From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V7 #260 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 Monday, November 4 2002 Volume 07 : Number 260 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: I DIDNT GET A FREAKIN CHARM! I GOT STICKERS-WHAT THE HELL?!?!? [Brian] Re: now that's more like it [Brian K Tanaka ] Re: scarlet's walk - early thoughts [Brian K Tanaka ] live versions of scarlet songs ["Karen Hester" ] Re: precious-things-digest V7 #249 [ChristinaLynnC21@aol.com] Elton John similarity ["Tony Fernandes" ] Car vs. home sound quality issues ["Tony Fernandes" ] Re: scarlet's walk - early thoughts [MadDrizzle@aol.com] Ticket Sold, but Another Available [SameOldAstronaut@aol.com] Re: Car vs. home sound quality issues ["Lisa Zwick" ] Re: precious-things-digest V7 #249 ["Becka" ] Re: precious-things-digest V7 #249 [Cyndi S Crawford ] from Scarlet's Walk liner notes [Cyndi S Crawford ] Fw: Car vs. home sound quality issues ["Tony Fernandes" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 13:56:50 -0800 From: Brian K Tanaka Subject: Re: I DIDNT GET A FREAKIN CHARM! I GOT STICKERS-WHAT THE HELL?!?!? On Thu, Oct 31, 2002 at 05:58:04PM -0500, Becka boldly wrote: > > The charms are extremely small, and very easy to lose.. check all over where > you opened your box, the floor your clothes. look in the crease of the box > itself, look inside the map.. shake your cat see if he rattles.. Ha. Funny that you should mention cats. My sister was convinced that she hadn't gotten a charm, but somehow her cat had found it first and hidden it in her bed. Much laughter ensued. - -- - - Brian Tanaka - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 14:05:21 -0800 From: Brian K Tanaka Subject: Re: now that's more like it On Sat, Nov 02, 2002 at 08:54:31AM -0500, trent [like a good book] boldly wrote: > > tori's performance on "weekend today" was amazing! ASF sounds much > better w/o the bass and drums. .. Dumb question: Is "weekend today" unavailable in some markets? (read: Seattle) If it was on here and I couldn't find it, I'm gonna feel quite silly. But then again I wasn't exactly lucid, I usually don't get up until noon, so this was essentially getting up in the middle of the night for me. I had the tape ready to go, the remote in my hand, and the tv on nbc (perhaps that was my mistake?) but I kept slipping into unconciousness. I remember at one point having this really twisted dream based on the news I was hearing: there was a serial rapist hiding in the park near my apartment and my ex-boss was hiding his whereabouts from the police. Heh. OK. I'm braced for the news that it was on here and I missed it. Fire away. - -- - - Brian Tanaka - - - contact info (im etc.): http://www.well.com/~btanaka/info ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 14:20:20 -0800 From: Brian K Tanaka Subject: Re: scarlet's walk - early thoughts On Sat, Nov 02, 2002 at 01:40:50PM -0500, Cyndi S Crawford boldly wrote: > > lol I have never heard much of the Cocteau Twins so I left that > bit of it off. I just wanted to comment on the bit you said of how pretty > it is.. and pose a question to generally everybody.. [If you're interested in trying the Cocteau Twins out, start with "Treasure" (arguably their finest work) or "The Pink Opaque" (compilation)] > is it just me, or does "your cloud" sound like a really really > beautiful love song? I know in the story that Scarlet's all alone at that > point, trying to figure herself out more or less.. but it sounds SO much > like a love song to me. am I the only one who thinks so?? Cyndi... Ever the unrepentant romantic! Heh. But seriously, I doubt very much you're the only one who thinks that about Your Cloud. I, for one, am hearing it strongly that way, but perhaps I'm just in a state to hear it that way particularly. Clearly a song that operates on many levels. (Not that that's exactly a rarity for Tori). - -- - - Brian Tanaka - - - contact info (im etc.): http://www.well.com/~btanaka/info - - tori web site: http://www.well.com/~btanaka/tori - - random tori quote: http://btanaka.freeshell.org/toriquotes ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 13:40:00 +1300 From: "Karen Hester" Subject: live versions of scarlet songs Kia Ora, I haven't heard the album yet, it came out in NZ a couple days ago but since all the shops said there was no limited edition being released here, I have to wait for my Canadian order. Of course now one shop is selling the ltd ed. Grrrrr! Self-restraint is such a trial, but I can't afford two copies, just to get me through a week. Anyway, here are my thoughts on mp3s from radio and tv performances. Hearing the songs in solo piano form is obviously different from the final versions Tori has chosen to present on her album, but I think listening to them in this form is much better than listening to bits of the album before I receive it. I don't want to get sick of the sampler songs like some people did! "A sorta fairytale" - you can tell that this song was not written to be solo piano. The slow pace and chiming piano (almost like water drops, plink plink) hints at the beats that thump along in a stately manner on the single recording. She probably doesn't stop the song to swallow her spit in the album version, like she does in one performance. "Mrs Jesus" - from the title being similar to "Father Lucifer", I expected something bouncier but this is a serious little ballad. It has a bit of a meandering feel, not a tight and conservatively structured as "Strange", for example. "Strange" - easy to like immediately, it has such a simple flowing melody, with enough minor key moments to make it moving, and lyrics that make sense to people who don't follow Tori. It is also a song which might not have as much lasting power and as many levels as some of the others. The above three songs are the ones I've heard the most versions of. "Scarlet's Walk" - I get a bit bored by this, it seems so abstract. Definitely a song which will be better as a good recording and discernable lyrics rather than murky fuzzy mp3s. "Virginia" - the opening piano reminds me *so much* of "Sister Janet". I don't object to artists quoting their earlier work, though in this case it's more like a haunting. The song is very much its own though, and I adore it. Emotionally it feels like a well-crafted rather than improvised "Marianne" to me. At the end of one performance is clinking, like a charm bracelet! "Pancake"- there's a lot of urgent anger in the song, and strength ('I can look your god right in the eye'), not what I expected from a song titled after such an innocent baked product. Very much like this. "Carbon" - the odd piano chords certainly hint that this is not a piano song on the album. After a pause and lyrics about pills, the piano gets more lively (full band comes in?) but I don't think this arrangement captures the song as hopefully the album version does. Here it doesn't quite make sense musically. tori does some chiming things with the piano which is similar to some of the live versions of "Caught a lite sneeze". I'm really looking forward to the fuller song it hints at. "Crazy" - like "Strange", it works fine as a standard solo piano ballad, though I'm sure it'll have more character in a more rock vein. Ooh, hope the postal system is blessed with tail-winds and accurate delivery this week. Karen. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 19:56:16 EST From: ChristinaLynnC21@aol.com Subject: Re: precious-things-digest V7 #249 Hi EWF's ! Does anybody know where you could see any pictures of Tori's little girl~ Natashya? ~~Januarygirl ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 18:13:20 -0800 From: "Tony Fernandes" Subject: Elton John similarity Dove, MadDrizzle@aol.com, wrote: "And when I very first heard "Amber Waves" I felt like it had a heavy Elton Johnish influence in the music and maybe the song structure." You too, huh? From a long time Elton fan here, I thought the same thing. Even the piano itself sounded like an Elton piano. Very cool! Tony What's more likely? That an all-powerful mysterious god created the universe and then decided not to give any proof of his existence? Or, that he simply doesn't exist at all? And that we created him so that we wouldn't have to feel so small and alone. -Eleanor Arroway, Contact ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 18:49:59 -0800 From: "Tony Fernandes" Subject: Car vs. home sound quality issues "Cyndi S Crawford" Subject: connecteD problems with Scarlet's Web... Okay, I have flash and all of that installed.. but I get the weirdest error. It verifies my disc fine and then I get to an error page that says "please go through the connected home page to view connected contents." Errr... what am I doing wrong? If this has already been addressed, I apologize.. I couldn't find an answer to this in any of the FAQs... :/ I'm on dial-up.. would that cause a problem? Thanks in advance.. ~~Meg ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 01:57:02 -0500 From: "jason" Subject: Scarlet Stories You can now read a complete transcript of the Scarlet Stories commentary CD on Toriphoria. On the Scarlet's Walk page, under each song is a "quotes" link, and that's where the stories are. Very interesting stuff - especially the fact that Mrs. Jesus is really a man. Wild. lol. www.yessaid.com jason ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 08:35:06 EST From: MadDrizzle@aol.com Subject: Re: scarlet's walk - early thoughts In a message dated 11/2/02 1:07:49 PM Central Standard Time, cyndi.crawford@juno.com writes: > is it just me, or does "your cloud" sound like a really really > beautiful love song? I know in the story that Scarlet's all alone at that > point, trying to figure herself out more or less.. but it sounds SO much > like a love song to me. am I the only one who thinks so?? lol and.. at > the same time.. when she's singing pretty much the whole song, but > ESPECIALLY when she sings "where I.. begin..".. I can hear a pretty damn > good and particularly strong echo effect.. kinda gives the feeling of > being all solitary, ALL on her own, nobody around her for miles, etc.. > > Ah, yes, that was my initial reaction too, then I heard on Scarlet Stories that it's so much about "separating that which cannot be separated." And in the last line she says "Because a couple separates doesn't mean that there aren't still pieces of him in her." So it seems to be about the emotion behind the segrating of potent relationships. Whether that relationship is that of people and the land, mother and child, a couple in love. I think it is a beautiful love song because all of these potent relationship involve real, true love in its most naked, vulnerable form. I don't have a favorite song (I love them all), but "your cloud" holds a dear place in my heart. I came to a realization not that long ago that kinda fits in with the basis behind this song.............Love doesn't just go away just because 2 people break up or because we aren't near our loved ones. Like what she says about "a sorta fairytale" "you can't separate these people out of you" "when soulmates come and go you're never alone even when you're standing just you in your shoes, because you carry them with you." Love, Dove ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 09:54:15 EST From: SameOldAstronaut@aol.com Subject: Ticket Sold, but Another Available Hello I no longer have an extra ORCH 2 ROW FF ticket for Tori's scheduled performance at Radio City Music on 3/06/03. The ticket has been sold. Just letting everyone know so that they don't email me regarding that ticket. I do however have another single ticket for her performance that same night and am willing to sell it. The seat is located in the very same row, but one orchestra over to the left. That would make it: ORCH 3, ROW FF. Contact me if you're interested. Thank you ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 10:25:59 -0500 From: "Lisa Zwick" Subject: Re: Car vs. home sound quality issues This is interesting.... The morning after I first got the cd, I wasnted to hear it downsairs in the kitchen, so I turned it up REALLY loud...almost to the max...I never usually do that. So After i turned it up, I went downstairs, it was fine for a minute, and then...it went silent. It was my first time listening to the cd, so i thought it was part of it, but then it got to the next song and was still silent. So i shut it off, turned it back on, it was fine, I made it really loud again and went down...and it went silent again after a minute or two...at a different place in the cd. Since i haven't had any problems with the cd since then, listening to it at a normal volume, I assumed it was my cd player. Maybe it still is...but i thought i'd mention this after what you said... - -Lisa - ----- >One guess of mine is that > people tend to turn the volume up louder in the car, thus revealing more > detail, or in this case, revealing more flaws. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 10:56:59 -0500 From: "Becka" Subject: Re: precious-things-digest V7 #249 Tori keeps her daughter well out of view and for good reasons. Tori has always been one that protects her immediate privacy, you know only what she wants you to. To current date there are no images of Tash on the web, and thats because Tori doesn't want them out there. I don't blame her either, and I applaud her as a parent for keeping her little one out of the spotlight. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 12:10:00 -0500 From: Cyndi S Crawford Subject: Re: precious-things-digest V7 #249 >Does anybody know where you could see any pictures of Tori's little girl~ Natashya?< um.. I'm probably a bit too new of an EWF to really say so, but my best guess is that there aren't any--not any public ones anyway.. Tori is--thank goodness--not as famous as Michael Jackson or Madonna.. (both of whom had to sell pics to tabloids of their children to get the press to freakin' BACK OFF, for the sake of their kids' safety) so she can actually pull off never showing the public pics of her daughter. *shrug* I could be wrong tho. Sincerely, Cyndi S. Crawford http://www.platinumcomplication.com/cyndi/ -- http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/368/ciara_blaze.html -- http://learntothink0.tripod.com/learntothinkagain/ -- http://www.geocities.com/keyyooo/ -- http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/store.aspx?storeid=kittitude Tori Amos' response when asked to describe herself in five words: "I. Do. Not. Describe. Myself." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 03 Nov 2002 12:43:11 -0500 From: dances with virgos Subject: Re: More sound issues when we last left our heroes, h. exclaimed: >the sound is great on my stereo, just fyi. i forgot to mention that the sound is okay on the home stereo system (nothing fancy -- samsung dvd/vcr combo player, pioneer amp and klh speakers) even when the volume is inordinately loud. i also listened on headphones this morning and it sounded alright as well...though i would expect that since so much bass is lost when listening with headphones. >maybe a bad batch? or maybe some kind of weird cd / older >player incompatibility? maybe it has something to do with the encryption >they put on it for the ConnecteD technology to work? i doubt it but you never know. i should take the album out for a drive in the other car and see if it's any different... woj ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 12:45:43 -0500 From: Cyndi S Crawford Subject: from Scarlet's Walk liner notes thanks to Jason for putting 'em up. anyway.. Entertainment Coordinator: Natashya Hawley BAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAH!! that's so CUTE!! ROFL!!!! I like! rofl.. anyway.. lol.. Sincerely, Cyndi S. Crawford http://www.platinumcomplication.com/cyndi/ -- http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/368/ciara_blaze.html -- http://learntothink0.tripod.com/learntothinkagain/ -- http://www.geocities.com/keyyooo/ -- http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/store.aspx?storeid=kittitude Tori Amos' response when asked to describe herself in five words: "I. Do. Not. Describe. Myself." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 12:57:07 -0500 From: Cyndi S Crawford Subject: pardon the random thought. pardon my sudden random thought--but.. as good as Icicle is all on its own.. I wonder if Tori would EVER play it with her band. not likely, I think, but I'm still curious. I bet it'd be awesome. like Bells For Her was on TVAB.. :D Sincerely, Cyndi S. Crawford http://www.platinumcomplication.com/cyndi/ -- http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/368/ciara_blaze.html -- http://learntothink0.tripod.com/learntothinkagain/ -- http://www.geocities.com/keyyooo/ -- http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/store.aspx?storeid=kittitude Tori Amos' response when asked to describe herself in five words: "I. Do. Not. Describe. Myself." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 10:01:06 -0800 From: "Tony Fernandes" Subject: Fw: Car vs. home sound quality issues "Lisa Zwick" xenacrazy@att.net wrote: "so I turned it up REALLY loud...almost to the max...I never usually do that. So After i turned it up, I went downstairs, it was fine for a minute, and then...it went silent." Maybe the bass from your stereo was making the CD skip? If some players skip too badly, they just shut off, like if you hit the stop button. Just a guess. Try keeping the volume the same and turning down the bass and see what happens. Tony What's more likely? That an all-powerful mysterious god created the universe and then decided not to give any proof of his existence? Or, that he simply doesn't exist at all? And that we created him so that we wouldn't have to feel so small and alone. -Eleanor Arroway, Contact ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 03 Nov 2002 13:48:18 -0500 From: Mikewhy (by way of dances with virgos ) Subject: New San Francisco Show Added at Ticketmaster! A second San Francisco show has been added to Ticketmaster for Fri, December 20, 2002. Tickets are on sale NOW! Go to: https://ticketing.ticketmaster.com/cgi/purchasePage.asp?event_id=1C0035489EEA5661&artistid=749136&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=60 - -- Mikewhy, From one of my beloved Macs - ---------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Whitehead mikewhy@iglou.com A Dent In The Tori Amos Net Universe => "my fear is greater than my faith" Tori Amos - Suede - ---------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 03 Nov 2002 15:30:04 -0600 From: "Sarah Bowman" Subject: Re: scarlet's walk - early thoughts Great observations, everyone and WOJ, about the new album. I've been hesitant to post so far because I like to wait until I have a complete thought before I spout my opinions ;) I must say I'm hugely disappointed in the album, and I think a lot of it may be the sonic quality (I too tried to listen to it in my car for the first time)... as I switched through the tracks I was none too pleased to find that this "washed out" quality was consistent throughout the tracks, not just on the teaser tracks we heard on the website. One thing I love about Tori is that every song sounds different, and some usually grab me at once while others take more time, but I usually come around to them eventually whether it takes a month or a year. Unfortuntaly, 'Spring Haze" was one of those songs, and this album sounds to me like one long "Spring Haze" without the beautiful piano interlude. (I will say, though, that that song is perhaps one of my favorites to see on the last tour -- the light show was amazing! Really opened up the song for me). What initially drew me to Tori was a very confrontational, punch-in-the-gut style that would encompass anything from "happy phantom" to "professional widow" to "spark".. something that would literally tug at my heart and cause me to be elated, or weep, or feel power, or simply feel human. I don't feel anything when I listen to this album. I love the artwork, and I love the concept and the stories she tells, but musically I feel that she's so far away from the gut-level emotion and so much closer to this tame form of nostalgia that I feel a bit disappointed. I will say that I've thrown myself in her camp a long time ago and don't intend to leave it... I know the more I listen to the album certain songs will jump out at me (thanks for the suggestions about equalization, that might help it come out)... another thing, as Tony mentioned, the lyrics and the piano have always jumped out at me and captured me, and on this one, I feel the thoughtful imagery is lost and muddled. This has been a gradual shift (tVaB took a while to get into as well). I found her description about the life cycle and her role in the North position very helpful in analyzing this shift, and I knew her music would change when she finally had the child she so long desired. I could never condemn her for change, and I don't think any of you should. She's an artist in the true sense... she is able to take a concept and actualize it. But that concept will rech different people in different ways... for me, songs like "i i e e e," "yes, Anastasia," "mother," "Sister Janet," "precious thing" etc really capture my heart, really connect with me immediately and profoundly, whereas stuff like "spring Haze" (and consequently this whole new album) don't, not immediately... it's not that I don't understand her positionality as mother, i think i feel that shift (figuratively) happening within myself as well. perhaps it's that I look to her for emotional catharsis... she has been, consistantly, the only person who has understood me, and whom I could share my innermost feelings with, even the ones I feel ashamed, or weak about, even the guilty secrets ("the waitress" and "1000 oceans" come to mind). I feel that she is consistently abstracting from herself with the last two albums, yes, she has always refered to her songs as "girls" and abstracted them somewhat, and she says that Scarlet IS her, but Scarlet is not her, she is a metaphor. Tori thinks, speaks, dreams metaphor... but there are times when I feel her true essence come aching through -- "hey Jupiter" is an example of this, such an intensely personal song which is obviously based on her innermost pain with regard to Eric, and yet she abstractes it by talking about the steam on the window and the love story between the planets, etc... which I always understood as her protectin herself form the wolves out there who may devalue her feelings, and also make something personal more general and maybe more applicable to other people's lives... as if to say "My experience is merely the catalyst, the song goes where it goes..." All this is to say I understand that she is always abstracting at some level, but the new one seems so far away... perhaps there's no pain in it only healing, which is beautiful in its way. Maybe that's it's role for me.. I get this sense when I listen to the music of "We're all in this together... let's learn from one another. It's ok to grieve, I'll be here for you. We'll do it together." Something just occured to me as well... in comparing the new album to "spring Haze", she mentioned in the chat that she was usuing imagery of plane crashes before 9/11 -- perhaps she sees this album as an offshoot as well. At any rate, she is, quintessentially, and amazing woman and I will never be far from her side, even when I feel she's far away. And I always have her previous incarnations to return to if I get lonely :) screamincathedrals ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 17:51:39 -0800 From: Brian K Tanaka Subject: Your Cloud Guitar Chords Are there any guitar players on this list? Here's my take on how to play Your Cloud on the guitar. I welcome suggestions and corrections! Enjoy! http://www.well.com/~btanaka/tori/chordandtab/yourcloud.html - -- - - Brian Tanaka - - - contact info (im etc.): http://www.well.com/~btanaka/info - - tori web site: http://www.well.com/~btanaka/tori - - random tori quote: http://btanaka.freeshell.org/toriquotes ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V7 #260 *************************************