From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V2 #68 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 Tuesday, March 11 1997 Volume 02 : Number 068 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Vancouver Tori article from July 1996 [Richard Handal ] Re: ReCoRd CoNvEnTiOnS [Nadyne Mielke ] Musical Famblies [Josh Sutterfield ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 06:42:17 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Handal Subject: Vancouver Tori article from July 1996 Hi, All: In this article, Tori talks a bit about fairies. But first, I want to correct something about fairies from the Greensboro News and Record article of August 16 that I posted a few weeks ago. Tori was quoted in that article thusly: ``As a little girl, I really feel like I touched the other world. In Ireland, they have terms for it - the other world. They believe there is an alternate world than this one. It's part of the Celtic belief, the mythology, that there are beings existing there. They call them the Shide.'' She checks the spelling in a book. She exhales audibly into the phone. ``In Ireland, they are very much in acknowledgment of the Shide. ``But it's just a bit of an eye-roll,'' (it does make her roll her eyes, she says) ``the debasement of the Shide into Tinkerbell. It's been diluted to that.'' My dear friend, the fairy-knowledgeable Violet wrote to tell me that even though Tori was trying to make certain of the spelling of this Celtic word, it was *not* spelled properly in that article. Quoting Violet: "It should read "Sidhe" (pronounced "shee"). Sidhe is the Irish term blanketing the many races of fairies (for example, who hasn't heard of the banshee [bean-sidhe]?)." Apparently the proofreader in Greensboro didn't believe the spelling the writer had in his article, and couldn't find a reference for the word sidhe, (*I* checked for it in the Oxford English Dictionary, and it isn't listed in *there*), and so a similarly spelled real word found in a dictionary was used to replace the word Tori meant to be used--therefore losing all the accuracy so important to Tori on this topic. I found a number of sources of information about the sidhe available on the internet, and I will quote briefly from one of the best: http://surf.almac.co.uk/es/dalriada/folklore/beliefs/fairy.html In the first article of this series, I looked at the survival of belief among the Celtic peoples of an invisible realm inhabited by Otherworldly beings known collectively as the Sidhe, or the Good People. This belief was once common throughout all the Celtic countries, in localised forms. The Sidhe are considered to be a distinct race, quite separate from human beings yet who have had much contact with mortals over the centuries, and there are many documented testimonies to this. Belief in this race of beings who have powers beyond those of men to move quickly through the air and change their shape at will once played a huge part in the lives of people living in rural Ireland and Scotland. It is difficult to pin-point an exact historical era as the time when fairy lore began. Many writers maintain that the people of Ireland and their Gods before the coming of the Gaels are the 'ancestors' of the sidhe. Clearly the belief in the sidhe is part of the pre-Christian religion which survived for thousands of years and which has never been completely wiped out from the minds of the people. When the first Gaels, the sons of Mil, arrived in Ireland, they found that the Tuatha De Danaan, the people of the goddess Dana, already had control of the land. The sons of Mil fought them in battle and defeated them, driving them 'underground' where it is said they remain to this day in the hollow hills or sidhe mounds. So, now that the record on that has been set straight, let's move to this article I found in a local news and entertainment weekly newspaper while I was in Vancouver for the Tori concert last July 19. Enjoy, Richard Handal, H.G. <>====<>====<>====<>====<>====<>====<>====<>====<>====<>====<>====<>====<> Publication: The Georgia Straight [Vancouver, B.C., Canada] (ISSN: 0709-8995) Date: July 18 - 25, 1996 Page: 51 Article Type: Interview/profile Writer: Ken Eisner Photos: One 4" by 5" black and white photo, from the promotional package. (Tori dressed in a filmy tiger-type striped top, looking into the camera and holding her hands toward it as if her claws are extended.) Caption: Tori Amos may bemoan the fact that critics rarely discuss her music, but the endlessly quotable pianist is sometimes her own worst enemy. Cover blurb: Tori Amos Even when she's looking, she still steps in it Contents page blurb: Tori Amos has both her fans and detractors, all of them reacting with almost religious fervour to her metaphorical wordplay, but she's worried about faeries. By Ken Eisner Headline: A Margarita Fan, But No Martyr Sub headline: A drink is fine, but Tori Amos draws the line at having her toes licked--or roasted Text: You know when you're walking on a farm?" asks Tori Amos, calling from San Francisco (and far from any farmland). "You always know there are going to be cow pies, so it shouldn't be that difficult to miss them. The thing about me is, I'm staring at the ground but I *still* step in them." The flame-haired singer, songwriter, and pianist is referring to some unspecified kerfuffle on the road--there are people giggling in the background--but she could also be talking about her lifelong propensity for getting into trouble with unguarded comments about sex and spirituality. It any event, it will pay to keep an ear tuned to her off-the-cuff remarks from the stage when she plays the Orpheum on Friday (July 19). Although Amos's previous Vancouver appearances have been solo performances, for this event she'll be aided by acoustic and electric guitarist Steve Caton, who has played on all three of her albums (as well as on her mid-'80s hard-rock release, Y Kant Tori Read). "There isn't a moment when I regret not having a band," she says. "I never turn around and say, 'Hey, where's the drummer?' I really like the improvisational aspect, and it keeps it interesting for me. People sense when something's stale. That's why I change the show every night." Currently Amos keeps about four songs constant out of 18 or so. "Sometimes there are a few more," she muses. "Sometimes I can tell they're sleepy and want to go home to have a double brandy, so l let 'em go early." Here, as in other towns, some lucky fans will go to a preshow sound check. Amos says that's so they can see that she's just a working gal. "Honestly, though, I've never thought of it as a job. Of course, getting from one place to another and eating as much bran as you can--*that's* work. You can get a little loopy when you're never in one place. But it teaches you some amazing things when you meet all kinds of people. "In the past, I was always a person who didn't speak up for myself; I didn't know how to say no to anyone. So then what would happen was that I would get pushed so far into the corner, I'd become a Doberman. Being on the road forces me to speak up. You find new personalities, meet new friends, make mistakes, and have some old ideas broken down. She may be goin' through non-stop changes, but magazine writers have her pegged as some kind of smug new-age guru. "I try not to read my press. It makes you crazy! If one more person brings up the faeries, I don't know what I'm gonna do," she says, referring to the dwarfish protagonists of some songs from earlier in her career. "It goes back to studying mythology and really getting fascinated with a race of people who were driven underground. They were called faeries in later lore, but they've become this whole caricature. This is difficult to explain to people, when all they can think about is Tinkerbell." Remember, now, *she* raised the issue. In fact, she says--with a half-mocking tone--that faeries show up at her better concerts. "Yeah, they come with their hobnail boots and tattoos and their bare chests and little wings; they're hovering there and you say, 'Can I have what *you're* having?'" An inclination towards free association and psychosexual wordplay suffuses Amos's lyrics, and even those as abstruse as the ones on her most recent album, Boys for Pele, invite readings both sacred and profane. This has given her a huge, almost idolatrous following. (Some subscribe to the appropriately titled fanzine Really Deep Thoughts, and even more clog up the Net with ToriSpeak.) Many listeners light incense; others just get incensed. "Some people think I need to be arrested," she says with no hint of irony. "In general, there are extreme responses to metaphorical works because there's so much room for interpretation. You know, I come from a heavy theological background, my father having his doctorate in theology and both his parents being ministers. Christianity is just one of many mythologies--and it *is* one of the homecoming queens, let's face it--so you'll find that within most of us. Whether it's commercials or Disney or whatever, people use mythology to get you to feel guilty or ashamed or strong or afraid. Because I work from that place, it stirs people's innate belief systems. Sometimes they hate me for it, because it's much easier to blame me than admit that they're a pig!" And lo, they also come to worship. "They've been known to do that too. I figure that if you're an interesting writer you'll make people think--that part is *so* one-plus-one, I don't even think about it that much. The extreme reactions, though, I don't really respond to. You *can't*. You become a ping-pong ball. If you're going to let yourself be worshipped, then you *have* to end up in the place where they rip every piece of epidermis off your body. It's important to have a sense of humour about it and to take responsibility for your beliefs; I do, completely! And yet I don't take responsibility for somebody *else's* reaction. That's *their* job. If you wanna come have a margarita with me, fine. We can hang out. But if you want to roast me over an open fire or lick my feet, I'm not into that." But all this fuss is about words, not music. Amos has said she's merely a vessel for capturing whatever divine spirit moves her, but the inspirational component belies her technical accomplishment as a pianist. "In the music press," she says, winding up for the pitch, "people rarely talk about the actual music, because most journalists don't know anything about it, and that's just a fact." Indeed, out of all the arts, music is discussed least for its actual properties; in most hands, even its historical context are vague. Sure, any rock writer (or reader) can spot an early-'70s Joni Mitchell lick, but how many notice the densely chromatic, late-Romantic lyricism, a la Franz Liszt and Alexander Scriabin, that she weaves into her instrumental settings? "People talk about lyrics, hair, attitude--just plain commentary. But rarely is it about what's in the left hand, or about the juxtaposition between the words and the music, or what that brings up in you as a listener. In dance, they actually talk about dance, and in the visual arts, it isn't all about how 'the artist paints with his legs spread.' Finally, you have to figure that people don't talk about music because that isn't the focus of the music industry, which does kinda make you scratch your head." Amidst all the hype, adulation, and controversy, it shouldn't be surprising that Amos herself sometimes forgets what she's doing. "Every once in a while I have to remind myself, 'Oh, yeah, right! I play the *piano*.' And then I kinda smile, and I start to feel better, and that thing in my stomach calms down a bit. I go find my Bosendorfer and I sit down and say, "Okay, *this* makes sense.'" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 07:13:33 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Handal Subject: Tori on MPT March 25 Hi, Again: On ToriNews back on January 9, Johnson Liu asked if anyone knew about a show on the six-station consortium in the state of Maryland known as Maryland Public Television, which had aired a story on Tori. I had not heard about this before, but I dig some digging, and came up with some information about it. In fact, I've been in touch with the reporter/producer of this story, (who is also a Tori fan, BTW), and he told me it was going to be reaired on March 25. This story is just under five minutes long, and includes some atypical interview segments, as well as some clips of Tori and Caton playing Pretty Good Year. I believe that was taped on the afternoon of last September 30 in Baltimore, the interview segments having been recorded the day before. This originally aired on November 15, 1996 as part of episode #230 of Inside Maryland, which is sort of a local news and features program airing through part of the year. They have since been using the Tori story as interstitial programming--filler shown to round out oddly timed shows to the top of the next hour--and just a few weeks ago I even saw it just before 4:00 a.m. when it was shown in the middle of late night educational programming, but now I've found out the time and name of the Maryland Day special on which Scott told me his Tori story will be repeated March 25: Schedule for Tuesday, March 25 http://www.mpt.org/cgi-bin/listings/month-March/day-25/brA-4 9:00pm-10:00pm: Maryland Day +6458 Comptroller Louis Goldstein tours the State House and gives us his 50-year perspective. Host Sloane Brown looks at interesting Marylanders including Chief Judge Robert Bell, singer Tori Amos, Dr. Emily Hammond Wilson and 6-yr.-old poet Mattie Stepanek. Scott said the Tori story will be the last story on this program, and that they're going to show a clip from the Caught a Lite Sneeze video underneath the closing credits of the program. Be seeing you, Richard Handal, H.G. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 08:22:35 -0500 (EST) From: Nadyne Mielke Subject: Re: ReCoRd CoNvEnTiOnS On Mon, 10 Mar 1997 Rayoooosh@aol.com wrote: > First, I would like to thank all of you who responded to my post about the > past singles, I appreciate all the help from everyone. Secondly, many of you > recommended that I try record conventions, but how does one go about finding > out where or when these conventions are...is there like an internet site or > something? If you know anything about these conventions, especially ones in > the LA area, please please please pass it on to me... Usually, you will see flyers for record conventions at small, independet record stores a few weeks before the convention. You can also call these same stores to find out if they happen to know when the next one will be coming around. {After you've been to one, you can get on their mailing list, and you'll get a little reminder in the mail a couple of weeks in advance.} If you have a favorite local place to pick up boots, I'd ask them if they knew about the next one. You probably won't see adverts for them in someplace like Tower or whatever big chain is in the area. Around here, at least, there's a record convention every couple of months or so. {Here being Atlanta.} It'll probably cost you somewhere between $2 and $5 to get in, although sometimes it's free. {IME, if it's free, there's not as much good stuff as there is when you have to pay.} When you go in there, have a very good idea of what things are worth! The last time I attended one, there were a couple of booths there trying to the UtP pink vinyl for $50 and the BfP clear vinyl for $40! I can still buy both of these for $10-$15. Also, don't be afraid to shop around the convention. For example, the last time I attended one, 3 booths had Tea with the Waitress. One was charging $100, another $75, and another $50. Of course, the first one I saw was the $100 -> I'm quite glad I didn't jump on the first one I saw. If you're afraid that if you leave it, someone else will snap it up, you can always ask the person at the booth to hold it for you for a little while. Sometimes they will, sometimes they won't -> but if they're not willing to hold it for you, that might tell you something about the kind of business they run and/or that you might be able to get it for cheaper elsewhere. If you're unsure of what an item is worth, don't be afraid to pass it up. Also don't be afraid to ask them to take a good look at the item {of course, if it's still shrinkwrapped, they're not going to let you into the original shrinkwrap, but on used CDs, they should let you look at the disc to see if it's scratched or anything}. If you're in the market for a true YKTR, check out the YKTR FAQ at: http://world.std.com/~fuzzbox/yktrfaq.html Especially with the proliferation of new good YKTR boots that have appeared in big chain stores in the UK recently, it might well be possible that someone will be trying to pass off a booted YKTR {worth $20 to $30} for a real YKTR {worth much more!}. In other words, know your Tori stuff before you walk in there! /nad *************************************************************************** * Nadyne Mielke, CS majour, Southern Tech, Marietta, GA * * * * "I regret to say that we of the FBI are powerless to act in cases of * * oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way obstructed interstate * * commerce. " -- J. Edgar Hoover * *************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 14:19:31 -0600 (CST) From: Josh Sutterfield Subject: Musical Famblies Hmmm, just sitting here staring blankly at Donny Osmond on TV thinking about musical families.. lots of musicians kinda have a musical background in their lineage. So I was wondering.. any musicians in Tori's fambly background.. including grandparents/uncles/aunts etc..? I guess I know about her brother since he worked with her on Baltimore and stuff, but, who else? Later =~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~= joshruylesutterfield Musician/DJ-Wannabe/Social-Retard yourdeershitjustfell joshu@umr.edu www.umr.edu/~joshu =._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.= niv e r sit y o F M Oat Ro ll U =K= =M= =N= =R= - 89 .7 F M A =~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~=._.=~^~= "Quiche, I am sorry to say, is not among the colors of the alphabet." ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V2 #68 ************************************