Kate Bush News

Newsbits: Alison Goldfrapp continues to promote the new album from Goldfrapp, Black Cherry (see May 24th 2003 news). In an article from the Guardian: “One of the big inspirations for Goldfrapp was Hounds of Love by Kate Bush, and there is a link between Bush’s articulation of female sexuality and Goldfrapp’s erotic decadence. “Lots of hippies liked Kate Bush where I grew up, so I associated her with bongs and incense and everything disgusting,” she says, bristling at the memory. “Then I heard this album. I realised that she was beautiful and interesting, which is not a common combination. It seems very deep somehow, and she doesn’t get talked about much these days, probably because she’s female. There was a time during my teenage years when everyone was doing ecstasy and going out to raves, and I was at home listening to Kate Bush. On ecstasy.”…the “Nashville dream pop trio” Venus Hum continue to be compared to Kate, in a live review they are said to wear “their influences — Kate Bush and the Cure — on their sleeves, making a stand for sweeping beauty through electronic dance beats, lush soundscapes, and an emotive soprano.”…On Thurs 31st July, 11.50pm German time, BR will be screening “Hits der 70er (4)“, including Kate’s performance of Wuthering Heights on “Szene 78”, one of Kate’s first TV appearances, read more here…

The July 15th edition of The Sunday Times featured an article by Toyah – ‘My First Crash‘: “My lawyer sends me a fax every week saying: “Drive slower.” He knows I’ve had quite a few car crashes in my life. One of the worst ones was bizarre. I was doing a concert in Norwich and I came off stage at 11pm. I had to be in Birmingham for 7 o’clock the next morning so I set off about midnight for a four-hour drive in my VW Golf. I had just bought Kate Bush’s latest CD, The Red Shoes, and I was listening to a song on it called Moments of Pleasure – a very special song about Kate’s mother who had died before she made the album. It’s the most beautiful song in the world. Some of the roads I was driving while listening to this album were really bendy, but some of them were quite straight Roman roads. As Moments of Pleasure came on, and I was really howling at this song with the tears streaming down my cheeks, I thought I was on a straight road but suddenly this sharp bend came out of nowhere. I was doing about 75mph and I missed the bend entirely, shot over a ditch (which slowed me down a bit) and ended up in someone’s front garden. I must have slammed on the brakes when I realised I was leaving the road, but I pranged a tree or two before coming to a sudden stop. Then I just sat there for a minute listening to the song finish. The local people got up when they heard a crash and came to see if I was all right. The car didn’t come off too badly considering the speed – there was just a big dent down the passenger’s side and dirty great tyre marks in their front garden. I reversed out of the garden, somewhat embarrassed, and was able to drive it home with my tail between my legs.”

Former Fuzzbox singer Vix says her singing style is inspired by Kate Bush and Debbie Harry here and check out her official site here (thanks Vix)..17 year old New Zealander Hayley Westenra is currently celebrating the release of her second album and international recording debut, Pure. “She agreed with her record company that she should aim to reach a wide audience, so she included a range of styles on the album, from the operatic In Trutina to the theatrical Kate Bush number, Wuthering Heights, Sir George’s pop composition Beat of Your Heart, and the Maori song Hine E Hine” read more here and here…Ulrik in Denmark has heard a new remix of Top Of The City on Danish national radio, it’s by a group called Day Breaker and the track is called “She’s No Good“…the June issue of an Italian music magazine has included a CD with a rock version of Wuthering Heights by Italian singer Cristina Donà. See this Italian KB site for more (thanks Roberto)…DJ Joe Gauthreaux (well known in New York see www.djjoeg.com) has been including the Infusion remix of Running Up That Hill (see May 24th news) in his live set. Kate fan Adam was at a 4th July party at the Paramount club – he writes: “…about 15 minutes before the end of the party I started hearing a faint familiar high-pitch voice. It was Kate, singing “if i only could” over and over again. I started grabbing my friends frantically, shouting in their ears that it’s Kate Bush. The remix is wonderful, very very high energy, then everything goes quiet for a second, and kate’s voice comes back with no drums, singing a whole segment of Running Up That Hill. Everyone loved it…this should be much bigger here, maybe by the end of the summer?” (thanks Adam)…from an article in The Guardian (1st July), the Futureheads played a gig at the Buffalo Bar in London: “…there is something grippingly odd about the Futureheads…partly, it is their eccentric choice of covers. Their marvellous version of Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love is totally unexpected: what is even more surprising is how thrilling its singularly feminine abandon sounds in their hands.” Read more here…

The Scotsman has a review of The Penguin Price Guide for Record & CD Collectors by Nick Hamlyn. Their article mentions “a Japanese double CD set of Kate Bush”. Michael Leitz passes on this info on the CD, (which is worth £500!): The Japanese promo double CD set they’re writíng about is called “Moments Of Pleasure – The Best Works 1978-1993” (Toshiba-EMI SPCD-1402/SPCD-1403), features 32 tracks and is limited to 100 copies. (thanks Michael – read the book review here)…please note that Ronald Garrison’s codex of Kate rareities can now be downloaded as a zipped file from this URL (thanks for making it available Ron)…Katie in Australia had the good fortune of seeing about 2 seconds of a vintage Kate appearance on Australian TV on a program, ‘Dimensions’ looking at the history of Australia. On the 30th June the programme screened was on the ‘The King and Queen of Pop Awards‘, a popular vote conducted through TV Week magazine. In 1978, Marcia Hines and John Paul Young were crowned the King and Queen of Pop. Kate presented the King of Pop Award on the 11th of October 1978. Dimensions featured a tiny clip of her standing silently next to the host of Countdown (our equivalent of Top Of The Pops). She had her tradmark long red locks down, was wearing something black and looked serious. All in all, a tiny but wonderful treat for the usually neglected Aussie Kate fans.” Thanks Katie – read more here (other newsbit thanks to Simon Fourmy, Simon Clark, Michael Leitz, PDFM and Cynthia Conrad)

Newsbits: A review in The Independent of an album by LSK which references Kate on one track here…Mark Donovan tells us that he came across this in the magazine “Sound & Vision” (June ’03). It’s in a story/interview with James Guthrie, regarding his mutlichannel (surround sound) SACD remix of Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon”. Guthrie co-produced “The Wall” and has worked with Floyd since then. Here’s what he said when asked if he wanted to remix another artist for multichannel CD: “You know what I would jump on immediately? I would love to do a surround sound mix of Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love”. Kate is a dear friend of mine, and I’ve spoken to her about it – but I don’t think she’s ready to let go of it yet.” C’mon Kate, let him have it!….In the NME on 29th March 2003 – “Rock: What not to wear, “…As for the girls, note to Geri Haliwell, the only female who ever looked good in a leotard is Kate Bush”. And also in the NME on the 19th April 2003: Goldfrapp‘s Top 10 Songs/Albums. Number 6 – Hounds Of Love “The entire album reminds me of my first E. I’ll have to chose the title track ‘cos I can’t remember any of the titles. That’s probably because it’s associated with my first E as well!” (thanks to Katie in Australia)

Tristan just completed all the instruments pages on his French Kate site from A to Fairlight, including info (and several pictures of him playing the instruments!) here….Jamie asks that I mention a new club night that is starting up on Saturday 2nd August calledElectro Rox at somewhere called The Pleasure Unit in Bethnal Green, London. “We are two boys who both love Kate and slip Kate into our DJ set at oppurtunistic moments. Any Kate fans more than welcome, it’s free, see here for requests!”

Newsbits: Singer Brian Kennedy (interviewed elsewhere on this site) has been talking about Kate at the BBC Northern Ireland site here in reply to qustions that had been submitted to the site: “Cizza asks: Who were the stars that influenced you when you were younger? Brian Kennedy:The ones in the sky. I am afraid. I very rarely listened to music in the house. But as I got older, Kate Bush, and Jonie Mitchell were never off the stereo. Dave asks: Have you ever felt intimidated when you’ve gone to work with any artists in particular? If so how have you dealt with it? Brian Kennedy: When I get nervous, I get very hyper, and crack stupid jokes. But usually the most famous people I’ve ever met have gone out of their way to make me feel relaxed. I was lucky enough to go to Kate Bush’s house and I thought I would be really nervous but she was so friendly and talked about my first album, and I was so flattered that it was easy to just realise she’s an ordinary person too.”…on the BBC Scotland site in the sectionThe Vault there is a piece about Wuthering Heights: “Literary souls that we are here at The Vault, we’ve dug out our favourite book-related tunes to celebrate BBC’s The Big Read.” You’ll find the article here but as Micheal Leitz has pointed out to me, the article has several factual errors, (such as a demo initially catching David Gilmours attention and Kate’s age when the single was released.)

Ananova, the UK news website has posted a story with the headline “Kate Bush bans ukulele orchestra from using hit song'” here. “A ukulele orchestra is claiming Kate Bush has banned them from covering her hit single Wuthering Heights. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain had hoped to feature the track on a new CD which is just finishing production. A demo CD by the group, produced by classical guitar star Richard Durrant, is already a hit with Radio 2 presenters Johnny Walker and Steve Wright. Both are said to be battling to be the first to play it on their shows – but only if Ms Bush allows The Ukes, as they’re known, to release it, reports The Argus. Mr Durrant believes the unusual arrangement has potential to be a massive hit and is still trying to persuade Kate to change her mind. The song has been replaced by a cover version of a Ms Dynamite number. He said: “It’s an incredible version of her biggest hit and I reckon it would be an instant hit again if it was released now. She’s incredibly sensitive about that particular number because she wrote it when she was very young and she’s very protective of it.” The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain believe that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation, as long as they are played on the ukulele. A spokeswoman for Kate Bush’s record company EMI, said: “Kate is working on her new album and is currently unavailable for comment.” Strangely it seems that the orchestra has previously released a version of the song on a CD called “A Fistfull Of Ukuleles” in the 90s, and as reported previously on this site they’ve played a live version at their concerts…the story has also been picked up in the gossip section of the CD Wow website. You can read the original report from The Argus paper here (thanks to Michael Leitz and Tony B) Update: here’s another article at the BBC.

Here’s this from a report in the Leamington Spa Courier (UK, 28th May), on a carnival which featured a performance of a Kate song: “Among the more eye-catching participants were the Minney family, who adopted lookalike costumes of television presenter Chris Tarrant, Star Wars character Count Dooku, singer Kate Bush and Mary Poppins. Helen Minney, 20, gave a startling performance of the Kate Bush song Wuthering Heights, complete with the necessary eccentric mannerisms. She said: “Kate Bush is my favourite singer, and I have been learning dance for years.”…RAI2 TV in Italy recently broadcasted a 1 hour special on the most interesting female voices (both Italian & foreign artists) through the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s. Kate was mentioned and a short clip of Wuthering heights live at Hammersmith Odeon was showed. The host presented her with these words: “The Pink Floyd protegée overwhelmed the world with her hits through the late 70’s and the 80’s, soon to be considered a deep influence for people like Madonna (!), Cindy Lauper (!!) and Sade (!!!) (thanks to Antonello Saeli)

One of Kate’s first TV appearances/performances on Szene 78 was screened recently in a 6 hour long special called “BR Rocknacht – Hits der 70er” much to the delight of German fans who caught the rare clip…also in Germany, the live version of Don’t Give Up byXavier Naidoo (see Oct 13th 2002 news) can now be found on his double live CD set called “Alles Gute Vor Uns”, released by SPV on 26 May, 2003. It features a recording from the concert in Munich, Kate’s part is, as previously mentioned, done by Yvonne Betz. (thanks to Michael Leitz)…Ron Garrison has finally finished his gargantuan codex documenting all known Kate rarities. He’s posted it in the files section at the Yahoo! Gaffa group. Non-Yahooligans might be able to get a copy if they ask Ron nicely enough:mondo_sinistro@yahoo.com Here’s what Ron had to say about it: It’s in Excel workbook format. It’s also ZIPped, making it about 280K instead of 1.5 MB. About 2/3 of this is Kate Bush stuff. About 270 sheets in all. About 135 folders of Kate tracks. About 1400 tracks in all.” (thanks to Cynthia Conrad for forwarding this to me – there’s a link to the Gaffa club on the links page)…Kate fans in print: Mon Buhigas has recently had a poetry book published under the name “Poemas Para Emilia“. It is written in Galician, not in Spanish, and it includes a Thank You section at the end under the name “Nunca Camiñarás Só” (You’ll Never Walk Alone) in which Kate Bush is mentioned as a source of inspiration. The first book written in Galician that mentions Kate? And Steve Shaw (pen name Steven Cain) has been influenced by Kate including his first non-fiction book, Sirius Moonlight: The Origins Of The Suppression Of The Feminine, in which he called the chapter on the evolution of feminism “This Woman’s Work”, and in his first modern gothic novel “One Star Awake” (not yet in print) in which there are numerous Kate references, including a Kate clone dancing in the famous Red Dress in the swirling mists of dry ice in a Gothic nightclub. (thanks to Mon and Steve) …finally Rick Pilcher noticed recently while watching the DVD of ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 – Freddy’s Revenge‘ that the main character, Jessie, has a poster of our Kate on the back of his bedroom door.’  (big newsbit thanks to Cynthia and Michael)

Newsbits: As mentioned previously, an Australian outfit called Infusion have recorded a remix of Kate’s Running Up That Hill which looks set to possibly become huge this summer. DJ Pete Tong played it on the Essential Selection BBC radio show last night. Apparently it was ‘huge’ at this year’s Miami Winter Music Conference and is in all the latest dance charts. There’s a small clip of it here. The site with the clip have sold out of the promo 12″ copy of the track. They say: “it’s just out and it’s BIG. It’s the remix of Kate Bush vs Infusion “Running Up That Hill”. Quite simply, expect this to be THE progressive tune of the summer unless something better comes along which I highly doubt. Dreamlike at first building to a throbbing bassline, with the mental genius that is Kate Bush’s vocal prowess woven in around the sound, it’s nigh on perfection. Delicious.” The band have also recently remixed Bjork’s Pagan Poetry which was very popular. Read an interview with Infusion here, and their official site is here. (thanks to Gareth)…

Influential Jamaican musician Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is asked in the new Mojo Magazine what he’s listening to, and he mentions Kate’s Lionheart, describing her as “an angel from England”…Midge Ure‘s Answers To Nothing CD has been re-released with an edit of his duet with Kate, Sister & Brother, as an extra track…There have been a lot of reviews of the new Goldfrappalbum “Black Cherry” that mention Kate: NY Newsday say: “Like its debut “Felt Mountain,” the British duo’s latest “Black Cherry” (Mute) is filled with dark, danceable numbers like the sinewy “Twist” and “Tiptoe,” which sounds like Kraftwerk commandeered by Kate Bush…”. Q Magazine: “Tiptoe’s attempt to merge old & new is a schizophrenic oddity, suggesting Kate Bush duetting with icy ’70s synth combo Suicide.”, Dotmusic: “…the best songs on this…album are the ones which sound most like the misty reveries of that debut. ‘Hairy Trees’, ‘Forever’ (like Kate Bush, cryogenically frozen) and the title track all have a sort of whirling, baroque atmosphere…” The Independent: “Critics swooned over Goldfrapp’s voice – an otherwordly composite of Björk, Shirley Bassey and Kate Bush. The S&M intimations of “Strict Machine” sound like Kate Bush and Kraftwerk performing a pervy “Spirit in the Sky”. And there’s an interview with Alison Goldfrapp in “Le Monde” here where she says that when she was young, she was very much impressed by songstresses like Kate (and others) and attracted by their theatricality “…quand j’étais petite, Kate Bush, Grace Jones et Chaka Khan m’impressionnaient beaucoup. J’étais attirée par leur côté très théâtral.” (thanks to Michael Leitz). A site offering some Kate Bush T-shirts is now online, see here or email Phil for more details.

Some German newsbits (with thanks to Michael Leitz and Cynthia Conrad): Parts of Wuthering Heights were used as incidental music in a German TV movie from 2001 called “Verbotene Küsse”, screened on Monday, 19 May, on ZDF…Disky have released a 2 DVD sampler called “Hits From The Past” that features TMWTCIHE (the 3rd disc from them with this video). Kate is on the DVD sleevehere…Kate’s most successful hit in Germany has been Running Up That Hill, the German TV channel RTL have compiled a list of hits based on their weekly positions in the official German Top Ten single charts since 1971. RUTH is placed at #742.The song was never #1, but 7 weeks in the Top Ten, see site here…the German music magazine Musikexpress features part 2 of an article entitled “The 50 best albums of the 80s” in its newest issue (May 2003). This time, the readers voted for their favourites (as opposed to part one that featured the choice of the magazine staff – see 15th March newsbit). Hounds Of Love is at #21.

Jaclyn Bell, who performed and won as Kate in the April 5th heat of Stars In Their Eyes, has been snapped up to star in a BBC show after winning the contest. The 16-year-old from Barrhead won the junior version of the popular soundalike show after wowing audiences as Kate, performing Wuthering Heights. Now Jaclyn, a budding actress, is to appear in The Key, a new BBC drama this summer which stars comedienne Ronni Ancona in a Glasgow tale. Jaclyn says: “Becoming Kate Bush was kind of my mum’s idea as she’s a big fan. We got the old albums out and I thought it was quite good and then I saw a video and thought ‘I like this’.” Her parents David and Linda are thrilled Jaclyn has been chosen for the show. David, 46, said: “We are just delighted. Jaclyn getting the chance to audition was marvellous. There were two rounds of auditions with her up against thousands. My wife is a Kate Bush fan and we have all the videos and all the records and Jaclyn loves watching them, so I think that’s where her inspiration came from.” The show will run over nine weeks and culminate in a live final on Saturday May 31st…

Lionheart & The Dreaming have been repackaged together by EMI, in the same way as The Kick Inside and Lionheart were last year. These are NOT the awaited remasters. The discs are apperently copy protected. You can order the set here (thanks to Alan Stonebridge)…A new techno mix of Babooshka can be found here (thanks to SWAN)…Birgitte writes that Running Up That Hill byWithin Temptation has just been released in the Netherlands only. You can email Birgitte if you’d like to arrange to buy a copy of this cover version, the price will probably be around 5.99 Euros plus postage…the 11th April broadcast in the US of Kate on SNL on the E! channel seems not to have happened, sorry to those who were looking out for it, if anyone has other info on screenings please let me know, a lot of US fans really want to see this…more remixes, Kate Bush “Cloudbusting 2003” White ENG 12 – circulating as Bush Babies “Bustin’ Clouds” this is a solid house reworking of the classic Kate Bush track that uses much of the original vocal and song in the mix. It is available for US$9.99 here…Spice feat. Cass vs Hernan @ Spacelab Yellow, Tokyo is reviewed here, the event featured “the mammoth Infusion vs Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’, which he helped to arrange with Jamie Stevens…it was indeed a spine-tingling, arm-hair raising, goosebump-inducing five minutes all instigated by THAT key change. Utterly, utterly mad stuff. And that was just the first time it was played”…according to the Glasgow Daily Record, “Christina Aguilera has taken a leaf out of Kate Bush’s book for her new video. For the pop diva has copied Kate’s dark fantasy-style image for her new single Fighter.”… Sara Spade mentions Kate in her BBC diary here…trivia alert! In a recent Dutch newspaper interview, local dressage horse-woman Anky van Grunsven reveals that her dog “Bush” is named after Kate (thanks Birgitte)…She’s Having A Baby (dubbed version) was shown on French TV on 23rd March…in The Arbiter April 3rd edition Tori Amos describes her first record (with Y Kant Tori Read) as “Madonna and Kate Bush in a head-on collision after eating bad mushrooms.”…Yet another sampler featuring Kate’s Mná na hÉireann: “Best Of Celtic“, label WSM (Warner Music), released March 31…a new KB addition to the De Efteling theme park in the Netherlands where Kate filmed her special in 1978 can be seen here (thanks to Coos and Birgitte – Birgitte is organising a Dutch gathering for Kate’s birthday on July 25th 2003, read more here)…Monica Tessarin will be publishing the first Italian book on Kate this summer. Illustrations will be by Paulina Stuckey. See Monica’s site here…

Newsbits Round Up: Firstly thanks to all of you for all the nice things you’ve said about the new look site – thanks again to Brian for doing the new Wuthering Heights intro screen. Here are the latest newsbits:

It was Comic Relief night last night on the BBC. Ruby Wax took part in the Celebrity Fame Academy competition, in her online profile it reveals that her favourite song is Wuthering Heights. Please click here if you’d like to donate to this fantastic cause (thanks to Gareth)…Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) played Heads We’re Dancing on his BBC 6 Freak Zone radio show on Sunday 9th March…a clip of Kate performing will be used onTOTP2 on BBC 2, Wednesday 19th March 6.20pm, a possible 25th anniversary tribute to Wuthering Heights? Also, the TOTP2 website features Kate in their online Top Trumps game. She scores as follows: Top Ten Hits – 6,  Number 1s – 1, Fashion Gaffes – 3, How Memorable – 8! (thanks to Krys, Gareth and Amanda Harrold)…new book “Urban Legends of Rock and Roll: You Never Can Tell” covers and disproves the ridiculous rumour from years ago about Kate appearing in Penthouse, more here…Moloko‘s new album is reviewed on Amazon.co.uk “a voice like a latter day Kate Bush, anything sung by vocalist Roisin Murphy is going to come out sounding like the post-Apocalyptic gospel, and producer Mark Brydon’s artistically complex arrangements are like hearing a new beautiful language”…

Kate is listed as the 134th best artist ever at the Acclaimed Music site which is a guide to essential recordings in the history of rock. Critics’ best-of lists of albums and singles have been compiled to “ultimate lists” of the most critically acclaimed music…TV ad for Radio One’s Battle Of The DJs includes part of Babooshka being played (thanks to Ben)…Marinus writes that on 17th April the popular Dutch band Within Temptation will release their cover version of ‘Running Up That Hill’ on single. It will only be released in Holland…Kate on Saturday Night Live airs in the US on E! on 11th April… several online stores (Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, JPC Germany) announce the release of a Kate Bush double CD containing The Dreaming and Lionheart for March 17/March 21. Another double pack? This is definitely NOT the remasters (thanks to Michael Leitz)…Jody Watley‘s new CD Midnight Lounge has a song called Don’t Give Up with a sample of the original song of the same name by Kate and Peter Gabriel, read more here…Record Collector February 2003 has this snippet from an old album review of the Kick Inside in their Time Tunnel feature: “What is this supposed to be? Doom-laden, ‘meaningful’ songs with some of the worst lyrics ever, sung with the most irritatingly yelping voice since Robert Plant.”…the German music magazine Musikexpress has an article entitled “The 50 best records of the 80s” (cover story) in its newest issue (March 2003). Kate at #21 with Hounds Of Love (“a timeless pop jewel”, “the Cloudbusting video with Donald Sutherland set a standard for video clips.”)

Kristian Fletcher in Australia sends this update on his Kate Bush Night that he’s organising: “Hello! As you may already know, I am putting on Kate Bush Night at the Alliance Hotel, Spring Hill (Brisbane Australia) on May 31st. It will celebrate 25 years since Wuthering Heights reached Number One in Australia. It will feature live covers by All Yours Babooshka, Brisbane’s Kate Bush tribute band (correct me if I’m wrong – is this the first ever Kate Bush tribute band?) with fantastic lead vocals by Taylor Gibson who will don the white dress and outrageous costumes as she masters the tricky moves of Ms Bush. They will perform 16 songs (possibly 19) and between sets a DJ will play remixes of Kate to fill the dancefloor. If the night is successful, we hope to tour the band around Brisbane/Queensland. (thanks Kristian)…Ben found Andy Bell from Erasure discusing Army Dreamers on the Amazon website: “She has real fairy blood. As for the lyrics, go figure, no-one over 35 would join the army, they like ’em young. Please come back, Katie – this woman’s work is still not done.”…Tony saw an article in a Dutch TV guide “VARA Gids” last week about Bert van der Veer who was celebrating the fact that 25 years ago he could call himself a TV director for the first time. “One of the first jobs was to direct “Top Pop”. I had to prove that I could do it. I was heavily motivated because Kate Bush came to the studio, and “Wuthering heights” had hit potential, we did make a beautiful take (for that time). The next day I was nearly sacked by the boss of “Top Pop” because I let Kate Bush work too hard and didn’t offer her a chair. I had the chance to meet her again in my studio with “Army Dreamers”, I offered her a chair but she wouldn’t sit at all” (thanks Tony) (big thanks to Cynthia Conrad for forwarding several news items my way – cheers)

On 1st March VH1 classics in the US played the “Running up that Hill” video. On the same night two African-American dancers did a number to Kate’s “This Woman’s Work” on the well known variety show Showtime At The Apollo, taped in Harlem, NYC. The audience chooses the winners by either applause or booing, and the dancers weren’t booed off – apparently this is very rare. In the season finale, New Jersey singer Rosado won with his version of This Woman’s Work. According to this report, “as soon as Rosado, a sharply dressed 18-year-old from East Orange, opened his mouth, the audience grew still. Singing “This Woman’s Work” – the Kate Bush song that has been popularized, in recent years, by neo-soul star Maxwell – he grabbed listeners’ attention right away with his eerily beautiful falsetto. By the time he ended the song with some astounding vocal swoops, he had made a greater impression than any of his competitors. Rosado was named the winner….

Erasure have said in an interview here that Kate inspired how they approached their recent single, a version of Peter Gabriel’s Solisbury Hill….Ben on the guestbook tells us that in the survey of the Best Q Covers Ever, Kate’s December 1993 cover (Q87) was the 4th favourite voted for by the magazines readers….On the DC Comics Vertigo X website, Neil Gaiman mentions listening to Kate while writing the Sandman. “What music were you listening to while you were writing THE SANDMAN? Early SANDMAN was an awful lot of Iggy Pop, and Talking Heads. I really liked the rhythms of the Talking Heads records. They were really nice to write to. Lou Reed. Michael Nyman, all the way through. By the early 90s there was Tori [Amos], Kate Bush, and a lot of Michelle Shocked. A lot of They Might be Giants and I think the Gothic Archies came right at the end. But there was an awful lot of everything.” (thanks to Jeremy & Tristan)….ten Peter Gabriel SACDs will be Released on April 14th, representing his entire back-catalogue. Fans will know that Kate features on Peter Gabriel 3, So and Shaking The Tree Greatest Hits….

Melanie Chisholm (former Spice Girl, Mel C) is featured in The Guardian newspaper – “Dusty Springfield, Annie Lennox and Kate Bush are Chisholm’s favourite female singers”….Tribe, a Southwestern Indiana percussion-based music group, have premiered “Modern Muses: Goddesses at Play”. The show will feature the music of Kate Bush, Dave Matthews, Leonard Cohen and original music by Lita Miller. Read more here….according to Rolling Stone, the soundtrack to She’s Having A Baby (the film that Kate wrote This Woman’s Work for), will be reissued in the US on March 25th….Patti Flynn wrote to me to say that This Woman’s Work was used as background music on the television show “Crossing Jordan” (starring Law & Order’s Jill Hennessy) in the US on January 27th. It accompanied a scene where a main character walks down a corridoor alone feeling helpless and guilty after the death of a co-worker (thanks Patti!)….

Wraith tells us that EastEnders’ UK TV actress Kacey Ainsworth likened her character “Little Mo’s” post-prison hair extensions to Kate’s coiffure (!)….Kristian is holding a “Kate Bush Night” at the Alliance Hotel, Brisbane (Australia) on May 31st 2003. It will celebrate 25 years since Wuthering Heights reached #1 in Australia. He is looking for fans that are interested in attending. He requires 3 musicians (keyboardist, drummer, guitarist) to play live covers on the night. If you can help out, please emailkf_sales@optusnet.com.au….The Independent newspaper reports that “Sunderland teenagers The Futureheads are a quirky pleasure, two words that rarely go together in my vocabulary […] for now they play rowdy, enjoyably shambolic stop-start indie pop, best captured on their new single “Carnival Kids” and their frankly astonishing cover of Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love”….Cloudbusting has been used in the trailers for Channel 4’s recent two part documentary series “Leonardo’s Dream Machines” (thanks to Amanda Harold, John St. Clair Lang and Wraith)….

The BBC (6 Music) have a feature called “Album Of The Day”. Hounds Of Love is in their archive here, “A truly original work that has stood the test of time – if you haven’t got it already, it’s time you did!”….Bryan Simcott writes “Icelandic singer Pall Oskar who some might know from one of his early CDs with a beautiful, sexy and somewhat steamy version of Kate’s “Feel It”. His new CD, called Ef Eg Sofina Ekkiinott, features a version of My Lagan Love. He says in the sleeve notes that Kate is one of his fave artists and that he found her version of the song intriguing and mysterious and wanted to cover it in his own style (thanks Bryan)….Birgitte noticed an interview with a rap artist here – Q: If you could work with anyone in the world, who would be top of your list? A: Well, we tried to get Kate Bush for this album, but she wasn’t interested. Q: Why was she not up for it? A: I don’t know, she must of thought it was strange man.” (thanks Birgitte)….Birgitte also spotted Kate at number 4 in a TOTP2 Top 5 of “barmy babes” here (ahem)….