From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V8 #105 Reply-To: precious-things@smoe.org Sender: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "precious-things-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. precious-things-digest Sunday, April 27 2003 Volume 08 : Number 105 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Brian's reviews of many recent Tori shows [Brian K Tanaka ] Re: Where the hell have I been??? [shaman@eskimo.com] Re: Brian's reviews of many recent Tori shows [Richard Handal ] Re: Brian's reviews of many recent Tori shows [Brian K Tanaka ] Re: Brian's reviews of many recent Tori shows [Richard Handal ] One ticket Houston 3/27 4th row Center ["Mark Harbott" Subject: Brian's reviews of many recent Tori shows Folks, I'm taking a break from the tour in order to come home, pay the bills, water the plants, and the like. Here are my reviews of the shows from Spokane to Anaheim. Hope you find them entertaining. Please note that I'm now using my newly adopted show rating scale. It's an adaptation of the mountain stage categorization used in european bicycle racing. There are three classifications: o Second-category: Just another wonderful Tori show o First-category: "Oh my fucking god" o Hors-category: "Beyond category", too insanely great to be adequately pinned down by any mere artificial rating method Spokane Tuesday, April 8, 2003 Spokane Opera House Rating: Hors-category I had my doubts that this show could assuage my bitter disappointment about missing the reportedly astounding Boise show which I foolishly elected to omit from my tour schedule. I mean, just look at that Boise setlist. Butterfly! Seaside! Argh! It didn't help either that Matt Page said that Boise was his favorite show of the tour so far and he's seen, what?, over 80? But, happily, all doubt and regret was washed away right from the beginning of the Spokane show. Tori was every ounce a force of nature as the big river thundering over Spokane Falls in the darkness outside the Opera House. I was in awe. Personally, I was perfectly poised, emotionally and mentally, to receive the full impact of the show. Part of that was due to having had a long, strange, and oddly profound conversation with a random stranger that afternoon. But, in general, my energy was flowing well and in a manner conducive to full-on Tori immersion. This may sound odd but throughout the show I had the vivid sensation of having every molecule of my being slightly separated from one another so that I was a Brian-shaped, porous mist through which Tori's music flowed. It was at once cleansing, healing, challenging, and very emotionally intense. I notice that there isn't much reference to this show being particularly emotional for folks, but, for whatever reason, it was especially so to me. Tori took me apart and held me suspended in a severely heightened state of emotional-ness all evening. (Incidently, this sensation of being disassembled would be a recurring phenomena for me in just about all the following shows to a lesser or greater degree each night.) Musically, in my opinion, this was another show that flowed wonderfully from first note to last, much like the second night in New York that I raved about in March. Maybe it was just me, but the shows in December didn't have the same overall unity. This could be explained as simply as Jon, Matt, and Tori are just much more "dialed in" now, but it also seems to me that Tori's instincts with the setlists are just getting more and more attuned with the universe as the tour rolls along. As part of my increasingly complex Tori receptivity routine, I have been de-emphasizing the setlists and song-selections in my mind lately, but reviews are more fun with commentary on stand-out songs, so I'll comment on them. With that in mind... I was thrilled to get Strange Little Girl. And Never Seen Blue too. And following that with Mother, Etienne (Etienne!), and Josephine was joyous. She closed the evening with Putting the Damage On, which I've heard six times this tour and have enjoyed equally as much each time. Nice way to close the show. Tori told a story about someone from Spokane turning her on to comic books in L.A. long ago and there was a tie-in to Precious Things. Anyone have more details about that? Richard? Jason? Oh, and the sound at the Spokane Opera House is superb. One of my favorite venues so far. Missoula, MT Wednesday, April 9, 2003 Adams Field House Rating: n/a I skipped this show. San Jose, CA Friday, April 11, 2003 San Jose Center for the Performing Arts Rating: Second-category This was the show where I met up with the fellow I was travelling with for the bulk of the California shows. He hadn't seen any shows since San Francisco (where we had made each other's acquaintance) and I was trying hard to not be a total asshole by ranting and raving too much about how good the shows in-between had been. So, even though I knew there were better shows to come, I didn't do anything to squelch his abundant enthusiasm after the first night in San Jose. Not that I didn't have plenty of enthusiasm myself. It was a great show. For me, getting Let It Be alone made the whole night special and utterly worthwhile. But, overall, it wasn't stellar (thus my second-category rating), and I *knew* in my gut that the second night was going to achieve escape velocity and blow minds. We had seats near the front, slightly stage left the first night and second row, dead center balcony the second night, so we got to experience the venue from "the best of both worlds": within Tori-stare range and then from within the perfect sound zone. There's a funny story in here about getting lost on the way to the venue (despite having been there earlier for the Meet & Greet) but I won't go into it since it's probably only funny to me. Heh. Just picture two stoned EWFs driving around downtown San Jose way too long and then barely making it into the venue in time. Is that funny? Sure it is. OK. Time to get to the second night. San Jose, CA Saturday, April 12, 2003 San Jose Center for the Performing Arts Rating: Hors-category I loved this show. I'd put this somewhere in my top five for the tour. The energy was very high and Tori and the lads were getting down to serious business right from the beginning. ASF is a pretty good indicator of how the night's going to go, and this ASF was crackling with yummy energy. It was a Matt night. I mean, we all know Matt's a great drummer, but for whatever reason, he was on fire. A truly great night for him and his intensity seemed to add all the more fuel to Tori's fire. Jon was no slouch either. The whole show was stupendous, in my opinion, but there were two things that stood out in particular. One was Vincent (Starry Starry Night). The problem with writing about Tori is that you wear out all your adjectives. I only wish I could coin a few new ones right now to describe how fucking brilliant Vincent was. But I won't, so I'll just say it was exquisite. It was breathtaking. It was a jaw-dropping, scrumdeli-icious, mind-melting, is-this-really-happening, flabbergasterer. I mean, how does she *do* that? The other, at least for me, was Hotel. You know how sometimes a Tori line you've heard a million times just jumps out and grabs you by the throat like never before, unfolding like some turbo-driven thought fractal, descending with cruel compassion into your soul, and peeling away the layers of hardened armor around your heart like it was so much cheap tin foil? Yeah, well that's what the lines "I have to learn to let you crash down / I have to learn to let you crash" did to me that night. I can't adequately explain why without going into a bunch of crap about my personal life no one wants to hear about, but let's just say that Tori reached out across the venue and threw open some doors I hadn't even acknowledged were there. Very intense. Just to make things even more interesting (and mind-blowing), these lines and some others from the same song and others also pulled me through some strange territories because of what I had just learned that day about the life story of a new acquaintance. I have to be annoyingly vague and cryptic here out of respect for her privacy, but the clarity and strength of the resonance was eerie and transformative. Crucify was the best Crucify I've seen this tour. It was tremendously powerful and a great example of how devastating this new arrangement can be when it fires on all pistons. Put it this way: at the conclusion of the song, I did something I never do. Namely, jump out of my seat for a mid-set standing ovation. Professional Widow was awesome. Any of you who actually pay attention to all this stupid crap I write may notice that I never use the word "awesome", so my use of it here should not be taken lightly. This show reminded me of the Tori quote, "When you come to my shows, you think you're walking into this really yummy lunch, and little do you know you ARE lunch." Sacramento, CA Sunday, April 13, 2003 Sacramento Memorial Auditorium Rating: First-category In hindsight, this is actually an hors-category, but my gut reaction on the night of the show was first-category, so I'm sticking with that. I think part of the problem was that I was just slightly out of tune enough with the show that I missed some interesting undercurrents. Or maybe it was just a case of me being dense. Either way, I didn't seem to grok the overall show with the same degree of insight as others did, but I enjoyed it very much all the same. The Roadside Cafe was an embarassment of riches: Black Swan; Yes, Anastasia; Etienne; and Josephine. I count myself lucky indeed to get two Etienne's within such a short span of days. Black Swan was astounding and just plain beautiful. Likewise, the second encore set was also an embarassment of riches: Songbird, Tear In Your Hand, and Putting the Damage On. "Demon Tori" made an appearance but, surprisingly, not during Precious Things but rather during TomBigBee. I wasn't expecting that, personally, but it was great nonetheless. The Meet & Greet was particularly nice in Sacramento. I have snapshots I'll have to scan and share at some point. San Luis Obispo, CA Tuesday, April 15, 2003 Performing Arts Center San Luis Obispo Rating: Second-category This was a mixed experience for me. The setting was gorgeous: a beautiful, sunny, coastal California day in the rolling foothills that cradle the Cal Poly campus. (It was easy to spot people who had been at the SLO meet & greet at later shows by their sunburns.) Anticipation was running high since the venue was reportedly so great and, for a number of reasons, people were expecting an amazing setlist. (Can you really blame people for expecting Seaside in SLO or Santa Barbara?) But, despite all this, the show was unremarkable overall, in my opinion. It was a Tori show, and thus a thing to be cherished, but not an astounding one. Of course, they can't all be. And, if it weren't for shows like this, the brilliant ones wouldn't shine as bright. Tori, Jon, and Matt seemed to be having a good time, but weren't pushing hard. That said, there were great songs. It was hard to walk away too disappointed after hearing Honey, Boys in the Trees, Merman, Purple People, Siren, 1000 Oceans, and so on even if they weren't stupendous renditions. I guess I was a little more disappointed than I might have been otherwise in part because it was my sister's first show of this leg and I was hoping she'd get a spectacular one right off the bat. Amusing moment from the meet & greet: Jon Evans was spotted making a beeline from the venue to the campus tennis courts with a racket in hand. Los Angeles, CA Wednesday, April 16, 2003 Jay Leno Taping Rating: n/a I had a great time at the Leno taping. If you haven't been to one, I'd recommend it next time Tori is a guest. We got in line around noon, spent the afternoon chatting with folks, and shared a couple of "fiesta platters" from the Mexican restaurant across the street. The Leno folks have the process down to a finely-tuned science. They get you in, tape the show in real-time, and get you out. My friend likened it to a ride at an amusement park, and I must say that that's an apt analogy. When it came time for Tori to play, she broke into Taxi Ride but was stopped part-way into the song by the stage director. Apparently they were having sound problems. This break in the action gave Tori a chance to wave hello to everyone and the EWFs in the audience greeted her with the usual adoration and enthusiasm. She and Jay talked privately a bit and then danced together briefly. Then it was time to try again. But this time Tori stopped the song about halfway in. She stopped playing and looked at the stage director and said something like, "This time's for me, honey". It was an interesting moment because in that one brief act, and in those few words, you could sense so much of Tori's calm strength. The third time was the final take and it was a fine rendition by Tori-on-TV standards, but you've all seen the show, so you already know that. Outside, after the taping, Joel approached the small knot of Toriphiles by the parking lot exit and said that Tori would come talk to us but that there would be no pictures or signings and that, generally speaking, we had to be cool about it or he would whisk her away. Fortunately everyone was great, and Tori spent a good long while talking to just about everybody who wanted a little of her time. It was very casual and relaxed. No barricade. No hassles or problems. Santa Barbara, CA Friday, April 18, 2003 The Arlington Theatre Rating: Hors-category This was one of my top three of the entire tour (not just the shows reviewed here), easily. Maybe even top two. The show was amazing, the venue was gorgeous, and the sound was fantastic. I'd be hard-pressed to say why, exactly, this show stands out above so many others. Sure, it was a fantastic show, but there was more to it than that. Unfortunately, I don't feel comfortable sharing what is not mine to share, so I'll have to omit what was the pulsing heart of the show for me and those I was with. This leg of the tour has been intense for me that way. It just so happens that I encountered an assortment of people's life experiences--their personal songlines of joys and tragedies--that affected me each in their own way, each to their own degree, but all profoundly. These stories added numerous colors and shapes to my Tori kaleidescope. Some light and pretty. Some dark. Some darker still. But back to the show... It was wonderful to a degree I find hard to convey. The Roadside Cafe section alone was amazing: Jackie's Strength, Here. In My Head, Winter, and Carnival. I'm not even going to try to explain how incredibly moving that was. It was one of those stretches where you knew she was taking you down a double diamond whether you were ready or not, but you just had to trust her, trust that you'd come out the other side more or less intact and richer for the experience. Anaheim, CA Saturday, April 19, 2003 The Theatre at the Arrowhead Pond Rating: Second-category Like many, I approached the Anaheim show with low expectations because the Pond has such a terrible reputation. It was strange to be back in a big sports arena after seeing her in so many actual performance theaters and the acoustics did leave a lot to be desired. Happily, the show turned out to be quite good. I don't have a lot of detailed things to say about it, but I enjoyed it. I know many people were bonkers about this show, but, probably because of where my head was that night, I didn't feel the same. Worth the drive nonetheless. Closing Thoughts I'm glad to say I had the good fortune of meeting loads of cool people along the way. My experience was enhanced by your company, so, thanks. All in all a wonderful wonderful series of shows. I do not, by any conceivable measure, take a moment for granted. Tori just keeps on earning my utmost respect and gratitude. Now then... New Orleans... - -- - - Brian Tanaka - - Thunder Wishes, Fire Thought: http://www.well.com/~btanaka/tori ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 21:51:46 -0400 From: Cyndi S Crawford Subject: Re: Music mix for a Tori virgin >...But I wondered - which songs are best for a first time listener?< Personally speaking, I think you should firstly, vary it up with the beat-driven songs and the sparse ones.. (like putting the Dakota version as well as the album version of Hey Jupiter onto it for example--although you might want to space them about three or maybe five songs apart) definitely go for the songs that she's well-known for.. and even if it's not "radio friendly", definitely include Me And A Gun. I say include MAAG because.. of course.. that's Tori--bare, stripped, JUST HER. and then include either Hotel or Datura because it's her as well, but not exactly stripped. (I mean c'mon.. lotsa electronica noises on those songs. fun!) Basically, just go from both ends of the spectrum at the beginning, and round it up with stuff from the middle.. maybe even end the disc with 1000 Oceans since that, to me, is pop/contemporary enough to the point where I could, seriously, envision N'Sync covering it and doing it quite well. Just my thoughts. :) Sincerely, Cyndi S. Crawford http://www.icenine.org/cyndi/ -- http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/368/ciara_blaze.html -- http://learntothink0.tripod.com/learntothinkagain/ -- http://www.geocities.com/keyyooo/clique.html "I know we're dying / and there's no sign of a parachute / we scream in cathedrals / why can't it be beautiful / why does there gotta be a sacrifice?" -- Tori Amos ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 23:42:17 -0300 From: "cdrv" Subject: Re: Music mix for a Tori virgin My Favourites for a 3 Cd Mix Tape. 1-Precious Things. 2-Winter. 3-Baker, Baker. 4-Cornflake Girl. 5-Icicle. 6-Cloud On My Tongue. 7-Beauty Queen / Horses. 8-Caught A Lite Sneeze. 9-Hey Jupiter (Dakota Version). 10-Twinkle. 11-Spark. 12-Black Dove (January). 13-Jackie's Strenght 14-Lust. 15-Riot Poof. 16-Datura. 17-Spring Haze. 18-1.000 Oceans. 19-Bells for Her (Plugged '98 Version). 20-Sugar (Plugged '98 Version). 21-Enjoy The Silence. 22-Rattlesnakes. 23-Time. 24-Raining Blood. 25-A Sorta Fairy Tale. 26-Wednesday / Strange. 27-Sweet Sangria. 28-Your Cloud. 29-Pancake. 30-Scarlet's Walk. 31-Virginia. 32-Gold Dust. 33-Crucify (Remix) 34-Sister Janet 35-Black Swam 36-Butterfly 38-Loosing My Religion 39-Finn / Siren 40-Merman 41-Cooling 42-Graveyard 43-Here, In My Head. 44-A Case Of You 45-Never Seen Blue 46-Beulah Land 47-Strange Fruit 48-Toodles Mr. Jim 49-Frog On My Toe 50-Somewhere Over The Rainbow Later :) Daniel - ----- Original Message ----- From: To: "Precious Things" Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2003 6:58 AM Subject: Music mix for a Tori virgin > > Hi all, > I was recently asked by a friend, who's never heard Tori's music, if I > would make her a mix. I happily agreed, as I love spreading the music > that has filled my soul for 11 years now. But I wondered - which songs > are best for a first time listener? I'm biased, since I've been a fan > for so long and can only hear some songs a certain way (whether they > remind me of a person in my life, or an event, etc.). So, this is where > you guys come in. Could anyone suggest which songs would be the best for > a first time Tori listener? I have all the albums and B-sides. > Any and all suggestion are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. > Take care, > Angela ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 19:59:56 -0700 From: shaman@eskimo.com Subject: Re: Where the hell have I been??? On Thu, 24 Apr 2003 17:20:40 +0100, you wrote: > >Hi Earthlings > >... Before I >left I remember Cornflake Girl but for whatever reason I didn't follow my >instincts. > >I'm now in mourning as I've missed 11 yrs (?) of concerts and brooding over >her beautiful songs. If it was during the Cornflake Girls are then it's actually only 9 years. > As you can imagine I'm on something of an Tori >overload at the moment trying to collectively take in Pele, Scarlett, and >UTP. I've also got Strange Little Girls but not bothered with that much at >the moment. Not yet been able to get her other albums but probably will do >tomorrow. It' spelled Scarlet. I suspect the SLG would be the least visited album by any of her fans. I find TV&B to be a much more daring work and B4P is her best work as an album piece. The other are more inconsistent in quality as well as in their complexity. B4P and TV&B have a good flow form piece to piece whereas UtP is more of a typical album that's more of a collection of songs with common MO. When I assemble songs together I pay attention to their mood, message, acoustics, tempo, texture, etc. and I ask myself OK now that you've heard that song what mood are you NOW in and then I select the song that best fits where I was left off (emotionally, etc.) from the last song and I don't get any of that or else it's badly assembled with LE and UtP but with much of B4P and TV&B there IS some of that album like flow from song to song with the notable exception of Josephine which should go before Lust and Suede so that when Suede finishes all is slow writhing about I'm hit with the emotional powerhouse of Riot Poof where she finally lets go of the tension she's built up with Lust and Suede and just lets 'em have it with both guns ablaze. As you might guess it's one of my favorites from that album. I also find that FTCH suffers from it's song order. She'd have a much stronger album by changing the order of some songs but then I'm rarely happy with an albums order except those mentioned and some stuff like the Pink Floyd albums and "Rattle And Hum" by U2 or The Talking Head's "Stop Making Sense" which both seem to have been constructed with song order, as well as selection, in mind. >What I primarily want to know from the insiders on the list are what the >chances are of her doing any more shows in England this year - unfortunately >I missed the UK shows in March. None >Current faves, BQ/Horses, Jupiter, Red Baron, Doughnut, Damage On, >Scarlett's Walk, New York, Pancake, gold dust. In truth, Pele and Scarlett >are simply awesome pieces of work and apart from Bryan Ferry no other artist >has affected me like this on an emotional level before. Anyone who doesn't like Hey Jupiter ought to just kill themselves since there's no hope for you to understand just how delicate love can be and thus you'll never achieve a relationship worth having. >Can anyone recommend any videos or DVDs available in the UK. I own so few? The Babylon 5 ones, the new Tori Amos ones ,a few I got as gifts and Blade Runner. Man, can R. Scott guy use the camera, his material may NOT be consistently good but his shots get the most out of what he is delivered. For instance, look at the interrogation scene and how he uses the camera's view to control mood. How he starts with the distant and cold overhead shot with the fan filling up the huge gap that divide the characters from each other and he HOLDS the shot unlike a lesser director. He wants to establish that sense of distance, sterility and coldness rather then going to their faces as they talk to each other. He holds out and waits. He wants there to be a sense of separation, etc. Of course, the opening shot he wants to set a whole different moods and so we get the grand slow zoom towards the building and thus again he manages to use the camera to further develop the story. I could go on but this is already too lengthy so I'll be quite now. > I also want to get the sheet music for Pele and Scarlett - are these available? > >Until the next time...... > >Best Wishes > >Chris Yes, both are available. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 02:37:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Richard Handal Subject: Re: Brian's reviews of many recent Tori shows Brian was going on an invoked my name: > Tori told a story about someone from Spokane turning her on to comic > books in L.A. long ago and there was a tie-in to Precious Things. > Anyone have more details about that? Richard? Jason? Er, uh, I was breezing along and was closing the email to really read it later when I'm not in the middle of something when I saw my name. As I wrote someone privately about this the other day: Rantz. She wrote Dutchman about him. (Comic book tattoo . . .) I don't know a connection between Rantz and Precious right now. He gave an early LE demo to Neil at a convention and that's how Neil and T got together. He's thanked in the credits of LE (said "confidently" from memory). She had to miss Rantz' wedding on 1 September 1996 because she had a concert in Wallingford, and she mentioned this from the stage that night and performed Dutchman in his honor. Maybe it's scary that I know this but I was there. (woj surely remembers this, too. And Abbe.) Even though they shared an apartment for only a few months Rantz was a pivotal person in her early solo days. Much of that was likely because she was writing and recording a lot of Little Earthquakes at the time. I can't document this now but that's the gist of the situation. Rantz used to post on the newsgroup but I never read the newsgroup for more than a couple weeks, and then, only sparingly. I'd best quit while I'm ahead. My favorite person in the world just sent me a lovely message and I don't think I'll even manage to get back to her this evening but I want to read it again. Be seeing you, Richard Handal, H.G. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 11:13:54 -0400 From: Cyndi S Crawford Subject: Re: Where the hell have I been??? >If it was during the Cornflake Girls are then it's actually only 9 years.< That part may be true, but if he's thinking like I was when I FIRST got sucked into the EWF world, he may be wishing he'd heard something from Little Earthquakes and got sucked in THEN instead of NOW. I think most (if not all) of us late-developed EWF feel the same way. Sincerely, Cyndi S. Crawford http://www.icenine.org/cyndi/ -- http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/368/ciara_blaze.html -- http://learntothink0.tripod.com/learntothinkagain/ -- http://www.geocities.com/keyyooo/clique.html "I know we're dying / and there's no sign of a parachute / we scream in cathedrals / why can't it be beautiful / why does there gotta be a sacrifice?" -- Tori Amos ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 11:30:34 -0400 From: Cyndi S Crawford Subject: Re: >Praying for more British dates - are you 'guys' stateside?< a lot of us are in the US, yes, but I've come across quite a few Australian EWF and we've got a few from elsewhere--like Argentina, and of *course*, Europe. Tori got her first rumblings of Little Earthquake popularity by being in England and touring around there and the rest of Europe first, I believe. Sincerely, Cyndi S. Crawford http://www.icenine.org/cyndi/ -- http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/368/ciara_blaze.html -- http://learntothink0.tripod.com/learntothinkagain/ -- http://www.geocities.com/keyyooo/clique.html "I know we're dying / and there's no sign of a parachute / we scream in cathedrals / why can't it be beautiful / why does there gotta be a sacrifice?" -- Tori Amos ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 12:00:02 -0700 From: Brian K Tanaka Subject: Re: Brian's reviews of many recent Tori shows On Sun, Apr 27, 2003 at 02:37:30AM -0400, Richard Handal boldly wrote: > > He gave an early LE demo to Neil at > a convention and that's how Neil and T got together. So, let me make sure I'm fitting this into my Tori history/trivia right... Is this the first point at which Neil heard Tori's music? If so, then it adds some nice detail. Like probably everyone else, I had known about Tori getting an early tape to Neil but I didn't know about Rantz. > Maybe it's scary that I know this but I was there. (woj surely > remembers this, too. And Abbe.) I don't care who else remembers -- it's still scary that you know that. ;-) > Even though they shared an apartment for only a few months Rantz was a > pivotal person in her early solo days. Much of that was likely because she > was writing and recording a lot of Little Earthquakes at the time. I can't Thanks for the info, Richard. Good stuff. I *am* still curious about the Precious Things tie-in. Anyone know anything about that? - -- - - Brian Tanaka - - Thunder Wishes, Fire Thought: http://www.well.com/~btanaka/tori ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 17:44:55 -0700 From: "Tony Fernandes" Subject: Top 10 favorite albums Well, I apologize if anyone's done this before, but I thought I'd start a "What's everyone's top 10 favorite albums?" thread. I was thinking not only would it be a great way to get to know everyone better, but it would be interesting to see what kind of music everyone associates themselves with using our common Tori bond as a reference. Make sense? I was hoping to get responses of your all-time favorite albums. The ones that influence you the most and that you associate yourself with and possibly reflect upon you as a person. You know, the albums you always find yourself listening to over the years no matter how many times you've listened to them. Not just your current "this really rocks!" collection. And if you don't have 10, then name as many as you can. I'll start! And these are in order of importance: 1) Tori Amos, "Boys For Pele" 2) Cat Stevens, "Tea For The Tillerman" 3) Pink Floyd, "Dark Side Of The Moon" 4) Led Zeppelin, "Houses Of The Holy" 5) Elton John, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" 6) Lenny Kravitz, "Let Love Rule" 7) Elton John, "Blue Moves" 8) Sarah McLachlan, "Fumbling Towards Ecstacy" 9) Queen, "Greatest Hits" (only if I could add Bohemian Rhapsody to this...I'm not sure why they didn't include it on this album) 10) Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" I look forward to reading everyone elses responses! 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, 27 Apr 2003 16:31:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Richard Handal Subject: Re: Brian's reviews of many recent Tori shows Brian sayeth: > So, let me make sure I'm fitting this into my Tori history/trivia > right... Is this the first point at which Neil heard Tori's music? Correct. From the must-have official bio All These Years (sorry I don't have the page number): Tori's friendship with Neil Gaiman, the author of Sandman, D.C. Comic's fantastically popular and unusual series, began in a slightly less direct fashion. After including a reference to Neil and to the Dream King, the main character in the Sandman series, in "Tear in Your Hand," Tori had a friend deliver a tape of the song to Neil at a San Diego comic convention. Neil, who receives many tapes from fans which he says usually "magically become blank tapes" remembers, "I listened to the first three or four tracks, and I was in love. It wasn't Little Earthquakes, it was sort of half of Little Earthquakes and half what wound up being B-sides -- things like 'Flying Dutchman' and 'Take to the Sky' and 'Sweet Dreams' and 'Upside Down.' But it was very obvious that musically I was a fan by the time I'd finished listening to the first few tracks. In fact it was ages before I spotted the 'me and Neil'll be hangin' out with the DREAM KING Neil says hi by the way' -- that came much later." After listening to the tape, Neil, who lived in London, called Tori up, and the first of many wonderful conversations commenced. Tori now insists that the two knew each other in a past life. Neil states, "we were old friends immediately. Whether you want to view that as fact or metaphor, that is very much true." That continues but you'll have to buy the book. > If so, then it adds some nice detail. Like probably everyone else, I > had known about Tori getting an early tape to Neil but I didn't know > about Rantz. Yeah. Rantz Hoseley. He's come up in interviews from time to time. http://www.thedent.com/independent1099.html Neil mentioned him by name in an online chat. http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/lore/interview4.html He also gets credit for designing the tour book for the Dew Drop Inn Tour. (There's much to be learned from simply reading production credits.) He seems to now be an art director for a computer gaming concern. > I don't care who else remembers -- it's still scary that you know > that. ;-) Whatever! Seriously, I know damn well that a lot of people know this kind of thing but they seem timid in posting about it. I don't want to seem like a know-it-all--surely there's plenty I *don't* know right now--but I'm not going to deny the things I do know and to me, this thing is all about sharing. > Thanks for the info, Richard. Good stuff. You're welcome. > I *am* still curious about the Precious Things tie-in. Anyone know > anything about that? I hope someone does because I'd like to know, too. All I have on that right now is something spoken from the stage on 27 July 1996 in Springfield, Illinois: http://www.yessaid.com/talk/96-07-27b.html I have this friend. He gets kicked out of all these places, right? So he was crashing on my couch. He got kicked out of his girlfriend's house, who I used to babysit. And I still took him in. Because he's one of these guys that you just, he's like Dennis the Menace but grown up and in the wrong comic. And um, anyway, he was crashing on my couch and he said, "Tor, my life's over, I'm gonna throw myself down the disposal." So he went into the kitchen, right? And I always have dirty dishes. I'm not a messy person. I think you know, the clothes are clean, guys. But dishes, it's like, difficult for me. I'm in the - I'm working it out, I'm working it out these days. But at that time, I just would invite people over and make them - I'm a really good cook - and I'd make them food so they would clean. Now that could be really mercenary. But they got fed, and I got my dishes cleaned. So anyway, Rantz went in the other room. The thing is, I didn't have a disposal. [begins Precious Things...] Maybe she used some of his energy on the subjects in Precious Things and combined it with some of her own experiences to produce the song. Anybody want to ask her at an upcoming meet and greet? She'd rather talk about this than sign a CD booklet or something. BTW, Jason has more articles on Toriphoria than Michael has on The Dent (he makes a lot of his own interview transcriptions from both print and radio, as well as making transcriptions of things said from the stage from concert recordings, while Michael hasn't the time), but I couldn't get the search function on Toriphoria to work, now. It just hung. Rantz may be mentioned in additional articles but I can't check now. Gotta run. Be seeing you, Richard Handal, H.G. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 17:54:49 -0300 From: "cdrv" Subject: Re: Top 10 favorite albums Here are Mine, PLEASE don't hate me cause sometimes Mariah Carey can show up, and I don't want you to hate me, pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. For you not to freak I include the reasons why I love the albums. 1- Tori Amos - "Boys For Pele" (She made me underestood that music can be beautiful, and lyrically deep. After listening to it many times, as if it was predestined I underwent many of the subjects on the Album as I grew up and relate to it in even a wider range). 2-Madonna - "Like A Prayer" (This was the 1st album I ever heard and the 1st album I got bought from my Granny when I was about 10. I really like how Madonna taps into a lot of subjects and styles without loosing the sight of the main topic of the Album and how she sort of questions herself, family and organize religion) 3-Siniad O'Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (I didn't underestand what all the Siniad fuzz was all about although I did underestood that she has an otherwordly voice. When I got the album almost 9 years after the release, all came full circle and I came to realization that she is one of the most prominent songwriters of the decade) 4-Christina Aguilera - Stripped (I can definitely relate to all the subjects about self empowerment and self respect, being a person who has most of the times been look over by people. Also made me realize that the Pop Tart really does have talent as an R&B Songwriter/Vocalist/Producer) 5-Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk (I definitely was willing to take the Walk with Tori and Scarlet hand in hand, I think that ironically after having all sort of troubles I did take the journey without even realizing. This is perhaps the most daring and challenging album I have ever heard. Also made me realize of the kindness of all the people who helped or offered me help in getting it =) 6-Siniad O' Connor - Universal Mother (An album that took me years to get into. Stunning, I love how it gets right to the bare basics) 7-Rufus Wainwright- Poses (The most beautiful album I have ever heard by a male composer, period) 8-Mariah Carey - Greatest Hits ( I cannot really choose a proper album, but I love Maria's voice. Listening to the 2 cd Set made me realize how amazing her talent is -she can reach a G#7!!!!!!!- and how underrated she is. I can relate to her lyrics of trying to stay strong and making it by yourself, she seems a very vulnerable human being and I can relate to that, I really love her voice) 9-Coldplay - Parachutes (Since I bought "A Rush Of Blood" when it came up in Argentina and still have it sealed becuase I haven't get to listen to it LOL, my favourite must be PARACHUTES. Love it mellowness and that vulnerability and sensibility that is RARELY heard in a male performer) 10-Bjork - Greatest Hits (I have only this album from her, but I love it. She is very diverse and I get hypnotize by her voice. LOVE the Packaging but that is not the important thing, right ?) Well, you ge to see I have a pretty diverse musical taste :) Hope you don't ate me cause of some of the choices :) What are yours :) Later :) Daniel - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tony Fernandes" To: "Tori Amos" Sent: Friday, April 25, 2003 9:44 PM Subject: Top 10 favorite albums > Well, I apologize if anyone's done this before, but I thought I'd start a > "What's everyone's top 10 favorite albums?" thread. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 15:58:34 -0500 From: "Mark Harbott" Subject: One ticket Houston 3/27 4th row Center Hey everyone Know this is late notice, but I have one spare ticket to sell for $50 for the Houston show tonight. There were 4 of us going, but one friend cannot make it. The seat is great, it's 4th row in the center section.Let me know as soon as possible as the show starts at 7:30pm Mark PS, If the moderator gets this after 5:30 pm, don;t worry about posting this, thanks! ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V8 #105 *************************************