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From:
rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Date:
Mon, 29 Aug 2005 17:24:37 -0700
Subject:
RDT Right Now #1959
To:
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o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Really Deep Thoughts Right Now Volume 05 : Issue #1959
.
o - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - o
. o o .
o o
O "Thoughts right now... O
o What will become of me, o
o Become of her, become of we?" o
. o o .
O O
O - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - O
o .
o
o
o
Tori Amos, "Thoughts"
In this issue:
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
saratogian concert review [ wojizzle forizzle <woj@smoe.org> ]
detroit news concert preview [ wojizzle forizzle <woj@smoe.org> ]
cleveland plain dealer article [ wojizzle forizzle <woj@smoe.org> ]
chicago sun times concert preview [ wojizzle forizzle <woj@smoe.org> ]
August 29th [ Simon Booth <phoenyxx98@yahoo.com> ]
Missed a digest? Pick up a copy at the RDTRN archives:
http://www.torithoughts.org/rdtrn/archives
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[top]
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 15:59:42 -0400
From: wojizzle forizzle <woj@smoe.org>
To: torinews@smoe.org, fiercest clams <precious-things@smoe.org>,
rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: saratogian concert review
http://www.saratogian.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=3D1169&dept_id=3D17776&newsid=3D=
15094149&PAG=3D461&rfi=3D9
Review: Tori Amos offers magical show at SPAC
THOMAS DIMOPOULOS, The Saratogian
08/25/2005
SARATOGA SPRINGS --Tori Amos had a day off on Monday. She celebrated her=20
42nd birthday at the Spa Park springs and was inspired to write three=20
songs, she told the crowd of 5,000 at SPAC Tuesday night. They had gathered=
=20
to witness Amos' solo performance of her Original Sinsuality/Summer of Sin=
=20
Tour.
Amos commanded the sparse stage, which was decorated by the ancient=20
symbolism of a half-bitten apple and the tree of life from which was coiled=
=20
a tongue-flicking snake.
At one end stood the grand piano, which she alternately pounded and=20
caressed, her eyes fixated on a spot in the distance. She was both=20
introspective and alluring, simmering and seductive. Reeling her=20
off-the-shoulder piano rolls with a breathless voice, she was at her best=20
in the exotic intimacies she projected in the song 'Icicle.'
Then she would swivel around, face left, and attack the organ, spitting out=
=20
syllables and writhing to the sassy intensity of 'Siren,' her head thrown=20
back and appearing not unlike a possessed concert genius of the middle ages.
Amos performed an 18-song set -- on multiple keyboards -- that spanned her=
=20
entire career, including early songs 'China,' 'Mother' and 'Sugar.'
She elected to stay away from her better-known hits, instead challenging=20
listeners to tune in for a two-hour ride into her hypnotic symphony. Those=
=20
courageous enough to take the chance were treated to a performance that=20
took on all the intimacy of the songwriter's creative vision.
Amos drew comparisons to British singer Kate Bush early in her career. On=20
this night, during the cover song segment called 'Tori's Piano Bar,' Amos=20
met the challenge head on. She performed -- for the first ever time she=20
announced -- the Kate Bush song 'And Dream of Sheep,' and followed with a=20
fine rendition of Cat Stevens' 'Moonshadow.'
It was on her own material that she excelled, at times straddling the bench=
=20
where she was seated, often with one hand on the piano and the other on the=
=20
organ. Her voice clipped the lyrics of her prose to create counter rhythms=
=20
to the music as the bright beams of back-light silhouetted her form. The=20
best of these were the deep, funereal tones of 'Spark,' as an illuminating=
=20
silver frost turning blood red, and the intense surrealism of 'The=20
Beekeeper' -- the title track of her most recent release -- its deep=20
humming organ stirring the base of the spine and buzzing the nervous system=
=20
while her voice vibrated through the open-air hall and soared deep into the=
=20
clear August night.
A pair of Los Angeles-based bands appeared earlier in the evening. The Like=
=20
performed a brief and pleasant psychedelic-Beatlesque set at dusk. Also=20
appearing were The Ditty Bops, a strum and fiddle ensemble, bringing a=20
bluegrass meets the Andrews Sisters mix into their 21st century eclecticism.
=A9The Saratogian 2005=20
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[top]
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 16:17:50 -0400
From: wojizzle forizzle <woj@smoe.org>
To: torinews@smoe.org, fiercest clams <precious-things@smoe.org>,
rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: detroit news concert preview
http://www.detnews.com/2005/events/0508/26/F08-293405.htm
Friday, August 26, 2005
Hot ticket: Tori Amos
Folk singer tells you what's on her mind
'The Beekeeper' CD is filled with metaphorical themes that aren't engulfed
by the music.
By Alan Sculley / Special to The Detroit News
Tori Amos has an inviting and melodic sound on her latest CD, "The Beekeeper."
On Tori Amos' latest CD, "The Beekeeper," she uses the beehive -- the
society of bees -- as a metaphor for the world and to explore terrorism,
the hypocrisies of the war in Iraq and the battle women face in reconciling
their spiritual and sexual sides.
Fans can explore the inner workings of the artist's mind when she performs
Sunday night at the Meadow Brook Music Festival. The Ditty Bops open.
What listeners might not realize is the degree to which Amos' lyrical
themes carry through to the music. On "The Beekeeper," Amos has stepped
away from some of the complex arrangements and ornate instrumentation that
have sometimes made her delicate and baroque-ish piano-focused music a
little fussy. Instead, new songs, such as "Parasol," "Ireland" and "Marys
of the Sea," are inviting as Amos frequently pairs her familiar piano with
the Hammond organ, creating a richly melodic, easily digestible and, at
times, grooving sound.
But any impression that "The Beekeper" is simpler musically than her
earlier music is misleading, Amos says.
"I think musically, if you talk to (drummer) Matt Chamberlain, he'll tell
you it's really complicated rhythmically," Amos says.
And a close listen to "The Beekeeper" reveals songs of considerable
substance and stinging commentary: "Barons Of Suburbia" attacks greed and
"General Joy" and "Mother Revolution" criticize those who send a country's
sons and daughters into war.
This kind of depth is typical for Amos, who 15 years after her debut CD
"Little Earthquakes," remains a unique and intriguing talent in a business
that always seems ready to cast aside last year's star in favor of a newer,
younger model.
That situation irks Amos, who remains determined to be treated as an artist
and not an object within the entertainment world.
"I'm just a lioness," she says. "That means I'm going to be hunting
wildebeasts until I'm 80. And if people don't want to come watch, that's
fine. I'll still be hunting."
Alan Sculley is a freelance writer. You can reach him at alanlast
word@earthlink.net.
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[top]
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 16:31:50 -0400
From: wojizzle forizzle <woj@smoe.org>
To: torinews@smoe.org, fiercest clams <precious-things@smoe.org>,
rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: cleveland plain dealer article
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/friday/112504
9302292520.xml&coll=2
Staying creative
Performer, and now author, feels she's maturing with her art
Friday, August 26, 2005
Gary Graff
Special to The Plain Dealer
Tori Amos is not short on ambition. Just look at the past year or so. The
expatriate co-wrote a book and also recorded a new album. She knew it was a
heavy load -- and those around her were quick to remind Amos of that -- but
the piano-playing singer-songwriter says that doing the two projects at
once turned out to be advantageous for all concerned.
"I told them that they don't need to worry that I'm writing a book; that
doesn't mean I'm going to fluff off writing music," Amos recalls. "On the
contrary, I think I appreciated being a musician more than I ever have,
except when I played bars and people would spill gin and tonics all over my
piano."
Indeed, Amos has emerged with two complementary projects that she says
helped to make each other.
The book, "Piece By Piece," was co-written with music journalist Ann Powers
over the course of two years of touring and discussions. It was conceived
as a kind of chronicle about the making of Amos' ninth album, "The
Beekeeper" -- which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart -- but it
turned into part biography, part dissertation on the music industry and a
deeply insightful look into the mystical nature of creativity -- which is
the part that Amos says appealed to her most.
"A conversation about process was far more intriguing than just some facts
about somebody's life," says Amos, 42. "I'm fascinated by the discipline
that other artists have to make their creation, and so is [Powers].
"Music comes from a very intangible place. It is my first language, not
English, and I'm trying to explain in English about the ways of music and
the muse as I understand it and as I participate in it as a co-creator, not
as the sole creator."
It's a relationship that Amos has been wrapped up in since Myra Ellen Amos
was a piano prodigy who started taking classes at the prestigious Peabody
Institute in Baltimore when she was 5 years old. The minister's daughter
was playing clubs around Maryland and in Washington, D.C., by age 13, and
in 1984 her muse and her ambitions led her to Los Angeles, where she
released a pop album with a band called Y Kant Tori Read before she began
her own career with 1982's "Little Earthquakes." This was the first in a
string of adventurous and introspective albums that made Amos a critic's
darling and built an intensely devoted body of fans.
"I think the records have always been where I am as a songwriter, how I see
things at that time," says Amos, who resides in Cornwall, England, with her
husband, sound engineer Mark Hawley, and their 4-year-old daughter
Natashya. "Even if I'm writing about other people, I kind of embody the
character and nobody really knows what's me and what's not."
Amos says she was in "a good space" when she started working on "The
Beekeeper." She was pleased with the reception to her 2002 album
"Scarlett's Walk," which was also her first for a new label, Epic, after 15
years with Atlantic Records.
Doing the book with Powers also vested Amos differently in her music-making
process. "When I got tired of writing the book and a little fed up with it,
I would run to the music," Amos says with a laugh. "The music was sort of
my escape from this book, and I was so happy to do it . . ."
"The Beekeeper" -- whose title refers to the ancient rites of beekeeping in
Cornwall and surrounding areas -- was also inspired by her "Scarlett's
Walk" tour with the rhythm section of bassist Jon Evans and drummer Matt
Chamberlain. "I was quite aware of their rhythmic desires and what they
responded to," Amos notes. "I was imprinted with the way that they play,
their very strong rhythmic sense.
"So as I started to compose, maybe without consciously thinking about it,
it was in the back of my mind that they were going to be playing on it. And
they love a challenge."
Amos responded to that by incorporating a greater variety of rhythms on the
album's 19 tracks, exploring Latin and Afro-Cuban styles. "This is more of
a global record," she explains.
She also brought in a guitarist (Mac Aladdin) and used the London Community
Gospel Choir as a vocal "jury" on several songs. Singer Damien Rice joins
her for a duet on "The Power of Orange Knickers."
The biggest change, however, is that Amos decided to supplement her piano
with Hammond B3 organ, drawing back to soul music influences from her
childhood.
Amos says the ultimate reward is that she was able to stretch herself -- to
take her music in new directions and take herself into completely new
creative territory with the book. "I kind of like the idea of being able to
mature with your art," she says, "and not look like you're trying to chase
youth.
"I think the tricky thing is you have to know that you have it. You might
cock your head at me and say All artists think they have it,' but you can't
just put an album out because your contract says you owe it. You have to
catch up with yourself and force yourself to look at what you've done as a
composer, as a performer, and then find a way to move forward rather than
repeating it."
Graff is a free-lance writer in Beverly Hills, Mich.
To reach Gary Graff:
music@plaind.com
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[top]
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 16:40:34 -0400
From: wojizzle forizzle <woj@smoe.org>
To: torinews@smoe.org, fiercest clams <precious-things@smoe.org>,
rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: chicago sun times concert preview
http://www.suntimes.com/output/rock/sho-sunday-tori28.html
Amos gets back to garden with 'Beekeeper'
August 28, 2005
BY BRIAN ORLOFF
Tori Amos calls her latest tour the Summer of Sin. It's a moniker that,
salacious connotations aside, reveals a lot about what's been on her mind.
To those familiar with Amos' 13-year career, it's hardly a surprise that
the motif of sin -- and the crisis between sexuality and religious identity
-- surfaces in her penetrating work. "Icicle," for instance, a song on
1994's "Under the Pink" album, fuses images of masturbation and Bible
study, and "God" troubles the chaste, female ideals with which Amos, a
minister's daughter, was brought up.
These issues are even more pronounced on her most recent album, "The
Beekeeper," a 19-track affair that reimagines the Garden of Eden story with
special attention to the role of women and sin. She dubs that marriage
"sinsuality" in a song that is the the album's thematic backbone, "Original
Sinsuality." But some critics have taken issue with "The Beekeeper,"
calling it ponderous and more subdued musically. Its tone is not vitriolic;
it's reflective, but Amos still has provocative things to say about the
state of the world.
She also explores similar themes in her autobiography, Piece by Piece,
which she co-authored with music critic Ann Powers. The book provides
insight into Amos' long career, including extended chapters about her
struggle to stick to her musical vision despite quibbles from business
executives.
After an intimate, recital-like concert a the Auditorium Theatre in April,
which found Amos accompanied only by her Bosendorfer grand piano, keyboards
and some vintage organs, she returns Wednesday for a larger, but still
solo, show at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.
Calling from her Florida home, an affable and often funny Amos chatted
about her fascination with sin, how she stays in the game of the music
business and why it's OK that she's not a firebrand, raging woman anymore.
Q.Tori, is there a reason why you're continuing to tour solo? And why are
you calling it "Summer of Sin"?
A. The solo tour was going really well, and people seemed to want to see
that show at this time. But right now because the concept of "sinsuality"
... whether you believe it or not, the bottom line is that we've been
taught to believe that a woman was blamed for our fall out of paradise all
those thousands of years ago in the Genesis myth -- so I felt that there
needed to be a real marriage of sexuality and spirituality within the
being. So it's very intimate, this concept, and I've chosen female acts to
come and perform before I take the stage.
Q. You've really zeroed in on the political climate. With all the religious
messages swirling out there in political contexts, the idea of sin
resonates with people.
A. I believe that ideas either work or they don't depending on what's
occurring in the outside world, so as a musician who tries to chronicle
time with these performances, it's responding to what is happening in our
world at this time. And the word "sin" has become very much a part of this.
It's not just a religious term anymore. It is used now by our leaders, so I
felt that it was essential that we merge with sin and we bring it in. We
welcome it into our bodies. And that's how you transmute it into "sinsuality."
Q.In "Piece by Piece" you talk about your role in terms of the music
industry. How would you characterize that role today?
A. The understanding that you must come to as a musician/performer is that
anyone who is giving you a suggestion, you have to see their motive. And
much of the time the motive is not to make great art. Much of the time
people equate success with economic return instead of with self-respect. I
have to take my stand against this kind of thinking all the time. You have
to be willing to be told that, "If you're not willing to take our
suggestions, because we think you need to wear Chinos" -- which I've been
told many years ago [laughs] -- "then we won't support this record." I have
had my record shelved and not supported, but then I go out and tour and you
get to the people yourself. Sometimes it's a very hard road to take, but
you can wake up with yourself in the morning. If you're going to make this
choice, you're not going to turn around and get applause from everybody.
You have to realize that sometimes it's a very lonely road at first.
You also have to tour and make yourself available -- the music available --
to the public. I think I stay in the game by making sure I'm not solely
dependent on one outcome. I think the touring side has been the strength
for me, honestly, because it's independent of everybody. But the music
business is totally different from music, and you have to be able to stand
as sort of a warrior [laughs], and I'm a lioness, so there's a part of me
that instinctively knows when the hunter is coming with the gun, or when
the tourist is coming with the camera, to come after my cub. And these are
my musical cubs.
Q. Part of staying in the game is responding to criticism. A lot of
criticism lately, mostly by male critics, argues that you cannot be a
happily married mother and still be a compelling artist. How do you respond
to that, and how do you think your composing abilities have changed?
A. I don't care. It doesn't affect me at all, because at 41 years old I'm
not about being an angry woman. I think that must really burn some guys up.
I'm not angry with men anymore. They don't affect me in that way. I forgive
them. And maybe that's really hard for them because I'm free of being
controlled by my anger over their behavior. Now that is the phoenix out of
the ashes. But women are coming in droves because they want it.
As a composer, I'm not interested in what anybody thinks because you have
to know your music very well. If the director of the Prague Orchestra wants
to talk to me about structure, then I'll talk to him. But I think to be
angry at 28 is probably where you should be. To be controlled by that at 41
is tragic. And I think what bothers everyone is that I didn't become a
tragedy. I'm not a victim anymore, and I think that's very hard for some
people to take.
Brian Orloff is a Chicago free-lance writer.
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[top]
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 20:44:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: Simon Booth <phoenyxx98@yahoo.com>
To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: August 29th
On this date:
1997: US defense computer system SKYNET attains
sentience and proceeds to launch a full-scale attack
against Russia; an estimated 3 billion people
ultimately killed in the ensuing nuclear holocaust.
2005: World's first undersea city established, New
Orleans, in the Gulf of Mexico.
__________________________________________________
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