HomeGround 71 - Out Now!

December 23rd 2002: HomeGround 71 - Winter 2002 - Now Being Mailed To Subscribers. The usual round up of latest news kicks off a packed issue, part two of Peter's excellent article about The Dreaming album and also many other reader's thoughts on Kate's 1982 masterpiece (including HomeGrounds very own Dave Cross), an interview with David Haughton, director of many Lindsay Kemp shows, another fascinating interview by Tracy Story - this time with Kate regular Kevin McAlea, and a beautiful short story by Jeanette. Debi Bowes again excels herself with great artwork. Krys makes a passionate case in the editor's letter for the mag's continued growth in the new year and to that end asks readers to please help with articles and suggestions for features etc...so have a think and get the stuff sent in, as Krys says: "we need you!!" Please note that there is now a new mailing address which should be used. HomeGround Magazine, PO Box 439 Rochester Kent ME3 8WE, England. Also there is a new email address hgtowers@btopenworld.com. Read more about the magazine here.

December 23rd 2002: We're having a bit of fun here with an Alan Partridge mystery. Quite a few people noticed a certain caller called "Mary" featuring on the hit BBC sitcom in two of Alan's recent radio phone-ins. Due to comedian Steve Coogan's constant Kate referencing (he famously performed a very funny Kate Bush Medley), and due to the uncanny familarity of the voice of Mary, fans are wondering - was that Kate cameoing vocally on the comedy series? Well, I have no official answer but perhaps this is another mystery like the Depeche Mode album cover (A Broken Frame) which is supposed to feature Kate...we may never know! Have a look-listen to the two clips on the BBC site and see what you think...here and here.  

December 22nd 2002: US TV News: The Eric Idle/Kate Bush episode of Saturday Night Live (1978), Kate's first appearance in the US, aired in it's entirety at 1:30am MST on most NBC stations.

December 15th 2002: BBC2 are screening a television documentary about a young brain injured girl who is taken from Scotland to London to try to stimulate a flicker of response in a specialist unit. Her love of Kate's music is spoken of and used to try to acheive a response, and Kate's music is also used as a part of the film. The film is entitled "Locked In" and part one will be screened on BBC2 at 11.20pm on Tuesday 17th December 2003. From the BBC site: "This two part series explores the devastating affect that a coma can have on a person and their family. Diagnosed as vegetative seven years ago following a seizure, Joanne Douglas is about to embark on the most important journey of her life. Her parents are convinced that Joanne is showing increased signs of awareness. They believe that she is locked in, hearing and understanding everything but unable to communicate. The only way to find out is to send her to be tested by experts in London." (thanks to Alan on RMG and Cynthia Conrad for letting us know)

December 15th 2002: Newsbits: Andy Marvick found an interview with an up-and-coming British female 
electronic artist named Harland here which mentions Kate (thanks Andy)...Marcel Rijs tells us of another German DVD from Sony featuring Running Up That Hill, with the poetic (ahem) title of  "Pop & Wave Hit Clip Mix 2"...ever wonder at the science behind a Cloudbuster? Have a read of this link here (thanks to Eddie)...Kalessin noticed that fantasy author Charles DeLint is a Kate fan. In his novel, Moonheart (1983), he writes: "this book was written under the influence of Alan Stivell, Silly Wizard and Kate Bush, to name the most prominent"...alternative version of December Will Be Magic Again on "Instant Xmas Hits 1" (thanks JB)...at the All Music site you can see how Kate did in the US charts with all of her albums here (thanks Marinus)... 

December 2nd 2002: The Kick Inside & Lionheart have been released as a double pack by EMI (this is NOT the new remasters we are still waiting for - just the usual CDs with simple cardboard slipcase). The double pack is available from amazon.com. Also, EMI Records issued two German DVDs featuring Kate songs on Nov.18th. The Greatest Eighties features Army Dreamers and The Greatest Love features Hounds Of Love. A 2 CD set called RTL Christmas Megastars Vol. 3 features December Will Be Magic Again. (thanks to John Roger and Michael Leitz)

December 2nd 2002: Newsbits: Q Magazine have again published a poll of it's reader's 100 Greatest Albums of all time and Kate's Hounds Of Love is at number 51. A previous Q poll a few years back had the album placed at number 48 but, as one person pointed out on the guestbook, there are 11 albums which make the top 50 this time which have been released since that last evaluation. Not bad at all then. Q describe the album as "Prog-rock's only sexy record. Still sounds terrifying and sexy"...on Wednesday 27th November the BBC ran a documentary about EMI Records, Kate had a brief mention (cover of The Kick Inside shown and Don't Give Up vocal played)...ITV showed a programme on Sunday 24th called Songwriters Forever. As well as Lennon and McCartney's solo work, Kate's work was featured and included were clips from Babooshka, Hounds of Love & This Womans Work. It also included old interview clips with Kate (thanks to Simon O'Donovan and J on the guestbook)...the BBC have added two more clips of Kate's Top Of The Pops performances on their Kate Bush "star microsite". Wuthering Heights from March 2nd 1978 and The Man With The Child In His Eyes from June 29th 1978. Check out the site here (thanks to Michael Leitz/Cynthia Conrad)...speaking of songwriters I've been told that you should check out this site, this singer/songwriter is a big fan of Kate and performs Cloudbusting live...here's a link that Michael Leitz sent in of an interview with the British band Ladytron. They talk about their musical influences; "Kate Bush is amazing, there's no one like her," says Helen. "As for Joni Mitchell, she's one for the girls. Boys just can't understand her"...Yvonne Betz (who dueted on Don't Give Up with Xaivier Naidoo on his last concert tour) is currently recording her first studio album and apparently she'll be doing a cover version of Running Up That Hill...finally a "where is she now?" article recently popped up in the French magazine "Rock & Folk". Fanch Oriant sends this scan from the November 2002 issue.

Kate at #11 in BBC All Time Number Ones Poll

November 11th 2002: Kate has been very highly placed in the BBC Radio 2 poll of it's listeners top 100 favourite number one singles. The poll marks the 50th anniversary of the UK charts. Wuthering Heights was placed at number 11, the highest placing by a female artist. The chart was broadcast on Saturday. Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" topped the chart. The result has gotten a splash of media coverage, mostly due to the lack of newer acts, such as The Guradian newspaper here, also one of many reports here, and the main BBC Radio 2 site here.  BBC DJ Simon Mayo can be seen talking about why he chose Kate on this video clip here. (thanks to Michael Leitz and Greg Gilligan)

New Grand Theft Auto Game Features Kate!

November 11th 2002: Rockstar Games has released the latest version of Grand Theft Auto computer game for the Sony Playstation 2, "Vice City". It's set in a fictional Miami-esque city in the 80's. The game's storyline involves stealing cars and other crimes. Whenever you steal a car, you can change the radio stations, and if you tune into Emotion 98.3 you'll find Kate's "Wow" in regular rotation! Pre-orders for this very popular new game are said to run into millions of copies. It even seems that Kate's track will be released on the accompanying soundtrack music CD on Epic Records. (thanks to Tracy Story, Alex Hornby, Cynthia Conrad, Jonas Messias Junior and Michael Leitz - lots of surpised Kate gaming fans out there have been emailing me!)

November 11th 2002: Newsbits: Paramount Picture's 90th Anniversary Memorable Songs is a CD that "features popular songs that were featured in some of Paramount Pictures most successful motion pictures", including Kate's This Woman's Work from "She's Having A Baby", read more here about this Sony release...the BBC's Top Of The Pops website has five excerpts (Real Player) from Kate performances (Wow, Them Heavy People, Running Up That Hill, Hounds Of Love, and And So Is Love) here in their newly launched "microsite" on Kate, one fan commented that he had previously never heard of the Them Heavy People clip, so it could be a rare one (thanks to Cynthia and Michael Leitz)....a writer in The Guardian mentioned Kate in an article about a football club manager who was persuaded by "Heathcliffian tossing and turning" to pack his bags."Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy come home, I'm so cold, let me in-a-your window oh-uh-oh-oh-oh-uh-ho-oh." That - as those of us who marvelled at a pert Kate Bush shrieking away like the great grandmother of all banshees on Top of the Pops - is the lung-busting chorus of Wuthering Heights. A chorus which, as anyone who's muddled through GCSE English knows, refers to the haunting of the once-rugged Heathcliff by the ghostly figure of Cathy on the Yorkshire moors." Read more here....Underground hip-hop icon Cage, a member of the Smut Peddlers, uses samples from Cloudbusting (the violins) in his song A Crowd Killer from his album Movies For The Blind (thanks to Michael Leitz)....a part of "Under Ice" was heavily aired in Japanese TV, in Fuji Television's ad for its drama series "Bara-No-Jujika (Rose Cross)" which starts this month. Fuji Television also used Night Scented Stock four years ago, which signs someone important in their drama section likes Kate. (thanks to Sozo Yamamoto, who keeps this site's Japanese translation ticking over! - read more here.)...Sandra on the guestbook tells us that in Rolling Stone magazine's Women in Rock issue, The Kick Inside was listed at #42 on the 50 most important albums by women chart (thanks Sandra)

November 3rd 2002: The BBC are giving Kate fans the opportunity to have their favourite appearence by Kate on Top Of The Pops aired. Choose between Wuthering Heights, Wow, Hounds Of Love, Running Up That Hill or And So Is Love at the TOTP2 website here. The show will be aired on November 12th, BBC2. UPDATE: After initially listing And So Is Love as the winner, the BBC now say Running Up That Hill was the popular choice in the end.

 

Alison Moyet & Teen Star Rhianna Rave About Kate

October 19th 2002: Here's this from the Alison Moyet chat forum site: "Have you ever crossed paths with Kate Bush, and if so, did you get to chat to each other?" Alison Moyet: "I'm very impressed by Kate Bush. She is pure uncompromising talent and I can only feel envy at the apparent flawless way she has managed her career. Both commercially and creatively successful and still an enigma. Clever mare!...saw her once at a party Kirsty (McColl) had some years back...she looked as shy as I felt and we never spoke." (thanks to Russ Thomas for spotting this, he urges us to check out Alison's acclaimed new album, Hometime).

Also, Boolbar sent me a quote from pop singer Rhianna, she's currently promoting her new album Get On and is a very vocal Kate supporter! From the article at the Manchester Online site: "Ask any pop girl for their primary influence and more often than not the answer will be Madonna, and before you know it they'll call their child Romeo. Leeds-bred, mad-haired Rhianna would be more likely to say Kate Bush. And indeed she does. "She's my inspiration really," giggles the 19-year-old coyly. "She's my idol really, she was so free in her way of writing, she didn't care about who was trendy and who was cool, she just did her own thing. It was always, `Kate Bush is weird', but it's cool to be different, I was always the different kid at school and I was shy with myself. But I'm proud of that now, I've learned to accept that my hair's just too big, and I'm not gonna wear the same clothes as everybody else. And with this job as well, it's good to be a little bit different, so I'm kind of finding my niche really." Also here's a quote from her official site about her influences while growing up: “Kate Bush was popular, she was in the charts, but she was cool. She’s a character. And you get the idea that she’s so free". (thanks Boolbar)

October 13th 2002: Over the past few weeks music artists have been choosing Kate's tracks as favourites on BBC Radio 2. Ben on the guestbook writes: "When Beth Orton chose The Man With The Child In His Eyes on yesterday's Radio 2 show (Oct 10th) she said "this song kills me. It's a classic and it's from my fave Kate Bush album The Kick Inside. The song is full of hope - that there is the right man out there". Also Steve Balsamo picked This Woman's Work, Rhianna chose Wuthering Heights and Brian Kennedy selected Running Up That Hill, all on Radio 2's Ken Bruce Show. On another show, latin pop singer Shakira chose Wuthering Heights, John on the guestbook says that she said "that her sister used to play it to her all the time when she was a lass". Sarah Kennedy included Wuthering Heights in her "Songs we either love or hate" feature, listeners vote in for song that irritates them the most. Sarah did say at the end that she liked the song.. To top it all off Dale Winton played the live version of L'Amour Looks Something Like You on his BBC show. 

October 13th 2002: A whole load of Newsbits!: Don't forget to go to www.q4music.com and vote for Kate's albums on their 100 best albums poll (thanks to Damien Bryce)....VH1 100 Greatest Women Update: From the guestbook: "VH1 did a really good piece on her. Toyah said some beautiful things about Kates work, Toploader, who sing to Kate's records at home, and Midge Ure contributed. They showed excerpts from various videos and even the lady herself made a small comment. It looked like she was filmed around the Red Shoes time. All in all it made me really proud of her, and also she really did stand out amongst the others. Tori Amos made a comment too, singling out Kate's production skills."....Michael Leitz: "Xavier Naidoo, German soul star, currently on tour in Germany, is doing a cover version of Don't Give Up at his concerts. Kate's part is sung by Yvonne Betz. The studio version can be found on his second solo CD called "Zwischenspiel/Alles Für Den Herrn". Both the live and the studio version have received excellent reviews in the German press....fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier launched his Spring/Summer 2003 collection using Wuthering Heights on the catwalk as well as trapeze artists. Designer Emanuel Ungaro also used Kate's music to accompany his latest creations on show, during the Paris pret-a-porter shows. (thanks to Michael Leitz, Cynthia Conrad and Swan)....Bill Richotte writes; "The trailer for the new Pierce Brosnan movie Evelyn uses "Don't Give Up", which isn't so unusual, but as the trailer progresses, they have re-scored the song, adding orchestration and such, kinda cool. Here is the link....In Brazil, The Secret Policeman's Third Ball has also been released on DVD, see here, also the German label "In-Akustik" will release a DVD called "The Secret Policeman's Balls - In Concert" on Oct 14th that features Kate's live performance of Running Up That Hill with David Gilmour, see here....The BBC have a "TOTP2 wallpaper" featuring Kate. Three different resolutions ready for download here, the beautiful shot of Kate is from the newly released BBC Top Of The Pops book. (thanks to Michael Leitz)....On Sept 25th MTV USA did a show called "No Hit Wonders." Kate was referenced in mention to singer/actress Milla Jovovich (Fifth Element, Million Dollar Hotel), who released an album back in 1994. They compared her single "Gentlemen Who Fell" as a "weird combination of Enya meets Kate Bush, but not nearly as good." (thanks to Collin Kelley)....an article on Kate has appeared in the current issue of Swedish magazine "Rock" (thanks Magnus)....Running Up That Hill has been recently added to a compilation CD called "Promises & Memories" in Italy. In the booklet included is a small photo of Kate performing "The Dreaming" on an Italian show called "Discoring" back in 1982, and a very positive review of the track. (thanks to Antonello Saeli)....Jenn Crowell in Washington DC writes: "there is an article on "Generation X" writers in the Sept./Oct 2002 edition of Pages, a US literary magazine, in which I mention Kate Bush as one of my major pop culture influences, I'm a novelist, and my novel Necessary Madness, which came out in the US and UK a few years back, actually quoted a line from Hounds of Love by name." (thanks Jenn)

Peter Gabriel Talks Kate: "She's Making Noises Again"

October 1st 2002: Jerry Dreiss lets us know about this from the October issue of Pulse (free magazine produced by Tower Records) in an interview with Peter Gabriel by Bill Forman. Forman mentions that: "the new Gabriel track "I Grieve" has an understated inspirational quality not unlike "Don't Give Up," Gabriel's stunning 1986 duet with Kate Bush, who has been even more elusive than Gabriel this past decade. ("I saw Kate a couple of months back and I think she's making noises again," smiles Gabriel. "I mean, she was being a Mum for a while, and I think also her Mum had died before that, which sort of knocked her sideways. But I know she's back in the studio, so hopefully we'll hear something from her soon.)" Thanks Jerry, read the interview here. [Newsbit round up and links updates coming later this week, thanks to all for sending them in.]

Kate Highly Placed In VH1 Poll (and getting a lot of press coverage as a result)

September 28th 2002: For some reason the new poll by music channel VH1 of the 100 Greatest Women in music is getting more press coverage than one of these polls would normally get, after all they seem to come out every other month. Kate has been highly placed as usual at number 10, and various media reports are emphasising that she is the highest placed British female artist, a really incredible achievement when you consider that her last album was nine years ago. Madonna topped the poll, Kylie was second. The BBC website have a photo of Kate with their article here. Reuters said Kate was "forever famous for her 1978 debut single Wuthering Heights", while Ananova also mentioned Kate's placing as significant. Some of this mornings UK papers have photos of Kate too. 750,000 votes were cast, read more at the VH1 website. (thanks to Cynthia Conrad)

September 19th 2002: HomeGround Magazine - Issue 70 has been mailed to subscribers. The Summer 2002 Issue. It's 20 years since the release of The Dreaming album (hence the cover image), and the magazine marks the occasion with a look back at the effect the album has had over the years by several readers. The issue also includes an interview with Charlie Morgan, all the latest news including reviews of the Norwich tribute show, the second part of  the piece on Kate's literary influences and all the usual content that's helped the magazine keep going for 70 issues now! Please check out the HomeGround pages for info.

September 19th 2002: Newsbits: Brett Anderson from Suede appeared on the Channel 4 programme RISE on the 17th Sept. When asked the first single he ever bought was he replied "Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights". He then went on to say he was completely mad about Kate (thanks to Rafferty on the guestbook)....Greg Kearney in Toronto writes: "Just happened upon the new "Paramount 90th Anniversary" compilation CD. It features "This Woman's Work", sandwiched between mega-hits from Saturday Night Fever and Titanic. A good barometer of our gal's ever-rising stock in the U.S, "She's Having a Baby" is not, after all, a prime jewel in the Paramount crown." (thanks Greg)....while the new live DVD from David Gilmour (out this month in the UK, November in the US) does include the track Comfortably Numb alas it is NOT the version with Kate from earlier this year (John on the guestbook adds "The DVD is of the June '01 gig with extras from the Jan '02 shows.")....vote for Kate (yet again!). BBC Radio 2 are organising yet another of those all time Top 50 charts of number one hits, so run, don't walk, to this site and vote for Wuthering Heights. If you go into the "Presenters  Choices" link, you will see that DJ Simon Mayo picks WH as his favourite and says "When the vocals started I just stopped and looked at the radio." Radio 2 are also using a  snippet of WH with Simon Mayo's quote to advertise the poll (thanks to Boolbar)....Swan fom the French site says "the soundtrack to the TV series Alias includes "This Woman's Work" - in the second episode titled "So It Begins" (thanks Swan)....Mark B writes: "In the current edition of UK's Record Collector there is an interview with Claudia Brucken (ex Propaganda) currently working on new material which includes a new version of Running Up That Hill, also mentioned is promos having been released of  Hammer Horror by PHATS....The September 2002 issue of Classic Rock magazine includes an  interview with Joe Elliott (Def Leppard). On the subject of the new album 'X' he says "with this record we've taken snippets of Linkin Park and we've taken snippets of others, but its not just the modern stuff. I mean, Kate Bush pushed the boundaries of pop music, and we still steal from people like her and Peter Gabriel - people who sold lots of records but who were sonically challenging and appealing." (thanks to Malcolm Calder)....Ernest Stoddart saw Kiki & Herb's live show: "I went to see Kiki and Herb at the Soho Theatre last night and they were very funny and manic. They sang versions of Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart, Radiohead's No Surprises and Patti Smith's Horses amongst others. Included in the show was a version of Moments of Pleasure. The show has been extended to the 30th August. A must see at only £12"....Ernest also had this news for bargain hunters: "Most of Kate's albums can now be found at bargain prices in the record stores. Virgin are selling the Red Shoes and The Sensual World at a sale price of only £3.99 while FOPP a new record store in Covent Garden London has all albums from The Kick Inside through to Hounds of Love for only £5 each." (thanks Ernest)....

August 19th 2002: Newsbits: A lot of recent rumours about the progress on Kate's new album and indeed who is handling the promotion or otherwise of the new work have been circulating, one rumour suggested that a particular person in the record industry has been given a list of tracks from the new album already. Just so you know, the editors of HomeGround magazine have told me that they have good cause to be sceptical about the latter story....Tony B on the guestbook writes: "I've just returned from two weeks holiday in Cornwall. While there, I went to see 'The Eden Project.' Kate is a part of it. There is a part of the project dedicated to the production of rubber, one display is lots of rubber wellingtons happily dancing away to a very loud Rubberband Girl. It is so sureal to see all these boots jigging away to Kate, next to a condom display. You just have to be there!"...Hideaki Nishihara of the Lionheart Japanese fan club has sent me a link to a new "Kate Museum" page which features a lot of rare promotional pics (see photo left) and photos from Kate's time in Japan (including those Seiko watch ads) in the early days here...VH1 are currently taking votes for the 100 greatest women to be screened late September, Simon Fourny has sent in this link to vote....Kate's Babooshka video was played on the French TV show "80 à l'heure" on 5th August (see French Kate forum here, thanks also to FX of The Ninth Wave site for letting me know)....Geoff Tate, while promoting his solo release, mentions Kate as a personal favourite artist here (thanks David)....Malcolm Calder also noted in the recent issue of Record Collector, hidden in the 'Big Heart For A Big Country' article - tribute to Stuart Adamson, three of the participants (Bill Nelson, Midge Ure & Mike Baillie) are asked 'What do you miss about him most?' Midge Ure replies: "The fact that there's one less person fighting against mediocrity. I had a great conversation with Kate Bush about 10 years ago. We were doing a duet and we went to her studio. She was talking about quitting and I said, 'You can't because if you quit, I'll quit, and if I quit somebody else who cares will quit...' Stuart was one of those steps down the line. He was someone who cared, who's not there now."....David Sheasby has sent in this very proper mention of Kate's birthday from The Daily Telegraph....Justin in Bath let me know that Naked Voices (see July 28th news) performed Rocket's Tail that day, "It was almost as if Kate and the Trio were there themselves amazing"....Kate's rendition of Rocket Man is played in the film Women Talking Dirty, starring Helena Bonham Carter. (thanks to "Bonzo" on the guestbook)

July 30th 2002: Kate turns 44 today. We wish her a great day and best of luck with the new work as it takes shape...

Steve Harley On BBC Radio 2: "Kate's Recording As We Speak"

July 29th 2002: On his weekly BBC Radio 2 show "Sounds Of The Seventies" last week, Steve Harley played Wow by Kate, introducing the song with "there are even those who dont go too big on Kate Bush, I pity them". After the song he casually mentioned: "I saw Kate Bush a few weeks ago, and I am pleased to say she is recording as we speak. My drummer Stuart Elliot is playing on the album and says she is bang on form".  You may still be able to catch a recording of the show at his website here. (thanks to Linda on the guestbook.) Here's this entry on Steve from the excellent Gaffaweb dictionary: "Leader of the group Cockney Rebel, in a less well known credit Harley also provided vocals for the first version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom Of The Opera. Having donated half of Cockney Rebel to the recording of the album The Kick Inside, Harley further gave of himself on 12 May 1979 by appearing at a benefit concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in memory of the late Bill Duffield, with whom Harley had worked in the past."

July 28th 2002: Newsbits: There is a picture of Kate (back cover of Lionheart by Gered Mankowitz) in the 'She Bop' exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, downstairs, next to the bookshop. See the gallery's site here. (thanks to David Sheasby and David Plaister for letting me know)....this site and many others have been reviewed and assessed in a two page article about Kate Bush on the Internet in the August issue of Record Collector magazine. I'm pleased to say that Kate Bush News & Information is recommended as a first stop, so thanks to writer Cliff McLenehen (thanks to Mark for spotting the article)....two artists discussing Kate on the BBC website recently include Jane Weaver and Euros Child (of Welsh band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci), click on their names for the interviews....the BBC site also mentions a concert last year at the Bristol Community Festival where the group Naked Voices performed "soothing acappella interpretations of everything from Kate Bush to Seal, enough to bring warmth to the coldest soul"....Tristan and Jeremy send some news from France about two new compilations Platinium Pop includes Babooshka and Together - Pop includes Running Up That Hill....Michael Leitz found Kate at number one in the Ulver Music Top Ten with Hounds Of Love, "A classic Kate Bush album and the one that broke her into major stardom in the US. Interestingly enough, the UK pressings sound much better than the US ones." See the BBC site here...Michael also found an article in the Guardian newspaper by singer Louise Wener of Sleeper: "The one good thing about growing up with chronic asthma was the frequency with which I was allowed to stay home from school in the winter, listening to music....I discovered that the force of singing along to Wuthering Heights and whirling my arms above my head like Kate Bush made my breathing easier; and that the addition of a hairbrush, a mirror and a touch of bathroom reverb made it all the more enjoyable...I spent the rest of the night singing along to Kate Bush in front of the bathroom mirror, writing a new chapter for my second novel, counting my blessings and wondering what on earth I could have been thinking of..." See the article here....Kevin Tachman says that Kiki & Herb (see April 22nd news) will be performing in London 24 July-17 August, not sure of venue...John Lang heard Hello Earth played on the BBC Radio 3 show Late Junction, see the site here....JOY FM, Australia’s only gay and lesbian radio station ran a 2 hour special on Kate and Tori Amos at Saturday 27 July 2002 (thanks to Henry Chan)

Mick Karn - Playing Bass On The New Album

June 30th 2002: Mick Karn has recorded bass with Kate on her new album. The session took place earlier this year according to his official website. Karn previously played on The Sensual World album in 1989 on the track Heads We're Dancing. Karn first came to prominence as a key member of the British art-rock band Japan, his unique bass playing skills contributing to the global success of the band. Mick first met Kate when they both took part in the Prince's Trust concert in July '82. (thanks to Detlev Behrens) 

June 30th 2002: Newsbits: Joseph spotted a sample from Under Ice on a CD mixed by DJ John Digweed. The track by Liquid Language is called Blue Savannah on the album 006 Sydney. The repeated lyric is "I'm speeding past trees" (thanks Joseph)...Peter Gabriel's back-catalogue has been re-released in digitally remastered form. Albums with contributions from Kate: Peter Gabriel 3 features "Games Without Frontiers" and "No Self Control" with Kate on BVs. So features "Don't Give Up", Shaking The Tree features "Games Without Frontiers" and "Don't Give Up". See Peter's site here. (thanks to Michael Leitz)...Iarfhlaith Manny noticed that in the current issue of the RTÉ Guide (Irish radio and television listings) it said that this week 24 years ago, Kate gave an interview with the RTÉ Guide telling that her top 3 favourite albums were: 1. David Bowie "Young Americans", 2. Anything by Eric Satie, 3. The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's" (thanks Iarfhlaith)...Hounds Of Love was voted number 50 in the BBC Radio 6 "Glorious 50" poll. Stone Roses by Stone Roses was number 1. Check it out here. (thanks to Cynthia Conrad)...TV Kanagawa in Japan have featured Kate on 14th June in a "Nothin but Piano" editon of "Sony Music Access" in which DJ Chris Tomoko showed videos of songs "with impressive piano sound". They played This Woman's Work. The show had contacted me for permission to mention my site, and I gladly agreed! See their site here. (thanks to Sozo for help)...Singer Cara Dillon has written a piece for the 25th Anniversary issue of Ireland's Hot Press magazine dated 3rd July. "..please, please can she record another album soon? People like her shouldn't be allowed to retire!" The feature includes a large B&W pic of Kate, click on the image here for a scan of Cara's article...Q Magazine had a jokey headline featuring Kate in their recent issue. "P45 for Kate Bush?" The cash strapped Capitol/EMI/Virgin Group recently "re-structured". So who's in the firing line? On borrowed Time? Bryan Ferry, Billie, David Sylvian, Kate Bush - no new album since 1993's The Red Shoes. Are her bosses prepared to keep waiting, standing ovation at last year's Q Awards or not!" (thanks to Bill Richotte)...Barbara Ellen in The Observer UK newspaper was complaining that the arty Meltdown Festival was always hosted by men. This year's host is David Bowie and he is rumoured to be playing Low in its entirety at his concert. Kate is pictured and mentioned as a possible female host of the festival along with a list of others including Tracy Chapman and Madonna (thanks to Andrew Thompson)...Ben on the guestbook writes: On Thursday 27th June Brian Kennedy chose Running Up That Hill as one of his Tracks Of My Years on BBC Radio 2. He raved on about how wonderful Kate is and especially Hounds Of Love. He also urged Kate to 'release the new album soon'. (thanks Ben and thanks also to Jane Blackley at Brian's official site, I've previously interviewed Brian, read the chat here)...

June 30th 2002: HomeGround News: Krystyna FitzGerald-Morris of HomeGround fanzine writes:  "Just to let everyone know that our annual HomeGround Kate gathering is on Sunday 28th July, 3pm on Glastonbury Tor. Then on to (probably) The Rifleman's Arms pub for a few hours & a few pints. It is always an enjoyable day & a chance to meet other Kate fans. Check out the Glastonbury Tourist Info site for B&Bs etc. Issue 70 of HomeGround will be available in August - September sees the 20th anniversary of The Dreaming & I am putting together a feature celebrating the album, so if anyone would like to contribute thoughts & feelings about The Dreaming, please email me. The deadline is mid-July. Read more at the HG pages here. 

June 10th 2002: Newsbits: Marco Gatti in The Netherlands writes: "The Efteling celebrates it’s 50 birthday this year with a book about its history, "Efteling, Kroniek Van Een Sprookje" ("Efteling, A Chronicle Of A Fairy Tale.) The text is accompanied with a small picture of Kate in front of the haunted castle with the caption "Beautiful Kate fits perfectly in the Haunted Castle". Kate performed dramatised versions of seven of her songs from The Kick Inside for a Dutch TV programme in May 1978, filmed at these gardens. (thanks Marco)...this weekend's UK press reports that Wuthering Heights was voted #18 in the poll of the top songs by British artists since the Queen's coronation in 1952. (thanks to Steve Thomas)...Dance group Faithless played their favourite video clips of all time on the Australian ABC TV  Programme "Rage"- they picked Cloudbusting as one of their favourite tracks and the clip was played (thanks to Brian Parker)...Cynthia tells me that a UK magazine listed Kate at 47 in a poll of the 50 Best Looking British Women of all time (thanks Cynthia)...Henrik Nilsson from Stockholm noticed that Cloudbusting (and a nice pic of Kate) was featured in the in-flight magazine of airline company Britannia in the presentation of the different radio channels on offer...according to The Independent, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain plays Wuthering Heights. "It took some cheek for George Hinchcliffe, the orchestra's boss (he started the band 16 years ago) [...] to reinvent Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights' as a cocktail-jazz croon, but he did it. By the end, I was a delirious convert to the instrument" For more info on the orchestra, you can visit their homepage (thanks to Michael Leitz) 

Kate Wins Ivor Novello Award For Outstanding Contribution To British Music!

May 23rd 2002: The BBC have just reported that Kate is among the musicians honoured at today's prestigious Ivor Novello Awards ceremony in London. The awards, now in its 47th year,  honour the contribution of songwriters, composers and music publishers to the industry in 2001, selected by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. 

On receiving her award Kate said: "It's so special to be thought of as a songwriter. This means so much to me, I'll really treasure this." 

From the BBC News report: "Dido, Kate Bush and the team behind Kylie Minogue's recent smash hit (incl Cathy Dennis) have won Ivor Novello songwriting awards, marking a success for women songwriters....veteran singer-songwriter Kate Bush completed the successes for women with her award for her outstanding contribution to British music." The ceremony this afternoon was at the Grosvenor House hotel in London's Park Lane. 

Update 24th May 2002: Ben on the guestbook writes:"BBC Radio 2 gave excellent coverage to Kate last night. They played Kate's very emotional acceptance speech. Stated that she is probably the most respected British female of the last 3 decades and for many her appearance was the highlight of the awards. They then played pieces of SIX of Kate's songs including Moments and The Dreaming. She sounded amazingly touched by the accolade and it was a real delight to hear her.." (thanks Ben). The man pictured here who presented Kate with her award is broadcaster Paul Gambicini. 

Big thanks to John Harper for these pictures from this morning's GMTV news report - see all of his images at his site here. 

The Queen Meets Kate Tonight And Hasn't A Clue Who She Is!

May 22nd 2002: Kate attended a special ceremony at the Royal Academy of Arts tonight as part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations. The event honours the work of young artists to which the Queen donated prizes. Kate was introduced to the Queen with Mick Hucknall of Simply Red. It seems she had trouble recognising many of the big names. Sky News spoke to Hucknall: "I could not tell her we had met before - that would have been a faux pas," said a gallant Hucknall, who stayed close to Bush throughout the evening. 'I just said we were singer-songwriters. I'm not offended, after all she's a grandmother'....Bush, who was introduced to the Queen with Dynasty and Tenko actress Stephanie Beecham and former Monty Python cartoonist Terry Gilliam, said: 'She had to ask us all who we were...but she was lovely - she was radiant." Gilliam later admitted to the BBC that he was amazed she hadn't recognised people like Kate who are known worldwide. (Clipping right from the Evening Standard newspaper).

May 22nd 2002: Brian Parker in Melbourne writes: The Nine Network (the most widely watched TV station in Australia) have been playing "This Woman's Work" to promote the up and coming episode of the American show ER. As the ad is played (I think one of the doctor's has a brain tumour and has lost a baby!) the bottom left corner of the screen says "This Woman's Work, Kate Bush EMI". The ad is played twice an hour. The song is getting more exposure now than it back in 1989! (thanks to Brian and to Cindy Ireland in Australia)

May 14th 2002: In 'Scotland on Sunday' (12th May) on their weekly 'Culture Test' feature the interviewer asked several questions of Cara Dillon. Born in 1975 in Dungiven Co Derry, she began work on her eponymous debut album which was released to critical acclaim on Rough Trade Records last year. She supported the Indigo Girls at the Queens Hall, Edinburgh on Monday, has recently supported Brian Kennedy and was one of David Gilmours guests at his recent Royal Festival Hall dates which Kate also took part in. Interview excerpt: "Q: What would your Desert Island Disc be? A: Kate Bush's Hounds of Love. Its such a beautiful, lyrical album and you could never mistake the voice of Kate Bush. She's a one-off. Q: Which artist has had the biggest effect on your life? A: Kate Bush has inspired me musically but the poetry of WB Yeats really allows me to escape to another world." I highly recommend Cara's album, definite shades of Kate's vocal style on some of the tracks (Craigie Hill, I Am A Youth That's Inclined To Ramble) applied to trad standards and some great original songs. Cara is already receiving deserved widespread acclaim. (thanks to Malcolm Calder for the interview quotes)  

May 14th 2002: Link update: Herb Leonhard's gallery of Kate Bush art can now be found at www.herbleonhard.com. Last year Herb fully illustrated the official Tori Amos lyric book release. (thanks Herb - pictured above is a detail from his painting "Cloudbusting")  

Kate's Drummer Stuart Elliott Talks about Working On New Album

May 13th 2002: Stuart Elliott has been interviewed on the "Drummer Interviews" site. Here's some quotes: "I am doing a new album with Kate Bush. This is a lot of fun as she has kind of gone back to wanting drums, by that I mean by not restricted by not using hi-hat and cymbals and not relying on all that massive gated reverb stuff. She has opted for a more sensitive, even jazzy approach which, as chance would have it, I have also gravitated back towards....I bought a Sonor Jungle snare for about $100.00. It is about ten inches in diameter and two inches deep. What a sound though! It's Kate's favourite at the moment...I plan to continue with the composing, and of course, look out for Kate's new album!" (thanks to Michael Leitz for spotting this, the interview would appear to be genuine, though not part of any official site)

May 13th 2002: Even More Newsbits!!: Michael Leitz has outdone himself this month, providing all of the following links and news: British comedienne Jo Brand did an interview for www.thisislondon.co.uk and was asked what song she associated with London: Q: "Name a song that you associate with London." A: "'Oh England, My Lionheart' by Kate Bush, which has lyrics about Kensington Park, Peter Pan and ravens at the Tower of London." Rock's Backpages have a feature called "Girl Unafraid: Kate Bush 1978" with an introduction and three interviews by Harry Doherty that originally appeared in Melody Maker '78, here.The BBC have a list with Kate's appearances on TOTP (live appearances and showing of a video) here. Two of them you can watch by going to the "TOTP Video Gallery" (Wow March '79 and HOL '86) here. In the category "Rock And Pop Features 1978", you'll find an audio clip: "Wuthering Heights: Kate Bush talks about the problems of having a #1 with her first single "Wuthering Heights", and the marketing of her sexual image. Suprisingly,"Wuthering Heights" was the first UK # 1 single written and performed by a woman. Kate also had further hits this year, with "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" and "Hammer Horror". Listen to the clip here.  The Independent has an article about the music industry and the influence of the major labels on the business. Kate is also mentioned here. 

May 13th 2002: Newsbits: Oliver on the guestbook reckons it may be worth checking out the second part of the BBC Radio 2 documentary on Peter Gabriel...it will look at his collaborations with other artists, so there will be a mention of Kate (Saturday 18th May, 20.00-21.00)....The Top 100 Favourite Hit Singles of all time, as voted for in a poll conducted by the Guinness Book Of Hit Singles places Kate at number 40 with Wuthering Heights, 31,000 people voted, see here.(Thanks to Michael Leitz, Stewart)...Charlie on the guestbook told us that on May 8th "There was a half page article in the Brighton Argus today about Liz Pearson, who toured with Kate as one of her two backing singers. Liz said: "Touring with Kate Bush was a great experience. She did her own backing vocals in the recording studios for songs such as Wuthering Heights but, of course, when she went on tour singing live she needed two singers with her on stage". The article is illustrated with a nice picture of Kate, and one of Liz Pearson, who is now runnning opera workshops for children in the Arun District." (thanks Charlie)...Sozo Yamamoto in Japan has succeeded in getting the clip of Kate on the Tokyo Song Contest from 1979 re-broadcast. He says: "The clip is a few seconds shorter than the original broadcast, circulating on the Kate-Topia tape, but it is far better in quality (digital broadcast). The announcers talk around the clip was rather dull, about Kate's high notes and 'strange' dance. Some viewers, including myself, recorded the program in D-VHS. So, someday, all of us have a chance of seeing the clip." (thanks Sozo)...Eddie in The Netherlands writes about a recent Dutch TV piece on 1978 on "Typisch 70": "Wuthering Heights was shown (the red dress-clip in the forest). Unfortunately, it was laced with interviews of local dutch celebrities speaking of their memories of Kate, comments about her hair, eyes, strange dancing and the fact that her music was so different at the time." (thanks also to Brigitte Breemerkamp for letting me know)...Mike has written about the Heather Nova quote (see April 22nd news): "it was an interview I conducted for the Leicester University student newspaper, "The Ripple" backstage at Manchester's Hop 'n' Grape during Heather's "South" tour."

Homeground Magazine - Spring 2002 Issue out now!

April 22nd 2002: The excellent HomeGround Magazine has just been posted out to subscribers last week. The big story is of course Kate's live appearance with David Gilmour. Also featured is an interview with Simon Drake, Kate's magician from the 1979 Tour Of Life, an article on The Big Sky video shoot and a piece on Kate and the narrative tradition, among other interesting features. On 18th May 2002 HomeGround is 20 years young! Amazing. Warm congratulations to a terrific team, producing the best fan magazine around - long may it continue. For info on the mag please check out the HomeGround Pages

April 22nd 2002: Newsbits: Singer Heather Nova comments that she'd like to work with Kate in a chat on her website here....Conrad Kelly of band The Undead has recently said this about Kate while choosing Lionheart as one of his favourite albums:"It's too bad that modern singer-songwriters possess a mere half the talent it took Kate to brush her teeth"....Comfortably Numb (Kate's recent live performance with David Gilmour) can now be downloaded (video too!) here (thanks to Shahaf)....Dutch fans can vote for Kate in the 3FM Radio album poll here....Kate featured in Metro (free daily newspaper in London) on Wednesday 3 April "on this day in 1979 Kate Bush had done her first concert." (thanks to Rafferty)....Kevin writes to tell us to check out www.Kikiandherb.com. They have a very popular cabaret/comedy show. Kiki & Herb have performed covers of Running Up That Hill, This Womans Work and Moments of Pleasure in their shows....Antonello in Italy writes: "a very short clip of Kate's appearance at the Arena in Verona (Sept '78) was shown on "Cocktail d'Amore" last Monday night. Kate danced while performing "Wuthering Heights", she was dressed in red and was accompanied by two men who rotated a huge kite which hid Kate from the public till she was revealed - the crowd just went mad, also Kate received a very important award, the gold "Telegatto" (a small gold cat that is visible together with other awards in a black & white photograph published in one of the early issues of the KBC newsletters) as the best foreign act in Italy in 1978 (thanks Antonello)....Magnus in Sweden spotted an article about Kate in the April edition of Classic Rock Magazine, a two-page feature, the author musing on the current activities of Kate Bush as well as going back to an old interview (thanks also to Neal Neofitou)....

March 24th 2002: Johnny writes to say he came across an article in a London listings magazine headlined "Hitting The Vaseline". The piece is by someone who has written and is appearing in a show called The Beautiful Bend - A Drama With Music at a pub theatre in central London. He talks about having performed the original version of this show at the same venue last September where

"our closing night audience paid us the compliment of singing almost every single Kate Bush song to us in the bar after the show...prompted by hearing Wow which I played after the first act, they sang Army Dreamers, Babooshka, Hammer Horror, This Woman's Work, Sat In Your Lap, Violin, Breathing, The Sensual World, The Dreaming, There Goes A Tenner and the whole of the Ninth Wave side of Hounds Of Love. I have never experienced anything like it before or since. It was decided on that strange and special night that we would incorporate a tribute to Kate Bush in our next production. By way of homage to George Cukor's "The Women, we have done this by adding a lavish (for us!) Kate Bush-inspired fashion show. The show is a chop suey (rather than a pot pourri) of vignettes, short dramas and tableaux-vivants. An almost all male cast playing many characters (mostly women). This is an audacious plug for a show that I have written and appear in...don't take my word for it....I say it's the funniest thing you'll see this year. If you think you might be in the mood for a a camp old time (or are a Kate Bush fan), you're definitely going to enjoy it."

It is on at the Central Space Theatre (at Central Station), 37 Wharfdale Road, London N1 (just by Kings Cross tube/BR station). Box office is 020 7278 3294. Performance dates are Tuesday 26th, Thursday 28th, Friday 29th, Saturday 30th March. Performances at 7.30pm. (Thanks to Johnny)

March 24th 2002: Newsbits: Michael Leitz sends this link for the new Australian DVD release of The Secret Policeman's Third Ball. From the blurb: "Kate Bush teams up with the man who discovered her, Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour to perform “Running Up that Hill”, the legendary Bob Geldof takes the stage for “This is the World Calling”, Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler and the late Chet Atkins play a haunting instrumental rendition of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. Peter Gabriel is joined by the entire cast for ‘Biko’. A superb musical journey on DVD that captures the true heart and soul of a decade." (Thanks Michael)...In episode three of the David Nicholls-penned BBC comedy-drama series Rescue Me it became apparent that one of its major characters - Eden magazine's Chief Sub-Editor "Eddie Chisholm" (Stewart Wright) is a Kate Bush fan. Whilst reminiscing about a teenage daliance with religion, he reveals the content of a typical prayer to have been : "Please God, let me go out with Kate Bush...". In a later scene, his 12" vinyl music collection is rifled through by Daniela Denby-Ashe's "Julie Carter" who exclaims: "Loads of Kate Bush, God, you've got some weird records!" (thanks to Wraith Ravenscroft)...Stewart found a remix of Kate's This Woman's Work on www.winmx.com (Napster style site) called "Kate Bush and Maxwell - This Woman's Work Speedbliss Club Mix" (thanks Stewart)...

Maxwell releases This Woman's Work single in the US

March 17th 2002: Toddicus writes: "Maxwell's studio version of This Woman's Work has been made into a video and will be premiered on MTV2 in the US this week. It is also available to see on his official website. The track is taken from last year's album "Now". Kate's track is one of his most popular live songs. The singer says on his website: "I did it as a tribute to this little girl who came to a show in Los Angeles as part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the summer of 1999," he explains. "Her wish was to meet me and she passed away six months later from cancer. So I re-recorded the song for her." In previous reports on these pages you'll see that Kate has already given him very positive feedback about his recording of her classic song. In related news, Kate was mentioned in the Chart Beat section of Billboard Magazine last week. Columnist Fred Bronson talks about Kylie's #3 debut then goes on to talk about Kate. "She hasn't been off the charts as long as Kylie Minogue, but British national treasure Kate Bush is back on the Hot 100, as a songwriter. It's been eight years since Bush had a credit on the singles chart; "Rubberband Girl" which she wrote, produced, and recorded, peaked at No. 88 in December 1993. Bush gets credit this issue as the songwriter of "This Woman's Work" as covered in an R&B version by Maxwell. His Columbia album track enters at No. 75. That makes it the highest-charting song written by Bush in more than 16 years, since "Running up That Hill" reached No. 30 in November 1985. While this is the first time that "This Woman's Work" by any artist has charted on the Hot 100, it peaked at No. 25 on the UK singles chart for Bush in 1989." (thanks to Scott Silzer for the Billboard quote)

March 17th 2002: Newsbits: Richard Strelitz reports on rec.music.gaffa that Kate is mentioned in the 10th March New York Times. In a joint discussion between Elton John and Billy Joel, Elton talked about his lowest moment and the song that pulled him out, "Don't Give Up", by Kate and Peter Gabriel...Leanne Miller tells us that Russell Crowe has taken to name-checking his singer girlfriend Danielle Spencer. Interviewed by British music magazine Mojo for its current edition, Crowe answered that he's listening to his longtime love when quizzed about which music is on currently on his stereo. He says, "An Australian singer/songwriter, Danielle Spencer. Really good, like crossing Kate Bush with ABBA and putting it to very unpredictable rhythms."...Jeremy and Tristan notice that in Neil Gaiman's latest book, American Gods, he quotes the same biblical text as Kate in Song of Solomon "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love." Gamain has referenced Kate in his works before, so this may possibly have a connection with the song...Nancy Rogers was listening to Virgin Radio in the UK and singer Eileen Rose commented that she was a big fan of Tom Waits and Kate Bush and that she keeps inviting Kate to her gigs but she never turns up! (thanks Nancy)...Kate was at number 93 in the Sunday Express 300 Most Beautiful Women poll (thanks Kathleen)..the French RFM/TV network broadcast the Love and Anger video Feb 26th (thanks to Fanch Oriant in France)...in a recent interview on Radio 1 regarding the DVD issue of Breaking Glass the 1980 Hazel O'Connor film, it was disclosed that Hazel's character was called Kate after Kate Bush - as 1979 was a good year for Kate Bush, the producers of BG wanted to use the character name so people would familiarise Kate with Hazel. This and other notes appear on the DVD edition and the forthcoming digital remastered CD...another Kate cover, Claudia De Booche covers The Big Sky on her forthcoming EP "International Glamourpuss"...(thanks to Mark)

March 3rd 2002: Shameless plug: Thought you might be interested to hear that some friends of mine in the Dublin band Settler have been invited over to Chicago by "I Wanna Be Kate" tribute CD producer Thomas Dunning to take part in some shows around the city over Easter. Although no Kate songs will be performed (well, on stage anyway), the band will be involved in Tom's famous Hoot Nite on March 27th in Schubas, the theme of the night is "The Cure vs Diana Ross", so its battle of the big hair-dos! Those wanting to find out more about Tom's tribute album (Kate loved his CD by the way, she said "I think it's absolutely wonderful...") go to this page. If you'd like to read more about a Dublin band on the up, read more about my Settler pals here. And finally don't worry, while I'm away in Chicago The Duck will be here in case of any important updates. Just wanted to fill you in on an exciting site-related happening, many thanks again to Tom.  

March 3rd 2002: Newsbits: Robert Brown lets us know that Kate is featured on TOTP2 next Wednesday 6th March on BBC2 at 7.05pm (thanks Robert)...the UK's best-selling men's magazine, FHM, has included Babooshka in its list of the 100 sexiest music videos. "So she's really talented and writes all her own stuff and lives like a recluse, but Christ will you look at this - chainmail bikini, thighs, wind-machine ebony hair, thighs, leather boots, thighs, and check out that knife! That's gotta be bondage. Babooshka made a bona fide sex object of Kate and vies with Olivia Newton John's Physical as the most reliable 3-minute arouser of its day. Sadly, Kate then went and built a studio in her house, and she's barely emerged since." See FHM website here...David Sheasby reads in the currrent Q Magazine that they mention the possibility of a Kate album later this year, "'Though we have been waiting quite a while already,' said a spokesman"...and one eager (but incorrect) website even lists the "new CD" as coming out this summer here...a tiny clip of the Babooshka video was broadcast last Monday night on the RAI2 programme in Italy "Cocktail d'Amore", and Kate was also mentioned during the afternoon quiz "Passaparola", Canale 5, which asked "Which Kate abandoned music to be a mum?" Antonello (who sent in this news) has contacted the TV station to let them know Kate hasn't abandoned music!

February 20th 2002: Newsbits: Michael Leitz writes that "Earthrise: The Rainforest Album", released in '92 and out-of-print for some time, has just been re-released. It features "Don't Give Up" & "Spirit Of The Forest", on which Kate sings the line "Turn around, turn around, before it's too late." (thanks Michael)...the remix of Cloudbusting by Utah Saints (Something Good) was played during ITV's 'This Morning" Wed 20th Feb during a montage of clips from the early auditions of Pop Idol (thanks Iarla)...Will tells us that a recent Sky News entertainment piece claims that Kate will release a new single called “Bertie” (?!) in the near future with the new album appearing at the end of this year, they also played a little bit of the Sensual World video in the background. Hmmm. I'd say be very wary of this rumour. (cheers to Will)...the German daily soap "Verbotene Liebe" featured an extract from "The Man I Love" as background music in a restaurant scene, they've played Maxwell's This Woman's Work recently too (thanks to Ingo Pohl)...a new French Celtic music compilation, "Celtica Vol.3"  includes Kate's Mná na hÉireann, there is also a television commercial running for the CD which features Kate's song. (thanks to Tristan and Jeremy).

UK Tribute Show

February 20th 2002:  An event worth noting for UK Kate fans. Karl writes on the guestbook:"We will be holding a tribute concert honouring the great lady. The main performer of Kate's work will be Lisa Redford. The venue is the Music Room of the Assembly House, Theatre Street, Norwich, Norfolk on the 26th April 7.30pm  tickets £7.50 from Norwich Arts Centre 01603 660352 (50p booking fee) also here. Enquiries to Karl at 01603 452850. As well as Lisa Redford, who has performed in the same venue at a sold-out Nick Drake tribute concert, the gig will feature guests Alias Grace, Tim Bowness 'No Man', Lord Dieve Montague and Brett Anderson (Suede) if recording commitments allow, also more to be confirmed." As Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze says: "brilliant! Lisa has a great voice" (thanks Karl)

February 9th 2002: Newsbits: Guy Pearce, star of LA Confidential, Memento and the upcoming film version of The Time Machine has been interviewed in the February 2002 issue of the US edition of GQ magazine. Here's an excerpt: "Pearce needs to buy a Jeff Buckley CD for a friend...inside (the record store) he finds the CD, then, after a short, yearning pit stop near the Kate Bush selections ("I know the President of her fan club"), he cruises the DVD aisle."(thanks to Irene)...an excerpt from Don't Give Up was played on Pop Idols on ITV in the UK to accompany a montage of retrospective clips as Darius Danesh was voted out. (thanks Talia)... Beate tells us about a CD sampler with an interesting title that she found, containing Rocket Man. "Women Talking Dirty". It includes tracks from Dolly Parton, Marianne Faithfull, Sheryl Crow, Bananarama, Lulu, The Honeyz and more. Beate also spotted a  DVD video collection at the German shop WOM (World of music) containing The Man With The Child In His Eyes, as far as she can recall it was called "The Greatest Hits Of The 70's". (thanks Beate, and thanks to SWAN for the cover pic)...Sky One in the UK has screened the episode of Alias which features This Woman's Work. (thanks to Glenn Monks) 

More Photos From Gilmour Gig

February 3rd 2002: Michael Leitz has sent in some pics he found at a David Gilmour fan's website taken by Phil W. I've put the large versions of these pics on this page. The site-owner, Kimberly, has this to say about meeting Kate outside the venue: "Then Kate, her son Bertie, and who I have to assume was his nanny, got out of a black cab and came in. I was speechless, so THRILLED to see Kate up close! She passed by, politely declining requests for autographs or pictures (and I refrained from taking any, out of respect for her), and went inside...I actually got to see and hear Kate Bush perform live, which I never believed would ever really happen!" (Thanks to Michael - who improved the quality of the pics for us.) There's another photo of Kate with Michael Kamen by Charlotte at the same site here.

January 27th 2002: Newsbits: The Bristol Sound website carries an interview with Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja. On the subject of their upcoming collaboration with Sinead O'Connor he has this to say: "After Sinead I can't imagine any other female singers who have that passion and angle we're looking for. At great risk to my personal safety, I don't hear many great female singers at the moment, apart from the usual soul diva area where you hear some brilliant vocal performances. If you look at all the great songs that can make you cry, it was usually male singers. Having said that, Kate Bush could be really interesting." Read the whole interview here (thanks to Russ Thomas)...Kate appears in another special edition of Q magazine - the 100 Greatest Rock N' Roll Photographs. Kate's cover for the 1978 Lionheart album by Gered Mankowitz is at number 13...On February 25th Virgin are re-releasing Peter Gabriel's "Shaking The Tree" hits collection, featuring Don't Give Up with Kate, remastered for the very first time and digitally enhanced while the album has been repackaged by Real World Design with a new and improved 12-page booklet (thanks to Barry Jobson)...On the occasion of the 30th birthday of the German radio station HR3 their listeners were able to choose their all-time favourites out of a list of 700 songs. The  songs that got the most votes were played on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, Wuthering Heights was placed at number 20, see the station's site here (thanks to Michael Leitz)...described as having a "Kate Bush mixed with Renaissance style" Japanese band Abysmal Masquerade's second release features the classically trained female vocalist Hiroko Nagai. The band perform a version of James & The Cold Gun...Beate Meiswinkel tells us about a new German CD collection "Best Of Keltica" featuring Kate's Mná na hÉireann, released by Sony Vertrieb. Check www.amazon.de (thanks Beate)...and finally Kyla has been inspired by some art she saw on this site's Stephen Brown gallery to have a tattoo of Kate done! She has sent us this photo of it, click on it for a larger version.

MP3 Excerpts From Comfortably Numb

January 23rd 2002: Gilmour gig update: First the photos, now the sounds. For now we have a selection of three MP3 excerpts from the track Kate performed at the Royal Festival Hall. I have to hugely thank John (a5jce@aol.com) who has so kindly lent these to us. The full track, which no doubt will be circulating out there before long is said to be 8mins 30secs long. Cheers again John! 

Click here to download David Gilmour introducing Kate (438k)

Click here to download Kate singing the first verse (477k)

Click here to download Kate singing the third verse (302k)

First Pics of Kate Live with Gilmour

January 22nd 2002: Gilmour gig update: Zoltán Tóth has kindly contacted my site with the only two shots he got of Kate on stage (click photos for larger scans or download the originals from Zoltán here and here with thanks also to Dave Upham who saved me the bother of photo-shopping the images! Nice bunch these Pink Floyd fans...) Also, Charles has emailed to say that there is another review of the show at: http://www.FloydStuff.com (thanks Charles)

Reviews Of  Kate's Performance On Friday 18th

January 21st 2002: Gilmour gig update: Two first-hand reviews! John (who had initially signed the guestbook) has very kindly provided me with a full account of Friday night at the Royal Festival Hall. Here are some highlights, but you can read the full review on this page here. 

"...on Wednesday Robert Wyatt reprised his role from the June show by singing two verses (of Comfortably Numb) - the first and third, taking the part of the wicked doctor. On Thursday it was the turn of Bob Geldof...On Friday at about 3pm Kate arrived, on foot, at the venue. It seems that rehearsals were around 4pm each day. She was recognised by the few people that hung around the artist's entrance to the Hall, but politely declined requests for autographs and walked straight in...(Friday night) after the end of Wish You Were Here, Dave said "Now we're going to sing Comfortably Numb, and to play the part of the wicked doctor, I'd like to invite Kate Bush to come and sing with us". At this point Kate walked on to huge applause that lasted ages - her applause was certainly louder and longer than that received by either Robert Wyatt or Bob Geldof. At the front of the stage there was a stand with the lyrics that Kate was to sing together with a mike stand just to the right of Dave. A piano intro lead quickly into the first lines which she sang beautifully and with real pain as the original is intended. Her performance was to a stunned silenced crowd. The second verse was taken by Dave to initial cheers, with Kate joining in on harmonies, whereas on previous nights the guest did not. There is then a piano section that leads into one of Dave's most famous guitar solos which he did on an electric guitar, heralding cheers both before and after the solo. Verse three was Kate's turn, again superbly handled. Verse four was Dave with Kate again taking harmonies. Another guitar solo. Throughout the time Kate was on stage she was watching Dave sing and play, moving slowly to the music. She was dressed all in black - a dress I think - very reminiscent of her Wuthering Heights outfit. The end of the song produced a huge round of applause at which point Kate went over to Dave and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. She then walked off towards Michael Kamen, who was on piano, and also gave him a hug and kiss. I don't know if she hung around for the after show party, but she wasn't seen leaving the venue after the party like the rest of the band and guests.." As I said read the full review here. 

Also, Guy Smith has emailed his thoughts on the show: 

"The whole show was superb - very relaxed and with a great atmosphere. After performing Wish You Were Here with Rick Wright on piano someone in the audience shouted something along the lines of 'do something from '68'. (John clarifies:- what was shouted out was "Play Summer 68".This is a Floyd song written by Rick from the album Atom Heart Mother. A song that they used to play a lot live in the early 70's.) Gilmour chuckled to himself before saying 'no we won't do that - we're going to do Comfortably Numb next'. As the crowd began to cheer he added 'and to sing it please welcome Kate Bush!' Kate looked happy and relaxed wearing a simple black outfit. She received a standing ovation as she walked on stage and another at the end of Comfortably Numb as she hugged David Gilmour. Also in the audience that night were Storm Thorgeson (not sure of the spelling) who designed many of the Floyd's album covers. Also of note was Dave's pianist - Michael Kamen who has worked with Kate before, scoring and conducting orchestras on The Sensual World (and possibly other albums). And as a final footnote.... David Baddiel and family were sitting at the back of the hall. A great night....." (thanks Guy)

January 20th 2002: Gilmour gig update: Pink Floyd fan Mark Ogier writes on the alt.music.pinkfloyd newsgroup: ""[...] It was a terrific night for this long-time Floyd fan, and while it was great to see Rick Wright turn up it was even better to see Kate Bush again after all these years. I'm hoping that she'll be tempted back into a recording studio after the reception she received. She looked terrific and sounded great - just as I remembered her. I'd read she'd become a recluse, so this appearance was even more of a surprise." Commenting on the choice of Robert Wyatt and Bob Geldof taking Comfortably Numb vocal duties in the previous two nights shows Ogier writes: "While I respect both singers, frankly I am delighted and feel particularly lucky that I was there on the night that Kate was guesting. There were cameras recording the Friday night show, so I hope her appearance makes it into the final recording?"

Michael Leitz (who sent in that review - cheers Michael) also reminds us that the song is one of Kate's all-time faves: In an interview for a special mini-edition of Q magazine in 1990 "Kate Bush [...] is asked once again to contemplate the life of isolation. In other words, to select her desert island discs. Sitting as we are in the legendary Abbey Road studios, her choice of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour could not be more appropriate, followed by [,,,] and Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb." (Q/HMV special mag, "Follow That!" by Mat Snow, 1990)

For those unfamiliar with the song Comfortably Numb read more at this Pink Floyd site here. 

Newsflash!: Kate Performs at David Gilmour Concert!

January 19th 2002: Big news: At about 4pm yesterday the editors at HomeGround magazine heard a rumour that Kate was to perform at a concert at The Royal Festival Hall by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. The previous evening Bob Geldof had been his special guest. Peter Fitzgerald Morris (who says "we all missed this one!") forwarded this review from a Pink Floyd fan website: "Concert was excellent last night...high points were Wish You Were Here (David stopped singing and the crowd sang the whole song), Fat Old Song and Dominoes. Guests were Kate Bush and Rick Wright. Kate sang Comfortably Numb and Rick played keyboards for three songs." Peter comments:"Unless I'm forgetting something, excluding Kate's brief song at the 1990 Convention (an unaccompanied song of thanks to her fans), this was her first public performance since 1987 - almost fifteen years. Reports say these Gilmour gigs were being recorded for a DVD to be released later this year. In 1987 she did the Secret Policeman's Third Ball with a backing band including Gilmour, and also the Peter Gabriel gig at Earl's Court." The concert had apparently sold out weeks ago. More on this breaking news as I get it! (with thanks to PDFM at HomeGround)

January 8th 2002: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Well, the lady to the left certainly intends to have a good one, do we feel it could be an album year? You just never know. In the meantime, don't you think there's been something missing from 2002 so far?...that's right, the latest crop of Newsbits! (with apologies to people for the delays in getting some of these online). 

Hounds Of Love was at #90 in a poll of more than a quarter of a million music fans by the channel VH1 in November, see here (thanks to Michael Leitz)...Victor writes: "I just wanted to let you know ahead of time that WFUV 90.7 - Public Radio from Fordham University has a segment on Saturday January 19th from 4-5pm called "The WFUV Long Player" where they'll play Kate Bush's album, The Sensual World, in its entirety. They sometimes provide a few details and tidbits regarding the albums they play, so who knows, it could turn out to be interesting even for those who've already heard/own the album. You can listen to it live via the net (www.wfuv.com) if you don't live within the broadcasting area....Sozo from Japan has unearthed a rare clip: "We now have a chance of seeing the 'Moving' clip from the Tokyo Music Festival (June '78) in much enhanced quality." His friend Hideaki Nishihara has been requesting a Japanese digital station to show Kate's performance of Moving, and it seems the clip is going to be broadcast soon according to one of the presenters...(thanks Sozo)

Herb Leonhard is showcasing his new Christmas Kate art among other new pieces at his gallery here...In the US VH-1 played the December Will Be Magic Again video to tie in with the release of the "Big '80s Christmas" CD from Rhino records. They also used the song as the intro/outro music in the 30 min special when going to commericals (thanks to Collin Kelley)....Nicole Kidman is now known to be a high-profle Kate fan. Growing up in Sydney, Kidman sang with a band called Divine Madness when she was 17. John Roger from Australia found this quote in a feature in "In Style" magazine from June of last year: "Three girls and four guys. We did a lot of seventies stuff. I did Kate Bush, I did Blondie, I did Chaka Khan," she says. "I don't have the really raunchy voice for Tina Turner. I wish I had a Janis Joplin voice. We played at parties and one pub gig. We never got paid."...Jon Bishop has let me know of a new CD "West End Girls" featuring loads of female artists singing songs from the shows, Kate's on disc 2 with ''The Man I Love''. 

Finally, some old news I'd meant to tell you about. Kate Bush sites have started winning awards! In Sept '01 Q Magazine made Kate Bush In MP3 its "MP3 Site Of The Month." It says of the site: "Breathtaking collection of rareties including the earliest demos from 1973. The site acknowledges that Bush may disown some of these early works, but provides them as an antidote to commercial bootleggers. Manna for fans". Find the site here.

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