From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V3 #158 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 Thursday, April 30 1998 Volume 03 : Number 158 Today's Subjects: ----------------- tape covers [Rain tori ] 5 days to go? uh uh ... ["Planet Tori Network" ] DEAPERATELY NEEDED BOOT [Myralovr ] Plugged 98 Boots? [Wednesday ] Tori radio ["shyrrl *" ] limited tori cd [ally ] an appeal... [BF & VA Maier ] Questions about Tori [Marcel Rijs ] B-Side - Christmas song ["The Kickass Angel" ] Real Audio Help [Fireheart ] Re: LE Tori Amos Lithos [Mireya ] The Choirgirl has arrived [Thomas Lauritsen ] Countdown to Webcast and Midnight Philly Chat! [PeacePoet2 ] 1 ticket availabe for SF [Brian34958 ] Greg's Tori News Digest (4/29) [Greg Burrell ] Velvets [Beth Winegarner ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 15:32:57 EDT From: Rain tori Subject: tape covers Does anyone know what program on teh computer makes tape covers for bootlegs? Thanks! Kimm "i blew the candle out just to get back in" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 23:21:11 +0000 From: "Planet Tori Network" Subject: 5 days to go? uh uh ... You dont have to wait 5 days to hear ftcghotel..... Get our drift? (cheeky Tori Grin) Yummy Tori Thoughts, Terry and Staff Planet Tori Radio - Tori broadcast 24 Hours a day in RealAudio? No way! (YES WAY!) http://come.to/planettori ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 14:55:03 EDT From: Myralovr Subject: DEAPERATELY NEEDED BOOT Hi----- I know SOMEONE out there must have this...I was at the 9/30/96 Baltimore Tori show at the Lyric Opera House but yet have never found a recording of it...does anyone know if it exists??? Been searching a year and a half!!! :-( DYING FOR IT!!!! - --Christine "...I go from day to day I know where the cupboards are I know where the car is parked I know he isn't you...." ---Myra Ellen Amos ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 17:38:30 +0200 From: Wednesday Subject: Plugged 98 Boots? Hiya, are there anyone who have made recordings from any of the new concerts yet? If so, I`m definetely interested in obtaining copies.. Lisa, the EWF in Norway *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Lisa Golmen aka. Lisa Skywalker - Wednesday - LisAngel AOL IM Name: teneniel 7 Visit my room http://www.InternetJump.com/LisasRoom/ - - all the fact and fantasy + Tori Amos, Jeremy Irons, Sarah McLachlan and a host of stars! *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 21:52:33 PDT From: "shyrrl *" Subject: Tori radio Heyas everyone, this is a horribly desperate plea going out to any kind souls around here.. Since the radio stations here in San Antonio and in Austin won't be airing the April 30th radio thing for Tori, could someone, anyone, Please Please Please make me a tape of it..Ill be willing to pay for any shipping and handling costs and price of the tape or whatever else... Please email be back privately on this.. Thanks! Yours in Tori, Shy PS: Im still also really really wanting the Raspberry Swirl necklace and Ill be willing to pay for that *of course* if someone were to be able to get one for me.. "I say the world is sick, you say tell me what that makes us darlin. You see you always find my faults faster than you find your own. You say the world is gettin rid of of her demons, i say baby what have you been smokin..." http://www.angelfire.com/tx/shyrrl ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 23:42:30 -0500 From: ally Subject: limited tori cd www.tori.com said: The Coalition Of Independent Music Stores are celebrating the release of Tori Amos' "from the choirgirl hotel" with the offer of a special, limited-edition Tori lithograph for the first 3,700 people who purchase the CD during the week of release (while supplies last). Following is a list of participating stores: ok, what is the difference and i know i must be a retard, but i cant invision what they';re talking about with the lithograph... (: ally http://crono.net/~ally The Pool of Tori Amos: http://crono.net/~ally/torimain.html "even the rain is sharp like today as you sh-sh-shock me sane" - tori amos "the only friends i've got left are my idiosyncrasies" - L7 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 23:46:42 +1000 From: BF & VA Maier Subject: an appeal... greetings fellow ewf!... i have an amazingly huge favour to ask, but i am hoping that somewhere out there in the big wide world of tori someone will be able to help me! :) here goes: i'm actually from australia, but have a dear friend who lives in boston and has been a true friend to me beyond words... i won't go into details, but suffice to say: he is a grade A sweetheart and just a true soul. he attended tori's show at the .... last saturday, but wasn't able to tape the show or anything. having seen tori when she toured here i 1994, i remember only too well what a magical, transcendent experience it is... and i'd love to be able to surprise my dear friend with a good quality recording of the show, a lasting memory of his very own experience. this is where the favour part comes in: does anybody out there have one? i am more than willing to send a tape, or do a trade, but it would be wonderful if i was able to get my little hands on a copy of a recording of the show... if anybody out there can help, i would be grateful to hear from you! thank you so very much.... *faerieblessings* heidi. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 20:23:13 +0200 From: Marcel Rijs Subject: Questions about Tori Hi, I have a lot of questions to ask, so I best be short about it: 1. Does anyone remember the story behind "It's a happy day"? I remember reading it ages ago on RDT or Precious-things, but I can't seem to find the article. 2. What's the story behind "When I was dreaming", the song that apparently is a "Studio outtake"? Is it a cover, or a Tori composition? (The song can be found on the "Dreaming" bootleg) 3. Does anyone have the remix of Putting the damage on (?) that was released on a promo-only compilation in 1996 or 1997? 4. I have an American NTSC video which I'd like transfered into the European system. Anyone in Europe or the UK who can help out? 5. Do you have a cover made of a ToriSong and want to contribute it to Tori Covered 2? For any answer, please email me off-list. Kind regards, Marcel Rijs - "Conan the Librarian" mfgr@plex.nl <--- Note the new address Go for it! The ultimate Kim Wilde Internet Experience http://kimwilde.go4it.net ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 21:27:25 +0100 From: "The Kickass Angel" Subject: B-Side - Christmas song Hello there! Well, after reading what someone thought about the "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", and them saying that they thought it sarcastic (which, btw, changed my whole perspective of Tori's rendition) I thought I'd give air to what I feel from listening to it... I feel that when she's singing, she sounds infinitely sad, and the one tiny part that *really* gets me is around the 3.00 minute mark where she sings 'bough'...oh my...*sigh* I think that when Tori sings of having her friends around so as to be together for the Christmas season, she can mean it for support for what happened with the miscarriage... ..and when she sings that everything will be wonderful and the future fine, she's thinking of what she was probably feeling while she still had her baby and the sadness comes because that's not the way it is anymore... Maybe my imagination goes a little too into itself here, but when singing of hanging the star on the tree, I feel she's symbolising her baby - it's spirit and her memory... I don't know...it makes me sad to hear it now...the whole thing is just so touching... Julie =) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 15:28:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Fireheart Subject: Real Audio Help Okay, I downloaded Real Audio 5.0 so that I could listen/watch the broadcast tonite on my friend's computer. Does anyone else have the problem that things come in really choppy on Real Audio. The "buffered play" and "Network Buffering" seems to ruin the whole thing (whatever I play on the tori.com site). Does anyone know how to get this working correctly, or does itdepend on one's internet connection? My friend's computer has a direct connection through UNH, and there is no modem involved (just a cable type of hookup). Any suggestions? Please e-mail me privately. Thanks Carrie-Ellen Batcheller HPs \||/ UNH Babcock Hall Box 2110 | @___oo Durham NH 03824 /\ /\ / (__,,,,| ) /^\) ^\/ _) web pages: ) /^\/ _) http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/9523 ) _ / / _) Lifestories: /9523/lifestories.html /\ )/\/ || | )_) Tori Amos trade list: /9523/tori.html < > |(,,) )__) || / \)___)\ "Poor little Earth she tried so hard | \____( )___) )___ to change our ways, sometimes she \______(_______;;; __;;; must get sick of this place" --"Floating City", Tori Amos ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 23:34:13 -0700 From: Mireya Subject: Re: LE Tori Amos Lithos Don't know if anyone answered this already, but I called one of the stores today, and I was told that, at this particular store, they had recieved 100 of the lithographs and would be giving them away *free* when you buy the album, as soon as the store opens on May 5th. I'm assuming that most of the other stores doing this will do it the same way. So if you get to that indie store when it opens, you should have a pretty good chance of getting one of these things. Also, the person on the phone told me that the litho wasn't anything great, looked just like any other poster, but longer than most. She didn't sound like a Tori fan, so I wouldn't go by what she considers a great tori poster. So, I guess that's what it is. Hope this helps... Mireya hisgirl@geocities.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dead Petals http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/4281/tori.html lilchibi@flash.net wrote: > > MY QUESTION IS: > If I buy her new album when it comes out at my indie store in TX, and > I'm one of the first 3,700 or while supplies last, which ever comes > first.... DO I GET THIS LITHOS thing FREE??? or do I have the option to > BUY it, but only because I am one of the first to buy her CD. > > and secondly, what is a LITHOS? I know I sound ignorant, but oh well... > ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 09:19:44 +0200 From: Thomas Lauritsen Subject: The Choirgirl has arrived Yesterday (april 29) I walked into a record shop in Copenhagen, Denmark, to see if they had the limited edition of Spark. I found it and I when I was paying, the guy behind the counter told me that they had just received From The Choirgirl Hotel. I bought it and rushed home and sat down and listened to the whole album. IT IS GREAT. It is the official release, not a promocopy. It has both the East/West and the Atlantic logo on it, so I can't tell if it is an UK or an US release. I advice all EWF to check into the Choirgirl Hotel as so as possible. I will be waiting in the lobby for you. Remember to bring margaritas. "I guess you go to far when pianos try to be guitars" - - Northern Lad WARNING : non-Tori relevant contents follows : Are there any Heather Nova fans on this mailinglist ? Last week, I was at a Heather Nova concert here in Copenhagen and about half the song was from the new album, which is to be released in May. After the concert, I feel very sure that the new album will be very good indeed. - - Thomas Lauritsen Copenhagen, Denmark ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 13:56:57 EDT From: PeacePoet2 Subject: Countdown to Webcast and Midnight Philly Chat! Hiya peoples, I am getting SUPER HYPER for this concert tonight! I can't wait! I bet I'm not the only one. Think, we'll be able to hear all those great songs before the real release! YEAH! The only bad thing is, my station is airing it at 12 midnight tonight instead of 9 pm, :( . This means a lot of sneaking around on my part so I get my four copies made (1 four me, three to trade for otehr bootlegs), and they are the best. I am setting my alarm for 11:45 pm, getting up, making sure the four stereos have their tapes, set to the station, then will start taping at midnight. I'll either doze on my bed, floor, chair, or go online and read more newsgroup and mailing list mail. Maybe work on my Tori club. Write the next great American novel. Just kidding! I can't even let my parents know, they'd have a fit, so I have to search up four sets of headphones to plug into the stereos so they don't hear. Ou! Then, as soon as it's over, I'm going back to bed. It sounds crazy and stupid, but I can't help it. When you're a Tori addict, it's part of the description. Hey, just had a cool idea. If anyone who will be listening to Max 95.7 (WXXM) Philadelphia at midnight wants to e-mail me, all of us could have a chat. Like all the midnight Tori addicts keeping each other awake to make sure their tapes work. Countdown for rest of country: 7 hours, 9 min. Countdown for Philadelphia: 10 hours, 9 min. Peace, Manda Choutka PeacePoet2@AOL.com "Hold onto nothing, as fast as you can"-Tori Amos ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 14:53:00 -0400 (EDT) From: "Rebecca N Zellar" Subject: Ti Oiru Tori o Mike, could you post this on your site? To all of my little faeries and magical essences - I finally found a place where I belong and it's definitely involves a Tori concert. Or maybe it was just the Detroit crowd and venue. Who knows? All I know is that I love being a fan of Tori's. My boyfriend and I arrived around 11:00 and were numbers 47 and 48 - thanks to Rachel for starting up the number system here. By the time, we got there the drizzle had stopped. Oh, it was a charmed day. I met and observed many wonderful people and enjoyed myself immensely. It was like foreplay to some great sex that was destined to arrive as my friend, Joe, said. Tori's blue bus eventually arrived and I managed to sneak to the front of one of the barriers. Her puppet made an appearance. Wow. I started to tremble. Didn't know I was going to do that but, hey, she's Tori. She came out dressed in the softest of the soft pinkish g sweater and stood there with Joel in tow. It was my first time meeting her. I gave her a script of "The Skriker" by Caryl Churchill and I hope she reads it./ She signed my China single and talked with me a bit. Wow. It was wonderful. Eventually the Saint Andrews' employees told us to line up in two lines according to our voucher numbers - thus, causing a panic to those that had done the number system. Fortunately, the good souls of the world held to it once we were in the two lines. There were some stubborn people that didn't adhere to what we were trying to do and we verbally made them feel guilty. Kind of fun. Anyway, Sean, my boyfriend, and I headed up to the balcony and were horribly comfortable there. We were able to hang our legs over the side and had enough room to breathe - all I really ask for. I wouldn't have been able to see her if I had been on the floor. We were very close as well. Anyway - I liked David Poe because he seemed like a really nice guy. He's just trying to be a musician - nothing wrong with that and I'm ashamed that there are Tori fans out there who didn't support what he was trying to do. He enjoyed out Michigander crowd for being considerate to him. Everybody should have. Tori evidently supports this guy, so . . . you know. When Tori came out - wow! It was the most orgasmic, spiritual, wonderful thing I've experienced in a long time. I loved her new songs and loved the new versions of the old ones. She seemed really comfortable with the band, which made me comfortable with them, too. Her voice was right on and her energy just sparkled. When she played "Here. In My Head" - it was so weird. I had been singing that song all day and it's not one that's normally in my head, so to speak. Maybe I telepathed it into hers because she said this one really wanted to be heard that evening. Crazy. It was lovely. She came out for two encores and played "Landslide" for the final one. I was sobbing. She just hit my heart and I allowed it to explode because she has the power to make everything perfect. I'm sad that the day is over because I met wonderful people, including Tori, Caton, Joel, and David Poe and, like I said, it was a charmed day. Oh! and my boyfriend busted the wall under his hanging feet with excitement! =) Woo hoo! Thank you to all who attended for a wonderful time. Rebecca Zellar - - - zellarre@pilot.msu.edu - -- -- zellarre@pilot.msu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 16:45:02 EDT From: Brian34958 Subject: 1 ticket availabe for SF hi all i have a ticket for SF available (my date bailed out on me) so i figured i would post this so a ewf could join me for the show i'm in san jose and could drive us up there or meet at the fillmore e-mail me for more detail ~~Brian ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 98 01:31:51 -0700 From: Greg Burrell Subject: Greg's Tori News Digest (4/29) Hi Everybody, CONCERT RADIO BROADCAST Tori's April 30 concert in Chicago will be broadcast live on The Album Network radio show. The concert will be preceded by an interview with Tori during which several tracks from the upcoming album "from the choirgirl hotel" will be played. Here is a list of radio stations that carry The Album Network; check with your local station for air time. ----------------------------------------- Station Area State ----------------------------------------- KHWK 92.7 TONOPAH/CENTRAL NV NV KRSI 97.9 ISLAND OF SAIPAN WTGZ 95.9 MONTGOMERY AL WZEW 92.1 MOBILE AL KDEZ 100.5 JONESBORO AR KLAZ 105.9 HOT SPRINGS AR KCDU 93.5 MONTEREY CA KEGR 97.7 CONCORD CA KITS 105.3 SAN FRANCISCO CA KKJT 92.1 29 PALMS CA KLYY 107.1 LOS ANGELES CA KOZT 95.3 FT. BRAGG CA KFMU 104.1 STEAMBOAT SPRINGS CO KIQX 101.3 GRAND JUNCTION CO KXPK 96.5 DENVER CO WKZE 98.1 SHARON CT WHFS 99.1 WASHINGTON DC WIIS 107.1 KEY WEST FL WKRO 93.1 DAYTONA BEACH FL KPMW 105.5 HONOLULU HI KKDM 107.5 DES MOINES IA KLYV 105.3 DUBUQUE IA KORB 93.5 DAVENPORT IA KECH 95.3 SUN VALLEY/KETCHUM ID KZZK 105.9 QUINCY IL WEBX 93.5 CHAMPAIGN IL WKQX 101.1 CHICAGO IL KOFO 1220AM OTTAWA KS WQHY 95.5 PRESTONBURG KY KFTE 96.5 LAFAYETTE LA WBCN 104.1 BOSTON MA WCYY 94.3 PORTLAND ME CIDR 93.9 DETROIT MI WKFR 103.3 KALAMAZOO MI WXDG 105.1 DETROIT MI KDOG 96.7 MANKATO MN KZNZ 105.1 MINNEAPOLIS MN KFMZ 98.3 COLUMBIA MO KOZN 102.1 KANSAS CITY MO KTOZ 95.5 SPRINGFIELD MO WVRV 101.1 ST. LOUIS MO KMMS 95.1 BOZEMAN MT KZMT 101.1 HELENA MT WVOD 99.1 ELIZABETH CITY NC WHTG 106.3 ASBURY PARK NJ WJSE 102.7 ATLANTIC CITY NJ KBAC 98.1 SANTA FE NM KTHX 100.1 RENO NV WDST 100.1 WOODSTOCK/POUGHKEEPSIE NY WEDG 103.3 BUFFALO NY WLPW 105.5 LAKE PLACID NY WQBK 103.9 ALBANY NY WAQZ 107.1 CINCINNATI OH WENZ 107.9 CLEVELAND OH WZAZ 98.9 COLUMBUS OH KMRX 101.5 TULSA OK KSPI 93.7 OKLAHOMA CITY OK CFNY 102.1 TORONTO ONT KLRR 107.5 BEND OR WGMR 101.1 STATE COLLEGE PA WXDX 105.9 PITTSBURGH PA WXXM 95.7 PHILADELPHIA PA WBRU 95.5 PROVIDENCE RI WARQ 93.5 COLUMBIA SC WAVF 96.1 CHARLESTON SC KKQQ 102.3 SIOUX FALLS SD WNFZ 94.3 KNOXVILLE TN KBZD 99.7 AMARILLO TX KFAN 107.9 FREDERICKSBURG TX KHLR 103.9 BRYAN TX WBNK 100.7 ROANOKE VA WHHV 1400AM HILLSVILLE VA WKOC 93.7 NORFOLK VA KNDD 107.7 SEATTLE WA KUGR 95.1 PULLMAN WA WLUM 102.1 MILWAUKEE WI WMAD 92.1 MADISON WI CONCERT WEBCAST The April 30 concert from Chicago will also be broadcast on the Internet. See the JamTV web site (http://www.jamtv.com) for info. RECORD RELEASE PARTIES Virgin Atlantic Airways and Atlantic Records are sponsoring "from the choirgirl hotel" album release parties. You can win CDs, posters, lyrics books, and a Grand Prize trip to see Tori perform in London. The parties will be held at the following locations, contact the venue for more information: -------------------------------- Date City Location -------------------------------- 5/1&2 Los Angeles Girl Bar 5/3 New York City Barracuda 5/3 Dallas JR's 5/5 Washington DC JR's 5/5 San Francisco The Cafe 5/7 Minneapolis Gay 90's 5/8 Baltimore Hippo 5/8 Chicago Girl Bar 5/8 Philadelphia Shampoo 5/8 New York City Meow Mix 5/9 Boston Buzz JAY LENO DATE CHANGE Tori's appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC) has been moved from May 12 to May 11. Mark your calendars! UK SINGLES RELEASED The Spark singles were released in the UK last week; no word on if or when a US single will be released. CD 1 (regular) 1. Spark 2. Purple People (Christmas in Space) 3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas 4. Bachelorette CD 2 (limited edition, includes 3 postcards) 1. Spark 2. Do It Again 3. Cooling ROLLING STONE The usually reliable Billboard Magazine had reported that Tori would be on the May 5 cover of Rolling Stone magazine. However, the May 14 issue is already out and its Jerry Springer. My sources tell me that Tori will be on the cover of Rolling Stone but the date is currently unknown. (On a related note, the May 14 issue does give the album a 4-star review!) TOUR Tori's current US club tour continues and has recieved excellent reviews from all quarters! She will spend May touring the UK and June in Europe. A more extensive US tour will begin in mid-July and last for at least four months. Its still unknown whether Tori will make it to Australia this time (sorry folks, I tried to get some info but they just haven't decided yet). END ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 22:34:36 -0700 From: Beth Winegarner Subject: Velvets I know most of you haven't even heard the new album yet, but I couldn't keep myself from going into this tangent once I started to figure it out. One of my favorite new songs on the album is "Hotel," especially the stormy piano bit toward the end where she's singing "where are the velvets/when you're coming down." Sometime last week someone mentioned that these might be the same velvets that were mentioned in Neil Gaiman's novel "Neverwhere," and since I'm on a major Gaiman kick right now I decided I'd reread the book and see if that was the case. I'm guessing it is. Which means, among other things, that Tori's still making references to Neil. But I thought I'd quote the few passages that involve the Velvets, and let those of you who archive this kind of thing do so, saving someone else from having to go through the trouble of typing it up later. The main character in "Neverwhere" is Richard Mayhew, who rescues a hurt homeless girl named Door one evening, and finds himself in an alternate London, called London Below; it's a place where the homeless and dispossessed live, and they have their own laws and everything. The first scene involving the Velvets is an open market in London Below, where Door is auditioning for bodyguards (someone is trying to kill her). * * * Richard heard the clapping and walked toward it. Five almost identically dressed, pale young women walked past him. They wore long dresses made of velvet, each dress as dark as night, one each of dark green, dark chocolate, royal blue, dark blood and pure black. Each woman had black hair and wore silver jewelry; each was perfectly coiffed, perfectly made up. They moved silently: Richard was aware only of a swish of heavy velvet as they went past, a swish that sounded almost like a sigh. The last of the women, the one dressed in utter black, the palest and most beautiful, smiled at Richard. He smiled back at her, warily. Then he walked on toward the audition. * * * [much later in the novel] A rich female voice asked from the darkness, "Hss. Any idea when the next market is?" She stepped into the light. She wore silver jewelry, and her dark hair was perfectly coiffed. She was very pale, and her long dress was jet black velvet. Richard knew immediately that he had seen her before, but it took him a few moments to place her: the first Floating Marker, that was it - -- in Harrods. She had smiled at him. "Tonight," said Hunter [Door's bodyguard]. "Belfast." "Thank you," said the woman. She had the most amazing eyes, thought Richard. They were the color of foxgloves. "I'll see you there," she said, and she looked at Richard as she said it. Then she looked away, a little shyly; she stepped into the shadows, and she was gone. "Who was that?" asked Richard. "They call themselves Velvets," said Door. "They sleep down here during the day, and walk the Upworld at night." "Are they dangerous?" asked Richard. "Everybody's dangerous," said Hunter. * * * "Hello again," said a rich voice beside him. It was the pale woman they had met in the caves, with the black dress and the foxglove eyes. "Hullo," said Richard, with a smile. "--Oh, and some papadums, please. You, um. Here for curry?" She fixed him with her violet gaze and said, in mock Bela Lugosi, "I do not eat... curry." And then she laughed, a lavish, delighted laugh, and Richard found himself realizing how long it had been since he had shared a joke with a woman. "Oh. Um. Richard. Richard Mayhew." He stuck out his hand. She touched it with her own hand, in something a little like a handshake. Her fingers were very cold, but then, late at night, at the end of autumn, on a ship out on the Thames, everything is very cold. "Lamia," she said. "I'm a Velvet." "Ah," he said. "Right. Are there a lot of you?" "A few," she said. Richard collected the containers with the curry. "What do you do?" "When I'm not looking for food," she said with a smile, "I'm a guide. I know every inch of the Underside." Hunter, who Richard could have sworn had been over on the other side of the stall, was standing next to Lamia. "He's not yours." Lamia smiled sweetly. "I'll be the judge of that," she said. Richard said, "Hunter, this is Lamia. She's a Velcro." "Vel-vet," corrected Lamia, sweetly. "She's a guide." "I'll take you wherever you want to go." Hunter took the bag with the food in it from Richard. "Time to go back," she said. "Well," said Richard. "We're off to see the you-know-what, maybe she could help." Hunter said nothing; instead, she looked at Richard. Had she looked at him that way the day before, he would have dropped the subject. But that was then. "Let's see what Door thinks," said Richard. * * * "Door," said Richard, "this is Lamia. She's a guide. She says she can take us anywhere in the Underside." "Anywhere?" Door munched a papadum. "Anywhere," said Lamia. Door put her head on one side. "Do you know where the Angel Islington is?" Lamia blinked, slowly, long lashes covering and revealing her foxglove-colored eyes. "Islington?" she said. "You can't go there..." "Do you know?" "Down Street," said Lamia. "The end of Down Street. But it's not safe." Hunter had been watching this conversation, arms folded and unimpressed. Now she said, "We don't need a guide." "Well," said Richard. "I think we do. The marquis isn't around anywhere. We know it's going to be a dangerous journey. We have to get the ... the thing I got ... to the Angel. And then he'll tell Door about her family, and he'll tell me how to get home." Lamia looked up at Hunter with delight. "And he can give you brains," she said, cheerfully, "and me a heart." Door wiped the last of the curry from her bowl with her fingers, and licked them. "We'll be fine, just the three of us, Richard. We cannot afford a guide." Lamia bridled. "I'll take my payment from him, not you." "And what payment would your kind demand?" asked Hunter. "That," said Lamia with a sweet smile, "is for me to know and him to wonder." Door shook her head. "I really don't think so." Richard snorted. "You just don't like it that I'm figuring everything out for once, instead of following blindly behind you, going where I'm told." "That's not it at all." "Well, Hunter. Do *you* know the way to Islington?" Hunter shook her head. Door sighed. "We should get a move on. Down Street, you say?" Lamia smiled with plum-colored lips. "Yes, lady." * * * They walked off the ship, down the long gangplank, and onto the shore, where they went down some steps, through a long, unlit underpass, and up again. Lamia strode confidently ahead of them. She brought them out in a small, cobbled alley, Gaslights burned and sputtered on the walls. "Third door along," she said. They stopped in front of the door. There was a brass plate on it, which said: THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO HOUSES And beneath that, in smaller letters: DOWN STREET. PLEASE KNOCK. "You get to the street through the house?" asked Richard. "No," said Lamia. "The street is in the house." * * * [to avoid typing a lot of things not directly related to Lamia, I'll summazrize: they go into the house, and get into an elevator that goes.. down. Richard says of Lamia, "[she] smelled, intoxicatingly, of honeysuckle and lily of the valley and musk." When they get out of the elevator, they come to a wooden ledge overlooking steep cliffs. Everyone walks across a narrow wooden plank which crosses the cliff to the opposite side of the drop, but Richard is scared of heights and Hunter has to coax him across. Then they go down a spiral road.] Door and Hunter went around the curve in front of them, and were out of sight. "You know," said Richard, "the other two are getting a bit ahead of us. We might want to hurry." "Let them go," she said gently. "We'll catch up." It was, thought Richard, peculiarly like going to a movie with a girl as a teenager. Or rather, like walking home afterwards: stopping at bus shelters, or beside walls, to snatch a kiss, a hasty fumble of skin and a tangle of tongues, then hurrying on to catch up with your friends... Lamia ran a cold finger down his cheek. "You're so warm," she said, admiringly. "It must be wonderful to have so much warmth." Richard tried to look modest. "It's not something I think about much, really," he admitted. He heard, distantly, from above, the metallic slam of the elevator door. Lamia looked up at him, pleadingly, sweetly. "Would you give me some of your heat, Richard?" she asked. "I'm so cold." "Richard wondered if he should kiss her. "What? I..." She looked disappointed. "Don't you like me?" she asked. He hoped, desperately, that he had not hurt her feelings. "Of course I like you," he heard his voice saying. "You're very nice." "And you aren't using all your heat, are you?" she pointed out, reasonably. "I suppose not..." "And you said you'd pay me for being your guide. And it's what I want, as my payment. Warmth. Can I have some?" Anything she wanted. Anything. The honeysuckly and the lily of the valley wrapped around him, and his eyes saw nothing but her pale skin and her dark plum-bloom lips, and her jet black hair. He nodded. Somewhere inside him something was screaming: but whatever it was, it could wait. She reached up her hands to his face and pulled it gently down toward her. The she kissed him, long and languorously. There was a moment of initial shock at the chill of her lips, and the cold of her tongue, and then he succumbed to her kiss entirely. After some time, she pulled back. He could feel the ice on his lips. He stumbled back agains the wall. He tried to blink, but his eyes felt as if they were frozen open. She looked up at him and smiled delightedly, her skin flushed and pink and her lips, scarlet; her breath steamed in the cold air. She licked her red lips with a warm crimson tongue. His world began to go dark. He thought he saw a black shape at the edge of his vision. "More," she said. and she reached out to him. * * * [enter the Marquis de Carabas, Door's friend, who was missing earlier] He watched the Velvet pull Richard to her for the first kiss, watched the rime and frost spread over Richard's skin. He watched her pull back, happily. And then he walked up behind her, and, as she moved in to finish what she had begun, he reached out and seized her, hard, by the neck, and lifted her off the ground. "Give it back," he rasped in her eat. "Give him back his life." The Velvet reacted like a kitten who had just been dropped into a bathtub, wriggling and hissing and spitting and scratching. It did her no good: she was held tight by the throat. "You can't make me," she said, in decidedly unmusical tones. He increased the pressure. "Give him his life back," he told her, hoarsely and honestly, "or I'll break your neck." She winced. He pushed her toward Richard, frozen and crumpled against the rock wall. She took Richard's hand, and breathed into his nose and mouth. Vapor came from her mouth, and trickled into his. The ice on his skin began to thaw, the rime on his hair to vanish. He squeezed her neck again. "All of it, Lamia." She hissed, then, extremely grudgingly, and opened her mouth once more. A final puff of steam drifted from her mouth into his, and vanished inside him. Richard blinked. The ice on his eyes had melted to tears, and they were running down his cheeks. "What did you do to me?" he asked. "She was drinking your life," said the marquis de Carabas, in a hoarse whisper. "Taking your warmth. Turning you into a cold thing like her." Lamia's face twisted, like a tiny child deprived of a favorite toy. Her foxglove eyes flashed. "I need it more than he does," she wailed. "I thought you liked me," said Richard, stupidly. The marquis picked Lamia up, one-handed, and brought her face close to his. "Go near him again, you or any of the Velvet Children, and I'll come by day to your caven, while you sleep, and I'll burn it to the ground. Understand?" Lamia nodded. He let go of her, and she dropped to the floor. Then she pulled herself up to her full size, which was not terribly tall, threw back her head, and spat, hard, into the marquis's face. She picked up the front of her black velvet dress and ran up the slope, and away, her footsteps echoing through the winding rock path of Down Street, while her ice-cold spittle ran down the marquis's cheek. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. "She was going to kill me," stammered Richard. "Not immediately," said the marquis, dismissively. "You would have died eventually, though, when she finished eating your life." * * * [toward the end of the novel] There was a fluttering in the half-dark, and, warily, he turned. There were about a dozen of them, in the corridor behind him, and they slipped toward him almost silently, just a rustle of dark velvet, and, here and there, the clink of silver jewelry. The rustle of the leaves hard been so much louder than these pale women. They watched him with hungry eyes. He was scared, then. He had the knife, true, but he could no more fight with it than he could jump across the Thames. He hoped that, if they attacked, he might be able to scare them away with it. He could smell honeysuckle, and lily of the valley, and musk. Lamia edged her way to the front of the Velvets, and stepped forward. Richard raised the knife, nervously, remembering the chilly passion of her embrace, how pleasant it was and how cold. She smiled at him, and inclined her head, sweetly. Then she kissed her fingertips, and blew the kiss toward Richard. He shivered. Something fluttered in the darkness of the underpass; and when he looked again, there was nothing but shadows. * * * So that's the story of the Velvets. I think when Tori's talking about them in "Hotel" she means their ability as guides, since throughout the song she's seeking someone but can't find him. But perhaps their other qualities play a role as well. Anyway, thought you guys might be interested. :) Beth - -- "With her litany of complaints and demands, [Meredith] Brooks has been much more of a bitch than a mother or a child or a lover." (Jancee Dunn) ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V3 #158 *************************************