Auction: Tori Amos Signed And Framed Rolling Stone Magazine

Bid on a gorgeous Tori Amos signed and elegantly framed “Her Secret Garden” June 25, 1998 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine. This autographed item is now available in the June Rolling Stone Auction benefiting MusiCares and the GRAMMY Foundation. Auction runs now through July 2nd. Click here to place your bids now.

Tori Writes the Forward for Nemi Volume 2

The second collection of Lisa Myhre’s popular comic strip Nemi features a forward written by one of the goth-girl’s favorite musicians: Tori Amos! Although the book is only featured on the UK section of publisher Titan Books’ website, it will be available in both Europe and North America starting the week of September 28th and can be pre-ordered from all the usual online booksellers right now.

Thanks to Mart for giving us the initial head’s up about this!

CBT On Spread TV

After a couple of false starts, it looks like Rantz Hoseley‘s visit to discuss Comic Book Tattoo with Dave Navarro on Spread TV should finally be up sometime today (August 28th) over on maniaTV. That’s what the giant banner on the front page says, at any rate, though the episode isn’t listed in today’s schedule on the site. The best we can suggest is that you keep checking. It’ll show up eventually. We hope.

Rantz On CBT Limited Edition Availability

A couple more people have reported receiving delay notices from Amazon for pre-ordered copies of the Comic Book Tattoo limited edition and one person let us know that Chapters.indigo.ca canceled his order outright. So, this following letter from Rantz Hoseley explaining the strategy they took and addressing the current situation with the limited editions appeared in our mailbox at a good time. Many thanks to him for sharing these details with everyone at a time when many are still stressing about tracking down a limited edition to call their own…

Because we wanted to make sure that people who pre-ordered the Limited Edition of Comic Book Tattoo did indeed GET their copies, and because Tori, her managers and myself were VERY concerned about the exact thing that seems to be happening… people ordering and not being able to GET the book after they were told they had it, we limited allocation to each outlet/venue. The Tori Store had 200 copies. Amazon originally had 300 copies. The rest were allocated for ‘the direct market’ (i.e. comic stores, and bookstores) A month after getting our initial orders from the direct market, less than 300 had been ordered. The Tori Store and Amazon had both sold through their allocations, and Amazon asked if there was any way to get more. At that time, we released (I believe) 75-100 copies to Amazon, leaving a buffer of 100 copies to the Direct Market for people who ordered later.

It APPEARS that there were some retailers (who will remain nameless) that kept selling when they had gone PAST their allocations, or they pre-sold the book without immediately securing a copy in the Direct Market allocation. One store, for example, ordered a TON (if speaking in literal terms, more like 2 tons… the book is damn heavy) of the Softcover edition, but pre-ordered NONE of the HC or the ltd HC. Customers from said store have been receiving emails and notifications stating that (for all intents and purposes) ‘it’s the publisher’s fault’, and frankly that’s a load, and it’s very upsetting to hear.

I am sorry and saddened to hear that fans who had pre-ordered the Ltd. Edition are getting yanked around this way, especially when we spent 2 months hammering on this very issue to make sure this did NOT happen to anyone. All I can tell you now, is check your local independent bookstore or comic shop. There are some copies that keep showing up in the retail channel! You can find (and call ahead… save yourself some gas!) your local/area comic shop with the Comic Shop Locator Service or by calling 1-888-COMIC BOOK (1-888-266-4226).

…and thank you to EVERYONE for the overwhelming response. It really has been a project of love, and we’re glad that the audience has been so receptive to it!

Rantz A. Hoseley
BauWauHaus Productions
www.rantzhoseley.com

The Comic Book Tattoo Release Party At Golden Apple Comics

The omnipresent Comic Book Resources reports on last Friday’s Comic Book Tattoo release party and creator signing at Golden Apple Comics. The article, which features several photos from the signing, describes the event and discusses several creators’ involvement with the project and the songs they selected to adapt. While it’s long on CBT and short on Tori, it does close with an interesting tidbit from Rantz about the possibility of another volume:

Some fans have noted there is a “Volume One” notation on the back of the “Comic Book Tattoo” cover, and with such a great response from fans, retailers and distributors — plus numerous songs remaining to be used— people are wondering if that means there will definitely be a second volume of “Comic Book Tattoo.” “You never say never,” Hoseley said. “I think the main thing is the same way we wanted to do something radically different with this we wouldn’t want to repeat ourselves and just do another volume in the same format and the same kind of approach. There’s a lot of discussion going on with Tori and I on possibilities and we’ll see how things go.”

We’ve heard from one fellow who attended the signing. He was unhappy with the structure of the line that prevented him from getting everyone to sign his copy of the book. If anyone else made it there there and would like to let share their experience, please let us know.

Barnes & Noble Cancels Some CBT Limited Edition Pre-Orders

Several people have written to report that their pre-orders for the limited edition of Comic Book Tattoo from Barnes & Noble have been unceremoniously canceled. When contacted about the matter, Barnes & Noble reportedly indicated that they had received 200-300 fewer copies of the limited edition than they were supposed to. Whether or not they were really shorted, we do not know, but this is unfortunate and surprising particularly as most were worried about Amazon not being able to deliver the goods. If anyone did (or does) receive a pre-ordered limited edition from Barnes & Noble, let us know. We won’t pull all the pins out of the B&N voodoo doll, but we’ll take a few out of the more painful places we’ve put them….

Video Clips From The SDCC CBT Panel

Over the last week, several video clips from last weekend’s Comic Book Tattoo panel at Comic-Con 2008 have appeared.

KPBS featured a 5-minute clip, sourced from Comic-Con’s video of the panel, on their blog. Hopefully, the rest of the video will surface eventually since it would be nifty for those who were not there to see the whole thing.

Read on for several additional clips filmed by folks in the attendance!

Thanks to jess and Rebecca for the tips!

read more...

Your Daily Planner For August 1, 2008

Are you near Belgium with nothing to do? Go see Tori at the Dranouter Festival! She’s on at 22:30 CEST so look for the setlist and reviews from people who were there later today. (And, if you do go, make sure you get there in time for Värttinä who will be on right before Tori — they have the woj-bob Seal of Approval!)

Are you near Los Angeles with nothing to do? Head on down to Golden Apple Comics in Hollywood at 6:00 PM PDT for the big Comic Book Tattoo release party. Rantz and a number of the book’s creators, including Ted McKeever, David Mack, Mark Sable, Dame Darcy and many others, will be signing, sketching and causing a general ruckus. There’ll be free CBT logo temporary tattoos, food and drink and an auction benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Some of the items on the block are a copy of the Boys for Pele tour program Rantz designed, two of the limited BEA prints, some of the limited SDCC prints and other surprises as well. If you can make it, head on down and support a great cause!

And if you’re anywhere else in the world with nothing to do, you’re on your own!

Comic Book Tattoo: News From The Amazon Front

Over the last couple days, many of you have written in to let us know that they received notice from Amazon that the copies of the regular harcover and limited edition of Comic Book Tattoo had shipped. However, we’re even happier to report that at least one person, who ordered it after Amazon increased the price to $94.49, has actually received it yesterday! Calloo callay! Hopefully everyone else who ordered the limited edition from Amazon and other big online booksellers will get their copies in a timely fashion as well….

We’re also happy to report that folks who ordered the limited edition from Forbidden Planet have been getting their copies too and, of course, those who ordered it from The Tori Store received their shipments last week.

San Diego Comic-Con International Wrap-Up

Please accept my humble apologies for the belated Comic Con update. Flight delays (not mine) and a birthday (mine) conspired to keep me away from the computer since Sunday. So, with the lame excuses out of the way…

Jason was the first to respond to our call for Con reports, letting us know that he posted the picture on the right over on Molly Knight’s website, which he helps to maintain. Quoth he, “I can’t really say too much right now because I’m utterly exhausted, but the panel was very good and was mostly the creators talking about how the project and their stories came to be, and how inspiring it was to have complete creative freedom.”

Comic Book Resources, which covered the Con extensively, has a lengthy article describing the panel discussion in depth. If you weren’t there, this is required reading for getting the lowdown on the panel! It’s an excellent summary of what was discussed with many quotes from all participants. CBR also included a couple more photos with the piece for your visual edification (thanks Foxy and Devon).

Needless to say, Tori’s dress has garnered some attention. Love it or hate it, it certainly is something — and that’s better than nothing. You can find more photos of the whole ensemble at Collecting Bees’ Image Gallery, Valeri’s Comic-Con Flickr set and krysaia’s photostream. Unsurprisingly, gossip sites such as Absolutely Fabulous, E!, Heat and Yahoo’s OMG! got in the act too. (Thanks Valeri, mayfly, Chrysta, lou, drinian, Mark and Amy!)

UPDATE Rantz has added a number of SDCC photographs to his Flickr. There are a few from media interviews Tori and he did for the book as well as several featuring Tori and the creators from the signing on Saturday.

Finally, several folks who attended the Con wrote in to describe their experience. Jump the cut to hear what they thought of it all….

read more...