Tori Amos Things

Abnormally Attracted to Sin, Tori's latest album, came out on Tuesday. She got the title from the musical "Guys and Dolls". Ha! I do understand the sentiment, though, and I think the first time I really started to get that sentiment was...hmm...oh, when I was in the play "Guys and Dolls". Weird.

Anyway, she was on Leno last night, for the last time as a Tonight Show guest for Leno. He loves her. She's been on that show a bizillion times.

It made me look her up on IMDB. Now I have some Things To Remember To See:

Snow Cake - starring Sigourney Weaver & Alan Rickman
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448124/

Tori Amos: The Complete Videos 1991-1998 (how many hours did I wait to catch one airing on MTV and video tape it? And now they're all in one handy little DVD...)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362249/
This one I'm going to purchase, actually.

Must google Graham Norton appearance.

And her Tavis Smiley one should be free to access, since I paid for it with my tax monies...I hope?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0718324/
Oh, look. The transcript:
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200504/20050426_amos.html
Lots of good quotes in this. Here's one sampling:

Tavis: [Tori just talked about listening to her Cherkee grandfather's stories growing up.] How does that translate, years later, into how you go about constructing your lyrics, because I get the sense that lyrical content is important to you.

Amos: Everything's important to me. What is not music within the song is important. When you breathe, the silence is essential. Every ingredient. That's like saying to a chef, 'Well, the salt, where is that?' Doesn't even matter. It's so simple, like breathing. Every element is part of this structure that you're creating. Music is ether, so I'm trying to translate this ether entity into a sonic...hmm...building, if you will, that you can walk into without leaving your chair.

What's hard is not having a desk to sit at. I don't have a private desk to sit at here in Weymouth, so I've been in a dryish spell. I also haven't been alone much. I wonder how artsy-people-who-are-mums create while being interrupted and such. (Well, I won't be learning any time soon, so I guess it doesn't matter...)

New Tori Coming in May...

Tori Amos's TENTH (God, that makes ME feel old) album is coming out this May 19. This was announced a while ago, but I'm just catching up on my RSS Feeds. And interview about the album is available here:

http://www.spinner.com/2009/03/10/tori-amos-reveals-sinful-cover-art-tracklisting/

Excerpt:

What was the impetus behind this new collection?

I'm drawn to questioning what traditional authorities have defined sin to be. As a minister's daughter, I've been exposed to the traditional belief system. [Sin] has been used to shame and control people. If you're controlled by a religious structure, then you're going to have a very different outlook on life and what you're open to than if you're not controlled by these old, crumbling concepts.

More links and info and whatever else Tori you're hankering for:

http://www.toriamos.com/

Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays!!!

Two very important people are celebrating birthdays: one I've never met but love, the other I've known since kindergarten and also love. Ha! Her birthday's tomorrow and she'll get her own blog then...

So, for today: Happy Birthday to The Most Important Person In My Life Who I've Never Met (as opposed to the people I've met who are the most important...)

Happy 45th Birthday to Tori Amos!!! Thanks for the music and all the good concerts and all that.

Love yah,

Bridge

Comic Book Tattoo

Comic Book Tattoo came out on Tuesday but I didn't get it until today. I am slipping in my old age of 30. If this were 15 years ago and a giant book of Tori Amos's songs turned into comic "graphic novellas" came out, I would have been at a book store that stayed open 24 hours and purchasing the book at midnight.

With age comes patience. Instead, I waited 3 days. I strategically set up my trip to the bookstore to coincide with avoiding traffic after work.

So, what do I think?

A story, to show instead of tell what it's like: I sat down on the bench in the magazine section with the mammoth square book (about 12" x 12" x 2") next to me. I flipped through the first two (Flying Dutchman and Bouncing Off Clouds) and then got to Girl. Whoosh.

I effing cried on the bench in the magazine section of the bookstore.

What a dork. But it was that good at capturing that song.

"Girl"

From in the shadow
She calls
And in the shadow
She finds a way
And in the shadow
She crawls
Clutching her faded photograph
My image under her thumb
Yes with a message for my heart
She's been everybody else's girl
Maybe one day she'll be her own
Everybody else's girl
Maybe one day she'll be her own

And in the doorway
They stay and laugh
As violins fill with water
Screams from the bluebells
Can't make them go away
We'll I'm not seventeen
But I've cuts on my knees
Falling down
As the winter takes one more cherry tree
Rushin' rivers thread so thin limitation
Dreams with the flying pigs turbid blue
And the drugstores too safe
In their coats
Anda in their do's
Yeah smother in our hearts
A pillow to my dots
One day maybe
One day
One day she'll be her own

And in the mist
There she rides
And castles are burning in my heart
And as I twist I hold tight
And I ride to work every morning
Wondering why
"Sit in the chair and be good now" And become all that they told you
The white coats enter her room
And I'm callin' my baby
Callin' my baby
Callin' my baby
Callin' everybody else's girl
Maybe one day she'll be her own

How is it that songs from sixteen years ago can still just knock you out with their prescience? I was in ninth grade when I heard this song. And now, more than ever, it is still kicking my ass. Because I always sang it to, or rather AT, my dad (not literally, but later, when alone in my room) when I was pissed off at him, which was often. Fire and ice, oil and water, all that. So, now that he's gone, this song kicks my ass a lot further than it used to. Because it reminds me of a situation I'll never be in again: pissed off at Dad after a fight.

This artist who wrote the comic for "Girl" even had the main character's father deceased. Yikes.

No wonder I cried reading a comic in the magazine section of the book store.

Anyway, I'm sure the rest will be just as engaging as the songs themselves. If you're as devout as I am, I'm sure you already have it or it's on you list. If you're in the middle, go check it out. It's really something.

Song in My Head

This is one of Jenny's favorites:



and, in light of even more challenges, it's like her song to Life. It's been popping in my head all week, too. So, dear girl, if you get a chance to read this, just know I'm thinking about you and I love you and, indeed, you are much stronger than anyone should have to learn they are...

About "Cool on You Island": The original was on Y Kant Tori Read, which, in light of this new version, wasn't all that bad, in the end.

Lyrics:

If you don't treat me better
Baby I'll just run away
Baby I don't know what drives you
To play all these silly games
C'mon baby
I'm much stronger than you know
Sometimes
I'm not afraid to let it show

When will you wake up
I want you more than the stars and the sun
But I can take only so much
Cool on your island
Is it cool on your island

I gotta brand new dress babe
Could it make you wanna try
I guess I didn't want to notice
The stars gone from your eyes
C'mon baby
I'm much stronger than you know
Sometimes
I'm not afraid to let it show

When will you wake up
I want you more than the stars and the sun
But I can take only so much
Cool on your island
Is it cool on your island

We could buy an airplane
Build a home in the sand
You could tell your secrets
I could understand
But then by the morning
Comes crumblin' down
And as your leavin'
Wait

When will you wake up
I want you more than the stars and the sun
But I can take only so much
Cool on your island
Is it cool, baby
When will you wake up
I want you more than the stars and the sun
But I can take only so much
Cool on your island
You're so cool on your island
Is it cool on your island
Is it cool baby

If you don't treat me better
Baby I'll just run away
Cool on your island
If you don't treat me
One day you'll wake up cold
Yeah, then you'll know
You'll know
You'll know
You love me

Repost-I'm Not Carmen Sandiego

Preface: I'm listening to this Tori Amos song on repeat right now:

I just got it a few weeks ago and I totally love it. It's from teh Mona Lisa Smile Soundtrack, so it's a cover that's been out for a while. Okay, done with sharing.

I'm Not Carmen Sandiego, or A miniature existential crisis


July 10, 2006

So I’m thinking about adventurers (see the crushes blog entry) and it's got me thinking. Sure, I’ve lived all over Maine, which was cool, but compared to others, I feel inadequate.

I am becoming definitively late 20s this week. So I have to either become one of the the adventurers I so envy or resign to the fact that I'm too much of a homegirl to move very far away from family and friends.


PS It's 2 years later, I'm still in Weymouth, but I haven't a clue what I'm doing after grad school, so still no decisions made. And I ain't gettin' any younger...

Juxtaposition

Dude, I just wrote a blog entry about New Kids on the Block then one about Tori Amos. Oh my lordy. I didn't even do it on purpose. But it really makes me think...


What a difference three years can make.

1990 - favorite singer: New Kids on the Block (6th grade elementary student at Fulton)


1993 - favorite singer: Tori Amos (freshman at Weymouth [Junior] High School)


Hilarious.

Non-working Cure for Insomnia #124- the Digital Mix Tape

Non-working Cure for Insomnia #124- the Digital Mix Tape

Hello, 2 AM. How not nice it is to see you yet again. What has your presence brought about this time?

click to enlarge

Oh, well this looks kinda fun. What is it?


Huh?


Still not sure...



Oh, I get it. It's all the Tori songs that are "bouncy" rather than the more usual mellow ones. What a fun idea. That's what 2 AM is good for, I suppose. Random, yet fun, ideas that would not have come from someone who was having a normal night's sleep.

Well, I hope that's all the playing you'll be doing. You have work tomorrow, or rather, later on today.

Homage Ketchup: Tori Amos

Homage to Tori Amos

I don't think I pay enough homage to my favorite famous person, Tori Amos. For a person I've never met, she's one of the most important people in my life. Is that pathetic? Or is it just a fact of life in the 21st century?

I mean, in the 19th century a lot of people loved Abraham Lincoln and they didn't know him. Granted he was the president and ushered along the end of slavery.

Though she didn't end slavery, Tori did found RAINN - the Rape Incest & Abuse National Network. After the release of "Me and Gun" she had so many people reaching out to her to tell their stories and to seek help, so she had to do something.

From the Everything Tori homepage:

Tori Amos is a founding member of and has been one of the main spokeswoman for The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), the nation’s largest anti-sexual assault organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1.800.656.HOPE. RAINN also publicizes the hotline’s free, confidential services, educates the public about sexual assault, and leads national efforts to improve services to victims and ensure that rapists are brought to justice.

1 800 656 HOPE (1 800 656 4673)

Free & Confidential 24/7

Visit RAINN.org

Tori is also important to arty/geeky girls and gay boys around the world for giving them cathartic songs to listen to when wronged by boys, men, girls, women and society-at-large, especially during adolescence. I say this rather flippantly but it is, in fact, what made me feel better. My freshman year of high school, after Gre g Ther an dumped me for Meghan R ull - I wrapped myself up in the balm that was Little Earthquakes and emerged be-decked in bell bottoms, seventies butterfly collar men's orange and blue zig zag striped sweater and funky platform boots ready to tell the world who I was, what I was like, and how I thought, and to do so unabashedly. And I don't think I could have done that had I continued listening to Mariah Carey, like I did during the junior high years. (This was before she got boring and wore hootchie clothes, mind you.)

So, for no particular reason, I just wanted to say - Tori Amos is the best and I am grateful that she's around.

Tori Amos at the Orpheum in Boston 10-19-07
(Good show!)

Friday Night Adventures in Boston

How about this for Friday Night Romps:

This weekend, I went - for the first time in my life - to a Celtics game at the Garden. BronBron was playing. The new triple threat was scoring. And Rene, Rachel and I got on the jumbotron during a TO.
I think the team may make a 360 this year. A real turn around. (Paul Pierce made the 360 quote this year during the preseason, after Garnett came to the team. Umm, wouldn't that be ending up exactly where you started?) I've never been a big basketball fan, but if the Celtics get back to mid 80s level of performance, I will be happy for them.



So, ready for a juxtaposition? The Friday before this one, I went to see the one, the only, my dearly beloved, Tori Amos at the Orpheum, across town from the Garden.


First she played as "Clyde" (second from the left). Then she came back to the stage as Tori. She played with the band, who included a new guitarist/ all around stringed instrument player, Matt Chamberlain on drums and Jon Evans on bass. Then it was just her and the piano, a segment called "T&Bo" ("O" with umlaut, after the Bosendorfer). The band came back for a few more songs, then left. Then came back for an encore. Then left. Then came back for the second encore. Then left. Then came back for the third encore. She played for almost three hours. It was lovely.

She had a half magenta/ half violet draped pantsuit thingy on first. Here are the swatches (best I can do without actual photos of outfit):

Then she came out with a long sleeveless dress style shirt with matching pants. Here's another swatch:

It was sparkle-y.

So, while I do complain about Massachusetts, it is nice to live around Boston on Friday nights, because I get to do things like the Tori concert or the Celtics game.

However, I am missing this:

Releases next month-1995 or 2007?

Not that I mind at all--indeed I'm quite delighted--but I was reading Rolling Stone and was confounded by a page on upcoming releases. Smack in the middle, back to back to back, the following three bands/musicians had blurbs about their upcoming releases: Tori Amos, Dinosaur Jr, Bjork. I had to double check the fine print at the bottom left hand corner to check that there wasn't some leftover issue of RS hanging around the powder room literature. (Come on, we all do it!) Alas, it was the current issue.

Dinosaur is back together but they're like that couple that should be broken up permanently but can't keep away from each other because of the chemistry. Even in the RS blurb J was all snarky about Lou not sharing songs for the band but instead keeping them for his solo career.

Bjork is going back to the dancy-poppy fun that Pete and I experienced on Lansdowne St at the Avalon in June of 95. (Jeff Buckley opened. Seriously.) It will be nice to have another Bjork-y tune like "Big Time Sensuality" to hippie swing to while seat dancing in the car.

And finally, Tori's latest. What's funny is the retro trend of persona/ alter-ego work. It's coming around again in all forms of artistic expression. On the next page of the RS issue referred to above, there was an article about Of Montreal front runner Kevin Barnes, who has three alter egos that he uses to create songs.

It's the 40th anniversary of Sgt Pepper, so maybe that's looming the back of the creative minds.

It's also this: when writing poetry or rock music lyrics, it can get boring writing about oneself all the time. So, to take on a persona and write from that person's perspective opens up doors that staying within one's own head wouldn't.

In February I went to the Grolier Poetry Series at the Democracy Center in Cambridge, featuring Joan Houlihan and Ander Monson. The two poets weren't in any sort of collaborative relationship, they just happened to be reading together that night. But, oddly enough, both were working on writing that did the same things. First, both had poetry projects that were in the realm of fantasy science fiction--though not in a cheesy, obvious and banal way, more like a venerably literate Vonnegutesque way. Joan Houlihan was working on poetry that explored a distopic society. Ander Monson also had elements scifi. The other thing that both were doing was taking on a persona and writing from that persona's perspective. We've been binging on confessional poetry for so long, it was time to go elsewhere with the meaning of "I."

For Tori's part, she makes it fun to anticipate the new album. There are gimmicks, and being a toriphile, I'm all-in. And she knows we'll all be all-in. It's fun, like finding the blogs of the "dolls": Santa, Isabel, Tori, Clyde and Pip.

Two weeks and two days until the release of American Doll Posse.