From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V2 #308 Reply-To: precious-things@smoe.org Sender: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "precious-things-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. precious-things-digest Sunday, November 2 1997 Volume 02 : Number 308 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Spongey's meet with Tori [Lady Eorann ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 01 Nov 1997 14:50:42 -0500 (EST) From: Lady Eorann Subject: Re: Spongey's meet with Tori On Fri, 31 Oct 1997, Richard Handal wrote: > Hi, Tori Folk: Hi Richard! :) > Anyhow, after the first three times that I spoke with her I started to > feel that maybe I should just leave her alone, but I still had some things > dangling that I wanted to get squared away with her. Then, when I saw her > that fourth time (which was two months to the day after the first time), > there was a major shift in dynamics between us, and after that I wasn't > shy about going to meet her before shows. She knew me by name, knew enough > not to try to get a song request out of me , etc. I came to feel an > amazing bond with her, even. Frankly, you are one of the luckiest people I know. To have met Tori *four* times, and to have become friendly with her, amazes me. More than that, the fact that you were able to not freak out when you met her also speaks volumes. You are *some* guy, Richard! :) > Ultimately, it's obviously her decision whether or not she wants to meet > with us. I know it's important to her to do it, but if 150 people start > showing up before the shows I can't see how that's gonna work. I think if she wants to meet us she'll find a way. If she doesn't, she won't. We the fans need to realize how lucky we are that she even takes the time to meet with us, and even tries to give us as much personal attention as possible. But you, Richard, also need to understand that most of us are not used to meeting someone we respect so much and who has touched our personal lives so deeply as Tori has. So it's normal to want to realize that she's human (that's why I went to meet her, just to know that she is after all just like us, flesh and bone...), but it is still incredibly difficult to keep your emotions in check. Tori deals in emotions. That's why we all love her music so much, that's why we're drawn to her. That is also why most of us lose it when we finally get to see her in person. It's not even a worship thing (at least for me it isn't), or an obsession thing, it's simply that the knowledge that she has helped so much, that she knows how we feel and that she puts it forth so eloquently, is rather overwhelming. Some people take it too far, but I'd venture to say it's the minority. > That would be Joel Hopkins, aka Agent Orange. [...] Joel is Tori's > personal bodyguard and head of tour security, and without him, NO ONE > would be meeting and talking with Tori. It wouldn't be safe. Joel would > get a little bit anxious from time to time, though, and she'd see fit to > call him off. Agent Orange was nice enough to me and the others. I can see that he wants to protect her, (it's his job and he also seems to care very much about her) although he can be a little intense. There was also this other fellow, another bodyguard, I assume, with black hair, a very large man, very built. We called him "The Roman" although he may be called something else by others. *He* was very rude to us, like a bull dog, mean, and he didn't seem to care that Tori might actually want to meet us. I didn't like him at all. :P > I heard that someone also tried to rush her during one of the > pre-soundcheck meetings last year, which was why they started to use > barricades between her and us if there were more than a few of us. That > she continued seeing > us after that incident is a testament to how committed she is to doing it. I think I know the incident your talking about. I met the guy, and he was a nice guy. In fact, he was right next to me when I met her, and he was just a devoted fan. He went to a pre-soundcheck meeting to meet her. He just wanted to give her a poem he'd written for her, but apparently Agent Orange stopped him, and he tried to get past him to give it to her, and there was a minor scuffle (this guy was a lanky, *really* skinny kid, not even half the size of Joel Hopkins!), which scared Tori. She was very polite when she met him (when I was there) and asked what had happened. He apologized for scaring her and gave her the poem, which she took gladly and then she continued to speak to him briefly before moving on down the line. I'm not absolutely certain that this is the same person you're talking about, Richard, but it's the only such incident that I've heard of, so I assume he's the one (I know, I know, never assume...). My point is that sometimes things get blown out of proportion, and word of mouth makes things seem worse than they are. He wasn't attacking her, but it sounds like that was what you heard. The truth is that being in the entertainment business, any artist risks putting themselves in that kind of position where someone could attack, and I'm sure she knows that--why else would she have a bodyguard? But I think she also knows that most of us are there because we respect her and in some cases adore her. It's a tricky situation because I always get the feeling that she loves us back (as a collective)--she's a performer and she knows that she really wouldn't be much without an audience. :) Personally I think *that's* why she comes out to meet us, and I think she's willing to take the risks involved to let us know she cares too. > > If Tori wants to meet with us, I don't think we should complain. What we > might want to be concerned about are people who would want to go track her > down at times like these when she's *not* on tour, and invade her life. This is precisely what I'm talking about. There are always sickos and freaks who want to track celebrities down and just dog them because they are obsessed. However, I think it's safe to say that the larger majority of people understand that she is human and has a right to privacy, even if she has chosen a life in the public eye. Obviously because of her choice in careers, she has to take certain measures to ensure her safety that any Joe Blow from down the street doesn't have to worry about. Like you, Richard, and most other Toriphiles, I can only hope that those precautions wind up being unnecessary. :) Bright Blessings and Lollipops! Yvette. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Definitions are limiting. Limitations are deadening. To limit oneself is a kind of suicide. To limit another is a kind of murder. To limit poetry is a Hiroshima of the human spirit." --Tom Robbins ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 18:02:05 EST From: AnaisBleu Subject: tori in Texas??? I just heard a rumor (one that sounds crazy to me) that Tori is going to be in Texas (I think Dallas or Houston) in December doing a show. . . a friend of a friend supposedly says they're going to see her. Does anyone know if there;s any truth to this? Thanks, rae ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V2 #308 *************************************