In the UK the NSPCC has launched a DRTV advertising campaign showing vulnerable children at risk from abuse, in an attempt to boost donations. The advertising, in 60-, 40- and 10-second versions, features Kate’s song ‘This Woman’s Work‘ and a voiceover by actor Michael Sheen. Kate allowed the use of the song free of any charge, Marian Rose, head of direct donor marketing at the NSPCC, said: “Parts of Kate Bush’s song could have been written especially for this ad.” Read more here (thanks to Nathan & Kyla)… here (thanks to rblazon)…The Boston Herald has reported that Pat Benatar has performed Wuthering Heights live for the first time Patrick Wolfin many years. Read more here (thanks John)…Alison Moyet was answering a series of fan questions on her fan site, and she revealed that she had considered doing a cover of The Man With The Child In His Eyes for her most recent album “Voice.” She says “…Kate’s people wanted to hear it before they gave permission and that for me was like going back to seeking record company approval for comfort. Its what I am determined to avoid…too dangerous anyway because if they knocked it back I would have felt bad and that would have coloured the way I listened to Kate and I don’t want that to happen because I love her work purely and I want to maintain that feeling.” Read more here (thanks to Steve Coats)…English singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf (pictured right) has been keen to show a little devotion to our Kate in recent interviews and – on the British Council’s online radio show, Selector – chose ‘Oh England My Lionheart’ as his favourite British track from the past. Patrick has also been playing ‘Running Up That Hill’ as part of his set on his recent tour (see here). Patrick also talks about Kate in this interview here: “When I was growing up my Mum really played Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush. I totally forgot about Kate Bush until I was about 20 so it was only in the last year after Lycanthropy came out. People started saying Kate Bush this, Kate Bush that so I bought ‘Hounds of Love’. Then a lot of people were saying about how she was the same age as me when she released her first album. She’s somebody in the last year that’s really given me confidence that there are ears out there for my work.” Read more about Patrick at his site here. (thanks to Michael Richardson, Traxtv and rblazon)

The new biography of Kate by Rob Jovanovic (pictured) will be released on Oct 25th. Signed copies are being pre-booked at the Kulture Shock site here where a signing is being organised with the author…a recent review of John Mendelssohn’s Waiting For Kate Bush book by Sharil Dewa of the Malaysian Star summed up the book by saying “While it is hardly earth shattering, Waiting for Kate Bush is an entertaining stopgap for Kate and non-Kate fans alike. Those who find Kate intolerable will find some amusement in Mendelssohn’s exploration of the quest for instant celebrity and Kate fans can find comfort in this Kate-related tome while waiting for the next opus from Ms Bush.” (thanks to Peter Molloy)…Kiki Dee did a cover of Running Up That Hill at the Womad Festival, she includes her version of the song on her newly released Walk Of Faith CD (thanks Cathal and Nathalie)…on August 23rdTori Amos covered And Dream of Sheep in her concert at Saratoga Springs NY, look at the 2005 downloads section at this site to listen to this and also a version of Running Up That Hill that she performed recently also. (thanks to James Russell)…Dutch singer Birgit Schuurman has sang a piano version of Wuthering Heights (find the show by searching for her here (thanks to Dik)…Coronation Street actress Debra Stevenson has appeared on ITV’s Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes, dressed as Kate singing Babooshka. She has also released the track on her “In the Sunshine” CD. Jonathan Ross has played the track on his BBC Radio 2 show on June 18th when he revealed that his wife had also been asked to go on the show as Kate (thanks Charles)…Kate was featured in the August issue of Russh magazine in Australia, once again as a fashion icon (see the scan here – thanks to ally and John)…a nine DVD box set of the Comic Strip Presents has been released on the 4th July which includes Kate acting in Les Dogs and providing the soundtrack to GLC. Her appearance in the set was mentioned in the Empire magazine review: “…and Kate Bush is in the baffling Les Dogs.” (thanks to Richard and Stevo)…video work by Kate was featured in the recent New York Video Festival, read more here (thanks to Darrell)…

U2 compiled a “U2 Jukebox” CD to be given away free with the July 2005 Mojo Magazine. It featured The Futureheads hit version of Hounds Of Love (thanks Anneke)…Kate is mentioned in the book “Too Much Too Young – Popular Music Age and Gender” by Sheila Whiteley (thanks Henrik)…Swedish pop singer Robyn has been compared to Kate and mentions Hounds Of Love as one of her favourite albums. In an interview with Rodeo Magazine her song Be Mine is compared to Cloudbusting for its staccato strings and vocal refrain. She says: “of course, she’s there too. The reason it sounds like Kate Bush is probably mainly that the strings are so dry” (thanks to Henrik)…Goldfrapp have a new album out, “Supernature”, and once again the Kate comparisons are flying. From The Observer: “Those two grand dames of pop, Madonna and Kate Bush, are both due to release new albums in the coming months. An unlikely diva, the petite Alison Goldfrapp, may just have made one of those albums redundant and seriously compromised the sense of occasion surrounding the other. An eccentric English woman with a very fertile imagination has just made a great record…it isn’t quite a masterpiece (like, say, Bush’s Hounds of Love), but it’s as near as dammit in 2005 and deserves to be massive.” (thanks to Johnny)…this month’s Q magazine includes a small pic and review of The Red Shoes. They suggest a re-listen, give it a 4 star rating and say Kate sounds like nobody else, except Tori Amos. (thanks Ben)…here’s something a bit different, Ariel Pink has recorded “a love song to Kate Bush” according to Wire magazine. You can watch the video of “For Kate I Wait” here (thanks Peter)…Finally, Thomas Dunning, producer of the I Wanna Be Kate tribute CD had me on his Internet radio show, “Hoot Radio“, as his guest on July 28th. We got to chat about music and play some of our favourite tunes. It’s a two hour show but you may like to listen to the audio stream. Obviously we do talk about Kate for quite a while and I play a Kate track, you’ll hear that about 54.30 minutes into the show. Click on the link for Hoot Radio with Thomas here (thanks Thomas, it was a lot of fun!)