From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V10 #36 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, February 21 2005 Volume 10 : Number 036 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Beekeeper DVD region coding? [ruud@torithoughts.org] Re: "sanctioned instantaneous live releases"? [Richard Handal ] tori on Today in NY [e m ] cleveland plain dealer beekeeper review [jeff albertson ] san francisco chronicle review [jeff albertson ] new york post feature [jeff albertson ] denver post review [jeff albertson ] edmonton sun review [jeff albertson ] Re: "sanctioned instantaneous live releases"? [Nadyne Mielke ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2005 19:53:12 +0100 From: ruud@torithoughts.org Subject: Beekeeper DVD region coding? Does anyone know if the Beekeeper bonus DVD is limited to a specific region or if it's a region 0 DVD (= region free)? Having bought the tales of the librarian cd-set, which was not region free, I'm a bit more careful buying anything that contains a DVD in online shops. For those outside the US who are facing way too high CD prices in local cd stores [1] and who have a region free DVD player (just in case), have a look at CD-Wow: http://www2.cd-wow.com/detail_results.php?product_code=16204 http://www2.cd-wow.com.hk/detail_results.php?product_code=16204 http://www2.cd-wow.nl/detail_results.php?product_code=16204 They have free worldwide delivery and I've ordered there several times before without any complaints... and I'm not paid to say so ;) Regards, - --Ruud [1] 26 euro's for Beekeeper+DVD, roughly equivalent to $34. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 02:18:21 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Handal Subject: Re: "sanctioned instantaneous live releases"? Melissa said: > Okay, folks, I'm a little behind on my e-mail, and I'm really surprised > nobody's commented on this yet: > > > Amos will return to the United States for a summer tour of larger > > venues with a full band. That run may see Amos joining the growing > > trend of offering sanctioned instantaneous live releases of all of her > > performances, according to Witherspoon. > > Could it be? It's almost too good to be true. I'd been breezing through a lot of mail recently, and had missed the long version of this Billboard article. Thanks for pointing it out. Indeed, there had been a rumor out of Epic nearly two years ago that Tori had seen the financial light in this regard, but I'd heard nothing about it since. I'll believe this is happening when I see it and am listening to its fruits on my Dahlquists. I also have to wonder if she would perform musically "safer" sets if she knew they were all going out with a lot of audience members in official recorded form as they walked out of the venues. Obviously, I hope not. > I'm not going to get my hopes up too high, but you've gotta admit that > it's a pretty exciting prospect. Absolutely. Also exciting in that article was the notion that Elvis Costello-like Rhino rereleases of the albums might begin coming out. That would mean b-sides, live songs, and other tidbits from their respective eras at the end of each remastered album. The mind truly does boggle at that one. Mark, Marcel, and Tori could be kept busy for a long time working on such projects. What a breathtaking idea. I won't be holding my breath on this one, either. Both deserve to happen, and we deserve to be able to buy such items. Maybe the floodgates *are* finally about to open. It's about bloody time. Be seeing you, Richard Handal, H.G. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 02:17:53 -0500 (EST) From: songchicky Subject: Re: yayyyy, I got the book! Cindi is fabulous - she has one of my favourite voices and is always incredibly passionate in her delivery. She's also written some great stuff. You've just inspired me to listen to Hat Full Of Stars and Sisters Of Avalon tomorrow. Peace&Love, Tanisha tanishataitt.ca Debut album Overflow available now. - --------------------------------- Post your free ad now! Yahoo! Canada Personals ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 05:59:42 -0800 (PST) From: e m Subject: tori on Today in NY tori was indeed on today just a few minutes ago. non nyc peeps didnt miss much. it was an interview. no song performance. she was promoting her book mostly they didnt really discuss the beekeeper. they also mentioned the book signing. i suppose tori may do similar local tv news spots in the cities where she is doing book signings? i taped it and will try to transcribe it at some point, but it really wasn't anything new. - -ellen __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page  Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 10:17:49 -0500 From: jeff albertson Subject: cleveland plain dealer beekeeper review Caught up in music, hung up on lyrics Sunday, February 20, 2005 Reviews by John Soeder Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic Tori Amos "The Beekeeper" (Epic) Getting your ears around the latest opus by ivory- tickling singer-song writer Tori Amos is easy. Getting your mind around it is the tricky part. "The Beekeeper" is an allegory about sexual politics, mortality and the rise of the religious right. The plot apparently involves a certain spicy bean dish, too. At least Amos is still cooking up inviting music, serving her latest batch of pop-rock with a dash of New Orleans-style R&B. Her rippling piano chords are exquisitely bolstered by rock-a-bye guitars, a whirring Hammond B3 organ and even a gospel choir on some tunes. "Ribbons Undone" is straightforward enough, a tender valentine to a free-spirited young daughter. The single "Sleeps With Butterflies," a bittersweet ballad about love with no strings attached, isn't difficult to decipher, either. As for the rest of the album - sorry, you're on your own. There are enough inscrutable lyrics to keep legions of Amos fans busy for months as they post interpretations on their Internet message boards. They should start with "The Power of Orange Knickers," which finds Amos and hapless guest vocalist Damien Rice carrying on about, er, the power of orange knickers. Go figure. Other tunes up the "OK, whatever" quotient, none more so than the flabbergasting title track. Amos sings - and we quote - "Call Engine 49 / I have come with my mustard seed." We only can infer she's making an oblique reference to chili, since Engine 49 suggests a fire department, mustard seed is a common ingredient in chili recipes, and firemen are famous for making excellent chili. We're still trying to work out what bees have to do with it. The idiosyncratic Amos already has a well-deserved reputation as a "Cornflake Girl." But her new album is sure to throw you for a Froot Loop. In stores Tuesday. B ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 10:31:32 -0500 From: jeff albertson Subject: san francisco chronicle review TORI AMOS It's not hard to see why Tori Amos has a thing for bees. Sting, honey, mysterious flight pattern: If they ever fancied changing jobs, they'd make great metaphors for her sexual-mystical songs. There are 19 such songs on "The Beekeeper," recorded in her 300-year-old barn in the English countryside (the North Carolina native married an Englishman and moved into King Arthur's old 'hood) and assembled into a song cycle. Being Amos, the story's oblique but explained (sort of) in the DVD that comes in this exquisitely designed package. It involves six gardens (seven if you use the free pack of wildflower seeds to grow your own), the power of nature, the power of men, women in Christianity, mothers, lust, betrayal, love, war, terrorism and orange underwear (those last two in a song where Amos does a duet with Damien Rice). Musically, it's more honey than sting, slinky and sensuous, no savage, emotional shock-and-awe moments. The most tender, thoughtful songs -- haunting "Toast," bonus song "Garlands" and the poignant, beautiful title track -- have an English pastoral feel, though more ("Original Sinsuality," "Sweet the Sting") have gospel roots, with Amos on Hammond organ, backed by a gospel choir. Either way, it's a breath of fresh air. -- Sylvie Simmons ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 10:33:26 -0500 From: jeff albertson Subject: new york post feature TORI'S STORY By LIZA GHORBANI TORI Amos is one busy bee, so to speak. "A honeybee, though, not a queen bee!" says Amos with a laugh. With the recent release of her ninth album, "Beekeeper," and her first book, "Piece by Piece," Amos is reveling in a hectic schedule that will bring her to New York on Wednesday on a book tour, to be followed by an album tour that kicks off in April. "My deepest desire for it was that it would be fiercely beautiful," says Amos of the new album, an airy, majestic work that finds her ethereal voice, on which she weaves through delicate pianos and soulful organs. "So it has a ferocity to it and yet sonically it's a perfume that wraps itself around you." Drawing inspiration from her day-to-day life, Amos eventually came up with the complex concept that informs the album: the honeybee and its relationship to nature. "I really enjoy the idea of a win-win relationship instead of there being a win-lose," says Amos, who has a tendency to wax metaphysical when discussing her music. "So that was the core idea - a sacred marriage concept. And the piano and the organ" - representing the masculine and the feminine - "then reflected that in the music." The complexities don't stop there. The 19 songs on the album are categorized into six "gardens"-like the orchard and the greenhouse - each of which represents a place she wants the listener to "enter." "Your own life is reflective of a garden," she says. "And it's how we tend it. We can plant different ideas into our garden, we don't have to be stagnant." Each of the songs on "Beekeeper" tells a story about one of her relationships - be it with the world or her friends - and looks at it in a new way, even though such reflection was difficult at times. "Along with the sweet comes the sting," she says. In a lovely guest spot by Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice, the two croon a duet about "The Power of Orange Knickers," a fresh, unexpected metaphor. "It's that 'Take another drop of courage.' It's your double espresso that says, all right, I can drive across the country," says Amos. And do these mythical orange knickers really exist? "Of course they do!" Amos' unusual outlook on life is also captured in "Piece by Piece," written with music journalist Ann Powers. Using a conversational format, the two women examine the balancing act of the being a musician and a mother, and includes interviews with key players in Amos' life, including her husband, Mark Hawley. Not one for celebrity trappings, Amos resides in the lush English countryside, in the seaside town of Cornwall, which she says is an inspirational backdrop for her creative process. "When you walk away from the music industry and the media and red carpets, then there's a carpet of green that exists that's endless," she explains. "And you're very humbled by it, you're very small." Cornwall has also been a wonderful environment for raising her daughter, Natashya, who at 4 is already showing signs of carrying the creative gene. "She just walks around singing what she wants for dinner," says Amos, slipping into a singsong imitation. " 'I do not want macaroni tonight, Mommy.' I just look at her and think, 'Oh my goodness gracious.' " ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 10:35:35 -0500 From: jeff albertson Subject: denver post review Amos stays true to pop vision By The Denver Post PIANO POP "The Beekeeper" Tori Amos Epic With this, Amos' ninth record, the singer-songwriter shows an unwavering dedication to her unique brand of pop. Hummable piano work and metaphor-intensive lyrics are intertwined as always, and though Amos is likely tackling material from a more recent era in her life - it's tough to tell with Amos, one of the most enigmatic songwriters of any generation - she approaches it via her usual avenues. Which is both good and bad. Fans freaked out with Amos' departure in "To Venus and Back," and it seems like she has been reeling her creative side in ever since. "Barons of Suburbia" here has the rawness of "Blood Roses" and the smart storytelling of "God." It's no doubt quality, but it's also more of the same. And many out there will have zero issues with that, especially given the quantity. "The Beekeeper" has 19 tracks. - - Ricardo Baca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 11:34:05 -0500 From: jeff albertson Subject: edmonton sun review THE BEEKEEPER Tori Amos Sony 3 1/2 out of 5 Being reminded of the great Kate Bush (see Fish's review, opposite page) made me think that while Tori Amos is no Kate Bush, she'll have to do. It's a dirty and sometimes thankless job, but someone's got to play the spooky older pop chanteuse. Sarah McLachlan is too young yet, Madonna doesn't play the piano, Kate Bush has disappeared off the face of the Earth, so you see. From this sensitive singer-songwriter (SSS), we expect gentle songs delivered in a soft, quavering voice and lyrics that make you think - and the new Tori is no different. Maybe more funkified and gospelfied, but true to form. Sometimes coming off like the female Leonard Cohen minus the croaking voice that makes you want to crawl into a hole, Amos tackles sex, God and self, not necessarily in that order. She also brings her powers as the mistress of the mixed metaphor to bear on such songs as Cars and Guitars, in which the singer channels a Loretta Lynn twang as she explores an automotive relationship: "Restring my wires, you know this gearbox can make the shift polish my rims." If that and song titles like Original Sinsuality don't put you off, you'll like this. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 08:58:34 -0800 From: Nadyne Mielke Subject: Re: "sanctioned instantaneous live releases"? At 11:18 PM 2/19/2005, Richard Handal wrote: [snip] >I also have to wonder if she would perform musically "safer" sets if she >knew they were all going out with a lot of audience members in official >recorded form as they walked out of the venues. Obviously, I hope not. I wonder if it would do anything to her covers. It seemed like the show for WtSF was very specifically cover-free, even missing the 'I Feel the Earth Move' bridge during TttS. I'd hate to lose Tori's covers, or her little intros that eventually become another song, or or or ... /nm ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 23:05:21 -0500 From: jeff albertson Subject: Fwd: Denver PRESALE Info thanks to johnny endicott for the following information! >Hi Guys, > >There is a Denver PRESALE listed on the House Of Blues Tori / Denver page. >I'm not sure if this link will work, because you have to be a member >(FREE) and log in with your password, but here goes nothing: > >http://store.hob.com/eventdetail.aspx?event_id=30614 > >Here's the news: > >++++++++++++++++ >Paramount Theatre >1621 Glenarm Place >Denver, CO 80202 >box office: 303.825.4904 > >date: Tue, April 19 >door: 7:00pm MT / show: 8:00pm MT >genre: Rock, Pop, Alternative >ages: all ages >Member Onsale Begins: Wed, Feb 23 @ 10:00am MT >Member Onsale Ends: Sat, Apr 16 @ 12:00am MT >Public Onsale Begins: Sat, Feb 26 @ 10:00am MT > > >Special Announcement: In the event all HOB Member Tickets are sold, we >will forward you to Ticketmaster where you can purchase tickets to this >event using password HOB. Thank you for your interest in House of Blues. >See you at the show!!! >++++++++++++++++ > >So I don't know if you have to go through their page (it kinda seems like >you do), and the password SEEMS to be > >HOB > >Anyway, there will be a presale. Good luck all you lucky Colorado EWFs! > >Johnny ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V10 #36 *************************************