last sentence, which is Kate's usual speaking style. The corresponding sentence in the Ohio message is purely declarative.
The known handwritten letters by Kate are written as though she were speaking. Simply put, we can hear Kate in our mind's ear saying the latter but not the former.
Chris Williams
From: barger@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Jorn Barger)
Date: Fri, 15 Nov
1991 13:58:47 -0800
Subject: Medkeff Unmasked!!!
...or, Ohioans Bite the Dust!
[Precis so far: Jeff Medkeff of AATHP/Little Light fame claimed some months ago to have an exclusive inside contact at Sony, and special privileges regarding advance notice of Kate's plans. He threw a Convention that was only announced to us a couple of weeks before it took place, and boasted in print that he read congratulatory messages there from everyone from Kate to the Trio to PG to Dave G, etc etc etc. Based on a very vague report of the text of Kate's message, Chris and Vickie seemed to have gone way too far out on the limb by publicly expressing skepticism that the message was real, suggesting it may have been spliced together from the Canadian Con's similar tape. Certain flaming Ohioans leapt to Jeff's defense, and shillelagh law was all the rage (as the song says). Jeff produced a message that corresponded in almost every detail to the Canadian message. Jeff broadcast a report that Sony was threatening Kate with penalties for missing a promised delivery date. All were incredulous...]
Little Light, Fall 1991
"THE FOLLOWING IS AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF THEM HEAVY PEOPLE TO OUR READERS AND ALL THOSE INTERESTED:
To all concerned,
It should be apparent at this time that Jeff Medkeff is no longer Editor of Little Light, nor does he hold the position of President of AATHP. On September 16, 1991, it was brought to our attention that Jeff Medkeff reportedly printed an interview with Marilyn Gardner of Sony Music which was fabricated.
While this interview only reached a few of our readers, as we did not run the interview in our second printing, we still feel that any false impressions that may have been caused by the interview should be corrected. The interview should be, in no way, [sic] regarded as the actual opinions of Ms. Gardner. Her opinions are unknown to the staff of this newsletter. We also invite Ms. Gardner to respond in the next issue of Little Light.
Because of the interview and other ethical questions, we attempted to remove Mr. Medkeff with a vote of "no confidence." However, because there are no allowances for such an act under the bylaws, on September 26, we respectively tendered our resignations from the AATHP council as a surrogate form of casting our "no confidence" votes. Mr. Medkeff recognized this as such and offered his resignation, allowing us to continue with AATHP functions and the production of Little Light.
We have decided to do so and promise our readers the honesty that should be expected from any publication. We also apologize to Ms. Gardner and Sony Music for any false impression that may have resulted from the allegedly fabricated interview. We feel that any violation of AATHP rules, Little Light editorial policies and in particular journalistic ethics is intolerable. We hope our actions on the matter will justify everyone's respect for our newsletter and that we never have to question another staff member's ethics again.
Sincerely, William Barwick- President, Jeffrey Tucker, Vice-President, Jennifer Heller- Publication Secretary
From: martin@kawa.ssl.fujitsu.co.jp (S.C.T. Martin)
Date: Thu, 30 Jul
1992 00:58:15 -0700
Subject: re: Is this approprate?( On This Day)
July 30, 1992
Born today ...
In 1818, Emily Bronte, English novelist ("Wuthering Heights").
In 1857, Thorstein Veblen, US economist.
In 1863, Henry Ford, auto pioneer.
In 1889, Vladimir Zworykin, Russian inventor of the iconoscope.
In 1891, Casey Stengel, baseball player-manager. (1890?)
In 1898, Henry Moore, English sculptor.
In 1929, Chris McGuire, singer ("McGuire Sisters").
In 1933, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes, actor.
In 1939, Eleanor Marie Cutri Smeal, feminist activist.
In 1939, Peter Bogdanovich, film director ("The Last Picture Show").
In 1940, Patricia Schroeder, Colorado Congresswoman.
In 1941, Paul Anka, singer.
In 1947, Arnold Schwarzenegger, bodybuilder-actor.
In 1954, Ken Olin, actor.
In 1956, Delta Burke, actress.
In 1957, Bill Cartwright, pro basketball player.
In 1958, Kate Bush, singer.
Events today ...
In 1619, First legislative assembly in US convened (Jamestown, VA).
In 1718, William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, died.
In 1740, 1st glass factory offering "common sized" windows opened (Wistar - Salem, NJ).
In 1898, Kellogg invented corn flakes.
In 1909, First plane delivered to the War Department.
In 1928, Chrysler bought the Dodge Brothers, Inc.
In 1937, American Federation of Radio Artists (later American Federation of TV & Radio Artists, under the AFL-CIO) organized.
In 1942, "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service" (WAVES) formed.
In 1956, "In God We Trust" officially made US motto.
In 1965, Medicare, US government funded insurance for elderly, created.
In 1971, Apollo-15 (US), fourth manned lunar landing, landed on the moon.
In 1975, Former Teamster union leader James Hoffa disappeared.
In 1980, Vanuatu became an independent republic.
In 1983, Lynn Fontanne died.
In 1984, Last 90 US Marine combat troops left Lebanon.
In 1990, Nolan Ryan won his 300th game (for Texas Rangers, vs. Milwaukee Brewers).
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 05:09:10 -0700
From:
JONES%RPIECS.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: KaTemas '92
KaTemas comes but once a year
So now that KaTemasTime is here
I'd just like to say
If I may,
If I might,
Happy KaTemas to all
And to all a good night!
Big woofs to all fellow Love-Hounds for a happy and memorable KaTemas!
All the best,
Deb "wearing her Lioness-at-Heart T-shirt for the occasion" Wentorf
From: marek@msel.unh.edu (Marek Lugowski)
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992
15:47:25 -0700
Subject: for kate bush, on your 34th birthday / Marek
for kate bush, on your 34th birthday
today, on your birthday, without knowing it
we feasted for you -- in
the warm room.
it was a way to say goodbye -- in the sensual world.
every time it
rains, you're here in my head.
today, you are thirty four -- my lionheart
and i have lost you so many
times now
like an arrow shot into the killer storm.
out in the garden there's half of a heaven.
got a soul on the ice.
across the weather, across the elements,
across the water
all we
ever look for -- a great big hug.
Marek Lugowski
30 July 1992
Cincinnati, Ohio
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 2:08:49 EDT
From: Vickie Mapes <vickie@pilot.njin.net>
Subject: Message from Dave Cross
We just got back from SIGGRAPH and found a message on the answering machine from Dave Cross from Homeground. He felt badly that he had forgotten to call last year after he said he would, but forgot. In his own words...
"We saw Dr. Bush on Tuesday. There is no real news unfortunately, the album is almost finished but Kate is still actually working on it. She is recording at the moment, she's been doing all sorts of things with the album. As time goes on it looks more likely that it's not going to be released this year, I know, bad news, but there you go. So anyway, that's it really, just wish you Happy Katemas, whatever you're doing..."
He's so sweet! The update is not at all suprising, at least, not to fans who know it's wise to tack on 2-4 years *past* the "expected" date of whatever kate is working on :-).
:-( :-( This is the most sorrowful birthday of Kate's life :-( :-(
Vickie
From: rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)
Date: Thu, 06 Aug 92 02:41:13
PDT
Subject: What I did on my summer vacation - Katemas '92
What I did on my summer vacation
by Ron Hill
[Transcribed by Ronald Hill]
Well, I left on Thursday Morning, July 23. My plan was to not get too much sleep the night before and then spend the day doing things here in San Diego and that way when my plane took off at 8pm, I'd be tired out and be able to go to sleep. Well, of course it didn't work out that way as I had the coolest, cutest woman sit down next to me, so I didn't get much sleep at all!! She even knew who Kate was!! (Her, Val, Meredith, Jessica, etc - I was swimmin in women on this trip! :-) )
So I landed in Philadelphia at 6am local time and went to Valley Forge (cool!) and then on a trip around the area. I was surprised by how much of the city looked really old. Then I took the train to New Brunswick where I met up with Jessica and stayed the night alone at Greg's. Next morning, Greg was there and we mussed with his computer some, then went over to the nearby computer center where I used FTP for the first time, unfortunately the archives weren't available at the time. Then it was over to Jessica's for a cool meal.
Next day it was off to DC in the morning. The first day I went on a bus trip around the city, and saw the national cathedral (definitely recommended!). Then I went off to a Jazz club where I got a little drunk! :-) The next day I went on a helicopter trip around DC which was really cool. Then I saw the pentagon, the Arlington cemetery, and the Iwa Jima (spel?) memorial. Then I went to The Library of Congress at around 6. I foolishly expected I would be able to research the magazines I needed by the time it closed at 9:30. The problem was the magazine functions of the library close around 6! So I did all I could and then came back the next morning and basically spent the day there.
It was incredibly frustrating cause they had most of the magazines I needed, but not the specific issues that I needed, they would have a mag up to say 1977, or would be missing a specific issue only, or would say they had it and then didn't. So I got about 15 or so, which I should start transcribing soon. I did a special order for some so hopefully they'll find them in which case I should have about 6 more. If anyone in the area would like to volunteer to pick them up (if they come) then write me at this address.
I had wanted to see the Vietnam Memorial, but didn't finish until an hour before my train left, so I had a cab driver take me there and wait for me and then take me to the train station.
Then it was back to New Brunswick which I stayed at for the next two nights as I went into The City (New York). The first day I spent cruising around, and I went to The Dakota (where John Lennon lived and died) and Strawberry Fields (the part of Central Park dedicated to John). It was there that I saw this woman playing Bob Dylan songs. I shouted out "Play Kate Bush", and she said "I'd love to, but I don't think you can do it on piano". Then she started fingering her guitar and said "Wuthering Heights?". Then I went to see Les Miseribles. The next day I went on a tour of New York and saw all the normal stuff.
That night Greg, Jessica, and I drove up to Boston. The next day we stumbled around Cambridge and stayed up late making pizza. The next day was the day of The Party. In one room was set up CDs of more obscure artists then most people see in a lifetime, and in the other was the Kate Stuff. I brought my videos and those were played. A whole group of us left to cruise around the Cambridge record stores. I finally got to see some actual bootlegs of Kate, as well as zillions of Neil Young and Beatles boots. I was also surprised to see the Collector's book for sale, though it was 20 bucks, which is about 6 bucks over what you can get it mail order for. Back at the party I played the forty seconds of the Rocket Man video and then the Comic Strip shows Ken (which Kate did the music for) and GLC (which Kate appeared in). Then the band played.
After the first song, I got freaked out 'cause someone walked up to me and said I had a phone call, most unusual as no-one knew I was there! :-) Of course, it was Chris Williams from the Chicago party. He told me the news about his message from Homeground (Kate's album being delayed till next year) and the great news that Peter from Homeground really likes my book Cloudbusting! Then we went out for fireworks, which was funny cause as I was lighting one, Val took a picture which I though was a cop arriving to arrest me! Then some of the fireworks started to come perilously close to hitting some of us! It's not a party if there is not some physical danger involved!! :-) Then we had a guy doing some juggling (cool). After most people left we saw the tape of the performance of the band (great).
The next day five of us went off to find the Wilhelm Reich museum. It was a five hour drive out there, two hours there, and then five hours back! It was an interesting place. There is quite a bit more trees then the video, so it's hard to imagine Peter tumbling down the hill like in the video. When we turned off the road, we started singing "Cloudbusting". I asked him how many people who went there knew about Reich or Kate and he said that about half the people who went there went cause they knew about Reich and about half just cause they happened to be in the area and needed something to do! He said people coming because of Kate was a bit of a "rarity". When Val asked what Reichian people thought of "Cloudbusting" he said that it was a "just a curiosity". He also said that due to all the fighting among the various disciples of Reich, they only sold books by (not about Reich) at the bookstore there, and that that may be the reason they didn't have A Book Of Dreams.
The guest list went back to 1986, and I looked through the 1986 and 1989 section to see if I could find Kate's name, but no luck. (Looking through Deeper Understanding I've just found a mention in 1987 from someone who went and said that the tour guide then had said that he had heard Kate had been there.) Val looked through back issues of the Reich newsletter for mentions of Cloudbusting, but no luck. The tour guy said there have been a few other Reichian references in art, including a "Reichian Physiologist" in (I think) Magnum P.I.
There were a couple of Cloudbusters on display, including the very first one ever built. They were basically just a couple of tubes shot pointed into the air. The tour guy said there are people in Northern California who are supposedly using them and have "attained statistically relevant results". There was also an interesting experiment where they had two glass containers that were identical except for the fact that the bottom of one had "Orgone collection material". This container was consistently hotter then the other, which science supposedly can't explain. Reich supposedly showed it to (I think) Einstein and he couldn't explain it, but (supposedly) shied away cause Reich was too infamous at the time.
On the way home we stopped at an (I think) Ethiopian resterant, which was fun cause the guy seemed to have the attitude that "if you don't like our food, I'll kill myself!" He was so eager to please!! When Bob didn't like one dish (not because he thought it was prepared badly, just because he hadn't had it before and didn't happen to like it) I thought the guy was going to die! On the way home we read from Cloudbusting and The Garden.
The next day Val and I went around Boston on a bus tour. We had lunch at the place that inspired "Cheers", which wasn't as friendly as on TV! There was a really drunk and load SportsFan there, who kept talking about various sports stuff I knew nothing. I kept saying things like "go team" and pretending I knew one sport from the next. Then we headed off for Middletown, Connecticut (or Bullshit, Nowhere) where we spent the night at a friend of Val's and went to a couple of really cheesy diners. The next morning Val was kind enough to drive me to the train station. I arrived in New York in plenty of time to catch a bus to Newark, so I walked around Times Square a little, and then missed the bus I intended and then the next bus got stuck in traffic, so I arrive too late to catch my plane! Luckily they put in a really small plane to Philadelphia, where I got on the same flight and plane I was supposed to connect to in Kansas City! So I didn't loose any time at all! Unfortunately the plane was delayed and hour and a half while they worked to replace (of all things) the black box! So then I arrived home at 1am and slept most of the day.
Thanks to everyone I met on my trip, especially to Gr"whata guy"eg for putting me up, Va"whata gal"l for showing me around, Jes"whata hair"sica for not physically hurting me.
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 92 13:10 EST
From: KROVETZ@cs.umass.EDU
Subject: Katemas
I had a great time at the Katemas party in Boston. The HT Bush band did a terrific job of covering Kate and Happy Rhodes songs, and played: "Ne T'enfuis Pas", "Playing Canasta in Cold Rooms", "My Lagan Love", "Poetic Justice" (the Happy Rhodes song), and "Running Up that Hill".
It was also fun to visit Orgonon. The tour guide was pretty neutral in his comments about Reich until I mentioned that his ideas reminded me of medieval medicine (i.e., that diseases are caused by an inbalance of humours; Reich believed that certain (all?) diseases could be cured by an infusion of "Orgonon Energy"). At that point he said that Reich "wasn't a very good scientist, but was a good observationalist". I also found out that this inbalance is supposed to be the way the Cloudbuster works; it makes rain by drawing "Orgonon Energy" out of the atmosphere. Reich also believed that living matter could arise spontaneously out of dead matter, and the tour guide mentioned he "had a hard time with that one" (the tour guide was also a high school science teacher). The area around the Reich museum is beautiful, with several lakes nearby. A nice place to go camping!
Cheers, Bob
From ryptyde!netrun!rhill@nosc.mil Mon Aug 17 06:06:13 1992
From:
rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)
Subject: The 1992 San Diego Katemas
Party, Kate-related moviews, addendum
Well, the San Diego Katemas 92 party has came and went. It ended up including only 3 people, myself, Ray Russell, and a "new" woman, Susan, who seemed overwhelmed by all the videos and left with Cloudbusting, The Cathy Demos, a video, and other goodies. Ray brought his must-see two foot model of the Cloudbuster that he sometimes mounts to the trunk of his car! :-)
Ray and I stayed up late, as I had rented three movies. The first was the 1971 British TV version of Wuthering Heights. This is the apparently the version that Kate walked into the end of as a child, which inspired her to read the book, which inspired the song. I say "apparently" because Kate did mention that the version she saw had "a hand coming through a window" and I don't remember that in the film. It started off a little slow for me, but by the middle it really got going. I haven't read the book (hey, I'm gonna get around to it, okay :-) but I assume this is closer to it then the older version, as it had much more "devious" motivations and is very different from the original. Overall, it's a must-see.
We also watched The Cruel Sea (which was an inspiration for The Ninth Wave ), during which Ray fell asleep, which shows how exciting it is! Actually it's the scenes that focus on the people that are boring, the "water" scenes are sometimes quite interesting. There's a sonar sound throughout the film that's very simular to the sound in The Ninth Wave.
The next day I watched Castway, for which Be Kind To My Mistakes was written. It's about a woman who answers an add to stay a year on an empty island with a man. It co-stars Amanda Donohue, who just left L.A. Law (she was the lesbian character). I had seen the beggining before Amanda joined LA Law and couldn't sit through it. It was more interesting this time, though not that good. At the end the male character said to the female character, "Be Kind To My Mistakes".
Oops, here are some parts I forgot from my description of my Boston Katemas '92 trip:
While I was transfering planes in Kansas city, I met a guy from Bulgaria. I asked him if he had heard of the Trio Bulgaria, of course, he had, and he couldn't believe that I had!
In Cambridge, Val and I saw a van that had a sign that proclaimed.... Wait for it!... That Stephen King murdered John Lennon! (Yes, the famous Stephen King). It had documentary "evidence" (including photo comparisions) and on the back it said "It's no joke, folks". :-)
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 1994 21:40:00 +0200
From: uli@zoodle.robin.de
(Ulrich Grepel)
Subject: Happy Birthday...
Happy Birthday...
Paul Anka!
William Atherton!
Peter Bogdanovich!
Delta
Burke!
Ken Olin!
Arnold Schwarzenegger!
And Happy Birthday...
Kate!
From: kln@crl.com
Date: 29 Jul 1995 23:20:29 GMT
Subject: Happy
Katemas to All!
'Twas the day before Katemas and all the world round,
Our sweet
Katie's fans to great parties were bound.
They carried some food and some
CD's along,
they watched our Kate dancing and some sang along.
But
out on the street there arose such a clatter
that Love Hounds sprang up to
see what was the matter.
There, with a laserdisc under his arm,
was
IED grinning. Pronouncing a charm
he pointed big-skyward and blew Kate a
kiss,
and all the bright stars spelled out "SHE REALLY IS!"
We heard him exclaim as he set to depart:
"Happy Katemas to all
and to all a bright heart!"
Karen Newcombe
written by Love-Hounds
compiled and edited
by
Wieland
Willker
Sept 1995 June 1996