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Post by tannis on Feb 14, 2009 23:11:22 GMT
KATE BUSH and ALFRED HITCHCOCKKT: Hounds of Love is the third single, and trying to follow the Cloudbusting video was extremely difficult. I still wanted to follow the approach of making "a short film", and this time we wanted to suggest a piece of "Hitchcock": a short thriller. Paddy inspired me into a 39 Steps theme, and for the two-three weeks over Christmas my life became this third video. Kate's KBC article, Issue 19 (Spring 1987), Even More Hounds Of Lovewww.gaffaweb.org/garden/kate21.htmlIt is no surprise that so many visual elements from "The line, the cross and the curve" seem to be heavily influenced by films and directors Kate has always admired, especially Alfred Hitchcock. In "Torn curtain" (the 1966 movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews) there is a ballet scene (incidentally choreographed by the same artist who took care of the ballet sequences from Powell's "The red shoes") where flames on stage are represented by coloured stripes that blaze up thanks to a wind machine placed underneath. Kate chose to do the same as a homage to one of her favourite directors, maybe. The frightened close-up of the ballerina's eyes in the same ballet sequence, reminds of a very similar close-up Kate chose to add as a link between scenes, where her character is desperately looking for a way-out. But "Torn curtain" had probably been an inspiration for an earlier video, too. The scene at the theatre, where Julie Andrews is carried away by the crowd and desperately tries to get out of it, flapping her arms as if she is drowning in a sea of people, is incredibly reminiscent of a very similar scene from "Running up that hill". thehomegroundandkatebushnewsandinfoforum.yuku.com/topic/16632/t/The-Line-The-Cross-The-Curve.html?page=2Trailer for the 1966 Alfred Hitchcock thriller, "Torn Curtain". Torn Curtain - TRAILER www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKp2cqrEIsc 2:13 - "Pi" ... 2:26-2:38 - see "Running Up That Hill" video 2:54...
Kate Bush Running Up That Hill www.youtube.com/watch?v=553q9a1AOOc 2:54...I: I like the masks, I liked the scenes with the masks. How did you think those up? KaTe: Well that was very much a coincidence, where the director [David Garfath] was talking about these masks and I had a film on video that we'd taped that had a section where people were wearing these photographic masks. And we just felt that it was a really interesting idea, this crowd that would suddenly sorta rush in through the dance sequence. And the idea of the crowd being the force of either the man or the woman and so the faces change from the man to the woman. And then the idea of drowning in yourself. Just sorta those kinda plays on things. MTV Unedited, November 1985www.gaffaweb.org/reaching/iv85_m1.htmlsee more: KATE BUSH and ALFRED HITCHCOCKkatebush.proboards6.com/index.cgi?board=houndsoflove&action=display&thread=1717
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Post by tannis on Mar 24, 2009 19:27:32 GMT
KB: "Whenever I've experienced a relationship, or the people around me have, it's always ended up being incredibly complicated because that's the way human beings are. Nothing is simple, it always ends up being something else or dying and that's what I find so interesting - the drive behind human beings and the way they get screwed up." Melody Maker, "Dreamtime Is Over", Paul Simper, Oct. 16, 1982 www.gaffaweb.org/reaching/i82_mm.htmlKB (1985): "'Running Up That Hill' was one of the first songs that I wrote for the album. It was very nice for me that it was the first single released, I'd always hoped that would be the way. It's very much about a relationship between a man and a woman who are deeply in love and they're so concerned that things could go wrong - they have great insecurity, great fear of the relationship itself. It's really saying if there's a possibility of being able to swap places with each other that they'd understand how the other one felt, that when they were saying things that weren't meant to hurt, that they weren't meant sincerely, that they were just misunderstood. In some ways, I suppose the basic difference between men and women, where if we could swap places in a relationship, we'd understand each other better, but this, of course, is all theoretical anyway. It seems that the more you get to know a person, the greater the scope there is for misunderstanding. Sometimes you can hurt somebody purely accidentally or be afraid to tell them something because you think they might be hurt when really they'll understand. So what that song is about is making a deal with God to let two people swap place so they'll be able to see things from one another's perspective."
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Post by tannis on Apr 15, 2009 12:34:22 GMT
~ Cupid's Hunting Fields, c.1882, Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), Oil and gold gesso on wood panel (detail) ~ Fitting a Long Arrow to His Bow, He Sent It Directly Through the Foremost, 1884 Howard Pyle (detail)Strangely, after the initial wave (of 3) bad reviews for RUTH (none of them on the basis of the music! One was because, though the guy liked the music, he didn't like the picture sleeve! Which is laughable because the picture sleeve is perfect for the song! Kate is aiming a bow, which in the context of the song and the album, is clearly symbolic of Cupid's bow, but this is no cute little Cupid's bow she is aiming! This is a longbow. The kind that is used for killing things! So the bow becomes a symbol of a love/hate relationship. ("Is there so much hate for the ones we love?") Just another example of how wonderfully and perfectly thought-out everything Kate Bush does is!) Melody Maker, 24th August 1985www.gaffaweb.org/reaching/i85_mm1.htmlJCB: you can see archery as... with the left hand holding the bow, as the future, and the right hand is pulling this way, it's going backwards, as the past. And you're the present. You could see it as the left hand as the passive thing, the female, and the right hand as the male... Convention 1985, Romford, Englandgaffa.org/dreaming/con_85.htmlOne of the most significant features we notice in the practice of archery, and in fact of all the arts as they are studied in Japan and probably also in other Far Eastern countries, is that they are not intended for utilitarian purposes only or for purely aesthetic enjoyments, but are meant to train the mind; indeed, to bring it into contact with the ultimate reality. Archery is, therefore, not practiced solely for hitting the target; the swordsman does not wield the sword just for the sake of outdoing his opponent; the dancer does not dance just to perform certain rhythmical movements of the body. The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.
If one really wishes to be master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an "artless art" growing out of the Unconscious.
In the case of archery, the hitter and the hit are no longer two opposing objects, but are one reality. The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bulls-eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art.
What differentiates Zen most characteristically from all other teachings, religious, philosophical, or mystical, is that while it never goes out of our daily life, yet with all its practicalness and concreteness Zen has something in it which makes it stand aloof from the scene of worldly sordidness and restlessness.
Here we come to the connection between Zen and archery, and such other arts as swordsman-ship, flower arrangement, the tea ceremony, dancing, and the one arts.
Zen is the "everyday mind," as was proclaimed by Baso (Matsu, died 788); this "everyday mind" is no more than "sleeping when tired, eating when hungry." As soon as we reflect, deliberate, and conceptualize, the original unconscious-ness is lost and a thought interferes. We no longer eat while eating, we no longer sleep while sleeping. The arrow is off the string but does not fly straight to the target, nor does the target stand where it is. Calculation which is miscalculation sets in. The whole business of archery goes the wrong way. The archer's confused mind betrays itself in every direction and every field of activity.
Man is a thinking reed but his great works are done when he is not calculating and thinking. "Childlikeness" has to be restored with long years of training in the art of self-forgetfulness. When this is attained, man thinks yet he does not think. He thinks like the showers coming down from the sky; he thinks like the waves rolling on the ocean; he thinks like the stars illuminating the nightly heavens; he thinks like the green foliage shooting forth in the relaxing spring breeze. Indeed, he is the showers, the ocean, the stars, the foliage.
When a man reaches this stage of "spiritual" development, he is a Zen artist of life. He does not need, like the painter, a canvas, brushes, and paints; nor does he require, like the archer, the bow and arrow and target, and other paraphernalia. He has his limbs, body, head, and other parts. His Zen-life expresses itself by means of all these "tools" which are important to its manifestation. His hands and feet are the brushes and the whole universe is the canvas on which he depicts his life for seventy, eighty, or even ninety years. This picture is called "history."
Hoyen of Gosozen (died 1140) says: "Here is a man who, turning the emptiness of space into a sheet of paper, the waves of the ocean into an inkwell, and Mount Sumeru into a brush, writes these five characters: so-shi-sai-rai-i.'(1) To such, I spread my zagu (2) and make my profound bow."
One may well ask, "What does this fantastic pronouncement mean? Why is a person who can, perform such a feat considered worthy of the utmost respect?" A Zen master would perhaps answer, "I eat when hungry, I sleep when tired." If he is nature-minded. he may say, "It was fine yesterday and today it is raining." For the reader, however, the question may still remain unsolved, "Where is the archer?"
In this wonderful little book, Mr. Herrigel, a German philosopher who came to Japan and took up the practice of archery toward an under-standing of Zen, gives an illuminating account of his own experience. Through his expression, the western reader will find a more familiar manner of dealing with what very often must seem to be a strange and somewhat unapproachable Eastern experience.
1 These five characters in Chinese, literally translated, mean "the first patriarch's motive for coming from the west." The theme is often taken up as a subject of mondo. It is the same as asking about the most essential thing in Zen. When this is under-stood, Zen is this body itself. 2 Zagu is one of the articles carried by the Zen monk. It is spread before him when he bows to the Buddha or to the teacher.
~ Forward to "Zen in the Art of Archery" (Herrigel, 1953) by D. T. Suzuki
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Post by tannis on Jun 18, 2009 13:27:05 GMT
SO KEEP RUNNING UP THAT HILL "Anyway, enough of my idle ramblings. I'm giving much too much away and I've got to finish this kangaroo costume before our dawn jog, so keep running up that hill..." KBC Mag 14 (Paddy's 8th article for KBC Newsletter; KBC 14, Summer/Fall 1983)In this snippet from 1983, Paddy 'reveals' to the Lionhearts insider knowledge of KT's 1985 hit (recorded 1984).
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Post by tannis on Aug 26, 2009 2:27:15 GMT
"Fangs a Lot Kate!"
KT: "Films...I really don't know about. I don't consider myself an actress. Unless something came up that I felt I could do, then I wouldn't do it. I have had film offers--like, there's been a couple of vampire films, and a rock musical. That's an obvious one because I'm a singer. But I wouldn't have thought I was a vampire!" The Pop Star, May 26, 1979 gaffa.org/reaching/i79_ps.htmlThe Placebo cover of Running Up That Hill was featured featured in the pilot episode of The Vampire Diaries (TV Series) shown at San Diego Comic Con 2009. It also features in the theatrical trailer for the feature film Daybreakers. Daybreakers is an upcoming vampire film starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill. The film is scheduled to be released on January 8, 2010. Hawke described the film as an allegory of man's pacing with natural resources, "We're eating our own resources so people are trying to come up with blood substitutes, trying to get us off of foreign humans." The actor also said that despite the allegory, the film was "low art" and "completely unpretentious and silly""Daybreakers" - Official Trailer [HQ HD]www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivnHBNM0_GU
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Post by tannis on Sept 10, 2009 22:27:08 GMT
A DEAL WITH GOD...Show people are always ready to make a deal with God and God, of course, is always ready to listen. ~ The God bit, Joey Adams, 1974, p.122In the early days, did you write the lyrics first? KT: "I usually started off with the tunes, and used library books for a source of lyrics, but I couldn't get on too well with the restriction of always fitting the music to the words. So I started making my own lyrics up alongside the music." Electronics & Music Maker, 1982www.gaffaweb.org/reaching/i82_emm.html"The Tithe of the Lord", Theodore Dreiser, 1938: The story is told by a certain Lamborn, one who "is identified with shipping interests" and who recounts events as he hears them consecutively from two other acquaintances of Benziger. The first of these, an architect named Kelcey, provides the detail of Benziger's life up to the point of his decision to turn to religion; Lamborn receives the particulars of Benziger's later experience from the banker Henneberry. After Benziger's wife Olive commits suicide, Benziger experiences a drastic business and personal decline and finds himself in a hand-to-mouth existence. Struck by the message on a relgious pamphlet, Benziger resolves to strike a bargain with God:Sitting there, cold and helpless, on a park bench, the though intrigued Benziger: "Suppose I do just that . . . make a bargain with the Lord? Supposing, here and now, I should try to make such a contract? Would it work?" Would the Lord, for instance, prosper him as He had prospered his father, he who was now so miserable, so at odds with the world? Assuming there was a Lord, and that He really acted in behalf of those who, like him, had sinned, would He forgive him his early errors? Restore him to a decent social position; make him as well off as he was before? Would He? Then and there he decided he was going to try it. He was going to make a deal with God, or whoever it was that ran the world, just as he would make a deal with anyone in the business world. If God would help him to get over this despair so that he could get work and get on his feet again, he would, from then on until his death, devote ten per cent of everything he should gain to helping those who needed help worse than he did. Furthermore, he would leave women alone. Or better yet, get married, and be helpful—and faithful—to one woman. (P. 36) The small canvas: an introduction to Dreiser's short stories, Joseph Griffin (1985, p.124).
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Post by tannis on Sept 17, 2009 4:27:51 GMT
The first side of Hounds is titled "Hounds of Love," and the first two tracks, "Running Up That Hill" and "Hounds of Love," center on Bush's problems in male-female relationships. In "Running Up that Hill" Bush addresses the misunderstandings and unintentional pain lovers cause. She sees the solution to the problem in an exchange of perspectives, singing "If I only could / I'd made a deal with God / And I'd get him to swap our places." Bush realizes that she is part of the problem, for she is "unaware I'm tearing you asunder" and wonders, "Is there so much hate for the ones we love?" The most important function of "Running Up That Hill" is its role in setting up the rest of side 1. This first song tells the listener that the narrator, presumably Kate Bush, has difficultly in her relationships, and the rest of the side attempts to trace the origins of the problem.
On Record, Simon Frith and Andrew Goodwin (1990, pp.458).
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Post by tannis on Sept 27, 2009 3:27:25 GMT
You don't want to hurt me, But see how deep the bullet lies...If you have seen the "Wogan" performance of RUTH, you will know that KaTe delivers the song in the manner of a sermon...Lip-synch from the U.K. TV programme The Wogan Show, August 5, 1985. Presumably the first of Kate's lip-synched performances of this song, and probably the most interesting, it features the same minimal choreography, but Kate and the band are dressed in curious ankle-length coats, and antique military march-drums are used (as props). Also, Kate herself stands behind a speaker's podium, and delivers the lines of the song as though giving an impassioned political speech. {MTV-US used this clip instead of the official video - CDW}www.gaffaweb.org/passing/v85_aug.htmlIf any of you present are discontented with your conduct and desire to change it, I pray you to be discontented with your character and desire to change that. The evil is here, within you, deep-seated, native. If you are really anxious to be better, be careful to make your analysis thorough, as to the cause of that which makes the mischief. You will find the wound a deep one. You will find that the bullet lies imbedded in the very substance of the heart. You will find that the seat of the difficulty is there. Any prayer which does not cover the whole ground of the difficulty—which would not, if answered, meet your fullest necessity, will not avail. Your prayer must be based on the conviction of an inward unworthiness,—on a conviction that your character is not right in the sight of God, and the voice of its petition must be that of the Psalmist when he cried, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." ~ The Fruits of the Spirit, and Other Sermons, William Henry H. Murray, 1879, p.523.Unaware I'm tearing you asunder. Ooh, there is thunder in our hearts.109 While watching the dreadful battle, The Sun set in the west. Who knows why Kama suddenly roared, Lost in some intense rapture. "Deluge, show yourself to me! I will forge a path, ripping you apart. If I must, I will go; But only after tearing you asunder.
110 "What is this threat? O Death, come. I shall take you in my grip. Only after bringing you to your end, Shall I be relieved and be set free. O Shalya! Urge the horses on. Take me quickly To where all the chosen heroes are standing ready By the side of Arjuna and Krishna.
from The Sun Charioteer, Ramdhari Sinha Dinkar, 1981 Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' (September 23, 1908 – April 24, 1974) was an Indian Hindi poet, essayist and academician, who is considered as one of the most important modern Hindi poets.One chief advantage of the great and magnificent objects of Nature is, that they stamp their image on the mind for ever; the blow need not be repeated to have the desired effect. We take them with us wherever we go; we have but to think of them, and they appear; and at the distance of half a life or of the circumference of the globe, we unlock the springs of memory, and the tall mountain shoots into the sky, the lake expands its bosom, and the cataract rushes from the pine-clad rock. The bold majestic outline is all that there is to discover in such situations, and this we can always remember. In more cultivated and artificial scenes we may observe a thousand hedge-row beauties with curious eye, or pluck the tender flower beneath our . feet, while Skiddaw hovers round our heads, and the echoes of Helvellyn thunder in our hearts. ~ The Collected Works of William Hazlitt, Volume 11, 1904, p.552.
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Post by tannis on Jan 3, 2010 20:27:14 GMT
Kate Bush Vs Infusion - Running Up That Hillwww.youtube.com/watch?v=pYIK5RutvdMLess is more
The Infusion remix of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill is a great example. The original Bush track is lush, with a complex and lengthy lyric.
After laying down a basic groove, Infusion bring in a new bassline - a single note that throbs on the downbeat.
The lyric then comes in as a build up - "Only could, be runnin' up that hill." And that's it, repeated over and over! The outro of the original Kate Bush track becomes the principal lyric for the entire remix.
The bassline then changes to take the tune through its chord changes, while the groove continues in the background.
At the breakdown, the lyric returns - "Come on baby, come on darlin', let me steal this moment from you now, come on baby, come on darlin', let me steal this moment from you now, now, now, now, now, now..."
Lyrically, Infusion leave it at that. The rest is breakdown, build-up, chorus and groove. Possibly one of the best remixes ever recorded. Genius in its simplicity. Guaranteed to put their hands in the air in its day. And its 9.27.
~ How to DVJ: A Digital DJ Masterclass, Charles Kriel, 2007, p.202.
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Post by Adey on Oct 29, 2011 14:44:42 GMT
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