From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V7 #276 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, November 19 2002 Volume 07 : Number 276 Today's Subjects: ----------------- VIBE magazine review of Scarlet's Walk ["Danny.Weddup" ] Wallingford, CT [JDSCHNEIDR@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 11:12:49 -0000 From: "Danny.Weddup" Subject: VIBE magazine review of Scarlet's Walk Here's the review of SW from the December issue of VIBE magazine, with Toni Braxton on the cover. Next to the review they also publish the little picture of Tori in the pink hat/shower cap :o) Scarlet's Walk (3/5 stars) In the year since Tori Amos released her wanly received covers album, Strange Little Girls, the singer/songwriter category has been filled with a new breed of manufactured star: vocal featherweights such as Vanessa Carlton and Norah Jones who come equipped with a piano and ready-made angst. At the moment, major-label A&R departments seem to be cloning this prototype with such velocity that they threaten to crowd out the genuine article. But with her seventh album, Scarlet's Walk, Amos is reclaiming her space. Typically, she's not taking the easy route: The self-produced Walk is a distinctly highbrow work, illuminated by gently swaying rhythms, sublime acoustic guitars, and entrancing melodies. Amos shows a newfound appreciation for straight pop songs ("a sorta fairytale"), and her voice resonates warmly even as she wades through the emotional and physical ruin of "Don't Make Me Come to Vegas" and "I Can't See New York." But ultimately, the moments of bare beauty on such tracks as "Your Cloud" and "Crazy" set Amos apart as a true original. Her ladies-in-waiting would do well to listen. (Aidin Vaziri) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 20:44:36 EST From: Twinkle018@aol.com Subject: Re: precious-things-digest V7 #270 In a message dated 11/13/2002 10:21:15 PM Pacific Standard Time, owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org writes: > Subject: Wednesday > > Aha! I've just figured out what the song "Wednesday" > reminds me of! Anybody a fan of the Monkees? It > reminds me of the style of Michael Nesmith's Monkees > tunes! I know that sounds far out, but if you've ever > really gotten hooked on Nesmith's songs, "Wednesday" > is very reminiscent! > > Toodles, > jen > > P.S. Is Robert Reynolds still on this list? So funny you would say that. I used to be a huge Monkees fan. It is a lot like Michael Nesmith's writing. I'll write more when I think of the song. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 22:18:03 EST From: Twinkle018@aol.com Subject: tv shows and first concert experience Hey guys~ I'm still fretting over the fact that I fell asleep 10 mins. before the Carson Daly show w/ Tori and the NBC one didn't show in Seattle area as far as I could tell. Is there anyone? Anyone at all?... that has these... that would trade for tapes... old footage of Tori? money? I don't know. I don't have a list of all that I have unfortunately. I wanted to make a list for Woj one day... then, I got distracted. I can do my best this week to put one together. But, I have some neat ones... like a really complete tape of all kind of LE era performances... many. I have random concerts from LE to SLG. Umm... hmm... Oh, I have a BBC tape that has Tori touring the Bosey factory... and some European shows... if I remember right, it's from UtP era... maybe BfP... but, I think the previous. Anyhow... I have more time now to get a tape to someone quickly. Please e-mail me privately if you are interested. Now, okay, am I ready to explain my first performance experience? It was very moving. Luckily I had a rare opportunity to meet Tori locally in Feb. before the summer she came back to Seattle on the DDI tour. So, I felt this initial bond w/ BfP. I attended all three shows in Seattle in '96. I miss those days of multiple performances in the same city. There was such a raw emotion that Tori laid out for us. I have not seen it happen in quite the same way since. And even though it offered tons to me on a personal level. It ripped out as much from Tori on an emotional level. I don't know how well I could participate in that again. She was an open wound at moments. Don't get me wrong. She was presented well... her music was pure... raw... very true to itself. But, like great sex, we could hardly walk away from the venue without wondering what exactly happened and if it could be achieved again. It was for all three shows. She had amazing set lists... she talked w/ us before the show, on stage, and after the show. She would not stop us from taking bits and pieces. The first night was amazing... strongest vocals I've ever heard from Tori live, I think. I might take that back... but, probably not. The second show, wow! An amazing set list. Just everything you could think of and then some... "Graveyard", even. The third show, finally, I was front row, center. Very moving show... I could see the saliva fall from her lip... the sweat fall from her brow, the water glisten on her lip after a swig of the water bottle, the tears in her eyes at times, the smirks... then, it hit me, "Me and a Gun" was inevitably going to come. And... it did. Memories of an abusive neighbor haunted me. I thought of what I went through... and even worse, at that moment, what she went through. Someone that moved me through music was only feet in front of me offering this song, sang from a place that I could hardly bare, she could hardly bare... I cried... it would not stop, I had no control. She leaned forward as I felt our eyes meet during this song. As her voice trembled... my body shook. I did not know that I could feel that, didn't know what I had swept under the rug. At the end of the song, she put her hands on her heart and double-waved my way. Don't know it was meant for me... but, she said, "I know." w/ a head nod. After a walk offstage, she returned for an encore "Let it Be"... wow... how healing. So, I took all she had to offer. It was so much. I talked w/ her briefly after the show. I could not explain to her what happened during "Me and a Gun" but, I do know that I thanked her. What else could I offer? Anyhow, there is so much more depth to this... but, everything is so personal. It is for everyone who sees her, hears her music, talks to her, listens to her... she gives so much. I'm so grateful to have an artist like Tori in my life. Anyhow... umm... lots of emotions come from that summer. I cannot wait to see her this tour. As I said in an earlier post, this is one of her strongest and most solid pieces of work. I'm so grateful to have this. She has given us lots of fun things w/ the website and limited edition and I love the b-side. I can only imagine what I will walk away w/ from this tour. I'll be going to Seattle then, Portland. I cannot wait to bond w/ more Ears with Feet, to possibly meet up w/ Tori again, even if only visually. I have been fortunate to talk to her regularly (only in the sense of at least once each tour). I try not to take too much and offer more. I can't exactly explain that. I guess what I'm saying is... even if I have not much to offer Tori as far as a gift, an intellectual comment, a silly grin, then, at least something to a fan. Last tour, I gave a couple a ride home. They were so wonderful... so sweet to my daughter. I copied the pictures I took and sent them to them. You know what I mean? It's a community thing. There is so much more to walk away with from a Tori show. I take a lot. But, I try to replant the crop. Ok... it's clearly getting late by the looks of my writing. I'm going to head off for now. I hope that you all enjoy this album, this tour, etc. Thanks for listening. Love, Dez ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 23:07:53 -0500 From: dances with virgos Subject: neumu article Tori Amos' New American Journey Tori Amos' sixth album, Scarlet's Walk, released last week, finds the pensive singer/songwriter taking a journey of discovery across America. It's an epistemological journey, one that explores human nature and historical accountability through the lens of a fictional heroine, Scarlet. Amos describes the album as a "sonic novel," modeled after classic Beat Generation literature such as Kerouac's "On the Road," and classic '70s albums such as Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Neil Young's Harvest. Speaking on the cell phone from a truck in New York City this week, Amos discussed her pending tour plans (her tour starts in Tampa, Fla. on Thursday, Nov. 7) and her album's thematic strands. "You can't be crossing America at this time without deep, troubling political questions coming up," Amos said. "As [Scarlet] goes to visit the Native Americans, they [raise these issues]: Are you going be a taker of your true mother who we call America, or are you going to be a caretaker? And is she really in safe hands? And, by not doing anything, you're doing something. By doing nothing, you're not protecting her." Political considerations, especially memories of the maltreatment of Native Americans, imbue the lyrics with moral queries, questioning past transgressions. The album also addresses the need for America to heal from the devastation of Sept. 11. In the title track, Amos makes her boldest, most overt political statement, charging, "What do you plan to do with all your freedom?" As Scarlet travels, unsettling political and personal questions arise, Amos said. "Scarlet meets a lot of people on this trip that she had no idea she was taking," Amos explained. "It's not like she said 'Oh, OK, I'm going to take this classic road trip.' It didn't happen like that. She got a call from a friend who was in trouble, Amber Waves, a porn star at a crossroads. And from there, her life changes. She thinks she's found her soul mate in the second song and that's going be pretty much it, and then she realizes that she was not his fantasy. She can't be his fantasy. She's a real woman with a heavy heart. She gets pulled and she walks. And then really the story sort of opens up, and she's free to meet people. She's not tied to anyone and she starts beginning to listen to how other people take in information, how they see the world. So, that's really how she begins to find out what it is she believes in." Amos, who was born in North Carolina in 1963, began playing piano when she was 2 =; she attended Baltimore's Peabody Institute as a 5-year-old prodigy. She released her first recording, on her own label, when she was 17, but it wasn't until her first solo album, 1992's Little Earthquakes, that she achieved both critical and commercial success. Her sometimes-ethereal pop songs have been compared to artists ranging from Kate Bush to Joni Mitchell. In addition to recording her latest album, Amos has been involved in the creation of a Web site  Scarlet's Web. "The CD is a key, and you put it in your computer and it will take you to Scarlet's Web," Amos said. "Scarlet's Web will be running through the whole tour. The maps will come alive in detail on Scarlet's Web. So, you'll be able to pinpoint places [where Scarlet travels]. It will be in installments  three songs at a time. So, within a few weeks, you'll have the whole record in detailed map form." Curious listeners can select points of interest, interacting with technology to learn more about Scarlet, Amos' tour, and the American history which underscores the album's narrative. "You'll be able to say, 'I want to know more about Wounded Knee,' and this will connect you to the Native American layer," she said. "Haskell University is assisting us in choosing the Web sites that they feel really represent the tribes and the information." The Web site will parallel the tour's itinerary and provide fans access to unique content. "There's a tour documents person," Amos said. "She's out there, finding different things, hidden things in the city. People will be sending us messages, linking us up to other ways of thought. There will be sights and sounds. We'll be visiting people. And you're going to kind of see us stumble and fall along the way [laughs], but it's really about life following art, I guess." As Scarlet's journey traverses geographic boundaries, the album's sound changes. For instance, the archaic Southern melody of "Virginia" feels haunted by ghostly tropes, hearkening back to early settlements and tense racial relations. "Scarlet's Walk" is gauzed in swirling organs, meticulous rhythms and understated anger. Amos notes the shape-shifting tempos of the album, attributing it to geography and culture. "I feel like this record is very much about the voice and the rhythm," she said. The drums sort of represented the soul of the land, and Matt [Chamberlain] and I worked very closely about the cultures that were in each particular geographic setup. So, we would look and, for instance, in Texas, you have a huge Latino, even Cuban influence, so we want to bring in the low rider, sinister, he's a Mexican Revolutionary, the guy in 'Sweet Sangria.' And how do we translate that into sound? 'Don't Make Me Come to Vegas' is sort of a Cuban, lounge, with blazing saddles and a high heel. So we were trying to go to the land for the clues." On tour, Amos says she plans to keep the shows "very organic, because I want it to be a sonic experience." Accompanying herself on piano, she'll be backed by two musicians, Jon Evans on bass and Chamberlain on drums. She sees her tours as bringing together the fan community that has formed around her music. "This is more of a campfire gathering, the tours; this is where people gather and exchange news, like you did in the old days," Amos said. She feels hopeful that further parallels between herself and Scarlet  the classic relationship between authors and the fictional characters they invent  will be become clear as her tour progresses. This album and this tour, Amos said, are truly about forging a firm identity. "I'm Tori taking Scarlet's walk, and you're [the listener] doing your own discovery, and we're all making our own body maps," she said. "But I like the idea that the story doesn't stop for me as a person. Scarlet's story stops. But I can now have my own."  Brian Orloff [Thursday, Nov. 7, 2002] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 23:30:48 EST From: JDSCHNEIDR@aol.com Subject: Wallingford, CT We took our daughter, MIndy, to her very first Tori show in Wallingford (actually her first concert). She just turned 13 and she's been dying to see Tori. I ordered the tickets and my wife and me kept it a secret from her EVEN into the Oakdale Theater. She told me that she thought she was going to see a play. We sat down and she still had no idea, even though a number of fans around us were wearing Tori t-shirts. When Tori started to sing Wampum Prayer offstage her eyes lit up and she gave my hand a big squeeze. Tori was amazing. She hit all the high notes. The bass guitar was a bit overpowering but I was still able to hear the piano. I do miss Steve Caton. Tori's looked great, relaxed and happy. The pouring rain outside did not dampen anybody's spirit. By the way if anyone has a copy of the show please e-mail me offline. Thanks so very much, Jerry ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V7 #276 *************************************