Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (12/02/90)
Really-From: ed@das.llnl.gov (Edward Suranyi) A couple of days ago a friend, also a graduate student, came up to me and said, "I've heard about Kate Bush from you sometimes, so I decided to check her out. I got _The Sensual World_ through the CBS record club, and I like it quite a bit. I'd like to hear more." "You've come to the right person," I thought. Tonight I brought all the other albums over to his house, as well as the videos _The Whole Story_ and _The Sensual World_. He seemed to be very interested; he asked if he could borrow my albums. If he follows a pattern very familiar to all of us, he'll soon be hooked. Once Kate has grabbed you, there's no turning back. Anyway, after I showed him the videos I wanted to demonstrate the obscurity of some of Kate's lyrics. What's the perfect song for that? "Suspended In Gaffa," of course, especially since it's also one of my favorites. So I played the song while he looked at the lyrics sheet so he could understand the words, at least. Then I asked him, "What do you think it's about?" "I think it's about writing your Ph.D. thesis," he said. "All those lines about having your feet stuck in the mud, and going in slo-mo." So I told him what Kate has said in interviews, about how it's analogous to the Roman Catholic idea of seeing God, but then never being able to see him again. "So, it's sort of about reaching for something that you can never have." He said, "Yep. It's about writing your thesis." Ed ed@das.llnl.gov
Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (12/04/90)
Really-From: gb10@gte.com (Gregory Bossert) Good going, Ed! I've got a coupla people hooked right now -- it's just a matter of reeling them in, as it were. In my opinion you just can't have too many LoveHounds! 8-] It's funny, but my first reaction to _Suspended in Gaffa_ was "Ah, here's a relatively straight-forward song." (The Dreaming was the first KT album I heard, I and was bit dazed by the time I got to _SiG_...). Since then, however, I've learned that my first, profound, impression of the song's meaning differs wildly from anyone elses (Ms. Bush's included), and in fact _SiG_ may be one of the most evocative of KT's works... Happily, the video adds to the effect without in anyway limiting the interpretation. Any reactions to the Cole Porter/AIDS extravaganza on ABC Saturday? All in all, I thought the censorship flap was more interesting than the show itself. (It was rumored that the S. O'Connor and Nenah Cherry (sp?) videos were to be edited; I don't know if this happened but ABC _definitely_ avoided mention of the AIDS focus in their promotional spots Saturday -- it was billed simply as a Cole Porter tribute...) The one video that really got me was k.d. langs: just a happy homemaker until you realize that she's disinfecting the house... Footah! -greg -- gb10@gte.com -- "This cloud should be revoked immediately!" KTB